Tyranny of Steel
chapter-1046-30041322

The Cholera outbreak in Borneo had temporarily halted the number of soldiers, equipment, and supplies which the Imperial Japanese Navy transferred to the shores of Brunei, where their primary outpost was located.

The situation in Brunei was absolutely dreadful for the Japanese soldiers, many of which were too ill to even march. Vomit and feces coated the trenches where the Imperial Japanese Army sat back and awaited for medical support, which never arrived.

Morale was at an all-time low for the roughly fifty thousand men who had already deployed to the battlefield. With each passing day, their numbers dwindled as men succumb to the disease, which made their lives a living hell in this tropical environment.

As for the Majapahit Defenders, though they too were initially afflicted with Cholera, it was not long before antibiotics manufactured within the borders of the German Empire made their way into their ranks. By now, the cholera outbreak was a one-sided affair, killing off the Japanese invaders in the thousands, while not even harming any of the Majapahit defenders.

In fact, the Majapahit Emperor had, under Berengar's direction, ordered his troops to stand down, and wait for the Japanese numbers to dwindle to such a point that they would have a fraction of their men left defending the territory which the Japanese currently occupied.

However, how would Berengar ever anticipate the utter madness of a woman once she had been scorned? In what perhaps could only be called an act of spite, Itami had ordered all the Japanese soldiers who still remained living in Borneo, regardless as to the degree of sickness they suffered, to charge the Majapahit fortifications which acted as a barrier between them, and the southern half of the island.

Encouraged by the cult of the War Goddess who threatened to torture any man who did not willingly die for Itami, tens of thousands of sickly Japanese soldiers were forced to march with their equipment towards the Majapahit lines. Those who fell were left to die in the mud, as the sickly Japanese soldiers marched to certain death.

Naturally, the Japanese left behind their armored vehicles for the next wave of Japanese troops to take advantage of. It was one thing to lose infantry. They could easily be replaced, but to lose an entire armored division's worth of vehicles, that was a loss the Japanese Empire would not easily recover from.

Thus it came as a surprise, when in the following days gunfire echoed in the air outside one of the largest fortifications the Royal Majapahit Army had built in preparation for this war. The crackle of rifles, machine guns, and artillery alike resounded within the Majapahit trench line, as the defenders quickly rose from their slumber and placed their helmets on their head.

What could only be described as a lethargic army of zombies was slowly making their way up the hill with weapons in their hands, as they struggled not to soil themselves in the midst of their assault.

One officer, who held his Katana lazily by his side, doubled over and hurled into the mud, as a bullet whizzed past where his head just was, before once more walking towards the trench as if all the strength had left his body.

The Majapahit defenders aimed down their semi-automatic rifles and heavy machine guns towards the horde of Japanese soldiers, ruthlessly spilling the blood of the ill all over the jungle. Despite this slow and clearly suicidal charge, it was by no means easy to repel. As the Japanese forces numbered in the tens of thousands, while the defenders of this large outpost were only a fraction of that.

Eventually, the same sickly officer who narrowly avoided death in moments prior made his way into the trench with his soldiers by his side. The man struggled to raise his pistol and fire shots at the Majapahit defenders, which missed their targets before running forward with his sword raised. It was evident that the officer was using all the strength in his body to do so as he yelled his battle cry.

"Tennoheika banz-"

However, before he could complete the sentence, he puked all over the soldier he was trying to stab, and fell to his knees, no longer capable of standing in the tropical heat. The Japanese Officer only glared at the Majapahit soldier with hatred before he tried again to raise his sword, however, for he could do so the enemy plugged his skull with an 8mm projectile.

There was a look of utter pity in the Majapahit soldier's eyes as he gazed upon the now deceased officer. In the next moment, a stray bullet narrowly missed his helmet, causing the man to look up and aim his Gewehr 27 at a Japanese rifleman who was standing rather weakly above the trench with his rifle raised. The gaunt man tried to jump into the trench with his bayonet, but was shot twice in the chest by the Majapahit Soldier before he could do so. The sickly body fell into the trench completely lifeless.

More and more Japanese soldiers died trying to make their way to the trench line. Perhaps if they were in a condition capable of running, they would have overwhelmed the position, and easily slain the meagre numbers of Majapahit defenders.

However, the Japanese were too sick to run in most cases, and struggled with all their strength to even place one foot in front of the other. Many of them passed out in the field of barbed wire before they could properly meet their deaths at the hands of the defenders.

For the Majapahit Defenders, this was both a horrific and pitiful sight. The Japanese Army continued to march to their deaths in a rain of machine gun fire, as they struggled to ascend the hill and attack the defenders. If not for the fact that these men had invaded their homes, the Majapahit soldiers might have pitied their Japanese counterparts.

Despite everything, the Japanese continued to move forward, for the fear of the men behind them, those fanatical cultists who worshipped their empress, were leaning on trees with submachine guns in their hands, ruthlessly gunning down any man who even took one step backward.

In the end, the Majapahit Defenders ran out of ammunition, and were forced to defend their trenches and bunkers with their bayonets, which ultimately proved to be their downfall. The Majapahit soldiers had slain between ten to twenty thousand Japanese who attacked the fort, but it did not matter, for there were another twenty thousand men who forced themselves forward with their last breaths to attack the defenders.

Bayonets were driven through the bodies of Majapahit and Japanese soldiers alike, and in the end, the defenders of the fort were forced to retreat. While the Japanese had suffered what could only be described as a massacre at the hands of the Majapahit Defenders, there were still enough of them to break through the front lines, and hold it long enough for reinforcements to arrive, not that they were likely to live to see the day.

On this day, Itami had lost nearly half of her forces, who she had spent the last month sending into Borneo, but she had broken the stalemate that existed for well over a week. However, for these deathly ill soldiers, this was not the end of their journey, as those who survived were on the march again to assault take the next target, many of which died on the way there.

By the time the next wave of Imperial Japanese soldiers arrived in Borneo, all that would remain of the previous fifty thousand men were a bunch of trench lines filled with disease riddled corpses and tattered banners. Itami would ensure that the bodies of her soldiers were properly disposed of in order to help combat the Cholera outbreak from affecting her newest invasion force.