Conquer the Heart

**Conquer the Heart** is a Story Arc of the the Exteria Multiverse. It takes place in Mazdayana - a long time before Also Sprach - and follows the perspective of innocent Shikigami Manithil Erudessa. It is followed by Conquer the Soul.

## Main Arc

### Ashes of War

Manithil Erudessa is an innocent Shikigami, a protector of nature living in a serene forest of the **Shiro Mazda** kingdom. Her life changes when her forest is attacks by bandits, who are then repelled by Mazda's prince Leo Kreiss, the young noble Chastity Liev, calm but firm strategist Leona Ciel and the sarcastic swordswoman Isabel Lunaly. They also save the life of elite pyromancer Evangelina, an orphan without a past. As they learn to know eachother and Manithil joins them, they notice they hold strange stones of power known as Asterisks granting them special powers.

As the small army investigates the cause of those numerous bandit attacks, they recruit the perfectionist Bushi Ayame Mizuru and the young and naïve Shikigami exorcist Milena Innocence, two religious individuals looking for their spiritual master, the monk Miria of Sunhome. They have learned of a growing threat - the neighboring **Bloodrose Empire**, guided by the tyrannical queen Camelia Bloodrose. The group soon finds Miria threatened by a Bloodrose assassin, Okami Alvein. They defeat Okami and tell her through a mix of coercion and persuasion to join them. Okami apathetically accepts, and Miria joins the group as well, going towards the Empire.

### Bloodrose Attacks

The army soon clashes with Camelia Bloodrose and her right-hand woman, the terrifying blood knight Kalista Nightblade. Camelia seeks to invade Shiro Mazda but Leo refuses to yield. Camelia then leaves the battle to Kalista, retreating. After a close battle, Manithil realises Kalista is a Shikigami... yet she is not as it seems ; under the effect of a strange corruption, she is agressive and tortured. Manithil seeks answers.

She finds them in the form of a strange temptress, mistress of Necromancy : Sheol Arhimana. The dark priestess tempts Manithil, taunts her before whispering her the truth - the Cult of Angra Mainyu reigns supreme in Mazdayana, and its corruption overflows, destroying nature and corrupting the Shikigami while eroding the kingdom from within. The Cult then feeds on the people's despair to grow even larger in numbers. Before Manithil can warn the others, Sheol forcibly feeds her her own blood, and Manithil faints.

### Corrupted Resolve

Manithil finds herself corrupted, as Sheol's pet and slave. Alongside another of Sheol's slaves, Katarina Darksteel, she is indoctrinated with the way of True Evil and sent to kill her own companions. However, Sheol has overestimated Manithil's determination, and she manages to break through the ranks of Sheol's Undead army and join Leo's side again, Katarina with her. However, the effects of corruption still linger in her heart.

Darkly determined, Manithil decides to confront Bloodrose's forces. Helped by Leo's new ally, the paladin Marie Eleison, the army confronts then befriends general Kila Erune and the sadistic witch Nyx Leumbra. They delve deeply in the past of Bloodrose and discover that an ancient Shikigami sage, Idealie, once protected the world from its darkness. Manithil goes to the city of **Sunistia** and after battling and recruiting yet another of Camelia's guards, the savage monk Sheva of Lunarch, she finds Felicia Sunn, a wise woman who helps her find Idealie's whereabouts.

### Salvation at Last

The Army walks towards the last pure forest of Bloodrose and - after an ambush with rogues Jessie Bladedge and Rydia Lorelei, misguided and manipulated aspiring heroines - encounters a melanchonlic Idealie alongside her bodyguard Ninia Mizuru. After testing the army's resolve, Idealie accepts to join the fight, and reason Camelia before it is too late.

Manithil, now purified by Idealie's magic, is granted an apocalyptic vision of what happens if she fails to befriend Camelia and Kalista. She then uses the gained information to pray for the Bloodrose Queen's help. Fortunately, Camelia accept just before Sheol can unravel her plan of forcing a war between the two countries then using the armies as a sacrifice to Angra Mainyu. Sheol's attempt is quickly defeated, but as Manithil manages to slow the corruption's effect in her, she uses the last of her strength to summon Angra Mainyu in the sky as a large, atrocious Oni-like beast.

Sheol, barely surviving Angra Mainyu's possession attempt and recovering from the atrocities she both lived and inflicted, now assists the army, helping her find the one who created the Asterisks - ancient heroine and Idealie's ancient lover, Virginie Shinryu. The warrior from times past, miraculously still alive, accepts to lend her help one last time and help defeat Angra Mainyu.

Victory is barely achieved, and the kingdom is left in ruins. Leo and Camelia cooperate in order to repair what is left and the army remains together, refusing to disband as long as the threat of devastation still looms.

## Characters

* Manithil Erudessa
* Leo Kreiss
* Chastity Liev
* Leona Ciel
* Isabel Lunaly
* Evangelina
* Ayame Mizuru
* Milena Innocence
* Miria of Sunhome
* Okami Alvein
* Katarina Darksteel
* Marie Eleison
* Kila Erune
* Nyx Leumbra
* Sheva of Lunarch
* Felicia Sunn
* Rydia Lorelei
* Jessie Bladedge
* Idealie
* Ninia Mizuru
* Camelia Bloodrose
* Kalista Nightblade
* Sheol Arhimana
* Virginie Shinryu
* Angra Mainyu

## Trivia

* The storyline's plot largely inspired from the **Fire Emblem** game series.