Author's Notes:
As promised, here is the second chapter of the day. I intended to release it at 12 am, but the system seemed to be down. I hope you enjoy it, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Chapter 40: Disaster
Louise's eyes widened as she saw the massive explosion unfolding in front of her eyes. Eventually, everything went silent, with the only sound being the crackling of the burning embers within the fire. She ran towards the burning building and quickly blew away the larger fires with a softer explosion spell.
At the same time, the allied Gallian forces arrived, having seen the explosions in the valley. She lifted aside the heavy rubble until she eventually saw Hayai curled in a ball. He was completely unscathed, with even his fur being unsinged. She ran up to him, feeling slightly relieved that at least he was alive.
When he uncurled himself, her heart sank again as she saw the being laying unconscious on his fur. Saito was severely burned with a multitude of deep gashes on several parts on his body. On his chest, his Heart of God rune had disappeared, meaning he had somehow died already and was now living solely on his original life force.
He barely had a pulse and had very shallow breathing. She realized that even with his extraordinary ability to heal himself, he would be incapacitated for months because of his wounds. When the soldiers arrived, they each went through the piles of rubble, finding the other leaders one by one.
Much to their surprise and confusion, they were all completely uninjured, with only a few minor scrapes. They were unconscious, but otherwise, they would be fine.
"How are they so healthy?" One of the soldiers asked.
Louise combed her mind for answers, then it hit her. Long ago, when Saito had told her about how he had come to Halkeginia before, she remembered him telling her that he had also become the Heart of God, Lífþrasir. He told her that he had once died because he used to much energy in an attempt to save Halkeginia, but he did not die because he was also Gandalfr. Putting two and two together, she realized that he probably used all of his power as Lífþrasir to keep the other leaders alive. Because of how exhausting that was, he must have 'died', causing him to fall unconscious. Since he was unconscious, he was unable to protect himself from the fire and rubble around him, causing his massive injuries.
"Take him away and make sure he lives…" She said quietly to one of the soldiers.
They were confused at first, but even though they were not a mage, they could feel an ominous aura coming off of her. A deep purple, magic aura surrounded her body and dripped onto the ground as she walked, as if it was some kind of thick liquid. She knelt by Saito and softly kissed his lips, although part of his face and neck were burned.
"Please don't die…" She said with tears streaming from her eyes. "I need you. Please…"
She kissed him one more time, then turned towards the direction of the Germanian army.
"Hayai, take care of Saito." She said.
The dragon nodded and picked up Saito by his shirt. It disappeared into the ranks of the allied army looking for a medical mage. Louise, meanwhile, walked towards the Germanian army. She could, of course, have destroyed them from where she was, but she wanted them to see her out of the hatred she now felt towards them.
Out of fear, none of the allied soldiers dared to get in her way. She quickly made her way up the valley and onto the semi-flat ground that the Germanian military were. They were preparing to send scouts to make sure the leaders were dead. When they noticed her, they immediately opened fire.
In just a few seconds, thousands of bullets flew towards her. However, when the bullets made contact with her body, they seemed to simply dissolve, turning into dust. For several minutes, the barrage continued until the dust in the air was too thick for the Germanians to see through.
As they waited to see if their barrage had worked, suddenly, the dust in the air seemed to be sucked into one point, which happened to be the tip of Louise's finger. Before any of them could pull a trigger, a ball of light shot into the middle of the army. However, unlike before, this light was much darker in coloration. It was deep purple and black, seeming to exude the very essence of despair from it. Almost instantly, a large explosion enveloped them all.
Far away in the bottom of the valley, the allied soldiers could see a halo of purple-ish light behind the hill which the Germanians came from. They knew exactly what would happen afterwards, so they all got on the ground and covered their heads. Just as they expected, a shock wave ran across the valley. This time, however, it was much stronger than ever before.
When the violence subsided and they opened their eyes, they were shocked to see that every tree as far as they could see was no longer standing. The ones that were closer to the explosion seemed to be crushed.
"It's dangerous to stay here!" One of the soldiers yelled. "We're going back to Tristania!"
All the soldiers began marching back to Tristania as quickly as possible, making sure to keep their leaders well protected. Meanwhile, Louise walked through a sea of melted weapons and armor, as well as silhouettes of where some soldiers used to be, but were now turned to dust.
The Germanian military that was stationed there was destroyed. She looked up at the sky where, in several dozens of kilometers away, she used her void magic to spot Albrecht, fleeing on a dragon towards the capital.
Almost robotically, she pointed her finger in his direction. After taking a moment to aim, a thin beam of dark purple magic shot from her finger. With astonishing accuracy, it pierced the dragon's wing, causing it to fall to the ground. When they crashed on the ground, Albrecht and his guards ran through the forest and hid behind some trees.
They heard a strange sound in the place that they had just been. It sounded like a very dull, muted explosion. When they looked, they saw Louise looking down at the wounded dragon. It looked very afraid, but she gently stroked its head, letting it calm down. She placed her hand over its wound, then it got up and ran away into the forest.
Suddenly, she disappeared, making Albrecht alarmed. To his knowledge, he should not have been capable of such things. As far as he knew, she was only capable of causing massive explosions. As these thoughts raced through his mind, he heard the same, dull sound behind him. Before he even had the chance to turn around, he was knocked unconscious.
In Tristania
All of the allied leaders were unconscious in the medical ward of their camp. It had been about two hours since the meeting began and they were attacked. As the medics scratched their heads trying to understand why the only one who was wounded was Saito, Wales suddenly woke up coughing.
"Where am I?" He asked with confusion.
"You're in the medical ward in Tristania. You…were attacked at your meeting with Germania. Our forces are already prepared to march on your command." One of the doctors said.
Wales's face contorted with anger when he remembered what happened, but then changed to one of confusion as he realized that he was uninjured.
"What happened?" He asked the doctor.
"We do not know the details yet, as the only ones in the building were you and the other leaders." The doctor replied. "However, we do know that the Germanian military fired in an attempt to kill all of you. Miraculously, most of you came out with no injuries at all."
"Most of us?" Wales said.
The doctor cleared his throat out of fear of Wales's reaction.
"Ahem. L-Lord Hiraga is in critical condition…" The doctor said.
Wales's eyes widened with worry and sadness. "Take me to him immediately!" He said.
The doctor nodded and ran through the medical complex until he reached a door at the end of a hallway. Inside, Wales saw just what the doctor meant by critical condition. His entire body, save part of his face, was covered in burns and deep gashes.
By Saito's side, Hayai sat. The doctors had attempted to try and have it leave the room, but it refused to leave Saito's side.
"What happened to him..?" Wales asked.
"We have no idea." The doctor said.
"Where is his wife?" Wales asked.
"According to the soldiers who were at the scene, she went off to destroy the enemy by herself." The doctor said.
"What?! And they didn't stop her?!" Wales exclaimed. "If she dies…"
At this very moment, he heard a commotion outside, prompting him to look outside. When he walked outside, he saw Louise walking towards the base. In her hands, she was dragging Albrecht by his neck, unconscious.
Medical mages and other doctors ran out to capture him and see if she had any wounds, but were shocked to find that she was entirely healthy, only slightly tired. Without saying anything, she ran into the building looking for Saito.
When she found him, she collapsed onto his bed and began to weep. She felt guilty for letting this happen to him. Wales watched her cry for several minutes until eventually, she got up and turned towards him.
"We're going to destroy Germania." She said.
Author's Notes
Here is your second chapter! I decided to cut it short because it would've been too long otherwise. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas. See you soon!