"Turn and face me like a man!" Ike called, readying the sacred blade Ragnell. The Black Knight stood and turned. It suddenly struck Ike how tall he was.
"Child of Gawain… you have come for our duel, I take it?" the Black Knight asked. Ike nodded uncertainly, looking at the woman behind him. Ena, of the dragon tribe.
"I shall defeat you, craven cur. If Ragnell is the only thing I need to do it, so be it," Ike called. The Black Knight chuckled.
"So be it… I accept your challenge," the Black Knight called. Before he could raise his own sword, the door burst open again, and Mist entered the room, panting and heaving.
"Ike… I'll help you!" Mist called, brandishing her staff vaguely intimidatingly. The effect was ruined by her still being, well, a cute little girl.
"So the daughter comes as well… excellent. I can pull up the family tree by the root!" the Black Knight exclaimed.
"Mist, stay back! The wretch is mine!" Ike called. He charged forward, throwing his sword up and leaping to catch it. He dropped down on the Black Knight, the blow parried by the ebon-clad warrior. Without skipping a beat, the Black Knight swung the sword, blowing Ragnell to one side and Ike to the ground. The Black Knight swung downwards with Alondite, only for Mist to have picked up Ragnell and brought it between Alondite and her brother. Without the strength to hold the sword, Mist could only check Alondite's descent, but check it she did. Ike got to his feet, and took Ragnell in both hands. He swung the sword up, bending his wrist as he landed his blow, and stepped back to avoid the Black Knight's counterswing. The step he took was not enough to avoid it, and he was knocked into the wall like a ragdoll. Mist gasped, and picked up Ragnell again, this time to swing. She barely tapped the Black Knight's armour, and he merely leaned forward to knock her to the ground.
"Is this the best Gawain could do?" the Black Knight asked, stepping on Mist's leg. The sound of snapping echoed, and Ike was jolted from his position. A brick fell lose and landed on his head, but he ignored it, again reaching for Ragnell. He levelled it, the sight of Mist drawing his eye away from the blank, soulless eye slits of the knight.
"You want to protect your sister, don't you? Turn tail and flee, Gawain. I shall treasure this moment… the moment you realised you could never be my equal. How could the man who learned the sword from Gawain hope to face Gawain's killer?" the Black Knight needled.
"Hah… foul villain. I do not flee. I will never turn my back and run from you!" Ike called. Mist let out a gasp that vaguely sounded like his name, and he hesitated. The knowledge that he was still outmatched began to dance at the edges of his consciousness. He shook his head- he was going to defeat the Black Knight. In every fight that ever mattered, he emerged the victor… he had to win.
"Ike?" a voice called. In his anger and with the passage of time, the name that belonged to that face escaped him- but Nasir's hand took his own, pulling the Ragnell down.
"I'll take it from here. Ena and Mist need you," Nasir told him. Ike shook his head, bringing Ragnell back up.
"Only Ragnell can stop him. Only Ragnell can pierce his armour," Ike responded.
"Ike… as we speak, Mist is bleeding, her leg is broken…" Nasir pleaded. Ike turned to Mist, her face turning pale, and it suddenly dawned on Ike what had happened.
No… not Mist too…
"Ena!" Ike called. Ena got to her feet unsteadily, her body slowly restoring her wounds as it had done in their battle at Nevassa. Unlike Mist...
"Come!" Ike called, scooping up Mist. As he spoke, the foundations of Nados Castle shuddered. More bricks fell unprovoked. The Black Knight made to escape, but Nasir stepped forward, turning into his dragon form. Larger than Ena, his scales a pure white, Nasir looked like he could slow the Black Knight's pursuit. Ike nodded, and Ena took one of Ike's arms. Ike ran, slowly enough that he didn't jostle Mist or Ena, but he ran as fast as he could. The echoes of Nasir and the Black Knight's roars followed him out, and the three edged out of Nados Castle's door. As they did, a slab of ceiling dropped behind them, sealing entry while the remainder of the castle collapsed in on itself.
Elincia checked in the room Mist was healing in. Rhys and a legion of priests, wearing cloaks of Crimean, Daein and Begnion designs alike, surrounded her leg, each of their staves waving overhead to heal it. Titania sat nearer her head, expounding comforting nothings to the girl, saving the scoldings for following Ike at all for when she was recovered. If she recovered. She had been there before the healers began their work. If there was a more unpleasant sight, she had yet to see it. At the very least, she had become familiar with the sight of bone.
She did not intend to stop at Mist's tent, however. It was Sir Ike she was concerned about, and Mist's side was the place she most expected him. She wandered towards his personal tent, seeing Soren sitting outside it with a scowl on his face as he pored over the report he was to give to Ike. He looked up, and curtly nodded at her.
"I expect you'll have the most success at talking to him in his current state, Your Highness," Soren told her before diving back into the reports. His words, though encouraging on paper, only confirmed Elincia's darkest fears about how Ike handled his loss. He nervously pulled back the tent flap, and saw Ike's possessions scattered around the room, some broken from the impact of what was most likely a throw. Ike himself was lying, face down, on his bed, crying. Elincia nervously sat beside him on the bed, her hand going to the space between his shoulder blades. As her touch registered to Ike, the sobs stopped, or at least slowed down considerably.
"Ellie…" Ike sobbed, unable to turn away from the pillow.
"Ike, it's not your fault. None of this is," Elincia told him.
"Everything is my fault, Elincia. I had one job. Be better than my father with the tendons in his right hand severed. At least he survived a few rounds of combat before he died," Ike responded, his voice raising. He wasn't shouting- though Elincia was sure that shouting was simply something Ike was incapable of in his current state.
"The Black Knight likely did not remain stagnant in his own training. It may be that he is better now than he was the night he killed your father," Elincia blurted out.
"But what about me? I should have been stronger… how was I not stronger?" Ike asked. Elincia took his hand into hers.
"Ike… what does blaming yourself do?" Elincia asked. Ike turned in the vague direction of Mist. He alone in the army was considering the very real possibility that Mist would have a limp for the rest of her life.
"I deserve it," Ike told her, turning away.
"Ike…" Elincia started.
"Mist! Her leg is broken, and it's my fault. My fault for not being strong enough. My fault for not calling off the fight to tend to her. My fault for not even binding it before I made my escape…" Ike rattled off. Elincia threw her arms around his shoulders.
"Ike, snap out of it! Of course it's your fault, but that's no excuse to go sulk in a corner! That's your cue to get out there, and give Ashnard a piece of your mind for hiring such filth!" Elincia unleashed, her own voice barely raising, but the proximity to Ike's ear meaning he heard every word just as loud.
"Ellie…" Ike started.
"Ike, would Mist want you to lie around while the rest of us fight on in your name?" Elincia asked. Ike didn't have to think about it.
"No, she wouldn't," Ike responded.
"Would Greil be content knowing the boy he taught was throwing away his talents because he hit one brick wall?" Elincia asked.
"No, he wouldn't," Ike responded more energetically.
"Do you think I would be happy if you let the rest of your army fight your battles?" Elincia asked.
"No, you won't!" Ike exclaimed, to find Elincia's lips on his. Before he could do more than widen his eyes, Elincia withdrew.
"Then you have some work to do so you can teach Ashnard a lesson!" Elincia told him.
I managed to get my hands on Path of Radiance, so I've gotten some playthroughs of my own. This story is in reference of my second playthrough's Ike, who… well, 7 Strength at level 12. At which point I heavily savescummed some Strength into him, which came at the cost of him having not enough Speed to avoid the Black Knight's double attack. The Black Knight one-rounded that (admittedly level 20/12 instead of a more usual 20/17 or higher) Ike with ~87% accuracy hits before True Hit.
As light as a note as this ends on, that playthrough's Ike did not gain sufficient Speed to avoid Ashnard's double attack. General paranoia stopped me from checking Ike's full combat numbers (Ashnard doesn't seem to move on Normal, but I wasn't prepared to let him prove me wrong), but I'm going to guess they looked similar to the ones he pulled up against the Black Knight. But hey, he got to get an A Support with Elincia again.