Preparations against the Reapers (2 in 1)

A year and a half passed since Vincent returned to Nirn, Vincent was training Liv the third and Ser Jorey while having an Asari Baby and a Human Baby strapped to his back.

The Asari Baby is Benezia Highwind named after her grandmother while the Human Baby is Ivan Highwind, he looked like a Redguard coming after his mother Ikora in appearance.

Vincent was strangling Liv who was trying to master her Werewolf Blood. Once she was out she transformer back and Vincent let her go while Ser Jorey saw now why Vincent let Fenris die since it took him half an hour to bring Liv back and she was still young compared to the older Fenris.

Ser Jorey was trained in many jobs over the year he spent with Vincent. He could be called a Jack of all Trades at the moment with being a Master as a Paladin.

Vincent was enjoying his time with his family when he gets a call from his great-grandson, Naokichi Highwing, who was sitting on the throne for three months now.

"What is going on Naokichi? It must be something serious for you to call me," says Vincent as he was jumping around making the children laugh.

"The Imperial Scouts have seen them," says Naokichi which made Vincent stop jumping.

"Give me a second," says Vincent while putting Naokichi on hold as he walked inside the house.

He sees Anra who looks at him and says, "Something serious?"

"Yes, can you look after them while I talk to Naokichi?" asks Vincent as Anra nods.

She takes the two from Vincent's back as she says, "Come here, little ones. Pa has to deal with some serious things at the moment."

She leaves with both babies as Vincent went to the basement to his smith. He was surrounded by a cold aura that spread over the whole basement as he resumed the call.

"They are finally here," says Vincent coldly as he was in his war-mode now.

"It seems so," says Naokichi as this was the first real threat in his reign as Emperor.

"Is the weapon ready to be used?" asks Vincent coldly as he hears a sigh from the other end.

"It is but something seems to not work. Mannimarco is trying to fix that problem for a long time now without success," says Naokichi as Vincent was freezing the ground under his feet with his aura.

"Then it means we have to buy Mannimarco time to find out what is wrong with the weapon and fix it," says Vincent coldly as he looked at his old Dragoon armor which was hanging from a mannequin.

"Going by your voice it seems we are going to war," says Naokichi nervous since it was his first war.

"We are going to war," says Vincent coldly as he removes his Dragoon Armor from the mannequin before saying cold, "Gather the Legions and keep half of the Legions to protect our people and evacuate the colonists outside our System."

He puts the old armor on before he grabs the old spear that the mannequin was holding while saying, "I will be leading the Imperial Troops into this war as the tip of the spear."

Vincent then ends the call and calms himself down again since he needed to say goodbye to the two babies before leaving with some of his wives to deal with what was going on outside of Nirn.

He leaves the basement and finds all his women in armor as a Dremora was holding Benezia and Ivan in its arms.

"You didn't think we wouldn't join you in this last battle," says Mina as she looked at Vincent seriously.

"It will be uglier than normally. Most of us won't return from this war," says Vincent seriously as he looked at the Babies behind them.

"I don't want them to grow up without parents," says Vincent worried that Ivan and Benezia would grow up as orphans as he did.

"If we don't win this war everything will be over," says Anra as she was telling the truth.

If they lose this war everyone will be gone be they on the frontline or back at home as long as the Reapers were around they couldn't call themselves safe everywhere except for the Aedra and Daedra Realms.

Vincent sighs knowing that before he says, "I won't be your husband while we are at war. I want you all to remember it."

"What does he mean?" asks Liara quietly the other women.

"It means that you will see the Warmonger," says Ciri knowing why Liara asked that question as Liara and Ikora haven't seen Vincent when he goes to war.

"It also means that he won't be the Vincent you know and love but the Vincent that has to think for the best of the Empire," says Karliah seeing that Vincent was holding the Warmonger back because of the children.

"The children will be taken to Moonshadow until the war is over and if we lose I won't release them from Moonshadow until they are old enough," says Azura as Vincent looked at both of them.

He took them into his arms as they grabbed his horns with their tiny hands before kissing their foreheads before putting them back into the Dremora's arms. Azura creates an Oblivion Portal which the Dremora took back to Moonshadow with Ivan and Benezia.

Now that the children were gone the Warmonger came out and Ikora and Liara could now see what the others were talking about as the room turned cold when Vincent says coldly, "I won't be able to protect you if I have to sacrifice people to do so."

Liara looked at the chimney which was all of a sudden out because of Vincent. In Ikora's eyes, he looked more like a demon with blue eyes at the moment.

"Don't get intimidated by this persona," says Ciri remembering the first time seeing that persona when Vincent went to war against Crow's Perch to get his daughter back.

Vincent walked into the garden to pick up Liv while Ser Jorey was scared at first seeing Vincent like that when he hears, "Don't be afraid, Ser Jorey."

The hamster looked at Vincent before Vincent stretches his hand out. Ser Jorey jumped onto the palm and Vincent moved him to his shoulder before he called his daughter Lucia while hearing the old bell being sound.

"Have you already heard the news?" asks Vincent rhetorically knowing that Lucia must have been the first to know about it before even Naokichi.

"I have and I also heard that you will be coming back from seclusion to lead the Imperial Forces to war," says Lucia seriously as she could hear the cold tone in her father's voice.

"Yes, but my question is how is the rest of the Galaxy handling the Reapers?" asks Vincent curiously how the other not Imperial species are doing at the moment.

"The Reapers aren't advancing fast since we destroyed the Mass Relays in our territory. They need to find a Mass Relay so they can jump towards the other Systems.

Thinking about it the Empire will be the last civilization to be standing after this war is over going by the time the Reapers need to get to us compared to the time we need to mobilize all the Fleets and Legions," says Lucia seriously as Vincent sighs before he feels Ser Jorey touching him on the right side of his neck trying to comfort him.

"How long will they need to get to the first defensive line?" asks Vincent as he could hear Lucia calculating it.

"Three months since they will be purging the worlds on their way," says Lucia as Vincent sighs in relief.

"That means we have enough time to get the Quarians and Geth from Rannoch and the other colonies as well as the Krogans from Tuchanka," says Vincent relieved that their allies could be saved from the slaughter to join their fight.

"What about Omega?" asks Vincent wanting to know the situation on Omega.

"Omega is preparing itself to fight the Reapers their own way," says Lucia as Vincent looked into the sky.

"At least they will fight even if they know that they will die in the end," says Vincent as he looked for hope in the sky.

"Are you looking at the sky, Dad?" asks Lucia knowing her father as Vincent sighs which confirmed it to Lucia.

"You almost sound like your mothers. Let us finish this war as fast as possible and get everyone back home to their family," says Vincent knowing he wouldn't be able to return after the war was over.

"All the other Divines and Daedra can come to the Mortal Plane. Why should you not be able to do so?" asks Lucia confused with what her father was thinking about at the moment.

"Lucia, my daughter, I am not trying to become an Aedra nor a Daedra. It seems that destiny has another fate for me which neither of them knows about," says Vincent sad knowing that this might be the last time that he will be walking on Nirn.

He knew that he might not even see his two Babies grow but he needed to go to war so they could grow up in a world that is alive instead of a world that is made out of bones and skulls.

"I will be awaiting you in the Imperial City," says Vincent as he ends the call.

He still looked at the sky as he says, "The sky is always this peacefully even during wartimes. Aren't I right, Ser Jorey?"

Ser Jorey was confused since he only participated in battles before not in a war. This was new territory for the little fellow as Vincent returned to the house.

Ellana took Liv from his hands before he says, "We have three months before we have our first contact with the Reapers. I will be going to Rannoch to open a portal to get everyone to Nirn.

In the meantime, I hope that you get to the Imperial City with the rest of the people. I will be joining you before you all know it."

"We will be waiting for you there," says Mina as she took charge of the group until Vincent returns.

Ser Jorey thought that he wouldn't join Vincent as well when Vincent stops him from jumping from his shoulder while saying, "You are coming with me, my friend."

Vincent then leaves the house and sees the Highwind Legion standing before him in armor ready to go to war. They seemed to wait for something when Mina coughs for a bit.

"Right," says Vincent remembering that he normally gave a speech before going to war.

He takes a deep breath before looking at all of his descendants standing before him. He was seeing his mortal legacy before him. He takes his helmet off and gives it to Serana.

"We are gathered here today because our World as we know it, is under the threat of our biggest enemy so far. The Reapers have finally shown themselves and are marching towards us. We are preparing our defensive line and we will be fighting them proximally in three months going by your oldest sister's word.

I won't lie to you all. Some won't return to meet their family again. But be told that our sacrifices will be so our descendants have a future. We aren't afraid of Death, we welcome it since Sovngarde is waiting for us.

We will fight until the last man and even if we might lose some battles we will win this war because we must for the future of our people. For those that have fallen before us to keep this world and its people's future alive as they did before us.

Now I ask you are you going to join me in this war! Are you ready to let your life down to win this war!" shouts Vincent as he was met with a united roar from his descendants.

He looks at Serana who gives him the helmet back when he kneels down before his wives and says, "I wouldn't have had this many if not for you all. You all have my gratitude to have supported this old and stubborn Dragon for so long. I hope we survive this war so you can keep supporting this stubborn old Dragon until the end of times."

The army kneels down as Vincent holds the helmet towards Mina who was his First Wife after all waiting for her to put the helmet on his head. Mina helps Vincent before he stands up and he raises his spear into the air.

Everyone begins to cry out as Vincent turns to them again and says, "Mina will be in charge of this Legion until I return from Rannoch. We see each other in the Imperial City again."

Vincent then takes two steps before he disappears and the Platinum Starlight appears over the Legion's heads as Vincent flew towards Rannoch using the new engine which he could supply with his own Magicka to fly even faster without breaking apart.

It took Vincent eight hours to reach Rannoch. He could see that the evacuation was going on and he told the people in charge to get everyone on the ships while he and some Geth went to destroy the Motherboard.

But before doing so they saved all the files on a Geth which Vincent send ahead to Nirn since he was the most important Geth at the moment.

Then he returned with the Geth. After two more days, all the ships were filled with Geth and Quarians before they left Rannoch as Vincent opens a Giant Portal which open near Nirn.

The Flotilla and the Geth Fleet were ready for the war. But first, they sent the civilians to Nirn in smaller Vessels so they don't get caught up in the war.

Vincent returned to Nirn as he heard that the Krogans were already evacuated and on their way to Nirn. He was standing on the same balcony on which he was declared Emperor so many years ago.

He looked over the city feeling nostalgia while doing so when he says, "It has been almost a Century since I stood on this balcony looking over all the people living in this city that has changed a lot over the years."

Vincent put his hand towards his shoulder and let Ser Jorey jump onto his palm before putting the hamster on the railing.

"Back then I knew all of the people that lived in this city by name. Life was easier for all of us. We only had to worry about little things. But now... *sighs* now we have more problems to think about like the Reapers.

Thinking about it now, my life was less complicated when I was just a simple Dragoon living in Skyrim looking after Lucia," says Vincent as he smiled at the end of his sentence.

Ser Jorey looked at him confused as Vincent takes the sword Ser Jorey was always carrying around when he says, "Now that I remember, you were never officially knighted. Kneel, Jorey."

Ser Jorey looked at Vincent confused before he follows Vincent's command when Vincent says, "I, Vincent Highwind, knight my fellow Warrior of Light, Jorey, from today on you shall be called Ser Jorey. If someone thinks that Jorey isn't worthy he should speak now."

Vlad and Vigilance appear as the witnesses for Jorey's Knighthood when Vincent places the sword on Jorey's shoulder and asks, "Jorey, will you swear to protect this Empire and the Imperial Family even when you have taken your last breath and your heart stops beating?"

Small balls of light begin to surround Ser Jorey as he was confused when they took form and he could see that they were souls of past Crownguards. They were holding their shield and sword in front of their torso while only one of them was holding an ax between his hands.

Vincent looks at the ghost across from him holding the ax and he sheds a tear before looking at Ser Jorey and saying, "Nod if you agree, Ser Jorey."

Ser Jorey nods when Vincent smiles at his little friend when the man holding the ax raises the ax over Ser Jorey and says, "We welcome our new brother, Ser Jorey. May he serve and live an honorable life and have a glorious death so he can one day join us brothers and sisters that have sworn the same Oath."

The Knights placed their sword over the ax when Vincent gives Ser Jorey his sword back. Ser Jorey joins the Knights and raises his sword to join them.

"I, Hroar Highwind, First Crownguard and First Knight of the Highwind Empire, am a witness of Ser Jorey Knighthood and welcome him in our Order. May he serve the Highwind Empire and its Family in life as well as in death," says Hroar as he raised his ax into the air.

This made all the swords raise into the air as a small Pillar of Light surrounded Ser Jorey only showing them that Ser Jorey was worthy of becoming a Knight.

"We welcome our brother, Ser Jorey, into the Order," says all the other Knights as they turned back into balls of light.

The Pillar of Light faded slowly away in the Darkness of the Night as did the Souls of the Knights. Vincent stretches his hand towards Ser Jorey who jumped onto it as Vincent puts Ser Jorey on his shoulder.

"You are now officially a Knight. How does it feel?" says Vincent as he pets Ser Jorey.

They stayed a while longer, enjoying the view as they could see many campfires around the city. After a while, Vlad returned into Vincent's shadow again and Vigilance disappears as well.

Vincent then leaves back inside as the others must be waiting for him already. He entered the throne room and walked towards the empty throne. He passes the throne and touches the wall behind it opening the secret door before passing it.

He closes the door behind himself as he could already hear voices in the secret room. He sees every Aedra and Daedra sitting around a table except for Molag Bal.

"There he is the man we were waiting for," says Sanguine holding a horn full of mead in his hand.

"Why are you celebrating Sanguine? The war has just begun," says Vincent seeing Sanguine drinking as if he was celebrating something.

"I am celebrating Ser Jorey's Knighthood. It is finally official after all," says Sanguine raising his horn towards the little guy before a little horn appears before Ser Jorey.

"Drink little guy and celebrate. It isn't every day that someone becomes a Knight," says Sanguine towards Ser Jorey who grabbed the horn that fit his little hands.

"Drink," says Vincent as Sanguine wouldn't harm Ser Jorey except for maybe some headaches by tomorrow morning.

Ser Jorey drinks while Vincent sat down on his chair. The Aedra and Daedra were talking about the upcoming war while Vincent was only listening to everything that was being said while closing his eyes.

"What do you think, Vincent?" asks Akatosh as Vincent opens his eyes and looks at his father.

"I think that we must hold the line no matter what the enemy throws at us. It is us or them and I won't stop fighting until I have breath for the last time and I have no blood running in my veins. And even then I will continue fighting until there is nothing to protect any longer," says Vincent determined to win this war even if he had to die to do so.

They wanted to say something but one look at his eyes told everyone that Vincent was serious about what he said and will not be persuaded to not engage the enemy.

"Didn't we want to fight one last time together? This will be the last time since we all know that I won't be around any longer after this war is over," says Vincent knowing that his body won't be able to hold his Ascension back any longer.

The others knew about that as Vincent stands up and says, "This is a waste of time. I will be fighting the Reapers in three months. If you want to join me, you know where to find me. If you don't, don't get in my way."

Vincent then leaves the room as Azura stands up and follows him out. She catches up to him when she touches his free shoulder.

"Is everything alright?" asks Azura as Vincent turns around to her and she could see more cracks appear over his throat wanting to run to Vincent's face.

"It has become worse than before," says Azura concerned as she tries to help Vincent by absorbing his Divinity making the cracks disappear slowly from his throat returning to his chest.

"This body won't be holding on for much longer. I hope that the others are doing fine," says Vincent referring to Titania and their other friends.

"Let us hope for the best," says Azura as they leave together to find the other women and Liv.

Liv was running around excited since this was all new for her. Vincent pets her as she lays down showing her belly.

"What have they said?" asks Mina looking at the two.

"They are still undecided. Talos is the only one that has shown support so far since he used to be a Mortal before. The rest is split apart about this and Molag Bal didn't even show up making us wonder if he is behind everything since even Jyggalag appeared in the assembly of today," says Azura as Vincent was holding a specific book in his hand.

Mina pulled out her dagger and placed it over the book before saying seriously, "Don't you dare to open that book. You swore to never use it again. I even thought you burned it down after the Lorkhan incident."

"It can't be destroyed," says Vincent before putting the book away.

He sighs as he looked at Mina who also knew about the cracks on his body as did every other wife of his. This was also the reason why he hasn't married Mara Sov.

They went to their room which was prepared by Naokichi and went to sleep for now.