Emile was looking up at the sky his ears ringing loudly , that cloud looked like a fish , a shot wizzed past where Emile layed abd he shook his head bringing himself back to the action. "Sacrè bleu" he looked on as Empire troops stormed in and his comrades or those who remained fought tooth and nail trying to hold back the tide of Empire troops. The massive metal monstrosity trundled forward . He searched around for his gun and grabbed it before finding a a pile of rubble to take cover behind and set up his gun hoping to surpress the Empire dogs as they ran in , at least slow them or keep their heads down

The screams of the dying and wounded were quiet compared to what happened next. The world all around them was thrown into more chaos than anything they had experienced earlier, including nearly dying from their own guns! All his senses were dulled and in pain from the violent events that followed. He couldn't remember most of what happened but all of that didn't matter as the infantry lines meshed together in conflict. It was a blend of uniforms and shouts as friend and foe was felled. John lined up a shot one of the enemy Soldiers causing blood to spray all over his intended victim. He barely missed another Soldier with his shot. He wasn't sure how many chances he would be able to shoot with out hitting any friendlies. He made sure his entrenching tool was handy, if need be he would have to use it as a weapon until he could find something better!

Ferdinand had been knocked back by the sudden explosions that torn down the gate and parts of the wall and was getting back when the Imperial troops started to flood in. That was the last straw for him as he went to draw his axe from it's sheath. No more patience, no more mercy, no more pity, this was do or die and he most certainly wasn't going to be dying until four score of them died first. He took a stance with his weapons and charged towards an infantry man who was charging a soldier injured in the blast. Sprinting into action he met the soldier half way and swung for his neck. The soldier tried to counter but was too slow and the axe's blade went across his neck cutting the jugular and he fell to the ground grasping at his throat a faint gurgle coming from him.

"One down the old god knows how many to go." Ferdinand said aloud silently agreeing with himself to not say something so cheesy ever again as he dove further into combat.

With ears ringing from the land battleship both wiping out everyone in the courtyard with a single shell and then charging into the wall to send it crashing down, Elizabeth was already ready to get stuck in and start cracking Empire skulls in outrage and anger, but seeing that Emile and Eva were getting their heavier weapons set up, Shaw decided that perhaps now wasn't the time to get stuck into the fray, as much as she'd enjoy making the Empire pay dearly for the slaughter in the courtyard. That and her senses were pretty much working overtime to barely keep her informed of what was going on.

Instead, she readied her pistol to keep Emile and Eva covered while they got their weapons set up, just in case some enterprising fool decided that picking on them two was a good idea. After all, winning today's battle was to Seranos not killing every solider that crossed her path, but keeping as many of their own guys alive. And then killing as many Empire soldiers that had the courtesy to stay where they were for her side.

The bloodbath that quickly ensued over the crumbling masonry, now slick with blood and fuel from ruptured lines in the curtain wall swarmed across the battlements and courtyard. Militia and Regulars fired volley after volley into the charging mass of steel and iron before charging in turn to meet them. Bayonets stabbed into unprotected flesh tearing open bodies to reveal the vital, livid organs within. Trench knives and shovels slashed and bludgeoned soldiers down into the ground where victim and assailant alike were trampled to death.

Stray shots whipped through the smoke hitting friend and foe alike even as those on the walls continued to fire down into the horde of Imperials still climbing through the breach. Ladders, grappling hooks, and even those foolish or brave enough to climb unassisted up the walls gave the defenders barely any breathing room as each armored form that went down only seemed to be replaced by three more eager troopers. Everywhere one looked, bodies smashed into each other tearing at the opposites throat. Obscenities screamed in a dozen languages and dialects filtered into a never ending roar which only combined with the soaring tempest of screams and battle cries.

Somewhere along the line, a more foolish soldier set off a grenade sending several troopers in various uniforms and state of dismemberment across the contenders. Blood rained down in waves as the intensity of the melee increased. Bodies continued to stack up that a small wall was filling the large gap with a man-made barrier to the point many fighters were stumbling over corpses of the dead simply to get to their next target. Faces mixed with rage and anger, smeared with dirt and gore, hatred and sorrow surrounded the swarming ant-hill of humanity as it fought once again to annihilate itself from the surface of the Earth.

With the tank rampaging across the parade ground and its trigger happy gunner panning the heavy weapon into every target imaginable, reinforcements were hard pressed to reach the front. Every time another squad tried to move up to assist, they were pinned down or shredded to ribbons by the accurate and unrelenting volleys. Even as the heavy tank continued to trudge deeper and deeper into the fortification, its advance hardly slowed as another volley of artillery and anti-tank shells bounced off the thick hull. Direct hits scorched and warped or buckled the metal plating. Anti-tank rockets ricocheted off the thick hides detonating harmlessly in the air or bouncing off as they failed to arm. Even the heavy hitting anti-tank rifles didn't even leave a scratch on the beasts hide and with every passing second, it inched closer to its target.

With little choice, sappers and engineers began lobbing demolition charges into the path in an attempt to create large enough breaches in the ground to cause the monstrous bulk of the tank to become bogged down but the immense size and number of the armored treads proved impervious. Smashing through a hastily erected barricade of tank-traps and steel barricades, it breached the fourth defensive line now barely seventy meters from the last remaining artillery guns.

Behind its wake, the torn up earth looked more akin to a mud pie war with an army of children except for the trails of blood and pulped flesh from where those too slow or already dead failed to get out of the path. By now though, the gunner on the rear was beginning to run dry and with gun barrel glowing, the gun finally jammed. With the sound of a heavy chain being caught and fed several times, the heavy autocannons chugged to a halt as the internal bearings melted and fused from the ceaseless firing and its gunner crew began to hastily remove the weapon to replace it with a new one leaving a small window of opportunity.

Behind them as they wheeled a new gun into place, the iris through which the replacement gun was being brought from revealed the tanks red-lit interior...an opening into the beast. Yet faintly in the background, a whirring sound of mechanical motors could be heard just out of consciousness. It sounded almost like...an aligning of gears or the gentle sensation of a lock being undone from within. A calming wave which emanated across each of the squad members yet seemed unfelt to all those around them. In an almost eerie, horror movie esque sensation, color seemed to fade slightly from the world like as if everything was being filtered from underwater briefly before returning to normal...

From a distance Eva could see the Imperial crew trying to change out the weapons of the rear gun position, the gunner seemed to have carelessly broken the last pair mowing down her comrades. "I don't think so you damn krauts." she whispers to herself as she lined up the sights. But not with one of the crew, but with the guns they were putting in. After a quick scan over the weapons she aims for spot she was sure would make it inoperable. Confident in her aim she fires and a thunder crack boomed from the end of the barrel, kicking up dust and debris with the shockwave of the bullet exiting out of the hellbore.

Emile had set up his gun and saw the tide of troops pouring in. It took hardly a second of thought before he began unloading shots into the enemy tide surpressing them. Forcing their heads down as heated supersonic lead flew around them. The gun kicked and roared as it spat lead towards the Empire dogs. Emile could only hope that this could help his comrades hold on. He heard the deafening roar of Eva's gun "Madám , is that a canon or a rifle ?" He chuckled at the attempt at a joke as he steadied his gun on the rubble.

Ferdinand moved forward into the charging waves of Imperials and made a swing for another nearby infantry man this time his blade struck the man's shoulder drawing blood but not taking him down. "Scheisse" He said under his breath as he realized he'd have to come into blows with this one. Whatever the rest of his squad was going at the moment didn't concern him as long as the stayed alive so he focused fully on the fight at hand taking his axe into a stance he learned in his younger years as a noble and prepared for a counter attack.

Noble grunted as chaos erupted around him again. He found a semi safe spot behind some rubble on a stairway. From this spot he started firing into the mass of soldiers. His silent shots were only noticeable by the fountain of blood that flew out of what he hit. Unfortunately out of the two hits he got he was pretty sure he miss hit an ally. The guy charged his original target as he squeezed the trigger getting himself dead, but the follow up shot had no such luck for the hapless imperial. He was now searching for another target of opportunity, especially anyone who looked to be of any kind of leader.

Deciding it was safer to go into melee than to continue shooting, and possibly killing friendly forces. John scrambled to find a weapon to use in melee but was unable to locate one in time. He quickly pulled out his e-tool and swung at the closest enemy Soldier. With the crazed chaos that was the courtyard he missed his intended target, allowing them the opportunity to retaliate. He swore aloud as he bashed the attack away with his e-tool. The shock of the impacting weapons reverberated through his body, both swinging with all their might to slay their foe.

John hoped the others were fairing better than himself as he struggled to overcome his foe. The battle was only going to get longer and bloodier as time went on. Already the casualties were quickly mounting on both sides. The sights and sounds blurred together as one in the dance of death that ensued all around them. He still could shake the feeling that something was about to happen, for their benefit or their downfall was yet to be determined....