Chapter 61

"Hello, Mother." The three blonde men said.

"I am glad you three are well." Sasha replied, wearing a wide smile.

She quickly stood up and hugged her sons, smiling from ear to ear. Everyone stared at her in disbelief at her display of emotion. In all his time in Halkeginia, this was by far and away the most unbelievable thing Saito had seen. Even more so than the countless monsters he had encountered.

"Mother, you're embarrassing us." Olivière said, his cheeks turning red.

"Nonsense! It's been too long!" She said rubbing her cheeks on his.

After several minutes of her hugging her sons and embarrassing them, Mariel cleared her throat, gaining Sasha's attention. She immediately realized what she had just done in front of everyone and instantly returned to her normal self.

She cleared her throat and, after taking some time to compose herself, spoke in her normal monotone voice.

"Do you know why I asked you to come here?" She asked, her cheeks still bright red.

"No, Mother." Vittorio said. "You simply asked us to come at once."

"The reason I summoned you here was because I, no, we require your help." She said, finally managing to rid herself of her embarrassment.

"How may we help you?" Bartholomew asked.

"Approximately one month ago, I, your aunt Mariel, her son, and her daughter in law were attacked." She replied. "All of us were gruesomely injured."

The three brother's eyes widened with shock and anger.

"Who could be strong enough to hurt both you and auntie?!" Olivière asked.

"Your...Father." Sasha said after a long pause.

"F-Father?" Vittorio asked. "But...he's dead."

"Apparently not..." Mariel said.

"But why would he attack you?" Bartholomew asked.

Immediately, this struck Saito as odd, making his tail flinch. Why would he ask a question such as that? Obviously, Sasha would be the natural enemy of Brimir after what happened. Despite his curiosity, he chose to remain silent on the matter.

"I do not know..." Sasha said, concealing the truth. "Regardless of the reasons behind this, we must be prepared. We are leaving for Mariel's mountain tomorrow."

"Understood, Mother..." They said with slight apprehension.

"Since that has been dealt with, I believe we have already been acquainted...Saito." Vittorio said, looking at Saito, whose glowing orange eyes looked back at him.

"Pleased to meet you again, Vittorio." Saito said, bowing low.

"This girl with beautiful eyes must be your wife." Bartholomew said, referring to Louise.

"Louise de la Vallière. Pleased to meet you!" Louise said, extremely nervous to be talking to the founders of Halkeginia's major countries.

"Aunt Mariel!" Olivière exclaimed, jumping to hug her.

"It's good to see you too..." She said, slightly irritated.

"And you must be Alexandre." Olivière said, turning his attention to Alex. "I guess that makes us cousins!"

"I guess it does!" Alex said, reciprocating Olivière's childish personality. "You must have been in a lot of battles to become king!"

"You bet!" He replied. "I don't like to brag, but I'm a pretty competent fighter, if I do say so myself! I don't mean to be rude, but you look cool with one arm!"

"Well, I'd say I look cool all the time!" Alex replied.

They started laughing together, seemingly becoming best friends almost instantly. Everyone in the room stared at them with a mix of disappointment and irritation.

"They're exactly the same..." Saito and Louise said at the same time.

"So how did your second time here go?" Bartholomew asked, sitting down next to Saito.

"Relatively well." Saito replied. "My main objective was to be together with Louise again, so I'd say it went well."

"Are you okay with your body?" He asked.

"It's actually fairly useful, so I'll live with it." Saito replied. "Besides, I don't look half bad."

"Surely those in your own world will not look favorably upon it." He said.

"Actually...I kind of made the decision to stay here..." Saito said. "Considering how I look, the kingdom I have to rule, and the family I have to protect, it wouldn't make sense for me to go back."

"Staying for the girl, huh? How noble." Bartholomew said.

"Don't mock me." Saito said.

"I'm not." Bartholomew replied. "I have watched countless men run away from what's important to them to save their own lives. For having the resolve to come back to this place and protect her all over again, you have my respect."

"Thanks." Saito said. "What about you? Is there a special lady?"

"No. Don't tell my brothers, but I don't have the nerve to speak to women." He replied. "I never liked anyone anyway."

"I understand that. They can be a handful." Saito replied.

"What was that, Saito?" Louise said, staring down at him.

"Nothing!" He replied.

She, of course, had heard exactly what he said, but she decided to let him off the hook since they might have to fight the next day.

After a few hours, everyone decided that it was best to rest early for the next day, as everyone walked off the balcony, Saito stopped Sasha before she could leave so that they were alone.

"If you wish to make fun of me for how I treat my sons, it can wait for later." She said.

"That's not it." Saito replied. "How long are you going to keep them in the dark about Brimir?"

"I raised them alone, so they had no reason to know of their father." She replied.

"Don't you see how dangerous of a situation this is?!" He replied with a voice of concern. "Because of this, they can be easily manipulated by him. All he would have to tell them is that you tried to kill him, and they might turn on you!"

"I'm well aware." She replied. "I shall tell them before we depart."

"Why do I have to deal with people like this?" Saito thought to himself.

"I know I can be difficult to work with, but it is unintentional." She said, walking away.

"How the hell..?" Saito said to himself, exhausted and irritated.

He decided not to dwell on it, and instead went to his room, where Louise was playing with their kids.

"I hope we can win." He said to her, sitting down and lifting his son into the air.

"We can. Everyone is strong." She replied. "I won't lie and say I'm not nervous, but I think we can do it."

"It's nice to know at least one of us is confident." Saito replied.

At this moment, there was a knock on the door. When Louise opened it, Shion stood in front of her holding a pillow and a blanket with a tired and annoyed expression on her face. Louise was about to ask what was wrong, but she then heard the loud laughing of Alex and his new best friend Olivière in her room.

Louise immediately let her in, feeling pity for her. Shion laid on a large couch in the room and instantly fell asleep. Riza and Gabriel had already fallen asleep by this time, so the room was silent.

"We should probably sleep too." Saito said.

"Yeah." Louise said, rather sadly.

"We'll be okay." Saito said, holding her close to him. "Just relax."

He spoke bravely, but in truth, he was terrified of what was to come. He had already attempted to fight Sasha and was quickly defeated. He knew that Mariel was at least on par with her, so someone who could defeat both of them was nothing short of a monster. Despite his constant fear, soon after Louise fell asleep, he also drifted into unconsciousness.

Soon, he woke up in front of the sea serpent, Lífþrasir. Just as he was about to open his mouth to speak, she cut him off.

"There is not much time!" She said.

"Not much..? What do you mean?" Saito asked.

"He is coming for me! For all of us beasts!" She said.

"What am I supposed to do?!" Saito asked.

But before she could answer, she simply vanished into thin air. Saito was confused and shocked. He didn't know how to process what happened. As he sat on the beach, wondering what she meant, he suddenly woke up the next morning. It was still dark outside, but Shion was already awake, polishing her sword.

"Good morning, Saito." She said quietly, trying not to wake Louise and her kids.

"Good morning." Saito replied.

"You were fretting in your sleep." She said. "Care to tell me what's wrong?"

"I just...had a strange nightmare." He replied.

"Your dreams could very well be important to what we will be doing today." She said, looking down at her blade. "If you have something important to say, I suggest you tell everyone."

"I know..." Saito replied. "Is Alex awake?"

"He is sitting on the roof. He said he wanted fresh air." She replied.

"And Sasha?" He continued.

"She is wither her sons being...a mother, for lack of a better phrase." She replied.

"I see. When exactly do we leave?" He asked.

"In two hours. That is why I am allowing Louise to rest." She replied.

"Thanks." Saito said. "Will you be able to fight with those wings on your back?:

"Yes. I have control over them." She replied. "I simply do not know the intricacies of flight, so it's not easy for me yet."

"As long as you're comfortable, I guess." He said.

He sighed and pulled Derf out of his scabbard. Although he had been awake for this entire time, he hadn't felt inclined to give any input, so he remained silent.

"You're awfully reserved aren't you?" Saito asked.

"Given the circumstances, I'm not exactly in the talkative mood." Derf replied.

"Right..." Saito said. "Have you ever...seen his power?"

"Brimir? Oh yeah." Derf replied. "None of you stand a chance."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, buddy." Saito replied. "How much power can one person have?"

"He has roughly 5 times the reserve of magic that Sasha does." Derf replied.

"Five...times?" Saito said in disbelief. "That's not possible."

"Listen." Derf said. "What makes Brimir powerful is not just his great amount of power. It's how efficiently he uses it. When he attacks, all energy he puts to use is used perfectly with no waste."

"That wouldn't be so much of a problem if he didnt have so much power." Saito said.

"Let me tell you something." Derf said. "Louise has more magic available for use than Sasha does."

"What? But Sasha is so much stronger." Saito replied.

"Sasha has near perfect control of her magic and body." Derf replied. "Notice that she has never used magic in battle. It's not because she can't, it's because she instead chooses to use that magic to strengthen her body during a fight."

"Is that why she's so strong and fast?" Saito asked.

"Yes. She finds no use in conjuring fire or water to aide her in battle." Derd replied. "She always believed that a strong body will triumph over any magic. Because she has such good control over her magic, she is able to infuse every little part of her body with magic and control it at will. Her philosophy has proven true throughout the years. Her durability, strength, speed. Everything about her body is almost perfect."

"So she and Mariel should be able to defeat Brimir shouldn't they?" Saito asked with slight hope in his voice.

"Unfortunately not." Derf said. "You see, while Sasha has 'near' perfect control over her body and magic, Brimir has perfect control over both his body and his magic. Even if he is one percent more efficient, that one percent will make a drastic change in fighting capabilities. He can use it to strengthen his body and conjure various techniques simultaneously."

"Why does the final boss always have to be like this?" Saito said to himself.

"If this is the final boss, then that should give you the courage to keep moving forward." Derf said. "Just imagine a peaceful life with your family once you end this adventure. That alone should fuel you to keep going."

"You're right..." Saito said. "I'm not going to say I'm not frightened though."

"You should be." Derf said.

"There's something else as well." Saito said.

Shion's ears twitched when she heard him say this. However, just as he was about to explain, Louise awoke in their bed. She rubbed her eyes, still feeling very tired.

"Good morning." She said sleepily.

"Good morning, Louise." Saito and Shion said at once.

"Im going to get ready." She said, slowly walking to the bathroom.

When she was finally out of sight, Derf popped back out of his scabbard.

"What were you going to tell me, Saito?" Derf whispered.

"Last night, I lost contact with Lífþrasir." Saito whispered.

"What? What do you mean?" Derf asked.

"She warned me of something." Saito said. "She said he's coming for her and her siblings, then she just disappeared."

"Does this mean Brimir wants to use their power again?" Derf asked with fear in his voice.

"Most likely." Saito said.

"We need to tell everyone right now." Derf said.

"I'll tell everyone when we gather to leave." Saito replied.

And so, Saito waited for everyone to get ready. While they prepared, he hopped on Soren's back with Tempus following and traveled to Germania, where he left his kids with Augusta. Oddly, both gods chose to stay and watch over the children, which Saito was not against at all. He kissed each of his kids' cheeks before going back to his own palace. Augusta was confused as to why she had to look after them, but was happy to do Saito a favor.

By the time he returned, everyone had prepared to leave. Over their clothes, they all wore the same kind of segmented armor. It wasn't meant to necessarily stop attacks, but more to shield them from any debris that might hit them.

"We are prepared to depart." Vittorio said.

"Alright." Saito said, taking a deep breath. "Sasha, lead the way."

She nodded and began to walk out of the palace. All of them were scared, including Sasha, but she tried her best not to show it. All of them were silent, thinking about the possibility of their deaths. Despite their fear, however, they marched forward with confidence, ready to meet their enemy again.

Author's Notes:

Hello everyone! Sorry for not posting for the past day or two. I decided to take a small break since I was getting a little fatigued. Anyway, I'll go back to normal posting now. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!