Chapter 29: Dragon


TAKUMI

The moment when Corrin was attacked his breath hitched and Fujin Yumi's power answered to his command, but when Prince Xander got in the way, he hesitated. He could have shot Garon without fail, could have given them an opening at least… but that wasn't what Corrin would have wanted, not in the situation that she created.

It was clear that she did this to inspire her siblings into fighting against Garon, which was far riskier than Leo's original plan… but Takumi understood why she felt the need to do it like this. It wasn't just to force her siblings to rebel, but also to spare Azura from singing herself to death.

But somehow, Takumi knew it wouldn't be enough to just pin all the nohrian royals against their own 'Father'. Corrin still needed to use her Yato to banish whatever evil possessed the King, and he guessed it would take up all the power she could get.

He swallowed and sighed, it brought Kagero's attention back to him. Kagero, who had her shuriken ready between her fingers, suddenly seemed to tense upon seeing all these new events unfold.

Takumi remained observant as the battle beneath him escalated, Princess Camilla joining in to defend Corrin and Prince Xander. Still no sign of Leo or Azura. Takumi quickly grew impatient and started to shoot with his Fujin Yumi, but Garon was very well guarded, and frighteningly so, the evil King managed to avoid several deadly blows with only his enormous axe, as if keenly aware that Takumi was right there trying to snipe him. Could he have figured out his hiding spot that easily? Takumi decided to not risk it anymore and ran to find a different snipping spot.

But then he started to hear Azura's voice, the same mysterious song that saved him from insanity. That's when his face started to sweat. That's when his whole body tensed and fought the urge to not yell at her.

The following moment he watched Prince Leo fall into the ground as Azura's song came to a halt. King Garon's axe struck Leo once, and then twice, and before Takumi reasoned it, he had fired several arrows at the King's back, losing himself in the desire of hurting that monster. Kagero called him out, in an attempt to stop him from straining his arms from the effort.

He felt his heart at his throat and his mind on a frenzy, couldn't stop feeling nausea curse through his frame as he watched amidst the chaos of that fight the body of Leo lying there, desperately clinging to the magical tome in his wounded arms for dear life.

For a split second Takumi felt so sick that he could have sworn seeing Scarlet right there, bleeding on the grass.

No, no, no! Stop that! Stop!

Azura and Princess Elise ran to his side and quickly retired him from the battlefield, leaving bloody traces behind.

Even though Garon was being beaten to the ground by his own older 'children', the fight was far from over. A strange light and smoke seemed to break out from the Nohrian King's body, and before anyone could understand what was happening, a colossal black monstrosity revealed itself.

A dragon.

Crowned in black horns, a skull so deformed that it was hard to tell where its eyes really were, but its sharp-toothed maw visibly sneered at Xander's soldiers, who were temporarily frozen in fear and confusion. The mere sight of it was enough to make Takumi's knees weaken, the nightmares of reptilian forms and unknowable horrors… suddenly Takumi's hands strained on the Fujin Yumi, as if his body never knew fear before.

Takumi then watched Corrin attack alone, as if the shock couldn't bind her legs. She roared with grief and madness, but the strike of her sword didn't lay a scratch on that sturdy dragon's skin. And one thing led to the other, Corrin suddenly discarded the blade and was engulfed by a brief elegant light, becoming a dragon herself.

He's only seen her do it twice, and both times when that happened he was inside deeply traumatizing events, so of course he'd feel uneasy to watch her in draconian form, especially when he had to watch her engage the more sinister one—nearly twice her size at that—like a wild animal. Her sharp antlers would gore into the other dragon with more ease than any other weapons, but his bigger body would easily throw her back. Takumi swore he could hear Garon's wicked laughter over Corrin's distorted growls

She fought restlessly, she was faster than Garon, fiercer too. But it couldn't be that easy.

After moments of hesitation, Xander finally commanded his allies to focus their strength on the abominable dragon, and that became Takumi's cue to act.

"Azura will need me there! Go bring me the Yato, quickly!"

With that being said, together with Kagero he jumped out of his hiding spot and run to the field, went to retrieve the Yato and find Azura. His heart was still heavy inside, but he would take whatever options he had if it could spare the lives of everyone he cared about.

AZURA

Elise had her tender pink face streaming with tears, but she wasn't crying anymore, as she pressed her lips together in focus for the wounds of her brother, who still struggled to breathe. The white light of her staff's magic was stopping the bleeding and the pain to some extent, but they were in dire need for another two medics if they hoped to effectively save Leo's life.

Azura had to hold the hand that refused to let go of the tome of Brynhildr, its pages now damped in his blood. His other arm was so heavily mutilated that it looked like it was literally hanging from a thread.

She couldn't bring herself to sing anymore, the little harmony she needed to do it was completely disrupted and seeing to what extent Corrin decided to act in order to make her song unnecessary had struck a nerve on Azura.

But now the dragons were free. Azura wasn't certain of what Garon's new form meant, but Corrin charging in as a dragon herself didn't bode well in Azura's mind. She knew first-hand of what was Corrin capable when wrapped in that relentless rage, and even when she had the dragonstone in her possession, Azura didn't know anymore if that would be enough to hold back the dragon princess.

When Azura heard Garon's sinister laughter in spite of being viciously attacked by Corrin, she knew that something was terribly wrong, and it wasn't anger alone what was making Corrin so powerful… No, it was more like Garon was becoming more passive while Xander and Camilla orchestrated their forces to assault that heinous beast.

Corrin stood on her hind legs as she lunged forward with a thunderous growl, her claws cleaving into the thick scales of the bigger dragon's head, but it resisted and would push Corrin to the ground, much to everyone's dismay. Corrin roared threateningly when a pair of mages approached to see if she was wounded, scaring them off.

Azura started to notice a change in the way Corrin behaved; her guts were twisting at the realization that Corrin was quickly losing herself in that outburst… and everyone else was noting it too.

Xander started to warn his men and Camilla to back off, the tail of Corrin would swing violently from one side to the other as she was locked on fighting the larger dragon. Garon was barely moving, but wasn't beaten yet, as bloody and bruised as he was, but Azura would bet anything that he was merely awaiting to make his own move.

Everything was a chaos, everywhere Azura looked, there was someone helplessly bleeding or crying, forced into a situation that defied their craziest nightmares. Azura's attention drew back to Leo, now that Elise was whimpering orders to other two healers working with his grievous wounds—one of them was Niles, Leo's most trusted retainer—, telling them to prepare to take him to a safer place. Azura hesitated, knowing that she couldn't leave the battlefield yet.

There was no stopping this madness, not unless she intervened in the only way she could.

Ironically, despite Corrin's original intentions, this was the most urgent moment for Azura to use her song… But would it work just like last time?

Azura rose on her feet again, seizing her spear with one hand and her mother's pendant. She tried to empty her head of all the noise around her and took a deep breath.

Forgive me, Corrin.

"Please, don't sing yet, Azura!"

She nearly jumped at the scream, her eyes suddenly found the face of Takumi emerging from the crowd of soldiers all over the field; he was running towards her. Nobody else seemed to have noticed who he was within the chaos. "What are you doing?"

"You can't just sing, knowing what will happen!"

At the fight on the background, in one sudden move, the huge dragon caught Corrin's neck with his monstrous jaw and pinned her to the ground while she was still screeching wildly, struggling like a prey under a bigger animal's force. Xander urged his soldiers to focus their strength on Garon. There was something extremely unnerving in the way that they aimed their arrows and lances to the dragon's eye sockets but didn't seem to stab anything. Garon's body was something that went beyond human understanding, but Azura observed that this wouldn't stop Xander from trying.

"… If I don't, then it'll be too late for her!" Azura replied, standing her ground in face of Takumi's denial and Corrin's distress. "All of this foolishness just so I wouldn't need to sing! She did it to protect me, but it's still foolishness! I didn't ask her to do this!"

So many things were happening at once; Xander and Camilla had to draw back when the large dragon fought back, leaving Corrin apparently unconscious on the ground. Elise cried when Leo suddenly flinched, which urged the attention of both Azura and Takumi.

"Stop moving, Leo!" Elise pleaded, her hands forced her brother to remain on the ground while the other two healers panicked. Everyone was quietly confused about the presence of Takumi, a hoshidan, before them, but Elise would just welcome anyone willing to help.

Takumi knelt beside him and firmly held him down while they were still removing his broken armor to see the extent of the injuries in his arm and chest. "Listen to your sister, you prick!" Takumi could say anything he wanted, Azura could see in his face that he was truly concerned over Leo.

Meanwhile, the battle was growing more turbulent. The dragon that Garon became started breathing fire, and Xander and Camilla's forces were getting caught in the flames, they were all screaming in terror. Camilla had to be dragged away, her retainers had to quickly put out the fire she caught on her hair. Xander commanded his soldiers to retreat and take the heavily injured out of the field.

But something was off. More soldiers appeared out of the sides of Izana's palace, which may or may not have alerted the nohrians under Xander's command. Judging from a quick look at their armors and weapons, they were hoshidan.

Azura briefly caught in shock, wondering how were Hoshido's forces here and why they went unnoticed until now… They immediately rose their naginatas and katanas at the sight of the bigger more-menacing-looking black dragon. It was worth wondering who'd be the one leading this impromptu army

That's when Corrin rose again. Her growling had become even more wild; the clerics who dared to come close enough to mend her under Xander's orders suddenly met with the swing of her scaly tail, sent all of them violently flying back. More screaming ensued, as Corrin went completely berserk and seemed to have lost all qualms on attacking those who were not her enemies.

"Pathetic worms, all of you! Two kingdoms shall perish here today!" The laughter that Azura just heard was not natural, and she knew that it couldn't belong to Corrin. And judging by the look on everyone else's faces, they heard it too.

Takumi paled, seeing those hoshidan soldiers frightened by Corrin could only bring about bad memories he didn't want to revive, he then turned his attention back to the Nohrian Prince.

Leo was moving his thin white lips, but they could only hear breathless whimpers and nobody could understand him. He had never let go of his Brynhildr, as if his life depended on it but right there he used that good arm to grab Takumi's collar and pull him down closer to his face, spoke to him with a voice as weak as a breeze. After a moment, Takumi nodded.

It was in that moment when Azura noticed that Takumi was carrying beside his yumi a heavy golden sword, the very same that Corrin had dropped before becoming a dragon.

"We have the Yato, but without Corrin it's useless. What do you want me to do with it?" Takumi asked to Leo. Again, it was impossible for Azura to hear what the wounded prince was trying to say, but seeing how his glassy eyes looked at her, she could only guess. This caused an idea to spark into her mind.

"The Yato is the only thing that can expel the evil that has taken over her. I will have to sing, but just enough to weaken her dragon form and make someone give her the sword."

Takumi stared at her in disbelief.

"It's not going to work! If she uses the sword while she's still corrupted, she'll wreck havoc—"

"Just trust me on this! She may even hurt herself in the process, but if she has enough willpower, then she can use the Yato to force that monster out of her body." Despair was staining her voice, and with the sheer entropy of the battlefield with two vicious dragons unleashed, it was hard to focus. Azura tried her best regardless. "Look, I can't promise that it'll work, but this is better than just waiting for someone to eventually kill her or just leave her alone."

Elise sobbed, just loud enough to demand the attention of Azura and Takumi. "I-I… I don't want Corrin to get hurt! Please, don't—!"

"It's unavoidable! Elise, I beg you to understand! Both of you! Please, just… Let me do this. Please, let me sing!"

Azura knew it wouldn't be easy to convince anyone of her idea, but right now they couldn't abide to their personal rules to solve this problem. The end of this battle depended on the success of her plan.

With a sour resigned look in his eyes, Takumi nodded, his hands tightly grasped around the Yato's majestic hilt.

Elise stayed behind while still attending to Leo's injuries; Azura walked beside Takumi into the disarray of the palace's garden, nohrians and hoshidans alike under the attack of two powerful dragons.

Azura had made up her mind. One of her hands was still on her lance while the other went to find reassurance on Takumi's free hand. Her heart was beating outside of her chest when they both found among all those hoshidan soldiers one that stood out, the intimidating crimson armor, and the katana imbued with the force of lightning were easily recognizable to anyone who at least heard stories about Ryoma.

"What is he doing here?" Takumi breathed, clearly upset.

But what was truly staggering was the fact that he was accompanied by none other than Gunter, which proved to be an odd sight for everyone observant enough. It would seem like Gunter was scolding him from very close, engaged in a tense conversation with the first heir to Hoshido's throne.

Had Corrin told Gunter to bring Ryoma here? How would Corrin even know that Ryoma would be nearby at all? Azura decided that it didn't really matter in the urgency of their situation.

But it didn't wait until Xander stepped in, his sword heavy on his battered body from the ongoing fight with Garon; the moment when Xander and Ryoma's gazes met across the field, everyone present felt the immediate tension, as if two storms were about to collide one with the other.

Xander was the first to speak out. "Stop! This is not your battle, Prince Ryoma! We're not going to fight with you today, so sheathe your sword and turn back!"

"What have you done to Corrin?! Is this your doing?!" Ryoma was clearly on edge, his stance didn't falter for a second.

"Hold your accusations! Former King Garon has done something to her, and we want to bring her back to her senses! If you cannot cooperate, you either need to leave or keep your soldiers in check!", Xander replied, he didn't soften his bearing in face of a man was supposed to be his enemy. "Just take a good look: if we cannot stop her from hurting others or herself, we'll unable to stop the senseless bloodshed that she wanted to prevent in the first place."

Azura was surprised to see that Ryoma did stop aiming his sword to Xander, but immediately as he did, a fierce dash of silver scales ran into Ryoma ramming its dark antlers into the red armor.

Simultaneously the bigger dragon lunged towards Azura and Takumi before they could even react. Azura pulled up her lance in defense. Everyone was screaming.

CORRIN

Her mind was interpreting this sea of blackness as 'death', and her body wanted to give in to it, give up completely if it would ease her soul full of rage and impotence. A consolation prize for her failure.

If only she would stick to the original plan, Leo wouldn't have had to die, she could have even found a way to save Azura… She wouldn't have to break her promise. It was like all of her regrets were dragging her into these depths and she was allowing it.

All that pain, all that suffering that she had to go through ultimately achieved nothing. She couldn't even defeat Garon.

There was a soft sound that echoed inside the darkness when she thought about Garon. There was a gentle whiteness that began to spread beneath her like cream in coffee, slowly taking form of an older woman, an old stranger that Corrin had met only briefly before. Her heart felt conflicted upon the realization of whom this gentle face belonged to. Corrin wanted to cry.

"Why? Why do you show up when I'm already…?" It was too late. Her hands stretched towards the face of her mother, Queen Mikoto, a wasted chance, a tragic brevity that marked a turning point in her life. The floating figure of Mikoto extended her arms to her, the white dress she wore still regal and shimmering with silk and gold, and from closer Corrin could tell that their faces were indeed very similar. Her embrace was strangely cold. "… Am I dead?"

She was hugging her mother so tightly that she couldn't bother to see the expression she bore when her words came out. "Not quite. But it's something to close to it that one wouldn't tell the difference." The voice felt so close, so real… but deep inside an alarm bell was ringing inside Corrin's head, telling her that this couldn't be real. Yet, it was taking all of her might to hold back the tears. "I have waited for so long to meet you, there's nothing in this world I wanted more than to hold you again… My child… But I cannot invite you to stay. Giving up now would also mean the death of those we love."

"It's… I-it's all my fault. I have ruined everything, Mother. How could I possibly go back after everything I've done? H-how can I even look at you in the eye w-when I—?"

"I understand why you did what you did, and it was all beyond anyone's control. I wish I could have been there to help you through the choices you were forced to make… But my regrets mean nothing right now, not in a place like this…"

There was rumble that forced Corrin to separate from Mikoto. It was as if this place of dark water was aware of her existence, as she started to feel a very heavy pressure all over her being. It wanted to choke her, despite not being in a physical plane of existence. She could listen to the echoes of many voices, all of them pouring and disturbing the stillness of these depths.

Mikoto seemed to be shining now, her face having acquired a look of intense determination. "You have endured so much for so long, Corrin. Yet this evil is feeding off your hopelessness and rage, festering like a neglected wound… But within the same experiences that caused you so much pain there's always something that motivates you to overcome, even if it isn't much. The moment you completely give up, you will be lost forever inside the bosom of this darkness!"

Among those voices, Corrin could feel a pull that was trying to bring her up. It was too deep to make out exactly what it was, but Corrin was suddenly taken aback by how it was pulling her away from Mikoto. The former Queen's hand rose to bid farewell.

"Mother!" It was happening again; she had to meet her mother again just to be abruptly taken away. "I don't want to—!"

"Can't you hear it, my child? Reach into that song, it leads you to the only way back!"

Corrin reached out again, her hand held tightly onto the fingers of Mikoto, briefly stopping her leave. "If you are in any way real, why should I leave you here?" Corrin gasped.

"Because it's already too late for me, but not for you! I believe that is reason enough! Your brothers need you out there more than I'd ever need you here! Go!"

And she let go. But from that moment and on, it started to fade and give way to physical pain.

Her eyes were still foggy with that darkness, but indeed it was Azura's melody what was yanking her out of that state of unconsciousness. And it was burning. Her head felt like it was pulsing and her scars felt like wanting to tear open all at once.

Even when she realized she was a dragon she felt like it wasn't her own body. She was still in some sort of imprisoned state in which she had no control of her limbs. She was like a puppet… But where was the puppeteer?

Her vision finally started to clear, colors and louder sounds hitting her all at once. There were soldiers screaming around her, and pieces of red armor were scattered beneath her claws. A bleeding swordsman was rolling away from her, he seemed to be yelling orders to soldiers to not attack her.

'R-ryoma…? No… no, don't hurt him! Don't—!' She tried to resist, but her massive claws lunged to him, who merely lifted his sword to protect himself. And despite her best mental efforts, she was painfully powerless to halt the alien control on her body.

She wished Azura's melody didn't bring her back. It seemed that Corrin would have to experience slaughtering Ryoma with her very own claws... She could bear so many things, but not this. She truly wished she could just fall back to sleep or get enough strength to stop herself, yet none of these things seemed possible.

Yet, Azura kept singing.

TAKUMI

That dragon, once elegant and majestic, now sporting a cruel growl and sharper edges on her silver scales, her dark antlers had grown longer and more menacing-looking and the branched scars across her chest stood out far more than usual. Takumi knew exactly what was causing these changes on her and being close to Azura wasn't making it any less terrifying.

The young archer made it into his duty to fend off the Garon dragon from Azura, whose song would also greatly affect him too. With his Fujin Yumi he managed to get many shots at the monster, but most of them didn't seem to affect the him. Prince Xander and Princess Camilla seemed to have made up their minds on concentrating their efforts against Garon too. Corrin seemed to be focusing her attacks only on one man.

Azura wanted to get closer to Corrin to commence her singing, and so, Takumi remained at her side. It didn't comfort him to know that he'd need to meet Ryoma again, but it was even less appealing to see him being brutally thrashed by a creature thrice his size.

And it looked like Ryoma was not doing anything to even defend himself, most of the left side of his armor was completely destroyed, and he was clearly bleeding from his arm too.

He yelled at his men, telling them to keep at bay the other dragon. He showed more aggression towards his own soldiers than towards Corrin, who was still going to mangle him. Azura stopped waiting and started to sing without a warning.

Immediately, it seemed to affect Corrin's frantic behavior, it slowed her down a little, but it didn't her claw from striking Ryoma to the ground again.

Azura was clearly shaken by this sight but it didn't stop her from singing. Takumi, on the other hand, noticed that there was something else stopping Corrin from mauling his brother, as if her legs were suddenly stuck in the ground by unseen restraints. Takumi took a quick look at the other extreme of the battlefield, watched Princess Elise standing there displaying a bright magic staff, holding a fiercely determined expression in her tender face. The magic spell cast by Elise had frozen the dragon's legs, even if only briefly.

Although heavily injured by the dragon's attack, Ryoma got back on his feet and limped towards her, Raijinto still held firmly by his hand. Takumi has never seen him like that before, and it was deeply disturbing to watch the slightest hint of vulnerability in the face of a man who for so long made him feel inferior.

"Corrin, it's me." Ryoma gasped, inching closer to the dragon, still fighting against her magical restraints. Suddenly, Ryoma removed his mask, revealing the paleness of his face without that protection. As he neared the dragon, he was met with another potent roar, but Ryoma didn't flinch. He simply rose his katana, pointing at her. His voice was barely a sound in comparison to Azura's overpowered melody, but Takumi got close enough to make out his brother's words. "… I would gladly let it be only my blood to satisfy you, but I know that what you've become wouldn't let it end there. If you cannot stop this anger from consuming you, I'll… do my best to end it quickly for you. Then I'll follow you. I promise."

You can't be serious…! It unleashed a reaction on the young archer, rage pushed him so fast that before he realized it, his Fujin Yumi was ready to fire an arrow to Ryoma. It was the second time he's ever threatened his brother like this, and again, it was because he wanted to protect Corrin.

"Ryoma! Put your sword down, or so help me…!" he yelled, and in that moment Ryoma's eyes widened.

There was no time to stare into each other, as Takumi had to throw himself towards him to protect his big brother from a deadly blow from Corrin's antlers. Elise's magic rapidly grew weak. One of those antlers violently slashed at Takumi's back, surely leaving an angry red gash right there.

"Takumi…!" But the pain wasn't enough to cripple him, finding suddenly the support of Ryoma's arms to pick himself up while more magic was being casted to paralyze Corrin in her berserk state. There was no time to contemplate his feelings towards Ryoma or how distressed Azura looked as she continued singing, meanwhile the nohrians were still very busy with Garon. Everything was a disaster and it was impossible to keep track of everything. Ryoma's uncovered face squinted in pain as he looked at the dragon that Corrin became. "What can we do? How can we even help her?"

"Not getting yourselves killed would be a great start", Takumi groaned, his hand reached to his side again to grab Yato. It was strangely warm to the touch, and it was also… vibrating. Was it reacting to Corrin somehow?

He looked more closely to the blade's engravings and he noted that all its four eyes were gleaming. Was the Seal of Flames finally responding in their most auspicious of moments? It made sense, as all four of legendary weapons —Raijinto, Fujin Yumi, Siegfried and Brynhildr— were in the vicinity.

"Sing with me a song of silence and blood.

The rain falls, but can't wash away the mud—"

Takumi shook away his doubts, it wasn't the time to hesitate. Every second lost was increasing the certainty of their doom, and Azura wouldn't stop her song.

"… Within my ancient heart dwells madness and pride.

Can no one hear my cry?"

Wielding the Yato with its hilt facing towards Corrin, he approached cautiously. The sword was so heavy. There was a change on how Corrin behaved, clearly roaring in pain as the dragon's aspect slowly melted away with blue flickers of light. A young woman in black armor with one eye shining red and face distorted in derangement, she was moaning and embracing her own trembling body.

She yelled at Takumi: "Get away! GET AWAY! I can't hold it back! Please, just get away! Tell everyone to get as far away from me as they can! Please. PLEASE."

He could see it in her eyes, how badly she wanted to say it, to say that they should kill her already because there was no other choice, but at the same time she couldn't bear to consider it. The child was still growing inside of her and she didn't want to lose it with her life. Takumi could see that, and that's why he kept the sword closer to himself when he showed the golden hilt to her, trying to make her take it with her long claw-like hands. The sword felt so, so heavy on his hands.

"Don't lose! Don't you dare to lose, not when you've overcome so much already!" Takumi was so close to her and the weight of Yato was suddenly unbearable, he could hardly even tolerate carrying it without feeling his hands stinging with pain.

Corrin hesitated, there was an unseen force keeping her arm stiff, her fingers twitched when they attempted to touch the Yato's hilt. Takumi just thrusted it into her hands forcefully, it was taking too much effort to keep holding it near her owner.

"I can't have the sword when I'm like this! It's not going to work—!"

"IT HAS TO WORK!"

Corrin forced her hands to hold the sword, one hand on the hilt and the other on the edge. Then it became obvious that whatever force was controlling her wanted to reject the touch of the sword, it was taking a lot of herself to maintain her hands on the blade. Her skin was gleaming and pale, and the scar on her chest seemed to have obtained a more vivid color, almost as if it was pulsating; that gave Takumi an idea.

"I'm not the wielder of the sword, but this evil can only be undone by you! So help me, please!" At that moment he wasn't sure if he was speaking to Corrin or if he was speaking to the Yato.

And so he pushed. Takumi gritted his teeth and pressed the Yato's edge against her chest, right above the lightning scar. He could tell that it burned, she cried out but he kept pressing the blade on her. His hands were burning too, having to press the other side of the edge with his palm, slicing his skin there. He had to use his whole weight to push her to the ground, as a part that wasn't entirely hers was resisting to the contact, pushing him apart. "It's not enough! Press harder!" she cried, she clearly had little control on her arms.

It caused a commotion, obviously. Ryoma seemed to have hurried to place once he heard her scream, but simultaneously Kagero appeared behind the princess, as if to restrain her from doing any more rough movements. Ryoma positioned himself behind Takumi and helped to apply pressure. The extended contact that the sword had on her scar was affecting her, had her squirming in agony. "It hurts! IT HURTS! PLEASE STOP!" Corrin gave a bloodcurdling cry, as the edge of Yato began to draw red beads over the scar tissue on her chest. Her blood was boiling against the unforgiving edge of the legendary weapon, and Takumi felt Ryoma's arms hesitate for a second.

"Just hold on! We're here for you, Corrin! I am here for you!" Ryoma said. Takumi didn't need to guess what that tone meant.

The Yato's engraving was shining as Corrin's fingers gripped tightly the blade, her face was red and sweaty, while the edge was cutting her skin. The sword was beaming and she was screaming.

A surge of strength pushed both Takumi and Ryoma far behind, making him fall on top of his brother. Kagero also bucked back, Corrin somehow shook her off easily. Before Takumi could even react, he watched as Elise's magic was broken and Corrin immediately ran past them with the Yato in her hands.

To where the monstrous dragon was, Xander was the last man standing, his sword Siegfried the only thing keeping him from being killed by Garon. At an extraordinary speed Corrin dove right into an attack, her Yato found its way inside the dragon's neck as she gave one last battle roar.

"LEAVE ME AND MY FAMILY ALONE!"

Simultaneously Xander copied her, their blades met as they sunk in the dragon's huge neck. The blood splatter was vast and by the time they finished slicing the neck of Garon, not even allowing it to exhale one last breath, the large body started to lose its shape to a new wave of brilliant violet flames.

The air smelled metallic and ashes were rising on the air. The garden of Izana's castle was almost completely destroyed, the castle didn't suffer too much damage and the battle wasn't taken into the town…

Xander, who seemed to have taken enough of a beating to tremble on his legs, rested his sword's end on the ground and gasped for air as the body of what used to call itself his 'Father' was disintegrating little by little. Corrin had placed herself in a similar position, even though she was clearly less injured, her chest was still bleeding profusely over the shallow cut that her own Yato caused her.

There was something extremely haunting in the way she heaved while the weight of her body was resting against the Yato now fixed on the soil, her neck and chest slick with blood and sweat. Corrin's expression was unreadable and Xander slowly looked up at her after seconds of silence.

Takumi wanted to run to her, wanted to offer her comfort, but everyone was staring and he didn't want to cause a scene. Ryoma seemed to understand that as well, so he stayed his ground.

Some soldiers were cheering in victory, calling the name of King Xander, others were simply clamoring angrily for an explanation. Not everyone was going to understand what just happened, let alone, accept it. Both supporters of Garon and Xander would at least agree that they just witnessed their King turning against them in the form of a dragon.

On the distance Azura passed out on the ground and some people have gathered around her to check on her; Takumi wasted no time to rush into Azura's side.

She injured one of her arms when Garon attempted an attack on her before, but other than that, she looked deathly pale and completely exhausted. He panicked and reached out for her hand.

"Azura… please, don't leave…"

"I'm… not going anywhere" she responded, startling Takumi. She was apparently too tired to even open her eyes. Her voice was also so weak but her smile was soft and truthful, it soothed his heart momentarily. "… Are you alright?" He felt stupid for nodding when she still had her eyes closed, but his injured palm squeezed her hand in confirmation, he feared so much for her life and almost accepted that he'd lose her today as well… yet here she was.

But on the other hand there was Corrin and her role on the events that just transcended. When he looked back to where she stood, she was surrounded by many guards, nohrians on one side and hoshidans on the other. Ryoma and Xander were tired and didn't issue orders for their men to back away yet, and even if they did, it was uncertain they'd agree with their respective leaders after being terrorized by the princess not long ago.

Corrin wasn't free of guilt or consequences and nobody was in position to deny that.


A/N: I was inspired by NieR: Automata's soundtrack while I was writing this chapter, and there's still one last I need to work with along with the epilogue. I hope you tell me what you think!