"Jus' what I needed, huh, Anna?" I asked her as we all crested a hill.
The red-head opened her mouth to reply when a man's voice shouted, "Halt! State your names!" It came from a blue-haired man with a white cape fluttering behind his back, a tattoo on his exposed shoulder, and another possibly magic sword, point in the dirt. He was flanked by an armored cavalier with an axe and a young determined-looking blonde girl with a healing staff in her hands.
Our own blue-haired boy stepped forward. "Prince Chrom!" He shouted back. "I am Prince Alfonse of the kingdom of Askr! We have come to free you from the tyranny of Princess Veronica!"
Chrom scoffed. "I know who you are!"
I cocked an eyebrow. No, you didn't.
"You are the tyrants!" he continued. "Princess Veronica warned us that you would try to trick us! But it won't work on me!"
"Veronica said that?!" Sharena gasped. "That little—! Of course she would slander us!"
"Calm down, Sharena," Anna ordered. "This is no time to lose your head."
Virion and Olivia stepped past us. "Prince Chrom! I must insist that you listen to us!"
"They've tricked you, as well?" Chrom gasped. "This will not stand!"
"A'right, while they're uh, conversing, here's the plan: Alfonse, stand on the bridge."
Everyone was silent until Anna leaned forward and said, "And?"
"So, that bridge is the size of a nickel," I began explaining as I pointed to it. "Er, a coin, if you will. So while Al is standing there with his shield up, Raigh an' Virion can take potshots at the other guys while you duel the guy."
"Maxis, there's no way that's going to work."
"Why not?"
"If Alfonse was wearing heavy armor, it would, but you can't expect him to defend himself from three people at the same time."
"No, he's on the bridge; he'll be fine. Besides, he'll have backup."
Before the commander could speak again, Alfonse did. "I'll trust your plan, summoner."
"Maxis," I corrected before questioning when I started internally monologuing myself with that name.
"A-ah! I'll trust your plan, Maxis."
"Right. Now go stand on the bridge."
It didn't take long for Chrom and his companions to charge at us. As soon as the two princes locked blades, Raigh and Virion began shooting projectiles at the others while Sharena cheered her brother on.
The battle was won handily, but before Alfonse could land his last blow, the scenery around us shifted, and our foes disappeared.
Maybe it was a draw.
We were now in a snow-covered, conifer-filled land and a stone fortress stood in front of us, just like back in the World of Conquest. "Woah. Deja vu," I muttered.
"Is this supposed to be the Longfort?" Virion asked. "There were stairs here last time."
"Eh. Doesn' matter, prob'ly," I said with a wave of my hand.
And it didn't! Most exciting thing was a second Olivia, but Gunter didn't let us ponder it for long. Next, we were at a mountain pass that actually looked mostly correct. Nothing too exciting there, either. Olivia started crying, so I had to readjust the team I originally wanted to use because Sharena had to comfort her.
We blinked and found ourselves behind a partially destroyed… building… of bricks. After doing a quick headcount, I heard voices. I peered around the corner to see an Emblian on horseback with a bow across his lap. "You there!" he shouted. "Keep your eyes peeled. The Askrans could be here at any moment."
The white-haired woman in an oversized, black coat scoffed. "This was a mistake. I'm sure of it."
"Your prince's reputation for being a fool is deserved. But his judgment of character is even better than what the tales describe. Princess Veronica doesn't deserve the slander she gets from the Askrans."
The woman just shook her head and turned to her companion—a boy with a soup pot on his head and a shoddy lance in hand. "C'mon, Donnel."
"Y-yes, Ma'am!"
I took out my phone and snapped a picture of the two before they split up and went around the other sides of a building. "Bow cavalier an' these two," I whispered as I held up the picture for the others to see.
"Woah!" Sharena gasped. "How did you do that?!"
"That's Robin and Donnel of the Shepherds," Alfonse informed. "Robin is their tactician, and Donnel is an adept fighter."
"Alright. Gunter, you, Alfonse, Virion, and…"
"I'll go," Raigh said. "I don't know if you've noticed by now, but my tome is effective for horses."
"Right, okay. Gunter, you protect him. You two will go after the cavalier, Virion—this is gonna hurt me more than him—you take care of the kid."
"I know exactly what you mean, Maxis. Young Donnel doesn't deserve what we must do."
"Alfonse, just try to provide backup where you can."
"Understood."
"Good. Now go."
The four burst from around the corner, Gunter taking up the vanguard. He charged the kid with the pot on his head, but the boy was braver than I thought. As Gunter began his swing, he thrust his lance at the large warhorse. Gunter pulled on the reins, dodging the spearhead. He swung his axe, despite his lack of range. Donnel took a few steps back before an arrow sprouted from his side. The bow cavalier came around a corner and loosed an arrow at the knight. Gunter raised his axe, and the projectile bounced off the steel.
Raigh stepped forward and, with a wave of his hand, launched a giant wolf's head at the archer's horse. It locked its jaws around the animal, and the rider was bucked off. The archer quickly scrambled to his feet and loosed an arrow at the boy. It split open the skin of his shoulder, leaving a shallow cut. Raigh ducked away and retreated back behind Gunter, his work done for now.
Robin arrived to the battle throwing out a similar wolf's head, this one green. It latched itself onto Gunter's horse, but not with as much success as Raigh had. The knight pulled his horse back—the whole formation backpedaling steadily. Matthew dashed forward and threw one of his knives at the offending mage. She quickly closed the tome and held it up in defense. The book was pierced, rendering it useless and allowing our allies to recapture their forward momentum.
The enemies were quickly routed once their central strength was disabled, and we found ourselves in a precarious maze of bridges and chasms that set my skin crawling as I crouched down a bit.
"What's the matter?" Anna asked.
"Afraid of heights," I replied quickly. Despite the short distance between the pieces of land, those pits still looked bottomless.
"So, you've made it this far." I looked up to see Chrom across a bridge next to a green-haired, green-armored man on horseback. "I'd say I was impressed if you weren't pitting my own allies against my kingdom. Nor is your tactician a match for mine! Robin! Guide us to victory!"
The woman—across a chasm to our right—dislodged the knife from her book and sighed. "Full charge!" she shouted, and our enemies rushed forward.
"Oh shhhoot!" I exclaimed quietly. I quickly scanned the area. There was a cavalier with a lance coming from our left, the two ahead had swords, and that wolf tome would give more than a few of us trouble. "Uh, Gunter! Horse! Lance! Over there!" I shouted, pointing to the red woman.
"My horse is still recovering!"
"I'll take care of it!" Bartre said as he moved to meet his opponent.
"Sh-Sharena, swords! Forward!"
"U-understood!"
"Bow! Tome! Over there!"
"You must mean me," Virion spoke as he moved to the cliff's edge. He fired an arrow at the white-haired tactician, but she was able to dodge it. In response, she threw one of her wolf heads back at him. I couldn't blame Virion for just standing there as the giant spectre flew towards him, whether he was petrified of the sheer size or didn't dare to risk dodging in a way that would result in himself or an ally tumbling into the black chasms below. Those massive jaws latched onto him painfully, but just as quickly, they disappeared, leaving him bleeding but still alive.
"Alfonse! Help me!" Gunter shouted as he ran to help the archer. At the same time, Raigh stepped in to protect them as they brought Virion to Maria for aid. Robin was more resilient to the spell than Virion was, but it still warded her away to a safe distance for everyone.
Bartre swatted a blow from the lance cavalier away and attempted to bury his axe in the horse's shoulder. Its rider quickly reared the beast and pulled it out of the way. He stepped forward and swung for the woman's shoulder in an over-head hack. With no other option, she lifted her arm to block the blow, saving her life but leaving her unable to use her lance. Bartre's axe bit into her back, and she screamed as she began to slide out of the saddle.
"Sully!" the green-haired man shouted.
"Focus, Stahl," Chrom spoke back.
"…Right."
Sharena was showing no signs of slowing down, thanks to the enchanting voice of Azura. She was struggling, however, to find an opportunity to counter. Alfonse rushed forward now that Virion was in Maria's care. He pulled his sister out of the way and locked blades with the other blue-haired man. With the support of the two women, Alfonse was slowly gaining the upper hand. He could have gained it quicker, however, I thought, if he used his shield more offensively, but what do I know?
Raigh, too, was now joining the fray and doing a fine job of finishing up the battle, ending it as one would end a couple of flies.
Once I saw that our final adversaries could no longer continue fighting, I realized just how tense I was. I tried to steady my breathing as Chrom struggled to get to his feet.
Alfonse raised his sword again, but Robin ensured he didn't need it when she whacked the man in the back of the head with her tome. The two launched into a tirade of bickering as a married couple would about the validity of Veronica's accusations, and we just stood there awkwardly.
I blinked a few times, thinking that the mission was complete. "D'ya think we shoul' jus' leave?" I asked Anna.
"I don't know if we can."
"Well, we won, didn't we?"
"But we should still try to convince Prince Chrom of our innocence, shouldn't we?"
"I think leaving would be the best way to do that. Y'know, to… make a statement, or whatever."
"Uh… sure."
And so we left.
"Can we go home now?" I asked.
"Commander!" Matthew called out. "Looks to me like Embla was through here. Pretty recently, too."
"It's the World of Mystery again," Alfonse murmured.
I looked away at the horizon rather than use one of my many elementary-level curses in front of a child.
Anna rallied all of us once more before setting off into the gateway. I dragged my feet behind everyone as I stepped through. We were met by an untalkative swordsman in red and a bald-headed elderly man with a staff, each backed up by a thief (or so they were officially called). I noticed that my allies were beginning to slow, likely the result of the back-to-back fighting, but there was no choice but to press on. We met with a familiar wyvern rider and young healer at something of a castle, were flanked by archers between a pair of bridges, took down more familiar fliers set in a trio, then appeared before the final task.
"We can bottleneck them. Almost. Bartre, you stand near that copse of trees. Virion, you be ready to take down Minerva again, then we'll deal with any other problems as they arise." They nodded in agreement and moved to meet their foes while the rest of us moved up behind the thicket.
I watched the lancer struggle against Bartre as someone shouted, "Watch out!" I believe flinching at that moment likely saved my life as I felt a blade knick the back of my neck.
"Thief! Beyond the trees!"
"I'll take care of him!"
I scrambled away on all fours as my braver companions dealt with the threat.
"Maxis, are you alright—you're bleeding!" My head snapped up to see Maria looking down at me, clutching her staff. She laid her hand on the back of my head. "It's not that deep. Here, let me heal you." The orb on her staff glowed brightly, and she frowned. "That's weird. It's not working. …Maybe I just need more practice…? …No… It shouldn't scar; it's really shallow."
"Th-th-thanks."
"It's no problem!" Maria chirped as she held out her hand to me.
"Dragon!" someone shouted. We turned to see a great grey beast scattering our allies.
There's nothing to be said about our fight with Tiki, the young dragon that we faced. We simply ran around without order until we realized that we had to fight back. Those of us with weapons, I should say. I was just so tired…
