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The Japanese-Empire War, also known as the Inter-World War, was the first conflict between a nation on Earth and another nation from a parallel universe, specifically between Japan and the Empire.
For the Empire, this is their most devastating war to the point of being referred as a suicidal war in their centuries of history since its force the Empire to kneel their feet to accept defeat for the first time as well as decimating their entire influence and power over Falmart in the long term. Finally, the war also officially ends the Empire's status as a conqueror in the continent.
Unknown to the rest of the Imperial government, the war was orchestrated by God of the Underworld, Hardy to bring divine punishment to the Empire for their arrogance and god complex by making the JSDF ''taught the Empire a lesson about humility''.
The outbreak of war[]
The war began in 20xx when the leaders of the Empire, a militaristic, hegemonic and cosmopolitan civilization located in a world with magic and medieval-like pre-industrial technology simply known as the "Special Region", began to devise a plan to extend their domains to the outside of their own world and obtain new slaves, because of the lack of other territories to conquer on their home continent, Falmart. Furthermore, one of the reason is that their Navy vessels were too primitive to invade far away lands outside Falmart like the Avion Sea. Consequently, they decided to achieve their goal by taking advantage of a particular natural phenomenon present in their world: a temporary time-space portal located on top of Alnus Hill that connected randomly with other universes.
The portal was small, invisible, and would disappear after a short period of time as both universes rebounded away from each other after the collision. First, the Empire sent scouts through the tiny portal to see what was on the other side and they discovered that it led to a world almost completely different from their own (modern day Earth). The portal appeared in the Ginza district of Tokyo. The Imperial scouts were able to move freely among the crowd by being mistaken by the people as simple re-enactors or cosplayers and they managed to kidnap some residents to get information, such as Noriko Mochizuki, however, language barrier preventing them to get nothing from the captive. After shallowly confirming the presence of a large unguarded city as the Imperial scouts only had a glime of a district not a city, the Empire built a large frame (the Gate) around the portal, wide enough to allow an army to pass through and used its magicians to bind the portal to the Gate. This caused the portal to become visible and a mirror image of the Gate to appear on the Ginza side, as well as causing the link between both universes to become permanent. The emperor Molt Sol Augustus ordered to assemble a large army with elements from all the provinces of the Empire and to move it through the gate.
- "What should have been done is scouting; determining the enemy’s true strength through reconnaissance. Then, it could have been concluded as to whether it would be wiser to engage them as friend or foe,’ argued Marquis" — Maquis Casel scolded Molt's recklessness and arrogant in dealing with the unknown force like the JSDF, depicted in light novel Volume 1 Prologue.
Originally the Imperial expedition was tasked to scout the new world and to investigate the opponent's power to determine their strength and then conclude whether it was more beneficial to take the people beyond the portal as friends or foe, but the emperor decided unilaterally to order the attack, without hearing the opinion of the Imperial Senate as he was too overconfidence with history of 600 years of domination of the Empire in Falmart. With the element of surprise on their side, the Imperial forces were able to capture some war prisoners, killing hundreds of defenseless civilian and cause serious damage to the buildings around Ginza, but they were soundly defeated by the combined forces of the Tokyo Police and the JSDF, with 60,000 Imperial troops were killed and 6,000 Imperial soldiers and nobles were taken as prisoners. The superior technology of the JSDF proved sufficient to decimate the medieval armies of the Empire which were completely unprepared to repel a retaliation of such magnitude.
A few months later, the JSDF launched a counter-offensive through the Gate and crushed the reinforcement and encampment of the Imperial Army in the First Battle of Alnus Hill and took control of the Hill to build base. On the other side of the gate the Allied Army of the Empire's vassal kingdoms gathered at the foot of Alnus Hill for the imminent arrival of the JSDF's armed forces to engage them in battle. The allied army was completely unaware of the kind of enemy whom they would fight, much less about the true intentions of the Imperial army to not engage the enemy in battle alongside them (it's the result of a secret plan undertaken by emperor Molt in order to weaken his vassal kingdoms from becoming too powerful and capable to threaten the Empire's borders after the great losses suffered by the Imperial army in the Second Battle of Ginza, by sending them to certain death against the JSDF). The Allied Army was crushed by the superior firepower of the tanks, artillery, and small arms of the JSDF, with over 60,000 losses among their ranks. After the end of the Second Battle of Alnus Hill it was estimated that the Empire's overall casualties amounted to over 120,000. The battle of Alnus Hill was the last time that the Empire dared to face the JSDF in battle on open field. but the implementation of the Oprichnina by Zorzal in the Imperial Civil War made this grave mistake to be repeated again.
The other nations of the Earth such as Russia, China and the United States have also started to show interest in paving a way into the unknown world. This is because the world beyond the Gate can potentially act as a new source of exploitable resources and each and one of those countries began to act behind the scenes to reap benefits from the Gate. However, Japan has refused any offer from the other countries to carry on the war with a joint military effort. The United States then formed an alliance with Japan to supply the JSDF with ammunition, armament, materiel, military supplies, and weaponry in exchange for a privileged position in the exploitation of the Special Region's resources. The USA also provided the threat of nuclear retaliation against invasion. Other countries, such as China and Russia, have begun to consider the idea of invading Japan just to take control of the Gate and colonize the Special Region.
Expansion and consolidation[]
After the victory at Alnus Hill, the JSDF forces started to consolidate their position around the Gate with the construction of a permanent base at Alnus, erecting defensive walls, machine gun nests, barracks, command posts, armories, supply warehouses, firing ranges, motor pools, and landing facilities for both helicopters and fixed-wing aircrafts. In order to secure a sizable amount of territory, defend the land around the gate and negotiate with the enemy, the JSDF needed to gather intelligence to formulate future plans. With the help of helicopters and unmanned reconnaissance drones they began taking aerial pictures of the land around the Gate to map the surrounding areas. After that they started investigation on human cities, population, races, industry, religion, political landscape and the culture of the people native of the Special Area through the use of six recon teams.
Meanwhile, emperor Molt Sol Augustus, after learning of the defeat of the Empire's vassal kingdoms at Alnus Hill, decided to pursue a scorched earth policy to prevent the enemy from obtaining supplies, and halt their advance. He believed that without a way to forage supplies locally, supplies would have to be sent from Japan, on the other side of the Gate. It would be a heavy burden on their horses. This way, the enemy's fighting potential would be lower the closer they approached the imperial capital, the city of Sadera, giving the Empire’s army the advantage when fighting near the capital. A sound strategy, theoretically speaking, but completely useless against an army equipped with motorized vehicles and capable of great mobility such as the JSDF. This type of tactic also has the disadvantage of causing severe damage in all the Empire's lands that separate the Gate from the capital. The total disregard of the Empire for the livelihood of its own people by robbing their food and water caused the loss of the people's support towards the imperial war effort, with the risk of generating a resentment that will last for generations and cause further civil instability. This moment also marked the beginning of a growing disunity between the emperor and the imperial senate, especially Maquis Casel and pro-peace faction because of the excessively extreme methods of the emperor and his complete indifference to the opinions of senators as well as his extreme recklessness for not understanding the nature of the enemy, they were dealing with.
The six deep investigation teams began to approach the residents inside several assigned zones in the surroundings of Alnus Hill to make close contact with the Empire's civilian population and understand their situation. They found out that much of the empire's population in the countryside (mainly farmers) wasn't even aware of the war between the Empire and Japan, showing no particular feeling of resentments against the Japanese foreigners. The investigation expeditions had also allowed to the JSDF to become aware of the existence of the many dangerous species of the native megafauna of the Special Region, in particular of the so-called “Flame Dragon”. The Third Recon Team, commanded by First Lieutenant Yōji Itami, managed to befriend several members of the local population, in particular Rory Mercury, Lelei La Lalena, and Tuka Luna Marceau, three individuals who have subsequently proven in more than one occasion to be fundamental allies for the prosecution of the JSDF's war campaign. After the destruction of the Coda village because of the Flame Dragon, Coda's refugees were brought to Alnus Hill by Yōji Itami to offer them shelter and humanitarian aid. Several housing facilities were built by the JSDF personnel outside the walls of their military fort for the refugees, but after several months this refugee camp became a full fledged community as the JSDF started to garner more support and establish friendlier relationships with local communities, with Alnus gaining the amenities a regular town would have. This includes living quarters, bars, shops and etc.
First friendly contacts[]
Battle of Italica
After being called into question his ability to lead the military campaign, emperor Molt Sol Augustus ordered his daughter Piña Co Lada and her Rose-Order of Knights, the only military unit of the Empire which remained unaffected by the recent defeats against the JSDF, to go to Alnus Hill and scout the enemy. During her travel, she discovered that king Duran of the Kingdom of Elbe survived the battle of Alnus Hill and she gained valuable information about the military power of the enemy as a result. On the other hand, she also learned about the betrayal of the imperial army, which wasn't present on the battlefield before the attack. From this moment on, king Duran renounced his standing to provide any further support to the Empire. Then, she moved to the city of Italica, a city under the control of House Formal, just ahead of Alnus Hill, believing that it was under siege by the otherworlders, only to find out that the city was attacked by an army of scattered remnants of the defeated Allied Army of the Empire's vassal kingdoms that had defected and turned into marauders. Piña helped with her troops and the guards of Italica to repel the army of the bandits, successfully repelling the first attack, although with many casualties.
Without any possible alternative, she requested the help of the Third Recon Team of the JSDF, which had approached the city for business purposes, in order to buy enough time to allow to the rest of the order's knights to come to her aid. The second wave turned out to be far more devastating than the first one, forcing the third recon team to request air support from the base of Alnus. The combined strength of the Rose-Order of Knights' contingent, third recon team, Italica's citizens and Rory Mercury proved enough to hold off the enemy troops long enough to allow the arrival of the JSDF 4th Combat Unit on helicopters, who later practically wiped out the bandit army with their overwhelmingly superior firepower.
After the battle of Italica, Piña fully realized the superior military power of the JSDF and that the Empire was doomed to face a crushing and utter defeat against them should the emperor and the senate not agree to make use of diplomacy as soon as possible to forge a peace treaty and minimize the losses. Though baffled by the JSDF's outstanding contribution with no request of payment, Piña decided to sign a treaty with JSDF concerning the war prisoners and refugees of Italica and thus lay the foundation for future peaceful interactions. The text and points of the treaty are listed below:
- The JSDF can choose any 3-5 captives from this battle to take with them. All profits gained from the chosen captives and rights over their treatment belong solely to the JSDF. Furthermore, Clan Formal and the Empire promise to refrain from cruel treatment to the captives during their restraint.
- As a sign of gratitude towards the JSDF's reinforcement, Clan formal and the imperial princess Piña Co Lada will ensure safety during travel and stay of a mediating delegation between the country of Japan and the emperor and senate. Furthermore, the size of the delegation and share of expenses are decided through consultation, but a minimum of 100 suwanis are to be burdened by the countess and princess.
- The Alnus living community under guardianship of the JSDF is from now on exempted from all taxes raised on trading and money exchange within the city of Italica and all other areas within rule of countess Formal.
- As soon as the agreements above take effect, the JSDF under Col. Kengun are to leave the county without taking any of the resident’s wealth, except for the captives agreed on, as soon as possible. However, the Alnus living community and small groups contacted for service are to be given safe passage through the lands under rule of countess Formal.
- This agreement is valid for 1 year. It automatically renews itself unless objected from both parties.
The forces of the JSDF left the city peacefully, but along the way the third recon team crossed its way with the troops of the Rose-Order of Knights, who had arrived late to help the city of Italica for the battle, guided by Bozes Co Palesti and Panache Fure Kalgi, who were both unaware of the end of the battle, the nature of the attackers who had laid siege to the city and the treaty just signed with Piña. The knights successfully captured First Lieutenant Yōji Itami and forced the rest of the third recon team to a strategic retreat, vowing to recover their leader at a later time. They tortured and tormented him all along the way to Italica, believing that he was part of the army that had attacked the city. Once arriving at Italica and having reported of the captured prisoner, Bozes was forced by princess Piña, who feared the JSDF's retaliation for the breaking of the treaty on the same day that had been signed, to make atonement by sleeping with Itami and so to convince him not to report to his superiors about the incident.
The situation worsened when Bozes punched Itami in the eye simply because he had ignored her and her offer. When the rest of the recon team returned to Italica to recover Itami, they decided to ignore the incident to try to keep the treaty valid. During the recovery, Lelei, who was working with the recon team, casually mentioned the fact that Itami had to go away from there as soon as possible because he was summoned by the Japanese National Diet to report about the recent clashes between the JSDF and the Flame Dragon. Princess Piña, thinking it was just an excuse to allow him to leave and report of the breaking of the treaty to the Japanese Diet, decided to accompany them, along with Bozes as bodyguard, to Alnus and personally apologize to the JSDF commanders. At Alnus base they met Lieutenant General Kōichirō Hazama, leader of the JSDF forces in the Special Region, and 1st lieutenant Akira Yanagida, with whom they resolved the misunderstanding, in the best interest of both parties.
In accordance with the decision of using princess Piña as an unofficial intermediary for secret negotiations between Japan and the Empire and a source of information about the Empire's point of view about the war to facilitate interactions between their nations, the princess and Bozes were invited to a non-official meeting in Tokyo, on the other side of the Gate, to discuss about the arrangements for a hypothetical future peace treaty (their presence in Japan at this point of the war would have caused a lot of problems if it were made public, so, on paper, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Japanese Prime Minister’s Office was officially unaware that they were in Japan). The secret meeting was organized to be presided by Councilor Shirayuri Reiko, the Prime Minister’s aide, and Sugawara Kouji from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
During the meeting they did not just negotiate for peace, but they also discussed about her recommendations about the Empire's key personnel useful for negotiations, how large the Japanese envoy would be, where they would stay, how they would pay their expenses, to check out the possible bribes that would be presented to the Empire's negotiators, to request reciprocal visits between important figures, and to send the Empire's personnel to learn Japanese in the JSDF territories.
The last discussion was about the matter of the prisoners. Councilor Shirayuki reported to Piña that the Japanese government had captured roughly 6000 members of the Imperial Army during the battle of Ginza, many of whom were high-ranking officers, and transferred all of them to a POW camp on an unmanned island in the Seto Inland Sea (in addition, several non-human prisoners (goblins, ogres, etc.) had been taken away by the USA in the name of “Investigations by the United Nations”). She also added that Japan doesn't practice the ransoming of prisoners and the trade of slaves in the current age (practices however still in vogue in the Empire). Under those conditions, Japanese government preferred to take the Empire's payment in means other than hard currency. For instance, in exchange for the release of the captives, Japan would have expected certain concessions from the Empire. In order to give to princess Piña some bargaining power as mediator, Shirayuki reported that the Japanese government was willing to unconditionally release a select group of captives that Piña deemed necessary, in order to use these terms to ensure a good conclusion for the future negotiations.
Piña was herself aware that many sons of imperial senators and nobles had participated to the battle of Ginza and probably many of them were still alive among the prisoners of war, so she decided to take advantage of this opportunity to achieve peace by blackmailing the senators and convince them to negotiate with Japan in exchange for the release of their relatives. The meeting ended with the promise to arrange a visit to the prisoners in their holding facility during their next visit to Japan and to receive a full list of the names of all captives to be shown to the imperial senators. The rest of their short stay in Japan was quite hectic due to the pressing presence of some undercover special forces from foreign nations, such as the United States, Russia and China, all interested in kidnapping the visitors from the Special Region for some obscure purpose. The most dramatic moment was during the Hakone Incident, but in the end everything was resolved in the best way and they were able to return to the gate and the Special Region safe and sound.
It should be noted that during an inspection at the sentry post at the entrance of the Gate, just before returning to the Special Region, the Japanese sentries discovered two pistols that had been very well concealed by Piña and Bozes (a discovery with possible dire consequences for the Empire, considering they were two citizens of an enemy nation who came into possession of weapons with the potential to revitalize the Empire's war effort). Sergeant First Class Shino Kuribayashi, who was part of the escort of the visitors from the Special Region, affirmed that the pistols were only for self-protection and that they had allowed them to temporarily carry the pistols just in case. In truth, the real intention of Piña and Bozes was to bring the pistols to Sadera secretly and pass them on to the best craftsmen they could find, and force them to reproduce such weapons in as many as possible, at any cost, in order to prevent that all the possible future battles against the JSDF would not be one-sided slaughters like in the previous battles. Their secret plan was unsuccessful and the weapons were confiscated by the sentries. In any case, given the primitive state of metallurgy, the lack of mass production, and the complete lack of knowledge of the substances used in the ammunition, such as smokeless powder (nitrocelluse) or the various chemicals used in primers (or even the older "black" gunpowder) but most of all science concept like physics and chemistry as well as industrialization are unheard of or extremely primitive and alien-concepted, in the Empire, it is completely impossible that the Imperials would be able to reproduce the weapons.
New alliances[]
Shortly afterwards, princess Piña Co Lada began secret negotiations with the imperial senators to outline the possible terms for a peace agreement. This period was characterized by a decrease of conflicts between the armed forces of the two enemy powers. The only clashes known to be occurred in this period of relative peace were minor and short-lived skirmishes started by several imperial patrols after having spotted the six JSDF recon teams during their reconnaissance trips.
To monitor the progress of the negotiations, the JSDF established a small outpost in Akusho, a violent lower-class neighborhood in Sadera ruled by a coalition of criminal organizations. The base was used also for humanitarian efforts and covert operations in the capital and soon the criminals of the area became aware of their presence in the district. One of the four main criminal organizations, the Bessara family, attempted to extort protection money from the JSDF, and marched to the outpost with a large group of armed thugs. The JSDF evacuated the local residents of the area and deployed six Special Forces Group operatives to guard the outpost. When the gang arrived at the hideout, the SFG opened fire, cutting down the thugs in a hail of automatic weapons fire. Bessara was able to retreat safely but was killed by the thugs sent by the other three families. Thus, the Bessara family was wiped out. After this display of force, the other three main criminal families of Akusho were quick to cooperate with the JSDF, providing a new source of intelligence on that state of affair in the Imperial Capital.
Now that the JSDF had provided a safe base in the city, the Japanese representative to the capital, Sugawara Kouji, organized together with princess Piña several secret parties with some of the most influential senators and nobles of the empire to discuss about the relationship between their two countries. The parties took place as a kind of cultural exchange between their nations, in order to show to the imperial ruling class all the potential benefits of peaceful cooperation between their peoples... while some JSDF soldiers used a crude shooting range (with a big pile of sandbags and many cheap pots of fired clay as targets) to give a demonstration of the devastating firepower of their advanced weaponry and giving them an idea of what horror they would inevitably face if the war had continued. Sugawara also introduced to the senators all terms necessary for a hypothetical peace treaty acceptable for Japan:
- The Empire must admit its guilt in starting the war and hand over the persons responsible for punishment;
- The Empire must pay the appropriate damages to Japan. This amount is 500 million suwanis;
- The Empire must cede the territory around the Gate for 100 leagues to Japan. A demilitarized zone will exist for 10 leagues around this border where both sides are not permitted to station military forces;
- The Empire must sign a trade treaty with Japan.
Despite the various attempts made by the crown prince Zorzal El Caesar to obstruct these meetings and the discontent of some senators for the gigantic amount of money required for the reparations, the Senate became inevitably divided into two: the pro-peace faction, also known as the Doves, and the pro-war faction, known as the Hawks. For the moment the pro-war faction managed to maintain a position of supremacy over their opponents in the senate, but all that would be destined to change dramatically because of the events that would have occurred shortly thereafter in the capital.
Violent diplomacy[]
Bombing of the Imperial Senate
Some demihuman prostitutes of Akusho, known to have their senses far more acute than humans, promptly warned the Japanese soldiers of an impending earthquake in the capital, a natural event that is considered very rare in the Special Region, and asked them to have shelter. The JSDF personnel offered help to all the inhabitants of the district, but, as princess Piña was their main intermediary in negotiations with the empire, they also decided to warn her as soon as possible of the disaster and make sure she survived the event. First Lieutenant Itami led a small group of JSDF soldiers to the princess' palace with the intent to take her to a safer place, but unfortunately he arrived there too late and the earthquake began to shake violently all the capital, causing minor damage to buildings and causing hysteria and terror among the inhabitants. After he warned her that following the main event there was a possibility that some aftershocks could occur (since the Japanese have a lot of experience about earthquakes due to the strong seismic activity present in their homeland), she rushed to the Imperial Palace, closely followed by the Japanese troops, forced to work as her escort, to warn her father that the danger was not yet past and take him to a safer place. They gathered with the emperor and his bodyguards at the throne room, waiting for the emergency to end and return to a normal situation. In the middle of the meeting, Zorzal El Caesar stormed into the palace, dragging several of his sex slaves behind him, all chained and nude. Also him came to warn the father that the danger was not yet past, claiming that one of his sex slaves had warned him of the threat. When questioned by Itami about the sex slave and the fact that she knew so much about earthquakes, Zorzal amusedly revealed that she was a Japanese prisoner named Noriko Mochizuki, captured during the battle of Ginza. Yōji Itami was infuriated when he learned about the treatment Noriko received and punched Zorzal in the face, knocking him to the ground. After being struck by Itami, Zorzal ordered his guards to kill Itami and the rest of the JSDF soldiers. Instead, the guards were quickly disposed of by the far superior weapons of the JSDF, with Shino Kuribayashi killing several of them personally with her rifle and bayonet. After several guards were killed, the rest fled in terror. Youji ordered Zorzal to tell him if there were any other Japanese slaves in the Empire. Zorzal refused, and Itami ordered Kuribayashi to force the information out of him. Shino did this with extreme enthusiasm, brutally beating Zorzal and breaking his fingers until he revealed that a number of Japanese slaves were taken, but he did not know about their current status nor whereabouts. She continued until Itami stopped her, this time demanding an answer from Zorzal at gunpoint. Tyuule, one of Zorzal's sex slaves, intervened by placing herself in front of Kuribayashi and Itami to shield Zorzal from the two. Noriko and presumably any other slaves within the compound were freed. Though given the chance at freedom, Tyuule refused to leave the service of Zorzal, intending to continue a secret plot to destroy the empire from the inside.
Following this incident, the Japanese government sent an ultimatum demanding the release of all Japanese slaves owned by the Empire. They also sent a warning to evacuate the Imperial Senate. The day after the warning was received, two JSDF jet fighters made a low-level run over Sadera, creating a great deal of noise and terrifying the residents of the city, who had obviously never seen aircrafts before. The fighters then dropped a pair of laser guided bombs aimed by JSDF Special Forces teams on the ground. The bombs impacted and destroyed the evacuated Imperial Senate, demonstrating the power of the JSDF to the rulers of the Empire while letting the Empire understand the consequences should they fail to comply with the demand of returning all the captured Japanese citizens. Many within the Empire's capital came to believe that the Empire, especially Emperor Molt Sol Augustus, had angered the gods and the bombing, along with the recent earthquake, was divine punishment. As a meeting was held in the remains of the Imperial Senate, Marquis Casel had questioned the Emperor's ruling, which led to an "unprecedented damage and humiliation" for the Empire. Because of the bombing, Casel put the spotlight on the ease with which Japan has been able to inflict a harsh damage to the empire and how this event could happen again. After being questioned about why Japan was so angry over a single female slave, the pro-peace faction called princess Piña Co Lada to speak. Piña then showed them all her findings following her secret visit to Japan, demonstrating that the empire was not fighting against a barbaric nation based on the use of destruction magic, but a country technologically superior to them in every possible way and founded on a culture very different from theirs. After Piña declared that she had taken the role of intermediary in the peace negotiations with Japan, the princess brought up a list of war prisoners held captive in Japan, much to the shock of many nobles who assume that all the soldiers that were sent to Ginza were killed. As the nobles asked Piña if their captured family members were truly alive, Piña gave her confirmation and informed them that Japan had allowed her to select ten or so people from that list to be unconditionally returned to the Empire, and affirmed also that she would obviously prioritize the release of prisoners that were family members of senators who would help with the peace negotiations. While many other nobles asked if Japan enslaved the captured prisoners, much to their shock, Piña told them that slavery didn't exist in Japan. She also went on to explain how she began to understand the way of thinking of the Japanese, especially after learning of the terrible treatment meted out to their countrymen by the empire, which led to the destruction of the Imperial Senate.
Following this event, the pro-peace faction of the senate gained the upper hand over the pro-war one, thus ensuring the start of official talks between the two nations.
Zorzal, who was a strong advocate of the pro-war policy, realized that he could not beat the enemy by conventional means and planned to lay low for the moment as he pretended to support the peace negotiations by apologizing and finding any Japanese slaves in the territory of the empire in order to send them back to Japan. His secret schemings were aided by his slave Tyuule, who was planning together with Bouro and the Haryo tribe to destroy the empire by further igniting the conflict with the JSDF in order to take revenge for the harsh treatment suffered by the hands of the imperials.
Zorzal El Caesar's Coup[]
Japanese-Empire relations were further tarnished by the recent poisoning and incapacitation of Molt Sol Augustus and the ascension of his warmonger son, Zorzal Caesar to the position of de-facto ruler of the Empire. Zorzal orders a lockdown of Sadera, including a blockade of Akusho, where the Third Recon Team is based, as well as then Japanese embassy at the Jade Palace. At the same time, the Oprichnina are formed as Zorzal's personal secret police, and begin arresting pro-peace Senators and killing any who resist. At around this time, Diabo departs to an unknown country outside the Empire's borders in search of aid. After Marquis Casel and Sherry Tyueli escape to the Japanese Embassy, the Jade Palace is besieged first by the Oprichnina, and then by Imperial Army regulars. The Jade Palace has no Japanese security personnel, and is instead guarded by ex-Imperial Army guards, as well as the Rose-Order of Knights. The palace guard and knights put up a valiant resistance that drives off the Oprichnina, but are nearly overwhelmed by the army before the Japanese government finally authorizes a rescue operation.
Right
The Japanese intervention begins with a strike against Imperial strong points, including ballista emplacements, by the JASDF F-4 Phantom fighter jets. Soon after, JSDF Special Forces took the city gates and the Third Recon Team broke out out of Akusho and captured the Bassoon Prison, where a number of pro-peace senators and other dissidents were held. The liberated prisoners were subsequently evacuated by helicopter. The Jade Palace itself was reinforced by 11th Airborne paratroopers and 4th Combat Unit helicopters, and the prisoners were evacuated. Overall, the operation is a resounded success, with only one known JSDF casualty, a paratrooper wounded by a stray arrow. However, princess Piña Co Lada is held in the South Palace and not rescued, in spite of a failed attempt by Bozes Co Palesti and Beefeater E Caty to rescue her, which was easily repulsed by the palace guards.
Beefeater and Bozes only narrowly escape when they are rescued by Colonel Shunya Kengun's forces, with Kengun personally leading his troops in combat, firing at the pursuing Imperials with his pistol. Bozes and Beefeater, as well as all JSDF personnel are loaded onto a helicopter and rescued.
Pina is held by Zorzal until Itami leads an unauthorized mission to rescue her from the South Palace, joined by Rory, Tuka, Lelei, Yao, and the Third Recon Team. The squad manage to force their way into palace and eliminate any opposition, including a giant ogre used by Zorzal as his personal guard. Pina and Molt Sol Augustus are rescued and evacuated by car. In spite of this unauthorized operation, Itami is not penalized, as it benefited the Japanese government. Shortly after the rescue operation, Molt Sol Augustus retires and officially hands the throne to Piña (though he still wields substantial power behind the scenes), installing a pro-peace regime. At the same time, Zorzal flees northward, with the intent to gain the aid of allies and make another attempt to take the throne, having still not realized the futility of his efforts in spite of witnessing multiple demonstrations of the JSDF's vast technological superiority.
Gallery[]
