New Delhi, Residency of Delhi, British Raj

March 28th, 1859

The 19th Century is when the world started to drastically change within just a short time span, less than 10 years. Bursting like a lightning, thundering down on Earth from the clouds. Humanity has risen itself and took a step into a modern era with a huge debut that roared the changes it came with. From using coal and hand crafting to using steam machine and automatic production by machine. The Britannia Empire undergoes a continuous and massive Industrial Revolution that changed the simple Steam Technology into a more advanced one

Eventhough still relying on steam energy, the Technological changes made the Empire to change and flourish as an Industrial Country with the invention of Steam Robot and Automatic System, Ship Propulsion System, Steam Train, Aviation Technology from the United States of Freedonia, Telecommunication, and Improved Electricity System. All thanks to Intellectuals and Inventors of both the Empire and the World. And all that were not just for the Home Country of the Empire but also to the vast territory of the Briannia Empire, especially the Crown Colony of India

Through its military might and naval power superiority, rivaled only by the rising Germania Confederation Army under the Prussian banner with Otto Von Bismarck as its Pioneer and New Napoleonic Francia under Napoleon’s Nephew, General-Emperor Napoleon III Army, unrivaled in the world, the Empire expanded its holdings through the world. The Royal Navy of the Britannia Empire, with its vast fleet and advanced technologies that were implanted into the vessels, shone their might to the world as they went to rule the seas for her majesty, Queen Victoria

These two factors along with the Empire’s Technological advantage helped the British Colonial Endeavor, conquering many territories in both Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Although, it had lost one of its important Colonies in the 18th century in North America that now became the independent growing free country, the United States of Freedonia, thus shrinking the Empire’s Colonial Territories in the Americas with only Canada and a few islands in the Caribbean. Thus making the 18th century and  the 19th century the era of Pax Britannica where Britain ruled the waves

India, or as it was known at the time, The Maharaja or The British Raj was the Crown Jewel of the British Empire at the height of its power. It is the largest colony that the Britannia have in its Commonwealth realm. It was twice the size of the home Islands of Britain and Ireland combined with more population than in Britain and Ireland that includes both British and Indian citizen and even from other British colonies and other countries. The Colony’s Capital City, New Delhi, retained its name from the now defunct Delhi Sultanate that ruled India once before it was brought down by the might of the British Military about 50 years ago

India has been modernized by their British rulers in which train transportation system was implemented and built and it’s still continuing to be worked on along with Electricity and Telecommunication network. There are also several reforms on agriculture and society, making the Colony to prosper. India is also the most protected British colony with the presence of British troops and heavy equipment from Britannia, ANZAC soldiers from Australia and New Zealand, Canadian soldiers, Hanoverian Legionnaires, and of course Indian soldiers consisted of Sikhs, Punjabis, Sepoys, Pakistanis, and the famous Gurkhas from Nepal

But what both the people in India, Britain, and the whole world didn’t know is that a dark turn will soon take place in the Maharaja

Delhi Townsquare

The Townsquare of Delhi is bustling with citizens of the Colony, both from India and Britain and also some minorities from other British colonies such as Australia and Canada. Because it was Sunday, the people came here for fun. Every Saturday and Sunday, the Commission for Culture and Art holds a weekly festival called ‘Saint Diona’ where people would gather and go together with their friends and family to enjoy the festival. The banners of the festival that have the symbol of the Saint of Festival, Diona (an illustration of a young girl in white with two white trumpets beside her, a round colorful flower arrangement in front of the young girl, and three white stars above the young girl) were flown to symbolize the the festival. There’s even a monument in the middle of the townsquare which represent the Conquest of the Subcontinent by British Empire. Stands were set up everywhere too at the townsquare, selling things like foods, beverages, and other things for people to enjoy. There are also some stands for displays and games for people to play and look. Both the elderly and the youth were crowding the Townsquare of Delhi

The Delhi Metro Police Force is consisted of both British and Indian policemen armed with stun baton and revolver were on patrol and supervision duty at the festival in case of some unwanted issue like a civil unrest. There’s also military presence there to bolster the Police but just a number of small units under civilian disguise, armed with standard issued Self-Loading Martini Henry rifle, and off-duty, enjoying the festival too. A number of Police Chariot carriers, armed with Maxim gun were also present at the festival along with mounted policemen. Overall, the security of the festival is ensured and people can enjoy the festival without worry

Or at least, supposedly until much later

And among the people enjoying the Saint Diona Festival was a young boy, barely 19 years old. This young boy’s name is Jonathan Davis Malborough. He’s a young boy born in England from a family of noble of Viscount rank, Viscount and Viscountess Malborough. He has straight light auburn brown hair, diamond blue eyes, fair light white skin, and masculine medium built. Today at the festival, we can see him sitting on chair at a small Cafe stand seat with a cup of fine Darjeeling tea,small bottle of milk, a jar of sugar, a teaspoon, an Anglo-Indian mixed dish Peri-Peri chicken sandwich, a small book, and a pen on the table

This is his story full of action, adventure, unbelievable fantasy, friendship, and romance

{Jonathan’s POV}

I always thought that fantasy is… well, a fantasy, Something that is not real or couldn’t be possible to exist. That is what I thought since I reached my early adulthood at the age if 18. Before that, I was always fascinated by the stories of knights, magic, dragons, and other otherworldly fantasy things. When I was a child my mother used to read me those kind of stories before going to bed and my father used to bring me with him to theatre to watch fantasy movies. One example of those fantasy saga that I remembered in my childhood is the legend of King Arthur and the Camelot that is still popular today. A classical English fantasy from the olden age

Oh? I forgot to introduce myself while talking about fantasy?

Well, I suppose I should introduce myself then

My name is Jonathan Davis Malborough, just an ordinary 19 year old boy spending his time at the festival. Dandy right? Heh, of course that’s not all there is to me. No need to know who I am right now. For now, I shall enjoy today’s lovely festivities with a cup of tea, a mixed cultural dish, and writing on my journal. Today’s weekly festival is unlike the usual, today’s weekly festival is a special one because today we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the conquest of India

That may… infuriated the local people considering that today is celebrating the day when the East India Company took over India by winning the Battle of Plassey, the Battle of Buxar, and the Siege of the old Delhi against the declining Islamic Mughal Empire that led to its fall and the installment of colonial rule in India. But as it turns out, the Indian people were a lot more happier with our rule than their former ruler who led India into total anarchy and religious clash between the Hindus and the Muslims

When we first established our rule in India, it was not administrated by the crown, but was instead given to the East India Company who first set their foot India for Britain. Truth to be told that their administration went well for a few decades until the 1857 mutiny two years ago which led to the collapse of the Company’s rule which was then replaced with Imperial Rule with the shutdown of East India Company and the coronation of Queen Victoria as the Emperor of India. And since then India have been the crown colony of the British Empire

Oh? You want to know how I got here?

Well… if you insist on knowing that, then I shall indulge you… but later, on. You just need to put up with it for a well until then. For now, let’s focus on the ‘now’ for now. Right now, I’m relaxing at a small Anglo-Indian cafe called ‘Bijabury’ which is a mix of an Indian place ‘Bijapur’ and English place ‘Canterbury’ where they served a mixture of British and Indian delicacies along with classic cafe beverages like coffee and tea. I ordered a Peri-Peri chicken sandwich and a cup of Darjeeling tea to dine in a the place, sitting down at one of the seats while enjoying the morning festivities and accounting all of it in my letter to my sister back in England

“Dear Lily,

How is it in England? If you are wondering how I am in India… I’m doing great. Nothing out of the ordinary nor there are any more insurrection from the Indians since the Crown decided to replace the East India Company as its ruler. The people here are way more happier and comfortable with the Crown’s rule rather when they were under the Company. You have been wanting to go to India right? To see and experience other cultures that are different from European cultures. Well, I got a week of rest next week. Then you can come either by just yourself or if you want, with father and mother and I shall come to pick you all up at Mumbai International Airport. Until then… I will see you next week

Your beloved brother, John”

That was all that I have written for my sister. I will send it later after the festival is done. I will also slip in some photos of the festival in the letter, to let her know about India more clearly aside from just reading it from geography of history books without visualizing how India looks like. I hope that she and our parents will come to India and I will show them the country where I have served for two years away from Britain. I hope they will like it here and see new things with their own eyes instead of through countless words on papers

It was a relaxing moment for me to enjoy my day off and like what the Americans like to say in their casual way saying things ‘to chill out’ from all the stress and burden of work. Sure that the Cafe is bustling with many patrons and costumer and that the best way to relax is to be alone, but either way I can still relax even with this kind of atmosphere. As long as I’m away from work environment. But that doesn’t mean that I hate my job. In fact I’m proud of my job

And no, I won’t tell you about who I really am just yet. That will come later soon, I promise. Just… hold your horses

Anyway, while I was enjoying my breakfast, two people, one that I recognize and the other one I don’t recognize, came up to me. One of them is a white man with straight blonde hair and blue eyes dressed in tan coat (not a fancy one), white shirt, dark brown trousers tightened with a belt, a pair of black boots, and a slouch hat while the other one is an Indian man with straight dark hair and dark brown eyes dressed in traditional Indian clothing which is consisted of purple turban, white long sleeved shirt, black knee-height trousers, and a pair of Indian shoes (Padukas)

“Well, look who it is? Fancy meeting you here, John” The white man greeted me

I closed my journal and smiled at them before greeting them back “And so do I. I assume that you are also enjoying your share of leisure time here eh, Blake?”

“Yeah, I heard that the St. Diona festival is one that is worth to be enjoyed and I came here with my friend, Madhav here” He said, gesturing to his Indian friend “He’s from the Royal Delhi Police Force” He continued

The Indian Policemen nodded and tipped his turban a bit at me as a form of greetings

”Yes, it’s nice to meet you, Mr. John. I’ve heard a a lot about you from Blake and I’m fascinated with all of your spectacular achievements. You’ve contributed a lot not just for Britain, but also India”

I smiled at him “Why thank you my good sir. But please, I didn’t do all those things just to get some fame or be labeled as a ‘hero’. I’m just doing what I think is right, in my mind anyway” I said

Blake chuckled in response “Heh, as sole minded as ever, John. Glad that you never stray away from your ideals and visions” He remarked

“And I can assure that I won’t ever do that. Without all of that, I will not be ‘myself’ and I will certainly never step on this land” I replied before I took a sip of my cup of Darjeeling tea. After I put the cup of tea down on the saucer “Take a seat you two. We’re all off-duty y’know. No need to be so tense or formal and besides… I’m younger than you two” I told them, gesturing to the empty three chairs around the table of the seat I’m at

They quickly took my offer and sat on the chairs I gestured. After they each took their seat, Blake noticed my Journal on the table. He then asked me “Ah, with your Journal as always. But today I noticed that you’re not writing some stuff today for yourself. So, who is it for?” He then paused to gasp “Oh don’t tell me that you have a secret lover somewhere? I’m really jealous of you, John” He continued with an exasperated look

I nervously let out a sweat and shook my head “Oh no no no! It’s not for a lover and I don’t even have one. It’s for my sister” I replied

“Oh really? Bummer… I thought that you have one. But I guess no…or are ya lyin’? I mean, you’re a son of a middle ranking nobles. I’m certain that your parent would arrange you a marriage with a young lady from a noble family back in Britain” He said then he paused. His look is one of realization. I’m not feeling good about that look he has. He’s probably going to say something weird if I know him “Or wait, are you in some sort of incest relationship with your sister?”

I sweat dropped

And I can also feel that Madhav is sweat dropping too

“Umm, I think you’re way off the mark there, Aussie. I don’t know how you came to that conclusion. Please, don’t talk about anyone’s sister like that” I replied. And for the record: Yes, that’s right. This fellow is an Australian “I mean… sure that I love my sister along with the rest of my family.. But it’s just that: familial love” I told him “And no, I’m not engaged to anyone. I would rather find my future lady on my own rather than relying on my nobility status”

Blake let out a small laugh while gently slamming his fist on the table “Yeah, I know I’m just messing with ya, Brit” He then called one of the Cafe’s waiters to order himself and Madhav some food and drink “Oy! Any waiters here available for us?” He called out to them

One of the waiters who is currently not serving the customers quickly went to our table, carrying a note book to write Blake’s and Madhav’s order “What can I get for you two, sirs?”

“I’ll have a good o’ cup of Italian Flat White and Sikh Kebab with cheese” Blake told the Waiter

“And I think I’ll have a glass of Mint Lassi and spicy Phav Bhaji with some Kaiser Rolls” Madhav then told his order to the Waiter after Blake as the Waiter wrote down the letter. After done writing down their orders, the Waiter excused himself and went back to get their orders prepped

“Sooo” Blake began “Any interesting news from abroad” He asked

I shrugged my shoulders “Not much that I know about. But there’s another ongoing war between the newly independent Kingdom of Italy against the Austro-Hungarian Empire. So far, the Austrians held what the Italians want which is Venice but I heard that France is going to send an Intervention Forces under its Dictator, Napoleon III to aid the Italians in the war” I told them both “So I think the Italians will win the war especially with them using unconventional tactics against the Austrians and that the French will aid them”

“You said ‘not much’ but that’s definitely a big event happenin’ in Europe” Blake remarked “The Italians will get their lands back from the sooner or later if they play with the right hands, especially when the French joined in ganging on the Austrians”

“Yeah, and this war started 10 years after the second French Revolution right? And that with the Napoleon’s nephew leading France” Madhav said “Although, from what I’ve heard… he’s completely different from his uncle”

I nodded “Indeed, and not just because he’s a completely different people. We all know that’s obvious” I joked at first, making both Blake and Madhav to chuckle “He focused only on making France great again, just like during his Uncle’s era. His Uncle on the other hand… while he indeed focused on spreading his influence throughout Europe, he also reformed France when he became Emperor. I mean yeah, Napoleon III tried to reform France too but he failed to do so because he was focusing so much on re-glorifying France. So in summary, the uncle is competent while the nephew is incompetent” I continued with  the explanation “I also heard that the new Northern German Confederation is irritating him and inviting him to a war”

Blake sighed, placing his slouch hat on the table before before brushing his hair with his hand “Well, Europe is gonna have to endure another big conflict either after the Italian war or when it’s still in progress. Who knows how things would turn out in there”

“One thing for sure though: It’s going to be disastrous” Madhav added

I nodded in agreement “Couldn’t disagree with that. It’s going to be disastrous\, especially with the Germans fielding that mega railway gun\, Herrscher der Verwüstung” I then grabbed my sandwich and took a bite of it *munch*. Mmm\, delicious\~

We continued to talk about a bunch of stuffs. While deep in our conversation, both Blake’s and Madhav’s orders finally arrived at the table. We then continued our conversation while also having breakfast together. We talked about our life and events around the world mostly about wars while the Saint Diona festival is ongoing in full swing with people around the town square visiting various stalls and stands at the festival, enjoying the festivities with sheer excitement that made the St. Diona, a festival that is commemorated by many people from different cultures. The Military and Indian Police patrolling around the town center, ensuring the safety of the people at the festival from any crimes or possible revolt from various rebel groups. But all in all, India is safe rebellions and revolts, just some small unknown crimes there and there popping out randomly

After we finished our breakfast at the cafe, we paid for all of our orders and head out to the festival venue. It’s my free day and I guess that goes to both Blake and Madhav too. Might as well look around and enjoy the festival for a bit, not just sitting idly around somewhere nearby watching the festival. That would be a waste of time and I’m not about to waste my free day like that. Joining on in the festival with everyone else might worth the time and we might have a ball from the festival

So I went with both Blake and Madhav to the festival, walking and looking around the festival fairs, stands, and stalls. There are various of them, but most of them are all about gourmet and entertainment stuffs like the cafe where we had breakfast earlier. So we decided to spend our time on some entertainment-based stands which mostly include games and performances. We went to a shooting game stand in which we have to shoot some miniature sized dummies on three sections rack using a fake rifle or toy gun that resembles the currently in service British and Commonwealth military rifle

It was a day full of jolliness

(Three hours later)

“Ahh, what a day!” Blake exclaimed, stretching his arms up and backwards “This festival is much more fun than I had thought. At first, I thought this kind of festival is the kind of jam for children and teenagers” He then crossed his arms behind his head and rested his head on them “But I guess I misjudged it”

I laughed nervously, sweat dropping “Ahahaha, yeah…” Though, in my head I was actually saying ‘If you forgot I’m a teenager…” Uhhh, kind of? I mean 19 is the age for late teenagers and a transition to adulthood. So I think I might be both correct and wrong on that

“Well, we have spent so much time here together for a while now. It seems we enjoyed it a lot” Madhav remarked “Despite our coming from different culture, whether as an Englishmen or an Australian or a Punjabi like me, we can still have fun together without caring about all that. Not many people have views like that”

I smiled and nodded “You’re right, Madhav. Unity in Diversity will make people viewing each other as equal and would result in them living in mutual respect and cooperation. A new age with that kind of life is coming in the near future, maybe closer than we think. I can feel it” I then looked at the sky. A flock of pigeons flew by as if that what I said is reflected by the movement of those birds

But then, I noticed that somehow, something is off. I don’t know what, but I have bad feeling about this

The air suddenly got eerie and the sky suddenly turned blood red. The sun eventhough still shinning its ray of light, was in the shade of complete blackness. The excitement and jolliness of the festivities suddenly dissipated, replacing them with grim and dreading atmosphere. All soon turned into darkness, not literal darkness though, but a darkness that crept in the mind and soul of humans

It feels as if there’s something that’s unknown and evil is about to descend into this world. The people at the festival looked up up into the sky with worry and fear plastered on their face. Just like from those kind of fictional stories and no one expect that such thing could happen to this world. But, eventhough I’m not that much of a believer, I guess fate and destiny are predetermined

“Uh… w-what’s going on? Why’s the sky suddenly turned red? Is this part of the festival” Blake asked in confusion while looking up at the sky

“I don’t know. I don’t think that this supposed to happen, especially in this broad day light” I said, looking up into the sky before looking around my surroundings. So far, nothing out of the ordinary on the ground. Only the sky that acted abnormally

“This is really weird… Is it… the end of the world?” Madhav asked in confusion. I don’t know how he got into that kind of conclusion, but it feels really that the world is about to end and yet at the same time… it’s not the case

Suddenly, in the middle of the Town Square, where the monument of the Conquest of India is, some sort of floating mirror with golden red frame suddenly appeared magically out of nowhere. But it didn’t just suddenly appear, poofing out like thin air. When it appeared, it caused a strong shockwave centered in the center of the townsquare and broke the monument as it crumble into pieces pebbles and stones. The aura of that golden red frame, I can describe it as ominous because it feels as if somethings, not good things are going to come out from that frame which if it does, then it’s no longer a frame but a portal from another world. And I’m afraid that is the case

A horde of these… non-human humanoid creatures clad in black medieval armor and medieval weapons like swords, axes, maces, spears, and such suddenly came out from that portal. They looked like soldiers of the darkness that emerged from Hell to wreck havoc on Earth. And they weren’t alone

They were also accompanied by the same black armored soldiers but mounted on these mystical horses that have the aura of darkness and these monstrous flying reptiles. In other words… fire-breathing dragons. At first they were numbered in dozens then hundreds and then… thousands. When they first set their foot, hooves, and claws on the soil of India, they slayed the first human they spotted, and then another, and then another again and again with cold blood and no mercy at all

I gritted my teeth at the sight of innocent people being slaughtered by these inhumane creatures from the darkness. This is terrible. I couldn’t bear such disaster unfolds. Not if I can do anything about it

Well… I guess I can reveal who I am now

I pulled out a W&S ECM (that stands for Webley and Scott Easy Cylindrical Magazine) Revolver and a steel grip handle with a switch on it from my belt holsters. I then pulled the cock of my revolver back, ready to fire at anytime and turn flipped the switch of the grip handle as a sharp steel blade retracted out from the grip handle, transforming the grip handle into its true form, a Saber

“Gentlemen” I addressed both Blake and Madhav before continuing “You know what we must do right?”

They both nodded as Blake pulled out his QL (stands for quick loading) Enfield 1855 rifle hidden under his coat, retracting its bayonet and Madhav pulled out his Self-Loading Martini-Henry rifle from his back before answering to my question “Yes, sir!”

I am Captain Jonathan Davis Malbourough of the 96th Royal Rifles Brigade of Her Majesty’s Royal Army along with all British and Commonwealth soldiers shall fight back the otherworldly threat

New Delhi, Residency of Delhi, British Raj

March 28th, 1859

New Delhi Townsquare

{Jonathan’s POV}

Chaos

Atrocity

Barbaric

Those are the words that I can describe for such situation. Unarmed innocent civilians of Delhi present in the St. Diona Festival, were being slaughtered mercilessly by these soldiers and creatures of the darkness. They didn’t spare anyone in their way. Be it British, Commonwealth, Indian, foreign women, children, the elderly, and even the disabled. All of them are killed, no matter what. Those who were mostly killed by these… monsters, were near and around the now destroyed statue of the conquest of India which is now replaced by that mirror-like portal that transported these monsters into India… no, our world. It doesn’t matter which land on Earth where this portal appears. It brings death and destruction upon this world with unknown power from the beyond. Sure, It may only appear in India right now. But if it then spread to other places or even worse, also already appeared in other places, especially those with weak military presence, then it would mean utter destruction and barbaric massacre

But, if it can be stopped with man-made bullets and blades, humans’ ingenuity and will to live, and our hope for freedom and the future….

Then, I will take my chances to do what I think is right: resist and protect

“Let’s go! Let’s not waste more time or the lives of the innocents’ here” I told both Blake and Madhav after I drew my Revolver and retractable Saber

Both Blake and Madhav already drew their own rifle with their Bayonet retracted. I know that it’s impossible to fight off these enemies and protect the people with just the three of us along with the presence of Indian Policemen and a small unit of Army soldiers who have yet to notice the mysterious chaotic phenomenon that occurred in the inner area of the town square. Though there are some Indian Policemen and British Soldiers alongside us in the inner area who quickly joined us when they saw the chaos ensued, there are only ten of them

Seven of them are Indian Policemen armed with rifles like the one that Madhav has while the rest of them are British Soldiers from the Army branch in white Army pith helmets, red uniforms, and dark blue trousers, armed with Rifles like the one that Blake has and also a Vickers machine gun strapped on the back of the most buff of them. But until we can get those who were outside the inner area to be involved in this, we must do what we can and hold out as long as we can until they arrive here. And because I’m the only one with the highest rank among them, I decided to take the rein of leading the twelve Soldiers and Policemen

I looked around for the trapped civilians who were attempting to flee from the center of the town square that now became a meat grinder. We need to get them out from there, fast. I turned to Blake, Madhav, the three British soldiers, and seven Indian Policemen who probably not recognizing who I am from my civilian attire “Just a quick introduction, I am Captain Jonathan Davis Malborough of the 96th Rifles. We need to get the civilian away from the town square center. I need eight men with me to help evacuate the civilian and four others to give us cover while we help the civilian flee” I told them. I then quickly looked around to find a good defensible and firing position to give cover fire and found a line of concrete walls about two meters away from “Those who will give the vanguards cover fire, go behind that concrete wall and provide them covering fire. Is that understood?” I ordered them while pointing at the said fortification

They all nodded in understanding, replying in an exclaim “Aye, Sir!” and acted in response as ordered. Me and Madhav along with two British Soldiers and four Indian Policemen will become the Vanguards to help rescue and evacuate the civilian while the rest, Blake along with three Indian Policemen and the buff British Soldier with the machine gun will become the Rearguards and give us cover while we execute our task

The five men of the Rearguards quickly took up their position behind the concrete wall and loaded their rifles. The buff British Soldier, helped by an Indian Policemen quickly set up the Vickers machine gun on the concrete. The buff British Soldier now became the shooter of the machine gun while the Indian Policeman that assisted became the loader. And that makes them both ‘Rearguards’ and ‘machine gun crew’. And as us for us, the ‘Vanguards’, we will face off the enemy head-on while helping to protect, rescue, and evacuate the civilian from the center of the town square. I’m not sure that bullets can have any effect on these creatures and I know that is quite risky, might be suicidal, but for the sake of justice, not even the forces of darkness can frighten the men of the British Empire

I turned to the seven men of the Vanguards “Men! With me! Close Order Skirmish Formation! Our tasks here are to protect the civilians and contain the enemy forces from breaking out the town square and breaching into the residential areas” I ordered them to form a Close Order Skirmish Formation in which the men will spread out but to an extent of them being close to each other which is different from the usual Skirmish Formation when the men would spread out a little bit away from each other. But, since there are only eight of us, this is the proper formation to use

“Quick march! Forward!” I shouted a command for us to move forward into the frontline. We quickly jogged towards the enemy forces while the enemy forces were still busy chasing and massacring the civilians who were trying to flee the scene and some of them stood still in their place with utter fear and shock at the sight of these monstrosity coming for them “Don’t fret, men! Those monsters are just some bloodthirsty barbarians with a thirst for human’s blood. And it is up to us to stop them from taking any more innocent lives!”

They grunted and exclaimed, almost like chanting in unison to what I said “Aye Aye, Sir!” as we continued to march towards the enemy forces

While marching into the battlefield, we encountered some civilians who were attempting to flee but they were exhausted due to the constant running for their lives. And as for the civilians who managed to flee from the slaughter, quickly wasted no time standing by and immediately try to escape the place but have no idea where to go because of panic. We approached those who were closer to us, they were in a group or at least an unorganized crowd while maintaining our formation and keeping our guards up for any dark soldiers or monsters coming for us “Come on! Get away from this place!” I told them while pointing at where the Rearguard soldiers are “You see those men behind that wall? Go there and they will help you direct where you should go! Hurry! NOW!” They all nodded and did as I told

After that, we continued our quick march toward the hostile area. On the way there, we also continued to help directing the civilians out of this area and help the trauma-struck civilians to get back to their senses and quickly escape this place. But before we could continue any further, dozens of those dark soldiers and monsters in front of us who were busy killing and/or chasing innocent civilians, noticed our presence. And before we know it, a sense of imminent fear crept up on us

They looked at us with the look of murder in their eyes. I couldn’t see the faces of the armored dark knights but I still can see their red glowing eyes and their intent to kill, their medieval steel weapon smeared in blood, humans’ blood. The beasts are also looking at us not just with murderous intent, but also grinning hungrily with their sharp teeth coated in humans’ blood and their disgusting saliva dribbling down from their mouths. This scene makes me sick. Though I’m not that much of a believer, these monsters are definitely the servants of the devil, sent here to make a living hell

One of those dark knights who spotted us along with his fellow dark knights and beasts who followed them, raised his bloodied sword (these knights are definitely men judging from the shape of their armor) and pointed it at us before shouting in his rough and almost inhumane tone “Omnes interficere! sanguinem eorum bibe, et eos delectabiliter ebibe!” The others exclaimed and the beasts roared as they- wait the minute… did that dark knight just speak Latin!?

Nevermind that! These dark knights are going to kill us all. Think about that later and focus on taking these invaders down and protecting the people

“Independent! Fire at will!” I ordered my men to fire on their own time and choose their own targets at their discretion

In response, they obeyed the given order. One by one while some simultaneously aimed at their targets before they pulled their rifles’ triggers. Loud bangs can be heard followed by some smoke coming out from the rifles’ muzzles as a rain of bullets flew through the air toward their targets. The bullets that were shot by Madhav, the two British soldiers, and two Indian Policemen found their targets, hitting five dark knights as they pierced the dark knights’ steel armor and struck their bodies behind the armor as those five dark knights fell to the ground

It seems that these dark knights can be killed with regular bullets. And as for the beasts, I don’t think that one bullet can kill them because the two bullets shot by the other two Indian Policemen with me while they hit their marks, their shots didn’t manage to kill the beasts but I think they managed to hurt them by some margin because the impact of the bullets staggered the beasts a little bit but they’re still kicking

Well then, I guess I’ll leave them to the Rearguards’ machine gunners

And as if on cue, one of the men positioned as Rearguards shouted to us “take cover!” And we did instinctively by proning down on the ground as multiple rapid gunfires from the Vickers Maxim machine gun along with ragtag shots from the standard battle rifles took the stage of the battle. Dozens, possibly almost hundreds of bullets were fired at the beasts as the bullets pierced their body again and again non-stop that left so many holes in the beasts’ bodies. After a few more seconds, they stopped firing when Blake whom I left in charge of the Rearguards, ordered them to do so “Hold your fire! That’s enough”

After that, we raised our heads from the ground to finally see the otherworldly beasts laying on the ground dead, taken down by the heavily-armed Rearguards, their bodies riddled with holes from dozens, might even be hundreds of .303 Vickers rounds. The sight of these creatures that are now dead, is one of uneasiness and disgust. They looked horrible when they still have their thirst for blood but now, they looked way more horribly disfigured. Turns out bullets made out of lead can even take the life of a monstrous being from hell, just need several bullets to take them down to a peg. Huh, I didn’t expect that it would be just that easy without the need for us to find out what kind of countermeasures to take down these monsters. It’s just like they say ‘reality is always more unexpected than imagination’

I got up on my feet, revolver and retractable saber still in my two hands “Stand up, men!” I ordered them “With those threats in front of us gone, at least for now anyway... Now’s the time to protect and rescue any civilians trapped within this hostile space. The rearguards will keep an eye out and cover for us” They all nodded in understanding as they followed me to protect and help the civilians

As we continued moving inland toward the hostile area, we found another group of civilians. There are about ten of them, two of them are women and three of them are children. It seems they were trying to flee the area but couldn’t find the right way to go and were in confusion and distraught amidst the chaos. Thankfully there aren’t any dark knights or otherworldly monsters in the vicinity around those civilians but there are those who were scattered off the side, not near where the civilians are. I’m not sure if this is good or bad but somewhat my intuition is giving me a bad feeling about this. But we won’t waste any time thinking about that when we could help these civilians

We quickly rushed in towards those civilians without any interference from the otherworldly monsters. After reached the civilians, we wasted no time to help protect and direct them to the safe zone behind the Blake’s rearguard forces. The two British soldiers and four Indian Policemen each took one civilian under their protection while both me and Madhav each took two civilians. The two civilians that I took under my protection are the two children while the two others are a women and a child under Madhav’s care. And with that, all ten civilians are secured and ready to be evacuated from this place. I just hope that there really aren’t any hindrance that awaits us

“It’s okay mister and miss, you are all safe now”

“Not to worry. We shall protect you all with our very life”

“I assure you all that everything is going to be fine. You all just need to listen and follow me and our Commander”

“The situation is very grim right now. So you all need to stay calm and rest assured that as long we are here, no monsters would cause harm to you all”

“We will bring you all to safety. I-no, we assure you all that you all will be safe”

The men went to their respective assigned group of people to calm them down and collect them under their protection. As soon as we’re finished with this task, we will escort these people to the backline where it’s safe from this hell. That’s our first priority right now. We probably don’t have too much time before another dark knights or humongous beasts or fire-breathing flying reptiles to appear before us

I walked up to them and crouched down while facing them

“Hey there, you two!” I greeted them with a smile as to give them some assurance not to worry about anything. But the truth is that there’s so much to be worried about “Are you okay? Do you have any injuries? If so, we’ll tend to them as much as we can” I told them with assuring tone as to comfort them

These two children under my protection are a boy and a girl and it seems that these two are twin siblings, brother and sister judging by the similarities of their appearance. They looked about around six to eight years old with the same blonde hair and blue eyes with the brother having shorter hair and the sister having longer hair. Looking at them caused me to be in deep sorrow, seeing that these kids were in the middle of a slaughter. I don’t know where their parents are but I hope these kids and their parents were just separated in the midst of this chaos. These two still need guidance from their parents to survive and strife in the future and also enjoy their lives freely while they’re still kids

The sister was the first one to speak “We’re okay. It’s thanks to you and your friends, Mr. Soldier”

The brother then, feeling that his courage to speak has been built, spoke “Yeah, we were scared of those creepy men in black armor. We thought that we were in grave danger along with these other people. We also got separated with mom and dad when those bad guys suddenly appeared” He paused for a second before a smile crept up on the boy’s face “But then you and the other soldiers arrived and rescued us from them”

I smiled as I put my hands on both of their head “Yeah, that’s right. We came to rescue you all and beat those bad guys down” I told them “So, there’s no need to be afraid, don’t worry. With us, we will get you to safety and back to your parents” I paused, thinking about what happened when these two were separated from their parents before continuing “You said that you were separated from your mom and dad. What happened? How did you two got separated from them?” Oh, I hope that they’re okay as well

“W-We don’t know. One moment we were with them, then an acrobat got us distracted, a-and then we found ourselves alone without them” The sister replied. She stopped in the middle of her sentence while stifling slightly “And that’s when those bad guys and monsters suddenly appeared and started to…” She chocked while attempting to finish her sentence, feeling hesitant and unable to continue. It’s hard for these kids to witness such… savagery unfolds before their eyes

I decided that was enough from her. No need to press her any further “Alright, I get it. It’s okay, you don’t need to say it”  I told her with a smile to which she responded with a smile of her own

I then stood up as I put both of my hands on my waist and looked down at them once again “Now then… I think an introduction is needed. My name is Jonathan Davis Malborough, a Captain of the Her Majesty's Rifles but you can call me John. And you two are…?”

“My name is Aaron”

“And I’m Angela, we’re siblings”

I smiled as I ruffled their hair softly to which they responded with giggles “Nice to meet you two, Aaron and Angela. Now, let’s get-” Before I could continue, one of the men who were with me exclaimed

“Incoming! about a dozen or more enemy cavalry along with five bloody dragons heading towards our direction” a British soldier informed in a frantic exclaim while looking at a certain direction behind us when we were about to evacuate the ten civilians that we managed to round up

We turned around to the direction where the British soldier is looking at which is near a water fountain which doesn’t have clean water anymore but was replaced by water that got sullied in red by the blood of innocent people, including women and children and even the bodies of those people floating lifeless on the water. Those are the blood of the lives that we didn’t manage to save. This sight definitely pained my heart so much that I can barely cope with it seeing that I failed to save the lives of innocent when it was not their time yet to leave this world. This is also what it means to have a human heart and soul, especially about the pain of having them

So, I guess this is what my Physician meant about me when I was recuperating from the aftermath of the Indian Rebellion two years prior in which I lost many good men under my command who were close to me to the rebels. I can’t say that I blame the rebels for launching that mutiny though. All they wanted is independence but they tried to gain it by spilling not just British blood but also their own people’s blood, especially those with close ties to the British. Due to all of that guilt and sorrow, the Physician described to me as having a ‘Selfless Hero Syndrome’. Though it sounds so silly, but when the Physician explained about it more,  I understood and accepted the fact of having this kind of Mental Syndrome and I told myself that I will embrace it for as long as my life goes. And embrace it I shall

So, I have to be strong, both in soul and mind so that I can face this dilemma and strive to be someone that can achieve his goal and fulfill his fate. And that one obstacle getting in my way to that is in front of me. A horde of the same dark knights in armor but armed with halberds and mounted on these undead skeleton horses along with five flying fire-breathing reptiles simply known as dragons hovering over the mounted dark knights are bearing down upon us. With them here,  they became an immediate threat to the civilians that we are about to evacuate. If we told the civilians to run back to the rearguard line while we hold off the mounted dark knights and dragons, they might get lost or exposed to danger outside our expectations. And if we die here, then the civilians will be in grave danger. I will not let our effort to be wasted here

But still… getting away from a charging cavalry is quite an impossible task to do unless if we have enough men to counter them by forming a square or rank-and-file phalanx or even enough machine guns to overpower them with superior matchless firepower. But neither of those is available at the moment. The only thing we can do is just one thing: get the hell out of this bloody place or simply said: retreat and escape. There’s no other way if we want to keep the civilians alive, then we must keep ourselves alive as well so that we can escort them safely out of this place

“We can’t fight them head-on. Retreat! There are too many of them! Let’s get back to the rear line and get the civilians to safety!” I shouted the command to retreat for the men and the civilians to where Blake and the rear guard troops are

“Roger that, Sir!” Madhav obeyed my command before turning to the woman and children under his protection “Come on, ma’am and little lady. It’s not safe here anymore. We’ll get you two to safety” He told them to which they replied by thanking him and the rest of us for coming to their rescue

After I relayed my order to the men, I turned back to the pair of brother and sister “Alright, kids. Follow and listen to big brother John. You two don’t need to worry about anything besides that, we’ll get you all to safety” I told them

They nodded in understanding and did as I told them “Okay!”

“Good. Now, let’s go!” I turned to the men under my command and the civilians under my command 'Retreat to the Rearguard position!”

Under my command, We wasted no time as The British Soldiers and Indian Policemen of the Vanguards obeyed my command as they quickly run back to Blake’s Rearguard Position with the civilians close to them. The troopers were placed behind the civilians who will be ahead of the troopers so that they can protect the civilians and eliminate any approaching mounted dark knights from harming the civilians. The blonde twins under my protection cling to me as we retreated from the charging of enemy cavalry bearing down upon us with the intent of killing every single one of us without mercy and even disregarding the involvement of children in presence. Nevertheless, there’s no any other choice for us right now but to get away from the charging enemy cavalry

“Run! Just keep running!”

“Don’t stop for anything!”

“Our life depends on us getting away from them!”

“Don’t fret! We shall assure you that no harm comes to you all!”

Those exclaims and shouts from the soldiers and policemen, urged the civilians to keep running no matter what especially with the imminent danger chasing us from behind

We continued running away from the charging enemy cavalry and dragons while also occasionally turning around but still on the run while firing back at the mounted dark knights to get some shots at them. We did manage to kill some of them, but our main priority is still on securing the civilians away from the enemy and retreating back to the rearguard line, period. And because they’re cavalry, riding on horses, not to mention those flying reptiles that the enemy brought along means their movement is much more faster than us. They can outpace us easily at any time and cut us down with their blades and blow us away to smithereens with the fire blasts from their dragons

The rearguard troops also cannot open fire yet because we were not within the reach of a safe firing range as not to accidentally hit any of us with their Vickers machine gun that could hit anything within the range yet. While the same could not mostly be said for the riflemen, it’s still dangerous for us at this range if they open fire on the charging enemy anyway. That’s why we need to at least reach the safe fire range for the rearguards to give us covering fire from the enemy cavalry and dragons. If only we had a communication device with us, I can relay my command to the Rearguard forces without the need to reach their position. This is a dire situation for us to be in. What a predicament… But still, I won’t give up any moment and neither would all of us

While we were on the run, my instinct kicked in as it reacted to something, something bad. I turned behind and looked up to the sky above the charging dark knight cavalry, one of the dragons had its mouth open as a flaming orb formed from a smaller flaming orb and into a bigger flaming orb almost as big as the dragon’s mouth. And the thing worse is that the dragon had its eyes on me and the two siblings under my protection. At that moment I realized that it was preparing its fire blast and the target is us. I can’t let it hurt these kids. They have a bright future ahead of them

So, while still running, I slowed my pace so that the kids can run ahead of me while I’m behind them. I turned around while still running as I raised my revolver and aimed it at the dragon’s eyes. I somehow know that I can at least hurt the dragon by shooting its eyes with high-velocity projectiles so the dragon would stop its fire. I pulled the trigger of my revolver three times consecutively as sparks erupted from the revolver’s barrel and fired three bullets into the sky. The three bullets flew in the air towards the direction of the dragon as they all consecutively hit the dragon on its left eye, causing it to screech in pain and fly in jumbles and in turn, stopped its fire charging

That’s one dragon down and the futures of two kids saved

“Don’t you dare bring harm to the future of innocent children, you monsters! I, along with the brave men and human ingenuities shall be the ones to protect their futures from the likes of you” That was my last declaration to the enemy that I will in the future face once again before we continued our retreat and the evacuation of civilians

And in the future, I surely will realize it as long as I keep living and fighting for the sake of everything that I believed in

New Delhi, Residency of Delhi, Britannia Raj

March 28th, 1859

Maharaja Imperial Headquarters, Army Central Command

Roughly 2 Kilometers away from the Delhi Townsquare

{Author’s POV}

A lone Britannian Soldier in his redcoat uniform and goggle-attached pith helmet, his rifle strapped on his back and his retractable saber sheathed in its belt holder, was riding his horse on the way towards the Headquarters of the Britannia Raj Army stationed in the central region of the Crown Colony. With him, he brought a letter in his saddlebag that bears some news written by the one in command of a few men fighting against the disaster in the town square for the Commander of the Army, unpleasant and dreadful news that will start as a second catalyst for the events in the future. And this letter came not from the other region or Britannia, but it came from the area where the Army Headquarter is: New Delhi, specifically the town square

The Britannian horsemen is speeding up his horse in a frantic hurry. Worried and dreadful about the mysterious otherworldly invasion that occurred in the town square of the Crown Colony Capital that threaten the lives of innocent civilians. Not to mention that it occurred at the same time as the celebration of St. Diona festival where there are many people… civilians present at the townsquare. With those… monsters there, it can be said that the civilians are already in danger and many have definitely became casualties to the slaughter by the monsters. Though, there are some military and police presence in the town square, it’s only mere handful of them. It’s not enough to face the otherworldly monsters that came in great number the size of an army

With so little of soldiers and policemen in the townsquare, he knew it’s only a matter of time before the monster could quash the small military and police forces under a lone young military officer in the town square and move on towards the Crown Colony Capital city’s residential  areas

“Come on! Faster! I need to report this incident to the high command and alert them about it” He said to himself while riding his horse “The lives of our civilian is in great danger and with just less than 50 men under his command, Captain Marlborough have only limited amount of time and ammo before being overrunned by those monsters. I hope I will get there in time”

The Britannian horsemen continued to ride his horse, ordering it to gallop again and again to gain up speed to the point pushing his horse limit. He knew that dragging on much more time would the casualty rate higher from both the military and the civilians. In his mind, time is running out. On the opposite though, he didn’t know about the actions of those back in the town square who have the same mindset and conviction as him. But even with all that, it’s not enough to halt the monsters. It’s only a matter of time before those soon heroes of the Empire to be overwhelmed. They need reinforcements. And that can only be acquired from the Army Central Command through the order and decision of one man, The General of the Britannia Raj Army

Meanwhile… at the Army Central Command Headquarters

In the Command Council room of the Army Central Command Headquarters, there sat twelve military officers of not just the Britannia Raj Army but also from the Royal Britannian Army itself, Royal Air Corps, Royal Australian and New Zealand Army Corps shortened to RANZAC, and Royal Canadian Army Corps. Six officers from the Raj Army, two officers from the Royal Britannian Army, two from the Royal Army Air Corps including one woman, one officer from the ANZAC, and officer from Canadian Army Corps. They were discussing about forming a Militarized Contingency Area for Britannia's Pacific Territory that includes Malaya, Singapore, Hong Kong, Burma, New Guinea, and India Itself. Its purpose is to anticipate the occurrence of future war against threatening powers and rebellions in the Pacific region

In the center of the discussion, the one in charge of the Britannia Raj Army, General Sir Edward Charleston Hulls was leading the discussion regarding the discussed matter. He and the other military officers of the Empire and the Commonwealth were seated around a long rounded rectangular table. General Hulls sat on the narrow side of the table with one seat while the other officers sat on the sides of table and one across General Hulls himself. The one who sat across General Hulls is the lead representative from the Britannia Army, Colonel Albert Quinn Kingston, Commander of the 11th Royal Armored Cavalry Corps.

They were discussing about how the defenses in Empire’s smallest Colony, Hong Kong should be more increased since its annexation by the Britannia Empire in 1842, ten years prior from the crumbling Qing Dynasty of China. Eventhough the Qing is already weak from all aspects, including its own Military, there’s still a chance that the Qing might attempt to retake the island back. So it’s in the Empire’s interest that they need to protect its potential commercial and trade center from the possibility of Qing attempt to retake Hong Kong. As important as it is, they didn’t know yet there is something more important and urgent matter needed more attention as immediately as possible

“...Therefore, the possibility of the Qing attempt on retaking over Hong Kong is close to impossible considering their declining economy, Imperial family’s influence, and military ineffectiveness. With that said though, they STILL have manpower ten times our size combined together here in the Pacific, sufficient enough to face us. Especially with the Raj’s northern frontier sharing the same border with China”  The head of the conference, General Sir Hulls said

Colonel Kingston needed in agreement “So, should I take it that we agreed upon sending additional garrisons to Hong Kong, sir? And exactly how much forces do we need to divert to Hong Kong? Just like what the RAC and the IA4 (Intelligence Agency Sector 4) had reported, the Qing has about 500.000 troops and 1000 junks in their disposal”

A Colonel from the Raj Army, Hayward Armitage then spoke “Our garrisons in Hong Kong only numbered around 5000 Military personnel, 100 armored combat vehicles, 73 aircraft, and 16 warships. Even with additional technological support, it’s still overwhelmingly smaller than what the Qing has”

“Hmmm, then why don’t we just launch a surprise attack on the Qing themselves? We can just go straight for the Qing’s heart through Chuenpee and Shanghai. With that, the Qing would undoubtedly catch the Qing by surprise and forces too whatever demands we want from them” An arrogant Raj officer, a Colonel voiced his opinion

“That won’t do considering we don’t know how much forces they can muster from the Capital and we might run into resistance from the civilians, both from the cities and the countries. That would result in unwanted casualties from our troops and the native civilian. I’m sure you understand about that, Andersen” General Hulls countered and reprimanded his arrogant adjudant officer sternly “And on top of that, we still need to discuss about this with the Navy because in order to get to mainland China straight towards Chuenpee, the Navy’s warships and Royal Marines are required to launch an amphibious landings on the Chinese coast. Unfortunately, this council only extend to the Army and its Air Force branch”

“Urk!” The arrogant Raj Colonel, Colonel Mallard Andersen flinched at the General’s respond and hung his head down “I-I understand, Sire. You are indeed correct about that, Sire”

Out of nowhere, the meeting was interrupted by some voices that can be heard outside the Command Council Room that sounded like they were squabbling “H-Hey! What do you think you’re doing, soldier!? The Officers are having an important meeting right now!” One of the voices belongs to a guard who stood on the side of the meeting room’s doors, guarding the ongoing discussion between the Empire’s Military Officers

Another voice belonged to another Guard guarding the meeting “Yeah, we cannot just let anyone enter like this. It would be an insult to the higher-ups and you yourself will be charged with breaking Military law and code of ethics!”

Another voice, presumably not belonging to another Guard since there are supposed to be only two Guards guarding the meeting “I know, but it’s really urgent! No, ‘urgent’ may not be the best way to describe it… ‘grave’ might be the correct word. That and all that you told me about doesn’t matter right now though. Lives are at stake here! I need to report this matter to the General!”

“Tch, how uncouth!” Another arrogant self-centered Major, this time from the Royal branch, Major Hayden Pakenham mumbled to himself, clearly baffled by the act of a common soldier trying to interrupt the meeting by presumably, rushing into the meeting room

Colonel Kingston chuckled and crossed his arms, amused by what’s unraveling outside the meeting “Uncouth? Surely you jest… I think the commotion outside might be something of an interest to all of us”

“Or it could be indeed just something bad news judging by his choice of words” General Hulls added, seemingly to be in the same picture as Colonel Kingston. He then turned to his fellow officers and subordinates “Why don’t we say… let the young chap here and listen to what  he has to report. It seems urgent or as what he said ‘urgent’ hmm?” He asked them

All of the officers, minus Colonel Mallard of the Raj Army and a Major of the King's Britannian Army, in the room took their own moment to deliberate among themselves. From the tone and the words of the unknown soldier, there’s no mistake that there’s a sense of urgency and dread in them. No one, common soldiers and NCOs would ever dare to try barge into the Command Council Room just for reporting some trivial matters. But then again, it doesn’t seem sound like just some trivial matters. Perhaps it’s related to what the officers are discussing, Perhaps but it sounded like it needs to be viewed as something of an urgency. After some moments of mulling it over, they decided to agree on siding with both General Hulls and Colonel Kingston to let the unknown soldier outside in. Colonel Mallard and the arrogant Major huffed in annoyance, clearly not agreeing with decision but decided to reluctantly go along with it with the General still in the room

“Very well then” The General acknowledged. Then he turned to the meeting room’s door “Guards! Stand down!” He shouted to the Guards outside the door, causing the bickering outside to come to a halt “Let the lad in, boys” He told them to let the desperate soldier to enter the meeting, giving permission to the soldier to enter the meeting under his order

Then the reply from one of the guards came “Understood! As you wish, Sire”

“You may enter the room, Soldier. Please be advised to keep your manner in check in front of the General, his staffs, and the other high-ranking officers”  The other Guard can be heard telling the soldier

Then the door of the Command Council Room slammed open as a young soldier in his late twenties, a Sergeant of a Raj Rifle Cavalry Corps entered the room. This soldier is the same soldier who was in a hurry to report the concurring disaster at the St. Diona Festival venue at the Delhi town square to the higher ups in the Maharaja Imperial Headquarters

When he entered the room, It can be seen that he’s really exhausted and desperate with sweat coming down from his head and breathing really hard. It’s probaby because of his relentless struggle and attempt to convince the Guards and the officers in the room indirectly. But most importantly… he has the look of dread and worry written all over his face. Despite all that though, he still manages to gave his respect to the officers in the room by saluting them, per Military tradition and etiquette

“Sire! I’m First Sergeant Edwin Lake of the Raj 17th Dragoon Corps. Forgive me for all of my impertinent behavior and brash acts, but I’m afraid that I don’t have much time to dawdle around-” He said between his breath before he was cut off by General Hulls

The General has his right hand up with his palm facing the young Dragoon Sergeant “At ease, Sergeant! You should be at ease first before letting your mouth to utter your words. Otherwise you would lose all of your last remaining breath” He told Edwin

The young Dragoon Sergeant took the words of the General as he took a deep breath and released it to relief himself of exhaustion before continuing “There is a dire situation back ensuing in the town square. The city’s town square where St. Diona Festival is held is under attack” This caused all of the military officers, even General Hulls and the two arrogant and nerve-wrecking military officers to be shocked by the information told by Sergeant Edwin “The people there were in great danger and several of them, both the locals and Europeans were killed in the attack”

“Hold on, Lad! What do you mean that the town center is under attack!? And by whom the town square was attacked!? Bloody Mughal rebels?” Colonel Kingston interjected, asking clearance from Edwin

“It’s clearly as I said, Sire. I mean it literally: The town square is under attack. As for whom who had attacked the town square… no, it’s not Mughal rebels or or Maratha rebels or other local rebels, Sire. They are… they are…” He hesitated at first but then his rationality and morality came back to his head as his hesitation to tell them the truth dissipated

“Believe it or not but what I will tell you about may sound absurd but it is really the truth” He took a deep breath before continuing “The one who attacked the town square are monsters, literally. They came out from a portal that emerged at the Conquest of India statue  in hundreds of thousands, mounted medieval knights in steel armor and dragons, slaughtering any civilians in their without any remorse. The police and soldiers under the command of a young yet brave and gallant army officer are there to hold the monsters from getting out into the city and prevent more unnecessary innocent civilian casualties” Finally, he managed to let it all out off his chest

The reactions that came from the military officers were varied. While most of them reacted with disbelief and confusion, Colonel Mallard and Major Hayden looked at the Sergeant not just with disbelief but also distaste at how ‘improper’ and ‘impudent’ he is. A clear sign of how these two have strong ‘high class mannerism’ with them hailing from high ranking noble families but they misused their status in society by looking down on the common people and the possibly of being not satisfied with their rank in the military in which they thought they could get a higher position using their family’s status

As for General Hulls and Colonel Kingston’s reactions… Let’s just say that their reactions are unique compared to all military officers in the room. While they have the same look of disbelief on their face at first followed by concern if the Sergeant is in the right mind that changed into one with pride and a slight worry. These two expressions were not both directed at just the Sergeant though

“Huh? Really? Monsters?” Colonel Mallard then scoffed “You must be out of your mind, soldier!? Such thing from imagination and fantasy is certainly impossible!” He remarked “Heh, while being a young adult, that imagination of yours can certainly be a match that of a child” He added with an insult to Edwin

Major Hayden who’s in the same league. At first he scoffed at Edwin before reprimanding him “Surely you jest? What kind of a blatant and ridiculous thing to say. First, you interrupted an important meeting between high ranking officers of the Empire’s military and now you are telling us that some kind of monstrosity exist in this world created by God and that they are now terrorizing the Raj”

The Sergeant however, was not effected by these comments. Instead he continued to solidify his resolve to save the people and stop imminent danger that might threat the whole world by informing the High Command the truth. But first he must have a solid answer and reason to clarify the truth of the information he had given. And he must be brave and frank about it, even in front of all of these high ranking officers

Edwin put his right hand on his chest, trying to show the officers that he’s really sincere and truthful. Not a single hint of lie nor fear on the Rifle Cavalry Sergeant “I promise to you all, Sires that all I had just said is true. Otherwise, I would not dare enough to barge in and interrupt your meeting. But if I don’t have the bravery to do such thing… while you Sires here are discussing among yourselves, the people in India were being slaughtered like cattle without any one stopping the monsters. And the one who should be there to defend the people and stop these monsters are the entire military of the Empire, not just a mere handful of soldiers and police, less than one hundred, actually less than even twenty. And those men were still there at the town square, defending the people and trying to hold off the monsters. However, I believe they don’t have much more time or ammunition to carry on this heroic endeavor” He explained with determination in his voice and aura can be felt in the room

The military officers were utterly astonished with Edwin’s words, minus Colonel Mallard and Major Hayden while General Hulls and Colonel Kingston were impressed by Edwin’s bravery to let out his feelings and determination. And so both the two Military Leaders who represented each branch of the Empire’s Army, with a smile at first formed on their face gave Edwin an applause. Soon after, the others except the two Noble eccentric officers who only crossed their arms in ignorance, applauded Edwin simultaneously. Then afterwards, they all stood up not just to give Edwin claps, but standing ovation. This was done when they struck hard and deep into many people’s hearts and Edwin deserved this

After the applause died down, both General Hulls and Colonel Kingston approached Edwin. Then General Hulls put both of his hands on Edwin’s shoulders and said “Though your information is as absurd as it can get, your determination and resoluteness overpowers the impossibility of that absurd information of yours. That proves how sincere you are about this news. I believe in you, Lad”

Colonel Kingston who’s in the same page with General Hulls, nodded in agreement to what General Hulls said to Sergeant Edwin “Indeed, I’m with General Hulls too. You have proved your gallantry as a soldier and care for humanity as whole despite just alerting us about the threat against not just our Empire but also humanity as a whole”

“And with all that settled..” General Hulls then turned to all of the military officers in the room “I suppose that we are all in agreement to regard what this young Sergeant had told an absolute truthful fact?” The only responds that came from them are is salutation, followed by simultaneous exclaim of “Yes, Sire!” in unison. Even Colonel Mallard and Major Hayden joined in, feeling the urge to join in agreeing with the General caused by enormous pressure in the form of Colonel Kingston, who’s standing behind the General smiling at them menacingly

“Now then, Gentlemen…” A smirk formed on the General’s face which caused a chilling aura in the room “Let us prepare for battle and let us how we fare against these… outherworldly monsters, shall we?”

Meanwhile…

Back at the battlefront of New Delhi Townsquare

{Jonathan’s POV}

“Hold the line! This is the last line of defense! Don’t let them get through us! The lifes of our civilians are at stake here!” I shouted to the men under my command

We are now not at the same place as before. Now we are at the outer sector of the town square in a defensive position behind some makeshift barricade that was assembled rather haphazardly and in rush. We have been fighting off these otherworldly monsters for almost an hour before while conducting tactical retreats repeatedly until we got to where we are. During our tactical retreats, we were joined by some patrolling Raj soldiers and police officers who were scattered all over the town square. I’ve already sent a cavalrymen attached with a message in the form of a letter to go and report this disaster to the Central Army HQ in the city

In the process we’ve lost eight good men but gained thirty additional troops into the rooster in fighting against the monsters. Out of the eight of our men killed, three of them were those from the first group I gathered and commanded back near the portal where those monsters came from. Oh and don’t worry about Blake and Madhav. They’re still with me and the other 22 men, not among those killed in action, sacrificing their life not just for the civilians, but us as well. Those who were killed in battle were the result of them being shot by enemy arrows and dragon fire. None of them were killed by close quarter, direct contact with the monsters

In total, we now only have 25 men remaining along with three machine guns, one Maxim Mk2 HMG and two Lewis Mk1 LMGs and a 3-inch mortar to fight off the monsters and prevent them from getting into the residential areas. But even with our firepower advantage, defensive position, and excellent marksmanship (some are decent but), I don’t think that we could hold out any much longer with the enemy being far too much for a conventional regiment to handle much less fewer than 50 squad men But the weird thing is that these monsters only paid their attention always at one direction, our direction. They hadn’t bothered with spreading their forces into the city through all of the defenseless sectors. If they had done that, they could go into the residential areas and slaughter any civilians in sight on the spot. They could might even try to flank us from our sides via those defenseless sectors

But that’s not the case for these blood-thirsty. All they cared is to annihilate and slaughter every single one of us who are standing in their way to fuel their thirst for blood. Oh and I also forgot to mention that they didn’t just come in a single, but waves after waves. After one wave is repelled, another one came but bigger in numbers, again and again repetitively and progressively as their number increased for each wave after one and other. And when their opponents, despite being smaller in size compared to theirs, seems to be stronger and more resilient than they had thought, they would throw themselves again and again against us by charging blindly at us  with the intention to diminish our morale and eventually wipe us out. Truly shameful these monsters are. Though I can’t blame them that much if they don’t have brain and heart. That sounds like a curse though rather than a blessing

“Bloody hell! There’s way too many of ‘em now!” Blake cursed while firing his rifle at the charging. Then he went to reload another 10 rounds magazine into his MQL  Enfield rifle after. But then he realized something when taking another magazine from his ammo pouch “Bugger! I only have three mags left!”

“I got  six 5-rounds clips left!” Madhav exclaimed. Soon, all the other soldiers and police under my command reported the remaining ammo they have left to fight against the monsters

“Same here for the Machine Gun, sir! We only have one belt left”

“The LMGs as well, sir! Only four disc magazines left, two for each”

Oh no, that’s right. I forgot about the limited ammo. Sure, we got more from our dead comrades but we only got not that many ammunition from them because they too have already exhausted their ammo themselves. This makes me to check how many rounds I have left in my ammo pouch. And as it turns out, even for an NCO like myself, I’m no better than them, probably worse than they are

Looking into my ammo pouch, I only have four quick-loader loaded with six rounds each left  for my revolver.  I come to a realization that we are all short on ammunition and probably could not fight the enemy anymore soon. The only thing we can do after we run out of ammunition is to attach our bayonet to our rifle or in my case, unsheathe my retractable sabre and prepare for a close quarter combat

“Well, I’m afraid if that’s the case… after we emptied all of our remaining ammunition, we had to fight them head on with bayonets and swords of our own” I told them while reloading another six bullets into my revolver “I know it sounds reckless and suicidal but there’s no other way. If we make a tactical retreat now, their cavalry will charge behind us with our backs exposed to them while we retreat and that’s a no go”

Blake grinned bitterly as he continued to shoot his rifle at the attacking monsters  “Right there with you, Sir! It’s better to die in glory rather than die while our backs against the enemy!” He said

Madhav chuckled “I think the right saying of that is ‘better to die in glory rather than live in dishonor’. But I guess that doesn’t apply to our situation so what you said is probably the best one to describe our situation” He remarked

“Well, at least we’re going down in a blaze” I continued to fire my revolver at the charging monsters, killing several of them and emptying another load in turn “I have two more loads before I run out myself. Only one more and then…” For some reason I hesitated to say it. Is it because of fear of death at young age and not able to enjoy the future? or is because of my family and friends’ sadness if it comes to death? Probably both

But, what choice can I make here? The messenger that I’ve sent with my letter to the HQ probably got turned and sent away by the higher ranks because of the ridiculousness and impossibility of the occurring disaster that occurred here. It’s been a while since he left for the HQ to report and get some reinforcement to relieve us from this conundrum. We’re already at the brink of desperation, being pressured by the relentless enemy attacks that seem to not end as time and our struggle goes. If reinforcement won’t come… then…

Suddenly, a booming voice can be heard from a radio broadcast nearby, causing us all and even the monsters to stop just to listen what the radio broadcast is about to announce “You have done well, warriors of the Empire” I know this voice! General Sir Edward Charleston Hulls of the Britannia Raj Army central branch “Both from this Colony, Britannia itself, and the other Her Majesty’s Commonwealth Realms… you have fought endlessly to defend the Raj and the people against unknown otherworldly enemy” The voice then paused. I know“And as for you, boy who’s leading these brave warriors against such destructive calamity… your message have reached us” He paused for a second there before letting out a grin followed by continuation of his message

“Rejoice! The Cavalry… is here!” That last sentence of his was followed by a sudden and simultaneous barrage of artillery smashing into several unfortunate monsters in front of us, blowing them into pieces

I smiled as I sighed in relief. Thank God, the message got to the General’s hand. And thank you whoever you are, soldier of the Rifled Cavalry Corps for delivering my letter all the way from here to the Headquarters. You’ve saved us all

Then, we can hear rumbling of machines, buzzing in the sky, and foot marching of men from behind us. We turned around to the source of those sounds. And there we saw them. Hundreds of armored tractor landships, the Lighter Lancelots and the Medium Longswords accompanied by thousands of armed men both on foot trailing behind the landships and mounted on horseback who march side by side with the landships, keeping their pace with them as they march towards our position to relieve us and join in on the fighting. And it’s not just them, the ground reinforcement who came to our aid. Help from the air also came as well. And as another artillery barrage were fired on the enemy forces, the Royal Air Corps joined the battle

When we looked to the sky, we saw a swarm of  armored biplanes and rotorcrafts flying in the air towards the enemy position. They were flying in formation in which the armored biplanes formed a ‘V’ line formation while the rotorcrafts formed a skirmish formation, just like riflemen and light infantry do in certain situations during a battle.  This formation makes a perfect strategical benefits in which the biplanes that have better speed than the rotorcrafts would act as escort for the rotorcraft by preventing any aerial hostilities, meaning the otherworldly dragons in this case from intercepting rotorcrafts dropping bombs on ground targets. Another artillery barrage were fired on the enemy forces as the biplanes and rotorcraft prepared their attack run

And they proved to be the excellent trump cards against the mysterious otherworldly larger yet medieval-minded and equip otherworldly forces as both our long range artillery, armored cavalry, aerial bombs quickly changed the course of the battle from the moment there were only less than fifty of us containing the enemy from breaching into the residential areas. After being torn away by continuous artillery barrages from afar, the armored column came to swept in with cannons and machine guns blazing as the foot infantry moved to the sides of the armored tractors and open fire against the already pinned down otherworldly knights and monsters

Eventhough the enemy still has the numerical advantage even with the arrival of our reinforcement, they still lack more advantages than us. We have the strategic advantage, technological advantage, and more superior firepower. Sure, they have dragons as their trump card but it’s just one trump card. We have all the trump cards we can use here at the same time against them. It’s not even a balance in power now between the otherworldly enemy and our strengthened forces. We will win this battle definitely. For the sake of not just our Great Empire that spans from the Americas to the Eastern hemispheres, in the name of humanity too we shall wipe off this new otherworldly threat against humanity

I had a smile on my face before I turned to the men that I’ve been leading in holding off the monsters from breaching into the city. They all have various emotions from the look of relief to happiness of being relieved by our fellow countrymen and glad that all of our efforts in buying some time for the relief force to arrive at the town center have not been in vain. I truly is a morale victory for these men. It would also be a lie that I also didn’t have this kind of emotions

I felt the same way. And it is also not completely true that I’m not afraid of death, but it’s not wrong either. I would do it for the sake of those I care about. But then, I’m scared of death because I still want to live as long as I can also for the sake of those who I care about and I want to see the day when humanity flourish in the future too. Heh, perhaps living for the sake of the others is the better and perhaps the best option than dying for the same reason

Shrugging off all of that thoughts, I raised my sabre in the air as I shouted to the men under my command while our relief force of infantry, cavalry, tanks flooded the town square and aircraft swarming in the sky, ready attack the enemy on the ground “Men! You’ve heard the General! Now that the relief force is here, we can join them in wiping out the monsters off of this world!”

Soon, eventhough clearly exhausted and fatigued by the long last stand that they had to endure before the arrival of the relief, they still managed to erupt in various cheers and cries

“Yeah!”

“Let’s take the fight to them now!”

“Make them pay for every single of our people’s lives taken by them”

“Let’s show them the might of the Britannia Empire and the spirit of humanity!”