Phantasy The Animation's
SECOND DANTALIAN PIECE

＜Year 535 AD＞

After Elaina's success in the capture of North Africa, the destruction of the Vandal Kingdom, Elaina now leaves Carthage and goes to the city of Jerusalem.

And Elaina arrived at the Ruins of Solomon's Treasure Temple, she went straight into the ruins. The trap inside the ruins was activated by itself, indicating that there would be infiltration. Two big golems came over to Elaina and directly attacked her.

"Wine! Didn't think there was a trap magic guarding these ruins. Two golems huh? It doesn't matter to me. *hap....*"

Elaina dodged the golem's hand attack that attacked her, then counterattacked with her fire magic 'Arrow Attack'. The attack was completely ineffective against the golems.

"What...!? There was absolutely no damage, nor was this tough golem. How about this, take this!"

Elaina leaped slightly away from the two golems, then unleashed her fire magic 'Loved Arrow Attack'. Making one golem fall to the ground.

"Successful! But this attack I can't activate anymore, it takes time to use again"

The other Golem jumped at Elaina by clasping her hands together, Elaina managed to avoid it and keep her distance. Then release the magic again.

"Danger is good, at least if this is how it is"

The 'Fire-Shaping' fire magic attack that came out from under the golem's feet, scorched the golem and smashed it just like that.

"Good, now there's no more"

Elaina continues her search into the temple of ruins. On the other hand, General Belisarius attacked the Ostrogotic Kingdom, landing his troops around the city of Naples.

"Even without Elaina, I have to take Rome. Fortunately he left a note of the plan, before he left Carthage."

After the reconquest of North Africa, Justinian I set his sights on Italian territory. In 537 AD, General Belisarius led his army in another expedition to occupy Rome for his emperor and retake Italian territory.

With northern Africa back in Roman hands after the successful Vandal War, Emperor Justinian I turned his gaze to Italy, with its old capital, the city of Rome.

By the end of the 5th century, the peninsula was under the control of the Ostrogoths, who, although they continued to recognize the Empire's sovereignty, had established a practically independent kingdom. However, after the death of its founder, the capable Theodoric the Great, in 526, Italy was in turmoil. Justinian used this to intervene in the affairs of the Ostrogothic states.

In 535, the Roman general Mundus invaded Dalmatia, and Belisarius, with 7,500 soldiers, captured Sicily with ease.

General Belisarius led an army of more than 10 thousand soldiers across the sea from Sicily. From there, in June of next year, he crossed into Italy at Rhegium. After a twenty-day siege, the Romans sacked Naples in early November. After the fall of Naples, the Goths, angered by the inactivity of their king, Theodahad, gathered in council and elected Vitiges as their new king. Theodahad, who had fled Rome for Ravenna, was killed by an agent of Vitiges on his way. Meanwhile, Vitiges convened a council in Rome, where it was decided not to seek direct confrontation with Belisarius, but to wait until the main army, stationed in the north, was assembled. Vitiges then left Rome for Ravenna, leaving behind a 4,000 strong garrison to secure the city.

Nevertheless, the Romans firmly supported General Belisarius, and, given the brutal sacking of Naples, were unwilling to support the risk of a siege. Thus, a delegation on behalf of Pope Silverius and prominent citizens were sent to General Belisarius. The Ostrogoth garrison quickly realized that, with the hostile population, their position was untenable. Thus, on 9 December 536 AD, General Belisarius entered Rome through the Asinarian Gate by leading 5,000 soldiers, while the Ostrogoth garrison left the city via the Flaminian Gate and headed north towards Ravenna. After 60 years, Rome was once again in Roman hands.

"Unexpectedly, capturing the city of Rome was quite easy. This was probably thanks to Elaina who he said had good relations with the Popes, sending letters to protest"

He entered the palace where the pacification of the Popes was.

"Maybe next is Ravenna, then Spain and Frank"

In February 537, Vitiges sent his commander Vacis to the Salarian Gate to plead with the Romans not to leave the Goths. His speech was ineffective and the siege began the next day.

General Belisarius, with his small army, was unable to continue his march north towards Ravenna, as the Ostrogoths were far more numerous than his army. Instead, he settled in Rome, preparing an inevitable counterattack. He established his headquarters at Bukit Petian, in the north of the city, and began repairing the city walls. A moat was dug on the outside, the Hadrian Mausoleum fort was fortified, a chain was drawn across the Tiber, a number of conscripts and a supply warehouse were set up. The townspeople, realizing that the siege they were trying to avoid became inevitable, began to show signs of dissatisfaction.

"This danger! Ostrogotics are really strong, stronger than Vandals. I should have sent Elaina to help me, if the plan she wrote was messed up"

Rome is too big to be completely surrounded by the Goths. So they set up seven camps, facing the main gate and access point to the city, to starve him. Six of them are on the east side of the river, and one on the west side, on the Neronis Campus, near the Vatican. This leaves the southern side of the city open.

The Goths then blocked the aqueducts that supplied water to the city, which was necessary both for drinking and for operating the gristmill factory. The mill is located in the Janiculum, and provides most of the bread for the city. Although General Belisarius was able to overcome the latter problem by building a floating factory on the Tiber river, the difficulty for the citizens increased every day. Realizing this discontent, Vitiges tried to achieve the surrender of the city by promising a freeway for the Roman army, but General Belisarius refused the offer, informing his enemy....

"How stupid they are, they think my army is that weak!"

He wrote a reply to the Ostrogoths.

"... As for Rome, moreover, which we have seized, in holding it we hold nothing that belongs to others, but it is You who have violated this city in the past, even though it is not yours at all, and now you have returned it, however reluctantly, to its owner in the past. And any of you who hope to set foot in Rome without a fight, is wrong in his judgment. As long as Belisarius lives, it's impossible for him to let go of this city."

Immediately after the rejection of his proposal, Vitiges launched a massive assault on the city. His engineers had built four large siege towers, which had now begun to be moved towards the northern wall of the city, near the Salarian Gate, by a team of oxen.

On the eighteenth day since the beginning of the siege, the Goths moved against the fortress around sunrise, and all the Romans were astonished at the sight of the advancing towers and rams, which they do not know at all. But General Belisarius, looking at the enemy ranks as they advanced with the machine, began to laugh, and ordered the soldiers to remain silent and under no circumstances begin fighting until he himself beckoned.

The reason for General Belisarius' raid was initially unclear, but as the Goths approached the moat, he pulled his bow and fired, one after another, three Ostrogoth riders. The soldiers on the wall took this as a sign of victory and began to shout in celebration. Then General Belisarius expressed his thoughts, as he ordered his archers to concentrate their fire on the open ox, which the Goths had thoughtlessly carried within firing range of the wall. The cows were dispatched quickly, and all four towers were left there, useless, in front of the wall.

Vitiges then left a large army to keep the defenders busy, and attacked the wall in the southeast, in the area of the Praenestine Gate, known as the Vivarium, where the fortress was lower. Simultaneous attacks were carried out on the west side, at the Hadrian Mausoleum and the Cornelian Gate. There the battle is fierce. Eventually, after a hard struggle, the Goths were driven away, but the situation at Vivarium was severe. The defenders, under the command of Bessas and Peranius, were severely suppressed, and sent to General Belisarius for help.

A letter from Rome to Jerusalem.

"Letter from Belisarius? Oh.. It turns out so, well let me change the plan a little. How about this..." Elaina wrote a reply to Belisarius and sent him.

General Belisarius came, accompanied by some of his bucellarii. As soon as the Goths broke through the walls, he ordered some soldiers to attack them before they could form, but with most of his army, he walked out of the gate. Shocking Goth, his men push them back and burn their siege engines. At the same time, either coincidentally or deliberately, the Roman forces at the Salarian Gate also made surprise attacks, and also managed to destroy many siege engines. The Goths' first attempt to invade the city failed, and their forces retreated to their camp.

Despite his success, General Belisarius was well aware that the situation was still dangerous. He therefore wrote a letter to Justinian I, asking for help. Indeed, Justinian had sent reinforcements under the stands of Martinus and Valerian, but they were delayed in Greece due to bad weather. In his letter, Belisarius also added words of warning about the loyalty of the people.

"And although at this time the Romans tended to be kind to us, yet when their problems were prolonged, they probably would not hesitate to choose a better path for their own sake. Furthermore, the Romans would become forced by hunger to do many things they did not want to do."

For fear of treason, extreme measures were taken by General Belisarius. Pope Silverius was deposed on suspicion of negotiating with the Goths and replaced by Vigilius, the locks and locks of the gates were replaced twice each month, the guards who served at the gates rotated regularly, and patrols were prepared.

Vitiges, meanwhile, angered at his failure, sends an order to Ravenna to kill the senators he has held hostage there, and so decided to complete the isolation of the besieged city by disconnecting it from the sea. The Goths captured Portus Claudii in Ostia, which was unguarded by the Romans. As a result, although the Romans retained control of Ostia itself, their supply situation deteriorated, as supplies had to be dismantled at Antium and then transported with great difficulty to Rome. Fortunately for the besieged, twenty days later, the promised reinforcements, 1,600 cavalry, arrived and were able to enter the city.

The letter from Jerusalem came as reinforcements arrived.

"General! Cavalry reinforcements may arrive in Rome soon or even before this letter reaches you. Take advantage of their strength, all my plans are mature and cannot be replaced. Follow then you can conquer the territory of Spain and Frank. I've also asked Justinian to send General Narses to help you secure Italian territory. Don't worry, after General Narses meets you. The Ostrogotic Kingdom must have been wiped out quickly, and you two could have opened a Spanish and Frankish expedition. Happy fighting!"

General Belisarius was confident because of the contents of the letter, giving great hope to him and the Byzantines. General Belisarius now had a well-trained, disciplined, and agile army, and began to use his cavalry to attack the Goths. Always, Roman horsemen, mostly of Hun or Slavic descent and expert archers, would approach the Goths, who relied mainly on close combat and lacked long-range weapons, unleashing a rain of arrows, and retreat to the wall when chased. There, balistas and catapults waited, and beat back the Goths with heavy losses. Thus the superior mobility and firepower of the Roman cavalry were put to excellent use, causing serious losses for the Goths to minimal Roman casualties.

After their victory over a far superior enemy, the Romans had the upper hand. Reinforcements under the command of General Narses arrived, which allowed General Belisarius to seize several Gothic fortresses and take control of most of Italy south of the Po River in late 539. Finally, Ravenna herself was seized with deceit in May 540, and the war seemed to have effectively ended. However, soon, the Goths, under the capable leadership of their new king Totila, managed to turn things around, until the Empire's position in Italy almost collapsed. In 546, Rome was again besieged by Totila, and this time General Belisarius was unable to prevent its fall. The city was reoccupied by the Empire soon after, and Totila had to besiege it again in 549. Although the city fell, Totila's victory was short-lived. The arrival of Narses in 551 marked the beginning of the end of the Goths, and in the Battle of Taginae in 552 the Goths were defeated and Totila killed. In 553 the last Ostrogothic king, Teia, was defeated. Although some cities in the north continued resistance until the early 560s, the Gothic power was broken for good.

The Gothic wars, and especially the sieges, had a devastating effect on the city's population. Its population declined by 90% to about 30,000 by 550. Of the original 13 aqueducts only two are still functioning, and areas with only 10% of that number are at their peak.

Elaina had already reached the inner chamber of the Temple Ruins, taking Elaina away to the future in 570 AD. Elaina was thrown into prison and made into a slave who was captured by Abraha's forces.

2 Months later, Elaina disappears from the prison saved by a handsome sacrificial man, her face so bright and fresh that it makes her know him a little. He would later become the 'Most Influential Person in Human History'.