Rise Again {Countryhumans X Reader}

Chapter 3 - Resplendent

By now all places of the camp had been breached, and fighting was everywhere - in the corridors, on the staircases, on the training grounds.

I noticed that the units of Byzantine soldiers were more numerous in the eastern training grounds, so I joined a group of officers and fought our way through. We must have had the same thought : where there were lots of soldiers, it meant that they were trying to get through to Germany.

We had been right - once I knocked over the last soldier and turned the corner into the training ground, I saw Germany in the middle of the carnage, fighting an Empire. The Empire.

The Byzantine Empire, or Byzantium, as we called him, was gaining on the German with ferocious speed. His signature Danish axe whirled into the spots where Germany's limbs were a second ago, and he counterattacked so quickly I cringed when his weapon grazed Germany's elbow, which left a thin line of blood on the axe's blade.

The officers set to work fighting off the rest of the Byzantine soldiers around the field, while I zoned in on the Countryhuman and the Empire.
Germany saw me first and yelled,

"Y/n, what are you doing here?" A lethal axe tip almost sliced into his face, and he jumped back in time. "Go back! It's too dangerous for you to be here-"

"I can help you," I called back. Readying my thin dagger, I slipped between the combatants and sliced at Byzantium's axe hand. The dagger made contact with the wrist and drew blood, but before I could disarm the muscles, he twisted his hand away at the last moment. Byzantium drew back a few paces and studied his new attacker.

He curled his mouth into a small smile.

"Are you making younglings fight for you now, Germany? I expected more of you." He was about to resume fighting when he saw my eyes. His own widened, but he regained his snooty composure and fixed me with his dark eyes. They no longer held contempt. They held hunger.

Ignoring Germany completely, he charged at me and locked us into a vicious dagger-axe fight. I barely managed to dodge his blows and small red cuts sprang up on my limbs now and then.

"Good old Imperio said that he wiped out all of them all those years ago," Byzantium sneered softly, parrying my attacks with ease. "But he never told me that one of them escaped. Slipped his mind, I suppose."

He chuckled darkly. "I'll spend the rest of the journey back to the East imagining his face when I bring you to him."

Germany rushed forward and helped me hold back the Empire's attacks. My strength was fast declining and I breathed heavily. However, I still had a few questions to ask Byzantium, regardless of the situation we were in.

I got close enough to finally slam him down on the ground, and gripped his neck until he started choking slightly.

"What do you mean, wiped out all of them?" I hissed angrily. "Why did this Empire attack my village? Who is Imperio?" He twisted out of my grip and regained his stance. I leaned against Germany, breathing hard.

"All will be revealed in due time, youngling, if you come with me." Just like a dumbass, he held out his hand.

Me and Germany split up and ran on either side of him. I rammed my shoulder into him, and he staggered right into Germany wielding a sword picked up from the ground. Byzantium gained a large sword cut on his cheek.