A sign of things to come
"In the world order, a man with a strong conviction to fight can overpower any obstacle".
-Condor
Forty four years after the Blackmatter Event, a dictator called D annexes part of the Congo and dubs it the DUMC, D's Union of Mineworkers in the Congo. His rule is totalitarian and corrupt, using the citizens' wealth to fuel his own lifestyle. The surrounding companies hire the Dragon Guild to take him down. One of the soldiers sent out to fight is a young Damian Wolf, an eighteen year old excited by the prospect of the rumors he hears. Rumors that tell him that D has enlisted dragons to fight for him and that they've turned an easy war into a devastating slog that is reducing hope of winning.
Once on the ground, Wolf proves to be one of the deadliest soldiers on the battlefield, killing the guerrilla Congolese troops with ease. In fact, he grows to enjoy the thrill of battle and the power and control one has over their victim in close combat. It is only when the most powerful PMC in the world, Apex, intervenes that Wolf is shown what truly powerful warriors can do...
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Fate of the Forty Sixth contains examples of:
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: Standard procedure Guild swords can cut through men with ease. In fact, this is what they were designed for, to cause very bloody injuries that could not be healed quickly enough in close combat to mean anything.
- Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: Chapter 11: Friends introduces a more lighthearted group of kids and we learn more about Apex in their quiet moments. The romantic tension between Wolf and Blaze reaches a climax in this chapter.
- Action Girl: The military isn't very discriminating in terms of gender, so anyone can join. In terms of badassery, however, Lieutenant Colonel Harris stands out. See Determinator below for why.
- An Arm and a Leg: Lieutenant Colonel Harris gets the first inflicted on her and gives Stinger the last.
- Anyone Can Die: Deaths come very quickly and don't slow down
- Authority Equals Asskicking: Invoked by the Guild command structure. Up until lieutenant level, officers are chosen by their ability and combat effectiveness. After that, strategic planning is required but a candidate still has to be stronger than at least half of their subordinates.
- Badass Army: Apex is designed to be this and Black Raptor's reputation seems to put them in a similar regard, with only fifty men putting as large a dent in the war as the entire Guild force. The feats that the Dragon Guild perform against Apex earn them a place among the badass amies, showing bravery and perseverance against clearly superior enemies. And they don't always lose.
- Badass Normal: Wolf fights against Apex's elite soldiers with nothing more than his swords. Even his strength increasing suit is broken, so all the power is his own. He is normal when compared to his best friend who spouts fire, Sylvester who is a cyborg and Tulio in his Battleframe.
- Empowered Badass Normal: Once his strength enhancement returns, he can beat anything! The powerup pays off enough for him to finally draw against Condor.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Or is winning right now, in regards to D and the war. Ultimately includes the ending. Apex won the war, not the Guild
- Berserker Tears: Wolf near the end, chasing the dragon after all of his friends have died.
- Big Bad: Alexander Brukov, the greatest soldier in the world. He manipulates Wolf into doubting his own strength and lays surprise attacks with false promises.
- The Big Guy: Jayce van Oudsthoorn. Tough enough to take several strikes from Stinger, strong, reliable.
- Bloodier and Gorier: Blood and guts are everywhere and dismemberment is the order of the day. Standard combat procedure with a sword is to bleed your enemy out with really hard and fast slashes.
- The Brute: Stinger. Huge and very angry, can switch between almost unbreakable high defense and more bulky, stronger muscles.
- The Heart: Blaze Belgarde. The most emotional, the one in charge of medical matters and she can hold her own in a fight.
- Child Soldiers: The Dragoons are piloted by four children hopped up on performance enhancing combat drugs that make them lose all empathy and inhibitions.
- Clean Cut: It's apparently easy for trained Guild soldiers like to slice off limbs with a single slash. Averted with less powerful troops, specifically pointing towards Caruso, as multiple strikes need to be done to rip off limbs and its very messy.
- Colonel Badass: Lieutenant Colonel Harris. Easily as good a fighter as Wolf or perhaps Blayde and dismemberment isn't anything to put her down.
- Combat Pragmatist: Wolf seems to be known for this in-universe, rightfully sonote , though Tulio gets some credit for using a streetlight as a makeshift lance in his fight against a Valkyrie.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Wolf kills a dragon by punching through its neck and pulling out its windpipe.
- Dark Action Girl: Persephone. Gets right down to trying to slice Wolf apart with one of her many swords.
- Darker and Edgier: Compared to Wyvern Diary, which wasn't exactly sunshine and rainbows on its own. Even the comic relief is gotten rid of in a brutal manner.
- Determinator: Neither pain nor odds will stop Wolf from doing was has to be done, but Lieutenant Colonel Maxine Harris beats him on that regard. Even after losing her arm in an extremely painful manner and bleeding through several wounds, she battles a nigh unstoppable mech, forces it to retreat and continues to fight Stinger to the point of killing him.
- Doomed by Canon: As is the fate of many new characters in prequels. The Old Forty Sixth is used as an example by Wolf of how badly night attacks can go.
- The Dragon: Condor. The most amicable of Apex's commanders, as he shares a story with Wolf before they fight. He does utterly and completely humiliate Wolf on their first meeting.
- The Dreaded: Dragons in general seem to make people especially scared, though Brukov just being nearby is terrifying for the Guild. On their side though is Sylvester Kite, a man who makes the hornets, emotion suppressed cyborgs, run in fear.
- Dual Wielding: Wolf's MO. He even has two extra as backups. Bob joins in at the final battle, dual wielding sniper rifles to pick off foes.
- Elite Mooks: The hornets are bigger, tougher and faster than the DUMC troops before them.
- The Evil Genius: Cutthroat. Fights with drones equipped with blades and his own hunting rifle.
- Face–Heel Turn: Tulio Drake isn't one of the good guys in Wyvern Diary. This was bound to happen. But the way it happened justifies Tulio's berserk button status for Wolf
- A Father to His Men: A female example in Lieutenant Colonel Harris. She checks up on her men individually, ignores insubordination and takes the blame for Jayce's costly error. She also consoles dying soldiers when she herself is in need of medical attention and she knows each soldier on a first name basis.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: Discussed on the book between the two sides. During a ceasefire, they exchange their ideals, what they believe in and fight for, and it turns out that Apex isn't fighting for a petty reason like money. They have a cause as strong as the Guild's pursuit of Justice. To put in motion a world of peace in the image cut out by their benefactor.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: Mark Fish is cut down the middle by Condor.
- Handicapped Badass: Lieutenant Colonel Harris after her run-in with the Liberty. The incident didn't make her any less aggressive or dangerous to the other side.
- Heartbroken Badass: Humorous version with Colonel Blayde unsuccessfully flirting with HarrisVery non-humorous and dramatic version with Wolf by the end, because Blaze is dead
- The Hero: Damian Wolf. Uses swords, fights fair most of the time and tries his best to be a good guy.
- Heroic Sacrifice: The Jotun pilot that distracts the Justice. Major Haraby gets a drone through the chest, but saves Harris in the process.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Tulio puts a streetlight all the way through a Valkyrie Battleframe and when the Guild comes across a scene where dragon were recently, one of the victims was speared on one of the branches on a nearby tree.
- Informed Attribute: Brukov's status as the best soldier in the world, implied to be direct fighting.
- Killed Off for Real: No measure of science or magic can solve this problem for Wolf's team
- The Lancer: Ash Filch. Joking, friendly, one of the best fighters in the platoon.
- Lightning Bruiser: Wolf is extremely fast, very strong and takes many hits without flinching. If they can block the strike with their shields, the Dragoons are exceptionally dangerous, being equipped with extremely powerful weapons and moving more quickly than any other Battleframe on the battlefield while being piloted by merciless drugged soldiers.
- Majorly Awesome: Major Haraby. A sniper just like Bob and willing to sacrifice himself to save Harris.
- Mercy Kill: Wolf to some of the soldiers who had been ripped apart by a dragon attack. Takes up the job in the final moments of the war after his platoon is killed.
- Off with His Head!: Harris cleaves off Stinger's head with his own weapon.
- One-Man Army: Sylvester Kite drops elite cyborgs in a single hit, Black Hammond throws crowds of men around like ragdolls and members of the Dragoon Unit can each individually annihilate opposing armies. Protagonist Damian Wolf makes mince meat of ordinary soldiers in droves.
- Precision F-Strike: Courtesy of a Heartbroken Badass. To put this in perspective and to contrast him with swear-happy Steven Hail, the utterer never once swears or says anything worse than "crap" beforehand. And then the tragedy of the final chapter in which the girl he loves dies horriblyDamian Wolf: DRAKE! Come back here, YOU MOTHERFUCKER!
- Psychotic Smirk: Hail has one when thinking about deploying the Dragoons and dragons simultaneously.
- Psycho Serum: Aggro once again. Wolf takes it in a moment of weakness caused by Brukov and it turns him into a combat sadist that brutally murders soldiers with glee. The pilots of the Dragoons are also on the drug but they're just children.
- Red Baron: Apocalypse Soldier Alexander Brukov, Cyborg Samurai Condor, Speed Lord Meteorite and Black Hammond.
- The Rival: Black Hammond fights the world's best soldier in secret duels to prove who's best. To put these duels in perspective, each is a One-Man Army capable of demolishing a town...
- Running Gag: "Gentlemen, fifteen pushups!"
- Shout-Out: The Dragoons have hip-mounted guns and their Signature Attack is Desperado Blast. Two letters short of being Paildramon's attack...
- Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Redhead Blaze's eyes are described as calm and emerald like in color.
- The Smart Guy: Bob Dreyer. Has intimate knowledge of many types of weapons and machines and uses a sniper rifle to keep back and safe
- Take My Hand!: A non-falling example comes in the last chapter. Wolf has to hold onto Blaze's hand to try and keep the dragon from pulling her away. Double Subversion in that it looks like he's going to fail and she is begging him to let go. And he gets all his heroic strength and starts to gain some ground. But an outside force makes it all moot and she slips away anyway.
- Tempting Fate: One comes right at the end...Wolf: At least I still have you.
- Tragic Keepsake: Wolf's swords, which engraves the name of his dead friend Cole onto. Extended by the end of the story to Jayce, Andre and presumably Bob, Filch and Blaze.
- War Is Hell: One portion is from Roy's point of view and everything is completely terrifying for him.
- Wave-Motion Gun: The Dragoon's Desperado Blast fires a massive beam of plasma that destroys electrical systems and melts through layered steel with ease.
- World's Best Warrior: Greatest soldier in the world, Alexander Brukov.
