Tyranny of Steel

The order came in the middle of the night. A full-scale invasion of the Japanese mainland and the island of Sakhalin had begun. One hundred thousand German Marines deployed with their armored vehicles to the shores of Japan. While tens of thousands of paratroopers jumped from the skies above. 

The Kriegsmarine continued to blockade the island, ensuring that no refugees could escape to the Ming Dynasty, while the Luftwaffe bombarded strategic locations from the skies above. All around what remained of the Japanese Empire, Germans began flooding into the country like a tidal wave. 

However, the most critical mission of this invasion was left to the Reich's most elite special operations unit. The sturmkommandos, led by none other than Colonel Andreas Jaeger, were currently sitting in a turbojet, long range cargo plane, waiting for the moment to drop. 

For over a decade, Andreas had served in Berengar's army. The world had rapidly changed around him, and combat evolved to a level he never thought possible. One thing was certain in his mind: when this war finally came to an end, Germany would no longer have a rival on the world stage, and his job would become one primarily of combating savages. 

Perhaps after this deployment, he should finally hang up the gloves and retire. He had two wives waiting for him back home, one of which was a Korean beauty who had been gifted to him by the Joseon King. Each of his women had born him three children, who had utterly failed to be a proper father to. 

Yes, once this mission was done, a proper retirement was in order. Perhaps he would even make use of the GI bill and attend a university. After all, the only reason he was an officer was because he had gone through the crash course training that Berengar provided to those soldiers who were the first to join his ranks all those years ago. Unlike most of the other officers in the German military, he had not attended a university, and thus would need to make up for that once his service was finally complete. 

Just as Andreas was thinking of this, the green light which signalled it was time to jump appeared within the cabin. Causing the man to silently stand up and approach the door, which he opened up. Without saying a word, the veteran special forces operator jumped from the plane and rapidly descended to the city of Heian-kyō below. 

Eventually, the remainder of the unit jumped out of the plane and deployed their chutes, where they rendezvoused with Andreas on the outskirts of the capital city. Intelligence, which had been conducted by aerial reconnaissance prior to their deployment, suggested that the Takeda clan was still unware of the massive invasion that was currently taking place. As a result, the soldiers who were garrisoned in Heian-kyo were not on high alert, something which Andreas and his men could use to their advantage. 

What had been confirmed was the fact that the leader of the Takeda clan had entered the city and claimed the palace as his personal residence. This was an act meant to challenge the other warlords to unseat him. However, as a result of making this challenge, the Germans had also accepted it. Thus, the mission that Andreas and his men were given was none other than the assassination of Takeda Minori and the capture of Heian-kyō. 

Silently, Andreas motioned for his soldiers to converge on the city. Where they quickly found intoxicated Japanese soldiers, strolling the city with their firearms in hand. They spoke in their native tongue as they joked about the death of the previous Shogun.

"Were you here for Shiba's death?"

However, before the other soldier could respond, Andreas and his fire team jumped out from the shadows, while dressed in their urban camouflage, and plunged their boot knives into the necks of the intoxicated enemy. The two men did not even have time to react before their lives were claimed by the German operators.

After silently taking out the two soldiers, Andreas nodded towards the other four men by his side, who lifted the two bodies, and hid them in a nearby wheelbarrow, which was filled with bags of rice. Evidently, these were the rations of the city's garrison. 

Having successfully slain the two enemies, the German operators quickly raised their rifles, and continued through the city's streets, where they, and the other fireteams covertly eliminated any and all Japanese soldiers they came across. While slowly making their way to the palace where the primary target resided. 

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Takeda Minori was dressed in an extravagant military uniform. Most, if not all, the medals which were pinned to his chest were created and awarded to the man by himself. Prior to Shiba's coup d'état, he was a low ranking General, who had just barely managed to rise through the ranks of Itami's military through his position as the head of the Takeda clan. 

He was among the few generals and high-ranking officers left in whatever remained of Itami's old military structure, who was among the first to declare himself emperor after Shiba's mental decline. Currently, the man was posing for a painter, who did his best to create a portrait of the man that was in the German art-style. 

However, because Itami never truly furthered the advancements of the arts, his skills were incredibly lacking, and were nowhere near photorealistic. Still, the painter tried his best to mimic the foreign style, and when he was finished, appeared quite nervous as he handed the piece over to the man who had commissioned it. 

Takeda, who had been expecting a masterpiece on par with the painting of Berengar which hung in Itami's old bedroom, was quite enraged when he gazed upon the poor craftsmanship of his own portrait and was quick to chastise the painter as a hack. 

"You call this a portrait? What is this shit? This looks nothing like me? How can you even refer to yourself as an artist when you are incapable of making a painting like those that are so common in the Reich?" 

  The painter's voice trembled as he spoke up in his defense.

"Your majesty-"

However, before he could complete his sentence, the glass windows shattered, and a peculiar object flew into the room from the outside. A white smoke appeared in the room, as Takeda, and everyone else who inhabited the room, began having difficulty to breathe. 

In the next moment, the sounds of guns firing off throughout the palace could be overheard, as Takeda forced his way out of the room, looking for fresh air. However, what awaited him was a large mist, as whatever mist had plagued his personal chambers appeared to be present throughout the entire building. 

Eventually, Takeda fell to his hands and knees as he struggled to crawl through the corridors. The muzzle flashes of the assault rifles firing their projectiles were visible just down the hallway, and yet the warlord could not find the strength in his body to run the other way. Instead, he crumpled over, like a sack of potatoes, and gasped for air. 

In the next moment, a group of men clad in black camouflaged and gas masks entered the room, where they saw their target lying on the floor, fighting for breath. A voice in a language which Takeda knew to be German erupted from behind the black gas mask. 

"Is this our target?"

Though Takeda could not understand what these men were saying, he did not need to in order to know that his life was forfeit. For in the next minute, one of the soldiers pushed his way to the front and raised his loaded pistol towards the warlord's head.

In the next moment he pulled the trigger, sending the man who would emperor to the afterlife before he even had a chance to cement his rule.  Andreas then stashed his sidearm away in its holster before giving further orders to his unit. 

"Get on the comms, and inform High Command that the city of Heian-kyō is secured, and the target is eliminated. It is up to our superiors on how we respond from here..." 

The soldiers did exactly what they were ordered to do, and within a few moments the comms operator spoke up.

"It would appear that our orders are to hold the city until reinforcements arrive..."

A heavy sigh escaped from Andreas' lips, as he pulled his gas mask off. By now, the tear gas had dispersed, and he was free to breathe fresh air. He looked towards the moon outside the windows and muttered something beneath his breath briefly before giving additional orders. 

"I figured as much.... Alright boys, I want this palace fortified in case any other warlord sends their army to take the palace. We can't defend the entire city, but we can make life hell for whoever decides to approach the palace. Oh, and while you're at it, pop some of those pills you have been given. We are going to be here all night..."

  The pills Andreas was referring to were the methamphetamine tablets, which were commonly issued to German soldiers. Thus, after taking a healthy dose, the Sturmkommandos were wired to the gills as they watched and waited for enemy movements. 

Of course, the rest of the warlords were already preoccupied with defending their own homes, and thus, by the time the dawn rose on the next day, significant reinforcements had arrived in Heian-kyō allowing these special operators to deploy to another region. 

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