Recaps

Morin mapped Seville’s formidable defenses and urged Major Thomas not to launch a costly attack. Thomas took him to regimental and brigade headquarters, where Morin presented the intelligence and again recommended postponing the offensive.

• Morin marked enemy positions, troop concentrations, and Magic Crystal Cannons on the command map.
• Morin argued that an immediate assault on Seville would cause heavy casualties and leave the army vulnerable to a counterattack.
• Major Thomas agreed the danger was serious and took Morin to the 33rd Infantry Regiment’s headquarters.
• The regimental commander reviewed Morin’s evidence and accompanied him and Thomas to the 16th Infantry Brigade’s headquarters.
• Morin plotted his findings on the brigade map, described Seville’s defenses and enemy discipline, and urged the commanders to delay the attack.

Morin’s intelligence failed to stop the planned assault on Seville, and Brigade Headquarters prepared to attack under orders from the General Staff. As Morin fell asleep, his system detected the approaching armored airship L30, which was expected to arrive in just over fifteen hours.

• Brigadier General Paul rejected Morin’s warning and decided that the attack on Seville would proceed.
• Morin learned that Lieutenant General Mackensen had returned to the rear, then told the worried officers at camp that the assault would begin the next morning.
• Brigadier General Paul showed his chief of staff the General Staff’s order to capture Seville at any cost and deploy the armored airship L30 in support.
• Brigadier General Paul explained that Seville mattered because a new luminescence crystal ore vein had been discovered nearby and ordered the brigade to prepare to move.
• Morin returned to his tent and fell asleep, while his system detected L30 resupplying at sea and estimated its arrival in 15 hours and 21 minutes.

Morin’s 3rd Platoon marched toward its assault positions as Saxon artillery began a devastating surprise attack on the Royal Army’s Magic Crystal Cannon positions around Seville. The chapter left the Royal Army’s defenses in disarray as Saxon forces closed in on the city.

• Morin ate the meal Hans had saved for him, checked his platoon’s camp, and ordered Hans to wake him whenever a messenger arrived.
• Morin and Platoon Sergeant Klaus assembled the 3rd Platoon before dawn, and the company joined the First Battalion’s march toward its assault positions.
• Morin spotted new system intelligence about armored airships while the column moved under cover of darkness.
• A Saxon 105mm howitzer battery used ranging shots to locate and destroy a Royal Army Magic Crystal Cannon position outside Seville.
• Saxon artillery batteries attacked the marked Magic Crystal Cannon positions around Seville, forcing Royal Army artillerymen to flee without mounting an effective response.
• Saxon observation balloons surveyed the battlefield as a broad arc of troops gradually closed around Seville.

General Sanjurjo’s plan to defend Seville faltered when Saxon artillery destroyed most of his Magic Crystal Cannon Positions and the ground assault began. Morin’s battalion captured one ruined position and was ordered to hold the high ground, where Morin feared the surviving Royal Army artillery would target them.

• Sanjurjo learned that seventy percent of the Magic Crystal Cannon Positions had been destroyed and ordered his troops to defend Seville as the enemy attacked the southeastern line.
• Captain Hauser led the 3rd Company and the rest of the 1st Battalion forward across the battlefield toward the enemy artillery position.
• Morin led his third platoon over the devastated ground and occupied the destroyed Magic Crystal Cannon Position.
• Morin observed Saxon troops and the International Brigades attacking the Royal Army defenses, with the International Brigades forcing their way forward in close combat.
• Major Thomas ordered the companies to establish and hold a defensive line on the high ground, and Morin worried that surviving Royal Army artillery would bombard their concentrated position.

Morin warned the 1st Battalion to spread out, but Magic Crystal Cannons devastated Hill 127 with accurate airbursts. He located the hidden cannon position and sent its coordinates to command as Royal Army troops launched a counterattack.

• Morin ordered 3rd Platoon to disperse and persuaded Captain Hauser to spread out the other units before the artillery struck.
• Three Magic Crystal Cannon shells burst over Hill 127, killing and wounding soldiers across the 1st and 2nd Companies and pinning down the battalion.
• A Highland Mage Corps apprentice guided another salvo toward Hill 125 while artillerymen prepared the cannons for further fire.
• Morin used the System Map and the shells’ trajectories to locate the camouflaged Magic Crystal Cannon Position and sent its coordinates to command.
• Royal Army soldiers counterattacked Hill 127 as Morin’s platoon counted its losses, including the destruction of Second Squad.

Morin led a detachment and a Vickers machine gun around the flank of the Royal Army’s assault on the high ground. His ambush devastated the attackers, leaving the Royal Army’s formation in collapse.

• After hearing the casualty report, Morin saw a battalion of Royal Army troops advancing and judged that the battered 1st Battalion could not stop them in a head-on fight.
• Morin ordered Klaus, Corporal Jonah, the heavy machine gun team, and soldiers from First and Fourth Squads to flank the advancing troops while the rest held the front.
• Morin guided the detachment under cover to a crater overlooking the Royal Army’s exposed flank.
• Morin waited until the attackers were close, then ordered the Vickers Machine Gun to open fire at roughly one hundred meters.
• Morin directed the riflemen to target Royal Army officers, and their fire helped collapse the assault formation.

Morin’s platoon used a Vickers Machine Gun to rout a Royal Army assault, then relocated to prepare for another attack. As fresh troops arrived, Morin recognized the Northumberland Fusiliers and saw armored soldiers at the front of their formation.

• Morin’s platoon cut down the Royal Army’s first charge with machine-gun fire and forced the survivors to retreat.
• Morin stopped the gunner from wasting ammunition, checked his men, and ordered them to move to a new position.
• Morin’s detachment relocated behind fallen trees while the System Map revealed Saxon forces advancing across the front around Seville.
• Morin grew uneasy because the Highland Mages, the Armored Knights of the Order of the Garter, and the Northumberland Fusiliers had not yet appeared.
• Klaus reported that officers were reforming the fleeing Royal Army troops as a fresh unit approached to the Grenadier March.
• Morin identified the new force as the Northumberland Fusiliers’ 4th Battalion and saw armored soldiers carrying swords and shields at its front.

Morin’s remaining men used their last Vickers ammunition to attack the advancing Royal Army and the heavily armored Northumberland Fusiliers, then joined the arriving International Brigades in a countercharge. As the fight turned into a close assault, Major Thomas rallied the 1st Battalion to counterattack as well.

• Morin ordered the Vickers Machine Gun and his riflemen to fire on the advancing enemy forces from their concealed position.
• The Vickers rounds damaged the Northumberland Fusiliers’ armor, but the heavily armored troops kept charging and Morin’s ammunition ran out.
• The International Brigades’ 2nd Battalion, 1st Regiment, Eastern Europa Brigade arrived behind the Northumberland Fusiliers and attacked their flank.
• Morin ordered his men to fix bayonets and charge alongside the International Brigades, using grenades to disrupt the enemy formation.
• Major Thomas rallied the 1st Battalion to counterattack as the Royal Army approached their position.

Morin and the International Brigades fought the Northumberland Fusiliers in a brutal melee while Major Thomas led the 1st Battalion to support them. The Saxon 52nd Cavalry Regiment then charged the Britannians’ exposed rear and broke the 4th Battalion’s line.

• Morin fought through the melee, killing several Royal Army soldiers and defeating an armored swordsman by stabbing him beneath the arm and firing into the wound.
• Major Thomas routed the Royal Army troops on the high ground, then led the 1st Battalion to attack the Northumberland Fusiliers’ flank.
• The Saxon infantry and International Brigades struggled against the Northumberland Fusiliers, whose soldiers formed defensive rings around their armored troops.
• The Saxon Imperial Army’s 52nd Cavalry Regiment charged the exposed rear of the Northumberland Fusiliers’ 4th Battalion.
• The cavalry tore through the Britannian formation, and the 4th Battalion’s line collapsed.

Ludwig and William waited in ambush for valuable Britannian reinforcements, then the Teutonic Order struck when the Order of the Garter arrived to rescue the battered Northumberland Fusiliers. Morin withdrew his surviving troops and the International Brigades to the heights, where they watched the Teutonic Armored Knights surround the elite Britannian force.

• Ludwig told William they would wait until the Britannian commander sent valuable reinforcements, then ordered the Teutonic forces to prepare when the Order of the Garter appeared.
• The Order of the Garter brought four St. George Type 3 Armored Knights and twelve Knight Squires in Broadsword Type 2 armor, prompting the Northumberland Fusiliers to counterattack.
• Ludwig and William activated their Iron Behemoths, and Teutonic Squires fired three red signal flares.
• Two Teutonic Armored Knights shelled the Northumberland Fusiliers, breaking their renewed advance and forcing the Order of the Garter to turn toward them.
• Morin ordered his platoon and the International Brigades to retreat to the heights as both sides' infantry disengaged and the Saxon lancers rode away.
• More Teutonic Armored Knights emerged from concealment and surrounded the four Order of the Garter machines with their cannon muzzles.

The Teutonic Order’s twelve Armored Knights fought four Knights of the Order of the Garter, using cannon fire to break their magical shields before closing in with armor-crushing weapons. Ludwig killed a wounded Garter Knight, and the battle’s balance began to turn toward the Teutonic Order.

• The lead Knight of the Order of the Garter challenged the Teutonic Order, and Ludwig opened fire on him.
• The Teutonic Knights bombarded the four Garter Knights until their shields weakened, then charged into melee.
• The Teutonic Knights and Garter Knights clashed while their Knight Squires fought along the flanks.
• The Garter Knights’ superior agility helped them kill two Teutonic Knights, but the Teutonic Knights’ armor-breaking weapons began to shift the balance.
• Ludwig struck a wounded Garter Knight’s cockpit with his Mace, killing him.

Morin and the Saxon infantry turned their rifles on Eldridge when the Highland Mage’s spell trapped the Teutonic Knights in a mire. Their barrage forced Eldridge to abandon his casting and retreat after a signal flare called the allied forces back to Seville, leaving the Teutonic Knights immobilized.

• The Teutonic Order destroyed the enemy Knight Squires and another Garter Knight, but Eldridge arrived and used Transmute Rock to trap the pursuing Teutonic Knights in a mire.
• Morin spotted that Eldridge’s sustained casting could be interrupted and ordered Third Platoon to fire at him.
• The International Brigades soldiers and the surviving troops of the 1st Battalion joined the rifle barrage, cracking Eldridge’s Mage Armor.
• Eldridge abandoned his spell as his shield neared collapse, and the mire solidified around the trapped Teutonic Knights.
• A retreat flare from Seville stopped Eldridge from attacking the infantry, and he flew back toward the city.

Morin and the soldiers on Hill 127 drove off a high-ranking mage and freed the Teutonic Order’s Armored Knights from the mud. As they tended to the casualties, orders arrived for the units to pursue the retreating enemy.

• The soldiers celebrated after their rifle fire forced the mage to retreat, and Ludwig emerged from his trapped Armored Knight to salute them.
• Morin learned that a cavalry unit had been told where to find the enemy Magic Crystal Cannon position, while soldiers and supply crews began freeing the Armored Knights.
• The cavalry’s attack appeared to silence the Royal Army’s Magic Crystal Cannons, and the soldiers eventually pulled Ludwig’s Armored Knight from the mud.
• Captain Hauser told Ludwig that Morin had ordered the first shots at the mage, and Ludwig saluted Morin and thanked him for saving his comrades.
• After the units began tending to the dead and wounded, a messenger delivered orders from Regimental Headquarters to pursue the retreating enemy.

After the battle, Morin’s depleted 3rd Platoon advanced with allied forces into an abandoned Seville, where commanders feared the enemy had withdrawn to regroup for a counterattack. Once the city was secured, Morin arranged supplies and casualty records before leading his hungry survivors to their meal.

• Morin counted just forty-eight men left in 3rd Platoon and learned that Corporal Jonah had died in the fighting.
• Major Thomas advanced toward Seville with the International Brigades and the Teutonic Order, meeting no resistance along the way.
• Morin warned that the deserted city might be a trap, while Ludwig argued the enemy had likely withdrawn to regroup and counterattack because Seville mattered too much for the allies to abandon.
• The allied forces entered Seville and confirmed the enemy had left; Morin sent the seriously wounded to the Field Hospital, leaving forty-two men fit to move.
• Morin ordered Klaus to replenish ammunition and grenades and told Corporal Baumann to record every casualty accurately for the families’ death benefits.
• Morin called the surviving soldiers of 3rd Platoon to chow time, and they ate sausage, bread, coffee, and thick Erbwurst soup.

Morin and Ludwig observed Seville from the cathedral bell tower and found no sign of a Royal Army buildup, while Ludwig revealed more about Morin’s past. After returning to the troops amid a warm welcome from the city’s residents, Morin arrived at a confrontation after Saxon soldiers were caught taking food from a home.

• Morin borrowed bicycles with Klaus and Hans and went to the cathedral to inspect the area outside Seville.
• Morin and Ludwig used binoculars to see that the Royal Army had retreated in an orderly fashion, with no unusual movement outside the city.
• Ludwig told Morin about Cecilia, General Mackensen, and Patricia, prompting Morin to recall a vague image of a blonde girl.
• Morin returned to find Seville’s residents offering food and drink to the National Army, the International Brigades, and their Saxon allies.
• Morin rushed toward a disturbance and found Saxon soldiers confronting allied troops after apparently taking cheese and cured meat from a resident’s home.

Morin defused a standoff between hungry Saxon soldiers and their National Army and International Brigades allies, earning the respect of officers on all sides. As the soldiers faced discipline and the civilian received compensation, an urgent order summoned battalion-level officers to a meeting in the city.

• Morin learned that starving, under-officered soldiers from the Saxon 2nd Battalion had looted a civilian home, prompting National Army and International Brigades soldiers to confront them with rifles raised.
• Morin pushed into the standoff, disarmed the troublemakers, and rebuked them until they returned the stolen food and apologized.
• Morin apologized to the allies and residents in Aragonese, while Major Thomas and Lieutenant Colonel Ludwig promised discipline and affirmed the alliance.
• The 2nd Battalion took the soldiers away for punishment, and the homeowner accepted Saxon pfennigs as compensation.
• A mounted messenger delivered Brigadier General Paul's order for battalion-level officers, including Lieutenant Colonel Ludwig, to report to Command Headquarters for an urgent meeting.

Brigadier General Paul ordered the 16th Brigade to hold Seville despite heavy losses and the enemy’s growing strength. Morin joined a battalion briefing where Major Thomas warned that the reinforced enemy was expected to counterattack soon.

• Brigadier General Paul learned that the 16th Brigade had lost more than 37% of its personnel and that the Order of the Garter had increased its Armored Knights to eight.
• Brigadier General Paul rejected a retreat and ordered the brigade to hold Seville until the Armored Airships arrived.
• Morin led a post-battle review in which his soldiers discussed effective tactics and asked how to fight the heavily armored Britannian soldiers.
• A messenger summoned Morin to Battalion Headquarters for an emergency meeting.
• Major Thomas told the gathered officers that the enemy had regrouped, received reinforcements, and was expected to counterattack.

As the 1st Battalion prepared to defend Seville, its officers looked to Morin for guidance on urban combat. Morin proposed dispersing troops into buildings and connecting them through interior walls, leaving the battalion to prepare for a brutal defense.

• Major Thomas ordered the 1st Battalion to hold Seville, leaving officers unsure how to fight in a city.
• The officers, including Major Thomas, turned to Morin for tactical advice.
• Morin urged them to abandon traditional battle lines and disperse platoons and squads among key buildings to create mutually supporting positions.
• Morin proposed avoiding exposed streets by breaking through adjoining walls to move and supply troops inside the buildings.
• Morin warned the officers that urban combat would be brutal and that nowhere in the city would be safe.

Morin outlined a comprehensive urban defense plan to Major Thomas and the other officers, then worried that the Order of the Garter’s Armored Knights could overwhelm it. He sought Ludwig’s advice on whether direct-fire artillery could threaten the machines.

• Morin urged Major Thomas to disperse heavy machine guns, build street barricades, and move artillery into Seville for direct fire.
• Morin explained how field guns and howitzers could sweep streets and blast enemies out of buildings, convincing Major Thomas to report his plan to Brigade Headquarters and General Paul.
• The officers questioned Morin about urban fighting, and he patiently explained tactics while considering how to stop the enemy’s Armored Knights.
• Morin went to the Teutonic Order squad’s encampment and asked Ludwig whether 77mm Field Guns and 105mm Howitzers could damage Armored Knights at close range.

Morin searched for a way to counter the Order of the Garter's Armored Knights and devised a plan after seeing a metal funnel. Ludwig agreed to help, and returned from the artillery camp with shells, brass casings, and veteran artillerymen for Morin's secret weapons test.

• Ludwig explained that ordinary artillery and Molotov cocktails were largely ineffective against the Order of the Garter's modern Armored Knights.
• Morin noticed a metal funnel and asked Ludwig about the Knights' armor, learning its protection was equivalent to sixty to seventy millimeters of steel.
• Morin told Ludwig he could find a way to deal with the Armored Knights and requested shells, copper, artillerymen, and technical specialists.
• Ludwig agreed to support Morin and rushed to the artillery camp with squires to obtain the materials.
• Ludwig returned with more than a dozen 105-millimeter shells, two crates of spent brass casings, and three veteran artillerymen.

Morin recruited a chemistry professor and skilled workers from the International Brigades to help build a device for opening the Britannians’ White Iron Cans. As the makeshift workshop began producing its parts, Ludwig watched Morin bring soldiers and volunteers together, while the device remained unfinished.

• Morin found Andrei making Molotov cocktails and asked him to find a chemistry teacher and skilled metalworkers.
• Andrei introduced Morin to a professor from Silesia and several experienced workers, and Morin explained that he wanted to make a “Can Opener.”
• Morin brought the group to the Teutonic Order’s camp, where he showed them a drawing and directed them to turn borrowed shells and casings into the device.
• Artillerymen carefully removed Picric Acid from 105mm shells while the professor and workers melted brass casings and prepared copper cones.
• Morin explained the hollow-cone principle to the skeptical professor, who began calculating the design, as the different groups gradually learned to work together.

Morin spoke with Andrei and the International Brigades fighters about their ideals, their alliance with Saxony, and their support for Alfonso’s monarchy. When Morin asked about their homeland, Andrei and the professor reacted to the name Greater Russia Empire, and Morin’s information collection progress reached 20%.

• Morin shared food with the chemistry professor, skilled workers, and Andrei while they waited for the castings to cool.
• Andrei explained that the International Brigades had come to Aragon to oppose Britannia’s magitech monopoly and spread technological progress.
• Andrei said the fighters allied with Saxony because both sides opposed Britannia, though each pursued its own goals.
• Andrei and the professor argued that Alfonso’s promised reforms could advance their ideals step by step, while Morin worried that technological change could lead to economic crises and fascism.
• Morin asked about the Provisional Government of Silesia, and Andrei identified their homeland as the Greater Russia Empire.
• Morin’s information collection progress reached 20%, unlocking a new entry under Information.

Morin learned that Russia had fractured into a war-torn struggle among rival factions, then guided the workers in assembling a makeshift shaped-charge anti-armor weapon. Ludwig prepared to test it against armor, leaving the chapter just as he triggered it.

• Morin learned from Andrei that Russia had collapsed into warring factions, with Kolchak’s monarchists and Denikin’s forces backed by the Britannians, while the communists were led by Kerensky.
• Morin’s information-gathering progress reached 23%, and the System Map revealed more of Russia’s divided political landscape.
• Morin and the workers completed a shaped-charge anti-armor round using a hollow copper cone, shell explosives, and a mechanical fuze.
• Ludwig agreed that the Armored Knights would carry and detonate the weapon by hand, then prepared a damaged Garter knight armor plate as a test target.
• Ludwig aimed the weapon at the armor plate and triggered it.

Morin’s team successfully tested the shaped-charge armor-piercing shell, which punched through an Armored Knight’s armor. Morin called science “magic that belongs to everyone,” and the group rushed to produce more shells as enemy warning whistles sounded.

• Morin received a notification that the Shaped-Charge Armor-Piercing Shell technology had been unlocked and could be improved.
• Ludwig inspected the armor plate and found that the shell had pierced it with a small, clean hole.
• The workers, artillerymen, and intellectuals cheered, while Ludwig asked Morin what kind of magic had made the weapon possible.
• Morin explained that the weapon came from shared knowledge, skill, precision, experience, and courage, calling science a kind of magic anyone could master.
• Andrei praised Morin’s words, and the group began rapidly producing more shells.
• Warning whistles sounded across the city as the enemy prepared its next move.

Morin organized Seville’s defenses and prepared 3rd Platoon for the Royal Army and Britannian advance. As enemy troops entered the city and approached a barricade, hidden defenders opened fire.

• Morin left Andrei and Ludwig to make equipment and returned to his 3rd Platoon sector in Seville.
• Klaus told Morin that reinforcements had restored the platoon to full strength, with two extra infantry squads and an MG08 Heavy Machine Gun crew.
• Morin placed infantry in concealed positions, kept the new squads in reserve, and set up a 77mm Field Gun and a 105mm Howitzer to defend Sun Boulevard.
• The System Map showed enemy forces closing on Seville while the 52nd Cavalry Regiment continued prowling outside the city at 64% strength.
• Major John sent Royal Army troops into Seville ahead of the Britannians, and they found the streets deserted until they reached a barricade of obstacles and barbed wire.
• A hidden defender shot a Royal Army soldier at the barricade, and gunfire erupted throughout Seville.