Steel Empire
Steiermark

In the Steiermark fields, near the Salzburg border, two troops met. On the Austrian side, Count Otto faced off against Bavarians who dared to enter his territory. Although nearby areas were burned from the ongoing invasion, Steiermark has become one of the few counties able to defend itself for now. The reason was simple, Count Otto and his troops fled the Passau terrain intact, and as such, he had the most significant professional force left in all of Austria. Outside Berengar's army, it. Thus, the man was able to defend his territory competently, even though that did not stop the Bavarians from trying to force him into submission.

As the battle progressed, Count Otto found himself descending from the horses and engaging with enemy forces in close combat. While he did, several bolts flew past the Count's face covered in a large basket, one of these bolts even directly collided with his throat plate.However, it was easily deflected by a sturdy steel helmet. Like most of his army's equipment, the armor that Count Otto wore had been provided by the nephew. Berengar did not take shortcuts when making Count Otto's plate armor, and although not as sophisticated as the full plate armor designs that Berengar could access, it did, it was made with the best materials and by the greatest craftsmen in its territory. Therefore, Count Otto was sufficiently protected from enemy missile fire. 

After his armor deflected the approaching bolts with ease, Count Otto found himself engaged in a sword fight with a relatively well-equipped gunman. Holding his longsword with excellent skill, Otto quickly disarmed the opponent before gripping his blade in a technique called half-sword, which he called, where he pointed the tip of the sword into a crack in the enemy's armor. The opponent snorted in pain as his shoulder was pierced, and Otto continued with a deadly punch, smashing the hilt of his sword into the opponent's helmet, acting as a makeshift mace. After several powerful swings, the enemy collapsed, his skull completely shattered by Otto's onslaught. 

After ending his opponent's miserable existence, Otto gazed at the battlefield and realized that the waves were starting to benefit him. Although the Bavarians were more numerous, Otto was an experienced commander and easily outmaneuvered the enemy forces. As he faced the enemy forces as a front-row commander, his cavalry led by one of his followers had passed through the enemy side and smashed into them with their spears like an unstoppable tidal wave; in doing so, he had passed through the enemy side and struck them with his spear, the cavalry broke the enemy formation and forced them to regroup. This was the strategy that Duke Wilmar was trying to use in Passau. This time, however, it worked as expected. Especially since the Bavarians were not ready to retreat feigning, with their wings crushed and the survivors starting to move, the, 

Realizing that the battle was starting to benefit him, Otto continued his onslaught against the people in front of him with a strong determination. Surrounded by a group of disarmed knights, the Count who dared to attack the enemy was like an angry tiger. Not everyone in the arms of the Bavarian army was equipped with brigandines and plates from head to toe, and as such, the sword was still a fairly effective weapon. With exceptional finesse, Otto quickly dodged the oncoming attack before crashing with his sword into the enemy's thigh, penetrating the femoral artery and causing the man to bleed out on the spot quickly. However, the Count had no time to breathe as he was quickly hunted down by other enemies, who soon tied Otto's sword with his own. When the two are caught in a fight, 

Sweat began to pool on Otto's forehead as he continued to exert his energy in the heat of battle; the Bavarian forces began to retreat after a while. Although the enemy was in pursuit, Otto did not pursue them. He was afraid that he would fall into a trap similar to the late Duke of Wilmar; thus, the surviving Bavarians fled back to Salzburg, where they were killed, it was mostly occupied by the Bavarians. By winning this battle, Otto had secured the County of Steiermark a little longer; however, if the Bavarians continued to hold out in their attempts to invade his territory, sooner or later, his forces would falter.

Seeing the losses on both sides, Otto began to mourn the deaths of the brave soldiers who fought for their homeland. All he needed now was the help of allies. Unfortunately, most of his supporters were significantly weakened by the terrible defeat at Passau and they themselves struggled to defend their territory. The only one who could help the man was Berengar, and Otto did not fully trust his nephew. While Berengar had supplied Otto's forces with a lot of equipment and resources, it became increasingly clear that the young Prince of Tyrol had no intention of intervening in the war and was only sitting in his well-defended territory.

What is more suspicious is that all Bavarians are equipped with the same equipment that the Austrians use. This led Otto to believe that Berengar supplied both sides of the conflict as a profiteer of war. The fact that the only action Berengar took during this conflict was to defend his borders and his western neighbors further added to Otto's doubts about his nephew's loyalty. Although Berengar seemed to care for Otto's youngest daughter, Adela, unless the Bavarians threatened her life, Berengar was unlikely to help Otto, and the man found out. 

However, Otto also knew that Berengar was a man driven by self-interest. If that was the case, if he wanted to obtain the help of his Nephew, precisely the help of his troops, he would need to develop some incentive for him to do so. This was the problem Count Otto was thinking about as his soldiers began to clear the battlefield. Finally, one of the Count's commanders approached him and handed him a letter. 

"My lord, there's a letter for you containing the seal of the von Habsburg dynasty."

Count Otto let out a heavy sigh as he grabbed the letter and began to read the contents; he could already guess what information was contained in the letter. After reading the letter, Otto tore it up and threw the remains of the tear into the wind. The action, of course, shocked his commander, and the man could not help but voice his concerns.

Count Otto gazed into the distance towards Vienna with a serious expression before answering the man's question.

"Vienna is besieged once again, and Wilmar's heir asks for our help."

Upon receiving such news, the Count's actions further confused the commander, and therefore, he asked a question in his mind.

"And we didn't provide it?"

Count Otto then looked the commander in the eyes grimly before clarifying his stance.

“With what team? The survivors of this battle need to defend Steiermark from further attacks; we have no people left if we are to destroy the Siege of Vienna. I've done enough for the Habsburgs; I need to think about my own family's safety."

Although the commander was initially surprised, he also understood Otto's thoughts on the matter. It is a war now destined to be lost by the Austrians, and Prince Steiermark must think about the future of his family. In order to prevent the greatest loss of his territory, he had to leave the Habsburgs for their fate. Of course, none of the men knew that by doing this, they played out Berengar's plot to overthrow the Habsburg dynasty and establish himself as Duke in the years to come. 

After clearing the battlefield and collecting equipment from corpses buried in mass graves, Count Otto's troops began to return to Graz, where they would rest, until the time where they needed to defend their borders once again. Unfortunately for the von Graz family, they were not in the mountainous region of Tyrol. As such, they were not given the natural barrier through which the Alps provided Berengar. So they had to meet the enemy on the field every time they appeared. 

So with the Battle over and the refusal of the von Graz family at the request of Habsburg assistance, the war in Austria began to advance towards Berengar's interests. For now, Steiermark will remain free of Bavarian influence, but whether they can survive the wave of war long enough to be part of Berengar's resistance to Bavarian authority remains unspecified.