A True Hero

41 - The Final Battle, Part 2

"Now?" Arthur asked, seeing Dark Meta Knight and Dark Nicolette ahead, guarding the entrance to the castle. Their eyes blazed red as they waited for us to come to them, each holding their weapons. Dark Nicolette tapped her foot impatiently. "They're seriously coming now?" A squawk came from above me, and Arthur leaped into the air, tackled it to the ground, and sliced its head off. "They're both too powerful!"

"They're not alone," Meta Knight said gravely, and when I looked back at our dark copies, I saw a large red wolf had joined them. Meta Knight's eyes grew red in fury. "Wolfwrath is here, too."

"Arthur!" cried a voice from below us. I rushed to the edge of the railing and looked down to see Ren beneath us, ducking to avoid the Starcutter's beams. His white hair was matted on the left side with crimson blood. "More monsters are gathering! We're losing men!"

A large explosion caused the ground to the right of our group to erupt, and everyone but Meta fell to the ground, including even the monsters we were battling.

"Destrayers!" Meta cried, pointing to the sky above the castle. "We must get rid of them quickly, or we will be defeated!"

"Magolor will need to fight it with the Starcutter," Arthur said, taking out his radio and calling for Mags. "Magolor, we are dismounting now. We need you to do your best and take out the Destrayers NME has summoned. There's only three, you can do it."

"I will try!" Magolor replied confidently through the radio, and Arthur shut the radio and jumped onto the railing.

"Come now!" he ordered, then jumped over the edge. I followed him, then Meta Knight and The Sage. As my feet touched the ground in the midst of the battle, the Starcutter's engines suddenly fired and it slowly launched into the air toward the Destrayers. Another explosion shook the ground and blew up a legion of monsters coming from the north, but it also took out a few soldiers. My heart skipped a beat when I saw Joanna fly through the air. Black smoke rose into the air where the laser hit the ground, and Magolor quickly directed the Starcutter into it to avoid being seen by the ships above.

"Nicolette, Meta Knight!" Ren yelled, and I turned my unfocused attention to him. "I will go with you two, The Sage, and Arthur to the castle! If we keep pushing, we'll make it!"

"Wolfwrath and our dark copies will prove a problem," Meta grunted as he tackled and killed a mantis-like monster that had worked its way into the middle of our forces.

"I will handle them," I said, raising my katanas and deflecting a stray laser beam into a monster about to kill a soldier on the outer edge of the group. The soldier looked surprised but quickly recovered and took out two more scorpion beasts.

"By yourself?" Meta asked, looking doubtful.

"You must get to the throne room and dismantle the transporter, or NME will get away," I replied. A monster with grotesque fangs and flaming yellow eyes, much like a cat's, sprang upon Galeren from the left, and I sidestepped Ren's stumble, turned in a circle, and cleanly cut through the monster's fur into its spine. It screamed in agony as it tore in two, then fell to the ground and vanished in a cloud of lightning and smoke. "You're one of the few soldiers who knows how to destroy those transporters. Let the others go with you. I'll distract our copies."

"I'll help Nicolette," Ren panted, sending a sword beam into an oncoming group of monsters. While we spoke, we urged the group of soldiers forward from the middle. Arthur was at the frontlines, fighting with the men, taking down line after line of monsters, and moving us onward. The Sage floated above us a few feet away, zapping monsters with lasers that shot out from his hands. He was much more powerful than I realized. 

Meta Knight looked hard at me, then suddenly I heard him say to me, Please be careful. It's not that I think you are weak. It's that I think NME has a trap awaiting you with those three.