Upon Leanne's urging, Ike leads his group through Begnion to make their way to Goldoa as quickly as possible. However, he begins to have doubts on whether or not he can succeed in his mission to defeat Pyres. According to Leanne, Pyres was easily matching the royals of Gallia and Serenes without even trying. If he possessed such power, what hope did he have of overcoming it?
"Ike, we should take a break," Leanne said suddenly.
"Huh? Leanne… why?" Ike asked, turning back. There seemed to be nothing ahead that warranted a stop to think.
"Ike… I sense… there's some kind of laguz around here…" Leanne said. She closed her eyes, and looked around.
"Talking about us?" a familiar voice said. Leanne let out an easy breath, and waved to Janaff, Ulki and Gavina as they approached. The hawks each waved back, Gavina having to adjust the feathers behind her ears. One green feather behind her right ear, and one brown, one black, and one white behind her left. Ike had yet to meet a female hawk that wasn't Gavina, but he'd have to guess that they were far worse off.
"Janaff? Ulki? Gavina? What brings you all the way out here? And how's Tibarn?" Ike asked.
"And Naesala? If Pyres hurt one feather," Leanne said.
"That's the thing… they've been overcome. His power ebbs for a few hours every once in a while, but when he comes back, he seems so much stronger than before," Gavina said.
"That motherhating, egg-sucking evil son of a burning pile of cat droppings!" Leanne said, lapsing into ancient speech as she did. Everyone who understood ancient speech had their jaws drop. Ike looked around.
"Did I miss Leanne's attitude again?" he asked.
"…It wasn't much," Gavina said.
"Are you kidding? That was a really creative one out of her… oh," Janaff started, before recognising Ike's vague disappointment.
"…Are my insults really that interesting? We've got to get to Goldoa and make Pyres dead!" Leanne said.
"…Uh, Leanne? He defeated Tibarn, Naesala, and Skrimir without even trying… together," Janaff said.
"And you don't want to beat the crap out of him why?" Leanne said.
"Trust me, I'd like to take him out, too. But do you really think we have a chance?" Janaff asked.
"Janaff is correct," Ulki said.
"However, Leanne does have a point. We're not getting any tougher, and Pyres grows by the day. Better we try and lose quickly, before losing without trying by waiting for him to finish gathering power," Gavina said.
"Then we'd better get a move on," Ike said.
"I'll go ahead and tell Ranulf that we've got a change of plan," Ulki said, before transforming and shooting forward. Ike and his company continued the march.
Leanne stopped Ike again at the lip of an open field, with a few thickets and rivers. Ike sensed an ominous presence, too, and pulled out his sword. Ulki appeared with Ranulf, Lethe, Lyre and Kyza in tow, and they, too, assumed cautious stances.
"Look at what I found…" a foul voice said, echoing across the field. The laguz turned chalk white, as the hunched form of Izuka cackled from the other side of the field.
"Izuka!" Gavina said, transforming and zipping forward. She grabbed Izuka in her talons, flying over him menacingly.
"I tore you to pieces! Why are you not in pieces?" Gavina asked.
"Well, this most excellent fellow brought me back into this world, and permitted me to continue my experiments with these magnificent specimens… I had never thought I would get the chance to see my life's work exacted on those rare royal laguz!" Izuka said. Gavina let out a loud shriek, and tore Izuka into several pieces, dropping him to the ground.
"Great, now we have three problems. Three very big, very terrifying problems," Gavina said.
"Four!" the same cackle called out.
"…Five," Gavina said. There was an ear-splitting roar from the south-west, a booming shriek from the north-west, and a sorrowful caw from the south-east. And Janaff spotted what appeared to be Izuka to the north-east.
"…I've got a bad feeling about this…" Ike said.
"A bad feeling? This is about as very not good as possible," Janaff said. Ike heard the sounds of ravens gathering nearby, and in a panic, rushed the team to the centre of the field, surrounded on all fronts by the advancing Feral Ones. He quickly realised his folly, and starting looking around for solutions.
"Kill the head and the body will fall?" Ike asked.
"I can try that," Marcia said. She soared up the cliff, accompanied by Sigrun and Tanith. The trio performed a Triangle Attack, knocking Izuka to the ground. Tibarn, Naesala and Skrimir were still advancing, frothing at the mouth and making terrifying noises.
"…Gavina, any plan?" Ike asked.
"Well… they are skilled on the field of battle, but not infallible. If Pyres defeated them, we should be able to as well if we want to stand a chance. …Numbers. It's all in the numbers… distract them, and whittle away at them. Leonardo, Oscar, Renning, Nolan, fill the sky with arrows and crossbow bolts. Ranulf, engage Skrimir, but don't attack. Lethe, Lyre, Kyza, you attack when Skrimir is distracted. Soren, Bastian, Ilyana, your magic is appreciated, but focus on healing. As for the rest of you… a small swarm of Feral ones?" Gavina said, all of her tactics coming into play. Ike watched the horde of cats, tigers, hawks and ravens gather, with the three royals at the head.
"Sounds fair," Ike said.
Ranulf jumped in front of Skrimir, shaking like a leaf. This was not the first time he found himself facing odds bordering on lunacy. Yet here he was, staring down a Skrimir that had only gotten stronger, more durable… and less merciful. To call Ranulf afraid would be a massive understatement. Yet he did his job well, allowing Lethe, Lyre and Kyza to make their approach… up until Skrimir jumped forward and grabbed Ranulf. His teeth carved a massive hole in Ranulf's side before Lyre pushed Skrimir off. Kyza jumped into action, fighting Skirmir with little input from Lethe, while Lyre began licking Ranulf's wounds. Ranulf smiled hazily, wondering how Tibarn and Naesala were going. His thoughts turned to Janiyah before he eventually passed out.
The archery plan went only marginally better. Leonardo and Oscar were scoring the most hits, but their arrows weren't exactly doing much more than slightly agitating the hawk king and raven king. Leonardo closed his eyes, and allowed instinct to take over. He tossed his arrow into the air, jumped, and fired directly into Naesala. The blow knocked him to the ground, and then everything went downhill about as fast as Leonardo. Leanne gave him an impressive strike, before rushing to Naesala's side.
"Naesala? Naesala?" Leanne asked.
"Um… Leanne?" Gavina asked. Leanne looked between her and Naesala.
"Oh… right…" Leanne said. "Force of habit."
"…Try and keep it under control. Trust me, it's just as hard for me," Gavina said. Leanne looked up at Tibarn, and her jaw dropped.
"Come on… you can help me take on a bunch of feral hawks. Hopefully, these ones came from the same place Izuka did," Gavina said. Leanne smiled, and the two headed off.
"This isn't good…" Soren said, having finished healing Ranulf to the best of his ability, before blasting a few Ignis spells in the direction of the beasts.
"We can't hold out forever… we need to flush out Izuka. And quickly," Ike agreed.
"We can help with that," Janaff said, dragging Ulki over beside the pair. Ike nodded. Janaff's eyesight and Ulki's hearing would be of use.
"Izuka! Show yourself!" Ike called.
"Now just why would I do that?" Izuka asked, cackling. Ulki pointed, and Janaff spotted Izuka in a set of bushes. Ike signalled for Oscar to fire his bow in that direction, which he did. With a whirr, Izuka vanished in a prick of light.
"He's not going to make this easy, is he?" Ike asked.
"There is no reason for him to. And it's kind of hard for us to make one for him," Soren said.
"…Can we get any positive news out of today?" Ike asked.
"Staves break. HEY GENIUS! I CAN STILL SEE YOU!" Janaff said. Izuka warped again, the glint of light denoting his presence still in Janaff's field of vision.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, there are rewarp staff uses to burn," Janaff said. He shot into the air, and started calling out, causing Izuka to flee to a distant, although still visible by Janaff, place.
Ike, meanwhile, found himself facing against Skrimir. While Ike had eventually fought Caineghis on one of his many wanderings, Skrimir was an unknown foe. While Caineghis brought great fortune, Skrimir was a beast of resolve. Ike was almost positive the two fights would be different.
"I'm going to be honest: this was a match-up I never saw happening after you became sane," Ike said. Skrimir roared.
"…Yeah, I guess you're right," Ike said, before immediately launching into his Aether. He cut a large slice into Skrimir, a slice Skrimir didn't even notice. Skrimir jumped on top of Ike, and Ike found Ragnell sliding away. Much like his match against Caineghis, Ike realised this would become a battle of physical strength. And unlike his match against Caineghis, he would probably die if he lost… and Skrimir seemed to be getting stronger by the minute.
"Wow, you're right… this is kind of therapeutic," Leanne said, defeating her tenth hawk in a row with her magic.
"Speak for yourself, Leanne," Gavina called back. Dispatching hawks was becoming a sore spot for her, due to the population problems Phoenicis was having. The pair heard a pair of shrieks, and froze in place. The sleek form of Naesala appeared in front of Leanne, and the tough form of Tibarn in front of Gavina.
"…When did Naesala wake up?" Leanne asked.
"…Don't. Make. Any. Sudden. Moves," Gavina said.
"O. K," Leanne said, not willing to move when a manic Naesala was staring at her. Gavina grabbed her hand, and Leanne was suddenly gaining an idea on what her plan was.
"I thought you said-" Leanne started, before Gavina dived from naught to nigh two hundred in an instant, jolting Leanne's shawl and veil out of place and causing a few knots in her stomach, but she'd probably find that preferable to being savaged by her husband. Gavina quickly pulled out of the dive, keeping a speed somewhere around a hundred, while Tibarn and Naesala pursued. They were accelerating much more naturally, but accelerating nonetheless. Leanne started singing the Galdr of Vigor. She'd hoped it'd be enough.
"Hehe… finally…" Izuka said. His Rewarp staff had broken, as had his two spares, but he had finally thrown that hawk off his scent. All he had to do was make his escape and he'd have wiped out those short-sighted fools without a doubt.
"Greetings, wretched human," a calm voice said. Izuka froze, before slowly turning to face Janaff.
"How… How…" Izuka asked.
"Your Rewarp staff is very visually distinctive… I commend you on your diversionary tactic, Izuka. However, you made one mistake... you should've run away when you had the chance. Now all that matters is how to punish you," Janaff said. Izuka tried casting Balberith, but Janaff struck him and took the tome, tossing it far away.
"You are a beorc, so I could put you in front of a jury of your peers… keeping in mind that your peers are savage monsters that attack without reason, I'm going to say this doesn't end well for you. Laguz use ostracisation… but I'd think you'd enjoy that. There's my variant, ostritcisation, that Tibarn never let me use. Unfortunately, it doesn't work on beorc. I could tear you to shreds on the spot, but Gavina did that, and look where it got you. I'm running out of options… I can only think of one thing to do with you, Izuka," Janaff said.
"…No way… Impossible! You're bluffing!" Izuka said.
"I'm not sure what you are, but for everyone your Feral Ones have made to suffer the same fate… I'm not looking forward to this anymore than you are, meatbag," Janaff said.
Gavina and Leanne slowed their rush after hearing a few thuds. They turned around, and noticed all of the hawks and ravens dropping like flies. Gavina hurriedly dived with Leanne in tow, looking for Tibarn and Naesala's corpses in the pile. Gavina looked up, to notice Ike pushing Skrimir from his body, but everyone else being mostly all right, with a few scratches here and there (some severe, but all survivable).
"Gavina! He's over here!" Leanne called. Gavina rushed to Leanne's side, to see Tibarn and Naesala on the ground. There was minute twitching, but it was obvious the pair were on their way out of this world. Leanne began singing a tune to help the Feral Ones return to wherever it was they came. Gavina noticed, for the first time, that Leanne accompanied it with a dance. Smiling slightly, she turned to her husband, as he faded away, the faint remains of a smile etched onto his hawk beak. Gavina started shedding tears, before Ulki and Janaff soared beside her.
"What happened? Why did the Feral Ones stop?" Gavina asked.
"I found Izuka, and we had a chat," Janaff said.
"Ended with him in pieces, I assume?" Gavina asked. Leanne chuckled lightly.
"Well… guess you could say that. He's mostly dust, now. Now I regret that decision… *Erk*!" Janaff said. Gavina quickly pieced together what Janaff had wound up doing, and gave an empathy retch. Ulki and Leanne looked between each other, and shrugged.
Ike looked at the field where the Feral Ones had attacked. There wasn't much different from before, save for a few smatterings of blood leaked by Ranulf, mostly. Lyre was holding onto him while he was still woozy from the pain.
"…Gavina, does that count as us conquering the three royals?" Ike asked.
"In terms of us matching Pyres? Probably not, though I do have my suspicions about what this battle could teach us about Pyres… and his weakness…" Gavina said.
"Weakness?" Ike asked.
"Pyres is accumulating magic… which must mean that it is not his. I could think of other reasons, but this seems most appropriate. If the magic is not his, we could take it away… and you saw what happened when we took away the Feral magic," Gavina said. Ike took a moment to think about it.
"…I'll take your word for it. But if you're right… we do have a chance. And no matter how slim… I have always won every battle that ever mattered," Ike said.
"And this Spirit killed your wives. This battle might be more important than any other you ever fought. I know how you feel," Gavina said.
"…Thank you, Gavina," Ike said. He resumed the march, after making sure everyone was fighting fit.