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Mages vs. Mars, the most commonly-recognized name of this event, also called the Mage Order vs. Mars Attacks event, was a single-day conflict that occurred on June 24, 2007, centered in Mahora Academy, Japan. The conflict was the end result and the fruition of Chao Lingshen's plan to reveal the existence of magic to the world, with the ultimate goal of preparing magic as a viable military response to an alien invasion five hundred years in the future. Throughout the course of the event, only the enemy forces and the "allied officers" were aware of the fact that there was much at stake in the battle; student defenders thought it was merely a highly-technical final day event to conclude the three-day Mahorafest festival.
The battle took place between Chao's army of combat robots, numbering approximately 15,000, and an organized defense force composed of students numbering approximately 3,000, and an armed force of Halo cosplayers numbering an additional 2,000. Combat took place in the center of the city, localized around six key points that Chao would need to control and have active resonance within in order to activate her spell of forced recognition. Through the entirety of the battle, the students were armed with special magic weapons designed for the explicit purpose of destroying constructs, such as the robots, while the forces of Fireteam Charlie used live ammunition, and mostly remained within the confines of the Viertel Am See Plaza to reduce friendly fire incidents. The droids were initially armed only with weakened plasma cannons in their mouths which would destroy clothing and weapons that they came in contact with while not harming the living being beneath. In the second stage of the battle, the droids began to utilize firearms equipped with unique, magic-imbued bullets that had the power to send their victims forward in time three hours.
The Battle[]
Initial Assault[]
First Wave[]
Second Wave[]
Arrival of the Hero Units[]
Probing Echo's Defenses[]
Air Support[]
Victory Imminent[]
Demon Gods[]
Key Locations[]
Defense Point Alpha[]
Defense Point Bravo[]
Defense Point Charlie[]
Defense Point Delta[]
Defense Point Echo[]
Defense Point Foxtrot[]
Hero Units[]
Negi Party[]
- Main article: Ala Alba
Leaders: Negi Springfield, Chisame Hasegawa
Forces: Asuna Kagurazaka, Setsuna Sakurazaki, Ku Fei, Kaede Nagase, Yue Ayase, Nodoka Miyazaki, Haruna Saotome
Mercenary Allies[]
Kuro Arashi[]
- Main article: Kuro Arashi
Leaders: Sabashii Kokuei
Forces: Naru Narusegawa, Haruka Urashima, Seno Nakakami, Motoko Nakakami, Shinobu Maehara, Kaolla Su, Nealla Ju, Masaru Nanjou, Nanao Yuzuki, Hiroyuki Murakami, Mitsune Konno, Mutsumi Otohime
Factions[]
Mahora Mage Knights[]
- Main article: Mahora Mage Knights Defense Brigade
Leaders: Professor Akashi, Takamichi Takahata, Touko Kuzunoha, Gandolfini, Kataragi
Forces: Approximately 3,000 students and residents ranging from elementary school to university level
Fireteam Charlie[]
- Main article: Fireteam Charlie
Leaders: Lorenzo Ruiz, Maria Shimizu, Yuuna Akashi
Forces: Approximately 1,500 students armed with live weapons and trained in simulation airsoft
Martian Droid Army[]
Leaders: Chao Lingshen, Mana Tatsumiya, Chachamaru Karakuri, ITSU-13
Forces: Approximately 15,000 droid infantry, armor, and air units
Timeline[]
12:08 PM[]
- Setsuna and Konoka meet with Seno and Motoko, and secure a promise of combat assistance from Kuro Arashi.
- Yuuna, Makie, and Ayaka begin the sign-up process to join in the defense army, and provide information on the available weapons and equipment for use.
12:14 PM[]
- Fireteam Charlie begins setting up its base of operations at Viertel Am See Plaza, designated as Defense Point Echo, but referred to by the defenders as Echo Base in homage to Star Wars.
01:22 PM[]
- In preparation for their participation in the battle, the Kuro crew assemble at the Hinata-Sou to complete their costumes and discuss their strategy. Hiroyuki arrives to fight alongside his new allies. A mysterious merchant also arrives and offers weapon upgrades to the crew, which is taken advantage of by Shinobu, Hiroyuki, and Haruka.
05:20 PM[]
- Command center personnel at Echo Base detect underwater movement in the lake to the north of central Mahora. Attempts are made to warn Foxtrot and Alpha of potential sea-based attack, but communication between defense points is blocked by unknown means.
05:22 PM[]
- Setsuna watches the defense preparations at the World Tree Plaza, designated as Defense Point Alpha, and discusses the possibility of Chao altering her plans in response to Allied movement. Chamo assures Setsuna that Chao cannot delay her plans, and when Setsuna proposes the potential of advancing them, Chamo tells her to alert Negi. When she is unable to raise Negi or Konoka by either cell phone or pactio, Setsuna and Chamo fear that Chao's attack has already begun.
05:24 PM[]
- Yuuna coordinates the setup of defending forces at Alpha. She briefly has a discussion with Kazumi, and agrees to be the centerpiece of a video documentary for the battle that Kazumi plans to record. The opening scene is recorded, but the documentary is assumed to be canceled following Chao providing Kazumi with a platform from which to be announcer for the event. Chao also informs Kazumi that her broadcast will be sent to every television in Japan and to the televisions of government leaders worldwide.
05:32 PM[]
- Chao's forces initiate their amphibious assault, launching attacks on the first defense lines of Alpha, Echo, and Foxtrot simultaneously. Surprise initially causes many allied casualties, but the defenders soon rally and counterattack.
05:34 PM[]
- Attack forces from beneath the city initiate their assault on Bravo, Charlie, and Delta by way of sewer infiltration. Contact with the enemy is taking place at every defense point. Yuuna, Akio, Akira, the Narutaki twins, and a number of other defenders defeat a droid skirmish force attempting to preemptively-capture the World Tree.
05:38 PM[]
- Droid forces at Echo Base are allowed to reach the second line of defense before a remote-detonated minefield is activated, inflicting heavy casualties on the first wave. An ambush force of heavy machine guns, many of them automated, and World War II-era Type-11 infantry guns decimated the surviving units of the first wave.
05:43 PM[]
- Takaki Sato fights as part of the first line defense forces on the beach of Foxtrot, using tactics and quick-thinking to order a mass-use of power drainers to disable a large number of enemy units to allow for efficient and easy destruction, destroying the first wave of enemies. Takaki, knowing more enemies will come, regards the cheers of his allies as the noise of "brave amateurs; more brawlers than warriors."
- A two-man team of mages travels through the Charlie combat zone, attempting to seal a storm drain to prevent more enemy attacks from the sewer. A substantial droid force penetrates before they can complete their mission, forcing them to fall back and meet up with a small defense force defending an intersection. The barricade falls under heavy attack, with multiple students injured in collateral damage, but the defenders manage to beat back the enemy.
05:44 PM[]
- At Echo's fourth defense line, artillery crews manning Type-96 howitzers prepare to initiate artillery bombardments against enemy infantry and armor.
- At Echo's second defense line, Lorenzo engages a droid infiltration unit and defeats it using Arma Salto, also destroying the first droid minor infantry commander of the battle.
- Five Black Hawks on loan from the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force are used to transport injured students from the battle zones to a medical tent near the World Tree.
- Shizuna Minamoto determines that the pattern of droid attacks varies in a given engagement based on the tactical sensibilities applied by their opposition, citing the example that a hastily-assembled line of students firing in the open will provoke the same response from droids, whereas a tactically-sound scenario like the barricade at Charlie will result in flanking and harsh, demoralizing attacks.
- Megumi Natsume detects an attack on all fronts by Locust crab walkers.
05:47 PM[]
- The cheerleader trio (Madoka, Sakurako, and Misa) continue to hold the line at the beach of Alpha despite the advance of armored units. Sakurako, armed with a rocket caster, manages to destroy one Locust and four infantry with a single blast. Madoka continues to use her sniper caster to kill enemy infantry, and notes that the enemy are forcing the defenders back.
- The second wave of the droids attacks Echo by allowing the armor to lead the way, which provokes a response from the two Centurion tanks tasked to the beach defense line. The two tanks destroy a number of Locusts, and large amounts of infantry.
05:50 PM[]
- Echo's first-line defense units retreat back to the second defense line under covering fire from the tanks and automated weapons. An engineering team was sent forward to repair the damaged transmission of the second tank and allow the two tanks to retreat. The crew managed to repair the tank in time, but before it could fall back, the droids overran the vehicle and the tankers escaped through bottom hatches. The first tank attempted to provide covering fire for the other crew to retreat, but failed to notice enemy units approaching it from the rear, and was also overrun.
05:53 PM[]
- With the first defense line cleared of all allied forces, the artillery guns opened fire, destroying the two tanks and demolishing many of the Locusts in the second wave. The few surviving infantry droids took shelter in formerly-enemy-occupied bunkers.
05:55 PM[]
- The arrival of the Locusts incites panic amongst the mostly-middle school defenders at Foxtrot. All the defenders at the beach are eliminated due to lack of weapons capable of damaging the Locusts and poor tactical judgment. Takaki rallies a band of students and takes them up to the rooftops along the line of enemy advance, temporarily stalling them by destroying the lead Locust in such a manner that its bulk prevents the remaining armor from advancing.
05:58 PM[]
- An infiltrator unit of droids attacks the weapons storage area of Foxtrot. Two mage students and a band of mundane defenders respond, eliminating the infantry attempting to break into the weapons depot, but are attacked by three Locusts and more infantry, which they engage.
05:59 PM[]
- At Alpha, the droid forces advanced hard, smashing their way through to the fourth defense line, forcing engagements all along the front and thereby preventing reinforcements from moving to any location they might be needed. Yuuna, Akira, Ako, and the Narutaki twins fight using coordinated teamwork to hold back a large enemy force from getting past them to the plaza above.
- Setsuna and Asuna enter the battle, effortlessly decimating the enemies near Yuuna and her group, and explaining themselves as 'Hero Units' or the 'named generals' found in any Koei game.
- Kazumi announces the appearance of the 'commanding generals of the Mage Knights' to the battlefield, providing a badly-needed morale boost to the allied forces.
Trivia[]
- When Sakurako kills five units with a single shot, she proclaims it to be an "overkill," which is the medal awarded in Halo 3 for killing four enemies within four seconds of each other. This is inconsistent with the both the time period and the accomplished task, as Halo 3 had not yet been released, and the proper medal for five kills within four seconds of each other is Killtacular. The equivalent Halo 2 medal for the task she accomplished would, in fact, have been Kill Frenzy. However, it is possible that Sakurako knew of the Overkill medal by participating in the Halo 3 Beta, but it is more than likely intentionally done on the part of the author so as not to confuse readers who are more familiar with the Halo 3 medals, and the fact that four of the units killed were all infantry, as vehicle kills are typically not counted.
Appearances[]
- The Inquisition Mahora Epilogue (Mentioned only)
- Kuro Arashi: The Black Storm (First appearance)
- The Unsung War (Mentioned only)