-Geoffrey-
The former knight did not know who swung the first punch, but one thing led to another, and soon enough, the three giants rushed at each other in a colossal brawl that shook the entire castle. With the monsters duking it out and trampling everything underfoot, the Mitagi and Majora were in need of a new place to regroup.
Geoffrey slew another smaller Twilight and made his way to the now open door. "Everyone, out!" He announced.
The Mitagi hiding behind their guards and the Majora attacking anything that moved didn't need to be told twice. The group rushed into the courtyard of the castle. Geoffrey quickly circled around the courtyard to understand the situation. A full out war had erupted all around him. Everywhere he looked, Twilight creatures were crawling out of crevices and over walls like they were nothing. The surviving defenders looked relieved to see the great hall's doors had finally, albeit briefly, opened.
"General!" A commander rushed to him and saluted. His eyes scanned the crowd. "Where is the princess?"
"Safe, that is all you need to know," Geoffrey replied. "What is the situation?"
"The city is under siege. We have evacuated everyone from the castle, but the main hall has been sealed off until now and-" His eyes grew wide as he looked past Geoffrey. There was a thunderous crash that shook the ground, a great roar, and if Geoffrey had to guess right, one of the major walls of the inner castle just collapsed.
Geoffrey winced. "Yes, I know. They are big. We need to regroup! What is the situation around the city? Where is the chain of command?"
"Until now, it has been only myself."
"Good." Geoffrey patted him on the shoulder. "I have no doubt you have done well. I am taking over. I need you to have the Mitagi elders escorted to safety. Is there a safe place? You said the entire city is under siege."
"General, this IS the safe place. Look here." The commander ran up the wall stairs and pointed over the top. Geoffrey followed him and saw there was chaos and fire everywhere, lighting up the night sky. Nabooru and other Majora climbed up to join them. Soldiers and civilians alike rushed through the gates and passageways into the inner city. The courtyard was flooding with people and confusion. For the moment, the soldiers were succeeding in keeping the Twilight at bay.
Geoffrey looked further out and saw the Twilight creatures clambered up walls and across rooftops like spiders. The Mitagi's defenders were elite and specialized, but it occurred to him that the city was built against them. The many walls isolated the city into pocket regions and sectors that limited the guards' strategies. Their disadvantage could spell disaster as nothing short of a flood of demons continued to pour into the city.
"My lord, what are they?!" The commander asked.
"I don't know," Geoffrey answered. "Whatever they are, though, they were able to hide and elude us for a very long time. They are stealthy and smart, that is for certain. I think we found our serial killers and assassins."
"Sewers," Nabooru said.
Geoffrey and the Mitagi commander faced Nabooru in surprise. She sneered back. "What? It's where we would hide. And these things don't seem to discriminate on what they eat. Heck, they eat each other. They will no doubt find a feast in the sewers where you dump your filth."
"She... she's right," The commander murmured. "Most of the creatures have been sighted crawling out of sewer grates."
Geoffrey closed his eyes a moment and saw the battlefield as a general. As Ouki taught him, he needed to use a bird's eye view. The sewers were under the city as well as the Sheikah tunnels. There was no safe place. No matter what location they chose, they were surrounded.
"We need to evacuate the city," Geoffrey decided.
The commander balked. "What?! Evacuate the Mitagi fortress!? Sir, this place has endured siege after siege! We are even equipped to endure a siege that has penetrated the city by the design of the walls!"
"Yes, but these things are not affected by walls. We have done well in collecting the people into pockets where they can defend themselves, but no matter where we go, we are surrounded. It occurs to me that we are only safe outside."
"But... our reputation as the pillar of Qin!"
"Is tarnished whether we evacuate or not," Geoffrey gravely stated. "I understand your reasoning, but that is my decision. My order is this: reach out to the isolated defenses, grab every civilian we can, and rush out the nearest exit. We shall regroup at that hill and its opposite." Geoffrey pointed at the targets beyond the city. "Give the order, Commander."
The commander gulped. For a moment, Geoffrey felt like an outsider. He had never given orders to any Mitagi without Ouki standing beside him. He was not one of them. He was always known simply as the blond Englishman to these people. He was taller than most by a full head, and he had non-pointed eyes and non-pointed ears. His God was not theirs. His childhood memories were of a different place and a different culture.
For a fleeting moment, Geoffrey wondered if he would be defied.
To his relief, the Mitagi saluted, turned, and yelled for his officers so that they may coordinate and begin the plan. Geoffrey sighed.
"What shall we do, General?" Nabooru asked.
Geoffrey raised an eyebrow. Nabooru's posture was respectful, attentive, and expecting. "My lady, you are our guest. I would prefer that you all rest and stay with the civilians so that we may protect you." Her eyes were fierce, and her two blades were coated in dark blood. "But... if you find your blade reaching one of these abominations, I certainly will not object." She smiled. Her smile scared him.
The shadows around the two deepened for a moment, and then a number of Sheikah appeared. They had their faces covered, but Geoffrey recognized the attire.
"General," One Sheikah said, "the Shadowmaster sends his greetings."
"I welcome him as well," Geoffrey replied. "I need you to assist the commander however you can. We are evacuating the city. How are the Sheikah fairing?"
"Not much better than the Mitagi, I'm afraid. We have prevented the Twilight from overrunning us by destroying many tunnels, but by the time we knew about their invasion, it was too late. The creatures have been inhabiting the untraveled, uninhabited tunnels for far too long. We have evacuated into the city and are engaging the creatures where we find them."
"Well, go out and tell your clan to assist in our evacuation. Notify the isolated defenders as well. We need to get everyone out."
The Sheikah saluted. The shadows deepened again, and they were gone.
"Apologies, my lady, if they spooked you," Geoffrey said to Nabooru.
"Not at all," She replied. "I knew they were coming. If they think hiding in shadows will keep us from smelling them, then they will have another thing coming. Don't they ever bath?"
Geoffrey chuckled, but moved on. The soldiers were ready, and the people were eager to move. Geoffrey marveled at the Mitagi. Even the civilians had a military resolve and unquestioning morale to them. It was no doubt born from exposure to the elite military force of Qin for generations. Every man and woman was armed with something. There was no discontent, there was no chaos, and there were no rebels to the plan. There was only military order. This was not necessarily a trait he would want civilians to have, but in times like today, it could very well save them.
The commander spoke loudly, spreading to all what would be happening. Nabooru rushed to her kin. The Majora were collapsed and exhausted. Most had their masks off to rest. A few had died, but they had slain many times their own number. The only one missing among them were the twin witches.
"Where are the two priestesses?" Geoffrey asked. As if in response to his question, there was a series of explosions inside the castle and the witches flew out. "They're flying on chairs?"
Nabooru shrugged. "Why not? Probably comfier than brooms."
Immediately following them, the three monsters crashed into the courtyard while entangled in a ball. Elder took Ganondorf's face that bellowed fire, and smashed it into the ground. The Twilight dragon quickly uncurled itself from the three's entwinement. Once free, it vomited flames onto both of them. Elder reached behind him, grabbed the dragon by the neck, and flipped it over them and onto its back. However, this freed Ganon from Elder's stone construct. Ganon rose, grabbed Elder by the shoulder, and crushed him against the walls of the castle. The dragon twisted back onto onto its claws, looked up, and saw the mass of people before it. It prepared to breath fire again, but the witches used some unknown spell to cause Twilight tentacles to rise from the ground, grab it by the snout, and slam its jaws shut.
Suffice to say, the people were terrified.
"Go! Open the gate!" Geoffrey barked.
The officers and soldiers pushed the mob forward and slowly began to trickle them through the castle's main gate. He ran against the mob and towards the dragon. With Ganon and Elder intent on one another, the dragon was free to bring its attention to the people.
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"Bring it down!" Geoffrey yelled at the witches.
They yelled something back in a language he couldn't grasp. It sounded like an insult. Regardless, they strengthened the spell, and the tentacles pulled the entire dragon to the ground.
"Hope this works..." Geoffrey muttered. He stabbed the dragon in the eye with his sword. It screamed in pain and broke free of the tentacles, but not before he struck its jaw with his shield.
The shield stopped its humming and released an intense shockwave. The sudden blow struck the dragon with enough force to knock it into the air and collide with the monsters behind it. Ganon yelled and started to choke the dragon's neck in revenge. He might have succeeded too, had the Elder not punched him square in the head.
The shield's shockwave knocked Geoffrey back as well, but only enough to push him onto his back. He quickly stood up and marveled at the weapon. He whispered, "I like this shield."
After recovering, the dragon stretched its head over to Ganon's side and tore off a piece to swallow. Ganon bellowed, but did not hold his side like he was in pain. Instead, his overall size shrank a little, and the deep wound healed itself.
The dragon swallowed the bite of Ganon, and the results became evident immediately. Its scales ejected fire and shadow as a fine mist. Many eyes and glowing orbs appeared on its hide. Its body grew several feet. Its wing span expanded, and unless Geoffrey was seeing things, the fire coming from its mouth became much more intense and otherworldly.
The dragon fully extended its wings and took to the sky in a gust of wind. Enraged, Ganon did the same. Elder took a bit longer to follow, first having to change his shape into what amounted to a massive stone chimera. The twin witches followed last.
Geoffrey gave a sigh of relief. The battle was not over, but the combatants were now somewhere else. He had enough to deal with before their eventual return.
-Zelda-
One moment, Zelda was telling Geoffrey that she did not want to leave, and the next, she was being held over Link's shoulder and in the middle of an abandoned road in the open night. She had the overwhelming need to vomit.
Zelda struggled against Link and fell on her side. She rolled onto her hands and threw up.
"Wha- you!" Zelda struggled to breath with her burning throat. "What was that?! Is that what it's like when you use your Gift?"
"We have bigger problems," Link replied. His attention was upward, and he was panting slightly.
Zelda unceremoniously wiped her mouth on her sleeve and followed his gaze. The moon shined ominously upon the Rebellious Hero, who stood on a nearby rooftop and looked down at them. In the far distance, Zelda could see the castle. Numbers of the Twilight creatures passed along the road towards it. She heard scratching and turned to find Twilight crawled out of a hole in a fountain. She instinctively stepped behind Link.
"You- you couldn't outrun him?" Zelda asked.
Link shook his head. "We could leave the city, but he will just give chase. I would only tire myself and leave you vulnerable." Link turned his head just enough to see at her. "Be careful. If he disappears from your sight for even a moment, throw yourself to the ground to dodge him."
"You're not going to fight him!" Zelda protested. "You're skilled, but he-"
"I know. I don't know of another way out of this, but he doesn't seem willing to offer another choice."
Link swallowed, readied his grip on the Spear of Nayru, and stepped forward. He took a short sword he had borrowed off his belt and handed it to Zelda. Then, he motioned for Zelda to stand near the wall. He hoped she wouldn't draw the attention of the Twilight. He would have enough of his attention full with just the Rebel.
"Done running?" The Rebel asked. He dropped from the roof and landed on a knee. He stood once more and stepped towards them. A longsword flashed into his hand."It is bold of you to confront me with my own weapon and with a power that was originally mine."
"You should feel honored," Link said.
"Honor has nothing to do with this. There is no honor in war or death. You serve her. She needs to die. I will defeat you, reclaim my power, and then kill her. That's all there is to it."
The Rebel disappeared. Link's eyes widened. He had no way of telling where the Rebel would reappear, but he had to do something. He lowered his stance and spun around. He felt metal brush the top of his head, and he struck the Rebel with the blunt end of his spear. The Rebel rammed Link with his shoulder in retaliation. The force pushed Link back and hindered the strike's power. Before Link could settle his feet again, the Rebel kicked him in the knee, sweeping his leg out from under him. As Link fell forward onto one foot, the Rebel brought his sword up and swiped Link across the collar.
Link grit his teeth against the pain. That cut was deep. He tightened his grip as best he could, and struck at the Rebel with the speared end. The Rebel spun around him, deftly avoiding the blow, and brought his longsword down Link's back.
Link fell forward onto one hand. He gasped in pain and disbelief. He knew the Hero was skilled, but Link was nothing more than a child to him! So considering that, Link wondered why his Gift didn't pull him back to the moments before the Rebel struck him. It was like the Rebel purposefully avoided dealing lethal blows so it didn't activate. Every opponent Link had fought up to this point were trying to outright kill him when he used his Gift. This man wasn't. He was skilled enough to strike deep blows without being lethal.
Link snarled and tried again and again to strike at him, but at no point could he reach him. The Rebellious Hero was too skilled a duelist. Their duel became a routine of strike, avoid, and counter, followed by strike, avoid, and counter time and time again.
Finally, the Hero slashed Link across the chest, forehead, so blood obscured his vision, and forearm. Rather than avoid Link's next jab, the Hero then caught the spear of Nayru in his hand. Link could hardly grip the heavy spear after the narrow cut in his arm, so the strike was weak enough to hold, just like the Hero wanted.
Link panted and glared even as blood flowed into his eyes. From the number of people who had given him concussions and headwounds, he was a little experience when blood got in his eyes.
"Let this be a lesson to you," The Hero said while holding Link back. "You shouldn't exhaust yourself as you did. Now you can barely use your Gift to shift time. You should learn to better measure your opponent. And lastly, you should always choose your Lord more carefully. It's a simple mistake, I understand, but simply no matter how much you wish, sometimes... your Lord is not who you thought he was. Sometimes... you fail."
The spear disappeared from Link's hand. He wondered where it had gone, but he heard a gasp before anything could be done. Link's blood ran cold, and he turned his head to see his spear penetrating Zelda's side deep enough to pierce the wall behind her.
Zelda fell to the side and scrambled away from the weapon. Part of her dress had torn away with the spear, and blood stained it. Thankfully, the wound wasn't as severe as it could have been. She gripped her side but found the strength to stand again.
"Damn, girl. You're entirely too skinny for such a large dress," The Rebel commented.
He didn't have long to keep his attention on the princess, though, for Link's Gift flared dangerously. Link glared murderously for the Hero's assault on Zelda. His blood boiled, and he threw caution to the wind. Even if it killed him, Link was going to push his Gift further than ever before. He was pissed.
Link disappeared in a blur only to return and smash something heavy into the Rebel's back. The Rebel grunted on impact, but he didn't have a moment to react as Link seamlessly pulled the spear out of the wall and clubbed him in the head. The Rebel's helmet flew off, but Link was too furious to notice. Again and again, Link sped in and beat the Rebel with heavy blows. The man's armor succeeded in keeping him from being decapitated, but the attacks painfully crushed against it.
The Rebel tried to cut Link, stop him, or use his chains, but Link was too fast. Growling in frustration, the Rebel disappeared and reappeared with his back against the wall of a nearby building.
Link blindly rushed him at the new location. The Rebel tapped his hand against the wall. In a flash, the whole building disappeared.
The building reappeared around Link.
There was a series of crashes from inside. The Rebel sighed. Link was proving more difficult to handle than he expected. He opened the door and entered the building. Link was tangled in a pile of furniture.
Link groaned and struggled to his feet. He wobbled heavily, but stood all the same. "Bastard... you threw... a building. Who does that?!"
Again, Link brought his Gift to life, but his control of time was much weaker. He had barely taken two steps before the Rebel caught his face in his palm. He swept Link's feet out from under him and slammed his head into the ground. The wood cracked under the impact. The Hero did so again, picking Link up and smashing his head into the ground.
Link gurgled. His head spun. He was wounded everywhere, covered in cuts, and was certain he had some broken bones. He was exhausted and couldn't move. All he could do was watch his assailant win. His eyes finally focused on the man over him, but they widened at what they saw.
"You..." Link whispered.
This was no man. The Hero was no man. Once, he may have been, but now he was a shadow of his former self. Casted in the shadows of night, Link saw he had no face, no skin, and no muscle. He was a skeleton inside armor. Glowing red orbs looked down on Link from where his eyes should be.
Link looked up at the monster in horror. It cocked its head to the side in a very human gesture. Its jaws moved to say, "My apologies. I'm taking this back."
The Hero grabbed Link's hand in a tight grip. Link felt something pull at him, pulling at his very soul. It was like his arm was being torn off, but the Rebel was not pulling. Link's confusion grew when suddenly something changed.
Link cried out as something was forced from him, and he leaned away. His limp hand fell to the ground in front of him, and his body quaked. Link felt a burning on his skin as old wounds opened, and fresh wounds stopped healing. All energy left him, and Link was left with nothing to look forward to but death.
His Mark was gone, and the hollow triangle on the Hero's hand had become full.
The Hero sighed. "Finally."
He stood, grabbed Link's limp body, and turned around. Zelda stood ahead of them, her own Mark flaring brightly. Her palm faced them while her other hand held her bleeding side. Her expression was ten steps past livid. She had half a mind to shoot the Hero with her power, but she didn't dare. He was holding Link's body up.
"Go ahead," The Hero dared her.
"Let him go!" Zelda yelled.
"Or... what?" He taunted. He waved Link in front of her.
Zelda's eye twitched. Aiming carefully, she sent a light arrow into the ground in front of him. The shockwave shattered the stone beneath his feet, and the Rebel stumbled. He barely had a moment to catch himself before Zelda was in front of him, hand in his face.
She sent a light arrow into his skull from point blank range. The Rebel fell back, and his skeletal body shattered. However, his newfound Gift flared to life. His body quickly reformed, and he fell forwards.
Another light arrow formed in Zelda's hand, but the Rebel grabbed her wrist and pulled it to the side before it struck him. The second shockwave destroyed the building behind them and flew debris into the air.
That was a close one, the Rebel knew. Fortunately for him, she didn't know how to defeat Link's Gift properly. She ignorantly went for the kill right from the start.
Zelda pulled against him, but the Rebel continued to hold her wrist tightly. He dropped Link to free his other arm.
"For what it's worth," He said, "you have my respect. Your predecessor wasn't so bold, cunning, nor lucky. He was a far easier target."
Just as he did with Link, the Rebel grabbed Zelda by her Marked hand.
At this time, beneath the castle of Mitagi, the torch completely burned through the Twilight egg. The boiling black liquid finally evaporated into steam. The dead creature burned to ash. The embers burned through everything, and the green torch's flame burst into full force and life.
A watery portal opened behind them, and chains shot out all around the Rebel's body, pulling at and burning him. He dropped his grip on Zelda. The Rebel skidded back a step, but planted his feet. He growled and pulled against the bindings. His Gift flared to life, and the chains strained against him. He took a step forward, then a second. Suddenly, another triangle on his hand flared to life, and the chains shattered.
The Rebel fell to his hands and knees. The portal disappeared. He gasped for breath, chuckled, then laughed. He lifted his head and yelled loudly. At last, he thought, he was free! Free from that bastard's curse! And to make things better, he had both the Mark of Courage and the Mark of Wisdom! Now all he needed was the Mark of Power, and he could gain any wish he wanted. But first, he remembered, there was a princess to remove.
"Now for..." He looked to where Zelda was to find she was gone. For that matter, so was Link. In their place was a trail of blood leading away.