Chapter 22

The fight at the base of the Mila tree turned out to take a different style than most of the previous battles. Frederick was particularly helpful, fighting like a demon in hopes of getting precious time for his proposal. The additions of Owain, Cynthia and Say'ri were also quite the boost, with Owain, Cynthia and Morgan all fighting together in arranged battle formations that Nathan couldn't help but notice were near mirror images of his own. He shook it off, however, considering two of the three were his children and he knew that Morgan already knew most of his strategies from his black book.

The tactician was brought back to the fight as Lon'qu rushed in beside him while firing arrows off at the enemy forces. "We've pinpointed the commander. He's a general, from the looks of it. Heavily armoured."

"More than likely he's packing the same type of armour as the one on the ship from a few days ago, with the magic resistance…" Nathan muttered. He turned back to the swordsman. "Want to push through?"

Lon'qu grunted in reply while evading an enemy spear being thrown at him. "…With the Cabal, I'd assume?"

Nathan grinned, nodding in agreement. "Justice Cabal, to me!" He called, trying to do his best not to sound corny. The name was a good idea at the time, but in hindsight having to yell 'justice cabal' all the time was slightly embarrassing.

As usual, Chrom, Donnel, and Ricken rushed to meet Lon'qu and Nathan, but Cynthia, Morgan and Owain made a beeline towards them as well, thoroughly confusing Nathan.

"…Is there something I can help you guys with?" He asked them. Owain shot him back an equally confused look.

"You called for the Justice Cabal, so we assembled!" He replied.

"Er…you were asking for us, right?" Morgan added nervously, looking at Donnel, Lon'qu, Ricken and Chrom, who were standing behind Nathan.

"Okay, now I'm very confused, but an explanation can wait for after we've beaten these guys." Chrom told them. Nathan nodded in agreement, turning to all of them.

"We've spotted their leader guarding the entrance to the Mila tree. We're going to cut straight through down this root to get to him. Everyone else buy us time, Chrom and I should be able to handle him-"

"Father! My blood boils to fight this mysterious enemy warrior! Can I accompany you in your quest to the base?"

Nathan scratched his head. "You're already here…I thought that was implied…"

"Nay, I mean, I will face this enemy with you! After all, the Cabal rules state that the leader must fight in any epic final confrontations!"

Nathan gave his son a confused look, turning back to Chrom and the other shepherds from his timeline. "…Er…as far as I can remember, we don't have any rules…"

Ricken grunted impatiently, "Come on, we're wasting time! Worry about whatever's going on later! Let's find this guy and take him out!"

The tactician sighed, nodding in agreement, before turning back towards the enemy lines. "You heard the man, let's move! Same formations as usual to my Justice Cabal, and as for you future kids…just try to keep up, alright?"

Owain smirked. "We'll see who needs to keep up! Cabal, away!"

Nathan laughed slightly at his sons challenge as they all raced off to break through the enemy lines.

Both versions of the 'Justice Cabal' flawlessly seemed to merge into one fighting unit. As the tactician had already noticed, Owain, Cynthia and Morgan were using formations he had developed, bearing a strange resemblance in nearly every way to his own fighting unit.

"Well, I guess it half makes sense…they are our children after all…" Nathan muttered to himself as he shot off another blast of lightning from his thoron tome. The tactician noticed the red-armoured general they were looking for up ahead, sporting a vicious tomahawk and a bushy light brown beard.

Nathan turned to the other members of 'his' justice cabal, whom were all fighting near him. "I guess this one's mine then, according to Owain!" He yelled.

Chrom grunted in agreement, shoving a Valamese soldier off of him and running him through with Falchion. "He looks strong…keep a sharp eye! We'll try to help you if we can!"

Nathan quickly gave Chrom a thumbs up before making a move towards the enemy general. Owain quickly swooped in beside him, being dropped off by Cynthia and her Pegasus.

As the two approached the enemy leader, He sneered at them while he stroked his beard. "You fools! With my whiskers, your demise is inevitable! It's science!"

Nathan gave a confused look to the general as he drew his sword. "…I'm sorry, what?"

The general sneered. "I am Cervantes, general of the Valamese army and in service to the Conqueror, Walhart! And I will teach you the meaning of the word 'beard'!"

There was a pause of awkward silence between Nathan, Owain, and Cervantes for a moment before Nathan scratched his head, replying, "Well…I do have to admit, that is one nice piece of facial work you have going on there…"

Cervantes growled in reply, throwing his tomahawk at the tactician. "Fear! I meant fear!"

Nathan ducked to avoid the throwing axe, and their battle had begun.

Cervantes was quite strong physically, which seemed to be a theme of all of the Valamese Generals Nathan had met so far. The man was quite skilled at steel combat, using his Tomahawk and thick armour to take on both Nathan and Owain at once. Neither of them could spot a weak point on the bearded general, and were starting to wear down.

"Father! Use your sacred technique!" Owain called to the man.

"Now is not the time for games, Owain!" Nathan yelled in reply while blocking a heavy blow from Cervantes axe. "What are you talking about?"

Owain sighed slightly before closing his eyes as he jumped away from the fight between Nathan and Cervantes, landing on a nearby root from the Mila tree. As he opened his eyes, he yelled "Ignis!" and a storm of pink flower petals kicked up around him, his eyes turning an odd shade of purple, similar in colour to the mark on Nathan's arm.

"…Well, I don't quite know how to do that, I think…" Nathan muttered.

"Get out of the way, father!" Owain cried out. Nathan nodded, and, upon blocking another blow from Cervantes, shot off a blast from his Thoron tome, causing the general to stumble backwards.

"Whatever, you're going to do, do it now!" Nathan yelled to his son. The young swordsman lunged at Cervantes with Mistletainn drawn, yelling, "Hand…hungers!"

The end of the blade glowed in a purple colour as it tore through Cervantes armour, piercing into his shoulder, as the general was able to deflect the blow slightly. The bearded man cried out in pain as Owain withdrew his blade, nearly collapsing from exhaustion before Nathan swooped in, catching his son and getting him away from the general.

"Blasted…science…played me for a fool…" Cervantes coughed, spitting up blood. "RETREAT! RETREAT!" He bellowed to his followers, as he limped off, helped by the remnants of his forces.

Chrom quickly ran up next to Nathan and Owain. "Should we pursue them?"

The tactician shook his head. "We got what we came for. No need to shed more blood than necessary. And besides, they know this land much better than us."

The Exalt nodded in agreement before signaling to the others that the fight was over. As they tended to their wounds and weapons, Nathan and Owain walked off to find Lissa and Morgan.

"So…what exactly was that?" Nathan asked Owain. "That purple thing you did."

Owain shot his Dad a slightly shocked look. "Surely you of all people would know of the sacred technique passed through your bloodline!" He gasped. "For shame, father!"

Nathan scratched his head. "My bloodline? Is there something you know about my past?"

His son shook his head. "Unfortunately, no…however, I do know that that technique is one that only myself, you, and Morgan, have attained." He told the man. "I've seen Morgan use that a few times when we trained together with the Justice Cabal."

The tactician groaned, rubbing his head in confusion. "This is all making my head spin, but answers are going to have to wait…we have plans for tonight that I'm probably going to need your help with."