The jungle front exploded faster than anyone expected.
At first, the Empire had momentum. Capt One Arm and Red Riot were pushing the ground line forward, armored vehicles grinding through mud and roots while infantry cleared the lower paths beneath the massive trees.
Then the demon air force came out of the jungle.
Jets and helicopters rose from hidden clearings between the trees, engines screaming as they burst through the canopy. The sudden attack caught the front line off guard for half a second, and in battle, half a second was enough to turn a clean advance into chaos.
Demon gunships opened fire through the branches.
Explosions tore through the jungle floor. Trees cracked and fell. Imperial soldiers dove into mud and behind armored vehicles as rounds ripped through the green shadows.
The Empire answered immediately.
From above, the STF warship adjusted its support fire. Anti-air batteries rotated, tracking through the canopy. Imperial jets dropped lower, diving into the jungle's airspace.
Skyfang Interceptors cut between the giant trees, chased by demon jets through narrow gaps in the canopy. Their engines screamed as they twisted around branches thicker than buildings, trading fire in tight, deadly lines. One Skyfang rolled sideways between two massive trunks, baiting a demon jet into following too close before pulling up at the last second. The demon craft slammed into the trees and exploded behind it.
Thunderlance Strike Fighters came next, punching down through gaps in the canopy and hammering demon ground units hiding beneath the leaves. Plasma fire tore through enemy positions while the army advanced under the cover.
On the ground, Capt One Arm kept the charge alive.
His cybernetic horse powered through the mud, black armor splattered with dirt and blood. Red Riot moved above him, leaping from branch to branch, firing his crossbow at demons trying to flank the line from the treetops.
For a moment, the two of them looked unstoppable.
Then the jungle shook.
Massive war beasts came charging through the trees, each one covered in thick armor, demons mounted on their backs with spears and heavy weapons. They smashed through foliage and broken trunks like living siege engines.
One of them hit Capt One Arm from the side.
The impact launched him clean off his horse.
He crashed through mud, vines, and shattered plants, rolling hard before slamming against the base of a tree. For a second, he lay still.
Then his hand found his sword.
Capt One Arm pushed himself up, mud dripping from his armor as demons jumped toward him.
The first came from above.
He caught it by the throat with his cybernetic hand and drove his iron sword through its body.
The second lunged from the side.
Capt One Arm ripped the first demon away and swung wide, cutting the next one in half before it could land.
Red Riot saw his father get surrounded and immediately changed focus.
He dropped to a lower branch and started firing rapidly, each bolt knocking demons out of the air before they could reach Capt One Arm. He didn't say anything over comms. He didn't need to. The way he fought said enough.
He was buying his father time.
Capt One Arm used it.
He charged the nearest war beast, dodging under its tusk-like horns and cutting deep into one of its legs. The creature roared and stumbled, and Capt One Arm climbed its armor plating with brutal strength, driving his sword into its neck before ripping it free.
The beast collapsed into the mud.
Red Riot landed nearby, breathing hard.
"You good?"
Capt One Arm rolled his shoulder and looked toward the next beast charging through the trees.
"I've been hit harder."
Red Riot grinned. "That means yes."
Above them, the demon bombers kept hammering the Imperial line.
On the STF warship, Optimus watched the jungle feed with his arms crossed, his usual excitement gone from his face.
"Ian," he said, "I'm going down there."
Ian looked up from the command table. The jungle front flashed red in several areas.
"They need you?"
"They're getting hammered by bombers," Optimus said. "If I hit the ground, I can break their push."
Ian didn't hesitate. "Go."
Optimus was already moving.
He made his way through the warship's corridors to the hangar as alarms, crew voices, and engine roars echoed around him. When the hangar doors opened, the jungle battlefield stretched far below like a burning green ocean.
Optimus didn't take a ship.
He stepped off the edge.
Kia flared around him, and he dropped through the sky like a falling star.
He hit the jungle floor with the force of thunder.
The shockwave ripped outward, throwing demons off their feet and shaking leaves loose from the canopy above. Before the dust even settled, Optimus was moving.
He tore through the demon line with frightening speed, sword flashing once, twice, then vanishing into a blur of strikes. Demons fell around him faster than they could understand what had landed in front of them.
A demon gunship turned toward him, weapons locking on.
Optimus looked up.
"Bad idea."
He threw his sword.
The blade spun through the air and buried itself straight into the gunship's engine. The aircraft lurched violently, smoke bursting from its side before it crashed through the trees and smashed into the jungle floor.
Optimus kept fighting without the sword.
He used his fists.
One punch shattered demon armor. Another sent a beast-mounted raider flying backward into a tree. He moved toward the crashed gunship, cutting through the demons trying to surround him.
When he reached the wreck, he pulled his sword free from the burning engine.
Several demons charged him from behind.
Optimus casually pulled a grenade, tossed it into the gunship wreckage, and kept walking.
The explosion swallowed the ship and the demons trailing him in one bright burst of fire.
He rolled his shoulder and looked toward the next wave.
"Alright," he muttered. "Who else?"
With Optimus on the ground, the jungle front shifted.
Capt One Arm and Red Riot pushed harder. Imperial armor advanced again. Skyfangs broke the demon chase patterns in the canopy, and Thunderlance fighters cleared more ground support through the trees.
By the time the sun began to settle, the battlefield finally started thinning.
The demon line pulled back deeper into the jungle, leaving behind wreckage, broken beasts, and burning aircraft caught in the branches above.
But the Empire didn't celebrate.
Not yet.
On the command bridge of the warship, Ian stayed standing long after the first day's major fighting slowed. Around him, generals and admirals fed him new reports from every front—jungle, desert, mountain, airspace, and navy corridors.
Routes were updated.
Supply lines shifted.
Enemy movements marked.
Ian worked through all of it, eyes tired but focused, changing plans as the battlefield changed beneath him.
Optimus was still planetside. Capt One Arm's line had advanced but taken damage. The desert front was holding. The mountain front was unstable but not broken.
The first day had gone to the Empire.
Barely.
Ian looked over the massive map of Deccounia, watching demon markers retreat into new formations.
"They're not running," he said quietly.
One of the admirals looked at him. "Sir?"
Ian narrowed his eyes.
"They're repositioning."
The sun disappeared beyond the battlefield.
And the war was just getting started.