Chapter Summaries

Morin led his squad through Royal Army patrols into Seville, where they discovered soldiers abusing civilians and officers abducting young women. Outraged, Morin led his men into the building to confront the officers, and they reached the stairs as the girls’ cries and the men’s voices sounded above.

• Morin rejected the safer option of stopping and guided his six-man squad through country lanes and woods, using the System Map to evade Royal Army patrols.
• Morin and his squad entered Seville’s outskirts and saw Royal Army soldiers stealing from cafés and threatening civilians who protested officers abducting three girls.
• Morin recognized that the officers’ building was unguarded from the rear and led his squad through the backyard and into the building.
• Morin ordered his men to ready their bayonets, then led them upstairs toward the officers as they taunted the abducted girls.

Morin and his soldiers rescued three abducted girls and captured a Royal Army officer, who revealed that the 24th Infantry Division and Britannian troops were defending Seville. Morin learned the Britannians had brought robed mages, then killed the captured officer after questioning him.

• Morin led a silent attack that killed five officers and captured one while rescuing three girls.
• Morin questioned the prisoner, who identified himself as Juan de Rivera, a lieutenant colonel commanding a battalion in the Royal Army's 24th Infantry Division.
• Juan revealed that the division was stationed in and around Seville to defend the city alongside two or three thousand Britannian Northumberland Fusiliers.
• Juan told Morin that the Britannians had brought more than a dozen robed mages to support the fighting.
• Morin thanked Juan for cooperating, then stabbed him through the heart.

Morin killed the lieutenant colonel, rescued three girls, and led his squad out of the city. Back at their bicycles, he spotted General José Sanjurjo and members of the Holy Britannian Empire’s Highland Mage Corps near the Magic Crystal Cannons.

• Morin killed the lieutenant colonel and reassured the three rescued girls, then warned them to leave the city with their families.
• Morin rigged grenades beneath the bodies as a trap and led the girls through the alleys to a safer neighborhood, where one thanked him as a bad man.
• Morin and his squad withdrew toward the city’s edge, and Morin told Corporal Baumann that their intervention served their own national interests as well as their stated mission.
• Morin and Corporal Baumann returned to the hilltop to survey the Royal Army positions and saw more people near the Magic Crystal Cannons.
• The System Map identified General José Sanjurjo, Senior Mentor Eldritch, three mage apprentices, and four staff officers, and Morin recognized the opportunity.

Morin spotted the Britannian Highland Mages and fled after High Instructor Eldridge sensed his group watching. In Seville, a Royal Army squad sent to retrieve Juan de Rivera was hit by a grenade, and a mage apprentice entered the building to investigate.

• Morin and Corporal Baumann judged the officers and mages too far away for a reliable shot, but Eldridge sensed their killing intent and Morin ordered his group to retreat.
• A messenger told General Jose Sanjurjo that Juan de Rivera had caused trouble in the city, so Sanjurjo sent soldiers to bring him back.
• A Saxon grenade exploded on the building’s stairs, killing the captain and two soldiers and wounding others.
• A Highland Mage apprentice used Life Detection, reported that people on the first floor were badly injured and none were alive on the second, then went upstairs with his attendants.

Morin’s grenades killed Lieutenant Colonel Juan and most of the soldiers searching his room, while the surviving mage apprentice’s near-death prompted a citywide crackdown that helped Morin’s group escape. Back at camp, Morin reported his reconnaissance of Seville and proved his account by presenting Juan’s identification and revolver, leaving Major Thomas to reassess him.

• Royal Army soldiers opened the rooms and found Lieutenant Colonel Juan and another officer dead, but separating their bodies triggered seven grenades Morin had planted.
• The blast killed the soldiers and the mage apprentice’s attendant, critically wounded the apprentice, and led General Sanjurjo to order a citywide search.
• The crackdown distracted the Royal Army and made it safer for Morin’s group, the three girls, and their families to escape.
• Morin returned to the 33rd Infantry Regiment’s camp and told Major Thomas and Captain Hauser that his squad had entered Seville and observed the enemy’s defenses and the 24th Division’s arrival.
• Morin showed Juan’s identification booklet and service revolver, convincing Thomas that his report was true and making the major reconsider what he knew about Morin.

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.