"The Bern royal family is a pageant of power, love, and hate. Eliwood finds himself embroiled in their troubles. He has been sent to recover the Bern family treasure: the Fire Emblem. It has been stolen from the palace vault. Eliwood enters the royal palace seeking clues." David said.
"Well...we're finally here. Can't believe they built their castle so high up into the mountains." Hector said.
"I dunno if we should be here though. Infiltrating the royal castle to find any whereabouts on the Fire Emblem's location sounds pretty risky." Bow said.
"Bow, if we don't do this, we can't ask them about the shrine." Glimmer said.
"You're right Glimmer." Hope said. "We have our mission to save everyone on this continent. We can't afford to worry about what might happen."
"We can't let caution dictate our movements. We need to…" Eliwood said before they looked far off and saw a familiar young boy being chased by some wyvern riders.
"That boy. That...That's Nils!" Lyndis said.
"What's he doing here? No, never mind that… he's being chased. Lets go help him!" Gemini said.
"C'mon, boy! Scream! Call your friends to you! I grow weary of waiting. I am not known for my patience!" the woman leading them said.
"Looking for us?" Hope said as the group made their appearance. "Well here we are! Now let him go!"
"You've all finally come! I've been looking forward to this!" The woman said.
"Looking forward….she was chasing Nils to lure us out to a battle." Aqua said.
"I will crush you all and hand the children to Nergal." she said.
"Of course it had to be her." Heath said.
"Someone you know?" Eliwood asked.
"A former comrade. Her name is Vaida. She was a general for the kingdom until a commander's scheme cost her her honor and rank." Heath said.
"We'll have to keep fighting them off. And keep them far away from the castle." Hector said.
"David, you got a plan to deal with Vaida and her forces?" Hope asked.
"Okay, Vaida is a wyvern rider, which means she's vulnerable to arrows and wind magic. We'll send Ramona, Kentarousmon and Vera to deal with her unit. Meanwhile, there will be openings in the west and east, along with mountains through the south. Cheetah, Poison Ivy and Shiozaki will take the western front. Tanjiro and Inosuke will take a force through the south. Francisca and Flamberge will hold the eastern front." David said.
"Whoa. Slow down there, man. I know this is kind of your thing, but you gotta breathe." Jesse said.
"Sorry. It's just that Hope asks me for it so much that I can literally feel my lungs and throat." David said.
"Just keep it cool. Let us handle this one." Captain Cold said.
"He's right. Okay. All archers and magic casters, advance to the wyvern riders. Those who can fight with weapons head west. Those with powers will head east. The support will remain behind. The others...protect the castle." Hera commanded. "Is that understood?"
"Completely, Hera." Mark said. "Let's move." he said as the group split up.
"Hera, since when could you…" Jexi said.
"I'm a former gladiator. You don't survive unless you know about strategy. I also know if you rely on one thing too long...it'll only spell out doom in the end." Hera said. "One more thing. Archery and Magic team! While you attack...do not attempt to kill Vaida! Force her to retreat instead!"
"That's kind of a weird request, but got it." Himiko said.
"Good. The rest of you, the other enemy soldiers are free game. Don't be afraid to go all out on them." Hera said.
"Understood!" Iida said as the power user team quickly went all out against their assigned enemies.
"Sorry I didn't say anything before. I didn't want you guys to think I was overworking." David said.
"We all have limits. We just need to admit when we have them." Elementa said.
"I know that Leopardmon and Barbara are just as capable strategists as I am, if not moreso. But… Something about Nergal hasn't been getting to me lately. So much that I barely noticed the strain I put on myself." David said.
"What do you mean, David?" Leanne asked.
"I mean, just look! Lloyd Reed, Vaida… They swore utmost loyalty to Nergal, Lloyd Reed is probably more prevalent since he didn't want innocents involved, and yet Nergal treats them like crap, renders them dispensable, and doesn't care what happens to them as long as he fulfills his own goals." David said.
"And Vaida...she's only here because of loyalty to her former homeland. A bit influenced and empowered but still…" Hera said.
"Still, my blood was kind of boiling a little bit. I had to remind myself to breathe a couple times." David said. "Do you guys remember what you told me about Akainu?"
"Yes." Hope said.
"And then there was that Anderson guy that uses magma too. He was chasing us down after we split in the IG-3. He would even wipe out his own men just to eliminate us." Captain Cold said. "That's just cold, even for me."
"And then there's Theodore Flux. We all know about that." Alphamon said.
"I think we all understand the point you're trying to make, Ishihara." Cheetah said.
"There are many more people like them out there in the Multiverse. People so bad, they'll just keep hurting others." David said. "What can the common man do besides be victimized by people like that?"
"They fight back for what they believe in. That's all they can do." Jexi said.
"Exactly. And that's exactly what we have spent all this time doing. But innocents that have no involvement in their affairs are the ones that suffer the most. Especially D. Ace. He didn't deserve to die the way he did." David said. "My blood keeps boiling because we keep losing good men to selfish people who don't give a damn what happens to their comrades as long as they carry out their own objectives. I can't stand people like them. In my opinion, they don't deserve to call them comrades."
"Ace...was a good person. Trust us...there isn't a single day that goes by without thinking about what we'd do if we saw him again." Jexi said. "But...nevermind. We can talk about this another time."
"Sorry. I know it's kind of a sore subject for some of you. I shouldn't have brought it up." David said.
It was at that time, most of the soldiers had been taken down as Vaida was left alone.
"I will remember this." she growled before flying off on her wyvern.
"She's gone but...why force a retreat?" Himeno asked.
"Trust me...it will pay off for us later on." Hera said. "Besides...she was working for them right? The Black Fang?"
"Yes, that's right." Ramona said.
"She was protected by dark magic. Nergal's dark magic. And since we have some experienced trackers with us…" Hera said.
"We'll just follow her to the fortress." Cheetah said.
"Now you're catching on." Hera said. "Let's be quick. Magic doesn't normally last long as a trail." she said as they hurried and followed the path set before them.
