Chapter 9

"Nervous?"

Lissa jumped as she turned around to see Nathan with his hand on her shoulder. She looked to see if any of the others were watching, and quickly nodded, a panicked expression on her face.

The group of those who were about to fight was gathered in a small room just outside of the entrance to the main arena, waiting to be summoned inside. After finishing a last-minute game of chess with Virion to get his brain working, Nathan had seen Lissa sitting by herself, clutching her staff, so he figured it was a good idea to reassure her.

"Don't worry, I'll be close by, and no one gets to touch you unless they kill me!" Nathan declared with a wink. Lissa frowned and smacked him with his staff, trying to hold back her laughter.

"Th-that's not funny!" She cried.

Nathan grinned back at her as he rubbed his arm where she had smacked him. "You don't sound so sure about that…anyways, there's no need to worry, like I said, I'll be with you. And regardless, you're pretty good with that magic of yours now. Just fight like we practiced and before you know it, we'll be marching back to Ylisstol with good news!"

Lissa exhaled and smiled at the man. "Alright, if you say so, just don't die on me out there!" She told him sternly. Nathan nodded solemnly in return.

"Alright everyone, listen up!" Chrom called out, looking at those assembled, who quickly stopped talking to listen to the prince. "The fate of Ylisse is in our hands! We must not fail!" He yelled, raising a fist in a rally cry. The others all followed suit, yelling, "For Ylisse!"

The group was shortly after summoned by Feroxi soldiers from their room, and marched down the hall towards the arena. As they drew close, they could hear the cheers of all the spectators. Lissa looked over at Nathan, who, for the first time, she could see to be somewhat nervous before a battle, his hands shaking and a bit of sweat running down his forehead. She reached out and took his hand and squeezed it reassuringly. Nathan looked over at the princess, and took a deep breath and exhaled, closing his eyes. He wasn't used to a large crowd by any means, nor having so much pressure riding on their battle, in addition to having to ensure that his strategy would keep the lives of the shepherds safe. However, Lissa's soft hand clasped in his seemed to calm him down. He squeezed her hand back, and gave her a warm smile before the group stepped out into the arena.

Now out in the arena, the shepherds took a second to look out into the stands. They quickly spotted their fellow shepherds, mostly from Frederick's loud cheers of "Go shepherds go", accompanied by a large wooden sign that it looked like he had carved. The other shepherds in the crowd were around him, pretending not to know the great knight, but waved when the group looked up at them.

Lissa looked across the battlefield, and spotted a very familiar figure. "Chrom! Look!" She called out, pointing to the masked swordsman on the other side of the battlefield. Chrom looked over to see Marth, the mysterious masked individual who had helped them back in the forest near Ylisse, during their first encounter with the Risen. Chrom drew his blade and the others drew their weapons as well.

"Here we go everyone! Split up accordingly!" Nathan called out, but not before Chrom had already taken off to fight Marth. "…OR, we could do that…" Nathan muttered. "Alright, same plan, Lissa and I can take this side without Chrom! You three take on the others!" Nathan ordered to Kellam, Vaike, and Virion, who nodded.

"They'll never see me coming! Well, no one does…"

"Ol' teach will give them what for!"

"I will teach these fools how a true gentleman does battle!"

The remaining five split up, heading to different sides of the arena. Nathan took one last look over at Chrom, who was engaged heavily with Marth. "Well, at least that takes care of one problem…" He thought to himself. The tactician then turned back to Lissa, as two of the opposing warriors charged at them.

"Alright Liss, you ready?" He asked, pulling his Levin sword out of the hilt on his back. She nodded and readied her tome, with her healing staff strapped to her back.

The two warriors quickly rushed up to Nathan and Lissa, with Nathan jumping in front of the princess, parrying a blow from each of them, trying to size up his opponents. One of them was using an axe, and the other carried a sword, both of an Iron make.

"Lissa, some help?" Nathan called out, in between blocking blows from each warrior. Lissa stood in panic, frozen.

"I…I can't I can't hit them without hitting you!" Lissa yelled back frantically.

Nathan nodded in concentration, and ducked to dodge a blow from the swordsman, before placing a kick to his stomach, knocking him back. "Now!" he yelled at the cleric. Lissa quickly readied her tome, and shot a sharp blast of wind at the man, killing him. Lissa sighed in relief, not noticing the axe warrior coming up behind her, and raising his axe to strike.

"LISSA!" Nathan screamed, jumping in between her and the Warrior as she turned around. The warrior landed a thick slash with his axe across Nathan's chest, knocking him back into Lissa's arms, who held him up. He glared at the warrior, raising his Levin sword in his hand, and using it to launch a large blast of Lightning at the man, knocking him back and into the arena wall, killing him.

"Well…nice work…I need a nap now." He stated, looking up at Lissa, before closing his eyes and blacking out.