The Conqueror.
With Tiki having regained her strength and joined Ylisse and their allies, the time had finally come to bring the fight to Walhart himself. They arrived at his capital... which looked just as impressive as one would expect from such a powerful man. But they were not here to admire the architecture, they were here to put an end to the tyrant once and for all.
Chrom looked around in suspicion "...Where is his army?".
"No sign of them yet, milord" Frederick answered.
Robin also looked suspicious "Hmm...".
"I don't like it. They could be buying time..." Flavia said.
"...Buying time waiting for what?" Lissa asked.
"This isn't right. If Walhart is so confident in his strength, then why wait? He should be more than eager to face us head on" Cassandra said.
Inside the capital, Excellus and Cervantes were talking. Both having miraculously survived their previous encounters with their enemies. Cervantes wounds wasn't as lethal as they'd seemed, and Excellus face had to be wrapped up a bit, but other than that, Cassandra's beating only wounded his pride.
"Tya ha! The fools have no idea what they've just stepped into! Eee hee!" Excellus said in his typical arrogant tone.
"Mmm, the anticipation before a battle. My hairs stand on end—every one of them! Makes it difficult to brush, if I may say... But today's struggle will set the course of history, once and for all" The large mustashed man said.
"Today's "struggle," Cervantes? I think you mean today's SLAUGHTER" Excellus said.
Cervantes smiled "That's the spirit, tactician!".
"Wha—No! I JUST finished explaining this to you. What is wrong with your ears?! The Resistance will destroy itself—you and I needn't so much as lift a finger. The Ylissean League thinks the dynasts no longer fear us... But they don't understand how...persuasive my methods can be! Hya ha ha! They'll know once they see their former friends with knives to their backs!" Excellus said.
"Chives and flapjacks, you say?" Cervantes asked.
"The battle is won before it's started, and without us risking any further casualties! Hya ha! Brilliant, if I do say so myself. And really, no one else is capable of judging... Ah well... Tea, Cervantes? I have a stash of gray-root blend here...simply divine..." Excellus said.
Cervantes smiled in pride "Why Excellus, thank you. It IS quite a divine 'stache, isn't it, eh wot!".
Excellus looked almost ready to explode "You imbecile! Stash! The tea! The— Oh why do I even bother! If only there were someone with the intellect to appreciate my talents..."
Walhart enters the room "Cervantes".
Cervantes stands in attention "Y-yes, my master!".
"Who is the pinnacle of man, in body, mind, and spirit? Who is greater than the gods?" Walhart asked.
Cervantes did not hesitate to answer "Only you, my master!".
"Well, Excellus, that seems to contradict your last statement. What say you?" Walhart asked.
Excellus looked nervous "...M-my master! I assure you, I meant no offense! I only celebrate achievements in your service, master. To your glory".
Walhart glared at him "Glory is won on the battlefield! Glory is meeting your enemy's eyes and watching the hope drain away with his life... Glory is not won holed up in a castle with plots and cowardly schemes. And I'll be dead before I let some dynast farm lord take today's glory in my stead".
Excellus shrank back in fear "Oh, why yes, of course! And so well put, my master, hya ha... I only meant that—".
Walhart leaves, refusing to hear another word from his cowardly tactician.
"That sick mind of yours sees much, Excellus. That much is certain. But for someone so clever, you really can be quite daft" Cervantes said.
"What?! You DARE speak to me like some child? ...Like your EQUAL?!" Excellus asked in outrage.
"Ta ha ha! Your equal? No, fear not. I will never think of you as my equal, worm. Now if you'll excuse me, I would shave and wax up before the fight..." Cervantes said before he leaves.
"Broom-faced twit! To hell with him...with the both of them...! Now, Excellus, keep your wits about you. They're all you have...besides good looks, which that wretch ruined! Let Walhart charge ahead, the big, stupid lobster... I'll end up on the winning side one way or another! Whee hee hee hee!" Excellus said with an evil grin.
Outside the capital, the Ylissian army sees the gates opening... And a massive army comes out, lead by the terrifying warlord himself.
"That's him, isn't it? Walhart... Brave of him to face us" Chrom said.
"Brave? Aye. But more likely he just wants to enjoy this himself" Say'ri said.
"He's certainly a sight to behold... I just hope we can win this" Cassandra said while doing her best to keep calm and focused. Not even Gangrel madness scard her this much. Walhart is on a completely different level
"We will win, Mother. Together" Lucina assured.
Walhart called out from behind his warriors "You do your sister's legacy proud, Prince! But humanity already has a savior. A conqueror who broke stronger men than you when they refused to bow. Warriors of Valm! Ride with me now! Together we will stamp out this final pack of insurgents and unite the world!".
The battle broke out and Walhart's forces proved why they were so feared. Chrom, Cassandra and Lucina fought together, each making sure to block an attack and leave their enemies open for their family members to cut them down. Cassandra blocked a strike with her shield, allowing Chrom to cut the enemy down before he quickly deflected a blow from another enemy and swiftly followed up with a lethal strike to his neck.
Lucina ran forward, and Cassandra knelt down, allowing Lucina to use her shield as a means to leap higher in to the air and killed an enemy soldier with a single well crushing strike.
Walhart glared at his enemies "Call in the reinforcements! Let the cavalry rain upon them like a blizzard of swords!".
"There are so many of them! We'll be dead before we even reach Walhart!" Frederick said while barely finishing of a strong foe with his ax.
"Keep fighting! We've come to far to die here!" Chrom said as he killed two soldiers.
Another soldier charged him from behind... but a vicious strike to the back of his head sent him face first in to the ground. Chrom turned around and looked surprised.
"Maxi?" He asked.
"Sorry I'm late, gathering some back up took longer than expected" Maxi said before noticing more soldiers "Leave them to me! Go get Walhart".
As the first one reaches Maxi, he kicks him away and dodges between several others, striking them with his nunchaku and kicking them away, and finally rolling out of the way of an axe wielding enemy. As Maxi rolls away, he pulls out a second nunchaku, which he uses to beat down on several opponents that near him, then slams them in to the both sides of an soldier's head, shattering it.
Maxi's arrival worked and the royal family managed to get closer to Walhart. Said warlord decided it was time to join the battle himself and rides out to face them himself. He stops once they reach each other.
"Why do you resist me, little Prince?" He asked.
"You enslave the weak and kill the able. You are the enemy of peace" Chrom answered.
"I would end the reign of the gods, and you object on moral grounds?! Blood is spilled in any new birth, Prince. And in many a just cause, as you know..." Walhart said.
"There is no justification for what you've done" Chrom said.
Walhart glared at him "By whose laws do you judge me? Yours? Your sister's? The gods'?".
"You cannot—" Chrom began but was interrupted.
"Look at you! Are you not ashamed? Your mind is filled with nothing but secondhand beliefs. You dance upon the stage of your gods like a mindless puppet! THAT is what I reject: being a slave to tradition, to obligation. The old ways. Damn the gods! Damn their fates and their destinies! I will have true freedom! Any man who offers less is my enemy" Walhart said.
"Oh be quiet!" Cassadra said, having enough of listening to Walhart's twisted philosophy "You use your power to scare people in to obedience and kill anyone who dares to stand up for each other. You are nothing but a power hungry tyrant. The freedom you offer is nothing but meaningless death. And we are here to make you face justice!".
Walhart smirks at her words "Ha ha ha! That's what I want to hear, Queen of Ylisse. Be not an agent of someone else's justice, but justice itself! Now, let us fight as two great warriors, freed of their gods. I grant any challenger the chance to test their will against my own... But you, too, shall be found wanting!".
"This is the end of you, Walhart! For the sake of our futur, you will fall here!" Lucina declared.
"Future? Foolish girl. My enemies have no future!" Walhart said as he made his horse run at them.
"Look out!" Cassandra said as she pushed Lucina aside and got ready to block Walhart's strike... but the impact from his blow sent her to the ground, and knocked the wind out of her "By the gods... is he even human?".
Say'ri leaps towards her mortal enemy "Walhart!".
Walhart blocked her strike and forced her back "Hmm? The princess of Chon'sin? It's a wonder you still live".
"I have survived your gauntlet of betrayal and death, tyrant. Shall I describe to you now the searing pain of it all? The torture of watching friends, family...my entire kingdom perish? The fresh hell of each new day, with no respite in sight?" Say'ri asked.
Walhart scoffs "Pain is a concern of men. And respite? Beg that from your gods. Your concerns are not mine. I have risen to a higher plane of existence".
Say'ri glares at him "Then today you come crashing down to the hell you've made of this one".
Walhart was not intimidated by being outnumbered. He fended of his attackers even as they attacked him from multiple directions. Lucina tried an leaping strike, but Walhart blocked her strike before delivering a strong blow to Lucina's face, sending her to the ground. Lucina looked up to see Walhart preparing a finishing blow, only for Cassandra's shield to be thrown in to his side.
"Stay away from my daughter!" Cassandra yelled as her shield returned to her hand.
"You heard the lady!" Chrom said as he leaps on to Walhart's horse and forced him of it.
Both men got back up and both delivered a strike at the same time and entered a weapon lock. Chrom felt himself being overpowered by Walhart's inhuman strength. But Cassandra and Lucina quickly joined in, forcing Walhart to break the lock as he used his axe to block and counter their strikes. Cassandra blocked his strike, but the impact made her slide back. She knew she had no hope of matching him in a head to head clash, she needs to be smart. When his next strike came, she used her shield to redirect it, rather than blocking it, and she swung her sword, leaving a gash in his armor.
"Not bad. But not good enough!" Walhart declared as he moved in for a deadlier strike.
However, Lucina charged in and hit his axe away, Say'ri slashed him from behind, his armor saved him from a fatal wound, but it still hurt. Chrom then took the chance to deliver his own strong blow which left a large wound in Walhart's side.
He backs away, holding his wound "Nngh... You think you have won? You blow as if to douse a candle, but you only stoke the fires of hell!".
He began to retreat, his soldiers making sure no one could follow him.
"Walhart has retreated into the capital! Fie, will this war never end?!" Say'ri asked in frustration.
"His men gave their lives to secure his escape. They won't lay down arms until he does" Chrom said.
"Then we must pursue and see that the deed is done" Lucina declared.
"But how? We barely made it this far... I worry we might've missed our best chance to end this" Cassandra said.
Suddnly shouting is heard and numerous soldiers shows up from every direction.
"Damn! We're surrounded! The dynasts ride against us!" Chrom said.
"Hold, sir look!" Say'ri said.
Excellus had rechived the news and looked worried "H-he lost? But how...? How could the Conqueror be conquered?! He's insurmountable! Incontestable! Invincible! ...But then that means... Oh my... Good-bye, then! Do see to it that—".
Walhart enters, his wound having been treated and his anger was clear as the burning sun "Going somewhere, tactician?".
"M-master! I... I was just coming to make sure you were all right. Are you hurt?" Excellus asked nervously.
"Rally our forces in the capital. We will put an end to this here" Walhart ordered.
Excellus gulped "At once, my master. Only... Have you considered, perhaps, waiting just one day? I do have the dynasts and their men on the way. With them to help us, we—".
Walhart angrily cuts him of "Have you seen the battlefield? No, I suppose not. Take your head from wherever it's lodged, and peer out into the daylight, snake. I'm sure your mighty intellect will quickly understand what's happened. Though if you had half the mettle of that Ylissean tactician, you'd already know...".
The cowardy tactician looked outside and saw the massive Resistance forces "M-Master, I don't—".
"The dynasts, sir! From the southlands! They are making to siege the capital!" A soldier said.
"But that's...that's impossible. We had an agreement! Just like I had with... Oh dear... The southern dynasts... Did they find out about Yen'fay?" Excellus asked, his fear rising by the second.
"This...boggles the mind..." Say'ri said.
"Do you recognize them?" Chrom asked.
Say'ri nods "Aye, sir. They're from the southlands... States that betrayed us for the empire. ...Or so I thought".
"Well, their allegiance seems clear enough now" Flavia said.
"I can hardly believe it... Theirs are the lands my brother commanded. Finally, now, they come to answer the call?" Say'ri wondered.
Flavia smirked "Finally is right. It's taken a lot of hard work to get here, Say'ri. A lot of sacrifice. From you, from Basilio, from your brother. Don't forget this moment".
Say'ri smiled "Aye, my lady. Aye".
"With their help, we have a chance. We can still win!" Cassandra said happily.
"Now, let us finish what we began. To the capital, friends!" Chrom ordered.
The time had come to end this once and for all.
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