World Of Revelations Part 7: Fort Jinya Part 2
Chrom was used to the idea that his strategist was capable of generating the most incredible plans that could turn the situation around, that experience with ships in the ocean had made it more than clear for all eternity...
But being able to open the gates of a fortress in this way?
"What will you show us next? make our enemies hand over their weapons to us by making them believe that we are their superiors in command?" Chrom had such a smile as he tried to imagine such a scenario as he ran into the fortress.
"I did not design this strategy, I just borrowed the knowledge of a friend. If you truly want to know what else we could do, maybe using a wooden horse for infiltration purposes." She joked as she prepared her weapons for combat.
Unfortunately, her Levin's sword was once again close to running out of energy, and without a lightning storm from which to draw power to recharge it, much like a tome, she had decided to bring an old reliable steel sword to the occasion.
Sumia, who had returned from helping the paratroopers' mission, smiled at her friend, it seems they didn't understand she was just jesting. "Sounds like something so crazy that only someone like you would come up with it. And I have no doubt that you'd find a way to make it happen." Robin's eyes communicated her exasperation, but they didn't see that. She simply nodded to them, not wanting to rebut the extreme faith her friends had in her right now.
The story of the Trojan horse was described to her as a very old myth, but although she doubted that she could truly build something of this caliber and make her enemy decide to introduce it to their city no matter how much they'd desire to obtain a victory trophy… there was always at least some kind of supply convoy to impersonate or something.
Some of her soldiers had just emerged from the watchtowers, a hand signal from them was enough to know that the mission had been a resounding success in terms of disposing of the enemy guards there.
However, what must happen eventually did.
Robin looked north as a loud and almost despairing sound of a battle horn rang out.
The front door could be noisy, but it was always possible that whoever was entering was an ally, and that could cause more confusion.
But this was unequivocal.
Now all the Emblian soldiers in the area knew the fortress was being invaded.
"Advance as far as you can! before the enemy's defensive positions strengthen!"
There was still some time left, many would be asleep and they would need time to react and prepare for combat.
Better not waste time.
"Can you go ahead?" Raigh commented, looking back… inside the watchtower.
"Uh? why?" Shanna scratched her chin in curiosity. "The battle is going to start there!" she pointed out towards the east.
"And I will participate, but I have orders to search for artifacts from this world and bring them to Askr." Raigh crossed his arms.
"Isn't that... looting?" Shanna tilted her head as she gave him a dubious look.
"Not exactly, Askr is a kingdom that is in the future and has a library specifically to record the history of the heroes and the time period they lived. It's not looting, it's historic preservation." He gave her the most genuine smile he could offer about him having no other intentions.
That was obviously a lie.
"If you say so..." Shanna then simply nodded and left the tower to join the battle.
Raigh sighed as he went back in search of the corpses of the soldiers behind him.
As well as actually taking at least one or two items to not raise too much suspicion later.
As for Shanna, she ran in the direction where she could see the Askr soldiers.
The most, technically, difficult part of the invasion had already been done, after all trying to penetrate the defenses of a fortress used to be an action that would require days and even weeks.
But that didn't mean the fight within the walls wasn't going to be challenging in itself.
"On the left!" an Askr soldier shouted.
And she understood that when, by looking in that direction, barely gave her enough time to dodge... an arrow.
But not just any kind of arrow.
Usually, the arrows had to take into account the wind to be fired effectively.
This arrow had made her feel cold when it passed close to her face, and it didn't seem to have any wood… if anything, it seemed to be made of magic.
Shanna jumped back in startle and immediately raised her spear into a defensive stance.
However, around her other soldiers did not have the same luck as they were hit by those magical arrows.
The wind was still not the strongest magic combat art, but the extreme push was enough to send several of these soldiers crashing into the walls. Add their armors into the effect and it was not at all strange that they ended up on the ground groaning in pain.
Shanna was at least relieved to know they weren't dead… but they were already incapable of keeping fighting.
Who had made them suffer like this?
Shanna could see a humanoid figure which became a little lighter as the light of a torch illuminated it better.
Very long hair, so long that it had to be worn as a ponytail, apparently of greyish color. A outfit with blue sleeves but what she assumed must be a white shirt with feather trimmings and red ribbons... and a bow clearly different from the conventional one. She was not an expert in legendary weapons, but it was clear that this weapon had magical properties from what she just observed.
As the next arrow came in her direction, Shanna's eyes hardened and she jumped sideways to avoid those arrows.
The man's eyes, even in the dim light, seemed… almost lifeless, as if he were a corpse that now moved only by the will of a puppeteer.
The only thing that could make them scarier is that they were red like the blood that covered his outfit… blood that he had apparently gotten from killing some Askr soldiers.
She didn't have her pegasus to escape in case this hero-turned-weapon reached her... but at the same time, her natural disadvantage towards his arrows was negated by her absolute control of where to move.
Still, even if she had found this opponent while riding her mount… no archer could ever defeat her!
Shanna ran as the arrows continued to be aimed at her.
Where was he getting all those arrows from? He didn't seem to be carrying a tome… was he drawing wind energy directly from the air for his weapon?
Shanna jumped up and ran on a wall for a few seconds before quickly jumping up and away from it as more arrows kept hitting behind her.
The good thing about heroes with this level of mind control is that they seemed to lack much intelligence of their own beyond basic combat instincts.
What Embla had sacrificed for more obedience had cost them dearly in that regard.
The distance between her and her target was closing slowly but surely…and yet Shanna wasn't sure what she should do.
On the one hand, it was obvious that she had to try to defeat him, that was her thought as she somersaulted backward and an arrow passed under her, however these heroes were enslaved people... she was not supposed to kill him, so she had to find a way to hurt him enough to prevent him from being a danger to her any longer, but doing so might leave him without an arm or leg, which he simply didn't deserve... and there were no healers that she was aware of around to just run and ask them for help.
Shanna gritted her teeth as she saw more and more arrows coming her way.
They were endless!
She could then hear the battle raging in the distance.
The walls made it difficult to see it clearly, but undoubtedly the clash of multiple weapons and the cries of battle could be heard in the distance. Should she try to lure him to an area where there is someone who can heal him after she defeats him?
Wouldn't that count as abandoning the soldiers that accompanied her? They weren't that injured… but they were helpless, an Embla soldier could show up and easily take them out while they were like that!
Where was Raigh when she needed him?!
The problem was that now she could see something she hadn't noticed due to paying so much attention to her opponent's bow.
The archer fended off the attack by blocking it with a spear of his own.
A normal soldier would have had a confident smile... but his eyes were as empty as ever.
This was a big contrast to the look of surprise and terror that he generated in her.
Shanna had to step back slightly as her opponent's spear dashed toward her face.
Shanna tried to evaluate her chances as fast as she could while continuing to prevent this pineapple head enemy's spear from claiming her life.
What she disliked so much was how he just never stopped attacking. Didn't he get tired?
Spear fights used to have various intervals where both opponents were trying to decide the right time to lunge, it wasn't like this madness!
Would she get tired first and then he'd finish her off?
Would help never come?!
The questions were piling up as an extreme sense of urgency screamed at her that she had to get this over quickly!
Although her opponent's attacks seemed that they could continue until the end of time… he lacked something she could do.
Accelerate as if her life depended on it.
The pineapple hair hero continued with is lifeless gaze even as Shanna had more and more chances to hit him.
And horrifyingly, his gaze was still so cold even when Shanna finally managed to make a cut on his leg.
In the next clash of their weapons, the puppet hero slightly moved back and pushed Shanna's spear out with the bottom of his weapon, the imbalance causing Shanna to move forward… at which point he used one of his hands to hold her arm.
With her movement restricted, Shanna tried to break free as she saw the other spear aimed at her shoulder.
And she let out a piercing scream as it passed through her.
Sword wounds could stack multiple times, but one thing known by users of the longer-ranged weapon was that the penetrating skin effect of the lance was certainly much more painful and more likely to be fatal.
Shanna, with one eye closed and clenched teeth, could only be thankful that she'd managed to deviate far enough that she hadn't received a lung injury from her.
And likewise, she had to thank his opponent's lack of intelligence in his current state.
She normally would have expected any enemy to take advantage of that situation to push her with the weapon itself either against a wall or against the ground or anything similar... instead, the pineapple head decided to focus on removing his spear and trying to stab her again in another part.
That was why she took the initiative. He wouldn't allow her to move her hand away... so instead, she moved closer until she grasped and held the handle of the weapon hurting her.
Shanna then proceeded to push him herself.
Even as she drove his spear deeper into herself in doing so, Shanna withstood the pain through her fierce determination.
The determination of not to die there!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
She managed to do this long enough to make him collide with a wall, the imbalance this caused in her opponent allowed her to free her hand from his.
Shanna then dropped her own spear and grabbed the pineapple head's one with both hands, and with that, separated it from its owner.
Now with him disarmed of the only object that could give him an edge in hand-to-hand combat, Shanna cried out as she began to return that tempest of thrusts he had so kindly given her.
Although his gaze remained the same, this enemy showed with spasms that the thrusts were causing damage.
Having inflicted injuries that she deemed enough to weaken him, Shanna tossed the weapon away from her and began using her fists to subdue her opponent.
"HYAAAAA! HYAAAAAAAA! HYAAAAAAAA"
A blow to the right cheek, one to the left cheek, one to the stomach… and finally she caught him, lifted him into the air and made him hit the ground.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"
She remained silent for some seconds, watching her defeated opponent... it was then that the adrenaline began to fail her.
She closed her eyes, placing her right hand on her shoulder in an attempt to decrease the pain.
The puppet hero tried to get up, but Shanna simply kicked him in the face, sending him back to the ground.
She then made sure to take away his bow as well.
Shanna thought that, in hindsight, if she wasn't going to be fighting in the air… she probably should have brought a different armor for this occasion.
She was for several seconds unable to know what she should do now before the person she would have liked a lot had rushed to help her... finally appeared.
"You have to heal that wound fast, if you lose a lot of blood you will not survive... and we haven't developed the blood transplant process to save you yet." Raigh knelt before Takumi and using his black magic, he made sure to keep him on the ground.
Shanna gave him a partially annoyed look, though seeing how many relics he was carrying made her want to get angrier that there weren't that many.
Making sure to keep the possessed hero in check, he allowed her to run in the direction of the main fight to get herself some help.
Robin was amazed at the fact they had not met Ryoma here.
The man who had been described as the leader of Hoshido... she had hoped to see if it was possible to use that "anti-lightning" weapon against his lightning sword in the same way that Kiran had done against her Levin sword, but seemingly he was not here at all.
Their spies hadn't been able to find him… was it possible that he wasn't here but rather fighting on the front lines with Embla's troops in the world of Zenith?
Once only the central tower remained to be taken, Alfonse approached to give a message to the few troops that might still be inside. "My name is Alfonse, prince of Askr and future King! The battle is decided! Surrender now, there is no need to stain this fortress with more blood!"
Robin felt that she only made the prince walk to say that just because of the protocol, she didn't remember a single time when enemies would surrender when asked.
...
...
...
Which made seeing the soldiers come out of the tower dropping their weapons a somewhat bizarre scenario.
Next to her, she could see that several other heroes were also stunned and not knowing exactly what to do for several seconds before they ordered the soldiers of their squads to restrain the prisoners of war.
The plan had gone even better than expected.
If this plan, carried out in the middle of the night, could break the opponent's morale like this, she couldn't think of what dynamite would do if what she had learned about it was true.
Although at the same time… this kind of thing terrified her.
World War I was what Kiran had described as the complete dehumanization of war. Everything had turned into something more similar to massacres than battles.
Was that… kind of advanced warfare something that any civilization in the universe, which she now knew stretched beyond a single planet to an infinite void, would eventually be led to?
Corrin approached her, Hinata as always serving as translator.
"I think you just changed the way stronghold takeovers are done forever."
She had her hands crossed, nodding slowly. "I didn't make this up, I just borrowed the knowledge from another world. Still, it's a very effective method." Still, once you had the knowledge, it was easy to wonder in hindsight why something like this had never crossed her mind.
She guessed she never truly appreciated the potential Miriel and Laurent could give.
Well, part of the job was already done... all that was left was to free Hoshido and then return to Askr.
And then the hardest part of the war would begin.
Invading Embla's territory.
Given the type of strategy used for this chapter, victory was practically a beautifully decorated gift. That's why I decided to focus on the voting gauntlet match that I wanted to replicate for this chapter.
Shanna vs Takumi is probably one of the best ones, since Shanna was losing hard until she suddenly started getting points strongly during the final hours and she didn't even have a multiplier to help her.
As some people joked, it's like she truthfully activated her inner desperation 3 skill.
It was somewhat difficult to think about how to do this battle. If Shanna was flying with her pegasus then it was obvious that, using realistic logic, if she had managed to stab Takumi he would have been defeated in a single blow given the full force that the impact, increased by inertia, would apply to his body. However, even in ground combat Takumi canonically only has experience with bows...so I decided to give him the spear skills from the possible reclass he has.
And I think it's the first time I've written a fight between spears... and we have a boring but practical case here. Spears/Lances (the Spanish word for both is the same, in case you wonder why I cannot seem to figure out which word I wanna use) were realistically more practical in combat than a sword, but the combat was simpler. That is why I tried to give a more focused approach to the reactions of both characters during the battle.
Takumi, being a hero manipulated by the improved Embla curse, helped me to make a bit of a reference to his possessed state at the end of FE Conquest but at the same time show what happens to the heroes who find themselves like this. As fighters they seem to never get tired and always fight hard…but given their reduced emotions and ability to think they become unable to change their battle style… and this is also connected to the fact that, well… it's obvious which emotion I wanted to portray with Shanna during the battle.
Despair is not something that can only arise from losing a battle, a situation with many factors that one cannot control is another good example... and I thought it would be more coherent to represent despair in her that way since Shanna is a very cheerful character, I can't imagine her falling in terror merely by being losing the battle. She had to find a way to defeat Takumi without killing him, protect the defeated soldiers, hold Takumi back... and finally find someone who could heal her if she received a wound that while it wouldn't kill her instantly, it eventually would... all of that in middle of the night while torches are the only reliable light.
I don't know, I feel like I did it right but maybe someone in the audience can point out something I did wrong.
I thought it was cute to see Mark join FEH, and especially it was hilarious that he was a blue magician since in this fic I had him merge with the I love the color blue dude.
That detail of the blue color is a very deep cultural aspect that it's integrated into the Spanish language, in fact, and many may remember why.
It was also very nice that he was with Lyn.
Now what do you think if we talk about Fire Emblem Engage?
Remember when I told you that I thought it would be a pretty funny cast of characters? Well, Alfred and Alcryst were the ones that made me laugh the most. That support where Alcryst gets down on his knees before a wolf and practically insults himself by treating himself like the worst trash in existence and this ACTUALLY MAKES THE WOLF GO AWAY made me laugh A LOT. I found it very relatable (you can easily guess that the suicidal Star of the Mario Movie ended up being very funny for me too). Alfred? He probably dug the grave for Lumera given how much he likes to train and dig stuff. Alfred is certainly someone I would like to have around forever to get some laughs. Céline could probably have good talks with Zuko's uncle about the wonders of Tea. The support where Chloé mentions that she could eat a snake, Etie and Alfred trying to cook something to build up their muscles! All those things, I loved them.
Of course, then there are situations that are somewhat less funny but still entertaining. Yunaka and Cintrinne have an interesting support about distrust, that moment when she and Merrin discuss the difference between looking "cool" while doing something and using a more direct approach, Chloe's desires to be a novel character that reminds me of Ingrid, among many other things. I gave the pact ring to Ivy, she is precious… she saves my life and protects me, she decides to go against her nation because it became corrupt and then she is a very good big sister… she is just divine.
Unfortunately… I haven't really been able to connect with Solm's characters besides Merrin. Dunno why people seem to instantly like a character like Fogado or the actual Askr dragon just because they have that type of smile… that stuff does not work on me, looking cool and being cool are different things and I have problems finding the cool stuff in them.
Maybe I need to read more support of them, but none of them have left an impression on me like… say, Zeke from Xenoblade Chronicles 2.
Oh yeah, I already played it and completed it! And man Rex looks freaking awesome in the DLC of the third game… gotta play the first XC1 soon so I can go to the third!
I loved how XC2 was actually a sci-fi setting disguised as a fantasy one, kinda like how I want to write this fic actually!
Returning to talking about Engage.
The villain is crap and on top of that his name is Sombron… he has the same problem as Malos in that regard, I can't take that seriously. At least I get some good laughs from you, puto Sombron y Laputa que te parió.
The gameplay? SOOOOO fun, so much so that unlike Three Houses I can replay Engage without feeling like I have to take a months break because THE MONASTERY IS SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOW (I really enjoy it since I'm on my way to becoming a teacher, but as a game mechanic it will eventually bore you)... but in the later chapters they start abusing the infinite reinforcements to a point where all they do is waste your time, and I mean that literally because a lot of those reinforcements have a skill that prevents you from getting experience from them... said experience would be really helpful because map battles, if you want to do them, are very very very difficult in this game.
I compare it to this: 90% of the time it feels as if you are playing inside a military pocket: a place where the enemy units have been surrounded and therefore cannot receive supplies or reinforcements and they are usually harassed by an incredibly larger force (basically how the Soviets won the Stalingrad battle) … on the one hand that prevents you from using map battles to trivialize the difficulty of the game but on the other hand I feel like they overdid it.
The Emblems… they are just... there. The truth is that I knew that the story would not be deep, but for the love of Naga and Lumera! at least explain to me who created the rings and how! WORSE, THEY TELL US THERE ARE OTHER EMBLEMS IN OTHER WORLDS! SERIOUSLY, WHO MADE THEM, AND HOW?
It also makes me angry that Ephraim doesn't have dialogue.
However, as much as I love Engage I don't feel like I can integrate its story well with my fic.
The main problem is the Emblem rings: their existence conflicts with ideas that I want to introduce in the future. That's why, since Veronica herself can appear as Emblem, it seems more coherent to write Engage as something that happens after Fire Emblem Heroes (which I liked to think would always be the last chronological game, since Askr tends to behave like the Time Police from what we see in a certain game mode where several heroes go looking for historical information and then they have to ensure the battles go the way they originally went, basically preserving the timeline)…although that causes a little bit of trouble too but unlike the others, these I feel that I can patch them.
It's an issue of time.
And it's funny because at some point before I truly decide to discard the idea of souls in this story I considered writing that classical idea of all the Avatars being reincarnations (Like Avatar (HA!) The Last Airbender), with Kiran's expy characteristics of all the other avatars being him displaying stuff from his previous lives, and I guessed I would just need to throw the future incarnations in between.
I even thought about a possible order:
Kris-Corrin-Mark-Robin-Byleth-(Space for New Avatars)-Kiran.
Even if I decided to include classical souls I would have faced trouble because Three Hopes screwed that up. How it would be possible for Byleth and Shez to exist at the same time then? time travel stuff?
OH! Talking about time travel!
What makes me laugh a lot is that before the game came out I explained to you in the previous chapter the 3 types of time travel and I wrote that Kiran Mark as an Emblem would have control over time loops... AND IT TURNS OUT THAT THERE IS A TIME LOOP IN ENGAGE'S STORY! BASICALLY CONFIRMING THAT ALL THREE TYPES OF TIME TRAVEL EXIST IN THE FRANCHISE.
One joke me and Halfbestdragonsoul have recently is that IS seems to read my mind or something because a lot of the ideas I come up with for my fic end up having their own versions in canon (even the ones that I discard or I have yet to show you), which has been going on since the Three Houses days.
Here's a list of the ones I remember right now:
1.-Protagonist with two swords.
2.-Two characters sharing a body that eventually merge.
3.-A Niðavellir-based kingdom
4.-Protagonist linked to the colors blue and red, blue representing the heroic side of him while red shows his "evil"
5.-Link/reference to the fallen angel: In addition to the nickname Morning Star (which is partly a reference to Byleth as well, he being the Fell Star who has the name of a demon), and the name related to light (at least in Japanese: Lueur) Alear is technically a "demon" too, being the son of Sombron, who is a fell dragon (we could well say that Divine Dragons and Fell Dragons are parallel beings to Angels and Fallen Angels, I've even written Fell Dragons as Fallen Dragons a few times during this fic)… and the Kiran Mark has similarities with the Fallen Angel (why would I decide to write that... well, besides the fact that a character based on that mythological figure is not necessarily evil (look at Zero, he is the antichrist of robots and he ended up saving the world, his horns with red armor contrast with the halo and cross suit that X in his cyber elf form has… plus Copy-X's angel style armor) I thought it would be fun to piss off a certain group of people lol
5.-I did imagine a certain new nation for Zenith that I wrote as this: four lands surrounding a center, very similar to how Elyos is (although, and since the game released yesterday I may as well reveal it, these four lands would be called: Estrella Roja/Naranja, Luna Azul, Tierra Verde y Cometa Amarillo. They would be states though, with the main government being in the center)
6.-A younger version of the main character: Sorta, at some point I had this thing on my mind: what about Kiran asking Askr to summon a younger version of himself (or just getting to meet one due to making contact with other Askr kingdoms). While young Mark is not Kiran, I did merge the characters (and said they basically look like twin siblings).
So anyway.
Don't expect to see any Engage characters here since that's a story that takes place in the future rather than the past… at most Lumera, maybe... but Lumera from 1000+ years ago. (Just in case you don't understand, in this fic Heroes happens after all the previous games except Engage, so summoning is also bringing heroes from the past. However, just like Time Police rarely deals with problems that happen, from their perspective, in the future and they only deal with the past, Askr only gives the power to summon heroes that have already existed so Engage's ones wouldn't be possible) It's a shame because I'd love to write some scenes of Kiran and Chloe discussing things about how they want to be like their favorite fictional characters (perhaps along with Cynthia, who I imagine would love to learn about the Guardians Of Power... aka the PR), or him discussing with Alcryst what it feels like just being a failed copy of your big brother but hey… stuff happens.
Geez... only now I just realized how long the author notes have become in recent chapters...
Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter and see you next time... hopefully next week? or the next month? who knows, this year has not been very productive for my writing...
