This was quite the sight. Hundreds of people were slowly walking towards some unseen destination in a trance-like state. Robin and various other Shepherds were making an attempt at stopping them, but they just kept walking. Eventually, Lissa managed to speak to one of them.
"Hey, excuse me! Excuse me, mister! Um… where are all of you going?"
"Grima… Calling…" And the man continued on his extremely creepy way.
"What was that about?"
"Well," Chrom looked in the man's direction, "if I had to guess, I'd say that Validar is close to summoning Grima."
"That can't be good."
"No; we need to hurry. Robin! Where did those scouts say Validar ran off to?"
"Someplace called the 'Dragon's Table'? Doesn't sound too inviting."
"Lead the way. The longer we gawk at these people, the longer the world is in peril."
"Couldn't have said it better myself. According to the map, it's this way." Robin began walking, and noticed he was following the entranced citizens. "Definitely not good."
That assumption was right. When the group arrived at the massive altar that was the Dragon's Table, Aversa was waiting for them. She had several tough-looking Risen with her, spread out amongst the sand before the temple that seemed larger than Plegia's castle. They all had different outfits on, and all carried specially-designed weapons.
"Deadlords…" Chrom whispered under his breath, hand on Falchion.
"Deadlords?"
"They were once heroes and warriors; legends of their time. Grima has managed to resurrect them, and has forcefully made them join his side. Now they stop at nothing to protect their wretched master."
"Lovely. Now not only do we have to fight Validar's right hand, we have to defeat heroes." At that moment, the familiar form of Validar exited the temple, a glint of metal under one of his arms. He gave inaudible instructions to Aversa, then turned to leave. Just before he could, however, Chrom yelled across to the two.
"Validar! Why have all these people gathered? What is happening?!"
"Curious one, aren't you? Grima is close to reviving, and these loyal followers have come to witness it! Once the sacrifice is in place, the Fell Dragon shall once again roam the Earth!"
"Sacrifice?"
"This place is called 'The Dragon's Table' for a reason; this is where Grima comes to feed!"
"You heartless-"
"Enough chat! I must see to the ritual. Aversa! Take care of these pests!"
"As you command, Validar." With that, Validar sauntered back into the massive stone temple, leaving Aversa smiling wickedly at the Shepherds. "You won't get past me; your pitiful crusade ends here! Now!" The band of warriors readied their stances, prepared for a fight… and were immediately knocked out of them by the ground itself. The sand between the Deadlords and the Shepherds had begun to shift, creating small tremors in the ground. Robin managed to steady himself just enough in order to see what was happening. He gasped.
From the middle of the field, an enormous hill of sand was forming. As it got higher and higher, the sand began to slowly fall off of it, revealing a white shape underneath. As it grew in size and diminished in sand, the bony structure beneath was revealed. It was a massive skeleton, sporting red eyes, demonic horns and terrifyingly large hands. When its top half had fully emerged, it gave out a roar that nearly deafened all those present. Interestingly, it seemed that the skeleton had also brought with it a small, circular area that defined the limit of its arms' reach. It was a towering presence that had every Shepherd quaking in their boots. All except one. From out of seemingly nowhere, Link appeared beside Robin. It seemed that the appearance of this horrendous monster had turned him from saddened soldier back to determined warrior. Although, he didn't look quite the same; his eyes were almost glazed over, as if he was only acting on instinct, and his stance was much more rigid than it used to be. Before Robin could even make an attempt at asking him what was going on, Link charged forward.
"Well, at least he's doing something." It looked as if the Deadlords had also begun to move, and were headed straight for the green warrior, who didn't seem to notice. "Impulsive little… alright. Everyone! Move out! We have to get rid of those Deadlords!" A rallying cry came from the Shepherds, and the ground began to rumble once more, now caused by the feet of the Shepherds.
"What the-?!" Chrom was pointing towards Link, who had just reached into his pouch and pulled out what looked like an enormous top. He threw it onto the ground, it immediately started spinning, and he jumped on top of it. It moved at a fast pace, headed straight for the enormous bony enemy. When he reached the interior edge of the pit around the monster, the spinning top started following the rim, circling the monster. Robin was mesmerized by the sight… until it breathed fire at him. Without realizing it, he had managed to wander close to the edge of the ring, and was about to pay the price. He moved out of the way, but the end of his coat got burned.
"That was close." He turned attention to the battle he was actually a part of, and found himself face-to-face with a Deadlord. It swung down with its legendary weapon, cutting through Robin's sleeve as he dodged. "As was that." He turned to face the intimidating Deadlord, who was swinging yet again. Robin fired a bolt of electricity at the thing, which merely deflected it with its legendary weapon. It then swung down and tore through the hood of Robin's cloak, removing it completely. Following its arc, it slammed into the ground and created a small crevice in the dirt.
"Robin!" Chrom ran up and sliced the arm of the Deadlord, making it retreat slightly. "Need some help?"
"I wouldn't mind." The two took up a stance and faced the undead hero. It let out what most would assume to be a roar of rage, then began its assault. Weapons and magic clashed in explosions of colour and energy that cascaded across the darkened sky. Similar fights were breaking out across the rest of the sandy field and illuminating the silhouette of an enormous skeletal beast struggling against a boy on a spinning top. Roars of anger, shouts of pain and grunts of effort could be heard coming from the sandy dunes for miles as the fights raged on. At one point, the sound of something crashing against the ground echoed around the temple's exterior. Robin managed to peel his eyes away from the Deadlord in front of him to catch a glimpse of what happened. The enormous skeletal beast had gotten shorter. The base of its spine was missing a vertebrae, and Robin could see Link riding away from its underside. It immediately sped up its attacks, seemingly egged on by the amount of damage it had received. He was snapped back to his own fight when an arrow shot through the back of his cloak.
"Father!" Owain ran up and sliced the thing in its back, delaying it for the moment. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, thanks." Robin looked over his torn and tattered cloak. "They only seem to be after my robe today."
"Excellent! Then we shall end this as the legendary duo of the Master Sword Hand and Grandmaster Tactician! This battle will go down in history as the day we saved the world!"
"Indeed…" The Deadlord got back up, and the fight commenced. Swords and magic once again clashed in their glittery dance, neither side holding back. The fearsome duo of father and son proved to be too much for the Deadlord in the end, and it was beaten. They raced off to help other members of the Shepherds, each one having their own struggles.
The fight lasted for what felt like a lifetime. Every battle was a struggle, each one requiring full effort from at least two of the Shepherds to take down a Deadlord. The monotonous effort was only broken up twice, once by an earth shudder and roar similar to before, the second time by an even greater tremor. When that one happened, Robin looked to the middle of the field and saw the skeletal monster lying in the sand, most of its bones shattered and broken. It looked like the fight there was over, but Link's expression told otherwise. He was still in his emotionless battle stance, sword and shield grasped firmly in their respective hands. The bones began to rattle and shake, the ones that were still managing to hold together breaking into dust. Soon enough, the only part of the skeleton left was the skull. To the shock of everyone who was able to observe, the eyes began to glow once more, and the skull started floating. Once at altitude, it shot a ball of fire at Link, who deftly dodged to the side. He looked around the area for a split second, and his face fell. Another ball of fire was shot at him, which he blocked with his shield, and he ran towards Robin.
"What's wrong?" From Link's expression, he could tell that something was horribly wrong. "Need help?" A nod. "Okay, what can we do?" Link pointed towards the flying skull, then sent that same hand down. "I think I've got it. Come on; let's go find Cynthia." The two raced across the sandy expanse, searching for their quarry. They found her being healed up by Maribelle with Lon'qu and Laurent protecting them both. "Cynthia!"
"Uncle Robin!" She gave a playful salute despite the situation. "What's up?"
"We need your help, Cynthia. Think you can knock that down?" Robin pointed towards the floating skull, who was shooting fireballs at whoever got close, Deadlords included.
"I'm a hero; of course I can!"
"Excellent. We'll distract it while you find its weak spot."
"Can do!" She jumped on the back of her pegasus, then sped off towards the flying skull.
"...You could've waited for us." Robin sighed, and beckoned Link to follow. They ran out and started blasting the skull. Link pulled a bow out of his pouch of wonders, immediately shooting the thing in the eye. Robin followed it with a blast of Elfire, and the skull looked to the two. They two sides traded blows, a fireball for every shot. Cynthia, surprisingly stealthily, moved behind the head and looked for a weak point. The only thing that she found was a black sword stuck into its forehead, so, naturally, she swiped at it with her lance. The creature roared in pain, and the head fell to the ground.
"Cynthia for the win!" It was a premature celebration on her part. Link ran up to the skull, sword drawn, and began wailing on the black sword. Every hit sent lines of red energy coursing around the skull, slowly beginning its disintegration. Before the final blow could be landed, however, it recovered from Cynthia's initial attack. It sped off, in search of an easier target. "What happened?"
"It's tough. Come on, we have to try again." The sequence of events began anew; Robin and Link distracted the monstrous head while Cynthia went around and knocked it to the ground. Red lines again coursed through the skull, deteriorating it further, and the sword started to break. Again, the skull flew off, this time to harass Chrom.
"How many times do we have to do this?!"
"Three seems to be the magic number; it worked with most of Link's other 'friends'."
"Then let's go!" Cynthia raced off once more, chasing down the skull. Robin sighed and followed at his fastest pace, which couldn't really match up with the speed of a pegasus. When he had arrived, Cynthia had alerted the skull. The only thing she could do was dodge the fireballs shot at her as she frantically tried to get close.
"Cynthia! Get away from there!" Chrom had finally taken notice of the flying monster skull, and was now terrified for his future daughter.
"I'm trying!" Although, he wasn't that much help. All he could do was watch as his split-second distraction of Cynthia cost her. The skull had taken the opportunity to blast one last fireball at the pegasus and rider. It knocked her off and severely injured her ride, sending both crashing to the sand below.
"Cynthia!" Without warning, Chrom lept after the skull, missing it entirely. He tried again and again, dodging every fireball it threw by millimeters. Robin attempted to help by sending fireballs of his own at the flying skull along with Link's arrows. It didn't do much. Eventually, though, Chrom found his opening. Scattered around the desolate wastelands of the temple's exterior were small ruins; remnants of any good that may have existed there. The skull had drifted over to one of these; one of the ones that had a conveniently climbable surface. Chrom scampered up it, getting a burn on his arm along the way. Having a missing sleeve was never the best idea for a warrior. At the top of his new vantage point, Chrom jumped. He brought Falchion down on the black sword sticking out of the monster's head, shattering the weapon into thousands of tiny black shards. The head gave another tremendous roar and began to flail as best a severed head can. Its eyes slowly faded back into dark voids, and the skull fell. It crashed into the sand and half-buried itself. The skeleton was defeated, and there was only one opponent left: Aversa. She was sitting near the temple entrance, most of her confidence lost. Robin charged for her, running past Chrom and Cynthia. Aversa attempted to use a blast of dark magic against him, but Robin merely rolled to the side and returned an Elfire. His attack hit its target, and Aversa was sent flying into the side of the temple. Before Robin could throw another fireblast her way, she rushed into the temple, probably to warn Validar. Sighing, Robin turned and walked back to Chrom.
"How is she?"
"Unconscious, with a small burn on her ankle." The Exalt stood up. "This has to end."
"And it will; that's what we're here to do." Robin placed a hand on his best friend and brother-in-law's shoulder. "We're going to win; I know it." Chrom returned the gesture.
"I don't doubt it. Now, let's heal up and end this fight." The two smiled at each other. Chrom bent down and picked Cynthia up, and all three walked towards the healers. Despite what he had just said, Robin had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Not everything was going to go according to plan.
A/N: I hope this chapter was as epic as I imagined it to be! To be honest with you guys, I've been waiting to add this boss in since near the beginning; I'm just glad I got to put it in! As always, be sure to review or PM with any questions, comments or concerns. I can't wait to hear from you guys!