The demon lady had summoned him again. She stood on a plateau overlooking the field with her hands on her hips and was staring down Edward's team. She was too far away for him to reach, so he instead imagined various scenarios in which Leonardo came to his rescue and pelted her with silver arrows. He sighed then. He didn't even like fighting, but this woman brought out the worst in him. Being thoroughly trounced in battle three times a day tended to do that to a person.
The woman always deployed no more than two of her soldiers against his entire team and still managed to win. Edward could only watch helplessly as his men—Harry, Will, Charlie, John, Smith—were eliminated time and again. Their opponents never even broke a sweat. Why did she never summon him in order to purchase supplies? Edward sighed. It sucked to be an Einherjar.
Today's opponents were as different as night and day. The taller woman had long, blonde hair and a tranquil expression on her face, her soft appearance belied only by the huge axe she wielded with superhuman strength. Her companion, a dark mage, was attractive enough, or so Edward thought until she shot him a terrifying glare that would have made his blood crawl if he were human.
Edward considered them carefully. The dark mage wore no armor—in fact, what she did wear would have seemed inadequate even in normal circumstances—and the war cleric's axe was at a disadvantage against his sword-wielding mercenaries. Dare he think that his men had a chance? Doubtful, but that didn't stop his men from advancing on them. Edward sighed in resignation and followed, though the two women made no move to pursue them. In fact, it looked like they were chatting casually, even as his men came in range.
John lunged for the dark mage and missed—he was always the clumsy sort, Edward mused sadly as the dark mage hit him with a halfhearted lightning bolt. The others fell to similar fates; the women hardly parried and still managed to avoid their attacks.
"You look as lovely as ever, my dear. I must be extra vigilant in battle lest you distract me," Edward overheard the blonde woman say as she cut down Smith.
"I suppose a disclaimer is in order: I may have used a hex or two to enhance my looks." The mage flipped her dark hair and smiled at her companion slyly.
Just what was their relationship? Baffled, Edward looked from one to the other as they gazed into each other's eyes. They seemed to have forgotten that they were in the middle of a battle. Edward felt a rush of anger course through his body, and with it, a strength he had never experienced before. This time, he would make his attack count.
"Stop looking down on me, dammit!" he shouted as he dashed towards the dark mage. His new-found energy inspired him and he swung his sword down hard.
Instead of slicing through her, his sword chinked against her shoulder. He froze, flabbergasted. How could his sword have done absolutely no damage, even though she wore practically nothing? He examined the blade for dullness.
"Oh my, you sure are fired up," the dark mage said monotonously. "You're a little too helpless for my liking, but Robin wants us to wrap this little exercise up quickly so I'll make it painless. This time." She waved her hands almost as an afterthought and a purple cloud enveloped him.
"Gods bless you, spirit," the blonde woman said softly as Edward faded away. "Perhaps we will meet again in the future."
-/-
Edward and his men appeared on a mountainous terrain. He spotted a young, red-headed mage and his white-haired dark mage companion, a creepy kid that Edward must have fought—and lost to—a dozen times now. And behind them, the demon lady grinned maniacally. Funny, no robin he'd encountered looked quite so sinister as this particular namesake.
"Damn you!" he cried, shaking his fist. His voice echoed across the battlefield. "Not again!"
A/N: I took some liberties with Libra and Tharja's early dialogue because I didn't want to use the game's language word-for-word.