Author's Notes:

Hey guys! I told you you'd get a chapter every day, so here it is. It took me a little longer to write this one than normal, but I had fun with it so I hope it was worth it. Enjoy!

Chapter 28: The Fall of Tristain

"The humans are at war." Sasha repeated.

"Damn it!" Saito said. "How long has the fighting been going on?"

"Approximately 24 hours." Eres said. "The massive nation you spoke of launched a surprise attack on Tristain. They are already bombarding the capital city. Our scouts in Albion have not returned. North East Gallia is also under attack. Romalia is still safe."

"I see." Saito said. "Then I have to go now."

"Don't be foolish." Sasha said. "You will die if you go now."

"Then what am I supposed to do?" He asked.

Sasha remained silent for a few moments. "If you insist on going, we can leave you close to Tristain's border. However, we will not become involved in this. That is the only assistance you will get from us."

"Fine." Saito said. "I'm going to go and prepare."

"We will see you off when you are done." Helen said.

Saito nodded and ran as fast as he could to Helen's palace. However, when he was about halfway there, he stopped to think. Louise didn't know yet that a war had begun. Now more than ever, he wanted to keep her safe.

At that moment, he decided that he would lie to keep her safe. He went to Helen's palace and found Louise eating cookies in her room. He snuck up on her and hugged her from behind. She gasped slightly, and then melted into his arms.

"Hey Louise, I'm going to be training with Sasha for a while, so I might not be able to come home." He said.

"Do you have to?" She asked.

"I have to protect you two, so I have to." He replied.

"Okay." She said, reluctantly. "Just don't push yourself too hard."

He turned her around and gave her a kiss.

"I love you. Both of you." He said, rubbing her belly.

"We love you too." She said.

He put on his coronation clothes and looked in the mirror. Afterwards, he picked up Derflinger and headed towards the door. He hesitated to leave her, looking back at her as he walked out of the door, then turned away and left to meet with Sasha and the other representatives. On his way there, Derf could not help but think about how Louise was lied to.

"Do you really think that was the best thing to do, Partner?" Derf asked him.

"If I told her the truth, she'd want to come with me. I can't put her in danger." Saito replied as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop.

"She'll be quite cross with you." Derf said.

"It doesn't matter. Her safety is more important to me." He replied.

He quickly arrived in front of the four representatives, prepared to embark to the human world. They led him through the same series of corridors that he was brought through when he and Louise arrived. Eventually, he found himself in the forest that he found when he arrived in the Kingdom. Sasha began chanting in her language. Soon afterwards, a white portal opened before them.

"This will lead you to the human world." She said. "Good luck."

"Hey, Sasha." Saito said. "I told Louise that I'd be training with you and that's why I'd be gone. When she finds out that that's not true, I need you to keep her here."

"I understand. How very noble of you." She said.

"We must spend more time together when you finish your business." Orlan said.

"Agreed." Eres said. "You're interesting, so we must talk more when you come back."

Saito nodded and looked at Helen. "Thank you for allowing Louise to stay with you."

"She is a lovely girl, so I do not mind." She said.

He took a deep breath and looked at the portal. He pulled Derf from his scabbard and jumped through the portal. When he opened his eyes, he was in the middle of some woods. The portal had disappeared and he was alone with Derf.

"Where to, Partner?" Derf asked.

"I'm going to Gallia's capital, Lutéce." Saito said. "If it's true that Tristania is already under siege, then there isn't anything I can do to help there. I have to speak with either Tabitha or Josette."

"It will take about twelve hours to get there from here." Derf said

"Alright. I guess I better start running." Saito replied.

He ran as fast as he could towards the capital. He made sure to avoid any roads. With his eyes, he could see several groups of Gallian military forces on the roads, making their way north east. From the number of soldiers he saw, a large battle must have been happening, so he picked up his pace on his way to Lutéce.

In Tristania

Germanian military forces marched into the capital of Tristain. Although the majority of Tristain's military might was centered in the city, the Germanian's employed weapons that Tristain military did not recognize.

Henrietta sent a group of mages to intercept and destroy a small group of enemy soldiers. There were about twelve of them in total. As they quietly snuck through the city, they could hear the constant sound of rapid small explosions in other parts of the now burning city. They were bewildered as to what the sounds might be, but continued with their mission.

Eventually, the small platoon spotted their targets. Approximately twenty Germanian soldiers were taking a break in a destroyed café. They appeared to be normal people, but they dressed completely differently than had been seen by any military in Halkeginia. They wore heavy looking, pale green, baggy clothes which had several pockets on them. On their backs, the carried square shaped backpacks. On their heads, they wore pale green, metal, rounded helmets. In their arms, they carried different kinds of metal rods with several attachments, including bayonets. With them was a box of small, cylindrical, pointed metal objects.

"They carry only spears. They do not appear to be mages." One of Henrietta's mages said. "They should be easy to get rid of."

The other mages agreed. From the building they were hiding in, they shot different kinds of magic from their wands. The Germanian soldiers all ran behind different objects to hide behind. They were confused as to what was happening and were asking each other for information in the Germanian language, which sounded almost the same as German.

Soon, however, they noticed where the attacks were coming from. Unfortunately for Henrietta's mages, that was the last time most of them would use magic. The Germanians pointed the open parts of their 'metal rods' at the building where the mages hid. In an instant, the sounds of hundreds of bullets being fired per minute filled the air.

An intense firefight erupted between the two groups. However, it was quite one sided. Within a minute, ten of the twelve mages were either badly wounded or dead. The remaining two mages decided that it was best to retreat. They gathered a few bullets to bring to Henrietta and then used earth magic to silently dig a tunnel that led underground. They grabbed the other mages who were still alive, three in total, and went down the tunnel, making sure to collapse it as they moved.

Eventually, they arrived in Henrietta's palace. They took the three wounded mages to the palace's infirmary and went to Henrietta with the bullets they had collected. She was sitting at a large table with a map spread across it.

"Madame Henrietta!" They said, gasping for breath.

"What happened?!" She asked them.

"We could not defeat them! They carried strange weapons!" One of them said. "They fired these projectiles at us."

He handed her a bullet. She knew immediately that this was a weapon from Saito's world. She examined it for a little while, then looked back at them.

"Where are the rest of your group?" She asked.

"Of the twelve of us you sent, half of us were killed. We have three injured in the infirmary." They answered.

She thought silently for several minutes before looking back at them. "I am ordering the evacuation of the palace and the city. We are to retreat to Gallia and then to Romalia, effective immediately. Spread the word."

They nodded and ran out of the room. Henrietta looked outside at her burning city, feeling a vast amount of fear and, more than that, shame. She clasped her hands together and looked up at the sky, praying for Saito to come back.

In Lutéce

Saito sped through the capital city of Gallia towards the royal palace. The capital was in chaos, as a military draft had been put in place. Young men boarded carriages and were sent on their way to military camps.

He ran past the palace guards and into the palace. He searched throughout the building until he finally found both Tabitha and Josette. They were strategizing over a large map. Both seemed to be in a state of panic. However, when Tabitha saw him, she seemed to feel a sense of relief.

"Where have you been?!" She asked. Her voice was uncharacteristically loud. "We all thought you were dead!"

"Sorry." Saito said. "I came here as fast as I could. Explain the situation to me, please."

Tabitha looked at Josette. "Sister, please introduce yourself."

Josette looked up at Saito. She first looked at his crown, which he made a habit of wearing all the time.

"Greetings, King Hiraga." She said. "I am Josette, Queen Charlotte's twin sister."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." Saito said. "I'm sorry to rush things, but I need to know how things are going with the war."

"Germania has launched attacked on north-east Gallia and has invaded Tristain, making their way to the capital." She said. "We have not received word from Queen Henrietta about the status of the capital."

"How can I help you?" Saito asked.

"There is a military stronghold holding off enemy attacks in the east. Would you mind going to assist them?" Tabitha asked. "One more thing. The enemy is using weapons we have not seen before in Halkeginia. Be careful."

"Sure thing." Saito said. "I would like to head to Tristain at some point, though."

"I understand." She said. "While you're there, please check on the Academy. As it is south of Tristania, it will not have been attacked yet."

"Understood." Saito said.

Tabitha handed him a paper with her signature on it, giving him authority to take command of a military force if its leaders are incapacitated. He rolled the paper and put it under his coat. Quickly, he left the city and was soon outside of the city's walls.

"Derf, what's my ETA?" He asked.

"9 hours if you avoid the roads." Derf said.

"That's too long." Saito said as he ran through the forest. "Teleport me."

"I can't just teleport you in that general direction. Who knows what you'll find there." Derf said.

"Fine." Saito said, realizing that blind teleportation was probably a stupid idea.

He sped up his pace as he ran past small villages and towns. He could see several military carriages transporting supplies in the direction he was going, so he followed them, hidden in the woods. After what felt like an eternity to him, deep in the forests of north eastern Gallia, he saw the military fortress that was under siege.

It was starting to become dark, but he could see smoke rising into the sky. He heard the sounds of shouting and fighting, but he was shocked to hear the sound of machine gun fire. He snuck into the fortress and searched for it's commander. Unable to find him, he stopped one of the guards who was running through the corridor and showed him the paper that Tabitha hand given him.

Without question, the guard led Saito deep underground into a bunker, where a man in prestigious looking clothes sat, giving orders to several men at once. He was over six feet tall and had a long, blonde beard and blonde hair that grew to his shoulders. A long scar ran along the length of his left cheek. His eyes were a piercing blue and he spoke in a deep, serious voice. The guard who led Saito into the bunker whispered something into the commander's ear, prompting him to look at Saito. He ordered everyone in the room to leave, save for two other men.

Both looked younger than the commander did, but both seemed like they had seen a lot in their lives. Their faces were downcast, with their eyes devoid of any emotion other than depression and anxiety. When the room was empty, the commander finally spoke to Saito.

"I am General Raphael of the Gallian Imperial Military. What is it that you want? Speak quickly, I do not have time." He said.

"My name is Hiraga Saito. I've been sent by Queen Charlotte and her sister to assist you in defeating the enemy who are currently attacking you." He said.

"How is one boy supposed to-"

The commander stopped short when he started to pay more attention to Saito. He noticed his large fangs when he spoke, bold orange eyes which glowed rather brightly at the moment, and most of all, his long glowing tail that moved freely behind him.

"What the hell are you?" He said.

"That doesn't matter right now. Tell me how the fight has been going." Saito said.

"Henry, Francis, explain the situation to this…thing." The commander said, reluctantly.

"There are approximately five hundred enemy soldiers." Said the one called Henry. He had short brown hair and dark brown eyes. "Normally, five hundred enemies would not be an issue. However, they wear armor and use weapons we have never seen before."

"What kind of armor and weapons?" Saito asked.

"They wear heavy looking, baggy clothes. They also wear different metal helmets on their heads, unlike anything we're used to seeing." Said the one called Francis. He looked rather the same as Henry, although his hair was black and he had a little bit of facial hair. "They carry several weapons. Most of them appear to be metal rods that, when pointed at their enemy, kill them instantly. They also seem to be creating explosions on the battlefield, but we do not know how they are being created. To make matters worse, they have dug themselves into trenches, so we cannot advance."

"I see." Saito said. "Tell your men to withdraw. You can't fight them now. I'll go and deal with the army."

"What are you, stupid?!" Raphael said. "Over one thousand soldiers have died out there! What is one monster like you going to do?!"

Saito pulled out the document he was given by Tabitha. "By order of Queen Charlotte and her sister, princess Josette, I take command of the military forces who occupy this fortress."

Raphael got up from his chair, wanting to argue, but he could not go against the word of the Queen. He sat back down and handed Saito his badge, which signified his superiority over the other soldiers and officers.

"I'm going to where the fighting is." Saito said. "Remain here and try to work out how many are injured or dead."

"Understood." Raphael said, rather angrily.

Saito disappeared from the room. In a few moments, he was outside of the fortress. He could hear the direction that the fighting was coming from, so he quickly went in that direction. Once he arrived, all he saw was two trenches, in between which was a large stretch of land with several of the fortress's mages and foot soldiers lying on the ground, dead.

He ran into the allied trench and looked around. There were several injured men being attended to. The smell of burnt flesh and smoke was in the air. Saito took in a deep breath and yelled at the remaining men to gather around him.

"I am Hiraga Saito! By order of Queen Charlotte, you are now under my command! I and I alone will deal with the enemy forces! In that time, you must retreat from this battle! Understood?!" He said to them.

They all murmured, wondering if Saito was crazy, or whether Queen Charlotte was crazy for appointing him as a commander. Nevertheless, they saluted and prepared to retreat, putting the wounded on stretchers and gathering their weapons.

"Partner," Derf said. "I know you're fast, but even you can't dodge a bullet."

"I'm not fast enough to dodge one, no." Saito said. "But I only have to dodge them if I'm fired at, and even then, I can only be shot if they're fast enough to aim at me."

"So that's your plan, eh?" Derf replied.

"Yeah. I just have to get into their trench. If I can do that, they're finished." He said as he began to walk out of the trench.

One of the enemy soldiers thought he saw a man walk onto the land between the two encampments, but when they blinked, the man was gone. As he let his guard down, he heard a commotion coming from further down the trench.

Saito had arrived in the enemy encampment and begun fighting the enemy soldiers. At that range, they were not able to effectively fire at him. Dozens of men fell in the span of one minute. Preferring not to kill, Saito used his immense strength to knock them out of his way. However, they kept coming back up, ready to fight again.

"Partner, these guys wont stay down!" Derf said.

"I really didn't want to resort to injuring them, but I guess there's no other options." Saito replied.

Pulling Derf from his scabbard, he began cutting down the enemies before him, who tried in a fruitless effort to fight back. As Saito distracted the Germanians, the Gallian soldiers used the opportunity to retreat back to the fortress.

In his bunker, Raphael waited to hear the news that Saito had died. He didn't necessarily want him to die, but he saw his possible death as a victory for his somewhat broken pride. Instead, however, a messenger ran into his bunker, gasping for air.

"You have news?" Raphael said.

"Sir!" The messenger said. "Our men are returning from the battlefield!"

"What?!" Raphael replied with surprise. "And what of Hiraga?!"

"The soldiers who have come back told us that he went alone to fight the enemy! He has given them orders to remain here until he returns!" He replied.

Raphael sat down. "You are dismissed. Assess the number of wounded and dead. Begin medical treatment immediately."

"Yes, sir!" The messenger said as he darted out of the room.

For several hours, Raphael awaited word about Saito. On the fourth hour, he suddenly heard a large cheer from the men upstairs and outside. Curious as to what could be happening, he went upstairs to find out himself. When he got passed the large crowd of men and made it to the front gate, he saw why the men were cheering.

Walking towards the fortress with shining orange eyes and a bright orange glowing tail, his body illuminated by the moons in the sky, was Saito. He was limping from a bullet wound in his right leg, but was otherwise in rather good shape. When he arrived at the gate, the healthy men lifted him into the air. When they noticed his wound, they carried him all the way to the infirmary.

As he sat in bed with his leg wrapped in bandages, Raphael entered the room. He sat down next to Saito and said nothing.

"No apologies are necessary." Saito said.

"I doubted the word of the Queen." Raphael replied.

"I would do the same in your position." Saito chuckled. "Regardless, I give back control of the situation to you."

"Thank you." Raphael said.

"There is one more thing I need you and your men to do though." Saito said. "Go to the battlefield and retrieve all of the enemy's weapons. Send them back to the capital to be looked over. You cannot win this war without weapons of the same amount of power. The weapons are from my world. I don't have the time to explain right now, just make sure they reach Charlotte."

"Understood." Raphael said.

Saito got up and got dressed, much to Raphael's surprise. He grabbed Derf and began to limp towards the door.

"You should stay in bed! You need to rest!" Raphael said.

"I have someone waiting for me at home. Resting here won't help me get back to her faster, so I have to go. Take care!" Saito said with a smile.

Although Saito knew he would probably be completely healed in less than a week, he was still in quite a bit of pain, so he borrowed a dragon from the fortress and sped back towards Gallia's capital. Because the dragon was not like Sylphid was therefore quite a bit slower than Saito himself, it took him an entire day to reach the Lutéce.

When he arrived in Tabitha's palace, the guards began to cheer. As he limped through the halls, several guards saluted him or thanked him for his service to the nation.

"It seems that word of what you did has reached this place already." Derf said.

"Yeah." Saito replied. "That means that it won't be too long before it reaches Albrecht either."

When he limped into Charlotte and Josette's room, they both gave him hugs and kissed his cheeks.

"Thank you so much, Saito!" They both said.

"Please don't thank me. I want to do what I can to help." Saito said. "Is there any word on Tristain."

"Yes." Josette said solemnly. "Tristania has fallen to the Germanians. The members of Tristain's Royal Family have disappeared. We believe they may have escaped."

"And what about King Alex and Queen Shion?" He asked.

"The last we heard of them, they were on the floating Kingdom of Albion. It has not passed over Halkeginia yet, but it will in eight days." Tabitha said.

"Damn it!" Saito said to himself. "What the hell do I do?!"

They sat in silence for a while before Tabitha finally said something.

"Where is Louise?" She asked.

"I can't tell you, but she is safe. I can't let her get involved with this." He replied.

"The void mage may be the only ones capable of pushing back Germania's armies. We need her back." She said.

"Void mage…" Saito said to himself.

For several moments, he kept repeating those words. Eventually, he looked up at Josette and Tabitha.

"I have an idea!"

In Vindobona, Germania

Albrecht sat in his room, sipping white wine. He was looking at a wooden figurine of Brimir that he was holding. As he thought to himself, he heard a knock on the door.

"Enter." He said.

A small, light man with short black hair entered the room. "My lord, I have news of the war."

"Speak." Albrecht said.

"It seems the strategy you read of in that book has worked in Tristain. We have captured the capital." The man said.

"That is, indeed, excellent news." Albrecht said.

"There is another piece of news, sir." The man said. "Approximately 20 hours ago in north-eastern Gallia, one of our companies who was sent to capture a Gallian fortress was completely destroyed."

"What? How?" Albrecht said.

"We do not know. None of the men survived." The man said.

"Tell the other units in the area to look for an orange eyed boy and a pink haired girl traveling together." He said.

"Understood, sir." The man said, leaving Albrecht's room.

"It is only a precaution. It is highly unlikely that he is alive. But even so, it's best to be sure. To get in my way now would be unacceptable. After all, I have already attained one piece of the puzzle." He thought to himself.

He looked at a wall of his bedroom, where a large map of Halkeginia was painted. The nations of Tristain, Gallia, and Albion were painted in red and had strange runes written on them. Albrecht smiled as he drew an X over Tristain with some chalk he had on a table.

"In time, this will all be over."

Author's Notes:

Hey guys! As promised, here is today's chapter! I hope you like it! Please send me a PM or review with suggestions, what you'd like to see, or just your thoughts in general. Anyway, thanks for reading and catch you next time!