Within the walls of Belvedere, Robin limps into his personal shrine. His body is tightly bandaged and his right arm rests in a sling. His legs have very little strength in them, but he had to leave the restoration pavilion for an important purpose. On the table in the shrine, there were roses placed along with jewelry and candles. Robin limps to the table and places incense into a small bottle and lights them with the candles. Robin breathed in the sweet smell of the roses and incense. The smoke then began to swirl and dance throughout the room, before finally merging together in front of Robin. The form the smoke took, was the form of a beautiful and voluptuous woman with a greek peplos wrapped around her body.
"My dearest Robin, what happened to you? Your body is a wreck my dear, well, at least your fair face was left uninjured." This was the goddess of Robin, one of the few people who were ever able to see his face. His auburn hair, green eyes, and handsome face were always a source of humiliation for him. No one in Belvedere had auburn hair or green eyes, this was a constant source of discrimination for him amongst the nobles. This goddess was the first to ever compliment these features on him.
"My goddess, my appearance is of no importance right now. Right now, I have a question that is of much import." Robin sat on a bench that rested in the middle of the small building.
"Oh? Well, Robin, I will answer whatever question you may have my child. Though, I believe I may already know what troubles your mind." The lady's appearance was enchanting and beautiful despite being made of smoke.
"Are the heavens planning on waging a war on Earth? Against the forces of Camelot?" Robin's tone changed considerably, as well as his eyes intensity. The smoke then flew towards robin and reformed right in front of him, now human sized, placing her hands on his cheeks.
"My dear Robin, I really didn't want you to learn anything about it, and I even had an idea on how I would keep you away from the whole situation. The war is coming and many of the deities of love, peace, serenity, and order have all made significant efforts to protect and stop this from happening. You are the saint of my followers Robin, I have chosen you as my first child and I wanted to protect you from all of this. The gods are using everything they have and will be led by some of the mightiest gods and demons. They will destroy Camelot, for many reasons, the main one being Ulrich's plan to separate humanity's fate from the gods. Just as the all-father wished for many years ago.
"You're telling me that Nina Kay of the Pendragon bloodline was telling the truth? We're going to end up as pawns in the gods' game of war? Why aren't there more fighting in this battle?" Robin spoke with a stern voice, the more he thought and spoke, the more agitated he became.
"Most human kingdoms that have knowledge of it, will be joining the gods in destroying Camelot. The multitude of countries elsewhere have their own invasions to worry about, it isn't just Camelot my dear. The only place that will be unharmed is the Far East, the people there are at peace with the gods that watch over them. What is coming Robin, is a reckoning unlike anything ever witnessed. As a goddess of love, I urge you to try and change this city and make it become a beacon of hope for the future. Much like Camelot now." The goddess had a hint of sadness in her voice, for she knew it was naive optimism. All of the races would be facing their own battles coming up. Soon, the world will be changed.
"Aphrodite, my goddess, and the one whom I have pledged myself too, I now know what it is I must do." Robin stood and bowed to his goddess. "I must meet with church of Aphrodite and the other churches of the love goddesses. Please milady, inform them and their chief saints that I am calling together a summit to discuss our future." Robin closed his eyes and could feel the love of his goddess, a love that brought him comfort but also great courage and strength. He had made up his mind. Aphrodite's form gently wrapped her ethereal arms around Robin. He could feel some divine energy enter into him. He opened his eyes and peered at her in astonishment.
"I have gifted you with some of my divinity my beautiful child, because I love you. With this divinity, if any gods try to come against you, you will be able to kill them permanently, given your skilled enough to do so." Robin could feel power surge throughout his body, his aura then began to have pink hues inside of his purple aura.
"Are there others that have this gift my goddess? Others who I may be able to sway to come and assist me in protecting this city?" The smoke danced around the small room, before finally taking its place on her alter.
"There have been many times that children have been gifted with such a boon. My half-sister for example, always doing things to anger me, such as being immune to my divine powers, she gave away her divine power to someone important to her, essentially making him 3/4's god. Of all humans who have divinity, that man is the strongest. It was strange of her to do such a thing, but she is young, even by god standards. As for the others, I will have the ones who have been blessed by the other gods who oppose the warring faction to meet at the summit. Camelot will be receiving divine aid coming to them in the near future, so the gods and goddesses that bless them will not be able to attend the summit."
"Milady, warn the other deities, tell them to let their followers know not to go into the endless forest. I must warn my men. The Philia unit must not enter battle. After, I shall ride to Mount Eros, the home of the love goddesses, that is where the summit shall be held. Inform the others my goddess. I must not allow hate and war to consume this world." Robin looked towards Aphrodite and smiled, bowed, then laid down another rose on the altar. Aphrodite floated towards Robin, gently kissing him on the forehead, before asking him a question.
"Will you tell me of Nina Pendragon? The one who is immune to the blessing you received from me?" Robin had a mischievous smile on his face. "She should have fell for your charm instantly, yet, it had no effect, very curious if you ask me." Robin responded by simply correcting her.
"Her name is Nina of House Kay, but you are correct in a sense, as she shares the blood of the Pendragon's." The look on his face made it obvious that he was also intrigued. "Maybe she had some sort of charm or rune that made her resistant, or she had a deity's blessing that rendered yours null and void. Maybe her fairy blood?" Robin mused on the thought for a moment, but quickly remembered what his goal was and quickly left, Aphrodite disappearing quickly after to warn the others deities who protest the war.
The forces of Belvedere began to amass at the gate, however, there were a handful of paladin units who refused the call. The knight captain begged them to join, however, they continued telling him that it went against the orders of their deity, and that they were needed elsewhere. Despite not having all the elite paladin units at his disposal, he had enough to invade a small castle, which was enough to kill the small force of assassins that he knew were still in the endless forest. It has only been a handful of hours since Nina's attack and the knight captain had already amassed his forces and begun to move forward.
The forces began to ride into the forest, feeling an ominous energy coming from inside. The cavalry rode forward slowly, the war paladins walking amongst the floor could tell something was amiss with the forest. The knight captain then saw smoke coming from deep within the forest. With a quick hand motion, he commanded the paladins to move closer to the source of the smoke. With each step, the paladins felt a sense of uneasiness. There were over 10,000 warriors gathered for this incursion, which puzzled most of the men. It was obvious that this was overkill for a small force led by a royal of Camelot.
"Knight captain, are you sure this is a wise decision? That woman made many of our guards and knights seem like children holding toy swords. Plus..." The young knight named Lucas paused, he then lowered his voice to a hushed tone. "the men are worried about meeting the guardian spirit of Camelot in these woods. If it is Camelot citizens we hunt, then surely their guardian would be with them." The knight captain looked at Lucas, a burning fire in his eyes.
"The men are worried about some story of a supposed guardian spirit?" The captain spit on the ground. "Those stories are nothing but the ramblings and idle chatter of the peasants and poor traders of the slums. The fact that you or the men would be afraid of something coming from the mouths of such scum brings shame to the Federation. They killed many great leaders in our city. For that, them and whatever spirit is claimed to protect them will pay with their lives."
During the assassinations in the city, many slaves were freed from their masters. There was a family of slaves working under the knight captain. While he went to investigate the enlarged plant that had sprung up in the city, one of Nina's rangers freed the family of their chains. The teenaged son, who regularly harmed the females in the family in multiple ways, was found by the knight captain upon his return, castrated and having bled to death. The slaves had to be with them, or so the captain thought.
Lucas could see that the knight captain was being guided by anger and grief. Lucas was still a young knight, but he had been given the position of squad leader for his exceptional leadership qualities and his ability to quickly adapt. Something about the current situation seemed off to him. The attackers were very well coordinated and managed to pull off multiple kills within the span of a few hours. The sun hasn't even risen, but the captain was so blinded that he led them here anyway.
"Men, I want you all to pull back to the entrance of the forest, something isn't..." Lucas was then interrupted by massive trees being felled in-between the 10,000 soldiers, quickly separating the many groups. The paladins turned to see the trees falling and the rest of the squads trying to get into formation. The cavalry began to ride to the sides but were quickly stopped in their tracks, when fire arrows lit moats of oil aflame, trapping them. Without warning, arrows that were to many to be numbered, weaved through the forest, each hitting their mark.
Lucas had managed to be in the back of the formation, with the captain, and tried to salvage the forces that they had. When he called for retreat, the captain stopped him, "Forget that order, all magic users with flame, fire into the forest." As Lucas was about to argue with the captain, he was enthralled with a sight that he had feared from the beginning. Many soldiers stopped their panicking and all looked up towards a far away tree. In the blackness of the void, sparkled stars of unparalleled beauty.
"Run!!!!" Lucas let out a deafening scream, but it was already to late. Many different kinds of arrows rained down upon the soldiers, the stardust trailing behind them, and the resulting explosions from the hits resonated like quasars in the cosmos. Lucas feared this being, for what being or person could rain down death upon countless foes with such enchanting beauty. Any who would remember this, would remember the beauty and finality of Stardust. Suddenly, the arrows all stopped. The knight captain saw this as his chance to reform his ranks, but failed to notice that all the arrow shafts were made of metal. Lucas looked back at his squad, who was still largely untouched, on account of their defensive formation.
"Remove any metal that you are carrying!" Him and multiple soldiers who heard him began to quickly remove their armor. "After, hit the dirt!" Suddenly, stardust was seen shooting an arrow into the sky that seemed to channel the powers of lightning itself, the arrow shined brightly in the sky as it ruptured, revealing the rune inscribed on it in the sky. For a moment, it was silence, then multiple arrows of lightning shot down from the sky, each hitting a metal shaft and spreading throughout the floor of the forest. Those that had arrows in them, were fried instantly, those that had armor within the arrows domain, were electrocuted severely.
Of the 10,000 that were gathered, only 4,000 remained. The sun began to slightly shine through the woods, it was time to end the trap. The surviving soldiers and paladins who were demigods were taken first, the dryads and fairy rangers quickly rushed them in combat. Lucas and his men, all were disarmed and had no armor, they were noncombatants on a battlefield. The knight captain looked on from his horse, when a laugh began to erupt from him. It was a laugh that many had heard, as it was the laugh of madness.
"I challenge you, leader of this army. To a duel, demigod to demigod." He spoke out openly, not knowing who he was speaking to. Lucas then saw a fairy woman, wearing a royal sash walking through the battle, casually blasting away soldiers with a variety of magic. He then saw a knight, who's armor had been customized in such a way, that he was able to wield a bow, as well as fight on the front lines, and he too wore a royal sash. He saw this man firing arrow after arrow in close quarters with such amazing speed that he couldn't tell if he had shot once, or four times in one blink of the eye.
These two were surely part of the Council, so why did they not answer his call? Was their someone mightier than both of them? He saw the remaining soldiers being slaughtered, net traps would spring and capture multiple soldiers, only for them to be lit aflame. Others fell into snares and were immobile, after which they were skewered with arrows. Some plunged into the earth, skewered with spikes in the bottom. The cavalry was wiped out almost entirely by the archers. Fire, fire was all that Lucas could see. Fire and blood. Suddenly a hand grabbed onto his shoulder.
"I shall spare you young knight, for you have experienced a fraction of what my beloved little brother, my King, experienced. It has made him into a great man, so let this have the same effect and help Sir Robin." He looked over his shoulder and saw a woman wearing a blue hood with a blue scarf with the royal insignia on it. In her hand was Stardust. He was speechless and dared not try to move. The knight captain looked over towards where he heard the voice and saw her. "I am answering the call to your duel, if you win, well you live a little longer. If I win, I will let your men go free. So, tell me, is your vengeance more important than your men?"
"Of course it is, for my son!" he quickly jumped off his horse and grabbed the great axe from it. It was itself imbued with runes and he radiated a dark black aura that gave off a murderous feeling. Nina let out a sigh, she then placed her bow on her back and stood off with the knight captain. She looked towards the battle scene and saw all the death and killing. She raised her hand in the sky and all of the Arthurian's stopped their attack and backed off. The surviving members of Belvedere's army rallied to their location.
"I do enjoy killing, knight captain, I'm good at it. However, I don't feel like staining my hands with your blood. The plan we laid out was to happen over a course of a few days, yet, you decided to send all of your men to their deaths and sat in the back. A leader always leads the charge. You sicken me. So, I won't kill you, you'll kill yourself with all that rage and hate in your heart. You shall be the example for your men, to never become anything like you. So, come at me." Nina lackadaisically dropped her arms to her side, this only angered the captain more. His aura became thicker and heavier, it was truly powerful, it would have killed the bystanders if not for Laura's kindhearted nature in setting up a barrier to protect them.
Lucas looked onward as the captain quickly swung his axe towards Nina who seemed to glide underneath the swing and pushed him on the back, taking him off balance. The captain regained his footing and swung his axe towards the ground, creating a massive shockwave that tore the ground apart. The ground spread apart, causing Nina to jump to the side, however, the captain was there and held out his hand, casting a spell of fire. As his hand grew closer to Nina's face, Lucas could see Nina begin to smile, before a massive surge of flame erupted where she was.
The captain smiled maniacally, however, his smile quickly turned to anger as he saw no body after. Lucas was in awe, when the captain went to grab Nina, she quickly dashed forward while slightly redirecting his attack. The explosion was so blinding that she disappeared from sight, only for Lucas to notice her standing directly behind him. She tapped his shoulder, resulting in a quick attack from the captain. Nina pulled her sword out enough for the blade to make contact with the handle, rendering the weapon useless. The captain threw down the handle he held and roared loudly, pulling the sword that he had on his hip.
"I swear, she's such a child." Lucas looked to his right, and saw the archer, Robert. Robert didn't look at the young knight, instead only looking at Nina. "If she took this seriously we could have gone home already. Well, I can't say I'm not excited to see how she's going to get the guy to kill himself." He then slightly chuckled to himself. Nina continually danced around with the captain, who was becoming increasingly frustrated. His sword then became red hot the more he swung it around, eventually having a trail of flames following it.
Nina then used her dagger to redirect the blows of the sword because of the trailing flames. The men all watched on, watching their captain succumb to a rage that was so uncontrollable that it would have killed them if not for the enemy's fairy leader. They were filled with mixed feelings towards their enemies. Thousands were killed but yet, they all stopped when ordered, and the leader claimed that if she won the duel they would be free to go. Who were these people? They looked upon the forces of their enemy and noticed the mix of races within their ranks.
Lucas thought that, maybe, the other races were forced into the army, yet, it was clear that none of them despised their team members. Even one of the leaders was a fairy. Camelot was known to be a place where all races were said to live in harmony, but it all seemed a fairy tale to those who never ventured there. Why did the leaders of the federation hate Camelot so much? Was coexistence with other races such a horrid thing? These thoughts ran through all the soldiers heads as they watched their captain clash with Nina.
"You wondering why your captain is losing so badly kid?" Lucas looked up at the archer, wondering why he was talking to him. He was young and still inexperienced, but he was positive that the captain was one of the strongest warriors in Belvedere. It did perplex him, even though he was fighting a Camelot royal, he should be powerful enough to win this battle. It didn't make sense to him.
"I am, the captain is one of our most powerful warriors, so why is this so one sided? They are both demigod ranked knights, correct?" Lucas managed to answer Robert, despite his fear of him.
"They are both ranked the same, but there exists gaps in power in those with that designation. Nina hasn't even begun to display any magic aura and is still outmaneuvering him. The reason is because Nina dedicates her life to fighting and training. Just by watching your captain, I can tell that he neglects his training and most likely doesn't fight on the front lines." Robert let out a sigh, "So disappointing to see a man with such strength allow it to go to waste." Robert looked towards Laura and both nodded to each other. He then shouted out, "Nina, finish it."
Nina heard Robert, quickly parried the captain and created distance between the two. She then began to generate her aura, but the color was now partly blue, instead of completely green. The captain ran towards Nina, sword at the ready, and quickly began to attempt to slice her apart. Each attack, Nina quickly dodged or parried with her dagger with great ease. Nina then delivered a powerful side kick to his stomach, making him fly backwards a few feet.
Nina then pricked her finger with her dagger, and began to draw a rune into the air with her blood, it remaining in the air where she wrote it. Both Laura and Robert's eyes widened, they had never seen Nina use such a technique. The only way to use blood in combat was to be a blood knight like Maria, but this was different. The knight gripped his sword tightly with both hands, imbuing all of his magic into the blade. Nina closed her eyes and began to recite poetry to herself, poetry being her form of chanting or prayer for a spell or miracle. "My blade in the endless river, with one edge it slices. Your blade in thy hands, double edged it strikes."
The captain brought his blade down with great ferocity, while Nina gracefully pulled out Joyeous from its scabbard and placed it behind the rune, where the two swords inevitably met. Nina then lightly whispered the name of her rune, "Thurisaz". The sound of two swords making contact rung throughout the air, Nina standing on the other side of the captain, unharmed. All who watched the exchange saw that Nina clearly only blocked the attack head on, before walking behind him. She sheathed her blade and looked back at the captain who still stood standing. Lucas could see the front of the captain, a large slash emerged across his chest, fire emerged from within the wound.
The captain dropped to the ground, his fiery red blade was steaming. Upon further inspection, it was blood that was steaming from the blade. Nina then yelled out to the survivors, "Your leader is dead, return to your city and never bother Camelot. Otherwise, we will come with a full army and our strongest warriors. Go!" With that last word, the survivors began to run back towards the city. Nina then coughed up a bit of blood.
"Nina! Are you okay?" Laura quickly ran over to Nina and put her arm around hers, holding her up.
"I'm fine, it's just payment for using that rune. I thought using my blood would negate the effects completely, but I guess it drained me of most of my magic supply too." She coughed again, but this time, she could feel a warmth, the warmth of Laura who was healing her with fairy magic.
"Well ladies, I think that was a far more successful job than we could have ever thought. When we get home, I'll buy us all drinks." Robert spoke in a lighthearted tone, which was out of character for him. It was obvious that he was worried about Nina, who used a technique that required a price. Nina merely smiled at him. Laura laughed and the rest of the soldiers they brought all celebrated. Nina then walked into the true campground after sometime, there she saw the girl whom she saved. Eve smiled with a teary eyed faced and ran towards Nina, who hugged her when the two met.
"Nina, are you done doing your things here?" Eve asked Nina in a sweet tone. Nina patted her on the head.
"As a matter of fact little one, I am. So, tell me, are you ready to meet your new family?" Nina then imagined Leanna, Maria, Alicia, and her king, Ulrich. "I'm going to warn you though, it will be unlike anything you have ever experienced, and also, you may be shocked at where your new home is and who your new family will be. It may shock you so much, you may pass out." Laura and Robert, who were outside of the tent, both heard how the two were speaking to each other. They were amazed at the connection the two had, despite only meeting recently, but they were more amazed at how uncharacteristic Nina was. They both grinned at the thought of Nina having to take care of a child.
Elsewhere, Robin got word of the defeat of the 10,000 in the endless forest. He had his armor on and his unit, along with many other units who worshipped the deities who were against the invasion of the gods, were all prepared to make their trek towards Mount Eros, home of the deities who represent love. The summit had to go smoothly, for humanity to survive. Robin placed his helmet on and his eyes began to glow with the pink divinity Aphrodite gave to him, it was time to believe in childish dreams of forging ones destiny. Unknown to him, Ulrich now had a staunch believer in his speech, and this believer didn't hear one word of it.
In Camelot, Ulrich was once again meditating in his garden, Excalibur at his feet. Alicia then walked in, interrupting him. "Brother, I apologize for the intrusion but, Princess Dianna of the Fairy Forest has arrived. Ulrich began to sweat and he took a big swallow. He took a deep breath and stood, grabbing Excalibur and his black fur cloak. "Sister," Alicia looked at her brother who was attaching his cloak and putting on his crown, "pray for me."