He was prepared to avoid the attack, it would strain his muscles to leap the distance it took to escape the blast. But in his mind, he felt that it was able to be avoided. The sheer pressure from the attack sent gusts of wind that stung his eyes and tossed his clothes and hair but they were minor irritants compared to the pain that would arrive if he felt the impact of the sphere of sound. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a young Hylian soldier, who was barely grazed by the attack, be repelled away from the sphere with tremendous force.

"Shit."

"Watch out!"

Moving faster than Link's eyes could comprehend, Riax appeared between Link and the blast fired by Slaughter. The black coat flailed backwards from the pressure blocking Link's view of what happened before him. Riax's eyes closed for a split second, the exact amount of time he needed to reach within his own being and kindle to the flames of power inside him. It surged through his veins, the power that had been forsaken for so long. As his eyes reopened, the neon glow that came from them flared.

A red aura arose from his hand as he thrust it forward, making contact with the sphere of sound. It faltered for a moment, Riax lacking the skill he had from before he was laid dormant. The skin on his palm split as a result of that moment, but the pain from it was used to allow his rage to grow. Riax tightened his hand and drove his fist through the shell of the sphere. The magic he used forced the ball to disperse calmly, a light gust spread out from where it was and graced the skin of all that were almost maimed by the nightmare. "Still got it." Riax shouted.

The moment was short-lived, the display of power stunned many but the battle continued to rage on. The Hero placed his hand on Riax's shoulder and shot him a congratulatory glance before the gut wrenching roar that echoed from General Slaughter's diaphragm reminded them that they were far from victory. That roar was a signal, it told all on the battlefield that the theatrical display was over. The battle between the Holy Bane General, and the three Warriors of Hyrule had begun.

"I'll rip you in half!" The Chaos General shouted as he proceeded back to his original charge towards Link. Each step could be felt in the ground, the vibrations like a massive boulders being dropped on the ground at a quickening pace. His eyes displayed the bloodlust and fury that engulfed his mind, he cared little for the battle, only the bloodshed. His size was unrivaled, not a single being was even close. But there was one on the field, that had the strength to fight back.

With a swing of his halberd and a heavy sigh, five Chaos soldiers were put on the ground while three others were sent backwards into the enemy ranks. He lazily and nonchalantly twirled the weapon that weighed as much as the massive portion of a dragons jaw that Slaughter used as a sword. He placed the bottom of his halberd on the dirt by his feet and stretched upwards. Two Gerudo warriors jumped past him, halberds in mid-swing, pushed back the wall of Chaos that stood before him even farther. The Gerudo to the right, Suna, glanced back to Jiax and rolled her eyes.

"You see that big guy over there, I think you need to go handle that." She announced.

"Why? It looks like Riax and Link got it covered." He said while shifting more of his weight towards the pole of the halberd, using the axe end as an anchor to hold him up. He spoke out of a lack of interest, but there was a small worry that this enemy would be too much for his companions too handle. The echoing roar reinforced that worry. "Yeah, they got it." He finished.

"If you don't get your ass over there-" Suna growled at Jiax before twirling in a circle and impaling a Chaos on the spear of her halberd. She removed the point from her enemies chest cavity and with a quick motion, removed the head of the two other adversaries. The dark red streams that shot into the air were lost in the field. "I'll make sure you end up like these guys." She threatened while displaying the Chaos that gurgled in pain while trying to remove the spear tip from its throat.

"Fine." He grumbled turning in the direction of Slaughter. He assessed the situation and devised the an effective plan to enter the already raging battle between Slaughter and his two allies. He noticed Riax appear above Slaughter and magically release a web of chains and sickles to restrain the massive enemy. But the effort was wasted, Slaughter tugged at the chains pulling the younger Sheikah straight out of the sky, over his shoulder, into the ground on top of other Chaos soldiers with an excessive amount of force.

Link heard the load groan Riax let out and flinched, they all knew that an impact like that was not enough to injure him. But it looked painful, and Riax's posture as he rose up was proof. Jiax tightened his grip on his halberd, the dull look in his eyes replaced with the same gleam that was present in Riax's. His spine twisted, his waste turned, he raised the halberd upwards. He reached for the same place that his younger brother did, that realm in his own being that would supply him the power to execute a feat normally performed by magic. The red aura engulfed his halberd in an instant. An instant before him slamming the weapon into the ground, the surge of power sending forth a vertical wave of energy.

The explosion was unexpected to say the least, Riax was in the middle of his next attempt at assaulting Slaughter when Jiax's attack hit. The force of which sent him flying backwards. Link, who considered Riax's attack as a distraction, used the time to cut the General's pectorals. But the skin snapped the Ordon sword like a twig, Link recovered in time and jumped backwards to avoid the explosion. As his feet touched down on the soil, he turned towards the origin of the blast and witnessed Jiax running at full speed towards the dust cloud.

A deep growl sounded out from the cloud and Link saw in a separation of the dust that Riax was surrounded by enemy soldiers. Impulsively, he stabbed the Master Sword into the dirt and pulled out two items that he had discovered during his adventure to defeat Zant. Aiming both of the Clawshots into where he believed Riax was, he fired them off and ripped whatever it was that he had connected with out of the cloud. The smoke and dust separated and he realized that the claws had sunk into Riax's shoulders, drawing blood. But the younger brother took advantage of the situation, as he was dragged out of the area. He launched a trio of blasts towards the ambush and Slaughter, each orb consisting of red energy surging with electricity. Riax slid across the ground and Link quickly unhooked the mechanisms in the Clawshots, in his mind, he justified his actions but made a note to apologize later.

"Did you get him?" Link asked as he quickly stored the clawshots and drew his blade from the ground. He took note of his surroundings, the entire battle had turned in the favor of the Hylians. The Gerudo, the Sheikah, the Free, had made a massive difference in the battle. He noticed that the Chaos soldiers were spread thin, the ranks were cut and the main portions of their force was being pushed back. The only thing that would decide this victory was the death of Slaughter.

"Never ask that question." Riax stated before Slaughter bellowed out in pure rage. He jetted out of the cloud after he discarded his now broken sword, charging through Hylian and Chaos alike on a direct head-on collision with Jiax. Both Link and Riax noticed this, but could do little to stop it, he physically overpowered both of them easily. Hylians surrounded them and pushed forward, giving them pair a moment of reprieve. "Damn it." Riax growled.

Jiax continued forward, unwavering in his advancement towards Slaughter. He saw the effects of the attacks that they had sent to him. A large wound on his right side that arched into his shoulder, two severe burns, and multiple red lines reaching across his chest from Riax and Link's attempts. Jiax tightened his grip on the halberd and threw it upwards into the air, a trick that Riax remembered from before they were imprisoned. The elder brother's gaze focused on Slaughter, they both entered a tunnel-vision like mindset with each other as the end goal.

Merely feet away from each other, Slaughter raised his massive right hand, balled it into a fist and brought it down towards Jiax. Being half his size, Jiax looked upwards to see the massive hand coming his direction and responded on a whim. He quickly ducked underneath Slaughter's arm, tightened his own right hand, and dealt a blow directly into his chest. The Holy Bane General was lifted off the ground, and shot backwards as fast as he ran towards him. His chest, disfigured from the fracturing of bones. Jiax knew not to let up, his hand felt the impact and he knew that Slaughter's strength equaled his own. He pressed onward.

When hulk of an enemy landed on the ground, he landed with a force that shook the earth. Gasping for air, Slaughter attempted to rise up but saw Jiax above him attempting to bring down a powerful blow. He rolled to his left flinging smaller beings out of the way avoiding a strike that cracked the ground. Using his right hand, he brought it across, swatting at Jiax who responded quickly by crossing his arms to take the brunt of the attack. The impact was felt in his bones, he could feel each one straining to their peaks to prevent from snapping underneath Slaughter's attack. He wrapped both of his arms around Slaughter's forearm and showed the amazing sight of Slaughter being slammed to the ground.

"Now!" Jiax shouted looking upwards. Slaughter heard what was said and opened his eyes in a furious panic, and he saw what many had missed.

Riax leapt into the air, over one hundred feet above the ground. The red aura surrounding his entire body, he pushed his arms forward augmenting the Sheikah arts with the power both him and his brother shared. What was originally only chains, had now become massive links of metal that ended in even larger spikes. They rained down at speeds unable to be avoided. Slaughter's breath was lost as the first massive chain of many landed across his chest, each one weighing in at his own body weight.

"I'll kill you! I'll. Kill. All of you!" Slaughter roared into the air. He saw a glint in the sky, and watched it descend towards the ground. It fell rapidly and Jiax caught it. "I have failed you, brother. I'm sorry." he muttered

"A waste of time." Jiax, ignoring Slaughter's last words, declared before bringing down the axe end of his halberd on Slaughter's forehead. How deep the weapon lodged itself into the giant's skull was gruesome, the mixture of fluid and matter that splattered around darkened the scene. Riax plummeted from the sky and smoothly landed next to Link who pushed away a crowd of Hylians. He immediately regretted his impatience as he laid eyes on what was left of the face of the Holy Bane General, Slaughter.

The three generals of the Hylian army stood silently, looking down at the remains of Slaughter. None of them looked away as the skin began to corrode and turn to a necrotic black hue, before taking an unnatural tone of darkness and slowly dissolving into the ground. There was a solemn moment, once again. The moment after battle was always this way. The celebration came later, first was the realization that they had survived this battle to participate in another.

"Victory!" A Hylian shouted. The three generals had yet to notice the absence of the rest of the Chaos. Unlike the previous battle, where the Hylian casualties exceeded any amount of joy that could have been experienced. This battle gave off an air of success, they had actually defeated the Chaos. The cheers spread rapidly, Link looked up and saw Riax being carried away by the Hylians and Sheikah. He looked over towards Jiax, who was being lectured by Suna over why she had to threaten him to save his own brother.

These things brought a smile to the Hero's face. His demeanor changed, and things seemed to be brighter.

"Victory." He whispered to himself, loving the way the word rolled off his tongue and out his soul.

"Master General, my unit and other volunteers have chosen to help collect our fallen and help the injured. Take the others and go home, everyone deserves it." Link turned around hearing the feminine voice refer to him by his militaristic title. Before him was Ashei, former member of the resistance, great warrior, and a better friend to Link. They embraced for an extended moment, Link not even realizing that she had joined the army. "Don't say anything, just go back. We'll talk later." She said as they broke away from each other.

"Thank you." He said with a warm smile on his face. He looked around at the celebration that surrounded him, all of this was poorly timed. Much still had to be done. But it was well deserved, anything close to a victory was unimaginable.

The march home was long and tiring, but it was calming. The sober sounds of metal clanking in a uniform step was nothing close to the sounds of battle. Many of the Hylians felt elated at the thought of the three generals who brought down the monster of a man on the battlefield. They would take the stories of what they saw and experienced home and tell them like a legend was being written, and they were fortunate enough to live through the experience.

Link had noted on the way home, that it seemed the Free and the Hylians were closer now. He felt the same way, he had only known the Free Brothers for a few days now. But after fighting by their side, they felt like good friends that have shared a lifetime together. He thought of the irony in that realization, since it could have been the end of their lives. But his joyous mood had dropped the unpleasant thought, and it would never return as they passed through the gates to Hyrule.

All of the events that came afterwards were pleasant and joyful, except for three instances. The realization that Zelda was still in the hands of the Chaos, Midna had locked herself away in her room, and that he had an array of paper work and meetings to attend in the coming days. Link left the continuing celebrations in the city and returned to his bedroom in the castle. The halls of the castle were empty, excluding the sentries that were positioned at every major door way and hall. The amount of security had made him uncomfortable, but he had received the information Midna gave on the assailant that took Zelda. So he understood the need. Upon entering his chambers, the first action he took was to sit down on the bed he was given.

"There's a Twili in the castle, you knew that. Right?" Link jumped forward from his position and reached for his swords, forgetting that he discarded them farther away from his bed. But as his mind recognized the voice, he calmed himself and tried to find the location the Shiekah's location.

"I did, Midna. The princess, she's nothing to worry about." Link said in a calming tone. He looked upwards and saw Riax standing on the ceiling directly above his bed, the red eyes reflecting the little amount of moon light that showed through the windows. In his mind, he began to notice the small details about his companion. In the Temple of Darkness, which he found out was called the Forsaken Prison years ago, he first saw the brothers in a environment in which studying their appearances was untimely. But now, he was able to see what he had not before.

Riax's features, his demeanor, his presence, expressed an animalistic existence. His black hair fashioned like the mane of a lion, the wild and aggressive behavior. All of those things described this person who forsake Hyrule. Riax was not a person of many convictions. Like the name implied, he was of the Free, and they had found something more. Link thought back to Jiax, and noted the differences between them.

"Good." There was a momentary pause. "After the memorial gathering tomorrow, me, Jiax, and a bunch of others are gonna get some drinks. You coming?" Link looked up surprised. Of all the things he had expected, getting asked to go out for some casual drinking time was not on that list. He took a moment to think about his responsibilities and came to the conclusion that the politicians should be able to handle all the things until he returns. It would give him something to do after the speech he agreed to make at the gathering.

"Yeah, that'd be nice." Link said in a bitter-sweet tone.

"Your call, bro. I just made sure you got the invite." Link chuckled. It took a strange kind of person to hold a casual outing after facing down a man that towered over the battlefield. "Oh yeah, sorry about your shoulders." The Hero finished remembering the Hookshots that dug into his companions shoulders."It's all good." After those words, Riax's presence seemed to disappear. Link lowered his head and lost himself in thought. This was not an adventure, it was war, and with war came an entirely different lifestyle.