Late at night, long after the sun had set on the settlement of Nowi Falls, Mercer lied in bed looking uneasily at Cordelia's arm, wrapped tightly around him. Cordelia herself was sound asleep, but Mercer was wide awake. He thought he was over the guilt that washed over him every time he looked at her, but it was all coming back to him now. Mercer maneuvered himself to face her. "Oh, Cordelia. What a strange relationship we've had. It fills me with guilt to know that it took the ruination of everything we fought for, and thirty years of thinking each other dead, for us to spend any real time together. You were so dedicated to our fight, to me, thirty years ago, and I couldn't give you the time of day. I took your service for granted. I just don't deserve your love now." Mercer gently kissed her on the cheek. "But I don't know where I'd be right now without it. I can't say anything good has happened to me since Tiki came to see me for the three hundredth time, my grandniece in tow. I didn't need to know that mad men like Keith existed, or that they had any power over others. I didn't need to see exactly what it's like to live under the Grimleal. I didn't need to see so many people still fighting, while I wasted away. I didn't need to know what guns were. I didn't need to see my baby turned into a weapon, and I didn't need to realize that probably happened to all the infants. I can't say anything that's happened to me over these past few weeks has been good for me… except for you. Especially with the girls feeling the way they do about me, I'm not sure I could go on without you by my side now. I can't… I can't say I wished things were different back then. I loved my wife and my children, and I wouldn't change that. But I do wish we had been closer. You cared so much for me. You deserved far more from me. I'm so happy you're here for me now. I never knew I wanted this, but now I couldn't live without you. I love you. So much." Mercer kissed Cordelia on the cheek again, and then carefully climbed out from underneath her arm. He dressed himself, and even took the Falchion with him, before turning back to Cordelia. "I'm going for a walk."
Mercer walked aimlessly through the streets of Nowi Falls. The city's major streets were illuminated by large kerosene lamps hung from poles. Even late at night the city was still alive. A few merchants went about tending to their stalls, rearranging merchandise and meeting with suppliers. Soldiers patrolled down the city streets, and a few off duty ones were clearly returning from bars. None of the soldiers were very well armed or armored, and Mercer remembered that Keith had sent Pheros away with the city's garrison. The civil patrol troopers left behind didn't take their jobs very seriously. A number of them were sleeping in full armor right on the streets. Mercer even saw a handful of children playing a game with a ball at one point. Following the streets lit by the lamps, while also avoiding Nowi's skeleton in the city square, eventually lead Mercer to the city's walls. Mercer wasn't conscious when the group flew into the settlement, and he hadn't been this far from the city center before, so he never realized the city even had walls. Mercer glanced over to see an entrance leading into one of the battlemented towers, and no civil patrol troopers were guarding it. With a shrug, Mercer wandered inside.
When Mercer reached the top of the walls, he saw nothing but an endless expanse of desert surrounding the city on all sides. Mercer couldn't see far in the darkness, but he could make out rolling sand dunes against the starry night sky going back at least several kilometers. These sand dunes were in every direction Mercer could see, and while glancing around Mercer found a man also starring out into the desert. The man turned his head, and briefly panicked at the sight of him. "Gah! HEY! YOU THERE!"
Mercer recognized Vasto's voice, and he walked over to him. Vasto calmed down when he saw who he was. "Oh! It's you. How did you get up here?!"
"There weren't any guards blocking the entrance. Am I not supposed to be up here?"
Vasto sighed. "Idiots. I'm the only one here who takes my job seriously besides Pheros and Farber. Farber is always with the Justicar, and Pheros is away, so I'm surrounded by worthless civil patrol troopers." Vasto looked up at Mercer. "No! You're not supposed to be up here! You know you can't leave the city right?"
"I wasn't trying to. I was just out for a walk."
"Oh. Okay." Vasto looked back out over the desert. "Pretty isn't it? Especially at night."
"Where are we?"
"We're in the Border Sands."
"We're that far west?! How did Cordelia and Gaius get all the way to the border between Plegia and Ferox with us in such critical condition?"
"No. We're not that far west. I know the Border Sands used to be on the Border between Plegia and Ferox, but the desert has grown since then. We're still in Ylisse. That's how far east the desert has expanded." Vasto shrugged. "Of course the old borders don't matter anymore. The Grimleal took over the whole world."
Mercer was horrified at what he was hearing. The land he was in right now had apparently been fertile once. How many people were forced to move when the desert grew? "I don't understand. How can a desert grow?"
"Desertification. Land becomes more arid, and land around a desert will be absorbed into the desert."
"How is that possible?"
"Without plants, the whole world would be a desert. Soil allows plants to grow, and in turn plants keep soil in place with their roots. Without any plants to keep the soil in place, it'll get worn away by erosion. When the Fell Dragon took over, it unleashed some kind of blight upon the world. Large plants died, and soil was worn away."
"But deserts are dry, right? How can a desert spread to a place with rain?"
"Water doesn't stop desertification. Only soil does. Without soil to absorb water, it'll just end up in an underground aquifer or it'll evaporate right back into the air. You can pour water on a rock all you want. A plant won't grow out of thin air. Without soil there's nothing to stop deserts from growing. Even a rainy area can become inhospitable. The rain might keep it from becoming a desert, but the land could still turn into badlands. In fact rain washes away soil, so without plants to keep the soil in place, an area that gets a lot of rain will have all regolith washed away. It'll just be rock. That's all the world will be in a few centuries. Sand and rock."
"So the land we're in right now was once fertile?"
"Yes. Now it's just sand. Sand and more sand. Sand stays. Everything else changes."
"How could humanity survive in a world like that?"
"Don't know. Don't want to think about it."
"How do you know so much about this?"
"Ma wanted me to be an academic. She spent her savings on tutors. In the end I joined the military. I thought it'd be a grand adventure. I wasn't wrong. There was an adventure going on back then, but I was on the wrong side of it."
Mercer didn't have anything else to add, so he just went back to staring at the desert. Vasto eventually picked up a bowl by his feet and started eating from it. Mercer looked over and realized it was a bowl of frumenty. "Why are you eating frumenty in the middle of the night?"
"It's a treat."
"How is frumenty a treat?"
"It is when you whiskey it up a little." Vasto pulled out a flask. "You want some?"
"I, uh… I really shouldn't drink anymore."
"Suit yourself." Vasto poured some whiskey into his frumenty, and then took a sip from the flask itself. "I'm going to take advantage of the alcohol this city has to offer. I hear they only have kumis in some other cities."
"Yeah." Mercer responded. "I've heard that too. You know what… I'll take some." Vasto handed Mercer his flask, and Mercer took a quick sip. The whiskey fought him on the way down, and he had to repress the urge to spit it back up, but that only made him want more of it. Mercer took another long sip. "Oh gods that's good."
"Yeah. The Arch Surg imported plants at great expense here. The plants we grow have gone extinct in other parts of the continent. It lets us feed our soldiers a nutritious diet, and it gets us some decent booze. Why'd you start drinking, Mercer? Any particular reason?"
"To forget."
"Me too. It helped after my mother passed. We were very close."
"It's still painful for you all these years later?" Mercer asked as he handed the flask back.
"She died just last month."
"Last month?! How old was she?"
"She was a strong woman!" Vasto took another sip from his flask. "Here's to you, Ma! Your knitting was the best in Plegia!" Vasto turned to Mercer, who seemed deep in thought. "What about you? Did you have good relations with your mother?"
"I barely remember my parents. They died when I was little."
"Oh right. The Exalt before Emmeryn and his wife died early. Sorry… I honestly forget you're the Exalt. It's just that you're so different now."
"It doesn't exactly matter anymore."
"Yeah I guess." Vasto and Mercer looked out over the desert for some time before Vasto spoke up again. "Hey you want to hear a joke?"
"Uh-"
"So these two mental patients escape from their asylum. They climb onto the roof, but they realize that the roof next to them is too far away for them to jump to. One of them holds out a lamp and says 'I've got an idea. I'll shine a beam of light from my lamp, and you can just walk across it!' The other patient says 'That's insane! That doesn't make any sense! You'd just turn it off when I'm only halfway across!'"
"I'm… I'm not sure I get it."
"Well because they're crazy? The second patient is more paranoid than rational? He's more worried about the other guy turning the lamp off than his ability to walk on a beam of light? It's because he's not thinking rationally?" Vasto looked eagerly at Mercer, but he just looked confused. Vasto sighed. "Ah whatever. I know you're not supposed to explain the joke. That's what Henry always said."
"Henry?"
"Yes. Your Henry. I knew him during the war. Heh. It's funny. That man could wipe out an entire village without a second thought, and he got to be a big hero with the Shepherds. More reasonable Plegian commanders like me get the piss beat out of us. Life's real fair."
"Well I'm sorry Vasto, but you were trying to kill Emmeryn."
"Targeting the enemy leader is a valid way to end a war." Vasto looked at Mercer sympathetically. "But I am sorry. That war wasn't justified. Now I want to help save humanity from the Grimleal. I'm a different person now, Chrom."
"Everyone is."
Vasto and Mercer didn't say anything else for several minutes, but eventually Vasto broke the silence again. "Want to hear another joke?"
"Sure."
"So these three Pegasus Knights are in the woods-"
Vasto's joke was interrupted by an ear rupturing blast that thundered outwards from the other side of the city. It sounded like an explosion similar to the one at Cordelia's homestead, but it was far louder. Mercer could hear a ringing in his ears for several minutes afterwards, and he felt the walls themselves shake. Vasto quickly gobbled his frumenty and ran off. "Oh yeesh! I need to see the Justicar!"
"What about me?"
"I don't know? Just be careful!" Mercer watched as Vasto ran into a tower, and a minute later a wyvern took off towards the city's citadel. Mercer looked back to the other end of the city. Even against the blackness of the night sky, he could see the pillar of smoke rising into the air.
"Oh no. Cordelia. Girls. Please be alright!" Mercer quickly sprinted back the way he came.
The girls were sound asleep when the blast shook the city, and only Caeldori was awakened by it. She immediately shot out of bed and maneuvered through the sleeping quarters the girls had been granted after Cordelia and Mercer practically annexed their original accommodations. Caeldori made her way to Soleil's bed, and she groaned to find that Soleil had somehow slept through the noise. "Soleil! Wake up! Something's wrong!"
Soleil smiled and spoke in her sleep. "Mmm. Sure Caeldori. I'll judge a kissing contest. I'm sure you're better than Ophelia."
"What are you dreaming about?" Caeldori elbowed Soleil, almost shoving her out of bed. "SOLEIL!"
"Gah! Wh-what? What?!"
"I heard a noise!"
Soleil closed her eyes and ran her hands through her disheveled hair. "Ooh, ugh. What time is it? You woke me up because of a noise?"
"It was a loud noise!"
"It was just a monster coming to eat you. Nothing to be afraid of."
"Damnit I don't have time for your snark, and I don't have time to explain this! Get dressed! Something is happening to the city!"
"Something will happen to you if you don't let me get back in bed." Caeldori was already out of the room before Soleil could finish. She darted into Ophelia's room to find her also talking in her sleep.
"Mmm. N-no! Mercer stop! That's… that's my apple cobbler. I paid for it with my money."
Caeldori shook her. "Ophelia! Get up!"
Ophelia shot up, but then sank back into her bed when she saw who woke her. "Caeldori? Is… is this another one of your drills?"
"Get up! Now! I think there's something dangerous going on in the city. We need to be ready to move."
"What proof do you have?" Before Caeldori could say anything, a short, gray, wiry creature forced its way through the wall and shrieked at the two. Caeldori only saw it as a humanoid monster of some kind, but Ophelia knew exactly what it was. "GAAH! Tunneller!"
"What?"
Ophelia panicked and tried running, to the point of climbing over Caeldori and almost knocking her over. The Tunneller jumped at her, caught her leg, and threw her through the hole it had created. It turned as Soleil entered the room and flung a nearby chair at her. The chair struck Soleil in the head and knocked her to the floor, but Caeldori jumped on its back and wrapped her arms around its neck. Though Tunnellers were much stronger than humans, they still had the same form. That gave them the same weakness. Caeldori wrenched the Tunneller's neck out of place, and it died as easily as a human would have. She then quickly rushed to Ophelia's aid to find that she was paralyzed in fear as another Tunneller stood in front of her in the alleyway she'd been thrown into. The Tunneller was too busy tearing apart a stray dog to notice Ophelia, but Ophelia refused to budge. She was trembling and in shock. Caeldori ran through the house and found Ophelia's tome on a table. She tossed it towards Ophelia, and she mustered the strength to blast the Tunneller as it turned to her. She then got up and embraced Caeldori, shivering horribly. "Oh gods! Don't let them take me!"
"You called that thing a Tunneller? What is that?"
"They're monsters!"
Soleil walked into the room, holding her head. "We're all going to die! There are so many things I didn't get to do! There are so many people I won't get to see again!"
"Quiet! This is what we were trained for!"
"You're crazy! Cordelia and Tiki did not train us to fight man eating monsters!" Soleil shook her head. "They're coming out of the walls! They're coming out of the goddamn walls! Game over, man! Game over!"
"STOP! Both of you!" Caeldori snapped. "We are not going to die here! Get dressed, and get your weapons! Now!"
The three girls quickly equipped their weapons and attires and ran out of their quarters to hear screaming and inhuman howling echoing down the streets. They walked down the narrow alley until they reached the street. The three were frozen in morbid shock at the sight. Dozens of terrified civilians desperately fled in all directions as about a dozen Tunnellers descended on them. They tore apart anyone caught in the street, but the people in buildings weren't saved either. The Tunnellers broke in through the windows, or even through the walls, and dragged them out. The Tunnellers killed brutally and efficiently, tearing off body parts and limbs through their raw strength and leaving people to bleed to death or die from shock. The Tunnellers were also ravenous, and they took massive bites out of their victims as soon as they had killed them. Occasionally they didn't even wait for the victim to die. The Tunnellers also quickly lost interest in slain prey, and they would almost immediately move on from their kills towards fresh targets. Within three minutes they had killed several dozen people, leaving half eaten and dismembered bodies littering the streets. As soon as their last victim, a woman that had desperately gone back for her very young child, was dispatched, they turned their attention to the only humans left alive in the area. The three.
"Oh." Soleil groaned. She shoved Caeldori forwards and sprinted away. "Eat her first! EAT HER FIRST!" Ophelia panicked and followed her as Caeldori looked back.
"For the love of-" She quickly turned to face the Tunnellers as they shrieked and ran towards her. Caeldori used her hand to wrap the fingers of her prosthetic tightly around her lance, and then got a firm grip on it with that hand. "A Pegasus Knight is not afraid of anything! Come here, beasties!"
Mercer made his way through the city. Initially he moved at a brisk pace, but it eventually turned into a panicked sprint as more and more people ran by in terror, and as the screaming of frightened civilians throughout the city became louder and louder. Mercer finally made it back to his quarters, but Cordelia wasn't in the bed anymore. She wasn't anywhere. Mercer ran outside and circled the building. "Cordelia?! CORDELIA?! Please! Where are you?!" Mercer didn't find Cordelia, but he did find a man being tackled by some kind of gray humanoid creature. Mercer reacted before he even realized what it was. All that mattered to him was that a man needed his help, and so he defended him without even thinking. He did freeze up in horror as he looked down at the creature he had felled. It was exactly like the creatures that had attacked Veslil. "Oh gods."
"Thank you! Oh, thank you sir!" The man cried as he brought himself to his feet. "I can't believe it! Cervantes and the Justicar said this city was safe from Tunnellers! They lied to us!"
Mercer put his hand on the man's shoulder and looked him in the eye. "Get out of here. Now! Find somewhere safe!"
The man nodded and scurried off. Mercer ran towards where the man had been to find several abandoned merchant stalls. The owners had apparently defended themselves before fleeing, as dead Tunnellers surrounded the stalls, but one didn't make it. It was a very young woman. The same woman that had tried to sell Mercer what she called dragonscale armor. Mercer opened her stall and looked inside, and sure enough the armor was still there. "Oh gods. If this city is being attacked by Tunnellers, I'll need any help I can get. I have to find the girls. I have to find Cordelia." Mercer reached in and grabbed the armor. "If this armor is as good as she said, it could help me save them." Mercer sighed as he began to put it on. "Oh gods. Forgive me Nowi."
Mercer put on the armor and looked down at it. The armor was bulky, but it was fairly light. It was much lighter than steel or chain mail armor would have been. The armor was a shimmering yellow and green, and it looked just like Nowi did in her dragon form. It almost made Mercer want to vomit. "Oh gods." He muttered in a broken tone. "This is so messed up. This armor better be worth it to justify wearing a fallen comrade." Mercer turned and began to make his way through the city streets again. It wasn't long before a Tunneller snuck up behind him. With only a brief shriek to warn Mercer, the Tunneller leapt at him and slashed him across the back. Tunnellers were so strong that the attack would have torn Mercer in half without any armor, but the dragonscale armor protected him from any harm. He was forced forwards by the kinetic energy, but he was otherwise fine. He turned and struck down the Tunneller with his Falchion, and the armor didn't impede his movements at all. "Woah! I don't like wearing this, but I might need it."
Mercer continued to furiously navigate the city streets in an attempt to find groups of people, hoping that Cordelia or the girls would be with them. In a way he got his wish, but it wasn't for the better. As Mercer entered the city square, the same place where Nowi's skeleton was, he saw a massive pile of bodies created by the Tunnellers. It was similar to what the Tunnellers had done to their victims at Veslil, but smaller, and many of the bodies still had skin on them. Dozens of Tunnellers crawled around the pile of bodies, picking at them randomly. Each bite stripped away a large amount of flesh, and a Tunneller could strip a body to the bone in less than a minute. It was no wonder the people of Veslil had died so quickly, and it didn't look like Nowi Falls would fare better. The explosion that seemed to start the attack couldn't have happened more than ten minutes prior, yet at least two hundred people were in that body pile. The Tunnellers dragged more bodies to it every minute. Mercer had never seen something so traumatic in his life, but he didn't break. At any other time Mercer would have shut down completely, but saving the girls and Cordelia was too important now. The thought of anything happening to them filled Mercer with fear, but he used that to give himself strength. He never even thought of his own safety. All that mattered was stopping the Tunnellers. "GAAHHH!" Mercer roared at the Tunnellers without necessarily meaning to. "You monsters aren't going to kill anyone else today!"
Several dozen Tunnellers all perked their heads up and answered Mercer's challenge with shrieks. Ignoring all the bodies they had already gathered, every single Tunneller charged at him. He charged right back.
Caeldori, Soleil, and Ophelia were themselves surrounded by fallen Tunnellers. By now the three had dispatched the Tunnellers they'd originally found, and even held their own against dozens more as they ran towards the noise. Caeldori ran at a Tunneller and stabbed it with her lance. "I'd run if I were you!" She yelled as she drove the lance into it. The Tunneller tried to struggle free, but Ophelia came up behind it.
"Take this maiden seriously!" She roared as she blasted the Tunneller with her tome. The Tunneller's head was frozen solid, and Soleil ran at it with her sword.
"Smile! You're dead." She said in a cheery tone as she slashed the Tunneller's still frozen head into the air. With that, the last Tunneller finally fell, and the girls could pause to catch their breath. "Is it… is it over?"
"I think so." Caeldori responded. "Thank you two for fighting by my side."
"No problem. Sorry for… you know… abandoning you… at first."
"It's alright." Caeldori said as she pulled her lance out of the Tunneller's body and walked around the area. "Now we just need to find the Archanean Liberation Front leadership. We can help coordinate a defense."
"What about Cordelia? Or Mercer?" Soleil said in a worried tone as she ran up to Caeldori.
"I'm sure they can take care of themselves. Right now we need to control this situation."
Soleil looked like she wanted to argue, but before she could a lightning bolt struck her and arced into Caeldori. Ophelia ducked behind a building and poked her head out to see two Inquisitors surround the two. She didn't mean to hide, but she found herself unable to face them directly. Once more she was paralyzed by fear, and she only watched as the Inquisitors started to bind Soleil's hands behind her back. Caeldori recovered from the attack and was able to rise to her feet, but the Inquisitors backed away from her. Ophelia quickly saw why.
"Well, well." An armored man said as he approached Caeldori and Soleil. The man had two prosthetic arms. One ended in an armored gauntlet, and the other ended in a long serrated blade. The man also covered his face with a mask that resembled a skull. "If it isn't the one that organized the Rockpile prison riot."
"You." Caeldori snarled. She charged at Courtney with her lance, but with her injuries she wasn't able to move very quickly. Courtney easily caught her attack.
"That was weak sauce, girl! Don't enter that sauce in the fair, because that was weak." Courtney countered by striking Caeldori in the head with his gauntlet, sending her to the ground. The Inquisitors immediately moved to bind her too. "Ha! This is too easy! We got two of the young ones, and the older Pegasus Knight!"
Ophelia covered her mouth in shock. "Cordelia!" She whispered.
"What should we do now, sir?" One of the Inquisitors asked.
"Take them back to the staging area."
Ophelia watched in horror as Courtney and the Inquisitors dragged Caeldori and Soleil away, and she sprinted away in the other direction. Ophelia didn't have any real destination in mind. She just followed the city streets until they took her to the square. There she found a sight both reassuring and horrifying. Mercer, covered in a strange yellow and green armor, was furiously fighting against several Tunnellers. Dozens of slain Tunnellers surrounded him on all sides, but the survivors continued to press their attack. Mercer hacked away, responding to every shriek from a Tunneller with a roar of his own. The Tunnellers got a lot of hits on him, but he was somehow able to shrug them off. When Mercer finally felled the final Tunneller, his armor was cracked and falling apart, and Mercer was covered in blood and bruises, but he stood tall. After looking around to make sure the Tunnellers were defeated, Mercer unleashed a primal, caveman esque howl that seemed to be directed at the whole city. Only afterwards did he turn to see Ophelia, and a combination of relief and embarrassment took his face. "Ophelia!"
"Chrom! I mean, I mean… Mercer."
Mercer ran up to Ophelia and hugged her. "Oh gods, you're safe! I'm so sorry I wasn't there!"
"They have them, Mercer! Cordelia! Soleil and Caeldori! They took them!"
"Tunnellers?!"
"The Grimleal! They're in the city!"
Mercer and Ophelia turned to notice a man approaching them, and they both eased up when they saw it was Gaius. "Gods am I glad to see you two! Where is everyone else!"
"Gone!" Ophelia cried! "The Grimleal are in the city! They took them!"
Gaius looked to Mercer. "We have to go get them, Blue. We can't let the Grimleal torture them!"
"I know! I know." Mercer gave his grandniece a reassuring look. "I won't abandon them, Ophelia. I won't abandon any of you. We'll find them."
Courtney and the two Inquisitors with him made their way to the city's citadel, which was being used as a staging area. Two other Inquisitors were waiting for Courtney, and they stood at attention as Courtney brought Cordelia, Soleil, and Caeldori to them. Their hands were bound behind their backs. "Look what I found!" Courtney exclaimed. "One wench, two wench. Red wench, pink wench." Courtney kicked Soleil in the back as he said the last part. Soleil was knocked to the ground, and the two Inquisitors with Courtney forced Cordelia and Caeldori to their knees. One of the other Inquisitors took out a small book and quickly flipped through the pages.
"Let's see here. Soleil, ID # 3292. Caeldori, ID # 3286. Cordelia, ID # 0007. None of these individuals are priority targets. I'll begin executions." The Inquisitor, a tall pale skinned man with light brown hair, put away the small book and drew his sword. "In the name of the Fell Dragon-"
Courtney quickly stepped in front of the Inquisitor. "Knockitoff-knockitoff-knockitoff! We can use them to lure out the important ones. Keep them alive." Courtney knelt in front of Soleil. "Unless you know where your friends are?"
"We're not telling you anything!" Caeldori shouted. Soleil looked Courtney in the eye.
"We don't know where they are anyways!"
"Soleil, that counts as telling them something!"
"Quiet!" Courtney brought the blade on his prosthetic arm to Soleil's cheek, pressing against it until blood started to trickle from the tip. "You and your red haired friend pushed me off a mountain. You cost me two of my limbs! Maybe I should return the favor."
"Agh! I don't know anything!"
Courtney pressed harder. "This is only going to get worse for you!"
"I'm sorry." Cordelia said. The Inquisitor standing over her moved towards her with his sword drawn.
"Quiet! No one told you to speak!"
"Hold on!" Courtney got up and walked over to her. "What did you just say?"
"I'm sorry. It's partially my fault your life was so hard. I'm sorry the Shepherds didn't save you when you were a boy. I'm sorry I didn't save you." Courtney just stared at her, unsure of what to think. Cordelia looked up at him. "But surely there must be some part of you that sees that what you're doing is wrong."
Courtney gave a grim chuckle. "You think you're the heroes here? You think we're the bad guys?"
"You do have us tied up." Soleil retorted. "You did unleash Tunnellers on the city."
Courtney knelt down in front of Cordelia. "What you Shepherds never understood was that the Fell Dragon couldn't be defeated. By negotiating with it, Gangrel and Aversa saved humanity. Only by convincing the Fell Dragon that humanity would be loyal could we save our species. Everyone alive today, including you, is alive because Gangrel and Aversa negotiated our surrender. By fighting against the Grimleal like this, you risk ruining that. If all these resistance movements convince the Fell Dragon not to spare us anymore, than it will destroy us. You think you're trying to save the world, but you could doom us all!"
"But you don't have to be apologists! The Fell Dragon can be defeated!" Soleil yelled. Courtney walked over to her and struck her with his gauntlet.
"Quiet!" Courtney walked back to Cordelia. "Keeping humanity docile is the only way to save our race. By fighting back, you could get everyone killed." Courtney struck Cordelia in the face. "Not that you could ever save anyone."
"Grandmother!" Caeldori cried out. Courtney responded by striking her too.
"QUIET!"
"Courtney! Knock it off!" Courtney and the Inquisitors turned to find Kryczek walking towards them. He quickly brushed past them and looked at the three. "For Naga's sake! All three of these women are bloodied. Can't you treat the prisoners with some civility?"
"They deserve what they get and more." Courtney responded bitterly. "So what should we do with them after we lure out Chrom and Ophelia?"
Kryczek walked forward and inspected Soleil and Caeldori. He grabbed their heads and looked at their eyes, ears, and mouths. Both girls shot him bitter glares, but Kryczek didn't care. He acted like he was inspecting animals at a show. Kryczek then stood up and looked at Cordelia. "That one will be publicly executed. Her death will be a symbolic victory for the Grimleal." Kryczek looked back at Soleil and Caeldori. "These two will be taken back to Ylisstol. They're fine candidates for Reaver conditioning."
"Sir, yes sir!" Courtney declared. He turned back to the three as Kryczek walked away. "Good news, girls! Today you're terrorists, but tomorrow you'll be patriotic members of our army! I do love women in uniform."
"You know what I think?" Soleil said smiling. "I think you're scared. You know your control over the world is coming to an end. You know that we're a threat to you."
Without hesitation, Courtney walked over to Soleil and jabbed his blade into her chest. Caeldori screamed in horror, but Soleil herself could only make gagging and gurgling noises as Courtney drove the blade as deep as he could. "Run your mouth with a punctured lung, dyke." Courtney withdrew his blade, and Soleil fell over gasping and sputtering. Caeldori screamed for her, but Courtney went over to her and wiped the flat part of his blade across her face, smearing some of Soleil's blood on her. "I SAID BE QUIET!" Caeldori gagged in disgust, and Courtney looked over to see Kryczek leering at him.
"Courtney!"
"What?! She can still be a Reaver with only one lung!"
Kryczek shook his head and walked away, and Courtney turned to the Inquisitor with his sword drawn. "You! Stand over the girls. Do something nasty to them if they speak up again." Courtney turned to another Inquisitor, a very thin woman with lilac hair. "You! Call the surviving Tunnellers to our position. I might need them."
Meanwhile, Mercer and Ophelia hid in an alleyway until Gaius returned to them. There was a very worried expression on his face when he lifted up his goggles, which had all the lenses down over his eyes. "They're near the citadel, just like you said they might be."
"Are the girls with them?"
Gaius gave Mercer a solemn look. "They have Cordelia." Gaius turned to a nervous Ophelia. "And your friends. They're bound, and Soleil looks injured. I think they're waiting for us. I think they're keeping them because they know you'll go after them."
"They want you, Mercer." Ophelia realized. "It's a trap. They're trying to draw you out."
"We can't just abandon them!"
"But you'll be walking into their trap!"
"Not if we're aware of it." Mercer looked back to Gaius. "Could we surround them?"
"Easily. They're exposed on all sides, but they have those three very close to them. They'll kill them if we try anything."
"Maybe I can get them to lower their guard. Just… just wait for my signal."
"What signal?" Ophelia asked. Mercer took out the double barreled pistol Keith had given to him. In the heat of battle Mercer had forgotten about it, but the Tunnellers had caused considerable damage to Mercer's armor. He was also injured and tired. He realized it was possible that he would be forced to use it. Gaius and Ophelia both stared at it. "W-where did you get that?!"
"We don't have time! Just wait for me to move first. Maybe I can get them away from Cordelia, Soleil, and Caeldori. I won't let them get hurt. I promise."
Gaius sighed. "Soleil looked pretty bad, Blue. She's coughing and struggling to breathe. I could hear her even from a distance. We might not have much time."
Mercer nodded. "I'll find a way to save them. I promise. No one else needs to die here."
Courtney and the Inquisitors with him immediately turned to face Mercer as he emerged from the city streets and walked towards them. Mercer still had the Falchion on him, but he raised his hands into the air and opened them to show that he wasn't carrying anything. Cordelia and Caeldori were on their knees with their hands bound behind their backs, and Soleil was lying on her stomach. She was violently coughing and gasping for air, and she couldn't even turn to face Mercer. Caeldori became very alarmed when she saw him. "Wait! Mercer! It's a trap! They want you to come to them!"
"SHUT UP!" Courtney roared. He struck Caeldori five times with his armored gauntlet before turning back to Mercer. "Chrom! Get over here you royal boob!"
"Courtney!" Kryczek stepped out from behind the Inquisitors. "Let me do the talking." Kryczek walked past his companions until he was only a few meters away from Mercer. He seemed to have a genuine look of concern on his face, and he wasn't carrying any weapons. He honestly looked like he was trying to distance himself from Courtney and his actions. "You're Chrom right? The Exalt of Ylisse? The younger brother of Emmeryn? The leader of the Shepherds?"
Kryczek's tone was calm and reassuring, but Mercer only had to glance back to the girls to see how the Grimleal treated their enemies. He slowly lowered his hands, but he shot Kryczek a bitter glare. "Yes."
"My name is Dr. Kryczek. I remember your actions thirty years ago. Back then I was a professor at the University of Themis. I remember hearing about the Shepherds and the wars with Gangrel, then Walhart, then Validar. We were very different of course. You were a warrior fighting to protect Ylisse, and I was a scientist working to understand the human mind. I admired you though. I admired how you wanted to help the world, and how you fought personally to achieve your goals. You didn't hide behind armies or send soldiers to fight for you. You went out and protected Ylisse yourself. I always felt the same about my work."
Mercer stepped closer to Kryczek until he could see the Inquisitors tensing up. Mercer needed to get closer to Kryczek, who was himself unafraid of Mercer. "You think we're similar?"
"Men like you and I, we're cut from a different stripe. We don't have to dream about bettering the world. We actually can."
Mercer continued to glance back to the women. The Inquisitor standing over them never stood at ease. He was ready to strike them down at any moment. Mercer stepped closer to Kryczek. "You call this bettering the world?!"
"Yes. If you take an objective look at the world, you'll find that things are better now than they've ever been. Humanity used to be divided into squabbling kingdoms that waged petty wars with each other. Now our species is united under one government. No more war. No more suffering."
Mercer pointed towards Cordelia, Soleil, and Caeldori. "Is that what you call peace?!"
Kryczek acted like he'd been corrected of a simple error, but otherwise brushed off what Mercer was saying. "Well of course there are rebellions to put down, but nothing like the wars of the past. For the first time in human history, all of our resources can be devoted towards the same goal. For the first time we're not focused on killing and dominating each other. We can devote all our time and energy towards advancing scientific progress. Ending want and scarcity. Improving the human condition. We can make a perfect world, if only you'll kneel."
"The Fell Dragon could wipe us out at any time!"
"Only if we resist. Was humanity better off on its own? Hell, without Naga's interventions in the past we would have gone extinct long ago. Maybe we just weren't meant to live without the help of gods. How is Grima any different? Sure the changes the Fell Dragon has brought to the world have been radical, but they're for the best."
"What about the destruction of the environment?"
"A good thing! An acceleration of natural selection! By wiping out most plant and animal species, the surviving organisms will become more resistant to future extinction events. The Fell Dragon is strengthening the biosphere! The plants and animals we depend on now will be hardier and more capable of surviving in different environments."
"What about the concentration camps?!"
"They're about resource allocation. Someday the people in those rehabilitation centers will be functioning members of society, and they'll be moved to where they're needed."
"What about Tunnellers?!"
"They only attack settlements that resist us."
"Entire cities have been destroyed!"
"That just makes the surviving settlements more relevant."
"You're insane!"
"Give it a rest, doc. Chrom is a product of the ancient regime. He doesn't understand how things work now." Courtney shouted. Kryczek looked back to him.
"There's no reason we can't negotiate." Kryczek turned back to Mercer and gave him a seemingly friendly look. "I know it's hard for you to see what we're doing. You are part of the old world aristocracy after all. Historically the elite have been resistant to change. You have to see though that ultimately what we're doing is for the greater good. We are working towards the betterment of the world."
"You really think that?" Mercer said dryly. Kryczek was the one to walk forward this time, and now he and Mercer were only about three meters apart. Mercer realized he couldn't get any closer to the Inquisitor standing over the three, or Courtney.
"There's no need to resist us any further. Come quietly."
"You're not going to just kill me?" Mercer nodded towards the women. "You haven't treated them very well."
Kryczek sighed and rolled his eyes. "Yes I'm sorry for how my associates have acted. I won't lie to you and say that we don't have instructions to kill most of you. I promise you though, if you surrender now I'll do everything in my power to keep your allies alive. I can keep them out of the rehabilitation centers. I can have them moved somewhere safe."
"You really expect me to believe that?"
"I know some of us are rather… unsophisticated, but that doesn't mean we can't be civil. Please. Drop your weapon."
Mercer stared Kryczek down for some time, but eventually he relented. Or rather, he appeared to. Mercer slowly reached for his Falchion, placing both hands behind his back. With one hand he grabbed the hilt of the sword, which made Kryczek smile and let his guard down. With his other hand however, he slowly reached for the flintlock pistol. Mercer took a deep breath and got one last look at the Inquisitor standing over the women. The sight of their bloodied faces sent a feeling of rage through him, and he wanted to attack Courtney the most, but he knew that Courtney wasn't the most immediate priority. The Inquisitor standing over the three had to be taken out so he didn't kill them, and Kryczek was the highest ranking person there. Mercer steadied his breathing and got a good look at both of his targets, just as Keith instructed him to. "Naga forgive me for using such a terrible weapon." The instant Kryczek began to scowl, wondering why it was taking Mercer so long to drop his sword, Mercer pulled out his personal pistol and fired the right barrel at the Inquisitor. Mercer aimed for his forehead, but the bullet went through his eye instead, and Mercer paused to make sure the man went down. Thankfully the shot did kill the man before he could hurt any of the three, and Kryczek was too stunned by the sudden attack to react in time to prevent Mercer from firing the left barrel at him. The bullet tore through Kryczek's neck, sending him reeling to his back. While the other Inquisitors fumbled for their weapons, Gaius sprang out from a nearby street and unloaded both of his pistols into two of the remaining three. The last one was able to reach for his sword, but Ophelia charged from her hiding spot and hit him with her Missiletainn tome. Within seconds, everyone but Courtney had been incapacitated.
"SON OF A-" Courtney only glanced around briefly at his attackers before sprinting away. Mercer drew his Falchion and threw himself after him. The entire time the Grimleal had been talking to Mercer, Caeldori had been discreetly loosening her bindings. She broke out as soon as Courtney fled and went to Cordelia's aid.
"Wait, Caeldori! What's happening to Soleil?!"
Caeldori glanced over to her. Soleil was still too injured to sit up, and her gasps became increasingly pained. "I think something's wrong with her lung. Hold on. I'll get you out of here, grandmother."
"No! Caeldori, she needs more immediate attention. Help her!"
"Uh, r-right." Caeldori reluctantly left her grandmother and tended to Soleil. She tried putting pressure on Soleil's wound, which caused her to spit up a lot of blood. Gaius rushed over to her with an elixir.
"Woah! Are you sure you're supposed to be doing that?!"
"I don't know! I don't know what to do with a pierced lung." Caeldori had to fight to suppress her own panic. "I've always known what to do but now… but now I don't… I don't know! Gods I don't know!"
"Hold on. Have her drink this."
Caeldori tried pouring the elixir into Soleil's mouth, but she started choking on it. "Damn it! Come on, Soleil. Stay with us!"
Meanwhile Mercer sprinted after Courtney. He eventually made his way to a carriage parked behind a nearby building. The very same carriage he had when he attacked Cordelia's home. Courtney darted to the back of the carriage and pounded on it with his gauntlet. "Lucina!" He cried in a slightly panicked voice. "Get your lily-faced ass out here and kill your old man! Now!" Courtney turned and had a visible panic attack when he saw Mercer about to spring on him. He steeled himself and prepared to run. "I'd love to stay and catch up, but I'd hate to break up a family reunion." Mercer paused as he realized what Courtney was getting at. Though he knew it would happen, he could still feel his heart sink as E-13 burst out of the back of the carriage. Mercer immediately felt all the old feelings of guilt come flooding back to him, and he could only make pained and tortured noises as his daughter's face, twisted with feral rage, turned to look at him. She tightened her grip on her parallel Falchion, the very same sword her older self had once wielded, and cracked her neck.
"Oh." Mercer whimpered.
Caeldori, Ophelia, and Gaius were trying their best to stabilize Soleil when they looked up at the sound of bestial roaring to find Mercer locked in battle with E-13. Mercer was in better shape than he was back at Cordelia's homestead, but his far younger daughter was still much faster than he could hope to be. Mercer had a difficult time defending himself, and without meaning to he ended up being driven back to the staging area by her furious offensive. "Lucina! Stop! Please! I'm your father! You have to remember me!" E-13 continued her attack. Mercer's own moves were largely defensive. He still couldn't bring himself to hurt his own daughter, however far gone she might be. "PLEASE! I DON'T WANT TO FIGHT YOU!"
E-13 struck Mercer with enough force to knock him backwards, but before she continued her assault she glanced over to see Kryczek's body. At this point Kryczek was dead from the wound on his neck, having suffocated on his own blood. The sight of her handler's corpse actually made E-13 freeze in shock for several seconds, and when she recovered she unleashed a primal scream that was somehow even louder than her other feral cries. When she brought her hate choked eyes back to Mercer, he found that she had popped several of the blood vessels in them. Her breathing was rapid and irregular, and she flung out saliva with every breath. For an instant it looked like she would hurtle herself at Mercer in a renewed offensive, but then she slowly turned her head to look at Cordelia, Gaius, and the three girls. Mercer desperately cried out to her as she moved to face them. "Wait! Lucina! NO! THEY'RE NO THREAT TO YOU!"
E-13 would not be reasoned with, and she began to walk towards the group. Caeldori and Ophelia furiously tried to move Soleil away, and Gaius attempted to reload his pistol as quickly as he could, but E-13 turned away from them and brought herself to Cordelia. As she had insisted that Caeldori and Ophelia focus on stabilizing Soleil, Cordelia was still bound. Her dedication to her apprentices and the future had been her undoing, and Cordelia could do nothing as E-13 brought the parallel Falchion through her neck. Cordelia's body slumped to the ground as everyone present screamed in abject horror and misery, but E-13 didn't relent. She furiously and pointlessly hacked away at the corpse until it was little more than a bloody, pulpy mess. Only after did she turn to face the others, and she was only a moment away from descending on them too when Mercer furiously tackled her away. E-13 quickly recovered, and with both combatants invigorated by rage at the loss of companions, they threw themselves into a significantly more bitter duel than before.
Mercer's fury was initially able to drive E-13 back, but she countered by kicking Cordelia's severed head into him. Mercer was so shocked by the brutality of this that he barely raised his sword in time to block her next strike, and the trauma of it caused him to vomit uncontrollably on her. Even then E-13 didn't slow down. Her bladework showed a mastery of simple skills, but E-13 had no form or strategy. She just furiously hacked and slashed away. She was always aware of where her blade was however, and she easily countered any attack Mercer tried to make. He found himself driven back even further, and within minutes he was several buildings away from where the group was. Mercer's mind was so overwhelmed by emotion that he couldn't think of anything. He just moved automatically, warding off E-13's attacks as best as he could and focusing on survival. Cordelia's death had come so suddenly that he could barely process it, but part of Mercer felt enraged by it. Other parts of him were still overwhelmed by guilt over what happened to his daughter. Half of Mercer wanted to strike her down, but the other half couldn't bear to hurt her. Mercer was torn between these emotional extremes, so he tried to shut himself down as much as he could to concentrate on the fight. Kryczek's death brought out genuine anger from E-13, and she was moving even more quickly than before. Mercer wasn't sure he could manage much longer. His arms felt like they were going to fall off after only a few minutes of fighting, and nothing he did could break E-13's relentless attack. He began to wonder if he would die by his daughter's blade this day, but Cordelia's words began to run through his head. Earlier she had told him that they needed to be strong for the ones that didn't make it. Mercer couldn't let E-13 or the Grimleal hurt the girls, or anyone else in the city. He refused to accept death by her hand as he had at the homestead. Too many people needed him. If he died here, then they would die too. Mercer would not allow innocent people to die because of him. Never again. At the same time, he couldn't kill his own daughter a second time.
With a roar as furious as E-13's constant shrieking, Mercer tried to use the last of his strength to force her on the defense and ended with a feint to draw her sword out of position. Mercer was able to goad her into leaving herself open, though she was so fast that Mercer was barely able to dodge even when he saw the strike coming. Mercer then used his one advantage over E-13, his superior strength, to overpower her and stun her. In her berserker rage though, E-13 was able to shrug off pain nigh entirely. She responded to Mercer's attempt to grapple with her by head butting him repeatedly, and she was almost able to free her sword arm. With a furious shriek, driven by fear as much as it was by fury, Mercer got a good grip on her and slammed her into the nearby brick wall of a building. Before E-13 could recuperate, Mercer grabbed her head specifically and smashed it against the wall as hard as he could. E-13 crumpled to the ground, still and unmoving. Mercer gave her a wide berth at first to see if she was really down, but as soon as he was sure she wouldn't attack him he rushed to her and checked her pulse. E-13 was still alive, but Mercer didn't attack any further. Instead he cradled her in his arms and sobbed uncontrollably. He brought her face to his, ignoring the blood and the vomit and the sweat, and gently kissed her cheek. "Oh my baby. Gods, my baby. No, no-no-no. Oh gah-haaads!" Mercer struggled to speak through his tears. He cried into his unconscious daughter's neck and rocked her back and forth for several minutes until he could finally calm himself. "It's not fair. It's not FAIR! I wanted so much more for you. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I couldn't protect you. I thought I could protect the world, but I couldn't even protect my own daughter." Mercer kissed her on the cheek again, giving a long soft kiss that lasted half a minute. "But I'll never stop loving you. I don't care what they do to you. Please know, deep down, that you'll always have me. I don't know how to fix this. I don't know what you're like. But I love you. You… you deserve more from me than one sword and a world of troubles. I'll always love you, and nothing will ever change that. I'll always be here for you." Mercer carefully let go of E-13's body and took the parallel Falchion from her hands. With one last tear filled look, Mercer left her behind and went back to the staging area.
He returned to find everyone wailing. The bodies of the Inquisitor and Kryczek were still lying on the street. Soleil was still struggling to breathe, but she seemed to be more stable than before. Everyone else gathered around Cordelia, screaming and howling in agony. Mercer himself walked over to her. He was terrified of what he would see, but he couldn't stop himself. He just aimlessly walked forward, his legs seeming to take step after step without him telling them to, until he reached Cordelia. Then he fell to his knees and broke down crying for the second time. Cordelia's remains had been so thoroughly savaged by E-13 that it was hard to tell what had been what. It was a horrible mess of human mass, cut apart by the absolute horrible extreme of human rage. As much as Mercer wanted to hold her again, he couldn't bring himself to touch anything. As Mercer fell to his knees, too overwhelmed by everything to do anything but shiver, Caeldori slowly walked up to him. She was the only other person there not wailing, but her face was stained with tears. A disturbing fusion of rage and sadness took her face. "Is she dead?" She almost whispered to Mercer. "That monster that did this. Is she dead?"
"No." Mercer said very quietly. "No."
"How dare you." Caeldori's voice was still soft, but it was shaky. Mercer knew she was about to explode on him. "How dare you spare her."
"Do you know who that was?"
"I DON'T CARE!" Caeldori boomed. "Look what she did to my GRANDMOTHER! If you cared about her, you'd have put that monster out of its misery!"
"She was my daughter!"
"LOOK WHAT SHE DID TO MY GRANDMOTHER!"
"You can't ask me to kill my own daughter! NEVER AGAIN!"
Caeldori and Mercer suddenly heard footsteps coming up behind them, and the group turned to find Courtney and the three surviving Inquisitors. They had apparently gotten medical attention while the group was distracted with E-13 as their injuries had completely disappeared. The four were fit and ready for a fight, and Mercer and his own group were completely defenseless. Courtney stepped forward. "Kryczek wanted to spare you idiots! He believed that convincing you to surrender was the best option! Aversa even promised us a bonus if we brought Chrom back alive!" Courtney motioned towards Kryczek's corpse. "But that's how you repaid his mercy! You know what?! I don't feel like being that generous. I'm going to get Dolhrian on your asses!" The female Inquisitor with Courtney raised her arm, and about a dozen Tunnellers jumped out. They surrounded the four, but they weren't hostile. They stood by the sides of the Inquisitors and Courtney and patiently waited for the signal to attack. Courtney waited a few agonizing seconds, reveling in the fear of the group, before finally motioning for them to move. The Tunnellers immediately surged forward towards their prey, and everyone prepared to defend themselves as best they could.
The Tunnellers had gotten within a few meters of them when a large, green mass crashed in front of the group, blocking the Tunnellers from reaching them. The mass roared into the air, and it was only then that Mercer finally got a good look at it. It was a bright, shimmering, green creature with large feather like growths that flowed out of it, like whisps from a spectral entity. The creature visibly glowed, radiating light outwards like a star, and Mercer couldn't look directly at it. From what he could see though, he realized exactly what the creature was. "Tiki!"
"Is that a Divine Dragon?!" Courtney shouted an instant before Tiki seized him in her jaw, thrashed him around, and then threw him at least twenty meters into the air. Courtney was thrown so far that no one could see where he landed, and a moment later the three Inquisitors were were blasted by a kind of icy, slushy breath from Tiki. Tiki continued to breath on them until the Inquisitors were completely covered by the icy slush, and they didn't move anymore after that. The Tunnellers themselves briefly hesitated after Tiki arrived, but not because they were afraid of her. Rather they seemed to be wondering if they could actually eat her. As soon as the Inquisitors were down, the Tunnellers attacked. They climbed on top of her and struck at her in any way they could. With their raw strength they were able to actually tear off some of her scales, and one tore off one of the growths she had coming from her head. Tiki roared in agony as a bright glowing liquid poured from her injuries, but she didn't relent. She violently shook and bucked the Tunnellers off of her, and she grabbed at them with her jaw whenever she had the opportunity. Even as she chewed and tore their comrades apart, the Tunnellers continued to attack until there were only a few left. Gaius managed to finish reloading his pistols and shot two of them, while Ophelia hit a third with her tome. The last one climbed into Tiki's head and started slashing at her, but Tiki rammed it into a building and then bit it in half. She flung its severed half into the air, and then roared triumphantly into the sky. She then began to glow brightly, and the thundering roar of her dragon form became a high pitched scream as she transformed into her human form. In this form Tiki was covered in red human-like blood, and there were gashes across her body, but she didn't look harmed or pained. She just turned to Mercer and the girls and smiled warmly. Ophelia and Caeldori immediately ran and embraced her.
"Tiki! You're okay!" Ophelia exclaimed. Tiki winced as the girls pressed against her wounds, and she had to back away.
"It's good to see you all! Truly. Is everyone alright?"
Caeldori looked down to her feet and nodded towards what remained of Cordelia. "No." She said in a broken voice. "No."
Tiki slowly walked over to Mercer. She recoiled at the sight, but not as severely as a human would have. Rather she reacted like a human would react to the sight of a squashed worm or caecilian, but she did place her hand on Mercer's shoulder and rock him back and forth. "I… I'm so sorry."
"It's not your fault." He said without looking up.
"What… what happens now?"
"I do what I couldn't do when the others died. I bury her."
Mercer stood in front of a makeshift grave the group had made for Cordelia. All the others, save for Soleil who needed medical attention, were there. A piece of wood was used to mark it, and two things were carved into it, the name Cordelia, and when she lived, 2589 AC - 2641 AC. Mercer stood closer to it than anyone, and after staring intently at it for several minutes, he drew his Falchion and slammed into the ground with a frustrated roar. Everyone except Tiki took a few steps back, but Tiki approached him. "What are you doing?"
"For thirty years I turned away from the world as evil consumed it." Mercer responded without turning around. "I thought that I would dishonor all of them if I ever took up a sword again, but now I see that by hiding I was dishonoring everything they fought for. Innocent people suffered because I tried to hide from it all. Now I see that so long as their rotting cancer ravages this land like a plague, innocent people will die. The only way to stop it is to fight back."
Ophelia slowly walked over and placed her hand on Mercer's shoulder. "Mercer." She whispered softly. Mercer himself responded in a soft but bitter growl.
"My name is not Mercer." Ophelia's eyes widened as she began to see what he was saying. She watched as her great uncle pulled the Falchion from the ground and turned to face the group. "It's Chrom!" Everyone present had some kind of reaction. Ophelia shivered and became giddy. Caeldori stood in wide eyed silence. Gaius looked to the ground unsure of what to think. Tiki gave a warm smile as she realized what was happening. "You all! You honor me with your fealty! I will not falter again! We will answer for this outrage! This time the Mad King, who now calls himself our emperor, will be stopped! This woman, this soldier who would give everything in service to Ylisse, did not die in vain! She did not die for a dead country! I am the descendant of Marth, the Hero King! Of Anri, the champion of Naga! Of the First Exalt, who stood against Grima! I am the father of Lucina, the warrior out of time! I will no longer allow myself to do nothing while the Grimleal oppress this land! That would dishonor everything they stood for! I will take this sword as my ancestors did, and I will fight for this land!" Chrom raised the Falchion into the air. "The dead heart of this world will beat again, damnit! Humanity is not defeated yet. Ylisse is not defeated yet. The world is not defeated yet. Not as long as I wield this sword to defend it! Not as long as I have men and women to stand by my side!"
And in the distance, across continents and seas, hovered the Fell Dragon. It's leathery wings cast a shadow across the surface of the world, and its form was so large that the atmosphere quaked and broke down as it flew by, as if the planet itself was reacting to its presence. Ever aware of what its human subjects were doing, Grima witnessed the descendant of the Hero King raise the one weapon that could end it into the air and swear to stop it. With that, the Fell Dragon unleashed a furious roar that could be felt kilometers away.