Titania sighed contently. She sat out on an empty field beneath a bright blue sky listening to the birds chirping as she polished off the crimson blade of her favorite Killer Ax. Life was so peaceful… Weapons to polish and no one around to bother her, except of course her valiant steed, Bloodlust, and all he'd want was to have his coat brushed and maybe a snack or two.
Smiling faintly, she hefted the nice shiny ax over her shoulder and went to go make Bloodlust into a nice shiny horse. After all, who said a war stallion couldn't look nice?
… Boyd did.
No one Should say a war stallion couldn't look nice. Pulling a brush through the horses mane, she reflected on the irony; A War Goddess should be able to look nice too, which was why Titania kept makeup and a nice dress for when she wanted to impress Commander Greil. Yes, all in all, life was good. She had to admit, though, some times she did miss the good old days back in the Crimean Royal Knights when was still known as "The War Goddess." The young recruits trembled in the barracks as the older knights recounted stories of her battles; dazzling tales of how she went berserk in battle and that the blood of her slain enemies dyed her waist length braid into its crimson color. She'd just snort and say they were exaggerating. Her hair had always been that color.
The new recruits were also always asking for her battle secrets. However, the "Get your butt out there and practice" answer never seemed to work. Surely the War Goddess didn't need basic practice, yet anyone could find her on any given day between 7:00 AM and 11:00 AM out on the training fields practicing. After that, they could find her in the mess hall, eating lunch. Still, the attention and admiration were wonderful, and she still remembered fondly the glory days. Now, she had- "Titania!"
Yes, she had them. Boyd's obnoxiously disrespectful voiced shattered her reverie. A great deal of self control kept her from grabbing the haft of her ax. She was actually rather proud of the accomplishment until she noticed the deathgrip of her other hand, about to decapitate someone with Bloodlusts hair brush. So much for control… With her good mood completely ruined, she turned to watch the green haired warrior approach… and sighed again.
He was wearing another one of those tight leather shirts of his; the ones that purposely showed off his over muscled Pecs and biceps. Titania knew the kid was strong, he was just so undisciplined.
And disrespectful. It made Titania wonder how Oscar had raised his younger brothers and if he ever saw the way they acted… Probably not. In all her years working with him, Titania had never once seen Oscar open his eyes. How he managed to fight that way was still a mystery…
"Titania, chows done and commander Greil wants to see you when you're done!" That said, he turned around and loped off. Had he just stopped at dinner being done, she'd have chewed him out for the better part of an hour, but if Greil wanted to see her… Well, she could let the offense slide.
Back at the fort, Titania scarffed her food down, eager to go see the commander. He'd either want her for a strategy meeting, discussing the tactical situations of their next assignment, or hopefully, he'd have a "Strategy Meeting" where they'd go through some "Practice Maneuvers." Her favorite was "Bandit and Mercenary, where she got to get dressed up in tight leather an-
Catching Soren giving her an odd look, she noticed she must have been sitting there grinning like an idiot, so she snapped out of her daydreams once again and set off towards the strategy room. On the way, she passed by Ike's room and heard him talking to Boyd.
"…… about the Deputy Commander?" Ike's quite voice could be heard and Titania paused to see what they were saying.
"Yeah. Don't believe that BS about training for four hours a day. She was sitting out there brushing her horse."
"Well… Paladins do need to care for their mounts."
"Oh its just a cover. She's not even that tough anyways. I bet Commander Greil just keeps her around for her pretty face."
"Come on Boyd, you've never beaten her."
Titania's knuckles started turning white as she listened to this, turning she walked away to keep from killing him then and there.
Finally arriving at the strategy room, her hopes were dashed as she saw maps on the table instead of the purple and black lava lamps that would have signified the second kind of "strategy meeting."
It was then that she noticed the maps were of their home fort.
"Well… They're here. We got a Ultimatum from the Daein Army. They demand we send them Princess Elincia or They'll kill us all. They already have the for surrounded. We have until tonight to answer."
"What are we going to do sir?"
"Well… These Daein soldiers won't keep their word, I'm sure of it. So… We'll just have to stand our ground. Be careful though… Daein has a strong military. Don't hold back."
It took a minute to sink in that she was being let off her leash at last. Time to show Boyd what she could really do.
When their conference ended, she raced back to her room and practically dove under the bed, dragging out a plain wooden trunk that held her very best weapons and loaded up. Night fell, leaving them waiting. Greil had gone off to hold the eastern entrance to the fort.
"Oscar! Take Gatrie, Shinon and Soren to go hold the west gate."
The lance paladin gave a nod and took the other units with him to go defend the entrance.
"Ike, Boyd… You two just wait her. Let me take care of them. You two can wipe up any I miss."
Ike and Boyd stared down the hill into the small army congregated on their very doorstep. "Titania you can't be serious. There must be at least fifty so- Hey!"
She cut off Ike's speech, urging her mount down the hill head long into the roiling mass of bodies. Left, Right, Left, with every swing of her mighty Silver Ax, another soldier fell dead. Bloodlust reared back, trampling another poor soul before turning, allowing his rider to strike at the soldiers on the sides of him. He was well trained and knew just what to do.
It didn't help the Daein's any that most their foot soldiers wielded lances. Not that any of them stood a chance against the raging paladin anyway. Suddenly, an arrow went shooting over her right shoulder as a second arrow buried itself in her leg. Snarling, she turned and rubbed her thumb across the Counter chain hanging from her waist. The shockwave it let off knocked the first archer over. The second archer knocked another arrow but was killed also as Titania threw her ax like a Frisbee, slicing through his neck.
The Daein General couldn't believe they were having this much trouble. "How man soldiers do they have!?!?" he bellowed furiously.
"Just one s- Ugh"
The general barely had time to form a response. One minute he was looking out into the darkness and the next, a long crimson braid was suddenly there, sparks flying as an ax ground heavily against his spear. She continued the assault, each strike pushing the full armored knight back, even in a defensive stance. He tried counterattacking but each stab he made was just knocked aside.
The next slash, the ax blade clashed with the shaft of his spear sideways. With a quick downward pull, Titania chopped his entire arm off, leaving the general to stare up as she held the dull red blade of her Killer Ax up in the air.
"Goddess… Bless my ax."
Titania uttered this quiet prayer and held her ax aloft. From the dark night sky, a bright ray of sunlight appeared out of nowhere, glinting across the metal of her ax, making it shine. A few swings back and forth before the final blow of the temporary blessing on the blade sheared straight through the armor of the general, sending his head flying through the air.
"Th- the general has fallen. Retreat!!!!"
It took a few minutes before the soldiers were fully gone, leaving a very satisfied Titania behind to loot the corpses. She knew Boyd had seen her strength… but she had a strange feeling that getting him to admit to being wrong would be harder then the massacre she'd just finished.
Such is life.
