Nagato stood before King Mostyn, knee bent to the ground. Marth put a good word in and gave him ample time to explain who he was and what happened with the scrolls. He and the scroll were taken to Mostyn for investigation. Mostyn opened up the case that held the scroll and carefully observed Nagato as Caeda and Marth had their weapons drawn, ready for anything fishy to come up. After a moment, Mostyn unraveled the scroll. There was a sigh of relief from Nagato as the scroll didn't explode.
"I'm a little concerned about this. You're telling me that the monster and you were part of a secret organization that Gra had joined?" Mostyn asked.
"Yes. Unfortunately, I have no recollection of my deeds. The closest thing would be that scroll you're carrying… I was meant to give a fake version over to the Anti-Shocker Alliance, but… Well, I don't know who they are. I managed to swap it out with the real one, though…" Nagato said.
"I'm afraid that this too is a fake…" As Nagato got up, Mostyn shook his head. "It seems this Alliance wanted to fool Grashocker as well." He nodded to a soldier in leather armor who took it from his hands and gave it to Marth. He glanced at the scroll.
"It says that the real scroll has been handed to a courier who'll meet with the Anti-Shocker Alliance on the sixth day of the Guardian Moon." Marth said.
"That would be about ten days from now." Caeda commented.
"The problem is that, while Grashocker might know where this Alliance supposedly is, we don't." As Nagato said that, Caeda took the scroll and looked at the wax seal that kept the paper closed. Once she compared the top half with the bottom half, she nodded.
"We don't need to look far. This seal is mostly used by commoners in Aurelis. It's about a week's travel from here at most." Caeda said.
"Marth, there are people out there who oppose Dolhr like how these people oppose Shocker and Gra. However, they are either oppressed into silence or forced to fight for them. It falls upon you to find these people and give them the voice and cause needed to stop Dolhr once and for all." As Mostyn said that, Marth raised his head to him.
"What are you saying, my lord?" Marth asked.
"I'm saying that, with the heroics you've preformed today, you are ready to take back your kingdom. Regardless of if the Alliance is there or not, Aurelis has powerful allies for which to build your army. To see that you make the trip safely, I'll send Ogma and his guild with you." As Mostyn said that, the man in the leather armor nodded and knelt to Marth.
"From today on, you will have my sword and the axes of my men." Ogma said. Nagato turned and knelt to him too.
"Prince Marth… I do not know how long I had served Grashocker nor the lives I had taken as their soldier… But what matters is that I still did all that… So please… I entrust you to find the Anti-Shocker Alliance in my stead." Nagato said.
"And… what of you?" Marth asked
"I am to atone for my crimes…" Nagato peeled back the uniform to show his bare neck to Marth. Marth's jaw slightly dropped once he realized what he meant. He stood in thought for a bit before he pulled out his rapier.
"Marth…" Caeda muttered as Marth held the rapier over Nagato's head and swung…
The rapier landed by Nagato's side.
"If you truly wish to die for your crimes, then you will die on the field. If you help me take back my kingdom and defeat Grashocker, then you will have atoned for your crimes and more…" Marth said.
"You would spare an enemy?" Nagato stood up with widened eyes.
"You were no longer my enemy when you fought Flytrabee. As they say, the enemy of my enemy is my friend." Marth said.
"… Then I shall repay this debt in battle." Nagato said.
"What is your name? Not the designation that Grashocker gave you, but the name you had before…" Marth asked.
"Nagato. Nagato Nagasaki." Nagato said.
"Unusual name… But a welcome one, nonetheless." Marth said.
"Best wishes on your journey, Marth." Mostyn bowed his head as Marth and his men left.
"Ogma, Nagato, allow me to introduce you to the army." Marth took Nagato and Ogma to a small barracks at the edge of the island, almost completely opposite to where the castle was. The first people that Nagato met were two men in green and red armor tending to their horses. "Over here are Abel and Cain, strong cavaliers who were part of my father's army." The two turned and gave a wave. Nagato gave a wince, glanced at the man in red armor and asked.
"I take it you're Cain?"
"Yeah. You're that Shocker Rider dude, right?" Cain asked.
"Yes. Though, I have a question… Do you have any resentment towards your brother?" Nagato asked back.
"Huh? What brother?" As Cain asked that, Nagato turned to Abel.
"Sorry. I assumed you two were…" As Nagato asked that, Cain sighed.
"No, it's okay… Abel and I were part of the same group of Cavaliers… Until those bastards at Gra backstabbed us and wiped us out… Now… we're the only two left." Cain said. Nagato gave a nod.
"Gra robbed me of my friend as well. I'll make sure they receive their justice." Nagato said. Cain gave a smirk. Nagato turned to Abel, though he seemed too busy feeding his horse.
"Guess some parts of that story are true." Nagato muttered. Marth raised an eyebrow and was about to ask when someone called to him.
"Maaaarth!" Nagato turned to see what seemed to be a small green-haired kid in a green tunic rushing to them.
"You have children in your army as well?" Nagato asked Marth.
"No. That's just Gordin," Marth before he leaned in to whisper, "he may be small, but he packs a punch with his arrows."
"The villagers gave us ten thousand gold pieces for saving the village! We're rich, I tell you, rich!" Gordin exclaimed as he held a medium sized bag.
"That's fine and all, but they should use that money to help rebuild Talys. Hand it back to the villagers and tell them they need it more than us." Marth said. Gordin frowned.
"But Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarth!" As Gordin protested, a large man in navy blue armor came by and picked him up.
"Come on, let's go." The man had similar green hair, though combed up in contrast to Gordin's short hair. As he walked away with Gordin pleading to be led down, Marth pointed to him.
"That there was Draug, our muscles and one of our strongest men." Marth said.
"You certainly have a good team with you, Marth. Each member feels like a cog in a larger machine. I wish I could say the same for my men." As Ogma said that, three axe wielding men came to the trio. Two of them looked virtually identical with matching brown hair and simple shirts and pants. The last of them had blue hair and a blue shirt. "Speaking of, this here's Bord, Cord, and Barst."
"It'd be an honor to have you in my group." Marth gave a small bow.
"Just point us to the enemy and I'll cut him down faster than Cord can!" Bord, the leftmost mercenary, said. Immediately after, Cord followed up.
"Not if I do it first!" As Cord glared at Bord, Barst stepped in between the two.
"Regardless. If anything, we should be thanking you. Talys doesn't see much action in this war. With you commanding us, maybe we'll cut our teeth into something more our pace." Barst said.
"Just keep it together. Remember, we may be part of Marth's army, but you guys are still my men." Ogma said.
"So, these are our new recruits, Marth?" A purple armored man with gray hair came out of a nearby tent. He turned to see Nagato. "And an enemy turned ally. You never cease to amaze me with your prowess, Marth."
"Jagen's my trusted bodyguard. His experience on the battlefield is unrivaled." Marth said.
"Don't let my age fool you. This old dog still has a few tricks up his sleeve." Jagen glared to Nagato. At the corner of Nagato's eye, he could see a bald man, older than Jagen, sitting by a campfire.
"And him?" Nagato asked. Marth looked to the old man.
"He was recruited just before I fought you." He noticed something on Nagato. "You should have him take a look at your arm." Marth pointed to the wound on Nagato's arm. It didn't hurt as badly, but his skin had corrosive burns. Nagato took a sigh.
"If you say so." Nagato went over to the man and sat next to him.
"Hello. I'm not sure who you are." The man had a rather nice tone to his voice. A breeze of gentleness that Nagato had not experienced in a long while.
"Nagato. I'm a new recruit of Marth's. You?" Nagato asked.
"My name is Wrys." He said.
"I hate to sound weird… But you don't look like you should be in this army." Nagato said. Wrys chuckled and shook his head. He reached over and picked up a staff, the wood of which was twisted and wringed.
"I cannot fight, but this staff I carry can heal the wounded." He turned to see Nagato's arm. "And it seems you've been badly wounded."
"I doubt you can heal it though… I'm more machine now than man…" As Nagato said that, Wrys held the staff over Nagato's wound as a red orb embedded on top of it glowed a soft red. The wound soon began to disappear, replaced with normal, healthy skin.
"Don't dismiss yourself. You're still a human, no matter what you've been through." Wrys gave a wry smile. Nagato hesitated to give a smile back as he heard the flapping of wings.
"Caeda!" Ogma exclaimed as he and Marth saw the Pegasus rider land and hop off her horse.
"Marth, the king has accepted my request." Caeda said to him.
"What do you mean?" Marth asked.
"I'm joining you." Caeda said.
"Caeda, you can't be serious!" Ogma said.
"I am. Ever since Marth and his men came to Talys, I wanted to help him in any way I can. And if that means fighting with him to reclaim his kingdom, then so be it." Caeda gave a glare to Ogma. Ogma chuckled and shook his head.
"I know that face. No talking her out of anything once she's made up her mind." He said.
"Okay. Starting tomorrow, we depart for Aurelis!" Marth said as people in the immediate area cheered with him. Nagato, however, looked at the flames.
"Discard the rest." Nagato's eyes opened to a blood red sky, the floor being comprised of nothing but corpses and gray goo that rose to be ankle-deep. He looked around, trying to find a way out, only to see a few people still alive, yet barely holding on.
"Hey!" Nagato screamed out and tried to reach for them, only for his leg to be grabbed. He looked down and saw Hachiko, his skin a pale gray and eyes that lost their shine.
"Why… didn't you stop me? You… you knew this was a trap…" As he said that, several of the corpses beneath his feet began to wake up and drag Nagato into the sea of corpses.
"I tried! I tried!" Nagato shouted.
"Oi, wake up." Nagato felt Ogma's hand strike his cheek and jolted him out of the vision he had. He noticed that it was the dead of a black, starry night, with slight shades of blue coming from the eastern end. "Surprised your night terrors didn't wake anyone else up."
"…" Nagato kept quiet, only taking a moment or so to process that what he experienced was a nightmare.
"Flashbacks will do that to you. Often coming in the form of dreams… Believe me, I had my fair share of them." Ogma said.
"Yeah, you're a war dog, after all. A sword to be sold to the highest bidder. You must have seen some crazy shit." Nagato said.
"No… Not from those times… I used to be a gladiator. It was the only way to keep me alive during my developing years. The people I was forced to kill for entertainment still ring through my head. Then there was the torment I'd receive after trying to free fellow gladiators. Were it not for Caeda, I would have died in the arena." Ogma said.
"You must have a great respect for her and her kingdom, then." Nagato said.
"Yes… And it seems that respect has earned me a place in Marth's army." Ogma said. He got up and gathered his things. "Come, our first stop will be Galder Harbor. The pirates from yesterday came from there, so best we nip it in the bud."
"Alright." As Nagato followed Ogma, he noticed that he didn't have a lot of items on him. In fact, the weapons he carried were inside him.
Nagato and Ogma placed several spare weapons in a sizeable ship that the king had given to carry Marth and his team. As they finished placing the items down on the deck, they noticed someone approach them.
"Ogma!" Caeda said, escorting her steed onto the ship.
"Princess, you're up awfully early." Ogma was the first to turn to her, quickly snapping from looking at Nagato to Caeda.
"I just wanted to thank you for accompanying us." Caeda had a rather nice smile, though to Nagato, it seemed like she practiced it a thousand times enough to question its genuineness.
"No need. I'm merely doing what the king requested. Besides, with you here as well, that's more of a reason for me to come. I fear how your father would react if you fell in battle." Ogma said.
"Well, you don't need to worry about me. I can hold my own. Though, there is something I request of you." Caeda said.
"Name it." Ogma nodded.
"I want you to keep Marth safe." As Caeda retained her smile, Nagato noticed a subtle change. Before, it was the kind of smile that was generic and easy to use, though now, her lips bent just a smidge higher. There was the genuineness.
"I've already been assigned to do that. You need not worry." Ogma said.
"I know but… Marth… he's important. To both the world, and me." As soon as Caeda said that, Nagato realized why the smile was more genuine. Ogma took a few moments before he answered.
"Very well. It shall be done, princess." Ogma voice also had a subtle shift, a lower volume, but too low for Caeda to notice.
"Thanks. You're a good listener, you know that, Ogma? In any case, I should get going." Before Caeda left though, Ogma spoke up.
"Princess…"
"Yes?" Caeda turned around. There was a second of silence before he spoke.
"Keep yourself safe, too… You're just as important." He said.
"I will. Thank you, Ogma." As Caeda left, Nagato spoke up.
"I see… It was that kind of respect." Nagato said. Ogma turned around.
"… No sense in dwelling on it now. Come, we have more to prepare." Ogma said. After a few more hours of preparing, the army set off for Galder Harbor.
As they arrived onto the port, the first thing that they noticed was the rotten wood that lined the walls and ceiling of the port. Stones were missing from the pavement, leaving large holes. As some of the crew operating the ship had noticed, the same thing happened through throughout the town.
"What have these pirates done?" Ogma muttered as he and the rest of the crew got off their ship.
"I don't think it was pirates." Nagato pointed to some masked men scouring the town. They were wearing the same skeletal luchador outfit from Nagato's memory.
"What… are they? Why are they wearing something so…" Draug asked.
"Silly." Gordin muttered.
"If I recall correctly, they're soldiers for Grashocker. This doesn't bode well…" Nagato said.
"Alright. Let's sneak in and try to figure out what they're doing here. Team, with me." Marth said.
"It's gonna be a little difficult all of us moving in a single unit. We're gonna get caught." Jagen said.
"Then we'll spread out! Gordin, Caeda, you check left side. Jagen, Draug, head up to that place to the left. Ogma, your men and Nagato will head straight up. I'll be on standby with Wrys, Cain, and Abel. If any of you need help, light an arrow on fire and throw it into the air." Marth handed each of them a wooden arrow.
"And what of you?" Nagato asked.
"There's been reports that cavaliers from Grust will be arriving from the west. Since it's me they want, I'll lead them astray." As Marth said that, Jagen immediately spoke up.
"My lord! We've already talked about this before! You're too important to act as a decoy!" Jagen said.
"I let one person close to me die as a decoy, I'm not going to let another get the same fate." Marth gave a glare before he readied his sword.
"Very well… But as soon as soldiers arrive, I'll head back to your aid." Jagen said.
"That'd be appreciated. Now then, let's go." Marth gave the command and everyone went to their appointed stations.
Gordin kept his bowstring at the ready. This was the first time Marth had employed such a risky tactic. The last time the group was split up like this, Gra decimated their entire army…
He shuddered as he recalled the time he was gagged and forced in the cloth of the enemy…
"It's an enemy ambush!"
Those words from Marth sent shivers down his spine to this day…
"Gordin…" Caeda placed a hand on Gordin's quivering hands as he noticed his grip on the arrow had loosened.
"… I'm fine, Caeda. It's nothing to be worried ab-" Just then, an arrow whizzed past his cheek and grazed it. "GET DOWN!" He immediately held onto the arrow and, as quickly as the arrow came, fired back at his target. He couldn't get a good look at the man as he went behind a few crates.
Caeda tried to get her Pegasus to fly, though Gordin turned to her.
"Princess, you'll be an easy target if you take off! As soon as he pops his ugly head back, he's toast!" Gordin eyed the cover… Though, there was nothing. At the corner of his eye was a man covered from head to toe in a black bodysuit, adorned with a decoration that made him look like a skeleton. Gordin turned to the man just as he gave a scream and held out a knife and landed an arrow right in his chest.
As the Grashocker Combatant fell, Gordin could see his body seemingly disappear, leaving behind the costume and a puddle of gray goo.
"What… the…" Gordin muttered. Just then, the archer from before got up just as Gordin turned to notch another arrow. "Drop your weapon!" Gordin quaked as he shouted.
"Wait, Gordin…" Caeda tried to speak up, but Gordin turned to her.
"Are you serious, Caeda!? Any second we delay is a second he has to kill us!" As Gordin said that, the archer, a person with short blue hair wearing spare metal armor, approached the two.
"Wait… Caeda? As in…" The archer spoke up. Gordin tried to let his arrow fly, though Caeda stepped in front of him, causing him to hesitate.
"It's been a while… Castor." Caeda said.
"Woah woah woah! You know this creep!?" Gordin shouted.
"He isn't a creep… But… That does beg the question… What are you doing here?" Caeda asked as Castor's eyes began to water. He went on his knees, head to the wooden platform at his feet.
"Forgive me… Me mother… She was sick… Some men promised medicine in trade for my servitude." Castor cried out.
"… Wait, who were they?" Caeda asked.
"They were men… with skeletal masks…" As Castor said that, Caeda went over and helped him up.
"We have to save your mother. She might be in danger." Caeda said to him.
"B-but, Princess… I betrayed you…" Castor muttered.
"For a noble cause. Promise me something, okay? After we get your mother, stay by her side, okay?" Caeda said.
"… Okay." Castor said.
"Gordin, I'll take Castor to Marth and inform him of the situation. Best you find your way back." As Caeda said that, she noticed Gordin shake a little. Of all the refugees from Altea that came to her doorstep just two years ago, including Marth himself, few of them were as jumpy as Gordin. "Come, it'll be difficult with three people on a Pegasus, but try to hold on." Caeda said to him. He nodded as he and Castor got onto the Pegasus. Despite the initial, protesting neighs of the horse, Caeda was able to make her steed fly.
Draug and Jagen entered a tavern. They knew from the shattered windows that something happened inside. Though, after few seconds spent looking around, several men in dark, skeletal costumes came out with knives. Immediately, the duo took out their weapons and attacked them.
Though more came in a vain attempt to overwhelm them, Jagen managed to take most of them down with his lance, before feeling the constraint of such a small tavern enough to drop his lance and engage in some good ol' melee. Draug had the same thought as he slammed his fists into the face of a skeletal luchador. As he tossed the soldier out the window, another ran right for him.
Jagen quickly responded with a shoulder check to the chest, impaling the luchador with the spike on his pauldron. Draug, upon seeing the last of the soldiers engage with them, grabbed and pinned him to the floor.
"Alright, talk. What did you do to this place?" Draug said. The combatant simply laughed, then gave a shout.
"BANZAI!" He proceeded to hug Draug, pushing him upwards. Before he or Jagen could even respond, a steel axe carved its way into the foot soldier's back. As the assailant pulled out the axe, the soldier twitched before Draug could see his face decay into a thick puddle of goo.
"Uuugh…" Draug gagged as the luchador's uniform fell to the floor.
"Thar's been a lot o' these scallywags recently…" The man was just as muscular as Draug, though he wore only some scrappy clothes that, along with the accent, were the telltale signs of a pirate.
"Do you know anything that happened?" Jagen asked him.
"Aye. These skeletal scallywags came out o' nowhere one day 'n set up shop at our hideout... Next thin' we knew, many o' us were kidnapped 'n soon, even th' villagers were taken." He said.
"Where's the hideout?" Draug asked the man.
"Up north." He said.
"That's where Nagato and the mercenaries are going!" Draug said.
"Let's report back to Marth and have Caeda and Gordin rejoin us. They might get themselves into trouble." Jagen almost left, only for the pirate to speak up.
"Belay that, did ye jus' say Marth?" The pirate asked.
"Yeah, why?" Draug asked.
"Ye reckon he wouldna mind crimpin' me?" As he asked that, Draug raised an eyebrow.
"I'm sorry, crimp?" Draug asked.
"In their tongue, it means pressgang or, in this case, recruit." Jagen said as the pirate nodded.
"This whole thin' has gotten me t' reconsider me piratin' life." He said.
"Well?" Draug looked to Jagen. Jagen sighed.
"We'll see what Marth has to say. I'd have rejected you in his place given our past relationships with pirates, but recent events have me reconsider that…" Jagen said.
"Thanks! Now, lead th' way t' Marth, ye ole scallywag!" The pirate said as Jagen groaned. As the trio left the bar, the gray goo that the combatmen turned into slowly began to recede into the floorboards.
Nagato, Ogma, and his men entered an old, abandoned building. They would have disregarded it altogether were it not for a few Grashocker Combatmen running out with swords and axes. Ogma was the first to deal a blow, swiftly taking his sword out and striking down a grunt before Bord and Cord rushed ahead to cleave another at the same time.
"Hah! My ax landed before yours did!" Bord said.
"Did not! I saw my ax make its mark well before yours!" Cord glared to Bord. A third combatman went to strike before Barst's axe struck his chest and went down.
"Give it a rest, you two…" Barst sighed. Ogma looked down and noticed, as the combatmen dissolved into goo, that the goo began to move on its own towards the building.
"Well, now that has our attention." Nagato said. Ogma followed behind him as the group entered the building.
Marth awaited with Wrys and his two cavaliers in the middle of the town, keeping his eyes glued to the sky for any flaming arrows. However, his ears were also attentive, trying to hear for a gallop of horses…
VROOOOOM!
Instead, what he heard was the roar of an unusual beast.
"Marth! Look out!" Wrys, in spite of his frailty, was able to push down Marth in time to dodge a lance strike. Marth got up and saw a Grustian soldier sitting on a strange creature. It was a bulky, cyclopean creature, though instead of strong horse legs, its legs were akin to wheels. The reins seem to have been merged into the neck of the creature, with the soldier having one hand gripped to the handle. A second Grustian soldier came with another of these creatures. The two cavaliers held lances and were heavily armored, their faces covered with helmets with a skull painted on them.
There was no time to ponder the mystery of these beasts as one of the cavaliers rode his towards Marth, lance pointed right at him. As Marth was more adjusted to the normal horsemen, his timing was extremely off. Just as he was about to parry, the lance was already impaled into his shoulder.
As Wrys went to heal the wound, Abel rode after the second Grustian, though the speed of the creature outpaced his horse. Cain leaped forward and struck the Grustian with his spear, but it barely punctured the armor. Luckily, his armor also protected him from their spear attack. The sheer speed of the strike broke the Grustian's spear. However, despite this, neither Cain nor the Grustian had the advantage.
Abel rode to Cain's side as he noticed the Grustian turn around on his beast, more particularly, the way in which the entire creature would bob to the ground, its side barely touching the pavement.
"Cain, I might have an idea." Abel then ran off on his horse.
"Abel! What are you doing!?" Cain asked as Abel leaped over the Grustian. As he tried to get his beast to move, turning the handlebars as it roared, Abel tugged on his reins and caused his horse to buck the beast, knocking it down to the side. Cain chuckled, then ran to the Grustian, unsheathing a sword.
"You dastards think something exotic like that's gonna intimidate us?" Cain awaited no response as he struck down with his sword, cutting into a weak spot of the armor near the neck and ending the cavalier's life almost instantly. Cain then looked at Marth, who had, over the time, got adjusted to the timing of the beast's attacks.
Though, that wasn't to say that he was able to do it without taking a few blows. His once pure blue tunic had red stains and holes, though, underneath the tunic, there were no punctures.
"I can't heal for long, Marth! My staff is at its limit!" Wrys said. The cavalier was about to land a critical blow on Marth as he braced for impact…
BLASH!
Only for Jagen to completely wreck his armor with a well-placed lance to the shoulder, impaling the soldier before tossing him off his beast, which rolled for a little bit before it stood stationary. The other beast made no effort to get up.
"My lord, I request that you don't do something as stupid as that ever again!" Jagen said.
"Yeah… After that… I can safely agree." Marth looked to the beast, then lightly kicked it. It didn't react and the impact felt more like kicking a stone than a creature. "… They're… mechanical…" Marth muttered as he crouched and put his fingers over the machine's 'face' to feel out any sort of 'breath'.
"I don't believe it…" Jagen muttered.
"You don't suppose these have to do with that new faction Gra merged with, do you?" Cain asked.
"I believe so. Gra had betrayed their bonds with Altea to join with Dolhr and they have been in an alliance with Grust. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that this Shocker is also among that alliance… Especially since they're the ones calling the shots for Gra now." Marth recalled the words that Flytrabee said, as well as the emblem of which he showed.
"Marth!" Marth looked up and saw Caeda stumbling down, the Pegasus all but making a pratfall as Gordin instantly leapt off.
"On second thought, walking back would have been better." Gordin chuckled. Afterwards, Castor got off.
"Hmm? Who might you be?" Marth asked him.
"P-Prince Marth! I heard so much of you but… I didn't expect to see you in person." Castor said.
"Marth, it's worse than we thought. Those men… They took Castor's mom and made him work for them." Caeda said.
"Took her… But… What would they…" Marth then remembered Nagato. A simple human who had been given alterations to the body. "… We have to find her right away. I fear she's in danger."
"Then it's a good thing we have someone who knows where their base is." Draug soon arrived with the pirate in tow.
"At ease, this man is with us. In fact, he wishes to join us." Jagen notified Cain and Abel.
"Ahoy, Prince Marth, I be Darros, a simple man o' the sea." The pirate said.
"You're more than welcome aboard our crew, Darros." Marth said as Jagen looked to Draug.
"See, I told you." Jagen said.
"Your first task will be to direct us to the base. Time's of the essence." Marth said. As the group got ready to depart, they heard a window open. Immediately, they turned, weapons drawn.
"Oh! Are you the mighty prince of Altea?" An old man asked Marth.
"Yes. I am." Marth said.
"Please… Sister Lena went to the Ghoul's Teeth with those wanting to escape the clutches of these unknown soldiers… We warned her not to go there, but she had no other choice… Please, go and save her!" The old man said.
"We can't. We're already focused on-" As Jagen was about to finish his sentence, Marth interrupted.
"We will. As soon as we take out their base of operations, we'll head over to the Ghoul's Teeth right away to retrieve her and the other villagers." Marth said.
"Ooooh! Bless you! Please, take some money…" Marth held up his hand at the villager.
"No. If anything, do you have any staves? We have a healer who is in need of a few spares." Marth said. The old man nodded and headed into the shop. After a while, he went out, carrying several staves. Wrys grabbed some.
"Alright, let's go." Marth said. As the group departed, Marth turned to see the two machines that the Grustians rode in on. He then turned to the group. "I think I have an idea of how to get there…"
Nagato and the others entered the building. Ogma expected it to have a wooden interior, but as he stepped on the tiles, he noticed that, like it was a suit of armor, the floor was metallic… In fact, the entire place was metallic.
"Hey! Over here!" Barst pointed to an open door, of which Nagato peered inside and saw…
Tubes.
Just like the ones he remembered back when he was being turned into. He rushed in and pried one open. Out came a middle-aged woman with medium blue hair who began to gasp for air and trembled uncontrollably.
"Mam, do you know what happened?" Nagato said to her, though as she looked up at him, whatever words she wanted to say slurred into a strange cacophony of buzzes. As Nagato pulled her up, he saw that half her face changed into that of a wasp. The other half looked like normal skin, but it slowly dripped of her face as though it was jelly. Nagato felt a sharp jolt on his arm as he accidentally dropped her…
That's when he noticed the arm that he was holding onto was more akin to the tentacle of a jellyfish.
"What the hell!?" Bord shouted. He looked at the remainder of the dozen tubes. Most of them were simply vats of goo and rare few were humans, though a few also had animalistic features on their bodies.
"Bord! Get back here!" Ogma shouted before Nagato turned around.
"Quiet! This place might have…" As Nagato said that, several combatmen ran from the hall, taking Ogma, Cord, and Barst by surprise. After jumping away from their knives for a bit, Ogma turned the tide by quickly slaying them. "Guards…"
"Relax, there's nothing to worry about. We got this!" Cord walked into the room and pumped his fist. Nagato soon noticed a small gray fleck fly into the room. It made a buzzing sound that was not unlike the cicadas he heard during the summer time… In fact, upon closer inspection, it looked more like a metal grasshopper than some stray dust particle. Though, as several more flew in, they were more comparable to locusts.
Cord looked at the swarm before they attached themselves onto him. His screams were muffled with the beating of metallic wings. Several of them even entered his mouth. The strange thing was that this cluster wasn't trying to harm him. Not directly at least. More of them just… let themselves be eaten by Cord. As this happened, Nagato saw the thin gray lines that plagued many of the people who took the pill. Like in his memory, Cord's nose bled as the locusts invaded his body. He fell to the ground, Nagato not needing to check to know he died.
"CORD!" Bord shouted as he reached out to Cord's body.
"STAY BACK!" Nagato saw the remnants of the locust swarm try to attack Bord next, only for Nagato to come in and strike at them with his fists. Several more swarms came in. Barst tried to rush in and attack, but Ogma held him back. Nagato saw the swarm join with the remainder and, to his surprise, flew away from Nagato and Bord for a bit before they formed into a humanoid body.
"What… are you?" Nagato muttered as the locusts took the form of an armored figure. The only similarities with Nagato's own cyborg form were the bulbous red eyes and the serrated edge that made his mouth. The rest of the figure looked more akin to a paladin in silver armor with a large spike on its shoulders and a crown of four small spikes on its head. Its belt contained the emblem of Grashocker.
In the midst of investigating the strange goings on at Galder Harbor, Nagato Nagasaki and some members of Marth's army have discovered a hideout for Grashocker! Making matters worse, a mysterious monster had appeared and killed one of the mercenaries, and now has his attention turned to Nagato…
Can Marth and his friends reach him in time? Fight on, Shocker Rider!
To be continued…