Chapter 34

Inside of the castle, Cervantes and Excellus stood trembling before Walhart, standing in front of his red throne in the heart of the castle. Yells could be heard coming from the outside along with thumps against the castle gates, which sounded ready to burst open at any minute.

"T-there…there must be several thousand soldiers out there!" Excellus whimpered. "How is this possible? Why would that scum ever dare to go against me?"

Walhart rolled his eyes, staring down the tactician. "It was not you, they feared. It was Yen'fay. Without him to back it up, your threat was only the grand shadow of a tiny spider."

"Tiny Spider?" Excellus snapped. "This spider has woven other webs in secret that you could not even-"

"Such as blackmailing Yen'fay to keep his loyalty?" Walhart interjected. "Or perhaps your correspondence with that strange Plegia woman…Aversa, was it? Yes, I know you have plans to steal the fire emblem. You have no secrets from me, worm."

"B-b-b-but…I…if you…why did you…" Excellus stuttered.

"Why haven't I killed you? I asked myself the same thing, several times…" Walhart replied. "But you're no threat to me. And while I can simply stamp out your pathetic webs with a brush of my foot, there are others who can be caught by them, making you slightly useful. Your presence here…it amuses me, as well."

"Amuses you?" The tactician snarled. "Like I'm some sort of Jester for you? Are you AMUSED now, you delusional old man? With a million swords at your door, coming for your head?!"

"YOU'VE LOST!" Excellus continued, his voice being raised to a scream now. "LOST, AND YOU ARE GOING TO DIE! ALL OF YOU! BUT NOT ME! I WANT NO PART IN THIS INSANE SUICIDE!"

As the tactician readied his hand to teleport away, he caught a deathly stare from Walhart.

"Move an inch and you'll be dead on the spot." The conqueror warned. "If I don't kill you here, I'll track you down until my death. And if not me, these shepherds will surely finish the job…"

Excellus froze for a moment before finally lowering his hands to his sides, shivering in fear.

"Now then, I believe your actions have volunteered you to lead the front lines of defense against the rebels!" Walhart concluded.

"What? But I'll be killed in seconds!" Excellus frantically protested.

"That is one option. The other is to fight me." Walhart told the man. "Right here. RIGHT NOW."

"Eep!" Excellus squealed, cowering. "Mercy! Mercy! F-forgive me, my master! A moment's madness only-it will not return!"

"Excellent. We have our new captain of the guard." The conqueror mocked.

"Do give our guests a warm welcome, snake." Cervantes snickered. "Perhaps you should offer them a cup of tea?"

The man then turned, laughing loudly to himself as he walked away. Excellus walked off from the throne as well, talking to himself.

"They forget who I am. I could have fried them both where they stood with my magic! We have to defeat these rebels…or maybe…if Walhart is sufficiently injured, I can make an escape…"

The tactician cackled loudly. "Either way, this spider crawls out alive once again! Nya ha ha ha ha!"

A while later, the shepherds finally managed to break through the castle gates, flooding into the castle. Chrom, Nathan and the others spotted Walhart seated in his throne room at the back of the expansive hall.

"It doesn't look like he's thinking about an escape." Chrom muttered to Nathan.

"And these remaining soldiers are only his most loyal." Nathan replied. "They look ready to die before surrendering."

The Exalt nodded. "He inspires that in people. It's a part of what makes him so dangerous."

"All the more reason to end this here and now."

With that, the shepherds charged once again into battle, their final fight with Walhart beginning once again.

The shepherds moved through the castle in three waves, the majority of the group heading directly down the center of the room towards Walhart while two smaller groups took the adjacent hallways, hoping to surprise the enemy by attacking from the sides. Nathan and Chrom lead the force heading straight through the middle hall, using their brute strength to slam through the Valamese lines.

The group was surprised to find Excellus at the back of the first line of attack, grimacing as the shepherds moved closer and closer to him.

"What are you fools doing? KILL THEM!" He screamed at the Valamese, panic rising in his voice.

Once they had taken down the last of the opening line, just Excellus stood before the shepherds, cowering. He glared at them, pulling a tome from his red cloak. Say'ri stepped to the front of the pack of shepherds, drawing her sword and staring down the cold-hearted tactician.

"…You…YOU! You and Yen'fay cost me everything!" Excellus screamed. "And now, I'll send you to your death like him!"

Say'ri twirled her sword and readied her battle stance. "I only pray my brother is watching…Yen'fay, guide my hand!"

As the two engaged in battle, Nathan turned to the other shepherds. "Say'ri can handle this! Let's keep going!" He barked. The rest of the shepherds charged towards the incoming group of Valamese soldiers, led by Cervantes.

Say'ri was quite fast and agile, allowing her to dodge Excellus' constant blasts of fire magic. The man had clearly lost his mind, recklessly casting his spell to try and keep Say'ri at bay, burning into the castle in the process.

As flames began to spread about the castle, Say'ri spun her sword one last time, crying "For my brother!" and lunged at Excellus, taking his arcfire attack straight on as her sword met flesh, piercing directly through the man's heart.

"Y-you…" Excellus coughed. "I…c-can't…die…here…so many more riches…for…"

The twisted tactician collapsed to the ground as he breathed his last. Say'ri put her sword back in it's hilt and looked at her hands, now covered in blood and burn marks.

"It…it's done…I did it, Yen'fay. I hope you're…proud of me…" Say'ri weakly whispered into the wind, before blacking out and collapsing on the ground next to Excellus.

Nathan looked back and spotted the swordswoman collapsing to the ground after killing Excellus. "Ricken! Say'ri needs help! Get her out of here!" He barked to the red haired sage. Ricken nodded, rushing to aid the swordswoman.

"Kill that big lobster, Lon'qu!" He yelled as he ran off. Lon'qu turned to the sage, curtly nodding.

As the group managed to cut through the wave of enemies, Nathan noticed that the fire Excellus had started was beginning to heat up, burning through the castle. The tactician swore loudly. With Ricken to help, putting out the blaze would be much easier. The tactician muttered some incantations and shot a blast of water from his hand, managing to douse some of the flames. Lissa and Morgan appeared out of nowhere, having been travelling down the side hallways near them, and followed suit with the tactician, all three of them casting water magic to try and douse the flames.

"Keep these guys off us!" Nathan ordered to the other shepherds. "We need to put this fire out before it spreads!"

As the threesome did their best to stop the fire, Cervantes noticed they were vulnerable, tossing his tomahawk in their direction, aiming for Lissa. The woman turned to react, but it was too late. Fortunately for her, however, Owain jumped in and managed to block the spinning axe, glaring at Cervantes.

"Don't…touch…my…mother!" The swordsman cried, his 'Ignis' technique flaring up once again.

Cervantes sneered at the boy. "Let's have it then, rebellious scum!" He cried, pulling out a silver axe. "Like a flimsy belt around the waist of defeat, you shall buckle here!"

Owain roared fiercely as he charged in, locking steel with the general, his blade glowing in the familiar purple aura it had used last time.

"Not this nonsense again!" Cervantes complained, kneeing Owain in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him and collapsing the swordsman to the ground. The man went to bring down his silver axe, but was blasted by a massive hole through his chest of magic, courtesy of a combined attack from Nathan, Lissa, and Morgan.

"Yeah, not happening, old guy." Morgan called to the man. "Nice moustache, though!"

Cervantes laughed as he coughed up blood. Nathan and the others rushed to Owain, helping the man up while Cervantes fell to the ground.

"I…am finished…" He faintly muttered. "But I have…no regrets…"

"Well, that went well!" Nathan joked. "Morgan, Lissa, if you wouldn't mind getting Owain out of here, I've got one last problem I need to deal with…"

While Morgan helped out Owain, Lissa rolled her eyes. "I'm not leaving," She told him. "I'm with you until the end."

"Fine…but no fighting Walhart! That's on me and the others." Nathan conceded.

"Fair deal," Lissa decided, winking at the man as they walked further into the castle. Looking up at the others, they watched as the rest of the group managed to cut through the last of the Valamese warriors, leaving just Walhart standing in front of his throne, staring down at them.

"Stay here," The tactician told Lissa, marching to face the Conqueror. Chrom and Lon'qu joined him, the three drawing their blades, prepared for the final bout with the fearsome man.

"Will you surrender?" Chrom asked hopefully.

"Don't waste your time with questions you know the answers to, boy." Walhart spat back.

"It didn't have to be this way…" Chrom replied. "You believe in mankind's strength, just as my sister did. You believe we write our own fates…just the same as all of us. You could have joined us."

Walhart laughed loudly, his booming voice filling the empty hall. "ME, JOIN YOU?" He snapped. "Does a Pegasus join forces with a flea on it's back? A dragon, with a cow it eats? You forget your place, boy. I am the Conqueror, and I will unite this world!"

"Hmph." Chrom scoffed. "You can't unite people by forcing them to choose the sword or the knee. Peace will only come by stoking people's hearts…not their fear."

"You think that's what you are doing? What your sister did before you? Your pathetic sister shouted some nonsense and leapt off a rock!" Walhart sneered. "Such weakness!"

The Exalt shook his head. "Not weakness-strength. An act that lives on, and will live on, for longer than any of your conquests…"

"And longer than you will." Walhart spat. The man drew his Wolf Berg from his back along with a red curved sword, holding one weapon in each hand as he prepared to take on Chrom and the others. "Come then, fleas, and die on my blades for your precious peace!"

"Emm…I tried…" Chrom could be heard muttering as he, Nathan, and Lon'qu charged at the Conqueror.

The following battle required only the finest work from each of the four combatants, with Walhart being able to more than hold his own against three of the strongest warriors in all of the shepherds. Even Nathan's magic was batted away by Walhart's sword, the man unwilling to yield any sort of edge to his three opponents. As the three moved in, pressing as hard as they could to find an opening, Walhart gave his all to ensure the three were held at bay.

Not a sound could be heard from anyone else in the castle, shepherds, dynasts, and Valamese soldiers all stood in silence watching as the final fight between the resistance and the conqueror took place. All that could be heard was the frantic clash of steel and fearsome battle cries from the fighters.

"ENOUGH OF THIS…DIE!" Walhart roared, sending all the energy he could muster into powerful blows with each of his weapons, sending both Chrom and Lon'qu flying, crashing down on the palace floor. Nathan looked at the two, making sure they were at least still alive. He then turned back to Walhart, as his eyes turned a familiar shade of dark purple with pink flower petals beginning to swarm around him.

"That's…Ignis!" Owain murmured, watching intently from nearby.

"TIME TO TIP THE SCALES!" Nathan roared while lunging at the man while Mystletainn began to be covered in a purple aura. Walhart managed to deflect the blow, but not enough, as Nathan managed to drive his blade deep in the man's ribcage.

"Gwaaargh!" Walhart cried, coughing up blood as he dropped his Wolf berg to grab at the blade now piercing through his chest.

"If…if I am to die here…you will come with me, fool!" The conqueror spat, pulling up his sword to try and bring Nathan with him to the afterlife. A single arrow took him down, however, catching the man right between the eyes and sending his massive body crashing to the ground in a heap. Nathan turned around to see a panting Lon'qu with his bow drawn nod at him.

"That's…twice you've saved my life now." Nathan called to the man while leaning over to try and catch his breath.

The assassin managed a weak smile. "Just be happy…this is…over."

Nathan, Chrom, and Lon'qu walked up to the lifeless body of the Conqueror. Chrom picked up the red blade Walhart had wielded, raising it high in the air. "The conqueror is defeated!" He roared, getting a flurry of cheers in response. "Finally, this war is over!"

Once the remaining Valamese soldiers had surrendered and the castle had been secured, Chrom, Nathan, Lucina, and Say'ri stood alone in the throne room.

"It's strange…" Chrom mumbled. "In a way, Walhart and Emmeryn were complete opposites. One gave their life to stop a war, and the other took lives to create one. Yet both were able to inspire so much in people, and both had an end goal of ending all war. Both lived, and died, trying to unite everyone. Perhaps there is something to be learned from each of their methods…"

"That is true, father." Lucina commented. "But the method is the message. Those who take lives suffer from a belief that they can rule through fear, and their legacy is plain to see…"

Chrom nodded. "These matters are too weighty for now. We still have another problem to solve, with these gemstones and the awakening."

"Ah, yes. About that…" Say'ri interjected, pulling a small green gemstone out from her pocket.

"Oh, don't tell me you've secretly been holding one of these too!" Nathan complained.

The swordswoman laughed, shaking her head. "Fie, tactician, I wish that was the case. This was recovered from the treasure stores of Valm castle. It was stolen from Chon'sin as a trophy. And as it seems the fell dragon will soon threaten us all, I would feel safer knowing Vert was in your hands."

"Then I'll take it," Chrom replied, accepting the green gemstone from Say'ri and adding it to the fire emblem. The artifact now only had one empty slot remaining. "Thank you, Say'ri."

"It is I who should be thanking you!" The woman responded. "A thousand thanks from every Valamese couldn't begin to repay you for what you have done for us!"

"What will you be doing now that the war is over?" Nathan asked.

"I will stay here, and help to repair the country alongside Tiki. We will pray for your safety." The woman responded, bowing in thanks to the tactician and Exalt.

"Your help with our cause won't be forgotten, Milady." Chrom told her. Say'ri smiled as she walked off to join her Valamese comrades.

"Now then…as for us, I think it's time to head home and search for this last gemstone." Chrom declared. "To Ylisstol!"

The reviews problem appears to have been solved by the site. Thanks to the guest who told me about it.

There will be a few chapters in between before the endgame really starts. I am beyond excited to start writing it. Thanks to everyone for reading this story, as always!

-Nate