Chapter 5: Dessalines' Pride

## Chapter Chronology

**Dessalines' Pride** is the 5th chapter of **Armageddon: Death of a King** and also the 5th chapter in the Armageddon Series. **Dessalines' Pride** continues the storyline and character development established in the previous chapter, focusing on Dessalines and his pride. The chapter may examine the impact of pride on Dessalines' actions, relationships, and the tournament as a whole. It may also explore themes such as self-confidence, arrogance, and the consequences of one's actions.

## Summary

#### ***Haitian Leader***

The French soldiers under Leclerc were accompanied by mulatto troops led by **Alexandre Sabès Pétion** and **André Rigaud**. Pétion and Rigaud, both sons of wealthy white fathers, had opposed Louverture's leadership. They had tried to establish separate independence in the South of Saint-Domingue, an area where wealthy *gens de couleur* were concentrated in plantations. Toussaint Louverture's forces had defeated them three years earlier.

After the Battle of Crête-à-Pierrot, Dessalines defected from his long-time ally Louverture and briefly sided with Leclerc, Pétion, and Rigaud which led to Louverture easily getting arrested. An angered Dessalines switched sides again, bringing Pétion with him. By November 1802, Dessalines had become the leader of the alliance with the blessing of general Alexandre Pétion. Leclerc died of yellow fever and was succeeded by Rochambeau. The two sides fought one last time at the **Battle of Vertières**, the victor of this battle would decide history. Dessalines and his alliance came out victorious marking the end of the war.

#### ***Back to the Arena***

Häyhä made his way to a silhouette and said, *"Kitsune has been told to search for "**him**,"* he looked around before continuing to speak, *"I don't know who he is but Kitsune is on her way to get him and I thought I'd let you know." "What? Why on Earth would Cael go for **him** this early on?"* said the silhouette, *"Thanks for informing me, I'll notify Terr about this."*

With **Louverture** broken, Dessalines decides to end it by using his main cursed artifact, **Vertières**. Dessalines performed **Vertières: Papillon** and lacerated Tell's torso. He then follows it up with **Vertières: Biassou** lacerating Tell's torso again. Tell looks down at his torso which now has a defined X-shaped indent that is dripping with blood. Arnold von Winkelried is seen balling his eyes out as he sees Tell, his adoptive father consecutively gets hit by Dessalines' **Vertières** techniques while Albrecht Gessler can be seen laughing at Tell. Many in the audience are shown to be sick at the sight of the battle.

The Three Eidgenossen are seen being concerned for Tell and discussing how it's near impossible for Tell to win in his current state. Tell retaliated and hit Dessalines over the head with **Küssnacht**. As Dessalines tried to perform a technique with **Vertières**, Tell cancelled it by knocking **Vertières** out of Dessalines' hand. Dessalines picked up **Vertières** and backed away as he performed **Vertières: Jeannot** creating forces strong enough to slash Tell from afar. Tell deflects most of the slashes back at Dessalines by performing **Tyrannicide** with his punches.

###### ***Backstage Observation***

*"So these were the tricks you were referring to,"* said an ecstatic Cael. *"Quite impressive I must say,"* said Hebi. *"We mustn't lose the vanguard fight so we should still be careful,"* said a silhouette. Cael then replied, *"How can Dessalines lose? There's not really a way for him to recover from this." "We still don't know the full capabilities of Tell so we should tread carefully,"* replied the silhouette. *"She is right,"* said Karasu, *"Until we know for certain the limits of Tell and his Will, we shouldn't get too cocky."* *"Relax guys, it's not like Tell can even pull anything off, even if he had other tricks, in the state he's in right now,"* said Hebi. *"That's exactly what they want us to think,"* replied the silhouette who is revealed to be the Royal General, **Raion Principa**. *"If we start getting too cocky they could use it to their advantage and rally the people against us,"* Raion continued. *"Whatever, it's not like they could really do anything,"* replied Cael.

###### ***Search Quest***

Raion then contacts Kitsune. *"Have you found **him** yet?"* asked Raion. Kitsune replied, *"I have an idea of where he is but I can't pin point it yet." "You better hurry, we can't have him getting in trouble before his round starts,"* said Raion. *"I know, I know, but you don't have to worry about **him** that much,"* replied Kitsune. *"He's one of our best, he's the only one that will be able to beat Terr's trump card,"* replied Raion. *"Wait, only? Why didn't you tell me that sooner? I'll get right back to searching for **him**,"* replied Kitsune before going back to searching for ***him**.*

###### ***W-Force***

Two silhouettes can be seen debating on what to do. *"Well if our embodiments join different sides we can even out the battlefield,"* said one of the silhouettes. *"I know but you might accidentally cause the Caelestians to win,"* replied the other silhouette. *"We just have to trust Terr, his trump card should land us the win,"* replied the first silhouette, *"You should go and try to intercept Kitsune, if she finds **him** we might lose our trump card."*

*"My lord, I think we should call in our trump card now instead of waiting as Kitsune is going to get **him** right now,"* said the first silhouette. *"What?!? Why would they go for **him** this early?"* said Terr. *"They most likely felt a bit threatened by Tell and might be going for **him** because they think we are going for our stronger picks first,"* replied the silhouette. *"I see, can you go get our trump card for me? I know he's a bit hard to reach but we have to play it safe,"* replied Terr.