Conquest Chapter 21: Iago Finally Dies

"It's about danged time!" Garon announced. "Them brats are all outta the picture! Hoshido's mine now, boys n' girls! Yeehaw!"

"W-we're happy for you, Father…" Elise shyly told him.

"Hoo doggies how I've been waitin' for this!" He darkly chuckled. "Decades upon decades…"

"Wow. How old are you anyway?" Leo asked.

"Boy I'd whip you for that, but I'm too dang giddy to care right now! I gots me a throne to sit on!" Garon barged into the throne room.

Xander attempted to follow him. "Yes. Now that this war is over, we will watch-"

"Nope! You can't come in, Xander! I… need a moment to m'self, first. Gotta talk to Anankos." With that, Garon slammed the door on his children. Until- "Dang cat, get outta here!"

"MEOW!"

Garon briefly opened the door and threw out Kamui the cat. She scurried down the hall. After a moment, Camilla folded her arms. "Hmph. How rude."

Xander repeated Camilla's action, but behind his back. "So… I've been meaning to tell all of you. I'm considering making Kaze my retainer."

Corrin looked over. "Wait, isn't he my retainer?"

"You already have four retainers, Little Princess. Not to mention how Silas orbits around you," Xander said. "Besides, Kaze is my… freund, as the Hoshidans say."

Azura put a finger to her chin. "Does Flora count as Corrin's retainer anymore? Now that they're together that'd be kind of-"

"We're not… together!" Corrin blurted out. "We're just… I mean, with the war… Though I guess it's over now, isn't it?" She looked to the side. "Hmm… WHOA!" Corrin jumped backward, avoiding a fireball. Everyone turned to find none other than-

"Iago!" Xander exclaimed. "What was the meaning of that?!"

Everyone's least favorite mage growled. "Corrin. You… naïve… optimistic-"

"I'm not even sure how true those adjectives are anymore, to be honest," Corrin interrupted.

"Whatever! I've put up with your shenanigans for far too long! You don't kill anyone when you're supposed to! You don't die when you're supposed to! So you know what? Forget King Garon! I'm going to mmmmmurder you, Corrin! And I don't care who knows it!"

Camilla glared. "So you thought that your best course of action would be to try to kill our Corrin… right in front of all her brothers and sisters? Her armed and trained brothers and sisters who all care for her?"

"Ngyuhuhuhuhuhuh! Oh but I believe you won't take her side for long!" Iago struck a pose. "For I've discovered the truth! Corrin has taken you all on a ruse cruise! Princess Hinoka is still alive! Corrin is a traitor and a scoundrel!"

Everyone but Xander winced.

"What?" the crown prince shook his head. "And do you have any evidence? Or is this one of your infamous hunches?"

Iago blinked. "…I don't have to answer that."

Leo rolled his eyes. "Be honest, you just want to kill Corrin. We all know you do. Even Corrin knows it. But you've run out of reasons, so you're just running up to her and attacking."

"He's right. Isn't he, Iago?" Corrin asked.

"I… don't have to answer that either! FACELESS!" Iago threw his hand down and teleported away. In his wake, the sorcerer left behind a small team of Faceless.

"Okay that's it!" Xander declared. "I've about had it with Iago. But… it's against the rules! Gods. What a pickle… Hm, I could go for a pickle right now, actually."

Elise looked over at Xander. "He tried to kill Corrin for no reason! He's a traitor!"

Leo nodded. "That's right. And the punishment for treason is death."

"Hm. You make excellent points. Come on, gang, let's go find Iago! We'll explain the situation to Father afterward, I'm sure he'll understand."

Corrin, Xander, Elise, Azura, Silas, Kaze, Flora and Anna took one route through the castle's rooms to reach Iago, but they found themselves attacked by Faceless along the way. Elise, Silas and Kaze all went ahead, with Azura going for support. This left Corrin with an opportunity to speak to Flora.

"Flora, I was thinking. We've been busy with the war, but what about after? Do you want to go back to the tribe?"

The maid said nothing at first. "Well, I'd like to. But I'd like to stay with you and Gunter and the rest, too. I was wondering about it myself."

"I mean… If we wanted to… be something, we'd probably have to figure it out," Corrin said. "What would your father think?"

"I don't really know." Flora gave a shrug. "But he allowed me to travel with you, so there's that at least. I don't want to keep you away from your siblings, not after how long you've been away from them."

"What? But then I'd just keep you and Felicia away from the tribe, it wouldn't be any different!"

A sigh. "Corrin, can we think about this after we're done here?"

Corrin nodded. "You're right. I was just wondering. But speaking of the war…" The princess walked further ahead to meet her brother. "Xander, I have to ask you something. Remember how Hans was a criminal?"

"Ah yes," Xander said. "Unlicensed embezzle-clogging. Why?"

"Well, how did Father meet Iago?"

"Oh. You know, none of us know. He's just sort of been there as long as we've remembered."

"What?"

"Yes. Camilla once proposed that they simply built Castle Krakenburg around Iago and he never bothered to leave," Xander said with a small laugh.

Flora turned toward Anna. "You seem to know everything. What's Iago's story?"

Anna grimaced. "What? How should I know? I don't like to spend more time thinking about him than I need to! I got nothing. But knowing him, I wouldn't be surprised if he had something to do with everything going wrong in the castle. But that's just my theory."

"You mean your hypothesis," Flora corrected.

"Don't you talk to me about grammar!"

Corrin and Xander overheard the conversation, and turned back to one another. "Does that sound accurate?"

"I don't know. But… he's just so despicable, I wouldn't put it past him." Xander looked toward the ceiling. "He's the sort of man who's easy to blame."

"HEX! FREEZE! ENFEEBLE!" Iago's voice echoed, and more than one cloud of fog appeared around Anna.

"Gaah! What… gives?! This guy… shouldn't be able to use staves!" Anna choked.

Flora gasped and immediately began tending to Anna. Corrin looked over to Xander. "We have to hurry."

"You're right."

In the other half of the castle, Camilla, Leo, Gunter, Laslow, Jakob, Felicia, Arthur and Izana faced a group of Sorcerers, Iago's own trained henchmen. Gunter and Camilla barreled through the mages as though they were made of paper, with Leo, Arthur and Jakob following them most closely.

"So Corrin's told you too, huh?" Leo asked his sister.

Camilla nodded as she fired a spell from her tome. "That's right. I guess that does explain a lot, doesn't it?"

"It does. We'll have to be very careful going forward."

"We will," the princess concurred. "I mean… chopsticks? Truly? How do these primitive people eat?!"

"We probably won't even stay here long enough to get accustomed to them, once we get rid of that thing replacing Father." His eyes widened. "Uh, wait I didn't say that. I meant… uh…"

Camilla smiled. "It's okay, Leo, I know what you're talking about. And you're right."

Further back, Izana flung spells all over, wiping out various Nohrian mages. "Heeheehee! You guys are rookies!"

Laslow found himself dancing to avoid fireballs, frost shards and lightning bolts all being hurled at him, and taking down a few mages along the way. "Well then, I must remember to thank Mother for those dancing lessons." Felicia followed shortly after Laslow. With her natural fighting talent, Felicia expertly dodged all the spells and took out any wizard she crossed. She did it all, and she did it faster than Laslow. The man whistled. "Felicia, that was extraordinary!"

"Aw, it wasn't anything…"

"Your moves! Your finesse! I… I think I'm in love!"

Felicia giggled and walked past Laslow. "I'm sure you are."

"B-but I…"

Izana watched the whole exchanged. "Ha! Owned!" Then he was hit by a one of Iago's stragglers. "Oww!"

Laslow nodded. "Thank you."

Silas and Kaze teamed up to beat a Faceless, and their combined strength made for an easy task. "Phew! Hard work. Kaze, can't you tell us any secret passages or something?"

"Hmm. Now that I think of it, I believe there's-"

"SILENCE! FREEZE! ENFEEBLE! HEX!" Iago called from his position, inflicting Kaze with multiple ailments at once. "Ngyahahaha!"

Silas got off his horse and fell to his knees. "Nooooooo! Now we have to do it the hard way!"

The ground shook, and suddenly a Stoneborn emerged from the ground. "I AM THE STONEBORN. YOU ALL MUST DIE."

"Oh my gods! A talking rock!" Silas exclaimed. Kaze tried to warn Silas to avoid it, but he could not move nor speak, and felt rather drained. The Stoneborn removed its faceplate and began to charge a shot. "A rock, and it's sentient. There's so much we can learn from this!" If Kaze could at least move his face, he would roll his eyes. "Tell me your secrets, talking rock!"

Elise and Azura burst into the room, the two princesses riding on Elise's horse. Azura sang a song, fixing Kaze's statuses and allowing him to tackle Silas out of the way before the Stoneborn fired at him. Elise smirked. "You're going down, giant talking rock! HA!" She fired lightning from her hands, via the tome, and destroyed the golem. "Not bad! Not bad."

Azura nodded. "That was impressive, Elise."

"Yeah! I'm so strong now! I bet I could even take on Xander if we had to fight!"

"GUNTER?"

"Hans…"

Gunter, Camilla, Arthur and Jakob had made it to a large room with only Hans waiting for them. "HANS GETS TO KILL GUNTER AGAIN!"

"You had me by surprise, and we were over the Bottomless Canyon. You got lucky!"

"So we meet at last, Hans," Jakob greeted. "Ever since Lady Corrin told me about you, I'd been thinking of ways to get even. Not that I told her anything…"

"Jakob, don't keep secrets from your liege!" Gunter scolded.

"You have some nerve, old man! And here I was talking about how I'd avenge you!"

Arthur narrowed his eyes. "And then there's your unjust behavior back in Cheve! And don't think I've forgotten about your crime sprees! None of which you've even apologized for!"

Camilla chuckled. "Well Hans, it looks like you're rather unpopular. But being the only princess here at the moment, I'll let you go on one condition."

"Aww!" Gunter, Jakob and Arthur moaned at once.

"Let us get to Iago, and don't tell Father, or we kill you." She smiled. "Simple!"

Hans copied Camilla's smile with a wicked grin. "NOT IF HANS KILL YOU FIRST!" He craned his neck to the wall behind himself. "IAGO! HELP HANS!"

"I'm busy!"

"Grrr…." While Hans was distracted, Gunter took the chance and tried to run through him with his lance. Hans barely dodged, then brought out his axe. "TAKE THIS!" Hans prepared to swing, and Gunter almost dodged, when Jakob took advantage of the situation. He threw a dagger at the general's chest. "AAAAAH!"

"This is why you should have worn proper armor!" Jakob scolded. Hans glared at him and prepared to attack, but Gunter struck him with the lance. It would continue like this for a few minutes; Jakob would attack, then Gunter would. Every so often, Camilla would conjure a fireball from her tome and hurl it at Hans. "I'd say you should give up now, Hans. You're severely outnumbered."

Camilla chuckled ominously. "Oh no. We already gave him his chance."

"Uh, yes… But a Hero is always willing to allow-" Arthur's counterpoint was cut short as Camilla pulled out a tomahawk and threw it at Hans. "Or not."

"AAAAAAAH! …Curse… you… royals…" Hans fell to the floor, with the tomahawk stuck in him. Gunter glared.

"Hmph. I wanted to be the one…"

"FREEZE! HEX! ENFEEBLE!"

Jakob snapped his fingers under his metal glove. "Oh, blast."

The four were all struck with Iago's spells, just as Kaze led Xander, Corrin, Flora, Anna and Azura into the room. Anna observed Hans' corpse.

"Huh, so that's how he goes out in this path. A little anticlimactic compared to… Well, whatever."

"RRRAAAH!" The sounds of angry Faceless were audible as a few more arrived from the stairway leading into the room. Kaze and Anna went to take them out, while Azura went to sing for the others. Corrin, Flora and Xander all broke through the final door, leading to Iago's room.

"Aaah! C-Corrin! Xander! How'd you reach me?!"

"This is it, Iago!" Corrin readied her sword. "I don't know why you're so obsessed with killing me, but you've run out of excuses!"

"Attacking a prince or princess of Nohr is treason," Xander stated. "And you, of all people, should know the penalty for treason in Nohr."

"Y-you don't scare me!" Iago bluffed. "I… I'm His Mmmmajesty's favorite!"

"And I'm his firstborn son!" countered Xander.

"What difference does that mmmmmake?" Then Iago had an idea. "Heh. I see what this is about. Oh, you can't hide it, Lord Xander! You're jealous!"

Xander blinked. "What?"

"Aw, poor little Xander, he cannot get the affection from his father that he so desperately craves. Mmmmeanwhile, his father's right hand mmman has swooped in and become his favorite. So you try to kill me, just so you can be in your father's favor again! After all, participating in this pointless conquest hadn't done the trick like you'd hoped, has it?"

"Uh, no. You're heartless and a traitor, that's all."

"Pointless?!" Corrin repeated. "So you admit it!"

Iago turned to her. "Foolish Hoshidan. Of course this was pointless! As though ransacking Hoshido would solve our problems! But it's what King Garon wants, and I never even liked the Hoshidans! So Garon tells me to destroy, and I destroy! And that's how I like it!"

"You… You're the one who pushed King Garon over the edge, aren't you?!" Flora accused.

Xander and Corrin gasped. Iago merely laughed. "Oh, if only! No, I'm afraid I had nothing to do with that. But enough talk. I'm going to mmmmurder all of you! But first, I have something I'd like to tell Corrin. A few things!"

Corrin glared. "…What."

"Remember that Kitsune village? Guess who it was who slew their leader!"

Corrin and Flora gasped, with the maid muttering, "I knew it…"

"And that's not all! I was the one who alerted the Hoshidans to your arrival in Mmmmmacarath! Had to spread Terminal 7 to Elise while my projection visited Notre Sagesse, so you would even go, and it almost worked! But you, that blasted child and Prince Ryoma all survived! Also I was the one who suggested you dueled Ryoma! Garon loved the idea, after I told him about the glory it'd bring!"

Xander's grip on Siegfried tightened.

"And, oh, you'll love this!" Iago laughed to himself. "Want to know who sent those Faceless to the Eternal Stairway and got Lilith killed? I'll give you a hint- you're talking to him!"

Corrin, Xander and Flora merely stood there, absorbing Iago's extended confession. At last, it was Corrin who broke the silence. "So let me see if I understand." She glared at him as she spoke. "You conspired with the enemy in order to have one of your princesses killed, and potentially losing other, able-bodied Nohrians as collateral. You forced me into a duel with Ryoma for no other reason than to watch me squirm. Not because of glory or combat, no you just wanted me to suffer. You destroyed all the trust the Kitsune had for Nohrians, which led to us having to put them down. You had Lilith killed by one of your monsters, monsters that were sent to, once again, kill me and your countrymen- no- human beings! And in order to lure us into one of these traps, you inflicted Elise with a nearly fatal virus!" She took a deep breath. "Is that what you're saying?"

"Did I stutter?"

"Iago," she started, "you're going to die."

Iago chuckled. He floated into the air and changed the scenery. Before anyone knew it, they were back in the Woods of the Forlorn. Iago vanished and then reappeared over a pool of toxic sludge. "Take this!"

He fired wind spells from his Excalibur tome, all aimed at Corrin and Xander. They dodged easily, but the princess was distracted.

"Wait, where'd Flora go? Where'd we go?!"

Xander focused on avoiding more Excalibur blasts. "Probably one of his illusions." He rode Sieghorse along the perimeter of the toxic pond. When the prince had an opening, he swung Siegfried and struck Iago with a beam dead on.

"OOOH!" Iago fell into the pond. "Blaah! Gah! No!" He snapped his fingers and teleported back to his original position over the pond. "You got lucky, prince! But now-"

"HA!" Corrin changed her hand into a dragon's mouth and fired a blast at Iago, sending him into a nearby branch, which caused him to fall to the ground. "You deserve worse!"

Iago glared and teleported again. He focused his energy and glowing sigils surrounded him.

The battlefield transformed again, this time it was the Eternal Stairway. Iago's victims appeared beside a rock, while the mage stood at the top, above his prey. "HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!" In a repetitive arm gesture, Iago launched Excalibur spells, one after another, all headed down the stairs. "YAHAHAHAHA!"

"Dastard. That was actually a smart move for once," Xander complimented.

"Well, broken clocks and all that…"

The siblings had to hide behind the boulder in the stairs to avoid Iago's gale force assault. As Xander scoped their surroundings, Corrin gasped. "I have an idea! But it's kind of weird!"

"I have nothing. What is it?"

Up at the top of the steps, Iago noticed that the prince and princess have retreated entirely behind their shelter. "How annoying. Oh well, perhaps a water spell or something to erode that sto- OHHHH!"

Before Iago knew it, Xander was riding a stream of water, and ready to swing Siegfried. Iago tried to dodge, but Xander was better trained and landed his strike. "I can't believe that worked."

Dragon Corrin hurried up the steps, ready to join Xander in attacking Iago, but the mage teleported himself over the bottomless chasm. "Well, I suppose a change of scenery is in order! Again. HUAAAAAAH!"

Corrin and Xander recognized the Wind Tribe's village. Specifically, Corrin recalled facing Fuga on this rooftop. Iago flew about, hiding in a sand tornado. With waves of his arms, the wizard sent smaller tornados after Corrin and Xander. "HAHAHAHAHA! Enjoy the sights of the Wind Tribe!"

Xander and his horse tried to hold their ground, but Corrin had no such luck. She nearly went flying, but Xander managed to grab onto her hand. "Phew! Thanks, Xander!"

"Of course!"

Iago growled. "Mmmmeddlesome prince! Just die and let me kill her already!" With a snap, he vanished and reappeared right in front of Xander. "HYAH!" Iago thrust both arms, creating more winds to push Xander and Corrin off the roof. Sieghorse barely held on, so Corrin had only one chance.

"Aah… Take… this!" She transfigured her hand once more and shot water right at Iago's face. While he was distracted, the winds stopped. "Let go!" Corrin ordered. Xander set her free, which allowed Corrin to surprise Iago by clamping her hand-mouth around him. "Got you!"

"Aaaaah! You're going to eat me?! I knew you were a savage!"

Corrin sighed and shook her head, then threw Iago aside. But then Iago reappeared in his usual vantage point and summoned more glyphs.

Outside Macarath, Iago appeared atop one of the several stone pillars lining the palace's courtyard. He jumped back and forth from atop the different pillars, firing Excalibur blasts at his foes. "WEEEHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Xander and his sister both failed to hit Iago with their projectile attacks, as their opponent would not stay still. Avoiding his shots proved easy, however, so it was an even match.

"I have another idea!"

"You're not going to spit me at him again, are you?" Xander asked.

"No! …Although… No, no." Corrin prepared her Dragonstone again and transformed into a dragon. With this form's strength, Corrin proceeded to demolish all but one of the courtyard's pillars, leaving Iago with only one destination. "Nowhere to run!" She swung her tail, knocking Iago to the floor.

"Hold it, Iago!" This time, Xander tried to preemptively attack, but Iago was too quick.

"HAAAAH!"

"Hmm. If I had to guess, I'd say we're in Cyrkensia," Xander said. He and Corrin were on a boat in the frozen opera house. "Weren't all of you here without me?"

Corrin nodded. "Yeah, right before you- MOVE!"

The royals ran out of the way, just in time to avoid the stomp of a large likeness of Iago. Xander stared. "This fight… This is getting weird."

The giant version of Iago began stomping around, forcing Xander and Corrin to separate. Corrin had the worst of it, compared to Xander. Not only was her balance at risk, but she was being forced to run along ice barefoot. "Aaah! Cold! Cold! Cold! This is worse than Flora waking me up!"

"I told you to wear shoes!" Xander yelled from his position. "Wait… feet… Aha!" Not even needing to find a better position, Xander swung his sword again, and the beam hit the giant Iago's ankles.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHhhhhhh!" Iago's scream heightened in pitch as he, bizarrely, shrunk to the size of a Mokushujin automaton. Xander merely blinked and swung again, hitting Iago with another beam. The mage teleported back to the top, at his regular size. "Okay, opera house. Bad idea!"

"This is just really weird, I'm… I'm not even mad at him anymore, just confused!" Xander confessed.

"HAAAH!"

Iago and the siblings appeared in a field close to the Great Wall. Iago growled and conjured an energy wall around the three fighters. With a finger snap, he proceeded to teleport all over the arena and fire at random.

"IF THIS DOESN'T FINISH YOU, NOTHING WILL!" Iago screamed.

"Aah! Ooh! Ouch!"

"Mm! Rrk! Ah!"

"WAH! WAH! HA! YAH! WAH!" Iago kept firing spells with reckless abandon, teleporting like mad. "YAAAAAH!" Iago disappeared, then reappeared while doing a spinning attack, arms coated in magic. "HRAAAAAAH!"

"Whoa!" Xander and Corrin dodged, and Iago disappeared. He rematerialized in another spot, trying his spin attack again. When it failed a second time, he tried it a third time. But this time, Iago stopped, dizzy. "Now!"

"Diz…zy…"

"This is it, Iago!" Corrin, as the closest to Iago, swung her blade and cut him down.

"WEEEEAAAAAAH!" Iago fell to his knees as the scene changed back to Castle Shirasagi.

Flora gasped.

"Corrin! Lord Xander! You're back!"

"Huh, she wasn't kidding," Elise said.

Xander and Corrin both noticed that their siblings, as well as Azura, Jakob and Gunter had all joined them in this room with Iago. Elise spoke up again. "See, Flora told us that Iago teleported away with the two of you!"

"Oww… Hey, Corrin, Xander… would you believe me… if I said… Garon had me under mmm…mmind control?"

"No," every single person answered at once.

"Please, have mmmmercy!"

"You nearly killed Elise!" Corrin cried. "Just because you wanted to kill me!"

Elise turned. "Wait, what?"

"You've betrayed king and country time and again just because you wanted to kill Corrin!" added Xander.

Flora turned to Gunter and Jakob. "He's the one who attacked us in the Eternal Stairway! I heard him confess that much! He's the reason Lilith is…"

While Jakob gasped, Gunter shook his head. "Of course he is…"

"H-hey! King Garon gave me a mmmmission to have Corrin suffer!"

"Yeah and you certainly seemed to enjoy it," Leo retorted.

Camilla glared. "You know, Iago, maybe your obsession with the idea of Corrin betraying you is what led to her actually betraying you?" She shrugged. "Food for thought as you die."

"Uh, but… I-"

"Oh, shut up," Leo interrupted. A flick of the wrist and several tree roots emerged and stabbed Iago before dragging him back with them into the ground. "Aaaaand done. That's right, I get the credit! All me! Does that do anything for you, Nohr?!"

Everyone cheered, while Xander had a wistful expression on his face. "Uh, hold on. What was that he mentioned about Father wanting you to suffer, Corrin? I seem to recall Father suggesting something like that before…"

Then everyone else all looked at each other and winced. Azura looked to Corrin. "We should tell him."

"Tell me what?"

Everyone shuffled awkwardly and cleared their throats, as Corrin met her brother. "Xander… You might want to sit down…"

To be continued.

Post-Script A/N:

The chapter's title was a placeholder, but one of my friends told me I should keep it.

Special Announcement: Next week will be the final update. I'll post the first half on Friday, then the second on Saturday.

So in the game, Iago caught on to Hinoka's fake execution. Here, he just wanted to kill Corrin. And we almost get some backstory for Iago, but not quite. Throughout the paths, we learn about Garon's past. And in Birthright, I did go over Hans' motivations. But apparently Iago is just a jerk. In this path, Corrin hates him more than Hans. It helps that she reunited with Gunter. This is opposed to Birthright, where Corrin despises Hans and merely sees Iago as an annoyance. Also Hans was briefly in this chapter. His final battle in Conquest is just kind of a letdown, they squeeze him into Iago's final chapter. Anna's comment is my own.

I had Corrin and Xander fight Iago together to make up for what Corrin and Xander had to go through in today's Birthright chapter. Also, have you noticed the direction I took with Iago's fight? For Zelda fans, Iago's fight is a big reference to the Zant fight in Twilight Princess. I like that fight, it's one of my favorites in the series. After making Iago's fight based on Mettaton in the Birthright path, I had to think of something similar for Conquest.

Now, in canon, this is the point where Corrin and Azura tell the other siblings that they have to beat Garon to end the war. It was a little weird to see that when I reviewed game footage, because in this story, they'd already been talking to the siblings, one by one. In this story, Xander is the only one who doesn't see the truth yet. He would be the one, too.

Next time... King Garon will face the music.