Corrin's army had survived the onslaught. Wave after wave of enemies had appeared, seeming to materialize out of thin air. Those invisible soldiers hit against their lines, crashing against the might of Ryoma and Xander. Benny and Effie guarded the flanks, and behind the front line lay the mages Nyx, Leo, and Hayato, who along with the archers Niles, Takumi, and Setsuna, lay down harassing fire towards the invisible foe. Once the invisible foe's formation had shattered shock troops swooped in, the two faced berserker Charlotte and the scary faced lancer Oboro fought together, smashing through the weakened enemy line. The archers fired volley after volley at the broken troops, while lightning and ethereal animals chased the survivors.
Azura breathed a sigh of relief. Anankos' forces had surprised them, catching this small group away from the main force. She was afraid they'd be overrun, but now the battle was won. She smiled and looked around the troops, searching for Corrin. After a minute of searching discovered nothing, her heart began to sink. She felt the tendrils of panic begin to form.
"Leo! Where's Corrin?", she asked the dark knight, who was covered in blood of the invisible foe.
"Azura I thought you were with him! He went back to the tunnels to hold off a group that detached from their main force.", Azura saw a heavy look of fear and panic emerge on Leo's face, matching the one she wore. "Damn fool! He has too much confidence in that dragon form of his. Sakura!", he yelled and Sakura's head perked up, she was healing a minor wound on Benny. "Corrin hasn't returned, come with me.", he commanded. He rode his horse over to her and picked her up, placing her behind him. "Oh my goodness!", Sakura said involuntary, both out of surprise of the sudden motion from the dark prince and worry over her brother. "Azura let's go-", Leo looked for Azura, and saw the blue haired songstress already halfway down the tunnels. He scowled, if Corrin hadn't defeated that group yet or if Corrin had fell, then Azura was running to her death. "Damn it!", he whipped his reins and his horse sped into the tunnel, and Sakura held on to Leo for dear life.
The tunnel became narrower and narrower but remained tall, until Leo's horse could barely fit through. He had to dismount, and caught Sakura as she jumped down. The girl blushed at his touch, then she ran to follow him, having to stay right behind him to fit in the tight tunnel.
Leo began passing bodies of the invisible soldiers. Some had cuts from the Yato against them, others looked like an elephant had crushed them. Leo smiled, Corrin had led them into this tight corridor where their numbers were meaningless. He had just discussed this tactic with Corrin during their last study session, and despite his worry was quite proud of his pupil.
The roof had slight damage, two parallel lines scratched into them. It looked like Corrin's dragon form had barely been small enough to fit in this narrow tunnel.
Leo saw a bright crimson color on one of the invisible soldiers' swords. Leo felt his heart chill, and recognized the weapon. A wyrmslayer. It's curved edged form was designed to break through the hides of wyverns, but it could also work against dragons. He heard gentle crying in the distance.
The tunnel opened up, into a wide room without a roof. It looked abandoned as most things in Valla did, and nature was rapidly reclaiming it. A trail of blood led to the center of the room, where the blue haired songstress was cradling Corrins body.
"I'm so sorry Azura,", a familiar voice said, though the frailty of the usually happy tone shook Leo to his core. "It looks like I wasn't able to change anything after all.".
Leo couldn't move, he knew he should but his feet wouldn't listen to him. A massive gash had torn through Corrin's armor, cutting from his shoulder to the bottom of his ribcage. That was a fatal wound. His brother was going to die.
Sakura ran ahead of Leo, showing unusual bravery. She pulled out her sun festal and closed her eyes, calling forth a silent prayer. She shook the sun festal and the room lit up slightly, as if for a moment a warm summer's light had crept into the world. Corrin's wound closed up, but he had lost so much blood.
Azura's white songstress outfit was dyed red, doused in Corrin's blood. She gently stroked his white blonde hair, and sung a powerful song, not knowing if it would help or not but desperate for anything to work. "You are the ocean's grey waves, destined to-", she stopped and began to openly sob, unable to hold back her tears any longer. Corrin's red eyes were open but they looked blank, not dead but not truly alive.
Leo felt the weight of the world on his back and fell to his knees. Corrin couldn't die. Everyone was counting on him, this entire quest was because of him! They needed him and his Yato to defeat Anankos, and Leo needed him! His friendly sensitive brother, damn it! Leo felt hot tears burning his cheeks and looked up to the cloudy sky, silently pleading with fate.