Chapter 21 Mending Friendship
"Charge!" Rodrick roared as his remaining bandits charged at the students.
Isaac rose the Sol Blade above his head. The Sol Blade let out a howl.
"Purgatory!" Isaac shouted. A circle of flames surrounded and killed a bandit.
Claude raised his hand. "Let's go Swift!"
Swift appeared above Claude and his bow started to glow purple. Claude shot the arrow at another bandit with amazing speed, the bandit didn't even have time to react as he fell dead.
Rodrick charged right at Isaac with his axe raised high ready to strike, but Isaac blocked it with his blade.
Felix faced off against the Poison Toad. His blade let out a howl. "Legend!"
A purple circle appeared above Felix as several purple blade-like projectiles at the monster hitting it square in the chest. The Poison Toad stumbled back in pain as Leonie took advantage of the opening and stabbed the monster with her lance, making it cry in pain. The toad spat out some acid, but the two were able to dodge it easily thanks to the wide area.
"All right, we're finally getting somewhere." Lysithea cheered as she fired a Miasma spell at the toad.
Raphael took out another bandit with his gauntlets as he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. Another bandit had hit him with his hand axe directly. As Raphael tried to get back up, the bandit charged in for the kill, but was stopped by Lorenz's spear.
"Raphael, are you okay?" Lorenz asked
"Thanks. I owe you one Lorenz." Raphael said as Marianne approached him.
"Ply." Marianne said as she started to heal Raphael's wound.
Lorenz pushed the bandit back and then shot a fire spell at him while his guard was down taking him out.
Ignatz fired an arrow at another bandit killing him and took aim at another that was fighting Hilda. He took the shot while he wasn't looking killing him.
Claude finished the last bandits off with a Whirlwind spell. Now all that was left was the leader and the monster.
Rodrick continued to try and attack Isaac, but the young Adept countered every blow.
"How do you know about Adepts?" Isaac asked
"SHUT UP AND DIE!" Rodrick shouted
"Flint!" Isaac called out. Flint appeared and caused Isaac's sword to glow yellow. With a mighty slash, Rodrick's axe was shattered into pieces. Isaac gave one final slash, and Rodrick went down. He was still alive, but he wasn't getting back up anytime soon.
"Now to take care of your little pet." Isaac said as he headed to assist Felix.
Felix was still facing off against the thing with Leonie.
"Gaia!" Felix called out unleashing a blast of Venus Psynergy from the ground.
Lysithea used a Whirlwind spell as she ran out of spell charges with her Fodlan magic but the wind didn't affect the Toad all too much.
"Hey you, what's your name?" Felix asked
"Lysithea!" Lysithea shouted
"Do you know a spell called impact?" Felix asked and Lysithea nodded. "Then cast it on me and the girl." Felix said pointing to Leonie
"Leonie!" Leonie called out.
"Right, Leonie." Felix corrected
"All right, Impact!" Lysithea shouted as Felix and Leonie felt a boast in strength.
"What is this?" Leonie asked
"Impact is a support Jupiter spell that can boast once's physical strength." Felix said
"Nice!" Leonie cheered as she attacked with her lance again, which hurt the monster more than before thanks to the boast from Lysithea.
The Poison Toad slammed his claws down that Leonie managed to dodge as she charged up to attack the creature again. However, the creature intercepted Leonie and grabbed her with its other hand ready to take a bite out of her.
Felix reacted quickly. "Echo!" Felix shouted
Echo appeared and covered Felix's blade with a yellow glow as he charged up and slashed the hand that held Leonie before she could be bitten, or even eaten.
"Thanks. I was not looking forward to being this things meal." Leonie grunted.
When the Toad went backwards Felix landed in front of Leonie. "Careful. Its fangs are even more poisonous than its breath."
"Glad to know." Leonie grunted as Isaac ran up to them.
The Sol Blade let out another howl. "Megiddo!"
A massive ball of fire formed into the air as Isaac jumped up to it. With a mighty swing of his sword, Isaac sent the fireball towards the Poison Toad dealing massive damage and sending it flying back.
"Bought time you showed up." Felix teased.
"Leonie, Lysithea, me and Felix will handle this. Go make sure that Rodrick stays put and alive. I have some questions to ask him." Isaac ordered and the two girls reluctantly nodded and went to do what they were told.
The Poison Toad got back up yet again.
"No matter how much damage we do to this thing, it won't stay down." Felix said
"I know. It's strange. Those black lines…Do you think that someone did something to this thing?" Isaac asked.
"I don't know, but if we don't kill it soon, it's only going to cause trouble later." Felix said
"It looks like it's on its last leg still. If we can give it one massive attack, it should bring it down." Isaac deduced
"Got any ideas?" Felix asked
"With the two of us here, we can do that." Isaac said
"I'm ready whenever." Felix said
"Hey Teach! Need a hand?" Claude asked as he and the other Golden Deer students ran up to the two residents of Vale.
Both Isaac and Felix raised their left hands in the air.
"SUMMON RAMSES!" Both shouted
Flint and Echo turned into yellow orbs that flew into the sky and went straight into the ground.
The area around them turned into a dessert with a massive pyramid right behind the two Venus Adepts.
"What is this?" Claude asked in awe.
The top of the Pyramid busted open to reveal a beast dressed like a Pharaoh with two massive arms. Ramses readied one of its fists and shot a powerful punch at the Poison Toad finally eliminating the monster.
With the monster destroyed, the dessert and Ramses vanished, leaving Isaac, Felix, and a bunch of jaw dropped Students.
"WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?!" Everyone yelled out.
"Later." Isaac said slightly out of breath. He headed over to Rodrick.
"Your monster is destroyed, and your team is dead. Now, unless you want their fate, you are going to tell me how you know about Adepts." Isaac threatened. He wasn't one to threaten like this normally, but currently, he was a bit on edge.
"Like I'd say anything to you." Rodrick spat.
"I'd listen to him if I were you." Claude said joining the interrogation. "You had a good plan, but you and your little bandits didn't have the skills, or the smarts to pull it off."
"You!" Rodrick growled
"I want answers. Talk, and you can live." Felix said
"I can't." Rodrick grunted
"Tell me now!" Isaac ordered
"It was man named-Ack!" Rodrick was cut off by a bolt of bolt of dark magic piercing his heart killing him instantly.
Isaac looked into the direction the blast was fired from, but didn't see anyone.
"Let's take a look." Isaac said
Felix and the Golden Deer spread out to look around the area, but found no one.
"Looks like whoever killed the man left in a hurry." Claude said
"That was no doubt dark magic that was fired, but who did it?" Lysithea asked
"Dark magic is indeed rare, but that alone doesn't pinpoint a suspect." Lorenz sighed
"Regardless, it seems that someone knows what Adepts are and isn't a big fan of them." Isaac said. "We'll have to report this to Lady Rhea when we get back." The others nodded.
"Well, I doubt it has to do with our little assassin, but it might have something to do with the thieves." Claude said
"Lead the way Claude." Isaac said
Claude lead the group to a small fortress. It was pretty old and worn down, but still fully stable.
"A fort? You dragged us into the forest for a fort?" Lorenz asked annoyed
"Look inside." Claude said as he led the group inside.
Inside there were multiple piles of treasure.
"They must have moved their treasure from their base to here before we got here." Claude said
"I wonder if some of this stuff belongs to the village?" Hilda wondered
"Let's head back to the village so we can get a wagon or something to take it back." Isaac said
"Fine, but I've done more than enough work for today." Hilda said
The group returned to the village and explained what happened to the villagers.
"Words cannot than you people enough for what you did today. We are in your debts." The elder said
"Think nothing of it. It is our duty as students of Garreg Mach and that of the nobility to help those in trouble." Lorenz said
"What he said." Claude said
"It's getting late. Please allow us to accommodate you for the night before you return to Garreg Mach Monastery." The elder man offered
"Thank you. We appreciate it." Isaac bowed. The elder and the villagers left leaving Isaac and Felix with the Golden Deer students along with their parents and Kraden.
"Okay teach. What was that thing you and Felix did against that monster?" Claude asked
"It's called a summon. It's the most powerful attack for an Adept. We use our Djinni to summon powerful creatures to attack, but it can be very taxing on our bodies which is why I haven't taught you guys yet. Plus, you don't have enough Djinni on you to summon creatures like Ramses." Isaac explained. "But I will talk about its next class. I promise."
Claude nodded. Isaac then turned to Felix. Both men started at each other intensely that got Kraden, Kyle, and Felix's parents concerned
"Mind if we talk alone?" Isaac asked. Felix nodded and the two left.
Kraden was about to follow but Kyle stopped him.
"They need to do this themselves." Kyle said
"I suppose you're right." Kraden sighed
Isaac and Felix stood facing each other outside the village. Both took a deep breath and spoke...
"I'm sorry!"
Both blinked
"Wait, what?"
"Hold on a second. Why are you apologizing? I'm the one who killed your friends and tried to stop you from saving the world." Isaac asked confused
"My friends? You mean Saturos and Menardi? They weren't my friends. They were my allies. Nothing more." Felix said. "Anyway, what I wanted to apologies for is that, I never wanted to get you Garet or Jenna involved. But when Mount Aleph began to erupt, I was forced to flee, take my sister, and leave two of my best friends trapped in an erupting volcano to their possible doom." Felix said
"Hey, don't beat yourself up about that. There wasn't anything you could do." Isaac said
"That doesn't make it any better for me. I was powerless to help you two." Felix said
"I know that feeling." Isaac whispered
"When I saw you two at the Mercury Lighthouse, I was filled with relief that you two escaped, but I was filled with dread that Saturos wanted you both dead. Then there was the Venus Lighthouse. I could do nothing but watch as you and your friends fought a battle to the death with those two and in the end, I was honestly glad that you won." Felix said
Isaac said nothing as Felix continued.
"But I knew that you got more powerful and I got worried that our meeting would result in a fight. Jenna would try to tell me to just talk to you, but either Saturos, Menardi, or Alex would shoot it down by convincing me that it was a pointless risk, and I eventually started to believe it. For god's sake, the deal had to do with your own father too and I kept the fact that he was still alive from you." Felix said
'Would our meeting before hand result in a fight?' Isaac asked himself. Even Kraden believed it was possible with how Isaac was raised and honestly, Isaac didn't know what would happen. While he was desperately trying to find the why to Felix's actions, he to would fear that they would end up fighting.
"I just wanted to know why. After I found out that you survived the fall at the Venus Lighthouse, I followed your trail best I could. I heard what you accomplished with the pirates, the Sea Serpent, I wanted to know why you were doing what you did. And I nearly got my team killed as a result." Isaac said.
"I knew that Krast would go after you, but I figured that you would be able to take her since you beat Saturos and Menardi. I never knew she was trying that. Prox usually are pretty straight forward with their fighting." Felix said. "But I've felt guilty over what happened. I know things happened for a reason and there was probably no other way around, but it still wasn't easy. I was afraid to tell you because I didn't have any proof that the world was dying. Saturos and Menardi always had us make a b-line for the next lighthouse. After their deaths, I was able to slow down and view the results of lighting the lighthouses. I'll admit that it wasn't a pretty sight and I wondered how many lives were possibly ruined by the changes to the lands, but I also remember that by doing this, I was giving them a future, and that kept me going."
"Had I known; I would have helped you." Isaac said
"I know, but like I said, I had no proof and I'd rather have you hate me over feeling the guilt of killing you, or leave you with the guilt of killing me and likely Jenna." Felix said
"I never knew you had guilt inside you as well. I've still felt the guilt over killing Saturos and Menardi. I know Prox forgave me, but still…they were trying to save the world and I killed them for it." Isaac said
"To be fair, they aren't innocent people. Yes, their goals were noble, but not their actions, it's like Puelle and the others said. No one can blame you for what happened Isaac. They made their own choices and that was the results of them. They wanted a fight to the death and they got one. Don't beat yourself up about it. I'm not mad at you, Jenna and Sheba aren't mad at you, Kraden, your father, and even Prox aren't mad at you." Felix assured
"The same to you though. I'm not mad at you either Felix." Isaac said as he held out a hand. "Friends?"
"We never stopped." Felix smiled as he took Isaac's hand.
The two headed back to the village where they were greeted by Kraden.
"I'm glad to see you two cleared the air." He said before turning to Isaac. "I must also apologies. I was supposed to help you learn about the world and Psynergy but I left you and Garet completely in the dark. I'm sorry Isaac."
"It's fine Kraden. I can understand where your concerns came from." Isaac said with .
"Well then, let's go and get some rest. Tomorrow we head back to this Garreg Mach Monastery." Kraden said with delight. "I seriously can't wait to see what knowledge it carries."
"Jenna was right. Kraden can act like a kid in a candy store." Isaac joked as he and Felix laughed.
Finally, Isaac's worries were lifted.
And that's a wrap!
Honestly, I felt the talk scene in Golden Sun The Lost Age where Felix's group finally tells Isaac's group what the heck is going on was a little rushed. Mostly from the fact that Felix wasn't allowed to talk in The Lost Age (Except in the epilogue) like how Isaac wasn't allowed to talk in the first Golden Sun game.
Yeah, that makes no sense to me either. Give Mathew in Dark Dawn some credit, his bio literally states that he is a man of few words. Doesn't make complete sense either, but it's better than Isaac and Felix's reason which boils down to...main character in an RPG must be silent rule. So, I wanted the two to talk without Kraden or Jenna around.
Anyway, we have a little less than three weeks till the final DLC wave of Three Houses comes out. When it does come out, I will take a break writing so I can play it. What are you guys looking forward to for the DLC?
Anyway, next we go find out how Byleth's mission went. Be sure to follow and review and I will see you guys next time.