September 7th, early morning.
When the first rays of dawn pierced the darkness and spilled over the temporary camps of the Saxon army outside Paris, the war machine, which had been silent for the night, began to turn once more.
The soldiers of the Instruction Assault Battalion crawled out of their tents, quickly organizing their gear and collecting their final ammunition and rations.
The shouts of officers, the roar of engines, and the clinking of metal as soldiers checked their weapons quickly woke everyone up.
“All personnel board the vehicles! Target: Gare de l’Est!”
Morin also jumped onto his command truck and issued the order to the assembled Instruction Assault Battalion.
According to General Mackensen’s operational plan, they would continue to serve as the escort force for the ‘Odin’, advancing along the railway line into the Paris urban area.
Their ultimate goal was to occupy the Gare de l’Est and use it as a base to control the various transportation hubs in the east.
“Colonel Lucas, we are ready here and can depart at any time.”
Morin picked up the communicator in the truck bed and reported to the ‘Odin’.
“Received, Captain Morin.”
Lucas’s voice came through quickly.
“However, we have one important task to complete first. General Mackensen ordered us to knock out the remaining air defense positions in the city before entering the urban area.”
“Understood,” Morin nodded.
This was the primary objective decided at yesterday’s meeting.
Based on reconnaissance conducted by the Dove Monoplanes at dangerous distances before sunset yesterday and again this morning, the locations of the last two large Anti-air Magic Device arrays within Paris had been confirmed.
Generals Mackensen and Seeckt had grasped the concept of aerial reconnaissance very quickly, and it was now incorporated into the Army Group’s standard reconnaissance procedures.
To defend against Saxon Armored Airships, Paris was initially deployed with eight arrays.
However, three were taken to the front line by Gallieni and ultimately destroyed in combat.
Another three were taken away to defend Bordeaux, the seat of the provisional government, during the government’s evacuation…
Inside the ‘Odin’s’ command carriage, Colonel Lucas looked at the two red dots marked on the map, a cruel smile appearing on his face.
“‘Gungnir’, charge! Target: East City Anti-air Magic Device array!”
“Fire!”
Accompanied by the familiar hum and boom, the blue light representing destruction shot into the sky once more.
The massive Radiant Crystal Shell traced a perfect parabola across the sky, then smashed down with thunderous force toward a block in the eastern district of Paris.
That Anti-air Magic Device array was cleverly camouflaged within a city park.
But such camouflage was meaningless before the power of the ‘Gungnir’.
The shell didn’t even score a direct hit.
It landed on a street about twenty meters from the Magic Device array.
“Boom—!!!”
An earth-shattering explosion instantly swallowed the area whole.
Terrifying energy shockwaves spread madly outward in a ring from the center of the explosion.
The rows of six-story Haussmann-style buildings around the impact point were like sandcastles before the shockwave, instantly razed to the ground.
And the large Anti-air Magic Device near the epicenter, with its precise and fragile structure—especially the primary lens—
In the face of ultra-high temperatures and the irresistible shockwave, it didn’t even last a second before melting, tearing apart, and turning into a pile of twisted metal slag.
A massive column of smoke rose once again within the city of Paris.
The entire city seemed to tremble under this apocalyptic scene.
“Target One confirmed destroyed!” came the report from the observation balloon.
“Beautifully done!”
Colonel Lucas calmly snapped his fingers this time.
“Reload! Target Two! Let’s clear the obstacles completely for the Armored Airships!”
Meanwhile, at the other Anti-air Magic Device array in the western district of Paris, all the Gaulish soldiers and Mages clearly felt the tragedy that had just occurred in the east.
They felt the devastating energy fluctuation, and some Mages who chose to stay in Paris even sensed the despair of their comrades being vaporized in an instant.
A bone-chilling cold rose from the bottom of everyone’s heart.
“We’re… next…”
A young Mage apprentice dropped the Magic Crystal in his hand, his eyes vacant, murmuring to himself.
Resistance?
Resist with what?
Faced with an attack that could easily flatten an entire city block, all their defenses and struggles seemed so pale and powerless.
Despair spread like a plague.
Fourteen minutes later.
When the second shell from the ‘Gungnir’ descended from the sky with the shriek of the Grim Reaper.
This Anti-air Magic Device array didn’t even manage to organize a decent counterattack before following in its counterpart’s footsteps amidst a violent explosion.
With that, the last barrier over Paris was completely uprooted.
Control of the sky fell entirely into the hands of the Saxons.
And as the second column of smoke rose in the western district of Paris, the last shred of resistance will among the remaining Gaulish defenders vanished into ash.
The L28 and L29 Armored Airships flew grandly over Paris.
Their massive shadows, like a heavy curtain, shrouded the desperate city.
“Begin the general offensive!”
With General Mackensen’s order, the main body of the Saxon First Army Group, already assembled outside the city, surged into the urban area of Paris from all directions like a bursting dam.
However, the anticipated fierce urban combat did not occur.
This so-called ‘general offensive’ was more like a massive armed parade.
In most districts, no resistance was seen.
Because after the Battle of Amiens, the Premier, who publicly declared he would remain in Paris in accordance with the constitution, had actually secretly evacuated by train with various government departments that same night.
And those who could leave the capital, or had the ability to leave in a short time, had also headed further south.
The current Paris was already an empty city, holding no value other than its status as the ‘capital.’
Therefore, what the Saxon soldiers saw upon entering the city were closed doors and windows, and deathly silent streets.
Occasionally, scattered gunshots rang out, but they were quickly suppressed by the Saxon soldiers’ fierce firepower.
“Gaulish soldiers still resisting! You have been abandoned by your politicians! Lay down your weapons and surrender immediately! We will treat all who surrender humanely!”
“I repeat! Lay down your weapons and surrender immediately! Do not make senseless sacrifices for those lying politicians!”
Iron loudspeakers temporarily mounted on Radiant Crystal Vehicles repeatedly broadcast the surrender announcement in stiff Gaulish.
Inside a building used as a temporary barricade, a dozen Gaulish soldiers looked at each other, their faces filled with hesitation and struggle.
Their ammunition was nearly exhausted, several brothers were wounded, countless Saxons were outside, and two massive, Grim Reaper-like shadows loomed in the sky.
They knew that continuing to resist would result in nothing but death.
“Let’s… surrender.”
An older soldier dejectedly lowered his rifle.
“My home is in the next block. I don’t want to die here…”
“But…”
“But nothing! We came back only to protect our families! Now that the Saxons promise not to harm civilians or those who surrender, why should we throw our lives away?”
Finally, a white flag made from a bedsheet was tremblingly extended from the building’s window.
Similar scenes played out in every corner of Paris.
The courage of those soldiers who spontaneously returned to Paris was admirable.
But their will to fight was ultimately worn away in the face of absolute disparity in strength and the instinct for survival.
After all, the only reason most of them returned here was for their families.
“My God, is the fight over already?”
Kleist, sitting in a truck, looked incredulously at the dejected Gaulish soldiers outside the window being escorted toward the POW camp outside the city.
“I thought there would be a fierce battle…”
“Be content,” Morin patted his helmet. “Did you really want to fight urban warfare in Paris? Our battalion wouldn’t even be enough to fill the gaps.”
However, looking at this ‘peaceful’ scene, Morin himself felt a sense of unreality.
He and his Instruction Assault Battalion, as the core force of this lightning thrust, had fought their way from Creil to Paris.
Yet at the final moment, they became the most leisurely unit.
Aside from escorting the ‘Odin’ at the beginning and calling in a few artillery strikes, they had essentially been ‘tagging along’ the whole way.
“Battalion Commander, where to next? Directly to Gare de l’Est?” Manstein asked.
“Yes, occupy the East Station as planned, establish a temporary camp, and then rest on site,” Morin nodded.
For him and the Instruction Assault Battalion, this battle for the Gallic Republic’s capital, Paris, had become the easiest one since the start of the war.
It was so comfortable that he felt a bit flustered.
Intuition told him that things wouldn’t end this simply.
Did the Gauls really just give up resistance like this? What about those mysterious ‘Sentinels’? Did they just surrender or flee along with everyone else?
Morin always felt that beneath this seemingly calm city, an undercurrent was surging.
Meanwhile, the vanguard of the Saxon Imperial Guard Second Infantry Division had arrived at the Champ de Mars, where the Eiffel Tower stood.
Seeing the world-famous steel tower before them, the soldiers cheered excitedly.
“Look! It’s the Eiffel Tower!”
“We really made it here!”
A young Major spoke spiritedly to the soldiers around him:
“Boys! Get the national flag and our division flag ready! Today, we will make the Empire’s Black Eagle banner fly at the highest point in Paris!”
According to information previously obtained by the Army Group’s intelligence department, although this tower was the Mage Tower of the Gaulish Mage organization ‘Eye of the Loire,’ the garrisoned Mages should have already evacuated with the government agencies.
Theoretically, the current Eiffel Tower was just an empty steel frame.
Occupying it and using it as a symbol of the Saxon Empire’s conquest of Paris would undoubtedly be a tremendous honor.
However, just as the Major was about to order the troops to advance, he suddenly felt the surrounding air seem to change slightly.
An inexplicable sense of oppression enveloped the entire square.
He instinctively looked up toward the top of the giant tower.
Then unbeknownst to anyone he saw that hundreds of meters high atop the spire, spots of blue electric light had begun to flicker.
The novel has already been fully translated up to the last updated chapter. You can access it on my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair