Before the sun rose and shined its light upon Skyrim Raika woke up an hour before it, realizing that the sleep that she had come out of was all the sleep she was going to get. The members of the Dawnguard were too excited to bother to sleep, running around the fort and gathering any weapons they might need to combat the vampires in Castle Volhikar. Instead of talking to them Raika moved up the stairs and exited to one of the towers that overlooked everything around the fort, where she could be alone until it was time to launch their assault. That had been her plan, but then the moment that she opened the door she found Princess Cadence standing near an opening, holding Auriel's Bow in her hand.
"Princess Cadence?" Raika asked, causing the Equestrian to nearly jump before she turned around and faced her, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah," Cadence replied, staring down at the bow she was holding before turning back to the rising sun, "just admiring the beauty of this bow and the craftsmanship that went into making it. Celestia told me that the elves had crafted many beautiful, yet extremely deadly, weapons, though most of them had been lost to history. I can only imagine the power that must have been locked away in this one weapon, as if the Snow Elves predicted that such a weapon would be required in the future."
"I just hope its enough to kill Harkon," Raika commented, leaning on the stone as she stood near Cadence, "I know that he's been around for centuries, so there's no telling how many tricks his got up his sleeves to defeat whoever challenges him to a fight. I cannot carry Auriel's Bow, for if Harkon defeats me then he'll unleash Eternal Night on Tamriel and all of this would have been for nothing, which is why I need you to carry it for me. I intend to fight Harkon to the point that you can get an arrow into his heart without him noticing you, then, once the vampires see that their leader has fallen, the war should be over."
"I'll be sure to make my mark," Cadence said, turning to look at her again, "How about you Raika, are you alright?"
"What do you mean?" Raika asked, wondering what was going through the Equestrian Princess' mind at the moment.
"You are turning into a dragon," Cadence said, almost as if she wondered why Raika hadn't thought about it, "Raika, you grew horns out of your forehead during your fight with Vrythur, and before that you grew a fully grown pair of dragon wings and a tail from those two dragons. Your left hand changed when you channeled your rage into those vampires and burned them all to the ground, and your eyes changed when the Elder Scroll reacted to your anger. I worried about you Raika."
"People are finally starting to respect me now," Raika replied, bringing up the fact that none of their past enemies had even cared that she was the Dragonborn of legend, "Enemies are finally realizing that the legends are true and that it is unwise to anger a Dragonborn, unless they had a death wish they wanted to fulfill. Others are realizing that there is actually someone who can do what the legends say and now they'll flock to help us without having to wait for our call. I'm the beacon that I was supposed to be when we went off to fight Alduin, just with some changes."
What Raika couldn't tell her, a Princess from another plane of existence, was that she was receiving help from a dragon that she was sharing her body with. She was positive that Yolrahtoor was an old dragon, full of experience that could aid Raika at any moment, but it made her wonder how old the dragon truly was. She suspected that the dragon had been around since during Alduin's rule, but there was no way to tell without asking it directly and Raika wasn't about to do that.
"Very well," Cadence sighed, not really seeing a point to trying to reason with her, "I shall prepare a few elven arrows, just in case Auriel's Bow only reacts to the arrows that would have been used when it had been made."
Raika sighed and the two of them descended back down to the main hall, where they found everybody running around and forming int groups for the impending attack. It reminded Raika of when she and her brothers and sisters would practice their drills, only this time they were preparing to take the fight to Harkon and the army he had been building. Sombra had felt exactly how many enemies were waiting for them in the castle, but hadn't been able to share that information with anyone any of the times they had been in the fort. Considering that there was a good twenty warriors waiting for Isran's orders Raika suspected that they might be able to fend off however many enemies Harkon had gathered.
Sombra, Serana, and Shadow stood behind Isran, waiting for him to make the announcement that they were starting their invasion on Castle Volhikar. Trixie sat near them, tapping the golden mask she had been wearing for the longest time as she waited, though Raika could tell that she was gathering her magical energy for the fight ahead. Her friends were prepared for combat, which meant that it was almost time to leave the fort and get to work with the actual attack.
"My friends, the time has finally come for us to attack Harkon head on," Isran called out, his voice carrying throughout the fort, "For too long we've allowed these vampires to poison the night and kill our people! Now, we finally have the means to strike back! We now have Auriel's Bow. The gods themselves have favored us and we must answer with action! The time has come to finally put an end to Harkon and his unholy prophecy! We will march on their lair and destroy those wretched abominations so they can no longer corrupt our world! This is our fight and this is our fate!"
As he finished speaking the members of the Dawnguard cheered for him, their chants filling the fort, while he simply nodded to Sombra and stepped back just a bit. Raika knew what was coming before she even saw it, her friends had convinced Isran to allow Sombra to open a Shadow Gate that would allow them to travel right to Castle Volhikar. Sombra's scythe shimmered through the air and the shadows tore open another large gateway, one that Raika hoped would lead them right to the castle. A moment after the gateway opened Isran shouted the command and the members of the Dawnguard began to pour into the shadows, heading to where their enemies were waiting.
Raika nodded and approached the gate, disappearing in a flash as she felt her friends slowly enter the gateway as well.
----------------------------------------------
When Raika stepped out of the shadows she found the imposing castle that Harkon ruled over, where he had gathered his forces and prepared for when he could bring about the end of the world. The members of the Dawnguard stood around her, weapons that the ready as they waited for their commander to give the command that would allow them to being the long awaited battle. Standing near the front gates of the castle was a force of at least a hundred vampires, though standing at the back was none other than Harkon himself.
How he had found out that the Dawnguard was coming, when they had made plans for their invasion the previous night, Raika didn't know, but she also didn't care.
"So how many vampires are under his command?" Raika asked, watching Cadence vanish into the tower to take up a position to get Harkon from a distance.
"About three hundred," Sombra answered, swinging his scythe around a bit, "We'll need to fight as hard as we can to stall his army, giving you plenty of time to defeat Harkon."
"Come and face me, Dragonborn!" Harkon shouted, his cape turning into large bat wings before he took off into the air, "You have already turned my daughter against me, and now you bring an army of mortals here, to fight me in the seat of my power! I shall enjoy tearing you to pieces and feeding your power to my army, making them the most powerful army in all of Tamriel!"
"Oh shut up," Raika shouted, flaring her wings and meeting Harkon in the air, "I just came here to kill you and end your plan to destroy Tamriel by blackening the sun. So bring your army to face the might of the Dawnguard, we shall rip your forces asunder and end your reign of terror before it even begins. I hope you personally enjoy the flames of my anger."
Harkon shouted some ancient battle cry about Molag Bal and came at her, though Raika called upon her deity, Talos, and immediately flew forward to meet him. In the same instant that the two flew to meet each other their armies began to move, vampires colliding with mortals as spells flew and weapons clashed.
Shadow spun around and brought his sword down on one of the unlucky vampires that had dared to fight on the front lines, cutting the poor victim in half. Two more came at him, thinking to easily take him down while he was distracted, but he simply sidestepped their attacks and spun where he stood, cutting both of their heads off in an instant. He arched himself backwards and threw his greatsword forward, allowing it to travel through the air before pinning one of the awakened gargoyles in the chest, causing it to crumble in seconds. Despite not having his weapon for the moment he charged forwards anyway, throwing punches and jabs at any enemies that came his way, even going so far as to twist one of the vampires heads and snapped it clean off.
Serana and Trixie, having become a formidable team over the last couple of days, stayed side by side, magic being thrown at the back of Harkon's army and blasting their enemies to pieces. Green lightning arched out of the Staff of Magnus and crushed several vampires into the ground, shaking the stone bridge with a vibration that could have ruined the entire structure. Serana, on the other hand, froze her enemies to the ground before cutting them in half or bashing them hard enough that they shattered into fragments. One unfortunate vampire caught being frozen by Serana for a second, but then was blasted to pieces by a blast of lightning that came from Trixie.
Sombra appeared in the middle of the vampire's army, close enough to the back where he could feel the power of his friend's magical attacks, but far enough where he didn't get hurt. Several vampires turned towards him and jumped at him, but he raised his scythe and spun around, allowing the blade to cut through their bodies with ease. As he cut down whoever stood in his way his weapon slowly collected each and every soul that floated out of the fallen bodies, though that didn't stop the vampires from coming at him. Sombra defended whatever attack came his way and replied in kind, but he silently wished he could have summoned his crystals and ended this sooner. He knew that the act of summoning the crystals would have destroyed the bridge completely, ruining their chances of besting the vampires.
"I see that your allies are making things hard for my army," Harkon said, pressing his sword against Raika's own weapon, "but that doesn't matter right now. I shall take great pleasure in taking you down and taking every drop of blood you have so I can fuel my army when we acquire Auriel's Bow, which I assume that you brought with you. How foolish of you to bring me the weapon that will allow me to complete the Tyranny of the Sun and enforce my rule upon everyone in Tamriel."
"Hate to break it to you, but we never got the Bow," Raika growled at him, hoping that her lies would throw him off enough to allow her to slay him, "And even if I had gone through all of that I wouldn't have brought it here so you could steal it from me."
"You lie!" Harkon barked, forcing her backwards in the air and stared at her, "I have it on good authority that you went through the Forgotten Vale and acquired Auriel's Bow. I even sent a squad of vampires to the Ancestor Glade to investigate the rumors of there being another way to read the Elder Scrolls in case I recovered one of mine. I will recover Auriel's Bow and cast the world into Eternal Night!"
That was before a cut appeared on his chest and blood dripped out of the wound, causing him to look at Raika as he realized that she had cut him while he was speaking. He was the lord of a castle and a leader among vampires, yet his foe ignored everything and simply attacked him like he was a peasant that needed to be put in his place. He was the alpha predator, yet she was treating him like he was just prey that had no idea what was coming and was ready to take him out with giving him the chance to defend himself.
"Villains and their speeches," Raika moaned, shaking her head as she stared at Harkon, "Look, I can tell that you want Auriel's Bow, but I will not allow you to take it and fulfill your plans. Just come at me and let us settle this."
Harkon flew through the air and came right at her, but Raika was ready for him as she spun around and parried the attack with her sword, feeling the pressure that Harkon used in his strikes. She pressed back and threw him backwards with all her strength, causing him to stumble out of the air before his wings allowed him to regain his stance. Ice wrapped around his sword and he threw it at her, but Raika merely ducked under the attack and got close to Harkon before kicking him right in the face. She was sure it was hard and painful, because she was positive that she might have broke one of the fangs inside Harkon's mouth, maybe even made him swallow it whole.
"You blasted cat," Harkon growled, backing up as his spare had went to his mouth and confirmed that she had broken one of his fangs, "I am going to enjoy defeating you and draining your blood for my army."
That was before Raika dashed in front of him and planted her clawed hand, balled into a fist, right into his chest, feeling the ribs under her fist cracking before Harkon backed away.
"You know what?" Raika asked, just flat out annoyed with Harkon at this point, "I'm debating whether or not I should just burn you under the intense power of my rage or just toy with you at this point. Honestly, you aren't as powerful as you've been claiming and I'm actually disappointed with your performance."
"I'm going to kill you!" Harkon shouted, three spheres of magic forming in front of him before he channeled the magic right in Raika's direction with the intent to kill her.
Raika, seeing the magic coming her way, called upon the flames that her rage and anger had unlocked and threw it right at Harkon, letting the flames form before colliding with the magic. The collision sent shock waves down at the ground, causing those that were fighting to pause what they were doing and stare up to see what was happening. As their attacks pushed back and forth against each other Raika noticed something shimmer around Harkon, though the second time she noticed it she realized exactly what it was. He had summoned a red barrier that was going to heal him, which would draw out the battle even more than it already had and Raika didn't want that.
She only hoped that Cadence was ready to fire the arrow, because she suspected that they would only have one shot at taking Harkon down with Auriel's Bow.
"Cadence," Raika shouted, feeding her attack more energy to stall Harkon, "I could use some assistance."
Cadence, having taken position on the top of the watchtower, had patiently waited for Raika to fight Harkon and reveal a weak point that would allow her to get an arrow in. When the barrier had sprung up Cadence knew the time had come to fill her part, drawing her chosen arrow and silently drawing the string back. She hoped that there was some power left inside the bow, otherwise she feared that a normal arrow would not be enough to kill someone like Harkon. When Raika shouted at her Cadence lined her sight with the barrier and waited just a second before releasing the string, letting the glowing arrow fly through the air.
The resulting explosion tore through the air the moment that the arrow connected with the barrier, tearing through the magic keeping it together and piercing Harkon's chest. His magic was cancelled, cutting the barrier to pieces and causing his attack to fall apart, allowing Raika's flames to tear right into his body and touch the arrow. The conflict between the sun powered arrow and the flames of wrath meeting was enough to violently explode, tearing Harkon to pieces in a flash of blinding light. Once the deed was done his corpse hit the ground, his army backing away from the Dawnguard before retreating into the castle the moment that Raika turned to look at them.
"So, that happened," Serana said, crossing her arms as Raika landed nearby, "I guess that means that, as the next generation after my father, I will inherit leadership over Castle Volhikar and the remaining vampires that survived the attack. I guess this is good bye Raika Snow-Heart."
"Go take care of your castle," Raika replied, shooing her off, "and make sure that they don't overstep their boundaries, otherwise I'll be back to teach them a lesson."
Serana stared at her for a moment before sighing and headed back towards the castle gate, leaving them to do whatever they wanted, which started with collecting the dead so they could honor them. That was when Raika discovered that, during all the fighting, Shadow had been surrounded by vampires and dealt a painful blow to his chest, leaving a wound that had actually punctured his heart. She was sure that they could have healed the wound, but Shadow had to be stubborn about it and continued to wave off their efforts to save him.
"I have lived a long life in the service of the Divines," Shadow commented, coughing up blood while he spoke, "but, just like Rend, my time has long since past and it is time for me to finally leave Tamriel behind. I have been offered a place in Sovngarde for my service, where I may make merry with all those that were lost and spend the rest of my days with one of my oldest friends. I do not require a burial, just burn my body and scatter my ashes across the land..."
Then, just like that, Shadowscale, the feared Divine Crusader and the Knight of the Nine, drew his final breath and died in front of them, causing many of the Dawnguard's members to weep. Raika knelt beside her fallen friend and offered him a prayer, hoping that he had been right about Sovngarde and hadn't messed around with them. She knew that, after everything was said and done with Shadow's body, that there were only two more things she needed to do before she could think of retiring. One of which was hunting down whoever sent those Cultists after her and put them in their place, though the other thing was ending the Civil War before it got way out of hand.
She suspected that her life was only going to get harder than it already was in the coming days, but how that could be possible she had absolutely no idea.