Hello! Is good to be back.

Im sorry for the delay guys, i had to wait my beta reader to clean this one, and since i had to make some changes…..well, you know, with he stuff of school and work is really hard to do something right now in the middle of the exams :´v

Anyway, thanks for your support and for your preference, let's begin with the new chapter.

SHIDESU! OUT!

Chapter 36: Encounter

Kamui and his army moved through the hallways of the old castle, as he expected the resistance of the place proved to be more than challenging, even if they managed to sneak in and to route some soldiers, it was hard to move with his numbers without being spotted and tried their best to avoid any kind of fight, and the trap doors weren't any help at all, without difference they had to keep moving and fall in their trap or sneak with some luck, with the time Xander, Ryoma and Leo noticed how he moved the group, the vanguard were made of ninjas, adventurers and mounted units, that way they could spot and eliminated any kind of enemy sigil and retreat in case of ambush, then it followed the heavy, wyverns riders, Knights and generals guarding the flanks supported by the archers and mages, at the core of the unit was Kamui who instructed the army and could see any kind of change, lastly the Pegasus units were carrying the healers and priestss in case they needed to retreat or heal any unit in danger, the heirs already witnessed this kind of 'commando' unit, but seeing how with the time Kamui managed to hone his skills and not only able to do a decent work with the ranks, but also to control the forces as an extension of his own body, it was impressive to say the least, Ryma and Xander still had their doubts but compared to their forces with the time they knew that kind of trust and military formation could be an issue, and with Kamui as the heart of all that formation, they wouldn't give up easily.

"AMBUSH!" Asugi yelled as Effie and Benny with their troops quickly raised their shields and the mages used their rally, as they were waiting for orders they could see how the first wall not only survived the first attack, but also how the arrows and fire balls were disseminated in front of them, as Xander and Ryoma prepared to engage Kamui just raised his fist in a clear order to wait instructions, then the albino looked at his younger daughter Mikoto who nodded and prepared something, the girls closed her eyes and set her hands in front of her, it was like he was praying, then Kamui gave the next order.

"First group endure! Second counter!" With that command the front line buried their shields at the ground and again they could see how the arrows hit the shields, with the light of the incoming fire balls Nyx with he rest of the dark mages raised their hands using their dark tomes, as their eyes glowed the fire balls started to fly erratically and returned to the place where they came from, as the flames burned near the end of the hallway burning the mages Anna with her groups of archers prepared their arrows and made a wide volley, they could see how in seconds the purple fog formed at the distance "Silas! Your turn!" Kamui yelled as his best friend with his daughter charged with the shields in hand and killer lances, in that simple order Effie and Benny lifted their shields and allowed that small group of paladins and knights charge forward, behind the them were carrying heros and adventurers, as that group secured the flanks and allowed the front line to advance Kamui tapped the shoulder of his daughter.

"Im ready father" Mikoto said as she started to glow with a rainbow aura, Kamui as well but in a lighter intensity.

"Just help me Honey, you´re not ready for this yet" He said at his daughter who shook her head.

"No father, i-i can do it! I know i c-can!" she said, this time taking his hand, Kamui just sighed and smiled.

"Caeldori! Your turn! He yelled as the red-haired girl took flight with her steed and other Pegasus riders waited for her signal, with her lance at the sky she used the special skill of her dark pegasus, with her dark glow the troops around them started to feel themselves lighter, then the sudden charge of energy filling their bodies, that rainbow aura that covered the group and could be felt in every inch of their bodies, as the troops prepared, the raised their weapons ready to engage, with one final chant of the sorceress the lines advanced, leaving half of the groups behind, Kamui and Mikoto with them who were now trying to catch their breaths, Mikoto was weak but seeing how Kamui was struggling to breath was something neither Xander nor Ryoma could ignore, in seconds they were at his side.

"Kamui, are you alright?" Xander asked as he helped the albino to stand again, Ryoma helped Mikoto.

"Y-Yeah, i-i think i over-used my Rally, but i´ll be fine"

"Oh my~ what pleasant surprise~" they looked up to see that Camilla and Beruka were flying above them "To think that my cute Mikoto is able to use her dear Papa Rally, I´m so proud of you dear" the girl blushed and nodded with a faint smile.

"Beruka, what´s the status at the other hallways?" Kamui asked as they landed near them.

"Just as just predicted Lord Kamui, their forces aren't completelly focused in this spot, all the duplicates and doll´s are distracting them" Beruka said as Camilla helped Kamui to ride her steed, Beruka took Mikoto and as soon the girl was hugging her from behind, she continued "I´ll make sure that Lady Mikoto is in good shape with the archers who need assistance, i´ll be back with Selena and the others" and with that she took flight.

"Let´s go, we can't stand here for long, before they know what´s happening we need to keep pushing until Lilith say so" Kamui said to Xander and Ryoma who nodded and looked at the rest of the troops, with a signal they started to march forward, helping the knights and the remaining of the group to push forward, as Camilla pulled the reigns and took flight, she smirked seeing her little girl stomping the enemies in front of her with her dragonic tail protecting the shapeshifters in their ranks.

"Talk about overkill" She mussed flying near of her, the young dragon looked up to see her mother who send her a kiss that she delightedly accepted moving her tail from one side to another, the young dragon with Selkie jumped forward engaging the enemies who tried to stop their rush "Oh my~ it seems that Kana is eager than usual"

"That´s your fault" Kamui said opening his tome searching through the pages "I´m not sure what she meant with 'baking another' but she certainly was excited about it, care to explain?"

"Ufufu~ sorry dear, but my lips are sealed" She said looking at him with a mischievous smirk "Are you ready?"

"Even if i´m not is not like we have a choice…." He stopped right in the middle of the tome searching for the right incantation, as the sparks were flying around his free hand he prepared for the incoming surge of power and made sure that he won't hit any of his friends or troops "….she´s here" with that said he released the energy from his hand revealing in shadow´s the figure of the mage who tried to attack them midair, as the energy lit the sky the troops below them could see the familiar figure of that blue-haired woman who welcomed them a couple of weeks ago, using one of the pegasi riders of Valla she tried to use one of her spells but her attack was interrupted as suddenly a volley of arrows tried to hit her.

"There she is!" Mikoto yelled as the archer´s pointed their bows and prepared to fire "Don´t get near my father! You—you bully!" she yelled releasing her arrow, followed for another volley, unfortunately Arete was faster than the young girl and managed to block most of the arrows with another lighting spell.

"Quite the preposterous child you have" Arete said as she again dodge an attack, this time a flying axe that came from Camilla accompanied with a sadistic smile.

"Oh my~ it slipped from my hand" She said faking a sigh "How silly of me, it won't happen again if you don't make fun of my girls again though"

"How funny, to think a harlot would defend the offspring of another women" she smirked when Camilla frowned "After all, it seems that that little dragon is following King Garon step´s, having another concubine war would be interesting, especially after seeing who blame each other for the death of your children"

"As much i would like to chat, i don't like were this is going, so it´s time to say night-night" Camilla pulled the reigns and prepared her axe, trying to cut the woman in a diagonal cut, as she swings her axe Arete just raised her hand and prepared to engage, this time with a dark aura around her and with an uncanny smile before Camilla or Kamui could react she banished in the air, Camilla looked around her but she was nowhere to be seen, it was until Kamui tapped her shoulder and pointed below that saw that Arete was near the archers and couldn't prepare in time for her incoming engage, however what neither Kamui, Camilla or Arete expected was that Mikoto just raised another of her staves and with a frown stopped her midair.

"Now aunty!" as Mikoto yelled another figure appeared behind her, with an elegant flip and roll of her lance, Azura managed to stop her with a single blow, making them fall by the time the spell Mikoto used faded, even if Arete was weakened she tried to stand and continue, but Azura just pushed the back of her spear against her shoulder stopping any action from her.

"….im so proud of her" Camilla mussed as she pulled the reigns of Marzia to descend, Kamui sighed scratching his head, although everything went perfectly aside of that fight, he couldn't say it was a victory if his little girl was involved like that, even if she was able to stop that crazy woman it wouldn't be right to put her in the front lines, Kana was one thing, at least with her scales and her heritage from Camilla there was hardly something that could truly hurt her, but Mikoto was still young and unstable to transform, main reason why she was set at the back of the group and in charge to handle anything to do with mages, his daughter has an insanely high magic resistance, but seeing how Arete drew a dagger was something that stopped his heart.

"Are you alright?" he asked when Camilla landed near the group, and before she could say something he embraced her for a moment before looking for any injury "Are you hurt? Did she do something?" he said looking at her sides, arms and cheek´s but Mikoto blushed shaking her head and trying to calm him down.

"I-Im fine father, please stop already" Mikoto said as Camilla approached the blue-haired songstress.

"Oh my~ how thoughtful of you dear, you keep her in place just for me?" Camilla said as she approached Arete who just tried to move but again was stopped by Azura.

"Careful, she´s still dangerous, and…you promised Camilla" Azura said without moving her eyes from the woman.

"I guess i did…" Camilla sighed resting her head on her palm, looking at Kamui she smiled seeing how the albino was still trying to look for imaginary scars on his daughter, it would be fun to remind him how he stated that she was ready for the task and now he desperated to see if it was his fault, regardless of that she was glad that Mikoto was good as her mother, perhaps a little more, not that she wasnt aware of that.

"L-Lady Camilla!" Looking behind her, she was surprised to see her retainers with distressed faces, Selena could barely contain her thoughts as Beruka was having a hard time to say the proper words, quite strange knowing that the girl was known to be blunt at best.

"Mmm? What´s the matter my naughty retainers? Is something wrong?" Camilla asked but Selena just babbled something incomprehensible, before she could ask again Hinoka and Sakura appeared, with similar look´s.

"I-We-You-Us….argg!" Hinoka just took Kamui hand before they could say something "There is something you need to see! Come!"

The battle ended the moment Arete was held prisoner, so it wasn't that hard to look for supplies or other things, it wasn't surprising that when they scouted the other rooms and places of that hallway they found essential items for their campaign, but what they did not expected was to find that room.

It was the atmosphere in that place? It was the serene aura in the room? A trick of the light or just something from his imagination, his heart was pounding as his word was silent, he could hear what the other were doing but it was a deafening silence, dry throat and trembling hands, cold sweat and blurry vision, he couldn't understand what was happening but for that simple moment he didn't cared, he couldn't afford to care about reason or logic, nor consequences or anything at all, he took a shy step, then another after another until he realized that his body was moving by itself, he tried to speak but there were no words in his mouth, not that he could hear, at least not by her "…m-mother…."

In front of him hidden in one of the many rooms of that place, without guards or soldiers, found that solitary figure sit in a bed, her clothes were different, her black long hair was loose moving gently with the breeze, as her features remained as he remembered, Mikoto, his mother was there with a rag doll of himself, as the woman just smiled and giggled "Kamui….."

"Mother…"Kamui sat at her side, he couldn't stand it anymore, even if it was a delusion or a mad dream he embraced her, the same scent in her room back in Hoshido, the same warm feeling and the softness of her skin were prove enough of her existence in that place, feeling the tears fall from his eyes he laughed and cried, he couldn't understand what was happening but for that moment even if Camilla, Hinoka, Selena and other soldiers were watching that scene, his heart was rejoicing with joy, a burden in his soul was lifted as the final piece of his life returned to him "Mother…..i missed you…..so much….."

"…Kamui…" she repeated again, but strangely she didn't looked at him, instead she was still looking at that rag doll, smiling and snuggling it, Kamui looked at her eyes but there was no response from her, he shook her shoulder´s and even after repeating her name again and again there was no response from her, she was in her own world.

"M-Mother! Im here! Don't you hear me?" he gently pushed her head to his direction, and it only lasted a couples of seconds before she returned her gaze to the doll "wh-what, M-Mother! This isn't funny, im here! It´s me! I-" he stopped feeling a hand on his shoulder, looking back it was Hinoka who was there with a sad expression on her face "H-Hinoka! Help me! I-I cant make h-"

"Kamui….." she whispered with pain in her voice "…it´s being a while since we found her…..like this…" she hugged him as he trembled hearing her words "….i….i don't think she can hear us…..not…..not anymore…." This time Kamui bit his lip and with his head on her shoulder his world crumbled before him.

Her voice couldn't reach him on time before she was gone, now he feared that his wouldn't reach her anymore.

Phew, sorry for the delay guys, actually i was quite busy in the last months, so i barely had time for anything at all, i hope you liked it.

Well, this is it, the great revelation of Mikoto and her 'madness' status, hope you can hang it there with me until the end of it.

Perhaps i can update this in a couple of days before the end of the year, but right now i have been reading and looking other sources for more inspiration and trying hard to not create another fic that won´t be updated after a couple of chapters xD sorry about that.

Anyway, im not sure if i can even sleep after Doki Doki literature club after the true ending (freaking game but still awesome by the way) so if you have any ideas or want to leave your review remember that is always welcome.

That´s all for now! Have a good weekend and day/night!

SHIDESU! OUT!