But At What Cost?

The heavy machine guns beside his position were locked and loaded, and he saw the heavy infantry begin on firing upon the masses of Spanish chargers. With countless rounds of gunpowder and steel clashing against human flesh and bones, the screams and wails of countless dying humans permeate across the battlefield as hundreds of Spaniards die at the hands of the heavy machine gun infantry. "The whirring of countless machine guns and the death throughs of dying people makes for a very lovely melody" Estong thought.

As the enemies draw near, and the machine gunners prepare themselves to reload, it's now the riflemen's turn to cover them and harvest the lives of the enemies.

"READY!" Estong shouted at the top of his lungs as he looked towards the charging enemies and then turned to look at his men, each and everyone of them harbor looks of anger and disgust at the enemies who enslaved and trampled upon them ever since they were born. When they heard Estong's shout, each and every one of them raised their rifles and pointed them at the Spaniards.

Estong calculated the distance and judged that the enemies are now at range, he ordered his men;

"Fire! Fire at will!" As his men immediately heed his orders and fired according to their whim as hundreds of bullets shot at the Spaniards, bullets teared through the air and rendered flesh and bones as if it's soft jelly, multiple units of Spanish infantry fell victim to the ensuing brutality. With countless dead and endless numbers of wounded men scattered throughout the battlefield, forming mounds of bodies that further served as cover for the Filipino revolutionaries.

Of course, the Spanish retaliated with their own volleys and gunfire but most of it were either absorbed by the ingenious covers used by the Filipinos. They killed a good chunk of the revolutionaries too albeit with great payback as one Filipino death is equivalent to around 3-4 Spaniards.

While the Spaniards are tumbling and fumbling about, a loud drumroll sounded across the battlefield, signalling the Filipinos that it's time to take matters into their own hands, countless officers yelled at their soldiers to move forward and form a countercharge to break the enemy morale. An armored regiment similar to The First Bulwark Regiment led the front under the leadership of the youngest regiment commander, the 12 yr. old Juan Dela Cruz who is the personal disciple of their sovereign. According to rumours, he was saved by Renaldo during his darkest hours, when his parents were killed by the Spanish, Renaldo took a pity on him and accepted him as his disciple to serve as his master and also a father figure, this led to Juan being the youngest and strongest hand-to-hand and gun combatant and also become the brightest prodigy of the younger generation.

He barked countless maneuverability orders and offensive formations to his armored regiment, with some using their heavy machine guns and some ditching their guns for melee combat to maximize their advantage and strike fear into the enemy, every single soldier or his regiment hacked, slashed, and shot in unison as they advanced forward without fear, without mercy, and without a single dent in their steel bib armors. Every single shot and every single slash reaped the life out of the Spaniards and every step brought massive carnage to the corpses below.

Juan's POV

"Ranged units! Fire at will!" Juan shouted at the top of his lungs while he slashed in front of him using his bolo, his face covered with blood, grime, and gunpowder. His ears are ringing because of the countless noises made out of screams, artillery shots, bullet fire and tank turret shots rang in his ears the whole day.

As the armored regiment grew more aggressive, this gave the Spaniards the chance to retaliate by taking advantage of the miscommunications of the whole army, as soldiers of his regiment and the other regiment fell one by one by the hands of the Spaniards who are desperately clinging to the last throes of their lives.

As those on the frontlines fell into their knees and were either beheaded, stabbed or scrapped down by the Spaniards, those behind them immediately took the opportunity to aid their comrades, it was as if a spear stabbed right through the spanish formation which took the lives of countless people.

As the armored regiment are fighting tooth and nails for the chance to annihilate the enemy, the riflemen led by Estong took advantage of the sudden chaos as each and everyone of them took potshots out of the enemies behind the enemy front, their blue uniforms visible amongst the sea of dirt and blood, their lives ripe for the taking. Chaos ensued as the fell one by one, those on the front lines have no choice but to push forward despite their fear of death because of the people behind them that pushed them into utter oblivion, some were shot to death by both MG42s and the Lee-Enfield, while most were killed by the armored regiment with their bolos and itak, and by the bayonets of the riflemen that wants to join the melee.

But as more and more deaths ensued, desperation and adrenaline kicked in for the Spanish Army, as the more the filipinos tried to kill them and slice them into pieces, the instead poured more men into the fray as they hacked their way into the middle of the filipino formation as it crumbled. Filipinos fought for survival, those that ran out of ammo used their rifles as clubs to swing at the enemy out of desperation to fight against the rabid dogs that are the Spanish Army, A filipino is even seen being mutilated by the Spaniards, a Spanish captain even stepped on his corpse after and used his severed arm to slap into another filipino's face.

Filipinos are being killed everywhere as the Spanish Army found a new source of energy and courage, their desperation fed them strength, rage and fear clung to the spanish soldier's minds which became a deadly weapon against the filipinos, the filipinos tried to retaliate though by rallying under the banner of Juan and Estong, because their side is the only bright spot left on the frontlines, they banded together into groups as they desperately shot and hacked at the opposing side, but they are slowly being overrun by the enemy army. Juan was almost stabbed through the heart but dodged at the last minute which still resulted in him being stabbed on his left shoulder, rendering that side useless. He immediately changed his weapon from a customized two-handed bolo to a one handed saber that he picked up from the ground, he slashed into the nearest enemy who fell into his death. Then a new enemy came from behind him but Juan dodged it through his instincts and counter-attacked by swinging his saber horizontally and slashing the enemy in two, blood gushing into his hands which made his grip a bit loose. He withdrew his saber and cleaned his hands as to be ready for further incursions that might happen suddenly. He watched as the enwmy Spaniard was shocked by the sudden turn of events, as he is slowly dying, his organs are now on the floor and his torso is slowly sliding downwards, about to fall to the ground.

As the battle raged and ensued, Juan saw another unit of Spaniards that are collapsing in his position, covering the distance between them in seconds, he mustered all the spare men he can to face the charge, with a couple of mixed ranged and melee armored infantry in front of him, Juan is relaxed as he took this little respite to rest his weary body. A melee ensued while he rested and at the same time he stopped his rest, he joined the fray and immediately fought two men at the same time, one man tried to behead him by attacking his head but he took advantage of this as he ducked and let that man slash at his partner instead, the man was horrified by this but before he can contemplate, Juan immediately took this opportunity and stabbed both of them in their hearts, taking the lives of the two Spaniards.

Nicanor's POV

Outside the melee, Nicanor is currently seeing the situation in the frontlines as he frowned, the inexperience of the revolutionaries are glaring, instead of taking advantage of their range, some of them even took the opportunity to charge at the enemy and disregard his orders, which angered him but he understood that these people are complete newbies but they will still get their punishment after the battle. Nicanor is disappointed but not surprised, but the training is now over for he can't afford the ensuing casualties, he estimates that they already lost 30,000 men which is unacceptable so he immediately ordered the tigers and greyhounds to take the fields and finish this battle.

Juan's POV.

While battling, Juan and his men heard a familiar sound coming from their sides, all of them were happy at this and he immediately ordered his men to retreat far away from their current position and take cover, as the roars of cogs, bolts and other mechanical sounds raged across the battlefield, signifying the arrival of the king of the battlefield and the harbingers of death, the Tigers and Greyhounds.

The Spaniards looked in horror and despair, like a husband cuckolded by a man twice his size, they were near victory yet with the arrival of these killing machines, their efforts are all for naught, some immediately gave up and took a seat to accept their impending doom while some clinged for life and ran towards the opposite direction. Unfortunately, the warmachines have already encircled their positions, and immediately opened fire at the Spaniards. Tanks shells and machine gun fire scattered across as flesh and bones were rendered as soft tofu, Thousands upon thousands died in mere seconds, as lead and gunpowder cascaded across their ranks, A Spanish man was hit in the head, scattering his brain matter, his body crashed to the ground, turning into another corpse in the battlefield.

Juan looked at the ensuing carnage but he also took a look at his men, there were only 600 of his men left from their former 1000 strong number, his heart ached and he immediately knows that he will be trialed for losing a lot of his men. His master will also be disappointed in him which made this a lot worst.

They won the battle just like that, but this memory of carnage and gore will be in their minds for a long time.

This battle though, will be one of the worst battles ever recorded in the Philippine Revolution for the Filipinos.