“The New Year’s Eve has been marked with muted celebrations across the world. The fireworks show held in Eutstadt had been suspended after news of the MN offensive commencing in Hebei reached the TVs and internet. A joint statement from the leaders of the Mandate of Nations, including Prime Minister Heiss and Queen Amelie called for ‘calm and sensible celebrations’. Queen Amelie even promised that she wanted a victory for the free world at the start of the year. She has stated that ‘help and liberation is coming’ to all civilians living under the increasingly repressive CFN regimes.”

  - Geopol News

  +++

  Empire of Hebei

  Ginzhu Province

  Dichang City

  I OEF-Hebei

  B/18-4 Mobile Assault Brigade

  January 1, 2026

  “Come on!” Charles called as he turned his commander’s site to the left. “Keep pummeling those bastards!”

  “Aye, Lieutenant!” came the gruff response from his gunner. Their main gun soon opened fire again, sending a 120mm MPAT round set to detonate on contact. The distant building they had targeted immediately detonated, causing the apartment to collapse. Gunfire from that area immediately stopped.

  However, some sections of the apartment remained intact. An ATGM even flew out of it, striking one of the parked HMLVs used by their allied Hebeian forces on the street ahead of them.

  “Gunner, MPAT, infantry to the left side of that apartment!” Charles called out again.

  “Aye! Taking aim now!” Hector responded.

  Their turret turned into the left side of the damaged building. Then, another MPAT round was slammed by the Panther mech’s autoloader straight into its main gun. Within a split second, another shot pummeled it. It only took a few moments for the rest of the residential structure to fully cave in and collapse.

  “Good shot, son,” Charles said as he looked down at Hector. He gave him a thumbs up. “Doing well as always.”

  “Of course I am,” Hector laughed and shook his head. “What’s next?”

  Charles scanned the area ahead of them with his sights. They were in a pretty decent cover behind one of the collapsed buildings that allowed them to overlook the main highway ahead of them. The rest of his squad’s mechs on the other hand were still either at the rear or the forward positions taking potshots on the enemy’s garrisoned buildings ahead of them.

  Otherwise, the situation was stable. Hebeian soldiers were slowly taking territory inch by inch, advancing through the rubble of the destroyed city. Even the dismounts of B Company were supporting them well. The various M8 IFVs and infantry platoons of his company were already advancing all well and good.

  “Just keep targeting anything that looks like a good target,” Charles ordered. Then, he pulled out his microphone to speak to the mech’s intercom. “Jenkins! Just keep us in this position. If you see anyone that might get a shot at us, pull back. Or at my signal!”

  “Noted, Lieutenant!” his driver replied.

  And thus, the hour of draining combat ensued. Under the morning sun, Charles and his team tried their best to stay out of trouble, while ensuring that their unit advanced. It was methodical. They would advance to a covered position. Then they would sit in the back and open fire on the enemy’s garrisons.

  In front of them, the Hebeian soldiers acted as the main assault force. They organized themselves in assault platoons that advanced street by street, lane-by-lane. They cleared out areas with their grenades, rifles, and handheld AT weapons. They’d also try to assault occupied buildings, but sometimes, it would fail.

  Charles would then receive a call for fire support whenever that happened. And he directed either Hector to take fire, or for any one of his six mechs to open fire at it. They were fairly spread out, each assigned to one lane or street, and advancing with various support units. Regardless, they were advancing nicely.

  No complications. No hiccups. It was merely a continuous inch-by-inch assault every minute. It was so routine, that by the time the enemy had fully withdrawn, all that Charles and his buddies could do was finally relax inside their mech. They had just expended nearly half of their munitions.

  They soon parked their mech on the side of the road. They were finally rotated out of the platoons assigned for the assault role. Charles naturally opened his hatch to get some fresh air. Same with Hector, who straight up jumped out of his hatch to sit on top of their turret.

  On the road itself, other vehicles and lines of soldiers on foot drove or marched forward. While they were now not on the active assault force, the advance was continuing regardless. And even in just a few minutes that they had stopped, the frontlines must have been pushed multiple kilometers already.

  “You’ll get shot over there,” Charles warned Hector. Then, Charles popped his canteen open as he continued. “Get down.”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “Nah. No chance. I mean, look at this. They’re in disarray. And we’re not even in a lane perpendicular to them. I’m fine.”

  “Regardless, get down now.”

  His gunner groaned as he jumped down their mech’s hull.

  “Fine,” the man said. Then, he fished out a packet of cigarettes. Then, with his lighter, Hector started smoking while watching the marching soldiers. Charles on the other hand picked up his radio to give further orders to his squad. Two mechs soon were parked directly behind him. The rest were parked further away.

  The driver’s hatch on their LSS mech’s hull soon opened, and out came his driver, Jenkins. He had a clear frown on his face as he climbed out of the driver’s compartment.

  “El-tee, what’s the news?” Jenkins asked. He used the gun of his mech to support himself when he stood in front of Charles. “How long are we sitting our ass here?”

  “We’ll be driving out in twenty minutes. Just waiting for the battalion’s resupply trucks to come.”

  Hector groaned.

  “Oh come on, are we carrying boxes of munitions again?” Hector asked as he turned back up to Charles. “Man, this is getting old.”

  “You do it dozens of times yet you complain about it,” Charles laughed. “Anyway, the two of you. Go take a snack or whatever. Just stay alert. I’ll go back to my seat and have a brief rest.”

  “Going to read that romance novel you got from that lady?” Jenkins teased as he laughed.

  “Ain’t that more like a picture book?” Hector asked before returning to smoking. “I remember reading one of those back in the olden days. Like those Asanaian things…”

  “Yeah, this is Hebeian,” Charles said, grinning. “Translated to Orlish. They call it Manhuas. Pretty interesting. It’s like comics.”

  “What even is the story of that shit man?” Jenkins curiously asked.

  “You wanna read it? It’s got pictures,” Charles offered. But Jenkins shook his head.

  “I ain’t into reading man. It still got words,” he scratched his head. “I don’t like reading words.”

  “Yeah, figured as much,” Charles sighed. “What about you, Hector?”

  “Does it have people shooting other people?” Hector asked.

  “No. It’s about a noblewoman trying to use her magic for her new husband.”

  “That shit’s trash. Why are you even entertained by it?”

  “It’s just interesting, asshole,” Charles defensively replied. On the other hand, Jenkins chuckled further.

  “It’s cause he’s thinking he’ll get married one day. Man’s delusional!”

  “Yeah, you both are braindead,” Charles shook his head. “Whatever. Call me again when the supply guys arrive. I’m going down.”

  +++

  “All right. All units! We’re not going to falter this time around. We’ve been assigned to do this, so we’ll finish it well and good. B Company has always delivered. And we’ll live up to that task!”

  There was applause on their company-wide comms from each platoon leader. Even Charles himself felt his spirit rise from the encouraging words of his commanding officer. They were now being arrayed for the final assault on the final strongholds of the enemy in this city.

  “Alright,” Charles spoke to his platoon on his radio. “You know this well enough. The enemy is pulling out rapidly from Dichang. This is our chance now. So do your best. There will be no resting from this onwards. We will charge in and chase them until they all surrender.”

  “Copy that, El-Tee!”

  “We’re ready now!”

  “Alright,” Charles breathed in. “Captain, we’ll be leading the charge now. Cover us please.”

  When he received the affirmation, he immediately ordered Jenkins to drive ahead. Immediately, their mech sped up through the fields of Dichang. The final central district was heavily destroyed by last night’s bombing. Almost nothing stood due to the heavy barrages of allied rocket artillery and even normal artillery.

  Their mech charged through the highway, with the rest of his platoon’s mechs trailing from behind. Above them, multiple glide bombs began pummeling Dichang’s central business district. They were aimed straight at skyscrapers that had been confirmed as structures occupied by CFN forces.

  One by one, skyscrapers that stood collapsed to the ground with such violent force that entire roads and highways were blocked by the debris. Smaller buildings were also struck by further glide bombs. All of it eliminated the endless barrages of ATGMs and MANPAD missiles that came from Dichang’s high rises.

  That meant that below, Charles and his platoon were able to conduct their thunder run with relative ease. The enemy however wasn’t going to let things go easily. Stores and buildings, many occupied by the enemy, began opening fire on their mechs. But Charles and Hector were already at work.

  While Jenkins drove their mech hard ahead, their turret turned left and right to open fire on anything that tried to resist them. And the same measures were being placed by the rest of Charles’ platoon. Their mechs would dash through the highway at fast speeds, and they would open fire on the bastards attempting to disrupt them.

  “Hell yeah!” Charles laughed as he watched one of the buildings on his right completely collapse from Hector’s shot. “Keep doing it, son! We’re killing a lot of them!”

  They were almost completely untouchable. The gunfire from the enemy’s small arms barely even scratched their mech’s armor. And a lot of their AT weapons seemed to be gone. Not a single ATGM flew at their face. All that was happening was carnage, with his platoon advancing without any effective resistance from their foes.

  Soon, when they realized that they were far enough away from their starting positions, Charles called for his platoon to stop and reorganize. They immediately fanned out on the lanes to find cover and clear out the rubble from any hostile troops. Behind them, the rest of their company’s IFVs finally arrived, and the troops they carried immediately fanned out to support them.

  Within a few moments, Jenkins found another good position. They soon positioned their mech on it—a mere collapsed building that offered some elevation with its remnants. In the far distance, Charles watched as a ten-story building fired an ATGM in their direction.

  He marked it.

  “Gunner, MPAT, on that building, now!” Charles shouted. “They got AT!”

  “Copy that, Lieutenant!” Hector shouted as another round flew in the direction of the building. The building collapsed, and many of their enemies finally began to retreat en masse, yet the battle for Dichang was still far from completely over.

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