The day of the tournament had come long before anyone had realized. The day before the event was to start, both ships unloaded their armies on opposite sides of the island, as directed by the event organizers who were hired to make sure the match ran smoothly.

Once their camps were set up, they spent the rest of the day scouting for possible routes to their target regions. Though it was illegal, occasionally a few shots were exchanged between scouting parties upon running into each other.

As soon as the sun peaked over the horizon the next day, the commanders for both armies rode towards the center point. While they were gone, their subordinates mingled with each other.

Eren sat on a tree stump with his rifle across his lap and his hardee had set off to the side. Across from him, on the ground itself, was Eliza who was making sure her bayonet was "sharp" [Making sure she had paint in it to be used against the Dixons.]. Kay, meanwhile, enlightened her friends with stories of her family.

She had just finished telling a particularly comedic story when two more people approached their camp. One had a slight tan to her complexion, black hair, and fierce blue eyes that seemed to scan everything around her at once. The other had dark skin, the color of chocolate. His hair was curly, but short, and his eyes were a pair of friendly brown ones. Upon seeing Eren, the two smiled.

"They you are!" The girl said, "We've been looking all over for you."

"Hey, hey!" Eren said as he got up, "Jazz, Chris. How'd yall sleep?"

"Pretty good, Eren, pretty good." The boy said, "What about you?"

"Like a baby." He said, "Here, let me introduce you to my friends. That blond one down there is Kay and the four eyes is Eliza."

"Pleasure." The girl replied, "I'm Jasmine, though my friends call me Jazz. And the buffalo here is Christopher. We call him Chris because he can't handle so many letters."

Chris merely tipped his hat at the ladies, "Pleased to meet you, Ms. Kay, Ms. Eliza."

"The pleasure is all mine." Kay replied.

Eliza, however, was silent as she looked at Chris. Her face saw visible confusion as she asked, "They actually let you fight?"

The atmosphere of the greeting took an immediate plunge. Four pairs of eyes turned on Eliza instantly. Chris was quick on his reply, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize beggars could be choosers."

Eliza quickly sprang up to her feet before being caught in Kay. "Eliza, calm yourself." She said, "He just wants to help."

"We don't need his kind's help." Eliza snarled, "All they do is cause trouble!"

"The only one causing trouble here is you, Bitchy-san." Jasmine snapped back at Eliza. At that, Eliza attempted to break free of Kay's grip again, only for Kay to hold her back.

"Eliza," Kay said, "Like it or not, they're on our side. We've got to work together if we're going to win this war."

Eliza looked at Kay before pushing her off of her. "Him I'll work with." She said, pointing at Eren. "Not her," She said, gesturing to Jasmine, "And especially not a negro." Eliza then walked off, leaving the rest of them staring after her.

"I'm sorry about her." Kay said.

"It's not your fault." Chris replied, "Besides, I'm used to at this point. Believe me, where we come from, people do a lot worse than her."

"How much worse?" Kay asked.

"Ever heard of the Ku-Klux-Klan?" Eren asked.

Before Kay could reply, a bugle call rang out over the encampment. It was a call to arms, meaning that it was time. Kay turned to the three of them and tipped her hat, "I'll see you all on the other side."

"See you there Kay." Eren replied as the three Shelbilites tore off towards their own lines. Kay then turned away from them and took off towards her own regiment.

The region capital stood in between the two armies. Anna, looking down at if from on top of a hill. She looked through her binoculars down at the line of blue marching towards the capital. Anna looked towards the collection of buildings, then closer to her line where a shallow stream separated her from the capital. A couple of bridges ran across the river, natural chokepoints. She nodded and turned to the woman next to her.

"Tell the cannons to set up their batteries here." She ordered, "Have the infantry set up their army here and send the calvary up around their right flank to scare them into a route."

"Yes general." The orderly replied before running down the hill on horseback.

Mary, from her own vantage point watched the Dixon army deploy itself in a defensive position. Her concern, however, was for those heavy guns that overlooked the city. That position was perfect to rain down fire on the army as they gathered in the town. Those cannons must go.

"Tell the Infantry to move through the town and reform on the other side. We'll engage those Dixons in the river bank and drive them from the field, then push up to take those cannons. Set up our cannons so they can support our infantry and suppress their artillery."

"Right away."

"Alright 5th Volunteers!" Kay's colonel shouted to the ranks, "Our orders are to go left and hit the Dixons on the flank. We are heading that way with the 3rd and 4th. Let's go!"

Kay swiftly repeated the order to her soldiers as the regiment marched forward, keeping their formation as three hundred girls marched together towards their objective. It wasn't long after marching before the sounds of the fight began, cannons echoed in the distance as bugles called and rifles cracked.

"Well we missed the first shots fired." Someone commented.

"We'll be back in time for the last." Kay responded.

The three regiments continued until they found a suitable spot to cross the river at. They crossed it with easy, only getting slightly wet, before continuing on towards the fight, the sounds of combat getting louder.

Before they could reach the flank of the enemy, however, they were met with a long line of grey. The flags said they were roughly the same size as they were, three regiments. They two were caught in transition, but as soon as the two sides saw each other, the colonels shouted the same order.

"Free fire!"

Kay lowered her rifle quickly and aimed it at the first Dixon in her sights, a drummer. She pulled the trigger alongside several soldiers from both sides. The smoke from the explosion puffed up in Kay's face, but as soon as it cleared, Kay could see she had hit her mark. Quickly she began to reload her muzzle loading rifle.

Both sides exchanged volleys of fire against each other. Smoke had obscure their vision so much that all they could do was fire at the flag bearers, hoping to hit someone. Soldiers went down instantly, some yipping in pain and some just being flung back. On the ground, those that didn't "Die" instantly rolled in pain before passing out from the chemical.

It was the closest thing to 18th century warfare they could get, and even still Kay had a newfound respect for those that played with real weapons. The smoke irritated her eyes and she could hear coughing come from her side, undoubtedly from the dirty gun smoke that rose from their rifles.

"Fix Bayonets!"

Kay looked up from her sights to the direction she heard the order from. Her colonel, still alive, had her sword raised high over her head, trying to act as the flag bearer who was also raising their flag. Kay quickly fixed her bayonet before reloading her rifle.

"BRACE!"

Kay was interrupted during her reload by a Dixon girl bursting through the smoke, yipping like an animal loosed from her cage. She raised her rifle to stab at Kay but found herself interrupted by the colonel's revolver. She fell to the ground, crying out as she held the area where the round had gotten her. Kay leveled her bayonet just in time for another Dixon to burst through the smoke.

Their rifles locked inbetween them, Kay's eyes met with the Dixon's. "Die Mason whore!" The Dixon said as she threw Kay back.

"Piss off you Dixon bitch." Kay said as she jammed the bayonet of her rifle into the Dixon's gut. The Dixon dropped her rifle and held the wound as she fell, taking Kay's rifle with her. Kay wouldn't find time to celebrate as she caught a bayonet coming for her just in time to dodge it. She then grabbed the rifle and wrestled the Dixon for it. As they did, the rifle fired and Kay's mind flashed with an idea. She grabbed the bayonet's socket and unscrewed it. The Dixon, realizing what Kay had done, punched Kay in the face but to no avail. Kay turned around and jammed the bayonet into the Dixon's chest. The Dixon dropped her rifle instantly as Kay recovered her's from the second Dixon.

"They're falling back!"

Kay spun around to see her friends and comrades starting to break formation and charge forward. She then turned to see that the gunsmoke had cleared enough to show the shattered Dixon lines running back towards their defensive line. Kay joined in the cheering before quickly reloading her rifle and joining in the charge.

It wasn't long before the Saunders girls realized their mistake.

The Dixon's route took them over a hill that obscured the vision of Saunders, once they did, another standard appeared. It was quickly joined by two more and before they realized it, they were facing down half the Dixon army.

The colonel looked at the new line with wide eyes before shouting the only sensible order to give in such a situation.

"RETREAT!"

Kay turned around and started running just as a volley of guns ripped right through their ranks. Several girls fell as the Saunders army ran for their lives with Kay being among the fastest. She could hear the furious pounding of feet chasing her, the loud bellows of victory that echoed throughout the Dixon lines and the feeble attempts of small groups of girls to stop the charge.

They finally made it back to their river crossing where they threw all caution to the wind and ran across the bank as quickly as possible. They might've been fired upon if tournament rules forbid fighting in a river for the fear of drowning. Using this to their advantage, the colonel gave a new order. "Regroup on the far bank!"

A good plan, if it were not for the tournament rules saying nothing about not shooting someone as soon as they came out of the river. The first Saunders girl stepped out onto the bank was instantly cut down, falling forward onto the ground. They were quickly followed by the rest that had attempted to get out of the crossfire, Kay being one of the luck few to make it across. She turned around and fired her rifle defiantly at the Dixons, hitting one and receiving a round in the dirt next to her for her trouble. The others that had made it across clung to whatever cover they could find, mostly rocks, and firing back at the Dixons who commanded the field. Once the rest of the Saunders girls who were left made it across, they received their final order for the engagement.

"Hold them here, we can't allow them to hit our flank." The colonel said, "Kay, run down to the main front and-"

She was interrupted by a soldier coming from their left. She was sweating heavily as she managed a painful salute and said "We've been pushed back. Mary's ordering us to retreat back to our closest capital, and we hope we can make our stand there."

"Damn it." The colonel said, "Alright. 5th Saunders, we're pulling back. Let's go before the Dixons decide to cross that river."

Mary looked at the casualty report in disgust, all the officers that made up her force before her. "We attacked with eight thousand soldiers, and we were beaten back by four thousand?"

"The Dixons were ready for us, commander." One pointed out, "And they were determined."

"Anna Lee is a bold tactician." A second one stated, "They held the high ground."

"That still doesn't explain how we lost about two thousand against their seven hundred." Mary said.

"Yes it does." The second commander replied, "The high ground determined this fight. Their cannons were able to support our main attack and suppress our cannons because of their vantage point, thus allowing Anna to put more divisions on the flanks than she did her main attack force."

"God damn Anna Lee." Mary cursed, "She's too good at this."

"Are we giving up?" A commander asked, causing Mary to shake her head.

"No, we hope that Julia's force can put Anna under stress in the east." Mary replied, "Meanwhile we probe her lines, seeing if there's an area we can break through. There's always a chink in the armor, we just have to find it."

As cheers rang out from the Dixon camp, Anna looked out over the hill in a frown.

Reports from other sections told the tale of how a massive force took a region with easy. Three regiments were completely wiped out west.

At the end of the day, she was losing, with losses she couldn't afford to take. Anna pondered her situation for a while before coming up with an idea.

She will send the bulk of her army out to meet this other attack. The rest of them will set up defensive positions on the bluffs of the central region and repel any attack that comes.

Hopefully she could secure an offensive victory. If she can't then there'll be a repeat of the American Civil War.

And it did not end well for the defenders.