>>5674396Relief washes over you that your friend made it out okay, and that perhaps so did your comrades. You make to go speak with him when a hand grasps your shoulder and stops you. You turn to see Uriel, face looking grim.
“Give him some space. He just learned that his father perished in the fighting.” Uriel says.
Your blood runs cold. Rodrigue perished? But he had been the one commanding the army. If he was gone, then did that mean Dimitri was running things now?
>“Where’s Roxanne?” You ask the veteran paladin.His eyes close and he shakes his head. “Fallen in battle. After that explosion, she helped hold the line against a slew of Imperial soldiers that sought to finish us off as we sought to escape the burning rubble. She fought valiantly and to the last, but there were only so few of us. With no back-up, there was nothing that could be done.”
>“Roxanne’s dead…I’m sorry, Uriel. We should have tried to intervene.”Uriel shakes his head. “There is no room for regret on the battlefield, Commander. What’s done is done, and all we can do now is make sure that her life was not lost in vain.” He pauses, before continuing. “You should know as well that I also witnessed Lady Goneril fall as well. She’d been caught up in the initial explosion and was unable to escape. Though not a member of our army, I know that you dealt with her much during our time at Derdriu.”
Hilda was dead too? You stifle a groan. She’d been nothing but kind to you since you’d first met, having welcomed you to Derdriu and always being there to see you once you’d returned from a mission. What about Lysithea? And Claude? Were their corpses lying out here somewhere as well?
“I know not who else we’ve lost out here.” Uriel says. “But channel their memory as you fight on, Commander. This day is far from over, and we’ll have need of your full abilities to see it through.” He takes his leave.
“The Imperial Army is advancing!” A panicked voice cries out in alarm.
“Form ranks! For the Kingdom! For King Dimitri!”
Horns begin blaring across the battlefield once more, and the incredibly brief respite that you were offered from the fighting has now ended.
“Same plan, Blair.” Ingrid says. “We’ll own the skies and try to take out as many of their commanding officers as we can. With our air superiority, we can-“
“Enemy reinforcements spotted from the north!” A Blackwing scout shouts next to you. You recognize that frame. It’s Ashe, still hiding his identity. You look towards where he was pointing. A squadron of Wyvern Knights have indeed entered the battlefield and are advancing south upon your location. Their banner is too far to make out, but you can recognize the colors. Black and red. There was only one group this could be.
Rex d’Rusalka and the Hellwings had joined the battle.
>A): Meet the Hellwings in combat.>B): All we need to do is land a fatal blow on the Empress, and we win. 