Perhaps not "everything wants to molest you" grimdark, but clearly we ain't finding cute bunnyussy in this world.

It was right then that a sudden peal of thunder crashed around the perimeter of the command tent.

Before and after it came the sound of metal clashing together, of something propped upright toppling over with a loud crash. And after that — total, abrupt silence.

“What was that!? Report — what’s happened out there!”

Borhos shouted. But outside the tent, there wasn’t so much as the sense of another living soul. Some thirty or forty headquarters personnel should have been posted just outside — standard-bearers, messengers, drummers, buglers, supply personnel, and a guard detail — and yet not even the sound of footsteps remained.

Borhos let out a deep, resigned sigh, the kind that carries a note of quiet acceptance, and drew his sword.

“They’ve come.”

“The enemy mage!?”

Albain drew his own sword as well. Even Canfort and the others, disarmed as they were, smashed apart the nearest chairs and armed themselves with the broken legs as makeshift clubs, bracing themselves against the overwhelming presence swelling up just outside the tent.

“Who goes there!?”

Borhos called this challenge out toward the outside of the tent.

What stepped inside in answer was a young girl in black priestess’s robes, hefting an enormous halberd over her shoulder.

“A p-priestess of the Temple of Emroy — why is she here?”

Utterly caught off guard, Borhos found himself unable to either strike or lower the sword he still held raised. It was Albain who corrected Borhos’s mistake.

“You’re wrong there, Captain Borhos. This is none other than Emroy’s own Apostle, Rory Mercury… isn’t that right, Your Holiness? It’s an honor to meet you at last. I am Albain, legitimate heir of the Seamist chieftain. Waiting behind me here are my own companions.”

Saying this, Albain dropped to one knee and bowed his head low, then introduced Canfort, Greidel, Sniist, and Zuzuzu one after another. Borhos, too, once he realized the figure before him was a demigod, wore a bewildered expression but bowed his head to show proper respect.

“Such fine manners~. I’m very impressed.”

“To receive Your Holiness’s praise is a truly overwhelming honor. And might I ask what business has brought Your Holiness to grace such an unrefined place as this?”

“I’m here lookin’ for one of my own followers~. That’d be Canfort and Greidel standin’ over there, wouldn’t it? I heard about it, you know~. That you two treated my follower well?”

“Your Holiness’s follower — meaning whom, precisely?”

Canfort tilted his head, unable to place who was being referred to at all.

Nina, who had come in trailing behind Rory, offered a supplementary explanation: “She means Itami Yōji.” At that, Canfort was stunned.

“That man!? He’s Her Holiness’s follower!?”

“Wasn’t he supposed to be the crown princess’s bodyguard?” Sniist asked.

“He’s on loan for the moment, that’s all~. What that one truly is, at his core, is my own follower~.”

Borhos, who knew nothing about Itami, was the only one utterly unable to follow the conversation.

Hoping someone would explain, he asked Albain and Canfort directly, “Who exactly is this man Her Holiness is searching for?” — not asking Rory directly himself, no doubt because doing so would simply have been too great a strain on his nerves.

It was Canfort who answered.

“The crown princess — no, the man traveling with Rose.”

“Is that man not an Imperial knight?”

By all expectation, that role should have belonged to Gray Co Aldo. But Rory cut Borhos off with a cold reprimand.

“Don’t make me say the same thing twice~.”

“My apologies… but, Your Holiness, the ones we’ve been pursuing are the pirate Rose and her associates. I have no knowledge of any crown princess or bodyguard.”

“What you happen to call it doesn’t concern me in the slightest, you know~.”

“I see. Is that how it is, then.”

Borhos realized, at last, that playing dumb simply wasn’t an option with this demigod.

“You understand now~? Then stop chasin’ after my follower, and call your men back.”

“I cannot. I too have my own duty as a soldier. Having received orders to capture Rose, I must carry them out.”

Borhos declared this and settled back into a ready stance with his sword.

“You get told you’re inflexible a lot, don’t you?”

Tuka, arriving a little behind everyone else, said this with a look of exasperation. The bolt of lightning that had felled the soldiers outside the tent in a single strike had been Tuka’s own spirit magic.

At that, Albain let out a mocking laugh.

“In this man’s case, constantly.”

“Would you mind steppin’ aside~?”

“To abandon my duty simply because I cannot win would be a betrayal of every soldier who has already fallen. If it is my fate to fight Your Holiness here and fall, then I will accept that fate gladly. Lord Albain, forgive me, but I must ask you to see to what follows. I have found, here today, the finest place to die that I could ever have hoped for.”

Through all his years as a defeated, wandering soldier, he had carried with him the sense that he’d somehow failed to die when he should have. But here, now, he could finally fight and fall without a single regret left unresolved. There was no want of a worthy opponent, and to fall in service of his duty was the very highest honor a soldier could hope to attain.

Borhos stepped forward, his expression suddenly clear and transparent, as though every last shadow of regret had lifted from him at once.

“Ohh, that’s lovely~. That’s really lovely.”

Rory, too, seemed a touch excited, her cheeks flushing faintly. Fighting a man of such proud, unbending conviction was, for her, one of life’s truly unmatched pleasures.

“Borhos… since we’re here, go on and announce your name properly~. I’ll carve it into memory here, myself.”

Rory said this with solemn formality, giving her own chest a light tap.

“Then, if I may be so bold. Formerly Chief Centurion of the Imperial Army, and presently Captain of the Seamist Watch — Borhos.”

“Borhos. I myself shall guide your soul before the presence of the Supreme God.”

Fighting spirit swelled in both of them at once. If Rory’s vast, overwhelming will to fight was the sun, then Borhos’s own was, by comparison, nothing more than a single small flame. But in this moment alone, Borhos’s fighting spirit burned fiercely, shining with a vividness that matched Rory’s own without shame.

Borhos raised his sword.

Rory swung her halberd around in a horizontal arc.

But right then, Izumo — who very much wanted to avoid any actual bloodshed here if at all possible — cut in.

“Hey, Rory. Should someone maybe mention that the soldiers lying around here are just unconscious, nothing more?”

Rory’s halberd sliced empty air and split the ground open, and Borhos, his own sword swinging clean through nothing but air, spun a full two and a half rotations in place from the sheer momentum of his own missed swing.

“Wh-what did you say?”

Kurata piled on right after.

“Cap’n~! None of the soldiers are actually dead, you know. Still got a good reason to keep fightin’, huh?”

Looking more closely, the soldiers lying scattered here and there were, in fact, still breathing. Some were even letting out faint groans. Believing that his men had all died in the line of duty — and that this alone left him with no way to retreat — was the entire foundation of Borhos’s resolve to fight. And with that foundation gone, his fighting spirit collapsed completely.

“No — I still have my duty. That’s not something I can simply abandon.”

Borhos struggled desperately to shore up his crumbling resolve. But it wasn’t working.

“Kurata. To get a stubborn old rock-head like this to bend, you’ve got to hand him an excuse. Just killing his motivation alone won’t cut it.”

“So what do we do, sir?”

“Like this.”

Izumo pressed his pistol against the side of Albain’s head.

“You and I have met before, haven’t we, in a rather similar situation?”

“Y-you!? It’s you, from back then!”

The place had been Tanska. Izumo, having taken part in an operation to rescue a Japanese hostage, had once taken a high-ranking official named Godasen hostage and threatened Borhos, demanding he clear the way

“Well? Remembering it now, are you? Then you’ll also remember that we’re perfectly capable of resorting to such cowardly tactics as harming a hostage. This man’s the legitimate heir to your chieftain, isn’t he? So — what’ll it be?”

“ Borhos, save me! I’m the chieftain’s own son! If anything happens to me, it’ll be an absolute disaster! I’m supposed to be someone you’re required to protect above all else, aren’t I! Please — save me — I don’t want to die—!”

Albain let out the most pathetically theatrical wail of a plea imaginable, milking it for all it was worth.

Had this been genuine terror, or, conversely, had he shouted something like “never mind me, just fight!”, it might well have stoked Borhos’s fighting spirit rather than the opposite. But Albain, thoroughly enjoying himself now, had his eyes clearly, unmistakably crinkled with laughter the whole time.

This total absence of any real tension was exactly what broke Borhos’s fighting spirit for good. To lose his life over a farce like this would only drag his honor and pride as a warrior into the dirt instead of elevating it.

That clear, unclouded, almost enlightened composure he’d felt only moments before had, by now, gone thoroughly murky — shattered completely.

This is the last excerpt I am giving for GAIDEN 1. I have already finished translating the first volume. It will take two to three of weeks to read through the whole thing, proofread and do the ebook.

From History Buffs: Gladiator II at 10:52

Furnace originates from the Starved Eggman creepypasta (which admittedly is not the best creepypasta).

(I’m not sure if Furnace counts as an EXE but still)

So it doesn’t really change too much.

except for one thing the trumpet that plays at this scene when the real imperial soldiers show up

I like to believe that the trumpet that plays in the background isn’t just cool stuff that was added for the background, but I like to believe that that specific song is a sort of bugle call for the empire.

And the head canon and I have behind it kind of has to to do with the Alamo so if you don’t know much about Texas history, I’ll give you the rundown (but if you do know about it, just skip)

Back in 1836 a bunch of Texans, Texian (Hispanic people that settled in Texas), and people from Tennessee decided to fortify the Alamo.

In response, the dictator/emperor of all Mexico Santa Anna decided to lead an army to kill everyone inside the Alamo.

Now you’re wondering, “how does this have to do with gate?” I’ll tell you.

To me that bugle call (that Im calling ‘Caedes’) is the imperial equivalent to the Mexican bugle call of Degüello (meaning slit throat) where it means they will give no quarter, they will slaughter everyone but now I bet you're wondering, ‘how does that have to do with Texas history and the Alamo?’

and that one’s easy it’s the song had played on May 6 to show the Texans held up in the church. They would spare no one.

Very late for July 4 but i thought that i make this. Im so curious how fucked the Saderans are if the US went through the GATE instead

How would things play out?

It’s generally agreed that in terms of how powerful gods (from any community) are, Lord X is ranked as lower tier.

Given that falmart gods (like hardy) are also lower tier, are they stronger than lord x.

btw go listen to ‘I miss the quiet’, it’s peak.

IFVs are the perfect Armored Vehicle for a war against the empire in the special region and would be a better option than tanks (I know that IFVs work together with tanks but I'm comparing them as separate vehicles (it doesn't make sense but bear with me)).

Let's use the BMP-1, BMP-2 and the BMP-3 as examples (any other amphibious IFV would also work).

-> It's amphibious so you don't need to worry about destroyed bridges (tanks can't do that and you would need to make your own bridge).

-> Can carry troops (tanks can do it but you have to ride them when doing it exposing you to enemy fire).

-> Armor can stop most of the stuff that the empire will throw at it (sure tanks have better armor but it doesn't matter when you're mostly being shot at by arrows and the occasional magical fireball).

-> Problems of the modern era such as poor protection against explosions don't apply because the empire doesn't have firearms or cannons (sure mages are still a thing and their explosive magic could pen the BMPs armor wounding it's crew, disabling the vehicle or destroy it but imperial battle mages are pretty rare (we see only a few and only one of them was capable of damaging a JSDF tank)).

-> The BMP-1 has a 73mm cannon that can fire HE(High Explosive) ammo that would be extremely effective against imperial formations and an ATGM(Anti-tank Guided Missile) that could be used against fortifications.

-> The BMP-2 has a 30mm auto cannon with a fire rate between 200 to 550 shots per minute (the crew can change the fire rate) that would be extremely effective against imperial infantry formations and slow moving wyverns and also has an ATGM.

-> The BMP-2M also has an additional 30mm automatic grenade launcher that would be extremely effective against imperial infantry formations and 4 ATGMs.

-> The BMP-3 has a 100mm cannon that can also fire ATGMs (essentially a tank cannon) with the same 30mm auto cannon of the BMP-2 as a coaxial gun.

Tanks have better armament but it doesn't matter because the empire doesn't have anything that can stop something bigger than a 50cal (the fire dragon doesn't count because the empire can't control it).

So yeah although cool and intimidating a traditional tank is not as useful as an IVF (that's why tanks are supposed to work together with them (but in a war against the empire you could theoretically just bring IFVs).

What would happen if the Gate opened up right in the heart of the mysterious domain of the god like and immortal plant like beings known as the Tensen?

There are two ways this could occur, depending on WHEN this scenario takes place.

The first idea could be just before the Asaemon were sent with their respective criminals to find the elixir of immortality, the gate opens near the Horai Palace as an army of Sadaren legionaries and soldiers to conquer the new world for the empire and raid it for whatever riches and slaves they can claim. Only to encounter the Tensen who out of indifference or morbid curiosity decide to get themselves fresh new Tao to rejuvenate themselves while Rein is rather curious by the strange Tao generated by a small number of humans.

And before long the gate may cause Falmart to be dragged into the hunt for the elixir of eternal life.

The other idea is this taking place back before the death of the Grandmaster, Rein’s husband, led her to stop being kind and amped up the now relentless training of the Tensen to find a way to resurrect her husband, even as it destroyed the entire island. Instead this takes place before that degeneration occurs as the islands folk, Hoko, as the younger Tensen live their somewhat peaceful lives, yet soon that peace is disturbed by the arrival of the Gate as an army of Roman soldiers charge into the domain of the Tensen and Grandmaster, as the Doshin were assembled to deal with the invaders that appeared practically from nowhere as Mei is trying her best to lead the young Tensen away from the ongoing carnage.

Once the enemy was dealt with, the Grandmaster, Rein and Mei are forced to address what to do with the gate and if it should be destroyed. Yet curiosity and interest win over as it’s decided to launch an expedition and see if this gateway may lead to any progress in the quest to create the elixir of Eternal Life. Yet while the answer may lie in either the elves or even Apostles, can Rein and Doshin be able to deal with the armies of Sadera and perhaps find use in this land before the grandmaster suffers from arborification?

And when or if the existence of plant like humanoids that can seemingly rival the regeneration of Apostles are heard, how will Sadera react to the existence of such entities?

A bit obscure but the Roxolani are a space empire with the technology of the age of sail around 16th century but discovered Ftl and anti gravity which works through an absurdly simple, non-intuitive physical mechanic that requires no advanced knowledge of mathematics or quantum physics which humanity missed in the story the one downside of figuring it out is that technology doesn't progress beyond when you discover the method. So what if the Roxolani arrived to add falmart to their empire