It had been years and three months since Damon arrived in this world, a year since he conquered Ronalla.
Damon and the region had become wealthy overnight due to their steel shipments which in turn funded the construction of homes ,garissons factories and roads as well as building weapons and airships .
One of such airships was the Damon military airship 1 or rather the DMA-1 which was the largest of all airships fitted with three 50 cal machine guns . It was responsible for carrying troops and equipment, it was also responsible for decimating enemy ground troops. It's size was about 300 meters in length and 113 meters in length . When flying empty without cargo, the airship was able to reach speeds of almost two hundred kilometers per hour, maximum altitude of ten thousand feet and a cruise altitude of seven thousand feet. When carrying a maximum payload of 200,000 kilograms, the altitude drops to a cruising altitude of five thousand feet.
Their counterpart the scout ship was ten times less effective except for the speed which greatly surpassed the DMA-1 at 250km per hour. It was only fitted with one machine gun to defend itself or harras enemies .
The other air ships were made for hauling cargo and people so they maintained low altitude and speeds of between 60 t0o 100 km per hour.
That day Damon received a high priority intelligence report came to Damons desk. The report read " the emperor is dead and the first prince, Marcellus has taken control of the imperial capital , killing all of his half siblings who were in the capital. The imperial army is now under his control and he has sent forth his army to demand allegiance of the other regions."
Immediately Damon sent for his military heads. As he was still waiting another intelligence report came in , his caravan which was carrying steel ingots to deliver to a customer was attacked, this has been happening for over a month now. Reports that came in claimed that the people responsible for were knights from Madi , Apams and Gantz.
It was nice secret that they were Lord Ronallas allies and it only meant one thing, that Lord Ronalla was staying with one of them. This was an opportunity for Damon to gain more territory and population under the guise of having a just reason for attacking.
Soon the general and the captains that commanded the battalions in the army, the ISB and the red guard were in the conference room where Damon raised up two letters which he had received.
" The emperor is dead, and Prince Marcellus has executed all his siblings who pose a threat to his rule except for prince Tiberius who resides in Abegnog and princess Tilly who resides in the South with her mother's family. She's the only one who doesn't have a standing army.
Marcellus has sent both the imperial army (or knights) and the army of his vassals to bring the other parts of the empire under his control.
And finally the knights of Madi, Apams and Gantz are the ones responsible for stealing our shipments and harassing our caravans, which of course has to be paid in blood, so which one should we target first".
" I believe we should focus on Madi ,Apams and Gantz as it would take considerable amount of time for the imperial army to reach this region, perhaps in about three months." General Barksdale replied.
" In that case , I want two thousand men and fifty cannons ready, in three days time we will attack Apams, Gantz and Madi all at once."
Three days later several airships carrying soldiers and equipment departed from the army base in Merula.
Two thousand soldiers and their commanders were aboard the ships as well as ten red guards,the twins Gog and Maggog and then Damon.
The first point of attack was Madi which was just fifty kilometers away from Ronalla. So it took about five hours to reach it's borders.
Damon in the lead ship ordered that they fly directly into the city . The airships in formation flew above the city walls into the city.
The city of Madi however were unprepared for a assault and they watched in horror as the colossal ships made their way to the castle.
As they reached the castle walls, the airships started firing their .50 cal machine guns at the castle indiscriminately. Thousands of rounds tore through anyone that was still standing, cutting bricks and stone like it was paper.
One hundred men which formed a landing party spiraled down from ropes into the courtyard of the castle, each of them armed with SMGs and shotguns for breaching.
Soon they breached the castle rounding up survivors and eliminating hostile forces.
It took about twenty minutes for the whole castle to be cleared, but still they could not find Lord Madi. After some questioning they found out that Lord Madi was meeting with the other lords in Apams.
So a new plan was made General Barksdale would take 750 men to secure Gantz while Damon would take another 750 men to secure Apams. 500 soldiers were garrisoned in Madi to secure the peace.
It took Damon less than two hours to conquer Madi and bring it under his rule something that was unprecedented in the history of warfare in this world.
Back at Prince Tiberius Manor, generals and his vassals has gathered to discuss the future incursion of the Prince Marcellus army.
" I hear the so called warriors of the northern region had sent a letter swearing allegiance to Prince Marcellus." Tiberius said to the group then continued,
" What should we be expecting from them?"
A bald shady looking man who was named Jor replied " your Majesty with the addition of the northern region and his other vassals together with the imperial army, he is expected to have at least seven hundred thousand men not counting those who were forcibly conscripted. But that is not what we should be worried about, it is the close to one hundred thousand highly trained mages and magic warriors they have amongst their ranks."
But Jor was too engrossed with his explanation to notice the downcast expression in the room so he continued with it.
" Your Majesty, you are the only one that can challenge Prince Marcellus claim on the throne so it is expected that the bulk of his forces would be sent to attack you."
" And how many men do we have at this moment to combat this incursion" Tiberius asked trying to mask the frustration in his voice.
" We have about two hundred and fifty thousand men with ten thousand highly trained mages and magic warriors. When other lords answer your call to arms , I believe that we would have a total of about three hundred thousand soldiers ". Jor replied.
After thinking for a while Tiberius ordered that letters be sent to the southern and western regions asking them to proclaim him emperor so as to get a fighting chance against Marcellus.