I yawn and nudge myself closer to Elise, "Mmm…" I hum into her chest. 'Pure bliss…'

Then an incredibly loud whistle echoes through the tent, "Up and at em! Come on love birds, let's move !" Hadronix yells. I groan in protest and Elise wraps me tighter, "You can't defend yourselves from swords and magic if you lie there naked like that!"

With that, I got up so fast that Elise is thrown off, "Sorry, Elise. We are under attack?"

She rubs her head. "Owie…"

"That is correct! Move !" Gods, for a retainer she sure isn't afraid to give me an order. Within a minute Elise and I have our gear on and dash outside to see… 'gods' . A large Hoshidan force. 'There's no way we can fend off all of those!'

The ground itself shakes at the amount of troops headed our way, "They aren't holding back..." Xander says as he draws his sword, Siegfried pulsing its dark-red and black aura.

"We aren't worth that much trouble, were we?" Camilla asks, Divine axe in hand, her fire tome on the ready.

Selena scoffs, "We got the means to take them out, right Phoenix?" The Tactician simply nods in response.

"Halt!" The Hoshidan force stops in its tracks and in front… Takumi, but he seems off. I can barely, just barely make out a dark-purple aura around him. "I have been authorized to do what it takes to end all of you... especially the wanna-be 'Hoshidan', Corrin."

"Brother!" Sakura yells, "Do…"

" Silence !" His voices echoes and she flinches, "If you do not return to Hoshido right now , you will be one of the corpses left here."

The small Hoshidan princess looks at the massive force, then at Raven and me. "We got this." Phoenix says, "I… have a plan." She has a smirk.

"I see." Takumi says after a moment of silence from Sakura, "Hoshidans! Sakura has betrayed Hoshido, she is to be not treated as royalty, but rather as the enemy."

"Draw them back," Phoenix starts, "He is being driven by anger, let him and his troops follow us past this section of the mountain…"

"There are cracks in the ground," Hadronix's eyes light up and Phoenix nods in approval, "If we can lead them along, we can shatter the ground with several powerful blasts," She makes a quickly low sounding whistle, "they will fall, literally."

The Hoshidan Prince begins some sort of motivational speech to his troops. Fool, he is giving us time.

"We need a few powerful blasts, but out magic users are…"

"Buy me a few minutes and I'll plant explosives." Hadronix interrupts. "Goblin engineering focuses on explosions and I have a pitiful half-course on apprentice Goblin engineering, but it is enough to make some T.N.T."

"A few minutes? Against a force that large?" Xander asks. "Even that seems folly. They will simply overrun us and take you out."

"My little dragon, be a good pet and stand your ground." I feel my Dragonstone surge with magic, "We can do this. I'll hold the line with a few others."

"Just me." Phoenix speaks up. "The rest of you, run. Hadronix I trust this… 'TNT' is powerful?"

"Just leave you here!? We can't…" Jakob protests.

"Absolutely not, sister." Xander shakes his head, "I will not let you do such a foolish thing, commander or not."

"That is an order." I stand my ground. A wave of magic accompanies my statement and the others seem more willing to do as I say. 'Gods, thank you Phoenix…'

"Yes, Phoenix." Hadronix starts, already pulling materials out of her pockets, "Make sure that not even a single fire spell hits the area, or this will end badly." She starts stuffing some fine black powder into red containers labeled T.N.T. "Run already! Go! The blast radius is going to be large. MOVE !"

"S-sis… don't die… please…" Raven starts crying.

Hadronix stops for a half second before resuming, "I've survived worse, besides, if a god of death can't take me out, nothing can." She reaches into her pocket and tosses the Monk a small glowing device. "Keep that on you. Once it starts beeping and flashing, gently place it on a level surface."

"R-right…"

"We're trusting this insane plan, Phoenix." Camilla says, "You've worked miracles so far, this one better be another success." The group finally starts running off.

Phoenix approaches me calmly, then whispers, "Well, my little dragon, let's show them true terror, alright?" I flash a fanged smile and shift. My scales are blood red and I can just feel the power being controlled. "...beautiful."

"Charge!" Takumi yells.

"Remember, Oboro was under Takumi's command, avenge your mate. Take him out!" I roar and meet them head on, Phoenix not too far behind me, Mjolnir tome in hand. Swords, magic… everything just seems to bounce off my scales. I stomp the ground once and a shockwave knocks dozens to the ground, and crushes all the ones near me. A single swipe of my tail bats four or five at a time, and those bodies slam into other ones. 'Gods, this is… exhilarating.' The heavy scent of blood hanging in the air just makes me fight all the more savage. 'Rip, tear, impale, mutilate, die .' Faces blur together in a haze of red.

"Gods… she is a monster…" I hear one of them say, before running off.

"Lord Takumi, we can't do a damn thing to her!" Another yells.

"Then get the others! Don't waste your lives to the traitor!" 'Perfect.'

"Just in time…" I easily hear Hadronix whisper, "Come on, then." Phoenix and I let the bulk charge past us. Takumi foolishly stands his ground… alone, the aura I saw earlier increases and now it is a deep purple.

"Come, traitor." Another Takumi appears beside him, they both aim their Fujin Yumis and fire, a pair of arrows land, but they barely bite into my scales.

"Nice magic trick, boy." Phoenix has an aura of power around her, "But you have nothing on me. Mjolnir." The copy is struck with a lightning strike and the ground cracks open around it. "Pathetic." Her voice comes out deeper and I can sense an intense darkness around her. Yet, the dark magic around her is soothing, 'Calm, safe.'

The ground shakes as a deafening crack echoes across the land. Takumi looks past me and pales… I can sense that the ground has given in. He backs away a few steps and I follow in a predatory manner. His arrows intensify in strength, but they are still laughably weak. "See, dear Takumi." Phoenix speaks up, " This sort of power is what I had to fight against from my world, does it make you feel weak? Useless? I hope so."

"...By Mimiron's mechanical nuts…" I hear Hadronix… I can sense she is hanging on the edge. "My parachute won't due jack if I don't have anything to climb with… I had them in…"

"Hello again." Another new voice. "Looking for these? And this?" No, wait, that's...

"Lotus?"

"Focus!" Takumi takes my sudden hesitation and bolts, "Kill him!"

"How's it hanging? Oh, only one hand?" Lotus tuts. "A shame you can't climb like normal people, yea?"

"Yasei! Phoenix!" Her voice sounds panicked, and a small shock hits my head, where that noise… thing is.

"If I remember right, if I press this, then a person's image and voice is copied…" A 'click'.

"Chase him down!"

The voice taunting Hadronix giggles, "And now I have both you, technically speaking, and a means across this chasm, thanks. Have a nice fall." I feel a familiar whirl through the air and I bolt towards the chasm. Just enough time to catch the bitch assaulting my retainer, and before Cover took effect. Gods, it is Lotus. "See ya, sweetie." Cover takes effect and she vanishes looking like Hadronix.

The Hunter yelps as I hear rocks crumble, she does two sharp whistle, a long one that starts high and goes low, clicks her tongue twice, "Yasei!? Phoenix?!" I approach the edge, 'Gods, my tail isn't long enough for that!'

I screech in pain as energy is being ripped out of me, "You disobeyed me, I gave you that power for following my orders, not rushing towards your sense of honor!"

"Yasei? Ancestors, what is wrong?" I shift back and collapse, utterly drained. Phoenix walks up. "Phoenix? What are you waiting for?"

I can just feel power coming from her glare, Phoenix hisses as she yanks Yato from its sheath, letting it slide away from the cliff. "I don't tolerate disobedience." She simply states as she pulls out her Levin Sword. "And I don't give second chances." I scream in pain as she effortlessly runs her sword through my Wyrmslayer wound, before removing her sword and rolling me over the edge.

Hadronix releases her grip and grabs me as I pass by, then frantically places something on my back, and pulls two strings at once. The force of the stop causes me to lose my breath for several seconds. "...Now then." She calmly states, as if I wasn't on the verge of dying. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out of all things…

"A… dildo?" I cough up some blood, "This isn't the…"

"Looks can be deceiving, my liege." She pops off the flat side and pulls out a device, it is a square metal piece with a button in the center, kind of like the one Lotus had in her hand. "Shall we return to the others?"

"I thought," I pause as she presses the button and pulls me closer, 'I thought Lotus took it…' With her arm still wrapped around me, the world distorts and I feel grass under me.

"Your time to shine, Sis." Hadronix speaks up. "Princess Elise, keep her stable while Sis readies her spell."

I feel magic flow into me a few moments later, "I got ya!" I hear Elise whisper to me.

I can hear Raven talking, but I can't understand her, 'It's a different language.' "...Yu'lon." Well, I made out one word, at least.

"What is…" Xander starts as I can see a blue-green mist hang over the area.

"Just a few more moments." Hadronix interrupts him.

"...Yu'lon." I hear her say that name again, "Peace, recovery, return to as you were. Breathe in the Mist, cradle in the embrace of the Jade Serpent." She takes a breath and exhales, the blue-green mist becomes thicker for a minute, "Revival." With that one word, the mist in the area disperses, 'And I feel… fine?' I manage to push myself up with little issue, 'That's a powerful spell… the Wyrmslayer wound is still there, though.' Raven stumbles and keels over, clearly depleted. "I need a drink." Despite that statement, she falls unconscious.

"How are you feeling?" Elise asks, her scent shows off her amazement.

"Never been better… not accounting the Wyrmslayer wound, of course." I turn towards Hadronix, "What was that?"

She shrugs, "I'm not a Monk. Ask Sis when she wakes up."

"How much magic can she use at once?" Elise asks, "Because everyone here looks recovered."

Another shrug, "I'm not Sis. Ask her when she wakes up." She spares a glance at me, "You're still missing a lot of blood, I'd recommend getting some rest." She casually strides off.

"Where's Phoenix?" Camilla asks.

The air tenses and I growl, "She needs to die." I gesture towards my recently closed wound, "She did that. Then pushed me off the cliff." I can practically feel the murderous intent from Camilla. "No, Leo first." I interject, "I want to get to Leo, then we'll worry about Phoenix." I feel my eyelids getting heavy. The last thing I saw was Elise not so subtly putting a Sleep Staff away, 'Gods…'