Steel Empire
Victory in Karnten

After forming an alliance with Adelbrand von Salzburg, Berengar pursued the remaining Bavarian forces within the County of Salzburg. It took him two weeks to thoroughly clean up the remains of Bavaria before he completed his conquest of the region.

During this time, Eckhard had engaged in various small-scale battles against Bavarian forces, who had hitherto occupied Carinthia. Just as in Salzburg, the Bavarians were quickly destroyed; however, as Salzburg was cut off, they had nowhere to retreat. The Bavarian's only option was to hide behind the city's central stone wall in the region, Klagenfurt. 

So Eckhard pursued them and was now in a position to set up a siege camp outside the city. Just as Berengar had done during the final days of his campaign in Tyrol, a line of trenches supported with barbed wire and sandbags surrounded the camp. 70 Canons were placed inside it and continued to hit several important parts of the large stone wall. 

One hundred and forty bullets hit the stone walls of the city of Klagenfurt every minute, quickly worsening its condition. At the current rate of fire, it would be less than 24 hours before the City Wall collapsed, leaving the Bavarians holding open to Tyrolean troops' gunfire. So Eckhard watched from afar as the stone walls peeled off one by one.

Tyroleans stayed in the trenches, giving them superior protection as they waited for the enemy walls to collapse. Minute by minute, hour by hour, the city's repeated shelling resounded in the distance, and the soldiers observed the sight of rocks being split from the walls inside and outside the city. 

Eckhard was enjoying a glass of tea in his command tent when he finally heard the sound of a collapsing wall; therefore, he quickly finished his serve before putting a helmet on his head and entering the fight. Outside the city, the walls have collapsed into six main sections on all sides of the city, the Tyroleans and their allies had marched past the trench line and entered the battle as they began to shout war cries that resounded through the air. 

"God is with us! God is with us! God is with us!"

The Tyrolean army shouted that line repeatedly as if they were in a trance; even their allies began to join in after a while. The sight of about 25,000 people outside the city walls, shouting war cries in unison left the Bavarian defenders terrified to the core. However, they knew now that there was no retreat; they defended the city or died in the process; it was only their two choices. 

Thus, the battle had begun, and the Tyroleans fired rifles at the defensive line that stood in the gap between the city walls. After a few shots, the Tyroleans put up their bayonets and let the Vorarlberg and Steiermark troops attack. For now, the Tyroleans had to focus on the defenders above the fortress. 

The siege quickly became chaotic as Austrian soldiers forced their way into the crevices of the city walls and over bloodied corpses of people who were victims of gunfire. Medieval forces clashed with each other as Austrian soldiers valiantly fought to reclaim the town of Klagenfurt from Bavarian invaders. 

Eckhard stared from afar with his binoculars as he watched the armored Steiermark infantry act as vanguard, which he saw, brave men pushed their way onto the battlefield and began using their blunt and bladed weapons to slash and hack their enemies in a terrifying display of violence. 

Count Otto personally led the attack by holding the Warhammer in his hand, which he used to smash the helmets of nearby opponents; the deadly blow shattered the steel helmet underneath and broke the opponent's skull leaving him dead on the spot. 

On the other side of the city was Cout Audegar, who wielded a long sword. The two Princes valiantly led their armies into battle from the opposite direction as they cut through the Bavarian dots that were within the city. Audegar fended off and thrust out the approaching sword before masterfully counterattacking it by lunge through the path of the opponent's letter, piercing the man's throat and ending his life. 

The chaotic scene of the ongoing siege was captured by Eckhard's binoculars, who grinned at the sight. Soon, victory will be theirs. As for the Tyrolean troops, they managed to retreat from the frontlines and repeatedly fired shots towards the enemy at the fortress above whenever the opportunity arose. Any Bavarian who was stupid enough to stick his head over merlon was quickly shot dead. 

Eventually, the Bavarians were overwhelmed by the onslaught and increasingly pushed into the city. Austria had now secured the city gates, as well as the wall beside them. With that in mind, Eckhard ordered the Tyrolean infantry to barge into the city. Now was the time for the Infantry and Grenadier Tyrolean lines to shine. 

Thus, the Tyrolean infantry rushed into the city, forming a firing line, and shoot dead the fleeing Bavarians who desperately ran to the city centre in hopes of getting some sort of reinforcements. Shots quickly shot down the Bavarian soldiers, and their bodies were thrown into the street, bleeding into the street.

Eckhard personally entered the fray, marching into the city like a conquering General; the veteran Field Marshal had an aura of authority around him that was second only to Berengar. However the young Count was not present at this battle, and thus Eckhard's charisma led the Austrians to victory. 

"Hold your fire! Hold fire!"

Seeing that the Austrians had maintained their position but could slaughter them at any time, the Bavarian Commander called out the one who gave the order.

"Are you the leader of this army?"

Eckhard only nodded at the Commander as he held his sword in his hand.

"I advise You to give up; there is no point in losing your people again in this fierce struggle of yours!"

The enemy commander simply unlocked the armor of his helmet and spat on the ground. 

"You are nothing more than an accomplice of the Cursed Berengar who made you a servant of the devil!"

Hearing these words, Eckhard frowned; it seemed that the commander of the enemy was a righteous man who received orders from the Pope. The new pope has declared that anyone who succumbs to heresy will be punished with eternal damnation. For a true believer like the commander of an enemy, he would rather die than risk his soul by surrendering himself to those he considers heretical.

Seeing that the man was not going to surrender, Eckhard only sighed before giving a terrible order to his soldiers who had gathered around the Bavarians with their rifles pointed in the direction.

"Open fire!"

with that, a volley was fired from all angles, tearing apart the remaining Bavarian troops. Not a single member of the defense forces survived the siege. Seeing such a futile death, Eckhard could not help but complain.

"A godly fool! I hope you burn forever for leading your men to such a cruel fate!"

As for Otto and Audegar, who witnessed the cruel execution of the surviving Bavarians, they felt no pity. These men had invaded their lands and burned the Duchy; death was indeed worthy in their eyes; Otto approached Eckhard and embraced the soldier.

"You give them a chance; that's all that matters. They just got away with what they've done to this country..."

Eckhard simply raised the calming hand to the side as he looked up at the sky and went towards Bavaria. He knew that once Austria was reclaimed, Bavaria would be Berengar's next target; soon, justice would be served against Austria's enemies. As for how to handle it, Eckhard could only guess what Berengar would do to the Bavarians after he had conquered them. 

The siege of Klagenfurt had ended, and Carinthia, for the most part, was secured; several weeks had passed since the beginning of their campaign, and many lives had been lost, to be exact those of Bavaria. Now Eckhard would leave a garrison to control these lands and march to Steiermark, where he would march through the security of his yards and into Upper Austria. As for Berengar, he and his great army would march on Vienna and expel Duke Dietger and end his occupation of Austria once and for all.