King Frederick took a last look at the castle as he readied himself to flee. He could vividly picture the slaves working in the back, and the whipping and the brainwashing that the Thorn Queen would force them through. His six years married to Queen Cordelia were the worst of his life – he could not stand her in the slightest. And he had decided that he didn't want any association with her any longer. He then looked at the bags attached the mount before turning his eyes forward.
"Ya!" he yelled out, and his horse began charging away from the castle and into the town of Millennium Court. It was one of the largest and most bustling towns on the entire continent, so King Frederick turned a few heads as he rode through the town, but he didn't care. He just wanted to leave as soon as possible, and live as a hermit up north.
The king did not stop once, and he never looked in any direction other than the path right ahead. The luminously decorated town, with its vast amount of shops and eateries, did not grab attention for a single second. It was a beautiful town, but a town Frederick never wanted to see again.
He eventually found himself out of the town and into the woods that just about surrounded all of Millennium Court. He thought of taking a last look at the capital, but decided against it and kept on riding through the forest.
He was taken by complete surprise, however, when several arrows pierced through his horse, causing it to fall dead to the ground, and King Frederick found himself rolling off the horse's corpse, stopping a couple of feet away.
He felt aching through his entire body as he took a moment to get up, coughing as he did so. He knew that he had to get out of there as soon as possible, as danger was nearby. But he did not expect to see Captain Libra himself step out from the forest, along with a wealth of Insurrection soldiers that circled the king.
"Well, well, well..." Captain Libra said as he approached King Frederick closer. "If it isn't the King himself."
King Frederick gulped, desperate to wiggle his way out of this. "Look, Libra, just let me live, alright?"
Captain Libra unsheathed his sword and aimed it right at the king's throat. "And why on Earth would I do that?!"
"Because I don't give a damn about this war. I care not what you with Archanea, Libra. Just let me live a quiet life in the mountains. I swear on my life that I will not get in your way."
The captain stared at him for a moment before looking at the bags on the mount. He pulled his sword away from King Frederick and pulled out a crown that had been peering through the bag. "Why are you keeping the crown then?"
King Frederick gulped again. "You see, I planned to destroy that crown once I got to the mountains. I'd just have a quiet and peaceful moment to celebrate my new life."
Captain Libra looked around at his soldiers – he saw Olivia, Walhart, Gangrel, and Pheros all look at him with curiously odd looks on their faces. He looked around for a few more moments before letting out a small sigh.
"Sorry, Frederick, but as Archanean royalty, you cannot be allowed to live."
"No, please -"
But it was too late for King Frederick. Captain Libra ran towards the king impaled him right in the chest, and after a few seconds, King Frederick fell dead to the ground. The captain then looked at the ground.
"A crown for a king," Olivia exclaimed, to which Captain Libra let out a smirk. But then his face turned serious again.
"Alright, this is it, my friends! Today, we claim Archanea for ourselves!"
The soldiers all cheered, and Captain Libra placed the crown in the bag of his own mount before getting back on his horse and charging towards Millennium Court, with all his soldiers following close by, letting out war cries at the thought that this kingdom would soon be theirs.
Stahl, Gaius, and Sumia all looked on as the Insurrection began their siege on Millennium Court.
Stahl let out a deep breath. "Well…this is it."
"Indeed, Munches. We're truly in the homestretch now…."
Sumia shook her head. "We can't waste any more time, guys. We gotta find this Bulzark guy before he makes the timeline even worse!"
Stahl wiped the reigns on the Pegasus and it went darting towards the now war-torn town. They saw hundreds upon hundreds of soldiers on both sides slaughtering each other and laying waste to the shops and small buildings around them.
Stahl turned around to see that Gaius and Sumia had been forced to combat Archanean soldiers, and he rushed to their aid, but Sumia took care of the last one before he could do anything.
But then, they heard a deafening, horrible roar, and all three turned to the right. They couldn't believe what they were seeing. It was an intimidating green-blue dragon, and it let out another roar.
Sumia merely blinked. "Tell me there isn't a giant dragon right there?"
Gaius turned his face and looked down at Sumia with a panicked. "Yep, that's a dragon." And Gaius managed to make out Queen Cordelia on the balcony in the distance, staring at the dragon before walking away into her castle.
Walhart, Pheros, and Gangrel were all fighting nearby, and they looked similarly taken aback by the dragon. They could see Walhart commading Pheros, Gangrel, and the other soldiers, and they all began to battle the dragon. Pheros, however, was the first casualty, as the dragon bit at her leg and threw her towards the building. Stahl and Gaius would not forget the scream she let out when the dragon chomped into her leg.
Suddenly, several Archanean soldiers came riding towards the three, to the frustration of all of them. Chief among the soldiers were Donnel and Lieutenant Phila, the former bearing a grin on his face.
"That would be the great Tiki in action," Donnel said, keeping that smug smile on his face.
Phila continued on. "With the manakete in action, you have no chance at victory."
Gaius scoffed. "We have no affiliation with the Insurrection anymore, Lieutenant."
Lieutenant Phila narrowed her eyes. "Doesn't mean the Queen won't be happy to see you brought before her again."
Lieutenant Phila jumped off her horse and charged towards the three, with Donnel and the other soldiers following suit immediately afterwards. Stahl, Gaius, and Sumia all tightened their grips on their lances, accepting that they couldn't get out of this, and prepared to fight.
Sumia found the lieutenant charging directly towards her, and the two immediately locked lances.
"Give up now, Sumia!" The lieutenant shouted bitterly, to which Sumia narrowed her eyes.
"Why? So you guys can capture me and I can escape again?!"
Lieutenant Phila pushed Sumia away and bashed her in the head with her lance. "I honestly don't care how quickly you escape. But capturing you will give me the late General Sully's position! Now submit!"
The two traded blows with their lances for a few moments before Sumia knocked the blue-haired soldier towards the wall, causing her to drop her lance. Lieutenant Phila rushed to try and grab her lance, but Sumia slashed her in the face. Phila gritted her teeth and grabbed her lance angrily, trying to bash Sumia in the head again to knock her out. Sumia was able to dodge and slashed Lieutenant Phila in the face again.
The two continued to trade blows with their lances until Lieutenant Phila was the one to slash Sumia in the face, and she kicked her down to the ground. "I can't wait to finally become a general!" Lieutenant Phila said, grinning sinisterly.
"Sorry, honey," Sumia said as she got up and slammed the lieutenant's into a wall. "But that promotion is a no-go." She began to repeatedly punch Lieutenant Phila's face until she finally fell dead to the ground.
Her attention was immediately taken by Tiki, who let out another roar as Walhart, Gangrel, and the other soldiers continued to attack her. Stahl and Gaius also looked at the dragon, and they were frustrated. They just wanted to find Bulzark and end this.
The two tried to run towards some of the buildings, with Sumia following, in an attempt to try and evade the dragon and search for Bulzark. But then Stahl tripped onto some rubble from a building that had been destroyed during Tiki's fight with the Insurrection, and he was sent towards the building's foundation, which just about knocked him out. Gaius and Sumia immediately rushed to his aid.
Tiki let out another deafening roar and burned several of the Insurrection soldiers with its green fire, and while Gangrel looked daunted by the situation that lay before them, Walhart did not. Instead, Walhart narrowed his eyes. "Perish now, you wretched beast! For Libra! For the Insurrection!"
Tiki roared at Walhart as the goliath of a man stabbed at her with his lance. But Tiki managed to bite at Walhart's arm, ripping it off, before using her tail to whack him into a nearby building. Gangrel stared at Walhart's limp, motionless body and narrowed his eyes in apparent determination.
Stahl, Gaius, and Sumia all made a run for it, but what remained of the building collapsed and blocked their path. Stahl turned around and was horrified to see that the dragon now had her eyes on them.
The dragon began to chase after them, breathing out green fire as it did so, and they began to run down south away from Tiki. But Tiki began to plow down through the Insurrection soldiers in her direction, and she made her way towards them. Tiki let out another horrible roar before she opened her jaw wide, about to chomp at Stahl. But then it let out another roar, this time in pain – and Gangrel could be seein in the background, having stabbed Tiki in the tail.
Gangrel then rushed away from the dragon as fast as he could, towards Stahl, Gaius, and Sumia. Tiki let out another roar, but to this Gangrel stabbed one of her front feet, and the dragon roared in agony again. Gangrel rushed towards Stahl and had an enormous smile on his face.
"I just want to thank you one last time, Stahl. Best of luck to you."
Gangrel then charged back towards the dragon, stabbing at her in the legs and stomach with all his might while a few soldiers aided him the process. Gangrel then let out a mighty war cry before he impaled Tiki one more time, causing her to let out a deafening roar. Gangrel let out a heavy breath before getting ready to stab at Tiki again, but Tiki crushed him with her foot and breathed out green fire towards Gangrel, burning him to the crisp.
But more of the nearby Insurrection soldiers nearby all looked more determined. "Finish it off!" An Insurrection lieutenant said, and more and more of the Insurrection's men and women began to charge towards Tiki. Stahl, Gaius, and Sumi all looked at each other for a moment before Stahl smirked and charged towards Tiki, with Gaius and Sumia following a few moments later.
They all began to stab at the dragon with all their might as Tiki's roars became weaker, but also more frequent, but also weaker. Gaius grunted and Stahl let out an 'nnh' as they helped to try and slay the dragon. Tiki tried to breath out some more green fire, but it barely got anything out as the Insurrection continued to stab at her.
After about another minute, Tiki finally let out one final, weak roar, and collapsed. The Insurrection immediately went back to battling the Archanean soldiers while the trio all stopped and took a look at the dead dragon before them.
Sumia rubbed her neck. "Well…it's not every day you slay a dragon."
Gaius let out a small smile. "Yeah…it'll make quite a story."
"Alright, guys. Let's just find Bulzark," Stahl replied, letting out a deep breath.
Gaius and Sumia nodded, and the three mounted back on their Pegasus and began to search the town. It was a rigorous process, trying to avoid the battle between the Archanean Empire and the Insurrection, but they had no stakes in this conflict, and Tiki had already been dealt with. But every now and then, they were forced to slay an Archanean soldier or two, just to get them out of their way.
But after a long while, it seemed more and more likely that Bulzark had left.
"He's not here!" Sumia yelled in frustration. "He's not anywhere!"
"Now, now, Sumia…" Stahl said, motioning his hands and speaking in a reassuring tone. "He has to be here somewhere."
Gaius let out a small groan of frustration. "Old Hubba did say he was here, but that was a few days. He could've left by now, and we could've just wasted our damn time."
"Wait!" Sumia said in an urgent tone, and she pointed south. "What's that?"
Stahl and Gaius turned to where she was pointing, and they too saw a giant green glow in the distance. Given how the Gem of Medeus was green according to Old Hubba, the two figured that this could very well be him. The three ran in that direction, until they got close enough to see…him. The man in the large black robe, with long white hair.
Bulzark.
"Halt, Bulzark!" Stahl yelled, pointing his lance towards Bulzark. The manakete turned around, and the three could see a grisled, worn face colored a dark tan and coated with a large white beard. "You won't be altering history any further!"
Bulzark looked at them for a moment, looking like he was trying to let the situation sink in, before he finally spoke. "Well…this should be interesting."