1 Chapter 1: IN NO MAN’S LAND

Dorning of machine-gun fire, ear-splitting explosions, rifle fire whizzing overhead, and the occasional screams of pain of injured soldiers. That is all that a person can hear in this godforsaken place. But out in no man's land lies a quiet whisper "1, 2, 3" BANG, BANG, BANG, "That should take care of the machine-gun nest." The shooter says as he slowly crawls and makes his way back to the friendly trench. As he jumps into the trench, he hears a soldier call out to him, "Nice shooting out there Caspar, that should keep them off our necks for a while, but you should head in, the colonel wanted to see you as soon as you got back."

The shooter is Caspar Hahn, A young man from Herzen, the capital of Urmacht. He was sick, or so he was told by his father and was sent to join the army to 'cure' him. But contrary to his father's beliefs, Caspar enjoyed the military, he liked the comradery and brotherhood that he seemed to find, but most importantly, it satisfied a primal, more vicious urge within him. Anywhere else and he would have been called a bloodthirsty monster, but in the army, he is called a hero, and so, is judged like one.

Caspar's mind stopped churning as he found himself standing in front of a room at the back of the trench, the guard recognized him and let him in. In the room, there was a handful of frowning people gathered around a table with a map, seemingly perplexed about something the map had to offer. The centermost man raised his head and smiled.

"Ah, sergeant Hahn, I hear you did some good work out there today!"

He looked at Caspar with his disheveled black hair and abyss black eyes. He thought about how this man, with his slightly above average height, was the best sharpshooter and reconnaissance soldier.

"Just doing my work, colonel," Caspar replied. The man in front of him was colonel Johann Fritz, commander of the 23rd infantry in control of this part of the trench and his superior.

"I have a mission for you, sergeant Hahn, our intel shows that the bastard Borpiden and Oskiuumen forces are planning an attack with poison gas."

Caspar's face hardens, he knows what poison gas is capable of. He was subjected to it when he was a part of a force defending a fort farther east. They were caught unprepared, and many good men and soldiers died, and the result, they no longer have control of that fort. The colonel sees the trepidation in his face and replies, "Don't worry, this time, we are prepared. We are also expecting reinforcement from the southern line, they are supposed to be here by now, but we can't seem to find them."

Caspar looks down on the map, directly east of them is the enemy trenches, while their own trenches extend farther south and north, to the south of the enemy trench, there is a forest behind which there is a hill that is fortified with machine-guns and artillery. If reinforcements wanted to get here undetected while still in a position to flank the enemy line, they would have to sneak through the forest undetected.

Colonel Fritz notices where Casper is looking and nods. "We believe that the reinforcement troops are either stuck or lost within the forest." Caspar stands in attention, waiting to receive his orders. The colonel continues. "Your mission sergeant Hahn is to go into the forest undetected, locate the reinforcements, and aid them in whatever situation they are facing." Caspar salutes and replies, "Yes, Sir!".

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"Your highness, our sharpshooters are all out of action, we can't keep going, or the enemy sharpshooters and artillery in the hill will be picking us off until none of us are left." Says a middle-aged army commander to a younger man. "And if we pull back to our original position, we would be facing the same problem. If we pull back right now, the 23rd would be overrun, and we might lose the entire trench line." This young man was a prince of Urmacht, Lothar Von Elsler and could be said to be the perfect embodiment of the word 'prince' with his tall stature and his cleanly made brown hair, looking dashing in his military uniform. But don't let his handsome looks deceive you, he is a through and through genius. If it was not for an enemy patrol going way off their rout to pick some fruits from the forest, they would not have been found out. But be luck what it may, they are now pinned down by enemy sharpshooters and artillery from the hill.

"We only have one choice now." the prince continues as he runs his hand through his hair. "We have to capture that hill and facilitate a charge into the enemy trench."

"But, your highness!" replies the flustered advisor., "That would be suicide." he continues. Lothar looks him in the eyes and replies, "That it may be, Carsten, but I would rather be shot and killed attacking my enemy, not running away from him.".

While they were conversing, a soldier rushes in from the direction of the front line. Tho soldier stops ahead of the prince and salutes, "your highness!". Lothar turns to look at him, "At ease, soldier, what brings you here?" the soldier relaxes his stance and continues, "The enemy return fire seems to be slowing down, and some of the scouts say they hear the sounds of an attack on the hill!" Carsten, the Advisor, looks at the soldier and jests, "Ofcourse soldier, are we not attacking them right now?" the soldier, flustered from the unexpected reply, continues, "Not that my lord, they seem to be under attack from another direction!". Lothar lowers his head to think frowns for a second, then quietly whispers, "Another direction?" slowly, he raises his head and smiles, "Maybe our suicide has a chance of actually working."

He turns to his advisor and asks, "How are our mortars doing?". Carsten thinks for a second, "They should be mostly intact since they have been keeping their heads down because of enemy sniper fire.", Lothar nods, "Tell them to keep their heads high and unload all that they can on top of that hill, if the enemy is not shellshocked by the time we get up there, they will be tasked with cleaning the trenches for a month!", he takes a breath and continues, "Tell a third of the men to fix bayonets, we will charge until the first position halfway up the hill, with the rest providing cover, then the remaining men will move up after the first unit secures the position."

Everyone around quietly stares at their usually intelligent commander, thinking of where such an irrational order comes from. Lothar notices the stares and steadily explains. "The unit that is attacking the hill right now should be a detachment of the 23rd. We were supposed to have already arrived there and set up positions, so they must have sent a detachment to look for us. "He takes another look at the crowd of people that have formed listening to him and encourages. "Our brothers are currently fighting on the other side of that hill, brothers that WE were sent to HELP!, are we going to leave our brothers to die in enemy territory while we escape?".

The stunned and now energized crowd replies in unison, "NO!". Lothar smiles and continues, "Then charge up the hill to help our brothers and push those invading bastards back to the freezing purgatory of Oskiuum!". Carsten turns his smirking face to the rest of the men while thinking, 'His highness always had a way to convince people to do the impossible.' He takes one last look at the men and shouts, "YOU HEARD HIS HIGHNESS, EVERYONE TO YOUR POSITIONS, REMIND THOSE BASTARDS WHY URMACHT IS CALLED THE CONQUROURS OF THE EAST."

On order, Mortar men rush out from their foxholes into their dugouts, swiftly sending bomb after bomb up the hill. The defending sharpshooters, too stunned by the swift reversal of roles, had no time to fire back before they were forced to dive into their foxholes to escape the explosive rain that has befallen them.

Another unit of infantry in Lothar's army bided their time while fixing bayonets, waiting for the signal, waiting for the explosions to stop. And stop it did. After unloading hundreds of pounds of explosives on the fortified hill, the shelling suddenly stops, to the defender's relief. The relief did not last long, though, for they started hearing the cries of over a hundred men getting closer and closer. They peak out to see what is causing all of that noise only two witnesses a large number of men charging at them with the cold, unfeeling glint of steel bayonets on the edge of their rifles.

The defenders quickly rush out to assume their positions, but they are too late, the enemy is already upon them. They only manage to fire a few shots before they are embroiled in close quarters combat in their dugouts.

No matter what situation they were in before, an Urmacht soldier is always worth ten soldiers from any other nation. Army professionalism in Urmach is so advanced that a confederacy elector once said, "Every nation has an army, but in Urmacht it is the army that has a nation." The soldiers fight with such ferocity and skill that the Oskiuum-Borpiden defenders have no choice but to surrender or die.

After the successful charge and capture of the midpoint up the hill, Lothar uses the momentum to continue the attack to the top of the hill. With the battle on the summit ongoing, Lothar notices a single man, easily cutting down soldiers that are closer to him while using his rifle with expert precision to take down enemies that are farther away, rushing from position to position like a ghost, unaffected by the chaos all around him. Almost as if he was bringing order to the chaos, proclaiming to the world, "I have arrived, now, you have no choice but to die."

Slowly, as the last of the enemy is either cut down or captured, the battle comes to an end, Lothar looks in confusion and asks, "Where is the detachment from the 23rd?". From behind the crowd, he shows up, the ghost that intrigued him during the battle. With hair and eyes as dark as the abyss itself, even the mud and grime of the battlefield cannot cover the aura of heroism and bloodthirst that he commanded, creating a contradictory image that captures you in his presence. Caspar reveals a devilish smile that stuns Lothar and replies, "I am the detachment."