Author's Note
Well, between you and I, I was about to put in another OC. She was called Yume'ichi, and she would be an assassin from Chon'sin. I scrapped that idea because it would cause much less focus on Alec and Sumia's interactions. Also, she wouldn't have made any good impact to the story.
Chapter 26
Tsunami at Valm Harbor
Before we were to unload our supplies on Valmese soil, Chrom, Frederick and I stood on the beach and surveyed the land. There were some heavily armed men, especially those Dark Knights. If the Valmese harbor really was the main hub for the Valmese ships, then taking over this would ensure that Ylisse won't have to worry about anymore naval invasions from the Valmese.
"It looks like we're facing another large force," Chrom commented, "Once again, the Valmese have an abundance of knights and horseback fighters."
"Not only that, milord," Frederick added, "They have additional mages, especially the horseback ones."
"Dark Knights: Users of both sword and tome. They use a mixture of hybrid power and defense," I commented.
Armor clattering was heard in the distance. A legion of knights chased a woman who carried two Killing Edge sheathes, but the swords were absent. My friends and I were clearly surprised and needed to take action.
"Well, there goes my supposed break," I said with a yawn, "But I guess resting in a boat for at least a week or two is enough."
"You'll have your break when we're done, Alec," Frederick said with a serious stare, "Now let us make preparations."
A few minutes later
As much as I wanted to fight alongside my wife, I wanted to have some time with Nate. Cugar purred from me petting him before Nate launched into the skies. Lucina proved to be a powerful combatant, using a mixture of Chrom's pure power and speed with Olivia's grace and agility. Nate really did take after me and he has also proven to be able to use those mysterious purple flames.
My people were seasoned, so they were strong enough to face this large amount of soldiers, while only a small force took the beach area. That small force consisted of Virion and Cordelia, and Nate and I.
Basilio, after seeing Virion's improved archery, gave him an ancient bow he has kept in his castle for a while (he's good at bows, though he prefers axes). Astra was the name of that bow, and it's magical power allowed the wielder to use a powerful 5 blow technique, hence the bow's name being Astra. After thinking of cool bow techniques and jotting them down on my notebook, I went to Virion and showed him what I thought of, and to my surprise, he had been trying out with a normal bow.
My idea was an arrow rain move. He would fire a multitude of arrows and squish them up as if he's about to fire one arrow. It's a high angle and altitude shot; good for clearing out ground units and groups of pegasus knights if they were close.
"Shall I make you Valmese famous?" he aimed his Astra bow up into the sky and fired while shouting: "Astral Shower!"
He fired five volleys into the air and after a moment, a hail of arrows scattered among the unlucky Valmese knights and cavaliers on the sand. The four focused on the lesser units, immediately killing most of the cavaliers while grievously wounding the knights. The Dark Knight and the General survived using their Aegis skill; the Dark Knight must have been a seasoned Paladin. Despite this, the Dark Knight still suffered some wounds. I saw the last volley of arrows falling and I held them in a telekinetic grip. The arrows stayed in place, but changed its direction through my own will. I forcefully shot it down toward the General's legs, making its already troublesome mobility decrease into immobility. Nate grabbed a Levin Sword from the holster on the right side of his saddle and finished off the armored knight. The knight fell heavily into the sands of the beach.
"I've got the horseback mage, Alec!" Cordelia said as she lobbed her short spear to the dark knight precisely. The dark knight's life ended as it pierced through his chest.
"Area clear," I said, "We should help the others up north."
"Roger," Cordelia said as she commanded her steed to fly toward the town.
Chrom and his squadron formed a small phalanx as to force reinforcements to keep on attacking them. The healers/casters provided good support while the front line fighters defended them. As soon as the forces decreased, Chrom and Lucina moved toward the cornered woman. Despite being unarmed, she was quite agile, but her agility couldn't hold up long as the whole chase tired her out.
"Dad, I've got an idea," Nate said before he whispered into my ear.
"Got it," I nodded and we both hopped off of Cugar.
We landed in front of the lady in captivity and we brandished our Levin Swords. I still wonder how Gangrel could do it, but with this, I can strike them with slashes based on my magical power. In fact, Gangrel used a technique that made him lightning itself. Even though, I could still defeat these knights with this sword alone.
As the knights charged at us, Cugar came in front of us and roared at the knights, causing them to flinch from his mighty roar.
"Lady, hop on the wyvern for now," Nate said.
She nodded sternly despite the situation and our status of being strangers to her. She jumped on Cugar and ascended into the skies.
"Let's do this," Nate said as his magical energy into his sword.
"All right!" I charged my blade with electricity and clashed it with his.
We formed an X with the blades and pointed our blades at the knights. Chains of electricity transferred from mine to his and vice-versa.
"Levin Sword Dual Technique: Storm Plague!"
A thick stream of electricity shot toward one knight and transferred the deadly lightning toward the others. As soon as we finished the combination move, Cugar landed beside us and allowed the woman to dismount. When we turned to her, Chrom caught up and conversed with her. Nate and I visited the house next to us, leaving the two to talk. I knocked on the door and saw a village maiden who initially had a look of dread, but immediately warmed up to see us wearing the blue garbs of Ylisse. She looked around and didn't see any Valmese nearby.
"That sword," she commented, "Are you the Indra of Ylisse?"
"... I guess, but this 'Indra' is here to save Valm from this conqueror's reign," I said.
"Oh, thank the Gods, if you're with the Blade Princess, Say'ri, then it's a relief that the Indra would join sides," she said with a smile.
"Instead of calling me Indra, how about calling me, Alec?" I asked, "Of course, just between you and I."
"All right, Alec," she said in a hushed voice, "I shall give whatever I can to contribute to your cause."
She went back into her house and came out with a large Bullion. I never really asked for this, but I'm still grateful to her generosity. She quickly shut the door as soon as I received the gift.
"Pardon me, Alec," the lady said, "I am Say'ri, Blade Princess of Chon'sin, but may I ask to loan a blade from thine waistband?"
I drew out Andras, my strongest sword in my arsenal and gave it to her with the addition of the sheathe. Her garbs suggest that she has ample experience as a swordsman.
"My gratitude, Alec," she said with a grateful smile before charging toward a group of cavaliers.
She quickly slew a horseman with one deadly yet precise swing with her sword and sheathed it with grace. The remaining cavaliers ganged up on her, but she performed an unusual technique. She used her front foot to step backward as if she was walking away from them and then spun around. She entered a preparatory stance with an unusual mix that left those cavaliers surprised. Three static images of Say'ri performing different stances flashed out as she slowly slid backward. One cavalier attempted to stab her, but she and the other doppelgangers disappeared in a flash. The sound of flourishing steel was heard tearing through the air as if the wind was manipulated to become sharp invisible swords.
"What kind of technique is that, dad?" Nate said in awe.
"It's a powerful Swordmaster technique that Lon'qu had told me about," I said, "The technique is a powerful technique, using extremely high speed to emulate a multi-man high speed massacre."
Say'ri appeared in front of them while spinning to her left, sword out. She used the momentum to prepare a final drawing stance. As soon as she went to a complete halt, her sword has already been fully sheathed. The blade flashed as she drew it and she soon disappeared in a second with the same flourishing steel sound from before and appeared again afterward. This time, she faced away from them and sheathed her sword in her scabbard. The cavaliers suddenly fell with massive amounts of sword wounds opening.
"Shinsoku-no-ryu: Kishin no Orochi."
She smiled from her work and allowed us to proceed. More cavaliers and magicians came in to attack. Chrom ran toward Say'ri and drew his blade alongside hers.
"Alec, we'll take care of the other forces, take down the commander!"
"All right, Chrom," I said, "You heard the man, Nate."
He snickered and Cugar launched forward. I hung on to the saddle with all I could from the high speed. When we were nearing the commander, Cugar performed a weird move. He leaned backward and let his tail grind the floor while he stretched his feet outward. For some reason, he kept on accelerating despite the friction the tail caused. Cugar's talons grabbed both the rider and the horse and he pinned them down. Cugar huffed in air as his mouth shone a bright orange. Before he could breathe out fire, a green tornado surrounded us and launched the three of us away from him. Cugar was susceptible to wind magic and both Nate and I had low resistance. I had to end this quick. I grabbed my sword and tome and ran to him.
"Huh, think you can touch me?" He used a technique that diffused the Rexcalibur tome into four smaller tornadoes that spiraled around him. I used my wind tome to push me backwards, getting me away from the vacuum of his tornadoes. His horse walked slowly toward me with the dancing tornadoes still in sight.
"How's this?" I tossed rock at one of his tornadoes and it suddenly flew back at a strong speed. I managed to block the rock throw, though my arms hurt from blocking such a forceful lob.
"You can't even lay a finger on me with my wind barrier!"
Nate attempted to attack him from above, but the magic knight saw through it and surrounded himself in a green tornado, pushing the wyvern rider back. He grinned confidently as he grabbed another tome in his right hand.
"Two spells?!" I exclaimed as the pages of his tome fluttered wildly.
"Heh, mages these days are always using a spell by blasting them with their product," he commented, "But here, I use the product to make an even deadlier product!"
This is like commercialism or something. You buy a material or product and manufacture it into a better product, selling it for even more. It's kinda like how flexible magic is in and out of combat.
He telekinetically lifted boulders from the floor and covered them in fire via his Fire tome. I was appalled from his talent of using two tomes at once while using his mental/magical power to lift boulders that size. This guy is crazier than I thought.
"It's all over, 'Indra'!" he shouted, "Valmese Volcano!"
He utilized the tornadoes as a sort of launching mechanism for the 'meteors'. He accelerated the fireballs by spinning them constantly and flinging them at me. The speed of the flaming boulders were frightening, and I barely made it out alive. I dodged most of them, having experience from a similar fight with Shin'ta. He used an extremely fast technique on me that involved stabbing me at high speed. I traveled with him for about half a month and it took me that amount of time to memorize his stab rhythm.
"...Volcano?!" that means... wait, the sound of wind is... "Nate, I'm getting on!"
I jumped up high and Cugar went under me and let me on, flying away from the ground. I realized that because of his sudden disappearance in the midst of the volley of volcanic rocks was because he had a finisher. I looked behind me and saw the dark knight jumping up high; his horse a few inches below him. He held his sword with both hands, preparing a cleaving chop.
"Wait, how?!" I shouted.
Cugar saw the man and quickly turned to intercept the slash with his fangs. Cugar stayed strong, managing to even withstand the harsh landing by keeping his feet planted. A large plume of fire consumed both of us, covering us in searing agony. With a strike like this, I would have died gruesomely but...
"Not on my watch," Libra carried his Ward staff, using it to protect me from the fiery storm, "I can fight with magic too."
He unsheathed his bolt axe and discharged a surge of electricity into the mage. He managed to resist the electricity and telekinetically tossed a rock at Libra's wrists, effectively disarming him.
"Let's do this," Say'ri shouted, "Shinsoku-no-Ryu: Tsuchi-no-Raijin!"
Say'ri did a literal ground tearing dash with her sword tearing it up. Despite the power and speed, it realized it was never intended to tear through the opponent, but to set up something else. The horse got unbalanced from the sudden floor change, limiting its mobility.
"Repent Sinner!" Libra leapt up high and dug his Bolt Axe into the ground that Say'ri tore.
"Shit, we have to get as far away from here," I said to Nate.
Nate nodded and told Cugar to escape the area. We managed to be transported a safe distance and saw the horseman get engulfed by a fusion of electrical eruptions and other rubble that rose up. The smoke cleared up and the remains of the area revealed that he has disappeared.
"What? Where did you go?" Libra looked around while preparing to dig his Bolt Axe into the ground. The horseman suddenly charged to the War Monk's left side.
"Libra!" I shouted, "To your left!"
He turned to where I told him to and discovered the charging horseman. The dark knight was still injured, but he could still move with strong mobility. Cugar flew in front of Libra and intercepted the sword once again with his fangs. Nate threw an easy stab to the horseman's forearm with his sword, disabling his arm for a while. He looked at me and shouted: "Now!"
With my wind tome on my hand, I used it to propel myself toward the rider and threw a heavy clothesline that pushed him forward. He crashed into a wall, unarmed and injured. I grabbed him and positioned him behind me before jamming my hand into his stomach. He flinched in pain as I twisted my wrist and turned my torso toward away from him.
"This is the part where you scream!"
I conjured a powerful Thoron beam that pierced through his abdomen. A clean hole was formed on his abdomen as he screamed in agony and he soon fell into the ground, dead and defeated.
I wiped my brow from the victory achieved and smiled at the cloudy skies. The rest of the Valmese forces were dealt with swiftly before I defeated the commander. Even though I want to mourn for our enemies, I still have to remember that we're in a war, and the Valmese are ready to die for the sake of their cause. Say'ri approached us, cleaning my sword before sheathing it. She gave it to me and did a grateful bow.
"My gratitude, Indra," she said, "The sword thou hath wielded bears the power of a hero of yore and had been forged by an armorer."
"You're no joke with a sword, Say'ri," I replied, "And please, call me Alec. Though Indra has a good hook to it."
"Very well, Alec," she nodded.
Chrom approached us, sheathing his Falchion and facing the Say'ri.
"Chrom, this is Say'ri, the lady who was trapped by those knights," I said.
"Aye, you must be Chrom," she said to the prince.
"Yes, but how do you know?"
"Word of the Frenzied Tactician and the Exalt-to-be spread around Valm as soon as Plegia was liberated from Gangrel," Say'ri answered to Chrom's question, "Your actions have inspired several groups of each colony to rise up against the Valmese Conquest."
The Valmese, huh? It's good to know that we have allies on our side.
"So this is where I'm called the Frenzied Tactician," I said, "But why?"
"Plegian bandits have told of tales when you and the Mad King clashed blades. They say you fought like one who degraded into a beast."
I see, and it sorta makes sense. I looked at the mark on my hand briefly.
"... Moving on," Chrom said, "I thought the conqueror already slew all the rebels."
"Nay, Prince Chrom, for we're mobile and sneaky, preferring to strike quickly and phasing back into the shadows. Yet we suffer a massive flaw from gathering the dynasts."
Flavia and Basilio walked in and the woman raised her brow.
"Massive flaw? What may that be, Blade Princess?" Flavia asked.
"The sins of man infect their decisions. They desire liberation like us yet cannot swallow their pride for the sake of uniting on mutual terms."
"Basically, you're a rogue political mercenary group?" I said.
"Aye, Alec. Though liberty is a fine word, it's not enough to rouse them from foolishness."
"Fools use 'freedom' to only get what they desire, and surely, they just want the liberty of garnering the spoils," I said.
"My goodness," Flavia said with her head shaking, "Are you looking for another way to convince them?"
"Aye, Khan Flavia, though the success chance is meager," Say'ri had a sad look, "Many may mistrust me, I fear, because my brother fights for the Conqueror."
"What kind of madness does your brother suffer?" I asked.
"Yeah, why would HE support Walhart."
"I know nothing of the truth, good sir, but I no longer acknowledge Yen'fey as my brother from that action."
"Yen'fey?!" I exclaimed, "Your elder brother is Yen'fey?!"
Say'ri immediately had a surprised look.
"How do you know of my brother's name?"
"I've met the Asura and he said one of his greatest rivals were Yen'fey. From what I heard from him, he Yen'fey followed Asura on his journeys for a year and came back a much more powerful swordsman than he was."
"... Even you've met Asura," Say'ri said, her face filled with pity, "I've tried to seek his guidance, but he decides to just wander around the continent."
"What I really don't get is why Yen'fey, who was under Asura's tutelage for a whole year, decides to join the conqueror?"
"... I know not of the answer yet, friend," Say'ri said. She turned to Chrom, "But most of all, I need your help, Prince Chrom. Will you help me?"
"...How many are we facing against?" Chrom asked with a bit of anxiety from his current standing, "I've a halidom and future to protect."
"We face at least over a million men," Say'ri replied.
We were all surprised from the massive number of soldiers ready under Valmese control. Despite this, Say'ri had a smile on her face; one that basically shows determination.
"But you're the same Ylissean soldiers who killed a whole fleet. What is a million men to the Ylissean Dogs of War and their Frenzied Tactician?"
He came close to me and he confided.
"Could this be the great battle foretold?" he asked me.
"... I'm not sure, but if the Halidom is surely protected, then we must end Valm's conquest," I said.
Valm Harbor Village
We secured the area, using soldiers from Ylisse, Ferox, and some of the remaining dynasts in the Resistance. For now, we can rest here before making a move on the Valmese. I came out of a food vendor with a corn in my hands. I was too focused on looking at my corn that I forgot to see who is in front of me. Before I could apologize, I realized it was Nate.
"Nate? What's going on?"
"Dad, now that the situation's safe for now, it's time I gave you this," he showed me a rock with a sigil on it.
"What's this?"
"When I was young, you told me to keep this Outrealm relic as a treasure. It leads to a place where you unite with allies of a time of yore against others who have gained aid of outer realm warriors. You told me this is a place where you have fought one of the heroes and gained an ancient power that belongs to a King."
A power of a king. I'm no king myself, but what kind of power did I gain from Nate's timeline? Has he used these rocks before?
"So, how does this work?" I ask.
"I'm not so sure. Only you could do it for some reason," he replied, "You said you just focused your magic power into it."
"Okay, I'll try."
I took a deep breath and felt like I was using a tome when I was activating this power. Instead of orange texts surrounding me, it was white with blueish-green aura. All of a sudden, I felt myself being imbued with the this mystic energy and all of a sudden, I saw my son being energized by the mystic power.
"Dad, what's going on?"
"I'm not so sure," I replied to my son.
"Alec, what's happening to us?!" Chrom said from afar, being carried by the magical power.
"What's going on, Alec?" Lissa was hovering as well.
A blue beam of light emitted from our bodies and touched the sky. I saw some other beams of light from the other buildings where the Shepherds took a homestay in.
Somewhere
I soon found myself on snowy ground. I looked around me and realized that I was in some sort of snowy area. It wasn't Ferox, but it looked like Ylisse in a snowy winter.
"Chrom?" I said a bit weakly as I stood on my feet and saw him laying in the snow.
"I'm here, Alec, but where are we?" Chrom asked as he got up too.
"Yeah, what just happened here? Is this Ferox?" Cherche said as Minerva landed beside us.
All of a sudden, a Sorcerer with a band of other soldiers approached us. This man had long red hair with a tome that emanated massive magic power.
"That old man must have told us of travelers coming to aid us," he said, "Are you them?"
"Sure, I guess," I replied nervously, "What's going on?"
"Look behind you, stranger," he said, "Who do you see?"
I saw a green haired man in strange garbs, leading an army of many soldiers. That green haired man looks familiar.
"That man came from another dimension to siege our land," he said.
"Who are you?" Chrom asked the red haired man.
With a curt smile, he tousled his hair in a flashy manner.
"My name is Arvis."
Author's Note
Basically, I love the Dread Fighter class, mostly because it's cool and because of Aggressor. The animations are cool, especially the jumping strike. The only thing I don't like about it is some of the animations are reused from other classes and the critical strike animations would have been something way cooler in my opinion.
Also, for my poll, can you guys keep on voting? I'll end it as soon as the tie between two suitors breaks the tie. I'll be posting my new side chapter some time later.
