Chapter 35 - Desire To Protect

"Rebellion of the Seas!" yelled Mavislin, without warning.

"Wait, Mavis! You have not perfected it, yet!" shouted Ysabeau, before a tremendous explosion sent the two Mages flying at the opposing directions.

When all have been composed, only the Old Commander stood strong. Mavislin had to use Lord Atlantia to stabilize herself in mid-air. Her wings were damaged gravely, limiting the amount of flight that she was able to do. Old Man Pond wasted no time in assaulting the weakened Valkyrie.

"What has a Valkyrie got gaining from this planet? Enlighten me," asked Old Man Pond, knocking Mavislin away.

She cushioned the punch using the shield, at least it was better than flying to the next continent.

"You saved those humans below us. Everyone expected you to kill them but you spared them. You have a history of killing humans. Accordingly, why did you spare them?" asked Old Man Pond.

Still no response from Mavislin.

"Mayhap no one comprehends the way I think and feel after all," replied Mavislin.

"At the minimum, I get why it is supposed to be called Rebellion of the Seas. The Rebellion is correct for sure, as your shield is unmeant only for protecting those who you cherish and love, but to rebel against the opposing team, with hatred and passion to protect," guessed Old Man Pond.

Mavislin shook her head.

"It's not hatred that fuels the shield, it rebels because I want to protect. My driving force is the people that I wish to and will defend," explained Mavislin, holding up her shield for another offensive attack.

Poisoned Pond caught the shield, sending a huge sudden wave of the wind across the area below once more.

"But the fact that we are fighting shows sign that you've got a grudge on me. Don't you loathe me for trying to bring back the Corrupted One?" taunted Old Man Pond, hopping away from Mavislin.

"I have no hate for you, even if you did demolish my home or divided my family apart. Don't worry, I know about your tampering in the Great Noble War. You took out a little family in the countryside of Valokia. I am reasonably convinced you don't remember. But I was that little girl who escaped," replied Mavislin, smiling.

"Subsequently, why are you harboring no hate for me? I was the one killed your family. And now I have the goal of destroying Gillian and Ysabeau, so why have you got no hate for me? You've hated the humans for a bit now, but not me."

"Because I know, deep down, both you and the humans are raiding us due to fear. The humans are constantly fretful about their loved ones dying. After all, everyone has a family, has people that they want to protect, that's why they fight. It's called Rebellion because of my shield rebels against the pain of war. It screams out in pain and agony, not of hate, of anger that war is being flourished around it."

"I'm not assaulting you because I'm intimidated. I want to exterminate you because you are in the way of my goal. How does that make me undeserving of being hated by you?"

"Why are you so intent on making me harbor hatred towards you?" asked Mavislin, raising her eyebrows.

"Because I refuse to believe your power comes from only protecting others. You are a monster within the human community's eyes. Don't you hate it when someone assumes something that you aren't?"

"Indeed, we don't see eye to eye, but it provides no reason for me to hate others, let alone executing them. Wholly because I don't agree with you, automatically means that I've got to slay or detest you. No matter what, Human or Mage, no one desires war, and the conjoined wishes of all who suffered through it are all represented when the shield completely takes form."

"The shield possesses what?"

"The wishes to prevent war. Human, Mage or Monster. That's how strong people's desires to preventing war genuinely are. They don't want others to go through what they had lost, they had witnessed and they felt. No one should ever have to feel the pain of screams, reoccurring nightmares, and knowing their lost loved ones will never come back. That is what truly fuels Lord Atlantia, which is part of Rebellion of the Seas," explained Mavislin.

She held up Lord Atlantia with pride. The Poisoned Pond merely scoffed at the Valkyrie's words as he prepared to summon something sinister.

"The desire to protect won't be enough to thwart me. You need hatred and anger to execute someone."

Mavislin smiled as she placed her hands in position at the back of Lord Atlantia.

"Who mentioned anything about killing? This power is enough to do what is meant to do, to protect," said Mavislin, as the Aura around her started to morph and change.

"I won't give you a chance to use that bottle of yours," warned Mavislin, as her eyes shifted to another color.