Author's Notes:

Hey guys! I wasn't originally planning on writing this chapter today, but I chose to do it now so that you'd have something to read over the weekend. I don't think there will be a chapter tomorrow, but I will be posting the first chapter of my own story on fictionpress. Anyway, that's enough rambling. Enjoy chapter 36!

Chapter 36: Assured Victory

Saito woke up in a familiar room. It was afternoon and the sun shone down onto the land. He stood up, feeling quite tired, and walked downstairs and outside. Gallian and Romalian soldiers were preparing their weapons and animals, ready to march towards Tristania.

However, he did not wake up because of the commotion of the soldiers at the academy, but because he sensed something in the air. The breeze unnaturally changed direction, while the air's pressure also changed slightly. In his ears, he could pick up the sound of a very low rumbling. When he got up, the sound was gone and the air was back to normal. Assuming that it was his imagination, he walked downstairs to the academy's campus.

As he walked through the academy's grounds, he thought about how when this war was over, he would still have to deal with the Ancient Dragon, although the fight would be easier this time around. The thought weighed on his shoulders, making him feel depressed.

His depressing thoughts were soon dispelled, however, when his eyes met with Tiffa's. She had been sent to the academy when word about Saito's victory reached Charlotte and Josette.

"Hey, Tiffa. How are you?" Saito asked.

"To be honest, I'm a little scared." She replied. "We're supposed to be leaving in a few hours."

"It would be helpful if the guys from Albion were able to get there too." Saito said.

"Were you not told about them?" Tiffa asked.

"What do you mean?" Saito said.

"They managed to break through the blockade that was stopping them." She replied.

"Oh really?" Saito said. "Everything will be much easier then. How did they do it?"

He remembered the feeling he had in the morning, wondering if maybe it had something to do with Wales. He knew all of the details about how Wales's army was halted near the coast of Tristain, but didn't want to jump to a conclusion

"Apparently, they had help from someone, but they weren't specific." Tiffa said.

"Someone? Must have been a Germanian who defected." Saito concluded. "Either way, that will make everything much easier."

"Yes, probably Germanian. Why exactly did you want me to come here?" She asked. "I can't fight at all."

"Your powers as a void mage gave you the ability to erase memories." Saito said. "My powers as your familiar allow me to amplify void magic. If I give you enough energy as the Heart of God, you might be able to subdue their military. At least temporarily."

"I see." Tiffa said. "You really think I can do it?"

"Of course I do." Saito said, giving her a warm hug. "Trust me."

She blushed as he hugged her. He was the only one in her recent memory that had ever shown her any kind of affection. When he moved away, she suddenly felt cold, realizing how much heat his body produced.

"Oh, one more thing." She said, trying her best to hide her flushed face. "Here you go."

She handed Saito Derflinger, who he had left in her care before he left for Tristain.

"Thanks!" Saito said. "I nearly forgot about him."

"I'm awake you know…" Derf said.

"I…I have to go prepare." Tiffa said, still red from embarrassment. "I'll see you when we're leaving, Saito."

She quickly walked away as Saito bade farewell to her. Saito then went to try and find a quiet place for him to remain until the time came to go to Tristainia. He didn't want to go back to Louise's room because he didn't want to think of her at this time. Missing her presence wasn't going to help him fight right now, after all. He made his way to the roof of the academy's main building.

"Hey Gandalfr, I know you can hear me." He said out loud.

"What is it, boy?" Said the voice in his head.

"Did you feel the change in the air when I woke up?" Saito asked. "Or was that just in my head?"

"Indeed, I felt it." Gandalfr said. "It must have been quite a powerful force that caused it."

"Tiffa told me that Wales got through the Germanian blockade with someone's help. Could that be the source?" Saito asked.

"From what the Gallians have reported, the blockade stopping Albion advance was several miles long. I have a hard time believing any single person is capable of destruction like that. The only one who was capable of such a feat without the power of the Heart of God was Brimir." Gandalfr replied.

"Who could be capable of that..?" Saito said. "Well, as long as they're on our side, it's fine."

At this moment, horns blared below him, indicating that the time had come to depart for Tristainia. Saito stretched his arms and jumped down from the roof. He walked to the front of the gate, where the commander of the army was.

"Where is Vittorio?" Saito asked.

"He is currently underneath the Academy overseeing reconstruction." The commander said.

"When we win, I will need him to come to Tristainia as quickly as possible." Saito said. "If the people see him there, they will be happy to know that the world's armies are helping them. It could rally them to help defeat Germania in one way or another."

"He knows this." The commander said. "He has already prepared a speech for the city. Queen Charlotte and Queen Josette will also make an appearance there."

"I see." Saito said. "If that's all settled, then let's go."

Before leaving, Saito found Tiffa and had her walk with him at the front of the rest of the army. She was confused as to why he had her do this. After all, she had no fighting capabilities whatsoever.

"To make taking the capital back easier, I'll need you to subdue the soldiers in the city." Saito explained.

"But I don't have the power to do that." Tiffa protested.

"My powers as your familiar can take care of that." Saito said. "Just trust me."

Rather hesitantly, she nodded and began to walk with him. They had left in the afternoon with the intention of arriving at night. As night began to fall, a dove wearing a ribbon with Albion's crest stamped on it landed on Saito's shoulder.

On its leg, there was a small container which had a small paper inside of it. Saito pulled it out and began to read it.

"What does it say?" The commander said.

"It's from Wales. His army is stationed outside of Tristainia. He asks if he can began capturing the city." Saito said.

"That's excellent news!" The commander said.

"He says that if he were to start the attack, much of the city will be…flattened." Saito said.

"Flattened?" The commander asked.

"That's all that it says." Saito replied. "You're the commanding officer, what do you think?"

"If we can capture Tristain, then it is a necessary sacrifice. Tell him to give us time to evacuate any remaining citizens." The commander said.

Saito nodded and sent the bird back into the air. After about another five hours, the army could see Tristainia. It was dark, so it was hard to make out any details for everyone except Saito. When they were outside the city, Saito activated his eye, using it to identify where the remaining citizens were. They were held in prisons in various parts of the city.

"Commander," Saito said. "Have your army go into the city and evacuate the citizens. I will tell you of their location."

"Are you not going to help?" The commander asked.

"I'm going to use my powers to help Tiffa subdue the Germanians in the city." Saito said. "I'll only be able to hold it for about an hour and a half, so you will have to be quick. Send word to Wales's army to do the same."

The commandern nodded and sent a messenger pigeon in Wales's direction. Saito found Tiffa, who seemed quite afraid of the responsibility she now had. He put his hand on her shoulder to make her feel more comfortable.

"Ready?" He said.

"Yeah." She replied.

"Just cast the spell normally. I'll deal with the rest." He said.

She took a deep breath and began reciting her spell. For several minutes, she stood completely still with her wand pointed at the city. Soon, the rune on Saito's chest began to glow and a misty cloud of magic came out of her wand and enveloped the city like fog.

"Go now!" Saito said to the commander.

He nodded and instructed his men to enter the city. With his eyes, Saito could see everyone in the city, soldier or not, falling unconscious. He could also see Wales's army quickly entering the city. They quickly found the citizens in the prisons that Saito had directed them to. He was quickly becoming exhausted.

However, he managed to support Tiffa long enough for them to evacuate everyone. When everyone was evacuated, Saito collapsed onto the ground. He was gasping heavily and had no energy left in his body.

"Damn it. I'm really not going to enjoy dying again." He said to himself.

"Even if you died now, you'd come back to life anyway." Derf said.

"I don't think I'm going to die again yet." Saito said. "I still have some life force left from being Tiffa's familiar. I don't think I can fight, though."

The army's commander soon walked towards Saito, carrying a message from Wales.

"Hiraga, Wales has informed us that we should move as far away from the city as possible." He said.

"I see." Saito said.

He tried to stand, but could hardly even crawl on the ground. At this time, he noticed that Tiffa was also unconscious from casting such a powerful spell. The commander had soldiers carry them as they left the city. As they moved away, they could hear a commotion in the city as the Germanian soldiers realized what had happened. When Saito and the army were at the top of one of the hills surrounding the city, they decided to stop there.

"Wales said the attack would start approximately five minutes from now." The commander said.

Saito nodded and began to wait. Soon, the five minute mark arrived. In the darkness of the night around them, moving too fast for normal human eyes to see, Saito saw a ball of light move quickly and land in the city.

In the blink of an eye, a blinding ball of light enveloped the city, making everything seem as if the sun was in the sky. There was an eerie silence as everyone watched the awe inspiring sight. With his knowledge of modern weaponry, however, Saito quickly realized what would happen. He yelled for everyone to get down.

Just as everyone was on the ground, the shock wave from the explosion passed over them. The sound was deafening and disorientated several soldiers. When the violence subsided, the world was dark once again. Everyone's senses, including Saito's, were not functioning properly. When Saito finally recovered, he gazed from the hill upon the city.

His eyes widened when he saw the destruction that had befallen the capital. Like Wales had told the commander, the city was nearly leveled. Some stone buildings still stood, but were severely damaged.

"How…" Saito said to himself.

The first thoughts that crossed his mind were the images he used to see in history class of the ramification of the United States' use of nuclear weapons in August of 1945. The city was now identical to the pictures he saw of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

When the shock of what happened subsided, the army slowly marched into the remains of the city. As they walked through, they could see white silhouettes on walls and the ground of soldiers who were vaporized from the blast. Eventually, they came across Wales's soldiers, who were also scouting the city. Saito managed to stand on his own to greet them.

"Hello." He said. "I am Hiraga Saito."

"Ah yes." One of them said. "Sir Wales seems to hold you in high regard."

"If I may ask, how were you capable of this?" Saito asked.

"To be honest, I don't know the details." The soldier said. "You should ask him yourself. I'm sure he's be glad to talk to you."

"Yes. Please take me to him." Saito said.

The soldier nodded. He could see that Saito was feeling weak, so he supported him as they walked out of the city towards Wales's location. Eventually, they reached an encampment filled with Albion's soldiers.

The General who Wales spoke to before breaking through the Germanian blockade was the one who met them at the entrance.

"Private, who is this that you've brought here?" He asked.

"Sir! This is Hiraga Saito." The Private said, saluting.

The General was skeptical because Saito wasn't looking up. His head was slumped over with exhaustion, so no one could see his face. However, his identity was confirmed when the General spotted the tail that was attached to his back. It was more dimly lit than normal, but was still quite bright.

"Right this way." The general said.

He led Saito to a large tent in the centre of the encampment. Inside, there was a desk, a bed, and several chairs and books. The General, noticing how weak Saito really was, let him lay on Wales's bed.

"I'm sure he won't mind." He said. "He'll be here shortly."

"Thank you." Saito said.

He laid on the bed for several minutes, drifting in and out of consciousness. Eventually, he heard someone enter the tent. He opened his eyes and saw Wales standing above him with a smile on his face. Saito attempted to get up and bow towards him, but Wales forced him back onto the bed.

"You need to rest." He said. "You've worked hard."

"Thank you." Saito said. "How have you been?"

"When the war started, we weren't over the continent, so we had time to prepare." Wales said. "Things were going well, but we were pinned down by Germanian weapons for a while."

"I heard that you had help from someone to get past them." Saito said. "Who was it?"

"Your wife." Wales said.

"My…wife?" Saito said, rather confused.

"Yes. Louise is the one who broke past the Germanian line." Wales replied.

"Where is she?!" Saito said.

"Relax, she'll be back soon." Wales replied.

"No! I have to go find her!" Saito argued.

He quickly tried to get up, but the sudden movement made his head hurt. He began to feel lightheaded and soon, became unconscious. For several hours, he remained unconscious. When he woke up, it was midday. It took his eyes some time to adjust to the light.

When he could finally see, he saw a pair of bright, pink eyes staring down at him. It took him some time to even register that someone was staring down at him, let alone his own wife. When he realized that it was Louise who was smiling down at him, he instinctively pulled her down into a tight hug.

He pulled away from the hug, only to give her a long kiss. For a very long time, they remained in a tight embrace with their lips locked together. Eventually, Saito pulled away with tears of happiness streaming down his face.

"I missed you so much." He said, smiling and crying at the same time.

"I missed you too." Louise said, experiencing the same flood of emotions as Saito.

"Why did you come here?" He asked, holding her face between his hands. "I lied to keep you safe."

"I came because I wanted to help you." She said, leaning her head on his chest. "I knew that the way I was before, I could never be very helpful to you, so Sasha and Mariel helped me get stronger."

"Mariel?" Saito asked.

"Sasha's sister." Louise said.

She explained everything that happened since he left for the war. He listened closely as she described how Sasha had inspired her to strive to be Saito's equal, working with him by his side instead of using him as a shield. He was also very interested in listening to the story of how Mariel changed her body to allow her to use Void magic more easily.

"I'm proud of you." He said. "You went through a lot just to be next to me. I'm really grateful."

"Thank you." Louise said. "I'll keep getting stronger so that I'm not a burden."

"Wait, so you're the one that caused the explosion in the city?" He asked.

She nodded, seemingly proud of herself.

"Are you okay?" He asked. "I mean, every time you use void magic, you become really tired. You didn't push yourself too hard did you?"

"I'm fine." She said. "I'll show you how far I've come later."

"Okay. I'm just glad to see you again." He replied, giving her a hug.

They would spend the rest of the day telling each other stories about their exploits. Outside, Wales had made sure that no one would bother their time together as the soldiers celebrated retaking Tristain.

In Vindobona

A messenger frightfully entered Albrecht's room. Albrecht was pacing around the room in a stressful anger. When he noticed the messenger, he sat on his chair and said nothing, waiting for the messenger to speak.

"U-Um, sir." The messenger began. "T-Tristain has fallen."

"I beg your pardon?" Albrecht said.

"Armies from Albion, Gallia, and Romalia have captured Tristain." He repeated. "The Gallian army have taken use of the weapons that they've retrieved from our defeated armies. They have used them to drive us out of Gallia."

In a violent rage, Albrecht shoved the glass cups and alcohol bottles on his desk onto the ground, shattering them. His face turned bright red as seemingly all of the blood in his body rushed to his face. When he finally calmed down, he looked back at the messenger.

"Where is Zerbst?!" He angrily asked.

"Our in Tristain had reported him to be near the Gallian border." The messenger said. "With the fall of Tristain, we cannot reach him any longer."

"What is the public opinion of the war?" He asked.

"Only 4% of the population are tolerant of it." The messenger said. "95% of the population is against it and only 1% still supports it."

"Withdraw all Germanian forces back into the country." Albrecht said. "There's only one chance I have at winning this war. Offer Germania's official surrender."

"Sir?" The messenger said.

"Do it!" Albrecht said. "Have a message sent that I am willing to discuss a conditional surrender!"

"Y-Yes sir." The messenger said.

Albrecht was left alone in his room. He had a rather deranged expression on his face. He thought about how the war had gone in a way he didn't predict, all because he had trusted Kirche to kill the two people who could have ever stopped him. Regardless of this, he still had confidence that if everything went according to plan, he could win the war and achieve his goal.

"This is my last chance." He thought to himself. "Once they're dead, I'll have nothing left to worry about. If I follow the directions that he left, power over everything will finally be mine."

Author's Notes:

Hey guys! Whooo, a Saturday chapter! I hope you like it. I enjoyed writing it, so I hope my efforts paid off. Leave a review or send me a PM with your thoughts. Because of the next few chapters, I will especially need you guys to tell me what you want to see in the future. Thanks anyway, and I'll catch you next time!