{ === + === }
…
High five!
…
"You look like you're in a good mood." Chrom comments on Robin's smile.
"I'm anticipating a good fight." Robin says happily. "Is everyone ready to move?"
"We're ready on your orders." Fredrick salutes.
Robin nods. "Good. Let's move before night sets, then."
…
[Night before the City battle]
…
Robin and the Shepherds stumble upon some Pegasus Knights.
"Are they Valmese?" Chrom whispers.
"Their armor's quality is too high to be rebel units." Noire points out. "And the presence of the Griffon riders within their ranks excludes them from the Boss's lineup."
Robin squints to see through the campfires. "I see three of them…must be the same group featured in Ash's report."
"Ash said it was an all-men squad…I'm pretty sure those are girls." Cynthia notes. "Maybe Valm has more of these guys. They probably do, come to think of it…"
"What's the plan, Robin?" Chrom asks?
"We hit them." Robin says simply. "We need every advantage we can get; here's the plan."
…
The Valmese knights were actually forbidden from making a fire to prevent being sighted, but given that it's Cold As Balls™ the order was ignored.
"I can't believe the City's asking for help." One of the Pegasus Knights grumbled. "The Fortress is undermanned as it is."
"The better question would be 'why did her highness send us out here.'" Valm Pegasus Knight B also grumbled. "It's cold. We can make the trip to the city during the day. Why did she send us out during the night?"
"She has a thing for the City's garrison commander, right?" Valm Pegasus Knight C suggests with a wry grin. "Maybe she doesn't want her lover getting hurt."
That elicited a few giggles.
"Hey guys!" One of the Griffon Knights whispered conspiratorially. "Look at what I've got!" She produces a bottle.
"Ooh!" Valm Pegasus Knight A drools a little. "That's some pretty rare stuff. Where'd you get it?"
"I snuck it out of the captain's tent." Griffon Knight A grins. "She never drinks anyway."
"It's a Feroxi wine, yeah?" Peg Knight B notes. "Getting stuff from overseas is pretty much impossible. I wonder how she got it?"
"Her hubby probably got it for her." Peg Knight C huffs. "Perks of being a Countess, I guess."
"Wish I could marry into money." Peg Knight D sulks. "I have noble blood and I'm good looking."
Peg Knight A snorted.
Whatever response Peg Knight D had was cut short by a flurry of arrows aimed at them from beyond the campfire light.
Peg Knight A shot up to her feet with a lance in her hand, but lances are unfortunately useless against well-aimed arrows, and she died with a critical hit to her head.
The rest of the roughly forty units in the camp were woken up by the sounds of bodies hitting the ground (and by the occasional screaming).
"Do not panic!" The Griffon captain roars. "Extinguish fires and take to the air!"
Good. Robin thought. Do that. To egg the enemy on, she pelted the remainder of the knights with Arcwinds, hitting and killing quite a few of them.
…
Of the 50 units our heroes attacked, 36 of them managed to escape into night sky.
"It's enough for our purposes." Robin notes while confiscating the wine. "As long as the rest of them are afraid of an attack, it will wear on their morale and combat effectiveness for tomorrow. We're done here, let's move."
"Oh…" Anna raps the bottle with her knuckles. "I remember carrying that. It's good. Let's have some later."
Robin, however, just has sparkles in her eyes. "Is it valuable?"
"Maaaybe." Anna's just a touch cautious. "Why do you ask?" She really didn't want her to pawn it off: though Chrom himself wasn't picky about what kind of supplies they received so long as it was good, Ash was the one bankrolling this entire war (kinda) and he was a teetotaler. Anna needed her fix, as it were.
It sucks being on a short leash.
"Well, I figured I could give this to Ash." Robin said thoughtfully "I feel bad about having him pay for all of our gear."
"Give it to me. I can, uh, 'sell' it for better." Anna offers.
…
[Next day, outside of the Fortress]
…
Anna has a headache.
Anna has a headache because she tried to steal the wine Robin stole (kinda), and Robin set a booby trap for her that involved a small mallet.
"Alright, here we are." Robin spies on the fortress through a snapshot tome. "It doesn't look like their garrison is very sizable. It might not even be a full thousand troops."
"You sound disappointed." Fredrick notes with a small amount of worry.
"That is…there are some troops that are not accounted for." Robin explains. "It bothers me."
You still sound disappointed. Chrom thinks. "What's the plan?"
Robin consults a map made by Say'ri. It was very crude. "We'll divide into three sub-units and attack through these entrances." She indicates on the map. "This fortress is fairly open in design, probably to facilitate faster troop deployment, so we won't have as much cover…or as many usable chokepoints."
"These are staircases, correct?" Chrom points to some of the tiles on the map. Robin nods. "Should we be worried about possible hidden reinforcements?"
"Those stairs lead to the fortress's dungeons. According to Say'ri, some of the rebel captains and commanders are held in this fortress." Robin says. "I would like to be able to free them as well in this operation." She made a split second decision to withhold the fact that rebel elements, despite the blanket name of 'rebels'…
Chrom knew what Robin was thinking though. "Assuming they all play along with each other." He sighs. "The walls look pretty high."
"They are…thus, the entire operation will be divided into four teams." Robin says. "The gate team will handle the breaching of the gate and will clear a path between us and the fortress itself. The left flank team will focus on attacking through to the dungeons. The right flank will draw the most attention from the enemies, and the middle team will strike at the enemy's core."
…
[Steiger Fortress, 1300 hours]
…
Robin chose this moment to attack because it was right after lunch.
"Yarne, don't mess up your timing." Severa scowls. "Last thing I want is to mess up here."
"Yeah, I feel ya." Yarne adjusts his gauntlets. "Would suck to have our parents die because of something we did."
"Heeeey." Cynthia bops Severa on the head with her lance. "No sad talk. We're going to go and be badasses and everything will be fine." She emphasized her last word as if daring fate to challenge her. "Now hop on."
Severa rubs her head angrily. "Hearing you say it somehow makes it sound even worse. Ugh." That being said, Severa had no issues riding with Cynthia.
Cynthia's response is just laughter. "Ok…we're good here." She says after she's done. "Let's go!"
…
The Valmese guards watching the walls were treated to a surprise as a squadron of four air units shot over the walls.
"Attack! We're under attack!" One of the guards managed to bellow out before Cherche shot him in the face with her airman rifle.
The Valmese Wall captain came out to see what was going on. Cherche shot him too.
"Clearing a path." Gerome declares coldly as he zooms across the wall with his scythe, reaping the archers before they had a chance to shoot.
"Lookout below!" Cynthia yells (into Severa's ear, no less) as she, Sumia, and Cordelia bombard the wall guards with javelins.
"I'm getting off." Severa announces when she sees a hole in the Valmese soldiers on the wall. "Don't wait up for me!"
"Go forth and prosper, Sev!" Cynthia laughs as Severa lands and cuts her way through the enemies between her and the area right above the gate.
"Reloading." Cherche states. "Oh, but no one is here to hear it." She says sadly while reloading her airman rifle.
"Shoot her! Shoot her down!" A Valmese sniper yells as he and a few of his archers aim their bows upwards towards Cherche. She shot them first.
"You will not have our gate!" A Valm General roars while lunging at Severa with his lance.
"Oh please." Severa dodges the lance and rushes past the General. "I'm not here for you."
Which was true. Severa was selectively targeting the archers and snipers that were a little too antsy for the rest of the fliers to accurately hit.
The Valm General's response was to fling his lance at Severa.
"Che." Severa sidesteps the lance and it sails off of the wall. "Fine then." She grumbles while the General brings out his axe.
Severa's four Levin Bits detach from underneath her skirt and fly to her hands.
"A Mercenary talented with both magic and sword, I see." The General says approvingly. "Why don't you switch sides? I can offer you a much-"
Whatever offer he was going to make was rudely silenced by Severa's Levin Bits shocking the everloving fuck out of his armored body.
"You can't possibly outbid Him for me." Severa smirks. "Plus, I'm not leaving my mother, not after…" She then became eminently aware of Cynthia listening in. "HEY!"
Cynthia flew away cackling, leaving a red-faced Severa to mop up the remainder of the archers on the walls.
…
"They work impressively fast." Robin remarks. "The wall's almost clear now."
"Shock and awe." Yarne grins. "Drive enough fear and we'll have all the time we need." He then takes a deep breath. "Sev! How's the courtyard!?"
"Contested!" Severa yells back. "Work for it, Yarne!"
"Bah, I thought as much." Yarne grumbles. "Cavalry, it's up to you once I make my entrance."
"Of course." Fredrick hefts his lance.
"Alrighty." Yarne take a deep breath and sets his breaching stakes onto his gauntlet. "Breaking in!"
…
The Valmese guards getting ready to retake the walls from one red-haired girl and four fliers were suddenly greeted by their main gate shattering.
The Valmese guards surprised by the gate shattering were then surprised to see a large red-eyed demonic rabbit tear the rest of the wall to pieces.
The Valmese guards surprised by the demonic door-hating rabbit were then deeply surprised (and more than just a little bit injured) by the handful of cavalry charging through the broken gate into their ranks.
And of course there was a dragon, because obviously the giant killer rabbit wasn't bad enough.
"Get out of my way!" Nowi roars before she carpets the ground in flames, forcing the Valmese soldiers to flee from the fortress entrances.
"Stahl!" Fredrick calls and indicates a target with his lance.
"Yes sir!" Stahl flanks said target (a Warrior) and the two of them rush and stab the poor guy to death.
"AHAHAHAHA!" Noire…does her thing…while sniping down Snipers from her position on the ground.
…
In almost no time at all, the Valmese troops were pushed back from the main entrances.
The reason why their surprise attack was so successful is quite simply because the Shepherds are steamrolling so hard the Valmese troops can't recover fast enough. Every time they regain a measure of control a Shepherd (say, Severa) would find and effortlessly kill a field captain, throwing the rest of the soldiers back into chaos.
This rapid breakdown of command allowed the Shepherds to break into the fortress proper while the ones responsible for holding the fortress's courtyard shifted their attacks to break every last commanding unit on the grounds.
"If you're in position, go!" Robin yells.
"I understand." Panne says and turns into her demonic killer rabbit form.
One of the Valmese captains came out of the fortress, took one look at the two demon rabbits and one dragon (and the crazy Sniper lady spinning on the grounds killing literally everybody) and went "I don't get paid enough for this" before attempting to retreat from the fortress.
Unfortunately for him he ran into Robin, who unceremoniously shot him and what was left of him into a wall with her Thoron.
"Yarne, let us be off." Panne gestures to the left entrance.
"Yeah, let's do this!" The two demon bunnies rampage down the hallway, to the immense terror of every Valmese involved.
…
…
General Pheros of Steiger Fortress was having a hell of a day.
While she knew that her fort was undermanned, the idea that any attacking force would be able to break through to the primary structure is under five minutes…it was impossible, plain and simple. No amount of manpower would be enough to do that.
And then she heard about how giant killer rabbits and dragons were running around, and that made her doubt the cleanliness of her fort's water supply.
Either way, the entire fortress is in an uproar and she had her hands full keeping track of which messages made sense and which ones didn't.
…
Pheros heard a *thud* behind her. "What do you want, Excellus?" She demands. "Now's not the time!"
"Weeell…I was wondering if you needed a little help, Pheros." Excellus grins. "It sounds like the Fort's having a tough time…his Excellency won't be pleased."
"His Excellency could have spared some more men." Pheros grumbles. "What's the situation in the city?"
"It's much smoother than what's going on in here, I can assure you that." Excellus replies. "For his reputation, the enemy is far better off raiding than fighting like men."
"As if you can judge." Feros mutters under her breath. "If you have the time to loiter around my office, then go and help slow the enemy down with your 'superior' magical skills."
"Oh, heavens no." Excellus smirks. "I should not intrude upon your command, Lady Pheros…I have something better planned."
…
…
"Hey, uh…Panne." Yarne says.
The two untransformed by the time they reached the staircase, because their giant killer rabbit paws are not good at navigating stairs.
"Yes?" Panne sniffs the air.
"Do you really think the rebel leaders will cooperate with us?" Yarne asks. "I mean, we're…y'know."
"Considering what I've seen, I do not believe they will." Panne replies coldly. "However, it is not our goal to mingle with the rebels." She notices some soldiers. "Prepare."
…
"It isn't?" Yarne sounds surprised while he counterpunches a soldier into the wall.
The previous battle lasted for probably an enemy turn.
"Per Robin's orders, we are to simply distribute weapons and continue onwards." Panne replies.
Yarne became worried. "What weapons? I didn't bring any. Should I have brought some?"
"It's alright." Panne smiles slightly. "We are not the only ones in this operation."
"Really? It doesn't feel like it." Anna grumbles, burdened as she is with bundles of swords. "Help me carry some of this, will you? Gaius isn't pulling his weight."
"I have to pick locks, Honeypot." Gaius says blithely. "I need to keep my arms free."
"And we are providing you a clear path." Panne says serenely. "So have no fear and move onward."
Anna pouts. "Don't say something that sounds philosophical when you're just avoiding work, dammit!"
…
…
[Right Flank]
…
The Feroxi soldiers had a really tough time here. They kept constantly crashing into something invisible.
Kellam sighs as he uses his large axe to separate a Valmese's upper body from its lower half. "I wish they'd notice me even while I'm killing them."
"Now, now. You shouldn't blame them." Miriel says with a surprising (and worrying) amount of happiness. "Invisibility is a difficult thing to combat."
Miriel's happiness comes from the fruits of her research and a gift from Ash (upon learning of her research), as such, Miriel's new robe –bulkier than the one Sages wear—gave her invisibility so long as she remained in high-light areas.
It was also-underneath its layers-a touch form-fitting, and she tried not to think about why Ash made it that way. She had to admit that it was quite comfy, though.
Either way, the two of them were able to punch deep into the huge room that is the right flank virtually uncontested. Kellam did suffer attacks from the enemy of course, but given that all of them seemed to have trouble targeting him any damage he took merely glanced off of his armor.
"That is impressive." Lon'qu mutters. "The ability to sally into the enemy with no contest is truly impressive."
"Unlike us, who have to fight for every inch, eh?" Gregor laughs. "We make noise so enemies are distracted!" he bellows as he clubs a Valm soldier with his sword. "Let friends do as they please!"
How perceptive. Miriel though upon hearing Gregor's voice despite there being a practical screen of enemies between the two groups. We can only remain undetected due to outside interference.
"With Gregor being as loud as he is, it's no wonder the enemies only have eyes for us." Olivia says as she sweeps the legs of a Myrimdon. "Lon'qu, we should move closer to the left wall."
"Yeah." Lon'qu notices a General approach his wife and decided to Astra the poor idiot to ribbons. "Stay close to me."
…
…
[Middle Flank]
…
"The two flanks are going well. Drive deeper into the fortress!" Robin roars.
Under the withering fire that is Robin and Tharja's Thorons, the Chrom-led part of the Shepherds crashed through the enemy ranks distracted by the noise from below and their right.
"This is one of the most effective plans you've ever made, Robin." Chrom notes with pride. "This is going almost too well."
"The future kids have that much impact." Robin replies. "They're good when they're in their element."
Chrom frowns slightly. "So I see…I hope they're alright. What do we know about the enemy leader?"
Robin cuts down a Valm Mercenary that lunged for her. "She's a shrewd administrator and a capable Valkryie." She huffs. "Also, Ash wants her alive."
"Eh?" Chrom was surprised. Not surprised enough to miss the Sniper aiming at him (he counterfired with a javelin). "Why?"
"He said it would make our work down the line easier." Robin replies. "I don't know what he means, to be honest."
Chrom thinks it over. "Lisse!"
"Yep!" Lissa backs away from the enemy she was attacking with her hammer.
"We're going to attack the garrison commander!" Chrom declares.
Good choice. Robin smiles. Lissa's the best when it comes to a full powered nonlethal attack. "Tharja! Provide them support!"
"Whatever you say." Tharja giggles.
Robin shudders in response, and the two of them blanket the hallway with Fire and Flux spells as Chrom and Lissa barge past the rest of the Valmese soldiers between them and the throne room.
"Don't let them reach the throne room!" A Valmese Swordmaster yells and moves to block despite the covering fire.
"You dare block my precious Lissa?!" Maribelle snarls and blasts the Swordmaster out of the way with an Arcwind. "Know your place, mongrel!"
Another Swordmaster, not happy with Maribelle's mouth, decided to attack her back.
"Oy." A low growl distracted the guy though, and he turned to see a vicious-looking young man with a scar on his face.
Said vicious-looking young man then beat the shit out of the Swordmaster with his bare fists for having the balls to try and attack Maribelle.
"Thanks for the assist, dear." Maribelle smiles. "I feel many times safer with you around."
"Heh." Brady pounds his fists together. "I got your back, ma."
The two of them then pause when they hear someone that sounded like Vaike go "Clear the way!" somewhere to their right before a lot of screams drowned him out.
…
Pheros barely had the time to prepare her personal combat plan before Lissa broke down the wooden door to her room with her massive hammer.
Steiger's forte has always been the ability to move troops quickly…in other words, power projection. She mulls it over shortly before Lissa arrived. For their strategist to adopt a plan that completely obliterated this advantage…was it Him? No, he's attending to the battle at the city, it can't be Him.
Damn. I really wish his excellency gave me more men. Pheros now thought as she fires an Arcwind at Lissa, who just tanks it like a champ. "You dare intrude upon Steiger!?" She roars.
"I'm gonna intrude this hammer into your FACE!" Lissa grins in a very Vaike-like way and
"Lisse!" Chrom yells, just in case Lissa forgot about how she was trying to capture Pheros intact.
Lissa still rams her hammer into Pharo's heavy wooden work table and snaps it in half.
Chrom, while not necessarily confident in leaving her sister to face a general alone, decided that it would be in both of their best interests to guard the open door to stop them from being overwhelmed.
…
[Lissa versus Pheros]
[Round One: Fight!]
…
Pheros shot at Lissa again with Arcwinds, though this time Lissa dodges the fire just fine before moving into hammer range.
In response, Pheros pulls out a sword.
"Valkyries shouldn't use swords!" Lissa declares, offended, as she brings down the hammer.
Pheros dodges the clumsy hammer strike and lunges for Lissa in retaliation.
Lissa abandons her hammer and actually throws a punch, causing Pheros to back off in surprise.
"To think a Princess would take up brawling." Pheros smirks. "Whatever backwater nation you crawled out of must be a hellhole."
Lissa recovers her hammer. "Ash said it was smart to have options, and he's never wrong about these things." She grins. "Now come quietly and I won't have to scoop what's left of you in a bottle."
She knows she has to keep her alive, right? Chrom thought with increasing worry (while blocking the one tile entrance to the throne room like seriously why was it designed like that? It's such a good place to grind for supports though)
"Big words." Pheros sneers. "Show me what you've got, brat."
Lissa's grin turns Ash-like in its feral-ness. "Hammer! Go!" The back of Lissa's hammer started spouting fire. The front of the hammer grew spikes.
The spikes were adornments on the hammer's sides. They just flipped over 180 degrees to point in the other direction.
"I'm comin' for ya!" Lissa declares with a savagery that's honestly very unbecoming of a princess as she spun herself wildly with the spiked rocket-propelled hammer orbiting around her at a very high speed.
Pheros tries to deflect the attack with blasts of Arcwind but it was not effective in slowing down the Lissa Tornado. The Lissanado.
So she has to settle with dodging it instead, which was oddly easy to accomplish as the Lissanado was not fully capable of targeting itself.
That being said, Lissa did end up smashing her oversized hammer into the fortress's stone wall. Given that this is a story somewhat rooted in reality, the resulting shock numbed Lissa's arms and caused her to drop her hammer.
"I've got you!" Pheros yells and lunges with her sword.
"Ow ow ow ow…" Lissa was too focused on shaking out the numbness from her arms and would not have seen Pheros' charge had she not announced it out loud.
Since she did though, Lissa spun low and swept at Pheros's leg with a kick, causing Pheros to break the charge and hop back.
Strictly speaking, although Pheros was a Valkyrie she was also a trained soldier, and thus her experience would far outstrip Lissa's.
Lissa, however, was taught (not on purpose, mind) by the Phoenix to fight dirty. She was pretty good at fighting dirty. Between the hammer, her small frame, and the fact that Chrom was ready to jump in (the threat of which distracts Pheros), the two were evenly matched.
Well…strictly speaking they were evenly matched, but every time Pheros tried to use her sword instead of her magic Lissa would either dissuade it through punching the Valkyrie outright, so Lissa's a little bit ahead.
In the end, though…
"Alright, alright." Pheros drops the hilt of her sword as her spellbook shreds itself in her hand. "I surrender."
Lissa was huffing pretty hard too. "Good." Her hammer was smoking, and her dress was cut in multiple locations.
"Took you long enough, Lisse." Robin waves from the broken door. "We've already cleaned up the rest of the fortress."
"Eeeh? Already?!" Lissa exclaims. "We were only at it for ten minutes!"
"You took my entire fortress in ten minutes!?" Pheros exclaims. "What are you people?!"
"We are the Shepherds." Chrom declares. "Well…Shepherds plus a little extra." He taps the radio on his ear. "These things are very handy."
In game effect: Custom Shepherds' Radio: extends adjacency effects to three tiles and doubles its effect (Hit+10 becomes Hit+20).
"I'm a little worried Ash shortchanged his own squad by making this for me." Robin mutters. She's wearing what appears to be a pair of glasses with lens that are tinted green.
"And here I foolishly imagined you to be shortsighted after all the reading you do." Miriel smiles just a little bit.
In game effect: Robin's EWACS. All allies gain Galeforce (stacks with the skill itself). The first attack of all allied units during the player's turn activates any combat skills they have (i.e. Astra). All allies within two tiles of Robin take half damage. It's exactly as bullshit as it sounds.
"It burns my face when I use it too much though." Robin sighs and pockets the EWAC glasses, showing a pair of red stripes near her temples. "It's also really heavy."
Yarne coughs. "Report." Robin nods for him to continue. "We've freed all of the rebel leaders, and rebel forces are approaching from all sides. We'll be able to hand over the fortress before the day is over."
"Good." Chrom nods.
Robin, however, catches the corner of Pheros's mouth twitch slightly. A trap? Or is there something else here? "Severa, did Ash say anything else about Steiger Fortress?"
"Uh…" Severa thinks on it for a minute. "Something about a fatass bribing the rebels to rebel, I think."
Robin caught the expression on Pheros's face. "So that was right?" She grins. "Damn, he's good. What do we do now, Chrom? That rebel army's going to turn on us for the smallest of reasons."
"Let them." Chrom answers immediately. "Our goal is Walhart."
"Have you come to kill for peace as well?" Pheros asks. "Not so different from Walhart…and very different from your sister."
"We fight to liberate the oppressed." Chrom replies automatically. "We care not for territory."
"Are you sure?" Pheros sneers. "Didn't that Lord of the Coasts capture and hold a Valmese City?"
"Bed pardon, milady." Virion holds up a finger. "That city is a part of the nation of Rosanne, and is thus under my jurisdiction. To lend it to Ash temporarily is of no importance."
So Ash is the Lord's name. Pheros narrows her eyes. But he's currently fighting in the City, isn't he? So the town can't be too well defended. "How lighthearted of you, Fleeing Duke."
"It will take some time for that name to vanish, it seems." Virion laughs bitterly. "But I assure you, my decisions were never made on levity."
"What should we do about her, anyways?" Lissa asks with a point of her hammer to Pheros. "I know Ash wanted her alive, but did he say why?"
Phero's eyes narrowed. "If the Lord of the Coasts did not ask for my life, what would you have done, Prince Chrom?"
"The resulting battle would've been much faster and would've resulted in your death." Robin says dispassionately. "Ash has been exercising a strategy of saving Valm's talent, for some reason."
What's that about? Pheros was confused. "He…is?"
"Your good captains are coming home day after day despite the month of raiding, no?" Robin shrugs. "He's got something in mind, whatever it is." Robin knew what Ash was planning but figured exposing it to the (currently) enemy general was a bad idea. "He wanted the garrison commander of Steiger Fortress alive specifically though, so there's something special about you."
"Ash does have a thing for women, though…his retainers are pretty much all women." Cynthia points out. "So maybe he just likes her?"
She doesn't respect him, does she. Pheros withheld her sigh. Pitiful.
"Given that he didn't even know her name, I find that unlikely." Robin said plainly. "Alright, let's proceed onto the next phase of the plan."
"We still have a plan?" Chrom echoes everyone in the room.
"Yes, it's called 'looting the place'." Anna grins. "Now hop to it! Gaius! Don't leave anything behind!"
"You got it, Honeypot." Gaius grins. "I'll pick the place clean."
"Don't touch the fort's necessities." Robin warns them. "We need this place functioning after we're done."
…
…
[Rebel Leaders]
…
…
"So it looks like they really are doing what Excellus said they would." Rebel Leader A (Warrior) grumbled. "Maybe all the other shit he said was true, too."
"Pah." Rebel Leader B (Swordmaster) spat. "That shithead just wants us to bleed for Valm."
"Better you than me." Rebel Leader C (Hero) grins. "When all of you die out we'll take what's left."
"Even a month in the dungeons didn't cure your mouth, apparently." Leader A snickers. "They were even nice enough to give us weapons…they're quite stupid, apparently."
The three of them then heard footsteps around the corner of the rather spacious room they were occupying and elected to stay silent.
Severa, on patrol, stopped when she came to their door.
"What do you want, twin tails?" Leader C asks gruffly.
"We didn't give you weapons out of negligence, mister rebel." Severa huffs, making all three of them freeze. "For the record, we know what you're planning, so at least pretend to have some class while you plot."
Robin had taken the liberty of attaching a radio to the bottom of the table in their room.
"How…can she read minds?" Leader B mutters as Severa walks away.
"I heard some people say that the twin tails hairstyle and a short skirt offers some kind of mythical power." Leader C says. "I guess it's true."
Where the hell did you hear that?! Severa stomps away, red faced.
…
[Afternoon]
…
Chrom finds Robin glaring towards the direction of Steiger City.
"Any news from Ash?" He asks after greeting her.
"Not a thing. I'm worried." Robin clenches and unclenches her fist repeatedly. "I really thought he would've established total control by now."
"You saw how General Pheros reacted when you brought up the Lord of the Coasts." Chrom replies. "It's safe to say that…hell, it's probably due to his reputation that we were able to take Steiger Fortress so easily." He frowns. "If they've taken the preparations against him according to his reputation, then he's definitely having a harder time than we are."
"Damn." Robin sighs. "Maybe we should've split our forces more?"
Chrom laughs softly. "Much as I hate to admit it, we Shepherds are only a drop in the bucket unless we had a singular objective to attack…and I feel like a city would have multiples of those."
"Yeah." Robin resists the urge to attack the wall she was leaning on.
"What's wrong?" Chrom asks when he notices Robin looking downcast.
"Well…" Robin sighs. "I've heard from Nowi that Ash's been having trouble sleeping."
"Yeah?"
Robin nods. "It's safe to say that the stress is taking a toll on him. According to how she said it, it's been a long time since he's been ok, too." She scratches her head. "Add in the fact that he's apparently showing signs of magical corruption…"
Chrom blinks in surprise. "He is? He's pushing himself that badly?" He then stops and thinks for a minute. "Wait, what's magical corruption again? Should we be worried about it?"
"We should be fine." Robin assures him. "Magical corruption occurs whenever someone uses magic they aren't attuned with…so if I were to use healing magic without the proper training as a cleric, the effects will eventually set in, and healing magic will be less useful when used on my body."
"And I'm assuming it's different for each type of magic, right?" Chrom guesses.
"Correct, Sir Chrom." Miriel joins into the conversation. "In Ash's case, based on the data I collected before we departed, he's suffering from…well, the corruption based on the usage from every form of magic, as well as some forms I am not familiar with."
"To top it off, there's some dark thing hanging around him." Robin adds. "Whatever that thing is, it's accelerating the rate of corruption, and since he's an Outrealmer, his body never properly adjusted before he started using magic, and thus he can't recognize the symptoms of corruptions…likely until it's far too late."
"Did you warn him?" Chrom asks the two.
"When he was flying his 'missions' day in and day out, there never was a chance." Robin sighs. "And every time we had off time he'd worry himself sick over the girls that got even the slightest injury."
"It is a little infuriating to watch." Miriel laughs. "I believe we all want to be doted on every once in a while."
"Um…" Chrom wants them to get back on topic. "What's going to happen to Ash if the corruption continues?"
Robin sighs harder. "Best case scenario? He dies. From what I can tell the corruption reached a fatal point long before this campaign even started, so I'm at a loss for how he's alive."
"That's…quite bleak." Chrom turns a little pale. "Ash dying from his magic is the best case scenario? More importantly, when did you have the time to check for this corruption?"
"Well, whenever he actually slept." Robin shrugs. "It's impressively hard, given how light of a sleeper he is."
"You've been sneaking into his room?" Chrom can't help but ask. "What?"
"Well…to be fair, Tiki does the same, so I feel like I should be able to do too." Robin grins.
Chrom was not quite sure at the logic. "Anyways…?"
"Speaking of Tiki, it's fair to say that whatever is causing her to sneak into his room at night is the same thing that's stopping Ash from succumbing to the corruption." Robin says. "I wish I knew what it was though."
"Ash seemed certain that the force involved is something detrimental." Miriel adds. "Perhaps something related to Grima."
"Grima?" Chrom echoes. "Is he worried about Plegia? Or, rather, the Grimleal?"
"Seems like it. That's why he's keeping the good Valmese leaders alive, after all." Robin taps the stones of the wall with her fingers. "He's considering a second war against the Grimleal a given." I do too. She adds in her mind.
"And Tiki's attracted to that? Why?" Chrom asks.
"It's just a theory." Robin reminds him. "It's not as if we can find any concrete proof either, given how odd this entire situation is. That being said, I do believe that whatever this dark element is, it's what's causing Tiki to gravitate to him."
Whatever that dark element is, it's different from my blood. Robin wanted to add. I don't know what it is.
"Can we prevent the corruption from spreading further?" Chrom asks at last.
"Impossible." Miriel shakes her head sadly. "At this point, his health condition is a foregone conclusion."
"…so what's the worst possible outcome, if Ash dying is the best?" Chrom wonders.
"Uhm…" Robin scratches her head. "This is also just an assumption, but the in worst case scenario he goes insane."
Chrom wasn't quite sure how "That's…worse?"
"Yes, sir." Miriel nods. "It is my understanding that Ash is currently consciously restricting the methods of how he utilizes magic…should he shake off these shackles, we will not be able to stop him."
Chrom was put off by how sure she sounded. "What do you mean, 'we won't be able to stop him'?" He glances at Robin.
Robin simply taps the radio earpiece. "Think of all the things he's made."
Chrom thought back to the bombs Ash's squadron of Pegasus Knights carried. "If he turns against us, he will kill all of us, huh…"
"It's a matter of 'when'." Miriel sighs. "I don't want to believe it."
Chrom hated himself for saying the following words. "Do we have a plan for when that happens?"
Robin felt the same way. "Apart from assassinating him before he turns…no. Once he does…" She taps the radio earpiece again. "Approaching him undetected will be impossible."
She recalls back to one day during the month of raiding where she asked Ash what he could do if he were fighting at the absolute peak of his abilities.
…
"Well…for starters?" Ash had thought it over. "I already know how to mark targets so that spells will home in on their positions, so…" He pats his airman rifle. "Something like this combined with that would get the most usage…an ultra-high velocity homing railgun. With exploding rounds, or something."
"Sounds like you're holding back on us, then." Robin had grinned at the time to hide her discomfort (and confusion).
"A little, yeah." Ash nods. "We're here to dethrone an emperor, not to annihilate a nation. Besides, going all out against other humans when we have Risen showing up every night is just bad manners."
…
And if he stops caring, it's entirely possible that we humans as a race would be in danger. Robin thought with a sigh. "For the time being, I'd like to keep this quiet."
Chrom nods. "Of course…there's little point in entertaining in assumptions against our own friends."
"Lord Chrom." Maribelle shows up with a slight curtsey. "The rebel troops have been spotted. They will reach the fortress shortly."
Chrom nods. "Alright, thank you, Maribelle. Let's depart, before we end up getting stuck here."
…
…
Ultimately, Steiger Fortress fulfilled its role as a fixing force against the Valmese army when the rebel forces found it abandoned and cleared out, thus projecting themselves as a major threat against their enemy.
Unfortunately the rebels were really bad at playing nicely with each other and were thus constantly weakening their own position through constant infighting, to the point where Steiger Fortress fell back into Valmese control shortly before the end of the war.
Sucks to be them, I guess? But we don't care about those guys after Chapter 17.
…
…
Following their capture of Steiger Fortress, the Shepherds left it to the Rebels and departed with the intention of assisting their allies at Steiger City. Since the attack had been repelled, however, the Shepherds opted instead to move closer towards the ultimate goal of the Valmese capital.
Their trip was made a hell of lot harder by the presence of what felt like every soldier of Valm stationed between Steiger City and the Capital. Robin figured that the extra soldiers were a precaution against Ash in case he actually broke the city.
With the understanding that a direct attack against an unknown number of soldiers was all but impossible, Chrom opted to instead set up camp near an ex-Rosannite village and collect information instead.
Strictly speaking though, they made their decision in the afternoon of their attack and have made their camp at night about an hour ago.
"Hey, Blue." Gaius says upon his return. "I found out some interesting things." Chrom nods for him to continue. "The village is in an uproar, apparently they've heard about Steiger being hit and they're collectively rallying and rising up. A riot's going to break out in the village if things continue."
Robin raises an eyebrow. "Really? What about the garrison?"
"The Valmese garrison is on a skeleton crew." Gaius grins. "They pooled all their resources to defend the city…sounds to me like our boy did a lot of damage last month."
Robin smiles. "He did enough damage to make them put every man they had between him and the city…the city itself is still under Valmese control, right? So when will the garrisons moving back to their positions?" She asks next. "They won't be staying still now that Ash has been proven to be far from invincible."
"Well, that…" Gaius stops when their camp is suddenly flooded with light.
All of the Shepherds look up to see a smattering of eyes in the sky dropping something big and blobby before disappearing again.
"Manaketes." Nowi says in a small voice. "Those are Risen Manaketes…"
"I guess…not for a while." Gaius gulps. "What do we do, Blue?"
"The closest Manakete landed in that village." Chrom unsheathes Falchion. "We move."
.
.
.
{ === + === }
Author Notes:
Way shorter than the other one, because the Shepherds are just better.