[Chapter Size: 2200 Words.]
Third Person POV
Northern kingdoms.
...
...
"We have to start leaving the city..." Madara told the princess, looking at the chaos starting at the southern entrance of the capital while the soldiers of Cintra were easily being pushed back.
"But grandma..." Cirilla was heartbroken by all this, wondering if it was just another one of her nightmares, as her life was being destroyed at that moment.
"We have to go... the choice is hers, Ciri. I promise I'll leave a clone. If she survives, I'll offer help to get her out of this country alive... even though I think she'll refuse that too," Madara said, while Ciri nodded amidst tears.
Madara was about to say something else, but at that moment, he felt something wrong outside as steps approached from the corridor while his ears detected. "Who are you?! Identify yourself and state your purpose here!" Madara and Cirilla heard the Cintra door guard shout from the other side of the door, but suddenly, an explosion occurred and a scream of pain was heard immediately after.
"Is this the princess's room?" a voice asked with a curious tone.
"Yes, it seems so. Let's just take her and leave," another female voice said.
A moment later, a spell was cast and the door to Cirilla's room exploded, but instead of hearing the scream of a frightened girl as they expected, only the silence of the door being destroyed in the closet, while the two people entered the room, finding it empty. "She's not here," one of them said, with concern and frustration.
"Our spy assured us that the girl would be in the room before we lost contact with him," the woman said looking out the window.
"Let's look for her elsewhere. She can't be far; after all, that mage couldn't have thrown her out of the city while he's fighting with Queen Calanthe." The man commented.
"Whatever. Let's just look for her," the woman said, and they left the place while outside the tower, Madara was clinging to the rocks near the window, grabbing Cirilla and keeping her quiet.
They just heard the two talking. 'It seems there's a race to capture you....' Madara commented to the slightly frightened girl, who just nodded with a sad look, still thinking about the end of Cintra.
"Let's first get a scroll before leaving this city..." Madara said and began descending rapidly, passing through many floors as he ran down the wall favoring gravity and Cirilla couldn't help but let out some frightened screams as she looked at the height.
Madara entered through one of the windows and landed in the corridor, where there were some corpses left by the invaders and entered a room nearby, where Mousesack's laboratory was located, and found one of his clones on the floor, surrounded by various scrolls and putting all the books and documents inside the fuuinjutsu.
There were even data about himself that Mousesack must have written, and Madara didn't want anyone else to have access to them, he wanted to burn the place, but thought keeping it for himself was better.
"I just put everything there," the clone said, as he handed over the scroll with the entire library and dissipated the next moment in a puff of smoke.
"Let's go," Madara said and again picked up Cirilla as soon as he stored the scroll, she climbed on his back this time and just remained silent.
As soon as they returned to the corridor, they encountered a man in the middle of the place looking at them surprised. "A child?" said a man dressed in black, but his gaze fell on the girl on Madara's back. "The princess..." he said, changing his tone to one of satisfaction.
Madara just scoffed. "Another spy..." he murmured.
Madara simply began to ignore him and went to the window, the man quickly drew his sword. "Where do you think you're going, kid? Give me that girl and I promise not to hurt you." He said pointing the weapon at Madara while the latter wanted to laugh.
But at that moment, someone emerged from another corridor, wearing a blue cloak and a staff looking like a middle-aged man. He looked for a moment while the man from Nilfgaard seemed to watch him carefully. But suddenly, he simply moved his staff forward, casting a spell at Madara, but the latter quickly threw small balls making them explode in the spell, creating a cloud of smoke, catching the man and mage by surprise.
He cast another spell amid the smoke, but it missed anyone and ended up catching the man from Nilfgaard, making him scream in surprise as he fell to the ground, and the smoke disappeared at this moment without a sign of Madara, leaving the mage stunned.
Cahir Mawr Dyffryn aep Ceallach stood up at this moment, enraged at the mage. "Do you have any idea who you are messing with, mage?" He growled.
"It doesn't matter..." the mage scoffed, still surprised by Madara's disappearance. "The princess is also of interest to my king, which is why I came to rescue her," he said, looking towards the only exit, the corridor window, but he didn't believe the boy would jump from it.
The corridor filled with soldiers dressed in black at this moment, a large group of soldiers had managed to infiltrate the city amid the chaos at the gate and stormed the castle after the emperor's target. "Kill that mage!" Cahir immediately ordered. The mage, a bit afraid to face so many soldiers, created a portal and disappeared from the place.
Madara continued to move quickly, jumping from roof to roof, as chaos spread through the city, leaving the castle behind and heading north. Cirilla continued sobbing with the destruction of Cintra as flames started throughout the city.
Back in the castle again, a bloody battle was unfolding between mages from different kingdoms and soldiers. Among the combatants, a man with yellow eyes, with slit-shaped pupils like those of a cat, emerged, easily killing several black soldiers as he climbed the main tower.
"You... I know who you are... Witcher!!" A soldier shouted, the last survivor of a group of more than twelve people easily killed by the blade of that same witcher.
"I didn't know I was so famous in Nilfgaard..." Geralt murmured, killing the last man without remorse, as he continued up the stairs. 'I have to reach Cirilla.' he thought.
He moved quickly, encountering battles between mages and soldiers along the way. He avoided as many confrontations as possible, but had to fight at times. Finally, he reached the upper floors, where the royal family was located.
Years had passed since he met Yennefer. They tried something again, but as always, it didn't work out while Geralt ended up going to Kaer Morhen and roaming the world in the following years trying not to remember what he saw with Yennefer, however as soon as he found the witch again many months ago, she convinced him to come to Cintra and rescue the girl in danger.
Geralt searched each room until he found one with a broken door in the closet, but it was clearly a girl's room. 'She's not here... did I arrive too late?' He couldn't help but ask worriedly.
"Are you here?" a voice emerged. Geralt quickly raised his sword and saw a boy sitting at the window, having been there without him noticing, which was concerning.
"You are that boy..." Geralt quickly recognized him, it may have been more than 6 years, and the boy might not have red eyes... but the facial features were the same.
Madara nodded. "Yes, it's me. And you are Geralt of Rivia. I assume you are looking for Cirilla."
"Where is she?" Geralt immediately asked.
"She is with my original, should be leaving the city by now, but she is safe..." Madara commented.
"Original?" Geralt couldn't help but ask, intrigued.
"I am just a clone," Madara answered honestly. "But that doesn't matter now. Just know that my original can multiply and perform various tasks. I am here to see if Calanthe wants one last chance to get out of this city alive." he said.
Geralt didn't know what to think or whether he should trust the words of that strange and dangerous boy.
Madara saw this and continued. "Whether you believe it or not, I will be taking her to a safe place. I don't know if I'll be able to cross the sea with her, but if we don't find a boat to Skellige, we will head north in search of shelter at Kaer Morhen, if you allow me," Madara continued.
Geralt remained silent for a moment, pondering, but finally nodded. "Keeping Cirilla at the witcher's school... alright. Then, head north."
"You better go then. The city is falling apart..." Madara responded calmly.
"And you'll stay here, boy?" Geralt asked, raising an eyebrow.
"As I said, I'm just a clone. What matters is my original body. He is as far away from here as possible. He can travel easily without being captured, after all, we ninjas don't need a horse or luck to escape," Madara answered. He then ignored Geralt's presence and continued looking out the window.
Geralt knew this person would not talk to him anymore, so he decided to leave the room, still suspicious of Madara's words.
On the front line, Calanthe fought with all her strength, trying to stand despite the arrow wound she had suffered a few days earlier. She finally was wounded and found herself on the ground unable to stand with so many injuries. She could barely support herself, but Mousesack appeared by her side and teleported her to the main tower, into her room.
She exclaimed in pain as she was laid on the bed. "There's still time to get out of here. I can try to create a portal to the coast, where we can catch a ship and return to Skellige. This is the only chance we have to survive," Mousesack said, worried. "Your granddaughter must be heading there too, as I feel that Madara is no longer in the castle with her."
"If you do that, you will die. You know that," Madara's voice emerged as he appeared in one of the windows, landing in the middle of the room and approaching calmly.
"I don't care if I die, as long as we save her," Mousesack replied firmly.
"You're going to Skellige? That will just kill you. The only way to survive is to let me..." Calanthe spoke through clenched teeth.
Mousesack seemed hesitant, but knew this was an option. "No, I won't run away without her. I will...," Mousesack said, but Calanthe interrupted him.
"I will die here. I don't care if there's a chance to escape. Cintra will fall and I will fall with it," she said with determination.
Mousesack knew his queen's determination well and knew it was futile to try to convince her otherwise.
"Do you really want to die here?" Madara asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, my time has come. The only good thing right now is that my granddaughter must be now leaving this chaos, safe, right?" She asked the clone, who nodded.
"Yes, I'm with her. We should be leaving the city at this moment, heading north, looking for a ship to Skellige," Madara replied.
She sighed and turned to Mousesack. "Go away. You can survive. Help my granddaughter one day, if you can. Help her reclaim this kingdom," she said. "And you, Mousesack, you have done your duty. I thank you eternally and will take this to my death with pride," Calanthe spoke, intimidating him once more. Finally, Mousesack nodded quickly and stepped into the portal to disappear, leaving Madara and Calanthe in the room.
"Now, I am at peace. I don't want to die on top of a bed," she suddenly said, as she began to get up. Madara approached to help her, but she immediately stopped him. "No, boy. I don't want you to help me walk to my death. This is something I must do alone," she said with determination. She limped to the window, seeking to jump and end her life.
Calanthe reached the edge of the window, looking out at the burning city and destruction everywhere. As Cintra burned, tears streamed down her face, sad for the fate of the kingdom she had defended and governed for years, sad to see the land she loved being destroyed.
With no choice, she prepared to jump. Madara had disappeared at that moment in smoke, wanting to leave her alone. Encouraged by her determination, Calanthe moved forward, as her body began to fall from the highest tower of the castle towards the ground.
This was not the only sad scene in Cintra. Throughout the city, parents fed their children poison, while men strangled their wives and then committed suicide, preferring death to conquest by the Nilfgaardians.
Madara received all the memories of his clone and just looked back, as Cirilla still cried. He finally reached the gate, leapt from a roof dozens of meters high with chakra in his feet, and surged over the wall, jumping out of Cintra. The north was now his target.
_______
I'm so sleepy that I'm going to sleep here; tomorrow I'll do Hp and Minato.