Shadows of Alrest

by kiben007

It had taken unthinkable sacrifice, but with Malos dead and a new Elysium to call home, it seemed like the world had been given a second chance. But old habits die hard, and not everyone is willing to see the world change for the better. Even with the Aegis gone, the work of her companions is far from over. Sequel to my previous work, "Xenoblade Chronicles 2: Atonement"

5. The Shadow of Osiria, Part 2

The sound of the artillery fire was deafening, even from a distance. They were at the back of the fortress, while Walraig stood on top of the gate, but it felt like they were right next to him. It was exhilarating, watching as the shells impacted the forest beyond the city. He couldn't see the Urayans through the trees, but he imagined they were panicking. They'd retreated into the forest to hide themselves, so the Colonel had simply ordered the entire forest leveled. Walraig liked the idea. Putting the fear of the Architect back in those savages. He'd be sortieing out soon to go hunt down the survivors, but he came up here early to watch the show.

He didn't use drugs as a matter of principle. He needed to be functioning at his best at all times to keep the city safe. But as he watched the artillery fire hit home, reducing the Urayans to paste… If the high was even a tenth as exhilarating as what he was experiencing, he understood why people used them. Delivering death and civilization to the savages at high impact was a feeling he never wanted to let go of.

"Captain," his Blade said, drawing him out of his fantasy. He turned to see Lady Avetha, the Colonel's assistant, approaching from the ladder. She was in her mid-fifties, with graying blond hair and sagging eyes. A civilian might mistake her for a housewife, even with her formal dress, but Walraig wasn't a civilian. She was the most battle-hardened Driver in the city, and she'd done more for their country than any ten soldiers he knew put together. He straightened himself up and saluted.

"At ease," she said, glancing out at the forest. "Enjoying yourself?"

"Watching the enemy burn never gets old, sir," he replied.

"It will eventually," she said, sighing. "They won't promote you until it does. They need commanding officers to be objective."

"If you say, sir."

"Still, as long as you're ready and rearing to go, I've got an assignment for you."

"Colonel Robalt already assigned me command of a cleanup crew, sir. We're sortieing out in an hour."

"The situation's changed. An Urayan mercenary team breeched the outer defenses when the shelling began. They're somewhere in the city, and we want you and Akatsuki to find them."

"How did a whole team of mercenaries slip past our perimeter?" Akatsuki asked.

"Brute force. They found the weakest point and hit it hard. One man survived, and according to him, the mercenary unit was led by your old friend Vaul Rinder."

"With all due respect, sir, he is not my friend," Walraig said. Even when made in jest, the insinuation angered him.

"Figure of speech," Lady Avetha said. "Still, I thought you'd jump at the chance to hunt down Rinder."

Walraig had been on the front lines when the senior staff ordered them to push the Urayans off Osiria's right wing. He'd fought Vaul Rinder then in an effort to keep the man and his Blade from stopping the offensive in its tracks. Their battle then ended in a bitter stalemate, and the offensive made very little ground. Then they'd clashed again when the Urayans tried to push up from Osiria's tail, and the result had been much the same. Each time, Vaul seemed to taunt Walraig with his presence. The one Urayan he could never put down. He considered it his duty to ensure it never happened again.

"I'll see to it right away," he said. "He won't get away from me again, sir."

"There's that enthusiasm," she said, clapping him on the shoulder. "His group was last spotted in the crest-side markets. The Colonel thinks their target is the fort, so you need to intercept them before they get here. Head out as soon as—"

Abruptly, something threw Walraig back, sending a shock through his whole body. His vision went black, his muscles seized up, and a moment later, the crack of thunder split his ears. He couldn't hear, he couldn't see, and the only thing he could feel was the heat of Akatsuki's shield on his back. He didn't even know which way was up or down.

Eventually, however, something brushed against his skin, and warmth began to fill his whole body. It must've been Akatsuki's light, slowly putting him back together.

As his vision returned, he took stock of his situation fast. He lay in the fort's courtyard, with the remains of the gate on one side and the artillery battery on the other. The gate looked like it had taken a direct hit from an artillery misfire, but the gunners wouldn't have made a mistake that idiotic. It must've been enemy action.

As the smoke cleared, the enemy was even kind enough to reveal herself. She was a lone woman, standing amidst the ruins of the gate with a glaive slung across her shoulders. She wore a fur coat despite Osiria's warm climate, and she had long, black hair. Most importantly, whoever she was, she wasn't Urayan. They had more enemies in the city.

Something moved in the corner of his vision, and he looked down to see Lady Avetha tear herself from the pile of rubble they'd found themselves in. As she stood, she drew her hammer, and with a whistle, she summoned her Blade from deeper inside the fortress.

"Can I trust you to hold them?" Lady Avetha asked, eyes locked on the enemy. He tried to reply, but before he could, the enemy's Blade emerged from behind her. For a moment, he thought he was seeing double, but as she drove her hands into the ground, he realized what he was looking at. For whatever reason, the Blade had taken a little too strongly after her Driver, to the point where they could've been mistaken for twins, at a glance.

As the Driver strode forward, the ground tore itself up around her, and Walraig prepared to move in to counter. But Lady Avetha's Blade moved faster, swooping in and unleashing a blast of wind that scattered the ether and kept the pair at bay for the moment.

"Walraig," Lady Avetha said, glancing back at him. "Can I trust you to—"

"I can fight," he said, stretching his arms. They still felt sore, but Akatsuki was helping him ignore most of the pain.

"Keep them here," she said, taking a step back. "Keep the artillery firing. Do not let them into the fort."

"And you?" he asked. It was presumptuous, to ask that of a superior officer, but he didn't feel keen on holding the courtyard by himself.

"Someone has to look after Doctor Jenal," she replied.

The Colonel's pet egghead. He didn't know what the doctor was working on, but if the man was important enough for foreign Drivers to come after him, then he wasn't going to complain.

He unhooked his rings from his belt and signaled Akatsuki to get started. As the enemy traded blows with Lady Avetha's Blade, Akatsuki's fur began to glow, unleashing a blast of light that blanketed the ground in front of them. Fires sprung up all among the rubble, and as they flared, the Driver was forced to take a step back. Immediately, Walraig lunged forward, capitalizing on that change in momentum, but before he could, an artillery shell struck the remains of the gate, throwing Walraig back again.

The blast knocked out his hearing again, but this time it hadn't been the enemy. He looked back to see the Colonel's Blade, Newt, standing atop one of the artillery cannons. She'd ordered the crew to reposition it, aiming directly for the enemy, and already the soldiers in her vicinity were scrambling to load the next shot. She shouted something at him, but even if he couldn't hear, he knew exactly what she was saying.

Get clear!

Walraig wasted no time in scrambling away from the gate, and Akatsuki followed closely behind, quick to put a shield between them and the enemy. Moments later, that shield was the only thing standing between them and death, as the soldiers fired another artillery round at the woman. Before it could reach the target, however, a bolt of lightning met it in midair, detonating the shell just as it passed them. Thankfully, Akatsuki's shield kept the worst of the shockwave at bay, and Walraig managed to stay standing. A moment later, another blast of lightning struck the shield Newt had erected in front of the artillery.

"—the sniper!" she shouted, drawing her katana. Walraig's ears were still ringing, and he didn't catch the first part of her sentence, but he understood the gist. Take out the sniper.

He threw two of his rings out, and the light along their edges flared, bringing them to a stop in midair. Then he planted his feet on them and took to the air, using the ether streams to achieve something approximating flight. It was hard to control, but he'd had enough practice with them that the added speed and maneuverability more than made up for it.

The enemy was hunched behind a cracked ether shield, and as he approached her, Walraig drew his second pair of rings. Normally, a Blade only supplied ether to a single weapon, or perhaps a pair of weapons that acted as a single unit. Akatsuki took things a step further, generating and supplying ether to up to six rings at a time. A pair for Walraig's flight, a pair to serve as weapons, and a pair kept in reserve just in case.

As he closed the distance, a spike of earth rose up to meet him, and it very nearly impaled his stomach. Fortunately, he was able to adjust himself to the side at the last second, avoiding the attack and coming face-to-face with the Driver.

They clashed, glaive against ring, and the impact sent him flying toward her Blade. Another spike of earth erupted from her feet, ready to impale him, but he managed to kick one of his feet out and catch the spike in the ring's ether field. The jet of ether in the center of the ring flared, tearing the spike apart, and he rode the momentum of the impact back toward the Driver, swinging his foot for her head.

She met his attack with an overhead swing, striking the top of the ring and forcing his foot into the ground. Immediately, the ether jet began tearing up the ground, and the resulting rock shower tore past Walraig, battering him with a storm of small projectiles before settling into a ring around the Blade's head.

Then the Driver thrust her glaive up, aiming for Walraig's chest. He managed to catch the strike using both of his free rings. Then he shifted his other foot to throw himself backward, sailing over the Blade's head and through the gate. Akatsuki tried to follow him, but the Blade unleashed her storm of rocks in that moment, catching Ataksuki in the chest and throwing him back. Immediately, he passed out of range, and Walriag's weapons all lost power simultaneously. He barely managed to get his arms up to protect his head before he hit the ground.

Instantly, he rolled forward, and a lance of lightning struck where he'd been a moment before. Judging from the direction the shot had come from, the sniper was hiding in an alley across from the gate, so Walraig ran to the side, hiding behind a building and buying himself a few seconds to think. As he hid, the sniper fired another bolt of lightning—an arrow, he realized—that collided with Newt's shield. Hopefully, she'd be able to hold out for a few more hits, because Walraig was not keen on experiencing what kind of damage those blasts could do first-hand.

Before he could put together a plan, however, the scuff of boots against stone sounded from the other alleyway, and he lunged forward without thinking. He swung his ring down blindly at whoever was coming, knocking away the barrel of a gun. Immediately, he grabbed it and pulled, yanking the person off balance. They stumbled forward, and he struck them in the face with his depowered ring. The man's visor cracked easily enough, but it looked like the rest of his armor was Titan hide.

Spessians. Here to get revenge for the attack on Vastrix?

He grabbed the rifle and ducked back behind cover as more Spessians fired at him. He was in a precarious position. Akatsuki was keeping the Driver and Blade at the gates busy, but Walraig had Spessian soldiers on one side and a sniper on the other. With no way to hit back against either, he turned his gun on the only target he could see: the woman spinning her glaive to try to keep Akatsuki from reuniting with him.

The moment he fired, a wall of earth sprang up behind her, blocking the shot. It had the intended effect, though. All fire from Walraig's side was blocked off, including her fire support. Which meant Newt's team was free and clear to unleash more destruction. The thunder of the artillery cannon rang in his ears as another shell exploded in the middle of the gate, launching the Driver and Blade back out with only a cracking ether shield to protect them. Akatsuki followed immediately after, and with his arrival, Walraig's rings flared to life. As he took to the air to follow them, however, a blast of lightning fired through the gate and struck the artillery cannon. Newt hadn't gotten her shield back up fast enough, apparently.

Fuck. No time to assess the damage, though. He had a job to do.

He wheeled around midair and whistled, catching Akatsuki's attention before flying off down the alley the sniper was hiding in. A blast of lightning fired at him, and Walraig cut his jets the moment he saw the incoming flash. He fell, and the bolt passed directly over him. Immediately, he restarted the jet rings, and Akatsuki accompanied it with a flare, sending a flash of blinding light down the alley. Walraig knew where the sniper was, and now they couldn't see him coming.

He shot forward, aiming for the window of the building he'd seen the shots coming from. As he tucked his feet up to crash through the window, however, a spike tore up from the ground below him. He had to scramble, kicking his feet out and adjusting course at the last possible second to avoid slamming into the column of earth. He whirled around to see the woman and her Blade pursuing him down the alleyway.

Stuck between the sniper and the Driver, he went up, slamming the base of his rings together and cracking their cores. Immediately, they began to flare out of control, and as he sailed up, he threw a ring to either side. With one final push from Akatsuki, the weapons detonated, showering both targets with a wave of condensed ether. The explosions weren't as impressive as what the artillery cannon could manage, but it was a tactic he enjoyed making use of nonetheless. Most Blades took time to regenerate weapons during a fight, but he had backups on hand for this exact reason.

As he drew his third pair of rings, however, he heard a crash from the direction of the base. He turned to see a large wall of water rushing through the streets, headed for the gates. Another Driver had arrived, and he knew this one personally. He whistled and headed back for the base again, arriving mere moments after the wave struck.

Vaul Rinder's mercenaries surged through the gate, riding the crest of the wave. The man's Blade, Gorg, was at the heart of it, and Walraig's first thought was to break their momentum. Force Gorg back, break up the wave, and stall their advance. But a wall of fire had already surrounded them, flaring so bright that the wave simply evaporated against it. For a moment, the mercenaries were stuck, and Newt hovered in the air in front of them, jets of fire keeping her aloft while she surveyed the battlefield.

"Rinder!" Walraig shouted, hovering on the other side of the mercenaries from Newt.

"Walraig!" Vaul Rinder shouted, beaming up at him with his insufferable smile. "Old friend!"

The man reveled in getting under Walraig's skin. Walraig knew that, of course, but he couldn't help himself when confronted with the enemy.

He shot forward, swinging to take Rinder's head, and the man met him with his own weapon, a manic grin spreading across his face. He swung his axe down, and Walraig twisted around the strike at the last possible second. After their last encounter, he knew better than to confront this man head-on. Instead, he weaved around the strike and drove his ring into Rinder's chest, knocking him into the ground.

Immediately, Walraig reached for his head, but a wave of water surged forward and wrapped around his leg, pulling him back. It tried to twist him upside down, but Ataksuki unleashed a blast of light to drive it back, severing it just as Rinder got back to his feet. Walraig swung one ring back to block Rinder's incoming strike, then threw the other at Gorg, who was perched atop the destroyed gate. Gorg leapt out of the way, but Akatsuki jumped up to intercept it, grabbed the ring in his mouth. With a roar, he unleashed a blast of light at Gorg, carving a long furrow through the fortress's walls.

As Walraig rushed forward to take another swing at Rinder, the ground beneath his feet began to tear itself up. In the moment before the spike lunged up at him, he jumped and somersaulted forward, grabbing one of the rings off his feet and whirling it around to strike Rinder's helmet. The man stumbled forward just as the spike emerged from the ground, but he managed to catch himself and swing his axe through it, keeping it at bay. Before he could lunge after Walraig, however, more spikes began to appear around him, tearing through his men and converging on him from every direction.

Walraig replaced the ring on his feet and took to the air again, watching the battle unfold. The Driver working with the Spessians—though she didn't look Spessian herself, which was odd—had managed to survive the explosion. Now, she was busy tearing into Rinder's forces as she attempted to force herself into the fortress. For the moment, he was content to let the animals tear into each other.

He disengaged and floated over to where Newt had landed. Akatsuki caught up to them a moment later, returning Walraig's other ring.

"What's our plan, sir?" he asked, removing the rings from his feet and hooking them back to his belt.

"We're abandoning the city," Newt said. "You need to find Dr. Jenal and escort him to Colonel Robalt's position at the docks. We'll evacuate from there to the I.T.S. Manannán."

That was the last thing Walraig wanted to hear. Right now, Vaul Rinder was right in front of him. This was the best opportunity he would ever have to finally put that animal down for good. And Lady Avetha had already ordered him to stay behind, so abandoning his post now would be a dereliction of duty.

"Sir, with all due respect—"

Newt glared at him, and his voice died in his throat. She might have only been a Blade, but she spoke with the Colonel's authority, and Colonel Robalt was not a man to be crossed under any circumstances.

"Are your orders clear, Captian?" she asked, letting a slight edge creep into her voice.

"Yes sir," he said, trying not to sound disappointed. He'd wanted so desperately to put down Vaul Rinder himself, but he couldn't put his personal feeling above the needs of the Empire. If those were his orders, then he would comply. He whistled, and Akatsuki followed him as he headed into the fortress. As they left the battlefield, however, Vaul Rinder's mercenaries surged forward, and Newt stepped into the fray herself, rallying the few remaining soldiers to hold the line. She was one of the strongest Blades in the Empire, but even she couldn't hold off two enemies of this caliber by herself. Walraig almost returned to assist her, but her orders had been explicit. He needed to find the doctor fast, while she was still holding the enemy's attention.

He and Akatsuki tore through the base, heading for the old hangar that Dr. Jenal had turned into his workshop. There was still a decommissioned Titan ship in the hangar, but that wasn't what caught Walraig's eye. There were half a dozen metal rigs around the hangar, holding several of the city's Archelons. Their normal gear had been replaced with large ether cylinders, and dozens of tubes ran from the cylinders into their bodies. Or, what was left of their bodies, at least. Five of the six Titans looked like they'd been struck with an artillery shell at close range, with large chunks of flesh near their cores missing. The doctor was standing on the rig of the remaining beast, which seemed to have started to panic, while Lady Avetha and a platoon of about forty soldiers stood guard.

The beast whined in protest as the doctor fiddled with something on the rig, but the noise was muffled by the tubes snaking out of its mouth. Walraig couldn't help but pity the creature. It was for the good of the country, apparently, so he could look past it, but he didn't like seeing animals get hurt. A consequence of having a beast-form Blade, maybe?

"What's going on here?" he asked, glancing around.

"Scuttling the experiments," Dr. Jenal said. "We can't let the enemy get their hands on a working prototype."

"What's happening up top?" Lady Avetha asked. "I thought I told you to hold the courtyard?"

"Newt sent me to help. Vaul Rinder and his pack of miscreants arrived, so now Newt's in a three-way brawl with them and the Spessians. With any luck, they'll be able to keep each other pinned for a while, but I'm not keen on waiting around for them to pick a winner."

"Shit," Lady Avetha muttered. "Spessia's here?"

"Looks like, yeah."

"I'm done," Dr. Jenal declared, climbing down from the rig. "Everybody stand back."

The soldiers did as they were told, and the beast started to scream as the tubes running into its body began to heat up. The liquid ether within them began to boil, and the Titan's screams grew louder until the entire mechanism exploded, tearing a hole in the Titan's side. Then it slumped over in the rig, dead. Dr. Jenal sighed, tucking a folder under his arm.

"Shall we go?" he asked.

"I can clear us a path," Walraig offered, trying not to think about what he'd just seen. "The fighting in the courtyard is bound to reach us in a few minutes. When it does, I'll hold their attention and buy you and the doctor time to escape."

"No need," Lady Avetha said. "Finch?"

"It's working," Finch said, sticking her head out of the Titan ship toward the hangar's back. Slowly, the beast floated up, the engines sputtering and protesting but keeping it afloat nonetheless.

"Alright!" Lady Avetha shouted, ushering people toward the ship. "Everyone, on the—"

Something impacted the door behind Walraig, bending it inward. Immediately, the soldiers formed up on either side of him, and Dr. Jenal ran for the Titan ship.

"Get the hangar doors open!" Walraig said, activating his flight rings. He lunged to the side as a spike of earth tore through the door. As it crumbled, the woman from the courtyard stepped into the room, swinging her halberd and blasting a wave of loose rock through the ranks of the soldiers. Thankfully, Finch caught the rocks with a current of wind, blasting them back toward the Driver. She raised her glaive to block the attack, and while she was distracted, Walraig lunged for her, driving a ring into her stomach.

An ether shield erupted around her, stopping his attack cold, and a blast of lightning arced over their heads, striking Finch in the chest. Momentarily, Walraig's attention shifted to her, and his opponent used that slight mistake to press the advantage. The ether shield around her dropped, and she swung her glaive to catch Walraig's ring, knocking it down and forcing him to either back up or get skewered.

As he traded blows with the woman, a squadron of soldiers managed to heft and aim one of the Archelons' discarded cannons. As the thing whirred to life, Walraig leapt backward, and they struck the Driver dead-on with a shell. The recoil nearly knocked them all off their feet, but it managed to hit home, shattering the woman's weapon and throwing her back up the stairs. Before she could recover, Akatsuki threw up an ether shield in the entrance to keep her at bay.

"Time to go!" Lady Avetha shouted. The hangar doors were creaking open above them, and slowly, the Titan began to rise into the air. Finch was at the wheel, guiding it over and lowering the ramp so the rest of the soldiers could board. After all the soldiers got on, Akatsuki and Walraig leapt aboard, followed closely by Lady Avetha. Then they took off, barely clearing the doors above them.

"Take us out of the city," Lady Avetha said, leaning into the cockpit. Finch nodded and began steering the Titan away.

"Newt ordered me to bring the doctor to Colonel Robalt," Walraig said.

"Change of plans," she said. "If the docks fall, we lose the doctor. We're going to leave while we can still secure his safety."

"If you say so…"

Walraig leaned back and did his best not to think about it. It felt like going against orders, but Lady Avetha and Colonel Robalt shared similar rank. If she was making a judgement call, he couldn't argue.

Suddenly, the Titan shuddered and lurched. Just as it cleared the fortress's walls, something struck it, and it began falling. Walraig shot up and ran to a nearby window. The port engine was gone, and the Titan was struggling to stay in the air.

Then, a moment later, a blast of electricity arced out of the hangar, striking the Titan from behind. The sniper.

"Akatsuki!" Walraig shouted. "Shield, behind us!"

"Too late," Finch said, struggling with the controls. "She's going down. Everyone! Brace for impact!"

"Damnit!" Lady Avetha spat. "Get us as close to the docks as you can!"

"That'll be a rough landing."

"Just do it!"

"I'll protect everyone," Akatsuki said, manifesting small shields around everyone in the ship. He cannibalized Walraig's weapons as he did, pulling the ether from them and reorganizing it into more shields than a Blade should reasonably be capable of generating at a given time. Even then, he could only cover about half of the soldiers.

"Finch," Walraig said, sliding into the copilot's seat. "Help out with the shields."

"Sure," she said, floating back out of the cockpit. She began making shields to cover the people Akatsuki couldn't, and Walraig did his best to pilot the ship. He knew enough of the basics to try to steer the Titan, but it was dying, which made it a little uncooperative. Still, Lady Avetha's orders were to put the ship as close to the docks as possible, and he did his best to aim it in that direction.

Finch threw up a shield around him just before the Titan crashed into the city streets.

---

"Walraig!" Lady Avetha shouted, shaking him back to consciousness. "We need to move!"

"My notes!" someone shouted from further back in the Titan. After a moment, he realized it was Dr. Jenal. "Help me save my notes!"

"No time," Finch said.

Walraig tried to stand up, but something was pinning his legs. The cockpit had crumpled, and the controls were practically wrapped around his stomach. His shield must have broken during the crash.

"Help," he grunted, trying to push the twisted metal back with little success. As he strained to move, he could feel something move in his chest, and pain shot through him. Broken ribs?

Finch wedged her hammer into the space between Walraig's legs and the remainder of the Titan ship. Then, with a burst of ether, she drove the metal back, and Walraig did his best to scramble out, crawling over to Lady Avetha and Akatsuki at the far end of the Titan ship.

"Ribs," he said, wincing. Akatsuki nodded and began glowing, bathing him in a healing glow. Slowly, he could feel his ribs moving back into place, guided by Akatsuki's ether. After a moment, he managed to pull himself to his feet.

"They're coming," Lady Avetha said, glancing out the portside window. She held out her hand, and Finch tossed her the hammer. With one swing, she struck the ramp and forced it down, hanging open above the air beneath them. The ship was suspended between two buildings, and it was at least a dozen-ped drop to the ground. To make matters worse, gunfire began to strike the side of the Titan ship as the Spessians approached.

"Finch, get the soldiers to the ground," she said, grabbing a rifle from a nearby seat. She began firing toward the Spessians, and Walraig did the same. It wouldn't be a serious danger with their Titan hide armor, but it drew their attention while Finch created a column of wind to slow the soldiers' fall. One by one, they jumped out, riding her ether to the ground and engaging the Spessians directly. Unfortunately, only a handful of them had survived the crash.

"Is that safe?" Dr. Jenal asked, glancing out the ramp.

"Safer than staying up here," Finch replied. She flew out the ramp and fired a blast of wind at the Spessians to disrupt their ranks.

"I'm not jumping to my death," the doctor said, stepping back.

"Doctor, we—" Lady Avetha began to say something, but Walraig grabbed him by the collar before she got started. He whistled, and Akatsuki snatched Dr. Jenal by the scruff of his neck. Then, before the doctor could protest, Akatsuki leapt from the ship, twisting around to cushion their fall with his body.

"No time to argue," Walraig said, stepping off the ramp himself. As he hit the ground, however, he felt one of his ribs crack again, and he barely managed to stumble out of the way of Lady Avetha's descent. He collapsed next to Akatsuki, and Dr. Jenal scrambled out of the way, letting the Blade get to his feet and resume his healing.

"Doctor!" someone from the Spessian forces shouted. Walraig could see the woman with the glaive standing atop one of the buildings the Titan ship had crashed through, further back. "They'll never let you complete your work! They're scared of it! Come with us, and we'll—"

"Time to go," Lady Avetha said, grabbing Dr. Jenal by the shoulder and dragging him away. They ran from the wreckage, and the Spessian forces followed them as they headed for the docks.

"Colonel Robalt won't be happy about this," Walraig said, trying to keep low as the Spessians fired at them.

"He's never happy," Lady Avetha said. "Dropping a Spessian battalion on him might at least give him something to do."

"I'm going to have a word with the Colonel about this," Dr. Jenal said. "The loss of my prototypes I can understand, but my notes? We're setting the Empire's efforts back a decade!"

"You're alive," Lady Avetha replied. "Everything else is a secondary concern."

"Idiotic," the doctor muttered. Walraig was about to say something when a Spessian lunged at him from behind. He didn't move out of the way in time, and the soldier struck his leg with a blade, forcing him to his knees. Immediately, he responded in kind, driving the bayonet on the end of his rifle through the Spessian's visor. But he'd put too much force behind the swing, and the bayonet wouldn't come free. The Spessians were practically on top of them, but he couldn't get the rifle to budge. And without his rings, he didn't have anything else to fight back with.

As he wrestled with the weapon, a blast of wind ether ripped through the area, knocking everyone off their feet. He looked up to see a Blade, a woman made of paper, tearing through the Spessian forces with a pair of swords.

"Doctor!" the new Blade shouted, taking to the air with a halberd in her hands. Walraig didn't have time to wonder where she'd gotten it from. "Doctor Jenal, I need—"

A blast of lightning struck her from behind, tearing through her chest and striking the ground between them and her. She crashed, and Walraig wrenched the soldier next to him aside before another bolt of lightning could strike. Spikes of earth shot up around the new Blade, and she cut them down with waves of air ether. Whoever she was, she was at least drawing the Spessians' attention for the time being, and that bought them all time to get moving again.

Before Walraig could relax, however, a wave of water crashed into him. He and a few other soldiers were washed back toward the Spessians as Gorg dropped into their midst. Finch collided with Gorg, and as the two traded blows, Rinder's mercenaries emerged from the building next to them. Thankfully, Akatsuki tossed Walraig a new pair of rings, and he rushed forward, meeting Rinder as the man reached the street.

He attempted to swing through the man's head, but Rinder caught his wrist, trying to twist his arm out of the way and break his guard. Before he could, Walraig kneed him in the stomach, then and slammed his head into Rinder's, forcing the man to step back. They backed away from each other, and Gorg rushed to his Driver's side, trying to knock out Walraig's feet with a blast of water. Before he could, however, Akatsuki struck him with a blast of light. Fire erupted all across his body, and he was forced to take his attention off the fight, giving Finch the opportunity to blast him through a nearby wall.

"Finch, deal with the Blade!" Lady Avetha shouted, running further down the alley. Walraig could see Dr. Jenal just ahead of her. Finch crashed into Gorg as he emerged from the building, then dragged him up the side of the façade and hurled him out across the rooftops. The two chased after each other, but after a moment, Walraig lost sight of them. Rinder's weapon lost its ether, but he didn't look concerned. His mercenaries outnumbered Walraig's men two to one, and they were moving after Lady Avetha.

Walraig rushed forward, striking out and forcing Rinder back. And while he kept up the pressure on their leader, Akatsuki began tearing into the rest of the mercenaries, slashing open the nearest one's stomach before moving onto the others. Still, it was all Walraig could do to hold Rinder back. His injuries were slowing him down, despite the patch job Akatsuki had given him, so the man had no trouble evading his movements. But he still didn't have a Blade to protect him, so for the moment, the two of them caught each other in a bitter stalemate.

Walraig dove low, aiming to slice one of Rinder's kneecaps, and the man backed up. Immediately, Walraig pivoted, swinging his ring up to strike Rinder's chin, but he swung his axe down at Walraig's head, forcing him to twist and block the strike with his other ring. His weapon cut into Rinder's, now that it no longer had ether running through it, but hardly mattered. Now that he was in close, Rinder drew a gun and fired point-blank at Walraig's chest. His armor stopped the bullet from killing him, but it did throw him back, giving Rinder the opening he needed to go after Lady Avetha.

"Move!" Walraig shouted, scrambling to his feet. The handful of soldiers still left ran with him after Rinder and his mercenaries. Akatsuki ran ahead, trying to lunge for Rinder, but a pair of Urayans grabbed him and forced him to the ground. He spun, raking claws through them, but Rinder didn't seem to care.

Before Walraig could reach him, he caught up with Lady Avetha and leapt, tossing a blue crystal at her. She struck it aside, and water ether burst out of it, throwing her back. She rolled along the ground and sprang back up, but by the time she did, Rinder was already standing next to Dr. Jenal. He put his axe up to the man's neck, and the Ardainian forces all ground to a halt.

"You're making a mistake," Lady Avetha said, getting to her feet.

"Mor Ardain makes a habit of taking from everyone else," Rinder said. "I figure you deserve a taste of your own medicine."

"And this has nothing to do with House Vaerin's coup?"

"Two birds." Rinder shrugged. "You know how it is."

"I know you're savages, but I didn't expect this," Walraig said. "Fighting amongst yourselves? Is there no low to which you won't stoop?"

"We're not putting up with House Selosia's shit any longer," Rinder spat. "And if it means taking the crown and taking Mor Ardain down a peg? Even an idiot like you can do the math on that one. We're just doing what it takes to win."

"If you take Dr. Jenal, no one wins," Lady Avetha said.

"My work will make or break entire nations," Dr. Jenal said. "The way I see it, whoever wants to pay for it deserves the rewards."

"Traitor!" Walraig shouted. He nearly attacked Dr. Jenal right there, but Lady Avetha put a hand on his wrist.

"A pyrrhic victory," she said. "If you use those weapons, we all lose."

"Is that why you burned my notes?" Dr. Jenal asked. Lady Avetha didn't reply, but the look on her face gave the answer away all the same. "I thought as much. If your boss wants to pay me, Urayan, then I'll cooperate."

"I can't let you do that," Lady Avetha said.

"You can't stop us," Rinder replied. "What are you going to do without your Blade?"

"I think you're forgetting about someone," Walraig growled. He whistled, lunging forward, and Akatsuki did the same. But before they could reach Rinder, tendrils of ether wrapped around Akatsuki, dragging him to the ground. Walraig's weapons lost power, and Rinder managed to deflect the strike with ease.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," a woman said, emerging from behind Rinder. She had long, auburn hair and held aloft a mendicant's staff. A triangular Core Crystal burned on her chest. "But the Praetorium doesn't see any point in letting this continue. I am Fan la Norne, Blade to Praetor Amalthus, and under the articles of the Concords of Negaris I demand you relinquish the good doctor to me."

"The Praetor needn't concern himself with our worldly matters," Lady Avetha said. "I can assure you I'll deal with the doctor properly."

"Cowards, the lot of you," Dr. Jenal muttered. "You would destroy humanity's progress so readily?"

"I'm trying to save lives," Lady Avetha said. "War mongering will only bring us ruin."

"I don't want to hear that from an Ardainian bitch!" Rinder shouted. "And if the Praetorium thinks it can boss us around any longer, you're sorely mistaken!"

"Sir," Walraig muttered. "What do we do?"

"We protect the Empire," Lady Avetha replied. "That weapon is a threat. If Dr. Jenal won't cooperate, we kill him. Under no circumstances can he leave this city."

"You would break the Concords?" Fan asked.

"If it's for the good of the Empire, I'll do whatever it takes."

"Fuck this," Rinder said. "It's nice to see an Ardainian with a conscience, but I'm afraid you're too little, too late. We're done playing by your rules."

He struck another crystal and tossed it at Walraig. Everyone scrambled back as it exploded, and in the chaos, he took off with the doctor.

Fan released Akatsuki, and they all took off after Rinder. He and his men were fast, even without Gorg, but they were on the defensive now. And shots began to ring out from their right as the Spessians rejoined the fray. The three groups exchanged fire between each other as they all headed in the same direction. The docks.

The Urayans were the first to arrive, and immediately Colonel Robalt's men began to fire on them too. Then, as they tried to run, the Spessians looped around to cut them off. Stuck between two hostile groups, they had no choice but to retreat to the center of the square, hunkering down inside a fountain. For a moment, they drew everyone's attention, allowing Walraig and Lady Avetha to join up with the Colonel. There was a Praetorium ship at the docks as well, blocking some of the civilian transports from docking and evacuating the people still left huddled behind the soldiers.

"Colonel," Lady Avetha said. He nodded.

"This is a mess," he replied, surveying the battlefield. "How did the Urayans get their hands on my scientist?"

"He turned traitor," Walraig said. "He's more loyal to money than his homeland, it seems."

"Loyal to his life, more like," the Colonel said. "You didn't threaten to kill him, did you?"

"Only after he defected," Walraig said.

"I wasn't asking you, Captain. Tell me, Lady Avetha, did you manage to secure his research notes, at least?"

"There wasn't enough time," she said. "They burned up in the crash."

"That Titan ship was you, then?"

"Not my proudest moment," Walraig said. "I take full responsibility, sir."

"Be quiet," Colonel Robalt hissed, turning to glare at him momentarily. "I've no doubt you did your best, but aiding and abetting a traitor is a serious crime."

"I didn't know the doctor—"

"I'm not talking about the doctor. Lady Avetha has been in contact with a pair of Urayan mercenaries for weeks. She intends to hand Dr. Jenal to them."

Walraig laughed at that. Lady Avetha was the most loyal soldier he had ever had the pleasure of serving alongside. He must've been mistaken. Or maybe it was some kind of Urayan trick, to make them turn on each other. Whatever the case, he wasn't falling for it.

"With all due respect, sir, that's preposterous."

"Would you have preferred I killed him?" she asked, returning the Colonel's glare. As she did, she began to step to the side, and Walraig turned to stare at her, dumbfounded.

"Don't tell me…"

"Apologies, Captain," she said. "But we can't let him finish those weapons. It'll be the death of the Empire."

"It will secure our dominance for generations," Colonel Robalt said. "Captain Walraig, take this traitor into custody."

He didn't move.

"Captain! I am ordering you to take this woman into custody!"

"Yes sir," he muttered. He raised one of his rings and placed it to Lady Avetha's throat.

"Wake up, Robalt!" she shouted. "The Praetorium is already here! If we follow through with this, if you drag Dr. Jenal back here and force him to make you that bomb, they'll descend on us like locusts! We'll be giving every other nation the excuse they need to rally behind Uraya and fight back! We'll lose everything! I won't sit by and watch my country ruin itself for one pitiful man's delusions of grandeur!"

"That's enough out of you!" the Colonel shouted. "Captain, take Lady Avetha—"

Walraig lowered his ring from her neck and stepped back.

"What do you think you're doing!?"

"She's right," he said. "The Praetor's already sent a Legatus. It's over."

"The Empress has ordered the construction of this weapon personally! Will you defy and Imperial decree!?"

"If it means saving my people, then yes," Lady Avetha said. "Thank you, Captain."

She ran, making a beeline for the Urayan forces. Walraig moved to follow her, to give her some assistance, but before he could, Colonel Robalt placed a pistol against his leg and pulled the trigger. He collapsed, and Akatsuki leapt to his side to guard him. But the Colonel wasn't focused on him anymore. And all he could do was watch as the Colonel began barking out orders.

"Kill that traitor!" he screamed. Immediately, the soldiers shifted targets, and a dozen bullets cut through Lady Avetha before she'd even made it halfway across the square.

---

"Captain," Colonel Robalt said, stepping into the brig. "Have you come to your senses yet?"

"Lady Avetha was a patriot," Walraig said. He sat inside a cell, hands and feet bound with ether netting. "Is that what we do now, sir? Kill patriots?"

"She disobeyed a direct order."

"Why do we follow orders?"

"I…" Colonel Robalt frowned. "I don't understand."

"We follow orders because we are loyal to our country. To our people." Walraig stood up and stared at Colonel Robalt. "Not to you. If you threaten my country, sir, then I'll fight you without hesitation."

"It's my country too, Captain," Colonel Robalt said. "I have a duty to protect the people, by any means necessary. You talk of patriotism, but you don't have the strength to make the sacrifices necessary for your country to prosper. If you did, you wouldn't be standing in a cell waiting for an imperial court martial."

"We put our lives on the line for your ambition, and for what? Thirty-two men died getting Dr. Jenal to that courtyard, only for him to betray us at the first turn. And yet you still chose him over the soldiers under your command. You chose to help a traitor and kill a patriot."

"The system demands we make hard choices. If you can't understand that, then you obviously have no place in service to your country."

"Fuck your system!" Walraig shouted, slamming his hands against the bars. "It threw away the lives of my brothers and sisters for nothing! It lets a coward like you murder good Ardainian men and women and call it sacrifice!"

"I would rather have burned Dr. Jenal's work and be done with it. I would rather those thirty-two soldiers have survived. But I don't have a choice. I am under orders from the Empress, and she demands a weapon. It is not my place to argue."

"Then the Empress is as much a traitor as Dr. Jenal was," Walraig spat. For a moment, neither man spoke.

"You're a good soldier, Walraig," Colonel Robalt said, opening the door. "I had hoped you'd come around and we'd be able to avoid all of this. But you've made your bed. Lie in it."

"Fuck you!" Walraig shouted as Colonel Robalt left the brig. He slumped back onto the cot in his cell. He hadn't meant to say everything he'd said. He'd wanted to apologize for stepping out of line at the docks. But sitting in the dark, waiting for someone to decide what to do with him, he'd realized something. The military didn't care about its soldiers. The Empress didn't care about her people. The only thing that mattered to them was grabbing power and keeping it. They were Mor Ardain's greatest enemy, even more than the Urayan and Spessian savages.

He had to escape, but more than that, he couldn't let them win. He needed to keep his people safe, to uphold the patriotism that Lady Avetha had died for, and to do that he'd need to destroy the military command. But he wasn't foolish enough to think he could do that alone. What he really needed was an army of his own, and right now all he had was a Blade locked up in a suspension chamber.

As he sat and thought through his options, someone else entered the brig, and he stood up to give this new visitor his best glare. They were a staff sergeant, by their insignia.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"Soldiers like you are a rare sight these days," she said. "It'd be a shame to let a patriot like you rot away in prison."

She produced a set of keys and unlocked the door to Walraig's cell, but he waited for her to step back before he ventured to leave the cell.

"What's the catch?" he asked.

"No catch." The soldier took a step forward and unlocked his cuffs. "I just overheard your conversation with the Colonel. There are more of us that agree with you than you'd think."

"Can I ask your name?"

"Corinne," she said, removing her helmet. She had darker skin and blue hair, and her accent was Leftherian. Immigrant parents, maybe? He instinctually recoiled at that, but if she was here to free him, then he wouldn't hold it against her too much.

"I don't recognize you," Walraig said. "Are you part of the Manannán's crew?"

"No," she replied. "I'm from the Seventh Battalion. Or what's left of it. The senior staff ordered us to take Vastrix a month ago. One of the Spessian colonies toward the head. Neutral territory, officially, but they were suspected of sheltering Urayan soldiers. The siege was short and bloody. We were under orders not to let anyone leave the city alive, and we didn't. Only we realized after it was over that we hadn't been killing soldiers. They were refugees. On our way back to Saihate, hoping to get some sort of explanation for what we'd just done, the Spessians caught up to us and practically wiped us out. Probably the same group that hit the city today. Only a handful of us made it to the city alive. All of us are sick and tired of fighting the military's pointless wars."

Walraig had heard about the massacre in Vastrix, but he didn't think it had been nearly that bad. Even if they were just Spessians, it was still foolish for the brass to order an attack like that. Further proof that they cared more about maintaining control than Mor Ardain's prosperity.

"My condolences," Walraig said. "Is that why you're freeing me?"

"I want justice, sir," Corinne said. "My comrades deserve better than this."

"We all do. But we can't be satisfied with revenge. We need to secure freedom for Mor Ardain. Freedom from the tyrants in the military senior command. Are you willing to go to war with your country to save it?"

"Without question, sir," she said, saluting. "What are your orders?"

"First, we're getting my Blade out of confinement," Walraig said. "Then we're getting off this ship. There's bound to be more soldiers who've realized the truth, and we're going to find them."

"Yes sir," she said, stepping aside. "Blade confinement's this—"

A gunshot rang out behind them. Instantly, Corinne threw herself to the ground, and Walraig ducked behind the door to the brig.

"Captain!" Colonel Robalt shouted, aiming his pistol at them. "If you take one step outside that room, I shoot!"

"Get bent!" Walraig shouted back. "You don't give me orders anymore!"

"You insufferable little—"

Corinne pulled her own sidearm and shot the gun out of the Colonel's hand. With him at gunpoint, she scrambled to her feet and tossed the keys to Walraig.

"Go!" she shouted, keeping her gun trained on Colonel Robalt until they were out of sight. Then they tore off running, heading straight for Blade confinement. He knew the general layout of an ITS battleship-class Titan, but the Manannán was chock full of civilians fleeing the city, so he had to take a detour to avoid the hangar they were concentrated in.

"Third cell on the left," Corinne said, crouching in the doorway as Walraig fumbled with the keys. She kept her gun trained on the hallway, but Walraig could hear footsteps echoing from nearby. They'd be surrounded soon if they didn't get moving. He had to try a few keys to open the cell Corinne had pointed out, but eventually it worked. He threw the door open, and Akatsuki was sitting in the middle of the room. Unfortunately, so was Newt, crouching next to Akatsuki's head.

Walraig didn't have time to think, so he acted. He rushed Newt before she realized who he was and grabbed her sword, using it to slice open his Blade's ether netting. One of Newt's arms batted him aside a moment later, and the impact as he hit the wall knocked the wind out of him. But he'd still gotten the job done. Akatsuki was free.

His Blade lunged, sending out a blinding flash of light, and as Newt backed up, he sunk his teeth into her neck. She grabbed him, unleashing a burst of flames from her hands, but it took her several seconds to finally pry him off. When she did, he took a large chunk of her neck with him. Walraig scrambled to his feet, and the pair were out of the cell before Newt could recover. Walraig locked the cell behind him. It wouldn't stop her, but it'd buy them a few seconds.

"Rings," Akatsuki said. He manifested a pair in his mouth and tossed them to Walraig.

"We should go," Corinne said as Walraig joined her in the hallway. Before he could reply, she fired a shot at a soldier who was approaching. Not to kill, just to ward them off. It wouldn't keep working, but Walraig doubted she was comfortable killing other Ardainians. It made sense. He wasn't either.

The cell door exploded as they ran down the hallway, and Akatsuki took the rear, periodically winging blasts of light behind them with flicks of his tail.

"I take it we're not returning to Mor Ardain," Akatsuki said as they ran.

"Not with them," Walraig replied. "I'm done following orders. Does that work for you?"

"You're the Driver," Akatsuki said. "You make the—" A blast of flame struck him, and he stumbled. Walraig whirled around, swinging his rings at Newt's head, but she caught them with one of her large hands and punched him in the stomach. He flew back¸ right past Corinne, who whirled around and began firing at Newt. Newt extended a shield around herself, deflecting the incoming bullets, but it gave Akatsuki an opening to lunge at her. He raked his claws through her shield, shattering it, and Corinne put a bullet in Newt's eye before she could get it back up.

She staggered back, one hand attempting to dig the bullet out, and while she was distracted, Walraig placed one of his rings on his feet and shot forward. He crashed into Newt, driving his other ring through her neck, but in response she grabbed him and began blasting him with jets of fire.

It rolled over Walraig, and without any armor to protect himself, his skin started to burn. The pain made it very hard to stay conscious, but he persevered, striking Newt again and slicing her head from her shoulders. She was a Blade, so it wouldn't kill her, but it did force her to drop him while she attempted to retrieve it. Immediately, he swung his foot around and blasted himself back, right into a wall of Akatsuki's light. They were really pushing the limits on how many injuries one Blade could heal in a single day, but still, he at least managed to put the flames out.

"Thanks," Walraig muttered, staggering to his feet. As they took off down the hallway again, Newt swung her katana after them, unleashing a wall of fire that Akatsuki barely managed to block with an ether shield. With her smaller arms, she picked up her head and ran after them, screaming incoherently.

"Lifeboats are this way," Corinne said, leading them toward the upper hanger. Mostly harmless flares from Akatsuki kept the pursuing soldiers from getting too close or taking shots at them that might otherwise prove fatal. When they finally made it, there was a collection of about a dozen soldiers waiting for them, clustered around one of the lifeboats.

"The Colonel anticipated us," Walraig muttered. "How many bullets do you have left?"

"They're not here to stop us," Corinne replied. She walked forward, and a few of the soldiers raised their guns at Walraig. Akatsuki jumped in front, growling, but Corinne put out a hand.

"Who is he?" one of the soldiers asked. "What did you do?"

"He's like us," she said, putting a hand on his gun. Slowly, she lowered it. "He's our way out."

"Are you the Seventh Battalion?" Walraig asked. Hesitantly, a few of the soldiers nodded. "I'm going to set this country free from the grasp of tyranny. Are you willing to help me?"

"How are you going to do that?" one of the soldiers asked.

"Well, step one is we get the fuck off this ship," he said, striding forward. "Then we'll need reinforcements. After that, we strike back. Now let's go."

After a moment, the soldiers followed Walraig onto the Titan. They all settled on the upper deck, keeping an eye out as Walraig started up the beast. Just as he was about to take off, however, a gunshot rang out. Walraig stepped out of the cockpit to see Colonel Robalt and Newt standing on the other side of the hangar, backed by several dozen soldiers.

"Captain!" the Colonel shouted. "This is your last chance! Surrender, or I will kill you!"

"Like you killed Lady Avetha!?" Walraig shouted back. He didn't wait for a reply. "I'm not one of your tin soldiers, Colonel! You don't control me!"

"Idiot! Without me, without the Empire, you're nothing!"

"Do you hear that!?" Walraig asked, looking across the gathered soldiers. "He thinks you're all nothing! Worthless! Expendable! Are you going to give your lives to a brute like him!? Someone who'd throw it away without a second thought!?"

Some of the soldiers lowered their guns and looked around between each other. Seeing the Colonel order Lady Avetha's execution had probably given a few of them pause. Walraig's words were resonating on some level, even if no one wanted to be the first one to turn traitor. Eventually, however, one of the soldiers stepped forward.

Instantly, Colonel Robalt aimed his sidearm at the soldier. A gunshot rang out, and the Colonel dropped his gun, clutching his ruined hand. Corinne had shot first, and slowly, the soldier walked crossed the no man's land and up the ramp of the ship.

"That's the difference between you and me, Colonel," Walriag said. "I don't take Ardainian lives."

A handful of other soldiers broke ranks and joined them, and though Colonel Robalt glared at them, he didn't do anything to stop them. He even put his hand on Newt's katana as she drew it, shaking his head. After no one else seemed willing to move, Walraig stepped back into the cockpit and piloted them away from the battleship. He suspected that, had the Urayans not destroyed the cannons, Colonel Robalt would have shelled them to hell and back the moment they hit the Cloud Sea. But as it was, nothing stopped them.

"Thank you all for joining me," Walraig said, stepping out to address his new troops. "I know it wasn't an easy decision, but you've proved to the military that you won't be a slave any longer. You are free."

"Are we criminals, now?" one of the soldiers asked.

"We're freedom fighters. Our people suffer under the tyranny of an unjust government. You wouldn't be here if you didn't believe that. We're going to fix that. Like Emperor Lugh, we're going to unite Mor Ardain under a new banner. We will be the spear that pierces the side of tyrants and breaks the shackles of our people. From now on, we are Brionac, and we will set Mor Ardain free."

---

Walraig slid under the blast of fire and lunged up at the Empress, but she was ready and waiting for him. One sword deflected his strike, while the other swung around and aimed to cleave him in two. He barely had time to jump out of the way, and as he did, he tried to angle the ether jets on his feet toward her, to push her back. But she fought her way through it and swept her swords out, extending them into whips and unleashing a cascade of flames at him. Akatsuki managed to put up a shield just before they struck, but the force of the blast still knocked him back into the nearby wall.

"Walraig!" Corinne shouted, leaping from the Titan with her guns drawn and running back to help him. Walraig tried to tell her to stop, but her attention was already focused on the Empress. The woman was too damn stubborn for her own good, sometimes.

The Empress turned, pointing a sword at Corinne and unleashing a blast of flame, but she rolled out of the way, firing her pistols as she sprang back to her feet. With one swing of her sword, the Empress blocked the shots and threw out another blast of fire, forcing Corinne back.

"Forget it!" Walraig shouted, staggering back to his feet. "Just get the men out of here!"

"No!" Corinne shouted back. "Not without you!"

"Admirable," the Empress said. "Loyalty is always to be commended. But loyalty among traitors counts for very little. Surrender, and I will give you a quick death."

"Fuck you," Corinne said. She fired again, and an ether shield went up around the Empress. A moment later, her Blade emerged from the building, dragging Akatsuki by his neck. He was thrashing around, tearing into her with everything he could muster, but nothing he did managed to break her grip.

Immediately, Corinne swapped one gun to Brighid, firing at both targets as she dodged around the Empress's blasts of flame. Rather than do anything to stop her, Brighid simply put up a shield around her Core Crystal, but Corinne hadn't aimed to kill. The bullet struck Brighid's other hand, forcing her to let go of Akatsuki, and the moment he was free, he ran for Walraig. The man grabbed onto his Blade's mane, too injured to run properly himself, and the two of them beat a retreat for the Titan ship while Corrine covered them.

Unfortunately, her suppressing fire wasn't nearly as threatening to the Empress as he might have hoped. She lunged for him, ignoring Corinne entirely, and frantically he raised a foot to defend himself. It hadn't worked before, but he didn't have any other options. Before she could reach him, however, a massive blast of ice erupted between them, throwing the Empress back into the wall. Brighid swept her hands out, and a torrent of blue flame melted the ice in an instant, but a moment later, another blast exploded behind her, knocking her to the ground.

"What was that?" Corinne asked, stopping just short of the Titan's ramp. He could tell she wanted to keep up the fight, now that the tables had turned. But Walraig knew better than to go up against the Jewel of Mor Ardain, even two-on-one. It wasn't a fight they could win, outside help or no.

"Who knows," he replied. As Akatuki leapt up into the Titan, he grabbed onto the ramp entrance and hauled himself to his feet again. They were barely working, but he could at least shuffle his way over to a seat. Then, with one loud bang against the back wall, he signaled Arrodh to take off.

"We're leaving?" Corinne asked. "We can beat her."

"No, we most certainly cannot," Walraig said. He offered her a hand, and she hesitated for a moment more before taking it and stepping onto the ramp herself. "Throwing away our lives here won't do any good. Better we live to fight another day."

As the Titan took off, joining the rest of Brionac's ragtag fleet as they fled the city, Walraig collapsed into a nearby chair. They'd been on the run for weeks, almost nonstop. It had pushed him past his limits a while ago, but they couldn't afford to just roll over, so he'd dealt as best he could.

"Whoever that ice Blade back there was could use our help," Corinne said. "They saved our lives."

"We need to look after ourselves first."

"Oh come on," a voice said, startling Walraig out of his seat. "Ya' could at least say thanks."

Walraig scrambled back, pointing his rings at where the voice had come from. After a moment, he heard laughter, and the air began to shimmer, revealing a strange Blade sitting in the seat next to his.

She was tall, with light blue skin and shimmering white hair. She wore a red and orange striped poncho pulled over what looked like old Ardainian armor, and she had a large wide-brimmed hat on her head. Like Corinne, she had two pistols holstered on her legs.

"Howdy!" she said, smiling at them. "I noticed y'all come into town a few days ago. Figured ya' could use the help."

"That was you back there?" Corinne asked.

"Sure was!" The Blade stood up and offered a hand. Corinne shook it, and after a moment's hesitation, so did Walraig. "The name's Nal. Some people call me the Shattered Blade, on account of my core."

She pulled her poncho down, exposing a set of six diamonds on her chest. They spread out, like petals of a flower, but something was growing over them. A dark, purple-red substance.

"You're a Flesh Eater," Walraig noted.

"Sure am. That isn't gonna be a problem, is it?"

"Not particularly." He shrugged. "You're here to help us?"

"Y'all have the empire after you, same as me. I figured we could help each other."

"We'll take all the help we can get," Corinne said, cutting Walraig off before he could ask any more questions. She was always eager to bring on more recruits, and she never listened when he insisted they be cautious. But he didn't have the energy to argue with her, so he let it slide. "Welcome to Brionac, Nal."

Walraig sat back as the two of them talked. They seemed to connect, on a level, and he let them get to know each other. He had more important things to worry about at the moment. They needed a new base, and they needed to figure out a way to keep the Empress from tracking them. But they were making progress. Slowly but surely, they were growing. And if they could keep the momentum up, they just might win.

---

"This is a mistake," Corinne said.

"We need funds," Akatsuki replied. "Brionac can't survive on hopes and dreams forever. Our soldiers need to eat. The Osirian Treaty is making it very hard to secure support from the Nopon Guilds, even the ones that want Mor Ardain off their Titan."

"That doesn't mean we should join up with assholes like them."

"Akatsuki is right," Walraig said.

"Really, Walraig?" Corinne asked, hands on her hips. "I expected better from you. They're scum. Career politicians that make a living exploiting the hard-working people of Mor Ardain. They're as much the problem as the Empress or the Grand Marshall."

"Where are we going to get the money, Corinne?"

She was silent.

"I don't like it either, but we can't fight the Empire on an empty stomach. Let's at least hear them out. If you don't like what they're offering, then we walk away."

"…Alright," she said, sighing. "Fine." She pressed a button on the wall's intercom. "Arrodh, let them up. Tell them we'll hear what they have to say."

Their guests had been unexpected ones. Duthract had been under Ardainian occupation for three centuries, so some of the older generations considered themselves Ardainian, but the younger people were attempting to get back in touch with their pre-Ardainian roots. And there were enough old grudges here that very few of the citizens minded Brionac taking up residence in the old industrial zones, at least so long as they didn't cause too much trouble. Supplies were limited, but they had armaments and recruits to spare. But if two senators had managed to find them, it was probably time to move headquarters. Again. He'd have to talk to Nal about changing up her illusions once they settled on their next location.

"Welcome," Walraig said, opening his arms as the elevator doors opened. He and Corinne were sitting in a pair of chairs, with Akatsuki stretched out on the floor between them. Nal hadn't wanted to be a part of any "stuffy negotiations", so she'd gone out on patrol.

"It's our pleasure," the first man said, stepping out of the elevator. He was middle-aged, probably newly elected and wanting to make a name for himself. "My name is Senator Roderich, and this is my partner, Senator Stulc."

The two men walked forward, and Walraig motioned to the chairs sitting opposite him. As they took their seats, however, a third man stepped out of the elevator, hanging near the back of the room. He had a sword and a firearm hanging from his belt, and he looked rather familiar, though Walraig couldn't quite place why.

"Who's the spook?" Corinne asked.

"Oh, this is Eandraig," Roderich said, smiling. "He's a friend of ours here to ensure our safety."

"Eandraig…" Walraig muttered. After a moment, the man's identity clicked. When he'd graduated from the officer's academy, a member of the royal family had given the commencement. Duke Eandraig, the Empress's brother-in-law.

"Special Inquisitor Eandraig?" Walraig asked. The man didn't reply.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Corinne muttered. She stood up and grabbed for her sidearm, but Eandraig drew his before she could.

"I'm not here to kill you," he said.

"I find that hard to believe," Corinne replied.

"Not much point in it anyway," Walraig said, putting his hand on Corinne's arm. "Akatsuki here can get a shield up faster than the Special Inquisitor can pull that trigger."

"Debatable," Senator Stulc said. He was older than Roderich, and consequently, more embittered. Less willing to play ball, though Walraig probably preferred that, in this case. If they were going to talk, it at least needed to be an honest conversation.

"Calm down, everybody," Roderich said. "Let's not get ourselves worked up. We're here to discuss business, remember? The Special Inquisitor just volunteered to tag along and make sure things went smoothly."

"He's doing a pretty shite job of that," Corinne said. Nevertheless, she eventually sat back down, and Eandraig holstered his pistol, returning to glowering at them from the far wall.

"What do you want?" Akatsuki asked.

"You're all aggrieved," Roderich said. "Understandable, given how the Osirian War turned out."

"It wasn't just the outcome," Corinne said. "Having nothing to show for six years of fighting is bad enough, but for most of us that war was a wakeup call. We realized the Empire didn't care about our lives one way or the other. They'd sent us to die for no good reason at all."

"I couldn't agree more," Roderich said. "Empress Liùsaidh is a great many things, but restrained is not one of them. Still, the Empire needs land."

"So you can exploit it like you exploited Mor Ardain?" Corinne asked. "Drain it dry while good people suffer?"

"No one wants to repeat the past," Stulc said. "We know that better than anyone. But crop yields are decreasing with each harvest. We need to feed our people somehow."

"She's planning another invasion," Walraig said, reading between the lines.

"We suspect so, yes," Roderich said. "It won't be for another few years, at least, but she's going to try what she did in Osiria again, this time on a less developed target. Probably Gormott. And this time, we suspect she'll succeed."

"Did you come here to gloat?" Corinne asked.

"Hardly. We came because despite what the military thinks, you all are a reasonable lot. You understand that our people need to eat, but you also understand that the imperial system needs to go. Even if we disagree on some of the finer points, I'm willing to work with people who can recognize the basics."

"Work with us how?" Akatsuki asked.

"We'll provide you funding. Discreetly, of course. And intelligence as well. Information on some targets you've been trying to go after that would be hard to hit otherwise."

"What do you get out of it?"

"We know you're planning to kill the Empress," Stulc said. Corinne and Akatsuki both bristled at that. "We're not idiots. We don't care what you do, so long as you hold off on killing her until after the invasion."

"You want us to let her live!?" Corinne shouted.

"She's volatile, yes, but without her to rally the troops, we'll have a hard time expanding any further," Roderich said. "We need her, at least until the invasion is over with. But she can't stick around long-term. We need a more stable ruler. So after the invasion, she's all yours."

"And her brother-in-law isn't going to stop us?" Walraig asked, glancing at the Special Inquisitor.

"As long as my daughter succeeds her, then I don't care," Eandraig said. "The senators have already guaranteed as much. So long as you can ensure their safety, and my daughter's, then I'll play along."

"Sorry," Corinne said. "But it sounds like you're planning to have another Empress succeed Liùsaidh."

"Mòrag will be ruler for the transitionary period, at least," Stulc said. "Once the people have settled down and we've brought the army to heel, we can work out who needs replacing among the upper ranks. Overhaul the whole military and political class."

"It's not just about them!" Corinne shouted. "The system itself is a plague on our people! The whole imperial bureaucracy needs to go, not just a few bad seeds!"

"We understand your frustration, but that's not realistic," Roderich said. "We've a plan for long-term change, if you'd be willing to commit to working with us more closely."

"And I bet your long-term plan just so happens to keep the two of you in charge."

"Where does a Leftherian like you get off lecturing an Ardainian about who should be in charge?" Stulc asked. "Your people don't even have a government to speak of. Why should you be the one deciding how we run ours?"

"I'm not listening to any more of this shite," Corinne spat. "Come on, Walraig, let's get this over with."

She stood up to draw her gun again, but Walraig put up a hand to stop her. He stared at the senators for a few moments, and Corinne stared at him.

"Walraig?"

"How much funding are you offering?" he asked, ignoring her. He felt sick doing it.

"Walraig!"

"Senator Stulc and I are members of the appropriations committee," Roderich said, smiling. Walraig wanted to kill the man right then and there, but he needed to keep his people in the fight. It was too important. "We secure funding for military projects. We can get you all the money you'll ever need."

"Walraig!" Corinne shouted again. "Do not even think abou—!" Walraig stood up and cut her off.

"I'll need to discuss things with my partner before we give you our answer," he said. He walked off into another room, motioning for Corinne to follow him.

"You said if I didn't like it, we'd say no," she said, closing the door behind her. "Well, I don't like it. I say we kill the three of them and be done with it. It'll be another three targets off our list, and we don't need to play along with their sick shite."

"It's money, Corinne," Walraig replied. "More than we'll ever need. We'll be able to do a lot of good with it."

"They're playing you!" she shouted. "Don't be an idiot! If we take that money, we become mercenaries with aspirations. We'll be at the Empire's beck and call."

"All they're asking is we hold off on killing the Empress. We can prioritize other targets in the meantime."

"That's all they're asking now, sure, but what about a year down the line when we need that money to stay alive? What if they ask us to start targeting their political opponents, or other groups of dissidents, or just anyone they don't like the look of? They talk smooth ,but they are not our allies, Walraig. Don't fall for it."

"I'm aware. But what choice do we have? Our soldiers need to eat, and this'll get us the money to feed them. The moment they ask us to do something to support the Empire, we kill them and move on. All they're doing is buying a stay of execution, as far as I'm concerned."

"We can't let ourselves be bought at all," Corinne said. "I won't sit here and let you go through with this. If you take that deal, I'm walking."

"I…" Walraig stared at her. They'd had their share of wild adventures over the past five years. She'd had his back through thick and thin. She was as much his partner as Akatsuki was. Maybe even more so. But he had a duty to his people.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking away from her. "Good luck."

"Fuck you," she said, throwing the words at him with as much venom as she could muster. Then she stormed off.

After she left, he paused and took a moment to compose himself. He had to appear strong. After he was sure he wouldn't betray any emotion, he opened the doors.

"I'm skeptical," he said, returning to his seat. "But I think we can make this work. What do you say we take some time to hammer out the details, just the five of us?"

"Excellent," Roderich said, leaning forward and offering Walraig his hand. "I knew you'd make the right decision. Welcome to Lindwurm, Walraig."

Walraig shook the man's hand, and the sick feeling in his stomach multiplied tenfold.

---

The Empress's death had thrown their entire plan into disarray. According to Roderich, she'd died too soon. It would be harder to hold onto Gormott without her at the reins, though Walraig didn't mind either way. Mor Ardain could use Gormott's land, but so long as most of the army was over there running the occupation, they weren't here dealing with him. They'd set up their new base on Mor Ardain's back, just beneath the old, abandoned capital, and taken their time to plan out the Empress's death. Now that she was dead, it was a matter of ensuring a favorable outcome in the aftermath.

"Arrodh," he said, looking up at the man. "Any word from the other units?"

"Everyone's in position," Arrodh replied. "They're just waiting for the signal."

"Thank you," Walraig said, looking back through the scope. He and Arrodh were set up across the city from the funeral procession. It stretched from Port Anagham to Hardhaigh Palace, where the Consort was waiting with his children to give a speech. Mòrag was really the Special Inquisitor's daughter, but she'd been adopted into the royal family back when the Empress and the Consort had been having trouble conceiving. It had been all over the news during the final year of the Osirian War.

Walraig could see the Empress's body reach the gates of the palace. The Imperial Consort stood on stage, one child to either side, and Special Inquisitor Eandraig stood behind him, holding the pair of Core Crystals that he would bequeath to the next Emperor. That there was going to be a next Emperor at all infuriated Walraig, but at least Roderich wasn't getting his wish either. Niall, the Empress's legitimate son, was going to take the throne. Her early death had cost Roderich the time he'd needed to rally the senate behind Mòrag's claim, though according to the rumors, she hadn't been all that interested in the position in the first place.

As he trained the scope on Niall's head, though, he felt a little bad about what was about to happen. The kid was barely over ten years old, and Walraig was about to take his life. Still, he was royalty. He had to die for Mor Ardain to be free. Except…

Killing Niall put Mòrag on the throne. Which, by proxy, gave Special Inquisitor Eandraig control of the entire Empire. Nothing would be left to ensure he'd keep his word, and despite all the claims he'd made, he was still Liùsaidh's most loyal warrior. He wouldn't let traitors like them operate unopposed, even with the backing of a pair of influential senators. If Walraig was going to root out corruption, he needed to start at the top.

Right as Eandraig was about to hand over the Jewels to Niall, Walraig switched targets and put a bullet through the Special Inquisitor's head.

Instantly the crowd erupted into chaos. People were fleeing in every direction, and soldiers were looking around to identify the shooter. But Walraig kept his eye on Mòrag. The kid moved like lightning, grabbing one of the Core Crystals and manifesting a Blade in the blink of an eye. She stole a Jewel of Mor Ardain without a second thought. She had more balls than the entire military put together. Walraig could respect that.

Then she crouched over Niall, ordering her Blade to manifest a shield over the pair, and suddenly that respect was gone. She was still royalty. She still had to die.

But not today. There was no clear avenue of attack, especially against Brighid's Driver. Even if she was new, that Blade would cut through their forces with ease. Better to live to fight another day.

"Call off the attack," Walraig said, packing the sniper rifle away. "We're leaving."

"Are you sure?" Arrodh asked. "Senator Roderich won't be happy about this."

"No," Walraig said. "I imagine he won't. But we don't work for Senator Roderich, do we?"

"No," Arrodh said. "We fight for a free Mor Ardain."

"Damn straight," Walraig nodded. "Now let's get the fuck out of here."

---

"I've been thinking about this moment a lot for the last ten years," Walraig said, staring at Emperor Niall as the boy walked into the throne room. Walraig was waiting for him, leaning on the throne. Akatsuki stood on the other side, glowing faintly. "I could have killed you at your mother's funeral, but I didn't. I figured I'd get to you last, and your big sister stepped in and stopped me. I've been wondering ever since what would have happened if I'd done things differently. If I hadn't cut and run after killing the Special Inquisitor. Would it have changed anything?"

"I imagine it would have changed a great deal," Niall replied. "Mor Ardain likely would have been at war with Uraya within the year, if Senator Roderich got his way. A war we would have lost, though I'm sure he would have tried his best. We'd have kept Gormott, I think, but probably the treaty would have been rewritten, saddling us with more unfavorable terms. Another few years of pointless fighting, another few years of bitterness and hatred building up. You'd have flourished in that kind of environment. Maybe even built up enough momentum to topple the throne for good. Or taken it for yourself, perhaps. I'm still not sure which of the two you intend."

"I want Mor Ardain to be free."

"So do I."

"Yet you force its people to wear shackles."

"We have a responsibility, Walraig. As a powerful nation, we have an obligation to protect others. As you and Senator Roderich have demonstrated time and again over the years, those in power are quick to forget their obligations to others."

"Words," Walraig said. "Sentiment. Those other nations don't want your help. They don't even know how to ask for it. And none of your flowery language will protect Mor Ardain from its enemies. None of it will make the sacrifice of my brothers and sisters worth it."

"Is that what you want?" Niall asked. "To make Osiria worth it? To put the 'animals' in their place?"

Walraig didn't have an answer. It was what he wanted, but it wasn't at the same time. What he wanted was for all the bloodshed to stop. But at some point, he'd realized that the only way out was through. Niall couldn't broker peace with animals, much as he tried, and the Empire was too corrupt to protect its own. It all had to be torn down. Burnt away. So that Mor Ardain could take its rightful place.

"I want this country to recognize the sacrifice of its patriots," Walraig said. "I want it to fulfill the promise of freedom and prosperity it made to its citizens."

"And yet you would accomplish this goal through slaughter? You'd force a war with Uraya when you know we're not prepared to deal with the consequences? You'd provoke the wrath of the Praetorium?"

"If the plan had worked, none of them would have been able to stand against a united Mor Ardain."

"And placed Senator Roderich on the Ardainian throne," Niall noted.

"We'd have killed him the moment he set foot in the palace," Akatsuki said. "We're not idiots."

"And neither is he. He had plans in place to deal with you. Or did you think he'd hand over control of his Blade Bots quietly?"

"His what?" Walraig asked.

"He didn't even tell you…" Niall laughed to himself. "That figures. Unfortunately, I don't have time to fill you in on the gory details. We've got bigger problems to deal with."

"No, we don't," Walraig said. "There's very little left to do. I kill you, then I find the Grand Marshall and I kill him, then I find the rest of your generals and ask them what they care about most. Their country or their lives. You don't even have a Blade to protect you anymore, so you can't exactly stop me."

"No, I can't," Niall said. "But I'm wondering, Walraig, what you plan to do next? I'll be dead, Mor Ardain will finally be free of my tyranny, and… Then what? You retire and watch the country tear itself apart in the chaos? You take charge and lead the people to a new utopia? You and your band of racists march into Uraya and rape and pillage?"

"We have a plan to deal with the aftermath," Akatsuki said. "Everything's been taken into account. And yes, we would conquer Uraya afterwards."

"Really? Did you take Torna breaking into Elysium and wiping out humanity into account?"

"I…" Walraig frowned. "What?"

"You weren't at the summit, so you may have missed the memo, but the Dark Aegis has returned. He and his friends in Torna are planning to steal weapons from Elysium and use them to destroy every Titan in Alrest."

"You're joking," Akatsuki said. He laughed, but he couldn't muster any humor. Niall shot him a look, and the Blade stepped back.

"I wish I was," he said. He looked older than Walraig, in that moment. Walraig knew he was telling the truth.

"Fuck…" Walraig said.

"Yes indeed." Niall sighed. "So you can either kill me and throw this country into a panic, delay our military response and ensure that we'll be entirely unequipped to deal with the inevitable slaughter. Or we can put aside our differences and agree to a truce until this threat has passed, to ensure that our people have a future."

"I won't work with a tyrant."

"I suspected as much. Which is why I brought you a gift. A token of my goodwill, as it were." Niall snapped his fingers, and Newt entered the room. She dragged Senator Roderich behind her.

"What's going on?" the senator asked, looking around.

"You can kill either one of us," Niall said, motioning between himself and Senator Roderich. "But know that Newt here as a preference on which you choose. I'm sure you think you can fight past her and reach your forces outside the palace, but there are three thousand soldiers between you and them. You wouldn't make it two floors. Of course, you could take what I'm offering you, remove Senator Roderich and all the slime he's tracked around with him, and walk out of here alive. You could go back to your troops and help people. More importantly, you could let me lead."

"You want my blessing to continue your rule?" Walraig asked.

"You've already given it once, in a manner of speaking. I simply need it until this crisis is over. Then I promise we'll sit down and have a discussion about our country's future, and both of our places in it. Think of it as a stay of execution."

"I can't trust you."

"I am a man of my word," Niall said, spreading his arms. "If you're not satisfied, you could always take your chances against Newt."

Walraig stood there, staring at Senator Roderich. The man kneeling in front of him seemed too stunned to speak. He was scum. Walraig knew that. But he didn't feel right about killing on behalf of a weakling like Niall. Or, well… Anyone who had the balls to stand in front of him and dare him to take their life deserved to be taken seriously, at least. Just a tyrant, then. But he still wouldn't kill for a tyrant.

He struck Roderich over the head, knocking him unconscious but leaving him alive.

"If you're even half as committed to the future as you say, you'll deal with Roderich on your own," Walraig growled.

"Do we understand each other, then?" Niall asked.

"No," Walraig spat. "But you'll have your truce. Just know I'll be back when this is over. And you're going to answer for what you've done."

Without another word, he and Akatsuki left the throne room.

---

The Emperor hadn't answered for what he'd done. He'd barely even given Walraig the time of day. The minute the Cataclysm had ended, Walraig had demanded Niall honor his agreement. And, to his credit, the Emperor had sat down with him as promised. But the discussion was brief. He wouldn't step down until proper infrastructure could be put in place. But the proper infrastructure would never be in place, not really. Walraig knew that. The boy had no intention of stepping down.

He'd tried to kill Niall right then and there, but the Flamebringer had been ready for him. She brought him down before he could even make the first strike. He hadn't really expected Niall to do the right thing, but he'd been expecting to end the Empire that day. Only he'd failed. And now he sat in a Coalition cell waiting for their new courts to pass judgement. He'd spent more than two decades fighting for a free Mor Ardain, and now that the chance had arrived for them to take it, they'd chosen instead to stand hand in hand with the Urayans and the Gormotti and lower themselves to the level of the animals. Fuck them. Over the course of the months he'd spent in his cell, he'd realized that the only way to truly free Mor Ardain was to wipe out the lesser races that tried to claw them down from greatness. Only then could he wipe out the tyrants and have it mean something.

For months, he plotted his escape. He hadn't expected it to come to him. But one day, the prison he was in shook to its foundations. A blast of wind ripped through it, breaking all the locks and shackles, and Walraig and Akatsuki stepped outside to see a Gormotti Driver and a pack of Blades waiting for them.

"Walraig!" Bradly shouted. "It's been too long!"

"You're disgusting," Walraig replied. "I thought you'd taken a job with the Coalition. Biting the hand that feeds once again?"

"I got bored," Bradly said. "So I thought I'd see how things have changed in the last year or so. Travel the world a little, get into some good old-fashioned trouble, settle a few old scores. And I figured freeing you would be interesting, especially since this guy asked so nicely."

He slammed a large, scale-covered Blade on the arm. Walraig didn't recognize the man. His core was speckled black, similar to how Flesh Eaters were supposed to look, and he was taller than anyone else present by a substantial margin. He glared down at Walraig as Bradly walked off.

"Try not to get yourself killed!" Bradly called out as he and his Blades slipped away. Walraig could hear alarms blaring in the distance. He didn't have long before someone showed up to deal with him.

"What do you want with me?" Walraig asked, wary of the new Blade.

"I want you to do your work," the Blade said. His voice was deep and resonant. "You intend to wipe out the Urayans and the Gormotti, yes? The other Coalition member states?"

"Among others…"

"If you work with me, then I guarantee you will have your chance. I care very little about what happens to any of them."

"Big talk," Walraig said. "But I've had my fair share of fairweather allies before, and they always say the same things. I'm tired of it."

"No, you are not," the Blade said. "I know your kind, Walraig. You talk big, but you have only ever worked in the service of others. It is why you were so quick to join Lindwurm. So quick to play by Senator Roderich's rules. Because even as you dedicate your life to fighting it, you cannot conceive of a world without that rigid structure you so despise. And so you have spent your life doing the bidding of others and cursing yourself for it, never understanding why. I am here to offer you a way out of that because I am not your ally. I will not pretend to be. We simply have common interests. You want the Coalition destroyed, and I want them distracted. Beyond that, I care very little for what you accomplish. Enact your genocide or break yourself on the Coalition's collective spear. I care not. So long as you hold their attention, that will be sufficient for me. Do we have a deal?"

He offered his hand, and Walraig stared at it. He'd missed this sort of honesty. No pretense, no excuses, no nothing. Just cold, hard reality. This man didn't care about Walraig's cause, but so long as he wouldn't stand in his way, then that was good enough.

"Sure," Walraig said. "It'll be nice to work for someone honest, for a change."

"Excellent," the man said. "My name is Atasaiah. The Republic of Spessia welcomes you."

Immediately, Walraig knew he'd made a mistake. The Spessians were one of the people that would need to die for Mor Ardain to be free. And they wanted something other than destruction, if they were just using him as a distraction. They'd betray him down the line too. But he'd come this far by making deals with the enemy. The only way out was through. It was too late to back down now.