The controversial Basilissa Konstantia "the Wise" recieved news of an enormous army that enslaved and sacrificed her citizens, an army that wanted to conquer all southern hispania, a province that returned to the empire 57 years ago, an army that even all the tagmata united of the empire couldn't even reach half of their numbers. The explorers couldn't be wrong. The panic was tremendous, and the Basilissa, without hopes, didn't move a man for months. The Symbasileus, Protostratos and heir, Serapion, son of the Basilissa, faced her mother at the purple throne. The words of her son, full of anger, bravery and decision, forced the empress to rise the army. But even with every man in arms, the roman army consisted in only sixty thousand men. Thanks to the help of the religious orders and the permanent army, the roman numbers grew to eighty thousand. Nothing compared to the unknown invaders.
This is the territory that saw the development of a desperate war. The first battle ocurred when 1/3 of the total forces strengthened the defenses of Granada while the rest was still traveling. The enemy, now known as "Aztecs", centered their attention on the empire after they conquered Castille, leaving only a weakened independent Leon. But a miracle happened. When one of the armies attacked Granada, easily exceeding by three times the numbers of the defenders, the refoircements just arrived in Almeria, taking course to help their roman brothers. This was a dangerous move. With the refoircements, in the middle of battle, the imperium forces were just 2/3 of their enemies, fourty thousand. Soldiers say that, when the fire was spreading along the buildings in Granada, clouds appeared from nowhere and a divine rain started. The fire was off, and the roman people, assuring that this was the hand of god itself protecting and watching them, were determinated to defend the very last house in this imperial city.
Victory. Fifty thousand men, if we can call them men, were slaughtered by the imperial tagmata. A third of the man defending the city died that day, assuring their place next to Iesus Kristos. The pope, under the orders of Basilissa Konstantia, forgave all the sins of those men and hosted a ceremony to prey for their souls. However the war wasn't won, and the rightful people of rome were far from that. But this was a sign of hope. The situation was desperate yet, but the Protostratos had a plan.
Agents of the Symbasileus traveled to the long forgotten lands of Portugal. Their mission: Kill the Queen Leonor of Portugal.
Killing her, all the territories of Castille would be inherited by the king of Aragón. The strangers, moving their armies to confront the romans, couldn't do nothing when Leon took posesion of Castille. But it wouldn't last for too much if the empire was defeated.
Evading the main force of the "xenoi", the army used the navy to go to Tangier, main objective of the aztec invasion. The landscape was horrifying. The corpses of every citizen were hanging on the walls of the city. No one wanted to talk about what those monsters did to the children. Even the infidels were more humans. Knowing that they had little time, the forces of the imperium retook the ruined cities just in time for when the explorers came with awful news: The main force of these... savages were in the way to the strait of Gibraltar. This battle was going determinate the fate of the imperium. Surrounded by Mongols in the east, and now facing this new, massive and barely known menace in the west, the destiny of the christian europe was going to be decided by roman steel.
There was no miracle this time.
Only brave and fearless roman soldiers.
The amount of bodies was unimaginable. Sixty thousand men against hundred fifty thousand savages. Or two hundred thousand. The tagmatas couldn't difference the aztecs from demons. The confidence on their numbers was their doom. The strait was fortified, but they were many. Basilea Rhomaion lost thirty thousand lifes that day. Serapion was on the top of the highest tower in Tangiers, watching how the kataphraktoi chased the fleeing. Many reached the iberian coast, but only a few were capable to bring the new to the aztec lord.
From that day Tangiers would never be forgotten. The savages would be soon expeled from europe, but the atrocities they commited in such little time will remain for centuries, and the menace was going to be always latent. The empire was weak now, the Mongols were at its gates. But no one knew what could have happened if the romans had failed that day in Tangiers.
The Symbasileus was going down the stairs of the tower. He smiled. It was a good day to be roman.
