"Given this pace, perhaps the next chapter will come in a year!"
- Excerpt from the ending Author's Note in Chapter 31: Shadow of Intent.

…I just want you all to know I fully intended on that being a joke, evident by the next word in the aforementioned A/N being "Kidding." I did not think that it'd actually take over a year for the next update.

. . .

Quick recap of FE:AA since it's been a year since the last update. I realize that not everyone is willing to read 270k+ words.
Starting from post-Gangrel arc (since a lot of pre-timeskip follows canon with a few exceptions, like the Awakening-Fates trio joining early):

- Robin, Lucina, Inigo, Owain, and Severa take a trip to the Garden of Giants (Priam's little island) during the two-year time-skip. Light-Elemental magic scrolls for the Shepherds are retrieved off-screen.
- Reina, Lon'qu, Gaius, and Panne also take a trip to a mirage village (Yharnam) and return with some weapons from Bloodborne (Rakuyo, Chikage, Blade of Mercy, and Beast Claw respectively). Reina also gets a change to her outfit (now wearing Lady Maria's outfit complete with the hat).

- Robin, Reina, and Frederick all have their first encounter with the Deadlord, Equus (Achilles, Greek Mythos) after easily stopping the initial Valmese invasion at Ferox Harbor. Morgan and Marc join the group.

- Grima pays the Shepherds a visit at Valm Harbor, revealing his connection with Robin and Reina, and how he was the one to kill Chrom in the future. After Grima departs, Lucina finds Robin on the beach and attempts to kill him with Robin's own consent, only to be stopped by Falchion itself.

- Robin and a few other Shepherds head to Mila Shrine Ruins. They find Brady, Nah, and Laurent at the shrine's underground tunnels. Encounters Deadlords Simia (Lyndis, FE7) and Gallus (Ruby Rose, RWBY). Robin receives stranges premonitions during his fight with Lyn before he's defeated and falls unconscious, then has a dream of a few members from FE7.
- During this time, the Ylissean League recapture Rosanne Castle but the infiltration group (Reina, Owain, Lissa, Chrom, Gaius, and Virion) are soundly defeated moments after by the Deadlord Anguilla (Aranea Highwind, FF15).

- All the while Grima has been summoning his Deadlords and Excellus created a device to stop magic from being cast with a certain vicinity.

And that's more or less it.

. . .

. . .

Robin bit his lip as the enemy cavalry trampled over his pikemen. A rain of arrows peppered his infantry soldiers before they could even reach the enemy lines, and a squad of wyvern riders took apart his heavy infantry.

"It's over!" the enemy commander victoriously said. "You have no chance of winning!"

And Robin had to agree…for the most part. While he definitely had fewer numbers by a large margin, he was nowhere close to being defeated. A confident (and partially sadistic) smirk came to life on his lips as he began his plan.

His magic units moved forward and, with a surge of wind magic, took the wyvern riders out of the skies before they could retreat behind enemy lines. His archers took cover behind the thick plates of his surviving knights before letting loose a volley to thin the incoming infantry and his cavalry trampled over the enemy archers.

His grin only widened as he watched the enemy commander's eyes widened, her shock very apparent from the sudden turn of tides.

"The scales have been tipped in my favor, I'm afraid," Robin cooly said. "You did well in controlling the flow of this battle, however…"

His knights approached the rest of her infantry while his cavalry flanked them in a pincer attack, forcing them to surrender. The armor of his knights was too thick for the enemies' weapons to penetrate and they were in no position to combat his mounted soldiers. With only a handful of pegasus knights left, the enemy commander was effectively out of soldiers that could fight.

"…It's my win."

The commander's eyes darted around the battlefield to search for any possible route to victory. Robin could've easily advanced his soldiers to wipe off the remainder of her forces, but he wasn't that cruel push his victory.

A few seconds later, Morgan's head slumped forward in defeat and slammed her forehead onto the table, causing some of the war figurines to topple over.

"Uwaaahhh… I've lost again…" she groaned, lifting her head to balefully glare at the strategy game in front of them.

Robin couldn't help but laugh as Morgan rested her chin on the table's surface with an adorable pout on her face. "You almost had me there, Morgan," he admitted. "I thought it was going to end in my defeat more than a couple of times."

"You're just saying that to make me feel better," Morgan grumbled. "Seven games, seven losses."

"And you've improved with each game," Robin replied. "I had to play with your mind in our last game, which is what earned me the win."

"That's cheating!"

"Not cheating."

"Cheater!"

"Schemer."

"They're the same thing!"

"No, they are not. One will use unauthorized and underhanded methods that go against the rules for victory, the other will use clever and devious strategies to win. Similar, but ultimately different."

"Hmmmmpphh!"

Robin laughed again as he started to pick up the fallen pieces when the door to the study that they were in opened. Reina and Lucina walked inside, and whatever they were conversing about came to a pause when they noticed the look on his face and his daughter's.

An amused brow was raised by Reina as they walked over. "You seem like you're having fun."

"I'm not," Morgan immediately answered, puffing her cheeks out.

A glare was thrown at Robin from his female look-alike. "Robin, are you picking on your daughter again?"

"Just how and why am I already guilty? I didn't do anything!"

"Hm. Sure." Reina raised an eyebrow towards Morgan. "What did he do?"

"Which time?" Morgan answered in a dead voice, and Robin was once again under the intense stares of Reina and Lucina.

"Case in point," Reina victoriously smirked.

Robin groaned and put the game pieces away into their box in an organized manner. "Using my own daughter against me. That's a low blow."

"Cheer up, you wuss," Reina laughed. "How long have you two been playing?"

"That's a good question. Feels like it's been over a year, to be honest," Robin said.

"Father's been beating me at this game for over an hour and a half," Morgan huffed.

With another laugh, Reina gently rubbed Morgan's back as she asked Robin, "How'd your little trip go?"

Robin pursed his lips as he thought back a few hours.

. . .

"Greetings! I'm Robin of Ylisse, tactician of the Shepherds. Some of you might remember me as the one who may have accidentally perhaps knocked over a giant bowl of bear meat stew that your leader might have been eagerly looking forward to. Is he here by any - "

"YOU!"

"Oh, there he is. How've you been? I've brought you bear meat stew, cooked by the two best cooks in Ylisse, as promised."

"It has been over two years, food destroyer."

"To be fair, it's not exactly my fault that you never bothered to visit Ylisstol within said two years. I was on this island during that time as well, remember? You could've easily gone over and I would've given you a letter to ask the chefs there to prepare you whatever it is that you wanted to eat. If anything, the blame lies on you for not taking any action. I'm just fulfilling my promise of bringing you stew."

"Did…did you just…" There was the familiar ringing of a blade being drawn. "Your head… I will have it!"

"My head isn't going to get you any more stew though…"

. . .

"Eh. Not bad." Robin casually shrugged. "I think I got my message across. By the way, where'd Joshua vanish off to? I've been looking for him but haven't had any luck."

"Joshua…Joshua…" Reina frowned furrowed her brow. "Uhh… Who was he again?"

"Sir Joshua departed from Rosanne with one of his allies the day we returned," Lucina answered for Reina. "It was only a couple hours prior to your awakening."

"Oh yeah! I remember that!" Reina burst into laughter. "He didn't "depart", Lucina. He was dragged away like a kid by that pink-haired lady!"

Robin raised a confused brow. "Pink-haired lady? Olivia?"

"No, not her. Think Olivia but with Lon'qu's personality and glare."

"That's a little more than difficult to imagine," he frowned, his imagination failing to create the image in his head. "Olivia is Olivia, and Lon'qu is one angry looking guy."

"Well, it's the truth. And the way she held herself…and her eyes…" A predatory grin formed on Reina's face as she blankly stared at the wall. "I wanted to see how strong she was, but she left before I could even ask."

His brow furrowed momentarily. "I swear to the gods…you and Lon'qu…"

Her predatory look vanished immediately and a dust of pink appeared on her cheeks. "Wh-What?"

"That grin you had a second ago? Yeah, that's the same grin that Lon'qu gets whenever he enjoys a fight." Robin shuddered as he remembered his spar against Lon'qu before departing for Valm. "It's a terrifying sight, by the way. I hope you both know that."

"Didn't before, now I do. Thanks for telling me. And you're honestly one to talk, given how you get the same grin on your face as well every now and then," she smirked. "Besides, now I have an 'Intimidate' card to play."

"An intimidate - what?"

"An intimidating factor." Reina rolled her eyes. "To display an overwhelming power to demoralize your enemies before a fight even begins." She lazily waved a hand in his direction. "Or in this case, to show a terrifying visage in the face of your opponent."

"I know the 'what'. What I'm wondering is the 'why'," Robin drawled.

"Shut it and get the map out. We've plans to make." She pulled out a chair on Robin's adjacent side. "Have you decided on whether or not we're going to go for a siege?"

Robin shook his head as he pulled out one of the maps given to him by Virion, one in which the entire territory was shown. As he flattened the map on the desk, Morgan handed him a small box that held a variety of flags and other pieces for war plans.

"A siege isn't going to work. If we try, then we're essentially dooming ourselves. Sieges meant for long, drawn-out defenses over the course of a few days to months. Possibly even years. We don't even have two days." He placed one blue flag on the location of Rosanne's castle and four red flags further in the territory. "Our best bet would be to meet them head on while we can. This canyon…" He pointed at the location on the map, just a few miles west of Rosanne. "…isn't too far from here, so by going there, we'll be able to have their larger numbers meet us at an enclosed area. Numbers won't mean much if only a fraction of them can fight at one time."

"We could do that, or Yen'fay could split his army in two and have them circle around us in a pincer attack and completely annihilate us," Reina countered, dragging a finger to the other end of the canyon. "It won't be that far of a march to get around it, only taking a few hours at max."

"Not if we meet him at the far end of it and slowly retreat back into the canyon itself. Make it seem like we'll do a frontal attack when we're actually baiting his army into a bottleneck."

"If we're going to do that, we'll need a rabbit," Morgan said in understanding. "Either someone or a small group of high value that can move around quickly at a moment's notice."

Robin nodded at his daughter. "And lucky for us, we have one already."

A look of confusion settled on Reina and Lucina's faces before morphing into one of horrifying realization

"What?! No! No, we are not going to use Princess Say'ri as bait!" Lucina yelled, looking at him in shock. "She is paramount into rallying the forces of Valm!"

"I'm well aware of that fact," he calmly said. "Just because I'll be using her as bait does not mean that I'm sending her to her death. A rabbit doesn't always need to be captured. If memory serves, most of the Chon'sin army follows Yen'fay because he was next in line to become heir. There was only a small group of them that are loyal to him and him alone."

"His friends and personal guard… Only a small group consisting of just a few hundred men." Reina slowly nodded with a grimace.

"Do you see what I'm getting at?"

Reina crossed her arms and sat back in her chair. A full ten seconds passed before she deeply inhaled and exhaled very, very slowly. "Yeah. I don't like it, but I get it. There's a lot of things that can go wrong here."

"Like Yen'fay not even getting bottlenecked in the first place," Morgan quipped.

"I know," Robin said. "This is why I was hoping to capture Excellus before we fought Yen'fay, but no one has even seen the guy. Not even Henry's crows."

A few seconds of silence passed before a weak, impish smile appeared on Reina's face. "Excellus is a Grimleal, right? You think Grima would be willing to lend us a hand?"

"Wha - Reina!" Lucina looked absolutely aghast and inadvertently took a half step backward. "You cannot be serious!"

"Please don't joke about that…" Robin groaned before freezing in place. His eyes slowly started to widen and his posture straightened. "On second thought, given how…unexpectedly quirky Grima is, he might just do that."

Reina shot him a deadpan look. "I was kidding."

"But I'm not, and I don't think Grima was either when he offered to "pitch in to help" on that night," Robin said. "He also wants the two of us to make it out of the war alive since we're his Heart. While I'm not entirely sure what'll happen to him if one of us just decides to keel over and die - "

"Robin!" "Father!"

" - I'm pretty sure he won't be too happy about that," Robin continued, paying no need to Lucina and Morgan's horrified expressions. "He wants us alive, Reina. Why not make that a definite possibility and make things easier for us by having him aid us during this war? That way, we can focus more on how we're going to fight the Deadlords without getting our asses handed to us ten times over."

Reina took in a deep breath. "…Say we do choose to ask Grima for help. How exactly would we contact him?"

"Can't Robin teleport?" Lucina asked.

"I can, but that isn't without its limitations," he said with a slight shake of his head. "If I want to travel a long distance, say from the Garden of Giants to Ylisse Castle, then I'm going to need to prepare a teleportation circle on two spots: one where I'm going and one where I currently am. And I don't have one anywhere near Plegia." Robin let out another groan and leaned back in his chair. "Well, that plan's a bust."

"That it is," Reina said in agreement. "So, back to Yen'fay and Say'ri…"

"Do you have any better ideas?"

There was a long silence as Reina bit her lip. "…No."

"It's not as if I want to do this, but what choice do we have? We used our previous knowledge to our advantage and it ended up biting us in the ass. It was nice while it lasted, but we can't rely on our worlds' events anymore. Not completely, anyway."

"I know," Reina defeatedly sighed. "Sometimes, I wish I could just travel back in time and just not mess things up this badly, you know? Just keep everyone alive while following the same steps as before."

Robin opted to say nothing as his silence served as a non-verbal agreement to her statement. He blankly stared at the map in front of him as he remembered his original world. Things really did seem to be simpler back then. All he had to do was go from one war to another without having to bother with time-travel or some looming threat in the distance. Granted, quite a few Shepherds died in his old world, but those were all due to his own mistakes. Mistakes that he learned from and would not repeat.

In his musings, he didn't even notice that Lucina and Morgan left the room, leaving him and Reina alone.

"So, you and Lucina, huh?" Reina suddenly asked.

Robin blinked in mild surprise from the abrupt change in topic, but didn't look up from the map. "What about me and her?"

"Come off it, Robin. You like her," Reina said with a roll of her eyes.

"And?"

"What do you mean, "and"?"

"I mean exactly that. And?"

She looked at him as if he sprouted a second head. "You're not going to do anything? Take her out on a date? Confess?"

"I don't see any point in doing so," Robin calmly said, picking up one of the pieces on the map.

Reina was taken aback for a split-second. "You don't see any - Robin!"

He let out a tired sigh as he absentmindedly eyed the piece, a wyvern knight, between his fingers. "…Say I do tell Lucina that I like her. That I wish to be together with her. And say she reciprocates my feelings. What then?"

"What do you mean "what then"? You stay with her - "

"And disregard everyone else?" Robin immediately countered. "We both know that we can't favor one Shepherd over the other, to give one higher priority over another. It's what we did in our world and look at happened then; the Shepherds that weren't given higher priority died, Reina."

"And you think by simply choosing to not tell her, your feelings for her won't change at all?" Reina scoffed.

"Of course not. It'd stay the same. Which is why I said that I don't see any point in telling her."

"If there isn't going to be any difference, then why not just tell her?"

"Because I know myself. At least, I know myself well enough to the point that I know how I'll act once I do tell her and if she reciprocates my feelings," Robin said, setting down the wyvern knight piece back down onto the table. "In the chance that we do enter a relationship, I'll be wanting to spend more and more time with her."

Reina raised an eyebrow at that. "And what's so bad about wanting to spend time with the person you care about?"

"We're in the middle of a gods-damned war that took a major turn for the worse," he reminded her. "We're one mistake away from spiraling down into a situation that could very well end the war with us on the losing side, and we can't even try and climb the Mila Tree because by the time we reach it, Rosanne would be overrun. There would be no point in rallying the potentially-traitorous Resistance if there's no Ylissean League to rally to. Beyond that, there's Grima and his Deadlords. We've only encountered a few of them, and each one of them was able to take us down in a one-on-one fight. I don't mean to brag, but the two of us are the strongest Shepherds, and we couldn't even put a scratch on a single Deadlord.

"With all this in mind, where would I find time to spend time with Lucina? Any time that I could spend with her could be spent elsewhere, such as this war. That time could be spent on making sure everyone stays alive in an unknown that we dug for ourselves. Time that could be spent on making sure that we actually have a fighting chance against one of the Deadlords, much less all of them. And that's not even bringing Grima into the what we've seen on that night at the harbor, he can't even be maimed by normal means. Lucina stabbed him in the heart with Falchion and he acted as if it was nothing more than an annoyance.

"So tell me, where can I find time for my own, personal and selfishness? Where can I find the time to not spend on the Shepherds and the wars?" he finished.

There wasn't even a slight bit of hesitation from Reina. "Anytime you want. It sounds to me like you're just running away. All you're doing right now is just focusing on anything but Lucina, which is understandable given how there's Grima over the horizon. But you of all people should know how self-destructive overworking is."

"…Maybe." He let out a sigh. "Maybe I am just running away, but if that's what it takes to keep the Shepherds alive, then that's more than enough for me."

Reina was silent for almost a full minute. "So you're just going to disregard your own happiness?"

"I never said I would do that," Robin replied with a shake of his head. "I'm just saying that there's a time and place for everything, and right now, my own personal feelings are out of the question."

"And what if you don't have the time for it later?" Reina countered. "As you said, we're in a war, and we both know that battles are unpredictable. No matter how much planning we do beforehand, no matter how many strategies we devise, we can't predict every outcome of a fight. What if something happens to you? Or Lucina? Morgan? The battlefield is chaos, and chaos is something that we tacticians have absolutely zero control over."

Robin let out a sigh. "I know, and I'm well aware of that fact. But I can do my best to make sure that the fights go my way to reduce the casualties as much as possible. By directing the flow of a battle, you can make things go smoothly and to your own calculations. And by doing that, make possibilities easier to predict."

He received a deadpan glare in response.

"You realize that's all theoretical, right?" she asked.

Robin sighed again, only this one was much heavier than the ones before it. "…I know. But it's the best I've got." And then, muttering under his breath so that he himself barely heard, he added, "…I'm afraid my best is not enough."

. . .

There was a throb of pain in Grima's head. In all honesty, he was contemplating whether or not he should just kill him right now. 'Him' being the one who was frantically waving his arms around in a not-so-successful attempt to be convincing.

"It wasn't me, I swear! I was just talking to the guy, and then BOOM! His head just popped off! I had nothing to do with it!"

Grima doubted that.

"Uh huh…"

Apparently, so did the town guard.

"Ask him!" Ovis pointed a finger at a man who flinched in terror when gazes were turned on him. "He was there! It's his friend that lost his head!"

The man mumbled a string of incomprehensible words, not that Grima could blame the poor bastard. Seeing your friend's head burst like a bubble in the middle of a conversation could do that to an average person.

"You are not to bring in innocents into your crimes, sir," the guard said. No one mentioned the fact that he added in the 'sir' as an afterthought.

"What do you mean "crimes"? Plural? Really?" Ovis crossed his arms at the guard. "Okay, if you're talking about the lack of arms, he was already armless by the time I got here. And the leg. And the balls. No, I'm not kidding. The guy has no balls. Literally. Balls as in…you know…tes- "

"Nope, not listening to that," Grima interrupted. He threw a lump of mana at the guard, knocking him out instantly as his mind was unable to take the sudden influx of magical energy.

" -ticles." Ovis made a mildly impressed face at the unconscious guard before looking at Grima with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Hey, ever wonder if some family's name is 'Tickles'?"

"No. Why?"

As soon as those two words left his mouth, Grima regretted it.

"Cause if they name their kid, 'Tess', then the poor kid's full name would be - "

"I will seal your mouth if you finish that thought."

Ovis exasperatedly threw his arms into the air. "Oh, come on! It's a good one! Even you have to admit that it's funny!"

Grima would not give Ovis that satisfaction of agreement as he walked away. He already had a migraine due to the infuriating Deadlord and he did not want it to get any worse.

"Take my eyes off him without a chaperone for one hour and he's causing trouble at the bars…" Grima grumbled under his breath.

Not that he actually cared, but he'd rather not have Plegia's capital city be burned down due to one drunk's lack of awareness. He owed it to them - rather, he owed it to the small number of zealous Grimleal that resurrected him back in his own timeline. But then again, he was their god, so he didn't owe them anything.

"So, bossman."

His scowl deepened. Much to his…displeasure, Ovis chose to address Grima by a variety of names, like 'bigman', 'boss', and 'bossman'. While none of those were technically wrong, it did annoy him for reasons unknown. Perhaps it was just his dislike for Ovis coming into play.

"What."

"When's the next summoning?"

"If everything goes well, tonight."

"Oooh~ Who's it gonna be?"

"Still deciding."

Ovis let out a long and childish groan. "Oh, come on. It can't be that difficult to decide, can it? I mean, there's only like what…three Deadlords left? Four?" He brought up a hand and started counting off on his fingers. "There's Draco, who's hot as hell, Anguilla, also hot, Equus, the legend himself, Gallus, Porcus, Simia, also hot, Bovis, crazy fighter…yeah, that's about it. You summoned a bunch of bombshells, boss. Not that I'm complaining, of course."

"I am well aware of who I summoned, Ovis," Grima said as he started to climb the towering steps to Plegia's castle while the Deadlord behind him let out a pitiful groan.

"Son of a bitch, stairs. I hate stairs. Why are there so many?" Ovis whined. "Bossman, why not just teleport us back? Hell, why are you even blocking my shadow gates? Let me just use that to get to the castle! Why stairs!?"

"It builds character."

"I am a character! Literally! Created by that assclown beyond that certain wall that's past that third wall! And he wouldn't let me retire even though I got thrown off Mount Olympus by Zeus after he shoved his lightning bolt up my ass and getting my ass kicked by a rabbit and getting entombed in a rock!"

Grima looked over his shoulder and raised a brow. "You got thrown off of Mount Olympus? And got beaten up by a rabbit?"

"To be fair, and in my defense…" Ovis brought up his hands in what would normally be a reasoning gesture. "…the rabbit was a Level Twenty Monk and my teammates didn't want to help me fight the stupid thing. So I ended up having to solo that monster. And as for Mount Olympus?" A goofy grin formed on his face. "His daughters are hot."

The Fell Dragon rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Why did I even ask…"

"Anyhoo, who next, bigman?" Ovis cheerfully asked. "Canis? Tigris? Mus - actually, not him. He's huge and absolutely terrifying." He visibly shuddered. "Oh! Why not Lepus!"

"You know what, Ovis? Just out of spite, I'll summon Mus next and Lepus last."

"You're an ass, boss."

"No, I'm a dragon god," Grima snarked.

Ovis raised a finger and was about to make a retort when he paused. Then a look of contemplation fell upon his face before pursing his lips as if he was impressed. "Touché."

A smirk made its way onto Grima's lips as he relished the moment of silence. The moments in which Ovis was silent for more than a few seconds were far and few in between, and he would relish every moment that he got.

"So, bossman…"

Said relished moment vanished.

"I managed to run into Equus not too long ago - "

"How? You weren't even here in this world for a full day yet."

" - and he said that you took control or possessed or did something to that princess around the time you first arrived in this world."

Grima's brow furrowed ever so slightly. He did remember doing something like that around two years ago once he felt the presence of a second Heart, but didn't really give it much thought recently.

"Yes, I did do that, didn't I?" Grima said matter-of-factly. "There were multiple reasons as to why I did it then and just as many reasons why I'm not doing so again."

"Like?"

"I didn't do any sort of possession, if that's what you're asking," Grima said. "It's practically impossible for me to possess any member of Naga's bloodline given how we're essentially polar opposites in energy. Like oil and water. What I can do, however, is influence the thoughts of people."

"Sounds creepy."

"It's situational more so than anything," he grunted. "When someone isn't in the right state of mind due to grief, desperation, and-or depression, it's easy to become that dark whisper in the back of their minds. To make them do things that they normally would not."

"And that's even creepier."

Grima shot Ovis a glare but continued nonetheless. "In the case of the little princess, her emotions were all over the place, making it easy for me to be said whisper, despite her being of Naga's blood. Of course, that alone wouldn't have done much since her will is quite strong, even when in that state of mind, but luckily for me, I had a second Heart that decided to come in at that very moment. The fact that the little princess didn't exactly trust Reina… Well, I'm never really one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Give the princess a little nudge while sending a pulse of my essence to resonate with the Heart, and watch the magic unfold.

"In hindsight, it was a rash decision on my part, influencing Lucina to see me in place of Reina. It's always good to have a backup, and I almost killed the backup," he added with a small grimace.

"Wait a sec, your backup is a female body?" Ovis asked, having just come to that realization.

"Yes."

There was a hiss of pain and a string of curses from the Deadlord as he tripped over a stair. "So why's the female the backup? Why not the male? Sounds a bit messed up to me."

"A vessel is a vessel, no matter the gender," Grima bluntly said.

"So…why do you need a backup? I thought you were this all-knowing, all-powerful being that had everything planned out."

"The more steps a plan has, the more places that it can go wrong. The biggest problem that could affect my plans, however unlikely, is the fact that my Hearts are mortal. Far stronger than most, if not all, mortals in this day and age, but mortal nonetheless. They can die, and were they to do so, it would greatly hinder my plans."

Ovis tripped on one of the many steps again and recovered before he could fall. If Grima was a smaller person, metaphorically, of course, he would have made fun of the Deadlord.

"If one of your Hearts die, can't you just turn him or her into a Deadlord?" Ovis asked after cursing at the steps. "Y'know, like us?"

It was a good idea. Truly, it was. Having Robin or Reina be one of his Deadlords would deal a devastating blow to the Ylissean forces, both physically and psychologically.

"Perhaps," he finally replied. "However, I'd much rather keep them alive, one to be my Heart and so that I can return to full strength, and the other so that the fight against the Shepherds will be fun. It has been far too long since I've had - "

There was a pull. Rather, it wasn't so much of a pull as it was more of a harsh and sudden twist in Grima's mana core. It wasn't enough so that he'd be drained of mana, but it was a noticeable amount that he'd have to spend more time recovering it.

"Yo, bossman." For the first time, Ovis' voice sounded…almost serious. "You felt that too, right?"

How could he not feel that? Although every Deadlord had their own mana pool, they were still summoned by Grima in the end. As such, whenever one of them would use a strenuous attack, he would feel the pull on his mana as it would replenish a portion of what the Deadlords used. Not a lot, maybe just around a fifth of the mana cost would be covered by Grima's mana, but in this scenario…

"I know I told Bovis and Porcus to do whatever they want, but I never thought that Bovis would use that…" Grima muttered. "What's she thinking, garnering the attention of every magically attuned being in the world?"

Far off into the distance, even beyond the sea that separated the continents of Ylisse and Valm, a crimson beam of light could be seen shooting into the sky.

. . .

"You've got to be kidding! Don't tell me that this is all you've got!"

A large claymore sliced through the air and split a few Valmese into two halves. With a predatory grin behind her helmet, Bovis rested her red and white sword onto her shoulder as she punched through the chest of another Valmese soldier with her gauntleted hand. The ground around her was soaked in the blood of Valmese soldiers as she crushed the skull of one such soldier underneath her boot.

"You were so confident earlier! What happened?!" Bovis taunted at the rest of the small army in front of her, spreading her arms out in front of her. "What happened to all that courage?! That bravado?!"

What was originally a platoon of five-hundred soldiers was cut down to less than two-hundred. The chances of there being any being alive yet injured were nonexistent, for the giant sword that Bovis wielded made sure of that. If one wasn't split in half from a single swing, the brute force behind the swing alone would be enough to crush a body from the weight and power behind each swing. And if one of her targets was fleeing, a thrown sword would fix that problem instantly, and anyone who approached her ended up with a punch or a kick that pulverized bones and organs as if they were nothing.

"Come on! Who's next!" Bovis roared and swung her sword down next to her. The excess amount of blood that coated the blade splattered onto the ground next to her while more Valmese blood covered her armor. "Bring out your leader! Your best fighter! I don't care who, just get me someone who can last more than a second!"

Her words sent a ripple of fear down the Valmese ranks. The remains of the small army all took a step backward as their gaze shifted, not wanting to incur Bovis' wrath.

"Tch, cowards." She fought the urge to spit onto the ground. It'd only end up inside her helmet.

A war horn suddenly sounded from behind their lines. The small army in front of her shifted, parting down the center, and a large man walked forward. His armor, while elaborate and in good condition, had numerous scratches and tiny dents in it which proved that he was no greenhorn. No, this man was most likely a veteran of many battles, and if it wasn't for the weathered armor, his hardened eyes were more than proof of that.

The man slammed the butt of his glaive onto the ground and bellowed, "I am Legaus, Commander of the Sixth Legion!"

"A commander, huh?" A feral grin rose onto Bovis' face, though no one was able to see it due to her helmet. "I hope you can put up a better fight than - " She froze when she saw a white blur behind Legaus. " - HEY!"

Whether he followed her gaze or if it was due to his intuition, Legaus turned around just in time to see the white blur sprinting towards him. He raised his glaive in an attempt to fend off the assassin, but it was much too late and Porcus jumped on top of Legaus and threw him to the ground. Another second later, Porcus thrust his hand forward towards the commander's neck, and the world seemed to freeze.

"You… You just didn't…" Bovis growled, her hand tightening around her sword's handle.

Retracting the blade that cleanly sliced through the commander's jugular, Porcus stood to his feet while the Valmese scampered back at the sudden death of their commanding officer.

"The hell do you think you're doing, you damned assassin!" Bovis roared and stormed up to Porcus. "He was mine!"

"Have you already forgotten Lord Grima's orders?" Porcus calmly asked, wiping his blade free of blood. "I gathered the required intelligence some time ago and I thought I would allow you to enjoy yourself here in a timely fashion. Clearly, I was wrong as you have wasted too much time already."

"You piece of shit…" Bovis growled, tightening her grip on her sword.

"Come. We have much to do and less time to prepare."

Bovis distastefully clicked her tongue as Porcus threw up a shadow gate. ""…near free reign", my ass. Can barely go solo for fifteen minutes without being hounded by this jackass." She threw another glare at the remaining Valmese soldiers, all of whom flinched and retreated from her stare. "Tch. I'd much rather be one of the ones to fight those Shepherds. Heard they can put up a fight, even if they couldn't do shit to the other Deadlords."

Nevertheless, Bovis put her sword away and followed Porcus into a shadow gate, not even sparing the surviving Valmese a second glance. Once the darkness enveloped both her and Porcus, she released a weak burst of mana to rid her armor of blood.

"Where to next, oh great assassin?" she drawled, willing her sword to dissipate into motes of light. She waited a few seconds for an answer only to not receive one. Her temper flared. "Hey!"

"…You are a knight, yes?"

Bovis narrowed her eyes at the question. "Yeah, I am. What of it."

Another few seconds of silence passed before Porcus spoke again. "You do not fight like one."

"Hmph, you noticed?"

"It is difficult not to."

"Well, I'm so sorry for not fighting like the ones you're used to. That sorta thing was never my style." Bovis would've kicked a pebble if there was any. Sadly, no such thing existed in the shadowy corridors. "Swordsmanship is nothing more than a means to an end. Why focus only on my sword when I have hands to punch with and feet to kick with?"

"…How pragmatic."

"Tch, don't patronize me."

The darkness of the shadow gate began to recede as they stepped back into the open world. The shadows melted away to reveal a dry, rocky terrain. The harsh sunlight beat down on her, and even through her helmet, Bovis had to squint as her eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness of the sun.

"I assure you that I was not patronizing you," Porcus calmly said.

Bovis clicked her tongue again as she peered at another Valmese camp a way's in front of them. "Whatever. What's the job with this one? Another stupid infiltration mission?"

"Nothing of the sort," Porcus answered. "I have retrieved all the information that Lord Grima has requested, and this is the last encampment that we'll be seeing before returning to Plegia. Lord Grima has said that this encampment, in particular, is of no use to him and may be taken care of at our own leisure."

Bovis was many things, but stupid was not one of them. She easily picked up on the hidden message between Porcus' words, and a frown appeared on her face.

"The hell does he want from these shitty camps anyway? It's not like we're part of the war or anything."

"In his own words, Lord Grima is bored out of his mind waiting for the war to end, so we are to assist the Ylissean League from the shadows," he explained. "We, the Deadlords, will not be playing an active role in the war, but a supportive role."

"Why not just have us kill the entire fucking Valmese army?"

"Because the Shepherds will not get stronger if we win their fights for them. Just as you wish to fight against strong opponents, Lord Grima also wishes to enjoy his fight against the Shepherds."

Bovis exasperatedly sighed. "Fine. But the Shepherds better be damn fucking strong after all this effort."

"Of course. It is why the other Deadlords are fighting them, so that they push themselves with us being their goal. In any case, how do you wish to take care of this camp?" Porcus inquired. "You seem to like carnage, so you may take your time here."

"Hell no." Materializing her sword back into her hand, Bovis took a few steps forward. "You killed my mood by killing that commander. I'd rather just take care of this trash quickly so I can kick the ass of those sheep herders."

Her helmet clicked open and folded into her armor, revealing her wild, golden hair that was tied into a short ponytail. She began pouring prana - her hatred - into her blade. A blood colored aura rushed out around her, tainting the air and dirt. Red sparks began to ignite the base of her blade, right above the guard. At the same time, parts of the blade's decorations shot outward, giving it a thorned look.

The sound of alarm bells echoed in the distance, no doubt coming from the Valmese camp. They had most definitely seen her and camp began to come alive. Soldiers ran back and forth and leaders barked orders. Weapons and shields were grabbed, and all the soldiers were lined up in a defensive position within moments.

But it would not be enough.

It wouldn't be nearly enough.

For what they faced was not a normal sword. It was not wielded by someone who was even close to normal either.

She was a figure from a legend in which an entire world knew of. A legend that inspired countless other stories to come after it. A legend that spoke of the Sword of Promised Victory. A legend that she ended.

She was the one that rebelled against the Once and Future King. She was the one that delivered the fatal blow against the King of Knights.

She was Mordred, the Traitorous Knight that pulled the curtains on the Kingdom of Camelot.

Her sword, Clarent, the Radiant and Brilliant Royal Sword that denoted the right of succession to the throne, rivaling the worth of the Golden Sword of Assured Victory, Caliburn.

Her Noble Phantasm, the power of Clarent released by Mordred, capable of wiping out an entire army.

Clarent Blood Arthur.

. . .

. . .

…So… How are you all doing? It's been… It's been quite some time, hasn't it?

Now, in my defense, I do have two reasons for why a mere ~7.2k word chapter took over a year to come out.

The first reason is due to the really, really bad burnout I got from writing this story. I, for the life of me, could not work on Another Awakening, which is why I began writing other fics.

The second reason is due to the fact that I've been working on revamping the story of AA. This is being done so that (1) the earlier chapters will be updated to my current level of writing quality and (2) to fix the plotholes and stupid mistakes I made early on.

Speaking of rewrites, holy fucking shit my writing was bad. Punctuation, especially commas, was all over the place and the pacing was absolutely atrocious. I was jumping from scene to scene to scene, and if I didn't have any prior knowledge of the game's storyline, I would have gotten lost in my writing. And not in the good way.

Granted, my writing isn't perfect now as I still catch myself making a bunch of mistakes, but it sure as hell is better than it was two-and-a-half years ago (edit: it's two, not three. I can't math). Some quick trivia: FF:AA is when I first started writing. So, in a sense, I only have two-and-a-half years of writing experience, which may very well explain my shitty writing at the start. Ha. Ha. Ha. (that's a self-deprecating and deadpan laugh, btw)

Other than that, I do not have much free time on my hands. I've been working on a novel (minor details in my updated profile) whenever I can cause, y'know, I don't make any money from writing fanfiction.

"But Number! If you don't have much free time on your hands, why'd you start new stories and continuously update them?"

Good question. That answer comes in two parts, the first being my own stupidity and the second being that I go about writing Another Awakening differently than any of my other fics. I'm thinking things out for AA while I'm just flinging ideas at a figurative wall to see what sticks in the case of most of my other fics. Like A Shepherd's Rest. That's given very, very little thought as I write chapters for that.

Honestly, if I could earn money by just writing fanfics, I'd absolutely love that. Sadly, that's not the case, and I'm pretty sure there's some number of law violations that are just waiting to strike if that ever turned out to be the case.

Hmm…perhaps I should start a P(a)tre0n.

Ha! Kidding. I've absolutely nothing worth making a Patrn for. I'm not like some FF authors who have multiple chapters written ahead of time (which is a pretty smart thing to do, not gonna lie) to post on their Patrn for early access or anything. Even if I did have multiple chapters written, I'd feel pretty scummy about having some people pay for just a week's worth of early access.

No offense to anyone who does that, by the way. "You do you", or so the saying goes.

Maybe I could do commissions for short stories? Hahahaha, kidding again.

. . .

Well, gonna end it here now. I've decided to stop doing review replies since that tends to artificially inflate the word count (this A/N is already like 700 words). I'll figure out on a different method on replying to reviews, which might end up just me replying individually through PMs. FF should really improve on their quality of life stuff, like adding an actual review-reply thing like AO3. And YouTube. Practically everything else has it, so why not FF?

Thank you all for the favorites, follows, reviews, and even just reading! I apologize again for the ridiculously long wait, and I'll see you all in the next chapter that hopefully won't take as long.

(I know I suck at keeping promises like that, but I'm really trying here.)