Tyranny of Steel

Sergeant Major Lach Graf von Wickten had spared no time to prepare for his last mission. He bade farewell to his family, who had no idea that this was the last time they would see him, before departing on a plane for the Island of Borneo.

During the journey, Lach and his unit of terminally ill soldiers were informed that their task would be a simple one. Their objective was to bait the Imperial Japanese Army into attacking their unit. How they would do this was a rather simple method.

According to the treaty between Germany and Japan, the Reich was prohibited from playing an active role in the conflict, and was not allowed to fly above the island of Borneo. However, they were permitted to provide non-combative support to the Majapahit Empire, which was exactly how Lach and his men would provoke the Imperial Japanese Army into attacking them.

When Lach and his unit arrived on the island of Borneo, they were given Majapahit camouflage pattern uniforms to wear for their operation. However, there were a few minor distinctions between these fatigues and the ones that their allies wore.

In fact, these garments had German markings, which were hard to notice as their color was an olive drab green, which blended in with the uniform fairly well. After applying camouflaged paint to their faces and forearms, the German soldiers grabbed hold of their G27 semi-automatic rifles and hiked it to the front lines of the conflict, which were rapidly collapsing to the Japanese invasion force.

Lach and his men eventually made their way towards the brush, where they began to survey the area. They could see a Japanese infantry brigade marching through the Jungle roughly a five hundred meters out, which they began to report via their radio operator back to the rear lines.

At first, the Japanese did not spot the Germans and continued marching closer and closer to their position. But when Lach intentionally shifted his position, a soldier about fifty yards away spotted his movement, and did not hesitate to open fire on the German position.

There was barely a squad's worth of men selected for this operation, and once they had been fired upon by one soldier, a hundred more shot at thier location. Though they knew their duty was to die on this mission, they took cover and returned fire, hoping to at least bring down enough of the enemy to bring honor to Kaiser and Fatherland.

Lach aimed down the iron sights of his semiautomatic rifle, and pulled the trigger, instantly sending an 8mm projectile downrange and into the torso of the enemy. The Japanese soldiers had not even noticed who the Germans actually were and continued to fire on their position.

One by one, the German soldiers fell to bullets and mortar fire alike. After all, they were facing down thousands of soldiers who were rushing to their position, and there were only ten of them to begin with. Still, they managed to take roughly a company's worth of the Japanese.

In the end, Lach was all alone. Knowing that his death was near, he pulled out one of his grenades and stood up to throw it towards a nearby enemy. He shouted with every inch of his strength his battle cry before tossing the grenade into the air.

"For Kaiser and Fatherland!"

As the grenade flew through the air, a burst of bullets tore through his chest, causing him to fall back onto the muddied floor, spreadeagled, with his rifle in one hand. As Lach took his last breath, he could have sworn that he saw a platinum haired winged beauty swooping down towards him with her hand stretched out. In the next moment, the life faded from the Sergeant Major's eyes, and the Japanese surrounded the corpses of the slain reconnaissance team.

It was only after they had carefully observed the corpses, did the Japanese soldiers realize just how much they had fucked up. Contrary to what they thought, these were not Majapahit soldiers. their features were far too angular, refined, and regal. While the markings on their uniforms were different than what the Japanese had encountered before.

Despite the obvious european features, the enlisted personnel of the Imperial Japanese Army still didn't recognize who they had killed. It took an officer's examination to realize that they had violated the treaty and slain a German support unit. A look of fear emerged on the Officer's face, as he left the scene with panic in his eyes. He quickly approached the nearest comms officer and gave him a command.

"Report back to base. The treaty has been violated, and war is now inevitable."

Due to the advanced nature of German communications, the death of Sergeant Major Lach Graf von Wickten, and his reconnaissance unit, was immediately reported to German High Command, far before Itami was able to learn of this development.

The immediate response by Berengar was to send a team of Sturmkommandos to retrieve the bodies of the fallen. Meanwhile, he took to a public broadcast which was echoed across the entirety of the Reich, including the colonies that were spread across the world.

Unlike his usual public appearances, Berengar did not wear his imperial regalia, instead he wore his military uniform, which was a telltale sign to anyone with a brain that the Kaiser was about to declare war. Berengar's brows were furrowed, and his expression was furious as he took to the mic and made his declaration.

"At approximately 0900 Hours, on the Island of Borneo, a squad of German soldiers, who were providing non-combative support to the Majapahit Empire, were murdered by the Imperial Japanese Army in an unprovoked attack. Among the deceased was Sergeant Major Lach Graf von Wickten. Who, as most of you know, is among the most decorated war heroes of the Reich.

Over the past few years, I have made my stance clear on the Japanese Empire and their warmongering ways. And yet I have gone out of my way to maintain peace between our two realms. Because it is my belief that war is undesirable, and must only be waged as a last resort!

By now you are all aware of my patience, and even after our pilots were attacked in the skies above Borneo, I went out of my way to negotiate with Japan and, in doing so, I am ashamed to admit that I made certain concessions that in no way benefited our Empire. All for the sake of peace.

But no longer! I am proud to announce today that I am taking this battle on at last, and I am taking it on with the same determination with which I always take on battle. And that is... Fight until the very last! They wanted it! They shall have it! They wish to destroy Germany. It is I who will show them who shall be destroyed!

To the Japanese people, for which I only have sympathy, you can thank the common criminal Itami Riyo for this! Ms. Itami Riyo has, with this war, started the greatest military nonsense, for which any leader or warlord has ever been responsible. She is fighting a war, which one way or the other will destroy Japan!"

Upon concluding this declaration of war, thunderous applause echoed all across the Reich with repeated shouts of a single word. War! War! War! War! The German people had been fighting primitive savages on the frontiers for too long. The repeated setbacks in their negotiations with Japan had created a bloodlust like no other, and with the death of one of the greatest war heroes of the reich, this fury had reached the boiling point.

Immediately after making this announcement, Berengar deployed all forces located within the Indian and Pacific Oceans to converge on the Japanese Empire. The German Empire was now officially at war. A war that the Germans would not stop waging until the very foundations that Itami had built were burnt to ashes.