JASON'S POV
Yikes. I hurt all over. I had roughly three arrows in each leg and a few in my armpit, as lovely as that sounds. Armor straps have to go somewhere, ya know? That explosion was deafening. It quite literally shook me out of unconsciousness. Or maybe Perseus dragged me out of it? Doesn't really matter. What matters is that I was awake and in great pain.
"Dammit where's Madelyn when you need her?" Augustus asked irritably. He had shown up about 10 minutes after the explosion; he was spearing Valmese a mile or so away. Perseus hopelessly surveyed the huge crater that the tome had created. And I mean huge. This thing had to be at LEAST a mile across and maybe 30 feet deep. "We'll be lucky to find her alive." He admitted miserably. "This would have used up an incredible amount, if not all, of her magic energy.
Augustus looked at the ground. Then, both heads whipped to the side at the sound of a voice. "Come on, Perseus. Don't think I would go down that easy!" the voice said. And even I stirred. Perseus was laughing in disbelief while Augustus just shook his head smiling.
There was a sharp noise of a blunt object cutting through the air and the arrows instantly fell from my wounds, which stitched themselves together. I stood up on steady limbs. "Thanks, Madelyn." I said, trying to bow but ended up with some messed up male curtsy. Madelyn nodded and put her staff back.
Perseus had stopped laughing. "But seriously, how did you pull that off? You don't even look any worse for wear." Madelyn put on her business face and fished something from the pockets on the inside of her robe. "Because of this." Everyone gasped as the faint green light bathed our faces. The item she was holding was none other than the gemstone, Vert.
CHROM'S POV
"Walhart." I said, staring my enemy down, which was a pretty hard thing to do because he was about three feet taller on his mount. He looked down on me with contempt. "Prince." he spat. "Did it really have to come to this?" Walhart laughed. "'Come to this?'" he mocked. "It came to this because you meddled in affairs that do not concern you!"
I shook my head. "We both know, Walhart, that you were planning to attack Ylisse once you got rid of Ferox- the strongest warriors on the continent. Walhart scoffed. "Details." I glared at him. "You could always resign now." Walhart began to tremble with rage at these words. "RESIGN? RESIGN! I WILL NEVER BOW TO THE LIKES OF YOU, PUNY PRINCE! NOT TO YOUR FATHER OR EVEN YOUR PATHETIC SISTER!" I stopped. Walhart sensed the change and sat pompously on his horse.
"My sister was your complete opposite, Walhart." I said with steely eyes. "She emanated peace while you bar it from your threshold." Walhart chuckled lightly. "Such a clever tongue prince… I will enjoy ripping it to bloody pieces along with the rest of you."
I sighed. Talking would not do a thing to this juggernaut. "It seems we will have to settle this with swords." Walhart smiled devilishly and hefted his axe. "As if there was ever another way. Peace can only be wrought with bloodshed and its time you learned that!"
Those words made me hesitate. Did Walhart think, that by conquering the world he could stop all war? On paper that's a good idea but it would never work. Rebellions would start, and bandits would most likely run rampant; under such a huge empire the guards would be spread thin. No, conquering all would not lead to peace.
I met his first strike by blocking with Falchion, and vibrations ran from the bottom of my feet to the top of my head. I quickly attempted to slash his stomach, but the horse reared at the flick of its reigns and I was forced to step back or be squashed. "You blow as if to extinguish a candle!" he said, turning and galloping towards me again. "BUT YOU ONLY STOKE THE FIRES OF HELL!"
I sidestepped the next strike and slashed his side, cutting through his armor and making a shallow cut above his kidneys. He turned, eyes blazing, and looked at me. "So the prince is more than just bark," he said softly. He swung again. I sidestepped and prepared to slash his side, but he hurriedly changed movements and slammed me with the butt of his axe, sending me flying. I scrambled to my feet and got a grip on Falchion.
He looked down on me once more. "Such a pitiful fighter." His shadow fell over me as he stepped closer. He raised his axe with both hands, keeping hold on his horse with only his legs. If I tried to block with Falchion I'd probably break my arms. I got ready to sidestep when-
"GET AWAY FROM MY FATHER!" There was a blur of dark blue as Lucina dashed forward and cut a gash down the horse's side, cutting through its thick red armor. Shocked, the horse reared and threw its master, whose axe immediately was wrenched through his grasp.
There was a sickening gasp as Walhart hit the ground and for a second I didn't know why. Then I saw the shaft of a weapon protruding from his stomach. He had been impaled by his own weapon. What a twist of fate; the weapon that had killed so many had defeated its own master. At least the deceased could rest easy now. Walhart was dead, and with him died a mighty empire. His method may have been insane, but his motive was quite commendable.
Maybe I could have learned from him.
"Lucina, thank you. You saved my life." I said sincerely, turning towards my daughter. She nodded, almost curtly. "You are my father, or course I would save your life. Did you expect me to stand by as you got hacked to bloody pieces?" I chuckled. "I bet I could've taken him with one hand tied behind my back!" Lucina smiled wryly. "Sure, Father. Now come, we have wounded to attend to."
Jack's Corner
And so ends the reign of Walhart. Personally I think that was a pretty nice death. Couldn't have written it better. So I'm pretty sure you're all wondering how the heck Madelyn got Vert, to whether or not Crona is alive, or if Gerik was able to kill Excellus. Fear not, I have all of that cooked up! Make sure to tune in for it!
