Wartime Clarity

by Vanto

Their small history caught in a much bigger one. Before they struggled with their peacetime confusion, how did Corrin and Beruka go through the great continental war of Dreiz ? Sometimes, the journey matter more than the destination. (Conquest Rewrite).

24. The Usurpation

The situation probably felt very familiar for Ryoma. He, a Hoshidan of royal blood, was now finding himself surrounded by hostile Nohrian soldiers throughout a meeting with Nohrians of noble blood, even as it happened over supposedly neutral ground. His facial expression, a mixture of shock and pure rage, showed that he probably realized the nature of the situation. In fact, instead of surrendering, the Hoshidan heir raised his hands, taking a defensive posture. Zola laughed a little, and the soldiers surrounding Ryoma smirked in confidence. How fearful could he be without Raijinto, they thought? Even Corrin thought that this was a fight that his brother likely couldn't win, and immediately pointed at Zola.

"Zola! Whatever you're doing, you need to-"

"Oh, Milord!" The dwarfish man wheeled around and gazed upon his lord. There was a mad glint in his eyes, and he rubbed his hands perhaps a little too excitedly. "I know what I'm doing! I have to admit, I was a little panicked when all three gathered together, but you managed to get that angry little pineapple of a prince and his sister away from here! I had to admit, it was a pretty smart move!"

"You would dare to lay a hand on my siblings?!" Roared Ryoma, indignantly. The Nohrian soldiers reflexively took a step back before advancing again. Even in his rather difficult position, he looked mightier than all those soldiers put together. The gloating Zola, however, was not fazed, though he discretely moved his hand to seize a tome, gesturing at his soldiers with his other hand. Xander seemed to be observing the scene, aware that the enraged Samurai would be able to break through the thin line of defense. And he refused to let his wrath full upon Corrin, though he didn't seem to care about Zola, only really getting closer to the former.

"Why, yes! We even managed to get the small one! It was a tough affair, I'll tell you, so it'd be nice if you came along quie-"

Ryoma moved with the swiftness of the wind and grasped the wooden handle of the closest spear. The weapon's owner barely managed to realize just what was about to fall on him before Hoshido's proud prince yanked the weapon backward, sending the soldier flying off his feet by the sheer force and hurling him like an unwitting projectile towards the closest fellow. Nohrian as he was, he refused to just try and stop his companion's flight with a spear thrust. However, he didn't pick the next best option (dodging), and barely managed to lower his spear before the man crashed into him, sending them both crashing into an unconscious heap in a corner of the room. Ryoma twirled the spear that he held expertly, and Corrin remembered that the prince specialized in plenty of weapons, even if he specialized himself in swords.

His etiquette demanding him not to shed blood on Izumo, or perhaps deeming the soldiers not worth the honor of being slain, the lion of Hoshido wacked two of the three remaining soldiers with a sweep of the spear's wooden handle, knocking them out cold, though the sheer force behind the attack outright wrecked the weapon. The last soldier attempted to use this to charge, but his royal adversary hardly needed the weapon anyway. Swiftly, he dodged the stab by jumping to the right and knocked Zola's guard using a powerful punch. By now, only three Nohrians were still conscious, and he was seemingly gauging which would be disabled the fastest. He seemingly opted to try and stop Zola, correctly deducing that Zola's possession of a tome and physical frailty made him threatening yet easy to topple. There was murder in his eyes, and Corrin understood that he would very likely pulverize the jester's head like a grape.

"No!" Yelled Corrin, jumping in Ryoma's path in time to block him using his own enhanced strength and agility. However, the Prince's sheer power made him blocking him difficult, and Yato's wielder had to pour all his might into his tackle. The wood beneath him broke in fact, and he was dragged backward a little, leaving a noticeable trail.

Ryoma snarled and raised his fist, with murder in his eyes. "Out of my way, Kamui!" He ordered, before hitting the young prince right in the cheek, hurling him towards Xander. The blond heir of Nohr easily intercepted his younger brother and prepared to join himself, but alas, the blue-haired young man bought enough time for a sweating Zola to unleash the might of his tome: Mjölnir! Summoning the wrath of lightning, the dark mage used all the power he had available to hit Ryoma with a bolt of electricity, which sent the prince flying through the room and into the garden behind him. Raijinto's wielder, weakened yet alive, got up immediately but was struck by a bolt again. Unnervingly enough, that wasn't enough to put him down, and he got up a third time before being brought down by a third bolt.

"P-phew…" Zola wiped the sweat from his brow. "The royals sure as impressive!"

"Zola! What's the meaning of this?" Yelled Corrin, as Nohrian soldiers rushed in to grab the prince. "Explain yourself, immediately!"

"Oh, my lord, I'm only doing a little trap!" The dwarfish jester bowed a little. "To put it quite simply, we managed to intercept a letter that was supposed to inform you of a meeting between you and the Hoshidans, about a day in advance. So, I concocted a little plot! I gave the Archduke some… well-earned vacation in his prison cell, took his place, and waited for you! It's a pretty daring ploy, I must say, but we've managed to do it stealthily enough." The dark mage chuckled. "If you ask, he's on the last cell, and we gave him some duct tape. He wouldn't stop complaining about missing his relaxing hours…"

Corrin stammered repeatedly, and Zola pointed at his cheek. "You ought to take care of that bruise, milord!"

"Zola." Asked Xander. "What happened to the letter? And are you aware of what you're doing? Those who know Izana will easily notice a difference!"

"Oh, the letter? We sent it right back! I don't know who could've managed to intercept it." He said. "And with all due respect, my acting was perfect!"

"W-what are you going to do with the Hoshidans?"

"I'll give them the death sentence. The lightning that was just heard? That was Lord Ryoma's doing! He tried to use the meeting the assassinate you!" Zola winked. "But you heroically dispatched him and his treacherous siblings, and now, it falls upon me to grimly give the order to put them to death!"

Corrin's eyes widened. Execute them? Execute his siblings, whom he cared for despite everything? Allow the gods to declare their revenge when they discover what happened? And, last of all, not hear his side of the story? Ryoma sure wasn't going to tell him, if he was going to be stuck in a cell, awaiting his execution.

Somehow, the last thought took priority above the others. As always, he quite hated that but couldn't stop it from happening.

Zola walked back into the room and closed the door leading to the garden. "Well, wasn't that a most splendid strategy, milords? In one fell swoop, our greatest enemies are now in our clutch!"

"Zola, that was indeed a most clever strategy… But I cannot agree with the thought of both imprisoning and impersonating the leader of a neutral nation."

"Oh, I do understand Milord! But you know, once we get access to Hoshido, Izumo's trade won't matter anymore!" He said. "And besides, the duke is an odd man. I bet ya that he wouldn't mind things once we release him after the execution!"

"But… but what about the gods?" Asked Corrin,

"Oh, the gods! Probably some tales that old women tell themselves over biscuits! Anyway, milords, I'll be performing the order of execution soon! By the end of the night, Hoshido will have lost quite a lot of its royal blood, and the war will be in our favor! If we play our cards rights, we could even get them to surrender entirely without putting up a fight!"

"W-wait! We can't do this! We can't just do this to an allied nation, Zola! Please, listen to reason and stop this before it gets too late!"

Zola frowned a little but he was aware of his lowly position compared to his interlocutors, and simply assumed an innocuous smile. "Milord Corrin, I understand your hesitation but fear not. Besides, surely you would agree that this is a good way to prevent bloodshed, yes? Oh, I'm aware that a few will need to die, but this is hardly a sacrifice. Why, look at this angry archer! If your life were on his hands, he would, without a doubt, do what I'm about to do! Just relax, enjoy Izumo's sun and food and send a message to King Garon: The execution of the Hoshidan family is at hand, and it shall be carried out for his name!"

Zola snapped his fingers and vanished, and Corrin turned towards Xander. "W-why haven't you done anything to stop him? He's about to kill them! And… and I won't… and I won't allow him to just take Izana's place, what if the gods are real!"

"Calm down, little prince." Said Xander, rather firmly. "This is a problem that we will deal with together. If we gather our family and come to talk to Zola, he will surely hear reason." He, once again, put both hands on his little brother's shoulders. "I apologize for not taking the proper action at the right time, but if I may be honest, I'm as surprised as you are. I never thought that Zola would dare to do something like this… If we aren't quick enough, then the other countries will see that Nohr has no problems with disrespecting neutrality and attacking neutral foreign leaders." He groaned a little, thinking of the backlash. "And given our reputation, it would be best not to confirm it in the eyes of the world."

Corrin understood. "We need to find Azura and Camilla first… Oh, and bring those soldiers to a medic of course!"

"Elise would gladly do so!" Explained Xander. Fortunately enough, they didn't need to search endlessly for their siblings: Right as Xander concluded his phrase, Azura and Camilla entered the room, and the former crossed the room to reach Corrin in time. "Corrin, are you…" Azura put her hand on her mouth, shock visible on her face. "Corrin, your cheek! What happened?"

"It… it doesn't hurt that much." He lied. The lion of Hoshido hit like a battering ram. Azura's gesture of softly caressing his bruise didn't help but he was too polite to tell her. "There's a situation with Izana."

Camilla, unusually serious, put her hands on her hips. "He was missing by the time we reached his room, and I've seen some Nohrian soldiers roaming the halls with their weapons out. What is happening?"

"Zola has gone rogue." Explained Xander. "He has disguised himself as the Archduke, after imprisoning him. On top of the mystical nature of the punishment that may befall us, there will be consequences on a more political scale if we allow this to happen." He continued. "He wishes to trap and execute the Hoshidan royals to gain the upper hand in the war. I understand one's desire to bring the war to an early end, but alas, I cannot just sit by and let Nohr trample on a peaceful nation to achieve its goal. Why herald a new age for Nohr if we act like such?"

"And beside… I can confirm, big brother." Azura briefly stopped to contemplate her words, but then realized that Xander didn't mind. "… I can confirm that Hoshido would not surrender. They would balk at such a tactic in fact, and that would drive them to fight harder and harder. Lives will still be lost, and they may spitefully target Nohrian settlers or citizens afterward." The blue-haired woman gripped her staff. "We need to stop this."

"We will. We need to prevent this from being seen however. We'll go convince Zola to stop his plan, and if all else fails, we'll take him down. If there are retainers present, then we will need to send them off to free Izana. We need to make sure that he knows that Nohr is on his side immediately, lest he decide to take Hoshido's side during the war. As for the siblings, we… will need to free them. They have done no wrong on this land technically, and have been imprisoned on falsehood."

Corrin bit his lips a little but that made sense. He just wished that such a decision wouldn't be regretted later… no, who was he kidding? Of course he'd regret it sooner or later. The young man sighed dejectedly, but imagined that he was doing it for a greater good. He needed to hear the truth out of Ryoma… and, of course, he simply wouldn't let his other siblings die if he could help it. Today, he'd perhaps prove that he's not the Kinslayer that Takumi likes to pretend he is.

"Are our retainers even here?" Asked Corrin. Fate decided to answer his question by having Leo and Elise walk in, both being accompanied by Beruka, Selena, Niles, and Arthur, respectively. The reason for the small crowd became obvious when they looked at the bags they were carrying, which contained regular weapons and, more alarmingly, the handles of both Xander and Corrin's legendary weapons! Leo had his book at his belt though, since it was already way easier to carry than either weapons.

"Sorry we're late!" Elise cheerfully made a little salute. "When we heard the sound of lightning we just grabbed the weapons and went to check it out! Huuhhh, better be safe than sorry right!"

"What's the matter, brother? Have the Hoshidans gone mad?"

While Xander began to repeat the story to his younger brother and sister, Corrin's gaze turned towards his weapon. He wondered what would happen if he tried to show Yato's repaired form to Takumi? The young man seemed to be unaware of its repaired state, which didn't make sense since Saiz would've perhaps reported it. Was the young man just deluding himself?

"Zola… This must be fixed at once. We cannot allow ourselves to be seen as invaders who'd trample over a neutral state to try to win the war. Brother, what is your suggestion?"

"We'll send the retainers to free Izana. If Nohrians soldiers are holding the Archduke hostage, then they'll give up when they understand that their royalty disapproves of the tactic." He pointed. "And we'll head out to dissuade Zola. If worse come to worse, then we'll have to prove ourselves convincing through other means, but I would rather avoid all-out violence. He is also of Nohrian blood, and will surely listen to reasons."

"But still…" Azura looked down on the ground as Elise began to tend to the wounded. "What would drive him to do this? And why would the other soldiers follow him so eagerly?"

Corrin turned to glance at Azura. "He spoke to Garon beforehand, and Garon dismissed his idea." The young man took a few steps forward and began to look at everyone, though seeing that Arthur had been tasked with holding the heaviest bag, he nonchalantly moved to grab Arthur's load using only one hand. The retainer sneaked in a little "thanks sir" and he nodded back. "It's according to him, but he was behind the whole idea of the invisible army at Macarath. He proposed to apply it to the Nohrian army to easily move unnoticed across Hoshido and seize towns or flank our enemies but Father got quite angry. I mean, he said that diviners would figure it out but he also just wanted to have us fight them all-out."

Xander frowned.

"And the worst part is that I had Zola talk to him. If I didn't do it, then maybe he wouldn't have done that." Corrin sighed in remorse. "Maybe he wants to try to end the war early by doing this? But I share Azura's advice that it won't help. We need to quickly get moving to prevent his plan."

"Right." Xander looked at the weaponry. "We'll be able to handle ourselves without our weapons, worry not."

Selena made a frozen smile, since she nearly broke her back to carry all this stuff, but Beruka bowed politely. The royals began to head out and pointed to their retainers, with Corrin going last. "Free Izana quickly while we solve the situation with Zola."

"Will be done, milord." Said Niles, perhaps understanding just how serious the situation was. Selena and Arthur grabbed their respective weapons, but Beruka walked behind Corrin, tapping on his shoulder. He glanced back in time to have the handle of his weapon pointed at his face, though he backed off a little in surprise. His fellow Nohrian remained unmoving as he did so, though she allowed her lips to curve up ever so slightly.

"Your weapon." She said. "Panic not, milord, I am not pointing the part that cut people."

"O-oh right. Well, I'll have to…"

Decline, because I won't need that, for the future battle was one of words and reason? He didn't believe in that, for some reason, and everyone else bar Leo had decided to leave their weapons in the care of the retainers as if they all thought that they wouldn't need them, or that the sight of the legendary items would convince Zola that they were here to kill him or fully anticipated a failure in their diplomatic approach.

There was nothing wrong with carrying a weapon to defend oneself of course, but he felt that taking Yato would be admitting that the violent solution was in his mind, somehow. But of course, this wouldn't happen, right? He knew that things would go the right way. He knew…

… Corrin took the weapon, thanked Beruka, and simply left with the others before they noticed his absence. Beruka observed him, and headed back, picking a weapon of her own. A simple tomahawk would do, but she seized a bigger axe and casually slung it on her belt. Luckily, she was prepared for a conflict in advance, so the belt quite easily held the weapon in place. By contrast, Selena was struggling with sheathing the small sword she picked. Niles merely carried his bow, and Arthur, who was wearing a blue-and-red outfit with a star pattern, resorted to carrying his weapon.

"Why did you give him the sword?" Asked Selena, after swearing quietly a few times. "He looked sad while picking it up for some reason."

"My goal was not to make him "sad". Zola is unstable and I thought it would be wise to give him something that he'd need to use just in case."

"Can't he transform part of his body into a dragon? I don't think he'd need the sword to defend himself." Beruka glanced at Selena and reminded herself that he was indeed capable of that. How could she forget such a thing? It should be burned into her brain, by all accounts.

"… Yes. It slipped from my mind."

"Huh-huh, and speaking of that. Why are we picking up those weapons?"

"Why are you picking up those weapons?" Teased Niles. Selena stammered a little. "Better be safe. Zola's lackeys agree with him to an extent, or they're controlled to serve him, or they're just dumb. Either way, it'd be prudent to get things to defend ourselves with."

"But fear not! I am quite certain that our Nohrian friend will discover the vileness of the act that they are performing!" The group began to walk down the halls. "After all, we are all in this together, aren't we?"

"I'm not fearing the Nohrians soldiers." Explained Beruka. "I've seen one of the royals' retainers near the palace. If they get wind of what is happening, and they will because of that ruckus, then they'll go down the cells to free their lieges. And they're not going to hesitate on killing Nohrians. For all we know, we'll be heading down to kill the captured royals."

"Lady Beruka is right." Explained Kaze, leaping out of nowhere to land in the middle of the ground. Selena nearly took his head off with a strike, but her blade stopped inches away from his serene face, and he didn't deem it wise to notice that. Like how he didn't deem it wise to notice that Niles was close to shooting him with an arrow. Arthur, surprisingly, seemed unsurprised by Kaze's arrival, and Beruka was similarly unaffected. She knew he was coming after all.

Selena grimaced and lowered her sword. "Yeah, really smart move dropping in like a ninja when we're on the lookout for them!" Niles chuckled a little.

"I'm going to make a pincushion out of you someday, ninja."

"I've scouted the area in advance and know where the cells are. Two armored soldiers are guarding them. They appear to have the key for both Lord Izana's cell and the Royal Family's. I could steal the key, or simply lockpick, but I feared that doing so would cause panic amongst the soldiers, and would prompt them to attempt to execute the royals. I've deemed it wise to come fetch you. After all, they'll trust you." He pointed away. "Some soldiers are in the way. There are few of them, certainly not enough to slow us down if talks somehow failed."

Beruka, once she was sure that Kaze was done, proceeded onwards. "Thank you Kaze. This will be easy;"

"Yeah but wait!" Selena walked close to Beruka while Kaze joined the merry troop. Halfway through, she turned around to walk backward, while still staring at Beruka. "How are we going to convince them? Hey, I know you have orders, but you need to release the super pissed off royals from the enemy side, please thank you!"

"Yes." Said Beruka. "We are their superiors. And we will give them good reasons to do so."

She raised her head and held out her hand before entering the next room. A sliding door alone stood between them and the wide hall that leads to the cells, and from that door, they could see a few shadows, and a few sounds as well. Silhouettes moved around, violently throwing themselves around and making enough ruckus to be heard

"… I do not think that the Nohrians are a problem anymore. Let's go."

Beruka opened the door, and immediately saw about five Hoshidans in the halls, standing over the unconscious bodies of their fellows. On the left, there was a small girl with a pink outfit, a white headband, decently long brown hair, and a stolen sword of Nohrian design. A bit to the right, that dark blue-haired spearwoman from earlier was present. She remembered her from the port, but she had been simply pushed aside, and wasn't worth the memory for Beruka. Next to her there was a muscular katana-wielding samurai, with a scar and a rather youthful look. Finally, the little group was completed by the two ninjas. The red-haired man, Saizo, was already a greater menace on his own

The assassin clenched her fist when she saw her rival, and the woman frowned as well when her cold eye settled upon the assassin. Sensing that a fight was about to occur, Kaze fancied himself as a diplomat.

"Wait! We will not need to fight!" He said. "We stand against the foe that brought-"

Saizo walked in front of the others as well, and they readied themselves for battle. "Enough! Kaze, my brother, do you truly intend to convince us that those thugs meant well when they hold weapons and wicked smiles?"

"Brother, those are neutral grounds. We cannot allow blood to spill on the land of the gods!" Pleaded Kaze. "Behold! You've only knocked out these men, since you are aware of the taboo against violence present here!"

"We knocked out those guys 'coz they're no threats! But you?" The brown-haired man behind Saizo pointed the tip of his sword. "Biigg trouble! And besides, the gods won't care if it's Nohrian blood that stains the floor, hell, seeing as one of you did this, maybe they'll approve of this, right?!"

"We're not letting you get past us! Not when you mean to slay our lieges!" The spear warrior next to him had a face twisted with fury, and gripped her weapon with such intensity that the wood on it cracked a little. Out of all the others, she was the most eager to go toe-to-toe with Nohr.

Kaze sighed but whereas Saizo grabbed his two weapons, the green-haired man refused to even consider keeping some. "So be it, brother, but I will not kill you… I've always managed to sneak past you in training too, haven't I?"

With speed too great for more than half the room to keep track of, the ninjas vanished in a blur, though they quickly reappeared, revealing that Saizo managed to intercept his younger brother and kicked him across a wooden wall on top of that!

"At training." He repeated, before leaping in, and the retainers jumped into battle as well.

The small girl attacked Niles immediately with multiple swings of her sword, but he easily dodged them, moving to the right or left or ducking when he needed to. Already irritated, she swung at his feet but he jumped back and made a stylish landing on his hands to make another acrobatic jump, concluding his little acrobatic sequence by landing with his arms spread wide.

"Rah! Stop moving already!" Bemoaned the girl, before resuming her offensive. Behind her, Arthur engaged the enraged woman in an intense battle, finding himself in front of a ruthless enemy with great talents when it came to her weapon of choice, skillfully spinning her weapons in her hands and performing dozens of stabs at a quick pace. The Nohrian hero summoned all the skill he could muster to fend her off, but he was being dangerously pushed backward, though he kept on smiling regardless of the odds that were placed in front of him.

Selena was faring much better in comparison. When the young man came right at her using his katana, she simply sidestepped out of the path of the blade and casually leaned out of the way of the following attacks. It was similar to Niles's current bout with the girl, but she managed to make Niles look like he was struggling for his life in comparison. She even kept at least one arm behind her back, glancing coldly upon the young Hoshidan whenever he missed, and he missed often. Half the time, she didn't even bother to look at him, glancing beyond his shoulder to look at the bigger duel.

Both Kagero and Beruka had their weapons out and, unlike the others, had yet to begin to fight. Instead, the ninja slowly raised her daggers and casually threw him aside, clenching her fists and glaring straight at her foe. This was an obvious invitation to fight fairly, and one that she could easily refuse. While Kagero was skilled, Beruka could more than keep up with her, and if her weapons ever managed to connect, then she would easily mutilate the ninja enough to earn a comfortable victory.

It would be easy.

So Beruka tossed her weapons away and her hands rose as she took a stance. Unnervingly enough, given their stoic natures, both women grinned before launching into battle. Kagero, however, cut things short by trying to jab Beruka in the forehead. The blue-haired woman caught her hand rather swiftly and made a swipe at Kagero's left cheek, temporarily stunning her. Beruka struck at her left side but she seemingly barely missed the ninja's pouch, and paid for her failure when the shinobi kneed her in the stomach. Beruka supported the pain and held her ground, refusing to bend forward and expose herself to another attack by doing such.

The Hoshidan smiled a little, perhaps impressed by her pain resistance, and prepared to strike again. Beruka was more than ready to intercept her attack but their fight was interrupted when Selena cut in, swinging her sword down at the Kunoichi. Kagero swiftly performed a dodge and took a few leaps backward. She glared slightly at Selena and turned her eye to the brown-haired young man, who had gotten his weapon stolen by the red-haired retainer.

Speaking of him, while he had seemingly been knocked away during the fight, he was now running towards Selena, unfazed at the prospect of facing the now dual-wielding retainer who took his weapon in the first place and her murderous ally. "Gimme that back! It's a gift!"

"Don't worry Ber!" Said Selena, ignoring the furious Hoshidan. When he leaped at her, she simply sidestepped away and held her foot out a little, tripping him up and sending him soaring through the air, through the nearby window and into the garden. "I'm going to help this time. She's not going to beat us both."

"No!" Answered Beruka. She almost brought up her desire to finish her fight by herself before her mind reeled her in, and Beruka lowered her voice significantly. "… We must end this fight early. Lord Izana will grow angrier if we treat his castle as a battleground. Go forth and get him out, I'll handle-"

Kagero didn't wait for them to finish though, and made a bold attack. A suicidal strategy, considering her numerical inferiority, but she coordinated her assault with that violent spear-wielding woman, who had managed to push Arthur away with a kick before violently attacking Selena. She wasn't quite as fast as her, but her rage bolstered her strength and her weapon was deadly, thus putting Selena on the defensive despite her two swords. Beruka was attacked with a kick but she managed to grab unto the woman's leg with her left hand before hurling her into the hole that the brown-haired retainer made during his reckless charge at Selena. The gods even saw fit to have her crash into him right as he was ready to get back into the fight, sending them both tumbling into the ground.

"Beruka! Go!"

The assassin looked at Selena, locked in battle with the woman, but decided to head backward near Niles, who was still easily dodging his enemy's agile slashes. She was as swift as the wind itself, but that didn't mean anything to Beruka when she had the advantage of surprise, as demonstrated by just how easily the assassin sent her flying with a punch, sailing well past Niles.

"I was having fun." He complained, with a little smug smirk. She had the pleasure of ending said smug smirk by grabbing the golden little chain he had on his cloak to drag him along, though he broke free from her left hand. They managed to run past Selena and her foe, but while she kept the "time-traveler" busy, the opposite was also true and Selena put up enough of a fight to prevent her from intercepting them.

"You'll pick the cell open. We won't have enough time to get those two idiots to fetch their key!" She said.

"Can't we fetch our little green-haired man for that?"

Kaze burst through the wall in front of them, battered and on the verge of unconsciousness. He glanced at his two Nohrian allies briefly, held his hand out, and finally passed out. Very shortly afterward, his older brother stepped out of the room, coldly looking down upon his defeated foe. Behind them, the excited young girl was running back in, with a nasty bruise on her jaw and metaphorical flames in her eyes. This complicated the situation rather badly for the duo.

"I'll gouge out your remaining eye, Nohrian." Threatened Saizo.

"Sorry, tough guy, I need that one to shoot." He shot back, in a vain attempt at bantering. The elite shinobi wisely refused to play on Niles's field and took a heavy step forward. He wasn't as badly wounded at Kaze, but the slowness in his movements convinced Beruka that he may have been struck or at least poisoned. This would give them a chance to break through if they both pushed at once, or if she quickly executed her gambit. Behind her though, Arthur, who had previously been dispatched, leaped in the smaller girl's path, or rather, he wanted to but slipped on the floor. By sheer luck, the angry little retainer tripped up on the heroic Nohrian and fell face-first on the floor, letting out a roar of frustration but being temporarily disabled.

Seeing this, Beruka raised her fist and threw something at Saizo. The projectile sailed through the air at high speed, and her strike had been quick, but it landed on the palm of the ninja's armored hand all the same, with such ease that the stoic ninja glared at her in disgust. Whatever he had to say though, the sudden smoke that escaped from his fist ensured that it wouldn't be heard by either retainers. Since he wouldn't be caught off guard long enough for Niles to ready his arrow and let loose, it fell up to him and Beruka to floor Saizo with a sudden charge, causing him to roll over backward. He was quickly back up on his feet, now determined to live up to the threat on Niles, but the smoke prevented him from knowing where exactly they were and bought the duo some precious seconds to run down the halls. If they managed to reach the cells in time, they could always try to overwhelm the remaining retainers with their numbers advantage.

As fate would have it though, they wasted too much time on Saizo, and both Kagero and that annoying woman swung back into the action, leaping back into the fight in front of the two retainers. Eager to make up for his lacking performance so far, he swung a rage-filled fist at Niles and missed again. The outlaw even jumped over his head, putting his hands on the angered Hoshidan's head as if they were playing some game. The young man stumbled forward and had to correct his footing before he resumed the chase, though a generous distance still separated him and the white-haired man.

Beruka didn't fare as well in her attempt. Like Niles, she tried to move past her enemy instead of fighting her head-on, but this proved to be a lacking decision against one bestowed with the reflexes of Hoshido's elite. Kagero lured Beruka into thinking that she had succeeded and then grabbed her by the collar before pulling back, breaking her footing entirely and successfully making the dreaded assassin of Nohr land on her back rather painfully. Now in an advantageous position, the kunoichi clenched her fist in preparation for a punch, but noticed her ally's rather comical failure. She punched down with enough speed to force Beruka to block instead of dodging, stunning the assassin and causing her to stay on the ground for a little while longer.

Commandingly, she pointed down at Beruka while catching up with her colleague. "Hinata! Get rid of her, I'll take care of the outlaw!" Understanding her order, he quickly ran back to the assassin, who stayed in her position, as if already on death's door. This caused him to make a rather overconfident mistake by leaping on the air, seemingly attempting to drive his foot into her stomach. Beruka waited until the last moment and flipped backward, narrowly dodging the diving kick, and drew her legs back before kicking forward with a devastating double-kick, hitting the defenseless young man right in the stomach and sending him flying. This time, upon hitting the wall, he slumped over, groaning in humiliation before passing out.

Beruka then used another acrobatic move to get back unto her feet, and dared to smile a little. However, the circumstances caught up to her: She couldn't see what was going on behind the cloud of smoke, but she was rather unconcerned at that with the moment, since Saizo had regained his bearings and was running right at her with murder in his two eyes. Instead of fighting him, Camilla's retainer ran into Izumo's dreaded prison system: A large bunch of empty, yet quite comfortable cells, largely unoccupied for the most part. A bunch of defeated soldiers were laid near the cells, with the recipient of their defeat, Kagero, hot on the trails of Niles.

The archer was heading for a lit cell at the very end of the wooden hall, which contained the Archduke. Close to the cell, some genius had decided to gather the entire Hoshidan royal family, and only two armored men stood to protect them. Being too slow to reach Kagero in time, they defaulted to guarding their spots. Beruka sighed and got to the chase, while also being chased by Saizo. The two guards stoically looked upon the chain of pursuers, their intimidating helmets concealed their emotions rather well.

"Weird things are happening, Otto."

"You've got that right, Oskar."

Two projectiles whisked in her eyes, and Beruka felt a sudden sharp pain on her right cheek as the blades of the shuriken that he threw tore into her flesh, giving her a rather nasty gash on it. She immediately felt the poison's effect grip her body, but her resistance to it ensured that her movements would not be handicapped, though it did little to ease the pain.

Niles was about to reach the Archduke, who watched it all in interest, but Kagero seemingly thought that the Nohrian was going to try to kill the holy man because she pulled out a Mokushujin knife, its sharp edge glistening nastily upon being exposed to the light of a nearby torch. Niles smiled, obviously worried about getting hit by that. Beruka ensured that this wouldn't happen (for this battle, at the very least), when she made a last-ditch leap, reaching Kagero in time. One hand grasped her long black hair, and the other firmly grabbed her arm tightly enough to leave red marks over her skin. This probably wouldn't hurt Kagero, but it stopped her almost in mid-air, like what she used to stop Beruka just a minute ago.

The assassin, not content with simply dropping her to the ground, used her own considerable strength to pull back and slam the kunoichi right into the ground, ensuring that she wouldn't be getting up for the next several seconds. This meant that Saizo, who was about to reach Beruka, was now the only Hoshidan left in a position where he could stop Niles from freeing the Archduke. Unluckily enough, he was as strong as Kagero, and the effects of the poison were already weakening the Nohrian. She had only one shot at slowing him down, and then, she'd be too slowed down to catch up to the two shinobis.

Niles began to work on the lock while Izana looked on, fascinated by the brawl. Saizo moved to grasp his shurikens but decided not to accidentally attack the Archduke. He opted to accomplish his deed with his bare hands instead, and jumped over to a wall to try to avoid Beruka.

Gathering what remained of her strength, Beruka prepared herself to jump, aware that regardless of her success, she would end up weakened while in the presence of two very angry Hoshidans, who could very well try to kill her before the Archduke could deliver his order. This didn't slow her down one bit: The assassin jumped and, using her good aim, got right into Saizo's path, impacting him in the ribs and knocking him out of the air. Once more, her scar flared up, and the rest of her body followed suit when she harshly landed upon the ground, but alas, she had managed to fend Saizo away from Niles. The redhaired ninja had been thrown away, and his ending was barely any more graceful than Beruka's.

Being repeatedly denied his target clearly took its toll on the ninja, and his eyes widened in rage. His weakened enemy made a small daring smirk, despite the throbbing pain in her head, and despite Saizo and Kagero both rising together, with murder in their eyes.

"It's a shame." Hissed Kagero. "One would be more hesitant to throw herself into battle that much after nearly dying. What compels you, Nohrian?" Despite her anger, there was some legitimate curiosity in her voice.

"… Because I want to settle the score."

"Then I shall grant you your wish."

Kagero moved, in a little wobbly manner owing to her recent impact unto the ground, but before anything could come out of it, the door of the cell swung open, and Izana immediately escaped, holding his hand out. Niles sneakily moved behind him to shield himself from some spiteful last attack. Using his other hand, Izana tore some duct tape away from his mouth in a virile manner, but somewhat underestimated the pain he'd feel as a result, perhaps explaining his subsequent order-screech;

"SSSTTTTTTTTOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!" He yelled, gathering all his power into a fierce roar. This immediately brought the fighting nearby to an end, and Beruka was convinced that it would also end the fighting that was still going on in the halls, if Selena hadn't already subdued the two harpies left behind.

"Sorry to disturb this little match, it was fun to see!" Izana was as chipper as the rumors said, but his tone made it clear that it was more of an act this time. "But it's so unsightly to do it in the halls of this beautiful country! Come on now, you have the whole continent to brawl on! At Izumo, you get a hangover, not a contusion, sillies!"

"Milord Izana! We apologize for this most unsightly battle within your halls." Saizo got unto his knee rather quickly. "But a most treacherous attacks had been carried out on your noble domain by Nohrians. A Nohrian wizard has taken your identity and trapped you in this cell-"

"Oh, don't worry, I'm quite aware of that part, my dear shinobi!" Izana looked relatively unhurt despite his complaints, though he was brushing his hair intently. "Quick, has the fiend harmed my miraculous hair by any chance?"

Saizo stopped, perhaps wondering if he should address this or not. "N-no, milord. Regardless, a ploy has been used to trick the royal family into coming here, so that they could be captured and executed!"

"Zola has done that but he's gone rogue!" Beruka stepped closer to Izana, who turned to listen to her. The scarred ninja prepared to respond but the Archduke raised one finger to tell him to stand down. "We have been sent to free you and get the traitor to step down from your throne. As of now, the entire royal family has been sent to discuss the issue and get him to stand down."

"Hmmm, yes. I was freed by this roguishly handsome man!" Izana complimented. Niles smiled. "But why were you trying to stop him, then?"

"We thought that the fiends were heading out to kill you, milord, and aimed to defend you."

"I see! I see! Well, alright then, lots of cleanup to do!" Izana began to walk towards the stairs and motioned for everyone to follow him. "We're going to resolve this altogether! Hey!" He snapped his fingers at the two soldiers. "Release those poor little royals immediately or I'm going to ask my god friends to, hm, curse the pants off you!"

"We should listen, Otto."

"You've got that right, Oskar."

The two soldiers stepped away from the stunned Hoshidan, and their retainers moved to pick the doors open.

"Well, I do hope that they will subdue this man without violence! And I do hope that nothing has been done to my beautiful halls during this fight!"

"Y-yes, on that matter…"

…

Corrin and the royal family reached Zola's room just in time. A few Izumian guards were "defending" it, and upon noticing the royals, they sprung in alarm and held their spears out. It wouldn't be hard to send them flying, but the young man merely raised his hand. "We come in peace. We would have words to talk with the Archduke."

"T-the Archduke has requested not to be… disturbed. He needs to schedule the exec… the…"

The Izumian soldier prepared to keep going, but stopped halfway through and lowered her weapon, only nodding knowingly. Her colleagues also carried out the gesture, and it became apparent to Corrin that they knew that their beloved Archduke had either had a sudden change for the worst or had been replaced. Regardless, they trusted Corrin and the royals to fix the situation. Expecting Nohrians to fix a situation would be seen as a foolish gesture in other countries, but Corrin intended to prove the guards right here and now by seeing Zola.

"If you don't mind…" Corrin turned around. "May I… may I try and converse with Zola alone?"

Leo sighed heavily. "Corrin…"

"I-I know that it seems foolish, but I've dragged him down this path when I sent him to meet King Garon, please! Let me try to fix this! I-I know we agreed to do it together but… But I want to try to defuse the situation, and show that I can do things by myself!"

Xander glanced and slowly nodded. "Very well…" His hand rose to prevent protestations. "We will intervene if we deem it necessary, though."

"Corrin, are you sure that you want to do that?" Azura seemed hesitant. "If he turns out dangerous…"

"If he turns out dangerous, I'll survive until you get there, don't worry." He assured.

"Aww, my poor prince is becoming a man! I'm proud!"

"Huuhh, get him, big bro! With words and stuff!"

Corrin smiled, turned around, and entered the room, with some confused Izumian being left behind.

The Archduke's interiors were surprisingly small for a man of his status, but there was a small black door on the left that perhaps led to a wider room. Otherwise, it was both an office and seemingly a room: Behind the intricate wooden desk where a disguised Zola was present, one could see an ornate bed. Various amounts of closets were scattered over the office, holding scrolls perhaps full of ancient lore or ways to talk with the gods (if the man was as they said though, it was also likely that they contained recipes for incredible cakes or some manner of keeping one's hair impeccable).

The sun was peering through the window, illuminating the room's green carpet. The red walls had a lot of portraits of the older leaders of Izumo, and, unusually, some shelves with prizes on them. Mostly elaborate pottery, along with some congratulations on winning the competition for "best haircut". More and more, Corrin realized that Zola had not been lying when he said that he copied the Archduke well. The man was as eccentric as the rumors said.

"Zola." Said Corrin, trying to stay unfazed by the quirkiness of their meeting place. Zola, who had seemingly not noticed them (or pretended not to) looked up from his documents and smiled, before getting up from his chair. "Milord!" He used some weak tomeless magic to close the doors and dropped his form, eagerly walking next to his desk. "I don't suppose that you're here to congratulate me on a well-planned strategy."

"No." Said Corrin, stepping forth. "Zola, we're here to ask you to stop this right now." Zola raised an eyebrow, and the prince realized that perhaps he shouldn't have gotten to the point so quickly

"Why should I, milord? Yes, I am taking the form of the Archduke, but it's not like Nohr had problems with stomping on weaker countries when it needs to!"

"Yes, but we will ensure that this will be a thing of the past." Corrin eyed Zola, seeing if the small man was holding his tome. "My family and I mean to announce the arrival of a new era for the country. As a result, we just cannot sit aside and let you attack and imitate the leader of a neutral country."

Zola laughed a little bitterly. "A new age for Nohr? Milord! You are more naïve than I thought! You may have the power to change Nohr, but trust me, the whole hierarchy at the top." He raised his finger and pointed it upwards. "Is more than little screwed up! Lord Corrin, do you remember what happened when you took me to see Lord Garon?"

"Zola, I'm sorry about that-"

"Don't be! It opened my eyes to the reality of the situation! When the King ranted about not hiding from the enemy and seeing great clashes in the plains, I realized that he was… well, he's not exactly the savior of Nohr he once was!"

"… On that aspect, you are right. But this is why Xander will ascend to the throne afterward." Corrin held his hand up a little. "The tragedies encountered by Father have clouded his mind, and this is why he'll offer Xander the crown once this war ends."

"King Garon will pass the crown? I find that hard to believe!" He shook his head. "When Iago took the credit for what me… I and the other mages did, when Garon furiously refused my offer, when… when I had to grow up in the slums!" Zola pointed. "Have you ever seen what's down in there?" Corrin prepared to answer but was cut off. "It's hell!"

Zola took a few steps away from his desk, and his smug expression collapsed into something akin to hysteria as he began to shake his arms. "Milord Corrin, have you ever asked the other soldiers about how it feels to grow up in the slums? To have to quickly grow desensitized to killing, lest you die yourself? I have waded my way through trash-filled alleys and I've witnessed the deaths of countless other Nohrians, all so that I could live! And… and do you know what happened when I got noticed by a mage in the court? When I got to escape from the slums? W-well, guess what?! There's no sun! The plants are dying! The bandits roam the land! The whole country is eaten away by despair and a blight!"

Corrin listened to him. He dared not to speak, in case he'd be interrupted. Zola was eager to use the pause to rant some more. "Nohr is… a cursed country! And the worst of the worst is leading it! The nobles, who lord over us and look down upon the slums from their obsidian towers, those are the ones who keep things are they are!"

He turned around to glance at the sun, as if entranced. Corrin could've used the opportunity to quickly neutralize him, but he didn't. He needed to hear everything from Zola. The prince wanted to know exactly what the inhabitants of the country of the dusk felt like, even the ones he disagreed with.

"Say, things are true, the gods are real and smite me and the rest of Nohr for what I've done! So what? What else could they take away at this point? Our country's dead!" He spread his arms.

"… Is this what motivated you to take Izana's place?"

Zola glared a little after taking his eyes off from the sun. "Yes… Well, I intended to do it more subtly, but when we saw that oaf." He jammed his thumb at a cruddy drawing on a wall. "I… It's so unfair. Why do so many of us are born in those slums, in that… husk of a country, while the likes of him are free to enjoy warmth and food? All of us who survived the slums deserve to live in those conditions, and we deserve to live in Hoshido, but I know that the nobles will not let us have that." The jester almost spat. "We're going to die in droves fighting samurais, just so that the nobles will be able to build some ugly manors for themselves in the plains."

"So, you hoped to put an early end to the war by capturing the royals, so that there'd be less death? Hoshido would surrender because of this heavy loss, and Nohr would be free to take over with a much lesser death toll." Zola only nodded. Corrin slowly began to pace around the room while keeping his eye on him. "I understand. I… I can sympathize with you." He glanced at the door at the end of the room. "King Garon's soul has rotten away, and he has surrounded himself with sycophantic scum." This bluntness from Corrin seemed surprising to Zola, and he began to pay more attention. "But we cannot keep the Hoshidans in those cages."

"And why not? They're powerful enemies."

"Yes. But Hoshido will strive to get them back at any costs, and the truth will not be hidden for long." Pointed out, Corrin. "The other countries will distrust Nohr if they see that they are willing to topple allied nations to gain the advantage in a war."

"Since when does Nohr cares about what other countries think of it?"

"Since the other countries are helping us with the war effort." Corrin wished he could've rehashed for this. "And… for the future, we will need to drop that attitude. We will need to form durable bonds with our neighbors and we can't do that if we show our willingness to trample their leaders. Furthermore, Hoshidans are tenacious. Even if you succeed, they will not surrender. And in fact, the trickery may enrage them and convince them to fight on even harder." Zola began to contemplate further. "From their perspective, Nohr is aiming to kill them all. They will not surrender, because, from their point of view, they're fighting for everything they stand for."

"That's… true." Zola looked away. "But this will be a severe blow against them nonetheless."

"You're right, but assuming that the gods get involved, we may end up suffering from some setback ourselves." Argued Corrin. "The nobles may suffer, but countless of us will also do the same." He didn't have much business using the word "us". While being kidnapped was, without a doubt, more traumatic, the prince was slowly realizing that his childhood had been a pretty happy one compared to the people he knew, and his noble blood separated him from the average Nohrian man or woman. Luckily, Zola failed to realize that.

"… Why don't you fight King Garon and his allies, then? You seem to dislike him as much as we do."

"You're correct, my friend, but it wouldn't be wise to just fight them while we're already in the middle of a war." He approached Zola and put his hand on his shoulder. "Look. For now, we will need to fight for Garon. But my siblings and I have planned to ignore his orders and spare the Hoshidans civilians. We will take a stand against his cruelties." The small man looked nervously at his hand, so Corrin eased his grip. "I get what you mean, and we'll work on it. Once this is done, I can assure you that we'll work on cleaning up Nohr. The slums will vanish, the fiendish nobles will be kicked out, and we'll undo the damage done by Garon. But first, we'll need you to drop the disguise and free Izana. If done, perhaps that will allow him to calm the gods? It may help countless Nohrians."

Zola only chuckled slightly but then looked down. "You're naïve if you think that I did all of this for the sake of the others, but… You're right. This was a foolish plot. And I guess I knew that since I surrendered so easily." The jester's smile faded slowly. "I haven't done much to help the cause."

"You did, though. Thanks to you, I have a clearer idea of what the average Nohrian feels." Corrin and Zola began to walk away. "It helps me figure out what the average Nohrian feel like. And I know that after the war, I'm going to work on fixing all those problems that led you to this."

"I see…"

"… Tell me, Zola, how did you manage to hide the truth from the Izumians? Surely they would've realized something, right?"

"I think they knew. Heh, some of my colleagues helped with hiding it. I think most of them agreed with me. Well, I like to think so."

Corrin thought of that reveal. It would seemingly take a while to make Nohr trust its leaders as it did once more. As of now, fear seemed to be what was keeping all those men and women in line.

Both Nohrians walked out of the room, and the Izumians jumped backward in fright. Leo, who stood at the center, raised his hand and then lowered it. "This isn't an illusion."

"Zola, I see that you've chosen to surrender!" Xander spoke up. "You've made a wise choice. I'm glad that the situation was solved without the need for further bloodshed. And congratulations to you, Corrin! I was right to let you handle the situation!"

Corrin beamed with pride. "T-thanks, now, I guess we'll need to wait for the real Izana to show-"

Before the prince could finish, a loud yell interrupted his sentence as the actual leader of Izumo barged into the room. Upon sighting him, the guards dropped their weapons to yell similarly, and the tension still lingering in the atmosphere vaporized faster than a cube of ice dropped into magma. Only Elise was unaffected, cheerfully joining in while the other royals cringed and covered their eardrums. Amusingly, the retainers and royal family from Hoshido were in similar troubles, though this time, Ryoma seemingly wasn't affected much. Perhaps because of his tolerance to pain, or his eardrums were used to sound, after he spent so many years of his life dropping a thunderbolt on bandits or Facelesses.

The retainers from Nohr walked back to the side of their leaders, having been healed from their wounds halfway through the trip.

"Helllooooooo there! Whoah! I sure missed a lot of things! Hey, good job solving the situation peacefully you guys! High-five!" He said, smacking his hand into Corrin's. He spun at a 180 degrees angle, for no reason, and turned towards a bemused Zola. "Ah! You little fiend! I'm a bit upset at you, you know! That cell wasn't comfortable at all! Nono!"

"Milord." Said Ryoma, unfazed by the weirdness. "Will you allow us to handle this Nohrian, and those who participated in his schemes?"

"With all due respect, Prince Ryoma, Zola shall earn the judgment of Nohrian justice. His slights against you are immense, of course, but you may attempt to earn some information out of them. I promise that we will punish him fairly."

"Ah! Or perhaps you will let him go!"

"Hey now, hey now! We've all had our fair share of drama!" The guards walked around Zola, who was hiding behind Corrin. "Look, the boring justice stuff will happen later! Let me tell you what, to make up for that, we're going to go sunbathing! It's the best way to recover from nearly being executed, I'll tell you that! If you want, let's all wait for the dinner tonight to let loose! It'd be entertaining!"

Ryoma and Xander shook their heads, too tired by the recent events to bother dealing with his eccentricities. As the guards dragged Zola away, he turned towards Corrin. "Good luck, Lord Corrin!" He said. "And, see, I did a good job imitating him!"

Corrin waved away sneakily at the departing Zola, and glanced to his left. Takumi was staring at him, eyeing Shadow Yato's hilt with a look of both confusion and horror. The thought of pulling out the legendary weapon and seeing how Takumi would react crossed the prince's mind, but before he could do so, the Hoshidan family turned around to leave the room.

"Wait, Ryoma!" He said. The red prince turned around to glance at him, but shook his head slightly and left. Somehow, a good part of Corrin's happiness went away with the Prince's gesture, like having a door close right into his face. Yato's wielder felt like chasing Ryoma, to try to get the answers out of him directly, but Izana, perhaps sensing this, calmly put his hand on his back, while eyeing the Nohrians.

"You may regain your quarters, friends! Don't worry, I'm not going to get all cold on you since you dealt with the problems! However, I guess you wouldn't refuse if I asked to monopolize Corrin's time for a little bit? Important seer business! Confidential and all!"

Corrin gritted his teeth a little. Another waste of time. He briefly thought, before he realized just what he was thinking.

"Alright Lord Izana! But treat my dear well, he's going to need that vacation day after all! Especially after it was so rudely interrupted!"

"Ahh, don't worry! It's a matter of minutes!"

Beruka eyed him from afar, and Corrin nodded at her. The Nohrians left the room, and the white-haired man turned towards his younger interlocutor. "Alright Corrin! Say, whaddya think of meeting the gods?" The youth's paranoia flared a little and he subconsciously moved his body, just in case Izana decided to stab him with a dagger. Seeing this, the seer laughed a little. "Oh, right, bad choice of words! Anyway, I've got things to tell you! Don't worry, it's only half… very duper important, you in?"

"Y… Yes?" He said. He already felt a lot more tired, for sure.

…

A/N: Zola resolved in one chapter, heh? Well, I don't want to really slow the pace down too much. However, the group still has some chapters to spend in Izumo, so don't worry, we're gonna see Takumi fully grasp the Yato, and lose his mind doing so!

Another brawl so soon! I actually sort of like making fight scenes. Besides, it builds up their rivalry, and we know that it will eventually culminate. Oboro would seem like the better rival but she doesn't know that Beruka is Goulet's daughter, and Beruka wouldn't really see her as a worthy enemy even with that information.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Wash your hands, leave reviews (I love 'em!), and I'll be seeing you for another chapter!

See ya soon!