Chapter 3: The Mage
The German Army was the most efficient army in the world.
With almost a million skilled men and millions more in reserve or ready to enlist, the German Army was absolutely prepared for the incoming conflict.
The main branch of the Army was the bulk of the force, with over 500,000 soldiers and personnel using German magic small arms. Unlike the Allied countries, the German Army had been drilled intensely for the upcoming conflict, years before anyone else. A single soldier was an elite, skilled in his magic rifle and superior in, if nothing else, critical and tactical thinking.
The Enchanted Air Force were made up over 300,000 pilots and personnel. Their aircraft were faster, lighter, and more deadly than their steam-powered counterparts. With the replacement of the large steam-powered engines with magic-stored stones, their airships could carry more bombs; their smaller, faster aircraft could outmaneuver any Allied air power.
The German Armored Corps were made up of over 100,000 of the nation's best. Their Goliaths could reach speeds unheard of and were packed to the brim with armaments. The German Landships were huge, moving artillery pieces who could utterly decimate individual targets 4 to 5 km away and had a volley fire of over 7km.
Why were the German Army so prepared for war?
Some believed that they wanted it. Others believed that such a large central European power had no choice but to prepare for it. In any case, the Germans were powerful but surrounded, and only a spark would erupt the country's borders in flame.
They would have to prepare for war on all fronts of their country. Although they were the elite of the elite, a stretched conflict in Europe would destroy them. In response to this obvious revelation, German mage scientists had developed equipment for a new, specialized branch of the military under the army.
First Lieutenant Mage Marie Hagesawa was the rising star of the newly formed Mage Battalions.
After graduating from a prestigious military academy with nothing both praise from her instructors, Marie Hagesawa had entered the secret Mage Battalions. Along with her extremely high marks of efficiency in her scouting missions, her fierce loyalty to her superiors had the mage promoted to First-Lieutenant after not more than 8 months in service. After all, the mage battalions were constantly looking for new talents, regardless of background.
However, not much could be found about her background anyway. Although of Japanese ethnicity, she was orphaned from an early age. A tragic childhood was all that could be seen from a simple glimpse at her profile. Yet, she applied for military education as soon as she had come of age and showed a fierce patriotism to the Empire.
As her professor in the military academy outlined in her reports,
"An outstanding student, full of tactical knowledge and critical thinking skills, she will become an important asset to our country. However, her background raises numerous questions. I worry for her mental health, although she shows no signs of deterioration. How could such a child with a tragic background become such a patriotic, loyal young woman?"
Lieutenant Marie was awake at 0500 hours sharp, ready to serve her daily assignments and ready to wake up the ingrates that were her men.
As she turned on the magic-powered radio, she outfitted herself with the sharp, German mage uniform that was probably the most stylish military uniform in the world.
"IT IS JUNE 28 OF THE YEAR OF 1914. SERBIAN CITIZENS CONTINUE TO BERATE THE EMPIRE'S ALLY OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 12 DEATHS INVOLVED IN SKIRMISHES ON THE BORDER OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. ARCHDUKE OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY VISITS THE RECENTLY ANNEXED CAPITAL OF SARAJEVO TO INSPECT IMPERIAL FORCES."
Marie turned the radio off and headed toward the nearby cafeteria. The military base she was in was fairly large, but it only took her around 5 minutes to walk from her quarters to breakfast. She never skipped breakfast, even if that breakfast were military-grade sausages with no flavor. As she sat down, a man walked toward her.
"Lieutenant Marie?"
Marie looked up to see a tall man in at least his 40s, with gray eyes that could be interpreted as an officer's eyes, arrogant and proud, very different from Marie's cold, black eyes that could never be seen through.
"Good day to you, Major"
Marie stood up and offered a short bow. Her small stature was surprising to see, almost a foot shorter than the 6 foot 1 inch tall man. However, her bow was almost mechanic, with a sharp edge that any looker would see as fiercely loyal.
"Good day to you, Lieutenant."
"How is the breakfast?"
"I think it's good to practice military ration, even outside of wartime."
"Ha! Indeed, we need to get ready for this food if we don't want all our morale to die by lunchtime on the first day of the war."
War was on the horizon. If one denied that war was impending, they were looked at strangely, and disregarded as a hopeful child, not fit for the army.
"Heard your scouting mission up in the North went well? Those slow British airships could probably never see someone as fast as you."
Indeed, Lieutenant Marie had been found to have a large innate magic potential during her time in the academy. She had been found to have two strong specialties. One of these were her extremely great potential for high speeds, perfect for scouting missions. Even if they found her on a radar, no airship would understand what it picked up before she would disappear.
"Yes, sir. The mission went without fault. It seems that the British Air Navy seems to be patrolling the North Sea as well."
"Those British Navy ba*tards, huh."
"I bet that this war is gonna begin at the very most by next spring, don't you think? Of course, we'll end it by Christmas," the major said with a smile.
The major, like almost every other German soldier, was a fierce nationalist who didn't believe that the barbarian steam-powered states could keep a fight with the powerful Empire of Germany.
"We'll crush those pantaloons-wearing Frenchmen and swiftly move on to push those slow Russian peasants all the way to Moscow."
Marie responded with a smile, devoid of emotion. The major felt a shiver run down his back.
"This lieutenant is one of my greatest and most loyal men, so why do I so fear that smile?" the major thought quickly and threw the thought away just as fast.
"I'll leave you to finish your breakfast Lieutenant. Remember to wake your men for the daily drilling."
The tall man walked away as Marie finished up her breakfast. Marie didn't really have to wake any of her men up. All she had to do was send for her platoon-sergeants and have them prepare the men for drilling. All the while, she had to fill out countless amounts of paperwork that an elite German officer had to fill - supply requests, new applications for the platoon, and reports for every single thing that would happen on a work day, which was every day except for a period of time on the Sabbath, in which men would go to the Church.
She finished up the daily paperwork at around 1000 hours, looked at her pocket-watch, and decided to go visit the men.
"They should be finishing up their morning drills, and I'll need to provide another example..."
The young woman got up and sighed as she walked across her neat, spacious work area.
"I seriously need some coffee," the lieutenant muttered under her breath.
As said before, the military base was a large one. The shooting range and drilling areas were on the other side of the base, so she decided to take a scenic route.
Marie walked along the outside concrete path and could hear the quiet whistling of magic rifles and crackling of mage barriers. With a small, standard issue type 34 stone in the rifle, only magic power was needed in order to fire bullets. A healthy man could shoot thousands of bullets before feeling some fatigue from magic draining.
Marie herself was issued a new generation of small arms known as the submachine gun. With her magic power, as long as she had the ammo, she could shoot continuously for tens of thousands of bullets. Of course, magic power could also be drained when creating a magic shield or using a formula, but these are special to mages and can only be created using mage equipment.
"BOOOOM!!"
A huge sound reverberated across the camp.
"Guess it's time for the formula demonstrations."
Marie quickened her pace to be met with the faces of her platoon sergeants who were overlooking the men. The two sides saluted accordingly.
"Good day, commander"
"Good day, men. I suppose it's that time of the day?"
"Yes, commander."
"Alright, pass me the rifle."
The rifle was of the issue type 85 stone, commonly used for the longer range elite snipers of the army. However, the rifle was also used by mages.
As Marie charged her formula, using the mage equipment to create an elaborate set of symbols around the rifle, she aimed the rifle at the nearby hill range to unleash her second specialty - explosion formulas as powerful as a 15 cm artillery piece.
However, she was suddenly interrupted by a young messenger who yelled out toward the group of officers. Cancelling the formula and forcing down a curse, she looked toward the messenger.
"What is it?" she said while clicking her tongue.
The young messenger's eyes were wide as he mustered up the news.
"Th- The archduke of Austria-Hungary is... dead."
"He was shot by a Serbian man."
The news was met with silence. The platoon-sergeants were utterly shocked as their eyes went wide and they became slack jawed. The Archduke was no laughing matter. He was the next Emperor for Austria-Hungary. The only response to this could be, would be...
Marie's eyes didn't change. In fact, she only sighed as her stone cold expression faced her platoon-sergeants.
"Achtung, gentlemen. Let us prepare for war"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
USI
USI Now, this chapter has highlighted the essential "spark" of the war. Many historians have related the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, archduke of Austria-Hungary, as being the start of the WW1. In reality, it wasn't actually recognized as a main start to the war until later on.
Once again, this world is completely different from our own. As such, a lot of what happens here will deviate from real world events. In any case, I hope you guys are enjoying this so far; this chapter hasn't actually revealed too much about Marie's character. It was more for setting the scene the anything else, but we will be seeing more of her personality as the Great War kicks into gear.
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