Henrietta, nearly naked, was lying on her bed. The room she was in belonged to her father, the deceased King, but she had begun to use it after becoming Queen. While she now had the king's room, she didn't have the courage or heart for this. She wondered what it would have been like to share this room with her Wales... Beside the enormous canopied bed was her father's favorite table. She quietly reached out with her hand and took the bottle of wine. Pouring it in her cup, she drank it all. Before, she had lightly drank alcohol when she ate... but after becoming Queen, the amount she drank had increased. To Henrietta, who had been nothing but a flower ornament for the government, being asked for decisions was something she felt anxious about. Most resolutions were brought to her in a decided state, but even so, the one who gave approval of those was her. What was more, even though a state of reduced activity was being kept, the war was still going on.
Even though she was just an ornamental ruler, numerous responsibilities for her had already occurred. Henrietta was handling that pressure as she could. She couldn't sleep without drinking. She couldn't show this to her attendant court ladies or chamberlains, so she drank the hidden wine in the dead of night. Once again, she poured wine into her cup. I might have drank too much she thought drowsily though her intoxication. She quietly chanted a rune and swung it down at the cup she had poured wine in. Water overflowed from the tip of her wand and filled the cup. It was a spell to return water vapor in the air back into a fluid. It is a rudimentary spell of the Water-element. The water overflowed and spilled out of the cup. Possibly because of her drunkenness, she couldn't control the amount she poured. She drank it all. Henrietta, whose cheeks were dyed pink in color, fell on her bed once again. When she was drunk, what she remembered was... the fun days. The glittering days. The few times where she actually felt she was alive. The short time of the summer when she was fourteen years-old. The words she wanted to hear just once...
"Why did you not say it at that time?" Henrietta asked, covering her face with her hands.
But, the person who would say it is no longer here. Nowhere in this world. She felt that victory might heal sadness. She thought that the exhausting work of a queen might let her forget about it. However, she couldn't forget. Brilliant victories, words of praise, the shouts of the people who respect and love her for being a saint... cannot match just one phrase from the mouth of her beloved. She unconsciously shed tears. Oh no, she thought. Tomorrow's morning will be early. There are negotiations with Germania's ambassador. To Tristain and Henrietta who wanted to end this foolish war as soon as possible, it was an important negotiation. I can't show them my face wet with tears. I can no longer show my weak side to anyone anymore. She wiped her tears. And when she reached out for her wine cup again...
There was a knock at the door.
Who could it be so late at night? Did something troublesome come up again? It's annoying, but I can't ignore it. Albion might have dispatched their armada again. Henrietta put on her gown in a weary manner and asked from her bed.
"La Porte? Or are you the Cardinal? What's wrong, in the dead of the night?"
However, there was no reply. In exchange, there was another knock. If it isn't the Grand Chamberlain or Cardinal, then just who is it?
"Who is it? Identify yourself. For people who visit the Queen's room so late at night, there is no way one cannot name themselves. Now, speak. Otherwise, I will call someone."
"It's me."
The moment those words entered her ears, Henrietta's facial expression disappeared.
"It seems I drank too much. This isn't good, to hear such hallucinations so clearly..." Murmuring that, she placed her hands on her chest. But, the intense palpitation of her heart would not stop.
"It's me...It's me, Henrietta. Open this door."
Henrietta rushed over to the door. "Prince Wales? No way. You should have died by a traitor's hands..."
"That's a mistake. And I am alive."
"That's a lie. A lie. How?"
"I had run away. The one that died... was my impersonator."
"That... Even though, the Ruby of Wind is..."
Henrietta checked the ring, a memento of Wales, that was on her finger. Didn't Zero say that Wales had given it to her with his dying breath?
"To deceive the enemy, you have to start with your allies, right? Well, it is understandable that you do not believe me. Then, I will let you hear the proof that I am me."
While trembling, Henrietta waited for Wales's words.
"In the night when wind blows."
The watchword she heard often at Ragdorian Lake. Forgetting to even answer, Henrietta threw open the door. The smile she had dreamed of many times stood there. "Ooh, Prince Wales... You really are safe..." What followed could not become words. Henrietta tightly hugged Wales's chest, and she placed her face there and sobbed.
Wales tenderly stroked her head."You are the same as always, Henrietta. What a crybaby."
"That's because, I had completely thought you were dead... Why did you not visit sooner?"
"After losing, I escaped on the eagle. I was hiding in Tristain's forest the whole time. I could not have the enemy finding my whereabouts, so I changed my location many times. I came to the lands of the castle you live in two days ago... It took time to investigate on when you would be alone. There is no way I could just stand in the waiting room for an audience in the daytime, right?" Saying that, Wales smiled teasingly.
"As always, you are so mean. You don't understand... how much I grieved... how lonely I felt."
"I understand. I promise I do. That is why I came to see you."
For a while, Henrietta and Wales embraced each other.
"You can come to this castle as much as you want. Albion does not have the power to invade Tristain right now. After all, their reliable armada is gone. And we have the man responsible for crippling the army that attacked you on our side. This castle is the safest place in Halkeginia. The enemy can not lay a single finger on you."
"It can not be like that." Wales smiled cheerfully.
"What do you plan to do?"
"I have to return to Albion."
"What a stupid thing! That is like pointlessly going to throw away the life you barely managed to keep!"
"Even so, I have to return. I have to liberate Albion from Reconquista's hands."
"What a joke!"
"It isn't a joke. For that reason, I came to meet you."
"Me?"
"Your powers are necessary in order to liberate Albion. There are cooperators in the country as well, but... Even more, I need a person I can trust. You will come with me, right?"
"No way... I am happy for those words, but that is impossible. I could have gone on such adventures when I was a princess, but I am now a queen. Whether I like it or not, the country and the people are placed on my shoulders. Please do not say such impossible things."
However, Wales would not give up. With even more zealous words, he tried to convince Henrietta. "I know it is impossible. But, you are necessary for victory. In the middle of that lost battle, I realized it. About just how much I needed you. I need the "Saint" who will bring victory upon me and Albion."
Henrietta felt something hot welling inside her body. She was needed by her beloved person. Drunkenness and loneliness accelerated the urge welling inside her. Even so, Henrietta desperately answered. "Do not trouble me any more. Please wait, I will have people come and prepare a bed for you. Tomorrow, again, we can discuss this topic, slowly..."
Wales shook his head. "We won't make it in time tomorrow."Then, Wales easily said the words Henrietta had always wanted to hear. "I love you, Henrietta. That's why, I need you to come with me."
Henrietta's heart started beating in the same rhythm as the times where she and Wales rendezvoused at Ragdorian Lake.
Slowly, Wales drew his lips near Henrietta. To Henrietta's lips that tried to say something, Wales' sealed it up.
In Henrietta's mind, she recalled all kinds of sweet memories. Because of that, Henrietta did not notice the sleeping magic cast on her. Still feeling happy, Henrietta fell into the world of sleep.
***Break***
Meanwhile, at the same time...
In one of the rooms in the girls' dormitory at Tristain's Academy of Magic, Montmorency was trying her very best at mixing something while Zero and the others watched her.
"Done! Still, that really was difficult!" While wiping the sweat from her forehead, Montmorency flopped onto her chair. Inside the pot on top of the table was the cancellation drug that she just mixed.
"It's fine to just drink it like this?" Zero asked her.
"Yes."
Taking the pot, Zero brought it to the tip of Louise's nose. Louise grimaced from the smell.
"Well then, Louise. Drink this."
"No. It stinks really badly." Louise shook her head.
"Please. Drink this."
"If I drink this, will you kiss me?"
Zero nodded, realizing he had no other choice. "Got it. If you drink this, I'll kiss you if you still want me to."
"On the lips?" She demanded.
"Yeah. If you still want me to, on the lips." Zero said calmly.
Louise answered, "I understand", and took the pot.
She looked at the contents with a disgusted expression for a while, but she closed her eyes resolutely and drank it all. Montmorency, observing this, poked Zero.
"For now, shouldn't it be best if you run away?"
"Why?"
"Because the memories of the time when she was madly in love with you after drinking the love potion don't disappear. She remembers everything. That Louise remembers everything she did and was done to her."
Zero flinched in shock and looked at Louise.
"Ugh!" went Louise who drank the whole thing, and then she hiccuped once.
After that, as if a good and peaceful spirit had left her, her facial expression completely returned back to normal. Seeing Zero in front of her, her face suddenly turned red. Chewing on her lips, she started trembling.
Zero muttered, "Oh god. Ya know. I think I hear Sigma starting a new world domination plan. I uh. Need to go stop him. Bye!" and tried to run out of the place.
"Wait."
"Sorry, Sigma...Taking over the world." Zero said, with a nervous chuckle.
"You said he was dead!" Louise's voice resounded.
This is bad. I'm going to be killed Zero thought as he ran out the door and down the stairs as if his life depended on it.
However, the present Louise moved at lightning speed. Jumping from the landing of the staircase, she aimed a kick downstairs at Zero's back. Zero somersaulted, rolled down to the first floor, and rebounded with his left hand, landing on his feet after the impact. He sometimes wondered how she did those acrobatics. Did she have training, or was she just totally ignorant of the damage she could cause to her body if she hadn't hit him?
"I didn't do anything wrong! It couldn't be helped! It was that drug's fault! I did everything I could to keep your modesty intact!"
Without answering back, Louise walked up to Zero. Her face red, and a scowl set on her face, she leaned into him, and kissed him lightly on the lips. "You said...That if I still wanted to..."
Zero just looked at her, confused.
***Break***
"Are you feeling better today?" Zero asked Louise
"I-if I was normal, I definitely wouldn't have done something like that! Really! I'm not even sure why I kissed you!" Louise said, her face red.
"Neither am I. I had expected you to chase me down and try and beat me to death. I wasn't expecting that whole kiss me thing you did." Zero said with a laugh. "It must have been some after effects of the potion, right?"
"Yeah... That must have been it," Louise said softly. After a few moments she looked at Zero. "Thank you Zero. I appreciate everything you did. I'm sorry..."
"Its fine. It wasn't your fault. You were just caught in a bad situation." Zero said omitting that she had taken a drink meant for someone else.
"When I was, well, in a state where I couldn't live without you thanks to that drug why didn't you, um, d-d-do anything?"
Zero answered frankly."That's because, that wasn't you. How could I ever forgive myself if I did that? I said I'd protect you. I can't think of something that could hurt you more than that. You're someone I'll protect. No matter what."He said, with a smile on his face.
The way he said that... It caused Louise to blush. However, she couldn't show him such a face. Louise turned her face away. But, she was really bothered. Why am I important? Why? "Wh-wh, why am I that important? Why do you really want to protect me?"She asked in a trembling voice.
"You just are. Once you get past that insecurity and overbearing attitude that you got, you have someone who's constantly trying to do both her best, trying to do the right thing. Because of that I believe in you. And as I said... I protect the people I believe in."
"Haa..." She looked back at Zero. How could he say something like that. It wasn't flowery, it wasn't a speech like any of the romance novels she'd borrowed from her sister... No, Zero was saying things in a simple and almost irrefutable way. It wasn't like he'd practiced it. It came out without any effort or preamble... And for some reason that made Louise blush even more."...I'm sorry. I won't get angry anymore. You have the right to do stuff freely too."
"You'll still get angry," Zero replied with a laugh.
"What?" Lousie glared at him.
"Its your personality. You'll get angry. Be it happy, sad, angry... When you feel something you feel it a lot. How can I expect you to change that? Its what makes you who you are, right?" Zero asked her as he looked at her.
"Well..." she said as she looked at the ground.
"Now, what you could promise, is the next time I say, 'Its a misunderstanding' you'll actually stop and listen. You're two for two on misunderstandings that could have totally been avoided," Zero said with a smirk on his face.
To be truthful, she wasn't so sure about this. She remembered the time when the love potion was in effect. Her feelings had felt normal... The only thing that had changed... had been her determination. While under the effects, she didn't care how... She just wanted him to see her.
Then, the two fell silent.
Unable to endure that atmosphere, Louise ended up changing the topic."Haa, still... How nostalgic... That Ragdorian Lake."
"You've gone there before?"
"When I was thirteen. There were occasions where I accompanied the Princess. An extremely grand garden party was opened... It was really lively and showy. It was fun."Louise pulled at the bottom of her memories and began to talk. "You know, that Ragdorian Lake was where Prince Wales and the Princess met. In the dead of night, the Princess told me 'I want to go out for a walk, so I need to sneak out of bed. I'm very sorry, but Louise, can you lay in the bed in my place?' and I acted as her substitute. Thinking about it now, that might have been when the two rendezvoused."
When Louise said that, a loud voice sounded from behind the bench. From the mole-dug hole Louise once used to watch over Siesta and Zero, Kirche's red hair poked out. Tabitha was beside her. "That's it! I remember now! It was Prince Wales!"
"Wh-what are you talking about?"
"What! You two were eavesdropping?"
"Well, you see," Kirche crawled out of the hole while grinning. "I wanted to see you two reconcile with each other... The melodrama after you kicked him then kissed him was too much. Doesn't that seem interesting?"
"Like hell it would." Louise blushed. Kirche came up to the bench while nodding.
"That's right. I thought I saw his face somewhere before. It has been so long that I nearly forgot about it... That was Albion's lady-killer, Prince Wales." Kirche had seen his face before during Germania's Emperor Inauguration Ceremony. At that time, he was sitting in a guest seat, brandishing his noble and charming smile around him. After a few days of trying to remember it, it had come to her, so Kirche was satisfied.
"What do you mean by 'That was Prince Wales'?"
Kirche explained to Zero and Louise. How they passed a group of people riding on horses while heading towards Ragdorian Lake. How she remembered seeing that face somewhere before but couldn't remember very well.
"But, I remember now. That was Prince Wales. There was an announcement that he died in battle, but he was alive."
"That's impossible! That prince should have died! I was there to see it myself!" Zero replied hotly.
Kirche did not see Prince Wales die, so she had not actually felt his death firsthand. Therefore, she asked Zero in a joking manner. "Oh? Is that so? Then, who did I see?"
"Didn't you mistake him for someone else?"
"There's no way I could mistake that handsome guy for someone else."
At that moment, something connected inside Zero's head. It seemed that was the same for Louise. The two looked at each other. The words that the Water Spirit said... There was a peculiar man named "Cromwell" in the group who stole the Ring of Andvari. "The Ring of Andvari... So, Reconquista really did...Hey, Kirche. Where was that group heading?"
Kirche looked at the serious face of her beloved and replied,"He passed us, so, let's see, towards the capital city, Tristain."
Zero stood up, grabbed Louise, and ran off.
"Wait! What's going on?"
Kirche was flustered.
"The Princess is in trouble!" Zero shouted.
"Why?"
Kirche and Tabitha did not know about Wales and Henrietta's secret relationship, so they did not understand the meaning behind those words. But, bothered by Zero and Louise's unusual actions, Kirche and Tabitha followed them. Riding Tabitha's wind dragon, they were barely able to reach the castle at the same time as the previous two. It was now an hour before midnight.
The courtyard was in an uproar. Louise and Zero felt that their bad premonitions had come true. When the wind-dragon landed in the courtyard, it was instantly surrounded by the magic guardian troops.
The commander of the Manticore Corps, loudly ordered.
"Hey you! The royal palace is off-limits now! Leave!"
However, he already recognized the group on sight. They were the same that came here right before the war against Albion started. The commander puckered up his brows. "You again! You only come at troublesome times!"
Louise had no time to play games of questions and answers with the captain of the guard. She asked in a breathless haste."Princess! No, Her Majesty, is she alright?"
The courtyard was humming like a beehive. The nobles were carrying the shining magical wands, while solders – torches, looking for something. It was clear that something happened in the royal palace.
"I don't have to tell you anything, damned one. Leave at once."
A glowing hand went around the man's throat and lifted him from the ground,"My name is Knight-Captain Zero Wily. I work directly for the Queen. You will answer my question or I will dispose of you, and ask your successor. Are we clear?" Zero said in a deadly voice.
"Zero! Calm down!" Louise said as she pulled out something from her pocket. It was the permit paper that Henrietta gave to Louise before.
"I am calm. But we do not have time to play with this overly self-important fool. We need to know what's going on." Zero said as he looked at her.
"I am a court lady who is under direct control of Her Majesty! In my hand I hold the permit papers signed by the Queen! I have the right to exercise Her Majesty's jurisdiction! I request an immediate explanation of the circumstances!"
The commander looked at the permit papers in Louise's hands with blank surprise all over his face. They were indeed authentic permit papers signed by Henrietta that read - 'Louise Françoise Le Blanc De La Vallière is presented with the right of being a royal representative. Her demands must be granted." With the royal signature attached.
The commander stared with astonishment at Louise. Such a young girl… had such a document from Her Majesty. He was a serviceman though. No matter how one looked, a superior officer was still a superior officer. "Yes Ma'am." he said, and was surprised as he was lowered to the floor by the glaring Knight-Captain in front of him. He made certain to take not of him, and never call the young man commoner again. He'd not even seen the young man move. Standing upright at once, he reported the situation concerning Her Majesty.
"Two hours ago, someone enticed Her Majesty away. One of the guards was knocked down as they escaped with horses. The griffin squad is chasing after them. We were searching around here to find some evidence."
Louise's complexion changed."Which way did they leave?"
"They went south over the highway. Apparently they escaped towards the district of La Rochelle. Without a doubt, Albion has a hand to this. Though the instruction to block the port was sent at once… Our Dragon Knight corps were almost annihilated in the last war. So the only way we can catch up with them are either by griffons or horses…"
Wind dragons are much lighter than griffins thus they normally would take the pursuit… but the way things were now - it was questionable whether it was possible to catch up. Louise jumped onto the wind dragon.
"Hurry! The criminal who kidnapped the princess escaped towards La Rochelle! We will be in serious trouble if we aren't able to catch up by the time the morning dawns!"
Everyone, hearing the circumstances, nodded, looking tense. Tabitha gave the orders to the wind dragon. Sylphid flew up in the darkness of the night again.
Louise shouted. "Fly low! The enemy is riding a horse!"
The wind dragon kept on flying following the highway with a surprising swiftness. It was a thick dark night, but even though one could not see even few steps ahead, the wind dragon kept on flying using its sharp nose, avoiding trees and buildings.
***Break***
The griffin unit had split into two, one flew by griffin along the highway, the other rode on horses. It was to be expected as the Griffin Corps was the lightest of the three squads and they could see better at night. Therefore, it was chosen as the chasing unit. A lot of people in the squad were burning with anger. The enemy attacked the court under the cover of darkness. Even in their wildest dreams one could not imagine that someone would dare to attack the palace of the capital. Moreover, it was young queen Henrietta that was abducted, a successor of the throne. For magic knights that have been guardians of royal family there could not imagine a greater disgrace than this.
Griffins making use of their wings and feet rushed forwards. Though the departure was delayed due to all the confusion, the enemy was still using horses. There was no reason they should not be able to catch up. The commander scolded the unit harshly.
"Run! Catch up with Her Majesty as soon as possible!"
One group of the Griffin unit dashed forward.
There was a big hustle between the Griffin units going ahead.
They might have found something. Under the commander's signal, a fire user went forward and launched a flame spell. It lit the highway 100 mails ahead, and one could see distant figures of the riders.
There were ten times as many of them.
The commander put on a brutal smile.
"First of all aim for the horses! Do not hurt Her Majesty!"
The Griffin Corps moved as one, charging forward, launching one spell after another.
After the wall of spells rounded upon the enemies, the knights launched an attack in an instant.
The flame ball, the blade of wind, the spear of ice, all aimed at the horses that enemies rode on. Earth trembled, making horses fall one after another. The commander confirmed that Queen Henrietta, dressed in her white gown, was riding behind the first horse. In an emergency situation like this, he hesitated – it was necessary to retrieve Her Majesty without injuries. If she were to be injured, he would get some major scolding later. After muttering an apology, the commander cast the wind spell, cutting the leg of the first horse off and throwing the Princess and the rider down to the ground.
Without mercy, the griffin squad surrounded the fallen enemy knights. The necks of the abductors were cut with wind blades and ice spears went through their hearts. The knight who was leading the run had his head cut of by the commander's wind blade.
The match was decided in a moment.
When the commander nodded approvingly, the unit stopped. Then he jumped down from his griffin, and the moment he approached the queen who fell into the grass. Knights, who should have been dead, stood up one after another. Griffin knights, who had relaxed their guard thinking that enemy was annihilated were now caught by surprise by enemy magic.
"Ah!" groaned the commander trying to pull out his wand when his body was wrapped up by tornado.
Limbs were cut off by the tornado, finishing them off in a moment, as the knight who should have been finished by the commander stood up, with a clearly visible wound on his neck, and smiled.
When Wales finally placed the wand to his side he approached the grass where Henrietta had fallen down.
Henrietta only now started to recover from the shock of being thrown to the grass. She watched Wales approach with disbelieving eyes.
"Prince Wales, you... what on earth?"
"Surprised?"
Henrietta pulled out her crystal wand that she always carried with herself and aimed it at Wales. "Who are you?"
"I am Wales."
"Lies! You killed the magical knight corps..."
"You want to kill me? It is all right. Scoop me out with your magic. Pierce this heart of mine with it if you want. This heart of mine is for you to do with as you please. I would never deny you,"Wales pointed at his chest. The hand gripping Henrietta's wand started to tremble.
The magic spell did not come out of her mouth. What came instead was a choked sob."Why are you doing this?"
"Trust me, Henrietta."
"But... but, this..."
"I will tell the reasons later. Many different circumstances are the cause of this. For now, come with me without asking."
"I-I do not understand. Why did you do these kind of things...What are you trying to do?"
Wales answered softly."You do not need to understand. You do not need to like the oath, you just need to follow it. Do you remember? The words of the oath you said at the Ragdorian lake. Words you said before the water spirit."
"By no means could I forget. I will remember until the day I die."
"Please say it, Henrietta."
Henrietta said the oath word for word. "...I, Henrietta, the princess of Tristain vows before the spirits of water that I will love Wales for eternity."
"Only one thing changed now from the oath in the past. You are a queen now. However, does everything else remain unchanged? And will not change?"
Henrietta nodded. I always dreamt only about the day when Wales would hold me in his arms.
"Even though the way things are, the oath sworn before the water spirit cannot be broken. You only have to believe only in your own words. Please leave everything to me. I promise I'll protect you, because I love you."
Each gentle word of Wales turned Henrietta more and more into a girl that did not know a thing. Henrietta kept nodding many times, just like a child.
After that, Wales stood up and approached his knights. One could see open mortal wounds on their throats or chests. However... ignoring them, they moved just like any living creature.
They went to check the fallen horses, yet, they all were dead.
Then they hid themselves in the tall grass, one after another disappearing from sight. The line of the ambush.
Without words they and Wales formed a line of ambush, and stopped moving. Just like one living creature.
Zero and the others flew on the wind dragon following the highway until they saw a tragic sight of corpses scattered around. The wind dragon stopped, and they jumped down. Not getting off, Tabitha looked around attentively.
"Damn it." Zero muttered. Burning corpses with their hands and feet cut off were laying around. Griffins and horses were lying in pools of their own blood. This must have been the griffin unit.
"There's someone alive!"
Zero and Louise ran towards Kirche's voice.
Despite a deep wound in his arm, someone survived.
"Are you all right?" Louise asked. she now regretted not taking Montmorency with them. In cases of wounds, her water magic would be irreplaceable.
"I'm alright... And you are?"
"We, just like you, ran after the gang that kidnapped Her Majesty. What on earth happened to you?"
The knight answered in a shaky voice.
"They, their wounds were really fatal...Should have..."
"What?"
However, the knight could not tell anything else. Feeling secure now that help had come at last, he fainted.
At that moment, a magical attack was unleashed from all directions. Tabitha reacted in an instant. Expecting an attack beforehand, she created a wall of air above and let it fly down with her magic.
Out of the grass, shadows stood up, swaying in slow motion.
They were once dead Albion nobles now revived by Andvari's ring.
Kirche and Tabitha took a stance. However, for some reason, the enemy didn't launch an attack any more. Tension started.
Then, Zero saw the thing he feared most. The first noble that had truly earned his respect... The shadow of that man."Crown Prince Wales!" Zero shouted in an accusing tone. Wales, who was dead and was given false life from Cromwell using the Ring of Andvari, stolen from the water spirit, had abducted Henrietta. Zero looked at the slowly closing wound on the man's neck, and the rune on his left hand started to shine. "Return the princess."
However, Wales didn't drop the smile."You are saying something so strong... I cannot return her as she follows me of her own free will."
"Wales...You and I talked once, didn't we?"
"That we did my young friend..." Wales said, his smile turning sad.
"You know, I never told you the full truth about myself." Zero said as he sighed.
"Oh, and what would that be? I already know you're powerful. You proved that when you damaged the Lexington,"
"Oh, Really? You think that showed my power?" Zero laughed, causing a puzzled look to appear on Wales' face. "Do you want to know what the water spirit at that lake you loved so much called me?"
"Hmm, I suppose she called you mere human, as she calls all who appear before her," Wales said, smiling again. He'd never met the spirit, but then very few had.
"She called me God of Destruction... And she refused to appear as anything but my lost love. She said her fear wouldn't let her take any other form, because she knew what I was truly capable of. She knew that killing forty-thousand men was nothing to me. The lives of men would mean nothing to her either. Only something beyond her power of life and death would scare her."
"A bluff," Wales said, with a slight look of concern on his face.
"So you say. But shall we see?" Zero said. He closed his eyes. Running through his mind was a storm of thoughts dredged to the surface by recent events. The loss of people he cared for, the pain that people had from these manipulative bastards. All that was wrong. All of the pain. His whole body felt as if it shook, and the world around him seemed to fade for a moment. A single face filled his vision for a moment. A gentle laugh. His body felt as if it shook again. As he opened his eyes, he saw the shocked look on the face of Prince Wales. "Yes... That's it. You're beginning to understand."
"H-how! What is this light? Its as bright as day!"
"I wonder. Perhaps I should show you. Albion has crossed the line in this action. We are near enough to it that I can sink it from here as I am now," Zero said, his eyes meeting the young prince's.
"You're...You're insane!" He protested.
Zero laughed and replied,"Ah so you're no longer calling this a bluff! Good, better and better. You might be dead, but your common sense is still there! They declare war, they destroy, they violate the dead. They harm my friends. I see no reason to hold back anymore. I shall show you the power that was able to cause the great water spirit to tremble in fear."
"Z-Zero, stop!" Behind Wales back, Henrietta, dressed in her gown, appeared.
"Princess!"Louise shouted.
"Please get away from him! That prince Wales is not the real Wales! It is a revenant of the prince, revived by Cromwell's hands with the Ring of Andvari!"
However, Henrietta didn't step forward.
"Princess?"
"See? Now then, how about a deal?"
"Deal?" Zero asked.
"That's right. Though we would like to quarrel here with you, we lost our horses. And traveling without horses through the night can be dangerous, so I would like to save as much magic as possible."
Tabitha chanted the spell.
'Windy Icicle' – attack spell by skillful Tabitha.
Right in the middle of his words the arrow of ice went through Wales' body.
However... surprisingly, Wales did not fall down and the wound healed itself in another moment.
"It is useless. I cannot be damaged by your attacks."
Yet, even after seeing this, Henrietta's expression did not change.
"Look! It is not the prince! It is something else! Princess!"
However, Henrietta did not want to believe, and shook her head from right to left. Then said to Louise in a constrained voice.
"Please, Louise, put away the wand. Please do it for me. Please let us go."
"Princess? What are you saying? Princess! That thing is not Crown Prince Wales! Princess, you have been tricked!"
Henrietta gave a smile. A ghastly smile. "I know that. In my room, when our lips met, I knew that one-hundred times over. However, still, I do not care. Louise, you haven't loved a person so strongly yet. When you really are in love you are willing to throw away everything. You want to follow him anywhere. Even if it is a lie. You cannot do anything else but believe. I swore, Louise. I made an oath before the water spirit saying 'I swear eternal love to Wales'. Even if the whole world says it is a lie, my feelings alone are not a lie. Therefore, let us go, Louise."
"Princess!"
"It's an order, Louise Françoise. My last one, from me to you. Please, step out of our way." Louise's hand that was aiming the wand dropped down to her side. Understanding Henrietta's firm decision, she helplessly gave in. Why should she stop such a strong love?
The line of deceased men tried to pass through the dumbfounded Louise. But, before them… Zero stood, holding his saber in one hand, and Derflinger in the other. "Princess, if I am allowed to say, talking in one's sleep is not good. Passion, love, being together with a man, not caring about anything else. Is such love true? It is just mere blindness. Sacrifice everything for that person? For the real person who you do love, even if it would step on their very last action, that action he took to declare he loved you? I think that is what is truly unforgivable. He gave his life, he did his best to protect you... And now you trample his memory."
"Leave! It's an order! You are my Knight-Captain! You are sworn to me!"Henrietta shrieked with all her remaining dignity.
"Yeah. And don't you recall that little conversation? This is about the time the subordinate pulls the leaders head back to earth. I'm actually only a few seconds away from slapping you upside the head, my Queen. No disrespect intended. It was part of that 'oath' I gave. The one you said gave me merit for my position?"
It was Wales who moved first. Though he tried to utter a spell, Zero jumped at him.
However, a wall of water blew towards him. With a swipe of Derflinger Zero absorbed the spell. Zero turned to look at her coldly.
Petrified Henrietta, gripping the wand, trembled. She still managed to say in a defiant tone,"I won't allow you to lay even a single finger on Wales."
"You know princess, Louise might not have had love like this. She might not know what it means to have that feeling... But I've dealt with those thoughts and feelings for over a hundred years. You think you know pain?" Zero said as he looked at her. "You know nothing. He died for you. He loved you. My love went insane, and I ended up having to kill her to save our world! You think...you know anything of pain?" Zero trailed off, his body starting to glow white again, the grass under him started to char.
The crushing wall of water moved to Zero again. However, the space in front of Henrietta exploded in the next moment. Henrietta was blown away.
Louise had cast an explosion spell. "Even though you are a princess, I won't allow you to lay a single finger on my familiar, either." With her hair ruffled, Louise muttered in a shaking voice.
Due to this explosion, Tabitha and Kirche, who had been watching the scene in blank surprise, started chanting spells as well.
The fight started.
Zero kept on blocking the magic spells with his sword, running between the mages, acting as their shield. Though the magic flitted around, no one was wounded seriously. Though Tabitha's and Kirche's unleashed magic was knocking down the enemies, the enemies themselves preserved their willpower, hoping to weaken them up little by little with dot spells, but not a single spell made it past Zero's blade. However, the enemy's teamwork was skillful. Little by little, Zero and the others were cornered.
Before they realized it, Louise, Zero and the others were enclosed in a tight circle.
"I suppose Wales, that I shall show you one of my more powerful techniques. My apologies for treating your and your men so lightly. That was disrespectful of me," Zero said, with a calm smile. "Tabitha! Kirche! Shield yourselves with wind!" he called out as he raised his arm and slammed it into the ground, creating a blinding purple light. Some of the closer enemies were immolated at once, although the princess and Wales erected a shield for themselves and those close to them.
The enemy dashed away from the range of the strange 'magic' then regrouped.
"The way it is, if we burn them by the flame little by little… we may have a chance to win."Kirche muttered.
However, heaven seemed to turn away from them at that moment. Gradually, Tabitha noticed something wet hitting her cheek. With a worried expression she looked up into the sky. Rain that started as a light sprinkle, changed into a heavy pour.
Henrietta shouted. "Throw your wands away! I do not want to kill you!"
"Just wake up, princess! Please!"Louise shouted, but her voice was drowned by the sounds of the increasingly heavier raindrops
"Look! Rain! Rain! 'Water' spells will always win in the rain! Thanks to this rain, our victory was decided! So stop this! Let us go!"
"Is that so?"Zero asked coldly. "Do you know Princess, exactly how I use the magic that was 'reported' to you?"
"It does not matter! We have the advantage Zero." Wales answered.
"Oh, but it does. Derflinger here collects magic. He is feeling positively full though. I can tell because he has been deflecting it more than absorbing it." Zero said with a grin on his face. "You say that water will win in the rain? Well what about thunder? Or ice? I have no real control over the elements once I release them, but I can use all of the magic stored in Derflinger at once."
"Zero... The Princess can cast a wall of water on us with this. My flame is worthless now. Tabitha's wind and even your sword cannot damage them… Well, it is over. We can't win now!" Kirche said from behind him.
Louise muttered in a constrained voice."Though I do not want this, let's run away. We cannot die here. If we die, then nobody will be left to save her..."
"But how can we run away? We are surrounded, aren't we? Besides... I don't believe anything is impossible. I will stop this nightmare as we stopped the last one!" Zero with a determined glare. He knew they could leave if he wanted to, but he wasn't going to let this happen. If the princess left she'd die. he knew that. He wouldn't let a nightmare like this claim her.
Everyone became silent.
Then Derflinger thoughtfully voiced out. "Aah."
"What?" Zero asked.
"I recalled. They use a very nostalgic magic…"
"Really?"
"When I saw the water spirit, it tickled something in the back of my mind… No, partner, sorry – I forgot. I recalled it!"
"Well, what did you recall?"
"Their and our source is the same type of magic. Anyway, it is different from the base of your four great element system - magic of 'Life'"
"What? Legendary sword! Say something only if you have something useful to say! Good-for-nothing!" Louise shouted.
"The good-for-nothing is you. Though you are a 'Void' user, firing 'Explosion' in rapid succession is foolish, I saw and remembered. Though that person might be very strong, the amount of willpower consumed is immense. Like today, launching huge ones like that may require a year to shoot again. We need different fireworks today."
"Well?"
"Turn the pages of the prayer book. Dear Brimir, great guy. He sure had some perfect counters. Its too bad he didn't trust anyone..."
Louise looked through pages, like she was told. However, besides the 'Explosion' it was blank as usual. "There isn't even anything written ! The pages are all blank still!"
"Turn further. If in need, you will be able to read!"
Louise saw the page on which the letters were was written down in runes of an ancient language. "Dispel Magic?"
"That's right. 'Release'. The potion that you took a while ago is the reason why you can read it."
Henrietta sadly shook her head. Though she told Louise to run away, she didn't run away. Instead, Louise stepped closer into the center of the tight circle.
Looking up, Henrietta began to utter an incantation. I do not want to kill if possible. However, if you keep on blocking my way...I must crush you... For him.
With Henrietta's cantrip aria, the raindrops began to harden. One by one the ally mages had an armor of water hanging on them. The enemy's 'Flame' was sealed off with this. In addition, Henrietta uttered another incantation. Wales' spell joined with hers. Wales watched Henrietta, smiling coldly. Though she noticed the lack of warmth, Henrietta's heart still felt warm next to her beloved. They both were surrounded by the tornado of water.
'Water', 'Water', 'Water', and, 'Wind.', 'Wind', 'Wind' The sixth power – water and wind Triangle mages usually cannot make such strong spells as this. To say almost never, would not be an exaggeration. However, the chosen blood of the royal family enables it. Only the royal family were able to do a hexagon spell. Their combined spell increased to an impossible size. Two triangles intertwined, creating a huge tornado of six. The tornado was like a tsunami. If hit, it could even blow away a castle.
The sound of Louise's chanting mixed with the sound of rainfall.
Zero smirked. A tornado huh? Storm Eagle would have been pissed about this if he knew. He readied his sword. He knew just how to handle this.
To Louise nothing was impossible today. She kept on concentrating her willpower while uttering sounds of ancient runes one after another with her mouth.
"What's wrong with this girl?" Kirche asked with a smile. Something about her confidence seemed contagious.
"Aah, she's just acting like a legend for now." Zero grasped the sword and answered in a joking voice. "Not that I'm one to talk. I tend to do this when I have the chance as well!" He laughed.
"So. It is good and all. Yet if that 'Legend' doesn't do something at least, we won't be able to win against that tornado."
The huge tornado of water whirling around Wales and Henrietta's grew rapidly.
Louise's silent chant continued still. As expected from 'Void'. It was as lengthy as one could be.
"This is bad. The other side is faster after all." Derflinger muttered.
"I think this nightmare is long overdue for an ending. Well, then... Shall we stop the Tornado partner?" Zero casually asked, while bringing Derflinger into a low guard.
"I thought you'd never ask!" Derflinger said with a laugh.
"I'm thinkin... freeze the air to condense it. Least fatal for our wayward queen. What do you think?"
"That or fire. That thunder thing you do would probably not even stop it, but it would electrocute everyone nearby."
"Yeah, I agree, so..." Zero swung Derflinger as he jumped at the tornado, and activated his ice chip. The magic blast from Derflinger was caught in the very core of the tornado. After a few moments of ice and water mixing inside of it, the Tornado was a pillar of Ice that extended over two-hundred feet into the air.
"Amazing..." Kirche muttered. To see Zero stop a spell that was so powerful with just a swing of that blade. She didn't know if he'd ever stop surprising her.
Tabitha watched Zero's face for some sort of reaction and shook her head. "Easy victory," she murmured as he landed with smirk on his face, the blade of Derflinger slung easily over his shoulder.
Wales and Henrietta's expressions were full of shock and disbelief. All of their willpower together, was defeated by a single attack from Zero?
Louise bit her lip. She aimed her 'Dispel Magic' at the enemy.
Henrietta's surroundings turned into dazzling shining light.
With a thump the body of Wales, who stood next to her, crumbled to the ground. Though Henrietta tried to move to him, she lost consciousness as the drain of her will power hit her and she toppled to the ground.
All at once, she was wrapped in silence.
***Author's notes***
So, who wants to play poker with Zero? He's awful good at making/calling bluffs. Or he's just that crazy. None of those options are really good for those he would play against.
As for a few questions about why Derflinger rarely ever uses his Lord title, even when annoyed, is because Zero treats him as an equal and talks to him. He also knows Zero doesn't give a crap about titles. Zero treating him as a good friend is a much larger show of respect, and he recognizes it.