Hellgate

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Oneshot

I.

General Caepio tightened the grip on his horse's reins, behind him a hundred thousand soldiers standing ready to expand the Empire's dominion. His eyes went over the gate, memorizing the detailed craftsmanship, it was identical to the gate on Alnus in every way except it wasn't positioned on holy ground. But instead of sending him, a true aristocrat, the senate gave that plebeian Maximus the honor of conquering the lands behind the Alnus Gate. It was disgraceful!

"Army, advance!" he commanded. If he can manage to conquer the lands behind this Gate faster then Gnaeus Maximus, then the glory will be his for the taking.

With practiced discipline, hundred thousand imperial soldiers marched through the Gate to conquer Terra Incognita, and through conquest, bring glory and spoils of war to the Empire. As they marched into the darkness that would lead them to a new world little did they know that none of them would ever return, or even see the sun again.

II.

Nobody sane would have disputed the fact that the Special Region was a walk in the park for the JSDF. Hardly a surprise considering that their opponent was a quasi Roman Empire that was still stuck in the Middle Ages. One doesn't need to be a genius to guess which side would win.

What was even better was the incompetence of the enemy leadership. Everyone makes mistakes, but even a dog would learn after the second time. Not the men leading the Empire though, for some reason after two crushing defeats they still thought that battle was a valid option for them.

Personally it was all the same to people like Akira Yanagida, the barbarians weren't Japanese so their lives were irrelevant. With some luck something like the Black Death would remove the primitives entirely out of the picture. As plagues weakened the Byzantine Empire and allowed the Arab conquest, as they depopulated the Americas, a pandemic could help Japan in removing the natives of this world. No moral repercussions and an entire new world for Japan to colonize...an once in a life-time opportunity to leave the American shadow and take their place under the sun.

But things have changed...

XXX

Mari Kurokawa watched the sunset with apprehension. She though that such childish fears, like the fear of the dark, were behind her but apparently that was not the case. For four days now refuges from all across the area were swarming towards Alnus in hope of finding protection, especially after the fall of Sadera. With them came the stories...stories that send chills down her spine.

"Do you think they will come tonight?" asked Shino Kuribayashi hastily, almost eagerly in fact.

Mari didn't reply, only observed as the last ray of light disappeared behind the visible horizon, and darkness descended upon the land.

Seconds turned to minutes, and minutes into a hour, but just as she was beginning to think that this will be another quiet night the orders came through.

"They're coming" said Shino even as the flares illuminated the night. In front of their eyes a horde of war-trolls and undead became visible.

A few moments later thunderous noise started to resonate from around the hill as the JSDF unleashed hell on the monstrous tide. Troll and dirt were blaster into the air as artillery started to hammer the area.

Helicopters and aircraft rose into the air to destroy the attackers, saturating the killing grounds with their bombs and bullets.

But the trolls didn't stop...their wounds regenerated even as more bullets pierced their skin. Those that lost their limbs to the artillery barrage regenerated arms, legs and even heads in minutes.

Then they reached the fort itself...

XXX

Velkyn stood beside his master, observing the battle. These humans were very fierce indeed, regrettably for them their raw power won't help them to win this fight. War-trolls couldn't be stopped by anything except acid, and the enemy apparently had no such weapons at hand.

Behind them came the Cairn-wights, not as good as the war-trolls and certainly not as resilient, but good enough to be of some use. Their numbers certainly swelled during the rampage through the Empire.

Velkyn smiled as undead earth elementals appeared behind enemy lines even before the first trolls broke through the minefield and reached the fortification. The necromentals smashed soldiers under their strikes and flipped over their war-machines. The vampire could almost taste the blood... "I think I will join in the fun" said the drow as he turned to the vampire spawn he created "You will stay here" with those words he teleported into the fort.

"Tsk, so impulsive" grumbled his levitating accomplice, the lichdrow's empty eye sockets gazing towards their last battle in this war. Not that it really mattered anymore, Lolth has already slain the feeble gods that resided on this plane, cementing her hold on this world. The undead mage then focused on the war machines that were attacking his forces. The lich then points his skeletal digit at the closest tank and the contraption disintegrated into dust "Hmm, so it really is simple steel, and not mithral or adamntine..." His curiosity satisfied he left the other tanks to the Dread-wraiths, their incorporeal bodies easily entering the war-machines and eliminating the humans inside, turning them into more wraiths.

Lord Dyrr then turned towards Velkyn's slaves "How the mighty have fallen. Though I find your predicament amusing I hope Velkyn stops collecting trash every time he's victorious" said the undead wizard as he gazed down on the kneeling figure of Zorzal. The former prince could do nothing except lower his head, the same as Pina, Bozes and Panache. None of them wished to received the same punishment as the Emperor got for talking back...before being send to Menzoberranzan as a present for matron mother Yvonnel Baenre. We still need to make a permanent Prismatic Wall in front of that Gate to keep the other rivvin out thought the lich as it pulled out a piece of a dragon's horn from his pocket. The crippled, one armed beast was certainly a blessing, though pitifully weak it was still good enough to serve as spell components for a very long time. Naturally when other drow wizards learned that there were a bunch of dumb, weak dragons in the mountains the lizard population dropped to zero.

XXX

As the monstrous enemy advanced, so did the JSDF retreat from their fortified position, moving while providing suppressive fire was abandoned since the enemy was impervious to their weapons.

"Retreat towards the Gate!" ordered Lieutenant-General Hazama as he directed the refuges and the Japanese to the only way out they had.

"Sir! What should we do about the tanks?!" asked Yanagida as he fired his gun at the closest troll, the bullets blinding the monster until its eyes regenerated.

Hazama could only growl as he saw the monsters swarm over the war-machines.

Even as he was contemplating that, a flash of lightning struck one of his helicopters and the machine fell down, crashing directly on the fuel tanks.

The impact caused a huge explosion in the fort, sending shrapnel and fire to decimate everyone and everything in the area. Even the general himself wasn't spared as a piece of hot steel pierced his shoulder, causing the man to stumble and hiss in pain.

XXX

"Why won't you die!" screamed Shino as she emptied her second ammo clip into the advancing undead. The wight's armor and body was full of bullet-holes but the thing simply refused to go down!

The monsters were almost upon her when suddenly an oversized axe went through them.

"Need any help?" smirked Rory.

"Kuribayashi, are you okay?" inquired Itami as he, Lelei and Tuka ran towards her. Before she could answer she spotted a strange person standing on-top the barrack's roof. His index finger was pointed to the sky, then to her surprise some kind of ray shot out from the fingertip and hit the one of the aircraft, erasing it from the sky.

As soon as Shino saw that, she instantly pointed her gun at the hostile and opened fire. To her astonishment her bullets bounced of some sort of invisible shield.

Velkyn unleashed a lightning bolt, causing a helicopter to explode, before he looked down on his assailant. The projectiles were no threat to him even without his defensive spells. As a vampire mere bullets wouldn't be enough to seriously harm him, neither could such feeble attacks penetrate his enchanted adamntine armor in the first place. He drew his weapons, an enchanted sword and dagger, and swiftly teleported behind the group. With speed unmatched by mortal races he decapitated the short blue-haired mage, reasoning that she was the most dangerous one of the group.

To his surprise the girl with the oversized axe managed to react to his speed and slashed through his torso with her weapon, regrettably for her his Ironguard spell shielded him from any harm that the attack would normally cause. Vekyn retaliated by throwing his dagger at her unprotected torso and grinned as the blade hit true.

The girl grunted and took two steppes back, then stopped and smiled "That won't work on me, brat" with one hand she grabbed the hilt of the dagger and pulled it out.

The vampire scowled as he saw her wound regenerate "Seems not."

Velkyn didn't bother with the humans that were shooting at him, none of their weapons were a threat in the first place. Having faith in his protective spells he rushed the child with the halberd, she tried to fend him off with her weapon but once again the thing went through him without doing any harm. Velkyn smiled as he touched the girl's arm and she instantly turned to stone "Regenerate this!"

"RORY!" screamed one of the humans and tried to tackle him, with a simple back-hand the man went flying back.

Shino growled as she rushed to stab the monster with her bayonet, but to her amazement he easily parried her attack and sliced her fingers off, then with super-natural strength he kicked her into the closest building.

"Do you honestly think your third rate melee skills are enough to defeat me? For two thousand years I have battled people who spend their entire lives mastering the sword, and now you, an amateur that's less skilled than a squire desires to challenge me?! Pathetic!" With supernatural speed the vampire released another lightning bolt, this time on Mari and Tuka, turning them both into ash. He then walked towards Shino and grabbed her by the neck "Where is your leader? I need another trophy to add to my collection" said the vampire as he used his power to charm her to his side.

"Let her go!" shouted Itami as he tried to stand up again.

The vampire snorted and dropped the girl "Oh, will you tell me where your leader is instead?"

"Why are you doing this?!" hissed Itami.

"Many reasons, Lolth demands sacrifices, we need slaves, more resources to fight against the other races...or rather, simply because we can" explained the undead drow as he walked towards Itami "I think I will keep that female there as my slave, would be fun to see how she handles the drow fighting pits. Then again, perhaps I will sell her to the mind flayers like we did with the fools that stumbled blindly through the Underdark."

"You monster!" growled Itami as he pulled his pistol and opened fire on the vampire...to no effect.

"You rivvin really have no reason to judge" said Velkyn as he appeared beside Itami "unlike the iblith in the Empire we don't rush headlong into conflict. We have studied your capabilities for some time now, we know what you can do, what your weaknesses are and even your history." The drow's grin widened "Does the name Nanking ring any bells?"

Itami's eyes widened for a moment before narrowing again "That was almost a century ago, we are better than that."

The vampire shrugged "Perhaps, but to me a century is practically yesterday so pardon me for remaining skeptical, especially since you are trying to invade and annex territory we desire for ourselves. In any case you have my thanks in weakening the Empire, the sacrifices for the ritual really hastened our timetable."

"You won't win" hissed the soldier.

"We already have" said Velkyn just as the vampire bit down on Itami's neck.

As his blood was drained Itami watched the monsters butcher the trapped soldiers, feasting on the people he knew...with his dying breath he only managed to utter "...I'm...sorry...everyone..."

THE END

A/N:

What can I say, Gate is a wasted opportunity. There is no plot, no goal, characters are shallow, villains are cardboard, and there is zero tension. The story can't be even called fantasy vs modern world because the fantasy side doesn't even get the magical elements, only swords.

The right-wing jingoism aside, there's only so much curbstomping before a series becomes boring, one episode is okay but to have a whole manga/anime about it is insane, and lazy writing at its finest. Diplomacy is poorly done, culture clash is poorly done, world building is poorly done...what else is there? Beside senselessly demolishing an inferior cardboard villain the series has nothing.