(A/N: (cracks knuckles) This one's gonna get crazy. If you have a custom playlist for mood music when listening to fanfics, I suggest you get it and have it on standby. Also, my good friend Goshinzilla does this thing in his fic A Quincy's Fairy Tail where he posts "recommended osts" for people that want to follow along with the mood he sets for some of his action scenes. If you'd like to see me do that, leave it in your comment/review. I always thought it would be too distracting/jarring/unprofessional, but his readers like it so...*shrug*. Anyway, let's get on with it. Last chapter was your soup and salad. Here's your meat and potatoes)
The Victor family barge had been out on the open water for about an hour now. The rain was heavier than ever. Most of the Golden Deer was below deck, but one Leonie Pinelli stood above ground with a crude looking telescope to observe the waters on the distant horizon.
Alice's wet rain boots splashed the puddles on the deck as she approached the redhead. "You know, binoculars were invented."
Leonie, who was down on one knee like she was a pirate in the golden age, stood up. "Not all of us can afford fancy tools."
Alice looked at Leonie's…rather patchwork raincoat. "Would that explain the bargain bin jacket?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, not all of us can make a living wage and afford all the basic luxuries in life. Besides, the telescope works, why get rid of it? And my jacket still fits, so why get rid of it? No point in discarding old objects if they still work, right?"
Alice sighed. She hadn't the energy for this discussion. She'd broken the ice. That was the purpose of her comment. "See anything?"
It was hard to tell if Leonie either appreciated the change in topic, or was simply rolling with it. "Nah, not yet. Just a bunch of rocky waves and dark skies. Sauin's nothing like this. Heck, I don't think our nearest savannah ever gets this wet. If the water wasn't spilling off the side of the railing, I think I'd be up to my ankles in it by now. Can't take a wooden fishing boat out in rain this heavy."
"Forget a fishing boat," Alice stated, wandering towards the edge of the ship. "You wouldn't be able to take a private sailboat without finding yourself up to your shins, I imagine."
A powerful wave splashed the side of the boat, causing it to rock, but Leonie and Alice remained sturdy, the latter staring out over the horizon. "I'd hate for our sea-faring friend to simply stay below the surface. I didn't come out here simply to play escort."
"Oh? Do you like fighting?" Leonie asked.
"No, it's not that," Alice said, shaking her head. "It's that I will only be deployed on this date for this mission unless I can get additional approval. If there's any truth to that sea monster, I won't be satisfied until a colossal squid eyeball-sized chunk of its body is laying dead on this barge to be brought back to a lab for analysis."
"Hey, hunting a giant monster doesn't sound different from regular hunting. Just need a bigger harpoon."
Thunder clapped across the sky and a flash of lightning followed. Ordinary, natural occurrences under most circumstances. However, in the flash, Alice swore she saw something she hadn't and immediately took out her own military-grade binoculars. If she hadn't been staring right at the water and seen something when the flash was there, she would have missed it entirely. Even with her higher definition equipment, she could barely make out the anomaly.
"Forget a harpoon, we'll need an anti-Knightmare javelin," she commented. She started marching towards the staircase to get the Deer and started shouting to crewmen on the deck. "Hard to Port! Be prepared to start circling away from land in four clicks, then resume course! I want all units on deck in four minutes!"
"A-Alice?" Leonie questioned, shaken up.
"We have incoming," Alice said with the pitch to her voice as low as possible. "And you can choose not to believe me at your own peril."
The wind blew harder as another thunderclap rocketed across the sky as Leonie heard a loud splash and turned to see the aftermath on the horizon, followed by a massive tail fin.
"Don't bother!" Alice shouted as Leonie attempted to run towards the same side of the ship. "At the speed it's moving, it's going to attempt to get on the other side of the ship!"
"But that means we're heading straight for it! You said hard to port!" Leonie shouted, running towards the other side!"
"At the speed we're moving though," Alice said, "We're not going to be on a collision course. Now quit gawking and suit up!"
"R-Right!" Leonie took out her HLKMF Crystal. "Let's go!" In a flash of orange light, Leonie transformed, suddenly having bright orange tinted amber armor that was sleek, rounded on the shoulders and with tires that belonged more on a monster truck than land spinner gear to a standard KMF let alone an HLKMF. The helmet was a dead ringer for a hornet, though the frame lacked wings. Leonie then produced two massive handguns, taking aim off the front port side of the ship as she slid over there with the four massive wheels on either side of the frame's legs, using boosters on the back of the legs for thrust. Codename: Amber Hornet.
At that moment, the whole ship shook, being pushed towards the open ocean, away from the now emerging creature. What followed was a massive 200 meter long, 40 meter wide, blue monstrosity of a sea creature with a viper's head, a nasty looking crested head fin that looked like a king cobra's hood copied the homework of a lion's mane, lined with bright, ruby red scales. Nasty, glowing red eyes adorned the beast as it drooled ghastly looking, glowing green liquid. Red exoskeletal-like veins were encrusted along the beast's body, making it look unnatural.
As it roared with enough force to push the ship even further onto the open water, Leonie opened fire, shouting, and showing no fear. Showing no signs of visible damage, the creature then dove back into the water, sending a wave underneath the boat and all but the sonar on the ship losing any idea of where it now was.
Luckily, the cavalry was on its way and as the ship was now turning away from the massive monster, the Golden Deer suited up just as the group got on deck.
"All right, Golden Deer! Like we've practiced! Suit up!" Claude commanded.
"Oh! I love this part!" Hilda beamed.
"Amber Hornet!" Leonie shouted, despite already being ready.
"Moss Squid!" Ignatz followed up, readying his crystal.
"C-Cerulean Centaur!" Marianne stuttered.
"Awrite!" Raphael roared, banging his knuckles together. "Hickory Grizzly!"
"Silver Jaguar!" Lysithea declared.
"Lavender Flamingo!" Lorenz announced in a pompous way as only Lorenz could.
"Pink Dragon!" Hilda exclaimed.
"Saffron Chimera!" Claude called out.
One by one, each of the Golden Deer, sans Nunnally at the moment, transformed into their animal themed HLKMF. These weren't their first forms, not by a long shot. The Golden Deer had several accomplishments in training and on missions while prying eyes were on Zero and the other houses.
Each frame had its helmet bearing striking resemblance to the animal it was named after. In Claude's case, his helmet was a Deer rather than a Goat, and his pauldrons were a snake and a Lion on the right and left shoulders respectively…though the lion was upside-down…and maneless. And despite being called the Saffron Chimera, it was more golden tinted than brighter yellow. Wings like the fiercest dragon emitted from Claude's back and he had a bow ready to fire energy arrows in either one powerful shot or up to groups of five.
Ignatz's Moss Squid had a multitude of tentacles along the arms, back and along the knees. If not for the cape, one might mistake him for a villain in a comic book.
Mariane's Cerulean Centaur was quadrupedal and lived up to its name. Energy mace in one hand, healing prayer book in the other, and a floating halo over its head, Marianne was ready as the group's main healer.
Raphael was hunched over on his massive arms, now decked out in big, bulky brown claws, looking ready to shred whatever came his way.
Lysithea's Silver Jaguar…did not look ferocious. Rather than a metallic helmet, she instead sported a half-mask and very billowy robes that appeared to be made from Snow Leopard fur. However, the jagged, glowing energy wand in her hand was not for show, or a toy.
As for Lorenz's Lavender Flamingo, if a weapon of war could offend a blind and gay man for being too "loud" this would be it. Extravagantly covered in sparkling rose blossom shaped gemstones, and with the Flamingo head being on the base of Lorenz's trusty lance, rather than his helmet—of which he had none, Lorenz looked less ready for battle and more to win a Glamour Rock concert for BDSM fetishists. Still, despite its hard to take serious look, it wasn't exactly a non-threat.
And then there was Hilda's Pink Dragon. Lacking in sleekness, the armor was bulky in all areas, making it look like an armored plush doll than anything "cool". But Hilda liked the design because it was "cute". It sported energy wings, so Hilda didn't have to properly take time to comprehend flying hydraulics, and its main weapon was a brutish energy axe so massive that even if Hilda missed, the shockwave could kill someone if she put her back into it.
Nunnally then unceremoniously activated the Royal Miracle.
Their multi-hundred meter nemesis chose that exact moment to pop up out of the water as the boat was making for land as Alice had previously requested.
"All right you overgrown pool noodle!" Claude shouted, taking aim. "Fear the deer!" He opened fire with one monstrous arrow. Leonie fired her guns. Lysithea let loose an energy beam of white-hot energy, and Ignatz had plenty of ink blasts from his numerous back tentacles.
The shots fired towards their target, scoring direct hits, but not seeming to cause anything resembling a reaction from their marine menace. Opening its jaw, the aquatic adversary lifted its tail under the water and swung it at the boat. Thankfully, the Victor family barge was moving fast enough that all this did was cause a literal wave to begin rushing towards the group.
"INCOMING!" Hilda shouted.
"Leave it to me!" Marianne shouted. "Goddess Barrier!"
A big wall of connecting energy hexagons caused by the Blaze Luminous effect—as invented by the eccentric Lloyd Asplund—suddenly formed between the aft of the ship and the incoming wave. Water splashed the sides of the barge, rocking the boat, but not throwing anyone overboard.
"This isn't going to work! We need to get in close if we're going to inflict anything close to…" Claude trailed off as the wave vanished and their massive foe had all but vanished. "Wait, where did it go?"
Suddenly the boat rocked.
"I think we're all about to find ouuuuuuut!" Hilda shouted as the boat was thrown to the air, sent hurling away from shore by the emerging monster.
"CUT THE ENGINES!" Alice shouted. They didn't need to speed off unnecessarily when the ship finally landed. Hopefully, the hull would hold.
Fortunately, they didn't need to worry about a rough landing. Hilda had flown under the ship and was lowering it to safety. "There we go…" she grunted, only dropping the ship in front of her with a low-effort through when she could see the heat from her wings pushing away water from the surface. She then dusted off her armored hands. "Good as new."
The monster roared and dove into the water, giving chase, intending to ram the ship.
"Oh no you don't!" Lysithea shouted. "Luna Lambda!"
Lysithea scored a direct hit with her magic on the enemy monster, but it barely seemed to flinch.
"Goddess Barrier!" Marianne shouted, but against a fast-moving sea serpent, compared to a simple tidal wave, her barrier was like a wooden fence against a charging rhino.
"HOWLING COMET!"
With the echoing cry of a wolf howl, a literal red miniature energy comet rocketed off the deck and slammed into the monster's back fin, causing something resembling damage. The monster recoiled, stopping its approach and then roared at the ship, eyeing it up, trying to identify which of the little after dinner mints just took a chunk of its now healing flesh off.
"Nice shot, Hilda!" Claude shouted.
Hilda shook her head. "That wasn't me! That's not my attack!" she turned and pointed where it came from near the bow of the ship. "That was…Alice?"
Decked out in an all red HLKMF, Alice Einhart had her frame's right palm to the ground, thick cables jutting out of the forearm and materializing a massive howitzer cannon, enough to launch any of the Deer like a human cannonball. Her frame's helmet resembled an ancient Faerghusian Knight from the War of Heroes. Two sharp looking metal javelins were holstered near Alice's thrusters over her shoulders and down her back. This was, clearly, the firepower of a christened Knight of Seiros. Codename: Crimson Wolf.
"I told you this mission is no place for civilians!" Alice shouted as the cannon she made dissipated into Sakuradite laced particles. "Now stay here and guard the ship!"
"Alice, wait!" Claude shouted. He took off from the ground to follow her as she flew into the air. "Dammit, back me up, Hilda!"
"All right, no need to sound so serious, I'm coming!"
"Wh-what should the rest of us do? Our frames can't fly," Ignatz pointed out.
"Just give them covering fire for now," Lorenz instructed, picking up slack where Claude couldn't Lysithea, cover port. Ignatz and Leonie, cover Starboard," he declared, pointing. "I shall take point in the center of the ship and keep watch. Nunnally! Raphael! As fast moving melee units, if the crew should fall overboard, I'm counting on you to rescue them. Marianne, you're our main defense, watch out for anything dangerous and cover our weak spots accordingly."
He looked around at the crew. "Someone give me the radio frequency to the captain! I need to send commands so that we don't get shipwrecked!"
"Yes, sir, Lord Gloucester!"
"Ha! Finally, some respect for my status," Lorenz beamed.
"Don't pat yourself on the back too soon," Leonie said, taking position. "This is going to be anything but easy."
As she said that, Hilda flew towards the enemy monster and struck it across the belly with her axe. She slashed it right open, but the monster breathed a stream of hot, high-pressure water down onto her back, knocking her into the ocean.
"Hilda!" Claude called out, only to see her rise up out of the ocean.
"I'm okay!"
Alice looked at Claude behind her in absolute annoyance. "I told you all to stay on the ship!"
"Whoop! Sorry! Comms must be malfunctioning," Claude stated in feigned apology. "But since I'm here, I may as well help out."
Alice growled stewing.
Hilda, having dismissed her axe to save power was now using the monster's underbelly as a punching bag, weaving when it tried to blast her with high pressure water.
"Look, Alice. You don't know anything more about this monster than we do," Claude told her. "You're as in the dark as we are. I know it's a knight's job to protect people, but we're not here to be helped. We are the help. So let's show this leviathan, or whatever you wanna call it, what for, okay?"
Alice sighed, realizing Claude wasn't willing to listen to reason. "Very well, since you obviously have no intention of heeding my warnings, I guess I'm stuck dealing with you."
"Atta girl," Claude said. "So, that big scary attack of yours. How much does that take out of you?"
"Quite a lot. I only used it back there because we were out of options." She readied her two lances. "Typically, I fight up close and personal and very fast."
"Good, then you harass, I'll distract and Hilda will lay down the hurt. Simple, effective, done," Claude instructed.
"As far as plans go, that barely counts as one, but since we don't have a lot of better options, it'll do." She then rushed into battle. I am The Speed! She thought, accelerating every metric she had in her hydraulics and allowing her to cut along an exposed part of the monster's long body. The leviathan pivoted, taking aim at Alice, only for Claude to shoot it in the cheek. The monster turned its attention to Claude at the last second. Claude dodged, leaving a spot on the midpoint between its hard back and its underbelly completely exposed to attack. Hilda jammed her axe right into that spot and the monster howled in pain.
"This is working! Keep it up!" Claude shouted.
While the trio of Claude, Alice and Hilda brought the fight to the leviathan, the Victor family barge was circling around Leviathan, counterclockwise, allowing Lysithea to simply bombard the beast whenever she could land a direct hit.
However, no animal, not even one this big, was just going to sit there and take this. It dove under the water. Claude scanned the ocean's surface for any sign of the beast, but found nothing.
"Claude? Any luck?" Lorenz radioed. "Sonar is clear."
"It either dove too deep to be detected, or its plain given up," Alice stated, hovering next to Claude.
Claude had to make a call. They could either head to their destination and hope they weren't being stalked, or figured the predator was simply waiting and not make any sudden actions.
Claude then gasped. "HILDA! THE BARGE!" he shouted.
Right in the nick of time. Sonar picked up the signal right from under them, but Hilda was able to get underneath the ship and lift it out of the water, hurling it away before she and her frame were suddenly caught between the monster's jaws. She managed to get one arm free and started punching it in the teeth.
"Hilda! Hang on!" Raphael shouted as the monster thrashed upon the water's surface, trying to bite through Hilda's frame.
Hilda managed to get free by punching out a tooth and then flew out from the gap in the jaw. This happened just as Raphael managed to swim over and leap on the creatures neck, scaling it by impaling his Hickory Grizzly's claws into its scales, dealing damage while scaling up its body, heading for its head.
"Raphael! Get down from there!" Lorenz shouted.
Too late. The monster grappled Raphael with its tail and threw him across the horizon, giving him a hard landing in the water.
"Raphael! What's your status?!" Claude shouted. "Raphael?!"
"I'm okay! Just a hard landing! Hey, Lorenz! Can we pick me up! I don't know if I'll last out here on my own!"
"Of all the brazen…" Lorenz grumbled, palming his face. "Yes, of course, we're coming. Hold on!"
However, the ship wasn't the only one with Raphael as a target in mind. The leviathan submerged partially and proceeded to charge straight at Raphael with its massive jaw wide open much, much quicker than the ship would reach.
Uh oh, Raphael thought. Dismissing the Hickory Grizzly for now so he could dive deeper under the water, Raphael managed to get under the monster, and then backed kicked and hoped the monster wouldn't notice him this far in the depths. Unfortunately, not only was this leviathan a missile with teeth when it charged, it seemed to carry that speed when it turned too. In fact, the pivot was so fast, it forced Marianne to activate another Goddess Barrier.
She fell to her knees.
"Marianne!" Ignatz called out in alarm.
"I'm okay!" Marianne shouted, feeling tired. "Sorry…I'm just…winded. The Goddess Barrier isn't meant to be used that often. It's a drain on my magitek core of my HLKMF Crystal."
Marianne's exhaustion did nothing to compare to Raphael's peril however as the man swam for dear life to the surface, getting close enough to it that he could activate the Hickory Grizzly again. With it now alive and one arm above the water, Hilda flew in to rescue her friend, lifting him up and carrying him away to safety as the Leviathan's huge jaw lifted up out of the ocean, sea water trailing between its teeth and down its body as it tried to chomp on them both at the same time. Thankfully, Hilda was able to—albeit just barely—get out of its trajectory and the monster clamped its powerful jaws along the salty, open air.
It then took another Howling Comet to the side of the face from Alice. She then began flying backwards, transforming her massive howitzer into a rapid-fire energy cannon of much smaller stature. The harassment of energy bullets barely seemed to bother the beast as it pursued along the water's surface. That was when Claude noticed something troublesome. The chunk of fin Alice had taken off at the start of the battle seemed to have healed up all on its own.
It can regenerate? Oh that ain't good! Can we even take this thing? He shook his head. No way. Not with their current firepower. He radioed. "Lorenz! Get that ship to its destination ASAP! Hilda! Alice! We need to draw this thing away from the ship and then high tail it to Riegan territory pronto!"
"Yeah, easier said than done!" Alice shouted. She stopped firing as the monster caught up with her. It chomped towards her, but Alice flew to one side as the monster took a bite at the open air.
Alice sliced at one of the exoskeletal veins, but her weapons just seemed to clang against it. Damn, thought that might've been a weak point.
However, with Alice flying towards the monster's tail, nothing was stopping the beast from turning its attention to the merchant vessel. The spikes on the edges of its hood seemed to vibrate and then the ruby scales on the inside seemed to glow.
Uh oh, Claude thought. He began opening fire, but this thing was ignoring his shots, even the big one. And Hilda was only just now putting Raphael down on the ship.
When the pressure was on, Claude von Riegan always thought himself more of a thinker than a doer. Improvising on the spot was not his go to for strategy. However, he didn't have the freedom of time to choose his next course of action and the seconds were slipping away.
Alice, however, was always a doer, always someone willing to get right into the thick of things and landed right on the edge of the ship. The monster was clearly charging up some kind of red energy blast and she was going to fight fire with fire. Making two massive howitzers, she charged them up simultaneously.
An ear splitting noise emitted as a glowing red beam fired from the monster's mouth towards the ship, her protectors and the crew.
"HOWITZER DOUBLE MAGNUM!" Firing a continuous blast from both cannons, Alice did her best to try and match the beam's strength, but she could see her battery draining and draining fast.
Hilda looked at her own battery. She was down to less than a third. She could try flanking the leviathan, swiping at it and trying to disrupt its attack, but would that work? If she screwed up, what if that just made everything worse? Besides, Nunnally was on the boat right now and that was her priority. Alice had this…right?
Claude began weaving around the beam fired by the monster in a reverse barrel roll, aiming for the eyes and the spikes on the hood, trying to make any impact. This seemed to work. The shots landed and the monster recoiled back in pain. However, the maneuver had come too late and the feedback from Alice's guns left her with a drained battery.
Thrashing about on the surface from the eye pain, the monster's tail began sending rippling wave after rippling wave, fanning its face with the tail fin to try and sooth the head pain. The incoming waves and the thrashing made it hard to get aim just by itself, but this presented the problem of putting a big burden on Marianne and her Goddess Barrier.
The leviathan eventually decided to just dive into the water below, tunneling deep, judging from the way its body was twisting as it was going down. However, due to how water physics worked, the waves were still coming when it decided this and Marianne lost power to her Cerulean Centaur at the worst possible time. Two waves hit the deck of the Victor family barge and then, just to add injury to insult, part of the Leviathan's mid-section bumped the hull as it prepared to surface on the other side of the vessel. This was enough to send an exhausted Alice careening off the boat.
"Alice!" Nunnally shouted.
"Nunnally!" Hilda declared.
"Hilda! The Royal Miracle can get Alice! We have bigger problems at the moment!" Claude shouted in alarm. And indeed they did. The leviathan had surfaced right into the path of the barge. Its massive jaws maneuvered down to try and bite the ship in half. And without Marianne for protection or Alice to fire…well it was a good thing the Golden Deer had Lysithea.
"HOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" The young mage girl shouted, her lone continuous stream of magic shooting up into the Leviathan's throat and causing it to choke on her magic long enough for the vessel to get away.
"All right, Lysithea!" Leonie shouted.
"Don't start celebrating," she said as she gazed up at the Leviathan, hungry for more. It roared at her, showing its terrifying viper-like fangs and tongue. "We've cut our speed and now its right in front of us."
Claude flew down to touch down onto the deck of the ship.
"See if you can aim for those exoskeletal veins," Claude told her. "They don't look natural and it really didn't like it when I touched the spikes on its hood. I know you can't fly, but you can hover, so…"
Lysithea nodded. "Mmm, if I displace the water, I can fight low above the surface. Very well. Let's go!"
As mage and tactician took the fight to the enemy, engineering was trying to put the engines in reverse so they could try and maybe maneuver away from this thing. While this was happening, Klaus was watching the security feed from the deck and at Ignatz firing with a stern expression on his face at whatever part of the leviathan he could get a clear shot at. This was no cowardly boy their father had sent to the Officer's Academy. He was a knight cadet in training.
Ignatz, besides, not being ready to call it quits, hatched an idea. He radioed his older brother on the bridge, below deck, "Klaus, can you hear me?"
"Loud and clear, Ignatz," his brother responded.
"I know all of this merchandise is valuable, but do we have any oil. The thicker and inkier the better!"
"Oil? I mean, there's engine oil and we've got in surplus, but…"
"Bill the church for whatever you give me! I have a plan!" Ignatz shouted.
"Mind letting yours truly in on this plan?" Claude asked, since all the Golden Deer were tapped into this frequency.
"You and Lysithea are good with what you're doing, but…Raphael," Ignatz called to him.
"What's up, Ignatz?"
"Find the Leviathan's tail if you can and hold onto it. I want to bring it close to the ship. Leonie, if we can get the tail in position, spread oil all over the monster's back. If we can't blast it to smithereens…"
"Then setting it ablaze might do the trick. All right, I'm game. You get all that Lysithea?" Claude asked, blasting the monster as he ducked under a hot stream of water.
"Who do you think you're talking to?" Lysithea asked, a magic blast from her wand cracking one of the exoskeletal veins.
"Right, right, you never make mistakes," Claude chuckled. "We've got your distraction ready. Let's light this sea guppie up!"
As Raphael dove into the water, Nunnally was in the process of locating Alice floating in the water and finally managed to fish her up out of the sea. The two bobbed on the surface, Alice coming to in the windy rain.
She pushed hard on Nunnally's armor. "Why did you save me?!" she shouted. "I could have been dead! The leviathan is the bigger problem! I'm dead weight at this point! My frame is out of power!"
"There's no way I can leave you behind," Nunnally stated. "Not after you saved all of us back there. You saved our lives, now I saved yours." Nunnally smiled brightly behind her frame. "Call us even."
Alice stared oddly at the Royal Miracle's helmet, and then turned her head to the side, blushing a bit. "Okay…fine…I get it."
As Nunnally kicked to get herself to the slowed down ship, Leonie was ready with three oil barrels to be poured all over the Leviathan once Raphael got it in position.
"All ready when you find the tail, Raphael," Leonie said.
"Yeah, about that…slight problem," Raphael said. "I think it's too far below the water. I can't get to it," he said.
"Just stay vigilant," Claude told him. "This thing likes to juke around. At any second, it could…" Claude cut himself off when he realized the monster was going to submerge again. "No! No! No! Someone stop it!"
"I would if I knew ice magic, but I only know light and dark," Lysithea called out in a panic.
"Hilda, it might try to go underneath the boat! You have to get it out of there!"
"Claude, my battery is low! That's a lot of strain to put on me!"
"This isn't the time for arguments!" Claude shouted over comms. "If we don't do something, we're all screwed!"
"Claude, not that I don't agree with you, but think of our morale!" Lorenz shouted. "Don't you usually wear a smile even when things are bad!"
"The fact that I don't have a smile should tell you how bad things are!" Claude shouted. "I'm out of tricks, Lorenz! This is my only card to play! The Saffron Chimera doesn't have strength hydraulics like Hilda's Pink Dragon and it's the only heavy frame we have that can fly."
"So then…Claude, if I'm understanding you correctly, we just need a strong frame that can fly, right?"
The comms went dead silence despite the earlier panic, and despite the incoming tragedy if nothing was done. On the deck of the ship, having heard everything, the Royal Miracle walked forward towards the charging submerging Leviathan.
"I mean…yeah, Nunnally, but what are you gonna do?" Claude asked her.
"I'll do it. I'll evolve! I'll do it here and now and I'll save everyone!" Nunnally declared.
"Aha! Evolve your Hard Light Knightmare Frame? On the spot? That's ridiculous," Lorenz scoffed.
"Ridiculous or not, if Nunnally thinks she can do it, I say we give her a chance," Claude stated.
Alice grabbed the hand of the Royal Miracle. "Nunnally, what are you doing? You have a brother to go home to! This is no time for you to play hero!"
Inside the Royal Miracle though, Nunnally wasn't the least bit worried. In fact, she was smiling. She caressed Alice on the head. "You're wrong, Alice. I'm not playing hero. I am one. I'm a Knight of Seiros in training."
Light began to crackle along the black metallic paneling of the Royal Miracle.
"And Jeralt used to always say that a knight's duty was to save people. And I'm going…I'm going…" Nunnally stared out at the beast charging towards the ship.
I'll save everyone!
Light shot out of every possible panel and segment of the Royal Miracle, causing it to shine with radiance as if a saint sent forth by the Goddess herself. The shining radiance continued until the Royal Miracle had turned white glimmering pearl white! Angelic energy wings, four in total emanated from its back as Nunnally's will sparked with hope and determination than it had sparked for years. Although much slimmer now, the glowing energy from the frame was a clear indication of its sheer power. And the energy readings were unlike anything the Golden Deer had seen amongst themselves.
New codename: Hope's Beacon.
Like a photon, Nunnally zipped off the deck of the merchant ship and tore the top of the fin of the Leviathan clean off.
Alice's mouth hung open. So fast…even faster than my Speed Vortex skill. This…is Nunnally's power?
Angered and outraged, the Leviathan turned its body on a dime, rocking the boat heavily as it turned its attention towards Nunnally…and right into the path of a blast from Lysithea. However, the boat was from save with an angry, splashing tail now facing it. Nunnally then tore through the Leviathan's body, making a person shaped hole through it as it howled and thrashed backwards, collapsing into the ocean, blood spreading across the open water. Nunnally then dove under the water and produced a multitude of arms, like the Hindu-Chinese Durga, but dwarfing even that. Nunnally had about twenty energy arms in addition to her organic two and used them to lift the boat out of the water with ease, just in time for the Leviathan to try and take a bite out of it, and her along with it. It took a barrage of fire from Ignatz, Leonie, Lysithea and Claude all at once, twisting and thrashing around in a circle as it got its bearings, whilst Nunnally looked for a safe place to land.
Once she dropped the boat down, it was pretty far from the Leviathan. The monster now, however, had its focus on the now isolated Raphael just floating on the water.
"Uh oh," Raphael uttered, realizing he was in trouble. However, if he knew what was about to come to his rescue, he had little reason to be afraid. Nunnally charged in and began pummeling the beast in the side of the head with her twenty-two arms. Punches like clamshells hurled at a car windshield slammed into the leviathan's jaw over and over and over again until it finally decided to focus on the little fruit fly pummeling it in the face. It let loose a beam of energy from its mouth and fired it at Nunnally at close range.
Using all of her hands to prepare an energy beam, Nunnally prepared her counterattack.
"Nosferatu!" Nunnally declared. And the hands echoed the same spell, ten extra time, one for each pair of extra arms. Ordinarily, Nosferatu was a weak spell, used by white mages to heal their injuries, while sapping the enemy's life force. However, amplified tenfold, it could become powerful enough to rival an Abraxas cast by someone of Lysithea's caliber. The attacks slammed into the Leviathan's beam and Nunnally held fast. Moreover, the attack gave Claude an excellent opening.
Flying high above the Leviathan's head, he declared triumphantly, "Strategy in motion!" He then charged up an ultra-big arrow and let it loose, sending the leviathan careening below the water.
"Nice, shot Claude! What's say we bring up the corpse and roast that thing?" Raphael requested. "I wonder what it tastes like!"
"Pretty sure that thing is not safe to eat," Claude warned.
"Are you guys okay out here?" Hilda asked, flying out to the group.
"Well, well, well, look who decides to show up after the heavy lifting's been done," Claude teased.
"Hey, come on. Nunna's battery's gotta be taxed after a strike like that, the least I can do is carry Raphael back to the boat," Hilda giggled.
"Thanks, Hilda. I mean, I can probably swim back, but better safe than sorry," Raphael stated.
Hilda pulled Raphael out of the water and hoisted him up under his arms with both of hers like she was an industrial crane as she, Claude, Lysithea and Nunnally headed back for the ship. It was a short distance away. No biggie.
Unfortunately, today, it seemed fate really had it out for the Golden Deer as a geyser of water shot up from in front of them and the Leviathan, wounded, but alive, resurfaced. Green cracks were along its clearly artificially looking epidermis now and the exoskeletal veins were gone. But, more importantly, it was PISSED!
After roaring at the group, Hilda complained. "Ugh, doesn't this thing know when to give up?!"
"Relax, just drop Raphael off and we got this!"
"Wait a sec, Claude!" Lysithea urged. "I see the body, but where's the—"
Tail. She didn't have to say it. Claude realized it. Raphael realized it. Heck, Hilda was the last person to figure it out, but she realized it. Most unfortunate, however, Nunnally was the first person to realize it. And so, when Hilda turned to look for the tail, all she got her eyes full off, was Nunnally shoving Claude aside with her energy arms and the Leviathan's tail grappled tightly around her whole frame.
The tail whipped around like a kite. Claude and Lysithea began firing at it as Nunnally tried to get free, but it was clear the girl was in pain. Hilda dropped Raphael. He could fend for himself. Lelouch gave her a task and she was now acting on autopilot.
Using the brute strength of her arm hydraulics, Hilda was trying to pull Nunnally free. At first it worked, Nunnally got one of her actual arms free and reached for Hilda, barely missing her by only a few finger lengths as the tail whipped back and forth. It was fine. Hilda just had to fight the wind resistance and keep going. She just had to…
CRUNCH!
"…Eh?" Hilda uttered, both surprised and not when Nunnally's frame vanished, shattered into a thousand hard light fragment pieces.
With a heavy slam of its tail, the Leviathan then slammed both the defenseless Nunnally and the shocked Hilda into the water below.
"Nunnally!" Marianne shouted from the ship.
Alice, without even hesitating, dove into the water to fish out what she hoped was still a breathing teen girl.
Claude was at a loss for words. Oh. Oh he'd stepped in it now. It'd be a miracle if Lelouch left him with all his fingers and toes, let alone spoke to him again.
Lysithea wasn't in a much better state. Ordinarily, rage would consume her, but not this time. This time it was fear. Nunnally had willfully thrown herself into the line of fire, evolved on the spot just to support them all, and this was the price to pay for it.
Raphael didn't waste time. He was an older brother and he'd save someone else's little siter like it was his own. He swam towards where Hilda and Nunnally had been tossed, but the leviathan was already on the move. He'd never make it in time. That wasn't going to stop him from trying.
Under the water, Alice latched onto Nunnally, holding her, putting her head to her chest. Unfortunately, Alice was so full of adrenaline, she couldn't tell if the beating she was hearing was her own heart, or Nunnally's. Eyes wide open under the salty ocean, she saw the Leviathan, fully submerged headed straight toward her and Nunnally. No time to escape and no HLKMF to bail her out—they weren't deep enough to cause malfunctions—she pulled out a hunting knife from inside her jacket and held it to bear. She would defy death to the end. It would have to take her kicking and screaming. Holding her breath with puffed cheeks, she glared at the incoming maw of death, holding Nunnally close to her with one arm.
Meanwhile, Hilda's Pink Dragon was slowly sinking into the water. She'd tried. She'd given things her very best. She'd taken a responsibility and she'd failed. SHE'D FAILED!
She started crying. Dammit, Holst! This is why I never wanted to come to this stupid school! This is why no one can rely on me! You're Mr. Perfect! I'm nothing! Nobody! That's all I ever wanted to be, and you kept pushing me into dangerous stuff like this! I never asked for this! She sobbed, teeth clenched in anguish. If it wasn't for me, we wouldn't have gotten big heads and tried something so dangerous! Claude wouldn't have thought he could count on me! I'm not as strong as he thinks! And if it wasn't for me, Nunnally wouldn't even be here!
The leviathan drew closer to Alice and Nunnally, the former, able to see, could see down the beast's jaw and straight to back of the palette.
Hilda could briefly make out Alice kicking backwards, trying to put some distance between her and the Leviathan, hoping that maybe, just maybe if she bought precious seconds, she could survive.
Alice…enough…we're going to die. That's it…we're done. It's over, Hilda sobbed. It's over…and it's my fault.
And yet for some reason, Hilda's axe felt…heavy. No, more than that. She could still lift it. So she did…and she gripped it. Hilda continued clenching her teeth, but the expression on her face became less and less anguished…and more and more aggressive.
No…it's not over, Hilda thought, tears drying. Because…because I can still fight. That's why you're trying, Alice. That's why you're relying on me, right, Claude? You all aren't giving up… Hilda blinked out a tear, coming to a realization, because of… "…Me."
For a moment, Hilda felt a chill, but not a bad one. It was as if realization suddenly sank in. That this is what it felt like to be challenged, to have the weight of others lives on your shoulders. It was scary. It made her want to scream. And yet…she strangely didn't feel overwhelmed.
Alice's kicking became more frantic as the leviathan neared.
Hilda's eyes ceased their panic. They became strong.
The Pink Dragon whirred with life, energy steaming and bubbling the water around it.
Holst…I'll do it. I'll try. And I mean really try for once.
Happy memories with the Golden Deer flashed through Hilda's mind as adrenaline coursed through her.
Hilda clenched her axe.
I'll show everyone…what I can really do.
Game nights with Claude. Feasts with Raphael. Ghost stories with Marianne and some of the girls from other houses. Nunnally's smiling face.
And then there was also…
A turn of Lelouch's head and a crafty smirk appeared cast on the back drop of sunset.
The Pink Dragon's battery started to climb. 20%...25%...30%...35%...
Because I think I finally found something…worth fighting for!
Up on the surface, when everyone saw a torrent of water erupt like a geyser, they assumed the worst. They did NOT expect to see the Leviathan's side fin go hurtling through the air and burn up into ash before it hit the water.
…And then Leviathan itself went a good fifty feet into the air before it was bitch kicked over the ship and learned gravity was a motherfucker and belly flopped into the ocean.
"What in the name of the Seiros…?" Claude started, only to see a lone figure floating amidst the chaos.
The Pink Dragon had gone through quite the metamorphosis. The bulky cuteness was gone, replaced with sleek, curved, sharpness. This was no pudgy pink cute dragon child, this was an adult, a queen. And it was pulsing with energy.
Hilda's frame stood with strong, sharp legs, hinged at the ankle and knee. A ferocious looking dragon helmet replaced the rounder and cuter one Hilda previously had. The claws made the ones on the Hickory Grizzly look like safety scissors. The energy wings had been replaced with jet thrusters in the shape of wings, six sets of them spewing goldenrod flames. The chest was also scaled and double ribbed. A long, powerful looking tail whipped out behind Hilda's frame, spiked from mid back to tip, the tip itself resembling an axe blade. Everything about this new frame was designed to make Hilda look like a dragon up on its hind legs, but this was no Puff the Magic Dragon. This was more…angry spawn of Tiamat. And it was carrying a mighty, unfriendly looking two-handed battleaxe…in just its singular dominant hand.
The leviathan got up out of the water and turned its head to try and figure out just what had hit it. When it locked gazes with Hilda's frame, it could see the face of its attacker, but not the name since it was organic and not mechanical.
Claude could see the name though. And the specs. And the stats that made him just a bit overly thankful that Hilda was on his side. Codename: Rose Gold Queen Bahamut ZX-90.
Not to be intimidated by its much smaller, mechanical foe, the leviathan shrieked at Hilda, shockwaves blowing the winds caused by the storm off their trajectory.
Within her frame, Hilda took a deep breath and screamed, but not in fear. This was a bellow from the soul. And due to the way her current frame was built, what came out of the speakers of her frame was not a human scream, but the proud, raging roar of a dragon. And the speakers and glowing eyes from the frame, plus the energy and force given off by the scream, actually made the leviathan reconsider its challenge for a second.
But the gauntlet had been thrown and, as far as Hilda was concerned, it was getting crammed down this monster's throat.
Hilda gripped the internal controls of her frame. "YOU ASKED FOR IT!"
Hilda charged forward. The Leviathan tried to unleash its beam breath, but it was caught around the throat by Hilda who then slashed it open with merciless fury, blood going everywhere. The force was enough to give the leviathan whiplash.
Hilda did not give the beast a chance to get its bearings. From the base of the water to the top of the head, she began delivering slash after slash after slash after slash after slash after slash after slash. Breathing heavy, Hilda refused to stop. She would not stop. Not until this thing stopped hurting her friends. Not until this monster was finally taken DOWN.
Claude, floating with a good spot to watch the carnage, smiled. "I always knew you had it in you, Hilda. Good for you."
With Hilda now doing all of the work, Alice was now able to get Nunnally above the surface. "Nunnally, please say something! I saved you again so…so now…so now you owe me one again! Hilda's giving it her all! So…so…so DON'T YOU DARE DIE ON US!"
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Hilda roared, her claw glowing with plasma like energy as she tore another group of lacerations into the leviathan. It tried to swim away, but Hilda grabbed it by the tail fin with only her free hand. Her grip strength, even for her tiny frame compared to the monster, was enough to stop it in its tracks. She then pierced the creature's flesh with all five of her nails, lifted the entire monster over her head and slammed it into the water, belly up. Hilda then readied her energy axe, the weapon glowing with unmitigated power.
The Leviathan craned its head up and managed to fire a beam of energy, scoring a direct hit on Hilda. It did nothing. It didn't scorch a single fragment off her. Battery still operated at above 85%.
Then, spinning like a wheel of draconic death, Hilda spiraled down towards the Leviathan's belly and slammed her axe into it, letting loose a shockwave that rippled up the whole leviathan and split it in half. Its blood and organs floated on the open ocean water as Hilda remained where she knelt, panting.
Then, standing up, she took one hand off her axe and belted out an angry, "WHO ELSE WANTS SOME?!"
"Sheesh, take it easy, Hilda, battle's over," Claude told her. "Chill out."
"It better be over," Hilda snapped. She then gasped. Nunnally!
She raced over to where Alice and Nunnally were floating on the water and, taking one in each arm, carefully brought them to the deck of the ship. At first, Hilda thought her act of heroism had come too little, too late, but then Nunnally coughed and it was clear she was just a little full of sea water. Thankfully, Alice knew CPR.
Since Nunnally was blind, opening her eyes wasn't exactly going to be a sign that she was okay. However, sitting up and coughing was the next best thing.
"Nunnally!" Hilda shouted, hugging the girl so tightly she almost knocked her over.
"Is that you, Hilda?" Nunnally asked with a smile.
"Of course it's me! Don't you ever scare me like that again!" Hilda shouted, hugging her tighter. "I thought we lost you."
"I'm sorry," Nunnally apologized. "Did I at least do a good job?"
Hilda hugged Nunnally tenderly. "You did a wonderful job, an amazing job. You wouldn't have gotten hurt if I hadn't been such a coward. I'm so sorry. It's all my fault."
"No, don't blame yourself, Hilda. In the end, you saved us all, right? I could kind of hear what Alice was saying earlier, but I was a little out of it."
Hilda just hugged Nunnally like she was a stuffed animal and gently sobbed. She'd done it. She hadn't just won the battle, she'd done so much more. Her very first real responsibility, and though it had been a close call, she prevailed.
"Well, color me impressed. Would you take a look at that?"
Hilda turned away from Nunnally, just in time to see a big, gaping sun on the horizon, the clouds parting. Nunnally might not have been able to see the sun, but she could still feel the sunshine on her face.
"Is it pretty?" Nunnally asked.
"Yeah, it's beautiful," Hilda said with a smile. She admired the sun heading for sunset, though it wasn't even low on the horizon quite yet. Still, though it was getting close to dusk, for Hilda, it felt like a new dawn was soon to be on the horizon. Sure, years of laziness would be tough to fight, but today was one of the scariest days of her life…and she prevailed.
Alice then cleared her throat. "I hate to break up what is obviously a touching moment of silence, but we still have a ship to reach port."
"Ah, right, so we do," Claude said. "Best not to leave a job half-done." He then clapped. "Well, nothing more to see here! Show's over people! Non-combat ready places!"
As the Golden Deer proceeded to try and get things back in order—Leonie in particular bringing back the unused oil drums—Klaus came up to Ignatz as he slumped over the railing on the bow. He pat his little brother on the shoulder.
"You're really going to mope after a fight like that?" Klaus asked him.
"K-K-Klaus!" Ignatz exclaimed, having not expected him to sneak up on him like that.
"My boat's cooks are just about ready to serve dinner. You coming?" he asked.
"Yeah, in a moment. I've…got a lot on my mind is all," Ignatz stated.
"You seem down. Come on, cheer up. No deaths and a victory is a reason to celebrate," Klaus told him.
"Maybe, but…my plan didn't work. I was basically next to useless back there," Ignatz commented, disappointed in himself.
"Ha! No, trust me. I know useless and that wasn't you. You stood your ground and the fact that you came up with the idea at all was something you'd never have come up with before dad sent you to Garreg Mach," Klaus told him. He then smiled proudly. "You've grown."
"Huh? You think so?" Ignatz asked, not quite sure himself.
"Do you think so?" Klaus asked, turning the question back on Ignatz.
"Klaus, I…" Ignatz started, only to stop, clear his throat and start again. "Klaus…I just want to say that…I was never a big fan of not going into the family business and Father forcing me to become a knight. Father, he's so…headstrong."
"You want to paint, right? I remember you saying that right before dad blew up at you that one time," Klaus said and then mocked their father. "Baaaarrrr, no son of mine is ever gonna paint! We're a proud merchant family of fifty years! Why my grandfather started this company by going to school uphill on one foot in the scorching heat! Both ways."
Ignatz laughed. "You're forgetting the part about how he was starting a business while fighting off hippos and lions." The pair were joking. Their father never actually said explicitly that, but he may as well have with how he acted sometimes.
Klaus laughed too. "Hey, listen, if you don't actually want to become a knight, merchant security isn't exactly much different. Plenty of room on my crew and uh, you know, maybe I let you…make some business calls every once in a while. What do you say?"
"Oh, Klaus, I couldn't possibly—"
"It's no trouble, really."
Ignatz took a huge deep breath. He stared up at the sunny sky. "I think…I think I'm going to stay at Garreg Mach. Not because dad asked me to anymore, but…but because I think I can find myself there. I mean, we all saw what Hilda's really capable of when she puts her mind to it, maybe I'll find that same calling."
Klaus smiled. "Well, whatever you decided, even if dad isn't, I'm behind you all the way. Now come on, Deirdru pheasant with cranberry sauce is on the menu and I ain't missing that."
Ignatz laughed. "All right, yes, dinner, I'm coming."
After dinner, and after docking port in Deirdru, Lorenz pulled Claude aside whilst Alice reported the mission's status in to the local church to give the news back to Seteth and Rhea.
"You okay, Lorenz?" Claude asked. "You're usually not one for secrecy, least of all with me. …Oh, I get it. This is where you ask me to be quiet so you can stick a knife in my back, right?"
"Claude, I understand japes are your thing, but please, for once, be serious," Lorenz asked without a shred of his usual pompousness.
Claude quickly got the picture and clammed up, smile fading. "What's up?"
"It's just…before we return to Rome, would you mind seeing if we could persuade Alice for a detour back to Gloucester territory? This whole affair leaves a bad taste in my mouth. That monster…that was a wholly unnatural beast, nothing my father would ever deem anything resembling safe or a deterrent on the high seas, even if he were trying to levy wealth away from House Riegan," Lorenz stated. "And before you say maybe I don't know my own father, I will remind you this is the same man that bought us time during the attack at Lake Kawaguchi. Whatever the reason, I want to hear it straight from him, not from the church, not from the knights, him."
Claude nodded. "Yeah, I'm down for that. Let's go talk to Alice about it."
"I appreciate you being so reasonable, Claude."
"Hey, I was gonna let family business be family business. Figured that was something you maybe wanted to square up between you and your pop, but if you're gonna hang the dirty laundry out in the windy breeze, who am I to say no?"
Lorenz looked and sounded flabbergasted. "Are you seriously taking this as an opportunity to gain dirty on my family? Are you that shrewd?"
"I dunno, sounds tempting," Claude chuckled.
Lorenz growled. "Uggggh, I told you to be serious."
"What? This is my serious face," Claude remarked without a hint of sincerity, whilst holding back laughter.
"Lorenz palmed his face and bent over briefly like he was going to be sick. "You. Are. Insuferrable. But…it's fine. Let's just go find Alice."
After sending her report to Rome, Alice had been told by Seteth that transport would be sent overnight and arrive tomorrow morning. The group was staying in port Deirdru for the time being. That information currently had Alice sitting over the bed of what she thought was a sleeping Nunnally. Then her phone went off with a loud vibrating noise and the girl roused, grabbing it. With sense of touch, she was able to find the right buttons.
"Who are you texting?"
Nunnally almost dropped her phone. "O-Oh! Alice. I didn't realize you were in here."
"I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You had Marianne take a look at you, right? No broken bones or burst blood vessels?"
"Yes, I'm fine," Nunnally said with a smile. "Thank you for worrying about me."
Alice stood up. "That's a relief. Well, I should be heading for bed. We have an early day tomorrow." She turned for the door.
"Wait, Alice."
She stopped.
"Do you think…we could be friends?"
A smile Alice could not get rid of—and would not even if it were possible—crept up onto her face. "I'd like that."
"I'm sorry, I didn't quite hear you."
Alice turned halfway to Nunnally. "I said I'd like that. Let's be friends, Nunnally."
"Do you pinkie promise?" Nunnally asked, holding out her pinkie.
Alice grappled it without hesitating, smiling. "Friends it is."
Nunnally shook their pinkies. "The best."
While danger was lurking just out of sight, for the time being, life was tranquil and harmonious and, for Alice Einhart, that was enough. Tomorrow would be a new day of chaos, of battles to be fought, paperwork to be filled out, and mysteries to be solved, but at least today was done. And so, as Alice Einhart lay down for a good night sleep, she fell asleep without any regrets.
(A/N: Boy, what a chapter, right? Between this fight and the chess match last chapter, this was a hard hurdle to get over. I am hoping to correct that by having plenty of chapters come out swiftly as they were when I first made this fic. But, only the goddess knows if that will hold true or not. Oh, and obligatory question: how did you like the food?
Anyway, until next time, as always, from all of me, to all of you, let your hearts stay human and your wrath draconic. Ja ne!)