Attack on Fire Emblem – Chapter 10 (Camilla's carnage)
Micaiah opened her blood-soaked eyes. What was going on? She could barely stand. The last thing she remembered was that Clive's feet smashed the ground near her as he leapt to the sky.
Right, she recalled. Clive had broken free of his trap. Now he was looming around her and her injured mages and footmen. Some dead pegasus knights laid nearby. Micaiah witnessed as the Titan was smart in his attacks, varying his strikes so that could not be predicted and easily evaded. Est and Hinoka were still alive, evident from the flags of their mounted steeds.
However, Clive turned his attention to the floored Micaiah. Raising his foot, Clive prepared to stomp the helpless mage. Micaiah closed her eyes and prayed for Ike, Sothe or any of her former companions to save her. Most of them were with the Summoner fighting rebels to the North. By not looking at the blow, Micaiah hoped it would be less painful.
The Titan hesitated in disbelief before stumbling backwards. His right fingers were missing. Something had hit him so fast that he not perceived the strike. Even the fliers around him seemed shocked. Before the Titan could react, a black twister struck him in the chest, resulting in ripped exposed muscles and tissues.
The Titan howled in pain. Normally this would be a cause of celebration among the Askr forces but no one understood what was going on. Again the black twister rotated violent around the Titan's right arm, cutting it clean off.
Hinoka recognised the twister immediately. She had heard legends about Camilla's speedy offenses but it was the first time she witnessed it in person. Camilla again launched another attack, the time at the nape but the Titan instinctively blocked her darting blows by covering it with his left hand. Her giant axe struck the fingers off and cut deeply into the front of the neck. From a distance, Hinoka could make out yellow hair sticking outing to the neck of the Titan.
Instantly, she recognised that Clive's human body was inside the neck.
"We need him alive!" she yelled at Camilla. The Princess of Nohr stopped for a moment to acknowledge the order by Hinoka. This time the Titan backed away to adopt a defensive posture. His right fingers had begun growing back. The Titan had begun backing away from spinning Camilla who only managed to inflict surface blows this time.
Hinoka and Est started to back her up. Gathering what was left of the Pegasus knights, they circled Titan toss multiple javelins into the exposed wounds of the Titan. As the Titan was distracted, Camilla got near enough to slice at the neck. Again, the Titan covered his weak spots. His right hand was chopped off but they were nowhere to defeating the Titan.
Yet Hinoka had a secret weapon. Her ace archer Setsuna was set up somewhere in the church. "Now Setsuna!"
The absent-minded archer was holding aim at Titan, waiting for her cue. Where did Hinoka asked her to aim? She frowned as she fired off. They had discussed the plan last night, but she just could not remember.
Expertly, Setsuna's arrow hit the right eye of the Titan. The Hoshido princess thanked her lucky stars as Setsuna managed to somehow remember. Pressing her advantage, Camilla flanked the right of the Titan and took a chunk of flesh off the neck.
Everyone now could see the very human Clive operating the Titan. As the Titan panicked, Camilla accepted the invitation to cleave off the Titans left and right arms. With precision cuts, she removed Clive unharmed from the Titan.
The remains of the Titan toppled over and moved no more. The battle was over.
"I am the Reaper of Death," Camilla blood-lust eyes spoke volumes. She lowered her axe against Clive, deliberately missing him. "You are nothing."
Despite being captured alive, Clive felt into a comate state. His spouse Mathilda was denied visitation rights to avoid complications and had to be restrained by the empathetic Ephraim and Elise.
"So now we know how to take on a Titan. Just get Corrin injured and accuse them of doing it to your sister," Robin attempted a weak joke. Leo laughed politely. Some level of humour was needed. They had lost over 80 lives in this carnage. The wounded numbered in the hundreds.
"So we just need to build more anti-Titan weapons and train the Askr soldiers in anti-Titan tactics?" Commander Anna chimed in. The two injured mages nodded. However, there was a more pressing and worrying detail.
Who was attacking them? How were the Titans created?
Based on biological studies, Leo noted that Clive's blood had been tampered with. He recognised some chemicals that were foreign, even to the worlds of Heroes.
"Where do we proceed from here?" Commander Anna asked.
"We need the Summoner back. Based on this chemical, we will be able to pull an inhabitant from the world of the Titans." Leo replied. "In the meantime, Robin will work with you to prepare a plan to take back Modena."
As Commander Anna barked instructions to dispatch messages to the Northern front, Leo allowed himself to relax. Finally there was hope.
Author's note: This is the last chapter of the series. However, I will write an epilogue soon.