Harmony of Heroes: Ultimate Multiverse Explorers

The battle of Macedon’s capital was just the beginning of the liberation of the kingdom. Macedon was a crescent going from south to east of Dolhr along the coast of the island, and the capital was at the south extremity near the border with Dolhr, meaning that the totality of the kingdom still needed to be freed, starting from south, going east a bit, then north.

Over the next week, they destroyed base after base, not meeting much resistance, the totality of the robots having been sent to defend the capitals of Dolhr and Macedon. All that was left were the newly produced robots and some roboticized, plus some traps and dragons.

Between two battles, they encountered Jake, an old ally of the previous wars, and his wife Anna, hidden in one of the latter’s secret shops. Jake personally came to meet them and guide them to the shop where they had been hiding since Eggman’s invasion. After that, Sweetie Void teleported Anna to safety in Macedon’s capital while Jake joined the army.

Once Macedon-and the island-was entirely freed, they went to the east coast where Sweetie Void teleported the armada again, ready to go to the Kingdom of Archanea.

As the army boarded the ships, getting a bit cramped with all the additions they got since first arriving in Grust, Sweetie Void left behind four doubles to guard the island and patrol the sea around it. They will search if there are any submarine bases and destroy any aquatic robots left.

Finally, they sailed to Archanea. They were going north, intending to arrive at the top northwest coast of the largest kingdom of the continent so they could start to free it from north to south. They will arrive just east of Gra.

Of the various ships sailing, there was a special one that always remained dead in the center surrounded by the others while on the sea and was looked after for.

This ship was the one transporting the majority of the injured soldiers and fighters of the army, where in tow came the best of healers who attended to them until their recovery with a few varied soldiers for their protection.

On the lower part of the ship was the medical bay where the injured were attended. Here, a woman with long light green hair just finished attending to a man with a slash-like injury across his chest.

“There, now you just need to rest,” she said to her current patient who nodded and closed his eyes, falling asleep not long after.

With a smile, she looked around the medical bay, satisfied that for now, everyone was attended. She left and went to the break room where the other healers were, having finished attending to everyone on the ship.

“Ah, Tatiana! Good to see you join us,” another woman, this one with short, light blue hair and similar clothes to her own greeted her. ”Here, lunch is ready.”

She gestured to a big table where another four individuals sat, waiting to start eating.

“Thanks, Silque. It smells amazing!” She said, going to the table and taking a seat.

“That would be my doing, I hope you like it,” a woman, this time with red shoulder-length hair said.

“I bet she will, Lena! Your food was always so good back at the War of Shadows,” another redhead, this one younger and with shorter hair, said.

“Aww, you flatter me your majes- I mean, Maria,” Lena said, dropping the formalities when she caught a sign of Maria's annoyed expression.

“Mmm-hmm! I'm not only a warrior like you but a comrade of a past war and your friend! There's no need for titles here,” Maria reaffirmed.

“Hehe, good to see you remain lively as ever,” the last person, who was none other than Wrys, said, being the only man present.

Tatiana looked around the table, noticing that someone was missing for lunch. ”Hey, haven’t you seen-”

Suddenly, the door of the room flew open, revealing another woman with long light blond, silver-like hair.

“Uff, apologies if I made you wait. I was up in the docks since I finished early and got lost into thinking without realizing it was time for lunch already.”

“Oh don't worry dear Faye, Tatiana here just arrived as well,” Wrys said. Faye nodded and took a seat as well.

The six of them then said their prayers and conversed while they ate their food in peace.

“It’s really fortunate we are nearly done with this dreadful war. There's not that many territories left to liberate in the continent, and with this winning streak there will soon be none,” Wrys said with a pleased smile.

“All thanks to those mysterious new allies. Their arrival has also greatly reduced the amount of losses in the army, alleviating a great deal of work off our shoulders,” Silque said.

“Indeed! Oh, I really can't wait for everything to return to normal. Before the war started, Minerva had promised me to take a break from her duties to have a picnic with me! How dare this Eggman fellow get In the way like that, the nerve!” Maria complained with a pout, much to the amusement of everyone.

“Yeah, I too want things to go back to normal soon,” Faye said, bringing some food to her mouth and chewing on it.

Silque looked at her for a moment before she asked, ”Mmm, speaking of which, how's the family, Faye?”

Faye paused mid-chew, looking at Silque who simply returned her stare with a pointed look.

Faye swallowed her food before letting out a sigh. ”They're doing good. Things have been… improving. Thanks again, Silque.”

Silque smiled, pleased with herself. "Remember I will always be here if you need to talk things out.”

“Yeah…” Faye said, the two looking at each other for a moment before returning to eating.

“...What was that just now?” Maria asked

“Oh, nothing you should trouble yourself with. Let's just say that I've been helping her these past years get some things straight within her household,” Silque responded.

Maria looked on with some wonder, before deciding that ultimately it wasn’t polite to pry.

The lunch proceeded like normal after that until everyone was near finished, until Lena noticed something.

“Umm, apologies Miss Tatiana,” she said, making Tatiana look up to her. ”Maybe the food wasn't to your liking after all? Sorry if that's the case, I can do something different if you like.”

Tatiana looked at her confused for a moment before looking down, realizing that she hadn’t actually eaten that much of her meal.

“O-oh, no no it’s actually good! I just…” Tatiana tried to say but was interrupted.

“Mmm, you have been eating less recently. You also have been pretty silent this whole time,” Silque said.

“H-have I…?”

“And you also have spent a lot of time on duty, miss, even after most of us already stopped for the day,” Wrys said, looking at her with worry.

Said worry now mirrored in the gaze of all other four healers looking back at Tatiana.

Silence reigned in the room before, bravely, Silque was the one to address the elephant in the room.

“This recent mood of yours is because of Sir Camus, isn’t it?”

Tatiana looked down with her eyes closed, not meeting anyone's eyes.

Silque and Faye both moved to both her sides, putting their hands on her back and giving her the strength to raise her head.

“I…I just don't know how to feel,” she started. ”Zeke- I mean… Camus, I just… When I rescued him all that time ago, there were clues: his clothes were way too fine for someone of a simpler lifestyle, and he also was… very well built physically,” she said as a blush crossed her face

"And there is also the fact he had such skill In combat and knew to mount a horse when the rest of his memories were gone-I knew he must have been some renowned fighter. One with a past… a past I've secretly hoped never would have come to him.”

Maria looked confused for a bit, but then caught the meaning behind her words. ”You… You didn't want him to recover his memories,” she stated.

Tatiana looked down in shame.

Suddenly Lena got up from her seat. ”Wait, Tatiana! If it is guilt you feel, then don't! I don't fault you for your feelings. You… You cared for Sir Camus, didn't you? I see no shame in wishing you both kept having peaceful days together, that Sir Camus didn't return to risk his life fighting!”

But Tatiana only shook her head. ”Oh if it was so simple… But no, there's something else that's been eating me inside,” she said.

“I don’t know how, maybe it was a coincidence or somehow I could feel it deep inside his heart but… I always suspected - nay, I was terrified that he already had a lover waiting for him… That was why beyond anything I didn’t wish him to recover his memories - so that he… never returned in her arms and left me behind…”

“Tatiana…” Faye said, feeling for her fellow Saint’s lament.

“And guess what? I was right… He did have someone,” Tatiana said, her voice wavering.

“What's more, apparently he… Camus, he still chose me before her and she… she just disappeared. Just like that.” This time, her hands were shaking.

“And the worst part of it? The worst part… is that the first thing I felt was relief-even when I said to myself I would accept it if he wanted to go back to her, that I only wished for his happiness… I couldn't help the wave of utter relief of knowing that not only I was the chosen but that the poor girl was gone. I felt so, so bad-I'm a Healer! A saint for Duma's sake! I shouldn’t feel in any capacity good about the ill fate of another and yet… And yet I…”

By now, tears streamed freely from Tatiana's face.

“I'm such a despicable woman… Camus, he… I don't deserve him, I don't deserve being the one that won his heart… Maybe if-”

“Tatiana,” Silque’s voice rung out. ”Please, stop. Stop hurting yourself like that.”

Tatiana looked up, still crying and with her voice wobbly. ”B-but I…”

“There is nothing wrong with what you feel, miss,” Wrys said, looking at her. ”Take in from someone people confess to: the heart, by nature, is a complicated and selfish thing. No one is completely free of guilt, even the best of us. That by itself doesn't make us a bad person.”

Lena nodded. ”What matters the most is our actions. We all can feel or think things we shouldn’t, choosing whether or not we act upon them is what determines who we are in the end however.”

Maria approached Tatiana, taking her hands with her own, making her look at her. ”Tell me, if it was up to you, would you have made her disappear? Would you have wanted to, if it had been your choice?”

“W-what!? No! Of course not-I can't never just do such a thing to anyone!” Tatiana said, horrified at the prospect.

Silque smiled. ”Then there you have it. Regardless of how you feel, you don't even want to harm her. Do you even hate her? The other woman?”

Tatiana shook her head. ”I don't even know her…”

“Then what's so bad about how you feel? You don't hate her, and don't want to harm her. Tatiana, you’re a good-natured, amiable and selfless soul that loves helping others. No one will judge you if for once you put yourself before another person.”

Faye spoke next. ”Heh, if anything you’re better than me. I… tried to compete for someone else’s heart, once. Even knowing from the start I already lost. And as a result I… wasn’t the best of friends towards someone that never held it against me. I am getting better, so trust me when I say it: the heart is a Egoist bitch, don't feel bad for what it makes you feel.”

Maria gasped.

Lena was quick to act. ”Miss Faye! Such foul language is not only unnecessary but quite unbecoming of the people of our station!”

Wrys only laughed out loud.

Seeing the scene before her, Tatiana couldn’t help the smile slowly creeping up her face.

“...Thank you,” she said, making everyone look at her.

“Thank you all, sincerely. You’re all so kind…”

Maria giggled at that. ”We're healers, we dedicate ourselves to help others even in the middle of a warzone-it would be hard being one without some kindness.”

“Too true, young one,” Wrys agreed.

Tatiana felt Silque grip her shoulder. ”Tatiana, listen to me. You should talk to Camus about your feelings. I've encountered him a few times when he would come looking for you at the medical bay, he clearly wants to talk to you. Trust me, he loves you. And if it's true then even after knowing your feelings he will still do so,” she said.

Tatiana thought for a bit before nodding, whipping her already drying face as a look of determination set in her eyes. ”Yes. You’re right. I love Camus, even after learning everything, and if I want us to be together then he needs to learn everything about me too,” she said with conviction In her voice.

Groowwwl.

Tatiana's whole face became red like a tomato.

Lena couldn't help but smirk. ”Well, you have been eating less recently have you not? Feel free to dig in, you still have your meal mostly intact.”

Shooting her a grateful glance, Tatiana started to eat with gusto.

They arrived at the northwest coast of Archanea, having to fight through many aquatic robots to reach it.

They then proceeded to repeat what they did until now: moving around destroying bases to stop the production of robots and booting Eggman out of this world piece of land by piece of land.

It became quickly clear however that Eggman made the Kingdom of Archanea pretty much a second HQ. The bases were bigger and more well defended, and there were many, many, many robots everywhere. The heroes had to fight hard to advance one kilometer.

There was especially a large network inside the mountains. Sweetie Void was able to find an entrance behind a boulder, and what followed was days and days of constant battle inside kilometers of hallways, mines, laboratories, and factories of all kinds. Thankfully, there were no dragons in there. Instead, there were traps everywhere, and it was a real giant maze.

Sonic and his friends felt right at home, except for the robots with swords and magic.

At least, there was no self-destruct that activated as they fought. Sweetie Void had been ready to teleport everyone out of there during the whole battle. Still had to be careful to not destroy anything that looked like it would cause a chain reaction leading to the destruction of the whole complex while they were still inside. Present Tails only made the whole place blow up once they made sure that every roboticized present was saved. They didn’t even have to fight the giant robot that guarded the main reactor. Tails used a computer.

Seeing the whole mountain range explode was certainly something.

After that, it wasn’t long before they reached the capital where now stood the largest city built thus far, and probably the largest city of the continent considering that the Kingdom of Archanea was the most populated.

It saddened the majority of the heroes from Archanea (the continent) to see the Palace gone. Archanea Palace had been an architectural wonder with a lot of history and pretty much the core of the continent. Its loss was a huge wound that will never close, and another reason to defeat Eggman.

A huge amount of robots had already been destroyed with the network under the mountains, so there were less robots guarding the city than usual. Dragons made up for it. Too many of them. The heroes had their work cut out for them. Without forgetting the airships that will force Sweetie Void to deal with them instead of helping the army.

Also, Sweetie Void could feel two robots with destructive energy. Oh boy…

Both used a Warp Staff right away to warp in the middle of the army just before they could charge into the robots, revealing themselves to be a hero and a warrior. They were respectively the Egg Arthur and the Egg Ragnar. The two could cut soldiers by the dozen to shreds with just a swing, and the Egg Arthur even had a powerful energy shield protecting it while the Egg Ragnar towered above everyone else.

Tatiana and Silque immediately summoned phantom pegasus knights and dread fighters to serve as shields against the two robots. They didn’t last long, but they gained enough time to allow strong fighters to arrive to fight them.

Navarre arrived first against the Egg Arthur, the two clashing. Before the Egg Ragnar could attack from behind, it was pierced in the back by an arrow from Tobin, stopping it. Roderick then arrived on his horse and charged at the Egg Ragnar, forcing it to block his spear with his axe while it slid backward from the force of the hit, away from the other robot. Celica (thanks to Swap), Etzel, and Ogma then joined Navarre against the Egg Arthur while Minerva and Lukas joined against the Egg Ragnar.

Tatiana and Silque, after being healed, summoned phantoms again to make diversion, and the other healers were ready to help too. Already, Lena had to heal Navarre who got a very bad slash across his torso. Celica saved him by casting Ragnarok Ω, badly damaging the robot thanks to the resulting explosion that didn’t allow it to protect itself with its shield. Wrys then quickly healed her. Meanwhile, Faye stopped the Egg Ragnar from hurting Minerva by casting Sagittae, raining arrows on it.

Suddenly, the Egg Ragnar took a bow and shot an energy arrow at Faye. A blue blur took her out of the way, the arrow continuing its path. Any soldier in the way was taken away by the same blue blur. One of Sweetie’s doubles eventually appeared in its path and ate the arrow which exploded inside her, causing her to inflate briefly. Sonic gave her a thumbs up.

Thankfully, the Egg Ragnar didn’t get another occasion to use its bow. The ones fighting it made sure of that. Tatiana and Silque constantly summoned new phantoms.

The robots resisted, and there were many close calls, but they were eventually destroyed, first the Egg Arthur thanks to another Ragnarok Ω, then the Egg Ragnar.

While the fight against the two robots happened, the battle began, Sweetie Void sending most of herself against the airships and sending the rest against the dragons. There wasn’t enough of her however to fight the dragons, so the army had to deal with a large number of them.

The soldiers pretty much let Marth and his close allies do the work. They were the best of the army. Killing dragons was Thursday for them. The soldiers were content to deal with the robots.

Suddenly, a giant beam came from the sky right on one of the Sweetie Voids fighting the dragons. Another of the filly destroying the airships saw the twinkle in the sky, allowing her to react just in time.

She absorbed the beam. Since it was made of energy, she could do that.

The beam continued to come for several seconds, disappearing into her horn, before it eventually stopped.

She then released all that energy into a beam of her own right back toward where it came from.

Thus, Eggman’s orbital cannon was destroyed.

With that, the two main dangers of this battle were gone.

Not that there weren’t other dangers. While Sweetie Void was dealing with the airships and some of the dragons, the heroes had to face the majority of said dragons, and the healers had to work extra hard as a result. More than once, someone almost died.

As the battle advanced, more and more roboticized allies were encountered and saved. The fact that there were so many of them showed how important the Kingdom of Archanea was. Many lived here.

There was Castor, a young blue-haired horseman from Talys who had needed money for his ailing mother and who joined the Archanean Rangers after the last war.

Jeorge, the best sniper of the continent, making him a real danger in the battlefield as an enemy. Archer-captain of Archanea, he founded the Archanean Rangers. He was also the holder of Parthia, a legendary bow, one of the Three Regalia of Archanea, although Eggman certainly had the bow and the other Regalia now. Forsyth was the one who saved him thanks to the shield device.

Linde, a sage who worked in the magic academy founded by Merric.

Midia, paladin of Archanea, Captain of the Archanean Knights.

Astram, hero of Archanea, member of the Archanean Rangers, holder of the sword Mercurius, one of the Three Regalia, and Midia’s lover. Marth personally faced him.

Dolph and Marcellan, ancient knights who looked very similar. Marcellan was instead a member of a band of watchmen near the border that he formed.

Sheena, ancient queen of Gra.

And Samson, an ancient mercenary hired by Sheena as a bodyguard in the last war, becoming her lover.

And when the army entered the city, they were also joined by Caesar, a mercenary whom nobody had been sure where he had been after the last war.

The battle lasted a whole day. Needless to say, the heroes were very tired by the end of it.

In the aftermath, the celebration didn’t last long. Yes, they freed Archanea, that was a huge step in retaking the continent, and they deserved that after such a battle, but the heroes were too tired, so after the initial cheers and thank yous of the crowd, they went to rest.

However, despite the fatigue, some were restless.

Jubelo was one of them. He hoped to find his sister who had been studying in the magic academy when Eggman invaded, but he could find her nowhere. Nobody reported having rescued her. He was so worried, he was starting to fear the worst.

“You look worried, Jubelo,” he heard a woman say with an artificial voice, stopping him from looking around in the street.

Before him was Linde, still roboticized, but freed from Eggman’s control. With everyone resting, they had to wait to deroboticize everyone.

“L-Linde! Do you know where Yuliya is? You were with her, right? Is she-”

“She is alright, don’t worry. Well, as alright as you can be when you are under Eggman’s control. He took her with him to be one of his personal healers.”

Jubelo sighed in relief. His sister was alive.

“Thank you.”

Linde advanced toward him and put a hand (or rather a claw) on his shoulder reassuringly. “Don’t worry, we will save her before you know it.”

It was the only good news. At the same time, Ryan learned from Jeorge that his brother, Gordin, was killed in the defense of Archanea. He was devastated.

Marcellan also said that Tomas, an ancient Archanean archer knight who had joined him as a watchman, was dead. And Marth also suspected that another ancient ally, Horace, was dead too, because he was nowhere to be seen. He was an Archanean noble, so he should have been one of the roboticized, and he doubted that Eggman would take him to somewhere else.

Learning of these deaths really dampened the good mood.