Chapter 18: Misfortune of Madmen
After the battles they've faced just to enter deeper in the Dread Isle, Eliwood, Lyn, Hector, and their tactician, Lucas, finally tread into their destination: The Dragon's Gate. They stop at a certain spot, staying wary of what may jump on them as they and their army enter the grounds, armed and ready.
"We're here, the Dragon's Gate," Eliwood thought out loud, scaring both Ninian and Ren.
"What's wrong Ninian? You're trembling," Eliwood notices.
"This place...so frightening," Ninian trembles greatly, tightly grasping onto Eliwood's cape.
"It's her power, isn't it?" Lyn notices Ninian's fearful reaction towards this place.
"Her power? What's that?" Hector asks.
"She has the ability to sense impending danger," Lyn answered. "Her memories may be gone, but her power remains."
"That so? What is she sensing then?" Lucas asks.
"I… I should not… have come here. Something awful might happen if I'm here—ah!" Ninian gets into a breakdown, causing others to worry.
"I'm getting this familiar sense of unease, and I really hate it right now," Ren angrily and anxiously thought out loud as he readied his heavy iron blade.
"Ninian!? Snap out of it!" Eliwood tries to bring her back into her senses.
"This...this place… No… I… I..."
"Let's get her away from this place, now!" Eliwood orders.
"You'll not be going anywhere…"
Suddenly, everyone had their guard up upon hearing the eerie voice except for Ren and Leila, both of whom knew the voice belonged to. In front of the army stood a lone man, with raven black hair and golden eyes, draped in a purple cloak while exuding a monstrous aura of corrupted magic powers.
"That little bird has escaped this island cage twice," the strange man said. "Now that she's back, she'll not be allowed to fly away again."
"Not...on your life!" Ren roars in rage upon seeing the strange man that he finds very much familiar and lunges towards him to do a heavy slash with his iron blade. "Hraaaaagh!"
"Ren, wait!" Lucas calls out.
There the strange man quickly summons great icy winds and a magic circle underneath Ren's foot as he was about to heavily slash the man's face. Instantly, Ren was encased frozen midair in a massive crystal of ice, with his blade only a millimeter away from the strange man's nose.
"My my, so you really are still alive. Such a pity that you've been reduced to such a state," the man sighed as he tapped on the crystal encasing Ren.
"Ren! Ren!" Florina screams, held tightly by Leila, who was wary of his presence as she was shielded by Lyndis and a composed Lucas, angry upon seeing what he's done to his friend.
"Who are you!?" Eliwood asks as he readies his sword and protects Ninian.
"We meet at last," the man courteously bowed. "I am Ephidel. I am pleased to make your acquaintance."
"Ephidel…!?" Upon realization, Lucas grips his emblem spear even tighter upon hearing that name.
"So you're Ephidel? I've been looking forward to this," Hector replied, wielding his Wolf Beil.
"...Gallantly spoken. Of course I know who you are, Marquess of Ostia's younger brother, Lord Hector," Ephidel said before turning to Lyndis. "Oh? Here we have Caelin's beloved princess, Lady Lyndis. Did you like the gift I left for you in the forest? The corpse of that filthy red-haired traitor?"
Lyn flinches upon hearing her name spoken and referring to Leila when she was gravely injured, making Lucas come in front of her with his emblem spear ready for combat.
"Oh my, how could three petty brats hire the famed tactician of Etruria?" Ephidel sneered, angering Lucas with his sly tongue. "Though, I have yet to fully know your name."
"I'm flattered that my reputation is known to freaks like yourself," Lucas angrily replied. "And my name is irrelevant for people such as you."
"Hmmm, so be it," Ephidel sneers. "And why is such a valuable person like yourself walking with pompous noble brats? Being a mercenary perhaps?"
"Okay, first of all, I am not here as a mercenary." Lucas says interrupting him before he could do anything or ask the group further, his tone turning as cold as ice. "Second, you will tell us what is going on and maybe if I feel generous, I can spare your life."
"Enough talking, we can just easily subdue him with our numbers," Hector angrily suggests.
"Ah ah ah, one more step, and your traitorous mongrel of a friend, will given back to you in, well, smaller pieces," Ephidel devilishly threatens, walking up to the crystal encasing Ren stiff frozen with an erratic sphere of twisted elfire in the palm of his hand.
"No!" Florina cries out, restrained by Leila, who was at this point noticed by the devilish Ephidel.
"Oh my, you're still alive, traitor," Ephidel hissed. "Well, in any case, your graves are reserved, as you all die in this dreadful place of a cemetery!" He laughed maniacally.
"Die!" Hector roars as he thrashes his Wolf Beil upon Ephidel, only to miss slashing the wind with Wolf Biel.
"He vanished!" Eliwood exclaims as Ephidel suddenly reappears behind Eliwood and in front of Ninian as she was grabbed by the neck and lifted off the ground slowly. As Ninian squirms, the others tried to approach the girl before everyone could see that Ephidel was gripping her neck more tightly.
"This girl is needed for my master's ceremony," Ephidel replied, maliciously as he grabs her by the shoulder and caresses her cheek.
"Ninian!" Eliwood calls out. "Let her go, you twisted fiend!"
Lyndis and Lucas try to intervene with weapons in hand, rushing forward to stab Ephidel only to see him teleport away with Ninian in his hands.
"He vanished," Lyn gasps, sheathing her Mani Katti, while Lucas slams his spear down in frustration.
"Dammit!" Hector curses as he stomps on the ground.
"Ren!" Florina calls out, touching the crystal encasing the swordsman. "E-Erk! Please, help him!"
"I got it, I got it," Erk comes in as he summons fire in his palms and attempts to melt the ice down.
Suddenly, a lone red cavalier, helmed and armed with a knight crest on his pauldron indicating his rank as a paladin, appears before the three lords, the tactician, and their army.
"We've been expecting you, Son of Pherae," he spoke, pointing at him with his polearm weapon, an elongated halberd.
"Where is my father?" Eliwood asks.
"And where is Ninian?!" Lyn interrogates.
"Who is he?" Lucas deadpans, who ended up being ignored by the paladin.
"Inside, they're both found deep within this place," the paladin spoke. "You will never see them though. Even if you could break through here, the path is sealed by the Marquess of Laus, Lord Darin."
"That moron's father happens to be here too? Well, fools beget fools I suppose," Lucas sarcastically mocks, rolling his eyes in annoyance, this was also ignored by the paladin.
"I'd withdraw if I were you, but it's too late for that, 'cause none of you will leave this place, in one piece," the paladin laughs maniacally before trotting away, it was then everyone else noticed that Lucas was silent, thinking hard and was about to snap.
"Lucas…" Lyn tries to reach out to the now silent tactician.
"I-I'm fine," Lucas replied before turning to Erk. "Erk, how's—"
Like a crackling explosion, the icy crystal imprisoning the swordsman bursts into bits of melting hail, leaving the shivering swordsman back awake as he gasps for air on his shaking knees, thankfully not yet to the point of getting frostbite.
"Ren!" Florina cries out, helping Ren to move up on his feet.
"How are you feeling now?" Farina asks with concern.
"W-w-w-what d-d-do y-you f-feel when y-you're turned into an i-ice c-c-cube?" Ren replied, remembering full well of Ephidel's capabilities and then was clothed with a blanket by Merlinus. "Th-thanks man."
"Oh dear, I shall prepare a small fire to concoct an infusion," Merlinus thought out loud as he took some of the firewood from their miscellaneous supplies. "Madame Priscilla, I am in need of your assistance please?"
"Why yes of course!" Priscilla responded.
"I will help too," Erk follows his close client in aiding Merlinus, bringing Ren back into a healthy state.
Lucas looked from afar, and shrugs upon seeing the look on Erk's face before turning to the main problem at hand. He meets with the three lords and their retainers to quickly plan their battle tactics.
"Lucas! How is Ren now?" Lyn asks.
"He will come to be in a while," Lucas replied. "But right now, how are you feeling? I was thinking that you'd be somewhat restless about Ninian being kidnapped right in front of us."
"Well yes! But, will we ever make it out alive in this dreadful place…?" Lyn anxiously replies, grasping her trembling swordarm.
Without thinking and hesitation, Lucas unconsciously embraces Lyn in his assuring warmth, pulling her forehead close to his chest.
"We will, Lyn," Lucas replied, whispering to her ear. "I promised you that I won't let anyone hurt you in any way. Watch me, for before you is the famed Tactician of Etruria and your closest aide."
Lucas flaunts his green cloak with confidence and picks up his spear as he approaches the two lords and their retainers. Eliwood was pacing around in a circle as he was muttering something incomprehensible in worry, while Hector was seemingly concerned for his friend. Upon seeing the tactician, he immediately stopped pacing and approached the tactician.
"Lucas! I—" Eliwood hesitates to talk with his current mood of mixed emotions.
"Calm yourself, Eliwood," Lucas spoke kindly, giving a smile towards the noble that could potentially smite Lyn's heart making the heir confused by his actions before bringing him back to reality by slapping him on the cheek, hard, and dropping his smile almost immediately. Before the heir could protest, Lucas immediately said to him. "Pretty boy, I understand the situation at hand and your confusion about what the hell is happening, but let's not make this needlessly messy as things already are."
Eliwood then nods in response, agreeing with Lucas' statement, before slowly beginning to calm down.
"Right then, so what should we do?" Hector says composing himself from what had just happened to both him and Eliwood.
Lucas takes a look using the enchanted spyglass and takes a look on the battlefield since he didn't have a chance to look at it earlier as he grimaces and starts cursing. "First and foremost, We need a thief and anyone who can lockpick…"
"We can do it," Leila interrupts the tactician taking the initiative.
"Doors are no problem for us," Matthew agrees.
"...There are treasures littered all across this place, I will trust you to get the ones that are on the left. Just unlock them and we will loot them later, also kill anyone who tries to open or move any of the chests. Maybe we can outfit you with armorslayers…"
"N-not a problem," Ren answers as he puts down his worn out armorslayer. "You guys are gonna need it more than I do."
"Oh look! I too have found a spare blade!" Merlinus joyously replied as he hands out an armorslayer that's in mint condition.
"Second, I do not know if the enemy will pull out that magic nullification spell, so I think that our mages could join us, but you guys have to be put to the side. Lucius, join with Raven and stay with him as much as possible. All armored units go to the left and all cavalry go to the right…"
"W-wait, if my memory serves me right, there are hidden barterers in this temple, holding fresh goods or supplies that we could use and save," Ren replies, remembering something that seems useful to the army. "However, the barterers won't choose to interact or negotiate with us if we don't have proper identification, as a failsafe caution, a card made of silver."
"You are certain that those guys are still alive?" Hector interjects with concern.
"Yes milord, what he says is correct, and it will work well as long as we have that," Leila replies, pointing to Ren showing off the silver card they looted from the corpse of the man they killed at the Dragon's Gate's entrance. "However, the prices negotiated at their tables will be costly, so to solve that, we must kill off one of those sneaky bastards holding another rare membership card to get discounted prices, just to ease our financial worries," she adds.
"Wait, let's make sure we kill the bastards first, then we can loot later." Lucas says trying to think hard as he knows what to do. "Someone ask Hannah what we need to do…"
"Y-yes!" Florina responded, going to ask Merlinus for gold to pay for Hannah's fees.
Suddenly, Lucas recalls that they have an Orion's Bolt medallion, fit for the most worthy of warriors wielding the bow and arrow. He turns to see Wil, examining his progressing improvement with a plan in mind before calling out to him.
"Take it." Lucas says to the archer, before tossing the medal at him, making the archer fumble around with the medal as he struggles to catch it. "We need a sniper and I believe that you can fill that role."
"W-wa-wait, say what?" Wil asks in confusion, before realizing that he is now in the possession of an Orion's bolt..
"Just take it. We don't have the time nor the space for a proper ceremony. But we need a sniper and you have to be one. Maybe when this is over we can do the ceremony.."
"I...I am greatly honored," Wil replies, pinning the medallion on his chest.
"Come on man! Let's get ya suited for the worst of battles yet!" Rebecca excitedly suggests, pulling him over to Merlinus' tent.
"He-hey! Stop pulling so har—ow! Stoppit!" Wil groans before being dragged into the tent to scrounge for suitable equipment.
"Lovers….?" Lucas muses before he shrugs and decides to call the rest to service. "Look alive everyone! Would rather not have a corpse to bury in this helluva place. Mages have to support everyone when they can."
"I may not be a fighter, but I can try with the best of my abilities at the least," Lucius replies. "May St. Elimine watch carefully over us all."
"I shall do my utmost for everyone's safety," Canas replies.
"Whatever you say," Erk plainly responded.
"I can handle protecting everyone that comes on the offensive, so allow me to take the front," Oswin heartily suggests, saluting with a steel axe to his chest. "As milord Hector's shield, I promise none shall get past me."
"Everyone, I thank you all for being very much cooperative, but lemme think for a minute," Lucas pleads before turning to Hannah for her augury. "Well lady? What's the situation?"
"Geez you fiend, how could you coerce an old woman myself to continue to be pestered for your sakes. I'll end up wagering my own life, in this place especially," Hannah groaned before inputting her magic into her crystal sphere. " I hear...sounds of loud metal and trotting hooves, I advise you to prepare the strongest and swiftest of weapons in this battle, and fortify yourselves for the unexpected. I also sense...great magical energy and arrows flying, be careful with those you bring to the frontlines."
"I see, anything else?" Lucas asks.
"I see...blades born from the same metal. I advise you to take a former member of our enemies to the battlefield. They may meet someone," Hannah adds.
"Oh I see, good then," Lucas thought out loud and looked at both Leila and Ren. "Thank you for your wisdom, Lady Hannah." He gestures, giving a mock bow that was as fancy as he could manage making the old woman scoff at him
"Hey guys! We're back!"
Some members of the army including Lucas, turn to see Wil, now donning a leather-layered steel chestplate that lined to a pauldron over his bowarm, his galoshes layered with leather shin guards below sturdy leather knee caps. His quiver is larger and now located at his belt for quicker draws, his bow now a longbow that they've collected from their previous travels.
"Hehe, hey guys," Wil sheepishly replied. "Still getting used to this heavy bow and armor, but the medallion is awesome!"
"Brother, you look like you could spearhead an entire army from afar," Ren deadpans as he stands with his silver sword in hand.
"Okay that settles it then, you are gonna be with the big ones as support," Lucas orders, referring to Oswin and Marcus.
"W-w-wait, what…!?" Wil stood in awe.
"Great to fight alongside you," Oswin compliments the dumbfounded sniper.
"Ah—I—! It is an honor to fight alongside you!" Wil salutes to his chest.
"Don't forget me," Ren interjects, assisted by Leila. "I ain't out of the woods yet, and it's a sour reunion for some of us here."
"Yeah, he's partly responsible for this bloody gift, and I got half a mind to return it, ten fold," Leila angrily hisses, gesturing where she was stabbed and giving Matthew a slight chill running down his spine.
"Now, now Leila. I will grant you the opportunity to kill him but for now we need to make sure that you can live to see the man stabbed. For now, I need more information before I make any sort of major choices..."
"It would appear that your enemies have much more trickery in their sleeves, I urge you to keep your eyes on your allies who are prone to ailments," Hannah advises. "Lastly, I remind and urge you to bring the swordsman in dark clothes and the girl with rosy lips, they might meet someone close on the battlefield."
"So that is how it is… I see." Lucas muses as he thinks hard, his mind thinking about what to do and what could or couldn't be in a multitude of angles and perspectives. The others who saw this actually saw the tactician squat down in an almost meditative stance as he thought harder. After a few minutes he stood up, brushed the dirt off his cape and commanded. "Well, First of all, we will apply all that I said earlier, with the thieves going in and killing all other thieves and messengers while the knights and the riders go charge forth as a spearhead. When that concludes, I can safely assume that the riders can leave the flanks and cause as much chaos as possible. Ren, I suggest you go ahead to the west hallway and slay as much as possible, Priscilla, follow with him to heal his grievous wounds. Lyn, go in the opposite direction to the east halls with Serra to heal your grievous wounds. The rest of you focus, charge and hit them where they are weak. Leave the paladin to me. I got a few choice words for the prick."
"O-okay," Lyn responded, unsure of what the tactician was thinking of, but chose not to comment on it.
"Another day, another battle," Guy grunts.
"Glory to Iilia!" Fiora rallies with her sisters Farina and Florina.
"Their blades shall break before the knights of Lycia!" Marcus rallies with his sword held high, making the other cavaliers Sain, Kent, and Lowen follow him the same with their blades and lances raised high.
"...," Raven stood silent, with Priscilla's tap and Lucius' smile assuring him for the coming battle.
"Take hold!" Lucas was about to charge before Hannah suddenly grabbed his arm and whispered to his ear. "Beware, for a crest will be born."
But before Lucas could ask Hannah what that could possibly mean, the sounds of the battle beginning brought him back to reality. "Go back and hide with Merlinus, We will keep the fighting away from the rest of you guys."
As Hannah and Merlinus retreat to his tent, everyone starts going to their battle positions.
"Let's start makin' a hole in that wall over there," Bartre points to the cracked wall beside Ren and starts smashing it with the blunt backside of his iron axe, followed by Dorcas.
"Stay vigilant everyone, I suspect that reinforcements will make their way here, though not soon," Leila warns.
"Then we better make the most beforehand," Matthew adds, flipping his flat knife.
"Split and divide, make no soul escape." Lucas yells out, lifting his spear and charging forward.
"Engage!" Eliwood rallies with Marcus and his army at his side as they head towards the bottleneck corridors where they could spot enemy cavaliers heading to their direction.
"Lady Lyndis, take your team and try to make your way through that wall," Eliwood suggests. "It seems old enough to break down, so try it. We'll cover you."
"Alright," Lyn replied.
"Fear not milady! Let me show you the might of Caelin's knight, for I am Sain! Subcommander of the knights of Caelin!" Sain rallies as he twirls his heavy steel lance and charges full speed towards the old wall and blasting through it with ease, making Kent sigh as he holds his face in disappointment for his lousy friend. "How's that, milady?"
"Sain! Watch out!" Lyn warns upon noticing an enemy warrior, attempting to slash Sain with his heavy double-headed steel axe, only to be parried by a flying handaxe that was thrown by the aloof swordsman Raven.
"He's mine," Raven then enters the fray, sheathing his handaxe on his wooden pavise while wielding his steel sword as he engages against the big-boned enemy warrior with Priscilla and Lucius to assist.
"Lord brother, be careful!" Priscilla calls out while using her healing magic and casting it upon Raven, who then musters up his strength then launches himself high up in the air and swiftly slashes the warrior's neck, lacerating his carotid artery to make him bleed to death before sheathing his sword back.
"Priscilla, I thought I told you-" Lucas says, seeing what looked like an armored monster, barrel towards them. The monster, no, it looked more like a man if he was to be honest, with a height around 5'8 at most, its most noticeable feature of it was its large demon-like horned helmet and magic-imbued arm. And it was heavily armed with a huge steel axe, chained to his gauntlet.
"Move out of the way!" He yelled out, warning the others about the immediate threat before he saw it move towards Priscilla. The healer was only able to turn and see the monster, only to be swept aside to the side like a child tossing a ragdoll, head split open, with blood rushing out of head as her mount was laid aside, flat on its side.
"Lady Priscilla!" Lucius calls out as he immediately rushes to her side and tries to help her and her horse escape before any more damage could be done.
Upon seeing Priscilla's unconscious and slowly dying body, Raven's emotions go to their overdrive and he rages forward, unsheathing his sword and roaring at the monster. "NO!"
"Raven, you fool! Get out of there!" Lucas yells out to the raging hero, about to charge in with a spear in hand before commanding the rest. "Someone make sure that Priscilla is ok, and tell Serra to start-!"
As he calls out, he hears another loud crash and when he turns to see the cause, he spots the unconscious body of their elusive Hero Raven, beaten to a pulp before making eye contact with the diabolical golden-gleaming eyes of their foe.
"Oh, you're fucking dead." Lucas declares, before twirling around his silver spear intimidatingly, as he felt something burn on his arm once more. "Do you know how hard it is to have a fucking pawn promoted? Or to find a bishop, much less a potentially promoted bishop? Do you even know how hard it is to find promotional items?! I tell you, REALLY hard."
The monstrosity only responded with his arm, now channeling his inner magic power to his axe, allowing him to swiftly wield and flail his axe like it were a handaxe, except chained with restraint. The monster threw it at the tactician with the intent to decapitate the tactician with it, only for Lucas to dodge it at the last minute, grazing his cheek. Lucas turns and prepares his silver spear for the eventual motion as he runs towards him and knocks him prone with the cross of the spear, using both his heavy armor and the momentum of his body weight to knock him to the ground, prone.
"Hrawgh!" The larger foe roars and staggers back before falling on his rear flat, caught off guard by the fact that a smaller, unarmored person was able to fell him before immediately trying to get back on his feet. But before he could do so, he felt a heavy weight on his chest, he turned only to see the tactician on his chest.
"You're not even worthy of my spear!" Lucas says, before unsheathing his dagger and repeatedly thrusting it through the helmet's visor. He was caught off guard as the corpse of the armored foe vanished like smoke before noticing the blood on his dagger evaporate instantaneously and soon it looked like it didn't even kill anything in the first place. Lucas inspected the dagger for a little before sheathing it again. He turns to see that the others were staring at him for what he had just done.
"What? He pissed me off. Now, let's tend to the injured before we have to bury a corpse. Oswin, You and Marcus are going to escort these two along with Lucius to Merlinus. The rest of you, let's kill them all."
"Sir—I mean, Lucas, please help my liege immediately, he's having trouble with—"
"Leave pretty boy to me." He says understanding what the Pheraen paladin meant. "Just focus on the commands that I issued."
He replied before walking forward, but not before picking up the spear that he dropped earlier, jogging off to where Eliwood is located. Amidst the combat he looks over to the battle through the magic spyglass only to see the young Pheraen heir, fighting against a helmed brown-armored paladin who's wielding a halberd as his weapon.
"Well, well, well. I guess I get to take out two birds with one stone after all…" He says as he puts down the spyglass, which had miraculously hadn't cracked.
Eliwood meanwhile was not having much done. He was only able to hold his ground against the paladin because of his agile swordsmanship, but he was slowly running out of stamina and his opponent is a trained paladin that lived a life of experience in the battlefield that had slowly gotten used to his speed.
"Had enough boy?" The paladin taunted while flaunting his halberd polearm, seeing that his opponent was tiring.
"I will not falter! As long as I breathe, I won't rest till I see my father!" Eliwood roars, barely holding his stance with his rapier while catching his breath.
"Well said pretty boy," Lucas deadpans as he requips himself with a horseslayer that he had borrowed so long ago. "I'll take it from here, you go regroup with the others that may need help."
Eliwood looked like he was going to protest but he couldn't deny the truth that he was exhausted. He slowly nods before running off to the others that were rounding up the last stragglers of the battle.
"Well, then, just you and me," Lucas turns towards the paladin, anger silently festering as he turns wielding the horseslayer. "You know, you-"
"Lucas! Let me help!" Lyn runs to the tactician with a killing edge in hand.
"Lyn, it's too dangerous for—"
"Enough! I've had it with your stunts for now, so let me help you, please," Lyn sternly requests while in a defensive stance.
"Are you even done with your Sacaen whore yet, little man? Your flirty prattles bore me," the paladin taunted.
"Oh, you're dead." Lucas adds, pointing the horseslayer against the enemy paladin for what he had said before noticing another group of enemy cavaliers and a troubadour joining the enemy paladin as his reinforcements.
"Go ahead, try me," the paladin taunts as he rouses his mount and his men before charging forth with the enemy cavaliers towards the tactician and swordswoman.
"You take the one at the right while I go for him, after you take out their healer go right for the leader," Lucas says to Lyn as they were beginning to be surrounded by the riders.
"Understood!" Lyn responds as they both rush forward.
Lyn aims and manages to lacerate the sword-wielding cavalier at the right, making him fall off his mount before being able to dodge another enemy cavalier's swift iron lance, who was then slain at the end of Lucas' spear, who had impaled another cavalier's horse, making the rider fall to the ground.
"You alright?" Lucas asked with concern, whilst parrying a sword slash and thrusting in retaliation, making the fallen cavalier cry out in pain as he was impaled at the chest.
"Watch out!" Lyn warns as she parries the paladin's heavy halberd, causing her to be pushed back from the recoil before being safely cushioned and caught by Lucas.
"Let me handle this, deal with that healer," Lucas orders before engaging against the prideful paladin.
"Now that she's safe, time to deal with this loser in front of—"
"Hagh!" the paladin roars as he tries to bash Lucas with his halberd, but then misses because of Lucas' immediate responsive reflexes.
"Coward!" Lucas yells out before facing head on against the paladin and thrusts his horseslayer to the paladin's horse, causing it to bleed fervently and fall on its side, knocking the paladin off of his mount.
"Why you little—"
The paladin was never able to finish what he said, as the tactician threw his tactician's spear in between the eyes of the paladin, killing him instantly. "Losers don't get to play the game." Lucas sees the halberd, and slowly picks it up and twirls it experimentally before he picks up the now broken horseslayer and sighs before tossing it aside. When the remaining bandits saw that their leader was dead, they immediately fled, fearing for their lives. After a few minutes of silence and of Lucas catching his breath.
"Lucas!" Ren calls out with his group and a new face among them. "How was your end?"
After sheathing the new weapon and observing the new face in tow for a few minutes while slowly catching his breath, he finally replied. "I can safely assume that we now have another traitor to add in our ranks?"
"Well, it's kinda a long story," Ren fidgeted before beginning to introduce his dark-garbed, silver-haired companion with a scar on his face.
"Save it, we have people to check up on and a new place to loot. Tell Matthew and Leila to begin opening all the chests as well as grabbing all files regarding what the black fang were up to now and in the past. I need to check up on the injured….."
"The name is Legault, now with that out of the way, if looting is what you're about to do, I already did your job," the silver-haired man who introduced himself named Legault, complied with his huge backpack that he stole from another thief.
"You killed a thief. We did not empty the place, there are chests outside of their armories and weapons and gold in their corpses." Lucas replied as he immediately left in order to check on the two recently injured people, but before he left Lucas turned and commanded. "Ren, I trust that you and Legault know where the higher ups of the Fang kept all their paperwork and gold. Get all of it and bring it to me immediately."
"Well, what are we waiting for, let's empty this place!" Ren rallies joyfully, making Legault chuckle jokingly.
"Stranger than before now, but still the same guy I knew huh," Legault bantered with a nudge.
"Let's go, time is wasted," Leila strictly remarked, as she slowly appeared from behind.
"Y-yes ma'am," Ren nervously answered in defeat.
Lucas rushed past the members of his army, who at this point started to loot the bodies of their fallen enemies, and pulled aside Serra, who was distracted talking to another member of the legion, by the ear towards the tent where the injured were. Despite Serra's protests and her squirming to get out of his grip, he was able to drag her off successfully. When he opened the curtains, he looked to see Raven still out cold with bandages wrapped all around his waist, shoulders, and his left arm.
"S-sir Lucas…!?" Priscilla, who's resting on the bed adjacent to Raven's, notices the tactician with bandages wrapped over her head, drenched with her blood, but sealing her head wound. He had also noticed that her hair was now covering a side of her head, almost like bangs.
"Serra, start healing Raven immediately, the moron is almost dead."
"But of course! You should be grateful that I, Serra, cleric in service to the house of Ostia, is yours to assist!" Serra gloats loudly as usual.
"Just do it." Lucas deadpans, not having any of Serra's shit.
As Serra immediately leaves to heal the hero, Lucas stands there and watches her do her job. As soon as Serra finishes, Lucas immediately pushes her out, but not enough for her to fall down.
"Ogh! Hey! You dense and ungrateful—"
"Go back to looting the corpses. If I find out that your loot is less than the average, I'm taking your tent and burning it. And I am going to make sure that you sleep outside." Lucas threatened, his expression not changing.
Serra's face immediately pales and runs off to collect as much loot as possible. Lucas waits for a few minutes to make sure that Serra really did leave, Lucas walks closer to Priscilla. They stayed in silence as Lucas's eyes started to inspect her up and down before he sighs in satisfaction.
"Priscilla, remove your bangs immediately." Lucas says, after seeing a new line past her hair.
"I-I beg your pardon?" Priscilla asks again.
"Don't try to hide it, you have a new tattoo there, don't you?" Lucas presses as he sits near on the edge of the bedroll.
"Tattoo? Do you mean what happened to be glowing over me?" Priscilla reveals the tattoo, having pointed ends which pointed upwards similar to arrowheads but it had the wideness of a diamond, with the arrowheads having a pair of small circles on their sides.
"You can say that." Lucas replies, not wanting to waste any more time, and immediately sketching the thing on another sheet of paper.
"Urrgh…"
"Lord brother!" Priscilla yelped upon her brother awoke from his rest, only for her to stumble and fall into the tactician's arms.
"Priscilla, rest. You need to recover as much stamina as you can. I'll ask Serra to tend to your brother." Lucas says, placing her back in the foldable wool-knitted bedroll, tucking her in like a parent putting their child in bed. "I'll explain the tattoos later to both you and your brother."
"A-alright," Priscilla responded, not wanting to leave but having no say in the matter.
"W-what? Where is this? What happened? Argh!" Raven groaned from his injuries.
"You're safe, you idiot." Lucas says, standing up from where he was to flick the forehead of the hero, before he saw the same tattoo that was on Priscilla's head on Raven's forehead as well, but it was more pale and less noticeable in comparison to his sister's.
"What on Elibe are you doing…?" Raven questioned, uncomfortable with the point of contact.
"That was for running into the battlefield like a moron. I don't care if it was for your sister, you almost got yourself killed!" Lucas chastised the recovering hero as he started flicking his forehead again. "Your sister would have lived through that since the impact was mostly on her side when she crashed to her wall. What would she think if she woke up only to see her brother dead on the ground?! I understand that she could barely defend herself as it is, but being injured is better than being dead. Saints above I need a drink..."
"Ummm…"
Lucas then turns around to see Lyn with the two other lords, standing at the entrance of the room, silently staring at his antics.
"So...You saw all that huh?" Lucas deadpans with a hint of annoyance as he gets up.
"Well, yes but—"
"Look at who we have here," Hector remarks as he throws a tied down Darin before the aloof tactician.
"To be taken down by a Sacaen mongrel and annoying brats from my rival houses. How revolting!" Darin roars, flat on his stomach with his hands tied behind his back. "You, who are you?! I demand that you loosen these ropes!"
"No," Lucas deadpans after he leaves the hero to look at the tied up lord.
"You little worm, once my arms are free, I will see to it that you will live to regret facing me! You wretches of Pherae and Ostia, your lands will fall when I get free. That little mongrel of that old Hausen, will be given what "it" deserves," Darin maniacally talks to the silently angered tactician that appears to be at the end of his rope.
In a fit of rage, Lucas grabbed the ropes that were binding the old warlord. Little did he know, he was able to drag the warlord that was at least twice his size, shocking not only the injured but the lords in the room. After a few seconds of dragging out of the tent and in front of a slowly growing crowd, Lucas musters all of his strength as he slams lord Darin onto a nearby tree just outside of Merlinus' tent, enough for him to feel the impact but not enough to knock him out. Quite a miraculous site to behold, even for Lucas to carry someone the size as the late-warlord Lundgren. He then takes out his knife and grips it tightly, pondering on what he could choose to do to him.
"You know, I am not happy right now. I really have a lot of things, not only did one of my pawns and my bishop get themselves nearly killed by your cowardice. But you dare threaten my master's house?You better thank all the saints above that I do not feel like taking any more of your slowly shrinking pride. So, here is how things are going to go. You are going to tell me everything that you know of the bastards who are currently running the Fang or else...' Lucas says before pulling out his knife and twirling it around his fingers. "Well, I wonder if a man's son could recognize his father's finger? Or maybe his left eye? Or maybe his ear? I am willing to test the theory out. Since you have an heir, I am pretty sure that you don't need 'that' anymore."
"I shall see to it that your army's demise will be a swift and painful one. I am merely but a vessel helping the one that is willing to help me rule over all of Lycia, if it weren't for you and those pompous noble brats!" Darin barks, laid on his back on the wall before coughing a bit of saliva that's stained with blood.
Lucas punches him in the jaw once. "I may not be a violent person nor be as strong as the others but I can safely say that I know how to throw a punch. So I suggest that you start talking."
"Hehehe, hahaha, hahahahah! I have lost everything, but it matters not! You will meet your doom— all of you!" Darin maniacally laughs as he opened his jaw revealing a small capsule sticking on one of his teeth.
"Wait, that is-!?"
Before Eliwood and the others could react, Darin immediately bites on his teeth, breaking the toxic capsule to poison his body, killing himself instantly with a sadistic grin on his face.
"...Alright," Lucas sighs, rubbing his eyes in both exasperation and exhaustion before dusting off some rubble that covered his emerald green coat. "Who forgot to disarm him and check for poison?"
"Umm," Eliwood points to Hector.
"Traitoring red fox," Hector hissed at his best friend. "That one's my blunder, I apologize."
Lucas sighs again in defeat, as he should have enforced that rule; but it wasn't like they were taking any prisoners on a constant basis— especially slippery ones at that. "Well, we should see if anyone else got hurt and maybe put out the fire on Merlinus' tent before we assign blame."
As he gave the order, the rest of the army—excluding Ren, Leila, and Legault—returned with the loot that they've plundered from the former bases and the corpses of their foes. While Lucas left the camp and scaled the nearby hill. He sat down on a nearby rock and stared at the sunset coming toward the cursed island. Soon the realization of what had happened and of what there is to come was slowly overwhelming him as he sighs.
"There were better ways to do it. What's making you make all these mistakes?" He says to no one in particular but himself. "There are only 2 healers in the entire group, so why would you give them away and let them leave the others, stupid, stupid, stupid!" He says hitting himself in the head and just started berating himself more. But his thought slowly drifted on the strange creatures, he flinched at the gruesome sight to think that they died for this strange man named "Nergal," whom the trickster Ephidel mentioned. About what they did, how easily they threw their lives away, about the black smoke that escaped from the corpses.
"Gods and Saints above, just what the fuck is happening…?!" Lucas laments with his clenched fist gripping hard. But he felt someone hugging the tactician from behind, when he turned to see who could have done it. He only saw Lyndis there, softening the pressure with her usual vibrant smile.
"Lucas, it's okay, you can let it out. We all feel the same way as to why this madness ever happened," Lyn assures before planting her cheek onto Lucas' broad back, layered by his clothes and favorite green cape, which he obviously does not mind when it's with her. Lucas remained quiet as his thoughts were plagued with both what was going on and by what this new element could be.
A moment of bliss passes for the two of them, only to be suddenly disturbed by the nimble sly-tongued Leila, who's appeared from behind a nearby hole from a nearby tree.
"A-hem," Leila playfully coughed while carrying a large sack on her back, making a flustered Lyndis quickly distance herself from Lucas out of embarrassment.
Lucas then turns to Leila for the important matters at hand, who didn't mind that Leila could see Lyn on his shoulders, seemingly there to comfort him. "What is going on? Did you get anything new?"
"Well, no, but you should tell everyone else to go inside. Ren and Legault know a thing or two somehow about this place," Leila advises.
"Fuck. Ok, but that's too dangerous for the entire army. We don't know what's exactly in here nor out there, so we can only take a few people in the group with us, other than the pretty boy, the Ostian heir and Lyndis," Lucas replied and thought out loud.
"Okay then, your pick, but you better go check on those two, now," Leila smirked, before leaving to make her own preparations, returning to base.
Lucas watched for a little bit and did not move until she was out of sight. Afterwards, he immediately went back with the group, not only to gather a handful of units that are the cream of the crop but to make sure that everyone is ok and ready to start moving. He picked Oswin, Marcus, Serra, Erk and Wil; he would bring Lucius too but he figured that Raven would appreciate him by his side, before bringing the three lords with him to meet with Ren and their new ally Legault, who were found examining a certain part of the eerie temple's interiors.
"Hey, are you really certain that it's somewhere around here?" Legault questions, standing near Ren while playing with his blade a little bit. "I mean, sure, we have gotten through this thing when we first discovered this place, but it's a first for me to pry this open."
"Trust me, I know it is somewhere around here," Ren assures, looking around a certain part of the inner walls then notices a small gap between the stone layers that can fit a finger in it. "Is this it?"
Ren then tries to insert his finger inside it before hearing a loud click sound. "Gotcha!"
There, the swordsman and the thief stepped back as the walls slowly split apart, revealing a dark stairway passage that was dimly lit with a few torches.
"You know, between you and me, I didn't sign up for this," Legault deadpans.
"Don't worry, I didn't either," Ren replies back.
"Hey you two, what are you waiting for? Into the lion's den we go," Lucas appears, startling the two dark-draped companions before entering the passage with the lords and other members in their group, before motioning the two to go ahead.
"Here we go," Ren shrugged before unsheathing and wielding his iron blade whereas Legault pulled out a pair of steel daggers before entering the passage with the others. Ren stands nearby Lucas while Legault stays behind so that they can get a wide range of looking through the area for possible traps with an annoyed Serra complaining about all the dust and dirt all over her clothes.
As the group climbed the ancient staircase that seemed to date back to the time of the Scouring, the time when both dragonkind and humankind waged in a bloody war against each other before the dragons were inevitably sealed away in the dreadful Dragon's Gate that many tales told. Old portraits, sketches, and murals portraying the war were imprinted on the walls of the dark eerie stairway they tread upon.
"I don't like this, not one bit," Hector nervously comments, gripping Wolf Biel with all his grip.
"Enough talk, I see more light at the end of this stairway. We're almost there," Lucas orders, making Lyn nervous for what's to come.
As Lucas and Ren step into the more well lit portion of the room, they see an older redheaded mustached man tied up onto a pillar, donning what appears to be noble garments suitable for a ruler of a Lycian house. It was evident that he was bleeding badly and purposely neglected, from all the wounds he had sustained.
"Oh no," Ren rushed forward and tried to help the injured man as he tried to seal the wound with clean cloth. "Dammit, he's lost too much blood, we need to—"
"Father!" Eliwood cries out, rushing over to the injured man.
"E-Eliwood...my son," the man responded, assisted by Ren.
"Wait, this man is the marquess of Pherae?" Lucas asks aloud as he motions Serra to go heal his more grievous wounds.
"Yes, it is he," Oswin answered.
"Milord! You are safe!" Marcus fell on his knees before the injured noble.
"M-Marcus, you are here...no, you must go, take my son and the girl then flee, before it's too late!" Elbert pleaded as he pointed to Ninian, standing still before a giant shallow passage, seemingly still as if she was staring off to the distance.
"Ninian!" Eliwood ran to her unconscious form.
"Ahem, I apologize for my rudeness, Mr. Absentee father, but if I may ask, what in the saint's name is happening right now?" Lucas asks the slowly paling Elbert, who was caught off guard when the tactician grasped his hand with a distressed request.
"That girl...she's the key to the Dragon's Gate. Quickly! Take her away before Nergal returns!" Elbert pleads to Lucas before coughing out a bit of blood.
"Ninian? We must flee!" Eliwood pleads as he tries to take her hand, feeling quite motionless and a bit stiff before looking into her blank-staring eyes. "Wait, Ninian?"
"Something's odd about her, but we must make haste!" Lyndis holds and takes Ninian's hand, who still did not budge.
"Don't worry Eliwood, I got your father," Hector assures as he props the injured lord over his shoulder.
"Hector, you follow those two. Serra, continue your healing. The rest of you, move quickly," Lucas orders, pointing to Ren and Legault. "C'mon guys, let's move it!"
Everyone starts trying to leave the dreadful dark catacombs, but with two injured people with them, one of them being half dead, it was rather difficult. However,when they reached around halfway up the staircase...
"Hector, Eliwood, Lucas! Hurry we must—!?" Lyndis was never able to say what caught off guard by a gray-garbed man with two broad knives at his sides appeared from behind the staircase.
"Lyn, get back!" Lucas calls out before noticing both Ren and Legault intervene in between them and choosing to stay back.
"You will not pass here," the man said with silent intimidation before putting his hands over the handles of his knives, in an intimidating manner.
"Lookie here, a very nice sight for sore eyes must say," Legault deadpans before pulling out his dual steel knives.
"This is a rather bittersweet reunion, ain't it, Jaffar?" Ren adds sarcastically with a weak smile, wielding his broad worn-out iron blade.
"Hurricane...Wraith...how…" the man named Jaffar, was left speechless.
"Wait, when did you—"
"You must not fight that man! You can't defeat him alone!" Elbert warns Lyndis from afar, walking on his weak legs with Hector's assistance.
"No shit, pretty boy," Lucas deadpanned. "You two, really need to learn from me and tactics. Maybe you'll know why I brought these two." Gesturing to Ren and Legault, before turning to those two. "And you will both tell me more about your history with the Fang later by the way."
"Whatever! We can talk about that later! But not right now!" Ren protested from afar.
"All the more reason why…" Jaffar trailed off as he quickly wielded his razor sharp talon-like daggers. "...you shouldn't have deserted the organization.
"Well then, shall we dance?" Legault jests before vanishing into thin air and tries to slash Jaffar's left cheek, who then dodges and tries to slash Lyndis with his dual knives, only to be parried and pushed back by Ren's worn-out blade.
"You've gotten slower," Jaffar remarked as he sheathed both his knives.
"I just wanted to," Ren jokingly answered with a weak smirk under his shielding blade.
"Heads up!" Legault tries to lunge over Jaffar with a double thrust using his steel knives, who then dodges again.
"Hwagh!" Ren roars as he swiftly swings the heavy blade against Jaffar while being assisted by Legault into a two-on-one battle.
"Lucas, get everyone outta here," Ren calls out before blocking Jaffar's knife near his face. "We'll hold him off!"
"Kind of hard to do that while you're in the middle of the hallway!" Lucas barks at the two morons that decided to fight in the hallway. "Everyone-" Lucas was about to issue orders before being rudely interrupted.
"Oh but I'm afraid you won't leave," Ephidel enters from the shadows, catching the attention of the tactician, the four nobles, their retainers and other members in their meager party. "Listen to the dying fool. Even among the Black Fang, that man is feared for his skill...you won't be a match for him, not even as a group."
"What's with you freaks and coming from the shadows?" Lucas commented out loud, pulling out his spear defensively. "Can't you just let us leave with the girl and pretty boy's father?"
"Oh my, don't be so distressed, young man," Ephidel maniacally said. "It won't be long after all."
"Long before what?" Lucas demands, his grip on the spear being tighter than normal.
In that moment, Ren slams his iron blade onto the stone stairway, making Jaffar flinch from not only the dust and rubble but from how quickly it had lodged itself into a wall. He then unsheathed his Lancereaver and silver sword as quickly as he could before regrouping with Legault.
"Now!"
Ren and Legault pierce through the smoke with their blades in hand and knock him off of his feet, causing him to fall on his back. They trapped the elusive Jaffar with Ren's blades crossed near his neck and Legault sitting over his body with his knives near his thighs to prevent him from using his legs.
"We got him, now go! Go now!" Ren calls out as the others start to quickly leave.
"What are you, deaf? Get outta here!" Legault calls out, feeling nervous from knowing full well of Jaffar's relentlessness.
"You've done well, Jaffar. Return to Bern and begin your next assignment," Ephidel laxly commands.
"Say what?" Ren wonders before being fired away by a fireball shot by a female sage with black hair and golden gleaming eyes.
"Wait, you're—" Legault was then also blasted away by the female sage, freeing Jaffar from their grasp and letting him go free.
After that moment, the female sage vanished into thin air without a trace.
"Ren!" Lucas calls out with concern and runs to him before being blocked by Ephidel.
"Ah ah ah," Ephidel ordered his hand.
"Ren no!" Lyndis calls out to the knocked out swordsman and thief, protected by Oswin, Marcus, Serra, Erk and Wil.
"You heartless bastard!" Hector barks toward the maniacal Ephidel, who at this point started to laugh louder.
"Hear my word! I have an invitation from my master. In honor of your hard-fought arrival, he's prepared a special show for you," Ephidel graced the group on behalf of his late-arriving master.
"No! Stop this! You cannot release the dragons!" Elbert pleads with the soulless Ephidel.
"Wait, father, what's this all about?" Eliwood asks, looking back and forth between Ephidel and his father.
"You will know shortly," Ephidel answered before casting a dark circle underneath Elbert's feet that summoned malevolent spirits that ate the life force out of Elbert's body.
"Gwagh! Ahagh!" Elbert fell on his knees from the sudden pain while clutching his chest.
"Father! Father! What's wrong with you!?" Eliwood cries out, about to run towards him if it weren't for the tactician grabbing him by the collar.
"Get away from him, pretty boy…" Lucas says, before turning to Ephidel. "What did you do you sick fuck!" Lucas sternly orders with his silver spear pointing at him, followed up by Lyndis, Oswin, Marcus, Serra, Erk and Wil, armed and ready.
"Lord Elbert! Hold on!" Hector assures.
"Power...power…" Ninian mumbled.
Eliwood turns to Ninian, who was awoken by an eerie force and looks up with lifeless eyes. "Ninian, you…"
Suddenly, there appeared a goateed man donning a thick black cloak with ancient sigils and a turban over his head that covers the upper right corner of his face.
'Who is that?' Lucas thought inquisitively as he prepared his spear defensively.
"Now...Ninian, at last...open the Dragon's Gate," the man ordered.
"Ninian, I know you're in there! Please! Don't listen to him!" Lucas tried to say something, anything that could stop the young maiden. But it was all in vain as Ninian looked up as they could see that Ninian looked up.
"Gate...open…gate…" Ninian mumbled as she went near the dim and shallow hole, stretching out her hand and casting some sort of spell that opened up a portal in the hole that shook the ground, knocking some off balance and scaring everyone that was still standing that watched from the sidelines.
"Yes, yes! That's it, this way, dragon!" the man cries maniacally.
"Whoa! What's with this fool saying!?" Hector cries while trying to keep his balance.
"What's happening!?" Eliwood yelled while trying to keep his father in check.
"Something….Something's coming..." Lucas answered while watching the horrific scene of his life before snapping back to reality before grimacing in pain from his arm. 'What's...What's this?' He looked around and saw that Farina, Priscilla and Raven were clutching the areas where their mark was. Farina was trying to reach somewhere that her arms couldn't reach and Raven and Priscilla, their forehead.
"Lucas!" Lyndis calls out before falling off of her feet, enduring some sort of searing pain on her neck. "Ah! I can barely hold on!"
He then immediately gets in front of Lyndis to shield her from the great amount of magic power flooding out from the portal while looking at the strange creature peering from the other side of it.
"Here...come, children of flame. Come to me," Ninian orders with an outstretched hand towards the portal.
Out of the portal, an enlarged reptilian arm slams into the room, causing a greater earthquake as it moves before being followed up by another reptilian arm that entered through the portal. After that, a huge red fire dragon emerges from the small passage with blazing flames shrouding its massive body before roaring aggressively that it shook the minds of the weak and the women, even Lyndis unexpectedly.
"It can't be…" Hector gazed in fear before the giant scaled beast.
"No...it isn't…" Lyn muttered frightfully while being embraced by Lucas.
"Is that—"
"A dragon!?" Lucas said what everyone had thought at that exact moment while shielding Lyndis from the dragon's erratic flames.
"Hahahahahaha! Yes, a child of the divine, a full grown dragon! Use all your strength, quickly squeeze all the energy from your body and call upon all the other dragons!"
"Not while I stand!" Lucas angrily responded as he left Lyndis and ran towards the cloaked man with his tactician spear in hand, only to be blasted back by Ephidel's fireball, making him stumble and take a few steps back if it weren't for Ephidel's unfortunate aim in the moment.
"Lucas!" Lyn tried to drag him away from Ephidel's range, but wasn't close enough to be able to drag him very far due to her slowly burning shoulder.
"I'm afraid you have failed, young man," Ephidel sneered pridefully, as Lucas slowly tried to climb up, his arm was feeling more and more like a hot brand that was being marked on a prisoner similar to how iron was smelted into a blast furnace. He then fights back with a throw of his spear at the thing and prays that it will be enough to end the dragon until his gamble was forfeit as it was pushed back by the creature's powerful roar. Lucas could only look in horror as the cloaked man started laughing like he had won, until a voice rings out interrupting the whole battle.
"What about me?!"
"Who is there!?" Ephidel, who at this point had stopped laughing and checked his surroundings for who could that be, expression slowly turning from maniacal laughter to genuine concern.
From a distance, a familiar young scarfed boy came running into the shaking room, yelling and trying to call out to Ninian.
"N-Nils, no…" Ren groaned before blacking out on the stairs with Legault, who had been paralyzed from the pain from the mysterious person that had just attacked them.
The young lad speedily runs into the room, catching everyone by surprise with sudden appearance.
"It's you!" Ephidel recognized, shock and surprise taking over.
"Nils!" Lyn calls out.
"No way," Lucas muttered before yelling back at the kid. "Nils, you goddamn fool! Get out of here! It's not safe!"
"Ninian! Come to your senses! You must not do what they want!" Nils pleaded to his brainwashed sister.
"Ni...Nils…" Ninian responded upon recognizing her brother's voice.
"No! Not now!" The cloaked schemer then furiously turns to Ephidel. "Seize the boy! Stop him!"
"Cease Nils, its power is running wild!" Ephidel coaxes.
"Everyone, these are your orders until I see fit!" Lucas commands, slowly standing up while using the Halberd that he took earlier as a walking stick. "Protect Nils! It seems that whatever is happening is stopping the dragon from coming out!" He says breaking everyone from their stupor as they rush to get everyone out safely, including Ninian and Nils.
"Never! Ninian!" Nils calls out, bringing his sister back into her senses and stops her from taming the dragon and its power.
"N-Nils?" Ninian responds, before having her hand taken by him, seemingly out of her brainwashing.
"We need to leave, now! The dragon's power is crumbling! Quickly, everyone flee!" Nils warns, making everyone else aware of the dragon's impending self-destruction.
As everyone in the room tries to run away and avoid the blast range of the dragon, it grabs a hold of Ephidel before he could get away from it, left alone and abandoned by the man who seemed to be his own master who teleported away during the chaos.
"Hey! Get off me, foul beast! Release me! Lord Nergal! Please help me!" Ephidel cries out as he struggles being restrained by the dragon before screaming in pain along with the dragon from its own fiery wrath until they disappear like the portal that had just formed.
From there, the portal in the Dragon's Gate seals itself away and disappears. Everyone regrouped from a distance with their two injured allies Ren and Legault assisted by Marcus and Oswin.
"Well...that happened…" Hector pants while assisting the injured marquess of Pherae.
"Is it gone?" Eliwood asks.
"From the looks of things, the coast is clear," Lucas checked with his spyglass using the arm that had a previously burning sensation on his arm had disappeared at this point. "That cur deserved what was coming to him."
As the four nobles, the tactician, along with few of their companions and the siblings were relieved when the situation died down, The man reappears before them with boiling anger.
"No! I've failed! Nils, you welp! If not for your interference…" Nergal ranted before roaring furiously. "Grrrrgh! Enough! Both of you! Return to me at once!"
"No!" Ninian answered.
"Never! We will never follow you!" Nils rejected.
"Ninian! Nils, get back!" Eliwood calls out, with Lucas holding his spear in front of the young lord defensively.
Elbert, mustering the last of his strength, ran towards Nergal with a dagger in hand and stabbed him in the back, causing him to cough out blood and distance himself from the group, carrying the current lord of Pherae on his back.
"Ergh!"
"You...will...not…" Elbert coughed, holding the dagger lodged unto Nergal's back.
"What?! No!?...Impossible...Not...by your hand!" Nergal barks while coughing out blood.
"I told you...I will...oppose you...always…" Elbert exhaled before falling on his knees until Nergal unleashes a forceful push of dark magic at him.
"Ergh! Why...won't… you die…!?" Nergal barks.
"So much for your evil plot," Lucas smirked at the despairing sorcerer, or was it a druid? "You've failed and have fallen. Surrender now while you still can."
"Hoh we shall see, naive little boy! This won't be the last time you will me, for I shall see to it that you all burn in agony!" Nergal laughed with his oath before desperately teleporting himself out of sight, letting the lord of pherae fall on his face, to which all the Lords and their respective knights immediately ran to the Lord's aid. And now, all the young lords and their companions gather around the dying marquess that is just gasping his last breaths.
"Father!" Eliwood, who had adjusted himself so that his father could lean down comfortably, called out while holding his father in his arms.
"Eliwood…" Elbert responded. "Be prepared...he will return…"
"Yes father, but for now, let's leave this island...let's go home, together!" Eliwood cries, denying how cold his father's body is in his arms.
"No my son, I am done here….You Eliwood, you must finish this…" Elbert exhaled.
"No! Please father, mother is still waiting for us back home. She's waiting for you!"
"Ah...Eleanora...she will be cross with me…" Elbert exhales as he looks down. "I'm sorry…" The marquess started coughing loudly as a small amount of blood left his mouth, "..tell her...I'm sorry…"
After those last words, Elbert closed his eyes as his grip loosened and the marquess' hand dropped down out of Eliwood's grip, now lifeless.
"Father? No, please...not now...not after all we've done finding you. Please...open your eyes...Faaaaather!" Eliwood cried out loud from his great loss, mourning of the father that he had just found after so long.
Besides him, Hector and Marcus shed tears and silently mourned for losing one of their closest friends, and what the others could just simply watch and do nothing but let them cry as they had no clue as to how to make the situation better. Even Lyndis, Nils, and Ninian shed tears and mourned for the death of the marquess that was Eliwood's father.
"From dust we are….to dust we return…" Lucas, who had been practically the only one not crying but remained somber for the heir turned marquess, pulled out his wineskin that still had some wine and poured it right beside the corpse of the former marquess. "...for even the noblest of kings and the cruelest of tyrants, meet the same end as the poorest and illest of men..."
Silence rolled in as those words were muttered, letting everyone keep silence as if it were some sort of informal funeral in a dreadful setting. No one talked nor whispered but stayed to mourn for the loss of Eliwood and his friends and gave him a few minutes of space.
After leaving the tomb and making a makeshift funeral and creating a casket for the recently deceased marquess. Lucas had left the group and went inside his own tent and had sat down on the dirty grass below as he had just started to process what the hell just happened. He had long ago removed his cloak, not caring that it was getting dirty from all the dirt and grime from the earth, and was staring deeply at the mark he had received in the previous year. He was now more confused than ever, everything he knew just came crashing down. First, all the stories that he had been taught before he left his old teacher to learn the way of the world, those same stories that he had believed to be nothing but fiction in all of their outlandishness, had somehow manifested into reality. Somehow, Dragons were real, and that both Nils and Ninian, two people he had journeyed with at a point for three weeks, had a connection to both of these things. Secondly, the enemy can somehow teleport and can create new pawns to fight in his wars. The fact that spell teleportation in of itself was enough to consider their foe a high leveled mage, he didn't even want to know how they even made those weird things that had just attacked them. And that is not excluding that mysterious sage that had attacked both Ren and Legault. Just who were they? He knew that those two had a connection to the black fang. But why attack their own? And what was going on in this war? And what were they fighting? Lucas had a feeling that this, the simple errand that he had been dragged into, was no longer going to be a simple game of chess but something bigger than what he had initially thought.
Chapter END
As/N:
Heyoooo, man! Thanks you guys for still actually reading this story, though I was thinking this ain't receiving much attention after a long long while.
Stay up to date for more monthly chapters, take care out there! Me and my bud co-authoring this really appreciate your reads or views or visits in this story!