Chapter 6

"Something's not right. I can just feel it," Georg Prime said. "I feel like there's some cosmic imbalance."

"I agree," Lucretia replied. "But who are we to know anything?"
"No. The True Rune business is out of our hands. Those runes are their own entities. But right now, there is another battle we must be fighting. The war to retake the homelands. The rune bearers may fight on their cosmic scale, but we mortals must fight on our world scale," Caesar added.

"Exactly my thoughts. We must all split into groups, rendezvous with the leaders of the armies, travel back down, defeat Armes, seek out Nether Gate, disrupt the Howling Voice Guild, and drive back Tinto before any of the countries can do anything. Whoever masterminded this plan clearly meant for there to be chaos when what we really need was a time of order," Shu thought aloud.

"I can't believe Barbarosa is back too," Kasim Hazil spoke. "He is leading Toran right now. Is he right or is he wrong? And does he still have his True Rune?"

"I don't have a clue. But we must end this war before more people get killed. We must leave Harmonia right now, and have our troops disperse so that we can all lead them to regain their homes," Leon said.

"What about the rune bearers though, they need the battles to keep the Harmonian soldiers busy?" Caesar asked.

"No, they have True Runes, those soldiers are no match for the lot of them," Leon replied. "We must leave right now."

The old generals and tacticians all stood up from the temple and went to the secret passageway they entered the city by. They walked long the damp stone corridor until they saw the light at the end of the tunnel. They all walked out and went to the back lines of the Grassland army where there were an array of tents set up. They walked over to the tent that Klaus had said was the commanders' tent.

They opened the flap and peered inside. In the tent was Thomas, Lucia, Lepant, Ridley Wizen, Boris Wizen, Lyon, Galleon, and Belcoot.

"Greetings everybody," Georg said happily.

"Ah, you're back," Lucia said thankfully. "We weren't sure if Klaus made it back safely."

"Belcoot, good to see you again. I see you were made Freyjadour's field general," Georg observed.

"Heh, yes sir that's right. An honor to be here as well," Belcoot replied.

"What can we do for you?" Ridley said.

"We must all leave the battlefield at this very moment," Leon instructed. "There is no time to waste. Gather your troops, go your separate ways, and follow our command."

"Hey now wait a sec, we're not just letting you barge in here and push us around," Lepant said defiantly.

"People forget how useful we are in times of war," Leon reprimanded. "You should be thankful we're helping. This is how we will seperate, I will go with Lucia to the Grasslands with her army, I want you to accompany me Kasim. Shu will go to Jowstone with Sonya, Boris, and Ridley. Caesar, Lepant, I want you both to go to Toran with Kai and Valeria. Georg, I want you to go with Lucretia down to Falena."

"May I accompany Caesar?" Apple asked.

"Yes Apple, go right ahead. The other generals, I want you to stay here with a small mixture of troops, but lead them back toward the Caleria as an outpost. We'll call on you if we need help. Let's move now. Gather the armies and set out."

Leon and Lucia lead the Grasslanders back across the Harmonian plains and through the mountain pass. They met Tinto all along the plains. Tinto was fighting guerilla warfare, and Leon thought hard of a counter-attack for that strategy.

"Lucia, Tinto seems to be coming from the south. Instead of going through the souther planes, we will travell north and then west around the northern villages. We will come down south and siege Brass Castle and spread our forces out from there," Leon commanded.

And so the army went north around the Alma Kinan, came close to Budehuc Castle and Iksay Village, and headed directly south, where they met Tinto head on at Brass Castle. Tinto had already overtaken the castle.

"Lucia, do you have any ideas on how to enter the castle? I don't know the area as well as you would," Leon asked.

"Actually, Hugo told me of a secret passageway that leads into the castle. I think I can find the entrance and we can enter that way," Lucia replied.

Leon had Beecham take half the army and continue to attack the outer walls to create a diversion for the Tinto soldiers. Leon personally accompanied Lucia into Brass Castle, knowingly putting himself in harm's way. It went against his morals, but he knew this was a dire time. So Leon, Lucia, and half the Grassland army made their way through the underground passageway. They erupted in the middle of the castle, and started killing Tinto soldiers from the inside out. They had somebody go open the doors, and Beecham's army flooded in and they overtook Brass Castle.

Leon then had the Grassland army split up into threes. One would stay at Brass Castle, the other would move to Vinay Del Zexay to take the city back, and the third would take Budehuc castle. Thomas went with Leon to Budehuc, Beecham took hold at Brass Castle, and Lucia took her own army over to Vinay Del Zexay. In no time they had defeated Tinto by taking back all the castles. After the castles were taken, they could relocate troops and spread out through the plains and fight small battles to drive Tinto back. This was all finished in a matter of days thanks to the masterful commanding of Leon Silverberg.

In the meantime, Shu, Boris, Ridley, and Sonya had gone back to Jowstone. Windy was using her True Rune to win battles, so Shu needed to figure out a way to retake all the city-states. He knew that since they were not a united country he could slowly gain control of each individual city state. With Boris and Ridley back, Two River instantly freed themselves of Highland's rule. Shu led Sonya to win back the trust of the people, and have the people themselves drive out soldiers. They feared Windy's Rune, but one day she had suddenly disappeared, and nobody knew why.

At this same time, Caesar, Apple, Lepant, Kai, and Valeria all got to the Toran Republic. They had one of the toughest times though since Nether Gate had based themselves in Toran. Late one night, Caesar had miscalulated where the Armes forces and Nether Gate forces were, and his encampment was sieged. Lepant, Kai, and Valeria were all killed. Caesar and Apple were taken hostage, and Nether Gate had decided to send them to Falena to answer to their leader. Toran was not taken back though.

Down in Falena, Lucretia and Georg were met with harsh opposition. They had to deal with the entire Armes Army and some Nether Gate forces as well. They used the Falenan army masterfully, and even used the Island Nations army to help as well. They eventually took Sol Falena back, Georg killed Shula Valya for his betrayal, and the townspeople rejected the Armes Soldiers, united, and drove out Armes from the Falenan borders.

"Did you hear? Lepant, Kai, and Valeria were all killed, and Caesar Silverberg and Apple were taken down to Falena!" A voice said in the empty tavern corner.

"Yeah, but Caesar was never as skilled as Odessa anyways," A voice replied.

"Well, what about Toran? We can't just let Nether Gate overtake the area. Tir hasn't come back yet, and the army is badly beaten down."

"Do you think we can take on Nether Gate?"

"We most certainly can my little buddy," one voice laughed heartily.

"C'mon Viktor, all seriousness, you think we can do this?"

"Flik, when could we not? We're the same good old soldiers we always were," Viktor replied.

"But even with Barbarosa in power?" Flik asked.

"Of course, we just get our old buddies from the old war, we go in, kill Barbarosa, hope that Nether Gate retreats and goes back to Falena, and in no time I'm sure Tir will be back and Jowstone will be here to help us," Viktor replied.

"Well, then, let's go have some fun!"

Viktor and Flik stood up, left the tavern, walked outside and saw a big commotion. There was a group of Nether Gate assassins and a few Armes soldiers cornering three individuals.

"Master Tir will be back soon! And you'll never get the end of your punishment for going against us!" One voice yelled.

"Hey, that sounds familiar! Sounds like Gremio!" Viktor said.

Viktro and Flik ran over to the commotion, and saw their old friends Gremio, Pahn, and Cleo. Viktor ran his sword through one Nether Gate member before the others could adeptly react to the surprise attack. Flik helped, and while Nether Gate was distracted, Pahn, Gremio, and Cleo all fought back as well. They defeated the Armes soldiers and Nether Gate members as all the townsmembers around them cheered.

"You guys feel like taking Toran back?" Viktor asked.

"With Master Tir gone can we do it?" Gremio replied with a question.

"Of course we can!" Flik said heartily.

"We found out Barbarosa is stationed in our old fortress on the island in the lake. We've heard he's with some other entity as well. Some vampire or something, we're not exactly sure," Cleo informed Viktor and Flik.

"Well, let's get going! Get a boat, a lil' swim, maybe some fishing, it'll be a grand time!" Viktor laughed.

The group set out to the Toran Lake Fortress. They got to the island and found it swarmed with Armes soldiers.

"Should we sneak in? Take some costumes, fake names?" Flik asked.

"Yes!" Viktor cried. "I shall be, Schtolteheim Reinbach VII!"

"C'mon Viktor, isn't that a little much?" Flik said reporoachfully.

"Ah fine, it is too much. Schtolteheim Reinbach V!" Viktor laughed. "Better?"

Flik shook his head but said, "Fine, let's just get some of their funny looking soldier outfits, and we'll get right in."

So the five of them hijacked five soldiers and tried to fit into their clothing.

"Hey Flik," Viktor asked.

"What Viktor," Flik replied.

"Does this outfit make me look fat?" Viktor laughed.

Cleo punched him in the stomach and Gremio laughed at that.

"Quiet you blundering bumblehead!" Cleo hushed.

"I know what you are, but what am I?" Viktro rebuttled happily.

Flik chuckled, and the five of them walked over to a side door to the old castle. They walked upstairs sneakily, avoiding eye-contact with any other soldiers, till finally they got to the main chamber and busted down the door.

"Aha! Barbarosa! You're day has come!" Viktor bellowed. "Wha-"

Viktor and Flik saw a ghastly looking Barbarosa, and another being next to him, one they recognized as Neclord.

"I defeated you!" Viktor cried.

Neclord laughed in Viktor's face, "You did not! I have come back from the dead, given a second life by Windy. She knew she could not control Barbarosa with his Sovereign Rune, so she went to Yuber for advice. She found out Yuber was working for Albert Silverberg and Hikusaak and so she asked their advice as well. Albert Silverberg came up with the idea to have her revive me, and then have me prey on Barbarosa. This would technically kill him, and his rune would leave him."

Barbarosa smiled, bearing two ugly fangs.

Viktor readied his sword and sprang forward. Neclord dodged the attack and was about to strike back, but Flik ran forward and parried the blow for Viktor.

"Well, neither of you have the Blue Moon Rune, so all we need is to seal your soul and defeat you like last time, no problem!" Viktor yelled.

He did the ritual Kahn Marley had taught him, sealed Neclord's doppleganger again, did the same to Barbarosa, and he and Flik decapitated them both.

"How can Windy bring people back to life? I've never heard of that," Flik said.

"I think it might be something with Yuber. I don't think he's from this world, maybe he can summon the undead," Viktor replied.

"You don't think Luca Blight would come back do you?" Flik asked.

"Who knows. Yuber must be stopped though, that's for certain. If he's not, who knows what kind of hell he could unleash," Viktor replied.

Viktor and Flik turned to Cleo, Pahn, and Gremio.

"Come on, let's get out of here and rally the Toran troops to take back control," Flik said.

"Ah, it seems my minions have been defeated," Yuber said. "I can feel their presence leaving."

"Your what?" Hugo asked.

"I summoned Neclord for Windy from the undead realm. It appears that he has just been killed," Yuber replied.

"I still don't know what our purpose is," Hugo interjected right after. "I will not fight Chris and Geddoe."

"I have decided to fight Riou, you must do the same," Jowy said.

"Do I have to kill you, Hugo?" Yuber threatened.

"You're not killing anybody," Tir commanded. "I simply will not allow it."

"You have no say, I am the sword, you answer to me, not the other way around," Yuber said.

"Yuber, how can we win this?" Jeane asked. "It appears that we have the power of 9 people, yet they have 10. And I don't count as one, because I cannot use the True Rune's power."

"Are you saying we need to even the scales a bit? I like it," Yuber smiled devilishly.

He glowed a black light, and from the ground rose a body. Jowy's eyes went wide.

"Luca Blight," He mouthed.

Jeane felt a rune releasing itself from her body as the Beast Rune floated over to the newly made body.

"HAHAHAHAHAH I AM BACK," the person echoed. "LUCA BLIGHT IS BACK."

"Don't get too confident Luca, it's only temporary, you know you're just an empty creature now," Yuber said.

"I HAVE AN IMMENSE AMOUNT OF BLOODLUST RIGHT NOW. I DO NOT CARE WHAT I AM."

Luca Blight turned around and stared down Jowy.

"YOU!"

"Get away from here Luca," Jowy commanded. "Yuber, I cannot fight if Luca Blight is here."

"Then let the final battle begin now. To settle Luca's blood lust we shall meet Pesmerga right now and have a battle for the ages," Yuber cackled.

Hugo just shrugged his soldiers and looked at the floor.