Team ANGS, whose name was still unofficial, marched through the forests outside Nuts and Dolts, accompanied by a small contingent of scouts and skirmishers. After finding a suitable encampment, they stopped to rest.

Samurai dismounted and looked around the camp nervously. Gwydion, noting his concerned demeanor, walked over to him.

"Got something on your mind, do you?"

Samurai turned to his co-commanders. "Are you sure we have enough men to take the city? Polendia is sure to have at least ten thousand defenders. We have six thousand men. Even with the most optimistic estimates, we're still outmanned."

"Not to worry," Austin said. "Manpower isn't a problem. We've enlisted the support of Ladybug, Freezerburn, and Monochrome. However, their armies won't be arriving until tomorrow, so we must lie low for the time being, else we risk exposure and defeat."

"And if we're spotted?" Samurai asked.

"Our main force won't be." Gwydion placated him. "I instructed Colonel Antred to strike camp near the ravine, so patrols won't spot them. Still, we need some tactical assessment of the city's defenses."

"Alright. Who's up for some reconnaissance?" Nitesco asked eagerly. "I saw a few vantage points on the way here that we can use to scout the city's defenses. Gwydion, would you like to come along?"

"Sure," Gwydion said. He turned to Samurai and Austin. "You two, send some men to that half of the forest. Strike camp here; we'll return when we're done."

Austin nodded. "Will do. Come along, Samurai."

Nitesco and Gwydion began trekking through the dense forest. Despite the abundance of foliage, there was no discernable sound other than the whistling of wind through the trees and bushes. There were no bird calls, no squirrels or raccoons, and the whine of insects was absent. All that could be heard was the sound of leaves dancing gently in the wind. It was a pleasant change of pace for the two friends.

"It's so peaceful," Nitesco noted aloud, craning his head upward to look at the trees. He could see movement up above, but he was unsure what was causing it. If it was some squirrels or raccoons, they were being very courteous to allow the pair to walk in peace.

"It is, isn't it?" Gwydion responded. He narrowly ducked under a precariously low-hanging branch, the leaves brushing his cheek. "When was the last time any of us got the chance to do anything like this? To just do something mundane, without that thought of war lingering in the back of your mind?"

Nitesco stroked his chin. "I don't know. Probably before Bumblebee…" he trailed off.

"How long have we been fighting this war?" he asked Gwydion. Gwydion stepped over a rock and shrugged.

"Oh, probably about…" Gwydion paused. He hummed thoughtfully. "I'm not really sure. I suppose we'll figure that out another time."

"I suppose," Nitesco said. They went back to walking and enjoying the serenity of the forest.

About half an hour into their walk, the pair came upon a large rock that jutted out from the rest of the trail. They turned and perched on it, examining the wilderness below them. Down the slope of the small mountain they were on, they saw Polendia, the capital city of Nuts and Dolts, alight with activity. Small groups of soldiers patrolled around the walls and more stood at the gates and on the battlements, but they were very few. Beyond the city, the large mountains loomed ominously.

Nitesco squinted as he scrutinized the city suspiciously. "Hmm. The city seems too lightly defended. It's the capital of Nuts and Dolts for crying out loud! There should be more soldiers guarding it."

"Not that I'm complaining, but you're right," Gwydion concurred. "Either Celtic's running low on manpower or the soldiers have been distributed elsewhere. My money's on the latter."

"I agree. But that begs the question: where did all the soldiers go?"

Almost on cue, they heard a rustling behind them. Thinking that it was an animal, they turned around slowly, curious as to what it was.

On a small hill just above them, Nitesco and Gwydion spotted soldiers moving through the brush, too focused on getting where they needed to be to pay them any attention. In the distance, they heard cries and the clangs of swords.

"The camp!" They cried in unison and began sprinting back.

They realized, as they sprinted through the forest, that they had wandered farther away from the camp than they had intended. After dodging a few Nuts and Dolts soldiers, they at last came upon their encampment.

Most of the soldiers had fled by then, Nitesco guessed, for the camp seemed emptier than before. In their place, numerous Nuts and Dolts soldiers stood over what remained of their forces, bound and captured, if not dead. Samurai was lying on his side, badly beaten and unconscious. Austin stood, bound, gagged and surrounded by soldiers, looking down at the ground ashamedly. In the center of the camp, dressed in light armor and heavy black cloth, stood the 942nd Cavaliers. In the center of those men stood Greatness himself.

"Well I'll be. What have we here? Gwydion! And Nitesco, I believe it was?" Though he tried to suppress it, a smug smirk still managed to creep across the mercenary's face. "I underestimated your boldness, charging into the camp without any plans! You'd think that after all this time, the two of you would be more… strategic, but I'm afraid I expected too much of you."

"Greatness," Gwydion growled. He lunged forward, but one of the enemy knights grabbed him by the elbow.

"Now, now. Let's not be tempestuous. You, my friends, are surrounded, outnumbered and most certainly outclassed." He drew his sword and held it to Austin's throat.

"But I do not seek to kill you. That's why I took your men by surprise. You're more valuable to us alive, although I will let you know, I am perfectly fine bringing your corpses back to Celtic. Nonetheless, I will make you an offer. Surrender. Cast down your arms and come with us, and your men will be spared. Refuse…" He trailed off menacingly.

"Well, for their sake, I hope you don't refuse."

Austin, while gagged, shook his head vigorously. One of the soldiers hit him square between the shoulder blades with the hilt of his sword, and he collapsed onto his knees.

Nitesco looked up and around hoping that somebody, anybody, would come to his aid and rescue them. Then, amazingly, behind a tree he saw a soldier wearing Crosshares armor. The soldier raised a finger to his lips and readied his bow and arrow.

Gwydion too, saw this. He turned back to Greatness.

"Look, this is an important decision. I think we need a little time to consider-"

Greatness scoffed and stepped forward, angered by Gwydion's audacity. With one swift movement, he backhanded him, sending him reeling to the ground.

"You do not get to make requests of me, Gwydion. I am in command here, not you!"

As he finished his sentence, an arrow whizzed past him and hit one of his men in the throat. His look of arrogant anger turned to surprise and fear as he whirled around. To his terror, some of the Crosshares soldiers had regrouped after retreating and turned back, intent on rescuing their commanders.

"Cowardly dogs! Men, form up! Counterattack!" Greatness turned to his own soldiers.

"Secure the prisoners! Get them back to camp!"

Nitesco took the opportunity to draw his blade and strike Greatness across the chin. The mercenary staggered backwards, a look of indignation on his face.

"Bastards!" He cried, drawing his blade.

Gwydion and Nitesco looked at Austin, who frantically signaled for them to escape with various head and eye movements. They heeded his directions, sprinting as fast as they could out of the ensuing bloodbath and into the woods.

As they ran, some of the soldiers under Greatness' command noticed and gave chase. Seeing this, the pair zigzagged through the trees and the bushes, desperately trying to gain some ground or at least confuse their pursuers. Nitesco, worrying that they were catching up to them, turned around to see where they were. His foot caught a strategically placed rock, and the young commander plummeted to the ground. Gwydion, seeing this, skidded to a halt and turned around.

"Nitesco!" He cried out. The soldiers quickly caught up to Nitesco, two angling their weapons at Gwydion while one pulled out a dagger and held it to Nitesco's throat.

"Drop your weapons or the boy dies!" The mercenary said. He dug the dagger into Nitesco's throat, eliciting a small cry of pain. "Surrender. You're outnumbered."

Gwydion looked behind the mercenaries and smiled.

"No, you're outnumbered." A wry, mischievous grin crossed his face. The mercenaries turned around and, seeing a large group of Crosshares soldiers with their weapons pointed at them, quickly dropped their swords and daggers and raised their hands.

"Hey, guys," one of them said. "We can work this out, can't we?" Nitesco stood as if nothing had happened and walked over to Gwydion.

"I doubt that very much," he said. "Men, do away with them."

The men complied. The mercenaries attempted to pick up their weapons, but were struck down before they could do so. Gwydion and Nitesco looked on.

Gwydion sighed. "That was…distasteful."

"Yes," Nitesco agreed. "But it was necessary."

"Now what do we do?" Gwydion asked. "They've got Austin and Samurai. We've lost half of our commanders and some of our best skirmishers. To top it all off, we're still undermanned."

"Not entirely true," Nitesco remarked. "We have reinforcements coming in from Rubia. With them, we can certainly take the city and rescue our friends." He paused, anger flashing in his eyes.

"We're not letting that fucker get away with it, you hear me? Greatness will pay." Gwydion nodded his head in emphatic agreement.

"Come on, men. Let's head back to camp."

They headed back through the dense forests, taking about half an hour to get back to where the bulk of their forces were. When they arrived near the ravine, the Colonel was there to greet them. "My friends! Where have you been? You were supposed to have returned some time ago." Gwydion waved him off, and Nitesco stood on a high rock, preparing to address the soldiers.

"My friends, I come to you with grim news. While on a scouting expedition, some of our co-commanders have been captured! Austin and Samurai were abducted by Greatness, the leader of Celtic's brutish enforcers, the 942nd."

Cries of anger echoed throughout the crowd. Nitesco, clearly seething, allowed them.

"Those bastards have holed up inside the city. The cowards must not be allowed to get away with this! They have condemned each and every person in that city. When our reinforcements arrive, we will destroy Greatness, the brutes under his command and the city itself! The streets of Polendia will run red with blood! Who's with me?"

He raised his arms in the air, and the soldiers cheered with him, eager to rescue or avenge their commanders. Nitesco, satisfied, beckoned for Gwydion to follow him into the tent, where they plotted their assault.

Greatness walked through the dungeons of Polendia, hands knitted behind his back, his sword tapping against his leg every time he took a step. He paid it no heed.

After walking past numerous cell doors, he arrived at the end of the corridor; the guards, seeing him, saluted and opened the door. The door was shut behind him, and he inspected the two cells in front of him. In one, an old man stood, glaring intently at him. In the other, the bodyguard and lieutenant of the late King Inferno had become lucid and joined his comrade in glaring at him.

"Hello, my friends," he said, fake joviality poisoning his words. Samurai scoffed.

"Friends? We were never friends, Greatness. We all knew Celtic was waiting to stab Inferno in the back. If you were my friend, you'd let us both go."

Greatness sighed and pulled up a chair.

"You know, I could have killed you instead of capturing you. You should thank me for sparing you. Ingrates."

"Why are you keeping us alive?" Austin asked, making no attempt to mask his contempt. "Why not just kill us and be done with it?"

Greatness sat up. "Because I'm sure Celtic will reward me for bringing you two in alive. Austin, you're clearly the mastermind of these ragtag insurrectionists. I'm sure that you can be… convinced to hand over your knowledge of rebel cells to Celtic, given the right incentive."

Austin sneered. "You'll never get anything out of me, you pathetic mongrel."

Greatness rolled his eyes and stood up. "Spare me. Many men have told us that. Few men had the conviction to stand by their claim." He walked over to Samurai's cell.

"And you… I'm sure Celtic would like to have a talk with you." Samurai rocketed forward, grabbing the bars of his cell. Greatness stared at him, unflinching.

"You surprise me, Greatness. After all this time, you're still his little bitch." He snickered, but Greatness merely waved him off.

"I am honor-bound to serve Celtic. He is my liege."

Austin snorted. "Honor-bound? You may be honor-bound, but do you believe anymore? No, I see it in your eyes: you doubt."

Greatness growled and walked over to Austin's cell. He gestured threateningly, but Austin was unfazed.

"I know that look all too well, Magnus. You doubt if what you're doing is right. You doubt if your cause is just. You doubt if your actions will really lead to a better world. You're disillusioned!" He said the last word like a child saying a word he shouldn't. Greatness glared at him, but Austin laughed triumphantly.

"Greatness," Samurai got his attention. "If you really are a man of honor, if you really care about morality, you won't keep us in here to hand over to that despot. You'll let us go. You'll surrender the city. You'll avoid all this needless bloodshed!"

Greatness struck the wall with his fist, his stare boring a hole into Samurai's head.

"Enough!" He cried. "I will not betray my liege. Another word out of you," he turned to Austin. "Either of you, and I will not hesitate to hand you over to the torturers until it's time to leave."

He turned around and opened the door, beckoning to the guards.

"Keep a close eye on them. They're too shifty for their own good."

He walked through the halls of the dungeon, up the winding staircase at the entrance and out into the courtyard. He sat down on one of the stone benches surrounding the fountain in the middle. It was hard and uncomfortable; he didn't mind it that much.

All of a sudden, a large projectile flew over his head and struck the castle. At once he stood up, alarmed, but quickly recovered his composure and rushed to the battlements.

He gazed over the walls into the night. He could see numerous people charging across the fields at the defenders of the city. Even in the darkness, he could see that his people outnumbered the attackers. What the hell were they doing? Were Nitesco and Gwydion that desperate to get their friends back? He scoffed at their stupidity.

All of a sudden, a section of the city wall too close to where he was for comfort erupted in a shower of stone and displaced mortar. He looked across the fields to see where the blast had come from. More soldiers descended from the forests on that side of the field. Where had they come from? How had the rebels acquired this many soldiers?

"Commander!" One of the mercenaries cried. "What are your orders?"

Greatness looked around for an opportunity to counterattack, any vulnerabilities in the enemy lines. He saw none.

"Get every soldier we can out on the fields! Keep the archers on the walls. Everybody else goes to the front lines!"

The soldier ran off to spread word of Greatness' orders. Greatness unsheathed his blade and descended back into the courtyard. Enemy soldiers were already spilling through the breach in the walls. Reinforcing the defensive line would do them no good now. He rushed over to the dungeon door. The guards standing by it, while clearly nervous, had not moved from their posts.

"Prepare the prisoners for transport. Take the back exit out of the prison. We must not let them fall back into enemy hands!"

The soldiers nodded and descended the staircase. Greatness, still concerned with the defense of the city, turned around and walked back into the courtyard to see if anything could be done for its protection.

When he walked out there, he saw a familiar figure standing there, waiting for him.

Gwydion.

"Greatness," Gwydion said. He stared at him, deep hatred burning in his eyes.

"Boy." Greatness scrutinized him, looking him up and down. "I suppose this was inevitable. Are you going to offer me mercy?" He sneered at the blacksmith.

"We're long past that, Magnus." Gwydion readied his sword.

Greatness smiled, a little sadly, at the sound of that. "Then let us begin."

Gwydion flew at him, striking and stabbing with more ferocity than Greatness expected of him. He raised his broadsword and deflected Gwydion's strikes.

"I must admit," Greatness remarked, "you've improved since Guns N' Roses. Not that it will save you."

Gwydion charged him again. At the last second, he dove under Greatness' broad swing and came up behind him. The mercenary jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding Gwydion's thrust.

"That's enough out of you, Magnus! You captured my friends, and I won't allow you to get away with that!"

Gwydion swung and whirled his blade rapidly, trying to trick Greatness into opening up his defenses. Greatness kept up with all of Gwydion's strikes, but was aware that Gwydion had almost broken through his poise.

Greatness locked blades with Gwydion and gave him a hefty kick to the stomach. The blacksmith flew backwards, hitting the fountain. He narrowly rolled out of the way as Greatness buried his blade into the side and yanked it out, water flowing out of the cracks as he did so.

"Give up, Magnus. Your soldiers are routed, the city has fallen to us. Accept defeat!" Gwydion went in for another barrage but was repelled.

"I am honor-bound to serve Celtic! I will not accept defeat except in battle!"

"Honor? Since when have you ever cared about honor?" Gwydion cried, and he leaped at the mercenary. Greatness shifted his weight onto his back foot and deflected Gwydion's blow. Gwydion landed on the ground with a painful thump, but quickly got back up again.

"You've killed civilians, murdered indiscriminately. You betrayed my father and all your friends! And for what?"

Greatness flung his blade upwards, but Gwydion sidestepped it and continued walking backward, waiting for Greatness' defense to open up. Greatness growled.

"Your father betrayed us before I betrayed him. He was going to sell us out! We would become indentured to some minor noblemen, our services at his whim. We were going to become the minions of some foreign lord, in exchange for what? Some coin? Our honor, our dignity for some coin! I wasn't just going to roll over and let it happen. I had to act!"

"Hypocrite!" Gwydion yelled. "You murdered my family and my friends for that, and now look at you! The glorified flunky of a despotic madman! Oh, you've sure come a long way!"

He attempted to lunge at Greatness, but he was tiring, his stamina too low. Greatness knocked the blade from his hand and kicked him backwards.

"Celtic may be despotic, but his cause is just. I am not some mere lackey. I am a Councilman. The men followed me because they believed in the cause. I believe in the cause."

Gwydion stood up again and attempted to disarm Greatness, but he received a sword hilt to the gut and was sent to the ground, his strength sapped.

"I am the herald of a new world, powerful and mighty! You are just more rebel scum, flailing fruitlessly against the march of progress. You try and try to defend the old world, but you have nothing to show for your efforts!" He placed a boot on Gwydion's neck. Gwydion was too spent to resist.

"Maybe, Magnus," Gwydion sputtered. "Maybe you're right. But I have one thing you don't."

"Oh," Greatness replied. "And what might that be?"

The biggest, smuggest smile of all time crossed Gwydion's face.

"A hand cannon."

Greatness furrowed his brow. "A wha-"

Before he could finish, Gwydion brought the hand cannon up and fired a shot into his adversary's chest. A jet of blood exploded from the entry point, and Greatness staggered backward before falling down.

Gwydion walked over to his side and knelt. The mercenary looked up and coughed.

"Well I'll be damned. You did it after all." He coughed again, more violently this time.

"I'm sorry it had to be this way, Magnus." Gwydion lowered his head. "But this is the fate of every tyrant. Any man who rules on fear cannot rule for long. He commands obedience, but not loyalty. He is doomed to fail."

"But…but I believe!" Greatness sputtered, slowly letting his head fall back.

"If you really believed, you would have won this fight. But you didn't. Deep down, you knew this wasn't right. Deep down, you wanted to escape this. You may not be a good man, Magnus, but at least you knew what was right, in the end."

Greatness laughed, small tears forming in his eyes.

"Goddamn. You always did have a way with words."

He closed his eyes and grew still. Gwydion sighed.

He stayed there for a little while, perhaps longer than he should have. At last, he stood and left the courtyard.

After wandering through the bloodied streets, wading through the carnage, he became sick. Seeing the destruction that was wrought throughout the city made him a little queasy, a feeling he had not experienced in some time.

At last, he found Nitesco. He was walking through the streets, making sure there were no survivors.

"Nitesco!" He cried. Nitesco looked up at him, clearly relieved he was alive. "Have you seen Austin and Samurai?"

"Yes," he said. "One of the junior officers liberated them. They were trying to move them out of the city before we could get to them. Samurai's been taken to a triage tent to tend to his wounds, but Austin's waiting for us in an inn down the street. Come along?"

Gwydion nodded. "Go on ahead, I'll be there in a second."

Nitesco shrugged and began walking down the street. Gwydion looked around him, at the carnage, the blood, the death. Was it worth it?

He found he couldn't answer. Gwydion turned around and followed Nitesco down the street.