Chapter 1: Dragon of Mercy
"So, what made you want to be a mercenary?" the words of a now fellow mercenary made their way into Corrin's ears. After the tragedy at the fort, Corrin has decided that he should submit his services to armies instead of commanding his own. The painful loss that weighs heavily on his heart makes for an unpleasant display of composure. Equipping a cloak, he uses its ability to conceal his form and face. Being that this was his first battle with such credentials, it was crucial that he kept his identity a secret. Keeping his eyes hidden, he vaguely turns his head towards the inquiring mercenary.
"It is the only path that lies before me. I can either fight on a side or do nothing, and I refuse to standby and watch as this world burns to the ground," Corrin's smirk grew visible as the mercenary was stunned from the response. A typical mercenary would go off on the usual "I kill for money" speech, but this mercenary was quite different from the rest. Several of the other mercenaries were partaking in small banter with a laugh here and there as they approached. One little comment from one of his closer comrades caught his attention in an instant as he listened in.
"I heard if we serve the Nohrian forces well in this battle we could be scouted for their army; that means stay sharp everyone. Who knows, if we do well enough, we could become official soldiers of the Nohrian army! How incredibly would that be?" the mercenary band leader shouted to rally his small army of 20 members. Corrin didn't see the need in joining a larger group or small army, all he needed was somewhere to call his home between battlefields, even if that meant saying goodbye once or twice. Today's battle was going to be a Nohrian castle defense against invading Hoshidan forces. As tight as they have kept their borders, Nohr had discovered that they had quite a few blind spots in its defensive parameters. Corrin suddenly grew pale when he recalled where exactly they were headed.
"Did they say who the lead commander from Nohr was going to be?" Corrin asked the mercenary leader, removing Yato from his side to have at the ready. He ran his covered hand over it, as if giving it a small, lovely polishing before drenching it with the enemies blood. The leader turned to him, eyeing him carefully as if he were a spy.
"All we know is that it's a Nohrian princess, we don't know which one," he replied, returning his attention to his front to keep watch for their let off point. From where he sat upon his mount he could already see massive amounts of movement in the distance, signaling that they had just essentially arrived. He steadily drew his sword from his sheath and pointed it forward.
"There's no mistaking it…if it's a castle defense, it must be Camilla. I better be careful…fortunately Baruka and Selena don't know my face quite as well. That means I have to make sure we extinguish the enemy quickly so Camilla doesn't have to step in. I'm actually happy to be able to see them again though," Corrin faintly smiled, his eyes analyzing his precious Yato. It was his only keepsake from anything that he could even consider a life. Being that it and a dragonstone were his only possession, traveling as a mercenary was made very convenient.
Upon meeting the entry point, the Hoshidan army was already on the offensive, clashing blades left and right with the Nohrian guard forces. From the looks of it the fight was fairly even, but the Hoshidan forces were beginning to mount up more troops to push forward. The determination and spirit of every single Nohr solider was in full flare, all of them laying down their lives to defend their precious stronghold. War was never a beautiful thing, but it did bring out beautiful emotions. Corrin looked around at his comrades who were now testing their gear; quickly polishing their blades, tightening up the fastens on their armor and taking heavy breaths to ready themselves for the full blown explosion of combat that was about to ignite. The leader turn to his troops with a valiant smile as he pointed towards the battlefield with his spear.
"ALRIGHT LADIES, SHOW EM HOW WE SMALL TIME MERCENARIES DO THINGS! LET'S GIVE EM HELL!" the mercenary leader roared, giving the signal for everyone to charge the field. Corrin's eyes quickly darted around, looking for the key allies to guard and the key enemies to vanquish. A loud roaring sound came from above as Baruka took a dive at a group of enemies, easily tearing into three or four of them with ease. Off in the distance, Selena could be seen in perfect form, tactically taking down one soldier after the next with her elite swordplay. As his sights flew around the battlefield, he noticed a small battalion of archers all lining up and taking aim at Beruka above their head.
"BARUKA WATCH OUT!" Selena screamed in concern, trying to overpower the deafening sounds of clashing blades. Baruka's eyes widen as her attention turned to the volley of archers. They all pulled back, ready to unleash hell upon her as Corrin quickly planned his attack. Immediately, Corrin let out a battle cry as he charged the line, taking a life of an archer with each individual swing. It was just like chopping through jungle vines with a machete. Baruka stared in surprise at the cloaked warrior that just saved her life, catching sight of a few more sets of archers ready to go. She pointed them out with her ax, giving Corrin a lead to assist her further.
"I don't think so!" Corrin yelled as he dashed, lunging forward with a vicious slash that toppled the first archer into the next. Their aim was thrown off as they toppled like dominos, Corrin continuing to move to keep each of them down for good. Corrin sight returned to Beruka, who was now giving him a wave of appreciation before moving on. Corrin grit his teeth, turning his vision over to Selena, who was now barely holding her own against a group of 10 men.
"Geh! These idiots just keep coming!" Selena shouted, parrying then stabbing another foe in his stomach. Having the dense idea of attacking her one man at a time was proving fatal for them, which quickly made them implement a new formation of attack. Selena growled as she had two soldiers at each of her flanks and 3 charging her front with a barrage of spears. Baruka quickly swooped in, cutting down the spearman, allowing Selena to gracefully avoid the others with a back hop. Suddenly, a Pegasus knight swooped in from the sky, her blood red hair and white/red attire easily giving away her rank and identity. Hinoka grinned at Selena as she circled around, waiting for the perfect chance to strike. Slashing down another foe, Selena was forced to keep her eyes on Hinoka as she desperately dealt with her disadvantage of numbers.
"Hah! Let's see how long you can keep that up Nohrian trash!" Hinoka giggled, continuing to circle around like a buzzard as her Hoshidan comrades slowly began pushing her into a corner.
"Gods…forget just a castle defense; with Hinoka on the field, this has just turned into a full blown warzone," Corrin groaned as he ran towards Selena. Baruka immediately charged Hinoka, clashing her ax against Hinoka's spear in a desperate attempt to push her off of Selena.
"You'll have to try harder than that to get the jump on me you Nohrian scum!" Hinoka smiled fiercely as she maneuvered in a circle around Baruka, using the length of her spear to hook and disarm her ax from her hands. Baruka growled like a beast as she stared Hinoka's cocky smile. She then immediately went to escape, trying to find where her precious ax had gone. Corrin noticed the ax as he plummeted to the ground with a loud thud when it hit the ground, following its line of trajectory to a poor Baruka being held up at spear point.
"WYVERN KNIGHT! DOWN HERE!" Corrin yelled out ambiguously, catching Baruka's attention with his sword waving about. As Hinoka took a stab at her head, Baruka immediately dropped altitude to head towards the helpful stranger. Corrin immediately lugged it up off the ground, holding it handle side up so she could grab it with ease. A grin spread on Baruka's face as she snatched the ax from his hands, sporting another wave of appreciation as she approached Hinoka once more. Hinoka redirected her line of sight to the ground, where a very dazed looking archer had already set her sights on Baruka as well.
"SETSUNA, NOW!" Hinoka shouted, immediately darting away from Baruka. Baruka growled and proceeded to chase down Hinoka, unaware that she was falling for a set up. Corrin's eyes couldn't believe how many times Baruka's life had been at risk in a matter of moments. Had not been here, she would surely be dead right now. It was moments like this that reminded him why he struggled so immensely for the peace that he longed so desperately for.
Corrin dashed at Setsuna, who immediately turned and fired a straight shot right at Corrin without hesitation. Corrin strafed to the side, cutting her masterfully aimed arrow in half. He was ready to disable Setsuna from the battle field when all of a sudden, a bright aura of magic surrounded Corrin, causing him to have slight panic as he quickly moved away.
"He's certainly a slippery one isn't he…" Azama scowled, immediately healing Setsuna who had sustained injury early in the battle. Corrin went to sigh, but immediately looked up to see Baruka viciously chopping Hinoka's Pegasus, causing it to drop from beneath her. Hinoka began to scream as she plummeted to the ground, it was if death a grasp on her.
Unable to watch his own sister plummet to her death, he quickly sheathed Yato, holding his hood down as he ran towards her fall point. Without fail, Corrin slid along the ground using his momentum, barely catching her within his arms safely and forcing him to fall to one knee. Hinoka stared at Corrin as he kept his head down, keeping the façade up as he put her down.
"Leave the battlefield." Corrin said firmly before turning away and charging back into the battle. Hinoka felt strange; she had seen how he was an enemy, he was assisting in her take down, but…for some reason he caught her without hesitation, as if she were his comrade as well. Azama and Setsuna quickly came to her side, inspecting her to make sure she wasn't hurt.
"That was quite the fall Lady Hinoka, you're lucky that our enemy took mercy on you," Azama said with a sigh, running over to her poor, crying Pegasus to heal it. Setsuna couldn't help but to notice Hinoka's eyes as she turned them back the stranger, who was now running to Selena's rescue.
"That soldier…he reminded me of...my exiled brother…" Hinoka sighed, thankful to be alive. Unsheathing Yato once more, he carved his way through a mass of soldier. Slash after slash caused deathly wails as soldier's dropped to the ground. He immediately threw out his hand to Selena, who had been forced onto the ground. She groaned reluctantly before taking his hand and helping herself to her feet.
"Thanks…I guess," Selena said before running past Corrin to get back in the battle. Corrin looked down at the soldiers that he was forced to slay, sighing heavily with the memories from before standing with them.
"I did it to save someone important, I did nothing wrong," Corrin growled, psyching himself up so that he could return. To prevent any further worry for the red headed retainer, Corrin made it his personal goal to stick closer to her and cover her flanks. Selena would occasionally glare him down as if he were a creeper as he deflected blows and severed the lives of his enemies.
"What is your deal? You're really starting to bother me!" Selena barked at Corrin, who was way too focused on his sword play to let anything distract him from his protective goal. Selena eventually shrugged it off and decided to accept the fact that he was making her job twice as easy as they pushed back unit after unit.
"I won't let any comrades die if it is within my power to prevent it," Corrin responded, cutting down a charging ax man that was headed at Selena. She simply shrugged as she stabbed through another medical unit without the slightest bit of caring about the death she was causing.
"Whatever floats your boat a guess…" Selena snickered as they continued on, keeping an eye on Beruka as they continued slaying the enemy.
The mass amounts of clashing blades and the cries of death made for a very disorienting field to try and come to the aid of that in need. Setsuna and Azama were basically put on defensive duty to keep more and more of their troops from being snuffed out from the battle. Hinoka, now mounted back onto her Pegasus, clenched her teeth angrily as she watched the numbers of her battalion dwindle.
"EVERYONE RETREAT!" Hinoka screamed out, her orders echoing along the field's grounds. Immediately, all enemies, even those engaged in combat, turned about face and ran back to safe ground, disgruntled by defeat. Hinoka caught sight of the mysterious soldier as he faced off in the distance, his eyes tracking the retreat to make sure it was a success.
The army and mercenaries all around him were in uproar of victorious shouts and claims of victory upon their retreat. Corrin let out a hefty sigh of relief as he smiled at the remaining mercenaries that lived to see another day. He quickly came to terms that casualties were inevitable, so he celebrated those that survived more so than grieve for those who had fallen. Turning around, he immediately came face to face with Baruka and Selena; Selena was sporting her signature "that was good enough" smile while Baruka's mouth tried to desperately smile but only made it halfway there.
"You shouldn't have put my life before your own…but thank you…" Beruka said, turning around to return to her wyvern. Selena shrugged her off before returning her gaze to Corrin.
"Don't think that I owe you anything, but thanks for the help," Selena grinned, turning around to follow Beruka's footsteps. Content and satisfied that those dear to him were unharmed, he wiped the sweat off of his brow, still trying to keep his face unavailable to everyone.
The loud cries of a mighty wyvern descended from above, catching everyone's attention as he came down to the earth. It was dark than the deepest of knights with a voluptuous woman in black armor holding the reigns. There was no mistaking it; the eldest princess of Nohr was gracing the battleground with her presence. Corrin knew that if Camilla got within ten feet of him, that she would be able to see through his façade in an instant. A cloud of dust flushed out in all directions as the malig knight landed, a smile on her face.
"My…what a gorgeous sight this is. I want to thank you all…personally for a hard battle won," Camilla's warm smile could warm the hearts of anyone, as well as scaring them to death. Beruka and Selena both came to her front, kneeling down as a sign of respect. Camilla grinned and gently placed her hands on there heads, ruffling them lovingly before letting them rise.
"I'm glad to see the two of you are safe, I don't know what I would do if anything happened to either of you," Camilla said, playfully caressing Beruka's face. Beruka's face warmed only a slight bit before lowering her head.
"I'm sorry Lady Camilla…if it wasn't for one of the mercenaries that accompanied our forces; I wouldn't be standing before you. I feel that I have failed as your retainer…" Beruka sighed heavily, giving Selena a sign to step in and shake her up.
"Yeah, the one in the hood over there saved my butt as well," Selena said pointing directly at Corrin.
"Not good…NOT GOOD…" Corrin thought to himself, trying to think of a way to escape certain doom. He immediately turned to the leader of the mercenaries, who thankfully survived.
"I…I need to excuse myself sir," Corrin said hastily. The leader looked at him with a groan, giving his back a pat into Camilla's direction.
"Hey, you're about to thanked by a goddess, pull your head outta your ass and be thankful," the leader chuckled at Corrin's expense. Corrin growled at him as his attempt to escape was quickly thwarted. Camilla locked eyes with him, now slowly strutting towards him like the sexual diva she was. He pulled his hood down a little more as she arrived, her face putting on the warm smile she would always give him before putting him to rest.
"So you're the one who protected my precious retainers, that is very admirable of you. Any normal soldier would've fled the sight, but not you…you risked our life to help them when you yourself are a complete stranger. You deserve my deepest gratitude for such an incredible feat," Camilla's sultry voices made Corrin's façade feel like a miracle to keep up as she closed her face in on his. All of his comrades that had survived the gruesome battle were whistling and egging him on, as if he were trying to confess to his hidden crush. Camilla leaned forward until her lips were past his view, gently planting a kiss on his cheek with a soft thank you to follow. Corrin's face turned bright red as she backed away, giving him a final smile before turning to return to her wyvern.
"That…was WAY too close…" Corrin grunted as he gently placed his hand up to his cheek with the army and their mercenary group now putting distance between one another.
-To be Continued