Long chapter, while I update my slowly rotting Dynasty Warriors fics and figure out how to progress in this story arc.
Attention: My readers from Radiant Dawn, I apologize, but the Dawn Brigade (and the OCs I added in their ranks) are hereby given the rank of "secondary characters." That means that they've been shafted. I want to return the status of main character to some of the people who had that honor in Gallian Nights, as well as give light to people like Jill and Tauroneo, and I don't need Sothe, or Micaiah, or someone like Gant or anyone else to continue making me groan writing about them. XD
Chapter 15: Lake of Blood
Those Confederate and Crimean rebel soldiers foolish enough to stray too far to the southwest found themselves literally run over by the massive wave of Gallian forces pouring into Crimea.
After all, just before the Confederate army engaged Tibarn's unit, Ranulf ordered a hawk in his command to flee to Gallia in order to call for help.
He had no idea how prudent of a move that was.
Though Gallia had taken many casualties from both its Civil War and the Confederate attack, and though Begnion could still send troops over the mountains if they wished, the fact was that Caineghis had no intention to let them conquer Crimea. Once Crimea fell, Gallia would have no beorc allies. Gallia would have lost the only ally that could hold off the Begnion northern flood for them while they began the long road to recovery.
Thus, even if a thousand more of their siblings had to die for Crimea's sake, Caineghis was willing to make that sacrifice. In the end, they had no choice. Crimea's defeat would be their deaths. Without Elincia, Caineghis would find his nation overrun. Phoenicis, too, could not fight on its own. In the name of both laguz nations, the warriors of Gallia, with several hawks swooping high above them, rushed over the plains to save Ranulf and their friends…
But thanks to Nasir's machinations, the proud soldiers of the Confederacy found fewer and fewer dragons among them. (1.) Captain Kezhda, the warrior in command of these reinforcing units, knew this, and was confident that with Gallian support, Elincia and the rest of the Coalition's army could fend off their Confederate aggressors, and the enemy would be destroyed. (2.)
Among Kezhda's troops, a more youthful female cat scurried forth. She wore a gauntlet on her right arm/foreleg with a single dark green band encircling it, symbolizing her rank of Corporal. It was a very lowly rank, yes, but she had joined the army only recently. She joined because she saw what was going on, and despite the fact that her old friend Lyre would probably scold her for being so rash as to enter the battlefield, she couldn't just watch while her homeland burned.
Now she was a Corporal, and once Caineghis ordered their army to move north, she eagerly volunteered to join Captain Kezhda. After all, Zihark was somewhere to the north… She hadn't seen him in years.
Releane shook her head. The next few weeks would be rather bloody at best, but even so she knew that she chosen this path, and there was no turning back.
Soren gulped as he saw a few of the paladins in his unit, who trusted him with their lives, fall before the mass of Begnion warriors that were pounding their lines.
Soren heard a shout to his right, and a soldier in Lucia's unit came running towards him, yelling at the top of his lungs: "Master Soren! We're taking casualties in the south flank! Please, get some fire supp… Dear god!"
The soldier suddenly ducked as a huge Begnion wyvern knight slammed onto the ground. With a sneer, both rider and wyvern towered over the soldier.
"Thoron!" Soren commanded, sending thunderbolts crashing down on the enemy warrior and his mount, frying both to death.
The soldier looked at Soren fearfully, and the strategist nodded. "I'll backup our frontline troops myself."
"Soren…" Lucia ran over to him from his left, as both of them had soldiers in their unit that weren't exactly close by them, due to the chaos of battle.
"And you'll come with me." He smiled at her.
She nodded, though her smile failed to mask the worry in her eyes.
Djor sighed as his unit wrestled with the men under Oscar's command.
"There was a time when Begnion ruled over all, yet we are forced to acknowledge Ludveck as a ruler in his own right… What madness is this?"
But, like many arrogant, senile old men, Djor failed to realize that the majority of 'friendly' troops around him were Ludveck's own warriors, and they were not amused at his lack of respect for them.
"Why did we have to accept an alliance with these Confederate swine?" A Crimean rebel sniper groaned to a nearly identical colleague. (3.)
Fortunately, this lack of cooperation among the united enemy front made the battle much easier for Gallia's finest soldiers.
Lethe noted her sister's worried face as she rammed her claws into the face of a charging Crimean rebel soldier. Needless to say, the Begnion archers that were supposed to give him covering fire just backed away from their dying comrade instead of trying to shoot Lethe down and keep her away from him.
"What are you so worried about?" Lethe hissed in the Gallian tongue.
Lyre didn't answer. She merely ignored Lethe and swiped at the neck of a Begnion armored knight. With a calculated blow, she was able to force the lightness of the knight's helmet to backfire on the poor warrior, causing him to stagger, as if stunned. With swift motions she dodged his panicked spear thrust, used one paw to rip off his helmet, and used her teeth to clamp down on his head. The tough armored shell that had kept him safe had been eliminated, and the soldier's head was crushed 'neath her jaws.
The blood in her mouth was bitter, and did nothing to get her to stop thinking about him.
Muarim… He couldn't have fallen to the enemy, could he? The Confederacy's strength was practically overflowing, but he should have held his own, right?
"Lyre! Look out!" Lethe screamed, but her little sister failed to notice as a dark shadow covered her body, and the magic circle of a curse appeared on her chest. Violet fireballs surrounded Lyre and slammed into her from all angles, and Lyre screeched and her body flew several feet into the air, slamming into the ground with a sickening thud…
A Druid approached Lyre, who tried her best to get up and strike her foe, and Lethe glanced at the tome in his hand. Damn! If only they had a sage in their ranks… Otherwise she had no idea what tome that was… But, for the first time in her life, Lethe was struck with fear and unable to make a move.
"Luna…" The Druid sneered as he raised his arm yet again.
An identical circle appeared, and Lethe's mind raced frantically. She had heard of Luna… It was a spell rarely seen in the past, but some laguz slaves remembered their masters having practiced Dark magic in secret… Luna was not a rare tome, in fact it was rather common despite being officially banned by the Begnion Empire.
Luna… Unlike Flux or Gespent, the weaker spells of Elder magic, Luna was very powerful. The only reason why it was not uncommon and not so difficult to use was that Luna was a relatively heavy tome, and it also had its power unfocused on a target. Luna was designed to strike a group of enemy soldiers quickly by firing itself at the foe rather than forming under and eventually surrounding them like the other spells of Dark magic. (4.)
Lethe let out a roar and pounced forward, shoving Lyre out of the way with her rear leg. The magic circle appeared, but was unable to form a concrete target for the spell, thus making the fire balls strike soil instead.
Having thus rescued her sister, Lethe proceeded to charge towards the Druid, who cast Luna on her, but she leapt high up, evading the circle, and finally came crashing down on her foe, slashing him to pieces with her claws. Vengeance was quite sweet indeed.
The Druid smiled upon his death, flashing an eerie smile that pierced her soul. Lethe shivered as she smacked the dead face aside, keeping its gaze off of her.
Two Crimean rebel snipers had watched the Begnion Druid's death, but did nothing to stop the cat as she tore their 'comrade' apart. The Snipers approached Lethe moments after he fell, though, but their laguz bows were not much of a threat. She cracked one's neck soon enough.
The other, however, immediately took cover behind a tree when he noted his comrade's swift defeat. And when Lethe tried to approach him, he popped out with a strange, flat bow, that had itself attached to a wooden plank. The Sniper squeezed something below the plank, and Lethe suddenly had an arrow strike her on the forehead.
The cat howled, and the Sniper approached her with his crossbow with a sneer. But before he could do anything, Lyre pounced at him from the side and stabbed her claws into his back. As he screamed, she used her other paw to cut him down.
Both sisters were wounded now, and as other troops from their fellow left flankers started pouring in, they purred as allied healers immediately began to mend their wounds as their comrades rushed in to cover them all.
Tauroneo swung his spear left and right, yet the enemy still stood strong.
Zihark began to pant. There was no way they could hold the line at this rate.
Suddenly, though, a dark shadow began to overtake several of their foes, and they started to scream as many of them were torn apart by violet fireballs.
A single man, wearing a thick dark robe, appeared in the center of the bridge. Raising his hand, he forced more Confederate troops to shirk away from those violet flames.
At that moment, Titania and Jill finally rushed to the General's side.
"Commander, our rear guard is mopping up whatever's left of the rebel wave… We didn't spot any additional troops, so we came to help you." Titania explained.
Tauroneo smiled. "Thank you, commander. I'm glad to see that you are well." He could have sworn he saw Titania blush, if only for just a moment. Pointing a hand at the mysterious Druid, he spoke "look there."
Jill nodded. "If that dark sage is an enemy of the Confederacy, then we should try to have him ally with us. His powers might be useful."
"Agreed. Jill, take some of our wyvern knights and provide that mage with cover. Once we've taken out the remaining Confederates on this side of the bridge, we will join you." Tauroneo nodded as he clanked forward towards their surviving enemies.
"General, you shan't fight alone!" Titania called as she rode after him, swinging her axe and smacking enemy grunts far, far away.
Soren raised his hand, sending more thunderbolts crashing down on the wave of Confederate paladins rushing towards him.
Lucia ran forth and hacked away at whatever mass of enemy soldiers she could reach. There was no reason for her to hold back, not when these people would kill her friends and loved ones so eagerly. With an elegant grace, she ripped through the enemy lines, watching as scores of foes collapsed on the ground or shattered into dozens of tiny pieces.
Soren's eyes darted from the foes he was frying to Lucia's elegant form as she tore through another platoon of halberdiers. Apparently the enemy found it wise to gather similar units together in an attack, rather than sending mixed platoons of various soldiers to help combat the various forms of enemies they might face. Unfortunately for these lance wielders, Lucia was skilled enough to avoid their thrusts and thus negate their range advantage, allowing her to get in close and slice them apart.
The sage shook his head. No, he couldn't let Lucia distract him. This was probably why it was a bad idea to go further with her…
But he blushed. Then again, was it really that bad of a decision?
After all, now he had something and someone to fight for, instead of just running after Ike half the time. Besides, Ike was probably relieved to not have Soren tag along with him so often anymore.
Soren sighed as he proceeded to fry a few more grunts that charged at him. If he let Lucia distract him too much, his friends would get hurt. He had to focus on more critical priorities, after all.
Astrid twirled an arrow and fired it, nailing an enemy Wyvern knight in the head.
"We're part of the rearguard… How could Wyvern knights show up here so quickly?" Oscar mused aloud as he slammed his lance into an advancing Crimean rebel halberdier.
He snapped out of his thoughts, though, when a thousand Begnion paladins started showing up intermingled with the horde of Crimean rebel troops.
"How is this possible? This many reinforcements?! We won't be able to hold the line!" Ranulf hissed worriedly as the enemy dived forward.
Few hawks and Gallians peppered the rearguard. Most of the former were in the 'frontline' flank with Tibarn, and most of the latter were under Lethe's command in the left flank. This proved to be a bad move, as there weren't enough soldiers strong enough to withstand the paladin charge. Gatrie hurled his axe forward at these aggressors, and though he cut down quite a few paladins on his own, his strength was definitely not enough.
Ranulf pounced and took down several halberdiers and paladins, swinging his paws and smacking any fool who got in his way, yet he felt the searing pain of spears getting rammed into his chest, and the cat didn't have enough endurance to withstand all this pain…
Oscar gulped. Were they meant to fail?
Surely enough, the line of Crimean Royal soldiers fell back as the wave of enemy cavalry surged forth. Oscar rode in the middle of these aggressors, hacking away with his spear, with Ranulf leaping into their midst as well. But both men were exhausted, and defeat was quite evident…
Boyd and Rolf, busy picking off enemy Pegasus knights who tried to ambush their friends, noted the enemy advance. Boyd was still uneasy with the bow, so he was glad to set it aside for his axe as he rushed into the fray. If Ranulf and Oscar couldn't handle them, well, then their army needed his badassery in order to survive.
Rolf gulped as he pulled out his longbow. He couldn't join the frontline, but he could definitely pick off enemy soldiers from a distance. The more soldiers he sniped, the quicker this pointless fight would end… Rolf gulped. Could Mist be facing similar odds on the right flank?
At that point, the mass of Begnion Confederate and Crimean Rebel were cheering. Their foes were being overwhelmed. The brave warriors who stood for Elincia, Sanaki, Gallia, and Phoenicis were falling back. Sooner or later they'd win…
But neither Oscar nor Ranulf nor Boyd nor Gatrie nor Rolf expected to hear a certain voice cry out among their lines.
"Cymbeline! Embolden our spirits and manifest the scope of Ashera's wrath! Burn, you wretched traitors!" Sanaki yelled as she rushed towards her beaten comrades and raised her right hand.
A huge meteor descended upon the Confederate horde. Oscar quickly grabbed Boyd and lifted him onto the saddle, while Gatrie ducked for cover and Ranulf fled the scene. Sanaki gulped, knowing that Gatrie would probably get caught in the blast, but she could only hope for the best.
The entire Confederate army was engulfed in a sea of fire. Their screams were muffled by Cymbeline's roar, and the smell of burnt flesh and ash quickly filled the air.
Sanaki ran forth and raised Fortify. "Holy stave, do whatever you can to help Sir Gatrie and the other knights!" (5.)
Ranulf, who had rushed to her side, found himself rejuvenated, and his wounds closed in upon themselves. The same went for Oscar and Boyd, and all three men glanced uneasily at the large black mound that was Gatrie.
They heard a cough.
"Damn… You sure know how to make an entrance, your majesty." Gatrie smirked as he tried to get up, weakly brushing the ash off his armor.
Sanaki smiled. "You need rest, Sir knight. Congratulations, my warriors. The enemy has been defeated." She turned and looked at the vast burnt crater filled before her. It was pitiful that so many had to die, but if they would do whatever it took to kill her friends and warriors, then she would have to do whatever it took to protect the people she cared about, and so it came to this.
As their axes hacked through Izuka's lines, the Daein Loyalist wyvern knights were quite surprised to find that the lone Druid they were sent to protect was clearing out the bridge faster than their entire squadron. Izuka's forces fled to the eastern part of the bridge, and Goran stood behind his broken frontline, prepared in case that lone Druid decided to finish him off.
The Druid turned, and Jill flew to him.
Titania gasped when he saw who that Druid was.
"Jill! Get back!" She yelled, but an inexplicable wind blew from the south, carrying away her words.
Bob grinned as the wyvern knight landed in front of him.
"Sage, we noticed that you were under fire by those Confederate troops, so we came to your aid. I am Colonel Jill of the Daein Loyalist Army. We intend to liberate Daein from King Izuka's clutches and from Begnion Confederate influence. If I may, why were you in the midst of this battle?" Jill bowed politely.
Bob nodded in kind. "I am Bob, a traveling Druid. Since the Confederacy lifted the centuries old ban on the practice of Elder magic, I've emerged from hiding, wandering along in the search for knowledge. Since Crimea still upholds the ban, I disguised myself as a Fire Sage and heard that your army was among the forces trying to free Tellius from the Confederacy's influence. Though I am grateful that the Confederacy had the foresight to lift the ban on Elder magic, I do agree that their attempts to pillage and slaughter so many civilians are vile and amoral.
"Furthermore, I hear that King Izuka himself is a user of Elder magic, and thus I wanted to investigate him as well. I came to this bridge thinking I could cross from Crimea to Daein, but I was a fool not to realize the scope of this battlefield. I found myself attacked by soldiers the moment I teleported on the bridge, and so I am here. Thank you."
Jill nodded. "Since you are investigating the goings on here, would you mind lending your strength to our cause? You do agree that Izuka's treatment of Daein civilians has reached the scope of genocide, yes?"
Bob shook his head. "I have not been to Daein, so I cannot say, but considering the fact that they'd strike a mere traveler in mere black robes, it seems that Izuka's men are bandits. Since your army is so adamant against him, I assume that he is no better. I would be honored to accompany your army." Bob smiled.
Titania, fearing for Jill's life, rode forth towards the younger woman with great haste.
Meanwhile, several yards to the south, a black mage with intimidating robes watched the procession. "Very well, Bob. Your mission has begun… Let us hope that we can gather the evidence we need to punish that traitor." With that, the mage snapped his fingers and disappeared.
Ike swung his sword left and right, hacking soldiers down with almost every stroke.
Those renegade Pegasus knights and Wyvern knights who tried to stop Ike found arrows striking their lungs and skulls. Geoffrey was a better archer than all their paladins save Astrid, and his skill made quite a few aerial units think twice about attacking Crimea's commander.
Finally, the beating of Pegasus wings filled the air as the Holy Guard entered the fray. Soon Crimea's champions found the rebel's air support compromised by their skilled friends, and with Tanith leading them the odds were totally not in Ludveck's favor.
Elincia flew to Geoffrey's side.
"Geoffrey… You're wounded." She gasped as she raised her Recover staff.
"Wait, Elincia… You don't…" Geoffrey's protests ceased as a slash on his arm was healed, and the knight found it easier to draw his bowstring, but even then Elincia spent magical energy and risked that rare stave's durability on such a relatively petty wound.
Tanith's Pegasus hovered right next to Ike. "Commander, do you require assistance?" She asked.
"Thanks for coming, Tanith, but I think I'm fine."
"Look at you…" The Falcoknight hissed. "You're covered in slashes… And you're bleeding."
"Most of it is the enemy's blood. Thanks, anyway, but I think I'm fine. Could you hold off the enemy's air support?" Ike asked.
"Already done." Tanith pointed at the sky. Ike's eyes widened as several Crimean rebel pegasi and Confederate wyvern knights fell like yellowing leaves from winter trees. The Holy Guard was truly a force to be reckoned with.
"The enemy aerial forces have been routed, and now the Guard has been ordered to help pick off enemy reinforcements. That vast army you see before you? Yes, well, those are what remain of the enemy's forces. Once they've been routed and picked off this flank will be cleared."
Tanith had not finished speaking before a mob of Gallians sprang from the left and pounced into the enemy formation.
Tanith gave Ike a rare smile. "I suppose our toils will be over in a matter of minutes."
1. Well, Archsage Soren, Shinon won't really need Dragonfoe after all. I'll hand it over to him, though, for the lulz. Someone like Shinon would be proud of obtaining Beastfoe and Dragonfoe, and since he's a Sniper he'll gun down hawks and ravens with ease.
2. Apparently, this guy commands Gallian troops if Lethe, their original commander, is slain in combat. I viewed a video on youtube that shows Lethe kicking his arse. (Thanks to GoldieX39's vids, of course. Google Mia VS Lucia and click on the first youtube video you see for more details on character VS character videos.) Basically, he's a black cat, and that's just awesome.
3. Because generic bad guys (and good guys like Billy) all look the same.
4. On the subject of Dark Magic (tier list for all weapons will be posted after the Final Chapter, which is a long way from now):
Worm is a lame name, so Flux shall replace it. Because Elder magic is practically legendary in nature (being practically banned and practiced only by a secret society, which prides itself in being renegade compared to the main Begnion/Crimean/Daein governments), their tome names do not correspond with the tome names in other schools. There is no such thing as "El" or "Arcdark," but Rexnight does exist, just like Rexaura. If anything the only school of magic that has similar naming styles to the Elder school is their polar opposite, the Light school of magic. (Ellight and Arclight, in this fic, do not exist. Ellight is Shine and Arclight is Norsferatu)
I know that Gespent was a powerful Tome in FE7, but in this fic it will be a D ranking tome, mainly because Gespent means "Ghost" in German and ghosts aren't nearly as terrifying as what Elder Magic is truly capable of in the wrong hands. Luna is the C ranking tome. It's unique among Elder tomes because it does not form itself underneath the opponent beforehand. It's circle just shoots out of the user's hand like a cannon, and the circle tries to engulf as many opponents as possible before striking, while doing damage the entire time, circle included, unlike most other tomes which appear under the opponent(s) first before striking.
5. Final note for the chap, I swear. My research tells me that Sanaki can only use Light and Anima magic, but not staves.
In the spirit of this fic, I say: sucks to that. Sanaki can use staves this time. However as a consequence I'll have her only able to use the "Light" spell, meaning her Light weapon level is E rank. And will perpetually stay that way. A fair trade, I think. After all, she has to use light magic in order to keep her on par with people in the senate, and since she currently sucks at light magic she should just stick with frying people and focusing on learning the details of light magic later, in more peaceful times, as a hobby.