Book 9: Chapter 46: The Third Stage
In this central area of London, the minor skirmishes between the Reincarnators and Apostles hadn’t interrupted the war between the Crusaders and the British military police.
To be fair, the British forces had done their best. After the Mobile Crusaders invaded, all the British police and troops across the city had fought while retreating. Eventually, almost ten thousand gathered in the city center around Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park. Using the advantageous terrain, they reorganized their defenses.
Being the heart of London, it had the most complete air defense systems. Early on, they even managed to repel a few impressive counterattacks, downing quite a few of the Crusaders’ armed helicopters.
Though the Crusaders from the Vatican had formal training, the Holy See was not truly a country and lacked the capability to organize a proper, modern army. The enhanced soldiers weren’t used to this kind of warfare. Once their numbers grew as large as an battalion, they seemed to forget how to fight coherently. Instead of tactics, they just charged forward in swarms, causing pointless casualties.
However, the individual abilities of these enhanced warriors were far superior to ordinary troops. Having already seized control of all other parts of London except North London, the Crusaders gradually focused the majority of their forces on this last, toughest bone to crack.
Once the Crusaders in this area surpassed two thousand, quantity finally shifted into quality. Through sheer brute force, they broke through the British ground defenses.
Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Downing Street, and Westminster Abbey fell one after another. London’s once bustling city center now lay littered with bodies. British resistance ended in the most brutal fashion.
Naturally, the victorious Crusaders also suffered heavy losses. Combined with casualties in North London, over half of their six thousand strong force perished. The survivors were all wounded, some even losing their enhancements due to pushing their potential too far in the fight.
For the Apostles, however, the end of this war was a positive development. Having just finished their conflict with the outsiders, the Apostle numbers were still around fifty. Internal conflict had barely sparked when the sudden flood of Crusaders extinguished it.