AN: Thanks to Stormy for betaing this chapter, I was really in need of some help. Well guys, here is the chapter, hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer: I do not own Zero no Tsukaima; If you ask me, I would prefer having a better computer over this (Mine is a piece of crap).
Rebellion: A Zero no Tsukaima Fanfic
"Errr…" Nervous, a rebel stood in the middle of a plain. Wind blew against his helmet, getting stronger by the second as the steel dragon came closer; a titanic shadow enveloped his tiny figure, making him and his allies shiver with terror. "Commander Dianne…"
"I know." Did she take notice? Of course she did; she wasn't blind. Before them the Ostland, one of the many weapons the palace had at its beck and call, hovered kilometers away from the ground, yet it could be seen without effort at all; a clear proof of its intimidating size. "Tell the men to prepare themselves; I want them in the second formation and ready to fire at my signal." Did Dianne know the meaning of the metal giant's presence? Of course she did; was she afraid of it? Deep down, yes; was that dropping her now rising adrenaline or cleaning the smirk on her face?
Hell no.
"B-but commander, we can't attack that thing with arrows. Even with our energy it would be…" The soldier, now beginning to panic once he knew his superior was going to make them fight against THAT, was cut off by said rebel officer.
"I am not dumb; I know our arrows would have no effect on it whatsoever." She made a toothy grin, showing her fang-like teeth. "Prepare for when they begin descending; once they do, wait for my signal to fire."
"Commander, are you sure they won't simply attack us from there? They could wipe us out with their cannons, why order a descent? Unless…, would they try to negotiate again?"
"Like hell they would! No, my dear chicken, they will not try to negotiate; they have full intention of killing us all." At those words, the soldier could only shiver and wonder how their commander could stay so calm after she herself admitted they were in trouble. The red-head only made a bigger grin as she unsheathed her sword. "But they won't be able to use any of the ship's weapons." She turned towards her troops with a smirk so full of confidence and determination that the soldiers couldn't help but get a bit infected by it. "I can bet my life on that."
Colbert confronted the Royal Court member which accompanied him inside the captain's room with a face of anger. He couldn't go forth with the woman's orders. "I didn't volunteer to do this!"
"It is an order from the palace. You are tasked to eliminate the rebels, all of them! They are enemies of the crown, so aim those cannons and order your crew to fire!" Catherine the "Silver Tempest" declared on top of her lungs. She was a member of the Royal Court, and as such it fell upon her shoulders to exterminate those who put the political organization in danger.
"Professor Colbert is right. The rebels are dangerous, but many of the people down there were tricked into this by them, it is not their fault!" Being one of the few to see reason besides Colbert, having Saito by your side to support your point of view was a relief.
"Silence fool! I am your superior and because of that you must obey me! Remember your place! Being friends with the queen won't help you in the least; I can strip you from your rank and title here and now." Saito didn't really care if he was a noble or not, but for your opinion to be taken into account inside the kingdom's politics was becoming more and more of an advantage these days. It was the only way to truly avoid unnecessary fights. Besides, title or not, he was Louise's familiar, and it might get her in trouble if he didn't behave in front of a noble, especially someone with the same rank as Louise's father. Unlike Saito, the pinkette did have a family to bite her in the ass in case she brought shame to their name.
"If you are going to punish anyone punish me! Saito-san is only defending my point, one which you should listen to!" The bald professor continued to argue with the noble for what seemed like hours, neither he nor her giving the other the reason.
In the room's corner Tiffania stood in silence while she watched an argument she didn't know how to stop. She was a Void Mage, one who served Tristain, but she hadn't been present during the fight with Sheffield, nor during the meeting with the queen and thus was having some doubts at attacking other people. Demons? Yes. Sheffield and Joseph? Of course, they had proved to be evil, but she couldn't say the same for the rebels even when Saito himself seemed to be ready to fight. Tiffania wanted peace over anything else, but she didn't know how to achieve it.
Beside the troubled elf stood the other Void Mage, Louise, angry at herself for wanting to step in and defend Saito and Colbert yet unable to do so in case her family got trouble because of that. As proud as it was, being a noble proved to be a real pain in the ass from time to time. At times, the pinkette would wonder how it would be to have been born a commoner…
She would still be a Void Mage, and sooner or later would have summoned Saito to be her familiar. She wouldn't have to withstand having people expecting great things from her at all times, and she would even have time to be with her family, especially her chi-nee-san. Sadly, reality wasn't so easy.
Snapping both mages from their dreamlands, Catherine reached her boiling point. "That's it! You are incapable of serving your kingdom, and because of that I will be taking command of this vessel from you. Expect trouble once the battle is over!"
"Incapable? You are asking me to start a bloodbath against people who may only be confused, tricked, or worse, brainwashed! It wouldn't be the first time. Must I remind you about what happened at South Gotha? Our own forces turned against us because you and the council refused to listen about The Ring of AndavarI!"
"Those were enemies of the crown, as are those below. They are traitors!"
"And I'm sure you and The Council are not to blame. After all, who would get angry at constant abuse and oppression"
"How dare you…?" Pushing Colbert to the side the square wind mage took the communication tube in her hand and commanded an order that was heard through all the ship.
To all crewmembers, I, Catherine Daria de Venni, order a full scale attack on the rebels! Fire the cannons in the name of Her Majesty Queen!
Upon her command, the cannons took aim. Down below, the rebels were practically wetting their pants as their leader remained grinning wildly.
Colbert tried taking the tube from the noble, but as he did so to Catherine cast a shield around herself, rendering the attempt useless. "This is for the benefit of the kingdom." Was all she said at the glares she received.
No longer containing himself, Saito spoke up. "The kingdom's benefit or yours? Because as far as I know you are the only one here who wants to ki…" No one was able to hear the rest of the sentence as a message arrived only for the captain to hear. It came from the machine's room.
Captain Colbert, Countess Catherine, we are sorry to inform you about this, but we can't fire the cannons. The controls are not responding and the ammunition has been destroyed. We have been sabotaged!
Shock was the general response in the room; the only one to remain somewhat calm was the council member who had been expecting such a thing. "See? These things happen when you put your faith in the rebel's intentions. Now there will be a real bloodbath, on both sides." She finished telling the two men who had been opposing her lately, both unable to respond at having their points taken.
Attention all crewmembers: we have been sabotaged! Our weapons are unusable. All soldiers are to mount your wyverns and descend! Due to the lack of controls, The Oustland will be unable to land. As for the rest, search the ship for any suspicious figures. I want the bastard who sabotaged us in front of me,yesterday!
Zheo was seated in his room, an invisibility spell keeping the passing soldiers from seeing him. The ship could no longer make it to land, and the number of soldiers fighting at a time would decrease greatly. Not everyone was a wyvern knight, so they didn't have all that many dragons to mount. His mission was complete. It was up to Dianne now.
"Thanks buddy; I don't know what we would do without you."Dianne stood with a violet gem held tightly in her hand, to her right her men were firm in their formation and ready to fire.
"I do; you would have never been able to plan the tactics we have been using until now, thus never reaching this point which would have resulted in you either giving up or using less effective methods." It didn't show in his tone, but Dianne was sure he was making fun of her.
"Hey, thanks. Why not just bluntly tell me you consider me an idiot?"
"Because I'm a gentleman."
"You little…"She so wanted to get back at him, but a verbal fight against Zheo was the synonym of throwing insults to a rock. In fact, the latter was easier than the former.
Forgetting about her fight for a while, the red-head looked up to see wyvern knights descending from the Ostland; just as promised. Grinning, she turned to see her men sighing from relief, all of them having thought they were for sure screwed.
"They don't have too many wyverns, not enough for every soldier. Don't worry about the cannons and focus on taking them out bit by bit. Sooner or later they will retreat, until then resist. I have already contacted Lyon and Joshua and instructed them to be careful of any attack."
"Don't worry, I won't lose this battle."
"Dianne, there's another thing."If the serious boy could have sounded even more serious, it would have been at that moment. "I can feel their presence. Both Gandalrf and his mistress are aboard the ship along another Void Mage. I can distract the second, but you may have to deal with Gandalrf."
"Seems like we will have to use that again, won't we? That's okay; let's just focus on ending this as fast as we can. I'm counting on you. Dianne out."
"Good luck."
"Alright everyone!" Her squad, a group of barely 100 women and men, readied to face at least two hundred wyverns knights at a time. "Defense force! Go to the front! Archers! Behind and get ready to fire at my command!" Thirty rebels positioned themselves in a row in front of the remaining soldiers, shields the size of their torsos ready at their arms. Behind, around fifteen archers lifted their bows and took aim, strained ropes ready to set arrows loose.
In the distance, the once tiny dots were now small humans rapidly flying towards them; axes, swords, lances, bows and staves ready to kill without a second thought. "Focus your energy!"
It was amazing really. In just one year, the village of Shavia had transformed itself from poverty stricken to thriving and productive. What was more important than the village were its people; men and women who now composed the elite of the rebel army.
How could that be? How can one year of training turn you into a fit soldier able to make a stand before the mighty royal army? An easy question…
Runes appeared all over the fifteen bows held by the archers, each enchanting either wind or fire energy inside the arrows they had contact with. Piercing wind spiraled around arrows yet didn't cut the ropes; fire ignited around others yet not burning the wood bows.
How could commoners do such a thing?
…Zheo
The Void Mage had mastered the ancient art of controlling and crafting runes. How was yet a mystery, but who cared? That power had not been seen since the time of the Founder, and now their purple-haired, expressionless friend and tactician possessed it; the power to create magic artifacts such as the Founder's book, Gandalrf's sword, or the elemental rubies.
They may not have been nobles, but they still had energy; they still had their elemental affinities. Zheo had been tirelessly crafting swords, lances, axes, armors, bows, shields and daggers able to canalize elemental power for the last year; enough to equip a good five hundred soldiers.
The problem was that Shavia barely had enough people to equip two hundred armors and weapons; not all of them really suited for fighting or war. What was worse was that those two hundred soldiers split into three different groups commanded by Lyon, Joshua and herself; not to mention many became part of Zheo's spy network, leaving Dianne with only forty.
As icing to the cake, they had absolutely no time to train the newcomers into energy control. The "elites" took an entire year to learn the basics of elemental manipulation to the point of imbuing weapons with energy, but that was it. They couldn't do more complex techniques such as Lyon's whirlwinds, Joshua's Razors or Dianne's heat waves.
But even with all those disadvantages, they all managed to fit the mold.
Energy ready and aim taken, the rebels waited until the wyvern knights were close enough. While the archers prepared the offensive the defensive forces were already busy. Arrows were beginning to fly towards them but were stopped by strong shields, each having Earth's solidity as support.
Two hundred Wyvern knights came close enough; Dianne signaled for the archers to fire.
Then all hell broke loose.
The sight was both amazing and terrifying. The wyvern knights were being pummeled by a barrage of arrows. At times, the projectiles would literally drill through them; others would be set ablaze by fire arrows or the occasional fire ball.
Whenever they tried to shoot their own arrows magically, enhanced shields would block them. Getting close enough for melee combat would ultimately result in being slain by the rebel commander.
Having lost ten knights to their attack already, the captain signaled for them to fly higher. Soon, they were out of range from the fire arrows, the wind ones however still managed to find their way to them. Down by another four knights the entire squad turned around and dove straight toward the enemy force. Below, the shields were reorganizing themselves to intercept, and the commander lifted a fire wall to hide her small army. Such tactics however, did little to slow the enemy down.
Finally they met.
Wyverns easily passed through the flames and landed over one or two rebels, catching other with their fire, fangs or positioning themselves to allow their riders to strike killing blows. Those who carried shield endured the attack with ease, others though wouldn't be seeing the next sunset. The riders' party soon ended when a red-headed swords master appeared from beneath the flames and took the head of their captain. In mere seconds, she had slain two additional knights before dodging an incoming blow. The flames, as if following her command, expanded and enveloped her enemies yet not her allies ;flames easy to endure by the dragons but too hot for the humans.
In the distance, lone wyverns who had lost their riders returned to the Ostland as they had been trained to do. Soon, reinforcements would come for the wyvern knights.
Bringing down her sword Dianne sliced the neck of another Tristain soldier, fire trailing behind her. She had already taken care of the few mages who had come along with the riders to give her troops a little advantage. Sadly, the situation was quickly turning ugly.
Dianne could hold her own against these knights, especially the ones who used the wyverns' fire to attack, but her soldiers didn't and the ones best suited for dragon knights didn't have a body of water to draw energy from. She didn't need to turn around to know she had already lost a high number of comrades and on top of it all more knights were likely to come soon too.
Focusing her inner fire, Dianne prepared to eliminate another group of enemies. Getting their attention as the enemy leader, she was quickly surrounded by them. Runes appeared all over her sword as fire concentrated inside it.
"Take this you noble slaves; HEAT WAVE!" A thin expansion wave could be seen slowly expanding with her caster in the center; heat so hard and so condensed that whoever touched it would be immediately set alight. Pained cries erupted from all around the swordswoman and did an amazing job perturbing the peace inside both enemies and allies.
By now, an enormous ring of fire had taken the lives of twelve soldiers, and soon enough, the rebel commander shot from within those hellish flames to slay a couple more soldiers. Their captain killed and witnessing the power from their enemy some of the army soldiers ran away in hopes of leaving; but weren't able to get far as the few remaining wind archers quickly ended their lives. Jumping straight into the enemy center, Dianne focused and released another wave of fire, reducing her rivals into mere ashes. Flames burning brightly she dodged and countered each blow and strike sent to her, heavily dropping enemy numbers.
Finishing her final strike, the red-head inhaled deeply. She didn't show it, but using so much willpower over and over was taking its toll, but that was ok; the remaining enemies were just around ten and were being defeated by her troops, their wyverns captured. What worried her though were her own troops. She was sure they were less than half of the ones she had, not to mention she had no idea how many of them were the ones capable of controlling energy; at least, more than half of the shield wielders had survived the fight. "Enemies from the north!"
Dianne cursed under her breath; already the reinforcements were arriving. They were less in number as not all the wyverns returned, but so were her own. Rising to her feet, the commander made her way to the front line; she had to be strong or her men wouldn't keep what little conviction that remained in them.
She was not even halfway from her troops when she suddenly had to dodge an upper strike. It came with such strength and speed it managed to pierce her armor and cut her flesh, though missing any vital point.
In front of her a boy rose from the earth, obviously a bit shaken from taking such a fall, with the strangest appearance she had ever seen. He wasn't wearing armor at all, instead having simple clothes with strange designs. His hair was an unusual black color, a very rare one only found among few commoners. His sword was drawn with her blood on its tip, and he wore a cape indicating that he was a chevalier.
Dianne had absolutely no idea who he was, until she saw the runes in his hand; the same runes in Zheo's book.
"Gandalrf." Her voice was not of hate, but it neither had the usual bravado she loved to show her enemies; rather, it showed a bit of caution at the newcomer.
"Rebel." He said lowly, obvious defiance in his voice; and his eyes. As soon as she saw them, Dianne knew he hadn't come for a peace talk.
Steeling her resolve, Dianne rose and held her sword tightly, pointing it at the other swordsman. It was a long sword made entirely of gold, not to show luxury but rather defiance to nobles as it was made from the Leveque treasury. Her weapon seemed too big to be carried by one hand, but she held it as it was a normal length sword; over its golden surface, bright red runes appeared. "My name is Dianne Evans, remember it."
"Hiraga Saito." They weren't here to talk and they weren't to do so. Mimicking her, Saito held Derflinger with one hand and pointed at her with it. Then, as if in silent agreement, both took a step forward and brought their swords down. The sound of metal clashing echoed through the battlefield.
Tiffania stood with a defying stare at the man before her. He was of middle height, a little taller than she, short brown hair, deep brown eyes and white skin yet not pale. Like herself, he was armed with a wand, and just a few seconds ago, he had stopped her from going to the hangar with Louise and Saito revealing himself as the enemy.
She wasn't quite sure what he wanted, but by what she had heard others say the man was probably here to take her and use her power by force.
The man spoke, attempting to ease the situation. "Surrender now and I should do this quickly. My only intention here is to prevent you from participating in this battle. There is no need to fight senselessly."
Tiffania wanted to believe him; to just put her arm down and go back to her normal life, to be able to skip the blood and death. The problem was she couldn't. As much as she wanted, there was no guarantee he was going to keep his word. "Sorry, but I can't put my guard down, nor can I let you go; surrender yourself and forget this!" The half elf was by no means someone you could call 'brave', but when things got serious she was a force to be reckoned with. Already she was going through her spell list.
"I must apologize, but as much as we both want peace, in order to achieve our goals we must clash; in other words…" He pointed his wand at her with a look of determination. "…prepare yourself heir of the void!"
"Ok then… so may it be…"
Tiffania needed a strong spell, something to end the fight easily without destroying the ship; as much resistant as it was, void spell couldn't exactly be called "weak". She also needed to make it as fast as possible while attracting the attention of other crewmembers; without Saito or a familiar he could kill her just by drawing a knife. Luckily, she had just the right spell. Powerful, Loud, Fast-casted; the second void spell for her to learn and the first taught to her by a close friend. Focusing, she attacked. "EXPLOSION!"
The man was only half way in casting a wind spell when he was hit. The great force of the impact sent him flying through the hallway and into a wall, the thick smokescreen keeping the magicians from seeing each other.
Tiffania lowered her wand at seeing her enemy fall. For a moment there she was even afraid she had killed the man with her power. "ahh…!" All of a sudden, a white light enveloped the man, washing away any injuries he might have received. He stood up, as if nothing had happened at all, and pointed his wand at her.
"Nice try…" Wind began to swirl around him. "My turn…" A blizzard ran through the entire hallway, snow beginning to form. "HELL'S BLIZZARD."
The force was so great Tiffania had no chance to cast even an explosion as it grew worse. Her wand was flown away and soon ice was spreading through the walls.
In an instant the torrent of wind grew twice as strong and twice as cold. Tiffania's own body began shutting down due to the sheer, unbearable freeze. How could he use such a powerful spell in such a short time? It was obviously an advanced line-spell, he should have taken longer to cast and shouldn't be able to keep it up for this long, Not even Tabitha had managed to do that.
She didn't have any more time to think, however, as even that ceased to work for her. In a moment, everything, even the wind itself, froze. Ice solidified into anything which could be called 'something'. In a second, Tiffania's world became a horrible white.
Saito moved in to strike the rebel but she was simply too skilled. Using the sword as support, she propelled herself up and jumped over Saito. Having difficulties doing a midair flip thanks to her numerous wounds, she landed at the Japanese's back and slashed at him, managing to cut into his skin.
Ignoring the pain, he turned around and struck horizontally; she parried. He struck once again from below; she blocked it. Not moving his blade he tried to strike her again and she hopped backwards. Finally, with inhuman speed Saito moved in to punch her on the face, and hit the mark; hard.
Flinching from the pain, Dianne held her throbbing chin and spit some blood. She quickly recovered and returned to the combat against the legendary familiar, master of all weapons. Behind them, their respective sides were fighting with one another. Royal guards, now coming in smaller numbers as the wyverns dropped as well, were being taken out one by one; rebels, fewer in number and their energies low, were slowly being defeated. Already there were little more than forty of them.
Runes shining brightly in her sword, Dianne summoned a torrent of fire. A whirlwind of flames enveloped her as what her little energy she had left slowly dropped. She charged at the familiar with all her might, ignoring her defenses and going all out in the offensive striking over and over again.
Whenever their swords clashed fire would spread out. As the rebel was immune to it she didn't care, but Gandalrf by his side was slowly being seared by the flames and his arms were severely burned, sleeves long ago made ashes.
Having her strikes being all parried, Dianne finally hit her mark; throwing a punch at the guy's stomach, her fire-enveloped fist slammed and burnt into his skin. Not letting up, she changed blade of hands and held Saito's bare hand causing a pained cry from the boy. As final touch, she attacked and slashed her heated sword through his legs, cutting and burning flesh.
Ignoring the pain for the moment, Saito activated Derflinger's power, making Dianne realize her mistake. Holding her hand tightly, fire began being absorbed into the blade's shining surface, disappearing. As it was not magic in essence, the boy needed physical contact to absorb the fire. How could she do that? He didn't know, but he continued nonetheless. Questions could be asked later; right now he needed to focus on winning.
Not allowing her a second of rest, Saito drew power from the runes carved into his skin to attack as hard as he could into the woman's torso, shattering her armor completely and opening the wound he had given her at the beginning of the fight.
Dianne clenched her teeth hard not wanting to show any kind of weakness, even if her face was contorted into one expression of unbearable pain. Putting distance between each other, they made a silent agreement to catch their breath before continuing.
On Saito's side he was full of cuts, all of them accompanied by severe burns having had direct contact with blazing red metal. His clothes were ruined and burnt; anywhere the blade struck turned to ashes, leaving him with torn shorts and his shirt sleeveless. His skin was a deep red on most parts, even letting the boy see his inner layer of pink, softer skin. Had not most of the wounds dried up, blood would be flowing from them at that very moment. Saito could barely move, any chance in his muscle's position causing him a great deal of effort and pain.
On Dianne's side her armor was completely useless now, full of openings and holes yet still worn due to her having no time to take it off. Deciding to throw some weight away, she did just that. Her body was full of deep cuts with nothing stopping the blood from flowing, especially on her torso where the worst wounds of all rested. She was breathing heavily, the simple act of standing demanding too much effort and endurance. Her vision was failing due to blood loss; her hold on her blade softening and her mind slowly drifting apart. The woman was feeling a bit of guilt burning alive a yet underage, teenage boy; the young swordsman felt a pang of remorse at causing such a pain to someone against his own beliefs and ideals.
Both of them had goals which opposed one another; both of them were willing to give it all for what they believed in; both had people they love on the lines for this battle and none of them deserved death just yet. They didn't want to resort to this, but at times you have to stand strong for what you believed in and make others hear your voice through chaos. Being moved forward by adrenaline and sheer willpower, both warriors took their weapons and clashed once again.
Zheo was on his knees, gasping for breath. Tiffania was proving herself to be far more resistant than what he had expected. To ensure no one caught him while stopping the void user from aiding Gandalrf, he trapped her inside an illusion. Sadly, just as his mind entered hers, entered his; inside their dreams the half-elf was still struggling after twenty minutes of combat and such effort was rapidly wearing him down. If she continued like this, or if she realized it was all a lie he could consider himself screwed. There was no other option; Zheo was running low on energy and by what Dianne was telepathically telling him she was going to need his assistance. Breathing deeply, the mage prepared for the ritual.
Executing a back flip with great effort, Dianne managed to miraculously dodge the incoming explosion from a certain Pinkette; as she landed however, Saito came from behind the smoke to punch her square in the face. As she ungracefully landed face down the rebel realized her nose was broken and proceeded to fix it, cursing softly.
Just as she and Gandalrf were coming to the battle's climax the Void Mage, who was apparently left behind by Saito before they landed, appeared indignant at how the boy left her inside the "Plane" while it was still in the air, even with the "Auto-pilot." Seeing his state, the obvious Valliére sister became horrified and immediately decided to help him. Using void magic all too familiar to her, she "erased" some of her familiar's injuries, boosted some of his abilities, and began attacking the red-head with a barrage of explosions.
Whenever she dodged one attack, another came; if it was not a slice it was an explosion and vice versa. If she targeted the mage, Saito would just run to intercept her and block her path. Summoning her fire proved to be no good either as it was easily dispelled; even with her sword having Zheo's void power she was simply too weak to use them. Standing up with her entire body bloody and worn, Dianne realized she had no other choice but to use it.Taking a deep breath, she quickly used the ritual before the next strike.
"Lyon, Joshua, I apologize for this."
"Guys, forgive me."
Somewhere inside the Kingdom of Tristain, two different men grasped their chest as they felt their energies being drained.
All over Dianne's body runes began releasing a bright, red light, similar to the day Zheo had used that ritual to bond the four of them. Lines of pure energy craved themselves into her flesh, tearing apart clothing, armor and even skin. Yet, no matter how deep they went, the rebel didn't seem to be feeling any pain. In fact, she didn't seem to be having any difficulty, as if the several bruises all over her torso were nothing but light paper cuts.
Louise, Saito and even the forces fighting beside them were awed at the light show; fear and curiosity coming to their minds as they wondered if the girl was even human.
By his side, Zheo passed through a similar phase; Tiffania laid to his side unconscious, the boost of power from the mage causing the illusion to overwhelm her mind. As the ritual continued, and the purple haired kept draining the life force of two of his allies, several soldiers were attracted to the scene. Grey runes all over his face and body, Zheo knocked out anyone who got near him.
The rune-inscripting ended and her clothes almost gone by the exception of some "special" parts, Dianne took hold of her sword and rushed forward to clash once again with the Left Hand of God. Saito responded in kind and both engaged once again in fierce combat, the difference being that this time the rebel was able to summon fire from any part of her body in seconds. Raising a wall of fire between them, the redhead dodged as Louise released another explosion. She heard as the pinkette immediately went to cast a dispelling spell and summoned even more flames which shaped themselves into a fire snake. Ordering to attack the girl, Dianne blocked Saito's attempt to help his mistress with a swipe of her blade, smirking as she heard the Void Mage grunt in pain after her attempt to avoid the attack failed leaving a severe burn in her right arm.
"Louise!" The Japanese boy, scared she might have suffered even more damage, tried to get to her; Saito was, however, stopped by Dianne once more as she dealt a deep cut into his shoulder, barely missing the neck. "You Monster!" Furious, Saito resumed his combat with Dianne as he continued to try and get closer to Louise. The sword masters continued their clash as one was propelled by magic and the other by rage.
The remaining rebel soldiers, infected by their leader's willpower and encouraged by her power, resumed their attack on the royal army, managing to get the clear upper hand, dropping the enemy's numbers to just a couple of dozens.
Gathering power, Zheo focused on releasing his spell in a way that nobody would get hurt. The soldiers on board, with a few exceptions, were men and women who may have had no other option but to join the army. If he could help it none of them had today, in fact, they could even be on their side one day once the monarchy was destroyed, but that would have to wait. Even the elven girl, who Zheo had pity for after what he learned from the Founder's intentions, was pure at heart; such had he seen as their minds were linked to one another.
Placing his hands on the wall, the mage decided to put an end to this fight. The more they remained in this state, the more danger it put Lyon and Joshua in. Molding his willpower into the legendary element, Zheo casted the spell he learnt from the girl: "EXPLOSION."
Panic erupted throughout the Ostland as an enormous piece of its side walls were blown away in an instant, the control from Zheo's part preserving the hallway and the people in it safe. Below, the battlefield froze as they saw the attack inflicted into their ship.
Fear and frustration clear in his face, the wyvern knight in command saw no better option but retreat; the rebels, even if few, still were too strong for them. Staying would be suicide. "Men! Cease the fight and retreat! I repeat, RETREAT!" Happy to oblige, the few wyvern riders left stopped to fight and turned around to return to their ship, some being captured as prisoners or killed as there weren't enough wyverns for everyone.
"Teleport!"Seeing from far above the tiny red dot his friend was, Zheo appeared in a blink by Dianne's side, surprising Saito and Louise by both his presence and similar power to Louise. Steeling his resolve, Gandalrf prepared for a fight he knew deep down he couldn't win; against the red haired one yes, but against her friend as well he couldn't, even with his girlfriend by his side.
Sensing his thoughts, the newcomer raised his hand and palm in a "stop" expression. "Calm down Gandalrf, I didn't come here with intentions to fight. Leave now and we won't pursue." His voice was cold and serious, no expression overflowing from it, similar to Tabitha's. Dianne seemed to prefer the man's solution as she sheathed her sword, yet Saito knew well enough she would be able to fight even without it.
Still debating whether or not follow their advice, Gandalrf felt someone take a hold of his arm. Looking down, he saw Louise with a pained look in her face. "Saito… l-let's go… no use in you dying here…" The pain kept her from talking straight, and her arm needed immediate treatment.
Calming his rage at the sight, the teenager turned to look at his enemies with some reason, after she spoke both rebels turned to look at Louise, a strange stare in Dianne's face and a unreadable one in Zheo's. Some part of him said it was because she was a Void Mage, another thought it was something more as that look was different from the one people like Wardes, Sheffield or Joseph usually had.
Agreeing that retreat was being the best option, Saito sheathed Derflinger and picked up Louise in a cradling way. "Idiot, I'm fine. The one you should be worried about is you." Sparing one last glance at the unmoving rebel commanders and their forces already coming to check on the situation, the teenager dashed into the direction the Zero Fighter had secretly been ordered to land.
Watching them go, Zheo and Dianne slowly returned to normal, fatigue and injury kicking in with twice as much force as they were ignored. They didn't even hear the soldier who approached to ask if they were okay. Bodies tired, injuries open and clothes torn, both friends collapsed into the ground, not even strong enough to properly lower themselves to rest.
That's all for now, thanks for reading and RnR.
Again thanks to Stormy.
See you next time, peace.