On a ship floating in the middle of the ocean were a bunch of lousy Dragons excited for war. They all eagerly awaited their captain's orders. In their eyes was a glimmering light, a generation who had yet to see blood—young dragons full of ambition and positive images of war.
Isadora was sitting alone on the deck and staring out into the ocean. The glittering stars painted the ocean, and the moonlight bathed the ship with a silvery glow. Isadora slowly counted all the ripples and waves in the ocean, but as soon as she reached a number bigger than 100, she lost count because of how many small ripples there were. Did she miss one? Did she miss one? Didn't she already count this one?
As she was counting the stars on the ocean she felt a pair of hands groping her sides. Isadora jumped up from her chair and with wide eyes stared down at Glei who was crouching behind her with her tongue sticking out.
Irritated she asked what Glei was doing instead of planning the siege on Nautilus.
"Hey, hey, we can't have our Captain sulking alone, she's gotta encourage and lead their subordinates."
Isadora's expression fell apart as Glei said that. Her eyes fell dead into a corner as a wave of guilt washed over her.
Glei realising what she had done tried apologising to Isadora but Isadora just brushed her off and told her to plan out the siege and how to deal with Allegrano instead of harassing her.
Isadora left the deck and walked down towards her soldiers who were standing there playing games and excitedly talking about how the war is gonna go.
She knew what Glei said was right. A person who had been blessed with such extraordinary powers as hers should use them. She shouldn't waste her potential, her life. The king needed her, they need her powers, they need her to do her job. A person as important as her couldn't sit around sulking in their philosophical thoughts. She is a Dragon, there was nothing more important than doing her role. Yet even with that said she couldn't bear to meet the gaze of her subordinates.
As all eyes lay upon the Time monarch, her eyes were on the floor. The dragons cheered as they saw Isadora.
"You all will be granted the Time monarch's blood so you can move in stopped time."
Isadora raised a goblet and took out a small pocket knife. Her hands were shaking a bit but as she took a deep breath and steeled her resolve she cut open her hand and squeezed her blood into the cup.
She couldn't bear looking at blood. But eventually, as curiosity got the better of her she snuck a peek and saw that it was just a blurry crimson red. Her head moved around erratically almost as if it was spinning.
"Wolte…"
She felt a little tap on her shoulder and when she turned around she saw Glei standing behind her.
"About earlier… I'm sorry for teasing you.. I took it a little too far. I will be more careful next time."
Isadora smiled gently and reassured Glei that it was fine and that she was right. She needed to become a better leader. Seeing how much those words had impacted Isadora, Glei felt a pang of guilt causing such a kind person to step up to doing something she hated.
She knew what kind of person Isadora was. Isadora, the Time monarch was the most benevolent and kind person in the world. Surrounded by violence and her responsibility she never strayed away from her ways. She always stayed true to herself and never caused harm to another creature. Glei and Wolte realised that this was the type of person Isadora was and they decided together that they would help her stay true to herself.
They would never let Isadora hurt another being. They would be the ones doing the dirty work for her.
Seeing Isadora step up felt so unnatural. Usually, for missions, she would always conduct the bloodletting in privacy but she is doing it in front of all her soldiers right now.
As the cup filled to the brim Isadora took a step back and almost collapsed. But luckily Glei stood behind her and caught Isadora in her arms.
Each one of the soldiers received a portion of Isadora's blood. But some of them couldn't handle the potency of her blood and collapsed intoxicated.
The seniors of Isadora's legion laughed as they watched the younger recruits get drunk from one sip. Glei carried Isadora away to some quieter place.
"Glei?" Isadora said in a coarse voice.
Glei turned towards Isadora and asked what was wrong.
"Is what we are doing wrong?"
Glei's eyes fell upon the ocean alongside Isadora's when she asked that question.
They listened to the waves crashing against the hull of the boat as they bathed in the moonlight.
"It is neither right nor wrong, it just depends on the person you ask."
"But what do you feel? Deep down in your heart, what is it that you want?"
Glei went quiet for a moment.
"I want peace just like you. This war is a waste of manpower and material but as a Dragon, I guess it is my responsibility to do what I am told."
Isadora's smile slowly diminished as she absorbed those words.
"AUGHHH, Let's skip this sad talk!" Glei swung her arm around her shoulders.
"FOOD FOOD!" Glei exclaimed as she dragged Isadora with her towards the dining hall."
*A few hours later*
Lying on her bed and staring at the wooden ceiling, Isadora couldn't even get a little nap in before the invasion. Just the thought of countless corpses riddled across the country was horrifying enough to keep her awake.
The bodies of her men, her friends, Glei and Wolte… She punched the pillow she was hugging.
"Why!! Why!!! Why!! WHEN I NEED YOU THE MOST YOU ARE GONE!" Isadora sobbed as she pressed her face into her pillow.
With her face still in the pillow she called out his name one last time with one long breath. That's when Glei burst into her room and overheard her calling out Wolte's name.
Glei made a sly look and started to tease Isadora who immediately threw the pillow at her.
*Relax… I'm just here to tell that we are almost there."
Isadora jumped out of bed and made her way out onto the deck where most of her men were standing peering out into the distance. It was too foggy to see anything.
That's when one of them shouted that they saw land. All of them shouted in excitement and fetched their weapons. Glei stood right by Isadora and watched her closely. It was clear that Isadora wasn't ready for this, but they had to do this mission no matter what. Hesitation was written all across her face and her hand was trembling.
Glei tapped on Isadora's shoulder and reassured her that her strategy would bring them victory. Isadora gave an unsure nod before staring into the distance.
The ships docked on the beach and all Isadora's subordinates leapt from the ship except her and Glei who stayed onboard.
Angelic wings sprouted from Isadora's back and the crown of motion materialised on her head. She flew up into the air as Glei watched on.
As she ascended and peered down onto the city she couldn't help but notice how damaged Nautilus already was. Most of the residential areas had been burned down and there were no people in sight.
But it didn't matter, all that mattered was that they needed to massacre the people of Nautilus and prevent the descendants of Hectima from interfering with King Uryo.
"Heed me world, and stop."
As she watched her men rush into the city of Nautilus she realised that something was off. The more she looked around the more wrong it seemed.
Our king sent a notice to the capital and thus they should have mobilised in every country. Why hasn't Allegrano mobilised the troops of Nautilus? Even though he staged a coup there should be soldiers guarding.
"GLEI, IT IS A TRAP. CALL THEM BACK!"
Immediately realising that Allegrano had set up some kind of trap Glei tried to call back the troops.
The moon bathed them with a silvery glow and the smog camouflaged all of the troops. It was a perfect opportunity to ambush according to the original plan but this was obviously a trap. Allegrano had probably planned a counterattack or had he completely abandoned Nautilus altogether? That was impossible, right?
Glei shot up the emergency flare signalling for the men to retreat but the young recruits too eager for blood ignored the emergency flare and continued deeper into the city.
Still in the air, Isadora tried to fly towards her soldiers to tell them.
She shouted repeatedly for them to retreat but they didn't hear her. The soldiers thought that as long as time was stopped nothing could stop them. They had the Time monarch as their leader after all so nothing could go wrong.
Isadora flew even closer to the soldiers and told them to get out of the city as quickly as possible. Now being close enough they heard her and started to listen and started to retreat.
Being busy guiding her subordinates out of the city, Isadora didn't realise what was coming at her. As she told them where to exit an object too fast to see pierced through Isadora's chest and she fell from the air.
The Time monarch's legion widened their eyes in shock as they saw their leader fall from the sky into the ocean.
Glei screamed out in panic as she saw Isadora plunge into the sea.
"Heed me world…"
Time started to move again and Isadora started to rewind time on her body. She pulled herself onto shore. Glei rushed over to her captain and saw that embedded in her chest was a silver sword.
"A silver sword?" Glei confusingly asked.
As soon as those words reached Isadora's ear a chill ran down her spine. Did she hear that right? A silver sword…
She looked down at her chest and saw that it was indeed a silver sword and it was freezing the area surrounding the tissue it touched.
"SILVER!?!" Isadora started to hyperventilate as she realised that it was the real deal.
"Calm down Isadora! CALM DOWN!"
Isadora grabbed onto Glei's shoulders and made her trip. Both of them were now lying on the beach. Glei tried to pull the silver sword out of Isadora's chest but as soon as she grabbed onto the handle, her hands started to freeze and that's when she realised what was going on.
"That day you came back with the transportation general, Wolte's body was covered in silver… and this is the same silver as before… THE SILVER SAINT! WHY IS HE NEARBY?"
As Glei and Isadora were panicking, they heard the screams of their men in the city. Had the fighting already broken out?
Glei hurriedly grabbed onto the silver sword and yanked it out of her torso before dragging Isadora back onto the ship.
Isadora was too petrified to move. The memories of Wolte flooded back. How he had sacrificed himself to protect her and how he almost died because of her.
"It is gonna be my fault all again… people are gonna die because of… me."
Glei looked into the city and saw that the dragons were fighting someone but couldn't make out a clear picture of who because of the smog.
"People are gonna…"
"SNAP OUT OF IT IDIOT!"
With a hard slap across the cheek, Isadora rubbed her swollen cheek as she looked back up at Glei who was panting.
"PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER, YOU CAN'T FREAK OUT DURING A WAR!"
Swallowing her spit Isadora stood up and analysed the battlefield. She nodded as she tried to forget about that silver blade. The biggest problem now was the Silver Saint being in the area. Time stop doesn't work on him and ganging up on him doesn't work either because of his silver bomb he can do to eliminate everyone in the area.
The best chance of surviving this was to pull back and come back another time. Glei gave her a reassuring nod as Isadora finally told her the orders.
Chaos erupted behind the gates of the city walls.
"Heed me world and stop!"
Time had been stopped once again. The fog slowly cleared and the moonlight finally shone through to reveal who the soldiers were fighting.
It wasn't the enemy soldiers they were fighting but they were fighting amongst themselves.
Filled with confusion Isadora saw her men butcher each other one after another. But another thing she saw was that the people of Nautilus rushed out of their homes and started to attack each other as well.
It was an all-out brawl for everyone and she saw how the city turned red.
"What are you seeing up there?"
Glei anxiously waited for Isadora to tell her about the situation but received no answer as Isadora watched on.
That's when Isadora spotted a green-haired man standing on a rooftop with his arms stretched out. There was a brimming smile on his face full of excitement and joy. But then Isadora saw the green flower on his cheek, it was Allegrano, he had used his Aeon Acclimation and that's why our soldiers were fighting each other.
Isadora impulsively flew towards Allegrano without thinking.
Glei desperately called out her name to stop her but Isadora flew even further away from her.
Once Isadora entered the city, she couldn't understand whom she was supposed to stop. Why did she even come into this place in the first place? To attack whom? No, she wasn't here to attack someone, she was here to save. Because she had no enemies and had a kind pure heart Allegrano's acclimation was rendered useless against her.
She approached Allegrano and yanked on his flower. Eventually, she managed to rip the flower from his cheek and it started to wilt in her hand.
"Heed me world return into motion."
Time had started to move again and all her men and the soldiers of Nautilus wondered what they were doing. Friends who were fighting dropped their weapons in confusion and Allegrano stood there with a confused expression.
His eyes darted around and locked onto Isadora.
"How dare you touch me, you filthy beast!?"
His eyes filled up with disgust as he saw Isadora in front of him holding his wilted flower.
A new flower regrew onto his cheek and he started to rush towards Isadora, trying to touch her.
"Heed me world and stop."
Allegrano's body stood at a standstill, Isadora went down to her men and ordered them to fulfil their mission, that she had taken care of their leader.
The jubilation of the crowd was intense as they all started to chant Isadora's name in unison.
Isadora had prevented a tragedy from happening.
"I finally did something good," she muttered to herself.
They didn't need to retreat now that she had dealt with Allegrano. She felt a wave of adrenaline rushing through her veins after defeating an Aeon. She didn't feel scared anymore of commanding her men. The Dragon blood inside of her, after tasting victory, desired more. It pushed away those thoughts of peace and retreat.
"This is my responsibility," she reassured herself.
She felt how her hands shook a bit as she raised her hand and ordered her men to exterminate the people of Nautilus.
Her men rushed into the streets of Nautilus and massacred women, men and children alike.
"This is just our responsibility," she said while closing her eyes.
She still couldn't bear looking at those scenes even with the adrenaline rushing through her. Turning her head away she admired how beautiful the mountains of Serenity were.
But that's when something familiar was caught in the corner of her eye. A glimmering light refracting the light from the moon. A silvery and shiny glow. Flying above the mountains of Serenity was a figure she could never forget.
Gliding down from the mountain was the Silver Saint. The moment his eyes locked onto her, blood spilt from his eyeballs from too much strain.
His eyes were filled with an indescribable amount of hate towards her and her race. In the palm of his hand, he gathered up a ball of silver which he started to charge up.
Her men were almost finished with the job but the Silver Saint was approaching them. If he reached them before the job was finished the mission would have failed.
The Silver Saint had reached them before they managed to finish all the citizens and when he saw all the corpses of innocent humans, rage swelled up inside of him as he hurled the silver ball into the sky.
All the dragons peered up into the sky wondering what that silvery glow was. It was so beautiful, like another moon. Two moons on a foggy night covered Nautilus.
Isadora yelled desperately at her men to duck down low and some of the seniors listened to her whilst the young recruits couldn't help but marvel at the beauty of the second moon.
"SHATTER"
The silvery moon pulsated before emitting a bright light that consumed the entire city. All the dragons that hadn't ducked for cover had all been reduced to mere piles of silver dust.
All the buildings of Nautilus had also been coated in glowing silver and the ocean as well.
Isadora used her emergency flare to signal her soldiers to get the hell out of there before any more of them died but as she tried to lead them out. Spikes of silver pierced many of the dragons fleeing the city.
"Heed me world, return into motion."
As the Dragons got onboard the ship again a small little girl peeked out from the bush.
Fiviana saw how hundreds of people ran onto a ship. She had no clue what was going on, what they were running from?
She left her hiding place and walked closer to get a better look and saw the thousands of corpses littered across the streets of Nautilus. Some of them had been mutilated while some of them were covered in silver spikes. That's when she saw the figure inside the city. A man with white silvery hair with blood dripping down his eyes.
Did he kill everyone in the city? He then locked eyes with Fiviana who was standing in the middle of the open. Fear sprang down Fiviana's spine as she met the Silver Saint's gaze and without thinking she ran into the crowd of fleeing people, thinking it was the only way to escape.