War Machine

Had the End of All Things not unleashed this disaster, perhaps the war that brought the Cecil Legion into the spotlight would have been delayed for a long time—but there were no ifs. The End of All Things had created a man-made catastrophe on the Holy Spirit Plain, and the steel legion from the Southern Territory was destined to take the stage.

This steel legion was still immature. Its tactical concepts and troop training still required refinement, and the battlefield of the Holy Spirit Plain was their finest training ground.

At dawn, the First Corps, advancing swiftly under cover, encountered the Crystal Legion's first blockade on the small plains south of Red Maple City. This unavoidable meeting engagement marked the beginning of the entire campaign. It opened with three naval cannon bombardments from the Gorgon River, after which the corps' armored forces assembled into spearhead formations and launched a fierce assault against the crystal defenses.

Iron-gray giant eagles swept beneath the clouds, bringing the sight of the battlefield before their riders' eyes. Sonia Frostleaf looked down upon the legion's advancing front and took in every aspect of the Cecilians' manner of warfare—she saw tanks equipped with sturdy shields and powerful guns gathering into attack formations, concentrating their maximum firepower upon weak points in the Crystal Legion's defenses while steadily advancing. Though the suddenly attacked Crystal Legion fought without fear of death, it simply could not hold its lines against such concentrated bombardment—whether reinforced flesh and blood or sturdy fortifications built upon city walls and magical shields, all rapidly collapsed beneath the focused artillery fire.

Once such a breach had been opened, the tank formations would begin accelerating and swiftly disperse into several smaller spearheads while on the move. Relying on continuous advances and bombardment, they would further tear open the