Fantasy The Great War (SirLostBoy x Chibi_Girl)

[SirLostBoy]

Arty walked back out of the study and into the kitchen to get more food. It didn't take him too long as the kitchen cooks are actually used to abundant snacking from the prince. During his walk to and from the kitchen he wondered to himself how much he would need to tell. He hated talking about himself, especially in regards to this topic, but if it might help him make his dream a reality it might be a small price to pay.

The journey took about 10 minutes in total before he was back to the study. He had brought with him two plates topped with cured meats with a light sauce drizzled on top, nuts and dried fruits, and some fried sweetbreads. He placed the two plates onto the desk, before he quickly ran back down to grab drinks. He had a secret cellar where he kept his beverages and he poured out two mugs of light, sweet, cider for the two of them; this wasn't a night for heavy drinking but some drinking was going to be required to get through it.

"Here you go, eat up..." He said as pulled out an extra chair for her to sit on. "Also....you can go tomorrow if you want." He said firmly as he began eating; waiting to hear her response.

 

[Chibi_Girl]

Jyn silently waited for him to come back, thinking to herself. Wondering if it would be wrong to stay silent about an oncoming attack after what she did. Sure, she definitely sided with the non humans, but she wasn't heartless, as she really did feel bad for what happened. However, she still did not want to put any of her people in any sort of danger whatsoever.

Her people had known full well that Jyn was going on a dangerous mission that could easily go wrong and end up with her being captured or just overall in danger, so as a precaution, they gathered up a large group of the lizard people to attack the city just in case Jyn doesn't return for an extended period of time. And it had most definitely been longer than expected so the planned attack was inevitable at this point. Also, the lizard people were known for being great warriors for several different reasons, and the more she thought about it the more hesitant she became on what to do exactly.

However, her thoughts were cut short as Arty returned to the study with food, and shortly after with drinks as well. Though, after sniffing her beverage she seemed immediately uninterested in drinking it at all. Despite this, Jyn really didn't make that big of a deal about it and just sat down in the chair, about to start eating when he spoke. His words were enough to make her pause and stay quiet for a moment, not believing what she just heard before she looked directly at him with an confused expression, "you're.....letting me go?......" She was shocked to say the least, but also felt worse as this could mean that her people could attack his with no reason at all, since she was unharmed for the most part and will be set free if he was telling the truth.

 

[SirLostBoy]

"Yeah... I don't really have any reason to keep you at this point. If you're not going to tell me anything, nothing I do is going to change that...plus, torture really isn't my thing anyway...." He said softly as he picked at his food on the plate, a playful smile flashed on his face at the last part but quickly disappeared.

There was a pause for a moment as Arty collected himself to say what he needed to say next. This wasn't going to be easy for him. "As prince soon to be emperor, I truly believe in admitting one's fault no matter how hard it is, because it creates a stronger rule for my people.... So I have to admit my fault in this war....in not trying to stop it earlier or differently....God, Mom would be so ashamed of me..." He said, in a humble tone as he put down his utensils and grabbed a wooden picture frame that stood on the desk; it was a picture of him and his family.

"We were just so angry, still am really.... See, Mom.... She used to do everything she could for the non-humans....did visits and gave a lot of time and resources....she truly believed in coexistence, and Dad, cuz he loved her, not necessarily cuz he believed, let her do it. Yet, despite all that, she was murdered by some group of non-humans on her way back home; combination of lizard and wolf folk. They killed my younger brother and sister too who were only 4 and 5.... Goddess, we were all devastated, and it just made Dad, and especially, George, to force the war further....well, until the fever swept in and killed everyone else..." He told Jyn, more to himself than to her; staring off into nothing. It was good to air it all out once in a while, plus it might help her understand his perspective and maybe help him.

"And me, I was just some dumb kid who lost everything so the age of 10 and was told I was going to become the emperor some day....just angry at the world for taking everything from me and I needed a target and what better one than the enemy placed in front of me....but that's no excuse for all the lives lost...." He said as he finally turned to look at Jyn, a stray tear rolling down his face.
"And so for that I'm sorry. Mom always had a dream of a world where all races can coexist without strife, and I promised her that I would make that dream come true for her, and I broke that promise, but I'm trying to fix it and keep my promise to her, and now I make that same promise to you too." He said seriously as he looked into her eyes.

 

[Chibi_Girl]

Jyn wanted to question the smile on his face at that last part but she stopped herself as she realized that he had more to say. And when he did start to speak again, she was shocked, clearly expecting to hear something else. She couldn’t help but look at the family picture that he had grabbed, switching from glancing at it and then him as he spoke. Jyn made sure to look at him though when talked about his mother, her heart melting at hearing what she did and her eyes slightly widening in disbelief when she heard what happened to her.

As he continued on though, she only felt worse and worse, as she heart was shattering at hearing his story. She wished that she had known this sooner. That tear that she saw rolling down his face really did it for her, as she decided in that moment that maybe all humans weren’t as bad as how she was taught that they were, that maybe they had some things in common after all. And the promises he made.......hearing that reminded Jyn of the promises that she made.

When he was done speaking, she took a moment to just looked him straight in the eyes, wanting to find some sort of sign that he was lying in them, but she found none and that really hit her hard. She actually felt.....sympathy for him, which baffled her since never in her life did she think that she would ever sympathize with a human. As it turned out though, she was wrong. “I......I am so sorry to hear that....and for everything I did. I wish that you had told me sooner” she sighed a bit, “look, I can’t change what I did, and I don’t want to endanger my people......but, I do want to end this war, not with the suffering of my people after wards though. However, If those requirements are going to be met, then I’ll help you.....willingly. You have my word.....and I should probably start off my saying that there is most likely an attack from my people heading here soon” she said that last part with a slight frown, knowing that she would have to be the one to stop them since no human would be able of convincing them other wise. But doing that might have.....unwanted consequences.

 

[SirLostBoy]

"ha....yeah I probably should have....it's just...I'm not good about being open with my feelings especially when it comes to my family, but....I feel like I can be open with you for some reason...I mean it's partly because I want to end this war but, if it was still just that, I don't think I would have...I don't know, it's strange..." Arty said with a relaxed sigh. the more time he spent with her, the more time he began to realize that they weren't all to different after all, besides the physical appearances and that he has just been allowing his feelings cloud his judgment all this time and for that he felt guilty and ashamed.

He sat up straighter at hearing the last part about the attack. "An attack? How soon and how many? I think I could get the garrison ready and the citizens safe if I go warn people now. But I don't want it to come to that...it would definitely making end the war peacefully difficult. You have any better ideas?" He asked as he started strategizing in his mind. He knew they would survive the attack no issue; this city has the largest garrison in the kingdom and the strongest army, but, regardless, the attack would only fuel the flames of war and hatred and this wasn't what was needed right now.

 

[Chibi_Girl]

Jyn almost smiled at him after hearing what he said. She hadn't really realized it yet, but Jyn was much calmer now than ever before while being around humans, and she definitely wasn't maintaining her tense and panicked demeanor. She was actually starting to realize that humans were capable of suffering just like her and her people as well, and this made her remember that there really wasn't that much that differed between both of their peoples.

Though, her tenseness soon returned though when he questioned the attack, "I don't know exactly when they are coming but we should prepare and expect for it as soon as possible, and I don't know the exact number but it is most likely at least over a hundred of them. And I know that may not exactly sound like a lot, but trust me, the lizard people are not a force to be reckoned with" Jyn said with complete seriousness, as the lizard people were known for their incredible strength that could easily outmatch that of a humans, tough scales that make getting an efficient hit on them extremely difficult, and for their ability to regrow limbs. Sure, they didn't have magic, but they could do plenty without it, although with all they were capable of, they still did have a weakness. However, some of them also had something else that made them extremely dangerous and maybe even downright deadly if you're not careful enough. "I suggest that you have the citizens return to their homes at once, or at least just get them all indoors and out of sight. But don't tell them exactly what's going on because if they start to panic then it'll probably just lead to more unneeded problems. Also, have your men on standby but don't have them all out there and waiting for the attack as I am almost certain that my people will immediately engage to battle if they see your men there and ready to fight. The best solution to this is for myself to stop them, because if there is any chance of completely stopping this attack before it starts then I'll have to be the one to call it off since they'll listen to me and not any human" Jyn said as she gained a distant look on her face, seemingly looking at something that couldn't be seen, or at least in the area that they were located in.

Off in the distance, the lizard people were on the march, heading towards the city. They were coming from the south, the forest specifically, due to the fact that they needed to make sure that Jyn wasn't there since they were aware that she had a cabin there. But, what they found there only made them absolutely furious and made them want to fight even more. Shortly after they made it to the forest, they picked up on Jyns scent, the scent of her blood. The lizard people soon came across several drops of blood all scattered around, near the edge of the cliff, in the trees tops above, and in a small trail that led away from the cliff. That wasn't all though, as they saw all the human tracks from the soldiers and even one set that looked to be from a horse. Seeing all of this only concluded it in their minds that Jyn had been trying to get away from the men but was injured and captured, and this made the leader of the Lizard people, Draq, yell out in fury, "My people! ready yourselves as this is where we fight! we will avenge Jyn for what they have done, whether she is still alive or not! We will tear through the city and make it crumble to the ground! No mercy! We will make them suffer for what they have done! Now let us march to the city!" The army of the lizard warriors roared in agreement as they began to make their way to the city again.

 

[SirLostBoy]

"Well shit....okay I'll get my people ready for whatever may or may not come....you sure you're going to be fine by yourself?" He asked with a tone of actual concern in his voice. If there were going to be hundreds of them could this one person really stop them all by herself? And, if she could, does that mean that she is actually their leader and he's had the leader with him this entire time? It was kind of a bit to take in for a second. He quickly stood up from the desk and grabbed a small piece of copper wire that had been laying around among his supplies. He crumpled the wire in his hands as he spoke a quick incantation, before saying, "Grand Wizard Merlin, this is Prince Artorius, I know you're busy with your experiments but, I need you to immediately begin operation Phoenix fire." he said quickly as the wire glowed and turned into a blue wisp of light that shot out of the study to its recipient. "That should save us some time to get things started at least." he said as he looked back at Jyn while he gathered up some supplies he might need in case things got ugly. He tried not to worry about how things would end up turning out and just focusing on the task at hand.

 

[Chibi_Girl]

Jyn was a bit taken aback by what she thought was concern in her voice, but quickly nodded at him, "It has to be done by me, there is no other way as out of all the people in this city, I'm the only one that they would even consider listening to" Though being honest with herself, she truly didn't know if she would be able to stop them with her words alone, as she knew how hard headed the Lizard folk could be, and seeing her alive and well may not be enough to convince them to call of the attack but she had to try. No more innocent lives should be put on the line, on both sides. However, she did always have the ability to stop them by other means, but she really, really didn't want it to come to that.

She watched him with curiosity as as Arty grabbed the wire and said the incantation, but simply nodded at him when he spoke about what it would do, and she had other things to worry about now so she just let it go. "alright, I do need you to get me out of this place though, as I have an idea about where they will be coming from" Jyn said as she thought about the forest, and the evidence of her struggle she left behind, making her grimace slightly as she knew that was only going to make things more complicated than they already were.

 

[SirLostBoy]

"Oh, well see, me getting you out of here is the easy part," Arty smirked as he walked over to a chest right in front of the cot. He flipped it open, and, after a few moments of shuffling, he pulled out from it a dark cloak. It was a little under 6' long and appeared somewhat translucent black and grey swirling about; having almost an appearance of smoke. "Here, you can borrow this. It's a cloak of invisibility, just flip it on you and then you should be fine." He explained as he handed her the cloak and rummaged through his desk for a second before turning back and handing her a small ring. "Also take this; it's called a Ring of Sending. It basically lets you send messages to me and functions the same as the spell that I did earlier. Update me if you find out anything and keep me updated." He explained. The thing he hated the most more than anything else was going into situations with no information, so hopefully him giving her this ring would fix that.

 

[Chibi_Girl]

Jyn wondered what he meant by that as he went over to the chest, but soon realized what he was talking about when he pulled out the dark cloak. It was sort of similar to her own cloak but not really at the same time, though she really couldn't use her own cloak at the time since it now had a decent sized hole in it, and it was dirty and possibly stained from all of her dried blood on it. She soon took the cloak from him and started to put it on after taking off her old one, looking back up at him when she was handed the small ring. Jyn nodded at his explanation as she finished adjusting the cloak and then put the ring on, keeping the hood down for now though so he could still see her. "Alright, thanks. I be sure to keep you updated then. Just be sure not to have your men or yourself intervene unless I say otherwise." She said as she began making her way to the stairs, silently praying that her words will be enough to stop them.

 

[SirLostBoy]

"Sounds good, and you better let me if something goes south, can't be letting you die out there alone with my stuff." Arty said with a joke and a smirk before he hopped down to the bottom floor. "Let's go Shadowfax. Gotta run back to grab my armor before anything else and meet up with Merlin." He said as he opened the door of the study and both he and the pegasus left. He got onto Shadowfax before they quickly flew outside of his room where he entered in from the window, redonned his armor before hopping back onto the pegasus and flying down to the front of the town entrance.

As Arty was landing he could see that the preparations were nearly done. Soldiers were knocking on the doors of homes and making sure everyone was inside and to not leave until they were told to. Additionally, there were soldiers placing makeshift barricades at the different entrances. These barricades were made with old wagons, old wood scrap from the local mill, and then finally reinforcing them with gunpowder barrels. "Your Majesty!" a average height female soldier came up to the prince. "We've just about got the last town preparations going. Is there anything else you need done?" She reported to the prince as she straightened up and saluted Arty. "Captain Erika! It's a good job you guys have done, and not really, I need you all the pull back and stand guard close to the castle. I have to go check on Merlin and your father...." he said trailing as he wondered how those two were getting on. "Yeah you should probably get going quickly when I left they were starting to get into their heated debates." She said sheepishly. "Goddamnit, thanks Erika; I'll be back here soon!" he said with urgency in his voice as he hopped onto Shadowfax and they shot off to the war room.

It only took Arty a few minutes before Arty was walking up to war room. He was still a few feet away but he could hear the loud voices of two old men arguing with each other in a very heated fashion. "You aren't the leader here! If those monsters are out there, we should be taking the fight to them! Not sitting around waiting for them to kill us like some sheep!" Lord Edelgard shouted just as Arty entered into the room. "Of course you would think that, like the stupid soldier you are! Also this isn't just my order, this is the order of your Prince!" The old, grizzeled wizard shouted back before noticing the prince walk inside. "Prince Artorius..." The wizard quickly bowed towards the prince. "Boy....what is the meaning of this?" Lord Edelgard asked cautiously as he turned to face his prince. "Lord Edelgard.....Grand Wizard Merlin....I understand that both of you have your differences but this is not the time..." Arty said cooly as he took off his helmet and walked over to the map on the table. "I might not be king just yet, but I am still your prince and you will follow my orders do you understand Edelgard?" The prince said steely as he waved for the two old men to join him at the map. "No..." was all the lord could imagine with a slight grumble. "Are all the preparations done?" Arty asked the two of them. "Yes Your Majesty, I have the line of wizards on the parapet ready for your orders along with the archers." They both explained to the Prince. "Good, now tell me everything..." he said simply as he let the two men explain the rest of all they had done.

 

[Chibi_Girl]

Jyn almost laughed at his joke but instead she just kept on making her way out of the palace, soon pulling up her hood and going completely invisible to any and all humans. Though, it's not like there were many around anyways since all the civilians had been told to go and hide in their homes which gave her slight relief for more than one reason. Despite her efforts to keep calm though, her worries and fears of everything that could possibly go wrong filled her head as she left the building and headed south to the forest. Because as the more she thought about it, the more she realized that her chances of stopping them with words alone were slim to none, but she knew that she still had to stop them no matter what.

As she got closer though, she sniffed the air and caught the scents of numerous lizard folk. This made her pick up the pace and start running as fast as she could to the entrance of the forest. Although she was wearing the invisible cloak, Jyn knew that it wouldn't really do much against the lizard warriors as they could easily smell her out, however she didn't plan on taking it off. It really didn't take too long after that for her to see the lizard army with Draq leading them, and they seemed to have picked up on her scent as well since they seemed to be going faster than they were before. She soon saw a very large Lizard person in the distance, he was wearing military gear and covered in dark green scales. He also had a large scar across his left eye and if you looked hard enough then some scorch marks could be seen on some of his scales. He looked to be the largest and strongest out of all of the warriors. As soon as she caught sight of this lizard person, she took down her hood and went to him, he went to her as well and they met up right at the entrance of the forest.

"Jyn! we thought you were a goner! wait, how did you escape the humans!? Are you still hurt!?Do you need one of us to take you back to-" Jyn cut Draq off, "I'm fine, don't worry about me, and there's no time for questions, we must retreat and head back at once" Draq was obviously confused by this, "wait, what!? why would we head back now? We must fight and get our revenge, our justice!" Jyn interjected, "no! we can't Draq, this isn't justice. If we go in their and attack then we will be no better than those humans who slaughtered our kind, maybe even worse! Killing more innocent people just to avenge other innocent people will bring us no justice,it will only make us look worse than the humans already think of us as being. Violence isn't the answer to this war, we must show the humans that the rumors and everything that they have learned and been taught about us is wrong! We must show them that we aren't the monsters that they think we are! we must bring back the peace!" Her voice became softer and much more empathetic "I know that you and so many more have suffered greatly from the actions done by humans, trust me, you aren't alone in that. However, not all humans are as bad as they seem, and even they have suffered too from this war too. But, if we just stop fighting for one second and think about it, then you'll realize that this isn't the way to ending all of this chaos. Please Draq, I know that you've lost so much but if you just listen then I promise that this will all end well" The desperation could be heard in her voice as she finished.


After hearing all of that, it was clear that Draq and every other lizard person was stunned, all of them having a shocked look on their face from hearing that, especially since it came from someone they looked up too, as a leader. However, that shock soon faded and morphed into disbelief as Draq took a step back from her, not wanting to believe the words he just heard came from her. "...what?......what are you talking about Jyn?....." He soon looked her up and down and thought of something, "....did they do something to you?....are you being held hostage or something?" He looked around quickly and sniffed the air to see if there was any human in the area but he couldn't sense one, he then realized something as he looked at her again, "...wait....where did you get that cloak from......and whats with that ring?" Draq wasted no time and snatched her and to get a better look, his disbelief soon turned to fury, "..you.....Traitor!" He growled as he shoved her back harshly, it was enough to make her stumble to her knees, "how could you?! after everything that we've been through! and this is how you repay us!? by turning your back on us and joining the humans and wearing their gadgets?!" He yelled as he stood tall over her, soon grabbing her hand again and pulling the ring off of her before tossing it away. Jyn just looked at him with fear in her eyes, fear knowing that she wasn't going to stop them at this rate, "Draq please! I know that you miss Ukiera and Azdo but this isn't-", "Don't you dare bring them into this! They are dead because of the humans and we both know it!" He yelled as fury burned in his eyes, and he then took his eyes off of her as he turned to another lizard that was almost as large as he was "Rhaz! bring me the chains! we can't have a traitor try and stop us from doing what is right!" Almost instantly, another lizard warrior came forth with chains and in no time handed Draq the chains, and then went to hold down Jyn as Draq chained her up, "you will not interfere with us, I will make sure of that, and if you try then I will make sure that you will forever regret ever crossing us" He hissed out as he restrained her. To be honest, Jyn could've put up more of a fight, but she just couldn't bring herself to. These were still her people, at least in her mind they still were, and she only wanted the best for them, even if the best thing was something that they very much didn't want to do. Though, she could also tell that Draq still had a soft spot for her deep down as he could've done much worse than just chain her up. She had been there for him when he lost his wife and child after all, and maybe he was showing mercy without realizing it but he was still doing it nonetheless.

After he had finished restraining her, he stood up tall and faced his army, "my people, we will not tolerate any traitors, and we will not let anyone stop us from attacking. This is for us and all of our people who lost their lives. Now let us march once more and not stop until this city is in shambles!" The lizard people roared in agreement and and started to charge towards the city, with Draq leading them. Though, some stayed back to keep an eye on Jyn and make sure that she didn't interfere. However, she just kept her head down and looked towards the ground, knowing what must be done to stop them though just the thought of doing that brought tears to her eyes.

 

[SirLostBoy]

After discussing the plans with his the two old men, he rode down and joined his soldiers down on the ground, hopefully waiting for nothing to happen. "Men and Women! I, as prince, thank you all for your courage and valor! Tonight, we stand not to destroy but to protect! To protect everything that we hold dear! Hopefully my intel is correct and nothing will happen but if it does we are the only things that stand between them and the innocents! I do not feel it is right as a ruler to ask his people to risk their lives for him, so I ask instead that you all trust me to keep you alive through this night!" Arty shouted out to his people. A raucous roar was given in response to his speech and the prince smiled a little to himself as he turned back to face the forest.

All was still the prince watched the tree lines of the forest for the ever slight sign of anything breaking through. All but the slight breeze that swept through the ranks broke the silence. "It's way too quiet Arty.....do you think she made it?" Shadowfax asked him. "I don't know bud....hopefully she'll tell me something soon but I don't have a good feeling about this....it's the calm before the storm...." he said softly, giving his steed a pat on the side of his neck as they continued to stand guard. But soon the crescendoing sounds of stomping feet and roars of an army could be heard from the forest. "Flame mages! Steady! On my mark!" The prince shouted out at a line of robed wizards approached the front of the castle parapet; pointing their staves in the direction of the noise.

 

[Chibi_Girl]

Jyn bit down on her lip as she knew that she couldn't wast anymore time here, she had to stop them by force. When none of the lizards around her were paying too close attention to her, she placed one of her chained hands to the ground, in just a moment her hand glowed and all of a sudden a crimson sword shot up from the ground where her hand was placed on. She quickly moved her hands so the sword cut through her chains, quickly freeing herself from the restraints.

This movement however, had alerted the lizard warriors around her and they quickly went to try and stop her. However, she easily dodged their attacks and picked up the chains and drew them all to a single area before quickly flying around them with the chains, trapping them for the time. The lizard folk may be known for their brute strength, but not so much for their speed and agility, which gave her the advantage as those were two things that Jyn was known for. There wasn't enough of them for her to need to need to use her magic on them, which made her grateful but she was aware that wouldn't be the case for long. After that, she searched for the ring but was unable to find it, knowing that she was out of time by now, she quickly started to take flight towards the city. Though from behind her, she heard Rhaz call out from behind her, which made her stop dead in her tracks "You can't stop us Jyn! This is a war and one person alone cannot end it! you will die trying so just stop while you still can!" Jyn was silent for a moment, just hovering in mid air before she replied without turning back to face him. "But.....i'm not alone.......not anymore" Without another word, she started to fly again as fast as she could to the city.

Draq led his army directly to the castle, letting out a war cry as they approached, "archers! prepare your arrows!" Immediately the archers that were positioned in the back of the attack took out their bows and arrows. In truth, they were probably even more dangerous than the other lizard warriors, even though they obviously didn't have the same build as the rest and weren't as physically strong. Drag snarled at seeing the line of wizards form in front of the castle, having an idea on what they were capable of. But, it's not like that was going to stop him, even if they did know their weakness. No fire would stop them now, they were too fueled to stop for anything. Draq put one of his clawed hands up as a signal for the archers "ready and aim!......f-"

Jyn flew quickly in the distance, she knew what must be done but that didn't make it any easier, and seeing the lizard army charging towards the castle only pushed her to go even faster. She felt tears welling up in her eyes as she headed towards the ground, quietly muttering, "please forgive me..." before she cried out, cutting Draq off "STOP!" Her wings burned from the exertion as she landed on the ground right in front of Draq and slammed her glowing hand onto the ground with tears burning in her eyes. In an instant, numerous crimson swords suddenly sprouted out from the ground, creating a wall that stopped the army and Draq from going any further. The action surprised the entire army, even Draq as he himself jumped back at the sight of the blades.

 

[SirLostBoy]

"Hold fire men!" Arty called out as he held his hand up to stay the wizards. "Now let us see how this plays out...." Arty mumbled to himself as he watched the scene unfold in the distance. "You will disregard that order and you will fire at those barricades immediately!" A voice shouted out as the grizzled Edelgard stormed down to confront Arty. "Your Majesty what are you doing?! The enemy is right in front of us?! We can take them out right now!!" Lord Edelgard shouted incredulously. "I am biding my time Lord Edelgard....we have a chance at peace and if I can keep anymore of my people from dying then I am going to take it." Arty said simply, without even glancing at the old man. "Peace?! You want to talk about peace?! You are out of your mind boy! If you parents could see you now... those...those "things" are monst..." The lord started but was swiftly cut short by Arty. "I am not just a boy! I am Prince Edelgard, soon to be ruler of all these lands and you will show me my respect! And don't you ever dare invoke my parent's name like that again unless it is to honor the sacrifice that they have made for this kingdom!" Arty said steely.

"I'm sorry boy but you have lost your mind! You are not Emperor yet and, as one of the lords of the realm, I am seizing control for the sake of the people!" Lord Edelgard challenged as he drew his blade. the soldiers around them instinctively drew their weapons at the threat to their prince. "Hold." Arty said to the soldiers as he got off of Shadowfax. "He has the right....I will respect this challenge, plus nobody else needs to get hurt..." he said as he drew forth his blade. The blade was golden and the hilt silvered with a pegasus motif for the guard. Ancient runes that were carved along the blade began to glow bright red as Arty spoke an incantation and passed the index and middle finger of his right hand down the length of the blade. Suddenly the sword sparked to life as it became engulfed in a bright azure aura and what looked like electricity ran along it. "Get ready old man....I won't make this easy for you...." he said as he get down into his fighting stance. Lord Edelgard merely grunted as they both circled each other and the duel began.

 

[Chibi_Girl]

Jyn was too distracted at the moment to notice what was going on behind her at the moment. She looked up at Draq with tears streaming down her face, "i'm sorry......but I can't let you and your army go any further.....this ends now, Draq" Draq gave her the same look of disbelief, as a look of regret passed his features before it was replaced with a cold glare. "I gave you a chance Jyn.....but you've made it clear that you aren't going to give it up...well....I tried to be nice, however it seems that you are to foolish to realize that.....you were right about one thing though......this ends now" As soon as he finished his statement he punched the wall of crimson blades as hard as he could, knowing that even she cannot keep them up forever and that with enough force they can disappear. Sadly though, his thought process had been correct as his brute strength had been enough and had caught Jyn off guard so the swords dissipated into the air in a burst of red energy. He then wasted no time and extended his claws before going to attack Jyn, while the army behind him cheered him on. Though she had been pushed back by the disappearance of her swords, she wasn't going to go down that easily and quickly jumped out of the way before he could swipe at her.

She really didn't want things to come to this, but if this was must be done to stop the violence then so be it, quickly blinking the tears out of her eyes, she put on her game face as she extended her claws as well. She took her battle stance while Draq eyed her, waiting to see what she would do, before she jumped into the air and tried to attack him from above. However, he had been prepared shifted his stance before punching her in the side, hard. Jyn tumbled to the ground and coughed a bit as the air had been knocked out of her, though she knew that she couldn't stay down for long as Draq was already charging again. Thinking fast, she slammed her hand on the ground once more and red swords once again came out from the ground, this time though they created a circle around Draq and trapped him inside. This was only a temporary solution though as she needed to recover and think of a way to beat him without using her full abilities, as she flat out refused to let it come to that no matter what. Picking herself off the ground and holding her side a bit, she started to think of a way out of this. She wasn't really given that much time though as he was trying to break the damn swords, making it harder for her to keep them up. So after a few moments, she thought of something and dropped the blades, letting Draq come to her.

 

[SirLostBoy]

Lord Edelgard lunged first as he swung his blade down upon Arty. Arty easily saw through this as he ducked down, bringing his sword down to his side and slicing Edelgard's breastplate as Arty followed through and turned back around to face his opponent. There was left as gash through the armor but it didn't hit flesh. "Come on now, don't make this too easy for me old man..." he smirked as he dash forward with speed as he attempted to pierce through Edelgard's breastplate. "Don't take me so lightly boy!" The old man growled as he deflected Arty's blade down to the ground and quickly brought his blade down to attempt to hit Arty's side. Arty quickly in response, put out his right hand, spoke a word, and instantly a translucent white shield appeared in front of it and blocked the attack. Quickly Arty dashed away for distance and re balanced himself.

He glanced over to see that Jyn was struggling, and Lord Edelgard took this advantage. "Don't you get distracted on me boy!" Lord Edelgard shouted as he dashed at Arty and pierced into arty's breastplate. Luckily Arty caught him the last second and, instead of piercing his belly, it only caught him on the side. "she might need help....I can't keep dawdling here..." he growled to himself as he kicked Lord Edelgard away. "Goddess give me strength..." he said, almost as a prayer, to himself as he took a calming breath. "I'm sorry Lord Edelgard....it ends here." Arty said as his sword burst into even brighter blue aura and crackled loudly with electricity. "Feel the true punishment of the Thunder Emperor...." muttered Arty steely as Lord Edelgard gazed with horror as with a large crackle, a large bolt of lightning shot from the blade and hit the old man who let out a loud roar of pain before falling unconscious. Arty held his side as it was bleeding profusely and turned to watch Jyn. "You better not die on me...." he muttered under his breath to Jyn as he watched her, catching his breath, and seeing if she would need any help.

 

[Chibi_Girl]

Jyn felt her heart racing as she saw Draq charging at her but she had a plan that just might work, as he brought his hand up and ready to swing down on her, she dodged at the very last moment and quickly wrapped her tail around his leg before pulling it as hard as she could. The action as well as the momentum that he had while rushing to attack her combined had sent him to the ground. She took her chance and summoned a sword in her hand before pointing it at Draq's neck while the other was still at her side he managed to hit, as she was aware that while their scales were tough, the ones on the neck were softer and much more flexible then on the rest of the body. And although her blades may not be a direct weakness of them like fire was, they could still do damage, especially at weak points such as his neck. To be honest though, she didn't actually plan on slicing his neck obviously, but just wanted to make it known that she would be the victorious one here and would have him surrender to her so this could all end. "it's over Draq, you lost" Jyn stated as fierce determination burned in her eyes.

Draq however, knew that she wouldn't kill him so he decided to do something that he nor any other lizard ever did, show emotion, "Go ahead and finish me off Jyn, you won....Or, are you too afraid to hurt one that you desperately tried to help...to save from himself....?" His tone became much sadder and Jyn froze at his words, "I......I thought you cared about us Jyn....that you loved us.....you promised us that you would save us and help us win.....was that all a lie?......was this your plan all along?.......do you really hate all of us that much?" He looked directly into her eyes, and only hopelessness could be seen in them. This, as well as his words had made the tears start to build up in her eyes once more, and make the sword in her hand start to shake. This wasn't what she wanted, not at all, she wanted to yell, scream that it wasn't true, that she truly did want to save them but she couldn't formulate any words at this point and was speechless. "...with that being said......just do it Jyn, end me......I don't want to live in a world full of liars and where we will never be free......I just want to see my family again..."He whispered as he grabbed the end of her sword and pulled it closer to his neck. Even though this may be a trick to lure her into a false sense of security as his large tail was slowly moving towards her legs while she was distracted, to some extend, he wasn't just acting.

Unknown to him or Jyn, the army behind him was preparing itself just in case Draq lost or was on the verge of losing, even though they were not supposed to interfere with the duel under any circumstances.

 

[SirLostBoy]

Arty walked closer to get a good look, but enough to wear he didn't seem threateningly close to the rest of the army. He knelt down for a minute as his wound was giving him issues but then he started to notice to him what seemed like a trick as he saw Draq's tail come around to her legs. He also noticed that the lizardman army seemed about to jump at any minute. "Shit...goddamn it, I know she is going to hate me for this but, the last thing I need is for anyone else to die tonight...." he muttered as he quickly shoved himself to his feet, taking a deep calm breath as, soon, small cracks of lightning could be seen covering his whole body, and especially his legs as, with a loud crack, Arty shot forward like lightning to try and catch up to Jyn before she, or anybody else got hurt.

 

[Chibi_Girl]

Jyn couldn't take it anymore and screamed out as she pulled the sword away from Draq with all her strength, "no! I won't let you Draq!" tears once again started to roll down her face as the momentum caused the sword to fly out of her hands, soon disappearing into the air in a heap of red energy. Draq was ready to take the opportunity and used his large tail to swipe Jyn's legs out from underneath her, making her fall to the ground. He stood over her, looking much taller from her perspective. She just looked up at him in defeat,still crying "i'm sorry Jyn.....but..this is just the way it has to be.." he actually sounded a bit remorseful if you listened close enough, he then brought up his sharp claws, ready to swing down when he suddenly heard a loud crack. Jyn had heard it too and looked away from Draq and towards the noise, seeing a man with lightning all over his body, her eyes went wide as she realized who it was, ".....Arty?" she muttered as he shot towards them

 

[SirLostBoy]

"Get away from her!" Arty screamed as he got up close and with his right leg kicked underneath Drag hard and knocked him off Jyn. "I'm sorry Jyn....I know you're probably pissed off that I interfered but like I said earlier....don't you dare dying on me..." he muttered as he knelt by her, still clutching his side. "There's a lot of them....I gotta end this now before it gets worse..." he muttered as he forced himself up before the army of lizardmen. "I promise that this won't kill you all....but it's going to hurt like a bitch...." He shouted at weakily as he mustered the last of his strength as he raised his sword into the air, swapping it to an underhand grip. The sword suddenly burst into a large crackle of shining light and lightning, as Arty let out a large scream as, with all his might he shoved the sword into deep into the ground. For a second, it seemed like nothing was going to happen, until suddenly the ground under and around the lizard men shook and rumbled and the ground around them cracked and gave way to lightning surrounding them all and shocking them unconscious. As soon as he finished his attack, he glanced over at Jyn with a weak smirk saying, "the rest is up to you Jyn...." before collapsing and passing out onto the ground.

 

[Chibi_Girl]

Jyn just stared up at Arty in awe when he kicked Draq off of her, she was so surprised that she couldn't even manage to find her words. Though she soon realized that him interfering like that was really bad, and seeing his side made her worry for some reason. Once she realized what he was about to do though, she got up and tried to stop him, for more reasons than one especially at his word choice. To be honest, she didn't want Arty nor any of the army to be injured, but they were way past that point now an she knew it. "Arty wait, don!-" she yelled to try and stop him but she was too late, she covered her eyes and looked away as the sword burst into a large crackle of bright light and lightening , her eyes ringing at hearing Arty' scream. And before she knew it the army was down, she soon uncovered her eyes and looked at the scene before her with a horrified look on her face. She looked over at Arty when she heard a weak voice speaking to her, she let out a scream as she saw him collapse to the ground. "Arty!" she exclaimed as she flew over to him. She was about to try and heal him when she heard another weak voice nearby, it was Draq, "....this isn't over Jyn.....we'll be back.." he muttered as he slowly picked himself off the ground and looked at his defeated army, ".....we'll be back" he echoed as he took out a glowing stone from his pocket and crushed it in his hand. Almost instantly, he and the entire army disappeared into thin air. Sure, they didn't have any magic of their own, but it would be idiotic to not bring any emergency items that were for times like this. Jyn just stared at where the army used to be for a moment, regret covering her features, before she looked back down at Arty and muttered, "...don't you dare go dying on me either...." With that, her hands started to glow brightly as she gently wrapped her arms around him and pulled his unconscious body close to her, his body soon being engulfed in the brilliant red light. Sure, he had done something stupid, idiotic, something that could have costed his life, but....he saved her...from someone she one called a friend, and now that she thought about it, this wasn't the first time he had saved her. Just thinking about this made her start to sob as she held him, "....i'm sorry.....i'm so sorry" she didn't even know who she was apologizing to anymore, to be honest.

 

[SirLostBoy]

Jyn had started healing him and he slowly came around as he felt something wet on him; his eyes fluttering open as he watched Jyn sobbing over him. "Wow....are you crying over me? Now I definitely didn't expect that....I expected more shouting and berating from you..." Arty said with a weak smirk and a light cough as he looked up at Jyn; letting his weight shift a little to a more comfortable position. He didn't know why but for some reason it made him hurt to see her crying like that even though he wasn't sure whether she was crying over him or the fact she had to fight her own people and maybe it was a bit of both. "C'mon now, don't be sorry....you did your best and that's all anyone can ask okay? And trust me you aren't getting rid of me that easily..." he said as his hand, almost instinctively reached up and softly brushed the tears from her face; giving her his best smile of comfort that he could muster under this situation.

 

[Chibi_Girl]

Jyn froze as she heard a familiar voice speaking to her as well as movement in her arms. She blinked a bit to get the blurriness from the tears out of them before looking own at the now awake man in her arms. It didn't even seem like she heard that first sentence of his, or at least not cared to listen to it as she just looked down at him with wide tear filled eyes as he spoke to her. She only seemed to react after he started to softly brush the tears from her face, as she unknowingly leaned into his touch, acting as if she had no fear of humans whatsoever. Though, at the moment, she truly didn't feel afraid of them and just gave Arty a teary smile in return, "....my best never seems to be enough though.....it's hard to not be sorry....and thank god for that....even though you really are an idiot..."

 

[SirLostBoy]

"haha...ow, ow, laughing is bad, real bad..." he said as he started to laugh but his side stung him badly which ended that abruptly. "I know I'm an idiot, an idiot that's going to be emperor soon but idiot nonetheless.....and an idiot that's at least glad you're not dead." he said smiling softly again as he left his hand their by her face. He didn't even them much about it at all; it felt natural to him and that's all that mattered. "Is the army still there? I was hoping that maybe I'd knock them out and then we could just round them up and try talking to them or something...." he said as he tried to catch a glance at the aftermath but, he couldn't really see anything from the angle he was laying at.