Author: Motley World Studios (formerly known as Blue Sun Studios)
Renewal Begin Date: January 1st, 2017
Author's Introduction Paragraph (March 20th Update): Hey-oh everyone, this is Motley World Studios on the air with you all. I know, long time no see, but I'm ready to start coming back after some serious soul searching. For the time being I'm going over each chapter and adding a few things in that I felt needed some changing. It's mostly minor like grammar and spelling (and HOLY HELL do I get triggered seeing so many mistakes in my own works) but now it will start including things from Fates' US post-release wherein this was made pre-US release. Just like with all adaptations that I make there will be some changes here and there to not make the story feel like a strict novelization, but I will not make the adaptation extremely unrecognizable from the source material. I have a major shout-out to all the people over at SerenesForest that I've spoken to before (especially Taka-kun and Luankachu) and my good friend Hank, all of whom provided welcomed feedback and walked with me get it to where it is now. Thank you guys so much, and without further ado here's the disclaimer for this story.
The following is nonprofit fan-based fiction. The Fire Emblem franchise is owned by Nintendo Co., Ltd. Please support the official releases. WARNING: this fiction in its entirety contains material that is not suitable for work. If you are under the legal age of adulthood or if your location forbids the viewing of explicit media, then this is the part where you should be leaving. If none of that applies to you and you are all set to read, then I hope you enjoy this.
Darkness…Everything was covered in darkness. What was this place…? It felt like it was outside; soft blades of grass sprouting from solid earth could be felt from underneath. Was this death transitioning into the afterlife…? It didn't seem so; while there was the element of exhaustion, it was nothing new—much less anything out of the ordinary.
"Hey…wake up…" a voice called out from beyond the darkness. This voice…it had a familiar, soothing quality to it, yet it was also filled with urgency. "Please, wake up…we need you out here…" What was going on…? Judging from this unknown yet familiar speaker's tone of voice, it sounded very important and required being fully aware of the moment. Little by little, the darkness disappeared until it was all but gone, and in it's place was a young woman with vibrant-colored hair staring straight down. Beside this young woman was a teen-aged boy with pale hair and a very young girl with bright hair, both of whom shared the young woman's concerned expression. While the mind was foggy for some time, memories of these people started flooding back to it, and the mouth tried calling out their names…
Theme: EGDELWONK
Hoshidan Side
"Hinoka, Takumi, Sakura…?" a young man said.
"O-Oh, thank goodness…" Sakura said with a relieved sigh. "Y-You're finally awake."
"Took you long enough," Takumi said in annoyance. "You always were a deep sleeper."
"Are you alright Kamui?" Hinoka asked beset with worry, running her hands along the young prince's head to look for anything out of the ordinary. After Kamui turned out fine Hinoka finally allowed herself to relax. "Thank Hydra above that you're okay; we can't afford to lose you at a time like this."
"Lucky for you there's an entire army looking out for your well-being, family included," Takumi said. "Gods above know you need the extra protection."
"U-Um," Sakura began saying, "Sh-Shouldn't we, well…tell him?"
"Of course Sakura." Hinoka internally debated on how to get the dire news across to Kamui without scaring him significantly, but she realized that the situation they were in couldn't possibly be massaged enough to keep him calm. Exhaling slowly to calm her own nerves she prepared to inform Kamui on what they had gotten into.
"Listen well Kamui," the eldest princess started, "right now we are in the middle of a large plain to the West of Shirasagi. The Nohrian army has finally begun their invasion under Prince Xander's command, and we're doing everything we can to repel them. I know that this is all so sudden, but I hope that you've gotten enough rest to help us out here; we need all the firepower we can get." The following look on Kamui's face was expected; he was utterly shocked and had traces of fear in his eyes, justifiably so given that to his knowledge there was no indication of Nohrian aggression toward Hoshido beforehand. Hinoka knew that he was wondering how it could have gotten to that point, briefly remembering the explosion in Shirasagi's castle town and something tragic happening to his mother before he blacked out and ended up out in the Hoshidan plains.
"Why is the Kingdom of Nohr attacking us?" Kamui asked.
"Wish we knew that ourselves," Takumi grumbled. "Well, whatever. I'm ready to turn these savages into my personal bull's-eyes."
"Wait, but, can't we talk this out first?" Kamui said. "Maybe we don't have to—"
"Nope, we're fighting this one out," Takumi interrupted. "I know that you don't fancy combat much but now's not the time to lay our arms down and beg for mercy."
"A-As much as I don't like it either," Sakura started, "I'm afraid we don't have any other option…"
"They're right," Hinoka said. "If we falter and show unwillingness to battle, then they'll just walk right over us like doormats; we need to stand up and fight." It was just now that Kamui had noticed the array of katana laid out before him on a mat: a wakizashi, an axe splitter, a dual katana, and a sunrise katana. Beside the four swords was a small vulnerary flask. "I made sure to grab your favorite katana and some medicine before we left out, so you should have no problem taking on the Nohrian army with us."
"If you ask me you should stick with your sunrise katana for the most part to compliment your light-footed style," Takumi advised. "A quick gauging of the Nohrian army tells me that they're not very fast but strong, so a defensive strategy is key here. While we have the familiarity advantage here, the Nohrians are outnumbering us out here little by little; if left unchecked they'll literally trample all over us with their cavalry."
"Alright then," Kamui said, collecting his set of armaments for the battle. "By the way, where's Big Brother, and everyone else for that matter?"
"Up ahead," Takumi answered. "It's just the three of us hanging back here waiting for you to get your bearings straight. About ready to go?"
"I guess…Hang on a sec, did you say that Prince Xander's here?"
"Yeah, and all of his siblings are here too."
"If he's here, then wouldn't that also mean that…" Kamui trailed off, turning blue in the face after a scary thought came to him. "…Hinoka? On a scale of one to ten, how ready are we to take on a paladin, wicked dragoon, sable knight, and medic knight?"
"Together or separate—"
"And a princess who can transform into a dragon?"
"…Together or separately?"
"Together."
"…Two out of ten."
"Yikes. Well thanks for the heads up; now we know who to avoid out here."
"I'd say we have a fifty-fifty chance against them," Takumi said. "If we use our heads and put them together we might just pull through this one. I've have a strategy that could work: I'll take on Princess Camilla since I have the perfect anti-flier weapon. Hinoka, you engage Prince Leon; you're good at handling magical fighters like him and you always has a weapon triangle advantage regardless of what he chooses. Sounds good so far?"
"Sounds reasonable enough I suppose," Sakura said.
"Sounds good to me," Kamui said in agreement.
"Sounds suicidal Takumi," Hinoka retorted. "They're the elites of Nohr's army second only to Prince Xander and King Garon themselves. And you still didn't give us a guideline on how to deal with…Corrin…"
"I was working on that," Takumi said ignoring Hinoka's tense tone. "She can turn into a dragon just like Kamui said, but we have no anti-dragon weapons aside of Dragon Spirits, and we don't have any yin-yang sages who can wield any if we had some right now. My suggested course of action? Pelt her with our long-ranged units while she's occupied with our close-ranged units. If she's anything like Kamui she probably doesn't have good control over her dragon form either." Kamui shot Takumi an offended glare that was ignored as the Hoshidan archer pondered more possibilities. "If she decides not to transform then she can be easily dealt with by dual kanabou, shuriken, dual daikyuu, and any naginata aside of the dual variants. She's just as skilled as the other Nohrian royals and just as powerful when she's not transformed, so we should either pair up good offense units with defensive or speedy support units, or we should have some very balanced units pair up and deal with her."
"…Wait Takumi, I think I have an idea," Kamui said. "Why not have me go and deal with her? I'm worried about how the rest of the army would handle a dragon, let alone her. With me using my own dragonstone I can fight fire with fire." Takumi looked at him as if he had said a dumb joke before he broke out laughing; after that he faced his elder brother with a deadpan stare. "That's stupid, Kamui. Don't be stupid."
"I'm serious. If Corrin is going to turn into a dragon then why not match her strength for strength?"
"Because I know that that's a bad idea. You never fight fire with fire because that only creates more fire to deal with and a stagnation scenario where neither side is winning; we need to crush them, not make things even between us. And whoever invented that 'fight fire with fire' mentality should be shot, preferably with something fiery for irony."
"Come now Takumi, Kamui does have a point," Hinoka said. "Dragons are far superior to us humans even if some members of our kind possess dragon blood in our veins. We can still overwhelm Corrin through strength of numbers like you've suggested, but I'd rather have Kamui be the one to take her on rather than our other troops; he's fought her before and other troops may attempt to kill her." Takumi didn't respond with an answer, opting to mumble to himself in annoyance.
"Umm…not to interrupt, but isn't there someone else that we're forgetting about?" Sakura suddenly asked. "I've heard that the royal family of Nohr has a fifth member."
"You mean Princess Elise?" Takumi answered. "I wouldn't worry so much about her compared to her other siblings seeing how she's the baby of the bunch like you, but she shouldn't be overlooked. Elise'll be able to reach Nohr's wounded at 'what am I even looking at' kind of speeds and her magic rivals Orochi's, the best divine mage we have. Even so, try not to attack her until the others are down or at least capture her to kill the Nohrian army's morale, otherwise we're likely to make it out disfigured and in pieces or get killed."
"We're taking someone hostage? But, isn't that dishonorable brother?"
"All's fair in love and war Sakura, even kidnapping and murder; well not really when it comes to love but you get the idea. It's best that you learn this now rather than later or never; same thing goes for you Kamui." Kamui gave a slow nod, not liking the fact that he may have to take another's life.
"Then it's settled," Hinoka said. "If we take on the royal family we know what to do. Oh, and…Takumi?"
"Yes Hinoka?"
"Try your absolute best to not kill Corrin. I understand that she's spent quite some time in Nohr and that she's our enemy right now, but—"
"Spare me the lecture sis. I get the 'she's still family' spiel and all that other jazz about trying to find her for so many years—plus Ryouma's going to tan my hide raw if I do kill her—but please, please do not tell me to take it easy on her, otherwise that's really crossing a line given her actions as of late."
"Very well then, so long as you remember what I told you. But we've talked long enough; on to victory for Hoshido!" Hinoka and Takumi held their weapons skyward while Kamui and Sakura gave short nods. The sibling quartet marched off to catch up to Ryouma and help him drive the Nohrians out of their home.
Nohrian Side
"Had a nice nap sleeping beauty?" a sarcastic voice came. "I told you that pushing yourself with your dragonstone+ is killer sis."
"Save the sass for later Leon and just help me up," a feminine figure spoke.
"Are you alright darling Corrin?" an older female's voice asked as she and Leon pulled their sister to her feet. "You were out for quite some time."
"Oh of course Camilla, I'm very much fine; nothing like waking up in the middle of nowhere which is working wonders for my psyche."
"I apologize for the inconvenience, but it's urgent that you attend this battle with us; today is the day that new history between Nohr and Hoshido shall be written."
"And it will be written in blood—either our enemies' or our own—based on what we do here," Leon added.
"And I'd like to keep my own blood strictly inside of me thank you very much," the youngest sister of the family said, "not that I really want anyone's blood to be spilled to begin with but, ah, it can't really be helped by now."
"Oh, hello there Elise, I didn't see you th—" It was then that Corrin noticed something seemed off; she looked around for any sign of fighting and found that they all were quite removed from the battlefield. "Wait just a minute; didn't you all just say that we're fighting the Kingdom of Hoshido?"
"We are," Leon answered, "but Xander ordered us to hang back from the fighting until you finally came to."
"So that means that Xander is already up ahead," Corrin said.
"Yup!" Elise confirmed. "He said that he didn't want you using your dragonstone+ again so soon but Leon convinced him that you'll need it for the battle."
"It's a good thing that we've been studying the Hoshidan army in preparation for this," Leon said with a confident grin. "Prince Ryouma's come to challenge Xander as expected, and it's not just him out of the royal family who's here either; Princess Hinoka, Prince Takumi, Princess Sakura, and even…Kamui…are all accounted for."
"Kamui?" Corrin asked gaining an edge to her voice. "You mean that he's here? Now?"
"Yes, and I know that you're still upset over what happened between you two but let's try to keep a cool head here sis; cooler heads don't make mistakes that they'll immediately regret at the very least."
"…True…still, when I do see him again I will let him have a piece of my mind."
"Try not to kill him, alright?"
"I am not promising anything but I will make an effort to try to restrain myself by however much is necessary. Anyways, what of the other royal siblings? How do we deal with them?"
"I'm glad that you asked. First off, we're not going up against Prince Ryouma, period; if you wanted suicide there are other less painful options out there. Next there's Princess Hinoka; she's a tenma warrior but we have little bow wielders in our army. She can handle magic fairly well and she's very fast while hitting harder than most of her profession, but tenma warriors are known for being physically frail so a few well-placed swings from Camilla's axe will bring her to her knees in no time. Then there's Prince Takumi; the guy's a huge threat against a lot of our troops and especially against—but needless to say—our flying units. He's fast, lethally precise, and has the magical acumen to wield use his sacred daikyuu to cut through our forces like a hot knife on butter. The only thing stopping him from doing that is the same glaring weakness that all bow-wielders possess: they're total pushovers up close, and he's among the most fragile of Hoshido's units. That's where I come in, using one of my swords or Brynhildr to shred him like the paper tiger he is. If he has a dual daikyuu though, I'm very much screwed, so I'll keep an eye out for that. After him is Princess Sakura; she's the shrine maiden of the group and thus should be of a higher priority than her older siblings because of her ability wield many different types of rods. Capture her to lower the Hoshidans' morale but don't harm her under any circumstances if you want to make it out of this battle in one piece. And of course, there's Prince Kamui; he wields katana wielder similar to you wielding swords and can transform into a dragon, which is unsurprising since he's your twin."
"Something I wish I had remembered," Corrin said with a sour face. "But at least we know for sure by now."
"And knowing is half the battle. By the way, I managed to snag this for you to use against him." Leon handed Corrin a large and jagged sword, causing her eyes to widen.
"This is—"
"A wyrmslayer. It's very effective against dragon units and almost any experienced sword-wielder can use it, but it's not so great when used against anything else. And I got you your dragonstone+, a brave sword, a levin edge, and a Ragnarök tome for use against anything that isn't Kamui."
"'Anything that is not Kamui' implies that they have no dragons in Hoshido aside of him."
"Correct."
"Well, at least we are off on the right foot. And…what about Hoshido's hallowed treasures?"
"All of them are accounted for, even the Yato-no-kami from the spies' reports."
"…We are really getting off on the right foot today. All five hallowed treasures in one place…I can hardly contain my excitement."
"They say that whosoever gathers all five of them shall be nigh-unstoppable," Camilla said. "Xander's Siegfried and Leon's Brynhildr are two of the five treasures."
"And I know for a fact that Ryouma wields the Raijintou while Takumi wields the Fuujinkyuu. I don't know who would have the Yato-no-kami though."
"Ryouma currently has it but he's not actually wielding it in battle." Leon said. "I believe that he may be plotting to use it for something later or maybe it's just for show."
"Whatever the case is, the Yato-no-kami will be ours to command," Corrin added grinning confidently, "and the conquest of Hoshido will be child's play once we finally have it in our grasp."
"I can't help but agree with that one sis, and just wait when we unlock its true power."
"Well then, if the game is to procure these hallowed treasures…" Camilla said.
"Then let's play!" Elise finished. "On to victory for Nohr!" With their plan set the Nohrian quartet made their way toward the battlefield where their eldest brother waited for their return.
Theme: ENDLESS NIGHTMARE
Ryouma clutched the Raijintou in his hand so tight that one would be forgiven if they thought he had glued it to himself by mistake. He took a small group of warriors with him as he sprinted to where the Nohrian invaders were. Once he and his troops crossed a bridge across the river, they were all met with the sight of soldiers in formation as they awaited their orders.
"Nothing like a good ol'-fashioned home invasion taken to its logical extreme," Ryouma mumbled in annoyance. "Well, brothers and sisters in-arms, the only way past is to cut through these soldiers. Any objections?" Dead silence was all he heard from his squadron; if there were any crickets nearby, they too would be silent. "My thoughts exactly."
"Lord Ryouma, look atop that hill!" one of his troops announced. "Is that mounted man in black armor the Kingdom of Nohr's first prince, 'Xander'?"
"Where‽" His eyes were led by a samurai's finger to a lone, conspicuous hill, and on that hill stood the very object of his ire: Xander. "Yeah, that has to be him; He must want me to see him if he's making a point to stand all the way up there." Xander himself had already spotted the Hoshido prince before he made it across the bridge, regarding him with a calm and calculated gaze.
"So the crown prince of Hoshido finally graces us with his presence," he said to himself. "He resembles his father so strongly, and he even wields the Raijintou just like him. No matter; his heritage to the former king will not pull him through this battle." A distant sound caught his ears and he turned to spot the source; it was his siblings all on their way to the site of war, with none looking worse for wear. He would've smiled at the sight had the atmosphere not been as tense as his father was during his bad days. With everyone in the main Nohrian army present he gave the signal for the soldiers to advance and attack; Ryouma saw this and with a mighty shout he charged forward, leading his entourage into the fray.
Ryouma cut down the first soldier he came into contact with, sending a powerful shock through their body that left them a convulsing, sizzling heap. To avoid getting hit he quickly leapt into the air and footstool jumped off of a dozen of his enemies, distracting them while his troops mowed through them. Once he was touching down on ground once more he was greeted by several soldiers surrounding him; they didn't last very long against him as he took them all out with a small number of wide-horizontal slashes, sending electricity everywhere he swung. Behind him were his troops who caught up with him, passing him by as they advanced ahead to engage the enemy; he stood to his feet and directed a fierce glare to the Nohrian army before him.
"Behold, Nohrian troops," Ryouma announced, "for I am the Kingdom of Hoshido's crown prince: Yamato Ryouma!" The Hoshidan royal then directed his finger toward his Nohrian nemesis, daring him to a fight. "I challenge your commander to a one-on-one duel to end this bloody conflict between us once and for all!"
"…Behold, Hoshidan troops," Xander spoke, "for I am the first and crown prince of the Kingdom of Nohr: Xander Plantagenet. If it is a duel you seek from me then it is a duel you shall receive, but I shall warn you; this hallowed sword of Nohr shall be the last thing you'll ever lay eyes upon!" Emphasizing his point, Xander drew forth his weapon—Siegfried—and a thick miasma of darkness erupted around the blade. With a war cry of his own he and his horse leapt down from the hill and landed perfectly in attack mode, slicing through several samurai in his path without skipping a beat. Seeing the sight of his enemy barreling toward him made the Hoshido prince sprint at full speed to meet his galloping opponent; both men lunged straight at each other with their weapons aimed at their nemesis, and when the weapons clashed with each other in a display of bright sparks, the war had truly begun.
Theme: WOLEB TSAP
The four royals from each side had finally arrived on the battlefield proper and saw that everyone in their respective armies were engaged with each other. From their point of view they couldn't see any of their opposing counterparts, so for the time being they settled on taking out any enemy troops in the surrounding area that happened to somehow cross over to their side.
Hoshidan Side
Takumi set his sights on a wyvern knight who managed to cross the river without any scrapes, quickly drawing up an ethereal blue arrow while his hands were surrounded in a verdant aura.
"Easy pickings," Takumi said with a smirk, letting the projectiles fly at both knight and mount, utterly dropping them with a single shot to their hearts. "Pfft, they couldn't have made it any easier to get killed even if they tried. Ah well; I better move on to my next target." Takumi spotted a bastion knight within range and went over to attack them while Hinoka was busy with a sellsword.
"I'll show you!" Hinoka shouted right before darting at her enemy, enveloped in a green gust. With her crimson naginata she struck the enemy first dealing hefty damage to him, swiftly dodging a counter-swipe from his silver sword. The tenma warrior was fast enough to sneak in another blow, finishing off the Nohrian grunt with a shuttle-loop attack. The windy aura dissipated from the Hoshidan royal as Takumi came up to her. "Why do I get the feeling that this is too easy?"
"Maybe because the Nohrian troops are just that weak?" Takumi answered. "Or do you think that they're trying to soften us up with easy kills? Either way at least we're not dead yet."
"'Yet'?"
"I'm not trying to kid myself into thinking that we will win this without a shadow of doubt; we might if we play our cards right, but even then it takes just one little thing to completely ruin any hope of victory." Hinoka couldn't help but sigh at her younger brother's quasi-pessimistic attitude even if he was ultimately right, but she didn't need such depressing thoughts on her mind. "I'm not trying to make you feel all 'everything boils down to chance' even if it comes down to that somewhat often."
"I know that. Just…keep your chin up and your head high."
"If I do that then my neck's exposed to attacks. You wouldn't want that for one of your precious little brothers would you?"
"Less smart-aleck comments and more fighting, baby brother." Takumi's eye visibly twitched at the way that Hinoka addressed him though he knew that he brought it on himself and slunk away to deal with another enemy. Hinoka saw that a fighter was creeping up on the unsuspecting Kamui who looked lost. "Kamui, look out!"
"Huh‽" The warning came a little too late; the fighter was able to deliver a huge slash to Kamui's back, causing him to stagger forward for a bit. The princess and her mount were already rushing to Kamui's side when he took a pained swing at the fighter only to miss, and as the fighter leapt at him to deal a likely fatal blow his silver axe was met with Hinoka's trusty naginata. It was her turn to attack the fighter, driving her weapon straight through the Nohrian grunt and causing him to back away in agony. Hinoka—seeing the fighter retreat somewhat to catch his breath—rushed straight to her little brother.
"Sit still Kamui!" He did as he was told and Hinoka moved his cape aside to inspect the wound; she almost freaked when she saw the rather large gash in his back. "Let me grab your vulnerary for you; you need it a lot right now." Hinoka poured out some of the salve onto her hand and took hold of Kamui's shoulder with the other hand. "I'm going to have to ask you to stay as still as possible…"
"Yes sister—"
"Because this is going to hurt." Before the young prince could ask why he felt something stinging reach into his open back, gasping out in pain. "I know that it's really painful Kamui but stay with me on this one." Kamui did his best to not scream and retract his body much as he felt his sister's fingers run deep inside him, rubbing the burning medicine all over everything that she could touch. After getting the solution inside and at the entrance of the gash, Hinoka sat and waited for it to take effect; it didn't take long for it to start seeping into Kamui's back, and in no time new flesh was forming so that the wound was closed once it had finished. It left a small scar where the injury was but other than that it didn't hurt to the point where it would cause the Hoshidan prince any problems.
"Thanks sister."
"You're very welcome, though do be more careful out here; I know that this is your first real fight but these Nohrians are here to conquer us, and who knows what they'll do to our people if you give them the chance. Don't give them that chance; give them white-hot hell for ever daring to mess with our beloved home."
"Alright."
"As long as we stick together we can drive out these cowards from Hoshido. Now let's get back into the fray!" The sound of shouts from the enemy fighter alerted the two nobles of his presence; the second time around Kamui got the jump on him first, jump slashing the man and displacing some of his armor. The fighter took a second swing and still managed to land a hit on Kamui despite his own injuries, only the wound wasn't so significant like the first one was. The fighter backed away to gain some distance from his enemy, but it was in vain as Kamui leapt at him and slashed him open with a rising swing, felling him on the spot. The prince took a look at the Nohrian man he battled; with a few attacks the man had completely ceased to live, and it was almost scary how easy it was for himself to take another being's life. To clear his thoughts he took a deep breath and sat down for a brief moment as his siblings ran up to him.
"Now's not the time to be taking a breather bro," Takumi scolded. "We still have some Nohrian troops headed this way."
"I can't help it Takumi," Kamui said. "I'm not really used to fighting like this."
"Well you better start now because I know that this won't be the last time we'll deal with Nohr."
"Are you hurt Kamui?" Sakura asked in a fret. "H-here, let me fix you up." The shrine maiden recited a chant and held her spring festival rod above her brother's head, and flashing images of sakura blossoms and talismans surrounded her and Kamui while the wound on his chest healed. Even though the injury was gone Kamui still pretty slow to getting back up on his own two feet again.
"I know that we really need you out here Kamui, but, I'm really sorry about dragging you out here so soon. You weren't given much time to recover from the capital incident I'll admit; I was just really worried about leaving you to yourself as we went out to war. Even though Big Brother's gave me an earful of misgivings about you being on the battlefield so soon, there was no way I was letting out of my sight again after what happened then."
"You worry too much sis," Takumi said. "He'll be fine with or without us, and the same can be said in reverse. Hey, how about you scout ahead and see where Big Brother is? We'll sit here and take care of any Nohrian soldiers we find. Once you've spotted him, come back to us so that we can plan a full regroup." The eldest princess was heavily against leaving her younger siblings without her, but she knew Takumi was right as always.
"…Okay then. Stay close to each other at all times and don't wander off unless you absolutely have to. I'll be right back." Hinoka's tenma didn't even need instruction to take off, galloping off with her rider before taking to the sky. Watching his sister go, Takumi couldn't help but let out a small sigh.
"She just hasn't been the same anymore, and I think she's gotten worse with Corrin showing up."
"Hinoka wasn't always like this Takumi?" Sakura asked.
"No. Back then she was cheerful and wasn't so overprotective of our family, but then again she was always the most attached next to Kamui and that's still true to this day. All the love she had gave rise to fear of losing her loved ones, starting with our first mother's death. It got worse when father was killed and when Corrin was taken, and the trauma conga line continued when Corrin came up recently and killed our new mother, Mikoto. Right after that Kamui had his freak out and dragon transformation, and don't even get me started on the rampage he had. I've never seen Hinoka break down that bad after what happened back home."
"Poor sister…" Just hearing that made Sakura all teary-eyed thinking about how horrible it had been for Hinoka through all the years; she couldn't even fathom how she herself would manage if she went through all that her sister had. Kamui hadn't known of Hinoka's emotional episode and wished he was conscious then to comfort her when she was at her lowest.
"She'll pull through guys, no matter how hard it is for her; she's a tough woman." Though Takumi didn't show it, he was still highly concerned that Hinoka would end up doing something that would end up getting herself killed. Sure, she was tough when it came to it, but he left out how said princess now had a growing cesspool of hatred boiling in her. Right now he had to be the brains and keep everyone else alive; he didn't know how much more of the bloodshed he was willing to put up with.
Nohrian Side
Leon's sharp eyes caught the sight of an injured spear samurai on his way over to him; the prince did nothing and waited for the Hoshidan to stagger into the hellish haze surrounding him, giving a sardonic laugh when the man missed his attack. "What's the matter Hoshidan, don't you have the weapon advantage? Surely this should have been easier for you despite your injuries."
"Don't you mock me Nohrian cracker!" the man snarled, failing to notice the ever-so-slight shift in Leon's facial expression. "You invade our lands, kill our rulers, and you dare have the gall to—"
"I—I'm sorry, could you repeat that first part? I don't think I exactly caught it."
"I said, you invade our lands—"
"No, no, no, before that. What was that about me being a 'Nohrian cracker'?" Upon hearing his own words and seeing Leon's cocky smile fade as a violet flame erupted around him, the man visibly went pale in the face. "Yeah, see, that's what I thought." Immediately the samurai was bound by his heart by black and red brambles of dark magic, followed by Leon casting Brynhildr on the Hoshidan; trees erupted from the ground below and turned the trooper into a human shish kabob. "You can invade our lands, kill our ruler, but never spit out racist drivel toward us Nohrians in my presence. Try to remember that as you pass over to your next life." The words were the last the man heard before everything faded to black for him; his body went limp in seconds before the trees disappeared and his corpse fell to the ground. Leon couldn't help but sneer after his prey met their end. "Tch, I don't need to hear that garbage. If I wanted to listen to racism I'd have stayed back home in Father's quarters all day."
"Goodness gracious little Leon," Camilla said. "Don't you think that that was a tad too much to swallow for the poor creature?"
"He was asking for it sis, and who are you to come to me about overkill anyways? They should've crowned you queen in that department."
"Touché my little brother, but you shouldn't be following my lead; I'm such a bad influence~."
"So do as you say and not as you do?"
"Precisely."
"That's hypocrisy at its finest but oh well; at least you're an example of what not to do."
"Don't make fun of me little brother."
"Sure, sure, or else you'll kick my arse."
"Good to know that you understand me crystal clear." Leon shot Camilla an eye-roll and a smirk before he rode off to his next victim. "That child is such a darling little thing, but for Anankos's sake he has a forged killing edge for a tongue." The eldest Nohr princess giggled at the imagery and signaled her mount to slink toward her latest opponent; a lone ninja had snuck across the river and was scanning his surroundings. He felt an eerie sensation drawing near and tried moving to lose the feeling. When he turned his head he found a horrifying sight, that of the wicked dragoon princess with blood red eyes peering out of darkness and a light layer of violet flames hugging her body.
"Aren't you just one of the cutest ninjas I've ever seen?" came Camilla's voice, spewing out wretched air with every syllable. "It's such a shame that I must kill you. I do promise that this will be over quickly." The panicked ninja pulled out his caltrop in a hurry right before Camilla slashed at him with her lustrous axe; she missed, allowing him to counterattack successfully. "Ooh!" Camilla yelped, feeling the sting where the caltrop struck her. The dark flames surrounding her grew larger, and after pulling the shuriken out she sent a small glare at the ninja. "You know, that was very naughty of you…" The ninja knew right then and there that he was screwed; when he tried to move, dark brambles of magic kept him in place as his executioner rose her axe up high, and he silently prayed to Hydra that his enemy killed him in one stroke. Camilla put so much force into the swing that she split the ninja in two from top to bottom, getting some blood splattered onto her. Once she had felled her target she appeared to turn to normal but shortly afterward she felt strange; she moved around and felt very sluggish and frail almost. "Oof, what did that ninja hit me with?" She looked to where she discarded the caltrop that hit her, and her eyes widened in shock when she finally recognized the weapon. "Oh dear…"
Almost on cue she felt something sharp pierce her through her back, shrieking when it lodged itself in her spine and ended up falling off of her mount. She looked up from where she collapsed and found a bow and sword samurai together, both of whom looked very much burnt and very much pissed. "Oh dear…" Before the samurai pair could reach her something else was galloping toward her fast; an armored horse sped in front of her, a clang was heard, and Camilla felt herself dragged off of the ground and onto said horse. A Nohrian paladin had swooped in and rescued her from the samurai's fatal attack, and her wyvern quickly tailed behind them.
"Thank goodness I came by in time Lady Camilla," the paladin said relieved.
"Thank goodness indeed…I was sure that I'd be sleeping with the flowers back there…" As the paladin carted her away to safety she turned to see the Hoshidans who attacked her battling Leon and Corrin. Neither of the two grunts lasted long. Camilla smiled knowing that her siblings were taking care of business in Xander's absence.
"Omigosh, Cammy!" Elise screamed in fear when she saw her oldest sister slouching against the paladin with a silver arrow in her back. The paladin climbed off of his horse before helping the injured princess down, and Elise dashed to Camilla with a recover staff on her. "Stay still big sis, 'cause this is gonna hurt a bit." Elise carefully grasped the projectile embedded inside of Camilla and slowly tried pulling it out, drawing a pained gasp from the woman once the object was removed from her. Blood poured out from the wound like a faucet. "Hang on sis, I'm almost done." As Elise got to work with her staff Leon and Corrin came rushing to the group, checking how their big sister was doing.
"Yeesh, that's quite the wound there sis," Leon said. "Good thing Michael here saw you when he did."
"Don't you worry about those gooks," Corrin said, "me and Leon did a little bit of taking out the trash." Her comments earned a raised brow from everyone present (even the mounts).
"Erm, Corrin?" Camilla said. "I appreciate you and Leon taking care of the enemy but, do you suppose that you could…"
"Not act like a racist?" Leon finished for Camilla. "Seriously, I just got through with a spear-man who was—"
"Aaand done!" Elise interrupted, finishing the healing process and shifting the conversation to something else. "That outta feel nice huh big sis?"
"Very nice Elise," Camilla said. "I still feel very drained though; that ninja certainly knew what he was doing back there."
"Was it a caltrop?" Leon asked.
"Yes."
"Those things need to be watched out for. The effects unfortunately last for a whopping eight minutes before going away completely, easing up a little for each minute that passes, so try to take it easy until the effects dissipate."
"You killed the ninja already?" Corrin asked.
"Yes," Camilla answered.
"That's good then. Michael, thank you for rescuing my elder sister from those goo—er, Hoshidans when you did."
"It was my pleasure Lady Corrin," the paladin said bowing. "Is there anything else I can do for you all?"
"No thank you; that will be all for now." Michael gave a quick salute and climbed atop of his horse before riding off. Once he was out of earshot and sight Leon and Camilla both glared at Corrin while Elise sheepishly looked away.
"We will discuss this behavior later young lady," Camilla said in a low tone. "For now let's focus on finding Xander."
"Knowing him he's probably on the other side of the river already," Leon suggested. "I don't think he needs much help against Ryouma but let's locate him just to be sure." With that everyone climbed onto their mounts while Corrin transformed into her dragon form before moving out. Corrin tried to keep her mind off of the earful she was guaranteed once they were back home provided they all survived, focusing on her next course of action: to steal the Yato-no-kami from Ryouma and use it to crush his army.
"Why are you doing this to us, Prince of Nohr?" Ryouma questioned. "First you kill our birth mother, then you kill our father and kidnap Corrin…and now this‽ The destruction of Shirasagi Castle Town, the death of our new mother, this whole invasion…It was your doing, wasn't it?" Xander kept himself silent much to the ire of the Hoshido prince as the two of them stood in an isolated section in the plains. "Answer me!" How it was that a man with such a wild mane and the furious temper to match became prince was beyond Xander, but he wasn't there to observe his enemy. The accusations—though charged with a fire that would make any other man flinch—did little more than lightly agitate Xander.
"…I've no words for my enemy, nor do I wish to heed his words," the Nohrian prince spoke with quiet fury in his eyes, angering Ryouma further. "All you need to know is that we are here to conquer Hoshido. Surrender now and I will spare you and your army from the sting of Nohr. If not…then this is the part where you shall fall." When Xander prepared his attack his visage changed to Ryouma: his body became coated in a translucent golden sheen, his visage became overbearing with darkness surrounding his ruby eyes, and both he and his horse began exhaling flames of darkness. What was once a smog of darkness emanating from Siegfried was now a golden blaze, and Xander rushed at the Hoshidan prince as if he were a demon. Ryouma was caught off guard by the other man's appearance and took the blow in full force, feeling extremely faint afterwards and losing some of his armor as Xander lunged through him. Purple flames had been left behind on his body from the savage blow. He wasn't out of the fight just yet; as Xander's appearance returned to normal as he caught his breath for a moment, his enemy was ready to counterattack.
"Delay the first strike…" Ryouma growled under his breath, "…only to strike back twice as hard‼" Raijintou and the electricity coursing through it glowed a brilliant emerald color. Right before Ryouma rushed to slice at the Nohrian noble the Raijintou's edge briefly flashed red just as it did before he was hit. Xander realized that the Hoshidan prince was still capable of fighting a bit too late, raising his shield in an effort to block the strikes. It was futile; Ryouma avoided it and stabbed the man in his sides once, sending the Nohrian reeling from the power surging in him from one blow. Ryouma didn't let up either, slashing his enemy three times across his chest vertically and then finishing off the combo with a horizontal slash. Xander swore that the last strike made his sword arm feel dull and heavy. Ryouma was ready to strike again, but the instant he tried the purple flames that lingered on him exploded, scorching the prince more and causing him to step off for a moment. Now both of the royals had lost a fair deal of armor, with the sword saint and the paladin heavily injured and staring the other down.
"You won't win this…" Xander panted out. "The Nohrian army is far more experienced than Hoshido can prepare for…You're only delaying the inevitable…"
"If you think that we're going to let you invaders come and snatch our home away from us, then you have another thing coming to you prince of Nohr," Ryouma growled out. "Mark my words; Nohr will fail invariably against the indomitable spirit of Hoshido!" On the "Nohrian" side of the field the royal siblings made it close to the area where the brothers were dueling…only to find that the bridge to get to them both was collapsed. Anybody who could fly had no problems crossing over, but everyone else had to take the long way around, and the long way was jam-packed with troops duking it out.
"Just our luck," Corrin grumbled. "The damned bridge is out."
"How are we going to get to Xander now?" Elise whined. "I don't want to have to go the long way around and he looks like he's in trouble."
"Goodness gracious children…I assure you, nothing can get in the way of us royals for long. In fact, we have an easy solution for this."
"What do you mean?" Leon asked. "The bridges are out and the only quick way across is through the river stream. Obviously, horses can't cross water and you and Corrin are the only ones who can fly over there. I wish there was something we could do about this blasted water…if only we could get rid…of…it…" A eureka-moment came to Leon and he promptly smacked himself on the forehead. "Duh! How else would we get rid of this stream?"
"What, are you all referring to the—"
"Yes, our Dragon Veins!" Leon answered Corrin.
"I was wondering when it would come to you my genius baby brother," Camilla said in a teasing tone.
"Don't make fun of me sis."
"Fine, fine, or else you'll humiliate me. Anyways, why don't I handle this little issue?" Camilla's wyvern pulled up to the edge of the river and she cleared her thoughts of anything that didn't have to do with clearing the river. "O' great Anankos, hallowed father who resides within the earth, heed your daughter's wish: grant me the strength to displace this body of water so that we may reach our fellow dragonkin…" Camilla channeled her latent dragon powers from within her core to her hands, manifesting as a ball of fire slowly burning into existence. "I command this breath of fire that which scorches even the seas to make this vast river disappear‼" Camilla raised her hands and fired the fireball skyward, watching as it dove into the river. Within seconds the water was evaporating at a rapid pace until it was no more, reaching even its source further ahead.
"Awesome! The river's gone!" Elise cheered. "Now we can go help Xander out!…Kinda feel bad for the Hoshidans who use this river though."
"Quite. Have no worries my dear Elise; those who are descended from the dragons of old are very capable of restoring it to its former glory. But now is not that time."
"Now's the time to go make sure that Xander's not getting himself killed out there," Leon said. "And by the way Elise, you should probably hang back for a bit; stay close to us but don't go off far. Some of the Hoshidans here might try to take you hostage since you're not ready for combat yet. Just let me, Corrin, and Camilla handle the enemy troops." Hinoka was on her way to find Ryouma when she found the river completely gone.
"The heck?" Hinoka said. "What happened to the river? It was there just a second ago! Those accursed Nohrian troops—no, the princes and princesses of Nohr dried it up with their Dragon Veins…I better hurry over to Ryouma and make sure he's fine. We've lost enough of our family already…" She gave her tenma a small gesture and she sped up her pace, scanning the ground below for her rider's brother. Soon she spotted Ryouma and Xander desperately dueling with each other, and much to her horror the rest of the Nohrian siblings were closing in on the two. She whinnied in distress hoping that Hinoka noticed. "What's wrong Shiida?" She whinnied again while pointing her head toward the Nohrians. "Oh no…no, no, no, nononono—" Hinoka didn't need to tell Shiida to speed up while Hinoka prayed that she could reach Ryouma before the royal siblings did.
"Heh, this wasn't that long of a long trip," Leon said. "Just a skip and a hop on over and we're almost—wait, look guys. What's that up there in the sky?"
"…Is it a bird?" Elise asked with a smile.
"Elise, I swear, you just couldn't wait to make that joke—"
"It's Princess Hinoka!" Corrin shouted.
"It is?" Leon asked. "Well I'll be damned, it is her!"
"Shoot her down before she gets to Ryouma!" Everyone but Elise pulled out their tomes and began firing at the Hoshidan princess, barely missing her.
"Gyahh‼" Hinoka yelped. "I am not dying here today!" Her mount made a dive-bomb motion to reach the ground faster and to keep from getting blasted.
"She's almost there!" Corrin shouted. "Shoot her!"
"We're trying!" Leon shot back. Hinoka managed to evade all of the magic spells and touched down safely, and she found Ryouma still battling the Nohrian prince.
"Ryouma!" Hinoka called out, momentarily stopping the fight between the two royals.
"Hinoka?" Ryouma said. "What are you—"
"No time to talk! I'm getting you out of here!"
"But we're—"
"The other Nohrian royals are on their way here, so hurry!" Ryouma didn't have time to question Xander on why his siblings were trying to help when the duel was strictly between them, and as much as he hated backing out of a fight he didn't want to keep his younger sister waiting. Xander didn't want to let Ryouma go but he wasn't about to attack a fleeing opponent as much as he wanted to, especially with the duel ruined.
"This isn't over Xander!" Ryouma said to Xander as he took a seat behind Hinoka. With that Shiida tried taking off again, though with some difficulty now that the rather heavy Ryouma was seated on her. Just then Camilla, Corrin, Leon, and Elise arrived only to spot the Hoshidans barely escaping.
"There they are!" Corrin said. "Now, fire!"
"Already on it!" Leon said. Before they could get to casting their tomes Xander stopped them.
"No," he commanded. "We're not going to attack fleeing opponents in the back. That's an act of cowardice and dishonor."
"What‽" Corrin questioned. "But they're getting away Xander! We need to—"
"We will; we're allowing them just enough time to get their prince into fighting shape. We're pursuing them after we inspect our own army." Corrin could feel her blood boiling at how everyone simply let their enemy walk away to go recover. Still, she was smart enough to not mouth off to Xander, instead giving out a nearly inaudible sigh.
"I don't like it, but I'll have to trust your judgment on this one…"
"Thank you Corrin. I'd like to win this war with as little bloodshed as possible, and I know that may not please Father but we simply cannot go on solving all of our conflicts with annihilation of the enemy. If it can't be helped then yes, we will utterly destroy our enemy. For now, we'll give them some small amount of time to lick their wounds before they challenge us again."
"Sounds pretty idealistic there Xander." Leon asked. "You sure we can't simply follow and ambush them with their guards down?"
"I am certain we won't need to resort to that or other 'underhanded' tactics. When we win this war through pure military prowess this will help us smooth things over with the conquered natives afterwards."
"Ah, I see. Don't have them think we're complete monsters even as we're conquering their lands and taking down their army. This will give us a better chance to repair our broken relations."
"Precisely."
"Let me fix you up real quick bro before you say anything else," Elise said, not wanting him to trudge all the way back to their side of the battlefield in his current condition. She pulled out her recover staff and poured her magical energy into the staff, bathing her elder brother in a bright light. In a moment, all of the injuries he had had almost completely vanished, though he was still very much sore.
"Thank you Elise. This should do for some time. Now let's get moving." Everyone climbed back onto their mounts and began to take off; Corrin was about to transform and fly until Xander stopped her for a second. "Corrin? I would ask you to stay as close to the rest of us as possible. I know it still seems like I don't trust you enough to make rational decisions, but with the war heating up the way it is I'm concerned you may do something rash with the Hoshidans being around."
"Yes brother…" Xander gave his sister an understanding smile hoping to cheer her up, succeeding somewhat. The group traveled across the dried up river in silence, focused on checking on their troops. Meanwhile, back with the Hoshidan, Ryouma was healed up to a fighting condition be Sakura, expressing gratitude that Hinoka retrieved him when she did.
"How was he Ryouma?" Takumi asked.
"He was the closest thing that I can call an equal," Ryouma answered. "His swordplay is unlike anything I've ever seen before, second only to father's swordplay of course."
"So basically, no one here but you stands a chance against him."
"If you want to put it that way, then yes."
"You think that the Nohrians are coming here right now?"
"I know so. They wouldn't just let us get away to come back later when we're guaranteed to beat them by then."
"I wonder how the others are doing…" Sakura said.
"That's what I want to know about too," Kamui echoed. "I just hope that they're all okay out there."
"They'll be fine," Hinoka said to reassure her younger siblings. "We may have trained them to apprehend brigands from within Hoshido but we trained them well."
"I agree," Ryouma said. "They're our finest troops; all of them are here because they were meant to be, each one of them a beautiful snowflake in their own right." Nobody could argue against that, not even Takumi the resident cynic of the bunch. "I have full confidence that we'll all succeed in this battle. But, it can't hurt to go see them, just to let them know that we're here for them." Again, there were no arguments being made and the Hoshidan royals set out to locate their army.
"For Hoshido's peace‼"
"For Nohr's glory‼"
Further south in the plains was the rest of the army battling with one another. The general army was handling the other standard army, while prominent figures of both Hoshido and Nohr were engaged with each other. Two such figures had just gotten through disposing their enemies: a Nohrian cavalry knight and her sellsword partner.
"Yay! Peri wins!" the cotton-candy haired girl shouted in joy. "Peri's kill count go up thanks to Laslow!"
"I know," the sellsword said, searching his fallen enemy for anything of use. "Remember, the dance's effects only last a full minute just like your vampiric ability."
"Peri knows, so let's go-go-go!"
"In a second Pieri; I just gotta get these things hooked right…" Laslow's partner turned to him with a confused look on her face and saw him attaching the fallen samurai's weaponry to him, more specifically three different katana.
"What they for?"
"They're for helping us deal with other troops. Nothing like using the enemy's own weaponry against them eh?" After he got the three weapons attached properly the man was about to hop onto his partner's horse and give her the signal to take off, but two figures out of the corner of his eye caught his attention; an injured red-haired ninja and a yellow-garbed female ninja were trudging by unnoticed by anyone else, and the female ninja was helping carry her partner on her shoulder.
"They ninjas Laslow?" Pieri asked in a whisper readying her weapons.
"Yeah, they are," Laslow answered. "That man is Saizou and his partner is Kagerou—Prince Ryouma's retainers—to be specific. Lord Xander probably won't approve of attacking fleeing parties like this, but two less Hoshidan royal retainers are two less problems to worry about." His hand inched close to the wakizashi strapped to his back, slowly unsheathing it little by little and preparing to throw the katana at the injured ninja. As fate would have it though, Saizou spotted the mercenary and pulled out one of his explosive stars in a flash. Though he flung one at Laslow as fast as he could he failed to hit him. Laslow wasn't as unfortunate in striking his opponent, hitting the ninja dead in his shoulder and rendering that arm less useful. Pieri tried blasting Saizou with her levin edge but Kagerou deflected the magic lightning bolt with her vambrace blades. Now realizing that they had been spotted the two Hoshidans decided that there was no other option but to fight back.
"Exactly what we needed to deal with…" Saizou snarled, "More Nohrian troops."
"Easy Saizou," Kagerou said to her partner. "You're in little condition to fight efficiently; I don't want you getting killed out here." Proving her point Saizou clutched his impaled shoulder in extreme pain and attempted to remove the katana until it disappeared. It returned to Laslow and Kagerou inspected her partner's wounds to see why it hurt as bad as it did; his blood contained traces of snake venom in it, and with a fierce glare Kagerou and Saizou turned their eyes to Laslow.
"You're a ninja?" Saizou growled. "Another reason to have you dead."
"Don't get the wrong idea sir," Laslow said. "I do not hail from Hoshido like other ninjas; I simply learned the trade from an individual during my visit from a long time ago."
"It matters not who you learned ninjutsu from or why; you know the techniques of a ninja and that makes you a larger threat to Hoshido; you must be eliminated."
"No you don't!" Pieri called out. "Peri kill bad ninjas so they no kill Laslow!" Ignoring Laslow's warnings about the explosive star's side effects Pieri raised her levin edge to strike the weakened Saizou with a lightning bolt once again, but Saizou was quicker on the draw and flung an explosive dart at her, messing up her attack long enough for the boosts she received earlier to dissipate completely; it was enough for Saizou to narrowly dodge the lightning bolt afterward. He wasn't as lucky enough to dodge a second attack from Laslow, but much to his luck Kagerou caught the wakizashi between her vambrace blades and tossed it aside before it reached him.
"Saizou, get behind me," Kagerou ordered.
"You need me to—"
"I want you to stay safe; Hoshido and Lord Ryouma need you alive, now do it." Saizou didn't like being ordered around by anyone except for Ryouma but he understood Kagerou's reasoning and complied.
"Touching," Laslow commented, "but wouldn't you be as valuable as Saizou to Hoshido and Ryouma? If they lose you then Saizou's liable to perish out here as well. It would be better for you to flee while you have the chance."
"Are you suggesting that I abandon my ally?"
"Not at all ma'am, but do keep in mind that we're here to conquer you; you can stay and fight us or you can run. It's up to you."
"I'm not so foolish to believe that I can escape you immediately; I'll remain here and fight you both if only to wear you down."
"Well then, you're certainly welcome to try." Laslow regretted his words almost immediately as Kagerou nicked Pieri harshly with a silver shuriken in the blink of an eye. In a half-enraged half-panicked state the cavalier switched to her miniature javelin and charged at Kagerou full speed, but her attack was parried by Saizou. Laslow saw an opportunity to attack once more but this time he used the dual katana that he took and tried to run Kagerou through with it. Saizou saw this attack coming as well and defended his partner from it in time. The two Nohrians quickly backed off of the ninjas afterward.
"Urgh, Peri no feel good…" the knight whined feeling the nauseous snake venom burn inside her.
"Those were pretty powerful shuriken that they used," Laslow stated. "Why don't you stay back for a little bit? I'm more experienced with dealing with ninjas anyhow."
"S-Sure, Peri feel sick now…"
"That evened the odds Nohrians," Kagerou said. "Perhaps now we have an opportunity to win."
"Oh-ho, do you now?" Laslow asked smugly. "I've had my fair share of scuffles against stealthy foes such as yourselves thanks to my ninja training. And besides, we Nohrians know much about your army already, so it's only a matter of time until we eventually prevail over you."
"You can 'study' us all you want; without real training against an experienced Hoshidan warrior you have no guaranteed victory."
"You want to test that theory my lady? Alright, let's have at it then." Laslow readied his dual katana and began to approach the Hoshidan with as much skill and speed as he demonstrated earlier, and Kagerou braced herself for the attack. Meanwhile, another group of a Hoshidan and Nohrian pair squared off with each other, and the Hoshidans were on the offensive.
"Get out of our lands invaders!" a female samurai wreathed in a light blue wind shouted as she rushed at a red-haired sellsword. She failed to hit her enemy but her tenma warrior partner didn't, blindsiding her with his golden naginata and quickly retreating out of her range before she could strike back. The mercenary kept her cool and lunged at the samurai with her sword, though she failed to hit her enemy by a large margin; her wyvern knight partner moved in to slash the samurai with her axe but she too missed to land a hit on her right before the blue-wind aura disappeared from the Hoshidan. "Now Tsubaki!"
"Already on it Kazahana," the tenma warrior said, readying his spear as a blue-and-green wind aura surrounded him. His tenma swooped toward the mercenary and despite her efforts to dodge him she was caught by a strike from his weapon once again, nearly choking with how close to her lung he hit her. Before she could try to get away from Tsubaki he struck her again in her left arm, grazing it when she had turned to evade. The wyvern knight moved in to protect her partner from Kazahana's attack but she was up against a tricky fighter; Kazahana simply went around the dragoon to slash the reeling mercenary successfully with her katana before backing off as fast as she could. The mercenary was patient and collected however, and the moment she saw an opportunity she threw out a swift slash at Tsubaki, successfully managing to get a hit on him. The glimmers of light that painted his body disappeared and he quickly moved to avoid getting hit by the other Nohrian soldier.
'What the hell?' the mercenary cursed to herself. 'Tsubaki's not supposed to be this fast. He's the least agile and mobile tenma warrior in Hoshido's army. What's going on…? No, don't pay attention to how fast he is right now Selena. Just clear your mind and focus your energies for a bit.'
"Didn't you hear me?!" Kazahana yelled out to the mercenary and wyvern rider. "You're not welcome in our homelands! Leave or die!" Both Nohrians remained silent and Selena stood as still as possible while the Hoshidans watched her closely to see what she would do next. In an instant, a few of the injuries she had sustained had gone away in a glow of various colors, and she felt more ready to attack Kazahana and Tsubaki. In her surprise at what the Nohrian had done, the female samurai was not prepared for when Selena's partner snuck an attack on her; the wyvern knight had gone up into the air when the Hoshidans were distracted with Selenas inactivity, and her assassin's axe came down silent and deadly on Kazahana, slicing her torso partially open and shredding some of her attire. Tsubaki barely registered what had happened once he heard Kazahana's gasping scream, and in a hurry he rushed to his partner's aid; Selena got to her first, seizing the opening her partner created and not wanting to be outdone in any way, landing a similar jumping slash on the samurai and knocking her down to the ground.
"No! Kazahana!" Tsubaki yelled trying to make it and save the woman from Selena's next attack, but when Selena raised her sword to finish Kazahana off something strange happened; the mercenary felt something very sharp thrust itself into her midsection as she was about to impale the samurai, who miraculously survived, and she found that the samurai's katana was jammed into her and coming out through her back.
"I'm not telling you this again…" Kazahana growled. "Leave. Or die!" With a vicious yank she ripped her blade out from Selena, tearing flesh and bone from her and sending her staggering back. It didn't last long and despite her wounds the mercenary tried to finish off Kazahana again. The samurai evaded the fatal swing even as she clutched her torso tight, and Selena's partner barely missed her. By then Tsubaki had reached Kazahana and swooped her off of the ground with ease. Once they were out of attacking range, the tenma warrior prepared himself for the second assault from Selena and her partner while he tried to escape.
"Oh no you don't…" Selena growled out in a hoarse voice, climbing onto her partner's mount. "Think you can catch them before they get away Beruka?" The wyvern knight gave a short nod and signaled for her mount to give chase. Tsubaki already had a head start in retreating to a medic but he found that Beruka and Selena were catching up to him and fast. The Nohrians were slightly lighter than them and his tenma was not particularly good with handling multiple passengers. Tsubaki wondered how he could get the pursuing pair off of his tail until he remembered his shinrai naginata. He took the weapon out and tried firing off a lightning bolt with it, failing to hit Beruka and Selena while Beruka took out a tomahawk to throw. The large axe only missed Tsubaki by a hair and he knew that he had to play smart to get rid of the Nohrians. Not too soon an idea formed itself, and he turned to give Kazahana a warning.
"Listen, I'm going to try and lose these two but I need you to hold on to me as tight as you can alright?" Kazahana nodded her head in understanding and held the man in a vice-grip with both of her arms; once Tsubaki knew that Kazahana was holding on tight enough to not fall off he had his tenma perform a quick shuttle loop while Beruka was as close as she could get behind him. Kazahana did her best not to scream out in agony as she had to endure going upside down with a torn body.
"What the—?" Selena wondered aloud. "Where did they—" The mercenary realized what Tsubaki was doing in short notice, but she remembered too late. Beruka snapped her head about to see where the man and his mount had gone, only to take an electrified slash to her ribs from a shinrai naginata. Faltering a little Beruka tried switching her weapons to counterattack but Tsubaki was too fast to allow for it and struck her again while heading the opposite direction, this time managing to hit the wyvern as well and causing the Nohrian trio to drop to the ground.
"Yes! It worked!" Tsubaki cheered. With the three Hoshidans safe for the moment Tsubaki's tenma kicked his speed up a notch and made a beeline toward the area where the two vassals last saw Sakura. "Hang on Kazahana, I'll get us back to Lady Sakura in no time and she'll fix you up good as new." His only response was a shuddering gasp but he knew that Kazahana had faith in him to fly them to safety. 'It's a good thing I took those tonics before we left, otherwise I may not have been able to pull off some of those things I did. I wish I took an elixir or two so we don't have to find a healer, but we'll be able to manage without any I suppose.' Meanwhile, Selena and Beruka were patching themselves up after Tsubaki's surprise he had for them.
"Damn that tenma warrior," Selena cursed. "It's not like they call him a genius for nothing, but still." Selena wrapped a bandage around Beruka's midsection where she was stabbed after giving her the last of her own vulnerary. In little time afterward Beruka was able to at least stand properly again and Selena—who had her own medical sash around her—helped walk her partner back on top of her treated wyvern, climbing on after Beruka was seated firmly on her mount.
"Thanks…" Beruka said in a low tone which hadn't gone unnoticed.
"You're most certainly welcome girlfriend," Selena said with a smile. "Now let's go find a medic before we do anything else. These bandages work well but they're not as good as getting your body fixed up, and I don't want to risk running into another 'Tsubaki'." Beruka nodded and signaled her wyvern to take off, just letting the dragon remove them from the battlefield at his own pace. The manner they were leaving caught the eye of an eyepatched Nohrian outlaw for a brief moment.
"Hm? Is that Selena and Beruka?" he asked while he and his partner trekked through the woods. "Looks like they bit off more than what they could swallow. They'd best be careful for these bowmen out here."
"Fear not Niles," his yellow garbed dark mage partner told him, "for we Nohrians have received the blessings of Anankos to overcome our enemies. Soon the Hoshidan army shall bear witness to the vast strength passed down through the Nohrian peoples for generations."
"…You need to stop reading those fantasy novels Odinn."
"Hey, I've never even—" Something out of the corner of his eye caught Niles's attention; a Hoshidan archer was taking aim at the two of them from behind some trees. Cutting off Odinn's rambling Niles grabbed and yanked the dark mage to the ground, making the arrow whizz past the pair. In retaliation Niles pulled out a bow and nocked it at his bow of pain, letting an arrow fly in the direction of the archer. The projectile missed as expected, with the archer taking cover behind a tree. Odinn took out his ebon grimoire in an effort to draw the archer out from hiding, casting the spell at the tree rather than to its sides; his plan worked, as the archer immediately leapt from the tree to find another hiding point.
"Not today Hoshidan trooper!" Odinn called out, running up to the archer and casting a spell on her before she could ready another arrow. Niles was not too far behind Odinn when he let loose another arrow, striking his target dead on. The archer thought that the arrow was going to kill her but she somehow survived the fatal blow; she soon found out why she wasn't killed as she was tripped to the ground while one of the Nohrians held her down.
"Oh…it looks like I've been caught…" she spoke casually making little effort to escape.
"Can't have you poking holes into our army now can we, Miss Setsuna?" Niles said as he pulled out a chain to bind her with. "Hinoka will simply have to make do without you." As Odinn kept Setsuna pinned down Niles was just about to cuff her arms together behind her back, but as soon as he touched her the archer magically vanished into thin air. Confused, the two Nohrians looked around to find her but she was gone. "Darn, broke out the cage before I could get a taste."
"It looked like someone whisked her away with a Rescue rod. My guess was that it was Asama, her partner."
"Oh for crying out loud…come Odinn. We can't let her and her 'mystery' savior is escape us."
"Right then. After all, where there is light there is darkness." The two Nohrians began stalking around the woods to spot the disappeared archer, unaware that she was no longer on ground level, sitting in a tree with her monk partner who was feeding her with his a dango rod.
"Thank you Asama," Setsuna said softly as she munched on her food, healing her damage. "You're so nice."
"You're most welcome Setsuna," Asama replied. "It helps that you're becoming too entertaining to simply let go off by now. Those Nohrians sure are a handful though, aren't they?"
"Yuh-huh."
"We're going to need a new strategy to deal with those two. Hmmmm…I know, why not put that ninja training of yours to use and chase after them from the treetops? After you attack, I'll pull you back to me using Rescue; that way we can lead them around wrong turns and defeat them by wearing them out little by little. I'll be nearby but not close enough for them to hit me, otherwise this plan has a good chance of failing. Oh, and try to focus on which one you hit and where you'll hit next okay?"
"Okay." With that Setsuna and Asama moved to catch up to the Nohrians who went on ahead in search of the "missing" archer, making as little noise as they could.
"Setsuna's—for all her slow-witted self—is a pretty large pain once she starts acting competent, you know that right?" Niles said to Odinn.
"I know," Odinn replied. "She's got ninja training just like Laslow."
"Exactly. That alone makes her more difficult to deal with because she's also an archer; she's not likely to engage you nearby because of her weapon type's weakness, so she's practiced how to fight efficiently from a good distance away and out of sight. And she's among the fastest people alive; if she were a ninja instead of an archer then we'd have even more trouble against her. If we catch her though, just like we did earlier, she'll stand little chance against us. So let's keep an eye out for her."
"Heh, you said 'eye'."
"Yes, yes, I get it. I'm one-eyed. Asama is also not to be overlooked; for a magic unit he's the least efficient at using powerful scrolls and rods but he's on the physically sturdy side, Anankos forbid that he promoted to Great Master already." Setsuna had already found the pair, nocking an arrow at her rather loose bow. As shaky as the bow was making her aim she held fast that she would land a hit and let the projectile fly toward Niles. The arrow whizzed toward him so fast he couldn't hear it coming, thus he took the arrow in the back of his left knee cap. Taken by complete surprise, Niles yanked the arrow out of him and switched his weapon to a shining bow in haste, firing a magical arrow in the direction that Setsuna attacked him from; he failed to hit her. Recovering from his shock, Odinn tried scanning their surroundings to listen for the archer and readied his tome. Setsuna noticed this and fired another arrow, deliberately aiming for the ground two trees away from where she hid. Odinn fell for the trick and cast his spell behind the tree where he thought Setsuna would be, only to find no one jump out from behind it this time. In surprise, Odinn then tried helping Niles to his feet while the man tried to fight through the pain of the snake venom burning in him.
"You okay Niles?" Odinn asked in a normal tone of voice for once.
"I've been through worse than this, so yeah, I'm just peachy. Setsuna won't be once I find her though."
"She had best pray to whatever Gods she believes in." By then Setsuna leapt to the next three trees over and took aim at Odinn, letting her arrow fly straight into the dark mage's tome arm. This time her aim wasn't as good so she only grazed his arm, and he quickly retaliated by firing his spell in her direction. Setsuna hurried over to the next tree to avoid getting hit but that was when she made her mistake; in her haste she was loud when moving to another spot and Niles's lone eye caught a glimpse of her through the tree leaves.
"Got'cha…" Niles said with a wicked smile forming on his face. A devilish wind gusted around him and he prepared another arrow while waiting until the archer was comfortable in her new vantage point. He shot the magic projectile at her with no warning, aiming for her leg as she did him. Setsuna barely registered that a projectile was actually headed her way and took the arrow in her knee, causing her to slip and nearly fall from her spot.
"Uh-oh," Asama said, pouring magic energy into his Rescue rod and cast it at Setsuna, whisking her away before Odinn could pay her back for scraping his arm. With his partner out of harm's way he got to work in "healing" her with a dango rod once more. Again Setsuna devoured the treat and felt some of her strength returning to her, but they didn't have much time to give courtesies as Niles and Odinn closed in on the spot they hid in.
"Setsuna and Asama, sitting in a tree…" Niles said humorously.
"K-I-S-S-I-N-G," Odinn said finishing the joke, though he earned an unamused glance from his partner. "Oh come on. You were setting up the joke."
"I wasn't actually going to finish it, just letting the gravity of their situation sink into them. So, are we done playing hide and seek?" There was no reply from the two Hoshidans who tried to sneak away as quietly as they could, believing that they hadn't been spotted yet. "You know, as much as I like when people play hard to get, it's the end of line for you two." With the two found out they attempted getting away but the Nohrians weren't having any of that; to keep the mind games out of play he decided to target Asama with a silver bow he had on him, nailing him in the back as the monk turned to escape and knocking him out of the trees onto the ground. As Niles expected, Setsuna immediately jumped down to assist the fallen monk, and Odinn was just about to conjure his spell once more. Before he could attack a very sudden blast of lightning from above struck Niles beside him making him jump in surprise. Some of Niles's attire was burnt off of him and the outlaw began to feel faint from the sheer power of the attack. Odinn wondered where the lightning bolt came from but he refocused his efforts and intended on finishing Asama off with a charged blast from his black tome, not hearing Niles trying to warn him.
"By the power invested within me by the Great Anankos, I hereby banish you to the shadow realm of death!" Performing a backflip and crossing his arms Odinn unleashed his charged spell at the monk.
"Odinn, don't!"
"What? I'm finishing him off!" Odinn looked to where Asama was and saw that his spell struck him as he intended; it knocked Asama back down after Setsuna helped him to his feet. Worried but determined, Setsuna pulled out another bow and tried to attack the Nohrians, but another lightning bolt from above striking Odinn down made her change her mind, and with both of the Nohrians in poor condition she hurried to get Asama and get out of the area.
"Bye…" Setsuna said, lifting Asama so that he was on her shoulder, and the pair ran to get away from Odinn and Niles. While the Nohrian outlaw was not content with his prey escaping he did not want to risk the two of them getting killed despite the fight effectively being rendered two to one. Instead he went over to Odinn and yanked him up so that he could stand.
"I tried to warn you," Niles said. "Asama has a defense mechanism that counterattacks foes while he's defenseless. He is also known for surviving lethal attacks as with all monks and priestesses."
"Then how come you attacked him?" Odinn asked.
"I thought that I would kill him with one blow," Niles said. "Apparently I was far from doing that, and I paid for it."
"So, we're just letting them go?"
"Yes, we are. It won't happen again the next time we see them I assure you. And I'm not going to risk getting us both killed out here like this."
"…As much as every fiber in my being screams against retreating and letting the enemy escape, I guess I'll take your word for it. Mark my words Hoshidans, for we shall meet again. The darkness always catches up to the light, and when it does night shall prevail." Not wanting to get into another altercation with the Hoshidans the two troops made their way out of the woods through a different route than the one Setsuna and Asama took. Back in the plains the war raged on with various emotions running high between the fighters of Hoshido and Nohr. One such warrior from Hoshido's side was a woman wearing an orange colored spear samurai kimono, and she moved as though she was possessed by a demon of fury, cutting down and through every Nohrian soldier she came upon. A mercenary attempted to jump slash her but she dodged the attack via circle strafing, immediately countering by impaling him with her lacquered naginata. She pulled her weapon out from him only to finish him off with a dual-slash combo to decapitate her foe. As soon as the Nohrian dropped dead she could feel her arms grow a little heavier from using her weapon rather ruthlessly, and it was then that her partner—a sword samurai dressed in purple—had caught up to her feeling somewhat winded.
"Oboro?" the man said out of breath, "Do you think you can…slow down for a bit? I know that you want these guys gone and I do too but—"
"Lord Takumi said grant no enemy any quarter here," Oboro said cutting her partner off. "If you can't handle it then stay off of the battlefield Hinata."
"It's less of me not being able to handle it and more of me worrying that you're pushing yourself too much."
"I know that we're partners but you should really worry about yourself out here. I'm doing just fine." To prove her point to the man she switched her weapon out to a dual naginata and lunged straight at a fighter with a jumping swipe, quickly backing off of the fighter in time to dodge his counterattack. Oboro followed up her initial attack with a throat stab, taking the fighter's head off with one clean afterward. Hinata tried not to cringe while Oboro brought her attention to him. "They're not holding back any so you shouldn't either, else you're as good as dead."
"I know that it's just…never mind." Changing the subject Hinata engaged a bastion knight with his custom made katana, dealing great damage to the soldier thanks to taking the initiative and shedding some of the Nohrian's armor. Seeing an opening Oboro quickly dashed in to strike the enemy's newly exposed area; the knight staggered for a little and steeled himself to attack, though his low speed and injuries held him back from actually dealing a blow on the fast samurai. Both samurai decided to catch their breaths for a moment, leaving their opponent free to take a swig of an elixir he had on him, having waited until the right time to use it. When Hinata and Oboro saw this they immediately kicked themselves into gear to finish the knight off for good, but the goal was postponed when a cavalier came into the picture, using a silver lance to give Hinata the worst surprise attack he ever had. With the knight back at full strength he used his own silver lance to pay the Hoshidan back for making him so vulnerable, missing Hinata's heart but scraping some of his ribs inside. As the knight moved to gain some distance away from his attackers Hinata in a fit of desperation lashed out at the knight's exposed area, hitting the knight half as hard as the knight did him. The Nohrian reeled from the attack and Hinata turned his attention to the cavalier, striking him and his horse in one swing with a fierce jump-slash and dodging the counterattack. Oboro was not too far behind in attacking the cavalier, slashing upward at mount and rider; while she didn't evade his counterattack she did manage to strike him down for good with a good stab to his heart through his armor.
"One down," Oboro growled, "and one more to go." The knight decided to attack Hinata instead, being familiar with the special effects of his weapon. Hinata still evaded his slower opponent and even in his further weakened state he delivered one last blow that sealed the Nohrian's fate, putting all of his remaining strength into the thrust to obliterate the front of his forehead and brain. The knight dropped dead twitching and Oboro walked up to him patting him on the back. "Nice one Hinata."
"Hah…it wasn't easy with these drops in strength…"
"Still, it's nice to see that you aren't going soft on them."
"I…um, thanks."
"Don't mention it. Now hurry up and take your breather break, 'cause we still have some crackers to break up."
"Goddamned racists!" a Nohrian grunt's voice yelled in rage. Hinata and Oboro turned to see another cavalier suddenly break toward them with silver lance. Hinata and Oboro prepared themselves for the soldier's attack, but the attack never came because a sky blue arrow of condensed wind barreled straight toward the Nohrian, striking him with enough force to knock him off of his horse and dissipating after carving a hole in his chest. He landed hard with a thud, and the second he tried getting back up a blue lightning bolt from above forced him back down in a convulsing mass, ending him. The two Hoshidans recognized the two projectiles and turned to their saviors: the Hoshidan royal family had caught up to them.
"Lord Takumi!" Hinata and Oboro said in joy meeting his confident grin.
"You're all here!" Hinata exclaimed in surprise. "I thought that you were battling Prince Xander, Lord Ryouma."
"I was, but Hinoka got me out of there before the other Nohrian royals could ambush me."
"Tch, typical," Oboro snorted. "So, what brings you all here?"
"We're here to help you with clean-up day," Takumi said. "Now that the whole family is here we're ready to kick these crackers' asses!"
"Language Takumi!" Hinoka reprimanded.
"Why? I—" He was going to argue that they were all adults there until he remembered that little Sakura was there with them. "…Oops…Just pretend you didn't hear anything okay little sis?"
"Um, okay," Sakura said somewhat confused and flustered.
"No racism or swearing in front of Sakura okay?" Hinoka said. "I know that these Nohrians are very much detestable, but that doesn't make what you're doing any better. Sakura will pick up on those habits of yours if you do it too often, and you're not old enough to be swearing anyhow."
"Oh my gods," Takumi said in annoyance of being reminded that he's not an adult. "Whatever sis."
"Don't you 'whatever sis' me, baby brother."
"I—you—can you not call me—"
"Enough!" Sakura shouted, stopping Hinoka's and Takumi's argument from escalating. "We have a battle to win, and you're embarrassing yourselves along with the rest of us."
"Pffft, they're not embarrassing me," Hinata quipped. "The only ones they're embarrassing here is themselves."
"Quiet soldier," Takumi threw out in a flat but serious tone that he knew Hinata feared.
"Eep, y-yessir."
"Lady Sakura!" Tsubaki's voice came from the skies, his tenma trying as hard as he could to make a smooth landing with the two wounded on his back. As soon as he touched down his rider carefully slid off of him and had his arms wrapped around the near-unconscious Kazahana. "Kazahana needs to get healed immediately, she's dying!" As Tsubaki cautiously hoisted his partner off of his mount and carried her everybody crowded around the two of them, with Sakura inspecting her best friend's condition to see the severity of her wound. Everyone's heart caught in their throats when they saw her torso torn open, and Kazahana was desperately clutching it closed to keep from having her insides spill out. Sakura kept herself from crying seeing Kazahana in agony and hastily pulled out a winter festival rod; the flashing images of snowflakes and o-fuda spun swiftly around the trio of Sakura, Tsubaki, and Kazahana, and the injured samurai was illuminated in a translucent blue glow. Little by little her torso closed up in the likeness of being sewn back together, and matching the pace her body was being healed Kazahana's features found themselves relaxing. When he opening had been completely closed Kazahana looked as tranquil as can be, and her eyes slowly opened themselves after being clamped shut for a long time. Sakura's smiling face was painted with tears rolling down her cheeks, and she quickly hugged the healed woman as relief and worry flooded out from the girl.
"K-Kazahana…" Sakura cried softly, "I was scared that you wouldn't make it…"
"It's all thanks to you of course," Kazahana said slowly returning the hug with a smile. "I live for you milady, if nothing else. I'd never allow myself to die so long as you have need of me. Oh, and thanks to Tsubaki and his tenma for getting us out of there. I would have died out there if they weren't so capable."
"We strive for excellence Kazahana," Tsubaki quipped. "Naturally, we'd be in fair condition to be of service to our kingdom." Right then Tsubaki felt a stinging feeling in his arm, almost dropping Kazahana even though she could stand properly. He almost forgot about the one wound Selena inflicted on him, and Hinoka walked up to him with her vulnerary.
"Here," she said. "This ought to heal your arm."
"More like his polearm," Hinata quipped. "Get it?" Everyone had gotten the joke, but only Kamui and Sakura found it genuinely funny and laughed. Everyone else either gave him an annoyed look or a flat stare. Hinata chuckled nervously to himself attempting to lighten the mood once more. "Come on guys, it's funny! It's okay to laugh!"
"You're not funny," Oboro plainly stated, making Hinata groan in annoyance.
"Aw, you guys are no fun."
"Oh, no, we're totally fun," Takumi said. "It's just that your sense of humor stinks, just like something else of yours that I know."
"Hey!" That was something that everyone laughed at, all but Kamui and Sakura.
"Isn't that a little mean to say Takumi?" Sakura asked.
"Yes, but it's funny because it's completely true." Hinata groaned even louder, causing everyone else to laugh even louder except for—again—Kamui and Sakura.
"I think it's about time that we go search for the others," Ryouma said calming down. "That way when we're all together as a cohesive unit, nothing Nohr can throw our way will deter us."
"That may actually serve to weaken our army as a whole. With all of us together we're very much susceptible to a trap that the Nohrians may have set for us, making us all pay the price. It would also make attacking our enemies a little more difficult given the decreased amount of space to fight with and…You know what, that might not be such a bad idea after all. Let's go fetch the rest of our gang then, and hopefully they're not dead already."
Theme: ARE YOU LISTENING?
On the Nohrians' side were two individuals trudging along the empty plains, worn from whatever long trip they endured; it was a blonde Nohrian man decked out in a red, white, and blue fighter attire and a silver haired woman clad in pink and gold bastion armor. While the woman's appearance looked pristine aside of messy hair and a tired expression, the man looked as though he fell into a swamp, got hit by a stray cart on the way out, and was struck by lightning mere seconds ago. Together the two walked and managed to catch up to the rest of their comrades to pitch in and defeat Hoshido's army.
"Haahh…haahh…Here we stand…ready to make new history…for today…is the day…that Nohr shall triumph over Hoshido, and we, the great keepers of justice, shall succeed in this mission!" the blonde man proclaimed as grand as he could despite looking much of a fool to everyone else. "Sir Arthur Harold Pendragon, and Lady Elphemia Tarth, loyal vassals of Lady Elise Plantagenet, are here to bring Nohr glory and victory!" The man stood proud with a wide grin and hands on his hips akin to a superhero puffing his chest, and his partner attempted to get into the spirit of things and struck a pose alongside him. Their less-than-ideal appearances, namely the man's utterly hot mess of a figure and the woman's disheveled features contrasting her cheer, failed to inspire confidence in the other troops; it instead brought about a fit of hysterical laughter from them. Naturally, Elise's two vassals stopped smiling afterward.
"Maybe we should be more direct with them…" Elphie suggested.
Theme: WOLEB TSAP
"*ahem*…Alright, listen up troops!" That got them all to stop their giggle fits immediately and they stood to attention to hear their commander out. "The Hoshidan army is a force to be reckoned with, but we know that we're more than a match for them! And for the sake of Nohr, we must win this battle! Too long have we suffered from poverty, hunger, resource drought, lawlessness, and much more, and Hoshido denied Nohr the means to remedy these issues with no proper justification! They've even rejected our suffering refugees who sought help and they've stolen an important person from us a long time ago when they were too young to remember it: Prince Kamui!"
"Now, are we going to stand idly while the Hoshidans continue to offend us with these grievances?!" Arthur bellowed. "Are we not the upholders of justice, or are we a bunch of dilly-dallying cowards?!" A loud roar of "upholders of justice" rang out upon Arthur's rousing. "We are brave men and women who fight for the greater good and punish those who would dare threaten it! I swear it by the name of the great heroes of Nohr who fought to bring us all out of despair that light shall shine down upon our kingdom once more!"
"Hoshido has forced our hand to retaliate against them, and though they have done horrible things to us we are only here to conquer their land to rebuild Nohr. Justice will come to them in due time, but this battle is nothing more than bringing us one step closer to rebuilding our home and reclaiming the young prince who was stolen. With this in mind, we must succeed! For Nohr!" The two vassals of Elise raised their weapons high with a war cry, instilling the same emotions they felt into their troops, and they marched ahead of the troops to lead them into the battle.
"Hoshidan troops are headed straight toward us! Give them everything you've got troops! Charge!" Never had there been any mightier roars than that of Arthur's and Elphie's platoon, and never had the Hoshidans crashed against any other foe with such force. The Nohrians threw such unrestrained fury at the Hoshidans that one would assume that they had all been possessed. In a sense the notion was true; each Nohrian were entranced by a powerful conviction of justice and victory. The area was decorated with the sounds of blades and magic clashing against each other, composing an orchestra of war.
"Taste my righteous wrath man of Hoshido!" Arthur shouted as he leapt high into the air and delivered a most devastating swing upon a ninja with his custom axe, felling him in one attack. A sword samurai was rushing toward Arthur and prepared a swift overhead slash to avenge his fallen comrade, but he failed to hit the infamously unlucky fighter. The Nohrian fighter of justice quickly punished the Hoshidan for whiffing the attack, destroying the light armor hugging the trooper's chest with a single swing. Elphie dashed out from beside Arthur and promptly drove her great pike through the man's chest, impaling his heart out through his back and leaving the samurai to collapse in a heap.
"Think you need some extra help?" Elphie asked.
"Any extra help is always good help." Arthur said grinning. "So, which stance shall we adopt? Tag Team or Pair-Up?"
"Pair-Up. You'll be the axe and I'll be the shield."
"The usual strategy I see. Not that I'm adverse to it; we're rather good partners in this formation." Elphie put her weapon into a sheath on her shield and held her shield to her front as she and Arthur moved like one force. A divine mage attempted to ambush Arthur with the Rabbit Spirit scroll, but Elphie halted the ethereal rabbit's tracks with her shield, causing the animal to break into specks of light upon making contact. Arthur flashed Elphie a winking smile and a thumbs-up before they both ran up to the divine mage. Arthur took a vertical slash at the warrior who attempted to block the attack, using the o-fuda as a makeshift shield. He paid for his mistake with his spell arm, and he immediately paid for the decision with his life when Arthur lopped his head off. Right afterward though, Arthur took a surprise arrow to his unarmored arm from an archer, doing nothing to weaken the man's blow when he came for him, trying in vain to draw an arrow on his daikyuu as the Nohrian man closed in. While he did manage to fire the arrow he hit a piece of armor on Arthur's person doing no harm, and he shut his eyes tight as Arthur came to deal the finishing blow to him, flying as his enemy uppercutted him with his weapon. As Arthur and Elphie worked together to take down more and more enemies, the Nohrian army found the number of their enemies was dwindling gradually due to the two vassals' efforts.
"Whew, Hoshido's army sure is pretty big," Elphie said with a slightly weary sigh. "Size isn't everything though; they'll need more than this to dent our ranks."
"Not that we would wish for more for that to happen," Arthur said. "I'd rather this conflict be buried between us with as little casualties on both sides, but alas here we are."
"Me too, but we gotta make sure we don't get carried away. As soon as we find a healer we'll get that arm of yours treated."
"Already working on it!" A familiar voice said. The two Nohrians turned around and found the royal family standing right behind them with the other vassals assembled. Elise had a heal staff on her and pooled some of her latent magic into it, releasing it as a pulse of light that bathed Arthur in it. The fighter's arm wound disappeared in record time and it felt like it was never there at all.
"Many thanks my fair lady," Arthur said giving a polite bow to the young princess "The entire royal family has assembled I see, though I don't see Sirs Gunther and Jakob or Ladies Felicia and Flora anywhere."
"Gunther and Flora are with the rest of the army up ahead, Jakob's on his way right now, and Felicia is…" Elise trailed off not wanting to break the news to her vassals but Leon spoke up for her.
"Felicia was exiled not too long ago," Leon said, "and our spies have reported that the royal family of Hoshido has taken her in." Arthur and Elphie did not hear the news about Felicia earlier, nor did the other vassals, and the looks on their faces was nothing short of pure shock. "She currently serves our brother Kamui. Fitting, isn't it, for a Nohrian prince to be attended to by a Nohrian vassal even while in Hoshidan custody."
"While Kamui has grounds to return to Nohr," Xander said, "Felicia is unfortunately prohibited from returning to us as a legal citizen. She must either be captured as a prisoner or somehow smuggled back in without father knowing."
"How did she get exiled?" Elphie asked, "and how long ago was it?"
"Father deemed her too much of a liability and a threat to Corrin after the battle at the Bottomless Canyon. It was…disconcerting to see her tossed out so."
"Oh my goodness, that's terrible…"
"Flora and Kylma were present when it occurred," Camilla said. "No doubt the incident wounded them greatly…And here we are, about to do battle with Felicia."
"Felicia's purportedly absent from the battle," Leon stated. "She and another of Kamui's retainers—Suzukaze—were injured in Corrin's assassination attempt back in Hoshido and they're possibly still recovering, just like Jakob. Who knows if we'll end up seeing them in battle today."
"What's this talk about me that I hear?" A man's voice asked. Corrin was the first to turn her head and saw one of her loyal vassals Jakob, looking as crisp and sharp as ever.
"J-Jakob? I…I mean, it is…good to see you well," Corrin greeted as curtly as she could with a bow, though everyone knew how much she wanted to crush Jakob with a hug instead. "I trust that you are aware of the current situation?"
"Of course milady. A butler's work is never done it seems; I am fully prepared to assist you in taking out the trash." The butler flashed his lethally crafted tableware to get his point across, and without batting an eye (much less turning his head) he flung the tableware behind him at a divine mage who was in hiding, taking their head off with a lunar-powered toss. A second later the razor-sharp tray re-materialized in his hand, and though his arm felt heavy afterwards he knew he was fine. "For you, there shall be no other servant greater than I milady."
"A bold declaration Jakob, but you do know that I prefer you to go out and prove it."
"Now that we're all here we should devise a strategy for dealing with the Hoshidan royal family," Selena said. "Does anyone have any bright ideas other than myself of course?"
"We already did the strategizing before you guys got here," Leon answered. "We're taking on our 'counterparts' so to speak, so the rest of you will fight the retainers. You're smart people, so you shouldn't have any problems with who to go for."
"Well what about me your highnesses?" A rough man's voice came. "What are my orders?" A bald ulfhedinn with dark armor approached the group, sending chills down their spines with his presence.
"Ghans?" Xander said incredulously. "But, you were incarcerated…How…?"
"Looks like your old man still has some uses for me after all. I've been granted an entire battalion of troops just itching to tear up some Hoshidan hide." Ghans gave each person present a look on his face that meant he was ready for a slaughterhouse.
"Your orders are simply to do battle with the main army of Hoshido," Corrin told him with a tense voice. "Take no hostages and leave no survivors, but if I ever catch you doing anything remotely similar to what you did back at the Bottomless Canyon…you will wish father had kept you in the dungeon."
"And if I told you that I'm acting entirely on King Garon's orders like last time?"
"Then I will speak with father to confirm it for myself, and you will be right beside me when I do."
"Heh, as you say your highness." Ghans looked back toward his troops and gave a thunderous command. "You heard her you lot! Kill every single Hoshidan you can find; not one of them is to be left alive!" The chatter of the troops was that of excitement among several of them, and Ghans raised his killer axe high while howling furiously in mania. "Death to all Hoshidan trash‼" Many of the troops repeated Ganz's actions and all of them made a mad dash behind him as he charged off into the distance, leaving the royal family and their vassals exasperated.
"Father truly baffles me on occasions like this…" Xander groaned.
"Don't we all feel like that nowadays?" Leon spoke in kind. "Anyways, we have a battle to take care of. Stick to the plan, but in the worst case scenario be prepared to make a full retreat. Let's go." The Nohrians held their weapons in a knightly fashion and marched toward the other side of the plains' dried up river to wrap up the conflict.
Theme: EGDELWONK
Minutes later the Hoshidan side of the war was still faring decently against some of the Nohrian army, though they knew that they needed to pull out a game-changing move and fast. The royal family had cleared the plains of more Nohrian soldiers and were pushing back against the invasion as hard as they could while gradually advancing to the dried up river through a forest. Their army's tactician—Yukimura—had finally arrived to join the fray and aside of the reinforcements he brought with him he brought along two other figures who were very much needed in the battle: a male ninja and a maid knight.
"Suzukaze! Felicia!" Kamui exclaimed. "You guys pulled through!"
"Thank Hydra above for a speedy recovery," Suzukaze said. "With everyone else out here doing everything they can to halt the invasion I simply couldn't sit this battle out."
"I'm better off battling out here than staying behind to do some chores," Felicia added. "And…I wanted to help pay you all and the queen back for letting me stay with you. I may be fighting against my former allies and my family, but, I won't sit around while innocent people are in danger. And I know that Nohr needs help badly but what they're doing isn't right."
"Huh? Nohr needs help?" Ryouma asked. "What for?" With that everyone's eyes turned to the Nohrian-turned-Hoshidan maid. Felicia shifted nervously from having so many people staring at her, not helping was that she was a Nohrian in Hoshidan territory. Despite not wanting to really answer the question she knew wiser, and she took in a deep breath to explain what she knew.
"Nohr is…well, to make a long story short we're running out of resources fast. Not enough goods can be produced at the same rate that they go away, and some of the stuff we have are hand-me-downs from previous generations, like my dress. At least two dozen others wore it before me, and that was before it shrunk to where most others couldn't wear it anymore. Even the royal family all wear armor and clothes that someone else wore except for King Garon."
"So let me get this straight: you Nohrians—excuse me, I mean, these Nohrians attacked us because they need resources badly?" Takumi asked. "If that was the case then why didn't they just up and ask us for them in the first place instead of this? We'd have given them enough to get them back on their own feet."
"I…I really don't know that myself. The royal family mentioned something about 'getting even' with Hoshido, but I don't know what that means."
"'Getting even' with us? What did we ever do to them?"
"I wouldn't know that either. Honestly. You don't seem like bad people so maybe there was just some misunderstanding."
"Tch, if anything we're getting even with them for these attacks, but I'll talk about that later if we live through this…*sigh*…Anyways…is there anything you wanted to report to us Sir Yukimura?"
"Not much Lord Takumi. These reinforcement troops are the only capable ones I could gather back at the capital, and while they need some improvement here and there they're efficient enough to assist us in this battle. Are there any specific orders you would wish for us to carry out?"
"Um, not really," Kamui said. "You can head over to where the main army is fighting and keep a close eye on the troops. We'll be there soon after we deal with the royal family if they're not already headed that way. Or if you want, you can stick with us. We don't really mind either way."
"A nice suggestion Lord Kamui. Does anybody else have something else they wish to say?"
"I don't," Ryouma said.
"Nor do I," Hinoka said.
"Do whichever you feel is the best course of action," Takumi said. "You are our tactician after all."
"Very well then. I believe that you are all capable enough without my help, so I will head to where the rest of our troops are and assist them against these invaders."
"May the Dawn Dragon's protection be with you Sir Yukimura," Sakura said to the man.
"May they also extend their protection to you all as well. Be strong everyone." The puppeteer gave the royals a salute and with a tug of his wrist he kicked his puppet mount into gear. The mechanical beast carried its rider off into the distance, and the Hoshidan royal family decided to have one last recap before they went to face their enemies.
"Okay, this is it guys," Takumi said. "Ryouma, Hinoka, I know that you two already have everything figured out. Sakura, I really don't have to tell you this, but you should hang back for a bit and let Tsubaki and Kazahana do the fighting. Help them if possible, but stay out of enemy range if you can."
"Okay." Sakura said.
"Kazahana, Tsubaki, you know what you'll be doing?"
"As if you need to ask us!" Kazahana replied.
"We're experienced soldiers Lord Takumi," Tsubaki said. "I mean no disrespect but with us there's truly no real need for a recap."
"I understand that part," Takumi said. "It's just in me to check and make sure. And last but not least, we have you Kamui. So, what's your plan?"
"I'm going straight for Corrin. I'll try using my wakizashi against her for an early ranged advantage, and I'll only use my dragonstone when necessary. Suzukaze, Felicia, when I engage Corrin up close, chip at her with your weapons from a safe distance while I keep her occupied. When she's too tired to fight that's when we'll get her back."
"As you wish Lord Kamui," Suzukaze said with a bow.
"Wait, we're capturing Corrin?" Felicia asked in confusion.
"Yes," Kamui answered. "She's my twin sister who was kidnapped from our late mother long ago."
"Wh-What? You…you mean that?"
"Of course."
"I…But I thought that…" Felicia was clearly confused by this revelation and she had trouble believing the man, but he went on with his explanation.
"King Garon of Nohr kidnapped Corrin from our mother, and he would have kidnapped me too had my father not been there to stop him. I'm assuming that you know Corrin?"
"Yes, I do. She was my mistress back when I still lived in Nohr. She was a kind person underneath her cold exterior, so it's a little jarring to hear that she's the one who was responsible for that attack."
"I wasn't that surprised that she would do something that rotten," Takumi said, "but there's no place for that discussion here; we'll save that for later. Anyways, we all have a solid battle plan against the Nohrian royals, and that's good. If things get really hairy we might need to pull out for a little then dive back in when we're ready. With that said, let's kick these invaders outta here!" The Hoshidans gave a fist pump and marched toward the river for battle, though none of them noticed that they had a secret audience. Out from behind the trees emerged their very targets, already geared up for their inevitable showdown.
"How cute," Corrin snorted. "The Hoshidans are capable of strategizing after all."
"With someone like Takumi around, they'd have little problems in that department," Leon said. "The other guy that left is their tactician, Yukimura. Guess where Takumi gets his smarts from."
"That nerdy looking guy?" Selena asked. "Eh, I've known better tacticians than him."
"Never underestimate any prestigious tactician Selena," Laslow said. "They're infamous for accomplishing the seemingly impossible."
"Especially if they're the type that fights in the forefront of the battle," Odinn said. "They're pretty confident that they'll win if they're doing that."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Selena said. "So, when are going after them?"
"Let's give them a minute to ease themselves," Leon said. "They won't expect us coming from behind since they don't know that we already crossed over." The Hoshidans had a comfortable pace making the Nohrians rather impatient for Leon's signal, but he would not keep them there for long after half a minute passed. "Aaaannd…right about…now. Alright people, they're about to cross the river. Let's get a move on." The Nohrians slowly made their way out of the forest and maintained a slow pace to not cause alarm so soon. Once they got closer Leon gave them the command to break into a sprint. The Hoshidans were just about to cross when Kamui heard the sounds of feet trotting, hooves galloping, and wings flapping rapidly in unison.
"Hm? You guys hear that?" Kamui asked. "That sounds like a lot of soldiers making speed."
"I hear it too," Ryouma said. "It's getting louder."
"And it sounds a lot like it's—"
"Move out the way!" Takumi said cutting Hinoka off. When everyone turned around they saw the Nohrian forces gunning for them, catching them by surprise. They ran as fast as they could to avoid getting struck down by the incoming party and moved to the side. The Nohrians kept going into the dried river and put on their brakes so that they could face their opponents.
Theme: ENDLESS NIGHTMARE
With both parties finally in each other's presence there were many glares to be had between the differing factions, with the atmosphere immediately tensing up.
"We meet again, Hoshidans," Xander spoke. "I hope you haven't forgotten that we have a score to settle with one another."
"Damn straight we've a score to settle!" Ryouma yelled. "The duel may have been ruined earlier, but you being here is a sign that you didn't turn tail and run after all."
"We never run from a battle unless absolutely necessary," Camilla said. "We always get the job done."
"That doesn't make you any more honorable, Nohrians," Hinoka said.
"Maybe, but we're no less than you in any case," Leon countered. "We're probably more so given the circumstances between us as of late."
"You, more honorable than us?" Takumi scoffed. "You've no right to claim any sort of honor you treacherous blackhearts!"
"Hey, we're no blackhearts!" Elise shouted. "Sure, this is a thing, but I swear that we have some proper justification for this!"
"Then what is it?" Sakura asked. "What could possibly justify the horrific things you did to our people? What have they done to deserve this?!"
"You know exactly what you've done…" Corrin snarled at the Hoshidans with toxins laced in her voice. "I won't waste our precious time explaining to you what you're responsible for. We're conquering Hoshido and we're taking back everything you robbed our people of."
"We have no idea what you're talking about," Kamui said, "but we'll find out about that after we defeat you. The Kingdom of Hoshido will not fall to your forces!"
"Are you truly certain of that?" Xander questioned. "You have yet to fully prepare yourselves to face the wrath of Nohr's elites. Brothers and sisters in arms…attack‼"
Theme: THORN IN YOU (ROAR)
At Xander's command the Nohrians rushed at the Hoshidans while the latter braced for impact. The former went straight for their specified targets and began pushing them apart from each other with their attacks, singling them out. Takumi realized what they were doing but Leon stopped him from accomplishing anything by casting Brynhildr near him.
"Not on my watch pal," Leon said. "I'M your opponent today."
'Damn, this isn't good,' Takumi thought sourly. 'The Nohrians are countering us and we can't break away. I hope that we can pull through against these odds.'
"Say, Is that your dual daikyuu over there?" Takumi was confused for a moment and looked off to the side, where his weapon had apparently dropped. The archer didn't try to retrieve it right away thinking that Leon had a trap to spring. "I guess it isn't since you don't look like you're in a hurry to go and grab it." Takumi refused to answer Leon and prepared a spellbane arrow, ready to bolt to his dropped weapon after he attacked. Leon caught on to this, and a simple flick of his wrist he cast Brynhildr again. He aimed directly for the dual daikyuu that Takumi was sure to use against him, destroying the weapon with the magical trees. Shocked at seeing one of his biggest saving graces gone so easily, Takumi turned to the smug-smiled prince to glare daggers at him. "I guess it was yours after all. Oh well, looks like you didn't really need it did you?"
"…I suppose not," Takumi said. "I only need one daikyuu to drop your pasty ass anyhow." Leon immediately scowled upon Takumi finishing his sentence, and whatever sense of mercy may have been left in him vanished. While Leon charged his spell, Takumi had a change of heart concerning what weapon to use; he switched from his spellbane hamakyuu to his Fuujinkyuu, deducting that Leon would counter him with the swords he had with him. By the time he drew a wind arrow from his bow, Leon had finished charging Brynhildr and was ready to attack. As soon as Takumi made it look like he would let go Leon lightly tapped his horse with his boot making the horse dodge to the left, but Takumi outsmarted him and altered his aim before actually letting go of the arrow. The projectile hit the prince dead center just as Takumi had planned.
'Clever dick…' Leon thought. He was just about to cast Brynhildr on Takumi, but the archer was already geared to dodge; thus Leon held his spell back until he spotted an opening. Takumi looked like he would evade to the left and had another arrow ready, but Leon did not want to be tricked a second time so he had to think fast. Remembering the number one weakness of any bow wielder Leon signaled to his horse what they were to do next. Takumi decided to attack Leon in his impatience, but Leon's steed suddenly bolted at him before he could let his arrow go. The arrow missed Leon and the sable knight cast his spell in a much different manner than what he had previously done. The spell was used on his free arm, coating it in wood and leaves to shape what looked like a sword, and with it Leon slashed past Takumi's bow arm without stopping.
"Gahhh‼" Takumi screamed out, almost dropping his weapon. He tried to fight through the pain and tugged on his Fuujinkyuu's string, conjuring another wind arrow from it. Leon's steed turned around for another attack, but Takumi decided to wait for his opponent to come to him. When Leon tried to slice him a second time, Takumi rolled out of the way at the last second and let his arrow fly at Leon's back. The arrow almost hit the sable knight in his neck drawing out a pained gasp, and the force was enough to make him slide off of his horse. "Game over you pasty cracker!" Leon had a trick up his sleeve however; from where he laid he pointed his sword arm out to Takumi, and with a single chant the wood that covered Leon's arms flew at the Hoshidan in a flechette storm formation. Takumi tried dodging the projectiles as he fired his arrow but a few of them buried themselves in his right side, including his bow arm. Leon on the other hand was not hit fatally thanks to Takumi's aim being altered, though he knew that he wouldn't last too long without any healing agents. His horse had finally returned to him, and with her help he managed to sit back atop her. Once he was stable again Leon flashed a scowl at Takumi who was giving him an intense glare himself.
"I'd like if you didn't spit out any more ethnic slurs at me Hoshidan." Leon said.
"Yeah, well to Hell with what you like," Takumi growled out. "You're nothing but pond scum, and you deserve nothing more than burning hate for your deeds." Leon didn't respond to Takumi's statement at all, simply taking a deep breath to compose himself. It didn't work too well.
"…You had best written a will somewhere."
"My will is for all of you evil, rat bastards to burn…" That was the straw that broke the camel's back. Leon could take Takumi bad mouthing him to a degree, but hearing Takumi write his people off as evil and after everything he heard the Hoshidans do to them made him want to beat Takumi to death with his bare hands. His composure gave way to rage, and the violet flames blazed wildly to match his disposition. Takumi didn't falter from the sight and in spite of his injuries he shot at the enraged prince; the wind arrow accomplished nothing aside of pissing Leon off further when he merely dodged the projectile. '…Should've seen that one coming,' Takumi thought. Leon cast Brynhildr on himself again, this time forging a sharp gauntlet from the magic botany.
"I've had enough of you cur." Leon said. "Prepare yourself for the scourge of the Nohrian peoples, and pray that whatever god you believe in will have mercy on your soul."
"Bring it." Takumi said challenging the dark knight.
As Takumi and Leon were about to clash more, Hinoka circled around Camilla in the sky, ready to strike should she see an opening. Green winds gusted around Hinoka and a violet flame hugged Camilla's figure tightly, and the image the display brought created an even more stark contrast between the two princesses.
Hinoka's tenma charged at Camilla while she brandished a guard naginata, but Camilla barely moved herself out of the way, taking a stab to her leg. Camilla attempted to counterattack Hinoka with her lustrous axe, but she missed by a large margin. Hinoka successfully struck Camilla in her torso when she came back around, almost causing her to falter.
"Oof…well now, you certainly aren't playing games are you?" Camilla said ignoring her injuries. "I'm almost impressed princess."
"Keep your patronizing noise to yourself," Hinoka responded.
"As you wish. Compared to what I have seen however, you have a lot of training to do before I consider you particularly powerful."
"You…!"
"Don't be so upset Hinoka; I'll gladly give you a kiss of what superior strength feels like so that you'll know what to strive for, whether in this life or the next…" Camilla flashed a sinister expression at Hinoka as she readied her next attack. The violet flames surrounding Camilla grew brighter, hotter, and larger, and they began to mix with her and her wyvern's breaths. In what seemed like a split second to Hinoka, Camilla's wyvern lunged at her before her tenma could attempt to move a significant distance away. In a desperate effort Hinoka tried ducking to avoid being hit, but Camilla altered her swing's direction and angle, slashing Hinoka and her tenma in their sides. The Hoshidan pair reeled from the attack, and they could feel the flames seep into them from the blow. "Oh come now, are we finished already? T'was only a lovetap darling."
"Don't you mock me!" Hinoka yelled, lashing out at her enemy with her guard naginata. Camilla made no effort to move, taking the full force of the attack as the weapon impaled he through her stomach. Again, the violet flames increased in their intensity and size, now becoming a blistering blaze.
"Hmph…you honestly think that this hurts me child?" Hinoka looked up at Camilla's face when she heard the words and found the older woman smiling; Camilla's smile was an eerie one and it made Hinoka shudder upon seeing it. In a flash Camilla grabbed Hinoka by the arm before yanking the other woman off of her mount, pushing the naginata further through her. The act terrified Hinoka and she tried to pull away, but Camilla's grip on her was too strong. Camilla's lips were now a breath away from those of Hinoka's and she began whispering to the other woman. "I've been in quite the skirmishes and I know what pain is; this is but a mere flesh wound to me. I can show you what it's like to feel excruciating pain; it is my specialty…" The maternal tone Camilla spoke with only served to heighten Hinoka's fear of her. Before she could attempt getting away something sharp hacked its way into her side. Her face immediately went pale and blue at the same time, and she didn't need to look to her waist to find Camilla's brave axe buried into her.
"Tell me, how badly does this sting little princess?" Camilla asked Hinoka. "Does it sting as much as I hope it does?" The Nohrian's reply was a wet cough from her enemy splattering blood onto her. "That's what I thought. I hope that this hurts you as much as what our people had to go through under your people's treatment."
"What?" Hinoka questioned. The accusation sounded ridiculous to her, but she knew better than to call the older princess a bluff. "What are you…urf, what do you mean?"
"You know exactly what I mean princess." Camilla's smiling face turned into a mildly upset glare; her serene expression concealed the fury that burned inside of her and all other Nohrians. "We had little means of healing our stricken people, yet when they came at Hoshido's doorsteps looking for comfort they were turned a blind eye by the so-called peaceful kingdom." The statement made Hinoka's eyes widen in confusion and shock, but she winced when she felt the weapon still in her partially inch out from her, reminding her that she was still in battle. "We've heard of deportations and imprisonments for refusal to leave from my father and his men. We even have a few select witnesses who can recount the tale of their time spent in Hoshido."
"That's—that's preposterous!" Hinoka tried to say in a dignified manner. "We would never do such a thing to anyone!" 'I know that Felicia mentioned "getting back at us" but if there is truly a slight between us we must look into it further. I don't want to be fighting over a misunderstanding…'
"Yet it happened regardless of your claim. Either you are bearing falsehoods at me or you are ignorant of the matter. It makes no difference which is the case however; if your people will not assist Nohr in rebuilding itself then we will simply take what we need for ourselves." Deciding that she was done talking Camilla slowly dragged her axe out from Hinoka before pulling it out of her. Camilla noticed that she kept her grip on Hinoka's arm the entire time, and she found another way to cause the princess distress. Before she could do so, Hinoka lashed out with a vicious headbutt, pushing the older princess with the surprise of the action. While Camilla was distracted, Hinoka tore herself and her weapon free from her enemy, and she jumped off of Camilla's wyvern back on to her tenma. The tenma flew away from the Nohrian pair to allow Hinoka some breathing room.
"If you call off this attack…we will investigate the matter of this and I will see to it that Nohr gets the aid it needs." Hinoka spoke as she applied her remaining vulnerary to her sides. "If not, then I'm afraid I will have to fight you off."
"You know that that is an unwise decision," Camilla replied without skipping a beat. "I have many reasons to not allow you that chance, and even if we backed out imagine the backlash this would have on our people. Father would also be very cross with the decision. I suppose this means we must fight." 'A shame really. She appears to be an earnest young woman. If I cannot avoid killing her then I'll at least make her death merciful.'
"I had a feeling you'd say that. I wanted to avoid this but fate had other plans." 'Why can't we talk this one through? I feel that there is more to this war than what it seems.' Hinoka cast a quick glance toward her comrades who were engaged with their enemies minus Sakura, and it seemed that no one was in any mood for civility. Refocusing on the battle, Hinoka readied her weapon and gave another charge at the wicked dragoon; Camilla saw the attack coming and prepared for a dodge. The attack was a feint; Hinoka's tenma dove downward instead of forward and swerved back upward behind Camilla, and Hinoka took a swift slash at Camilla's sides before her mount swerved away out of attack range. Camilla still showed little signs of pain while the flames around her grew, though Hinoka pressed on with a second strike.
"I don't think so…" Camilla reached for the hand axe on her person and wound up her arm for an attack. Hinoka noticed it and had her mount dodge the attack, but Camilla didn't throw the axe, waiting for Hinoka to attempt a counterattack. When the Hoshidan princess managed to land another blow against Camilla's back, the Nohrian princess's mount swiftly turned around as Camilla swung her hand axe at Hinoka's head with lethal intent. Hinoka quickly held her naginata in place to deflect the blow. While Camilla failed to kill her enemy she was a quick thinker, and she used her hand axe to yank the naginata out from Hinoka's grasp. After disarming her foe Camilla tried to end Hinoka again, but her attack was ducked under while Hinoka's tenma flew out of enemy range once more. Thinking quickly, Hinoka hatched a plan to disorient the revenant knight, and without warning her tenma took off on the opposite direction. "And just where do you think you're going?" Camilla's wyvern gave chase after the Hoshidans and Camilla switched to a tomahawk to snipe her fleeing opponents. Before she knew it however, Hinoka was making a large number of sharp turns while flying, and Camilla knew her wyvern wasn't as fast as Hinoka's tenma nor was her aim particularly good when dealing with flying targets.
"Nice try princess," Hinoka shouted back in a mocking tone before making a sharp dive bomb toward the ground. Camilla mimicked the action and found herself headed straight for Nohr's own soldiers, right in the middle of the outlaw line units. With the memory of her last encounter with a bow-wielder fresh in her mind she abruptly halted her descent right above them. Hinoka on the other hand made a bold maneuver through the soldiers at a low altitude, cleaving through a few of them with her crimson naginata. Camilla could see the other princess's movements as she weaved through the crowd and gave chase above ground. She lowered herself slightly but slowed her flight when Hinoka also slowed herself. Faster than Camilla could anticipate, Hinoka made an upside-down U-turn and stabbed Camilla in her forearm, forcing Camilla to drop her tomahawk to the ground. Hinoka wasn't finished yet, turning around and stabbing Camilla through her other shoulder with another upside-down U-turn motion, dropping her to the ground and flying off to the rest of her siblings.
"That princess…perhaps I underestimated her," Camilla gasped out. "But as clever as that little trick was, she's sorely mistaken to think that I'm through with her yet." She clutched her custom-made axe with her less injured arm and commanded her wyvern to pursuit Hinoka, exploding in fire as they took off.
"Phew, at least she'll be less of a threat," Hinoka sighed. "I'd hate to kill her now, and now to get back to my comrades." As she sped back to the location of her original battle a whistling sound caught her ears, and a blazing figure rushed past her before stopping. Hinoka flinched from the sight, believing Camilla to be too injured to continue. "I…but, how…"
"I find it cute that you thought me to be out of commission so soon, but mistakes like that come with a hefty punishment…" Camilla put on another eerie smile for a brief moment as a deadly flame poured out from her lips, and she and her mount caught fire as they rose up high to slam down on the Hoshidans.
Meanwhile, Sakura kept her distance from the fighting going on. She was very much scared of dying out in the plains, yet she was much more scared of losing anyone in the war. Her fears of the latter and her dislike of being left behind overpowered her fear of dying, and they drove her to make frequent trips near the battlefield despite being told to stay away from it all. As she neared an injured Kazahana, the samurai suddenly moved out of the way of a dashing Arthur; it was less "dashing" and more "skidding along the ground face first", making the priestess jump back a fair distance.
"Eep!" Sakura yelped. The priestess moved out of the man's immediate sight, and much to her fortune he didn't notice her as he stood back up. He immediately jumped back at Kazahana who dodged his attack and delivered one of her own, tearing through his once-pristine cape and his back. Sakura herself focused her magic energies into her Autumn Festival rod, surrounding herself in o-fuda and bronze leaves before transferring her built up magic energy into Kazahana. Arthur noticed the glow of revitalization and suspected Sakura to be nearby. Kazahana struck him again in his brief distraction, but he recovered from it quickly and retaliated with a clean swipe at Kazahana's leg, following his attack up with a horizontal slash across Kazahana's stomach. He would have struck her again had she not shoulder tackle him into the dried river, Kazahana watching the man tumble like a rag-doll amidst a storm of "ow" and "ouch". She grinned at the comical sight, but it didn't last as Arthur had enough skill to snipe her with a hand axe in her other leg, causing the samurai to fall in with him.
"Kazahana!" Sakura had seen her bestie almost die once and she rushed up to the river to pull her out. She suddenly couldn't feel herself moving forward or on the ground for that matter, and before she knew it she was magically whisked away by some unknown force. When her senses returned to her, she was greeted with the sight of Elise who wore a rather sad smile on her face.
"E-Elise?" Sakura asked. She wondered if it was an apparition of some sort.
"Sorry for doing this Sakura, but…" Elise apologized trailing off before resuming her sentence, "you're coming with us."
"Wha—But, how…" Sakura looked to Elise's hands and found a peculiar staff in them fading from prior use. A scary thought came to her and she looked behind her; she found her siblings and comrades battling in the river but their positions were switched from when she last saw them. "Did…did you…?"
"Yeah, and I really don't want to do it, but we have to win this war for our people."
"But, we don't—" Sakura was silenced when she felt a strange magical sensation hit her legs, and she looked down to find a magic sigil beneath her feet; she tried moving but found herself unable to do so. Obscene fear crept into her and she turned to find the culprit responsible: she saw two other figures approaching her—a lilac-haired, elderly man donning obsidian heavy armor seated atop of an equally armored horse and a blue-haired woman who was almost a spitting image of Felicia holding an icy-blue staff in her hand.
"I'd rather not take hostages, let alone you of all people Princess Sakura," the woman said, "but with you in our custody this conflict will end much sooner and our people will be closer to escaping the nightmare."
"We promise that no harm will come to you," the elderly man said. "We do not know when you'll be released but it should not be far off in the future."
"No…" Sakura's voice quivered as her captors closed in, desperately thinking of a way to escape. She remembered that she had a couple of rods on her, and she pulled one in particular out in a hurry. The two Nohrians stopped short when they saw the rod that Sakura pulled out on them, eyes widening in surprise.
"Is that the—"
"The Condemn rod…" the great knight confirmed for the maid. "E-Easy now, we don't intend to harm you, only to—"
"No," Sakura said. "I will not be another kingdom's leverage tool. Let me go, or else…" Sakura tried to sound resolute but she couldn't keep the fear out of her voice. She even pointed her rod at the Nohrians causing each one to back away from her, hoping to get her message clear. "If you don't let me go, my brothers and sister will find me, and they will do more than hurt you. I can't fight, but I can still do some damage with this rod."
"I'm truly sorry Princess Sakura, but an enemy is an enemy," the maid said apologetically. "We won't hurt you, but you are not going anywhere except Nohr unless the Hoshidan army surrenders."
"Fine," Sakura channeled her magic energy into the rod and took aim at the maid. Black and red magic generated around the rod's head and an eerie laughter rang out from the weapon. She noticed the great knight creeping up on her and quickly shifted her aim toward him, halting his advance. With the two older Nohrians in front of Sakura, she couldn't see Elise sneaking around the two ready to snatch Sakura's rod. The moment she was close enough Elise's horse lunged at Sakura while Elise outstretched her free arm. Sakura, in a startle, snapped to Elise's direction and let the magic blast loose, hitting Elise dead in her chest and knocking her flat off of her horse.
"Lady Elise!" the elderly man yelled. Both he and his maid partner rushed over to the fallen princess. Sakura could feel the magic in her legs beginning to dissipate, and began wiggling her legs as much as possible to free herself. The maid noticed Sakura and aimed her newly acquired Silence staff at the princess. It was an error in judgement; even though she meant to keep the priestess from using her rods it left her legs free to allow an escape. Immediately Sakura made a fun-for toward the river.
"No!" the maid shouted. "Gunter, let me take care of Elise, Sakura is escaping!"
"Of course Flora," the man responded, hoping onto his horse and chasing after the running priestess. Sakura ran as fast as she could to get away, and almost tripped to the ground, but the knight had enough stamina to chase Sakura to the ends of the earth if need be. Right before Gunter could corner Sakura, a lone shuriken flew at him at a high speed, nicking him and his horse in an unarmored section of their attire. The shuriken immediately did a number on their aged frames, slowing them down enough to where Sakura could outrun them both. Almost out of nowhere, the bespectacled form of Yukimura placed himself and his puppet mount between Sakura and Gunter, ready to launch another shuriken at his superior's pursuer.
"You shall not pass!" Yukimura bellowed. "Lady Sakura will not be your bargaining chip!"
"Yukimura…thank you…" Sakura smiled at the man who gave her a confident nod, and she hightailed it out of the area while he stayed behind to fend off the Nohrian great knight. Further back, Elise was barely managing to stand, Flora's staves having had no effect on her.
"I'm real sorry about that Miss Flora…" Elise said in a shaky voice. "I thought I was worm food for a second."
"Please do be more careful in the actions you take," Flora said.
"I will."
"At the very least, you're learning how to fight like your siblings. I can calm down a little knowing that."
"Aw…"
"I'll stay with you from until this battle is over. Is that alright with you?"
"Sure!"
"Lady Elise?" a rough voice called out. Elise and Flora turned to the voice and found four soldiers standing attention: one was a tall man wearing thick black armor, another was a scantily clad woman brandishing a rather bloody axe, another was a young-looking woman dressed in dark mage robes, and another was a sharp-dressed man who bore wolfish features on him.
"Sir Benoit? Miss Charlotte?" Flora questioned. "I thought you two were stationed near the borders. What is this?"
"King Garon is sending every able-bodied fighter in the realm into this fight," Benoit responded. "We are here to aid you in the battle any way possible."
"We may not look much for a couple of border guards, but rest assured we are capable enough to send these Hoshidans running home," Charlotte said. "We've also brought two new additions to the army."
"Oh?" Flora took a look at the two newcomers, finding them capable looking enough. She knew not to judge on appearances alone though, and had doubts that they would serve the army well. "I'm a little skeptical about this decision, but I will try to have faith in them. May I have your names?"
"Nyx Tartarus," the dark mage said. "If you have need of me, then I will not disappoint you."
"That's comforting to hear," Flora said. "And you sir?"
"Name's Keaton Flannel Bigby," the man said. "I've got my whole pack with me too just in case. They've been itching for a fight for a long time, and this'll be a good time for them to bare their claws and fangs, literally."
"You're a Loup-garou?" Flora questioned. "Interesting. Very well then, you two are to assist us in defeating the Hoshidan army. Simple as that."
"As you command miss," Nyx said with a nod.
"Sure thing miss!" Flannel said giving her a thumbs up.
"Good, now let's proceed."
Once Sakura was safe in familiar arms for the moment she was almost swarmed by a purple-haired divine mage and a blue-haired kinshi warrior, the latter of whom looked especially worried.
"Are you alright little lady?" the blue-haired woman asked. "They didn't hurt you in any fashion have they?"
"No, though they did try to take me away," Sakura answered.
"The nerve of those hooligans. This wouldn't have been their second kidnapping neither."
"Ai, ai, ai…Must we despair constantly about this little scuffle my dear Yuugiri?" the purple-haired woman said. "The Nohrians are very strong, yes, but we must be even stronger in the face of adversity. They have yet to witness the true spirit of the warriors of Hoshido, passed down through our kin for many generations."
"With all due respect Lady Orochi, we mustn't take this battle lightly. One little slip up could cost us more than what we have lost during the battle for the capital. I know I am one to talk but I've not seen a battle so charged with tension in a long time; I'd normally be out there slicing our foes into beautiful red ribbons, but I'm not feeling my usual self."
"Yes, yes, I am well aware of that. But do remember that an attitude taken to the opposite spectrum shall do us no wonders either. We must strike a balance within the center to achieve a decisive victory."
"Are we done dillydallying here?" another woman asked the group of three.
"Ah, Miss Rinka," Orochi greeted. "What news do you bring us?" The newcomer woman was tanned and toned with a fierce warrior's face, brandishing a large ogre's kanabou in her hand.
"Kamikaze Hayato of the Wind Tribe is here, fighting the Nohrian army alongside the Hoshidan army," Rinka said, surprising the other three ladies.
"Really?" Orochi said. "I had figured the Wind Tribe to be a neutral faction in this war."
"They are;" Rinka answered. "Hayato's here acting independent of his tribe's stance."
"Interesting…"
"Anyways, are we ready to go back out into the battle and fight? Or do you ladies need more time here?"
"We're ready whenever we're ready Miss Rinka."
"And that would be?"
"Now."
"Good. We need less talking and more crushing of these insects." Rinka darted off with her weapon in hand shouting a mighty war cry, leaving the other three Hoshidans in the dust. Before they left another figure had approached them.
"Hey-oh Hoshidans," the man greeted, sporting what looked like a fox tail and ears. "I heard that you all needed some help in driving the Nohrians out of Hoshido?"
"Why yes," Orochi answered with a clap of her hands. "Pray tell, are you here to lend us a helping hand my good sir?"
"Mmm-hmm. My name's Inari Nishiki, leader of the Kitsune Hamlet in Hoshido. I'd feel that I wouldn't be doing my homeland a good service if I had sat by. I've brought some of my best warriors for this battle to give us all that extra edge in this war."
"Well, well, your sense of duty is quite admirable Mister Nishiki. We would all be very grateful for you and your tribe's helping hands. Seems that the divine dragon is smiling down upon us this day are they not?"
"Looks like it," Sakura said perking up. "Maybe we'll win this war after all!"
The sound of steel gnashing against each other resounded throughout the plains more than any other sound did; the blades themselves were Ryouma's Raijintou and Xander's Siegfried. As the two princes locked themselves in combat with each other, heated words of anger over the other's actions spilled forth from the two; Ryouma had denied Xander's accusations of maltreatment of the Nohrian peoples and the kidnapping of Kamui, equally having his own arguments of unjust manslaughter and the kidnapping of Corrin fall on deaf ears. After a while, neither prince was making any significant progress in defeating each other. Back and forth they traded blows that were parried with nigh impeccable timing despite how they were able to hand a single hit on each other earlier, and whenever Xander switched over to his signature spear Ryouma would counter him with his dual katana, effectively rendering the fight in Ryouma's favor in such an instance. Thus they battled on a plane equal with one another.
"I must admit Prince Ryouma," Xander spoke striking at Ryouma only to be parried, "I've not met a swordsman as proficient and refined such as yourself. I daresay that you are akin to an equal of mine."
"You're not bad yourself," Ryouma replied throwing out a kick and a slash that were blocked and parried respectively. "Whatever it is you Nohrians do out in Nohr, it's clear that you aren't playing games. You're the closest that I can call an equal of a sort."
"I fear that neither of us are advancing however. We Nohrians are here to be victorious, yet this stalemate is dragging out for far too long for either of us to gain any sort of advantage."
"I don't mind it so much. While we don't have the upper hand yet, neither do you, and that much is good enough for now."
"Hmph, I see. Don't expect it to remain this way for long though. One of us will tire out before the other, and it will not be me. Nohr is an irresistible force, and you're only delaying the inevitable."
"And Hoshido is the immovable object; you can push and push against us but we will not budge."
While the eldest royals reinvigorated their struggle against each other, two other royals were having at it against their rivals, and their vassals were about to do battle for the sake of their masters and kingdoms.
"'Tis a pitiful sight to see here Felicia," Jakob spoke holding his chin in his gauntlet. "You, standing against your own people for our sworn enemies…I wonder how the rest of your Ice Tribe kinfolk back home would take such news."
"I know that they won't be proud of me, but what's done is done Jakob," Felicia told him sadly. "I can't return to my family no matter what happens; the king won't allow it."
"Unless you're brought to him as a prisoner of war of course. You may not be tried for treason by now, but you will be tried as an enemy of Nohr and sentenced to whatever the king deems fit for you this time. You stand directly in opposition of our goals while supporting these cretins, and it would be a miracle if you will be granted any sliver of mercy from anyone, even from your own sister. Are you truly willing to doom yourself to face such repercussions of aiding the evil?" Felicia stood in silence, knowing that her life was never going to be the same from that day on. She did not believe that the Hoshidans were bad people like others have said, and though she knew that Nohr was in desperate emergency of resources she would not support their actions. With her mind made up she gave Jakob her answer.
"…Yes. I'm ready to face whatever happens to me. No matter what you'll say, I've made my choice: I will fight for the people of Hoshido." Jakob gave the girl an intense glare hearing her response, rage and disgust bubbling up inside of him at Felicia's willingness to turn on her own people, and he took a took a deep breath to gather himself.
"…Hmph, so be it then. You would choose to risk your life for the sake of these people who care not a whit for you, knowing what they had done to our people and knowing what we're fighting for. Or, perhaps you're being "convinced" by them to be their obedient service wench? You always were such a naïve little girl, easy to bend under pressure. Regardless of what the case is, I will be the one to personally drag you back to your former home, on your knees before the king himself, and he will decide your fate for your actions."
"Felicia is not going back to Nohr with you," Suzukaze spoke standing up for Felicia. "She had told us of the circumstances behind her exile, and I will not allow her to go back only to be subject to more pointless suffering."
"Truly now? Well you do not have a say in the matter Suzukaze, and you're more foolish than I thought to think that either of you are on par with me. And this 'pointless' suffering you speak of? Felicia's misery is brought on entirely because of her own incompetence, and as everyone else does she must pay for her incompetencies with any fit punishment."
"She will not pay for another's error. I and the others who truly care for her will be certain that she won't."
"Suzukaze…th-thank you…really, that means a lot to me," Felicia said with a grateful smile.
"You are most welcome Felicia," Suzukaze replied with an identical expression.
"Very well then," Jakob began, "enjoy each other's company while you still can. You'll all experience the wrath of the Nohrian peoples, and I promise you that you will beg for me to put you into the dirt where you belong…" Jakob drew forth a freeze staff and cast it immediately at Felicia, goading her into dodging toward the "wrong" spot. The maid was frozen on the spot in an uncomfortable position, toning down her infamous skill with breaking dagger and shuriken wielders. The Nohrian butler turned his aim toward Suzukaze next, yet the Hoshidan ninja was already closing the distance between the two men. In a heartbeat he switched from his freeze staff to a steel dagger, deflecting his enemy's weaker attack. Suzukaze did not let up however, using his new momentum to slash across the chest of his opponent lightly before backing off. The Nohrian butler flung his steel dagger at the greenette to catch him as he recovered, but the ninja was too evasive for him to score a hit. That wasn't a problem in reverse however, with the Hoshidan ninja flinging his gale-needle at Jakob's leg and successfully landing a hit and backing away once again.
"Cursed ninja…" Jakob muttered. 'He'll slip up sooner or later…he's too cautious to follow through with full offense…' The butler's injuries were relatively minor and he was still capable enough to fight back, dodging Suzukaze's attack and waiting for him to attempt to get away. With his opponent now in the process of catching themselves, Jakob ran up to him and tripped Suzukaze before pinning him to the ground. Wasting no time, he stabbed the younger man in the back, missing his vital organs due to his struggling. It didn't take long until Jakob had Suzukaze at his mercy, but before the Nohrian butler could land a fatal blow on the ninja Felicia suddenly tackled him off of her partner when he sat up.
"Wha—who just…?" Suzukaze asked. He watched as Jakob throw the smaller maid off of him, and the two Nohrians stared each other down. Aside of the Nohrian maid apparently free, the other point of interest was the new weapon she held in her hand; it looked to be a dish tray made out of pure ice. Suzukaze was confused for a very brief moment until the realization came to him; Felicia was capable of bending ice. 'But how is this so? The only ones who could bend ice naturally were those of the Ice Tribe, and they were all but wiped out by Garon some time ago. Could it be that they survived somehow and relocated?'
"How did you manage to free yourself so quickly?" Jakob asked with a harsh tone.
"That's for me to know and for you to find out," Felicia answered before she rushed at him. 'Great Grandmaster Sub-Niles, father, Flora, and all of my Ice Tribe, please guide me…' Jakob jumped into the air to avoid a sliding kick from Felicia, but he left himself open for when she flung her ice tray at his leg. He landed back on the ground in a kneeling position and quickly pulled out his tableware to counter Felicia's ice tray; instead of attacking Felicia jumped behind the man while slashing down at his back. The two combatants rolled away from each other, and Jakob tossed his tableware like a discus; Felicia's response was to jump off of an ice pillar toward her opponent who hurriedly took out a silver dagger. He raised the weapon hoping to catch Felicia on it, but she summoned another ice pillar to stand on before jumping behind him. Thinking her guard to be down Jakob flung the silver dagger at the maid, missing her by a large margin even when she lunged toward him. Before he could defend himself Felicia tripped him with a second slide kick and slashed his other leg as she passed under him. Jakob's unheard-before gasp of pain gave Felicia a start as she rose to her feet, but she knew that she shouldn't let him escape while their kingdoms' warred; not wanting to hurt Jakob anymore, Felicia stood a fair distance away from him and pulled out the freeze staff she brought from Nohr. She began channeling her magic powers into the staff, but before she could finish Jakob suddenly tossed his tableware at her again, catching her by surprise and slicing at her shoulder close to her neck. He didn't succeed in cutting her arm off but it was enough to make her drop her staff to the ground. Ignoring Felicia's cry of pain Jakob bolted toward her despite his leg injuries and knocked the maid down with a shoulder dash, clutching at her throat with one hand while pinning her down. The two Nohrians eyes locked with each other's again, with one's eyes showing pain and the other's showing hatred.
"Again you best me in combat," Jakob snarled, "and again you failed to finish the fight. You may be a more capable unit surpassing me and your sister, but you lack the conviction to win; your father always warned you about such, yet even now you ignore his words. Maybe once I cut you open will you learn your lesson." Jakob then did something that brought fear into Felicia's eyes; he drew forth the dreaded and forbidden sacrificial dagger, driving it into her sides with as much ire as he could muster. Felicia could only choke out her scream as Jakob ripped the dagger out of her and slammed it into the same spot, nearly reaching her stomach inside. He went for a third stab but couldn't; Suzukaze had limped over to Jakob and impaled him near the back of his neck with the caltrop. It was enough to force the Nohrian butler off of the maid and into a laying position.
"Felicia, hold on," Suzukaze said to the steadily-losing-consciousness Felicia. "I'm getting you out of here." The ninja took off his purple shawl and wrapped it around his partner's waist before hoisting up into his arms. It hurt like Hell to carry her with his injuries but he was determined to get her to safety; he didn't make it far until Jakob started coming to, and in less than thirty seconds the butler was back on his feet, albeit with much difficulty. His tableware shimmered with a golden light, and he winded up his arm to deal a lethal blow to Suzukaze and Felicia.
"You think you've won this little skirmish?" Jakob rasped out struggling to hold his weapon in hand. "You should have checked to see if I was dead first…I will see you both in Hell‼" Suzukaze caught the words and turned to see Jakob throwing the sacrificial dagger at him and Felicia, eyes widening knowing that he couldn't evade the attack in time to save either of them. He heard another sound making its way toward him, and before he could register it he saw a figure jump in front of him. The next thing he heard was steel meeting steel.
"Not while I'm around Nohrian!" the newcomer's voice said. Suzukaze recognized it and became immensely relieved that it was none other than his lord, Kamui.
Theme: BRUCE FAULCONER—GOHAN APPEARS
"You…!" Jakob said with surprise evident in his voice. "Y-You're the lost prince of Nohr…Kamui…"
"Suzukaze, get yourself and Felicia to a healer right away!" Kamui ordered. "I'll deal with him!"
"O-Of course Master Kamui," Suzukaze responded. "Best of fortune to you." Kamui looked back and nodded at the ninja and he directed his attention to the stunned butler. With a determined look in his eyes Kamui slowly inched his way toward Jakob with a sunrise katana, and Jakob did his best to hold a combat stance with his signature weapon in hand.
"I will not allow you to carry on any further," Kamui spoke. "I do not wish to harm you, but I will if you do not stand down!" Jakob stood his ground even as Kamui stepped ever so closer, knowing that he couldn't take on the prince as he was. He simply needed to stall him until his superior arrived.
"I have been told much about you Prince Kamui," Jakob said. "You are the long lost twin brother of my mistress, Corrin. These Hoshidans, they are—"
"My family," Kamui interrupted. "I am the son of the late King Sumeragi and Queen Mikoto of Hoshido. Corrin is indeed my twin sister, but King Garon had stole her away from our family."
"What? That's preposterous; His Glory was attempting to rescue you from Queen Mikoto when—"
"Wrong sir," Kamui interrupted again. "He had tried to take us both away from our mother at an early age. I may have been young when it happened, but I could never forget that fateful day."
"You're mistaken prince; someone else must have—"
"No, sir. I've witnessed it myself," Kamui interjected. "King Garon and his men ambushed my mother, he snatched Corrin from her and attempted to do the same to me, and my father Sumeragi had come in the nick of time to drive King Garon out of Hoshido, sacrificing his life in the process. You could always tell me that I had learned of this from someone else, but I know what I saw and my eyes don't play tricks on me."
"Impossible…" Jakob was questioning how it was remotely feasible that Kamui could witness King Garon could kidnap Corrin, but before he could ponder more another person's voice brought him out of his thoughts.
"Truly now?" the person said. "Are you absolutely certain that that is what you saw? Methinks you simply misperceived the events being the child you were back then. Of course, memory manipulation is another possible explanation" Both young men were about to turn to the direction of the voice, and Kamui took a direct blast of Ragnarök, falling down to the ground. The attack surprised Jakob, and when he saw who it was he breathed a breath of relief; Corrin had arrived, and she had just cooled down from casting her tome's spell.
"Milady…I…but I thought you were—"
"I was merely distracted by some gooks for a brief moment, but they have been dealt with." Corrin heard Kamui groaning from the sneak attack and considered her next orders for Jakob. "Find Elise or another healer; you are in no current condition to continue combat."
"I—but what of—"
"Kamui?" Corrin gave the downed prince a fierce glare before returning her eyes to her vassal. "He's mine. Assist the others however you can, but you are to leave Kamui to me. Understood?" Corrin was in no way harsh or domineering with Jakob, but he understood full well to not anger her whenever Kamui was involved. He gave her a tired nod and crept away from the site as best as he could, leaving the two royals to themselves. Once Jakob had left Corrin strolled over to Kamui who had some difficulty standing up again. "Hmph, you're not so tough without your little backup vocalist, are you boy?" Corrin spoke in a tone not unlike Garon when he was royally crossed. "I do not see her with you this time…Where is she?"
"I don't know…" Kamui answered. "She's gone."
"Really now? I imagine that you expect me to believe that don't you? We fight, I become close to securing my victory against you, and lo and behold some oh-so-high-and-mighty tramp comes out of nowhere and sings a song that completely turn the tide of our battle. You would not have bested me had it not been for that wench interfering, and I'm not so easy to believe that she had completely disappeared so soon after what happened back at the capital." Corrin reached down at the prince and snatched him up by his shirt, holding him so close that their faces almost touched. "I will not ask you this again so kindly. Where. Is. She?"
"I don't know," Kamui repeated. "Honest. She left the next day after you attacked the capital, but she didn't say where she was going." At first Corrin glared white-hot daggers into Kamui before she began to calm down; if Kamui was telling the truth then at the very least he didn't have a trap to spring on her. Realizing this, Corrin's momentary anger had subsided almost as quick as it had came.
"Oh? Well then, if this lady friend of yours is truly gone, then I suppose that you have no surprises for me after all." Kamui realized the ramifications of his words and took a nervous swallow of air. Corrin noticed it and laughed softly, finally easing up knowing that her opponent knew he was in over his head. "Splendid. Well, not for you in any case. I suppose that that removes any unexpected advantages or disadvantages for us." With a smirk on her face Corrin gave Kamui a rough shove to the opposite side of her before pulling out the last thing he wanted to see: a wyrmslayer.
"Wait a minute, shouldn't we try to talk to each other and—"
"There is nothing else to say between us. My mind will not be changed and neither will yours I assume, so let's have at it then. A one-on-one duel between the two of us. I'll be certain to give you one Hell of a time my dear brother…" Kamui saw the sadistic look on Corrin's face and knew that he had to play it smart with her; he drew his sunrise katana and psyched himself up for what would be his most difficult battle yet.
Theme: YOU YAMAZAKI—WIN TOUGH FIGHT! (GUITAR VER.)
The two royals circled around each other like rival lions, watching the other's movements closely to catch any sort of error and capitalize on it. Corrin's eyes focused on Kamui's cautious and nervous expression in particular, and a plan hatched in her mind already. All she did was feign an approach, and the Hoshido prince tensed up into a defensive position almost instantly. The dusk kith couldn't help but give Kamui a mocking laugh, causing him to ease up a small margin. The moment he did Corrin's face contorted into a snarl and she lunged out toward him, and the display almost made Kamui freeze up. He readied himself for an attack, but Corrin jumped to Kamui's side right before reaching him and cast Ragnarök again. The prince dodged the attack in a hurry by rolling out of the way, though this left him open for an attack from Corrin's wyrmslayer when he stood to his feet. He raised his sunrise katana to block the attack at the last second, and Corrin pressed her blade forward to overpower the prince. After some hesitation Kamui dashed to the side letting the force of the swing carry the princess forward, and he took his wakizashi out. He hurriedly tossed the blade squarely above Corrin's hip bones making her stagger forward. When the Hoshidan prince ran up to Corrin to deliver a vertical slash, the princess snapped around and deflected the attack with a horizontal swing. Before her opponent could recover she shot out her leg to stomp-kick him away to the ground, knocking the sunrise katana out of his hand. Corrin yanked the wakizashi out of her hip and returned it to the sender; Kamui looked up in time to see his weapon flying at him and he rolled out of the way. When he made it to his feet Corrin was already mad dashing at him, and again he barely managed to defend himself with his emergency kodachi right before she could hit him.
"Having fun yet little prince?" Corrin asked him as she bore down on him with wyrmslayer again.
"You call this fun‽" Kamui questioned. He was about to say more until he felt his feet being swept out from under himself. Corrin followed up her sweep kick with a stomp to the ground, and again she missed her mark on her downed opponent. After moving out of the way the Hoshidan shot himself out at the princess, slashing her to the ground with a diagonal slice. He attempted to pin her down only to suffer a metal-covered cross to his jaw. It was dislocated from the force and he reeled long enough for Corrin to stand back up. Fortunately for Kamui Hinoka had done the same thing to him a few times during training so he easily put the bone back in place; unfortunately for him this kept him busy, and Corrin's wyrmslayer drew his blood for the first time. Kamui screamed out in raw agony with the dragon-slaying sword tearing through him easily, dropping his kodachi.
"That's right boy…" Corrin spoke, "scream for me!" The Nohrian princess slowly dragged her blade through her enemy's body like a saw, snagging on to little pieces of flesh and coating her weapon in more blood. "Show me how much this hurts!" Corrin taunted.
'Is she trying to kill me‽' Kamui wondered. He couldn't bring himself to kill Corrin but accidents happened; he was reminded of what Takumi had said to him earlier, "If you're going to listen to anything I have to say, do it now. Corrin just killed our mother and many innocent civilians, and she would have killed us all and more if you and Aqua didn't stop her back at the capital. I know that you and the others want her back and all for mother's sake but do not, I repeat, do not show any weakness or mercy at all when you fight her. She will capitalize on and exploit the Hell out of that at every opportunity she gets. Do whatever you have to do to take her down." The wyrmslayer sword soon slid out of him before he fell to his knees, drawing ragged breaths as Corrin looked on.
"Hmph, are you finished already?" Corrin asked Kamui in a disgusted tone. "I had hoped that you would last longer than this, but I see that those gooks have turned you into a disgrace to our people. It sickens me that I lost to you of all people with someone else's interference, though I promise you that it's not happening again…!" The princess would have pulled her sword back to finish Kamui off, and she wished that she hadn't held her arms up so high. Kamui had jammed his kodachi into her torso after she had exposed herself, and then he lashed out with a hook to her temple.
"I'm a disgrace to Nohr you say?" Kamui hissed out. "Fine by me; they're not my people. I'm no disgrace to the people that matter to me!" He threw out another punch to the slightly-dizzy princess, loosening up her hold on the wyrmslayer enough for Kamui to yank it from her. "You want to know how bad you hurt me, how bad you hurt my family and the people of Hoshido‽ Here it is‼" She didn't have much time or ability to dodge Kamui's stab, gasping when she felt the sword go through her to her back. Both royals stood still for a few seconds with intense glares aimed at each other, and Kamui began pulling the stolen weapon out of his opponent. It was a slow process due to his own injuries but it kept Corrin from doing anything in the meantime. The Hoshido prince yanked the blade out leaving Corrin to stumble backward as he caught his breath.
"Looks like you're not such a spineless boy after all…" Corrin struggled to say. "Thank you for the heads up; now I know not to hold back on you!" She pulled out her levin sword and channeled much of her magic energies into the sword. Kamui saw this and attempted to strike Corrin again, but the moment he got close a lightning bolt shot out from the jagged blade and hit him dead center. He didn't get much time to regret his action as Corrin followed up with an electric slash. The attack struck Kamui in his wound from earlier making it easy for Corrin to steal the wyrmslayer back. Deciding it to be a hindrance for the time being the dusk kith tossed it aside before grabbing at Kamui again. "You almost managed to defeat me on your own. I would have congratulated you had you not aligned yourself with these curs. No matter; I'm certain that we'll fix that little issue in due time" The princess lifted her opponent before chucking him forward to the ground with a hard thud, charging her levin sword to seal the deal. Before she could conjure another bolt of lightning, the sound of a body and weapon collapsing behind her caught her attention. She turned to see a certain sword saint on the ground with a fallen weapon near him; it was Ryouma, and the Yato-no-kami that he had was knocked out of his possession. Without noticing anything else around him as he got up, Ryouma was back on his feet and charged with a yell to his opponent, apparently ignorant of dropping the weapon. In spite of the damage she had suffered, Corrin could not keep the wide grin off of her face with the opportunity she was given.
"My, my, look what we have here…" Corrin said walking up to the dropped weapon. "That fool, didn't even realize that he had just lost his entire kingdom's saving grace." The princess reached down and picked up the Yato-no-kami; her heart began racing just from touching the scabbard, and when she lifted the sword skyward a sense of awe overtook her. She was holding the most sacred of all the hallowed treasures, and with it the war's fate could very well be decided simply by the wielder alone. Corrin unsheathed the weapon in a flash, admiring its golden form and noting how it had a more Nohrian design than a Hoshidan one. "Oh, you are simply a beauty…" The princess noticed a shuffling sound behind her and turned around, finding Kamui on his feet again making his way toward her slowly. Normally she'd scowl at the sight but now she had a smirk of confidence on her face.
"You're not taking that sword…" Kamui bit out. The prince wielded a silver katana and held it in a defensive position, maintaining a solid stance even in his injured condition.
"Oh, and what will you do to stop me?" Corrin sheathed the Yato-no-kami and took up her wyrmslayer once again. "Your injuries are worse than my own, and you expect to retake the Yato-no-kami as you are?"
"You're not that better off than me," Kamui rebuked, "and don't judge me based on appearances alone!" He charged at Corrin and looked as though he would slash her, and Corrin held her levin sword ready to counter him with an attack of her own; the prince dashed to Corrin's side ducking as she swung for him, and he lunged at her with a tackle. Both of the royals were down on the ground, and the moment Kamui could sit up he grabbed at the Yato-no-kami in Corrin's hands. The princess felt the weapon being pulled away from her and began tugging back at the weapon. Neither of the two were willing to give up the weapon to their rival, and Corrin was the first to up the ante by kicking at Kamui in his stomach. He flinched but did not relent, and he pulled as hard as he could while attempting to stand up.
"No you don't!" Corrin shouted as she made it to her feet and redoubled her efforts. "Why. Won't. You. Just. Give. Up‽ Your tenacity will not pull you through here!"
"Think again Corrin!" Kamui shot back. "Hoshido will win this‼" As they both kept pulling, neither of the two noticed the Yato-no-kami and its scabbard beginning to crack; the more force they put into the weapon the more it shattered. Light strangely began glowing in the crevices though the royals didn't notice it having their eyes closed. This continued on for a solid thirteen seconds until a bright light and a screeching sound erupted from the Yato-no-kami. The pair had stopped and watched the light and screech intensify before they reached a peak point, and before Kamui and Corrin could let go of the weapon a blinding explosion bathed them both, sending them onto the ground. Kamui and Corrin couldn't tell what was going on from being disoriented by the blast, and when they tried to move they couldn't feel themselves.
'Wha…What just…happened…' they both questioned. Their minds slowly began to lose focus and they were slipping into unconsciousness, but at the very least they could hear their siblings calling out to them. They couldn't tell for the life of them who it was or who said what, but they swore that it they said something along the lines of "please get up" or "don't' die on us". Soon they couldn't form a single thought and found themselves completely fading into darkness.
Somewhere in the world, a young aqua-haired woman dressed in white and dark blue garbs stood before a lake, a deep in thought expression crossing her face as she looked off into the water. She held her hands at a small pendant at her chest and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. Then, she began to sing.
"You~ are the o~cean's gray waves~…" With her eyes still closed, she began taking light steps toward the lake, continuing her song, "…destined to seek~ life beyond~ the shore~ just out of reach~…" By now she was gradually submerging herself more into the water with tears streaming down her face, and before long she had gone completely under the surface. Beneath her laid sunken tree branches, yet as the woman began swimming toward her final destination, the tree branches were soon replaced with full-grown trees and floating portions of castles and land began to decorate the underwater landscape. Right before the woman made her way past a bright light she finished her last segment of the song. "…Yet~ the waters~ ever change~, flowing like time, the path is~ yours to climb~…"