"All right here is the plan." Robin laid out a map on the ground of the terrain that Sergial made for them. It was pretty detailed and Robin was glad that they had it. "We know the placement of the Risen so this is how we will go."
The map showed a long cylinder shaped hill with smooth inclines on the long sides of the hill. The two ends of the hill were completely different from each other. One had an abrupt drop for a steep slope while the other was triangular in shape with a gentle slope. Some may have said that it looked like a ship but no ship was that big. The structure that the archaeologist was excavating was close to the part of the hill that had the triangular shape inclined. The Risen were gathered in this area in front of the doors to the building.
"The first line of charge will be the swordsmen, followed by knights to pick off stragglers as the swordsmen push forward. Chrom will lead this force as it is the brute force of this attack and will draw the enemies attention." Robin pointed at the triangular end of the hill to show what they were to do. Robin then points to the left side of the hill. "This will be our first flank maneuver and will happen at the same time as the main attack."
Robin pointed his finger hard at that position.
"This is where the archers are located, we can not use the aerial units we have while those are here. This charge will be done by our cavalry units led by Frederick, Sully, and Stahl.." Robin then brought the people's attention to the back of the hill. "Once the majority of those are cleared, we send our pegasus knights, led by Sumia, soar in from the blind side of the structure."
Robin then circled the structure.
"Here the pegasus knights will drop off our archers and mages where they can wreak havoc on the enemies backside while the pegasus knights swoop in." Robin leaned back as everyone looked over their positions. "That is the first step of the plan, the next part involves going into the structure. We will decide once we get there how to proceed. Any questions?"
There was a long pause of no one saying anything. They seemed to know what they needed to do.
"Good." Robin rolled up the map. "Now, everybody go into position."
Everyone scattered from there and went to their positions. The swordsmen and knights were first to get into position at the base of the triangular portion of the hill. The cavalry soon followed in suit and got into battle stance for a charge. Robin was giving thirty minutes for the pegasus knights to encircle the enemy and get in their spot as they had the longest to go and most likely to get spotted. This left the swordsmen and knights to wait a little bit for the moment to charge.
"I wish we had some to lead the knights in the back. It would be hard for us if we charge up the hill and find ourselves surrounded before everyone completes their task." Robin complained about the flaw in his strategy to Chrom, Lon'qu, and Vaike, away from the other soldiers. "Someone who can sneak around secure a kill while the swordsmen and warriors focus on the charge."
"Guess that means Teach has to stay behind and guard your backs." Vaike volunteered himself proudly as he pointed his thumb at himself. "You're in good hands with the Teach at your back. Hey, has anyone seen my axe?"
"Thank you for your willingness to help but we need you for the charge." Robin gave a worried smile as he thought of leaving a delicate task to the man who forgot his axe was behind the tree he was standing in front of.
"Gotcha! You need muscles for the charge and Vaike will deliver muscles." Vaike found his axe as he gave a grin back to Robin, oblivious to Robin's nervous smile.
"What about that kid, Donnel, wasn't it." Lon'qu spoke up, suggesting the farm boy that they had picked up after saving his village. "He seems pretty tough and can be stealthy."
"I agree but I believe he is too inexperienced to handle it." Robin shook his head. "He could in the near future but he needs to build experience. I need someone who is used to the battlefield already."
"I guess that means I can do it." A voice popped up out of nowhere.
Everyone jumped a little, but did not make any verbal noise, as they saw a fully armored knight standing right next to them.
"Kellam, when did you get here?" Robin exclaimed at the newcomer into the conversation.
"I have been here the whole time, trying to get your attention that I could lead the knights." Kellam notified what he had been trying to do to get their attention, even giving Vaike his axe.
"I see, I guess I can leave the knights in your capable hands." Robin said. It really was the best choice to give the invisible knight to lead the other knights to clean up after the first wave. "Go down to the knights and inform them of who is leading them."
"Will do." Kellam turned around and disappeared from view practically instantly. Robin realized that the problem was fixed, leaving for Kellam to somehow get the attention of the other knights.
Five minutes had passed and everyone was lined up in the trees ready to charge. The Risen seemed to have undead in the watch position, clear indication that they were being led by someone, but the watch duty was light. They did not seem to be prepared for a force like the Shepherds to arrive. This made this plan perfect for this occasion, if they were uncontrolled, they would be scouting the forest.
"All right!" Chrom whispered as he looked down the line of men in the trees. Chrom looked at Robin, who was holding a small hourglass that had the top nearly empty. Once it dropped the last of the sand, Robin looked at Chrom.
"CHARGE!" Chrom screamed a war yell and ran up the hill.
The Risen looked in confusion as a few dozen swordsmen and warriors were blitzing out of the forest up the hill with about ten knights behind them. They would have charged down the hill to meet them but they turned their heads to the right to see about twenty cavalry units charging towards their right flank up the hill as well, yelling in unison. They were being controlled but they were still Risen in nature to check and see what the other noise was, that moment glance was all that the swordsmen and warriors needed to close the distance between them and the undead to no longer create the uphill advantage.
"Return to the realm of the dead, demon spawn." Chrom slashed the head of the first Risen in single stroke as he charged past it's fallen body to slash the chest of the next Risen, followed by a stab to a third. This was Chrom's blade dance.
"YYAAHH!" Robin gave a leaping undercut at his first Risen followed by a stabbing charge at the next one. Robin was doing his best to keep up with Chrom as carried a noble rage against these slaughters of the innocent. Robin had to throw some thunder and fire into the mix just to keep up with the destruction Chrom was doing to the Risen.
The cavalry were doing well from what robin could see from his position. He presumed that the signal would be sent out soon to call the pegasus knights. Once they came, at the rate they were going, victory was assured. They just had to watch out for their right flank from being scooped around and encircled before the support arrived.
"Slow down a little" Robin slashed at a Risen that fell to his iron sword. "The rest of the troops need to catch up to us."
"RRAAAAA!" Chrom did a huge circular sweep to cut down two Risen and push back the rest. This created a moment's rest for two as the Risen surrounded the leaders of the charge. Robin and Chrom then stood back to back, in a fighting stance, to face the six or so Risen that had encircled them and were preparing to attack. They were a few yards away from the entrance of the structure they were trying to reach.
"Do you think it was a good idea to slow down when we're in a position like this." Chrom breathed hard as raised his concern to the tactician. He was glancing back and forth to each other the Risen, seeing who would attack first, as the two circled slowly in the middle against each other back to throw the foes off.
"Of course." Robin smiled. "See."
Fwooosh!
A single fire spell soared into the sky and exploded. It was the signal. The Risen looked up at the sudden light that appeared in the sky, wondering what it was for and if it was coming at them. That created the opportunity for the trapped leaders of the Shepherds.
"NOW!" Robin screamed and lunged forward and stabbed a Risen in the chest.
Chrom followed suit and struck the Risen in front of him. Soon, the two of them seemed to be in a choreographed dance as they moved about each other, ducking and swerving out of the way of each other to trade blows with the Risen. They made quick work of the Risen that had the upper hand just a moment ago.
"HHAAAA!" The two yelled in unison as they chomped the last of the Risen in a perfect synced cross slash. The last of those six pesky Risen that had encircled them were defeated.
But they were wrong, there were indeed seven Risen in that group.
The last Risen of that group had fled and was charging straight into the entrance of the massive structure. The undead had reached the doors and was about to move deep into it's dark depths.
"Quick!" Robin waved for Chrom to follow him as he ran after the retreating Risen. "We need to stop him! There might be reinforcements inside the building that he is calling for!"
"Right behind you!" Chrom ran behind Robin as he gave chase to the undead monster. Chrom caught up to his friend as they entered the structure to go inside this ancient ruin, leaving the other Shepherd on the outside to fight the Risen. Their boots clanged against the metal floor as they were catching up to the Risen as it headed for some stair.
"We got you now!" Chrom lurched forward and was about to give a huge slash at the undead's back but jumped back as a new foe had suddenly entered the midst.
It was not a Risen but a floating horseshoe crab with two tentacles. It was bigger than the horseshoe crab they had ever seen and its ability to float gave the two of them concern of what it could do. They had never seen anything like this before and were wondering what to do but they soon figured out what they had to do. Attack.
The floating horseshoe crab raised its two tentacles and brought it down like two whips on Chrom's position. Chrom's quick reflexes allowed him to leap back from his attack on the Risen to avoid this assailant's attack and give some distance between them.
"Thunder!" Robin yelled as he launched a shot of electrical magic at this monster. He wished he had a wind tome to fight a foe that was in the air for advantage but he would have to make do with what he had.
"SSKKKRREEEEE!" the creature shrieked as the bolt hit its body and caused it to stay paralyzed and writhe in pain in the air for a moment. Chrom did not miss this opportunity to strike in their pair up.
"My turn!" Chrom lunged forward to give an underhand one arm slash at the beast soft underbelly. This seemed to be a good weak spot for the creature as it screamed as it soared through the air to hit a wall and curl up on its back on the ground, dead.
"Milord, are you hurt?" Frederick came rushing in on his horse with great distress in his voice that his lord might have been injured. Lissa was with him on the back of his horse, clinging around his waist, holding on for dear life as the knight had come inside here at full speed.
"I am fine." Chrom looked up at his guardian with a hand on his waist. "We were just caught off guard by a strange creature in here. I presume there will be more like this in here so we better be prepared as we move forward."
"Good to hear that you are alright but we need to get back the rest of the troops so that we can prepare to enter in here." The wary knight said.
"We have no time for that." Chrom shook his head and then waved his knight and sister to follow along. "A Risen ran inside and was getting reinforcements. We have to stop him."
"Very well but I'm coming with you. Milord" Frederick replied
"Same here. You're not doing anything crazy without me." Lissa spoke up.
"Alright let's go!" Chrom turned around to speak to Robin. "C'mon Robin."
Robin was just standing there with a blank stare on his face.
"Robin?" Chrom went up to his friend and put on a hand on his friend's shoulder. He was worried that something had happened to him during the fight with the beast.
Robin was back in the green meadow that was so lively and bountiful. He wondered how he got here as he was in the midst of the dark ruins on top of the hill. They were in the middle of a battle with a monster they had never seen before and Robin had somehow ended up in the place that he saw in his dream. Everything seemed to be the same as before except there was a ringing bell sound peeling through the air. Robin wondered where it was coming from as he saw no bell or building in this scenery.
"The girl!" Robin remembered that in his dream there was a girl on a nearby hill, behind him, underneath a tree. That girl was about to be attacked by the dark robed man.
"Got to save her!" Robin yelled as he turned around to look up the hill and charge that man to rescue the girl from that man's clutches.
Robin spun around and was slammed with a storm of dark purple lightning energy, surging through the storm, mixed with orangish red flames. There seemed to be a major clash of massive amounts of magic energy from the hill that had caused an explosion the moment Robin turned. Robin could only think that the two people were fighting and he was caught in the midst of them, trying to save the girl when he realized where he was. Robin was sent flying into the air as the explosion seemed to scorch and burn him. He felt no pain from the attack and his body was unscathed.
"Robin?" Robin felt a hand come onto his shoulder and pull him from the dream. Chrom had a troubled look on his face and was looking straight into Robin's eyes.
"Are you okay?" Chrom asked.
"Uh, yes." Robin quickly answered as he saw Frederick and Lissa here on horseback. He realized he had been out of it for a little bit but quickly remembered what was going on.
"We need to go after that Risen before he calls more of them." Robin spun around and charged for the stairs. The monster and his sudden dream create space between them and that Risen. They couldn't waste anymore time dawdling around here for a force to charge out of the building at their unexpect Shepherds. They needed to kill the messenger.
"Right behind you." Chrom said as he followed Robin down the stairs, glad that it seemed that his friend was alright. Frederick and Lissa followed as they went deep into the depths of these ruins to chase the escaped Risen.
This place was something out of this world. Everything was made of metal and design in a way they had never before seen. They couldn't believe someone could build something like this when everything that the people of the era was created with wood and stone. These people must have been pretty advanced to use metallurgy to this degree. There were several weird things that they could not explain, they needed Miriel or someone like that to explain it. There were light blue lights coming from certain sections of wall and roof to light the building, they were enclosed in glass and seemed to have no air to support the flame. The next was black glass windows that had nothing on them at all or some that were lit up with images of monsters and devices of alien origins. The next was big thick metal threads that lined the walls and corners of the structure wherever they went, not knowing what purpose they served.
The biggest concern was what was in here. They found more of those flying horseshoe crabs with other cretaceous monsters as well. Crabs, lobster, and other things people would find in the water that resembled a bug. They were caught off guard by every new creature but the four of them dealt with each one of them, learning their weakness to easily defeat them when they encountered them as they went deeper into the ruins to chase the Risen. They never caught up to that escaped Risen as they slaughtered the resident monsters. They never came upon any active Risen as well, only defeated Risen.
"These Risen didn't die by weapon but by claws and teeth." Robin observed a fallen Risen body.
"Same here." Chrom looked at another Risen body on the other wall of this hallway they were located in. They had traveled down a few flights of stairs to get to this position, deep in the ruins.
"Does that mean that the monster here destroyed the Risens that came in here." Lissa poked at a dead Risen body with her staff, seeing if it was truly dead.
"We can believe that but can not presume it." Robin stood up from his Risen and walked to Frederick who was at the middle of the hallway. The others came to him as well when they were done observing their fallen Risen body. "They could be held up deeper in the ruins at a more defensible position."
"Can we also presume that the Risen we are following is already there or has fallen to one of these creatures? If it is the case, we need to go back and regroup." Frederick asked. He definitely wanted to return to the surface, these big monsters seemed to scare him a little.
"I agree but I believe we should continue to check until we reach the next stairway to see if we can catch up to him or find his body." Robin said. "If nothing shows up by then, we turn around and gather the troops."
"I hope we don't fall into some sort of trap." Frederick replied as the four of them continued down the hallway.
"With that sort of attitude, we definitely fall into some sort of trap now." Chrom glanced at his wary knight with a cheerful smile. He liked to tease his knight like this from time to time.
"Hey! don't jinx us. Bad stuff happens after saying stuff like that." Lissa pouted as she held her staff tight looking at the walls for something to come out of the walls and attack them.
Cccreeaaaaakkkkk!
The ground beneath them groaned. They all looked at each other, knowing what was about to happen.
Crash! Boom!
"AAAAHHHHH!" The four of them yelled as the floor gave way beneath them and they fell.
"Ooommpth!" Robin grunted as he rolled once he hit the ground below to get away from the fallen debris. A big dust cloud formed as pieces from the floor above came down. Robin slowly got up and checked to see if he was okay and when he saw that he had no injuries, he looked for the others.
"Cough cough." Robin coughed in the dust cloud as he waved the small particles away from his mouth. "Is everyone okay?"
"I am fine. Just a small scratch. Nothing to worry about." Chrom grunted as metal scrapping metal came from where he was. He must have been buried a little and was getting out.
"Ow, probably just a bruise on my bum. Probably going to need to sit on soft cushions for a week with rest." Lissa got up near Robin rubbing her damaged butt. She was totally fine walking but definitely needed to get another staff user to heal it. Robin was considering learning how to use the staff so he could be that role if need be.
"Milord, I have disinfection for the cut so that it doesn't get infected. Milady, I have a spare vulnerary, use it." Frederick spoke up in the dust cloud. Of course his first concern would be for the prince and the princess. "Oh, I am fine. My horse has sprained his ankle so we need to leave him here until we return."
"I am fine, really." Chrome spoke to Frederick as the group gathered around Lissa from their fall. "I can put on the disinfectant once we return to the surface. Give Lissa the vulnerary. That injury is probably more significant than she thinks with her body."
"I am not a delicate princess." Lissa replied angrily to her brother. She put her hand out to prevent Frederick from giving her the potion. She was mad that her brother thought she was weak. "I am not some flower that breaks from a fall like. I'm made of tougher stuff. I am not some damsel-oof."
Robin had motion to Frederick that he was going to give Lissa the potion. He grabbed it from his hand and opened it up. While she was giving her rant at her brother, Robin snuck up behind her and stuffed the opening of the vulnerary into her mouth and poured the liquid down her throat. Robin now considered if he should learn the thief class now from that maneuver. Robin didn't let go until she had drunk the portion of the potion she needed.
"Gaahh. Cough cough." Lissa choked after Robin let her go after pouring the potion down her throat.
"Sorry, Lissa." Robin gave the vulnerary back to Frederick. "You are the healer of the group while we are in enemy territory so we can't have you having an injury while we try to get back."
"At least tell a lady that before you try to drown her." Lissa gave Robin some angry eyes. Robin knew he was going to get pranked hard for this stunt. Chrom looked over at his friend knowing that he had the fury of Lissa now instead of him.
"Is your butt still hurting?" Chrom asked his sister. He was trying to change the subject before Lissa got really angry at Robin and does something stupid.
"No." Lissa rubbed her butt. The potion had worked to heal that injury.
"Good." Chrom looked up at the hole they came through to get down here. It was a big hole. The light from upstairs was lighting this section of dimly lit hallway better than the rest. They could see that they had been lucky when they fell down. "Now we have to get back up."
"Sire." Frederick called for Chrom. Everyone turned to him as he was kneeling on the ground looking at something there. "Footprints. Someone has been here recently."
There were indeed footprints on the dusty surface of the ground. Someone had been here recently in these sealed ruins. The only ones they could think of was the Risen they were chasing or the hooded man, they thought mostly the latte from the single set of footprints. The footprints went down the dark hallway to a more brightly lit room at the end of the hallway.
"Let's go and see where they lead us." Chrom said as the four of them walked towards this well lit room. They were cautious as they went, not knowing what to expect.
They entered the big room from its corner. The room had two levels to it with one only slightly lower than the floor they came in on, this lower floor took up most of the area of this room while their level circled around three of the four walls. It had a high ceiling that had more of those big metal threads entwine above them. They moved deeper into the room on their level to look at a bright light source that was coming from an adjacent wall from the corner door they came in on. They leaned over a metal guard rail to see the light more clearly as the light came from a big doorway to another room with a mist coming out, hugging the ground.
Suddenly, A shadow appeared from the light and burst out of the room, limping as he pushed the mist clouds away as he came out. It was the hooded man. The hooded man came to the center of the room while the four Shepherds were along one of the walls adjacent to the big doors, he looked around until he looked at the four newcomers.
"HALT!" Chrom yelled to the hooded man as he leapt over the guardrail to the lower level that was about four feet down from the level they entered from. "Your crimes must be answered for against the innocent people you slaughtered."
The man did not stop but instead ran like any person would do in this situation. The hooden man scurried towards a doorway on the opposite wall from the four Shepherds. Robin and Fredick swung over the guardrail while Lissa ran along the pathway to some steps. The man jumped a few steps to the doorway as Chrom was about to reach out and grab him before he left the room.
"There is a woman in there!" Lissa yelled and pointed into the room that hooded man came from.
Chrom stopped and turned back to look at where Lissa was pointing, allowing the hooded man to escape, he cursed under his breath for letting that happen. Robin and Frederick were in the middle of the lower level so they saw a clear picture of what Lissa was pointing at when they halted to see what she saw.
In this misty room, a woman laid at slight incline from completely vertical on the far wall of that room. She was unconscious while imprisoned in a glass cage along one of the huge metal tubes. Frederick and Robin ran into the room to see if she was okay, thinking that the hooded man was the one that caged her or had harmed her. They completely ignored a red blade that stood in the middle of the room as they came upon the vessel that sealed her.
"We have to find some way to open it." Robin said as the two of them started to inspect the device to figure out how to open it. Chrom and Lissa were starting to come to the two Shepherds that were already there. Robin paused what he was doing and looked up at the woman, trapped inside.
She had smooth white skin with short red hair that had little puff to it that came down to her neck. The girl also had red clothes with glowing emerald lights lines on it with some spot for gold. These clothes were alien looking as they covered the top and went down the front leaving the side exposed to go to some very short shorts. This was followed by pinkish thigh high socks to pinkish red boots. Robin thought she looked divine resting there with her arms crossed on her chest, covering something. He thought that he had seen this woman before.
"Is she okay?" Chrom asked as he came upon the knight and the tactician.
"We don't know, sire. This device is like nothing we have ever seen before." Frederick replied. He was looking over buttons, wires and tubes and he couldn't make difference from heads to tails
Robin turned to Chrom from his daze of staring at the woman. "I don't know either. I am trying to think of all the things that Miriel ever spoke to me about science and magic to try and make sense of this machine."
"What if we smash the glass?" Chrom inquired if brute force could be answered to free her.
"I don't think so." Robin answered him, shaking his head. "That could possibly, seriously hurt her."
Lissa listened and watched as the three men of the group discussed amongst themselves on how to free the woman from the glass cage. She was trying to think of her own idea of how to get her out. She thought Chrom's first idea was the best. She was thinking hard when she noticed something, a strange breathing sound. It was coming from behind her. Lissa was suddenly terrified as none of them had posted a watch. She slowly turned to see what the breathing sound was.
"AAAAAAAIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!"
"WHAT IS IT LISSA!" Chrom yelled as the three of them turned to see the thing that caused Lissa to give a blood curdling scream.
At the doorway, stood a monster that was never supposed to exist in this world. This monster had skin instead of the hard crust like the other creatures they faced coming here. It was torpedo shaped like a shark with a smooth surface for the skin, not rough, giving a sleek appearance. The skin was grey but long the top of the head down it's back and along the limbs was glossy black with yellow spots. Where fins were supposed to be, strong, big muscular arms came out, allowing the menace of the sea to walk on land with no legs.
"RRRRROOOOOOAAA!" The monster bellowed as it reacted in shock from Lissa scream but quickly regained its composure once it realized that it could not sneak up on them for a free meal. The creature stepped forward with it's arms into the room to fight it's food.
"Thunder!" Robin casted a spell towards the beast as Chrom charged to the right and Frederick to the left to pincer the monster in between the two.
"Grr!" the monster winced and paused for a second as the spell hit it, from the electricity of the spell. The paralysis the spell was supposed to cause was much shorter than the previous creatures they encountered, leaving the monster not so defenseless as planned as the two melee fighters lunged towards the beast.
"Stop!" Robin tried to warn the two before they attacked that the spell did not work as intended but it was too late.
"Take this, you monster!" Chrom yelled as lunged up high into the air, before somersaulting through the air at the creature's neck. He did not reach that vital spot as the monster raised an arm to catch the assault.
"GGRAAA!" The monster yelled in pain as Chrom's sword dug into the flesh of it's forearm. Not deep, but definitely enough to be painful. Chrom stayed there for a moment as his collision had happened sooner than he expected, that moment was all the beast needed.
"RRAAA!" the beast flung his arm to throw Chrom off, with his sword, into the wall of this room. He gave a gasp as the wind was knocked out of him as he bounced off the wall and fell to the ground below where he hit, unconscious. The monster stared at the person he flung to see if it could eat that one, leaving the beast truly defenseless.
"You will not harm, milord!" Frederick bellowed in fury as he smashed his iron axe at the side of the monster's head.
"Errr." The shark beast growled as it scooted a few feet back from the impact. The strike was indeed strong as it rattled the creature but the blow was not enough to break the skin, a higher grade weapon was needed for that. Frederick would need to switch to his silver lance if he hoped to break past the creature's skin, otherwise he would have to use brute force to bruise and break it into submission.
"RRRAAAA!" Frederick yelled as he swung his axe in uppercut at the beast's head, it shook a little from this impact. Frederick continued his attack by swinging the axe back down the same way it had gone up. The monster's head bowed down from Frederick's rage banging it around, it seemed like Frreerick was going to win if he kept up this onslaught.
"Gggggrrr! RRRRRAAAAA!" The monster howled as it had enough of Fredericks attack. It flipped its body over, head first, on directly where Frederick stood. Frederick saw the monster was trying to counter him and attempted to move away but was not fast enough. The body slam had a huge impact that it created a shockwave to launch the armored Fredrick into the air. He tumbled several yards away from the beast, opposite of a Chrom that was slowly getting up.
"RRRAAAWWWRRRR!" The beast bellowed, after it rolled back on its belly, at Frederick. It was mad at him for the headache and bruises it had. It started to move towards Frederick's helpless body to the first one it snacked on.
"SSKKKRRRIIIEEEEEEE!" The monster gave its loudest shrieked as a flame burned it from the side. Robin had casted a fire spell to distract it from hurting Frederick, it work, much better than anticipated. There was clearly a big burn mark on the side of the monster where his spell hit, the beast was weak to fire.
"RRRRAAA!" The beast yelled at Robin once it realized that it had been the source of the fire spell. It needed to get rid of the one that could seriously hurt it. The beast charged at Robin instead of going for the knight.
"Over here!" Robin yelled as he knew he had the most powerful weapon against the beast. His magic was the best shot they had against it apart from Falchion breaking the skin. He prepared another fire spell as the monster wobbled towards him to maul him. Robin would need to duck and roll a lot while throwing fire at him if they were going to take this beast down.
"RRRRRAAAAA!" The monster opened its mouth and lunged forward to take a big bite of Robin but Robin was not there when the teeth slammed shut. Robin had jumped to the side at the last second for the beast to bowl right past Robin's previous spot.
"FIRE!" Robin shouted his spell as he fired it at point blank at the same spot that Frederick had struck on its head. Robin jumped back as the landwalking sea monster bellowed in agony from Robin's magic.
"We can do this!" Robin thought. "Once Chrom and Frederick rejoin the fight, we can take it down for good and save the girl if we fight like this."
Thump
Robin's retreat back was thwarted when he bumped into something while the beast turned to attack the most obvious threat to it's life. Robin turned around to see what he had hit in his attempt to make space between him and the beast to do a hit and run tactic.
It was Lissa!
Lissa had not moved from the spot where she screamed since the fight had begun, she was absolutely terrified. Lissa gripped her staff tightly in her two hands as she tried to make herself as small as possible while standing. The beast was probably the sort of monster someone had nightmares about, especially Lissa, as she was stone. Her eyes were white as she just stood there shaking, not even looking at the monster's current location, just the spot where Chrom and Frederick tried to fight it, that must have hurt her psych to see them brushed off like that.
"Lissa!" Robin turned and grabbed Lissa by the shoulders and shook her to wake her from her frightened daze. "You have to get out of here and help Chrom and Frederick or least run and get help!"
"Huh, what!?" Lissa snapped slowly back into reality at Robin's vigorous shaking, looking at the same spot. She spoke up, not knowing what had happened. "Is it gone?"
"RRAAAWWRRRR!" The monster roared behind Robin. It was right upon them.
Without thinking, Robin threw Lissa to the side with all his strength that he had in his body.
"Oof" Lissa grunted as she hit the metal floor and skidded a few yards away.
CHRUNCH! Splurt!
The beast sunk its teeth into Robin's chest as it finally caught one the four humans here. It was proud with itself as blood poured out the prey it caught. It had been cut, bruised, and burned by these humans, it was the hardest meal it ever had to work for.
"RROOBBIIIINNN! NNNOOOOOO!" Lissa screamed again. She saw the limp tactician's body in the maw of the shark monster, bleeding profusely. She had seen many gruesome wounds and injuries, but nothing prepares one to see one of your friends look so lifeless in a monster's mouth.
The monster shook the body hard and then tossed it to the side. This battle was not yet over. The other two people that attacked it earlier were up again, rearing for a vicious fight to the death.
"Your life ends here, Fiend!" Chrom yelled as he ran directly at the beast. He held his body and sword low to get in deep so he could target a weak spot.
"You will not take another life." Frederick shouted as he got in front of Lissa and pointed his silver lance at the beast's head. He was going to aim for the same spot that Robin's second spell hit and where his axe collided, it was sure to be a weak spot.
Robin opens his eyes slowly, cringing in burning pain. He could feel blood leaking from several holes in his chest, it burned as every drop leaving was searing pain. All Robin could see was red. It must have been blood he thought. Robin blinked and turned his head slightly. His vision was only half red as the other half showed a terrified Lissa on the ground watching Chrom and Frederick struggle against the monster. Robin blinked again and moved his head, causing much pain, to have his other half blocked out by red. He saw Chrom making shallow cuts into the beast while it tried to avoid Frederick's silver lance, the obvious threat now. Robin blink again and moved his head back to the original position as he tried to stop the blood loss with his hands. The red blocked his entire view again.
"What is this?"Robin thought as looked up, wincing in agony to find out.
It was a sword, sticking straight up, blade first into the ground. The blade was single edge and thick, with the blade being mostly red in color with some gold along the middle part. The sword coned down near the hilt where the shape of sharp end came a little farther down. At the base of the hilt, an emerald glowing gem glowed with two square bumps coming out to give it a cross shape. The grip was golden with a red guard curving around to the pummel like a dueling saber guard. The whole design of the blade was alien and futuristic. Robin couldn't believe he did not notice it earlier when they came in.
"I must save my friends." Robin groaned in immense pain as he reached up to try and grab the sword. He could feel unimaginable power radiating from it. If in his weakened state, create an opening for his friends to kill the monster and live, he would gladly do so. Robin was reaching high, as high as he could, since he could not pull his body up and stand, all he could do was lay there and reach as high as possible.
"Please." Robin's extended hand was almost touching the hilt. He saw the jewel shimmer in green light as his hand approached the grip. It was brilliant and it seemed to be alive as it blurred his sight with emerald energy that smudged the world itself. The living emerald seemed to be calling out to him, asking what his desires were.
"I need to save my friends." Robin moaned to the sword.
Robin touched the jewel before he collapsed in exhaustion. A bright light, shaking his vision, started to overtake his entire sight, even while he closed his eyes.
"I guess this is how it ends." Robin believed he was succumbing to his wounds, failing to save his friends.
Author notes
I recently finished the xenoblade chronicles 2 game, have to do the game plus run through soon. I have played the Fire Emblem series for a long time since Awakening came out. I had the game for xenoblade for a while since I heard that it was good but never played it. The new smash character was announced and piqued my interest to play it. I had a bad experience with Xenoblade chronicles X for the wii u but Xenoblade 2 was really good.
To answer a reader's question.
Yes, there will be more Blades in the future, don't know how many though.