Lethal Trap

It's now a good moment to examine what awaits Svante's group at the airbase in the Northern Plains. Survival should not be a major issue for the group if we consider how everyone else managed to survive for so long, but will the old man and his allies complete their mission largely unscathed?

He managed to resist my charms for so long thanks to that foreign artifact of his. My blood boiled many times over when he had the gall to insult me repeatedly and tried to deny the inherent inferiority of his biological sex, a belief which my leader does not share. That bulky helper for our organization had to assist me with his dark magic to finally break the captive's will via a subtler form of manipulation. When I took our newest recruit to Lars for armaments, the necromancer chastised me for having been too harsh with the boy.

Lars does not understand why I treat my victims the way I do; fear makes them break down in despair, and pain is the only effective method to make bastards like the boy or even Magnus learn their lessons…

"Stay close, my child," Rosalina cooed to her red Luma. Svante's entire group slowly infiltrated the abandoned airbase and reinforced an aura of quietness, with the latter action serving as a vital step in eschewing attention from possible threats inside. Snake kept his USP close and loaded, and his feet were careful enough in avoiding Pikachu and Pichu. The ascent to one of the upper floors ended with the sight of a small room filled with damaged electronics for standard military communications and a fallen soldier with a gaping wound in his throat. His gray and blue uniform had its badges and collar stained with interrupted trails of blood, a stark contrast to the whiteness of his rolled eyes.

"…" Snake could only utter a subtle grunt as he entered the main computer room with his comrades. There were few corpses in the area to litter the environment with their post-mortem presence, but—despite the extreme number of casualties during the base's reclamation by Johan Eriksson and Lina Lindqvist—the room was relatively barren. While some were merely stabbed to death, others were dismembered outright.

"Pi," Pikachu muttered under its breath. Some of the room's lights were functional, although they were insufficient in providing comfort to the fighters in the face of dark spots in the area. Arguably the only natural source of light was a lone window on the ceiling that carried only a small fraction of the sun's light. The equipment across the room rested in ruin, ranging from smashed computers to the cracked main screen on the far side of the perimeter. One of the doors leading elsewhere was revealed to be locked when Svante tried to pull it open, but his knife was more than enough to clear a path for his team.

Behind the door was a stairway with several bloodstains, illuminated by a solitary light that was presumably destroyed during the assault. There were two doors on the floor above, but one of them was blocked a large compilation of rubble that had fallen from the hallway's walls and ceiling. Not willing to create additional noises, the elderly traveler opted to choose the only remaining option: an open door with a hallway of barracks. Many bedrooms were empty and relatively clean, with the remaining few possessing blood on bed sheets and even on the walls. The other side of the hall was marked by a steel door that led into another hallway, and this one provided an aerial view of the hangar bay, long isolated by the barrier surrounding the base. Many vehicles were in total disrepair, and the few that were in operable condition bore visible damage. The Rosträdgårdian coat of arms was present on many of these battered machines, implying sabotage from the Orm's Lords. Corpses of Lords and Rosträdgårdian soldiers were visible across the floor, an aspect more pronounced in areas where vehicles were not present, but the defenders of the besieged kingdom exhibited a greater share of all deaths inside the isolated base.

After gently opening the door to the hangar, those who could do so gently floated down to the ground floor—everyone else had to take care in avoiding a noisy descent on the stairway. Snake aimed the Solid Eye upward in his attempt at detecting hidden threats before they could maim or even kill anyone with extreme prejudice. There was nothing to observe on or near the ceiling, yet the legendary mercenary felt not a trace of comfort. Rosträdgård was a place of magic, a colorful rose among mundane counterparts, and if the encounter with Psycho Mantis had taught him anything…

On the center of the floor was a highly faint symbol consisting of a red moon and splatters of blood, the same symbol which was examined by Zelda during Marth's journey to a lone hideout in Altea. It was scrawled with red blood and, for some reason, exuded a faint trace of magical energy while one Black Guard member decided to examine it. The man suspected that a ritualistic occurrence must have plagued the airbase sometime before the team's arrival, and merely pondering the fate of possible victims of this savage procedure—if there were any—left him slightly unnerved. Other members of the group decided to examine the symbol out of curiosity, although Pichu backed away when the mere sight of it proved too much to handle. Snake would have joined his cohorts in their task, but the sight of an unidentified figure in the distance broke his concentration. The only thing that he noticed was the being's silhouette.

"…?" Keeping his camouflage active, he quietly traveled to the place where the mysterious newcomer quickly retreated and, as an unorthodox precaution, carried a cardboard box from a stack of unused containers. While pursuing his likely enemy, his departure from the group was immediately noticed by Svante, whose mouth silently ordered the rest of the group to stay put as he planned to follow the soldier.

Snake followed the figure all the way to a room in the last hallway, and it was here that it was greeted by an unknown voice, ostensibly from a woman. The soldier placed himself alongside a stack of abandoned boxes.

"Hmm, is it ready?" There was no verbal reply to the answer, but the bitterly sweet giggle that emerged shortly thereafter was a probable sign of positive confirmation. The next thing he heard was the snapping of fingers, but the corner of his eyes caught the sight of something unusual: a sudden red flash with a sustained afterglow. He shifted to a tiny degree to figure out the source of the glow, albeit with no luck. Meanwhile, the woman and the figure exited the room before levitating towards the obscured glow. Snake waited for almost a minute prior to following them in pursuit, ultimately encountering a red portal where the symbol would have been. Even worse, his teammates had apparently vanished.

"…?!" Stunned by chilling horror, he made sure that the two figures were out of sight before leaping into the portal. What followed was a torrent of invisible spirits formed from kinetic force, each one seeking to pull the withered agent apart.

Ahead of the portal was a darkened arena suspended in a void where red and black mixed together to form a hellish aura. The exterior of the building carried some elements of the hideout in Altea, albeit with a larger size and disproportionally demonic spikes included onto many of the distinctive aspects of the building; there were no spires present, nor was there a clear façade on the front. The overall shape was more rectangular, almost as if was an altered version of the hideout that had been stretched horizontally. Withered trees with blood on the branches dotted the black earth around the perimeter. In front of the entrance was a short trail with the portal at the opposite end, and near the portal were the two figures from before—now revealed to be Lina Lindqvist and her smaller subordinate from Lillian's kidnapping.

"Ah, so wonderful to see many victims in the trap…" the vampire giggled darkly. "Now, my friend, we wait for some poor soul to save them from the maze. The portal should now be directing potential visitors to this area." Her mind was not prepared for someone—or something—to arrive very soon, because within the next few seconds, a cardboard box soared from the portal and struck the captain like a hollow but oversized rock.

"What?" Her red eyes glared at the box as she kicked it to determine whether something or someone was inside. When the box simply whirled gently in a circular motion, she picked it up and hoped to capture another victim for the arena… only to discover empty space. Maybe some person assumed that the portal was a disposal bin for cardboard boxes… or maybe not. Either way, the vampire and her servant chose to ignore this minor event and slowly entered the arena in the distance. Neither figure knew that, next to the box, Snake was ready to continue his mission in this realm while camouflaged.

So far, so good. I hope things don't go terribly wrong during the rescue.

After patiently waiting for the two antagonists to disappear completely, the bane of Liquid retrieved his box and hurried to the front entrance. He switched his camouflage off to preserve energy for later encounters, utilizing the box as his disguise despite its ridiculous look relative to the sinister environment.

"Like I've told Otacon before, the box can make a huge impact on the success of missions." The M92F, designed to take down foes without using lethal force, realized its first use in Rosträdgård as Snake removed it from one of his holsters. A wave of invisible tension tainted the air without remorse or regard for whoever passed through the entrance to the main attraction of the building, and it only worsened with Snake's witnessing of the grand maze that architecturally infected the building via its menacing appearance. By cold sweat did the legendary mercenary experience chills on his skin, chills whose effects would not fade when he utilized the mechanical lift to descend into the maze. The maze itself was a representation of a strong desire to inflict destruction in the name of a violent creature whose spirit was untamable: decaying corpses, places filled with fire, hooked chains, traces of fresh and old blood, distant Lords in black robes, and traps that were too far away to be analyzed properly. The mechanical lift ended its movements with a quiet thud. Snake kept fear on a tight leash, restraining his breathing and biting down on his lower lip until the gates to a blackened hell were near. The steel bars that formed such doors opened without the soldier or his box even touching them.

Beep…

From the Solid Eye emerged a beep to indicate the presence of someone on the radar, hardly unnoticed by the only living survivor of Les Enfants Terribles. The box was pushed off for a moment as he peeked around the right corner of a four-way junction and noticed a single Lord with a glowing sword in his hands. Not even cold sweat could hold the mercenary back during his first strike on the cultist via an M9 round to the face, and just when the enemy was about to investigate what struck him, he instantly collapsed to the floor without making so much as a trace of noise. A second junction, this one possessing three paths, rested ahead, and each of the pathways leading deeper into the maze had its unique trap. One side possessed a giant, rusted axe set to fall upon the actuation of an unknown mechanism, and the other was marked by a series of dim flamethrowers and a pedestal with a key on top.

Snake, suspecting that the former trap was activated by a pressure plate hidden somewhere in the ground, dragged the unconscious cultist after leaving the cardboard box at the junction and began to gently push the body towards the axe. The Solid Eye provided enough light to discern a piece of the floor with a slightly darker hue than its counterparts. Tossing the body onto the tile, he swiftly dodged in time as the axe violently sliced the Lord in half.

SLASH!

Retrieving the box, he slipped past the bloodied weapon after the double-sided snake's metallic fang of death had stopped swinging. His journey continued past a series of hooked chains that threatened penetrate the unusual disguise and then towards a pair of cultists at another three-way junction, one of whom was a vampire. Both hostiles were shot with the M9, but only the human man dropped to the floor right away. The vampire, a woman with curls of red hair, remained conscious and even tapped into her life-sensing magic to single out her attacker. Snake activated his camouflage again after hearing footsteps towards him, but it ultimately proved to be ineffective; although the OctoCamo was helpful in concealing in his body and even heat signature from hostile eyes, it did not shield his life essence from the fanatic who was about to drain him of all his blood. However, he failed to realize her knowledge of his presence until she grappled his neck. The M9 made its mark again, this time striking the cultist straight in the forehead, but even that could not slow her down. In danger of losing air, Snake stabbed her in the throat with his specialized knife and delivered a sharp jolt with the press of a button.

ZAP!

He shoved a grenade into her mouth and backed away prior to detonation. The vampire tried to remove the explosive, but it was already too late.

BOOM!

Echoes of the explosion resonated for seconds, signaling the fanatic's death and potentially alerting nearby Lords of the event. In fact, Lina easily heard the explosion from a balcony placed high above the maze, but she was not visibly bothered by it. On the contrary, she joyfully accepted the challenge of whoever was attempting to rescue her captives. From her viewpoint, there was no clear sight of Snake or his box, but that mattered little.

"Yes, my little mouse… Keep fighting while you still can. Let it be known, however, that your mind and body can only take so much before you start to crack under extreme pressure." Her red eyes occasionally peered at the armored servant next to her.

Down below, the soldier proceeded to the next junction and took one path that ultimately led him to the spot where Svante was held captive. The Black Guard leader was bound to a chair by metal clamps, but a more disturbing aspect sprouted in the form of a machine next to the chair—slowly draining the elderly boat driver of blood and storing it in a container for later use by vampires. His skin was a bit paler than usual, a problem that would likely worsen if Snake chose not to free him. Thankfully, the mercenary was kind enough to disable all restraints with the USP, complete with a suppressor to clamp down on excess noises; he also carefully removed every needle that extracted blood from Svante.

"Thank you, Snake," the magician sighed with relief.

"No worries," replied the ex-FOXHOUND agent. "Let's hope that vampires don't pin our shadows to the floor with knifes. A partner of mine had that happen to him once…"

"Either way, we must proceed with caution. Our allies will die if we do not rescue them in time." Svante donned his cloaking field and left Snake to handle his part of the mission by rescuing fighters whenever it was possible. Snake placed the box over his head and returned to the junction from before, preparing himself to cross the trail of flamethrowers. There was no visible device to trigger the would-be blaze, but the Solid Eye unintentionally located a set of infrared sensors placed at the front when Snake decided to examine anything unusual out of curiosity. These lasers crossed over each other in a pattern that prevented access from most grounded angles, but there was a gap at the bottom with enough height to let the sneaky mercenary in.

Tap…

Setting the box aside, he quietly slipped past the lasers and the torches before breaking the glass container around the pedestal's key with the USP. The key was stolen within the blink of an eye and was forced into one of the soldier's miniature bags, never to witness the light of the world until the right moment. Snake slipped past the lasers again, and at the second junction did he execute a right turn with his box, opposite to where Svante was held captive. He was soon face-to-face with a locked door, a rusted panel of metal with blood drops that had dried up a long time ago.

Click…

The lock was released by the key to let Snake inside, just in time to avoid detection by the Lords who were alerted by the grenade blast. A mild creak of the closing was all that would have alerted one of the cultists to the soldier's presence. This was a mistake that was exploited by the war-hardened veteran with his M9.

Pew!

All the chemicals of the fired round instantly stunned the robed follower into unconsciousness.

"…" A quiet sigh exited the soldier's mouth as he entered the next part of the maze, completely dark due to the ceiling and a lack of internal lighting. The Solid Eye was set to its night mode.

Tap…

A lonely tap from an unseen figure in the black corridor was enough to freeze Snake in place, who was almost certain that there was another enemy in proximity. Without pushing the box by even a slight amount, his mind turned the rest of the body into a human statue, but not before the OctoCamo was activated once again.

Tap…

Snake's suspicions were ultimately confirmed when a Lord, an older man, strolled into view and noticed the box with the aid of his enhanced eyesight. Nevertheless, after examining the unusual obstacle in front of him for no more than a handful of seconds, he decided to ignore it and continue with his normal duties. It was not until the figure was far away from the box that the mercenary slipped away unnoticed…

Click…

…right into a tiny pressure sensor within the ground. There was no immediate consequence at first glance, nor was there anything which clearly indicated a trap, lethal or not. Snake's attention was only captured when a quiet hissing noise creeped within earshot, much like a snake silently sneaking up on its latest victim. The legendary soldier was finally forced to remove his box to examine the dark hallway, and it was here that he was immediately struck with the scent of something slightly foul. Something was not right, he believed.

Beep…

The Solid Eye's X-ray mode caught the appearance of what appeared to be tiny exhaust pipes, and although Snake tried to obtain a closer look, the stench only intensified after approaching one of these pipes—as did the hissing. Covering his nose, he assumed that this "trap" was just a minor annoyance with its hissing and its smell, progressing towards the goal like nothing had occurred. His eyes caught a rusted door following a left turn and, with the return of necessary lighting, encountered two captured fighters hooked to blood-draining machines: Pikachu and Pichu. The older Mouse Pokémon was struggling to break free from its restraints, albeit with no success, and its younger cousin appeared to be outright terrified.

"I'll get you both out of here," he grunted after maintaining silence for some time now. His USP struck and damaged the restraints, letting both Pokémon escape after the needles had been gently removed.

"Are you alright?"

"Pika," Pikachu moaned with some discomfort. Its sluggish manner of walking indicated blood loss with enough severity to inflict dizziness; this was doubly true for the frailer Pichu.

"I'll do my best to escort you two out of here." With his photographic memory, he managed to guide his rodent partners towards the maze's entrance, allowing them to use the cardboard box as protection in exchange for the OctoCamo's cloaking field. Along the way, Snake shot four cultists with the M9, but the last target was a vampire who not only failed to feel the immediate tranquilizing effects but even detected the two Pokémon underneath the box thanks to his essence-tracking ability.

SLASH!

However, Pikachu's decapitating Iron Tail crushed his chances of killing the three Smashers. The menacing aura of the gate fell into full view again as the two Pokémon ultimately exited the maze and even encountered Svante with two people he had rescued: Fox and Rosalina.

"Where'd you find them?" Snake asked the Black Guard member.

"I found them in the pathway straight ahead from the entrance, right behind a spike-filled trap that was cloaked by magic and supported by a ceiling to prevent any bypasses from above. Let's say that I used a simple trick to temporarily disable it before rescuing these two souls."

"Yeah, he used his knife to create some kind of electricity that froze those spikes in place, helping to escort us without injury," Fox added. "I've never seen that happen before, to be honest. Anyway, there are more of us here who can help rescue the others, so I suggest we all attempt to find at least one other person in this maze."

Svante stared at the lift from which Snake entered the hellish building. "Not all of us… We need at least one person to stay out here if the Lords decide to trap us inside."

"I will stay here," Rosalina affirmed. As she spoke, Pichu stood by her to express its decision in staying outside.

"Then the rest of us will head back inside," Snake noted quietly. The fragment of the group with an intent to endure more danger in exchange for rescuing allies slipped past the gates. Svante continued towards the straight path to investigate other possible paths, leaving the others to sweep into the left side. During the journey deeper into the dark maze, Snake tossed his box over to Fox and Pikachu.

"Hey, why are you giving us this box?" the vulpine pilot questioned. "More importantly, why are you even hauling it around at all?"

"You'd be surprised how effective it is at espionage. It's saved my butt many times during my previous missions, and if you use it correctly, it can save yours as well." Snake kept the radar of his Solid Eye active but had already disabled the night vision mode to save energy and reduce noises. Fox and Pikachu huddled into the box to assume a lower profile. These two events were performed just before the group encountered two Lords: one with an RPG-style weapon, and another with vampirical blood in him. Snake, sensing his opportunity, lobbed a stun grenade towards his two opponents and waited for the moment of detonation.

BOOM!

The resulting explosion blinded and deafened the two cultists, including the vampire whose eyes were better accustomed to the darkness. Fox, bursting out of the box, killed the undead man with an overcharged blaster shot to the head, and Pikachu decapitated the other Lord with Iron Tail. The group continued with the mission, but not before Snake destroyed the heavy firearm from the fangless cultist. Up ahead was a junction with three additional paths, with two possessing no visible traps. The left path was equipped with the same axe trap encountered by Snake; he bypassed it by using one of the slain cultists several meters away. Pikachu and Fox took the straight path, but just before they could the opposite end, a quiet click echoed across the walls.

"…?" the pilot grunted, removing the box. He became lost in thought astonishingly soon, so much so that he almost failed to notice Pikachu falling into a pit of spikes when the disguised trapdoor on which it stood suddenly opened.

"Woah!" His reflexes sprang into action to save the Mouse Pokémon from a gruesome fate while also preventing it from screaming in pure terror.

"I'm not gonna let you fall…" Fox yanked his partner up and noticed the slight indent underneath his feet—the pressure plate that triggered the trap. Pikachu crossed the gap with Quick Attack after recovering from its sudden shock, and it was here that it discovered Captain Falcon around the corner.

"Pika," it squeaked, using Iron Tail to hack off the restraints.

"Thanks, Pikachu," the bounty hunter muttered. He soon found himself reuniting with Fox after crossing the spikes with his athletic skills.

"Nice to see you alive," the vulpine pilot greeted. He and his rescued allies returned to the front entrance. Meanwhile, Snake continued along his path, ignoring the slight dizziness that suddenly appeared in his head. He was lucky enough to have a bottle of stimulants in one of his pockets to resist his fall into possible unconsciousness, but even after having swallowed two pills, his head still felt strange. Up ahead was a right turn which led to a chair with King Dedede; the king was missing his hammer, presumably robbed of it when he was caught by the portal.

"Here we go…" Snake removed the penguin-like king's restraints with the USP and gently removed the needles that would have drained the latter fighter's blood entirely.

"Ugh, they took my hammer," Dedede groaned while suffering the negative effects of significant blood loss. "We need to get it back."

"We'll find it." Snake holstered his gun before escorting his partner away from the dead end. Farther away, Svante sliced through a barrier made of slime with his knife and conjured a green light for detecting invisible traps. There were none in clear sight, but he was almost detected when a Lord emerged from the far corner.

Shink! Snap!

The knife struck his enemy's head and, like a snake swiftly injecting venom into its victim, delivered a dreadfully powerful toxin that instantly stunned the cultist into unconsciousness. Two right turns led to a 180-degree change in direction and the presence of R.O.B., now on minimal power. Since the robot had no blood, he was instead strapped to a bomb that was hotwired to blow if anyone tried to sever the cords connected to it. The elderly man, realizing the risks at hand, gently removed a panel from the bomb to determine which wire he needed to break first. Luckily for him, this specific bomb had a wire combination that was not too difficult to decipher. His knife sliced through the green wire first…

Snap!

…then through its red duplicate. A small click rang from the hollow confines of the volatile device, signaling a quiet end and a safe rescue for the captured robot. The magical knife subsequently ate through the thin cords. R.O.B. slowly detached the bomb on his torso and gently tossed it to the side.

"Thank you for your assistance," was his statement of gratitude. "Now, I shall return the favor."

"Heh-heh," the Black Guard member replied. "I would never abandon my allies in times of danger, nor would I turn down some vital help." As he proceeded to escort the sentient machine to safety, Snake brought Dedede back to the four-way junction and quietly explored the right path on his own, this despite the worsening aura of dizziness infecting his mind like a ruthless and persistent pathogen. It only delved into darker and more dangerous depths following his descent via a short stairway, and despite the lack of enemies down his path, he worried that someone or something was about to steal his life from behind. A left turn exposed the captured Meta Knight to the legendary soldier's blurring sight; as with all other rescued victims except R.O.B., his blood was being drained by thin, piercing needles. Additionally, Dedede's hammer was locked in a nearby case.

"Hang on, I'll get ya out of there," the aging man groaned almost inaudibly. He tried to aim his USP towards the restraints, yet his worsening condition invited severe strain on his otherwise-stellar aim. Assuming a closer approach was the best way to destroy the binding devices without accidently harming the mysterious warrior. He fired at point-blank range…

Bang! Bang!

…and freed his ally in seconds. While the mercenary proceeded to break the case afterwards so that Dedede would be better equipped, Meta Knight stumbled from his seat as the loss of blood negatively impacted his sense of balance.

"Thank… you," he muttered weakly. Snake returned him and Dedede to the front where nearly everyone else had gathered. Svante was not in the crowd, remaining in the maze to searching for his comrades in the Black Guard.

"Besides the Black Guard guys, only Jigglypuff and Young Link are still missing," the soldier noted. As he returned to the area where he located Meta Knight and descended further via a second stairway, he came across Jigglypuff, restrained only by a block of ice that froze its lower body.

"Jiggly…" it whimpered, visibly chilled by the trap. Snake freed it by pulling its body from the ice, but just as he finished the task, his foot stomped on a hidden switch that slammed a door shut behind the duo. Not a second had pass afterwards before a gas began filling the room from a hole behind Jigglypuff. The Balloon Pokémon was swift to notice and, suspecting that the room was a trap, leaped backwards to disrupt the flow. Meanwhile, Snake planted a pack of C4 against the steel door and created an explosion, but the only exit suffered mild damage in the form of light disfigurement. A heavier version of the C4, equipped with triple the explosive power, dealt more drastic damage, but the new gap in the metal was far too small for either Smasher to use for the escape. Far from staying in the mood of wasting time, he planted another batch of C4 and utilized his strength to widen the break in the steel after the blast. Jigglypuff felt increasing pressure behind it as the gas struggled to escape, but its body continued to fight against the buildup. When Snake finally created a suitable gap in which the duo could flee, he signaled the puffball to leave with him, to which it complied. The gas slowly flooded the small room as the two Smashers exited the dark hallway with their lives.

"That was… close," Snake groaned, his dizziness worsening by the minute. "Only Young Link is left to find." As he exited the maze with Jigglypuff, Svante continued down the trail where he initially rescued R.O.B. and searched for possible places to rescue his comrades from the Black Guard. Equipping the same magic that revealed the secret entrance to Björnstad's royal palace, he caught the view of a secret door branded with the insignia of the Orm's Lords on its black surface. Down below was a set of six chairs with the same purpose as those in the rest of the maze. Two of these metallic entities had been reduced to scrap metal by an unseen force, and their occupants were now charred and dismembered corpses.

"What happened here?" the elderly pilot questioned one of the survivors.

"They tried to create our signature escape tools to control telepathically for an escape, but after the first restraints had been destroyed, their seats exploded to kill them both," the interrogated person, a younger man with blond hair and blue eyes, responded.

"Hmm, perhaps I shall be dealing with more bombs today. I already had to rescue one of our foreign allies from such a thing." Svante proceeded to defuse the bombs, which happened to possess the same configuration as the one strapped to R.O.B.'s body. This was something of a surprise to him, for he was expecting more complicated devices that would have been harder to defuse. Perhaps the Lords preferred simplicity regarding the design of their bombs, he assumed. His mind was filled with some sadness at the thought of losing two of his comrades, but the mission required him to stay focused, keeping his emotions in check. He and the rescued members returned to the front entrance to reunite with the Smashers.

"Is that everyone?" he announced to the crowd, keeping a quiet voice.

"No," Snake, now sitting on the floor, answered bluntly. "Young Link is still missing."

"Let's see if this thing can find him…" Svante removed a green, life-detecting orb from one of his pockets and launched into the maze to search for the only missing Smasher. Once it illuminated the maze with its resonant glow, the entire group noticed practically everyone who was still in the maze via a complementary emerald that formulated a map of the maze—not to mention the traps that almost killed some of the adventurers. However, all the persons marked by the orb were either Lords or deceased members of the Black Guard, as Svante discovered when he selected each aura for examination and displayed detailed images. Young Link was nowhere in sight.

"What the hell?" Fox muttered. "Where is he?"

"…" Svante remained silent as he tried to ponder what could have befallen the young Hylian. If he was not in this maze, then where could he be?

"Maybe he is somewhere else in this realm," Rosalina quipped. "Some of us should stay here to find him in the maze while the rest can leave."

"Sounds like a plan," Snake replied. Keeping his box close, he slowly stumbled towards the lift to the realm's exit, but just before anyone in the group could step aboard…

Clang!

"…!" The soldier barely leaped back at the sight of the lift's doors suddenly slamming shut, which was followed by the walls and the front of the maze slowly retracting into the ground. These events were already enough to force half the group into high alert in anticipation for something dangerous, but the presence of an enraged Lina Lindqvist caused heartrates to undergo acceleration even further.

"How dare you deprive me of the blood needed for my kind!" she snarled with caustic venom in her voice. "Did you think that I would allow you to commit such a thing against me or that your task would be easy?! Absolutely not! For that, you will face me, some of my brethren, and a special servant of mine…" As she spoke, forty vampires emerged from hidden doors on the building's walls alongside the small servant from Lillian's kidnapping; it still wore its suit of armor. Furthermore, this same figure was holding Young Link by the collar, almost as if it were about to commit a horrible crime against him. All enemies gathered in the field where the maze used to be.

"Let the boy go, Lindqvist," Svante demanded. His request, however, was not heeded by his pale-skinned adversary.

"If you want him so badly, you need to defeat us in combat. Mark my words, you will NOT live to fight another day!" Conjuring her thorny whip, she wasted no time in engaging the heroes in combat. By this point, Snake's body was slowly succumbing to dizziness and a newfound pain that resembled one of the symptoms of poisoning by Igel. He tried to activate his OctoCamo but did so too late, resulting in a vampire capturing his neck and almost puncturing an artery. It was only thanks to shoving and detonating a pack of C4 in the undead cultist's mouth that he eventually broke free before taking some pills and a mild antidote for possible poisoning. These numbed his pain and reduced his dizziness to a moderate extent, but his body was still not at full strength. Now camouflaged, he occasionally lobbed grenade to assist his allies, but for the most part, he stayed quiet.

Svante, for his part, transformed his knife into a full-fledged sword and prepared to confront Lina and her personal servant head-on. The armored servant tossed Young Link towards the ground before wielding its own weapon. To dissuade outside interference, Lina created a red barrier to trap everyone inside the building. Young Link aimed an arrow at the captain and almost struck her heart, only to fail upon her use of teleportation. Due to the tight coordination of the vampires, many of the travelers were pressured into dodging frequently while having few opportunities to strike back. Fox swerved in various directions with the Illusion in offensive and defensive manners, although even this was just the bare minimum necessary to avoid total assailment by his foes. One vampire nearly leeched a sample of blood for himself, which Fox narrowly averted by energizing his reflector. The device, unfortunately, failed to shield him from steel needles summoned by two enemies behind him. Rosalina and Pikachu tried to rescue him…

SN-SNAP!

…and swiftly failed thanks to a vampire who swiftly conjured rusted chains to ensnare both fighters. R.O.B., forced into a corner, fired his laser beams haphazardly without regard to the overheating of his systems. Some opponents were shot, but the robot's approach was inadequate in permanently eliminating a single foe. Pichu was forced to step in and fatally fry a foe with Thunder, ignoring the costs that would accompany the move. Dedede added to the assault by swallowing up to three enemies and tossing towards Fox, who reduced their heads to gory pieces with his blaster. Jigglypuff wheeled around its foes with Rollout and even liberated Pikachu by knocking it out of its trap, and it was here that the electrifying rodent proceeded to scamper around to distract its undead enemies. When the Balloon Pokémon tried to free Rosalina, however, it was smacked from behind…

CRACK!

"JIGGLY…"

CRACK!

…by another rusted chain from a vampire. Young Link tossed his boomerang to protect his fallen ally, but this action was exploited by the armored figure in a terrifying way.

WHOOSH…

It nearly decapitated the young swordsman and Svante with its blade and, assisted by Lina's glowing whip, kept the two fighters on their feet with rapid-fire attacks. Young Link's shield was chipped at the top after an attempted swing to the face, Svante conjured a temporary shield to block the whip while retaliating with pyrokinetic spells, and the vampires were already placing heavy strain upon the Smashers and their Rosträdgårdian allies. His condition now reaching a chilling low, Snake could no longer keep his head up or rest against the wall with a stable posture. He tossed a small grenade towards the cultist who had captured Rosalina and was almost successful, hindered only by his declining aim.

BOOM!

The grenade exploded a safe distance away from the target without a shred of harm. Falcon and Meta Knight temporarily held off a group of five vampires, but after the bounty hunter had dismembered a foe with the Falcon Dive at full power, the mysterious warrior of Dream Land was immediately ensnared by blood-draining spells summoned with the magic of three group members. The valiant Falcon scorched two of them with the Falcon Kick, but even that could not disable them for long. In fact, the one vampire who did not capture Meta Knight approached from the right side and cracked the driver's kneecap with a high-powered shadow sphere. Falcon could not limp away fast enough to avoid the snake of rusted steel, the incoming chain.

Svante, Dedede, R.O.B., and the Black Guard members eliminated four undead cultists while rescuing the injured Jigglypuff from further peril, but their success was short-lived when three chains constricted all except Svante, whose focus was redirected to Lina. The armored follower slammed its left foot into Young Link's shield head-on, and this event inflicted enough kinetic energy to punt the young Smasher backwards and into Dedede, stunning them both; Young Link himself was soon bound by chains in seconds. Svante would have pulled off a powerful slice to free his allies if Lina had not impaled him with the tip of her glowing whip.

CRACK!

"Damn!" The elderly driver tapped into his healing magic to seal the gaping wound in his abdomen, powering through the pain in the process. He narrowly avoided the pale-skinned captain's attacks and struck back with three shockwaves from his sword. The first two were easily avoided, but the last one was angled such that Lina lost her legs before her whip could lash out again. A shield was hoisted up by Svante to block attacks from the armored figure during a rescue attempt for Young Link, Dedede, R.O.B., and two Black Guard members.

SLASH!

Two vampires, distracted with their thirst for blood, were decapitated by the transformed blade. Immediate was the release of Dedede and R.O.B., whose minds were set on assisting the beleaguered Fox. The Star Fox leader was impaled at the shoulders after a failed attempt to rescue Rosalina, a task that required urgency since the Luma guardian was losing blood from sanguinary magic. The red Luma was swiftly defeated by a deadly burst of electricity. The robot concentrated his shots at the two attackers, dismembering them completely with lasers disrupting the spells, all while the husky king hammered a Gordo with enough force to splatter a third enemy's head into pieces. Jigglypuff's attempt at singing and putting nearby hostiles to sleep was a woeful failure due to two problems, not the least of which was excess noise during the fight—but a vampire's successful effort at freezing the Balloon Pokémon's mouth shut also played a role. Only via Rosalina's wand did the pink creature avoid a gruesome end. Fox overcharged his blaster to free Young Link and the two Black Guard fighters, killing the assailant…

SLICE!

…at the cost of the armored minion leaving a wide gash on his back.

"FUCK!" the commando yelled. The wound was deep enough to cause serious bleeding on top of piercing pain. Young Link ignited one of his bombs for tossing at the dark warrior, only to have that same item captured and tossed at Pikachu, who barely escaped the blast. Both rodents committed to a desperate attempt at warding off four vampires, and while Pikachu killed three with Iron Tail, the last cultist conjured red spears of magic and impaled both Pokémon at the stomach. Lina and Svante were locked in fierce combat, with her whip and his spheres of black fire clashing frequently. The vampire teleported behind her main enemy to tear out his spine, but he was quick enough to temporarily transfigure his body into solid steel and nullify her killing blow. In turn, he created a large hail of blue energy beams with intense luminosity to fry eight vampires completely and stun Lina. This move, however, was moderately taxing on his supply of offensive magic, forcing him to rely more on his silvery blade. The armored servant pushed Young Link and R.O.B. against the closest wall to its position, and it did not stop there.

"What…? Ugh!" The young Hylian was washed with a wave of deep lightheadedness as his mysterious enemy wasted no time in throttling him, and even with a bomb that was tossed at the figure's feet, there was hardly a chance to escape. The explosion could not disfigure the suit of armor, much less force the minion to flinch. Even worse, he was punched in the face with enough force to create a severe concussion in his head. R.O.B.'s attempt at saving the fallen teenager were minimally successful; his short-ranged taser redirected the servant's attention towards him, but there was next to no damage inflicted on the target. Not long after this action, the robot defeated three vampires with his lasers to free Falcon and protect the fallen Fox, simultaneously dodging dangerous spells.

Rosalina, Jigglypuff, the freed Falcon, Dedede, and a Black Guard member combined their forces to free both Mouse Pokémon, from which blood was satiating the thirst of three vampires. Combining their prowess, the Luma guardian and F-Zero pilot dismembered one cultist with fire and magic, but their actions alerted the other two. Thankfully, with the help of the greedy king and the pink puffball, they were spared from devastating attacks.

SPLACK! CRACK! SPLACK!

Dedede instantly decapitated the first foe and tossed a Gordo towards the other after Jigglypuff had ignited her with Rest. Both electrical rodents were even more dazed than before thanks to greater blood loss.

"Pika…" the older Pokémon moaned, remaining close to Falcon. Pichu was virtually silent as it crawled away from the wall, and Rosalina had to physically support it. R.O.B. tossed a Gyro and fired more lasers, both of which were directed at the armored enemy, but in a surprising twist, the beams were deflected off the cold steel and unintentionally sliced apart a vampire who tried to eviscerate Falcon. Lina, noticing her declining numbers, morphed her mind into an increasingly enraged state.

"NO!" she shrieked, deflecting a multi-beam blast from Svante, who had magically summoned a specialized pistol to substitute for his replenishing supply of offensive magic and compliment his blade. "I will not let you obliterate my forces here! Let us see how you handle THIS!"

Oooooo…

The captain summoned energy beams that drilled into her remaining brethren in blood. Like adenosine triphosphate empowering organisms who needed it, this magic performed the same thing for the undead followers, albeit on a far greater scale and with effects on both physical endurance and magical strength. No longer could the Smashers and their Rosträdgårdian allies lay a scratch; except for Young Link, Svante, and Snake, they were soon bound by chains and—excluding R.O.B. and Jigglypuff—pierced by bloodsucking needles. All attempts to fight back were rendered meaningless by the drastic increases in defense. Pichu lasted slightly longer than its cohorts as it partly fried its closest opponent at the cost of major self-damage, but it soon succumbed to the cruel fate of bondage by chains. Jigglypuff suffered a penetrating blow with the effect of producing a large air leak on its body, and R.O.B. was short-circuited by an electrifying spell.

At this point, it was clear to Svante that the group needed outside assistance, so he urgently established a connection with Queen Ingrid in Björnstad. While waiting for the monarch's voice to respond, he transfigured his body again in the face of a lethal blow from the captain's whip and retained this effect for a longer period. Each blow was deflected at the cost of his defensive reserve of magic to steadily drop. Without hesitating any longer, he shed his metallic shell and fiercely retaliated with a charged shot from his energized pistol and a sword slice that ate at Lina's torso.

Snake, now on the verge of completely blacking out, aimed the Nikita at Lina and fired. He clumsily curved the missile around the vampire's back and scored a solid blow on her back while she was seeking to snatch the elderly man's sword.

BOOM!

In dedicating himself to such an action, however, his disguise was blown. Lina immediately summoned a bladed chain to slaughter the soldier, failing only when Svante severed the head of the rusted snake before casting a cloaking spell on his fallen ally. It was at this point that Ingrid's voice finally vocalized, however choppy and faint it was.

"Svante… What is… happening?" she asked.

"We're in serious trouble, my lady," he replied. "We were attacked by Captain Lindqvist and her horde of vampires at the base, and now they have us inside a building at an alternate dimension. I hereby request an emergency team for the base in the Northern Plains."

"I am limited… on personnel. Nearly all forces… are trying… to eliminate the… ship that devastated Lejonborg, and Mario's… group is still in Vindfält… I need to ask… for outside assistance…"

"You must hurry. My allies are in severe trouble right now." The driver narrowly deflected Lina's whip by producing a shield.

"I will try… to get our allies… on Erebunius to send support… but there is no guarantee… of help…" The queen's voice sounded deeply distressed, which—along with a previous comment—insinuated serious trouble at Björnstad. After the channel had been severed, Svante resumed his fight against Lina. Nearby, the armored servant was brutally pummeling Young Link senseless without uttering a single word. It did, however, release a deep, quiet, and chillingly sinister laugh as the young swordsman was stomped into the ground.

"…!" The pain was too severe for the Hylian to scream. No matter what, he could not cry for help or yell in furious anger. His attempt at lighting up a bomb fell painfully short when the figure disarmed him on the spot, and then…

SLICE!

Mental needles shot from his brain as his cheeks were cut open by the villain's sword, followed by wetness that alerted him to an alarming bout of bleeding. Pushed to desperation, he raised his right hand to shine the Triforce of Courage at the evil warrior and its mistress. His luck soured instantly because of yet another piercing attack.

CRACK-SHINK!

The large sword was burrowed into his right forearm in the blink of an eye, pinning him to the wall. Svante created an ice bomb with what remained of his offensive energy to temporarily paralyze the servant while deflecting blows from Lina's whip. Now on the last shred of her patience, the vampire twirled her weapon at an extremely fast rate to create a small whirlwind that threatened to pull Snake and Svante into its violent grip. The elderly pilot buried his sword into the ground and transfigured his body again, this time to increase weight. The unconscious and non-vampirical Lords, along with Snake, were not so lucky; their bodies were subjected to extreme kinetic forces, and the weakened mercenary felt like his body was about to be torn into tiny shreds. Tried as he could have, he was unable to scream for even a second. When he finally struck the ground with a hard thud, his attempt at firing another Nikita missile fell terribly short when the vampire that was draining both Mouse Pokémon pierced his flesh with needles. His cloaking did not shield him due to the cultist's ability to detect essences.

Svante evaded a twin set of icicles by sliding across the ground but was unprepared for the pale-skinned mistress's attack with her whip, now electrified.

CRACK!

He instantly lost his pistol on impact and barely retained his blade. She dived towards him with fangs extended, but her thirst would not be satiated when the pilot smacked her with the blade's flat side at the last second. After slicing her whip-wielding arm off and then losing his weapon due to an electrical shot, he became locked in a stalemate with just his hands. During this struggle, Svante would have earned an advantage due to his greater mass, and yet, Lina's supernatural strength complicated the situation. Both fighters stared at each other with bright fire in their eyes, unwilling to back down.

"Surrender quietly if you don't want further damage on your side," the driver grunted.

"I will see your kingdom burn before my side chooses defeat," she snarled back. "More crucially, I will have all defiant men like you slaughtered to create a paradise for those who accept my ideals."

"Tell me, why do you harbor such a deep mistrust of men and others who do not identify as female? Does your dear leader allow you to commit such misandrist acts despite his position of not discriminating among the gender spectrum?"

"That is not relevant. The only thing that matters is your death!" With a loud yell, she kicked her enemy away and retrieved her whip to kill him. Nearby, Young Link felt like his breath was fading away after his adversary had punctured the left lung and cracked some ribs with its sword. The pain was becoming far too intense for his body to stand up anyone; crawling away was his only method of escaping, and even this was far from foolproof. Although strolling menacingly at a sluggish pace, the armored enemy was still quick enough to catch up with him and deliver a bloody beating to his form, already broken from previous attacks. Even worse, the mysterious villain had the ability to conjure a black rope from ethereal darkness, which it chose to do.

CRACK!

This new weapon cursed the fallen Hylian with deep bruising and painful cuts, especially on his legs and much of his back. He ignited a bomb to fight back, notwithstanding the possibility that his attack would be anticipated and countered swiftly. The dark sword tore through the flesh on his right arm, and the rope launched the bomb away to disrupt the incoming explosion. He was stomped into the ground again as a severe punishment for defying his foe.

Svante finally exhausted the last of his defensive magic upon creating a shield to block a lightning bolt, now ramping up his offensive maneuvers to win the fight and save his allies before it was too late. He slashed more aggressively with his blade and struck harder with his fists, and some of these blows managed to form their mark on the vampire's body. Nevertheless, Lina persisted—healing her wounds thanks to powerful magic—and even left a deep gash on the pilot's chest with her whip. The sword and the whip clashed for at least a minute until the captain momentarily blinded the elderly man with her pink mist. He was lucky enough to avoid breathing it into his lungs, but his eyes were irritated long enough for one opportunity against him. Within seconds, his legs were caught by the thorny whip and cut by the thorns themselves. While being dragged forward, he fired spheres of violet fire towards some of the vampires on the sidelines to save his allies, but the cultists barely flinched from the blows. On top of his failure to force flinching, his actions provoked Lina into spraying another batch of pink mist, and this one managed to enter his nostrils. He was paralyzed after three seconds of inhalation.

"Give up now!" the captain yelled viciously. Svante paid no mind to that threat, for Ingrid's voice resonated in his mind once again.

"Svante, Grandmaster Larsson… has agreed to… leave his group with a… trusted lieutenant… and return to rescue your squadron with… some Black Guard members… and Orchidacelian soldiers," she announced. "They should arrive… within the next half-hour."

"Tell them… to hurry up," he replied. As the channel closed, he concentrated on a powerful spell—the same one that fried eight vampires simultaneously—that was virtually one of his remaining options in saving his allies. He needed not his body to execute the move, but when the beams came down, only eight of them fried their targets, ordinary vampires, into dust. The remaining two stunned Lina and her servant but failed to leave lasting damage. The pilot's last use of the move finally exhausted his offensive magic, leaving him helpless. Young Link, on the verge of passing out, raised his right hand to defend himself against another blow from the masked killer, exposing the Triforce of Courage in the process. He was grappled by the neck and was about to be throttled, but his symbol finally attracted the attention of the figure. It glanced at the artifact for several seconds before slamming its beaten enemy into the ground, initially shaking it off as a minor distraction. Those who were on the sidelines, however, soon became witnesses to something unexpected, as did Lina and Svante.

"...?" The elderly pilot noticed a sudden burst of electrical currents surrounding the armored servant's body, complete with painful moaning from underneath the helmet. The villain placed its hands on the sides of its hand, hoping to subdue the pain, but its efforts were doomed to fail. Many onlookers were deeply confused by this change of events. Just what was provoking the figure's sudden pain, and for what reason? Was it a flaw that the Lords somehow overlooked? Or could it be a reaction to something more obscure? The answer was nowhere near the point of certainty, but one thing was for certain; this would hinder the villain's efficiency in combat. Meanwhile, Lina was frustrated upon noticing her subordinate's pain, suspecting that someone had exploited a weakness of sorts.

"No… How could…" she gasped, keeping her voice quiet before shifting to a full-on yell directed at Young Link. "What have you done?!"

"Huh…?" The extreme physical pain throughout his body sapped him of the necessarily strength to speak, although his mind suspected that no honest answer on his part would satisfy the pale-skinned woman at all. Confused, he kept his mouth shut, much to the captain's rage.

"Answer me, boy! What the fuck did you do?!" The Hylian was lifted by the throat and nearly throttled on the spot, yet Courage reinforced his willpower against the threatening question.

"Leave him alone, Lindqvist!" Svante sharply demanded. "You cannot prove that he cursed your servant with an ailment of unknown origin." In response, Lina stretched a fierce snarl on her face. He had the gull to slap that question on her face as if he knew any better than her, she believed, and such an action was more than enough reason to punish him dearly. However, before her fangs could pierce Young Link's neck, she calmed down for a minute and considered the merit of the last statement. Perhaps it was indeed true that she had no proof of the boy's involvement in the servant's current problem, and she would have to investigate further to draw any reasonable conclusion. Still, the tone of the pilot's voice warranted punishment, not to mention the fact that the Smashers and their allies were still alive. She would need to kill them all soon.

"You may be correct, but that will still not save you from your inevitable death," she hissed, watching her armored servant fall to the floor in piercing agony. "I will be back with a replacement army, and you had better hope that an outside force comes to your defense, because when I return, you are all dead…" She escorted the armored figure and the unconscious Lords from the maze through a portal, leaving the remaining vampires to prevent the opposing group from escaping. It was relatively easy for the undead cultists to keep guard; many Smashers and their allies were greatly weakened from severe blood loss, R.O.B. was barely functioning, Jigglypuff was partly deflated, Snake had fallen unconscious, Young Link had collapsed to the floor, and Svante was still paralyzed.

The elderly pilot waited for the next handful of minutes, still stuck at his position due to Lina's mist. Throughout this period, he was fearful for his allies—they were all in dire straits, especially those who were still being drained—and hoped that Gustaf's team could reach this area in time. His numbness began to slowly fade, but the rate at which this change occurred was far too slow to regrant total control of his body. Pikachu, Rosalina, and Fox were still bound by chains and affected by needles. Almost losing patience, Svante was about to fall asleep, but…

CRACK!

He lifted his head up to determine what produced the cracking sound, but not one minute could pass before the two remaining vampires were paralyzed and rendered unconscious by two spears of light, courtesy of his friend and commander; the three constricted Smashers were swiftly freed afterwards. Gustaf was accompanied by some Black Guard members and three members of Orchidacelia's armed forces, marked by their green uniforms. The foreign agents had their coat of arms branded on the sleeves of their outfits, which consisted of a golden wolf on a shield. Like the guards at the Rosträdgårdian royal palace, they wore helmets and had energized weapons.

"I apologize for taking too long," the friendly vampire sighed. "My portal powers were strained after creating many exits for the poor citizens of Altacollina. After warping to a small town in the Northern Plains, we took two armored vehicles for faster transport. All we had to do before reaching your location was to break through the barrier around this place."

"Thank you," the pilot sighed. "We must leave before Lindqvist returns with a replacement army." As the extra helpers carried the fallen heroes out of the arena, Gustaf noticed Snake's lack of consciousness and decided to examine him for detail. As it turned out, the mercenary was infected with a weaker and more gaseous form of Igel, which still had the power to kill someone if given enough time.

"I cannot let this man die." He carried Snake out of the building and all the way to the open coldness of the Northern Plains. The wounded fighters were loaded into two aerial transport vehicles before being airlifted to Björnstad. Lina soon returned with a replacement army to guard the base, but the fighters were already long gone, and this event prompted her to unleash a loud scream of rage.

On the leading airship, Svante relaxed against one of the seats and remembered the incident that wiped the unfortunate city of Lejonborg off the face of Terramythica. He was among the city's defenders, having fought aggressively to prevent its downfall and protect the vulnerable princess whenever it was possible, and for months did his group and many others stood their ground against the invading cultists and their weapons. Prospects changed, however, when the strongest war machine of the cult soared into the sky and easily annihilated the place. The pilot had felt a terrible bout of agony that day, for Lejonborg was his hometown, his small world of peace and familiarity. The fact that most of his family had perished that day only exacerbated his pain.

Now, if that same machine of death was at Björnstad, the city was going to be vaporized unless there was something to avert its doom. And with the dreaded weapon's effective invulnerability, the city's defenders would be hard-pressed to locate a weakness. Svante, fearing another crushing loss for the kingdom, nearly expressed worry on his face, but his willpower was just enough to avoid attracting the attention of anyone in the ship, including the perceptive Gustaf.

There must be a way of disabling that machine, and if there is no such thing, we need to create a solid defense against its mighty prowess. Either way, if Björnstad falls, we are headed for a road of chilling defeat. We cannot afford to lose another major city, and I do not wish to relive unpleasant memories of that fateful day.

He allowed the warm sun to wash his face with comfort, hoping to remain calm for future conflicts. Nearby, Gustaf injected a vial of Igel's antidote into the unconscious Snake. The soldier's vital signs gradually began to stabilize within the coming minutes, but his mind remained blank.

Young Link, barely clinging to life, recalled the moment when his Triforce piece caught the eyes of the armored villain, followed by a strange dose of pain to the servant, and then remembered the fact that Marth's partners from Hyrule were still missing. Was the mysterious worker one of those Smashers? If so, who could it be…?

No, it can't be. I don't think it's one of them… Could it?

He paid no further mind to the subject as he drifted into unconsciousness. Before his mind blacked out, however, he hoped that there would be some method of determining the identity of the cultist who nearly killed him.

Pi… chu… Pi…

-Pichu

I have been busy with pursuing a career job for the future, but my mind has also suffered from a severe case of writer's block… I hope the wait hasn't bored your minds to death. Now, the armored servant's pain in response to seeing Young Link's piece of the Triforce is quite a mystery, but what caused it? And who could that servant be? We will find out soon enough, but first, the next chapter will focus on Lillian's first on-screen battle. We will also see Luigi's group at the capital city's defense afterwards.

A/N:

-Lejonborg is derived from the Swedish lejon (lion), while Altacollina comes from the Italian alta (high) and collina (hill). Erebunius comes from the Akkadian erebu (to go down, set), which some scholars believe is a possible origin for the name of the mythical Phoenician princess Europa, itself the basis for the name of the European continent.

Read and review, and I will see you next time.