Chapter 82
"The Germanian border is close." Saito said.
He and his friends had been walking, or rather, running through the forests of Halkeginia for a few hours.
They had agreed to rest before crossing the border into potentially dangerous territory.
They stopped in some woods close to the border to take a short break, wondering what was in store for them.
"I wonder how my father is doing." Alex said as he sat against a tree.
"He'll be fine." Shion said, leaning her head on his shoulder.
"You're awfully confident, aren't you?" He said.
"I know he's strong because he has a strong son." She said, kissing his cheek. "Don't worry. He'll be okay."
"You always know how to make me feel better." He said, hugging her.
Meanwhile, Saito and Louise sat in the high branches of a nearby tree.
"They're adorable." Louise said as she listened to Alex and Shion's conversation.
"It's rude to eavesdrop, Louise." Saito said as he looked at the setting sun.
"Fine fine." She replied.
They were silent for a few seconds, thinking about what could happen.
"You know...we'll probably have to fight Brimir." Louise suddenly said.
"I know." Saito replied.
"Do you think we can win?" She asked.
"I do." Saito replied.
"So you have a plan?" She asked.
"Not really." He said. "I've just been thinking about something Derf told me."
"And what would that be?" She asked.
"Well, he said you have more raw power than Sasha." He said. "That means that you're probably the only one capable of killing Brimir."
"Firing an explosion at him won't work." She said. "It only worked against Lifrasir because she's very big and you guys were distracting her. Even then, it didn't even kill her."
"You only charged that explosion for a short time." He replied. "You should start gathering magic now. You can do it while we're on the move, right?"
"Yeah, but even if I gather enough, I would never be able to hit him." She said in protest.
"Let the rest of us figure that out." Saito said.
She was silent for a few seconds, then nodded.
"Alright." She said.
Again, there was a few minutes of silence, during which Saito remembered the dream he had before he woke up that morning.
"Hey, Louise..." He said.
"What is it?" She asked.
"I don't think the enemy managed to capture Gandalfr." He said.
"What?! How do you know?" She asked.
"I had a dream today." He said. "I saw Gandalfr laying down alone. He looked hurt, but was otherwise okay. When he looked at me, I woke up."
"Do you think it could have just been a dream?" She asked.
"Maybe. But my dreams tend to mean something." He said. "Either way, I still can't talk to him."
"Hopefully your dream turns out to be accurate." She replied. "I'd hate to have another fight like the one against Lifrasir."
"Yeah." Saito said.
He then lifted her up and jumped down to the ground. After setting her down, he went to speak to Sasha and Mariel.
"Should we leave soon?" He asked.
"Yeah, we don't have time to waste." Sasha said, getting to her feet.
"We're pretty close to the border, so we have to be more careful from now on." Mariel said. "Everyone be as silent as possible when we're on the move.
Just before they were about to leave, Saito's head began to hurt again. Again, he saw through eyes that weren't his.
He saw a similar sight to the one he had seen before. He was watching a human army fighting desperately to survive, but then his headache stopped and his vision returned to normal.
"That's been happening more frequently since we left home." Louise said. "Are you okay."
"I'm fine." Saito said, rather stubbornly.
"What did you see?" She asked.
"The same thing." He said, holding his head. "I was watching a fight between an army of soldiers and an army of...the dead."
"Why is it happening so often now?" She said, helping him stand.
"I don't know." He said. "I have a feeling we'll find out soon though."
They then followed everyone else, crossing the Germanian border in a matter of minutes.
As they swiftly moved through the forests and occasional open fields, Saito's sensitive nose picked up a familiar smell, making him stop.
"What's wrong, Saito?" Sasha asked when she noticed him stop.
"I smell...blood." He said, sniffing the air.
He followed his nose to find the source of the smell. After only a few minutes, he found the source of the smell.
A large field in the middle of the forest was stained red with blood.
"An army must have had a fight here." Saito said. "Looks like they lost."
"Can you track which way they were taken?" Louise asked.
"If there's blood here, then there's probably a trail of blood around here too." He said. "But I don't think we should try to follow them."
"Why not?" Alex asked. "It might lead us to the guy who's in control."
"That's exactly why we shouldn't follow them. Saito's right." Shion said. "We must first get rid of any significant support he might have. Those being Brimir and Lune."
"But how are we supposed to find them?" Alex asked.
"When they use their magic, well feel their presence. Finding Brimir will be easier, though." Saito said. "When a void mage uses a significant amount of power, it has a distinct feeling compared to normal magic. Knowing Brimir's strength, it won't be long until one of us feels his power."
"Let's keep moving, then." Mariel said. "The further along the country's border we go, the more likely we are to find a battle."
Everyone nodded and they moved along the border at a swift pace. As Mariel predicted, it wasn't long before they heard the sound of fighting fairly close by.
As they approached the fighting, Saito's head began to hurt again, causing him to slow down.
It was much worse than the rest had been since he left his country. It was comparable to the one he got when he found his family was killed.
However, this time, he saw nothing. His vision remained the same and soon, the headache went away.
"Stop here." Sasha said to the group.
From where they were hidden in the woods, they could clearly see a Tristainian army fighting several undead soldiers.
"We should help." Mariel said.
"We are not to intervene with the humans directly." Sasha replied. "We're only after the leaders of the enemy group.
"Such rules no longer apply." Mariel replied. "This enemy threatens the entire world. Besides, once we enter the battle, I have no doubt that at least one of our enemies may appear."
After a moment of consideration, Sasha nodded and pulled her axe from where it was fastened on her back.
They all quickly arrived on the battlefield, each taking out dozens of enemies.
The human soldiers that were fighting were confused by what was happening as enemy soldiers were cut down, broken, or outright vaporized by an explosion.
When the dust off their initial attack cleared, the soldiers were able to see the ones who saved them standing on the front line, surrounded by enemy bodies.
They recognized Louise, Saito, Alex, and Shion, but were of course wondering who the other two were.
As they waited for the next wave of enemies, which they could see coming over the horizon, the army began to cheer for them.
The six heroes looked back at the army, feeling better about saving them, then turned back to the task at hand.
The enemy army was moving quickly towards them.
"You don't have any issues with killing anymore do you, Saito?" Alex asked, gripping his dagger tightly.
"You can't kill what's already dead." He replied.
As he said this, he got another even more painful headache. It lasted for several seconds.
Unlike his last headache, he saw something this time. He seemed to be in the sky, looking at a battle happening below him.
By the time his vision returned to normal, the enemy army was already upon them, giving him only a few seconds to defend himself.
He was only fighting for about a minute before he had another painful headache, causing him to fall onto his knees.
His excruciating migraine ended just as one of the enemy soldiers cut him across his shoulder.
It was a deep cut, but he was still capable of fighting. Louise noticed that he had been hurt, so quickly made her way to him.
"What happened?" She asked as she destroyed several enemies at once with her explosion spells.
"I just...lost focus." He replied, covering his wound with his hand.
"I know you're lying." She said. "What's wrong? These enemies shouldn't be hard for you to defeat."
As she said this, his head began to hurt again. He saw the same image as before, like he was floating in the sky.
But he saw something else as well. It was hand belonging to whoever's eyes he was seeing through. It was pointing at the battle below him. Soon a ball of light formed in front of it.
His vision then returned to him and his headache went away. Almost immediately, he grabbed Louise and shielded her.
He wasn't thinking about what he did. He didn't even know why he did it, but his body seemed to follow its instincts without consulting his brain.
This turned out to be very fortunate. Not even a second later, the world around them turned a bright white.
Their ears were overwhelmed by the deafening boom of an explosion. Debris was blown in every direction from the blast.
Because they weren't expecting the blast, they received burns as well as other wounds from debris in the air.
After what felt like several minutes, but was only a few seconds, the chaos ended.
When Saito felt that it was safe, he stood up from where he had been shielding his wife.
His long hair was slightly singed at its tips and his shirt had been burned off, exposing his skin to the elements. He was therefore quite injured, but still mobile.
Louise was completely uninjured. It seemed that the only harm done to her was the complete shock to her senses.
Their friends received more injuries from the explosion, mostly burns and cuts from debris, but were fairly healthy.
"What was that?" Alex said, getting up from where the explosion had thrown him. "Did Louise cast an explosion?"
"No, she didn't." Shion said, observing Louise's state of shock.
Shion was pretty much unscathed, having protected herself from the majority of the damage with her eyes.
At this time, Mariel and Sasha ran to the two since they were closer than Louise and Saito were.
"Did Louise cast an explosion?" Mariel asked as her wounds healed themselves.
"Shion doesn't think so." Alex said.
He stretched his back and dusted himself off. He didn't seem to be too bothered by the situation, being quite childish as always.
He then turned to Sasha. She was looking up at the sky, not paying attention to their attention.
"Auntie Sasha, what do you think it was?" He asked, poking her to try and gain her attention. "Didn't it feel like Louise's attack?"
"Yes, it did..." She said rather quietly, still looking into the sky.
Mariel noticed that something was off with her sister. Wondering what could have her so entranced, she looked up into the sky as well.
Her knees nearly gave out when her brain processed the sight above her.
Standing on a white disk of light, looking so divine as rays of sunlight light surrounded his head, was Brimir himself.
Alex's arm began to ache when he saw Brimir. He was filled with anger, but was frozen in place from fear.
Mariel quickly snapped out of her shock and effectively dragged everyone to Louise and Saito.
"We have a problem!" She said when she reached them. "It's Brimir!"
Saito looked up in the sky, where he saw the blonde man floating down towards the ground.
"It's not a problem." Saito said. "We can finally get rid of him."
"The last time we fought him, we were all severely wounded." Shion said in a monotone voice. "Our probability of a better outcome is not much better with you and Louise here."
"I know it's not much better, but it's definitely better." He said. "Even if it's just a little better, we can still win."
"Saito is right." Sasha said. "Our chances may have only gone up by one percent, but that's better than nothing."
"Our purpose was to bait him out anyway. We got what we wanted." Louise said.
"His earlier attack decimated all friendly and enemy forces." Shion said as she spread her wings. "That means we will have no allied support, but we will also have no outside enemy interference."
By this time Brimir had landed on the ground. As soon as his feet touched the dirt beneath him, Saito's head began to feel pain again.
The pain grew more intense as Brimir slowly moved closer. The pain was now constant.
It didn't disappear or become any less intense. Realizing that he might have to fight while in that much pain, he gritted his teeth and got to his feet.
"You're in pain. Will you be able to fight like this?" Sasha asked him.
"If I could live with the pain of losing my children, I can live with this." He said gripping his sword. "I'm ready to fight."
Although she wanted to argue, she was well aware of the fact that they would need his strength, even if he was slightly weakened.
With everything settled and everyone coming to terms with what they were about to be doing, they stared down their opponent, waiting to see who would make the first move.