Two weeks later, as the Montenegro national army was still being called in and assembled, the banners of C.C Montenegrin armed forces snapped in the mountain wind as Elias's host camped in 'enemy' territory.
Across the valleys, camps spread like small cities, tents in endless rows, campfires dotting the night like stars.
His forces ready for combat at a moments notice had march off to war, while the rest of the nation was still finding out that they even were at war.
Now as Elias was informed that Montenegro was finally ready to join in the fight themselves, he could only but laugh at their futile effort.
His men had already been marching for days.
And in those days, they had marched across the remaining territory of Albania, splitting their force in two, one continuing on south, while the other headed east into North Macedonia.
The war had only just begun for Montenegro, but for Elias it was only just truly getting started, as his eyes looked over the command room, watching the men and women under his command update the maps in real time, showing the progress of their invasion.
Meanwhile the first spoils of wargoods had started to reach the base refineries to be converted into new credits to further boster their numbers.
The outcome Elias hoped for would be the true founding of the Kingdom of Montenegro, not under Nikola I, but instead his son Prince Peter.
During this war Nikola would fall ill due to stress from the war, dying an untimely death at only 30 years of age, but his son would be regent to this land after the fall of his other brothers.
Elias was already well known to the boy.
And while he was not one for brainwashing normally in this one instant he didnt hesitate.
The boy was trained from a very young age, prepared to become the perfect puppet for the nation Elias would raise, and in time, a system controlled agent would take the throne for total and complete control.
But Elias was not a monster, the rest of the Princes line would survive, if Peters brothers did not contest his rising to the throne they too would live.
And the worst that would happen to them would be, being paired up with summoned persons as their partners, a means to produce a continued line but one bound in service to Elias.
This had been an experiment Elias started early on.
As he tried to discover the full extent of his system.
First things he learned was that his summons were human, perhaps a more perfect form of human but human none the less.
His summons unlike him would not live forever.
They could age, and die as any human could.
But at the same time they could reproduce, though not with one another, but pairing off with normal humans could produce offspring.
That offspring would grow up normally but they could be tethered to Elias's system and capable of hearing his 'voice of god' in their mind via his system link.
While Elias's position wasnt quite yet perfect, the conditions were almost there.
If given a few more years, Elias himself might have started the war that lit the fuse in the balkans.
But instead it started on its own, and became a fertile ground where his forces could romp through.
Already only a week in, his men in the field had reported clearing hundreds of kilometers of formerly held ottoman territory, eliminating the military presence and sending their weapons, cannons, and early breachloaders back to his bases to be smelted down and converted to credits.
Like a typical war machine, those credits would be fed back into the war itself, producing new summoned rifle-squads, cavalry units, everything and anything that could increase their range in this war.
The growth outside of war was slow, idle income gained by the growth of the merchant companies as they invested all 'profits' into gems and gold to be sent for credit conversion, rather than piling up funds in banks gaining interest.
The trickle of credit gain from endless mining performed in the mountains in which they were hidden, delving deep into the rock and crust of the earth itself.
The forces the C.C army encountered while modern by this worlds standard were still subpar from a training aspect.
The Ottoman empire towards its end was hardly a great power any longer.
The 70,000 men they had in the Western Balkan had already mostly moved north to begin contending with the uprising of the Serbs.
Meanwhile the march south by the Montenegrins was unexpected.
Garrisons left behind were quickly overwhelmed.
And as proof a mere two weeks later, Elias's men had already slain the 10,000 men left behind to maintain order in these provinces.
But also cutting off the Ottoman retreat points, and supply bases.
But Elias wasnt stopping at his current spoils.
He knew the Prince would take his forces north to aid his allies, and combat the Ottoman forces already heading north, but for him.
The south was a fertile land prime for the taking.
His forces would continue the march south.
Entering Greece.
Rebellion was already raging there, but Elias would not let an independant greece rise, his forces would arrive to establish Montenegrin order and bring them into the fold, while receiving fresh troops from the fleet in the Mediterranean.
While his second army being reinforced by newly summoned forces would continue marching east.
The Russian empire, would be fielding an army but like the previous war, they would come down from the north, aiding Romania, and Bulgaria in obtaining the independance they did not seek out back in the 50's
But historically they would stop short, leaving a thin strip for the ottomans in the southern parts of the balkans.
This to Elias was unacceptable.
This war was origionally set to last for three years, cited as the Great Easter Crisis.
But seeing his gains after only a few short weeks.
Elias believed he could bring the war to an end in roughly a year, and in doing so, have Montenegro grow to span from the Adriatic to the black sea.
Annexing, Albania, Macedonia, Greece, and Rumila.
Giving Montenegro complete control of the entire south balkans, and the crowning jewel, control of the city with a thousand names: Constantinople
This gateway city would be the chess piece to bind the Russian empire into an alliance, but making the British and enemy.
For Elias that was an acceptable trade.
Having the Russian in the Mediterranian was not really much of a risk.
Sure it had been twenty years and their Black seas fleet was being rebuilt but it was not a threat since Elias already had access to summon his own fleet into being to compete.
meanwhile Britain...? What did he need to fear from an island nation on the otherside of Europe, sure they had a massive fleet, but this was still a region they didnt actively have their hands in directly.
Elias was more worried how the Austro-Hungarian, and German Empires would react to Montenegro's emergence as a true power, and alliance with Russia.
They could accept it since the region did house a large slavic population, or they could become unnerved to find themselves surrounded on all eastern borders by slavic allies of the Russian Empire.
Not to mention that one simply could not be friends with everyone, afterall to do so would make you an enemy of everyone, and certainly not one to be trusted.