The Undying Mecha Emperor

A perfectly executed Lotus Cascade with lower than the recommended numbers at only five hundred, versus two hundred first graders dispersed everywhere in the battlefield firing behind meat shields with impenetrable activated armor (and with squealing kids inside).

What do you think the result would be?

Damn right.

Unfortunately for Emma, as perfectly executed her Lotus Cascade was, it was the wrong attack sequence for the situation.

The Lotus Cascade was just a pretty name for the Chinese Federation's most signature move applied in a fancy aerial maneuver - The Human Wave.

If executed with enough numbers, the Lotus Cascade could very efficiently allow the general to rapidly gain complete control of a battlefield without missing a single spot.

But for Emma and her fliers, all they managed to do was to give up their aerial height advantage and expose themselves to the return fire of the mechas on the ground.

They achieved very little with their beautiful and fancy maneuver.

It was completely understandable, of course. An eight year old with her first command in her first large scale battle was probably filled with all sorts of emotions that would have probably covered her thoughts. She couldn't be expected to be able to use the perfect attack sequence in battle.

But then again, nobody cares whether it is understandable or not.

In battle, the only thing that matters is results.

And Emma messed up that day.

Her personal performance was cemented as at the very least "Ace" level, but her ability as a field commander sank to horrendous levels.

What she should have done was to maintain her height advantage and slowly wear down her enemy from above. Just ten minutes of sustained fire from five hundred mechas high above in the sky would probably mess up the entire battlefield enough for the first graders to panic, and start doing their own things.

And if that had happened, it would not have mattered how smart Sheera Lin was. No general can regain control from a heavily wounded, wildly panicking bunch of young soldiers.

There was no name for such a move, of course. But screw pretty names.

Nobody cared what pretty attack sequence you used if you returned with a victory.

Sheera Lin, on the other hand, wasted no time capitalizing on Emma's highly erroneous move.

There was no hesitation, no doubts, no second guessing on her part.

As soon as the Lotus Cascade Attack Sequence was initiated, the order for all one thousand five hundred mechas on both slopes to get into firing position and attack the fliers at will was given.

Pew! Pew! Pew!

Bam! Bam! Crash!

The first graders were extremely eager, and responded with great enthusiasm. After so many victories under their belt and every single one of them against their seniors, there was no reason for them to dawdle.

They were utterly convinced of Sheera Lin's Godhood as a God of Strategy, and they leapt into action with all of their heart and their strengths.

It didn't take long for results to appear.

One at a time at first, then in ever increasing numbers, the fliers began to fall out of the sky.

"Damn it! Emma your fliers are dropping like flies!" Priamus shouted. "Pull them back! All units, covering fire! Quick march on me!"

"Damn! Abort mission! Go back to the sky!" Emma quickly shouted. She intensified her dazzling performance and started aiming at the mechas firing upwards towards her fliers.

At the same time, Priamus also finally made his move.

He sent his mechas marching forward for several hundred paces to get into range to provide cover fire for Emma as she desperately called off her attack.

But it was no use.

Sheera Lin had ordered all of her available riflemen to shoot down the fliers, and a literal reverse storm of rifle fire was exploding upwards at full force towards the fliers!

Those kids were probably scared out of their wits. Two thousand riflemen firing upon five hundred of them in never ending streams.

If one rifleman was able to let off ten shots per second, then two thousand riflemen would release twenty thousand shots per second. It was a mind boggling hundred thousand shots in five seconds, and three hundred thousand in a mere fifteen seconds!

The five hundred mechas were looking at hundreds of thousands of rifle fire rushing upwards towards them.

There was no way the fliers would remain in the battle.

Those that were not shot down immediately escaped with their lives. But only with their lives. Their courage and every single shred of willingness to continue fighting was probably left behind in the mess.

Emma's fliers were no more!

However, because the first graders were so focused on attacking the fliers, they were left completely vulnerable to Priamus and his thousand five hundred mechas for a few critical minutes.

Like two chess masters trading pieces, Sheera Lin took Emma's "Sky Cavalry" and Priamus took one of her bishops.

Priamus crashed onto the eastern wing like a sledgehammer.

Apart from the first few volleys of rifle fire, he did not bother with long range attacks.

He grasped hold of the opportunity while they were busy looking upwards to send all of his mechas which were piloted by arguably the best pilots in the academy to close with the first graders.

It didn't take long for Priamus to finish his dirty work either.

WHAM! BAM! BOOM!

His mechas charged into the fray and ruthlessly dealt killing blows left and right with ease.

It was truly like a hot knife sliding slowly through butter.

The first graders who were all so excitedly shooting at the fliers weren't able to adequately react to the blazing fast attack by the bunch of enraged gifted students.

"For how much longer do we have to be humiliated by this bunch of damned kids?" They were probably thinking indignantly in unison.

Right about the same time Emma's fliers were taken out, the first graders on the eastern slope were also completely wiped out by the rampaging gifted program students!

Numerically, it would seem as though Priamus had the upper hand in the exchange. He merely lost five hundred mechas compared to Sheera's seven hundred fifty.

To make it even better for his case, Priamus also managed to claim a critical battlefield position, while Sheera Lin lost one of her crucial wings!

But the experienced veteran would definitely score the engagement the other way.

Priamus lost a quarter of his best troops, and the remaining of his soldiers were all clumped up on a slope which was difficult to maneuver with almost an equal number of enemies in front of him, and with over two thousand enemies unaccounted for.

To put it harshly, Priamus sacrificed his troops to get himself stuck.

But as mentioned before, Priamus had a very cool head on his shoulders. He knew that, as embarrassing as it was, he still had over ten thousand mechas on his side which would probably be making their way to the battlefield soon to try and "Blacken the Rising Sun".

Time was on his side, and all he needed to do was to get on the defensive.

He needed to hunker down within the wooded eastern slope and repel any and all attacks made on his elevated position!

"Unless the first graders are suicidal, they probably won't go all out against me here in this easily defensible position. And if they don't wipe me out here, then I would be able to come charging out of this place to flank them when the others come." Priamus reasoned.

"Going on the defensive in such a situation? Hmph. Coward." Emma sneered at him.

"At the end of the day, there are no heroes or cowards, only winners and losers." Priamus said grimly. "And aren't I in this position because of you? You lost all our fliers!"

"Ah. Well. Let's let bygones be bygones shall we? Haha! I am on my way to you! Don't shoot me!" Emma said rather sheepishly.

"I should shoot you down to punish you for the mess you've placed me into." Priamus grumbled. But he did not shoot, of course.

If Sheera decided to launch a suicide attack on his position, then he'll need his most ferocious warrior to stand her ground next to him and battle to the death.

For a few minutes, there was only silence within the eastern slope as they hunkered down behind their shields and braced themselves for an attack that would probably come.

The tall trees covered many parts of the sky, and they were all standing in relative darkness.

A melee battle in such a situation would be beyond chaotic, and one could only hope that they don't tangle with each other instead of the enemies!

They did not have long to wait.

The loud thundering sound of thousands of mechas charging at full speed soon reached their ears.

"Prepare for battle." Priamus ordered his men grimly. "To the death!"

"To the death!"

"To the death!"

They all roared.

And then, the first enemy broke through the tree line.