Sakura
"We have Roberts."
I looked up at Gilbert who smiled proudly. Elizabeta's information about having caught the notorious captain was delightful and a great achievement.
"Good, we will try to get to Edelstein to take him hostage," Gilbert spoke, giving this order to all of those who were in the possession of the patch. He sighed, a sign to calm himself down. I could see that he was relieved. Ten minutes ago, his emotions had displayed every sign of tenseness. The Prince had seen my struggle with the amount of power – which was still a lot to handle – and after hearing that Elizabeta was injured, he somehow lost control. The white-haired prince had no power of directly summoning the dragon, only to order him around. But somehow he must have called him. The cause was Elizabeta's fatal wound which was worrying him to the extent of summoning the dragon. I had felt his desperate attempt of forcing the dragon to make an appearance. I was aware that after the ritual, we were bounded; but he had managed to take control of my body for summoning the creature which came out of the ocean near the port. And I was certain that he was not sure how he had succeeded in doing so. Gilbert had done it out of instinct, because one of his beloved ones was on the verge of being killed. His emotions were the trigger.
The merfolk and sirens I had called were fighting along with the Borussian sailors and the dragon. Some of the enemies were already fleeing the scene; but of course I had ordered several mermaids to follow them either way. If this war was to be won, we had to catch all of the culprits who had endangered my friends. My friends, a word that was still unfamiliar for me.
I was still concentrated on the battlefield on front of me as Gilbert lightly tapped my shoulder. "Sakura, you are bleeding!"
It was my nose that bled, I knew. I never thought I was capable of controlling so much magic of this area of the sea, and now my energy was slowly leaving me. It was a lot to handle, apart from the sea creatures, the dragon took up a lot of magic . . . If I had divided the magic among several mermaids then we could have channelled and shared the energy together. We would have more stamina left for the war.
"Don't worry," I murmured, trying to focus on my task while he contacted the others.
"You need to hurry up," Gilbert commanded, causing my eyes to widen. He did not need to express it in an ordering way. "Sakura is bleeding due to a great loss of energy."
Not a second after he had finished his statement, Arthur protested.
"She is bleeding?! O-of course we will hurry!" he stuttered; the worry in his voice was obvious. I slowly sighed. He had worried me half an hour ago when he was hurt and almost blown away by the enemy's cannons. And now he was thinking about my safety.
"I've got a plan," he voiced again through the patch, "Antonio! Alfred! You lazy brats, I need your help. Sakura? Can you ask the mermaids to secretly bring us on board of Edelstein's ship? We could surprise him and attack."
"Yes," I breathed, noticing that my body was weaker than before. If this was a consequence of saving the Kingdom and the ones I cared about, than I would fight against unconsciousness as long as possible.
I murmured a small spell to increase the protection wall on our ships, before creating fog. It would be a distraction for the enemies and a good opportunity for Antonio, Arthur and this new sailor he had called Alfred, to be transported by the mermaid to Edelstein's ship. Long before Arthur had uttered his plans, I had traced the Eastdornian man's location. They were not far away from him. The mermaids I had called lead them to Edelstein; the ships with the underwater cannons had long been taken down by some of the summoned creatures and Antonio's crew; They were not endangered by those new weapons. Before the Edelstein crew could detect them, Gilbert ordered the dragon to fly above their ship – for distraction. This once again took a lot of my energy and I knew it would not be long until I would close my eyes, but the feeling of hope was forcing me to stay awake. They were encircled by mermaids, our pirates and the mighty dragon. Edelstein would not claim victory under such circumstances.
"We are near the ship," Arthur whispered before he and his two companions entered the ship. I quickly ordered the mermaids to stay with them and assist them in their fight.
Not a minute passed before I heard the voice again that had won my heart weeks ago.
"We have him; well he surrendered to us . . . Most of his crew members did not survive the attacks and the rest somehow fled the scenery."
"Good," Gilbert spoke, diverting his eyes to my shaking form. The fog was slowly clearing. "Take him immediately to me. Tell me, are there any other enemy ships nearby?" the Prince asked again.
"No… Well there are a lot of burning ships, parts of vessels and shipwrecked who are being drowned by sirens and mermaids," the blonde admiral answered. His voice suddenly changed in a more concerned sound. "Is Sakura all right? How is she doing?"
"I-I am f-fine," I mumbled, feeling as if my head was being stabbed by sharp knives, while I tasted iron in my mouth. "H-have we won?"
I was not certain what exactly was happening around me, but the Prince's hopeful look indicated that we had fought a successful fight.
"Sakura?!"
The red colour in my eyes changed to my familiar light brown; the magic was drained off my body. Luckily, Gilbert had noticed and quickly caught me when I fell forward.
"You have completely outdone yourself."
"Y-yes," I whispered with closed eyes. "Some of the mermaids will probably stay for protection . . . They had promised me during the fight . . ."
"All right," Gilbert exclaimed, "we have Roberts and Edelstein . . . The rest will be a matter of negotiation."
". . . Indeed . . ."
He mumbled something lowly but I could not fathom what it was, as I lost consciousness at that moments. The remaining mermaids would secure the port and drive away the rest of the enemies. It had been a quick fight in comparison of other wars . . . But my body was just as weak as someone who had fought for months.
[A/N: A rather short chapter, but Gilbert and his team have claimed victory; there are still enemies left, but with the possession of a dragon, Roberts and Edelstein, they can negotiate with the neighbouring kingdom. Everyone has witnessed the power of the creatures which the Kingdom has used, and now many people will be frightened by their power. The war was quickly ended because Sakura immediately used the creatures of the sea to decrease the numbers of the enemies. Gilbert's reaction of calling the dragon was unplanned and only happened because Elizabeta was hurt. So they all did not except it to be so short – neither was I xD but I wanted to finish this story as quick as possible, there are only 4 chapters left :) . ]