Description[]
Fire Emblem vs Suikoden!
These two small-town kids went from being trained by their adoptive fathers, to leading large-scale wars alongside dozens of newfound allies! Both may have immense strength in numbers, but which of the two will reign victorious on their own? Does Riou's Bright Shield Rune have what it takes to win, or will Alm's Brand shine brighter?!
Interlude[]
Wiz: Sometimes, even the most decorated and powerful rulers came from humble beginnings.
Boomstick: The best kind of leaders, I'd say! Started from nothing, and built themselves up to everything. You gotta respect that.
Wiz: But they wouldn't be nearly as successful without the support from the dozens of friends they made along the way, and these two are no different.
Boomstick: Well, not to mention the incredible power that lies in a mark on their hands! And some training from pops.
Wiz: Alm, the Hero of the Deliverance and King of Valentia.
Boomstick: And Riou, the Hero and Leader of the New State Army! He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick!
Wiz: And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills, to find out who would win... a Death Battle.
Alm[]
Wiz: Long ago, two sibling gods were chosen to rule over the continent of Valentia; Mila and Duma. Naturally, between siblings, the two gods did not get along well, and it wouldn’t be long before they started to clash.
Boomstick: Well, can’t say I didn’t see that coming! Mila wanted to rule over humans peacefully and give them all the blessings she could, so that they could flourish and be happy forever! But Duma ruled over humans with an iron fist, establishing hard rules and law to keep them in check!
Wiz: Both had a good idea, on paper, but they were inherently flawed. However, instead of seeing the flaws of both of their ways and compensating to do the best for all people, Mila and Duma instead got into a fight and split Valentia in two.
Boomstick: This created two countries separated only by thin borders, Zofia and Rigel! Zofia prospered under Mila’s blessings, while Rigel thrived under Duma’s rule! But as time passed, the flaws in their ways of ruling began to shine through!
Wiz: The most recent King of Zofia, King Lima IV, had been pampered his entire life and became extremely pampered and spoiled. When Rigel fell to famine, Lima refused to spread his wealth, and the two countries grew angry with one another.
Boomstick: This lead to a ton of assassination attempts, threats of war, shit like that! Really bad stuff! Not to mention, while the citizens usually turned to the gods to help them, they seemed to have stopped responding!
Wiz: A common trait of the dragon gods was, unfortunately, decay. Duma and Mila were both dying at an incredibly fast rate, and it was driving them mad. Noticing this madness, the Emperor of Rigel, Rudolf, used the legendary Falchion blade to seal away Mila.
Boomstick: Unfortunately for him, Mila was even more spiteful than he thought! As she was taken out, Mila decided to seal away the blade itself, preventing it from being used against Duma! And so, Duma remained a free, mad god!
Wiz: To make matters worse, Zofia and Rigel had fully broken out into war. In the midst of the war, the legendary knight, Sir Mycen, was entrusted the son of Emperor Rudolf and daughter of King Lima IV, who he took to the hidden Ram Village.
Boomstick: The daughter of King Lima IV was a young girl known as Celica, while the son of Emperor Rudolf was Albein Alm Rudolf II. Also known as... Alm.
Wiz: Alm and Celica grew up together in Ram Village under the protection of Sir Mycen, who hoped to hide them from the outside world. During these years together, Alm and Celica developed a special, unbreakable bond.
Boomstick: Normal people just call it ‘Love’, Wiz!
Wiz: Yes, Boomstick, I know. Shut up.
Boomstick: HAH! Well, love or not, it didn’t last long. Celica was spotted by a wandering knight of Zofia, Slayde, which compromised her location. With no other option, Mycen sent Celica to a new home, separating her and Alm!
Wiz: Heartbroken, Alm spent the next several years of his life training with Sir Mycen in sword combat, while longing to leave Ram Village as early as he can.
Boomstick: Well, I don’t see why! The friends he had in Ram Village were some pretty good guys! Tobin, Gray, Kliff... Faye. Yes, even Faye! I think she’s nice...
Wiz: She is nice, Boomstick, but it wasn’t that Alm wanted to leave the people of Ram Village. He longed for adventure, real combat, and most of all, he longed for a reunification with Celica.
Boomstick: Well, good for Alm, because by the time he turned 17, adventure came knocking on his doorstep! In the form of a pleasant ol’ guy named Lukas, who appeared in Ram Village seeking Mycen!
Wiz: Lukas was a member of the Deliverance, a group of all sorts of colorful faces who sought to overthrow the current ruler of Zofia, Desaix, and end his rule of greed and tyranny. Unfortunately, Lukas was unsuccessful in recruiting Mycen to the cause.
Boomstick: But that doesn’t mean he left Ram empty handed! Seeing the opportunity to finally get out in the world and prove himself, Alm disobeyed Mycen, grabbed his friends, and joined the Deliverance!
Wiz: Just as expected from someone trained directly by Sir Mycen, Alm absolutely changed the course of the war. In a few swift battles, Alm successfully retook Zofia Kingdom for the Deliverance, and began preparations to dismantle the entirety of Rigel.
Boomstick: Because of his incredible skill and unrivaled expertise in battle, it was unanimously decided that Alm would become the new leader of the Deliverance! Getting a promotion that quickly, can you imagine?!
Wiz: Yeah... if only you weren’t promoted so quickly, Boomstick, I might have a different co-host.
Boomstick: Oh c’mon, Wiz! You know I’m great!
Wiz: Yeah, yeah, well. Anyways. Alm went through several trials and tribulations as the new Leader of the Deliverance, with the war on Rigel taking a huge toll on his psyche as he only too-late finds out that he just killed his own father, Emperor Rudolf.
Boomstick: Had Rudolf maybe said anything beforehand, that wouldn’t have happened! But he knew that Alm needed to take up the Falchion and end the war, so he was happy to wait and give his Darth Vader “No, I am your father” speech after his defeat!
Wiz: Don’t even start with the parallels between this story and Star Wars, Boomstick, we’ll be here all day. And besides, it has many parallels with Suikoden too!
Boomstick: Well, why the hell else would we be doing this battle, Wiz? I don’t see Luke Skywalker anywhere in the next part of the script!
Wiz: ... Following the defeat of his father, and the subsequent fall of Rigel, the only barriers left in Alm’s way were his twisted cousin, Berkut, and the rapidly degrading Fell-God, Duma.
Boomstick: Alm was eventually reunited with Celica in probably the worst way possible, because she was possessed by the Duma Faithful and aimed to kill Alm! With only one option remaining, Mila instructed Alm to take up the once-sealed Falchion, and... stab Celica through the chest? WHAT?!
Wiz: Tragic indeed, Alm being forced to kill his love after they had just clung to finally be with each other again. Although thankfully, Mila’s powers were able to revive Celica, and everything returned to normal.
Boomstick: ... Somewhat normal! Duma was defeated by the Falchion, and the people fuckin’ loved Alm for everything he did, so his marriage to Celica marked his place into the royal family!
Wiz: Alm, now known formally as Saint-King Alm I, united Zofia and Rigel together to make The One Kingdom of Valentia. Because of the rule of he and Celica, Valentia prospered in a long time of peace.
Boomstick: He may have turned into a pretty passive King, but I’m sure you’ve gathered by now that Alm is a total badass in combat! Despite being raised on a farm, Alm trained gruelly every day as a swordsman, under the incredibly experienced legendary Sir Mycen!
Wiz: Alm usually fights one-handed; you can tell him out of any crowd for his extremely unique stance. Even when handed a shield, which he can use proficiently, he usually just tosses it away.
Boomstick: Alm’s main weapon for the majority of his quest was the Royal Sword, a magical weapon that act’s pretty much like Thor’s Hammer!
Wiz: I guess...?
Boomstick: Well, it’s true! The Royal Sword can make itself impossibly heavy, so that only people of royal blood can lift it! Of course, Alm being the son of Emperor Rudolf would constitute that.
Wiz: The Royal Sword also has passive healing properties, healing minor wounds that Alm sustains just through him holding it. However, despite the perks this blade has, it doesn’t even hold a candle to the sword he obtained later.
Boomstick: The Falchion! Not to be confused with the legendary dragon-slaying sword of the same name created through almost the exact same means that Marth wields! This one looks different, and works a bit different too, but otherwise they might as well be one sword.
Wiz: Unlike the Archanean Falchion, the Valentian Falchion actually possesses a spirit within it, that being Mila, who resides in the sword after Rudolf sealed her away, and can use her magic through it.
Boomstick: With the sword, Alm gets full access to both its abilities and Mila’s! Such as the ability to basically turn into a flashlight, giving off a bright light even in dark places!
Wiz: The Falchion also possesses regenerative abilities far superior to the Royal Sword’s, able to casually heal a fatal wound through Celica’s stomach, and revive Celica from the dead.
Boomstick: Mila can even speak to Alm through the Falchion, giving him direction in times of need! Almost like Fi from The Legend of Zelda, but... far less intrusive.
Wiz: It also grants Alm a very handy resistance. Duma, with his Oculus ability, was able to completely nullify attacks that posed a threat to him. With the Falchion, Alm was protected from this power nullification, and could attack him perfectly fine.
Boomstick: Not to mention, as a built-in ability of every Falchion or legendary Fire Emblem weapon universally, it deals extra damage to dragons! Not that this would really help when your opponent is a boy named Riou, but... still.
Wiz: The Falchion is unbelievably handy, but that isn’t the only trick up Alm’s sleeve that makes him difficult to take down. When Alm rescued the maiden known as Silque, he received an artifact known as Mila’s Turnwheel.
Boomstick: Wait, can we really include this thing? Doesn’t it scream “game mechanics”, Wiz?
Wiz: Normally, yes, you’d be right Boomstick. However, Mila’s Turnwheel isn’t just presented as a game mechanic, it’s actually an item that is given to and fully explained to Alm in the main story, so it would be wrong to leave out.
Boomstick: Well, alright then! Mila’s Turnwheel is a crazy item that basically acts as a do-over! Any time Alm makes a slip-up in battle, or outright loses a battle, he can use Mila’s Turnwheel to rewind time! Alm retains all of his future memories too, letting him properly correct the mistake he made!
Wiz: If that wasn’t, enough, Mila’s Turnwheel continues to defy the flow of time by freely showing Alm visions of possible futures, and memories of past events.
Boomstick: As broken as it sounds, that’s not even all of it! At the cost of some of Alm’s health, Mila’s Turnwheel can summon Phantoms of warriors from pretty much any point in time!
Wiz: Specifically, Mila’s Turnwheel can summon Phantoms of other Fire Emblem protagonists; Marth, Ike, Roy, Lucina, Robin, and Corrin. It’s safe to say that these Phantoms are not as powerful as their real counterparts, but this is incredibly impressive nonetheless.
Boomstick: Well, now, all these items and weapons and such are impressive, but how about Alm himself?! Take away all these things and he’s pretty much useless, right?
Wiz: Not at all, Boomstick. Armed or not, Alm is incredibly potent and lethal in combat, with a ton of abilities and resistances to boot. He has a birthmark on the back of his left hand, similar to the one on Celica’s hand, which gives off incredible power.
Boomstick: Holy shit! At his full power, Alm can use Scendscale, where the glowing power from his hand turns into a gigantic energy sword that can absolutely decimate his opponents!
Wiz: Alm has incredible senses beyond his ability to create energy blades, able to telepathically hear Celica calling for him, which basically kickstarted his whole journey.
Boomstick: Alm can kill the undead with regular attacks, which... should be impossible given what the undead are, and also physically harm Jedah, who is completely intangible!
Wiz: Alm can also take quite a beating without even flinching, able to withstand Fire spells without any major burns, Ice spells without freezing, and shrug off Lightning spells without any burns or disorientation either.
Boomstick: Due to having the same make-up as any other Fire Emblem character, Alm is capable of walking through extremely hot areas without any trouble, such as Valorous Roland, or the caves of Ostia, which are volcanic and filled with molten lava!
Wiz: The same can be said for extremely cold places as well, which Alm too would be unaffected by, such as the icy wasteland of Ilia, which is noted to have blizzards and extremely harsh weather.
Boomstick: Alm is seriously a beast, someone who many have tried but failed to take down! Just ask Grima, the terrifying main baddie of Lucina and Robin’s adventure, who also fell to Alm’s sword!
Wiz: You’d be hard pressed to ever see Alm fall in combat. Not only does he have all this that we’ve listed, but just for back-up he also comes fully equipped with provisions that he uses to heal himself in a pinch.
Boomstick: No wonder he rose the ranks of the Deliverance and became King of Valentia so quickly! Alm is the embodiment of the perfect hero in every regard, extremely kind to all of his allies, but horribly feared to anyone trying to hurt him!
Alm: This ends here!
Riou[]
Wiz: It was the year 432, and the war between Highland and the City-States of Jowston raged on. Despite how fierce each battle was fought, both armies were seemingly caught in an eternal stalemate.
Boomstick: That’s when suddenly came the arrival of two men, who would prove irreplaceable to both sides of the war! Wielding the two halves of one of the legendary 27 True Runes, these two men were both unbeatable... but at an unfortunate cost. They were on opposing sides.
Wiz: Genkaku, holder of the Bright Shield Rune, fought for the City-States of Jowston, whilst Han Cunningham, holder of the Black Sword Rune, fought for Highland. Their skills were unbeatable, but the war continued to stalemate.
Boomstick: Eventually, the war was fought for so long that a friendship developed between Genkaku and Han! And with new leadership coming to Highland in the form of the peaceful Agares Blight, it seemed things were heading in the right direction!
Wiz: Unfortunately for everyone, the leader of Jowston disagreed with the notion of a peace treaty, and it was proposed that it be settled once and for all in a 1-on-1 duel between Han and Genkaku.
Boomstick: Things were shaping up between Han and Genkaku, and it looked like it was time for a DEATH BATTLEEEEEEEEEEE...! But Genkaku refused to fight. What the hell?! That’s lame!
Wiz: Well, regardless of their friendship, both Han and Genkaku were more than happy to have this final duel. However, Genkaku noticed that his sword had been poisoned by his leader to kill Han in one shot, and so Genkaku refused to fight without a word.
Boomstick: Because of this, Genkaku was branded a traitor, and banished out of the City-States of Jowston! Sad by the outcome but content that the war was over, Genkaku settled down in Kyaro Town and got himself some orphans to take care of. Unfortunately, he did not make these orphans into sidekicks the way Batman would.
Wiz: Well, not entirely, Boomstick. These two children, Riou and Nanami, were both raised and trained in martial arts by Genkaku. In no time, both children were exceptional in martial arts and armed combat.
Boomstick: Unfortunately for the aspiring-Batman, he was unable to see either of them grow into adults, as he died of old age soon later. Riou and Nanami decided they’d live on their own, and continue the training Genkaku left them with!
Wiz: During this, Riou would soon become friends with a boy his age named Jowy Atreides, who looked up to both Riou and Nanami’s skills and hoped to be like them. The three were as closely knit as a family, but that wouldn’t last forever.
Boomstick: Tensions rose between the City-State and Highland AGAIN, which meant that Highland needed to put together their army. This time, Highland was under the tyrannical rule of Agares Blight’s pig-hating son, Luca Blight, who had a wicked plan up his sleeve!
Luca Blight: DIE, PIG!!!!
Wiz: Highland put together a group of child soldiers, as terrible as that is, known as the Unicorn Youth Brigade, and both Riou and Jowy were forced into it. They left home, and served proudly under Captain Rowd for quite a while.
Boomstick: But then, on the night of their departure, Luca Blight and Captain Rowd let their true colors show! The two staged an attack on the Unicorn Brigade, killing all of the soldiers in it, and framed it on the City-State.
Wiz: This was an attempt to make it seem as though the City-State immediately broke their newly-signed peace treaty, so that people would lose trust in them, and... well, it worked. Dozens of kids betrayed and killed, all to play a mental game with the enemy.
Boomstick: This Luca Blight is no joke!
Wiz: There’s a reason why he’s considered one of the most ruthless and irredeemable villains in video game history, and this exact plan is that reason. With all of their allies ruthlessly killed, all Riou and Jowy could do was run, but they were separated because of it.
Boomstick: Riou, at only 16 years old, was lost unconscious in a river, probably going to die! Thankfully, he was fished out of the river by a group of mercenaries, though this wasn’t exactly the group Riou wanted to see. These mercenaries fought for the City-State!
Wiz: Well, in a sense, this was exactly what Riou wanted to see, since he had just been betrayed by Highland. But regardless, due to his status as a member of the Unicorn Brigade, Riou was imprisoned by the mercenaries, and forced to do chores.
Boomstick: CHORES!? That’s just cruel, man!
Wiz: They sure looked tedious, but it built up Riou’s reputation a ton. In no time, Riou became a trusted member of the mercenaries, shedding his Highland past.
Boomstick: Well, that’s disregarding his breakout attempt when he reunited with Jowy, but he ended up returning anyway. Regardless, Jowy was now fully on-board with the City-State army, and wanted to stick it to Highland for what they did!
Wiz: In order to even stand a chance against Highland, however, the City-State needed to form an army, and quickly. Most people didn’t think joining an army was necessary, since they were still fooled by the peace treaty, and so it was up to Riou to join hearts together and convince everyone to work together.
Boomstick: You may be asking yourself how a 16 year old kid managed to formulate an army, but it’s actually pretty simple! Much like the legendary Tir McDohl before him, Riou was a figure known as the Tenkai Star, who was gifted the ability to influence the hearts of people and bring them together!
Wiz: Specifically, Riou was charged with finding the 108 Stars of Destiny; a group of 108 people who, with their combined influence and resources, could construct an army stronger than Highland.
Boomstick: Which, despite it being very difficult thanks to a number of stubborn people, Riou was able to do it! In no time, Riou’s skill, charm, kindness, and strength won over the hearts of 108 people, all backing his cause.
Wiz: This influence actually elevated Riou’s status in the New-State Army tremendously, to the point where he was elected leader and figurehead of the entire army, which he soon renamed to the Dunan Army.
Boomstick: Not everybody had Riou’s back though, unfortunately! Obviously Luca Blight and Rowd didn’t, but also a familiar face! Jowy, as much as he was Riou’s friend, grew disillusioned by war and sought to end it his own way, by taking control of the Highland army!
Wiz: Countless wars were waged, and countless more lives lost. And with loss, brings tragedy. But despite it all, Riou pushed forwards, thoroughly dismantling the Highland army, and finally confronting Jowy for a final battle. Much like Genkaku before him, Riou refused to fight.
Boomstick: Jowy saw the error of his ways when Riou posed no resistance against his attacks, and sought to be forgiven for his sins! With a promise to one day return to his people (especially his girlfriend Eilie, come on now), Riou left to travel the world alongside Jowy and Nanami.
Wiz: As much of a pacifist as Riou would prefer to be, he is a ruthless fighter. For his entire life, Riou was trained by both Genkaku and the Unicorn Youth Brigade how to be a master martial artist and cunning warrior.
Boomstick: Just ask any of his numerous victims! Luca Blight, the dude who takes immense pride in the amount of people it took to kill him, was felled by Riou himself! As well as other high-ranking Highland generals like Seed and Culgan!
Wiz: Riou was trained to masterfully wield two tonfa, traditional wooden weapons used primarily for blocking and striking. Riou can swing these around like nobody’s business, and deal devastating blows thought impossible for weapons of this caliber.
Boomstick: That’s not all Riou’s got either, not even close! He’s got a ton of superhuman abilities as well, such as the ability to surround himself in aura, and leave a trail of afterimages with his speed!
Wiz: Riou’s incredibly agile both inside and out of combat, able to perform incredible leaps and flips without much trouble. And while those moves might be flashy, he’s also proficient in stealth, capable of sneaking out of the Mercenary Fortress, and sneaking into a highly-guarded Highland fort.
Boomstick: Still think Suikoden is a standard series about war now? Riou can physically harm enemies like the Mist Shade, who is intangible due to being made of... well, mist.
Wiz: Not to mention being able to kill enemies like the Bone Dragon, who are undead creatures. I shouldn’t even have to get into why that’s impressive, but killing something that’s already dead makes you pretty formidable.
Boomstick: As the Tenkai Star, Riou’s also got a really crazy ability that I found hard to believe, but he does! Since the Tenkai Star gathers the hearts of the people together, he also holds the power to alter fate!
Wiz: Both of these things give Riou incredible dominion over his surroundings and those around him, able to change people’s hearts with his influence, and alter fate itself through this.
Boomstick: Not only can he alter fate and the hearts of others, but he has a future that cannot even be seen! Step aside Shulk, and any other fictional prophet, Riou has a future and fate that cannot be seen! Even across his several possible futures and several strands of fate, Riou is completely immune to precognition.
Wiz: These seem impressive on their own, but that’s not even close to being all. Halfway through his adventure, Riou followed the path of his adoptive father Genkaku, and was trusted to hold one half of one of the legendary 27 True Runes.
Boomstick: The Bright Shield Rune! It may only be half of a rune, but it’s still unbelievably powerful with a ton of abilities to boot! For starters, the Bright Shield Rune wields light, able to both give off light, and attack enemies with light power!
Wiz: The Rune is held on the back of Riou’s right hand, and will passively heal both him and anyone surrounding it consistently. Not only this, but it has three moves: Great Blessing, Battle Oath, and Forgiver Sign, which all provide a ton of healing to Riou and his allies.
Boomstick: Battle Oath in particular can also put any of its targets into a Berserk status, which raises offensive capabilities by 50%! Making its usage incredibly helpful, since it both heals and raises stats!
Wiz: And as a final perk of the Bright Shield Rune, it makes Riou completely resistant to curses, such as when it protected him from Neclord’s Blue Moon Curse.
Boomstick: Well, now I see why Genkaku was unstoppable during the war with this thing on his hand, its healing and damage output are crazy good! It’d be damn hard to take Riou down, which is proven in the game itself!
Wiz: Don’t worry Boomstick, that still isn’t everything Riou has.
Boomstick: Wait... what?! But we listed out a million abilities and resistances and everything!
Wiz: Well, there’s a million more. Now we need to cover Runes.
Boomstick: We just did!
Wiz: Not the Bright Shield Rune, Boomstick, regular Runes. Of which he has very... very many. Take a look at the list.
Boomstick: WHAT?!
Wiz: Riou’s got standard Runes that give fairly basic offensive magic, such as Fire, Earth, Lightning, Water, Wind, Darkness, and Resurrection magic. And he has advanced versions of that elemental magic in the form of Mother Earth, Rage, Thunder, Flowing, and Cyclone Runes.
Boomstick: Let’s not glaze over some of that though, Wiz, because Darkness Runes are crazy! Finger of Death instantly kills one enemy, and Final Bell instantly kills an entire row of enemies! And Soul Steal literally siphones health from an attacked enemy!
Wiz: With the Blue Gate Rune, Riou can summon a ton of different kinds of monsters, such as a large knight or a flying battleship, to attack the enemies for him. Or a very useful Rune, the Blinking Rune, which can forcefully teleport enemies right out of battle.
Boomstick: The Fire Sealing Rune directly makes Riou resistant to all fire damage, and the Fury Rune can also immediately put Riou into the Berserk state as detailed before! *sigh*, are we covering all of these, Wiz?
Wiz: We could, Boomstick, but we’d be here all day. Those are basically the most potent Runes, the one Riou gets the most mileage and useful abilities out of. All of his other abilities, while good, are variations of stat boosters or HP drainers.
Boomstick: Damn! Well, I’d say we still had to cover a lot, and I’m getting tired.
Wiz: You won’t be so tired when you see the kind of thing Riou’s been able to take out with these skills and Runes alone, such as the Bone Dragon and even the ultra-powerful Beast Rune Incarnation.
Boomstick: HOLY! That’s a giant wolf! I thought he was just a 16 year old kid?
Wiz: Just like everyone else Riou’s ever fought, Boomstick, you underestimate who very well may be the strongest fighter seen in the entire Dunan Unification War. Aside from moments of him being mentally compromised, it’d be hard to find anyone actually overcoming Riou in combat.
Boomstick: Riou’s a beast! He may not look intimidating due to his age and appearance, but this kind man will turn into a ruthless warrior the moment you threaten the peace of his family or friends!
Riou: Everyone, lend me your strength!
Fight![]
10:30 AM, IS 462 (Solar Year Calendar), Year 402 (Valentian Calendar)
Dunan Castle. It was a beautiful kingdom, tended to daily and visited often, home to countless soldiers and citizens alike who were still slowly healing from the scar left by Highland’s horrid leader, Luca Blight.
The grass and flowers swayed in the wind, just as they had done any day, but a different feeling came with this breeze. Familiar, nostalgic, but also somehow new. Though it seems this feeling was only detected by one citizen in particular.
Eilie perked up. It had been almost two years now since the end of the Dunan Unification War, and she had been trying to get back into the groove of being a circus performer with Bolgan and her sister, Rina. But... she couldn’t.
The war changed Eilie in a way that was much different than it changed anyone else. For some it brought excitement, fear, uneasiness, but for most the only outcome of the war was sadness. Eilie didn’t have that. What did she get out of the war?
Love.
Something she’d never felt before, something she still didn’t even know if she was allowed to properly understand at 19 years old. Of course Bolgan loved many things, but he wasn’t the type to help her with this sort of issue. Rina wouldn’t be of any help, all she used love for was to get her way.
So if her partners didn’t understand this feeling, if they didn’t even experience this feeling, why did Eilie? It frustrated her to no end. She wanted to stop thinking about him, but more than that she wanted to see him again.
“Eilie, hey,” Rina piped up, “you’ve been spacey this whole walk. Listen, I know walking all the way to Dunan Castle is taking forever, but I thought you were used to these things!”
“What wrong, Eilie? Bolgan see something wrong!” Bolgan shouted, his voice innocently deaf to tone or inflection as usual. Eilie stopped walking for a second and put her hands on her hips with a huff,
“I just can’t shake the feeling, I don’t know.” Eilie sighed, “It’s been a long time since we’ve been here! Since the end of the war. Maybe I’m just anticipating seeing how things have changed.”
Rina tried to hold it in, but a second didn’t even pass before she burst out laughing. Bolgan couldn’t even hold it in. Almost immediately, Eilie flushed red, grabbed her arm and looked away; what else should she have expected.
“Eilie! Eilie...“ Rina got out between her chuckles, “You can just say it, sis. You’re thinking about Riou, you couldn’t get him off your mind for a second! What is with you and him?”
“I don’t know!” Eilie shot out as a counter, trying to deflect the conversation entirely. “Can we just get to the Castle, please?”
“Eilie.” Bolgan said bluntly, calmly placing his enormous hand on her shoulder. “Riou leave long time ago. Think about him, only hurt Eilie more. Me want Eilie be happy, not sad.”
Eilie let out another sigh, letting the red leave her face.
“Bolgan is right,” Rina chimed in, “I’m sorry for teasing you. I know you two had your moments in the war. But look at us! We’re gypsies, moving around and not sticking to one thing is the way we work!”
Rina was right, but Eilie didn’t want her to be. Riou won’t be at Dunan Castle, he left a long time ago to travel the world. She thought she had resigned herself to that indirect rejection, but something lingered. This strange feeling in the air wasn’t helping.
Still, as the Castle came into full view, she couldn’t deny its persisting beauty. It looked the exact same as when they left it, and for a moment that eased her mind. Almost as soon as they reached the front gates, the guard recognized them.
“O-oh! You three. My, it sure has been a while.” The guard stammered, clearly incredibly nervous. It took a second, but Rina knew exactly what was going on and stepped forwards to place a playful finger on his chest.
“My, you’re the one who let us through Tenzan Pass, aren’t you? How could I forget,” Rina giggled in a seductive tone, which only made Eilie roll her eyes. “I see you’ve been promoted! Please let us pass.”
“Yes! Of course, any friend of mine is a friend of the Dunan Army!”
With that, the soldier stepped aside and allowed for the girls to step into the Castle. Eilie gave her sister a quick punch to the arm, and then let the views of Dunan fill her eyes for the first time since Year 460.
Beautiful, stunning, impressive, all the glorious words in the dictionary put together could never be enough to describe the wonder that was the Dunan Castle, thriving to this day despite all the efforts made to destroy it; redecorated from the ground up, from a castle that was once ruled by a tasteless Vampire King, to... well, this.
Children running around happily, men and women shopping freely, gardeners tending to the flowers that sprinkled almost every inch of land. Eilie was dying to put on a show here, and she knew Rina and Bolgan felt the same.
“Well, is it the same as you expected, Eilie? Bolgan?” Rina asked, looking between the two, “I’d say it got a little prettier, wouldn’t you? Doesn’t scream ‘Castle designed for war’ anymore.”
Eilie absolutely agreed, but she didn’t have any time to respond beyond a simple nod.
“Hey! You three, look over here!” A man shouted, and then let out a bellow of laughter.
"Oh, Viktor!”
“Been a while, eh? Seems like a lot of people got the feeling to come back to Dunan Castle today!” Viktor said as he walked up to the group, a wide grin on his face as usual. Viktor was shaggy, gruff, and compared to a grizzly bear for good reason; it seemed he hadn’t changed at all in two years.
“Yeah, looks like it’s pretty busy around here nowadays,” Eilie commented, looking around at all the hustling and bustling, “is something going on?”
Upon hearing that, Viktor raised an eyebrow. “Wait, did you three really just come here by chance? I thought you’d heard the news! That’s why Flik and I came, at least.”
“What news?”
“Well, a couple men of Dunan sailed west a little bit ago, and discovered a whole new continent. I guess they’d discovered us as well.” Viktor explained, “To avoid any future conflicts, they want to unify the Kingdoms and make it one big region.”
“A whole continent?” Rina gasped, “Surely they have a larger army than the Dunan Republic. Does that mean this place is getting new management?”
“Not if we can help it.” Someone chimed in, walking up from behind Viktor; blue headband, blue cape, it seemed Flik hadn’t changed much either. “We fought hard to make Dunan free, it would betray everything we fought for to switch management. I suggested we simply sign a peace treaty and leave this unification business for another time.”
“... And if they don’t go for the peace treaty?” Eilie asked. She didn’t think a war would happen, but the possibility of such was frightening to her. Worrying about Rina, Bolgan, and... Riou, every single day, the stress made her want to throw up two years ago.
“I wouldn’t even think of war as a possibility. At least, I don’t want to. It seems trivial.” Flik sighed. “Shu sent word to our allies to come here just in case. It would do well for everyone to be present for the dispute, maybe we can tie everything up in a neat little bow.”
“Y-you sent word to everyone? Even Riou?” Eilie blurted. Flik gave her a confused look for a moment and chuckled.
“I was against calling for Riou, Nanami, and Jowy, but Shu insisted.” Flik admitted, waving his hand dismissively, “He had a good point; as young as they are, they are the strongest fighters we have. Riou and Jowy have a lot of presence in this Castle.”
“Don’t you think those boys deserve a break?” Rina protested, putting her hands on her hips. Viktor scratched the back of his head and shrugged.
“They had two whole years away from the war, and they’re both adults by now...“ Viktor reasoned, “... and besides, we’re not forcing them or anything. They’ll appear if they think they need to.”
Just the thought of seeing Riou again made Eilie’s face flush red, but she did well to cover it up. “W-when is the meeting being held? I think Rina and Bolgan would like to see it, too.”
“Yes! Bolgan like to meet people from new continent!” Bolgan proudly announced, bringing a smile back to everyone’s face. “Make friends with people, and get peace treaty signed!”
“I think that’s a wonderful idea, Bolgan.” Flik smirked, “Everyone’s actually gathering in the War Room now to witness the meeting, if you’d like to follow me.”
“We’d love to.” Rina said pleasantly. Flik and Viktor turned, and immediately began walking towards the Castle. The three circus performers followed suit.
11:10 AM
Dunan Castle was just as impressive as Eilie remembered, though she was walking so quickly through it in pursuit of Viktor and Flik that she hardly had time to reminisce. Still, a lot of things were hard to forget.
Just to her left, was the hallway she skipped down almost daily, giddy as a little kid, as she went to wake up Riou and start the day. He was always very pleasant to her, as intrusive as she retrospectively saw her actions to be; his smile always suited him well.
“Eilie? It’s just in here, remember?” Flik said in a bit of a louder tone than usual, indicating that he’d been trying to get her attention. Eilie snapped out of whatever daze she was in, and politely walked past Flik into the War Room. He chuckled a little as she did.
The War Room was huge, layered with extremely sturdy stone but not decorated with any furniture, as the rest of the Castle was. That was to be expected, as the War Room was made to fit countless people. Appropriately, there were many people inside.
Eilie recognized a lot of the faces; the Howling Voice Guild Master, Clive, the young girl Millie and her pet Bonaparte, the Dragon Knight Futch, the Magic Instructor Zamza... and many, many more. The amount of stimulus was almost overwhelming.
At the front of the crowd, Eilie could just barely make out the key players of the negotiations. The master tactician himself, Shu, was of course there, looking as dignified as ever. But across from Shu, was someone Eilie had never seen before.
A beautiful white dress decorated with gold, beautiful orange hair, fair skin, and a white tiara. She was young, visibly around Eilie’s age, but certainly much more regal. She must be some kind of Princess or Queen, and as usual, Eilie felt a tinge of jealousy.
“So who’s that?” Eilie asked, looking over to Viktor. He simply crossed his arms.
“That would be Celica, Queen of Valentia. Y’know, the continent we’re dealing with?” Viktor explained, “I hear she’s a crazy smart tactician, peace activist, all that kinda stuff. Shu’s got a lot on his plate with her, I just know it.”
“She’s not even all of it,” Flik chimed in, “The King of Valentia is back in another room right now. He said he’d make his appearance once everyone was ready to start. But of course, we’re waiting for word back from Jowy and Riou...“
Almost as if on cue, a Dunan soldier burst into the War Room and tapped Flik on the shoulder. After whispering something into Flik’s ear, the two nodded and the man ran back out. Without any hesitation, Flik stepped forwards in front of the crowd.
“Alright, everyone! I’d ask that everyone quiet down, please.” Flik announced. “We were awaiting a response from Lord Riou, and we’ve just gotten it. He’s at the front gate now, so the conference will begin momentarily.”
“Riou actually came? I’m pleasantly surprised.” Shu said, almost sounding astonished. “That’s good news though, he is an essential member of this Kingdom even if he isn’t the ruler.”
“I’ve heard many good things about this Riou.” Celica spoke up, “I would very much like to meet him. I have a good feeling that we can settle this matter pleasantly. I’ll go tell Alm that we’re ready, if you’ll excuse me.”
“Of course, my lady.” Shu slightly bowed. Celica responded in kind, walking to another room. The War Room was silent, almost awkwardly so, and so Rina instinctively turned to her sister.
“Today’s just turning up for you, isn’t it?” Rina cooed, jabbing Eilie with her elbow. All Eilie could do was cross her arms and look away. “Look, Eilie, you should let yourself be happy for once! We just thought we’d perform here for an afternoon and leave, I’d say things turned up.”
“Okay, I have to admit. You’re right, sis.” Eilie grumbled. “But I’m just nervous, I don’t know. I don’t get why seeing a boy is more nerve-wracking to me than throwing knives at people in our performances.”
“I’d comfort you, sis, but I’ve never felt that way about anyone.” Rina shrugged. “Chin up, Eilie, try not to embarrass yourself.”
The time it took for people to arrive felt like an eternity's past. But sure enough, it was only a matter of time before the door of the War Room creaked open. Flik immediately stepped through, and then stepped aside.
“They’re here, everyone! We’ve all missed these three but I ask we keep the long greetings until afterwards, alright?” Flik announced. “Riou, Nanami, Jowy? Come on in.”
Three people walked through the door, and Eilie’s heart fluttered. There stood Nanami, looking as bubbly as usual. Jowy, with his proud look and classic ponytail still the same as always. And then... Riou. Red clothes, short brown hair, and the same yellow scarf.
“Hey!” Nanami gasped, clearly ecstatic seeing everyone’s faces again. “Hey! Hey! It’s been so long, everyone! It’s so good to see everyone’s okay!”
“Maybe I’m not the face everybody wants to see, but it is good to see you all in good health.” Jowy politely said with a bow. Finally, it was his turn. Riou stepped forwards.
“Hello everybody. It’s so good to— Eilie?” Riou stopped mid-introduction, and raised an eyebrow. Eilie barely even noticed it, but she walked out from everyone, right in front of Riou. Rina naturally blurted out an embarrassed “Eilie!!!”, but it was too late.
“Oh! I’m sorry.” Eilie stammered. “I didn’t mean to—... Well, it’s good to see you three. Hi, Riou.”
Eilie ran back to Rina and Bolgan, thoroughly embarrassed, but there were many in the crowd who couldn’t help but laugh. Viktor, Flik, Shu, even the usually-silent Teresa, they all knew what was going on. Riou let out a smile, “It’s good to see you, Eilie. I’d love to catch up later.”
“T-that’s good! I can make dinner, or...“ Eilie once again lost track of her words, but this time someone else cut her off. Another door opened, this time on the opposite side of the room.
“Jeez, Eilie, I told you not to embarrass yourself, didn’t I?” Rina scolded her quietly. “I don’t know what you turn into when you’re around Riou, but it is not befitting of you.”
“It’s good to meet you all!” A voice spoke up, young but very commanding. Eilie immediately turned, and saw who it was; another man, around her age, with unique green hair and blue armor. “I am Saint-King Alm, and this is my wife Queen Celica. We are from the One Kingdom of Valentia.”
“It is very good to formally meet you both,” Shu stated, welcoming the King and Queen up to the stand with him. He then went and grabbed Riou and Jowy, pulling them up as well, whilst Nanami walked over to join the crowd. “I am Shu, military strategist of Dunan, and these two are...“
“I am Jowy Atreides-Blight, formerly King of Highland before it became the One Region of Dunan.” Jowy said humbly to Alm and Celica. “I have disgraced this Kingdom, but I am humbled that the people have forgiven me.”
“Blight?” Celica asked, but her thoughts fell on deaf ears. Riou then stepped forwards.
“My name is Riou, formerly the leader of the New State Army.” Riou introduced himself, also bowing. “I turned down the position as leader of Dunan in order to travel the world, but this place is still very important to me.”
“My, you two are far younger than I expected for the positions you held.” Alm marveled, but then chuckled. “Well, I guess we can’t say anything. Celica and I are only 18 years old.”
Riou and Jowy’s eyes widened, and they looked back and forth between each other, and Alm. “You two are only 18? Us too!” Riou blurted, to which Alm only laughed louder and took a step forward.
“It always surprises me how much kids like us can make a difference.” Alm smiles, sticking his hand out in front of Riou. “It’s very good to meet you, Lord Riou, Lord Jowy.”
“Yes, very good to meet you both.” Celica added, as Alm shook both Riou and Jowy’s hands. “I think it’s about time we get into the dispute then, shall we?”
“I agree! Please, King Alm, Queen Celica, take a seat. Riou and Jowy have agreed to negotiate with me, so we will sit opposite to you.” Shu explained, as knights carried up sturdy, yet comfortable-looking wooden chairs. All five people took a seat.
The air was still, silent, almost nerve-wracking. Nobody knew what stance Alm and Celica were going to take, but they desperately did not want to start another war. As far as things were going, it didn’t seem like it would spiral into that.
“So, the proposal made by Valentia suggests that we are to unify the two regions under the singular Valentia name?” Shu asked, setting ground for the conversation. Celica nodded.
“Precisely. A peace treaty was also brought up, but I believe that puts a line between us that can only cause problems in the future.” Celica explained, “I understand that your Castle has suffered from the breaking of a peace treaty before, so we are hoping to avoid that outcome.”
“That was a misunderstanding.” Jowy chipped in. “No peace treaty was broken. The former King of Highland, Luca Blight, made a plan...“
“...that isn’t important enough to get into.” Shu interrupted. “We don’t personally have a history of breaking treaties, so I wouldn’t raise that a factor here. I think it is a perfectly viable option.”
“I understand your side, I do. But putting everyone under the umbrella of the Valentia name could unify us in a way that only strengthens the land. No difference in titles, there’ll be less chance of conflict.” Alm stated, leaning forwards in his seat. Shu, on the other hand, leaned back.
“Then I can only ask,” Shu questioned, “Why the Valentia name? Don’t our people deserve to have the Dunan Republic’s name used, just as your people deserve the name Valentia?”
Alm’s eyebrows began to knit; he was pushed into a corner. “With all due respect... Since our Kingdom rules with a monarchy, Celica and I could only continue our rule if Valentia was the land to expand, not Dunan.”
“Then that would be a matter of politics, no? Elected officials, or officials born into their position. Is this a matter you wish to debate currently?” Jowy asked. “You seem as starkly against giving up your monarchy as we are giving up the republic. A peace treaty could fix this.”
“I’m sorry,” Celica spoke up again, more fire in her eyes than before, “but a peace treaty was removed from the question in my eyes the moment you introduced yourself as Jowy Atreides-Blight.”
Jowy was caught off guard by this remark, and moved back in his seat. He was embarrassed, ashamed, and worst of all, he knew his own former allies in the crowd wouldn’t even disagree with her.
“My apologies. Riou, Shu.” Jowy said meekly, standing up and turning away. “I shouldn’t have come. I’m ruining the negotiations.”
Riou stood up as well, almost angered, as he grabbed Jowy’s arm. “Hey! You’re not ruining a thing! So what, about your last name?”
“Is the Blight family name an issue? With all due respect, your majesty, Jowy isn’t the only official that’s on this board.” Shu protested, remaining seated. “And may I inform you, former King Agares Blight was a very passive man."
“But he still is on the board. And regardless of what King Agares may have stood for, that does not change the actions of Luca Blight. The family name is one that I cannot trust.” Celica stated firmly.
“I’m sorry for all the tension that’s come up,” Alm spoke up, obviously uncomfortable and less in-touch with the situation. “But Luca Blight discovered our continent before you did, and only left when your war with him began. Celica heard of his atrocities from people who suffered them first-hand.“
“I see...“ Shu sighed, almost defeated. “I had no idea Luca sent troops to Valentia as well. Our records of him only really start with the start of the Dunan Unification War...“
“Well, when he visited us, our Kingdom had yet to be formed. We were still but Zofia and Rigel. Though that doesn’t change what a horrible man he was.” Celica sighed. “You’ve allowed this Jowy Atreides-Blight onto your board. I would like to hear more about him before a peace treaty is brought into question again.”
Shu furrowed his eyebrows and looked over to Riou and Jowy, who both looked equally troubled. All three of them, not to mention all of the dozens of people in the crowd, knew that Jowy worked directly with Luca Blight. It was a sin that he worked hard to erase, but blood does not wash off so easily.
“I would like to remove myself from this board,” Jowy elected. “I do not want to be responsible for what happens to this land any more.”
With that, he ripped his arm out of Riou’s hand and left the War Room, with Flik quick on his tail. Riou let out a sigh, and sat next to Shu once again. Alm put his head in his hands for a moment, but Celica remained fierce.
“I think we’ve seen enough.” Celica declared. “Alm, I’d like your judgment please, as King.”
“Man...“ Alm huffed, putting his hands down and looking up. “I trust Celica’s judgment. Tensions between us will only rise with a Peace Treaty. I think we have to put forward the motion of expanding Valentia.”
Some people in the crowd, the ones Eilie couldn’t recognize, nodded in agreement. Eilie worriedly looked at Riou, hoping that he could say something to give everyone what they wanted.
“Well...“ Riou interjected. “We fought hard to establish the Dunan Republic. I think it would be wrong to dismantle the government we’ve established just to ensure peace that could work just as well with a treaty.”
“We’ll fight for it, if we have to.” Shu vowed, sitting firmly in his seat. Alm raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t think rushing into war would be a great idea.” The Valentian King noted, echoing the thoughts of everyone in the crowd. “Our Kingdom has expanded rapidly since we won the war, even without Mila’s blessings we’ve been growing faster than ever before. If we can just peacefully come to an agreement about using the land—”
“So that’s what this is about. Expanding land.” Shu grumbled. “It wasn’t that you thought a peace treaty would lead to war, you just wanted your citizens in our land under your rule.”
“Both are correct. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.” Celica retorted. “The former Kingdom of Rigel suffered from horrible famine, because they lacked the blessings of the gods. We’re in a time without gods, and somehow we’re doing amazingly, but the more our kingdom expands, the harder it is to sustain. Surely you understand!”
“Well then I truly apologize for your situation, but you can’t request favor and ask us to pay a price for it.” Shu sternly said. “You two are young, it’s hard to handle a position like this at your age. I was studying to become a tactician at your age once, I know it can be overwhelming. But—”
“What does age have to do with it?” Alm asked. “We’re facing a dilemma that would stump any ruler. We don’t want to go to war for more land, that’s why we’re here peacefully to negotiate.”
“Then I don’t see why Jowy needed to be shooed out of the War Room.” Riou said, in an almost spiteful tone. “You’re negotiating a war with our people, in front of our people. Normally wars are declared, not politely announced. If you just wanted peace, we’re always open to a peace treaty.”
“Well we are in the War Room, are we not?” Somebody remarked, walking up and standing behind Alm and Celica. Red hair, red armor, Riou had no idea who this was, but Alm smiled seeing him.
“Lukas, you’re late! Good to see you.” Alm said. Lukas merely smiled.
“When Alm and I were fighting in the Deliverance, everything was an uphill battle. It’s hard for us to perform negotiations in this high-status position.” Lukas admitted. “Would it not be possible to simply form a peace treaty, and have some of our citizens migrate to your land?”
“There’s still gonna be a divide between ‘our land’ and ‘your land’, and eventually we’ll run into a land dilemma all over again.” Riou said firmly, “Perhaps instead of your offer, we could expand both Kingdoms into a unified Republic, and elect leaders who could properly work out these issues.”
“The Kingdom of Valentia has run under a monarchy for generations, whether under the title of Valentia, Zofia, or Rigel! It would be a great offense to many people to dismantle that system.” Celica countered.
“Then we’re at a crossroads.” Lukas noted. “This debate will keep going in circles, no matter what is brought up. May I suggest, Shu, that perhaps we ask the people what they want, and then continue from that?”
“That is a good idea, Sir Lukas. It will allow us to decide without our own heavy biases. Alm, Celica?” Shu asked, looking at the King and Queen. They nodded, and everyone turned over to the crowd.
“People of the Dunan Republic,” Riou announced, scanning the crowd for the faces he recognized. “What would you prefer?”
“Bolgan no care! Bolgan want people happy!” Bolgan shouted, making Riou smile for a moment.
“I swore an oath to the Republic, I fought for it. Saw many people die for it. It would pain me greatly to give that up.” Flik admitted, “It would be like submitting to Highland. They were a monarchy too, remember? We fought for democracy, to keep the corruption of people like the Blights out.”
“And yet you had a Blight on your board, didn’t you? I just don’t understand you people...“ A slender man with blue hair, Python, grumbled. Flik heard this and furrowed his eyebrows.
“Hey, hey, hey! Jowy argued for our side, can we stop bringing up his past?! He feels bad about it!” Nanami shouted back at Python, who simply rolled his eyes.
“I dunno about everyone else, but I just don’t know enough about this Kingdom to let them walk around Dunan like this. Having another Highland Army on our hands would be horrible.” Viktor remarked.
“I say we fight! We must preserve the Kingdom, which has existed for countless generations! Losing the name of Valentia is something we cannot allow!” A green-haired man, Forsyth, shouted.
“Hey, guys, I mean I’m cool with fighting n’ all, but can we just sign a damn peace treaty and go home? Killing people for land doesn’t sit well with me...“ Alm’s friend, Gray, suggested a laid-back attitude. His other friend, Tobin, punched Gray in the arm.
“You know that’s just gonna lead to a ton of in-fighting, dude? As if we wanna split the continent into Zofia and Rigel again, the thing we just got out of.” Tobin grunted. Gray rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.
“Well, Riou?” Eilie finally spoke up, although almost everything in her told her not to. “I think you should lead us again. Just this once? You know we’ll always stick by your side no matter what you choose.”
Riou heard Eilie loud and clear, and sat back for a second. Leading an army, at his young age, was stressful. Constantly he would find himself passing out from the weight of it all, always worrying about if everyone was okay. But he’d be a liar if he said he wasn’t a natural-born leader.
“You’re right, Eilie...“ Riou finally said. “I cannot claim leadership over Dunan forever, as I rejected that position two years ago. But if the decision has truly turned into fight or submit, then I will do what I can.”
Upon hearing this, King Alm and Queen Celica both stood up from their seats. As a sign of continued respect, despite the arguments, Alm stuck out his hand once more. Riou shook it.
“If that is the way it has to be, then.” Alm sighed. “This makes us enemies, but that doesn’t mean we will show no respect. Take the time you need to prepare. If at any moment you decide to surrender Valentia, then we will cease our attack. I hope you will show us the same courtesy.”
“Of course. Shu and I would want as little bloodshed as possible, if any at all.” Riou agreed. “Flik and Viktor will show you out of the Castle.”
“Thank you for your politeness, Riou, Shu. Please apologize to Jowy Atreides-Blight for me and my misjudgment. May the gods shine down blessings upon us both.” Celica took a pleasant bow, and then walked with Alm towards Flik, who led them to the door.
Almost as soon as the citizens of Valentia left, the War Room erupted into chatter once more. Shu slumped back into his chair, and put his head into his hands. “Well, suffice to say, this was the worst outcome.”
“Not the worst,” A young girl with short brown hair and huge glasses commented, as she walked up next to Shu. “They’re far more polite than Highland, and I think that is quite the blessing. They seem like good people, I’m sure we can figure it out before people die.”
“Ah, Apple. There you are.” Shu noticed the girl and stood up to see her. “You’re right, but still. A war so soon after our last one, it is undoubtedly bad luck. If we didn’t travel the sea for a few more years, perhaps we’d have some more time of peace...“
“It’s surprising to hear you say that,” Apple chuckled. “You get the chance to put your gifts to use again, no? Well, I suppose that’s only a silver lining to how bad war is. But it was inevitable.”
“Hey, look at it this way!” Viktor bellowed, walking up. “All of the people who fought with you two years ago are all still in prime fighting condition! We stand more of a chance of subverting this war than we would in the future!”
“I just wish my return to this Castle could at least be spent with one day of peace, before needing to gather in this War Room immediately.” Riou sighed. “It would be nice to get one day here without all the planning and strategy of war.”
“You can have that, Riou, if you want.” Rina stepped forwards, “It’s been a long time, why not spend some time with us? I know someone who’s dying to catch up with you.”
“Hey!!” Eilie blurted. Riou simply chuckled, knowing what was going on but still somewhat oblivious.
“I’d love to, but if this fight is going to happen, I’m not sure how much time I’ve got.” Riou’s mouth scrunched up into a disappointed frown, but Shu walked up and put his hand on Riou’s shoulder.
“It’s okay, Riou. It’ll take maybe a day before the Valentian royal family even get back to their Kingdom, and we’ve got a good amount of time after that to prepare. I’m sure you can spare a day.” Shu reassured him, then looking up to Eilie and snickering. “Besides, I was looking through some old letters left in the Suggestion Box during the war, and that girl’s been wanting to cook you something for two years now. Shouldn’t let an offer like that sit for so long, Riou.”
“What?!” Eilie exclaimed again, getting more and more flustered by the second. Riou looked at her and gave her a warm smile. He knew exactly what letter Shu was talking about; Eilie wrote it the night before Riou’s final confrontation with Jowy:
My sister taught me how to cook a little, so why don't you come over for dinner sometime? Please? - Eilie
He wanted to take her up on it, but everything that happened after that day changed everything. “Alright, sure. If I have time then I don’t see why not.” Riou concluded with a smile.
“Hey, hey, hey! Riou!” Nanami shouted as she ran up to her younger brother. “Can you believe those jerks?! What they said to Jowy was too mean, I feel so bad for him! We should go find him Riou, right? Right?”
Riou sighed. “Just give him his space for a little bit, Nanami, and then go see how he’s doing. The things they said to him were no different than what he’s been saying to himself.”
“What? What? Aren’t you gonna see him, Riou??” Nanami pressed further.
“I will, but I can’t right now. I promised Eilie, Rina and Bolgan that I’d spend some time with them, so...“
“Oh, I see, I see. Well it’s only fair, it’s been two years n’ all!” Nanami agreed. “I’m gonna wait a bit and see how Jowy’s doing, okay? See you!”
With that, Nanami bolted out of the War Room. It seemed a lot of people were making their way out, and Eilie had just the same idea. Without wasting any time, she, along with Rina, Bolgan, and Riou, made their way out of the War Room and down to the first floor.
“What’ve you guys been up to? Still traveling and performing, I imagine.” Riou asked as they made it out to the courtyard.
“Yeah, pretty much. We made our way all around Dunan a ton of times over, performing the same shows, coming up with some new acts, the same old stuff.” Eilie explained. “So we didn’t change too much, and we actually just arrived here today. You don’t look like you changed much either, Riou, it’s nice to see.”
“Yeah, well, your path and mine wasn’t much different. Jowy, Nanami and I just walked around to see as many places as we could. So I guess I haven’t changed, but I’m glad that isn’t a bad thing.”
“Not bad at all! Riou always been good!” Bolgan chimed in, always the gentle giant.
“Thanks, Bolgan.” Riou smiled. “So if you guys just arrived today, you must not have a place to stay here. How are you planning on cooking?”
“Uh, well...“ Eilie turned to Rina, who handed her a basket that was around her arm. She pulled out a large blanket, which she spread out over the grass in the courtyard. “We’ve never actually settled down, so cooking food in these kinds of places is commonplace for us.”
“I used to do all the cooking for my little sister here, but she was dying to learn how so she could impress you.” Rina giggled. “Listen, Eilie, I’m gonna take Bolgan and see if we can earn some money, alright? You and Riou have fun!”
Without even time to protest, Eilie watched Rina and Bolgan take off. It was just her, and Riou sitting down on the blanket, patiently watching her get food prepared. Riou should be the nervous one, with a war coming up, and yet Eilie’s heart was the one beating out of her chest.
12:30 PM
Alm paced up and down the deck of his boat. It had set sail for Valentia, and would take an entire day before they got back into their own Castle, yet Celica didn’t waste any time in beginning war preparations.
“Celica, you need to give yourself a break.” Alm sighed as he paced impatiently. She looked up to him from her war plans.
“I know, I know... But this fight is really important, Alm! We can’t lose this, for the sake of Valentia.” Celica pleaded. Alm turned to her and frowned.
“We should be more worried about the people. Whether Valentia takes control or Dunan, all that changes is our banner and system of government. The average citizen won’t care about any of that, they just want more land to live on.”
“Yeah... That sort of thought process is what makes me think this might not be worth it.” Celica sighed. Alm, upon hearing this, walked up to his wife and placed his hands on her shoulders.
“Always fight for what you think is right.” He insisted. “I know that whether we win or lose won’t affect the citizens any, but that’s all the more reason to focus on your own desires. Those are the only things at stake here.”
“We fought so hard to form Valentia, to make the One Kingdom. A hard fight that is all thanks to your efforts, Alm. You defeated Rudolf, Berkut, Duma. The people begged for you to be their leader. If we accept Dunan rule, then how will you get what you deserve?”
“I don’t care about any of that. I’m a farm boy, remember? I didn’t even find out I had royal blood until long after I committed to the fight. So whatever my status is, I don’t care.” Alm explained, “You’re the one who deserves it, Celica. Let’s not forget everything you did in the fight against Duma as well. That’s why I’m on your side about this, because of you.”
Celica pulled Alm closer and placed a hand on the side of his face delicately, “Well then we’re in this for each other, and that seems worth fighting for to me. I just know that everyone agrees.”
“Damn straight!” A voice shouted from behind them. The two quickly turned, seeing their old friends Gray, Tobin, and Kliff. Gray sneered, “I know you two are King and Queen now, but I seriously hope you don’t expect me to treat you any differently, man.”
“No, no, of course not Gray.” Alm laughed. “Are you two sure you want to fight in this? It’s hard to ask you for this after we’ve been through so much.”
Tobin sarcastically rolled his eyes and let out a huff. “Of course, man! I don’t know anything about politics, but if the things I fought to make are being threatened, then of course I’m gonna fight again! You deserve to be King man, whether it's a democracy, or a monarchy, or an anarchy, or whatever the hell other names they have.”
Kliff raised an eyebrow, “You were right, you really don’t know politics. Alm can’t be King under a democracy, genius.”
“Well, unless you have elected Kings! It’s just a matter of titles, Kliff.” Tobin retorted, to which Kliff scoffed.
“I’m not listening to the guy who listed ‘anarchy’ as a form of government.”
“What?! I forgot what it meant, alright?!”
Alm, Celica, and Gray burst out in laughter, which was quickly followed by Tobin and Kliff. “I missed this, you guys. It feels like we’re right back in Ram Village.” Alm chuckled, reminiscing on days long past.
“Yeah, except Sir Mycen isn’t here to chew us out for slacking off this time,” Kliff continued. “I do hope he’s going to be okay, Alm. Have you seen him?”
“Yeah, I visit him daily. He’s getting up there in age, and you know what that brings.” Alm sighed, a wave of sadness washing over him as he thought of his old adoptive grandfather. “He can still speak fine and he remembers all of us well enough to still tease me, but...“
“Don’t think like this, Alm.” Celica sighed, placing her hand on Alm’s back. “Grandpapa is doing good, he’s still got a lot of life left in him! Remember how happy Grandpapa was when we told him we were going to name our child after him?”
“You’re right, Celica, you’re right. Thoughts of war just get me in a bad mood.” Alm walked over to the edge of the boat and peered out at the water. “That boy, Riou. He’s a really good kid, around our age. I don’t wanna pull him into this anymore than he does me, and yet we’re the ones leading the charge.”
“It won’t come to bloodshed until either of our hands are twisted, man.” Gray reassured him. “They’re good people, I talked to a few of ‘em. We’ll show up on the battlefield, show off the sizes of our armies, maybe have a few duels, and then one of us will concede.”
“You really think it’ll be that easy?” Tobin questioned him. “I figure if both sides got their heart in this, they’ll fight to the end.”
“Nah, man, I just don’t see it. Some armies wanna win more than survive, and some want to survive more than win. They strike me as the latter.”
“We’re the latter, as well.” Alm decided. “That does ease my mind, a little. We’ll have many days to think it over, anyways.”
“That’s the spirit!” Gray sneered, putting his arm around his friend’s shoulder. “Royalty as you may be, you’ll always be a country bumpkin like us. And bumpkins like us need some time away from all this formality!”
“Yeah, Alm, what do you say?” Kliff walked forwards, “Five of us, hanging out for old time’s sake. No fancy dinners or royal weddings or any of that dignified kingdom stuff.”
“The five of us from Ram Village, huh.” Alm snorted. “I would love that, guys, but I think we’re forgetting someone.”
“What? Who? One, two, three, four... No, no, I counted Celica too! Five is correct!” Gray argued.
“He doesn’t mean me, Gray. What about Faye? I haven’t seen her in so long!” Celica said, looking almost troubled.
“Faye... Well, Alm broke her heart considering you two are a thing, and she couldn’t take it. Wanted to settle down in Ram Village, heard she got married. But I haven’t seen her.” Tobin explained, “You think she’d fight with us, Alm?” Let alone want to hang out with us again.”
“She’s not petty like that, I’m sure she’d want to see us even with what happened between Celica and I.” Alm responded, “I just can’t ask her to help us fight, I’d feel like I’m using her. But if she got married, then that’s good news.”
“A lot has changed since we were all just friends in Ram Village. I guess for you guys it wasn’t that long, but I had to leave years before you guys.” Celica sighed. “But I got to hear a lot more about what was going on at the time. Not always so pleasant.”
“Like with Luca Blight?” Alm asked her, finally able to find a segway into his curiosities. “You’ve told me he was horrible, but I never got to hear the stories. Not even a single word of him reached Ram, that’s for sure.”
“Hmm...“ Celica looked away, seemingly deep in thought for a moment, before turning back. “It had to be five years ago. I was still studying with Nomah at the time, in Novis, so I never saw him first hand. But a lot of people came to us, horrified. Said a beast of a knight just appeared one day off the coast, right at Desaix’s Fortress.”
“What, was he mad? You’d have to be stupid or suicidal to sail right into that place, it was damn hard to overthrow!” Tobin shouted, baffled. Celica managed a smirk.
“I didn’t know it at the time, but I hear he was just scouting out the land to take it into account for his plan of domination. It wasn’t many years later that he sprung his massive Highland invasion, and I think he wanted to take over Zofia and Rigel after that.” Celica explained, “I don’t think he knew he’d be sailing right into a highly-fortified Fortress, but he did, and he wreaked havoc before they finally forced him to leave.”
“What, don’t tell me. He must’ve done some serious damage to Desaix, if he was that feared.” Tobin commented.
“It didn’t hurt Desaix’s pride or anything, but I heard it was brutal. Long story short, he spilled a lot of blood and put a lot of heads on spikes before Desaix finally got the better hand of him. And that was only because Luca wasn’t prepared.” Celica frowned. “But he was chaotic. Attacked people for no reason. People tell me he killed women, children, anything he could lay his hands on.”
“Jeez, what a pig.” Gray scoffed. “Yeah, alright, well I’m starting to see why you laid into that Blight kid back in Dunan. That family must be a group of short-fused lunatics.”
“No, no, that part was wrong of me...“ Celica admitted. “Jowy was his name. He seemed to genuinely care about his people. It was very foolish of me to judge him by his name or whatever blood may flow through his veins.”
“My father was Emperor Rudolf. His intentions were for the betterment of the people but I can’t say he was well-liked.” Alm remarked, “But you guys don’t judge me for that connection, so I’d leave Jowy alone too. Who knows what his relationship with Luca Blight was like.”
“Yeah... “ Celica sat down and rested her head in her hand, disappointed with herself. Without hesitation, Alm plopped down next to her.
“Don’t beat yourself up, Celica. Maybe you can use our next meeting with Dunan for an apology, after we win the ‘war’.” Alm chuckled a little, “Suffice to say I think everyone acted a bit out of line in there, it’ll just hurt you to linger on it.”
1:00 PM
“Well, Riou, what did you think?”
Eilie seemed a lot more confident when she was talking to Riou alone. It was the pressure of her sister and any other watching eyes that got her so flustered. But she was always very comfortable with Riou.
“Wow...“ Riou was in awe, and took a second to collect his words. “That was great! I didn’t know you were such a good cook, Eilie!”
“Thank you, Riou!” Eilie smiled ear to ear, “I was scared that your tastebuds were too advanced for my food, since you used to cook with Hai Yo all the time, but two years of practice really helped me.”
“Oh, absolutely, you’re very talented.” Riou complimented, standing up and brushing some dirt and lint off of his pants. “Maybe we can go find Rina and Bolgan, put on another show? I can be your knife throwing victim again.”
“Maybe later tonight, kiddo.” Someone said, walking up behind the two. Riou turned, and saw a big grizzly bear standing behind him! Almost. It was just Viktor. “I was told to snag you for a second, Riou.”
“What, free time is over already?” Eilie snarkily asked. Viktor laughed, he was too laid back for sass to get to him.
“Ah, well, Shu wanted to give you the day off but Jowy and Apple have been bouncing plans off of him for the last hour, and they think they have something that sticks.” Viktor said, making Riou scratch the back of his head.
“If it’s that important, then I’m willing to hear it. If that’s okay with you, Eilie?” Riou turned to her, noticing her disappointment. She crossed her arms and waited for a moment before responding.
“That’s alright, Riou. I know it’s important. We’ll do the performance later, okay? Tell Jowy that Rina and I say hi, alright?” Eilie grabbed Riou’s two hands with her own and waited for him to nod, which he did.
“Alright, Riou, let’s go!” Viktor boomed, grabbing Riou by the shoulders and tugging him away from Eilie. When they were far enough away, he spoke up again, “Anabelle and I used to play around like that. It’s fun for a time, but you never know when it’ll end. So I’d just go for it, Riou.”
“Right, you and Anabelle? I’m sorry, Viktor.”
“No, don’t worry about it. I had my time to grieve for her, and that wasn’t the point.” Viktor said gruffly as they passed through the front door of the Castle. “I never felt like I was worthy to be with someone like Annabelle, so I never made a move. I regret it all the time. You two remind me of that.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, Viktor, but I don’t think I’m not worthy enough to be with Eilie. She’s accomplished and a great person, sure, but—”
“—No, no! Not you, numbskull. You kids are too thick-headed nowadays.” Viktor joked, “I meant her, not you. You’re the face of the entire Dunan Republic, you could get any woman you want, don’t you think that intimidates her a little?”
“I never really thought about it like that. I’m still just plain Riou from Kyaro, in my eyes.”
“Yeah, well, that’s all I’m gonna say. My time for all this romance stuff has passed, so you ain’t getting no more outta me! C’mon, we got a war to be thinking about anyways!” Viktor bellowed, grabbing Riou by the back of his scarf and tossing him into the Throne Room.
Almost immediately, Shu, Jowy, and Apple turned to look at Riou, who was slightly disoriented. “Riou!” Jowy called, “Sorry I left you in the negotiations before. I’m trying to make up for it, so Apple and I are just building our troops right now.”
“That’s good. What do we have in terms of allies?” Riou asked, his mind immediately turning to General Ridley Wizen, who was constantly weary about having his Kobold warriors interfere in human wars.
“Yes, we’ve sent word for General Ridley in Two River, and also Sir Miklotov and Sir Camus who are currently in Muse. If I know them as well as I think I do, then we should be confident in having their support.” Apple detailed to Riou, while unnecessarily pointing to locations on a map as she said them.
“If we get too overconfident, we’re in the perfect position for Valentia to corner us.” Jowy chimed in, “I’m ashamed of it, but having once made plans to take down this Kingdom during my time as King of Highland, I have a good feeling I know what they’re going to do.”
“It’s okay, Jowy, we can now use that as our strength. With you on our side, we’re all the better for it.” Shu reassured him, “Oftentimes the best way to find out how to defend a Kingdom, is to first plan out an attack on it. That’s one of the few things Mathiu taught me that actually stuck, haha.”
“In that case,” Jowy exclaimed, “I suppose I’m just the right person to help you. Riou, if you want to stay for this, I’m sure we can get a pretty solid battle plan out by tonight.”
Riou thought back to his plans with Rina, Eilie, and Bolgan, and sighed. “I’ll help for a little bit, but I’m gonna have to leave this up to you three. Apple and Shu are the tacticians, I’m just the fighter.”
“Understood, Riou. Don’t worry, you’ll have time to spend with Nanami and everyone else before the day ends.” Shu snickered.
A few days later... 12:00 PM
“Hey, Riou! Time to wake up!” Eilie called, standing at Riou’s bedside. “Oh, c’mon now. Don’t look so gloomy, it doesn’t suit you.”
Eilie leaned over closer to Riou, as he rubbed his eyes and slowly woke up. “You look much better smiling,” Eilie threw in. She had told this to him before, but never once did it get any less true. Riou groaned, clearly still dead tired, but managed to open his eyes enough to see her.
“Oh. Good morning, Eilie,” Riou yawned and stretched, “the performance last night was great. I was a lot less scared about you stabbing me in the head this time.”
“Thanks, Riou! It’s been a while since we were here with me waking you up, huh?”
“Yeah, it really brings me back.” Riou smiled, sitting up. “Do they need me in the War Room? That’s usually what you’d come to tell me about, back during the war.”
“I really wish I could tell you that Hai Yo and I cooked you up an amazing breakfast, but no, you’re right. Shu wants to see you for a meeting, he told me to come and get you.” Eilie noticed as Riou’s smile faded, and it concerned her. She sat down on the bed in front of him. “You okay?”
“Yeah, just... The war’s starting today, isn’t it?” Riou wondered aloud, “It’s already been a few days, so they’re here, right? It’s just a lot of pressure to step back into. Two years ago, I was just going with the flow, trying to stay alive, but...“
“I get it,” Eilie put her hand on Riou’s shoulder. “Trust me, I get it. I didn’t fight the intense battles you did but I worried every day, especially when Rina or Bolgan would join you for a battle or two. You get used to peace for two years and you don’t want it to end.”
Riou let out a huge sigh, turning and pushing himself off the bed. “It’s alright, Eilie. Thank you. I’ll see you down there, alright?”
“Of course, Riou.” Eilie sadly smiled as he left the room. His words held a lot of weight, Eilie saw first hand how much the stress of all of it got to him two years ago, when he passed out in the middle of the Castle halls. She could only pray that he could handle another fight.
Riou raced downstairs, taking a hard turn and blasting into the War Room. “I’m here!”, he called. Everyone in the War Room looked over and smiled.
“Just like old times, eh?” Flik laughed, patting Riou on the back as he walked by. Up ahead stood Shu, Apple, General Ridley, and Sir Miklotov doing their final review of the battle plans, while Jowy and Sir Camus lightly sparred on the side.
“Lord Riou! It’s certainly been a while,” General Ridley said, looking to Riou from over Shu’s shoulder, “Pleasent to see you in good health. We didn’t think we’d be back here, huh?”
“Yeah, but if things go well then this will be the last time, eh?” Viktor came in, slinging a huge sword over his shoulder. “I don’t know about you guys, but the Star Dragon Sword and I are raring to go!”
“Right... ‘Raring to go.’“ The sword silently grumbled on his back, though Viktor just ignored him as usual.
“Well, Riou, you’re not going to have a lot of time to shake the rust off, but we need everyone to be in their best condition.” Apple chimed in, “And by not having a lot of time, I mean it. The Valentian army sent us the letter of preparation last night and came up on shore this morning, so they’re marching here as we speak.”
“Whenever you’re ready, Lord Riou, simply make the announcement to deploy.” Shu stated. Much like countless times before, Riou had a choice; deploy now, or wait a moment to run some errands first. But it seemed everything was in order.
From the corner of his eye, Riou saw a few more of his friends wash into the building, geared up and ready to fight; Gengen, Rikimaru, Chaco, the Circus Troupe, and even cute little Mukumuku back with his family, among several others.
“I’d say we’re ready, yes.” Riou confirmed, turning back to Shu and standing firm. Shu nodded and stepped in front of the crowd.
“Right!” Shu shouted, getting everyone’s attention. “This fight is for the existence of the Dunan Republic! For democracy, for freedom to elect our own leaders, control our own land, and get out of another rule like Highland! Is that understood?”
Everyone gave out a quick cheer in agreement, to which Shu nodded and stepped back. Almost immediately, Sir Miklotov stepped forwards, “Keep bloodshed to a minimum, but do what it takes to win! We want to end things as quickly and painlessly as possible!”
“If that’s understood, then deploy!” Sir Camus shouted right afterwards. The whole crowd cheered and, before anyone could even get out another word, all shuffled out of the War Room. Riou led the charge, alongside the other troop leaders.
In an almost depressing way, stepping out onto the battlefield felt like home to Riou. It was a nice day out, so nice in fact that not a soul would imagine a horrific fight was about to take place. That is, if things got dragged out any further than Apple predicted. In her prediction, the moment the armies saw the size of the other, one of them was going to raise a white flag. Riou and Jowy weren’t quite so certain.
The troops finally all made it out into the field, and lined up. Along with the support of General Ridley, Captain Gengen, Commander Hauser, and last-minute support strategist Klaus Windamier, the army was back up to its strength during the Dunan Unification War. Around 20,000 soldiers, all gathered and ready to fight.
Almost as soon as the sight of movement was seen on the horizon, Klaus Windamier ran over to Shu, “Sir, I have a report of the Valentian army’s numbers. I have to say, they’re quite staggering.”
“Almost double ours, I imagine?” Shu mused.
“Almost right on the dot. We’re looking at just over fifty thousand troops gathered.” Klaus explained in a huff. “Our spies saw them arrive on several ships. It could be possible to divert some of the numbers if we attack those ships, Sir.”
“No need, we shouldn’t go for underhanded tactics with people who have shown us as much respect as they have,” Shu dismissed. “We’ll stand here, and fight. Their numbers may rival Highland’s but I have faith that we can win as we did before.”
“With all due respect,” Klaus almost laughed, “my father would call you a bloody fool.”
“Haha. Well, Sir Kiba would have all the right to call me that.” Shu conceded. “But I’m confident. Maybe a little too confident. Though I know that even if we concede, a futile gesture can make all the difference. Apple taught me that.”
“Well, I suppose there would be no shame in playing by the book, assuming Valentia does too.” Klaus agreed, “They have twice our numbers, so they have no need to be tricky. I’ll send word to the spies to ignore the boats and head back here.”
Klaus ran off, leaving Shu and Apple to oversee the armies. They watched as Riou, Jowy, Commander Hauser, and General Ridley gave pep talks to their troops, five thousand men per leader.
“Kobold warriors! Once again, we are thrown into a war where our very existence is held on the line! If we lose, a monarchy of humans will dictate all of our actions!” General Ridley Wizen shouted, as all of his canine fighters watched eagerly. “And that would mean that I am no longer your leader, nor would any of you be my successor. Are we going to let that happen?!”
In unison, the entire Kobold army let out a proud bark. Hearing this speech, Apple looked over to Shu, “Are you worried about General Ridley at all? He’s lost his distaste for fighting alongside humans, but he could always abandon us in the battle as he’s done before. That would greatly harm our chances.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that.” Shu dismissed, not even looking over. “General Ridley and I have devised a good plan to use as a last-ditch effort. We’ve used the plan before, and normally I wouldn’t be a fan of trying something twice, but... Well, if it works.”
“Ah, I know what you’re talking about.” Apple said as if a light went on in her head, “We’ve used it on Highland. I doubt the Valentian army will know anything about it, I imagine it’ll work like a charm.”
“Indubitably.” Shu simply responded, watching carefully as the Valentian army rounded the grassy hills and made their way closer and closer. After a minute, Saint-King Alm and Queen Celica came into view, right in the front lines.
Alm stopped, and the entire army followed suit. He gazed forwards, watching carefully as Riou mimicked his actions, walking in front of the other Generals and taking his place as leader of the Dunan Republic. After a minute or two, a blond man walked up to Alm.
“We’re all ready, King Alm.” He said, catching Alm’s attention.
Alm turned slightly, muttering an “Understood”, and then turned back, looking down for a moment. The blond man, Clive, noticed Alm falter for a moment and hesitated in going back to his men.
“What is it?” Clive asked. Alm broke out of his momentary trance, looking over to his old friend and smiling.
“Sorry, Clive, it’s nothing. I’m ready.” Alm, smirked, turning towards his warriors of Valentia. “Warriors, it’s time!” he shouted, “time to defeat the Dunan Republic, and earn ourselves new land for the starving people of Valentia! This is our chance to spread out territory, and secure prosperity for all of our people. Now then—who will fight for Valentia?!”
Fired up, all fifty thousand hardened soldiers cheered, raising their swords high and roaring, “We will fight for her!!”
Alm then turned, looking back over to Riou, who himself was firing up the soldiers of Dunan. “LORD RIOU!”, he called over the battlefield, “Are you ready?!”
Riou looked forward with fiery eyes, took out his tonfa, and gave a hefty nod. “READY!!”
“Alright... “ Alm took a breath, and then quickly unsheathed his Royal Sword. “THEN CHARGE!!”
FIGHT![]
Alm ran at full speed, with the Valentian army following close behind. Riou, hoping to match the energy, ran forwards with the Dunan army as well. Roars of nearly a hundred thousand people droned out all other sounds of the land, aside from the stomping of armored boots.
It took a few minutes, but the two armies reached each other in an explosion of color, the allegiance of each person being blurred as the two groups swarmed into one, only differentiated by the crests on their body.
Alm weaved his way through his enemies, slashing at ankles as they washed past him to avoid delivering fatal wounds as much as possible. The screaming and battle cries of the thousand of people around him was almost deafening, but Alm’s skills didn’t falter.
As he continued to cut his way through soldiers like vines in a jungle, his blade eventually caught something with a ‘CLANG!’ Alm’s blade clashed with another, clearly somebody keen on stopping the trail Alm had just blazed through a dozen soldiers.
“Gengen think Valentia King strong, but me train for a battle like this!” The holder of the opposing blade called. Alm held his blade tightly, standing back up straight to see his opponent, and seeing... a dog?
“Well that’s not something I expected to see today,” Alm commented, unable to stop himself from fighting. “You’re kinda cute! I didn’t know puppies could fight over here.”
“Gengen not cute!” The captain barked, pushing harder against Alm’s sword to his surprise.
Alm let out a strained chuckle, “You’re right, I’m sorry, I’m just surprised is all.” In a swift movement, Alm loosened the grip of his sword, ducking below Gengen and allowing for the Kobold to whiff a swing over his head. Before Gengen could recuperate from his miss, Alm slammed the butt of his sword into the Kobold’s chest.
With a weak yelp, Gengen fell to one knee and grabbed his chest. “Gengen defeated so easily... how?”
Alm knew that it would take one a few moments for Gengen to come back to his senses and jump into the fight, but he didn’t mind. This battle was about showing dominance and winning over the land for his people, not ruthlessly kill—
WHAM!
Alm reeled back, having been wacked across the face with something blunt, not sharp as he feared, but stumbled back nonetheless. As soon as he recovered from the attack, he was able to re-assume his fighting position.
“There you are, Riou! I’ve been really curious about fighting you.” Alm sneered, watching Riou get into his own battle stance with his tonfa. As an almost unspoken rule of war, the crowd that ran between them fanned out, leaving a small open circle for the two leaders to battle.
“You defeated Gengen easily. I’m impressed.” Riou commented, as the two circled each other.
“Well, my mentor was a great war hero. He taught me a ton of neat tricks!” Alm responded. Riou’s eyes widened for a moment.
“Funny. Mine was too!” Riou shouted, jumping into the air and swinging his tonfa down at Alm. Staying sharp, Alm raised his Royal Sword and parried the strike, before Riou dropped down low and circled around the King.
Almost instinctively, Alm jumped up in the air and rolled forwards, dodging one of Riou’s leg-sweeps; effectively turning the scuffle into a drawn-out trading of positions. “HAA!” Alm cried out, raising his sword and diagonally swinging at Riou, who ducked under it, spun his tonfa around, and whacked Alm across the jaw. Not missing a beat, Alm retaliated by shoulder-checking Riou, who rolled on the floor for a second before jumping to his feet.
“You’re good!” Alm laughed, jumping towards Riou and slashing downwards at him. Riou quickly leaped back, flourishing his tonfa again and swiping Alm across the chest with his right hand, before jabbing him with his left and kicking him backwards.
Riou tried following up on the strike by jumping up and swinging both of his tonfa, to which Alm raised his blade and held back the blow. He parried Riou’s tonfa aside, twirling around and smacking Riou with the blunt of his sword.
“Not too bad yourself!” Riou finally responded, rubbing his face for a moment but quickly regaining his composure. Alm went for a few more slashes, which Riou carefully parried, before leaping backwards when something caught his attention.
“AGH! Damn, not here!” Someone called out in pain, which made Riou perk up immediately. Alm came in for another blow, only to find his blade caught on something before it could even reach Riou.
“Riou! Sir Camus is fighting a losing battle, get to him!” Jowy shouted, pushing his staff against Alm’s sword and kicking him away. Riou nodded to his old friend, immediately vanishing into the swarm of people towards the direction of the voice.
“So my opponent is you now? I wanted to fight Riou more, but I can’t complain. Jowy, was it?” Alm mused, re-preparing his blade and assuming his battle stance, watching as Jowy calmly held his staff in opposition to him. “Alright, let’s go!”
Riou pushed his way through the crowds, weaving through Valentian warriors and parrying their wild slashes as he raced towards where he heard Camus shouting. With one final push through the soldiers, he found himself in another clearing of the battlefield.
Immediately, Riou saw as an arrow flew right over Camus’s arm, who was weakly doing his best to face two foes at once. A familiar blue-haired man, holding his bow-and-arrow, cursed himself for the miss, “Aw, don't tell me—!”
After the arrow was fired, the much more heavily-armored green-haired Forsyth charged forwards and swung his sword, which Camus barely dodged. Riou quickly noticed why Camus was in such bad condition; an arrow was lodged in his thigh, bleeding profusely, which should have been enough to take him out.
“D-damn, where’s Miklotov? These two are kicking my ass!” Camus grumbled, just barely avoiding Forsyth’s slow strikes. Without any more hesitation, Riou ran forwards, swinging his tonfa around and striking Forsyth a few times in the chest, who stumbled out of range.
“Whoa! Where’d you come from?” Forsyth wondered, stopping himself from stumbling over and standing next to Python. Riou stood next to Camus, who let out a hefty, relieved breath.
“You’re a life-saver, Lord Riou. But my leg...“ Camus groaned, clearly in a lot of pain, though with time to spare at last he was able to rip the arrow out of his leg. Nonetheless, the blood didn’t stop, so Riou brought his right hand over towards Camus’s wound.
A bright green light shone from the Rune on Riou’s hand, immediately stopping the bleeding and closing the wound. Python and Forsyth looked between each other, surprised by what just happened. “Whoa, neat trick.” Python commented, “Didn’t think the kid would be a mage.”
“Python, pull your weight, would you? I think that was the only arrow you hit.” Forsyth grumbled. “Now we’ve got two opponents. Let’s go!”
“Fine, twist my arm...“ Python sighed, kneeling down again and pulling out another arrow, as Camus and Riou got prepared. Forsyth started stomping towards Camus, swinging his lance with a ton of force, but finding it to be parried easier than it did previously. Camus unleashed his own counterattack, though his sword only bounced off of Forsyth’s gargantuan shield.
Python fired a few arrows at Riou in quick succession, to which he spun his tonfa and snapped the arrows before they reached him. While this was happening, Riou was able to make ground on Python, running up towards him. With one swing, Riou struck Python in the arm.
“Ow! Damn. This just stopped being fun.” Python cursed again, backing up a little more and taking out another arrows. The arrow sung through the air, though Riou was able to simply leap around it and make his way towards Python again.
“Having trouble today?” Forsyth asked, peering over his shoulder at his ally, as another one of Camus’s strikes bounced off of his shield. Python glared at Forsyth, as he backed up closer to him.
“Alright, screw this! That damn attack hurt.” Python growled, “Switch places!”
“My, you really are having a rough time, Python.” Forsyth teased. Once Python’s back hit Forsyth's, the two quickly spun around, changing locations. Python ducked under Camus’s incoming strike, able to shoot the hilt of his sword and knock it out of his hand, before kicking him away.
Meanwhile, Forsyth was able to deflect Riou’s strike with his shield, and then lunge with his lance. Riou barely avoided it, jumping back to reposition himself for the new opponent. Camus jumped for his fallen sword, which he reclaimed before rolling and standing back up.
“These two are tough opponents, Lord Riou, but we need to be tougher...“ Camus huffed, shaking out what must’ve been extreme tension. Riou nodded. “Our teamwork just isn’t as developed as their’s.”
“Forsyth’s a pain in my ass, but I’d be lyin’ to say I haven’t been fighting next to him for years.” Python remarked, “You two are good n’ all, but please tell us that’s not your best.”
“It’s not.” Someone said, with Riou feeling a hand on his shoulder. “Riou’s the best of all of us, but when it comes to fighting alongside Camus, I think I have him beat.”
“Miklotov! Good to see you.” Riou cheered, watching he and Camus ready themselves. Forsyth and Python almost looked happy, seeing Miklotov and Camus get into a mirrored fighting position.
“Well, that’s a shock.” Python noted, “Now you two look like you’ve worked as a team before, that’s impossible to deny.”
Camus and Miklotov smirked. “We’re the Blue and Red Knight, former leaders of the Mathilda army. I’d say our teamwork will be a match for you, huh?” Miklotov remarked, then turning to Riou, “Lord Riou! Camus and I have these two covered! I’m sure more people will need your help.”
Riou nodded, hopping out of the battle after only seeing a glimpse of the fight between Camus, Miklotov, Forsyth, and Python.
1:30 PM
“You can’t touch me!” Alm shouted, quickly side-stepping a lunge of Jowy’s staff, before spinning around and catching the former-King of Highland with a heavy kick to the gut. Jowy stumbled backwards and coughed a few times.
“You’re different. Different from any other King I’ve met.” Jowy remarked, “What do you seek? Not a single one of the blows you’ve dealt to me are filled with the malice that comes with a King seeking power or glory.”
“I’m here for exactly what I said I’m here for! To help the people of my Kingdom, my due diligence for people who have helped me all my life!” Alm responded, rushing forwards once again. “I wasn’t born into wealth! Honestly, I didn’t even know I had royal blood for most of my life! I’m not sure if you would understand!”
Alm swiped at Jowy again, who rolled to the side and used his staff to deflect the next two swings. “I wasn’t born with royal blood either!” Jowy retorted, “My family disowned me and shoved my nose into the dirt. I married into the Kingdom and turned down that life of glory too!”
“Seems I misjudged you then! My apologies.” Alm admitted, striking at Jowy’s staff again and again in hopes of whittling down his defenses. “My wife Celica heard a lot about the Blight’s, you worried her. But you’re not so different from me!”
“A little different, I’d say!” Jowy continued to argue, pushing Alm’s blade to the side and kicking him back a few inches. “Both married into a kingdom... but you’ve always had the royal blood!”
“You need to be careful, you’re giving me ideas here.” Alm taunted, avoiding one of Jowy’s smaller strikes. With quick handwork, Alm knocked one of Jowy’s hands off of his staff, and tossed his own Royal Sword into it.
“What, you want us to trade weapo—WHOA!” Almost as soon as Jowy started to grip the sword, he plummeted to the ground. Crouching down, he dropped his staff and placed two hands on the sword’s handle, struggling to pick it up. “What... the hell... does this thing... WEIGH?! I feel like my arms are gonna tear off before it even budges!”
Before Jowy could try any harder, Alm delivered to him a swift kick to the chest, before casually picking up the blade himself and twirling it around a tad.
“No, seriously, how strong are you? That thing must weigh a few tons at least.” Jowy groaned, grabbing his staff and standing back up.
“I’m sorry, I guess that was a bit cheap.” Alm admitted. “This sword can only be held by those who have the blood of royalty flowing through their veins. I guess I just wanted to test and see if you were being honest with me.”
“What, you didn’t believe me?” Jowy sighed. “We may be enemies, but I’m an honest man.”
“You can’t blame him.” A woman’s voice chimed in. “The Blight name, it stands out in any crowd. And they aren’t quite known for being honest or trustworthy, as far as I’ve heard.” Celica walked forwards past Alm, confronting Jowy herself.
“You think I don’t know that? He’s the reason the entire Unicorn Brigade was wiped out. His own platoon.” Jowy explained. “I was a part of that group. Riou and I escaped by the skin of our teeth.”
“Hey, Celica. Focus.” Alm reassured. “He’s a good fighter, seems to be a good kid. Don’t get too caught up on names. Remember what I told you about my father?”
“Right, right. My apologies.” Celica sighed. “But I’m not about to stop here! Alm, look for the army leader. We’ve as good as won with him out of the way, right?”
“Understood, loud and clear! I’ll get this done!” Alm proclaimed, leaving Celica to duel with Jowy as he raced off to search for Riou.
Far back, out of the battle and watching from afar, Shu and Apple studied every movement carefully. “What do you think?” Apple asked. “General Ridley’s Kobold warriors engaged first in the charge, he seems to be losing more numbers than the others.”
“Yes... Thankfully, it seems Valentia is holding to their agreement of as little bloodshed as possible. Though I have to admit, Ridley charging in first was a part of our plan.” Shu explained, “Still, though, aside from some one-on-one battles with Riou and Jowy, we’re taking a lot of hits all across the board...“
From within the battle, General Ridley raced around the perimeter on horseback, engaging as little as possible. As he noticed more and more of his Kobold warriors taking hits, he knew it must be time to spring Shu’s plan into action.
“Damn!” Ridley called, loud enough for most of Valentia to hear. “We’re losing too many troops! The humans put us on the front lines again, they see us as expendable! Kobold warriors, we need to pull out! Call for a retreat!”
Upon hearing those words, Shu smirked. Immediately, the canine Kobold warriors disengaged from their battles, and followed General Ridley out of the fight, and out of view. Countless Valentian soldiers looked around in disbelief.
“What?! Disengage?! Again, Ridley?” Viktor shouted in disbelief, as he swung through Valentian soldiers unabashedly. “Is he crazy?! We were already at a disadvantage, he’s gonna be the reason we lose the whole damn war!”
“Keh, you hear that?” The Valentian mercenary, Saber, grunted. “They’ve lost a whole chunk of their army! Man, ‘wish it were always this easy!”
Alm, from within the crowd of his men, stopped looking for Riou and smiled. “Everyone, the Dunan Republic is as weak as it's gonna get!” Alm boomed to the crowd, “This is a certain victory for Valentia! Charge, finish the battle!”
The Valentian army roared with cheers once again, charging at full force as they completely drowned out the Dunan soldiers. Countless members of the Dunan Republic, dazed by Ridley’s decision, were overwhelmed by Valentia’s second-wind.
Riou continued to leap and roll through dozens of blades and shields, twirling and striking with his tonfa where he saw openings in the passing-by men, though things were getting intense. More and more, Riou saw one of his allies get swarmed by two, three, four Valentians.
Desperate, Riou stopped for a moment and called for power. “THUNDER! Thunder God!” he yelled, with a yellow lightning bolt emblem appearing above his head. Sparks started forming around the feets of a group of Valentian soldiers, who all looked around in confusion.
“Hey! All of you, get out of the way!” Alm commanded, seeing a large thunder cloud forming above the group as he ran towards them. Immediately, the soldiers leaped out of the way, right before a shower of lightning bolts crashed down and singed the earth.
Although Riou missed his targets, he was able to disperse a large group, which paved the way for more of his soldiers to break through and gain some ground. Unfortunately, this also cleared a direct path between him and Alm.
“Lord Riou! Our fight was interrupted before, what say you we continue it?” Alm suggested, readying his Royal Sword. Riou turned, readying his tonfa once again.
“Alright, let’s do it!” Riou responded briefly. Yet another smile painted Alm’s face.
“Good! Because this ends here!” Alm called, sprinting towards the Lord with his sword held high. “You’re mine!” Alm shouted as he swung fiercely, to which Riou circled around the sword and kicked the hand that held it. Alm, who had been holding the blade incredibly tightly, spun in a circle along with it before regaining his balance.
While Alm was a few feet away from Riou for a second, he called out “FIRE! Flaming Arrows!”, with a flaming red Rune symbol appearing above his head for a moment. Alm noticed a certain orange glow appear around Riou, which erupted into a trail of fire before his eyes.
With a huge leap, Alm barely avoided the trail of flames, though his foot was slightly burnt by it. Alm winced for a moment, but quickly noticed as his Royal Sword recovered the minor wound. “You almost got me there,” Alm chuckled weakly.
“You like that? I got something else for you.” Riou noted, conjuring yet another rune. “WATER! Fog of Deception!”
Almost as soon as the blue water-droplet Rune appeared above his head, a heavy fog floated down from above. Only Alm and the rest of the Valentian soldiers in the vicinity seemed to notice it, but it greatly hampered his vision.
“Jeez, you’re making me look bad.” Alm noted, looking around wildly as he could barely see his own hand in front of his face. Riou rushed forwards while Alm was dazed, whacking him several times in the body, before rushing through him with a final strike. Alm fell to his knees, as Riou turned back and let the wind blow through his hair.
“Alm!” A familiar voice echoed in his mind. Without question, Alm quickly recognized that this was Celica.
“Celica! Are you still back fighting Blight?” Alm responded.
“Yeah... I was about to ask where that cloud of fog came from, but you sound injured. We need to get you healed.” She stated, sounding extremely concerned. Alm shook his head, although he knew full well that she couldn’t see him, and stood up.
“It’s okay, I can manage. Worry about your fight right now, I’ll get this done!” Alm insisted. “I promise.”
“Okay, Alm...“ Celica sighed. “Do be careful, please.” And with that, her voice faded from Alm’s head. He turned to where Riou went, finally able to see his opponent as the fog began to clear up.
“I’ve known mages, but I have to say. I’m impressed.” Alm commented, to which Riou smiled a tad. “I have a few tricks of my own, though. You’ll see!” Quickly, he put away the Royal Sword, which made Riou tilt his head in confusion.
“Do ‘tricks’ involve surrender?” Riou joked, completely lost for words on what Alm was up to. Right after Riou got the words out, Alm unsheathed another sword; a tad larger, with a wider golden hilt sporting a red jewel in the center. As Alm raised the sword high, a bright light shone, which cleared the remaining fog from the area entirely.
“This is the Falchion. The legendary sword used to slay gods.” Alm remarked, showing off the blade for a moment before getting into a battle stance. Riou saw a legendary blade before, Viktor’s Star Dragon Sword, though this one seemed far less... confrontational, and loud.
Riou got into his stance as well, and the two men charged forwards. As they did, Alm’s Falchion began to glow brightly, and a female voice spoke from it, saying “Trust in Falchion.” Alm nodded, and continued his charge.
Riou dodged the first swipe, going in to strike at Alm’s elbow, until he felt something sharp catch his underarm. Before he had even realized it, Alm pivoted the blade, able to catch Riou and stop the incoming attack! Riou stumbled backwards, clutching the wound, but Alm didn’t stop; he slashed at Riou’s legs, shoulders, and finally finished with a stab!
The stab caught Riou right in his upper-chest, by his shoulder. With a gasp of pain, Riou fell to his knees, bleeding from several slash wounds. Alm held the Falchion to Riou’s neck, simply looking down at him. “Well? Do you give up? I don’t want to finish this with any more violence.”
Riou didn’t say a word, simply weakly looking up at Alm before giving him a devious smile. With one quick movement, he rolled backwards and escaped from Alm’s trap. Still, though, his wounds continued to bleed as a sign of defeat.
“You’re only delaying it,” Alm sighed, “I told you I didn’t want any more bloodshed than absolutely necessary.”
Alm looked up, and smirked. Noticing that Riou was up to something, Alm’s eyes widened, and he immediately turned around. From the skies, a large mysterious figure swooped down at Alm with incredible speed. It collided with the King before flying back up, knocking Alm over and making him tumble. After the strike, the large figure slowly landed on the ground beside the wounded Riou.
“Are you alright, Lord Riou?” The Dragon Knight, Futch, asked as he looked down to Riou from atop his steed. Although still a ways away from being fully grown, his white dragon, Bright, had become considerably large and intimidating since last Riou saw him.
“Yeah, I think okay... Just a couple bad wounds...“ Riou groaned, clutching his shoulder where he was stabbed through, which was only managing to stain his already-red tunic much darker. Futch shrugged.
“What’s important is that you’re safe,” Futch reasoned, “but don’t forget to heal up. Isn’t that Rune on your hand good for that?”
Riou looked down to the back of his right hand, which bore the emblem of the Bright Shield Rune. Futch was right; this Rune was capable of an immense level of healing, unrivaled by any other.
Alm quickly lifted himself back to his feet after collecting his bearings, dusting himself off before holding the Falchion high, which shone brightly once again. “A dragon,” Mila commented from within the blade, “I never thought one would reside in this land.”
“Me neither.” Alm silently responded. “But the Falchion was made for this. Here goes nothing!”
As soon as Alm began to approach, Futch and Bright slightly rose into the air to combat him, briefly taking over for Riou as he cast a spell to heal himself. Without any notice, a huge jet of flames spouted out of Bright’s mouth towards Alm, who rolled to the left and ran sideways for a few seconds before the stream stopped.
Bright went to shoot more fire as Alm continued to approach, this time aiming for Alm’s head, who quickly ducked and watched the flames scorch the earth behind him. As Bright’s head lowered to try and catch his opponent, Alm began to run forwards at full speed. With a huge leap forward, Alm rose the Falchion, and Bright’s flames stopped.
Alm slashed the Falchion across Bright’s chest, hearing the dragon roar in pain for a moment, before kicking off of it and jumping backwards. Alm landed on the ground gracefully, as Bright slowly descended and plopped onto the ground in defeat.
After knocking down Bright, Alm pointed the Falchion at him. A large powerful vortex of light exploded out of the blade, consuming both the sword and the dragon with an indescribable force. Futch jumped off of Bright, confused, but pulling out his spear.
“Alm, focus!” Mila commanded. “It will take a while to seal the dragon away!”
Unfortunately, Futch wasn’t standing for this. Without hesitation, he ran forwards with his spear prepared, and lunged at Alm. Quickly, Alm avoided the strike, taking the Falchion’s focus away from Bright as he flipped backwards. Almost as if nothing happened, Bright continued to lay on the ground in pain.
With the Falchion’s sealing ability prevented, Futch ran back to Bright and examined his bloody wound. “What the hell?!” Futch shouted, “That wasn’t nearly enough to take down Bright, what did you do?”
“The Falchion is made for combating dragons, it hurts them more than it does humans.” Alm explained. “You’ll want to heal up fast. That is, unless you and Riou decide not to concede the fight.”
Riou, who was incredibly wounded, and Futch, tending to Bright, looked as defeated as one could be. Sounds of walking were heard over to Alm’s left; turning, he saw Jowy, defeatedly walking to join Riou, as Celica triumphantly guided him over.
“Celica! You’re okay.” Alm sighed in relief, though he never truly doubted her for a second. She turned and smiled at him.
“That’s pretty much everyone, Alm!” Celica announced. “We’ve got two leaders here, Riou and Jowy. I hear Sir Camus and Miklotov are struggling against Python and Forsyth, General Hauser has already conceded... and General Ridley has retreated.”
“So, Lord Riou. What say you?” Alm asked, looking around. Even disregarding the defeat of the leaders, the Dunan army wasn’t doing too well either. Thousands of soldiers, conceding in the face of Valentian troops. “I don’t want to carry this out any further. Announce that the fight is lost, and the fighting will cease.”
Again, Riou smirked. Although he had still not healed his wounds, he stood to his feet. Riou raised his right hand, and showed Alm and Celica the Rune on the back of his hand. “But the fight isn’t lost!” He announced proudly, making Alm raise one of his eyebrows in confusion.
“FAR FROM IT!” A familiar voice boomed from far off, followed by a wave of howls and roars. Alm and Celica, along with the entire Valentian army, looked around in confusion. Before they could even figure out what was going on, Riou raised his right hand high.
3:00 PM
“BRIGHT SHIELD RUNE! Battle Oath!” Riou screamed, with the Bright Shield Rune on his hand shining with blinding light. A small droplet of light fell from the sky in front of Riou, which soon turned into several geysers of light shining from the earth. Finally, a huge beam of light erupted from the ground, and washed over the entire battlefield.
Alm shielded his eyes from the intense light, but couldn’t help but listen as the tides of war changed in just the sound of battle cries alone. An entire new troop arrived and completely flipped the battle on its head! But how?!
As the light passed, the wounds of thousands of Dunan soldiers closed up, including Riou’s. They stood back to their feet, roaring with a second wind, and began to dominate the dazed Valentian soldiers. Alm peered over, and saw the leader of this new invading troop come riding valiantly in—General Ridley!
“Heheh...!” Shu giggled from far off, watching as the battle’s favor was completely changed. “Apple, it seems the plan worked.”
“Well, if the plan isn’t broken, I guess there is no reason to change it.” Apple remarked in awe. “They didn’t suspect Ridley’s return at all. Truly a wonderful plan, Shu.”
Alm gathered his bearings, deciding he’d need to recapture Riou once again if he was to salvage their victory, but things were not looking good around him. Jowy had engaged with Celica once again, who looked like she was struggling immensely from his newfound strength.
With valor, Saint-King Alm charged at Riou, who just lowered his hand from the Rune’s activation. Alm swung the Falchion with a hefty strike, only to find he had completely whiffed the shot.
“HAA!” Riou let out an uncharacteristic howl of rage, rising up after ducking the strike and smashing his tonfa right into Alm’s chin. His attack was... stronger, somehow, and he was fighting much more fiercely. Riou hit him in the chest with a few more strikes, before rushing through him.
Alm fell to his knees for a second, but that was a second he didn’t have to rest. Instinctively, he rolled to the side, barely avoiding an eruption of jagged stone from the ground; an Earth Rune that Riou cast. However, as soon as Alm got up from his roll, Riou came in for dozens of more strikes to his body and face.
“Aghh!” Alm cried out, falling backwards but quickly scrambling back to his feet. He knew he could win, but Riou was far more athletic than him without any armor. Quickly, Alm turned and looked over to some of his soldiers. “Men! Do you have a shield to spare?”
“Yes, King Alm!” They dutifully shouted, with one of them pulling a shield off of their backs and tossing it to him. Alm clanged the Falchion off of the shield, and readied himself against Riou again. Riou jumped at Alm with another rageful shout, striking at Alm several times, which the King barely managed to block with his shield.
As soon as Alm blocked the final tonfa strike, he pivoted his shield to the side, and lunged the Falchion forwards. Riou bent his body to just barely avoid the stab, leaping backwards to reposition himself. Riou crouched backwards as Alm placed his sword and shield back into position.
Riou took a large leap forwards at Alm, spinning around mid-air to wind-up, and swung his arm full force at the King. Alm tried blocking the strike, but Riou’s power was still amplified beyond what he was expecting. Alm’s shield was battered out of the way, making Alm’s arms fly open in retaliation and leaving his chest fully open. While still in the air, Riou kicked Alm, making him stumble backwards.
As Alm stumbled further and further backwards, he fell right out of his small circle opening that was cleared for his duel with Riou, and into a large crowd of fighting soldiers. He disappeared within the crowd, but Riou didn’t let up, and leaped in himself.
Alm and Riou darted between the crowd, with Riou hot on Alm’s trail, though unable to get in a blow without hitting one of his own soldiers. Alm eventually stumbled out of the crowd, ending outside of the perimeter of the war, and turning around. Riou took a massive leap at Alm, finally free to attack, to which Alm rolled backwards to avoid it.
Alm came in for a strike with the Falchion, which was parried, and then another that was parried as well. Alm got punched three times in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him, before Riou uppercut him with the tonfa. Alm slumped onto the ground with a heave, standing up weakly. Before he could raise his Falchion, however, Riou harshly kicked him in the wrist. With a clang, the Falchion fell out of his hands.
“That’s it...“ Riou said between gasps for air, his Berserk state running out. Despite being healed by the Bright Shield Rune, he was still incredibly tired. “Looks like we’ve traded positions. It’s over, King Alm. Do you concede?”
“No... Not when we were... so close... Forgive me, Celica...“ Alm huffed, falling back to the ground and too far away from the Falchion to try and defend himself. He looked over Riou’s shoulder, and the sight was brutal. In such a short time, the Dunan Republic soldiers had completely overtaken the Valentian soldiers, even despite the massive number disadvantage.
“Ugh... Any more and I become a liability...“ Alm sighed, sitting up as Riou fiercely looked down to him with his tonfa ready at all times. “But I can’t lose here. I’ll never yield!”
“Just give it up! Your battle is lost.” Riou stated yet again. But Alm knew exactly what went wrong. He had the battle won, but it slipped right between his fingers. He knew what went wrong, and he was going to fix it. Without Riou even realizing it, Alm pulled out a small clock-like device.
“Here goes nothing...“ Alm sighed, as a bright light shone from his device. It was Mila’s Turnwheel! Immediately, everything around Alm stopped in time. As he turned the device, time itself began to rewind, with people performing their movements backwards extremely quickly. Soon enough, he was back into the midst of the war, during his battle against Riou and Futch.
2:30 PM
“Are you alright, Lord Riou?” The Dragon Knight, Futch, asked as he looked down to Riou from atop his steed. Alm, standing exactly where he stood, remembered these events clearly, though everyone around him was blissfully unaware of what transpired.
Before Riou could respond this time, Alm rushed directly for him, which caught Futch and Blight off guard. Alm charged into Riou with a shoulder check, knocking the Lord to the ground, before leaping up to his right and slashing at Bright. The dragon howled the same howl, and descended slowly to the ground.
Futch, shaking away the surprise, leaped off of Bright and examined his bloody wound. “What the hell?!” Futch shouted, “That wasn’t nearly enough to take down Bright, what did you do?”
This time, Alm didn’t respond, simply continuing to follow Riou, who had weakly rolled to his feet and was backing up slowly. Without a second to waste, Alm stopped and looked around to his soldiers of Valentia.
“Warriors of Valentia!” Alm called proudly, his voice booming across the plains. “General Ridley of the Dunan Republic is using his retreat to deceive us! He is planning to flank us when we least expect it and turn the tides of war!”
Everyone on the battlefield, Dunan and Valentian soldiers alike, looked around in confusion. But Alm did not stop. “You may have dominated the Dunan soldiers, but don’t let your guards down! Once you see General Ridley on the horizon, CHARGE!”
The soldiers of Valentia started to roar in response, continuing up their winning fight against Dunan while keeping a keen eye on the horizon. Alm looked satisfied in himself, but hundreds of kilometers away, Apple’s mouth was agape.
“How... How did he know your plan? General Ridley’s plan should work perfectly, how could he have known?” Apple asked in disbelief. “Our entire flank is compromised!”
“Yes, it would appear that way... General Ridley is going to suffer severe damage now that they know what he’s doing.” Shu grumbled. “It was a desperate plan, I’ll admit, but I was sure that it would work. How could King Alm have known?”
“Was there a mole in the Dunan Republic, perhaps? Someone feeding him our plans before the battle started?” Apple theorized, “... Jowy?”
“Nonsense.” Shu dismissed the thought, “He’s done that to us before, but I have faith in that boy. Something... something else happened. I just can’t place what it is.”
Riou, not having time to heal himself, scrambled out of the fight for the time being, though Alm was hot on his trail. As Riou pushed through soldiers and Alm chased, it was a complete role reversal from the situation that Alm had just reversed.
Riou eventually made his way out of the perimeter of the war, breaking through and stumbling a few feet away. Alm burst out with a leap, raising his sword up high. Riou quickly rolled out of the way, and watched as Alm landed with an incredibly powerful stab to the ground.
“Damn...“ Riou cursed to himself, looking down to the Bright Shield Rune. “I don’t have time to cast a spell that will rejuvenate the army...“
As Alm yanked the Falchion out of the dirt, Riou quickly raised his hand, and shouted “BRIGHT SHIELD RUNE! Great Blessing!”
Immediately, a bright green light shone down from the sky onto Riou, and his slash and stab wounds started to close. Finally back into fighting condition, Riou readied a stance once again. Alm flourished the Falchion for a second, and then readied himself as well.
With an attack of desperation, Riou leaped forwards and lunged his arms forwards for a strike, but Alm fell backwards onto his back to avoid it. With a powerful kick upwards, he caught Riou right in the chest. As Riou reeled from the blow, Alm stood back up and shoulder-checked the Lord.
Riou stumbled backwards again, finally tripping over himself and rolling down a shallow hill. After wiping the dirt off of his clothes, Riou stood back up and let out a heavy breath and took a few steps backwards. Atop the hill, Alm looked down to him with a triumphant glare. In the background, the normal war-time roars turned into howls of fear.
“GENERAL RIDLEY! GET OUT OF HERE!” Flik screamed, watching as the General rode up to the fight planning on the flank that should have worked. But the Valentian army, now fully prepared for this, just completely washed over Ridley’s Kobold warriors.
“No...“ Riou mourned, falling to his knees as he couldn’t see, but fully heard General Ridley’s plan fall flat on his face. Shu, Apple, everyone in the Dunan Army mourned all the same. King Alm slowly trudged down the hill.
With a few precise slashes, most of Riou’s wounds reopened, and he began to bleed, still on his knees. Alm looked over to him, and simply said “This time, Riou, do you concede the fight? This war doesn’t have to be carried out any further.”
“RIOU!” Someone called, and instantly Alm felt a sharp pain in his back. Reaching behind himself, he yanked out what appeared to be a few small throwing knives. Almost as soon as Alm finished examining the knives, he looked back up and saw somebody by Riou’s side.
“Eilie... ?” Riou asked. She was quick to cast a Water Rune, patching up his wounds yet again, though he was still out of breath and fell back into her arm.
“C’mon Riou, are you okay?” Eilie wondered, though she obviously knew the answer. “Don’t look so gloomy, remember? It—”
“—doesn’t suit me? Heheh...“ Riou chuckled a tad, forgetting for a moment about the loss his entire army was just about to face. “Thank you, Eilie. You always seem to be the first face I see after I’m put in a bad position.”
“O–of course! And I know you can still win this thing, Riou!” Eilie insisted. “Let me fight with you! Take out the King and it won’t matter whose army is bigger!”
“You’re right...“ Riou groaned, shaking off the pain and standing back up to face Alm, who was just watching the two speak. “But I need you out there, Eilie, with the others. Even the smallest edge counts. I’ll deal with King Alm.”
“Of course! I’ll do whatever I can!” Eilie assured him. She started to run away, but quickly turned back and gave him a quick peck on his cheek. Before Riou could even react, she was gone. Alm couldn’t help but laugh.
“That look on your face says it all.” Alm chuckled, “I know exactly what you’re feeling right now.”
Riou was stunned, but he needed to shake himself out of it. After breaking out of a daze, he crouched back into a fighting position. “R... right. Anyways. Let’s finish this.”
“Alright, let’s go!” Alm agreed, taking his interesting one-handed battle stance once more. Almost as soon as the two went to collide once more, sounds of pained screaming were heard in the background. Riou and Alm turned to face the war that their fight was slowly pushing them away from, only to see a huge ball of black energy form in the center stage, with dozens of Valentia soldiers being tossed away by it.
“Jowy...“ Riou muttered, in awe of the incredibly powerful attack his friend just used.
“W-what was that?!” Alm asked in disbelief. Countless, countless soldiers of Valentia must have been defeated by that blast alone, enough to almost even the odds for Dunan in that very strike.
“The Black Sword Rune.” Riou simply responded. “Jowy got that when I got my Bright Shield Rune. It’s capable of incredible amounts of destruction. Just like we were told when we first received these, it could even be enough to turn the tides of war.”
“I don’t believe it! Celica was right about him!” Alm cursed himself out, still stunned by the wreckage he just witnessed. As soon as he yelled those words, his eyes widened. “C-Celica! DAMN! CELICA!”
Alm completely disregarded his fight with Riou, and bolted back towards the battle. He pushed and shoved every single soldier in his path with immense force, Valentia or Dunan all the same, until he made it to where the epicenter of the blast was. As expected, in the wide clearing that was left from the blast, was Jowy Atreides-Blight.
His eyes scanned the scorched field until he saw it; white cloth. Celica. Alm immediately threw the Falchion to the side, knelt down, and scooped up his wife, who had clearly taken the brunt of the blast. “Celica. Celica, please! CELICA!”
Jowy watched on with a blank expression, as Alm frantically shook Celica. After a minute of no response, the King scrambled over and picked up the Falchion. “C’mon, c’mon Mila! Please don’t be silent now, I need your help. Celica, i-it’s Celica!”
There was silence for a while. A long while, but then the Falchion began to glow, indicating Mila’s divine presence. With her ever-soothing voice she simply said, “I cannot revive her. Because she—”
“—isn’t dead.” Another voice finished, from beside Alm. Surprised, Alm turned, just to see Riou knelt beside him, with his right hand placed on Celica’s forehead. The Bright Shield Rune shone a bright green once more, filling Celica with healing energy. After a short moment, the Queen began to stir.
“Celica?” Alm asked, hoping to see her wake, but stir is all she did. Alm grimaced a little as Riou moved his hand away from her forehead. Alm gently placed Celica down on the ground, as some of her allies such as Boey and Mae ran up to look at her.
“She’ll wake, but she suffered more than just external damage. I’m sure she’s rattled from the—”
Alm stood up abruptly, completely stopping Riou from finishing his sentence. With two flourishes of the Falchion, he looked dead into the eyes of Jowy Atreides, who simply looked back with a blank stare.
Without a word, the King of Valentia charged forwards, his silence melding into a loud battle cry as he rushed Jowy, who simply raised his staff to defend himself. In one powerful and devastating attack, Alm swung his blade upwards while Jowy held his staff in a horizontal block.
CRACK!
The force of Alm’s swing split Jowy’s staff right through the center, causing the Atreides-Blight to stumble back a few steps. Without letting up, Alm slashed Jowy across the chest, arm, and finished it with a kick to the stomach. As Jowy continued to silently fall backwards, the crowd slowly shuffled out of his path.
“Alm!” Mila called to the King one final time, the red jewel of the Falchion glowing brightly. “Trust in the Falchion!”
Alm nodded, eyes fierce, angled the Falchion forwards, and lunged towards the former King. From the stands, the young Nanami pushed her way to the front, but she was too late to stop the attack herself, only screaming “JOWY!”
Riou stood to his feet, and angled his hand at Alm. “What to use, what will work, what can I do...“ were thoughts that raced through Riou’s head, hundreds of Runes circling his mind but completely unsure of what would save Jowy.
Riou finally decided to look up and use whatever came to mind, right before Alm stabbed the staggered Jowy, when he saw... “Viki??”
A young, ditzy girl with white robes and black hair, intervened in the killing blow. Right before Alm could deliver the devastating strike, he... vanished! Everyone in the crowd looked around in awe and confusion, including Jowy who fell backwards.
“I... uh—... Did I do the right thing?” Viki wondered, wide-eyed and scatterbrained as always. Riou let out a deep sigh of relief, but it was cut short.
“Alright, well you stopped him from taking that guy out, and that’s good and all.” Tobin sarcastically remarked from the sidelines. “But where the hell did he go? Did you think we were just gonna forget the part where you poofed away Alm?”
“Uh... yeah, Viki, where is he?” Riou asked, his nerves calming down a tad.
Viki looked around with wide-eyes for a moment, before looking to Riou. “Oh! Oh. Right. Uh, well, you see, I was really tense and just sent him to the first place I thought of... Dunan Castle...?”
Riou let out a big sigh. Dunan Castle is huge, much less the castle town, and he had no idea where to begin searching. All this meant is that he’d have to leave the war to go and find him. It seems that Jowy noticed Riou’s expression, because he walked over to him and put his hand on his shoulder.
“Don’t worry. You’re the leader here, Alm should be your main priority. We can handle ourselves down here.” Jowy reassured him. “So get going, Riou! Hauser, Ridley, Camus, Miklotov, we can handle this just fine!”
“But don’t you dare start until I get Queen Celica out of here!!” Mae scolded everyone, struggling to pick up the Queen’s body, before clumsily running out of the fight. Hesitant at first, Riou nodded and followed Mae out of the battle. As soon as he left, he heard Jowy shout, “Alright, men, break is over! CHARGE!!”
Riou turned back for a second, and a knot of worry built in his stomach, for Jowy, Nanami, Eilie... everyone, really. But he had to turn back, and continued to run alongside Mae, who was holding Celica.
“Hey, do you want me to carry her for you...?” Riou asked, “You look like you’re... struggling, a little.”
“No, n-no, it’s okay!” Mae gasped. She then paused for a second, and looked over. “Hey, it’s cool that I’m bringing her to your kingdom? Since we’re... enemies and all?”
Riou just laughed, “Of course, of course, don’t worry. We’re fighting each other, but there’s no real bad blood here. Go find my tactician, Shu, and he’ll take her in.”
Mae nodded with a big grin on her face. “Got it! Thanks kid, you’re a lifesaver! Don’t hurt Alm too bad out there, alright?!” With that, the two parted ways, as Mae turned and ran over to Shu and Apple, who were prepared with their own healing runes and first-aid. Meanwhile, Riou continued on towards the castle.
He bolted through the castle town gates, shocking the guards who were busy watching the war from afar. “L-Lord Riou?!” They called as Riou turned a corner and continued running at full speed, now nearing the Castle itself.
With a hefty push, Riou ripped open the Castle doors, and dashed through the halls. With so little people in the Castle due to the war, it was dark. Almost eerie. It almost reminded Riou of how this castle used to be, when it was occupied by the evil vampire, Neclord.
Riou turned countless corners around the dark hallways, turning up empty-handed at the end of every single one of them. He was almost getting frustrated; where the hell did Viki teleport Sir Alm? Was she sure it was in the Castle?
In a bout of frustration, Riou skidded to a stop in the middle of a large hallway. The ceiling was extremely high up, the wall to his left lined with shields and swords, and the wall to his right being designed with absurdly large windows that were each cracked open a tad. The wind blew hard, tussling his hair ferociously.
Riou closed his eyes, and took a breath. “C’mon, Riou... Wipe the gloomy look of your face. It doesn’t suit you.“ He whispered to himself, hoping some levity would calm himself down. But the darkness, the wind, the quietness, it was all so eerie.
“Does she say that to you a lot?” Someone said behind Riou. “It’s endearing. My friend Faye used to tell me stuff like that, and it would make me feel better too. I hope you’re not planning on breaking her heart, though. Sometimes it just doesn’t end well.”
“So you’ve been stalking the halls this whole time?” Riou mused, turning slightly but not completely around.
“I guess. For a while there, I thought somebody cast some kind of illusion on me, this place is creepy in the dark.” Alm said, making a mocking hand motion as if he were chilly. “Then, after a little bit, I just started to run around and see if anyone was here. Just my luck, huh?”
“This is it, then. Whoever wins this battle will completely override whoever wins the fight down there.” Riou sighed and looked over out the window, as what was once a gigantic battle seemed to be so small and meaningless now. “Let’s finish this long, long battle.”
“Very well,” Alm said, pulling out the Falchion once more and getting into his stance, “For the sake of the unity of Valentia, I have to end things here.”
Riou finally turned to face Alm, and got his tonfa ready at last. Without any more speaking between the two, they charged at each other at full speeds. Alm swiped horizontally, to which Riou fell to his knees and slid underneath it. Riou quickly spun back to his feet, unleashing two kicks at Alm’s back.
Alm was smacked by the first kick, turning in response to this and swiping the Falchion as he turned. Riou barely avoided the strike by leaning back, watching some of his hair get caught by the slice and lightly float down to the ground.
In retaliation, Riou kicked Alm backwards, then regained his own footing and leaped forwards. Riou struck Alm a few times in the chest, until Alm was able to catch the Lord’s wrist and stop his next attack. Alm gripped Riou’s wrist, then shoulder-checked him backwards, ran forwards, and slashed horizontally.
Riou quickly backflipped to avoid the strike, landing on his feet with a slight wobble before regaining his composure. Riou thought for a second that he should use a Rune, though he hoped to cause as little damage as possible. Thankfully, he thought of something that would work.
As Alm dashed forwards again, Riou rolled between his legs, and then kicked off Alm’s back to land as far away as possible. As soon as Riou scrambled to his feet, he raised his right hand high and called, “BRIGHT SHIELD RUNE! Shining Light!!”
A large white orb formed around Riou, almost the size of the entire room itself, as Alm turned and witnessed it in awe. Before he could react, however, the orb began to fire out rapid blasts of light, covering the entire room. Alm was pelted by the blasts, getting knocked back further and further as it overwhelmed him.
Slowly, the orb of light faded, and Riou lowered his hand. Several feet away, Alm let out a pained groan. “D-damn...“ Alm managed to get out, slowly pushing himself into a sitting-up position. Most of his armor had been shredded by the Shining Light attack, with almost the entire left half of his torso being ripped off and left bare.
“S-stand down...“ Riou gasped, clearly having used a lot of power to do that. “I can do a lot more than that. You’ll just get hurt, it’s pointless.”
“Oh, I’m sure you do have a lot left up your sleeve...“ Alm tried to chuckle, slowly lifting himself up to his feet. “And... just to be sure...“
Alm reached out behind him, pulling an all-too-familiar item. Though Riou had technically never seen it before, it raised his curiosity nonetheless. It was Mila’s Turnwheel.
“Mila, by your graces...“ Alm muttered. “Show me the future, please. Everything rides on this.”
A few seconds passed with no response. However, then, suddenly, the Turnwheel began to shine. Before Riou could intervene in whatever was going on, the light engulfed the entire room in a flash. Alm closed his eyes, and waited.
???
The light began to fade, and he slowly opened his eyes. He was looking to see the future, and he saw... nothing? Alm looked around frantically. Was this the future that Mila’s Turnwheel was trying to show him? Could Riou’s power truly be enough to reduce the world to this? Or was it... trying to say something else?
“Mila... Goddess Mila, please, tell me,” Alm pleaded, calling out in the darkness, “is this the future you are trying to show me? Where am I? What is this?”
“Here, in the nothingness, is the culmination of Riou’s journey. Where everything he fights for will lead.” A mysterious, echoed voice responded. But this voice, though female, was distinctly not that of the Goddess Mila. As Alm began to look around, he noticed a bright blue light forming in front of him.
“Who are you? What do you mean by that?” Alm asked again, “The culmination of Riou’s journey? I’m not going to... kill him, am I?”
The blue light finally shifted in form, from a sphere of light to a mysterious, hooded, beautiful black-haired woman in blue and pink cloth. As soon as she appeared, she took a few steps forwards, her footsteps very light and almost ethereal. “That, Saint-King of Valentia, is entirely up to you.”
“W-who are you? I don't understand, what am I seeing exactly?” Alm continued to ask. The woman continued to walk forwards, until she was only a few feet away from him. She smiled gently.
“My name is Leknaat.” She simply responded. “Riou is the one fated to gather the 108 Stars of Destiny in order to change the tides of war. Fate quivers, and the future cannot be seen. That’s why you are where you are.”
Alm looked around again, in the black void. “I can’t see his future? Even with Mila’s Turnwheel. I’m trying to understand, but...“
“His journey is something difficult to fully understand, but his future cannot be seen. All you see now is... nothing. Nothing can be seen.” Leknaat continued to explain. “That’s why I said whether you kill him or not, is entirely up to you. Nothing about Riou is written in the future. If you are to take his life, then you will. That’s all there is to it.”
“I... think I understand. Riou’s story is constantly being written. While all of ours have already been written.” Alm summarized, clenching his bare left fist in front of his face, the one that had its gauntlet destroyed by Riou’s attack. “It’s almost scary, y’know? Predetermination. And how this Riou seems to completely avoid it.”
Leknaat took in every single word he said, but didn’t say a word in response. Instead, she slowly walked up to Riou and gently grabbed hold of his clenched fist. Almost immediately in her soft, angelic presence, Alm’s fist opened and the muscles calmed. She carefully turned his hand over, and traced a finger over his birthmark.
“This brand. Not much different from the Rune given to Riou and Jowy, no?” She quietly mused. “A birthmark, I hear you say in your mind. Very interesting. As far as I know, this is not one of the 27 True Runes. And yet, I feel great power within it.”
“My wife, Celica, has the same mark on her right hand. It’s tied us two together, ever since we first met...“ Alm explained, nervous as Leknaat continued to look at his birthmark. “It’s the sign of Duma. A god from my land.”
“A god from all of our lands, you mean. Valentia seems to only be the one continent that worships them.” Leknaat corrected. “Duma, Mila, gods with power that rival the 27 True Runes. I’ve heard about them, but never have I seen a mark like this. In a way, I guess you could call it a Rune.”
“Well, what exactly does that mean?” Alm asked, not entirely sure what a Rune even was aside from the spells that he’s been seeing cast over the course of the battle.
“Not much, I suppose. You wield great power in this hand, that is the most that can be said.” Leknaat continued to explain, “Though, those with Runes ingrained in them this way... many strands of fate are woven around them.”
Gently, Leknaat let go of Alm’s hand and allowed him to put it back down.
“Choose your own fate, King of Valentia.” Leknaat stated, seeming to wrap the conversation up. “Fate is not quite as predetermined as you seemed to fear. Even for one with eyes as old as mine, fate is constantly surprising me. Take care, Alm.”
“Y-you as well.” Alm awkwardly responded, watching as she began to fade back away in a blue orb of light. As soon as Leknaat left, Alm’s eyes closed once again...
3:30 PM
...
WHACK!
Alm stumbled backwards, being shot back to consciousness. Quickly, he put Mila’s Turnwheel away once more, and readied his blade. Riou lowered his tonfa after the strike, and looked at Alm with confusion.
“What did you just do?” Riou asked, but Alm simply shook his head.
“Honestly, nothing. I deserved that attack.” Alm responded, though he quickly wiped the smirk off of his face. “Alright, here I come!”
Alm, feeling almost completely rejuvenated, rushed at Riou at full speed. He used a horizontal slash, to which Riou rolled under to his other side. However, Alm then quickly pivoted the blade and stabbed backwards, catching Riou in the shoulder.
Riou yelped out in pain, falling forwards. The back of his shoulder began to bleed, but he tried his best to disregard this as he kicked back onto his feet. Alm didn’t let up, going for a downward vertical slash, which Riou slid to the side to avoid.
However, Alm quickly caught Riou with a roundhouse kick, bruising Riou’s arm and making him fall backwards. The King walked forwards to stomp on the Lord, who rolled out of the way and kick-flipped back to his feet.
Riou twirled his tonfa around, aiming for Alm’s chest and head, but completely whiffed the attacks. Alm ducked low, waiting for Riou to bring his arms back before he rose back up and slashed upwards.
“AGHH!” Riou cried out, a jagged bloody slice appearing up his torso. Riou rolled to his feet again, albeit much slower, and clenched his fists a tad harder. Doing the best to ignore his wounds, Riou let out a powerful leap forwards, to which Alm attempted to catch him mid-way with a swing. As the sword came close, Riou batted it aside with his left hand, and whacked Alm across the face with his right.
Alm, taking the full brunt force of the blow, stumbled over to the wall and held onto it for support. Riou continued his rampage, jumping towards Alm again and unleashing a powerful forwards-strike, which Alm rolled across the wall to avoid. Riou’s tonfa left a hole in the wall, but he was quick to rip it out.
As Alm dodged along the wall, he bumped into a line of swords and shields that were hung up on it. With quick thinking, Alm grabbed and equipped one of the shields, allowing for him to smack aside Riou’s next attack. With Riou having been parried and left wide open, Alm then lunged his sword hand forwards.
“D-damn! Agh!” Riou let out another pained yell, as the tip of the sword pierced him in the lower stomach. Before it could get pushed in any further, Riou recklessly grabbed the sword’s blade and pushed against it. The blade cut against his hands, dripping blood from them immediately.
Before the struggle could properly conclude, Alm simply kicked Riou in the stomach, knocking him onto his back with a yelp. Riou frantically pushed himself back to create distance, though he had to admit he was seriously damaged. Cuts all across his body, including on his palms, and a deep stab in his stomach. Riou took deep breaths through clenched teeth.
“I... can’t lose here... I can’t let everybody down...“ Riou gasped in pain, pushing himself backwards more and more while struggling to stand to his feet. “I promised everyone... promised Eilie... I...“
“There’s no shame in conceding, you fought your heart out. Really cornered me in a lot of places.” Alm admitted, trying to simply end the battle. “That girl, Eilie. She wants to see you safe more than she wants to see the battle won. Remember that.”
“But... everyone is counting on me... “ Riou slowly pushed himself to his feet, fighting off the pain that screamed in his body. Without even conjuring a spell, his Bright Spell Rune was exploding with bright light. “No matter what, I have to...“
“Riou, I don’t know what you’re doing, but don’t do it! This has gone far enough!” Alm pleaded, but Riou wasn’t listening. Weakly, as blood dripped down his forearm, Riou raised his right hand high up. “Lord Riou, HEY—”
“BRIGHT SHIELD RUNE! FORGIVER SIGN!!” Riou screamed, raising his hand as high up as he could. The Bright Shield Rune exploded off of his body, transforming into a huge symbol in front of the Lord that itself released a blinding light. The force of the Rune made Alm slide back a tad, as he raised his shield and covered his eyes from the light.
Suddenly, images came out of the Rune; stone, molten lava, space, science, the heavens, the sky. As soon as the images raced by, the Bright Shield Rune shone so brightly that it almost turned Dunan Castle itself into a beacon of light.
Green light then gathered in front of the Rune, and itself exploded into a wave of light. More and more pressure kept compounding against Alm, who was struggling to hold his shield high. The force was tearing away at his armor, completely shredding it away, and he failed to even stand properly, let alone take a step.
As the force pushed harder and harder against Alm, causing more and more pain, he let out an extremely pained scream. Through clenched teeth, Alm’s face almost turned beat-red as the skin of his torso beneath the shredded armor started to be scolded by the light. Riou from behind the Bright Shield Rune, had his eyes closed, and arms outstretched.
Whilst the light fried Alm’s body, it did the exact opposite for Riou. The light bathed his body, beginning to slowly close his wounds, making them vanish with such proficiency that it appeared as though they were almost being erased from his body. Slowly but surely, Riou was recovering his peak condition.
“DAMN... COME ON, COME ON!!” Alm screamed out, almost managing to take a single step forwards. Although his shield was raised in his right hand, the arm had almost gone completely numb. “Not again...! We were… WE WERE... SO... CLOSE!!”
Alm, through painfully clenched eyes, barely managed to open one and look away from the blinding light. Although he couldn’t feel it, his left hand was still gripping the Falchion hard. Extremely slowly, almost feeling as though it was taking forever, he raised his left hand next to the right. On the back of his hand, the Brand... The Brand... The Brand of Duma! Leknaat’s voice rang through his head.
You wield great power in this hand, that is the most that can be said.
Alm clenched his fist harder, and turned his left hand so that the back faced away from him. During this extreme bout of stress, the Brand gathered its strength... and erupted. A bright blue light shone out of the Brand, clashing against the bright green light of Riou’s Rune.
Alm closed his eyes once more, and looked down. “Alright...“ He breathed in and out deeply, ignoring the pain screaming from every cell in his body. With one powerful swipe, he whipped the shield off of his arm, which clattered to the ground and got washed away by the Bright Shield Rune’s power.
Riou’s wounds continued to close, almost completely erased from his body, from outside of the blast. From within the blast, Alm let out a battle cry and raised the Falchion up high. Another wave of light pushed against him, blasting his body back again, but his stance didn’t falter. The power of the brand shone brighter and brighter, and then fled into the blade of the Falchion.
The Falchion’s blade grew and grew, extending into an enormous blue energy blade of pure power. “SCENDSCALE!!” Alm boomed, his voice echoing across the entire land of Dunan. Riou slowly opened his eyes, as the wounds finished healing...
“HAAAAA!!!” Alm screamed, spinning around twice, before jumping into the air, and…
BOOM!
“AGH!” Riou cried out in pain. The blue energy blade of Scendscale slammed down into Riou’s body, completely ceasing the attack of the Bright Shield Rune. A deep gash formed down Riou’s body, and he rocketed so far down the hallway that he crashed into the far wall and slumped over.
Alm’s Scendscale faded, and his hands began to uncontrollably shake. The Falchion fell to the ground to the clang, and Alm himself fell to one knee. “I’ll never yield...“ Alm gasped, struggling for breath. “You’re... good, kid. The future may be unreadable for us, but our fates... were interwoven, this time...“
With all of his power drained, Alm’s knee buckled and he fell to the ground for a moment. Looking over, the Falchion laid only a few feet away, and seemed to be giving off a faint orange light. Soon, the orange light shone brighter, and rained down on Alm.
Alm’s burn wounds, his internal and external bleeding, disappeared. Though his legs were shaky beyond control, he used the Falchion as a crutch and lifted himself to his feet. Minutes passed, but Alm slowly limped over to Riou while leaning on the Falchion.
The King fell down to one knee with a grunt next to Riou, and placed his left hand on Riou’s wound. His other wounds were completely gone, but this one was more prevalent than ever; extremely deep, horribly close to being fatal, and, of course, bleeding profusely.
“I’m sorry... I didn’t want it to be this way...“ Alm grimaced, looking down and grieving the loss of not only a great fighter, but a young boy no older nor younger than he. However, as he looked down, he noticed something peculiar. “That... Rune. The Bright Shield Rune. His body fades... to death, and yet it... continues... to glow...?”
That’s when he remembered. Many things Leknaat had told them in their brief time. Riou’s Rune was not born with him, he simply inherited it. It, and its power, will live on. Realizing this, he quickly reached over to Riou’s hands, shakily holding it and bringing it over to the Lord’s bloody chest.
Alm held Riou’s right hand to his chest, holding it in place with his left. The Bright Shield Rune, and the Brand of Duma, both glowed in unison. The wound didn’t fully heal, and it didn’t take a short time by any means, but Alm prayed to Mila for as many blessings as he could muster.
Minutes passed. What felt like hours. Then, for a brief second, Riou let out a small groan. Alm released all the breath he had been holding, and looked down with a smile. “Jeez, kid,” Alm sighed in relief, succumbing to his own weakness again and falling back.
“AAALM!” Someone called off in the distance, distinctly female and very loud. Alm knew immediately, it was Mae. “Are you okay?! What was all that light up here?! It took me forever to find you!!”
“I-I’m fine, Mae, I’ll be okay.” Alm groaned, knowing he very much was not okay. “Do you have any bandages? Wrapping? I’ve healed the kid, but this blood is gonna be a problem...“
“Yeah, actually!” Mae called back, while she ran down the hallway. “I was just tending to Celica, she’s doing okay! I got some bandages to spare, though!”
“Celica’s okay?” Alm spouted. “Oh, thank the gods.”
4:00 PM
Minutes passed, and Mae (with the struggling help of an incredibly weak Alm) managed to get bandages wrapped around Riou’s chest. At long last, the blood seemed to stop spilling out of the wound.
“Bandages are wrapped, I’ve used as many healing spells I could muster, and gave a few prayers for good luck.” Mae explained, standing up and putting her hands on her hips. “You did a number on him, King Alm, but I think he’ll be okay. You want me to go get the others?”
“Yes, please. I think this has finally come to an end.” Alm let out a hefty sigh, watching Mae rushed off back down the hallway. While his eyes were following Mae, he heard some stirring beside him. Alm’s eyes widened, and he turned to look at Riou.
“Urk...“ Riou grunted, barely managing to open an eye. “So... that’s it, huh...“
“I did my best to keep you together... Thought you were a goner for a second, but I think we’re okay now.” Alm remarked, trying for some levity. Riou didn’t seem to emote much to it, but that was understandable. “Well, in any case... You’re right. I think that’s it.”
“So... I failed...“ Riou sighed, slumping down where he sat.
“I told you, don’t think of it that way. Remember?” Alm tried to comfort him. “You lost the battle, but this war isn’t what mattered the most, y’know?”
“I know.” Riou responded, slightly managing a smile as he looked over to Alm. “Eilie wants to see me safe more than she wants to see the battle won. Same with Nanami, and Jowy... everyone. I remember.”
“That’s the spirit,” Alm smiled back. “Now, I think it’s about time we break the news.”
“Right... I officially concede the battle.” Riou announced, as Alm struggled to lift him to his feet. “Valentia won the war.”
KO![]
Alm and Riou, hanging onto each other with an arm around each other’s shoulders, hobbled down the hallway and through the long corridors of Dunan Castle. It took several minutes, but finally, the two leaders walked through the front doors of Dunan Castle, and eventually, the front gates of the castle town.
Warriors were lined up outside of the Castle, Dunan and Valentian soldiers alike, watching and waiting as their leaders approached them. Alm and Riou stopped, taking a second to breath, before looking up at the thousands of men and women who fought in their name.
“Everyone!” King Alm weakly shouted to the crowd. “This battle was hard fought. Every single person involved fought their hearts out for their people, and that will forever be respected for as long as my bloodline watches over Valentia!”
“So, does that mean...“ Camus wondered aloud, looking over to Miklotov and General Ridley. They both shrugged, but continued to watch on.
“Oh, Riou...“ Eilie grabbed her sister’s hand and squeezed, finding it hard to see Riou in so much pain. Rina looked over to Eilie, and held her around the shoulders to try and calm her down. Riou looked down for a moment and sighed, then stepped forwards.
“Yes, everyone... People of the Dunan Republic.” Riou spoke up now, “We fought hard. Harder than ever before, ever thought possible. We were outnumbered by tens of thousands of soldiers, and yet we still were able to teeter the sides in our favor on numerous occasions.”
Riou stopped to take a breath, clutching his chest for a moment, but stood back up again.
“Unfortunately, the forces of Valentia were too staggering. Everyone tried to avoid bloodshed as much as possible, but we still lost many good soldiers today...“ Riou continued, “The battle was lost. The Dunan Republic hereby concedes the fight in favor of the One Kingdom of Valentia.”
As soon as the words hit everyone’s ears, the crowd erupted in roars of both happiness and disappointment. Having said his peace, Riou’s weak body gave out again and he fell to his knees. Alm went to help him, but his people rushed him in celebration.
“RIOU!” Nanami cried, running and pushing through the crowd to reach her younger brother. Jowy did the same, and Eilie, seeing the opportunity, followed suit. The three approached Riou and held him up in a big hug.
“I’m sorry, everyone...“ Riou sighed, looking away from all three. Viktor and Flik walked up behind the group and crouched down, putting their hands on Riou’s shoulders.
“You were kickass out there, Riou!” Viktor congratulated him. Flik nodded, and gave Riou a quick pat on the back. Jowy broke out of the hug, and gave a genuine smile that seemed to be rare for him to give in recent times.
“Yeah, Riou. You did all you could. Don’t blame yourself!” Jowy reassured his old friend, to which Riou weakly smiled for a moment. Nanami only hugged tighter, causing Riou to take a deep breath through clenched teeth as his chest shot up in pain.
“Riou! Riou, Riou! Don’t you dare blame yourself for this! Those meanies didn’t deserve that win!” Nanami insisted, shaking Riou a little. Noticing how much pain Riou was going through, Viktor sighed and began to drag Nanami away, who kicked and screamed.
“No, they deserved it... They really did.” Riou responded, though Nanami was long gone. Eilie finally squirmed her way in front of Riou, and gave him a gentle smile.
Eilie began to speak, “And that’s okay. It wasn’t about winning the war—”
“—it’s about coming home safe.” Riou finished, smiling back weakly. “Of all people, King Alm told me that one.”
“I told you, Riou. The smile! You look much better smiling!” Eilie repeated, almost laughing as she said it. Riou was in so much pain, and yet he smiled. The two looked at each other for a moment, and Riou could sense that Eilie’s face was about to flush. Before she could turn away, Riou leaned forwards and planted a kiss.
Just as expected, Eilie’s face flushed bright red immediately after. The act of leaning forwards shot pain through Riou’s body and he fell back again, but it was worth it.
Viktor, who had just walked back from carrying away Nanami, caught a glimpse of the kiss and bellowed in laughter. “Good man, Riou! Looks like I taught him well!”
Shu walked over, putting a hand on Viktor’s shoulder and letting out a sigh of relief. “Well, it’s good to see enjoyment coming out of a defeat.” Shu commented, “Things didn’t go as I planned, and I don’t like the outcome, but seeing everyone happy like this... I suddenly don’t feel that bad about things not going my way.”
“What, that heart of yours finally thawing?” Viktor joked, patting Shu heavily on the back. “C’mon, Shu, we got some preparations to make for the new authority, eh?”
Shu smiled and nodded, with the two joining up with Flik and walking towards Dunan Castle. As they passed, they glimpsed the heavily wounded Saint-King Alm, who was being paraded by his allies non-stop.
“I knew you could do it buddy!” Tobin cheered, patting Alm’s back hard. Gray walked over and ruffled Alm’s hair.
“Yeah, Tobin knew you could do it, but he’s leaving out all the times he told me the battle was lost!” Gray laughed, elbowing Tobin in the chest. Alm, through pained coughs, laughed in the presence of his friends.
“You really did it!” A familiar voice cheered, running up from behind Alm and embracing him. Alm turned, and saw the face of his wife, bruised, banadaged, but filled with joy. Alm fully turned around and embraced Celica with a kiss.
“I’m so glad you’re okay!” Alm beamed, ecstatically. “I was really worried, but. I knew you’d pull through.”
“Get a load of this guy, lying through his teeth.” Kliff joked, making the others laugh. Alm elbowed Kliff, but turned to see that Celica was laughing too. He just couldn’t help himself from joining in.
“ALL HAIL KING ALM! GLORY TO VALENTIA!” The soldiers chanted, as the group of friends all embraced each other and laughed from joy.
The future was impossible to see, and yet every single one of their fates had been interwoven. Each person, changed by this battle, whether in a way they wanted or a way they tried to avoid. But it would seem that everyone was able to find happiness through the outcome, even then.
Leknaat, who was watching the celebration from afar, smiled. Then, in a ball of blue light, she faded away.
Conclusion[]
Boomstick: Holy shit! That battle was a trip!
Wiz: I couldn’t agree more. On paper, the battle may seem pretty clear-cut, but it was actually far closer than anyone expected.
Boomstick: Damn straight! Riou had a ton of ways in which he could’ve won! With his ability to completely heal his wounds on the fly and completely resist Alm’s ability to predict his movements, he was already extremely hard to put down!
Wiz: Not only that, but many of Riou’s Darkness Runes are able to inflict instant death, which Alm cannot resist. For all intents and purposes, a well-timed strike could immediately win the battle for Riou.
Boomstick: Unfortunately... that's where the stats come in to show why Alm would win, nine times out of ten. For one, although Riou could absolutely win with the Darkness Rune, it’d be unlikely that he’s ever able to actually land one.
Wiz: Exactly. Unless Alm got cocky and allowed for it to hit him, which is very uncharacteristic for him, Riou could likely never get it off. Riou’s highest speeds in combat top in light speeds, though only with Bright Shield Rune, and next fastest combat speeds clock in at 270,000 mph, but that’s only with his Lightning Runes.
Boomstick: Yeah! In terms of Riou’s other more-standard Runes, including his Darkness Runes, they are considerably slower! They’re all comparable to Riou’s reaction speeds, who is similar to a member of his party named Clive! Clive was able to dodge bullets, putting Riou’s reaction speeds at 1,700 mph!
Wiz: That means that in standard combat, Riou can react to and unleash attacks at the speed of a standard bullet, aside from the Lightning and Light Runes which are obvious exceptions. Compare that to Alm, who can directly avoid a spell known as Aura, which is directly described as light.
Boomstick: A guy who can dodge at Faster Than Light speeds, put against a guy who can only attack with light speeds using one of his Runes, and, well... needless to say, those Darkness Runes aren’t touching Alm anytime soon.
Wiz: So speed is certainly in Alm’s favor, but what about power and durability? If Riou is strong enough, even a single hit could negate the staggering speed advantage. Unfortunately, Alm takes the edge in this as well.
Boomstick: Riou’s greatest feat comes from tanking the explosion given off by the Dancing Flames spell of the Fire Rune! Tanking that would scale to his power, meaning that Riou’s standard power output is an impressive 23 million joules of force! Damn!
Wiz: As impressive as fighting with the power of that explosion is, Alm outclasses Riou several times over in this category as well. Alm can harm Duma, and wields the Falchion which Mila resides within, giving him power at least comparable to them on their own. Duma and Mila together were able to create the entire continent of Valentia.
Boomstick: Which is damn strong, even if Alm only possesses a half of that power! A half of the power it would require to create a continent still comes out to the staggering 380 Teratons! That’s over... sixty quadrillion times more powerful than Riou!
Wiz: The gap between them is already massive, factoring in only speed and power, that Alm has basically already won the match. However, that’s not all. Riou is incredibly versatile, and his healing and regenerative abilities are unbelievably impressive, but Alm happens to have something on par with that.
Boomstick: Not only does the Royal Sword passively heal Alm the same way that the Bright Shield Rune does for Riou, but the Falchion’s healing abilities are busted! Not only could it effortlessly recover a fatal stab wound in Celica’s stomach, but also straight up resurrect her!
Wiz: Mila’s Turnwheel may be rendered useless in terms of its precognitive abilities, but it is far more than just that. It grants Alm the ability to reverse time several times over, while retaining his memories of the future, which is an extreme advantage and render most of Riou’s techniques useless.
Boomstick: And that’s not even factoring in how he can straight up summon Phantoms of warriors around his own level of strength, like Marth and Ike! Believe me when I say, Mila’s Turnwheel absolutely turns the fight in Alm’s favor, even if he was to have the stat disadvantage, which he absolutely did not.
Wiz: Riou is an incredibly powerful, skilled, versatile, intelligent, and experienced fighter, especially for his young age in comparison to his peers. Unfortunately for the young Lord, he was simply countered at every front when it came to the Saint-King of Valentia.
Boomstick: Riou Alm-ost had it won, but the King of Valentina simply Gaide-d him to defeat!
Wiz: The winner is, Alm.
Connections[]
- Teenagers with a humble upbringing.
- Were trained in combat by their adoptive mentors, who were once famed soldiers but have since settled down. (Alm was trained by his his adoptive grandfather, Mycen, who was once Sir Mycen, the legendary royal knight; Riou was trained by his adoptive father, Genkaku, who was once Lord Genkaku, the legendary war hero)
- Both wear a distinct headpiece that goes around their forehead.
- Are the protagonists of the second game in their series. (Alm is the protagonist of the second Fire Emblem game, Fire Emblem Gaiden; Riou is the protagonist of the second Suikoden game, Suikoden II)
- Go from being backwater country bumpkins, to royal leaders of an army and Kingdom. (Alm went from a villager of Ram Village, to the King of Valentia; Riou went from a villager of Kyaro Town, to the Leader of New State)
- At the start of their adventure, their only allies are their close friends. They spend most of their journey travelling across the land, meeting new people and building an entire army with them.
- Both have special emblems on the back of their hands, which contains incredible power. People who see this mark on their hand recognize them as special. Their best friends have a similar mark on their hand as well. (Alm has a Brand on the back of his left hand that glows with power when he uses Scendscale, his best friend Celica has a Brand as well; Riou has the Bright Shield Rune on the back of his right hand, his best friend Jowy has a Rune as well)
Music Track[]
