Even if he hadn’t said so, Naptunie would have never dared to take a step ahead. The road in front of them was completely blocked by those men and, even more fearsome, the powerful swings of Darsan’s sword were much too terrifying. If he could send grown soldiers in heavy armor flying that easily, Nana knew she could be swept across the island in a blink! At least, it seemed she was completely safe by staying a couple of steps behind the Prince; everyone around and behind them was dead, dying, or stunned. While Darsan fought effortlessly, there were still an awful amount of Yekara soldiers here, slowing them down. Had more gathered over here after two bridges had been made unusable, and their main residence burned? Naptunie and Darsan had arrived from the opposite side of where she had left Tessandra and the others, but she couldn’t really tell how the battle had evolved. The smoke coming up from the burning buildings, along with the rain, was permeating the whole scene with a dense gray fog. It was stinging her eyes a bit too. She was getting gradually more nervous, forced to hide behind Darsan and unable to do anything. And it wasn’t in Nana’s nature to do nothing.

As soon as she saw an opportunity, Naptunie ran to the nearest safe building, and began climbing up. Careful not to injure herself, she kept Darsan in sight, but she still had to see where they needed to go.

Once she found herself on the roof, Naptunie took a second to secure her position, making sure she wouldn’t slide or fall and unnecessarily bother Darsan. Then, she took a look around, squinting and trying to protect her eyes from the bothersome fumes. She quickly spotted Prince Kassian and his shiny dragon scale armor, still flawlessly dominating the battle. Once again, there was a small field around him where none of the enemies dared to approach. His blades were moving at an incredible speed, and Nana realized he might have switched weapons. She even saw him stab someone with his sword, steal one of the men’s knives and throw it across the field, and get his sword back again before the first body hit the ground. It was impressive. Now she had seen all of them fight; Naptunie was realizing that although they had all been trained by the same War God, Cessilia, Darsan, Kassian, and Tessandra all had their own style of fighting.

Darsan didn’t need any fancy movements, his brute force was already beyond what most men could handle. He probably didn’t have the patience either, he just enjoyed fighting as if it was all in fun, leaving his opponents no chance. Once in a while, he’d get a worthy opponent able to handle him, and he would change his actions a bit, finding the best way to break them down. His attacks were brutal and merciless. His brother, on the other hand, managed to be faster, using less strength but sharper, more effective movements. Naptunie knew little to nothing about the intricacies of sword fighting, but her eyes were learning a lot just from watching either one of the Princes move. Despite the differences between them, she couldn’t even tell who was actually better. She had a hunch the older brother was slightly more detailed and precise, but it felt like Darsan was being playful on purpose, and only got serious for brief moments.

Feeling better since the Prince was safe, she tried to find Tessandra or Lady Bastat next. Naptunie’s heart sank when she realized the building they had been on previously was currently on fire. Had something happened to them? Her nervousness on the rise, she kept looking around until she finally spotted Tessandra. The Princess seemed completely fine, and even a little bit excited. Her green armor was covered in blood, which was why it had taken Nana an extra minute to find her, but she was fighting more fiercely than ever, a grin stuck on her lips as if she was having some fun. Naptunie quickly spotted her own brother, just steps behind her, who seemed not only to be fighting, but also helping to evacuate those who were injured. He looked fine too, perhaps a bit rougher than Tessandra, his face covered in soot, but she knew her big brother, he could pull through anything. He was probably focused more on rescuing than fighting too.

She couldn’t catch sight of Lady Bastat, though, even after searching for several minutes. Did she leave the area for some reason? Or perhaps was she with the injured? From where she was, Naptunie could easily see how their numbers had been reduced. They had lost a third of the people that were fighting with them before, while the Yekara had gained about the same amount of fighters, she was almost certain. She could see the spiky balls had caused a lot of damage, digging holes in the ground, with bodies spread around the impact areas... Not only that, but the few fires were blocking some roads and making some areas more difficult to stay in, allowing the Yekara soldiers to win some ground and control in the plaza too. Nana’s heart sank. They were not doing well. Prince Kassian was still bravely securing the space he was in, but the soldiers were almost surrounding him now.

Things were taking a better turn with Darsan’s arrival, though. The younger Prince was easily sweeping the enemies out of the way, virtually digging a hole in the crowd of fighters. There was nothing and no one able to stop him, and he was making his way, slowly but surely, to meet his brother in the middle of the battlefield. Naptunie couldn’t help but be a bit proud, until she realized he had gotten quite far. Far from her, still perched on her rooftop. She glanced down, only to nervously realize he hadn’t just left bodies behind. There were men down there, who hadn’t noticed her. Yet.

Naptunie took a big breath and wiped her eyes, teary from the smoke. She realized, those men were there for the same reason; they didn’t dare to approach Darsan, and they couldn’t back down either, the smoke was too strong behind them. She could even hear more people coughing from there...

Suddenly, she realized something.

Darsan and Kassian were both also surrounded by the smoke, but unlike the men around them, they weren’t bothered. Nana gasped, wondering if she was wrong. Perhaps were they somehow moving enough air around them? It didn’t seem like it. The mix of rain, smoke, and dust caused by all the collapsed buildings had created a dangerous mix of heavy smoke that was hindering most of the men on the battlefield; that explained why so many civilians had evacuated the area, while the stubborn Yekara soldiers were doing their very best to hang on. Still, the more she watched, the more Nana was sure: the Dragon Princes didn’t mind the smoke at all! In fact, it made sense. If they had the same abilities as their sister and cousin, fire shouldn’t be much of an issue for them... and neither was smoke.

So excited about her finding, Naptunie wanted to tell Darsan or Tessandra, but she realized she was still way too far! She glanced around; she could hop on the next building and perhaps get down on the next street, but that was dangerous. Still, she glanced down at the men gathered beneath her. Naptunie took a deep breath, deciding in a split moment. Better to try her luck on the next roof than down there!

“Up there!”

She froze right after the first step. Too late. The men had spotted her. While Darsan was too far away for them to fight, poor isolated Nana was the perfect target. She grimaced.

“Oh no...”

“Get her!”

The men began to climb, faster than her, and Nana retreated as fast as she could with an irrepressible panicked scream. She only had seconds before they got to her! If they killed her before she could put her plan to work, she’d regret it forever! In her hurry, she tripped and fell down on her hands and knees, making her cry out in pain again.

“Grab that little b–”

“DON’T. TOUCH. MY. NANA!”

Naptunie heard the loudest noise, and looked down just in time to see a body flying in the opposite direction. She had no idea how Darsan had possibly come back so fast, but the young Prince was there and absolutely furious. He seemed to have almost doubled in size, and was reducing those men to pieces with impossible violence. It was all over in seconds, but the bloodbath made Nana grimace and look away.

“Are you alright?! Nana! Are you hurt? I’m so sorry!”

“I-I’m coming down!”

“I got you!”

Nana took a deep breath and slid down the roof, landing very softly in Darsan’s arms. He greeted her with his big smile back on his face.

“Got you!” he said, visibly satisfied. “Are you alright? Did they hurt you?”

“N-no, I’m good...”

“Don’t worry, I’m not letting them touch a hair on you!” he exclaimed.

“A-alright...”

“You’re totally safe with me!”

“I see, but–”

“Don’t worry, no one can beat me! I mean, perhaps my dad and my bro, but–”

“Darsan!” she exclaimed. “...Can you put me down now? ...Please?”

“Oh.”

Darsan finally let her down with an embarrassed smile. Nana tried to replicate his smile, but there was fresh blood on his cheek, and she couldn’t get over that, her eyes naturally going there. She took a deep breath and glanced to the side. The men he had been fighting earlier were obviously waiting for him to come back, but in no hurry to resume the fight... or, more accurately, the massacre. Nana sighed and quickly grabbed the bottom of her skirt, ripping off a piece of fabric. Then, while Darsan was still surprised by that, she suddenly began wiping his cheek with a determined expression.

“Listen,” she said. “We need to make the smoke from the fire stronger. Not more fires, just the smoke. Those men aren’t immune to the smoke like you, so if it gets worse than this, they will naturally be at a loss, like the civilians. We can trap them here, in the plaza, with you and Prince Kassian to fight them, but we need to prevent them from spreading to the other streets. ...You understand?”

“More kicking asses, smoke, blocking the nearby streets. Got it! ...But if you don’t want me to cause more fire, what do you want me to do then?”

“Just keep fighting! The nearby streets are already blocked with the fires, collapsed buildings, or smoke, but if I can find a way to get across and control the fires on the other side, we can make sure no more Yekara flee to the streets, and you and Prince Kassian and Tessandra only need to finish them off here!”

“That would be good?” Darsan asked.

“That would be a decent plan, I think.”

“Alright. So... you just need to get to Tessandra, right?”

“Yes?” asked Neptunie, a bit confused.

“Got it. Come on!”

Before Naptunie could protest, Darsan suddenly helped her get back to the roof. She wondered if he only meant to help her get across or have her stay safe, but to her surprise, he climbed up with her, standing next to her once they found themselves on top of the roof.

“Where’s Tessa?”

“O-over there,” said Naptunie, pointing in her direction.

“Oh, easy!”

“Easy?”

“Okay, cross your arms. Chin down.”

Naptunie obeyed by mere reflex, but before she could say a word, she suddenly felt Darsan grab her, her feet lifted off the ground, and the very next second, her body was thrown toward the sky.

Her terrified scream echoed above the battlefield, which moved quickly under her. She saw hundreds of eyes looking up at her, all with the same dumbfounded expression. She vaguely heard another voice shouting and, way too quickly, she found herself descending way too fast in Tessandra’s direction. Nana screamed again. The young woman lifted her eyes, opened them wide in shock, and dropped her weapons just in time to open her arms and receive her. The shock was violent, but somehow, Tessandra managed to catch her and they only stumbled a couple of steps back.

“Holy dragon shit, Nana! What the actual fuck?!”