Calling the current situation "unpleasant" would be a very polite way to put it.
Several undead soldiers were surrounding them, and slowly approaching the three fighters that stood between them and civilization. The strongest of them was currently pinned underneath the foot of their leader, who was both intelligent and blessed with enough raw might to take out everyone at once even without the support of his army, and in his hand, he held perhaps the only item that could be used to stop him, and he was doing his very best to break it.
The only reprieve was that his superior strength apparently met its match with the odd material in the stone. But even then, it'd certainly be outliving them. Azura seemed to realize this first, and looked at her teammates. Hastily, she began to sing her song, looking down on concern at Corrin. However, the hooded being quickly identified the song as the greater threat, and, since the prince couldn't use either of his greatest weapons, discarded him to run at Azura instead.
Cut off mid-song, Azura barely raised her weapon in time to block the attack, but ended up thrown off her feet regardless. As for the knight and Beruka, the hooded man greeted them with a backhand with each fists, easily tossing them away as well. With most of his enemies now prone, and him on his fist, the hooded being simply… scoffed, and walked up to one of his soldiers, a Hoshidan one. He held his hand out, and the zombie soldier politely handed him his Silver Katana. The light of the moon reflected upon the blade as the hooded man took a few swings, smiling in satisfaction when the blade's mere movement managed to shear off quite a bit of grass.
Beruka crawled towards Corrin, and held him up. Near her, the knight grunted but got up as well, grabbing the discarded spear. Azura also got up and began to quickly head towards them, casting a fearful look towards the leader of the invasion. When he began to walk, she gasped in fear, but he was merely advancing towards a Nohrian soldier. Upon reaching the undead, he just ripped the weapon off his hands, though the tug was done in such a way that the victim's hands departed along with his blade. This bought them some time, since the hooded being politely waited for the hands to melt into a puddle before he approached the group.
Corrin had a nasty bruise on his face, and she could see a liquid footmark on his shirt. In spite of all of this though, he looked as determined as ever, getting back unto his feet and past the little wall of defense that his allies decided to erect.
"Young man. If you succumb to your anger, you will not prevail." Warned the mysterious Nohrian. In answer, Corrin wiped some of the blood leaking down from his mouth and cast a look.
"But I can't… I can't just ignore him after everything he did. He took my mom." He complained. "How can I remain calm?"
"Think of the stakes that he represent. If he manage to break past us, he'll do quite some damage." She thought of the damage that the man could do. If he directly broke into the hall, he'd probably be able to easily take the royals by surprise and with his weapon, speed and power… "I know that this put more pressure on you, perhaps, but there's no other ways to say it. Focus on what he will do if we fail. Fight for the sake of the royal family. Think not of the past, but of the present and future that you're preserving." She said. Selena would've been surprised at that little speech if she were here.
… She missed Selena, odd as it was. She felt like the woman would've been able to keep up with the hooded figure, surprising as it was. But the redhead wasn't present, so speculating was useless for now.
Corrin seemed to realize that Beruka's little speech held truth and sighed reluctantly. "I… I'll try, but he's the reason everything went to hell in the first place…"
"You will get your revenge, but wait until he's properly neutralized." She promised. A fat chance for sure: He still held his sword, and Corrin's dracostone. The figure eventually stopped walking, stopping a few feet away from the group. He had two swords in his right hand, and threw one right at Corrin, with the young man catching it in flight.
"A fight between men is one that is settled honorably. Fight me directly, Corrin! It's the only way you'll get your stone back!"
"No." Whispered Beruka. "He's going to kill him."
"Not much we can do, I'm afraid." Said the knight. "He's giving us a way to even things out. Beside… Azura, could you sing Corrin your song to revitalize him?"
The hooded man laughed at the mysterious figure's statement. "How very Nohrian of you! But don't worry, you won't be gawking helplessly!" He said. "Sing your song, princess! And then stop my soldiers before they reach the town!"
"No!" Corrin raised his weapon at the mysterious man. "You can't do this! You… you can only do this if you beat me at the duel!" He declared.
"Ah, terms! I like those! But I cannot abide by your rules. I do have a task." The man grinned in a beastly manner. "To be honest, you should all be dead by now… But even His will can renege my bloodlust! I would take you all at once if I could!" The man took a Hoshidan fighting stance. "But you're all too weak! I only have interest in Corrin. The rabble will concern itself with the other rabble, as it always has!"
The soldiers began to walk again, ignoring the living, this time, to head towards Izumo. Seeing the urgency, Azura put her hand on Corrin's shoulder and sang her song, somewhat fixing his injury. His body briefly glowed blue, and, aware of the short duration of the song, he only threw Beruka and company an apologetic look before he swung into battle.
He tried to remain composed in his movements though, and welcomed the hooded figure's unhinged attacks with as much grace as he could, squeezing all the power he had in his body to match the infernal speed and power wielded by his foe. They spread all around the battlefield quickly, cutting down the undead soldiers that stood in their way and moving too fast for the others to follow.
The soldiers were slow, but already too many of them remained. They ignored the living for now, or simply didn't deem them threats. After all, more and more were pouring out of the lake, to the point where, if things ever got any worse, they'd be able to form an actual army to drown out the fighters gathered at Izumo, and if the royals were to fall, then she doubted that there would be much to stop the undead from rampaging around Dreiz, especially if they could somehow add them to their numbers. A likely theory, since the invaders were dressed in the uniform of various other countries.
Beruka could simply run to Izana and the others and warn them, but whenever Corrin and his adversary appeared, if only for a second, she could see a new wound on his body. He was fighting quite mightily, of course, and she could see that the hooded invader had some damage on his body, but he'd die long before rescue could come. She'd need to run all the way over, convince the royals to leave the dinner and run to the lake under the pretense of an attack (even without the mention of undead beings, they'd perhaps ask questions about just who would launch an attack on a neutral country), overwhelm the monsters on their way and finally reach Corrin. He'd have lost the fight long before that.
Oh, and, well, she was quite certain that a grim fate also awaited her two teammates if they were left alone.
"I… I can try to make us win." Said Azura. "He's distracted, if I sing my song at the right time, I could paralyze him and Corrin could remove his head easily."
"Then do it." Said Beruka.
"He's interrupted me before, and…"
"Corrin will hold him back, and either way, he's losing!" Hissed Beruka. "Hurry up with your song! We can't hesitate!"
Azura looked down at Beruka and the knight as they both prepared themselves to shield the young woman if they ever needed.
"You are the ocean's gray waves…"
"The song!" Bemoaned the hooded man. Instantly, the soldiers, after rising from their trance, all turned around to head for the little trio. Their leader attempted to shake off Corrin, perhaps to better try and tackle Azura, but Corrin decided to try to buy her some valuable time and stood between them as a barrier, blocking the blows throw his way for a little while.
"Destined to seek life beyond the shore's…"
Azura took her axe and, in a bold move, threw it away, aiming with enough precision to send it past the soldiers without hitting them. The knight prepared to say something, but then quickly had to intercept a charging ninja with his spear, stabbing the soldier through the face. Eerily, that particular soldier had the energy to try to swing aimlessly a few times before Beruka ended his life using her dagger.
The strongest of the undead eventually managed to throw Corrin away, sending him tumbling away with a mighty sweep of his arm, and he ran straight at the other blue-haired noble, sending his men flying in the wake of his mad race. His laughing behavior was completely gone, being replaced by something akin to panic, and he raised his sword to attempt to bring it down on her head. Beruka leapt at him with her dagger and managed to stab him in the chest but he ignored it, owing to his undead nature. The mysterious knight swung his own sword in an attempt to help his companion, but the mighty Silver Katana cleaved straight through it and was only barely stopped by Azura, who struggled to continue the verses.
"Yet the waters ever change, flowing like time!"
"STOP THIS SONG AT ONCE, WITCH!" The desperate man lifted his sword, and using his knee, effortlessly pushed Beruka into her ally, causing them both to topple. Since he was busy on trying to break through Azura's defense, the knee was light, but Beruka still clutched her chest. At least a few bones were broken by now. It was like someone dumped a rock on top of her chest, and then freed her by smashing straight through said rock using a warhammer. And her back wasn't really in a great state either, owing to her sudden encounter with some thick metal.
However, a combination of Nohrian discipline, pride and a stubborn desire not to be ever put in a position of weakness had Beruka on her feet quickly, though she was too unsteady on her feet to help, and the Knight was the one who had troubles getting up. Thankfully, the sound of steel making contact with (wet) flesh resonated in the air, as Beruka's thrown axe from earlier completed its looping journey and crashed into the man's back, causing him to stumble forward in pain and surprise.
The assassin made a usually wild smirk, proud at her little gambit. "Screw you." She spat, as Azura took the opportunity to complete her song.
"The path is yours to climb!"
She stabbed the man directly with her spear, aiming for the head, but he moved on time to get grazed in the shoulder, with the combined shock driving him to let go of the stone and the silver katana that he wielded. Unfazed by his wound and the purple flame raging atop it, he moved his left fist to try to hit her, but froze all of a sudden, his purple aura making way for a white one.
"What the?!" He managed to stammer out before Corrin's steel sword protruded out of his torso all of a sudden, if only because he barely managed to move out of the way again. The rest of his troops were less lucky, having been frozen in place by the song. Noticing that he had missed, Corrin pulled his sword backward to prepare to decapitate the leader of the horde, but in a frightening display of strength, the swordsman broke out of whatever trance he was in and turned around to punch the sword, shattering it to nothing. Forgetting Azura, perhaps out of sheer rage, he grabbed a very surprised prince by the throat and leapt directly into the lake itself.
With a cry of "Corrin!", Azura nearly leapt after them, but stopped before she could start running and collapsed to the ground, letting go of the spear and coughing harshly. "We… we can't leave him alone with that madman!" She moved to grab her spear, intending to carry on in spite of her surprising state, but Beruka took of a firm hold of both it and Corrin's stone. The man would obviously sink, or at least would be heavily restricted in his swimming, and Azura was too weak at the moment, so Beruka deemed that she was the one who needed to go swimming to retrieve Corrin, even as the slightest movement felt like someone was starting a fire inside of the body.
Of course, she'd be diving into an intense underwater battle and, likely, a bunch of undead warriors but she wanted to make sure that the Nohrian prince would not die at the hands of some walking corpses. With naught but a little sigh, the young woman leapt in and dove in, breaking past the water. The light of the moon shone upon the lake, but there initially was mostly darkness. It was as expected though. What was unexpected was the "fire" on top of the spear growing much larger all of a sudden, almost to the point where it became a torch capable of lighting up the entire lake and even its floor.
With this reveal came another: There was, indeed, a lot of dead bodies swimming up the lake, hailing straight out of a portal. Beruka wished that she could describe it, but she could only gleam that it was… round. The colors weren't like anything that she could identify, and the few gleams of whatever hellish world send them in hurt her head. Making her way past all those bodies to stab a portal, of all things, was already hard enough, but Beruka was ready to waste her air supply on someone else.
Turning her gaze away from the portal, because merely seeing it made her feel like her eyes were being boiled, Beruka glanced at the only two people who were still moving underwater. That damn hooded figure and Corrin, with the latter putting up a surprisingly even fight against the former now, either because he had taken wounds or because the prince was channeling his anger correctly. Regardless of that, Corrin was now deflecting the blows thrown at him and a few of them managed to stagger and push back the figure.
Of course, even then, being even meant that the prince took a few blows as well, and Beruka winced whenever one landed. The leader of the invasion still hit with devastating power, and the shockwave of his punches were felt across the entire lake, sending shudders down the retainer's spine, though she'd also describe the experience as having a firm hand actually grab her backbone to try to shatter it. And Corrin was taking all of these punches, and dishing out some of his own, lacking none of his usual hesitation.
The retainer began to swim at the two brawlers, while the undead soldiers, frozen by the spell, slowly re-obtained their ability to move. Though there were also the soldiers directly pouring out of the portal itself, and the song obviously failed to reach their ears. Unlike the more sluggish first wave, those particular soldiers were dressed in the elite clothing of Nohr and Hoshido, and swam quite quickly, ignoring Beruka and threatening to quickly breach the surface. A few, however, eventually deviated from their path and gave chase, under the correct assumption that she shouldn't be ignored. With their speed and strength, she gave herself about eight seconds before she joined their ranks.
So, she kept swimming, and held her spear out. She had to get in a battle between superhumans and stab one of the participants with a spear, while hoping that he wouldn't dodge or put his rival in her path. If she failed, then she was screwed, because the other would catch up to her in seconds and even under the optimal conditions that she was definitely not in, she would easily be swarmed by them. Hopeless odds for anyone else, but the assassin refused to let it get to her and angled her spear forward. It seemed to almost accelerate upon being pointed at something, quickly moving with enough speed to actually surprise its owner and force her to grab unto the weapon with all the might that she could muster. Her arm felt like it was about to be ripped off from her body, but as usual with her, she just took that pain, shoved it somewhere and pressed on with her task.
Corrin noticed her approach and wordlessly cooperated, grabbing the hooded being by the neck and directly slugging him across the cheek. This stunned the being just long enough for him to shape his hand into something akin to a draconic limb, and directly move to grab him using his fingers. Even weakened, the hooded man proceeded to put forth enough raw power to start freeing himself, but it was a little too late. Coming in like death itself, Beruka directly stabbed him in the chest, and Corrin let go of at the exact right moment.
He screamed, the sound somehow being heard underwater, and she could vaguely see his mouth lit up with blue fire, partly revealing a beard that had been somewhat unseen beforehand. What he looked like under the cloak would forever remain a mystery though: The spear's fire incinerated him from the inside, unaffected by its location, and in less than a second, the man was reduced to cinders by the inner fire, ensuring that he wouldn't come back for good. After all, how could a pile of ash wield a sword?
Beruka refused to let her mind dwell on the mysterious man's demise and approached Corrin, pulling out his stone and shoving it in his hand. He grabbed it, understanding the menace, and then wrapped a hand around her back. Out of instinct, she grabbed him and held on as hard as he can, aware that she'd be at ground zero of the transformation. In a second, before the invaders could reach them, flesh shifted to scale and the water exploded around Corrin and Beruka as the former took off like a missile. The young woman grit her teeth and held unto the spear as if her life depended on it, practically embedding the weapon in her palm as Corrin flew towards the sky.
They emerged above the lake in a most explosive manner, and Corrin remained there for about five seconds, floating along with the water particles, the moonlight shining upon him to better reveal his transformed self. Beruka, who was somehow "tied" to the scales by some blue liquid, quickly got into his position and climbed on his back, pointing the spear downward.
"You need to aim for the portal!" She screamed. Corrin understood, and dove right back in. Beruka aimed her spear, and attempted to think of the situation as if she were riding Altena and trying to quickly kill an enemy with a powerful spear thrust, instead of riding Corrin's draconic form to spear a undead-spewing underwater portal and prevent an invasion from the dead legion.
Corrin dove underwater, easily tearing through the soldiers, though he seemingly tried not to get hit by them to prevent his teammate from being hit in the rather confusing brawl. Even when holding back though, he was still easily tearing through the soldiers, to the point where even with their overwhelming numbers, they couldn't do much to stop him. From time to time, Beruka would stab the closest soldier, incinerating them, but she kept her objective on the one target that required being stabbed, which she was fast-approaching. She wondered how she could stab something like a portal, but perhaps its magic would just trigger? She could already feel the spear naturally shift in her hand, as if it was getting ready to deliver the finishing blow.
The assassin focused on holding the spear, and refused to even think about her dwindling air supply, or the fact that she could really only hold unto both the spear and the dragon and hope for the best. Corrin finally reached the portal, stopping short of it, and she thrusted her spear, praying that it wouldn't simply pass through the other dimension or be caught by one of the emerging undead.
Luckily, she felt the tip of the weapon make contact with… something as she stabbed the object, and it very quickly shrunk, slicing an emerging soldier in half. Then, a thousand lights escaped from it, and Corrin barely managed to move his draconic body in front of her before it violently blew up. The young dragon was violently thrown back, and so was the woman that he shielded, but the bizarre soldiers weren't as lucky, and the blast outright vaporized them, leaving absolutely nothing behind. It carried both Beruka and Corrin up above before throwing them back. Too exhausted by the fight until now, the retainer let go of both the spear and Corrin, being swept aside helplessly by the waves, being helpless to do anything with the amount of strength that she still had left in her.
Luckily, the waves chose not to carry her into a rock or deeper into the lake, where she'd surely drown, but straight into the shore. Less luckily, they still decided to almost slam her into the sand, though at least her impact was dampened slightly. The waves continued to rage for a short while before a grunting Beruka slowly got back on her feet, even when her body was heavily protesting against twitching even a single finger. And this time, she failed to gather the stamina to carry on, falling unto her back again. This encouraged her to take a little breather, but she stilled peered nervously at the lake, perhaps expecting an undead invader to emerge out of the water with a triumphant grin. Or for Corrin to be the one to do so, since the young man was the one who truly took the impact of a blast that managed to utterly pulverize their foes.
Her reignited determination and some moment to gather her strength helped her get up, and Beruka began to walk across the shore. It was cold, there were no sounds coming out of the forest and the entire craziness of the situation caused an eerie feeling to settle in.
"Lord Corrin?" She called out, rather weakly, before spitting some water, causing her to cough. "Lord Corrin? Corrin!"
No answer yet. Before she could dive underwater in an attempt to try to look for him though, Beruka was surprised to see a monstrous figure come out of the water, and instinctively reached for the spot where her axe would be. Unfortunately she was still in her dirty regular clothes instead of her armor, and only reached out for empty air. Reaching out for her hidden daggers, she grimaced when she realized that they had been knocked away as well. Unsurprising, given the recent shock.
However, her weapon dilemma solved itself soon enough when the figure crawled into the moonlight, revealing itself to be a half-transformed Corrin, slowly coming off his draconic transformation. Thanks to a convenient spell perhaps, his clothes were still whole after the transformation and his draconic features were slowly receding back, though he was using his transformed arms to try to crawl back to shore. He winced painfully with each crawl, but was still alive and relatively well in spite of the explosion.
Beruka took the news in and began to run towards him. "Corrin!" She said, before falling forward into the sand, out of exhaustion again. This time though, Beruka's determination prevailed and she ran ahead to grab him by the shoulder and pull him into the shore, out of the water's reach. Then, she simply sat down with him, as his arms receded into a human shape.
They said nothing for a little while, breathing raggedly and quietly looking back on the events that just happened. Then, Beruka turned towards a slumped prince. From what the moon could reveal, he had taken some damage from the blast.
"W-what just happened?" He asked, eyes wide. She slowly shook her head and he groaned. "Well they should be done by now… my body ache everywhere though." The prince groaned. "I don't think I'm going to be enjoying that dessert back at the palace."
Beruka looked down at Corrin and approached him. He glanced at her, in surprise, and then froze up when she embraced him, putting both hands behind his back and her head over his shoulder. Once he got past the surprise though, the prince embraced her back in silence. They remained in that pose for several seconds before she pulled back slightly. "I was worried for you." She admitted. "This was meant to communicate my gratefulness over your continued survival."
"I'm glad about my continuous survival." He blurted out. Then, realizing what he said, he shook his head, prepared to say something else but then just kind of fell to the floor again. Beruka awkwardly grabbed the back of his head, almost cradling him, and they both slowly contemplated what had just happened.
"… Mom's avenged." Contemplated Corrin, shifting briefly in his spot. "And everyone out there is safe now." He added, after a few seconds.
"… How does it feel?" He didn't answer, and just looked up at her in curiosity. "To have avenged your mother?"
He didn't answer her question at first, but she didn't press on, trusting that he just needed time. "Well… I never thought that I'd see that man again, but now that we've killed him, and now that I'm sure he's dead, I'm… good, honestly. In stories, they'd always tell us that vengeance will only lead to feeling empty, but I'm very satisfied." He continued. "This bastard." He emphasized the word a little. "… Without him, mom and all those innocents would be alive, the barrier would still be up and there probably wouldn't be a war. This bastard is responsible for everything that happened."
Beruka glanced at the lake. Obviously, there had to be some higher power at play here, did it not? There was something creating the portal, and the invaders were seemingly plucked from existing armies. It could be Iago's magic at work, but the warlock, for all his negative qualities, wasn't stupid enough to risk launching an attack on Izumo and also wouldn't willingly endanger the children of Garon. And if he could make those dead legions spring forth out of portal, Hoshido would be dealing with a different kind of war, it just couldn't be him.
Beruka absent-mindedly began to stroke Corrin's forehead, but he didn't seems to mind. "… I'm tired." He admitted. "I was supposed to take the day off…" He half-joked, accompanying his sentence with a light-hearted chuckle. "I guess that the universe has a knack for proving me wrong."
The assassin took her time answering him, and opted to switch topics entirely. "Corrin, while we are away from the others, I would like to say something to you."
"I shall join the King's shadows." Easy to say, right? But somehow she struggled with that. Beruka felt like she was coming down from a high, and did feel like she wanted to say words to Corrin, but she didn't know what exactly.
"I…" She said, slowly getting closer to Corrin. He hanged unto her lips, his eyes wide and unblinking even in his tired state, and Beruka slowly began to get her bearing of what she meant to say. Still holding his head between her hands, she moved in a bit closer, to the point where their noses nearly met, and prepared to speak her next lines. In a manner similar to those books that Selena read in secret though, a voice sprung out from the darkness, causing her to back off in fright. The young dragon actually yelped in surprise at the voice and quickly got on his feet, perhaps thinking that a bunch of ninjas were about to jump on him.
Instead, out of the woods, Azura emerged, accompanied by that mysterious vagrant knight from earlier. She had her arm wrapped around his shoulder, and he seemed to be holding her up. Out of everyone involved, he was seemingly the only one capable of still walking on his two feet comfortably, a feat for one clad in such heavy armor, though that fact also explained him being well-off compared to the others, perhaps.
However, Azura sprung towards the duo when she noticed that Corrin and Beruka were alive, smiling happily at them.
The songstress met a most undignified fate owing to her exhaustion though, and slipped while running, causing her to nearly faceplant on the ground. The dragon prince, having recovered part of his stamina during his little discussion with Beruka, reacted in due time and, using some excellent reflexes, managed to catch her on time, reaching his friend before she could plant her face into the ground. He smiled a little, glad that he made it on time, and then helped her up.
"Azura!" He said, while looking backward as Beruka made her way. While he was busy with talking, the assassin glanced at the princess and folded her arms with an unamused glare. She had ruined the moment, and the high that allowed her to temporarily break past and nearly say those particular words to Corrin had faded off. If she ever wanted to build up the "oomph" to talk with him, she'd need to fling herself into reckless danger with him again.
Not that it would be hard given the circumstances, but it still annoyed her.
"You're alive." Said Azura, looking at Corrin's eyes. Then, she gasped and put her right hand on his cheek. "Oh my, Corrin, that explosion…"
"Y-yeah. It was pretty flashy." He admitted. "But I'm not bad, aren't I?" He said. Beruka nodded sagely. While he had some burns, especially on spots like the chest or arms, he already looked a little better than he did when he emerged out of the shore. This made the assassin wonder just how strong he truly was with these unlocked abilities of his. On top of that overwhelming physical power, he now also had the ability to heal from wounds on such a short time span?
It took him a while to heal from the wounds caused by Ryoma after all. By comparison, if he hid from the others for a few hours, he'd be able to stroll back and pretend that he was never blasted in the face by a force powerful enough to outright vaporize a bunch of soldiers.
Then again, Beruka was also at the epicenter and she lived on… Though she had Corrin's body to thank for that.
"No. You're not." She said, a bit confused. "Where's the spear?"
"I let go of it after the explosion. It's underwater." Said Beruka, sitting on a rock. Truthfully, even that simple act actually caused some pain to her body, but she pretended that her grimace was caused by the loss of the spear.
"W-well… it should've been the last one." Said Azura. "And we still have that one…"
"Yeah, speaking of that…" Corrin glanced at Azura. "What's the origin of those portals and those bizarre beings? Those undead beings were missing back when you plunged near Nestra." When the young woman drew back a little, he shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry for lying to you, Azura, but please be honest with me. How… Just how long have you been fighting those fiends?" He sounded compassionate, but his shaky voice couldn't quite hide the disappointed edge in his voice. At himself, for lying, but also at his friend for lying to him while it was clear that she and the knight were somewhat ill-equipped for the current task.
"… I've been fighting them ever since the beginning of the war, whenever we were allowed to go near a lake." She said, sighing and glancing at the sand. Then, she looked at the night sky briefly, took a breather and gave Corrin a side-eyed glance.
"Those fiends have been invading Hoshido at times, but Mikoto seemed… prepared for them, almost. When the first soldiers emerged, she and some hand picked soldiers personally went to suppress them, though even then, the battle was harshly fought. To avoid casting panic, Mikoto decided to blame the attack on some new kind of Faceless, but quietly set some soldiers along the lakes, since that's where the reports said they emerged."
Corrin folded his arms. If that were the case, then Ryoma and the others lied to him back in the room. Unless…
"Ryoma and the others, did they know?"
"No. She looked very troubled whenever they came up. Angry, even." This caused Corrin's eyes to widen slightly. "It was a special bunch of Facelesses, capable of wielding weapons, that's what she told them. But she told me especially…" Azura bit her lips at this point. "That they were odd invaders. The fallen corpses of men and women slain in battle, possessed by the evil yokai that run amongst the countryside, whispering dark words and inflicting heinous deeds upon the population."
Yokai? Ah, it wasn't like it would be wise to cut her off halfway through. From what Beruka could gather though, the word meant "demon". Or referred to some (likely wicked) spirits of various size and strength. Unlike the demons of western Dreiz, who were more like tempting forces first and foremost, the Yokai were content to roam the countryside and lived their own lives, though a lot were eager to harass or attack humans who happened to pass by.
Were those beings really demons possessing the bodies of fallen soldiers?
"With all due respect Azura, it seems like sharing this information with the rest of the royal family would be wise."
"I know, but… Mikoto told me that my song could specifically affect those undead. It could reveal them, freeze them in their movements and, with further mastery, even destroy their outer shells in a single blow." She said. She prepared her follow up, but the songstress's words were cut off by a harsh cough and the Nohrian princess grasped her chest, almost falling to the ground. Corrin immediately helped her on her feet and held her close while the mysterious woman seemingly prepared to spit her lung out.
"Azura!" He said. "It's okay. You don't need to talk anymore!" He said, thoroughly regretting his earlier insistence. Corrin moved to try to carry her, but she denied it, standing up on her own feet quickly.
"I… I will manage. I've hidden the truth long enough." She coughed a few more times, and decided that leaning against Corrin would be wiser. He accepted, of course, and that odd feeling make itself known to Beruka again. The knight was rummaging through a pouch of a sort while Azura was leaning in, having kept his cool during her coughing fit. Corrin glanced at him briefly but focused on Azura. "I was bestowed… those weapons, and taught that the yokais use these portals as a sort of way to walk between their realm and that of the living. Apparently, all lakes can be used to lead to other worlds, or so she explained… Using those particular weapons, I could easily get rid of the undead and close the portals. They are powered by an old magic spell, only accessible by reaching the very depths of the royal library in Hoshido…"
"So… you had to carry that burden alone?"
"No, no. We had a small crew… But after my departure, well, it did fall on me to do it alone, until I met that man."
She pointed at the knight, and seeing his cue, he walked in, handing her some tiny items. Azura swallowed them quickly, and her pain seemed to ease a little, to the point where she stopped leaning on him. He still held her rather carefully just in case, and Beruka pondered on how incredibly stressful even holding her was. Azura had definitely proven herself to be not as frail as she looked, but in her weakened state, it would be easy for Corrin to cause some damage if he grasped a little too hard.
How hard was it for him to just hold something? Or embrace someone else? With this kind of strength, breaking bones would be incredibly easy for him. As much as she somewhat envied this raw power, and with the knowledge that she could perhaps muster the discipline needed to use it that carefully, having to constantly hold oneself back had to be tiring. And while she certainly wouldn't be hugging or touching people, accidentally breaking an axe or something else would be a bother for her.
"The knight, hm?" Said Corrin, eyeing the man. "And where did you find him?" He asked.
"I did so during my escape from Hoshidan forces who seeked to kill me." She said. "They seemed to believe that since you fled, I would do so as well. To their credit, I… did, but nonetheless, I still found myself chased. Since the Hoshidans who were trying to kill me used to be my… friends, I tried not to harm them, but this made me fall in troubles." Then, she glanced at the knight. "And he helped me, even when he was in a sorry state himself."
He chuckled a little. "You found my hiding spot, milady." He argued. "I'm not enough of a noble soul to go out of my way to defend one in danger, as much as I wished I was."
"You are." Said Corrin, plainly. This caused the two to interrupt their little conversation to focus on him. "I know that you'd go out of your way to help Azura, because you're a noble man, mister Gunter."
Azura nodded, a small smirk forming on her lips. "I was about to say it but you've caught up." She said. The knight moved to take his helmet away and did so fairly easily. Pale moonlight revealed a face that was almost unknown to Beruka, but had the prince nearly burst into tears. He was always an emotional young man, so she was barely surprised at this point, but the way his lips quivered a little, and the flows of tears streaming out of his eyes… it was akin to a young child encountering a parent after being separated from said parent over the course of some hours, pure hope.
An expression all too rarely seen by her, but she guessed that she could be happy if he was. Mimicking his grin, Beruka crossed her legs.
"You're alive!" He said. "I knew that it'd take more than a random thug and a long fall! D… I mean, Gunter!" Had it not been for Azura being in need of someone to lean into, Corrin would've quite likely tackled Gunter here and now to hug him. However, the older man was the one to make contact, approaching his surrogate son and putting his hand on his shoulder.
"Well, you quite overestimate me, young man." He chuckled warmly. "I only barely survived the fall, through some miracle that not even I can explain. I dragged my carcass across the canyon until I reached Hoshido. A young couple, seeing my sorry state, decided to allow me to stay in. While they were under suspicions that I was an enemy wounded in a skirmish, they found it rather… unpleasant to have to kill an old man." Gunter grumbled a little when coming up to that last part. "I recovered enough to try and trek towards the capital, in the hope of eventually finding you. I thanked the couple and left, though I buried my armor beforehand. However, the tragedy at the capital happened shortly afterwards, and while I did my best to disguise myself as a common Hoshidan peasant, I knew that I would be identified as a spy and killed." He stroke his chin. "Knowing that Mokushu was an ally, I elected to depart there to find shelter. On the way though, I stumbled upon Azura, and saved her from her pursuers."
"But… you were still caught at the fort way back then, no? What happened then?"
"Truthfully, I meant to let her be. Hoshido would obviously refuse to let me in, and Hans's betrayal made me realize that the Nohr that I defended for so long had truly vanished. For a little while, I considered retreating to the Mokushujin countryside… But I heard of your plight." He said. "So I decided to take up arms again. Returning to the Nohrian army could cause me to be targeted by Garon again, though. So when I took my arms again, I turned them against those fiends."
"When did you find those weapons though?"
"I ambushed a Nohrian knight, killed him and took his armor, naturally." Beruka actually let out the smallest "heh" in answer, and Corrin laughed when he realized that it was a joke. "Well, I… did borrow some armors from a hidden reserve near the frontier. Azura then bestowed me a card, explained to me the means to neutralize the portals and undead, and I went on a little journey across Dreiz." Gunter sighed.
"I was captured by Haitaka but you freed me." Said Azura. "I always yearned to inform you about Gunter, but you would doubt me perhaps, or the news would distract you from what was happening. I… apologize for keeping things a secret once more, Corrin."
"Hm." He said, seemingly minding yet another lie but being too happy to draw it in yet. "But then, what were you doing near Cheve? How did you get here so quickly? And how could you fight those beings by yourself?"
"The portals were usually pretty small, easy to reach and only released a few undead. Their invisibility was troublesome to face, and their strength made approaching them deadly, but I've fought against the very best that Qliphoth had to offer in the past." He said. "I managed to get used to my enemy and easily dispatched them. Once I was done with the north, I used a warp staff to teleport me south of the continent. Quite honestly, it was pure luck that we happened to meet. We agreed to meet at Cyrkensia. Nonetheless, Lady Azura assisted me with identifying the undead using that song, and I took care of them while the war was happening. Finding the portal was a bit harder that time, since a lot of the invaders had been freed, but I managed to do so."
"So, when you saw Corrin and I, what prevented you from simply taking off your helmet?"
"As painful as it was, I couldn't deviate from the mission. And I was somewhat… surprised by your presence as well. I decided not to destabilize you, especially since it looked like you already had to deal with difficult circumstances. I saw the massacre while leaving, and I… am sorry for leaving you behind at such an hour of need."
"Don't worry, you… had something to do." Said Corrin.
"Once we arrived at Cyrkensia, Azura and I decided to work together on that portal, since it was somewhere underwater and I couldn't easily get there with my armor. Azura apparently had something else to deal with, but she arrived on time. I hanged back and killed the few intruders that left the portal, then she finished the mission for me. That was the end of the invasion on Nohr, or so I was told."
"How do you know that?"
"I have a map that indicate the regions that have a portal or will obtain one. It is fueled by the magic of my song." Intervened Azura. "There are no portals left, but a big one was apparently going to open near Izumo. We both decided to take care of it since you'd be close. We thought that we could get it to stop on time, but it opened even deeper than we thought, and we had to first take care of some of the undead soldiers."
"Yeah, one of them was in the forest. Luckily enough, we got rid of them… I assume that a portal's destruction ensure no more soldiers?"
"Yes. The demons possess them like puppets. Closing the portal is akin to cutting the strings on the puppets." Explained Azura. "But we underestimated the power of this particular gate. Were it not for you two, we'd certainly have died. I thank you."
Corrin nodded. "It wasn't much." He lied, before looking at Gunter, with a hopeful smile on his face. "So, Gunter, are you going to come back with us?"
"I would very much like to." He said, and Corrin, to his credit, kept a polite smile even when he knew that he'd be met with a refusal. "But Garon's eyes are on you. If I were to interact with his children, they would be quick to inform him of my survival, out of gladness, and I may be the target for an assassination again. It was already hard enough to get a different armor and find the right vessel to depart." He grumbled, then he glanced right at Corrin. "Ah, to hell with this. I will join you." He said. "You've certainly been at the heart of quite some trouble, my boy, and it would be of poor taste for me to simply leave you behind while you have to deal with these circumstances… It already was in poor taste to simply leave you behind at Cheve."
This time, the young prince couldn't contain his excitement and walked towards the old man to warmly embrace him. Gunter didn't seem surprised, though perhaps a little embarrassed, but accepted the gesture. It was odd to see a scarred war veteran actually blush, but Azura seemed to find it rather endearing. Once Corrin got done, he stepped backwards a little.
"Sorry, I was just a bit carried away." He said.
"That's fair. We… haven't met in a while." Retorted Gunter. "But I've heard of your martial accomplishments over the course of the war. You've come into contact with the Hoshidan royals surprisingly often, but you've always prevailed nonetheless. Your name is on quite a few lips, Corrin."
The young man now blushed in turn. "I didn't do much…. Well, at Macarath, I just got beaten by Ryoma. Erm, Beruka here actually saved me from him." He said. "And Azura helped my sister Elise. They both contributed to this fight…"
"You've blasted a door open for the rest of us. Please, Corrin, do not downplay your performance." Asserted Beruka, in a manner meant to be as firm as possible. Gunter tilted his head while looking at her, and seemed to recognize her somewhat.
"Y-yeah. Well, I did, but you took care of the rest together. I shouldn't get all the credit."
"I'm not a war heroine." Grimaced Beruka. "I'm fine with you and the others taking the credit, Corrin."
"Then you probably should not have killed those two women, Lady Beruka. Both were apparently the retainers of the queen herself." Said Gunter. "The soldiers who survived the fight at Cheve were quite eager to inform everyone about your victory. After all, two elite Hoshidans failing to defeat one Nohrian soldier is good to boost morale in the troops."
Beruka sighed. "They were weaker than their position would let you believe." She said, perhaps rather hypocritically given her earlier admonishment to Corrin. However, she didn't quite see it as hypocrisy. As far as she was concerned, those two women were weaker than someone like Kagero, for instance. Still, perhaps it was a victory to be enjoyed. She certainly understood better why they considered her for promotion shortly after the battle at Cheve, though she also considered that her leading of some of the troops at Macarath also helped.
"It's kind of funny though." Said Corrin. "For a while, I… I guess I kind of knew that you were alive."
Gunter raised a curious eyebrow, and Corrin continued his point. "I mean, your voice… Even when its all covered up, I'm going to be able to identify the voice of the man who raised me for years, right? Maybe someone like Jakob or Felicia would've been able to recognize it as well."
Gunter laughed a little. "How observant of you. But it does make sense. You spent about two decades growing up with me. You'd recognize your surrogate father's voice."
"As far as I'm concerned, you're my father though." Said Corrin. "You're the only one who took care of me and stuck by my side… Well, erm, one of them just wasn't lucky, and the other is mysterious but… you get my point, right?" Corrin snapped his fingers when he realized something. "Oh, by the way. I want to ask you, Gunter, how all… How much did you knew? About everything?"
"I knew you were Sumeragi's son, but I was told not to dispense that information." He said. "Truthfully, I was exiled to the fortress as well. In the past, I chose to… deny an opportunity of climbing the hierarchy within Nohr." He clicked his tongue. "I was content with being a knight and, truthfully, politics have always bored me. At least on the battlefield, the enemy is polite enough to attack you from the front." He said. Beruka would disagree, but she could understand what he meant. "He reacted quite negatively to it, for a reason that I cannot grasp. Later on, when he assigned me to watch over you, he made it quite clear that I was exiled in all but name."
"That's a really petty thing to do. Why would he do that? You've served him quite oft… ah, what am I saying. Of course he'd make that decision." Corrin sighed and softly put his hand on his face, sighing heavily. "You know, when I heard of Garon as a kid, I always wondered why my "father" would put me in a prison. The other siblings would constantly talk highly of him, so I figured that maybe he was harsh but fair." He glanced at Gunter. "Well, you were my da- my father in my mind already, but I often wondered on Garon being a great man or not in the end. But the more I hear about him… the more I realize that he's just a madman without a cause."
"Garon used to be a great hero." Said Gunter. "I served alongside him and Queen Katerina. He was very much like Lady Camilla, though perhaps a bit more arrogant, but he had a sincere desire to change the world for the better and meant to stop Qliphoth to prevent another raid, not for glory." The older man sighed wearily. "The things that we saw during that war… they probably corrupted him somehow. Of course, the concubine wars and Katerina's death probably changed him for the worse as well."
Azura flinched slightly when the subject came up, and Corrin decided to drop it. "Alright. I see, Gunter. We're going to try to find a way to get you to fight alongside us but… well, if you want to retire, er, you can do so at any time. It's the best country to do so. I'm not belittling you, of course! But you don't need to fight Garon's war for him, and you've already fought for Nohr all your life."
"That war, I'm fighting it for you." Said Gunter, with a certain firmness to his voice, though he accompanied with a gentle smirk. "I'm an old fool without a purpose, again, so I might as well grab my trusty weapons once again and do what I spent all my life doing… Besides, in my youth, I've witnessed the true fall of Qliphoth." The man mused. "It would be glorious to spend my old days assisting the conclusion of a feud about as old as the very ground we tread on."
In spite of his old age, Gunter still had that Nohrian fire to him. Corrin, instead of being dejected, seemed accepting of it. Retrieving his father figure seemed to have killed whatever exhaustion he had before, and Beruka guessed that she was happy at him retrieving such an important person in his life. Now, what mattered was not getting him killed. The old man was certainly skilled, but if he made a mistake, or ended up overestimating his body's resilience, then his death would certainly devastate Corrin.
If she were in Corrin's position, she'd try to encourage him to stay behind, but she understood that the old man would never accept being sidelined… If only because if she were in Gunter's place, she would certainly not appreciate being seen as weak and fragile enough to be pitied by fellow Nohrians.
"We should start to head back. There's a place we could hide you in for now." Said Corrin. "We're going to leave Izumo tomorrow, I'll try to think up of some excuse to justify your return. And, oh, don't worry, it's certainly not a bad place!"
Gunter raised an eyebrow. "Lord Corrin, I shall not hide in the closet again to cast fear upon Leo." He said, Corrin laughed warmly in answer. "Unless… Ah, yes, that orb. Azura talked to me about it. Well, are there any Nohrians soldiers within?"
"No." Reassured Corrin. "We put some people in a rotation during displacement, to save their stamina, but there won't be any since we're stationed here. W-well, I mean, there's Lilith for company…"
"Lilith?" Asked Gunter. "What is she doing here? Shouldn't she be guarding the fortress?"
"It's a long… story. I'm surprised Azura didn't mention her being a fish dragon."
Gunter blinked slowly, and then turned around. "Very well, I will accompany you near the castle."
"I'll fetch the crystal." Corrin looked down at the princess, who, in spite of everything, still seemed pretty tired. "Huh, Azura, are you going to need any help?" He asked. She nodded, with quite the energy to it, and held unto his arm with both hands. Corrin threw her a confused stare but didn't protest, and the group slowly started to head out.
"… How will you justify all the tears in your costume though?"
"T-these? Oh. Well, a wild boar…"
"Wild boar?" Said Beruka, with a small smile and a raised eyebrow. "Hm… I'll find you a story while we'll be heading towards the castle. It will be complicated to find something admittedly."
"I know." He made an awkward little smile. "S-sorry about it. H-hummm, and by the way, what did you mean when we…"
He glanced at the other two, and Beruka simply put his hand on his shoulder, containing her disappointment. "I… I'll tell you later… Alright, let's find a story."
"Okay, so… we were walking down the forest and then a giant slug ambushed us."
Beruka groaned.
…
N/A : RIP Sumeragi! The vallite presence die here likely. Well, a certain you know who will be appearing later but I don't think those soldiers will show up again.
Gunter goodness! It also reminds me that I haven't introduced Jakob yet. Honestly, as you all probably guessed, the fic is mostly on Corrin and Beruka. I might have Jakob appear but I doubt he'll have much screentime, haha.
Corrin and Beruka get just a bit farther but unfortunately, our brave heroes suffered a un-gallant interruption! How will they recover?
What did you think of the chapter? Please, send in reviews, I love them!
See ya later!