Senate Grand Hall, Downtown, Custefai
At the time, senators in the Imperial Senate were in dispute over the course of the war. A heated debate is raging between factions advocating peace and those calling for war.
"We need peace as soon as possible!"
"No, we're going to fight to the bitter end!"
"Even though we have very little strength left!?"
"Surrender would be to our country's face!"
"What good is face when your country is on the brink of extinction!?"
The captured McTayle, one of the major cities of the Altian Empire, caused severe unrest among the government leaders. Faced with the imminent threat of the enemy, a majority of senators advocated peace.
"The dragon riders of the Capital Guard have been annihilated! The factory area was destroyed! How in the world do you intend to continue the war under these circumstances!?"
"......"
One of the pro-peace senators pursues the emperor with the facts. Uvarito IV remained silent. It would have been obvious to any sane person that he did not have the strength to continue the war with Japan.
"We can fight if we gather the security forces scattered throughout the territories!"
"You won't be able to govern the territories then!"
"What is more important, the capital or the territories!?"
"We don't have time for this! We should make peace!"
"How can we surrender to a remote nation in the Far East!?"
"This is no time to worry about face, goddammit!"
The meeting spiraled with an uncertain future. At that moment, a member of the Administrative Bureau entered the Grand Hall with a pale look on his face. He kneeled there and reported to the senators and the emperor.
"A supposed enemy army has landed from the coast of the capital! The Capital Guard's Ground and Maritime Units guarding the port, as well as the Border Guard, have already been wiped out! Then they started marching towards this central district!"
"W-what did you say!?"
"T-this is too soon!"
Nine days after the capture of McTayle, the mysterious enemy nation "Japan" finally invaded the capital. The emperor and his senators could not hide their frustration upon hearing the report. In the 100 years since the Altian Empire became one of the powers of the world, no enemy had ever invaded Custefai.
"The Imperial Guard is authorized to go out! Drive them back to the sea!"
"Yes! At once!"
After hearing the emperor's orders, the administrative official left the scene. Faced with the sudden and impending war, the council members all had expressions of fear on their faces. However, there was one person among them who had a distinctly different expression on her face.
'They're here...!'
Third Princess Savia was quietly listening to the long-awaited news of the Japanese invasion of the capital from her seat in the council.
"Your Majesty! I need to speak to you!"
Immediately thereafter, she raised her voice and suddenly stood up from her seat. Everyone present waved their gazes in her direction. Savia walked out of her seat, glances at the emperor sitting on his throne, and stepped to the witness stand in the middle of the Grand Hall.
"What is it... Savia?"
Emperor Uvarito IV stared coldly at his daughter, who suddenly took mysterious action.
Custefai Urban Area
The Administrative Bureau, which had temporarily assumed command of the military forces in place of the Military Affairs Bureau, issued an order for all troops in the capital.
"All forces present in the capital must head for the harbor!"
The orders are relayed to each unit via faith shells. In order to push back the landing forces coming from the sea, the remaining Capital Guard soldiers gathered from all over the capital and two-thirds of the Imperial Guard from the Imperial Palace were dispatched by order of the emperor. With the loss of most of the regular army, the largest force that could be prepared to protect the capital was rushing to the eastern ports.
"With all personnel, do everything in your power to drive back the Japanese army!"
To protect the last stronghold, the capital city of Custefai, Colonel Rambdoid Sucha, commander of the Capital Guard's 2nd Ground Unit, led his soldiers to the port. The morale of the soldiers, who had fallen into a situation that could be described as a hopeless battle, was unusually high.
Custefai Coast
The landing force of the Japan-US Joint Fleet, consisting mainly of the GSDF and the US Marine Corps, had landed in Custefai from the eastern port and had formed a command post on the coast. Then, Force Recon, which was hiding in the Temple of Wilcock located in the southern part of the capital, sent a message to the landing force command post of the Joint Fleet. They had infiltrated the capital a week earlier in order to contact the coup forces led by Savia Iliam and Sitos Sphinoid.
"This is Force Recon, forces from all over the capital have begun advancing toward the eastern port."
"Roger that."
13 soldiers of Force Recon, led by Sergeant Alberto Davis, are scattered throughout the capital to monitor the enemy. Inside a Type 82 command and communications vehicle of the landing force headquarters, which had created a position on the beach, the commander of the landing force, Colonel Takeshi Akiyama, gives orders to all units.
"All troops halt! We will intercept the enemy here!"
Upon receiving the commander's order, the column of armored vehicles that had been marching down the main street of the city center toward the Imperial Palace in the center of the capital stopped their march.
Custefai Urban Outskirts
The landing force, under orders from the commander, stopped in the middle of Karfurnilmud Street, the main street that runs through the city center and extends from the Palace Square to the port to the east, and formed a wide lateral formation consisting of Type 10 tanks, armored vehicles, and AAV7s. Looking ahead, they could see enemy troops emerging from the center of the city, raising a cloud of dust as they approached. Through the binoculars, they could read the devilish expressions on their faces.
"It's on me...!"
Major Mitsuo Tashiro, who was watching the enemy from his tank, had a snide smile on his face, in contrast to the desperate look on the Altian soldier's face, trying to break their fear of death.
"Pull in well... don't hit any houses in the vicinity!"
The men put their hands on the machine guns and assault rifles attached to each vehicle and pointed them at the oncoming enemy.
. . .
Flagship Akagi Bridge, Japan-US Joint Fleet
The troops who have landed in Custefai have informed the flagship of the war situation. Rear Admiral Hasegawa, the fleet commander, takes the operation to the next level after receiving reports from the Force Recon.
"The landing force is a decoy, so to speak, to attract the remaining capital guard, and possibly the Imperial Guard. This is where the real operation begins."
He was smiling at the successful diversion of the enemy. On the flight decks of the amphibious assault ship Oga and Kojima, a total of four large transport helicopters were finishing preparations for takeoff.
"The CH-47J Chinooks and the CH-53E Super Stallions are ready for takeoff!"
"Good! Helicopter assault team, launch! Take off immediately!"
Upon receiving the report from his subordinates, Hasegawa gave the order to each helicopter waiting on deck to depart. Immediately after, two CH-47JA Chinooks from the GSDF and two CH-53E Super Stallions from the US Marine Corps departed, each carrying a total of nearly 200 personnel. They had only one goal: to take control of the Senate and Imperial Palace, the enemy's central hub.
. . .
Karfurnilmud Street, Custefai
The rain of machine guns that the Japanese and American landing forces were hurling against the soldiers of the Altian Empire had pierced the barricades they had erected and had once again built a pile of wreckage on top of the main street.
"D-don't afraid! This is the capital, and if we don't protect it at all costs, this country will be destroyed!"
Under machine gun fire, they had commandeered furniture from surrounding homes and buildings and hastily built two lines of barricades. Rambdoid Sucha, who commands the soldiers, is in command inside the second barricade on the far side. The first barricade in front was no longer used as a shield, and dead bodies of soldiers littered the inside and outside of it.
Soldiers from the Capital Guard and the Imperial Guard raised their swords and picked up their guns to bravely face the landing force, which is firing unilaterally from more than 400 meters away. However, one by one, the soldiers sank before the machine guns, which had an overwhelmingly effective range, penetrating power, and rapid rate of fire greater than their guns, the latest weapons in their possession. Some soldiers are already running away in the face of the overwhelming brutality of the enemy.
"More casualties will only increase, and it will be impossible to stop the enemy's advance!"
"Right! What they are doing is not the act of man!"
While being overwhelmingly outmatched, Rambdoid receives an urgent report from his subordinates. He himself knew this, but as the country's last line of defense, they had no choice but to retreat. Then a further blow fell upon them. The enemy landing force, which had been halting like a tortoise, gradually began to advance.
"What!?"
Enemy bullets begin to reach the second barricade on the far side as the enemy's moving giant box gets closer. As the enemy approaches, the rain of bullets increases in intensity.
"Abandon the first barricade! All hands, fall back to second barricade!"
The commanding officer gives the order, and the soldiers begin to retreat. However, bullets rained down on them without mercy even as they turned away. The 5.000 soldiers who had been assembled to protect the capital had already lost two-thirds of their number. The various vehicles of the landing force crushed the first barricade, and then proceeded to climb over it to the second barricade where Rambdoid had taken up position.
"Prepare yourselves!"
Rambdoid ended his fear of death and encouraged the remaining soldiers. But the expressions on the faces of the soldiers, who had already realized their defeat, were dark.
Batabatabatabatabata...!
At that moment, a new pounding sound can be heard from across the sea. Those noises and the swarms of flying objects that emitted them were gradually approaching his men. They flew right over them and headed straight for the center of the capital.
"They are heading for the Imperial Palace!"
Rambdoid is frustrated. The Senate and the Imperial Palace were now unarmed, as most of the troops protecting them had been sent to push back the enemy landing force.
"His Majesty is in danger!"
Rambdoid realized the enemy's purpose. But soon after, his consciousness fizzles out, and he fell to the ground without knowing how he died, having been hit in the head by a 12,7 mm machine gun bullet. Four large helicopters, two CH-47JA Chinooks and two CH-53E Super Stallions, passed over them, having lost their chain of command. It was not long after that their final line of defense in the capital was wiped out and collapsed.
CH-47JA Chinook above the capital
The four-helicopter aerial assault force over Custefai was already very close to its target. Captain Tadahiro Yasuda, who was in command of the assault on the Senate and the Imperial Palace, sent a message to each unit under his command.
"Attention all units. A coup d'état must be underway inside the target by the Third Princess Savia Iliam and her subordinate forces, who are in league with us. We will seize the Senators and the Emperor, and when the Senate has been overrun, we will enter the Senate and the Imperial Palace!"
The helicopters circled around the Senate and the Imperial Palace to assess the current situation. Then they found the dead bodies of guards lying in front of the main gate of the Senate.
"The coup had already begun..."
Those corpses were the guards of the Senate were killed by the coup forces led by Savia and Sitos. Shortly thereafter, a transmission came in from a US Marine hiding on the ground.
"This is Force Recon Alberto Davis! Proceed to the Senate immediately!"
"...Copy!"
Inside the Senate, fighting had already begun. Captain Yasuda, who was aware of the current situation, issued orders to each helicopter flying overhead.
"Unit 4, descend in front of the Senate and enter the interior! The other three, look for a possible landing site inside the Imperial Palace!"
Upon receiving the commander's order, the helicopter aerial assault team splits into two and headed for their respective targets.