Chapter 15:
In her song, all magic flows

"Hans!" Called Anna, her voice strong and powerful. "This is your last chance! As much as I would love to teach you a lesson once and for all, you can still surrender, and we'll avoid this fight!"

Despite her good words, and her family and friends had nodded in agreement from their position, the fallen prince didn't seem to care. He moved forward, and his dirty, rusted, but solid-looking armor shone in the daylight.

"I've come today with my army to put an end to you, Anna!" He roared. "I'm not going back. This is only the beginning!"

The Queen actually looked sorry for him. "Hans, I am once again warning you, this is stupid. We have the strike force of two kingdoms and the magic of Nature on our side. Are you certain?"

Hans gritted his teeth from where he was at her arrogance. "One thing I'm certain of, is that magic has nothing to do in this world!" He exclaimed. "Today, we also kill Rapunzel and Elsa!"

The thugs who were surrounding him grunted in approval, raising their weapons with war cries.

Elsa snorted out loud, showing her mockery to Hans. "And then what? How about Ahtohallan? Uh? What will you do about her?" She said with a raised voice.

Hans didn't let the intervening woman lower his courage. "It's a glacier, isn't it?" He retorted with gritted teeth. "When my men will be done killing those stupid Northudra, well melt it down with torches until it's nothing else than a drop of water in the ocean."

Honeymaren lifted an eyebrow from where she was. "That's… Really not how it works."

She turned to Kristoff. "Is this man stupid?"

The King actually smirked at her. At least she didn't take his attacks seriously, and apparently, Rapunzel and Eugene were not more impressed.

Ryder frowned. "Does he even know about the Dark Sea? About the Water Spirit's guardian role?"

Nobody answered him, because there was a movement next to Hans that attracted their attention. One of the tall and muscular bandits who surrounded him, and had the role to both protect him and make an impression on the armies, had made a step forward, and he did an insulting gesture of the chin to the Arendelle siblings.

"You think you two kids can beat us? You have zero experience with what's coming at you."

Anna made a step forward too, asserting her dominance. "As a matter of fact, we have more experience with death than you do."

The thug frowned at that sentence, then he frowned at her boldness and self-assurance. His hand clenched on one of the axes at his belt, but he did nothing else; he had been told by Hans to not use his weapons before the fight began, in order to follow the conditions.

"I was killing people when you were still a drooling baby!" He yelled.

The sisters were unaffected. Anna turned to Elsa. "Great way to say how old you are."

Her sentence as well as the way she had dared to detach her eyes from the enemy to talk with her elder made the bandit fulminate, and Elsa smirked both at Anna's joke and his reaction.

He frowned with rage and spat on the ground in front of them, not able to find anything else better to add.

"Hans is right." Said another tall thug, also purposely placed in the lead of the pirate army. "You're too young to be Queen. And a woman at that."

Several bandits laughed and nodded around him.

Anna ticked, and walked forward. In any other circumstance, Elsa would have grabbed her arm to calm her, but really, they asked for it.

"I'll crush you." Said the Queen, her teal blue eyes vibrating with might.

Hans puffed. "You have no chance."

"We're more numerous." Pointed out Anna.

The man lifted his arms, showing the crowd behind him. "I have an army."

"We have an Elsa."

There was a silence, and the Fifth Spirit grinned behind her.

"FINE!" Suddenly barked Hans, and everybody was startled, even his allies.

He turned to the bandits. "Everybody, take your positions!"

Anna frowned and twirled around, not wasting any second insisting on a respectful fair bow or a hand shake. Hans clearly was going to take advantage of the two sisters not being in their ranks to attack.

She gave a quick head gesture to Elsa, and they hurried to their own positions.

"Ryder?" Called Anna as soon as they had joined their friends.

"Yeah?" Answered two voices at the same time.

Eugene and Ryder exchanged a confused look, and pointed a finger at each other, then turned to Anna and pointed at themselves.

"Sorry, who are you talking to?" Asked the Prince.

"The brown hair one." Snorted Anna.

The two men looked at each other once more, and her again.

"We both have brown hair." They said in one voice.

The Queen rolled her eyes, not really in the mood to do a course on hair color shades. "Are you doing it on purpose?!"

They felt really bad about it, and shook their heads in apology. They didn't want to contradict the charismatic Queen. Rapunzel approached and slapped her husband's shoulder. "Since when is your name Ryder? Nobody called you by that name in ages."

"Aoh! But it's Anna!" Winced Eugene, rubbing his sore shoulder.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Frowned the redhead.

"Well, I thought that you still–" He stopped to sigh. "Nevermind."

The actual Ryder walked forward. "What is it, Anna?"

The Queen returned to seriousness. "Please, tell the Northuldra to go back."

"Back? B-but…" He blabbered. "They want to fight!"

Honeymaren detached from her girlfriend and turned to the redhead with a frown, wondering what she was doing. Was she taking the volunteer Northuldra away from a fight that concerned them?

"Not back to the camp. At the back of the troops. Behind Corona's army." Clarified Anna. "Please. I know that you have talent and are trained to fight, but Hans clearly will target you first to hurt both Elsa's feelings and mine. Besides, you will do well in pair with the Spirits."

Ryder hesitated for a moment, then he nodded, and several Northuldra warriors who had overheard the Queen actually nodded at her wisdom too. The herder hugged Honeymaren quickly then ran to the members of his tribe.

Elsa frowned with confusion, staring at her lover and her sister.

"You're not asking Honeymaren to go back too?"

Anna snorted. "I won't even bother to try to take her chevaleresque ass away from you. She wants to protect you with her life like a shadow, I understood that long ago."

A sassy sentence which normally would have made the couple blush actually brought smirks on both Elsa's and Honeymaren's faces. They exchanged a look, and Anna winked.

Elsa kissed her girlfriend's cheek, then placed herself next to her and stretched her wrist, preparing her hands for the beginning of the fight. Anna went to her other side and put her helmet on, then did a twirl with her sword.

The Snow Queen's azure blue eyes focused in front of her, where she could see the bandits just as ready in the distance. She then frowned.

"Anna, when you talked about Honeymaren's protection… Did you understand that before or after we became a couple?"

The Queen of Arendelle smirked back. "If you hit more guys than I do, then I might give you the answer."

Elsa gasped and scoffed. "You make everything a competition."

"Well, today is History." Shrugged the redhead.

The alliance army made eye contact with the crowd of pirates, then time seemed to stop. Flags flaps and impatient groans were the only sound around for a few seconds.

Then all of a sudden, Hans and Anna yelled, their voices hitting through the valley as they raised their arms.

"CHAAAAAAARGE!"

Both sides shouted war cries and ran forwards until blades hit blades.

Despite being at the back, the Northuldra had their fair share in the fight. Many were delighted to unwind their passed nervosity and anger as they hit the thugs with their staffs. The clueless pirates realized they were wrong to think that they stood a chance with their modern weapons against an ancestral art of combat. They were getting their ass kicked, in every sense of the word.

In addition to their precise hits, the Northuldra were assisted by the Spirits. In line with their principles and as Elsa reminded, they didn't actually directly hurt the enemies; however, they had a lot of fun making the bandits trip, lose their balance, or fail their aim. The Earth Spirit made roots appear in the valley where it usually was absurd to find some, and many pirates stumbled on them, making it easier for the warriors to pin them down. Some of the thugs had gourds at their belt and Nokk made the water in them float up, forcing them to fight with low gravity. The sight was comical to the opposite camp as they were pulled in the air from the waist. Bruni obviously traced circles of tall pink flames that made even the toughest and most brutal thugs scream back in terror. When they ran away from the heat as quickly as they could before the salamander ended his run to close the circle, Gale twirled them to make them lose their direction. She messed with their hats to drop them on their eyes, or for those who had helmets, turned them around so they couldn't see.

The Northuldra, despite the serious situation of the war, let out laughter at the scenes they were making. For so long, the Spirits had been on bad terms with them, but their devotion to the magical help of Nature paid off, and they were honored to be supported now.

At the end of the group, Ryder exhaled a vibe that both meant "This is my first experience at actual combat" and "I wouldn't hurt a fly", so he sadly, but naturally, became a target of choice from the thugs. However, he knew how to roll away from their blows when they jumped on him or aimed at his angelic face, and he easily countered the attacks with his staff. He mentally thanked his sister who, despite her respect for his lack of interest in fighting, still insisted on training him from time to time.

At one point, a pirate managed to face him, showing off a dagger and a smirk, and he twirled his blade between his fingers as he approached him menacingly. Thinking about Honeymaren actually brought an idea to Ryder's mind, especially at the sight of the thug's stupid decision to use a close-range weapon against his staff.

He firmly gripped it with both hands, and yelled with a frown as he rushed down and hit the kneecap of the man; using all of his strength while having the precision of a sting.

Even in the uproar of battle and the hundreds of people fighting around, the Northuldra could hear the horrible sound of the impact, and the thug instantly roared in pain, bending and stumbling in shock.

Not wasting any second, Ryder took the opportunity of the thug's head being lower than before to lift his staff and firmly whack him at the jaw in one powerful motion. The blow made another cracking sound and he got his head propelled up, before losing his balance and falling backwards on the ground.

He was stunned by the whiplash and couldn't stand up again, his useless dagger falling next to him.

Ryder barely had time to catch his breath and note what happened that a second thug came screaming at him and jumped to try to stab him at the side of the neck with a knife.

Being alerted by his yell, the Northuldra turned around and could only use his muscular reflex, which was to do the same thing than before. He knocked the pirate at the jaw, and the man stumbled, then glared at him angrily. Just when he was about to lift his blade again, Ryder stopped staring at his face to look down, and hurriedly knocked his knee violently. Another roar of pain sounded to his ears, and when the enemy collapsed in pain, Ryder tossed the knife away from his hand with the tip of his staff, then broke his nose in a tough hit for good measure.

The thug fainted and wasn't a problem anymore.

Taking his breath back, Ryder understood how effective this sequence was, and looking around, he realized how many thugs had come to a battlefield with their usual bandit weapons. He decided to use this technique on every pirate who would come at him next, and he quickly became a pro at smashing kneecaps.

As the group of Northuldra moved forward, the warriors were amused by the trail of moaning and complaining men rolling on the ground that the usually kind herder was leaving behind him.

First doing her best to protect her sister, Elsa soon found herself separated from her with the mess of the fight. She didn't try yet to find her in the crowd; she was confident enough to know Anna could take care of herself. Her suggestion to count the bodies testified to it.

The Spirit therefore faced a group of enemies alone, who were charging at her as soon as they saw that she was isolated in the battlefield. Any ally of hers who would have witnessed this face-to-face would have first worried, then remembered that she was the Snow Queen, and returned to what they were doing with a shrug.

Elsa wasn't impressed either when she saw them all run to her. What surprised her, however, was that one of them lifted his arms and indicated his friends to halt.

"Wait, we better be careful with her."

The others startled, stopping in their tracks, one nearly impaled by another who was holding a spiked mace.

"What do you mean?" Snorted a bandit. "We just have to kill her. It's not like she can, what, freeze my blade before I spear her heart."

He twirled his bayonet, and several other men agreed in guttural laughter.

"This is precisely what I've been told she can do." Insisted the man who stopped them. "Rumors are that she can shatter metal remotely."

Some snorted. "This is stupid. These are old wive's tales." Said the bandit with the mace.

Others however nodded in the direction of the careful thug. "No, he's right, I heard that too." Intervened a pirate with a glaive, which he retracted with worry.

The tallest of them all grunted and stepped forward, growing impatient.

"Whatever."

He shifted his two-handed sword in a quick motion, about to behead Elsa.

The Spirit lifted a sarcastic eyebrow and her left foot, which she slid on the grass, forming a layer of frost in a wide half-circle in front of her. The man actually stopped and looked down with a loud snort.

He turned to his fellows. "That's what scares y'all? She used her foot to make some frosty dew. Oooh, so scary." He mocked.

The others started to laugh, as they all looked at Elsa with superior expressions.

Nevertheless, the Snow Queen still didn't have a trace of worry on her face. She even had a slight smile as they approached and pointed their weapons at her.

"For your information, I didn't use my foot to make this frost. I used one toe."

Some of the men stopped walking while others continued, frowning at what she just said.

"This is what happens if I use my foot."

Without further warning, and they all widened their eyes, the Fifth Spirit lifted her leg higher and slammed her foot on the ground, thin and very long stalagmites emerging all of a sudden from the frost, blocking each of them.

The thugs found themselves trapped with precision; one had the loops of his jacket tugged by a stalagmite, another had his belt lifted up, another had his protective leather pads stuck in the tip of a spike, another had his pants pierced and also stuck by a twin spike, and so on; they all found themselves struggling to move.

In this entire organized mess, none of the stalagmites had been drawing out blood, the thugs' flesh intact. However, their dignity wasn't. Many of them couldn't touch the ground with their feet anymore, and shrieked or grunted as they waved their legs in the air.

Elsa barely had a look at them, then simply left the area.

"Are you serious?!" Groaned a thug.

She turned around with disdain.

"What?"

The man scoffed. "You're not even finishing us off?"

Elsa looked at him, then the group. "You're not worthy of consideration."

They all grunted in disbelief, not that she had touched their ego, but rather because of how surrealistic it was.

"Stay here, the soldiers will pick you up once this is all over." Said Elsa with a wave, and she casually walked away.

She smirked as she heard the bandits yell and insult each other as they tried to get out of her ice, in vain.

Olaf was having his own little magic act too. Many thugs had tried to kill him after they learned from Hans how emotionally important he was to their targets, but the snowman simply wouldn't die. They tried cutting his head in half, without success, then tried separating his body in parts, also without success, until they gave up and decided to go deal with Arendellian soldiers instead.

However, Olaf was not quite done with them, and he creepily smiled at them when they started to leave. With wide eyes, they realized that he had been hiding a grappling gun behind a rock, and when he pointed the large weapon at them, they feared for their lives.

Further in the battlefield, Kristoff and Anna supported each other for a long moment, grinning as they operated together, until the King noticed that Rapunzel was in a bad situation down the valley. Three thugs were surrounding her with long chains that they twirled around with snarks; despite the Princess' confidence, she clearly was panting with struggle.

The couple exchanged a quick nod and Kristoff quickly went to her rescue. By the time he joined her spot, though, he realized that the Princess wasn't in a bad posture at all; she had purposely made the bandits turn around her so they would twist and knot their chains clumsily.

The three men indeed found themselves trapped by their own attack, their ankles or waists blocked by the links.

Kristoff blinked in astonishment, stopping in his tracks, and she smirked at him after they all fell down dumbly. She twirled her unused battle hammer in her hand and shrugged.

"I know a thing or two about tangled hair."

The King scoffed, and offered his help to tie the thugs' wrists.

Soon, the sisters found each other again on the battlefield. They couldn't tell if it were due to the valley not being that large, or to fate itself that brought the Bridge together. Anyway, it was easy to spot each other in the sea of green, gold and gray that was the crowded mix of armies. The tremendous amount of people fighting and bumping and hitting each other in metal clangs and loud grunts around them was overwhelming, but they managed to smile at each other and check the other's body for injuries.

They quickly worked in a duo and showed great synchronization, despite having radically different fighting styles. Anna always chose close combat while Elsa pointed at enemies from a longer distance and wider range, but this complementarity allowed them to no have been touched a single time by a blade, nor an arrow. They were watching each other's backs, glancing over the sister's shoulder constantly. At some point, they found themselves surrounded, yet didn't feel trapped; they adapted immediately, approaching each other and fighting back to back to avoid any blind spots.

"They'll never cease to amaze me." Breathed out a lieutenant, who was observing them from a calmer area on the battlefield.

Honeymaren, who was next to him since they had just finished fighting against their own group and were having a quick break, followed his gaze.

She smirked when she spotted them. Witnessing the two sisters fight back to back, being as protective as offensive and making their opponents drop like flies, was like looking at a dance.

Why did the two royals need protection again? She thought with amusement.

Also, who was she kidding? Of course the sisters had rehearsed this like a dance. Honeymaren easily imagined them training in the ballroom.

The sisters finished their fight victorious, and she grinned along with them as they did a fist bump.

She then noticed that her girlfriend ran right towards her, and widened her eyes with a slight blush. The brunette was a bit nervous at her behavior. Would her lover be resentful of her observation? When Elsa rushed past her, Honeymaren understood it wasn't for her, and she twirled around. She saw in the distance that Bruni was making flames that were a bit too high.

"He's going to burn our allies if he continues!" Yelled her girlfriend to explain her rush. Her voice was filled with amusement at the Fire Spirit's energy as well as annoyance because the moment was not ideal to scold him. "I'm joining his position. Keep an eye on Anna!"

Honeymaren nodded fiercely. She followed her wish and came to place herself next to the Queen. She watched her back for a long moment, taking down several bandits for her, until suddenly, a group of Arendellian soldiers rushed to them. Honeymaren felt a bit disappointed; she had just started to be the Queen's bodyguard and enjoyed it.

A whistle in the air made her swiftly lift her head to the sky, and she saw that in fact, a rain of arrows was plunging right to them. The expert soldiers slid on the grass right in time and quickly raised their shields to protect them.

Once the arrows finished planting on the steel, Anna thanked her soldiers for protecting her and her friend. At the instant they lowered their shields, though, Honeymaren saw that a wave of bandits was charging them.

"Of course it was part of the strategy." Grumbled the warrior, and the guards took defensive positions.

She twirled to the nearest soldier, noticing that he had five arrows from the enemy planted on the crocus of his shield. "You, put your shield on the ground."

"Excuse me?" Frowned the guard.

"Drop it!" Insisted Honeymaren urgently.

"Do as she says." Ordered Anna, who could see that the Northuldra had a plan, which was good to follow given how fast the bandits were running at them.

The soldier obeyed his Queen and placed the shield with the grip down as indicated by the huntress, while the other men were unsheathing their swords in preparation for the violent impact to come.

Honeymaren slammed her foot down on the shield and pulled off one of the arrows, nocked it on her bowstring, pulled strongly and immediately released. The head of it lodged itself in the eye of one of the attackers, who instantly dropped dead among his crew.

Several soldiers couldn't hold a 'Ooof…' at Honeymaren's skill and the sudden execution, but the Northuldra ignored them modestly and plucked another arrow from the shield, using its load as a vertical quiver. She moved just as quick and hit another thug at the throat. She then saw that one thug was stupid enough to have his torso exposed, and shot an arrow to pierce his liver. She continued to take the men down until there was no arrow left on the Arendellian shield. The last two arrows masterly hit the knee and the forehead of two large pirates, who dropped like moths next to the other running bandits. One of them tripped on a corpse and fell, and the number of upcoming enemies now was easier to handle.

The Arendellians shouted war cries as they placed themselves ready for close combat. Anna patted Honeymaren's shoulder with an admirative smile, then switched to a serious face as she stared at the enemy while twirling her sword, and the Northuldra quickly placed her bow in her back before pulling out the knife at her belt.

'By Ahtohallan, will it feel good to stab you with a traditional Northuldra blade', thought Honeymaren with an intense stare.

Then the impact happened in a mix of yells and metallic sounds.

Anna rolled on the ground, but quickly got on her feet and tried to ignore that the group of bandits had successfully separated her from the rest of her group.

Thankfully, one guard still stood with her. As soon as she thought about it, the soldier launched himself to protect her from another blow, and got hit in the ribs before falling in front of her.

Anna was startled at the sound and widened her eyes when his knees buckled and hit the ground. Thankfully, he touched the ground with his palm before his head, indicating that he was still conscious; however, his breathing was cut, and he groaned as he held his flank in pain.

Her breathing got caught in her lungs. 'No… Not again…'

The bandit laughed out loud, pushing the guard away with his feet, and he fell on his back with a grunt.

"Is that what your army is capable of? Pitiful, you royal bitch!" Roared the man, twirling his axes.

Anna ticked at his sentence, instantly forgetting the state of her ally to stare at him with fire in her eyes; which was exactly what the man sought to light, and he grinned madly.

It was the pirate who had yelled at her next to Hans before the fight began. Since the moment the two of them had their exchange, it was written in the stars that they would face. Anna was very glad about it, actually.

With a yell, she rushed forward and twirled her sword to hit his head. He was a skillful bandit nevertheless, and raised his left axe with a smile, precisely stopping Anna's blade with his.

The shock was so powerful with both of their strengths that it resounded around in a loud bang of steel, and vibrated through Anna's whole arm. The split second she was impacted by it was enough for the pirate to twist his axe and make her drop the sword to the ground.

Then he lowered his other shoulder and she knew that she didn't have a choice; either she bent to retrieve her sword but lost her head, or she ducked the other way to save herself with a roll. She obviously picked the second option, and rolled twice to avoid the violent slam of the second axe on her.

Quickly getting on her feet again, she urged to dodge another blow, wincing in her fast actions and trying to go faster than his fast pace as he continued to try to cut off her limbs.

However, her wince turned to rage as she realized that she couldn't grab her sword back since the clever pirate purposely kept her away from it with his posture. What was the point of leading a battle if she didn't get to be a proper knight?

"You little piece of–"

"Queen Anna!" Yelled a Arendellian soldier arriving on her right, and he was running with two other Arendellians and a Coronan guard.

They were coming to her rescue right on time, and the pirate grunted as he turned to face them. Anna knew that he wouldn't be distracted for long and acted fast.

She slid on her knees to the fallen Arendellian soldier who still was holding his side and rolling in pain on the ground. She grabbed his sword and immediately twirled in the other direction, facing the bandit's back. She jolted her arm forward and within the second, she pierced his coat, skin, ribs and stomach, as well as the other ribs, skin and coat that were in the way when the blade got out of his belly.

The bandit would have howled in horrible pain if it weren't intense enough to keep his breath in his lungs then stopped his brain from functioning in the following second. Anna released the grip of the sword and he collapsed with it, his tall body slamming the ground.

The three soldiers reached her point right then, and skidded as they halted in stupefaction.

For a moment, no words were exchanged between them as they all breathed heavily from the run, and were too stunned by Anna's gesture to do anything else. Then the distant sound of the battlefield became more present to their ears, and they looked at what surrounded them.

Anna gestured to Eugene and Kristoff a few meters further who seemed to be overcome. After checking on her, who paradoxically was looking great, one of the Arendellian soldiers and the Coronan one runned to help.

The remaining guard walked to the Queen and offered his hand. She nodded and grabbed it, and he helped her stand again.

Without a word, and still panting, Anna walked to her sword and retrieved it, brushing her eyebrows under her helmet to prevent the sweat of her forehead from falling into her eyes.

"So… I suppose that I am dismissed?" Asked the guard.

Anna blinked. "Uh?"

She then composed herself, and turned around. She was so overwhelmed with everything that had happened and unsettled by his question that she forgot her royal manners.

"I'm sorry, what do you mean?"

"Am I fired?" Said the soldier with a small smile, astonished by the situation.

The redhead was confused.

"I can see that I'm not very useful." He explained. "You seem to know very well how to defend yourself on your own, Your Majesty."

A silence passed, until Anna's lips eventually stretched in a smile. "Thank you."

She then looked at him more seriously. "But no. You are not dismissed. You did an incredible job coming to my rescue."

'If you hadn't come, I'd be dead by now. You provided an excellent distraction.' She thought, but kept that to herself.

"I owe you." She simply said, and the man bowed.

"May I still stand by your side from now on, even as a shadow?" He asked, though his tease was mixed with serious devotion. She once again smiled a bit.

He was trying - and succeeding - to lift her mood after the adrenaline rush of the moment, and she was grateful.

"Absolutely."

Anna then looked at the edge of the valley, where Rapunzel had placed the medical teams so that they were sheltered by the trees.

"Please help me carry this brave man to the emergency troops." She said, indicating the suffering soldier next to them.

"At your service."

As they moved the guard away, the Queen looked around, trying to locate the few redheads in the crowd of fighters.

'Where is that bastard?' She thought with anger, looking for Hans. 'You better not hide somewhere, I intend to use my new sword on you.'

However, when Anna arrived at the group of healers and physicians and quickly asked for news before heading back to the battlefield as soon as possible, she was struck with great disappointment. Rumor was, according to front-line injured soldiers, that Hans actually wasn't participating in the fight. The guards attested of it between two grunts of pain, and the Queen fulminated. They had fought Hans' personal men so close they could see the white of their eyes, and it was clear to their expert analysis that he didn't train to fight at all. He likely waited for the battle to get messy to escape, or at least retreat to the back.

"Exactly like during the Collapse." Grumbled Anna. "He sent the crew first, and fled as soon as it became a bit too dangerous to him. What a coward."

The guards couldn't agree more. Firstly, because they had honor, and secondly, because they were the ones currently wounded, while he surely was observing the status of the battle from afar.

Anna roared with rage and twirled around to plant her sword in a tree, surprising everyone in the brisk outburst, when just as suddenly, she stopped her blade. It stopped a centimeter away from the bark of the tree, slightly moving up and down as Anna was panting from the effort of the fight and deep anger. She closed her eyes, inhaled and exhaled deeply, and lowered her sword. The medical teams and injured soldiers looked at her with wide eyes.

"I killed enough men for a lifetime, no need to take down a tree too." She murmured.

The simple thought brought flashes to her mind, horrible memories from the Collapse burning her eyes and new ones from the man she had just killed promising to stay in her soul for a long, long time.

She had a queasy feeling but masked it from the soldiers, quickly gulping and breathing deeply. No. She had to be strong.

"Ma'am, do you need help?" Suggested a Coronan healer, who had cleverly observed her behavior. He couldn't judge her; despite the reputation of the Queen as being a fierce person, nobody was ever ready for war. He was well placed to know it; he didn't just heal physical wounds.

Anna gulped, and turned to him with a forced smile. "I'm fine."

The others exchanged glances, and this time she was the one to notice.

"...But I suppose that a five minute break can do me some good." She sighed.

Small smiles appeared on the faces that surrounded her, and the guard who had walked with her lifted his sword and shield to protect her with his life while she sat down for a moment.

Eugene fell to the ground but quickly and skillfully grabbed the thug's ankle to tug it and make him fall to the ground. He grunted in pain when he hit the grass, and the Prince smirked as he stood up again and made sure that he was the only one of the two men who would.

He placed his boot over his torso, and the stunned thug gritted his teeth at him. His eyes then drifted to the side, and Eugene was experienced enough in traps to know that there was a plan. He tilted just in time to avoid being hit by the mace of another pirate, who appeared behind him. He however stumbled, and was glad that Kristoff was right there to help him up.

The bandit twirled his mace at the sight of their friendship, his other hand on his hip.

"Oh, come on, you royals. You really think that you can beat us? We have more experience, more skills. What are you going to fight with? Your silver spoon?" Laughed the man.

A few friends of his overheard him, and laughed along. Eugene and Kristoff clenched their jaws at the tease, and remained close to each other.

"As a matter of fact, neither of us was born with one." Retorted the Prince.

The bandits ignored his reply and slowly turned around them, like predators playing with their preys.

"Seriously, you think you'll be the winners today? Use your head, you morons. This is the end for you." Said another pirate.

Right away, he attacked Eugene with his spear, and the Prince quickly countered it; the movement made Kristoff turn, but he didn't get the time to check on him before another bandit cleverly jumped on him too. He raised his arm a bit too late, and the thug caught it in his steel glove in a tinkling of chains. He grinned, and expected Kristoff's next move, which was to use his other hand to knock his temple, as he wasn't wearing any helmet. The bandit's anticipation was correct, and he easily stopped both of the King's hands.

"What are you gonna do now, sir?" Puffed the man.

Kristoff frowned. His hands taken, he only found one solution left. With a grunt, he briskly moved his skull forward and headbutted the bandit.

The powerful blow stunned him, and his eyes rolled up before he fainted at her feet.

"Huh!" Puffed Kristoff, smirking with pride at how efficient it was.

When he looked up again, he met Eugene's wide eyes.

"What the hell was that?" Scoffed the Prince.

He smiled with a shrug. "I used my head."

Anna had just come back to the battlefield and was observing her husband and her friend finishing to take down the pirates, and she grinned at the naivety of the bandits to have thought that they stood a chance. She however was shocked by Kristoff's technique.

'Okay, that's definitely worth ten more points in the count.' Thought the redhead with amusement.

She kept staring at him, undeniably turned on.

"Anna!" Yelled a familiar voice, and she turned to meet her sister, who quickly came to put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?! Did you need medical assistance?"

The Queen blinked. "What? Uh, yes. I mean, no."

She figured that her elder had seen her come back from the healing troops.

"You seemed stunned. Is your head injured?"

Anna blinked again, confused. "...I'm fine."

"You take an awfully long time to answer." Noted Elsa.

"Hey, that's mean."

"Sorry, but you seemed elsewhere when I arrived."

Anna gasped when she finally grasped the issue.

"Oooh, no, that's because of Kris– Nevermind."

She blushed a bit, not daring to say what likely made her stare in the distance like an idiot.

"How are you?" She asked back.

"Good, good. I just had to deal with a very elated–"

"Duck!"

Elsa had meant salamander, and frowned at Anna's reply. Was there a duck on the battlefield? She felt worried for the animal when suddenly, her sister grabbed her shoulder and forced her to dodge.

They clumsily avoided at the last second the throw of a halberd that whooshed through the air above their heads. The weapon planted on the ground and vibrated from the shock, showing Elsa how close she had been to losing her head.

"Ahtohallan's sake, thank you."

Anna patted her back, as relieved as her, and they tried to spot the sender of the halberd. However, it was a distraction, and a thug suddenly arrived in Elsa's blind spot. He jumped to stab the Queen with his dagger, but both sisters were in a bad position to counter his attack…

Then suddenly a blur of green flashed in front of Anna and someone grabbed the crook of the man's elbow in their run, jolting him in the movement and making him drop the weapon. The bandit barely had the time to frown that he got violently hit at the nose, then the crotch, and he stumbled backwards with a squeak of pain before fainting to the ground.

The sisters widened their eyes at the soldier who had just protected them. When he turned around, they realized that it was no man.

"Evy!" Exclaimed Anna.

The woman smirked, then nodded in respect but with a sassy twirl of the wrist. "Your Majesty."

The Queen chuckled. "I'm happy to see you. I didn't realize you were in the army already, I didn't even spot you in the troops!"

"Your speech was too great earlier for me to dare cut it with a wave when you passed by me." Smiled the woman.

Anna grinned, and Elsa lifted a curious eyebrow at their familiarity. She wasn't surprised however; Anna could befriend anyone.

"STOP!" Suddenly shouted a strong voice, further up.

They turned to the source, trying to see if there was any danger. The man who called for attention was a tall and strong bandit, and he stood on the top of a hill.

"It's over!" He yelled, holding something white that wriggled in his arms.

It was the size of his chest, and they all wondered what it was, even the soldiers who therefore interrupted their fighting, squinting their eyes to see despite the distance. The white thing didn't look like a weapon, but was made out of three consecutive parts, and Elsa and Anna were confused at what it could be.

"I have the Snow Queen's creature hostage! Everybody drop your weapons!"

Elsa frowned in confusion. The sisters turned to each other.

"Your creature?" Repeated Anna.

The Spirit tried to think, then realized why the three shapes were familiar. "Ooohhh, he has Olaf."

"Ooohhh."

Elsa turned to the man with a grin, and raised her hands on each side of her face to yell back. "Sorry, but you're his prisoner!"

Anna giggled.

The thug was confused. Olaf finally managed to get free of his hands, by the simple method of splitting his body and head apart, then recomposing after he fell on the ground.

"Uh?" Blinked the man.

"Yep., you're screwed! He's practically indestructible!" Announced Anna with the same shouting method.

The thug's gaze switched from the Queen to the creature, and he startled when he saw the scolding frown that the snowman made.

"It's very mean to hold people hostage, you know?"

Out of ideas and acting entirely by instinct, the bandit planted his sword vertically in Olaf's head, the force of his blow slicing the snow head in two at the top. The snowman's eyes looked at the blade right above his nose, making him squint.

"Waow. You're also very rude. I wasn't done talking."

The pirate grunted in panic and kicked the snowman with his feet, Olaf rolling backwards at the shock. He however started to find his members back, in a creepy way that made the thug squeak. He grabbed back his sword from Olaf's head while he was busy recovering the part of his body that moved on its own with waving twig arms. The snowman then placed his buttons back correctly and shook his head to reform the snow of his face at his will and fill the sliced chunk.

"Lucky I don't have a skull."

He paused for a second.

"Where did my hair go…?" He mumbled, looking around for where it might have dropped.

The thug was shaking in fear, and pointed his sword at him, but the blade trembled and wasn't worrying at all. His mouth was twisted with panic.

"Ah! There it is." Happily chirped Olaf, then he placed the tiny twigs back on top of his head. "I'm all about growing up, but going bald might be too soon." He added, snorting at his own joke.

He then turned to the trembling thug. "Where were we?"

Elsa and Anna heard the bandit scream in the distance, and both winced.

"Yep. He's the victim in this situation." Attested the Spirit.

Anna turned to her. "I actually pity the poor man. Olaf can be talkative to death."

Elsa snorted. "Come on, let's go up there to help him, and hit a few men on our way."

"You got it." Grinned Anna, twirling her sword.

She gestured to Evy to follow them, and she obeyed, the three women returning to seriousness after that absurd interlude.

As they ran through the battlefield, Anna took more careful measures than ever, not wanting another surprise attack in a blind spot. Her eyes darted left and right, and she spotted a beige tunic running towards them.

"Looks like your girlfriend is joining us." Smiled the redhead.

Elsa turned and frowned when she saw that Honeymaren actually was followed. She tilted her head. "And she brought gifts."

Anna stopped running and twirled her sword at the sight of the bandits the Northuldra was bringing their way. "Aw, did my birthday come early?"

Elsa and Evy smirked, and took positions, getting ready to help Honeymaren.

The confrontation was intense and long and Evy sadly ended up badly injured at the leg. Anna made her a promise to help her find Rapunzel, and helped her walk to her friend when she spotted her in the messy crowd. Elsa did cover shots with hail while Anna exposed herself as she crossed a part of the valley with the wounded woman to the magical healer.

Danger was away for both lovers now that the enemies were down, and Honeymaren and the Spirit took some time to breathe. However, the situation caught up with them and more thugs ran to the pair. It didn't help that Elsa's bright outfit sparkled in the daylight and made her an easy target, but Honeymaren loved her style too much to make a comment.

The Snow Queen placed herself in front of her girlfriend, and inspected the speed, number and fighting style of the men who yelled at their approach. Some of them had spears, some had helmets, some had pistols… Elsa quickly established a plan and was ready to act when she heard a tingling in her mind.

She looked at something in the air, or rather, sensed it prior, but wanted to check visually. Hurriedly, she turned around to Honeymaren, and lifted her palm.

"Hold my hand."

Her girlfriend snorted, her eyes still on the approaching enemies. "Do you really think now is the time to get sentimental?"

"Grab my hand!" Exclaimed the Spirit.

The brunette found her urgency weird, but consented with a sigh.

Suddenly, she felt an immense gust of wind behind her and it instantly blew her hair in a mess and jolted her up and forward in the air.

"WOAH!"

She grunted in surprise as Gale sweeped up everyone in the whole area in a tornado, propelling away the pirates that had planned to kill them. Thankfully, a second before the Wind Spirit blasted, Elsa had slammed her feet down and attached her legs to the ground with a thick layer of ice that spreaded from her knees to her heels and several meters on the ground. She firmly held Honeymaren thanks to their linked hands, and if she didn't, the Northuldra would have flown away along the screaming thugs.

The brunette floated in the air like a flag tossed by the wind while the wind still blew, but she was strongly held by Elsa who had her arm lifted to the sky.

When the wind eventually calmed down and Gale did a scoffing tingle before leaving to help her fellows, the thugs dropped like flies one after another, bouncing or slamming on the ground.

Elsa gently received Honeymaren in her arms despite the brutal return of gravity. She held her bridal style while their hair was still a bit tousled by the wind, and grinned at her, especially at the mix of astonishment and love on her girlfriend's face.

The Spirit deposited her on the ground, and Honeymaren put her hands on her forearms.

"Okay, I was not expecting that." She exhaled, panting in shock.

Elsa had a grin, and she tucked her lover's strands of hair behind her ears, before removing the twigs and dust in it.

"Me neither, but it was a good idea from her. The attack we were about to face was unexpected too." She admitted, vanishing the ice at her feet.

"Please thank the Wind Spirit for me."

"Already did. And she sensed your gratitude."

Honeymaren admired her lover for a moment, and Elsa smiled back, though she felt a bit nervous now that they were face to face and her chestnut eyes landed on her in the silence. Well, metaphorically, as the battle still was roaring around them.

"Wait, why didn't you freeze my legs like you did with yours?" Frowned the Northuldra.

Elsa had a wince. "I'm not a fan of freezing someone else's body parts."

Honeymaren nodded. "Yeah. Got it."

She then had a loving smile with a blush, a feature which rarely appeared on her cheeks. In fact, it was so surprising that it became contagious, and Elsa blushed in turn.

"Thank you for that amazing act, mitt lys. It was… Fantastic. I have no other way to say it." Said the brunette lovingly.

Elsa smiled warmly.

Honeymaren was so starstruck that her huntress senses had come to none, and the Spirit noticed over her shoulder that a pirate was pointing at the back of her head with his gun. Trying her best to not show any panic, she put her forearms on Honeymaren's shoulders and sent a blast of magic in the distance, freezing the weapon to his hand in a block of ice so he couldn't use it nor his hand anymore. The man grunted in reaction at the heavy block that weighed his arm down. He frowned and ran forward to them with a yell, but she quickly flicked her wrist and sprayed ice on the ground below his feet. He slipped and fell head first, then lost consciousness.

Elsa switched her furious frown to a smile as she parted from the hug and held Honeymaren's cheeks. "Anytime."

Yes, they were in a battle, but she wouldn't let anyone interrupt the precious moment they were having.

Despite the number of pirates decreasing at a glance, the battle went on for a longer time than Elsa had thought it would go. The bandits were resilient, tough, and while it was predictable given their character and jobs, it didn't make it any less difficult.

Using her magic and communicating with the Spirits actually started to tire Elsa, and it wasn't just actual tiredness. She had fought and coordinated for what felt like days, and the sound of metal bangs and screams around her started to make her ears ring.

One one hand, she was psychologically exhausted to fight, done with the multiple thugs trying to take her life, and angry that the bandits kept charging at the people she cared about. But on the other hand, she was nauseous at the sight of so many kills made by her side on the pirates. It may be the point, as the allies only spilled blood to defend the royals, but Anna had been right when the sisters had talked about the Collapse's events; nobody was ever prepared to see so much of it.

'If I don't do anything, it will go on forever…' Thought Elsa worriedly, looking around. She then looked at the valley, the forest, the lands. 'What will happen next? What about the future of the tribe? Of Arendelle? What about the kids?'

She internally gasped as she pictured the tremendous impact the battle had, and could have even more.

Elsa also soon couldn't bear to feel her fellow Spirits burn, drown or push away the enemies. She felt their rage towards her kind, since despite being magical, she also was human, and was devastated to understand their point of view.

She sighed. She wanted it to end.

But not in a giving up way. Not in a bad way either. In a right way.

What she needed was to find an idea to scare the thugs off. To make them stop fighting, to incite them to drop their weapons... But how could one expect bandits to surrender?

She frowned, looking down as she thought deeply.

Wait… The future of Arendelle… The kids… A solution to impress the enemies…

The Fifth Spirit suddenly widened her eyes, struck by an idea.

She turned to her girlfriend, who was busy picking up her victims' arrows.

"Honey, I have a plan. But I need to communicate with all of the Spirits, and it might take a moment. Can you watch my back in the meantime?"

The brunette grinned. "Always."

She watched her beloved run to where Nokk was, and observed as the blonde seemed to tell him something, then attracted the attention of Gale, and gathered two Giants to listen to her. Honeymaren didn't get the time to see if Bruni also participated in what looked like a clever urgent reunion of Spirits, for she heard a large group of bandits running to Elsa with war cries.

"We can do it, guys! She's on her own!" Yelled the man in lead, brandishing a sword, and the others snarked.

An arrow came to plant in the ground in front of them, and they slowed down their run. Honeymaren rapidly walked to them with her bow taunt with another arrow, ready to shoot several others in a row if they continued to go in Elsa's direction.

"Not so fast."

They all stopped, but not in fear, rather in mockery.

"What, you think you're a match for us? We're the clique of the West, Northuldra." Said the man with the sword, nearly spitting the last word in denigration.

Honeymaren lifted an eyebrow. "Am I supposed to be impressed by that stupid name?"

They got offended by her nerve, and they exchanged glances, taking a common decision to kill her before reaching the Snow Queen.

"There's ten of us, kid. What are you gonna do?" Blurted another man.

"I know how to count. What I'm gonna do is simply teach you a lesson."

Honeymaren put her bow away in her back, and grabbed her staff which was attached right next to it. She twirled the stick around, so skillfully that several thugs widened their eyes in genuine concern.

Done with her confidence, the rest of them rushed forward to jump on her, and Honeymaren yelled back as she moved into action.

Some time later, ten thugs were on the ground, the clique of the West no more.

"Peh." Mocked Honeymaren, twirling her staff.

She then teasingly counted their whining bodies out loud one by one as they all rolled with painful grunts.

"You… Grimy…" Started their chief with a frown at her humor, but she didn't let him finish, immediately hitting him at the crotch with her staff.

She then put it back, and heard familiar footsteps approaching.

"What the–"

Elsa's astonished voice made her turn. The Spirit was looking at the bodies with wide eyes. A bit winded, but proud, Honeymaren grinned at her face, then she tilted her head.

"What happened? Did you succeed in what you were planning to do?"

Elsa blinked, and nodded a bit absentmindedly. "Uh, yes. I told the Spirits and now I'm on my way to do it. I'll be right back. I just… Wanted to check on you first, but it doesn't seem to be useful."

She then breathed out in disbelief. "What the heck happened here? Did you take all of them on your own?"

Honeymaren, who was busy placing her belt correctly after being grabbed multiple times and making sure that the Northuldra hexagon would be in the front again, smiled at her lover's genuine stupefaction.

"Why yes. You asked me to watch your back, no?"

The blonde grinned, and walked around the bodies to join her. Without any warning, she grabbed her lover's cheeks and kissed her tenderly. Honeymaren still had a fast heart rate from the effort, and Elsa's passionate kiss nearly made her faint.

Her eyes fluttered dreamily when the blonde stepped back with a smile. When Honeymaren's consciousness went back to normal, and she fully blinked, the blonde was gone, on her way to do whatever plan she had in mind. But it was a brilliant mind, and the brunette wasn't worried, only curious.

She observed her surroundings and climbed up a small hill to examine the battlefield.

The Northuldra had trouble distinguishing the good from the bad guys, even though the Arendellian soldiers clearly were wearing green uniforms like Mattias' team did all those years and the Coronan sported golden armors. It was due to the fact the bandits had multicolored outfits, and often grabbed the soldiers to fight. It didn't help that her own tribe wore beige. Actually, suddenly thought Honeymaren, she could find her next targets by scanning black clothing. The bandits were the only one to wear that color.

She grinned in warrior excitement, and pulled out the arrows she had just collected to place them at her feet. She took the time to clean the blood and flesh parts on them, knowing that the metal would be sharper that way, thanking her own experience in butchering to not be disgusted by her own act. She then looked down the valley again to spot a group of bandits, and notched a first arrow.

Elsa cracked her fingers from where she was, an isolated spot whispered to her mind by Gale, who had an ensemble vision of the battlefield.

'Are you sure about this?' Asked one last time the Wind Spirit, who twirled above her.

"Certain." Smiled Elsa, not even bothering answering mentally, for they were alone in this part of the valley.

She needed to keep every ounce of magic in her veins anyway.

Bruni scurried at her feet, and at the exact same time, Nokk appeared in a trot. Elsa wondered if the two, usually squabbling like children because of their opposite personalities, actually had been fighting side by side at some point. When she had come to them to explain her plan, Nokk was giving thugs strong hits with his hooves that took their breath away - he had mentally thanked Elsa for leaving him in ice form - and Bruni was burning bandits' butts.

The Fifth Spirit deeply hoped that they had enough magic left for what they were about to do.

'Who am I kidding.' She thought, grinning. 'They're the Spirits of Nature. They're as powerful as life.'

She focused and took a powerful breath in, closing her eyes. Then she opened them with a breath out and a resolute expression, crouching to slam her palms on the ground below her. The Earth Spirit immediately answered her trigger and joined their force to hers, magically and physically; the whole area below trembled, rising and transforming while Elsa did her best to keep her balance. Gale helped, and the Water and Fire Spirit placed themselves exactly like the blonde had ordered them to do. They obeyed the Fifth Spirit's plan to perfection, but Elsa forced herself to focus and not let her emotional leader pride take over.

'Okay.' She sighed, focusing one last time. She then smirked. 'I agree and respect that the Spirits can't hurt humans in a war between them, but…It doesn't mean that I can't use my power to frighten the enemy.'

She twirled and gathered the energy of the four Spirits around her, tunneling them to her own energy.

In one sweeping movement, the Wind, Fire, Water and Earth Spirits turned into diamonds floating in the air, and projected their colored shadows on the ground.

Blue, pink, turquoise and purple hues appeared, then became beams, stretching vertically and bending to join the tall beacon of white light Elsa had become at the center.

The five lights attracted everyone's attention by the bright colors they projected and the blow created by their powerful magic. Soldiers, warriors as well as bandits interrupted their fight to widen their eyes.

Anna, Kristoff, Honeymaren, Ryder, Rapunzel, Eugene and Olaf all lowered their weapons in awe.

Then the wide beams of light mixed and transformed into a wide cloud of smoke on the ground where Elsa had been standing.

A few seconds of silence passed, and everyone kept staring to observe the thick and mysterious fog. Suddenly, the smoke blasted apart and away and a majestic, divine and spine-chilling creature appeared.

A dragon.

Anna's jaw dropped at the sight, and Honeymaren almost fainted.

Whether they were Elsa's allies or enemies, all got stunned by the sudden and impressive apparition of the mythical beast, and it was so huge that it took at least a fifth of the battlefield on its own. Nearby thugs had to run away to avoid being knocked over by its body.

The dragon proudly roared, and everyone startled as its clamor echoed through the whole valley, maybe even reaching the Northuldra camp and Arendelle. The creature snarled at the group of thugs who still struggled to find a way between its gigantic legs, and it spat out long and thick pink flames towards them. They shrieked and tried to escape it, but thankfully for them it was a warning shot. They rolled on the ground to stop their capes from burning.

Elsa stretched out her arms from inside the dragon in place of its heart and the beast spread its wings. The action revealed how astoundingly large they were; they weren't made of skin nor membrane but out of clouds, by the combination of Gale and Nokk's powers. The scales of the dragon's joints and body were made of the densest rock possible, thick as it was formed with the most solid gemstones in the world, and its claws were sharper than anything, enough to make the best obsidian blacksmiths envious.

The mythical best let out another mighty roar. Never in her entire twenty six years of existence did Elsa feel this powerful. Not even when she stepped in, or rode out of Ahtohallan. Not even when she stopped the tidal wave to protect Arendelle. In fact, this tidal wave genuinely felt like a splash made with a nudge of the foot in a puddle compared to the feeling roaming through her in this very instant.

She felt everyone staring at her with wide eyes. It was even more seizing as a sensation than the looks she had got during her coronation, and those she received during a show of her magic.

Elsa appreciated it but now wasn't the time to parade. She had set herself an objective, and she knew that she didn't have much time in this form. She needed to… Well, she needed to fly away.

'Waow. I can't believe I'm about to do that.' She thought, the wish to be as free as a bird quite recurrent in her life.

Elsa found her thinking weird. Thinking may never be tangible, it felt even less tangible than usual. And yet, it had never felt more real.

'That's because we're with you.' Said a voice, and yet, for once it wasn't a voice, and not a feeling either, it was like it came from her core, but Elsa recognized it as being the Earth Spirit.

'And we'll not leave your side.'

'Never ever!'

'And now it's time for you to soar.'

Elsa internally smiled as she recognized Nokk, Bruni and Gale encouraging and supporting her physically and magically. And the second she smiled, she realized that the dragon smiled too.

On that incredible feeling, she lifted the wings of the dragon, before instinctively flapping them like a bat. The fighters gasped and shouted as they found themselves stumbling backwards when huge movements of air were created, and the magnificent creature took off.

In a few slaps, Elsa found herself far above the battlefield and soon saw the armies as tiny as ants. She looked down with amazement.

'Gods, I love magic.'

She had become one with the Spirits and it felt incredible.

Suddenly, Elsa became aware of a sensation deep in her core, which roamed her whole soul in delight.

She could feel every single blade of grass around like it was growing on her own skin and tingling her. Each of her heartbeats felt like an earthquake; each of her breaths in felt like a powerful breeze; each of her breaths out felt like she exhaled ardent fire; and all the water in her body flowed like a river with a strong current.

Elsa mentally dropped her jaw at the thousands of sensations that went through her, and she was thankful of having the Spirits also playing their parts in both giving her their powers and harnessing them, otherwise she simply would have lost her mind.

She had the sensation to be the dragon herself and move around at her free will, but also to be in charge of the four Spirits at the exact same time. It was like being a puppeteer and metamorphosing at the same time, and Elsa felt like being in another plane of existence.

Though she wasn't someone else, or something else. She was herself. Herself, beyond.

When she wanted to lift her left hand - which now was a wing - the move was made before she even finished thinking about it. She was amazed by the experience. By fusioning with the other Spirits, her brain gained new connections, new speed, new velocity. Her synapses communicated faster, and her nerves received stimuli and information with more electrical energy than before.

She let her power explode. The dragon spat out flames larger than Bruni had ever made; each flexible twist the creature made while it flew around clicked its thick scales in a clattering that could be heard even on the ground, ground which trembled in echo to the Earth magic skin of the dragon. Every time it flapped its wings, tremendous whirlwinds swirled through the air and tousled the hair of everyone in the battlefield, helmets flying away. Surprised cries vanished in the strong wind while other warriors had their breath taken away. Nokk mentally insisted on combining his specialty with Elsa to form huge ice spikes at the end of the dragon's tail like a mace, but she internally smiled and shook her head as she declined his suggestion.

There was no need to make anything more. It already was a huge lot.

Protecting her homeland from a flow was an incredible experience, but the one Elsa was living now, as she looked down at the whole battlefield filled with a thousand people, could only be qualified as out of this world.

'Now,' she mused, her eyes glowing bright white with power. 'It's time to show the power of Nature.'

She felt the intense pride from her fellows and internally smirked. However, the raw energy was so dense that it had a negative side. Its range was insane, and she thought her brain was about to explode, her soul a hundred times bigger than normal, the magic roaming through her that usually was a gentle stream now sounding like a waterfall. All of it was mental, and she did her best to keep a grasp on reality and focus on the task at hand. It was a good thing she was a pacifist, for anyone aiming to take control over the world with such power would have lost their mind and themselves in the process.
The five Spirits were one. Only one. Elsa could feel Bruni's speed in her feet. She could feel the Giants' robustness in her muscles. She could see further than she ever saw with Gale's acute senses. She could sense every single drop of water in the sky thanks to Nokk.

It was like she had become a goddess, who could accomplish miracles in a snap. Not only was she having a lot of fun, but her plan to frighten the enemies fully worked. From paralyzed to terrified, some fled and tripped and fell, others lost their balance with the tremendous wind of the wings flaps from the dragon that threw a shadow over them, others curled on the ground in submission as the creature loomed, and the rest of them were still standing but had peed their pants.

Elsa had felt with the Earth Spirit's power that all had dropped down their weapons. She smiled from the point of view she had. With a vision of the whole valley, she could watch the Arendellians and Coronans taking the advantage, pointing at the crying pirates with their blades.

It was spectacular to the eyes of her allies on the ground; they had never tied up so many people in so little time. Some of the bandits were difficult to tie up though; not because they refused, but because they were busy praying in apology, muttering excuses as if the Spirits were judging them personally for their sins.

Despite what Hans had told them, the vast majority of the army of pirates actually always had been scared to death of the magical forces of Nature. After all, hearing scary tales about them while sailing wasn't in their favor, especially when they considered the sea as an actual person, temperamental and moody. They would always respect Nokk now.

Elsa mentally had a satisfied smile as she looked over the valley. She was hundreds of meters in the sky and would have to squint to see her family and friends' facial expressions, but she could tell from their body language that they were stupefied, in awe at the majestic presence of the fusion of the Spirits above them.

It was like the dragon had descended from above, bringing salvation, and Elsa smiled back at what she guessed was beaming grins on Anna's and Honeymaren's faces.

They did it.

They won.