Time for some air combat and some Hapi mayhem. Enjoy!
Chapter 116 – The Battle of Garreg Mach, Part 2 (Lone Moon)
Seteth knew the mission he and his riders had been given was seen by many as suicidal. Flying right into group of enemy archers was never a good idea if you were a Wyvern Rider or Pegasus Knight. But with Garreg Mach Monastery under siege from afar, he knew they had no choice. They had to get at the enemy's trebuchets before they reduced the monastery to rubble.
His force of 150 riders was small compared to the army below, but it was all that the monastery could afford to send. The monastery had to keep most of its defenders at the main wall to keep the enemy from flooding in. He saw the enemy had already breached the eastern gate and hoped that Catherine would be able to hold the line.
He turned to his riders and shouted over the wind, "Riders, we will soon be over the target. Once we are in position, dive swiftly at the enemy war machines and destroy them. Do not linger or you will make yourselves easy prey for their archers."
"Yes sir!" shouted the riders in reply.
Among the riders, Constance gloomily said, "Even if this is a plan devised by the Professor, I doubt it will do anything other than lead to our doom."
"Wow, you're a real ray of sunshine," said Alicia, who flew next to Ingrid.
"Don't let Constance worry you, Alicia," said Ingrid. "She's always like this when exposed to sunlight."
"Wait, really?"
"Concentrate on the battle, both of you," said Seteth. "I will admit I do not approve of you accompanying us on such a perilous mission, Miss Melchiott."
"Don't underestimate me just because I'm a opera girl. I know how to fight."
Seteth was about to say something in response when he heard Cyril shout, "Look out! Above us!"
Surprised, Ingrid and Alicia looked up to see, to their dread, a force of no less than 300 Imperial Wyvern Riders and Pegasus Knights diving toward them from above. Seteth grimaced at seeing this, realizing Edelgard had anticipated their assault.
"Evasive maneuvers!" Seteth shouted.
A second later, Ladislava shouted, "FOR THE EMPIRE!"
She was joined by a chorus of shouts from her riders as they dove into Seteth's formation, swinging their axes and lances at the Church's riders. The cries of Pegasi, Wyverns and their riders filled the air as they began their clash.
Ingrid dove to avoid a Wyvern Rider's axe before swinging around and slashing Luin at her attacker's mount, slicing through its belly. The Wyvern shrieked as it began to plummet. She then whirled around as an enemy Pegasus Knight tried to skewer her, leaning back and dodging the strike. She spun Luin and then jabbed it at the female rider, who screamed as she was stabbed in her left shoulder. Ingrid made a second jab, this time piercing the Imperial rider's throat.
Seteth ripped his lance out of the chest of a Wyvern Rider, sending the Imperial toppling off his mount. He then heard Cyril cry out in alarm and turned to see the boy being chased by three Imperial riders. Seteth spurred Hyperion onward to intercept, flying past Cyril and slashing the Spear of Assal at them, empowered by his Major Crest of Cichol. All three riders howled as they were cut down.
"Thanks, Seteth!" Cyril shouted.
"This fight is far from over, Cyril," Seteth replied. "Stay alert!"
A loud scream from a Pegasus Knight caught Cyril's attention as a long-haired blonde Wyvern Rider pulled her axe out of the unfortunate Church flier's collarbone. Zola, who rode her Wyvern without any heavy armor, licked her lips as she eyed Cyril.
"Aren't you a young one?" Zola said sadistically. "Wanna have some fun with me, boy?"
Cyril gritted his teeth as Zola let out a howl and flew right at him. Cyril drew his bow and fired, but the blonde swatted his shot out of the air. He quickly readied another arrow, but then realized Zola would get to him before he could finish.
Just as Zola was about to plunge her axe into Cyril's skull, Alicia flew in front of him and blocked the strike with her lance.
As Alicia struggled to hold back Zola's axe, the blonde said, "Oh, aren't you a pretty one? And you've got some fight in you, too. I like that!"
Zola was about to make another strike at Alicia when she saw Cyril fly below her and ready a shot. Grimacing in alarm, Zola pulled back on her Wyvern's reins just as Cyril fired, causing the arrow to hit her mount near its right wing. The Wyvern screeched and bucked, but Zola was able to keep her grip. Scowling, she urged her Wyvern down to try and land in town.
Watching as Zola left the battle, Alicia said, "Thank you, Cyril. Come on, the others still need us."
Meanwhile, Ingrid growled as she blocked a swing from another of Ladislava's riders. Salia hissed as she made another strike at Ingrid, only for the attack to be deflected by Luin. Ingrid countered with a lunge, which Salia dodged.
"Hold still, dammit!" Salia shouted as she made another thrust at Ingrid.
Ingrid dodged this strike and countered with another lunge, this one too fast for Salia to avoid. The bluette shrieked as she received a cut to the left side of her waist, forcing her to clutch her bleeding side.
"Salia!" shouted another voice, prompting Ingrid to turn to it in alarm.
The blonde heiress of House Daphnel saw a busty pink-haired mage riding on the back of Wyvern, readying a Thunder spell. There wasn't enough time to dodge.
Ingrid screamed as both she and Celdia were electrocuted by Ersha's spell, causing her steed to tumble out of the air.
"Thanks, Ersha," said Salia. "Urgh, that stupid bitch got me…"
"Get back to camp and get that treated," said Ersha.
Scowling, Salia broke away from the fight, not noticing as Ingrid struggled to get Celdia to pull up. The wind whirled through her hair as she plummeted at an alarming speed toward the ground.
"Come on, Celdia! Come on!"
Ingrid cried out as she pulled hard on the reins, which seemed to snap her steed back to its senses. The Pegasus whinnied as it flapped its wings and stabilized itself, creating a whirl of wind as its dive stopped mere feet from hitting the ground.
After a moment of silence, Ingrid let out a loud sigh of relief. Then, feeling a jolt of pain run through her, Ingrid realized just how badly Ersha had hit her. She knew she was out of the fight. She looked back up to see the others were losing their struggle with the Imperials.
At that moment, Constance blasted another Imperial Pegasus Knight with a quick fireball. The rider and her mount screamed as they tumbled away in flames.
"I won? That can't be right…" Constance said gloomily.
"You'll regret that, you witch!" shouted another female voice, alerting Constance.
The blonde mage looked up to see a young brown-haired Wyvern Rider diving at her, eager to strike her down. Constance pulled on Syrene's reins and avoided the dive as Marika pulled up from her dive and flew back toward Constance again.
"You're not escaping from me!" Marika shouted as she made another pass at Constance.
Constance again avoided the attack and began preparing a spell. Marika, overeager to take her down, began banking her Wyvern around for another pass.
"YOU'RE MINE!" Marika shouted.
Marika made another strike at Constance, but to her surprise, the mage again avoided her strike. She looked back at Constance and saw, to her alarm, the blonde mage had finished her spell.
"Fate turns against you…" said Constance.
The sorceress unleashed her magic, sending a barrage of icicles careening toward Marika and her mount, too fast to avoid. The brunette shrieked as she and her mount were skewered by several shards of ice, causing her to fall from her Wyvern's saddle.
As she began to fall, and as she felt her life leaving her body, Marika's eyes watered as she gasped, "C-Captain…"
Her eyes then dimmed as she breathed her last before even hitting the ground.
"MARIKA!" Ladislava shouted at seeing the brunette fall to her death.
Furiously, Ladislava dove toward Constance. She roared as she jumped off Fenix and landed on Syrene's back in front of the blonde before she could react. Constance gagged as Ladislava reached over and grabbed her by the throat, intending to choke the life out of her.
"You'll pay with your life, Nuvelle!" Ladislava said angrily as she tightened her grip on Constance's neck.
At that moment, Seteth shouted, "Away with you!"
Ladislava looked up just in time to see Seteth and Hyperion diving on her. She released her grip on Constance and leapt away, avoiding Seteth's diving attack and landing in Fenix's saddle. Constance coughed and gasped for air as she pulled Syrene away from the fight, knowing she had to retreat.
Seteth came out of his dive and squared off against Ladislava, who glared back at him.
"You must be Seteth, the Archbishop's chief advisor," said Ladislava.
"I am," Seteth answered. "And you would be?"
"I am Aerin Ladislava, captain of Her Majesty's Royal Guard."
"You will find no victory fighting for Edelgard, Ladislava. Leave now or you will suffer the consequences."
"I'll do nothing of the sort. My life was changed forever by Her Majesty… Now, I lay it on the line." Ladislava then charged forward as she shouted, "For the Empire!"
Seteth moved to meet her charge. As they slashed at one another without effect, Seteth knew he had to keep Ladislava's attention on him. He took a brief look at the rest of the aerial battle, and saw that his forces were being overwhelmed.
He hoped Anna would be able to succeed where he and his riders had failed.
…
Anna held a small mirror in her hand, using it to peer around a corner. There was no sign of the enemy, so she gestured for her team to move toward the exit to Abyss. Shamir, Ashe, Petra, Hapi and Felix all moved behind her as silently as possible.
The merchant's force of around fifty men was to sneak into town and try to take out the trebuchets. So far, they hadn't run into any resistance, but this didn't leave Anna with any sense of ease. She felt as if their progress was going too smoothly. She worried that they could walk into an ambush at any moment.
But soon they saw daylight coming from up ahead.
"There's the exit!" said Ashe.
"Keep it down, Freckles!" Hapi hissed.
"Up ahead, four guards…" Shamir whispered.
Anna grimaced upon seeing the Imperial soldiers guarding the exit. If even one of them escaped, the enemy would be alerted to their presence.
"We take them all at once," said Shamir. "I'll take the one on the far left. Ashe, the far right; Felix, Petra, take the two in the middle. On my mark."
The other three nodded as they readied their bows. Shamir drew an arrow and took aim at her designated target.
After a short pause, Shamir said "Now!" and released her arrow.
The Imperials didn't even have enough time to react as they were each struck down by a well-placed arrow. None of them made a sound before toppling over, with Shamir's target struggling to cry out with an arrow piercing his windpipe.
The soldiers accompanying them pulled the Imperials out of sight as Shamir led them into town, relieved to see that the Imperials hadn't stationed too many men nearby. Those that were around were distracted by conversation or by orders from nearby officers, allowing Anna's team to slip through unnoticed.
Within minutes, the group reached the trebuchet on the west side of town. Anna took a moment to look up and see the aerial battle still raging above and scowled as she saw the Church's fliers were losing. She looked back at the trebuchet, seeing at least thirty Hoshidan mercenaries guarded by a small battalion of Imperials. There were also archers hidden in the nearby windows, though Felix was now leading seven others to slip into the buildings and kill the archers before they could raise an alarm. She saw the whites in one archer's eyes as Felix grabbed the woman from behind and stabbed her in the ribcage, his hand covering her mouth with cold efficiency.
"It's only a matter of time before we're noticed," Shamir whispered. "Any ideas? The moment we attack, the Empire's gonna be all over us."
"I know," Anna replied. "And you're not gonna like what I have in mind."
She then turned toward Hapi. The dark-skinned redhead quickly realized what Anna meant.
"Seriously?" she asked.
"We're gonna need one big diversion. Come on, it'll be just like when–"
"Don't remind me. Fine, fine, I'll do it."
Hapi crept as close to the enemy as she dared before letting out a long sigh. Upon doing so, a large magical circle appeared before her. Seconds later, a massive boar materialized itself from the circle, letting out a loud growl as it saw the Imperials and Hoshidans before it.
One of the Hoshidans turned and, in alarm, shouted, "Kāizhàn! Kāizhàn!"
The boar squealed loudly as it charged toward the enemy, who scrambled to get away from the gigantic swine or readied arrows to shoot it.
"Attack!" shouted Anna.
The Church soldiers cried out as they charged forward at the trebuchet, but the Imperials and Hoshidans were quick to react to them. Anna rushed at one of the mercenaries, who tried to swing a naginata at her. The redhead dodged the blow before slashing him across the chest with her Levin Sword. She then parried two strikes from an Imperial sword fighter before slashing through his throat, sending him spinning to the ground.
Shamir released an arrow that struck an officer in his left temple, killing him instantly. However, another Imperial was quick to run to the officer's side and grabbed a horn that was on his belt. He then blew the horn as loud as he could, letting out a sound that could be heard all over town. The sound ended a few seconds later as another arrow from Shamir shot the horn blower in his neck.
"Hurry up and take out that weapon!" Shamir shouted to Hapi.
Hapi readied a fireball and aimed it at the trebuchet, but a shout from one of the Hoshidans caught her by surprise. She turned and fired her spell at the approaching swordsman, sending him to the ground, screaming as he rolled to try and put the fire out. Before Hapi could ready another spell, she let out a scream as a mace smashed into her right shoulder. She heard her bones crack to the powerful blow, which sent her to the ground in front of an Imperial Fortress Knight.
Hapi looked up in terror at the knight as he raised his mace, preparing to smash her head into a bloody pulp.
A shout from Ashe was all the warning the knight got before the grey-haired archer jumped on his back, trying to pull him away from Hapi. The knight dropped his mace as he thrashed and tried to throw Ashe off him, but the archer held strong.
"Freckles!" Hapi shouted.
Ashe could not respond as the knight continued to struggle with him. But then, as they neared a wall, the knight realized his position and lurched back hard, slamming Ashe into the wall. Ashe screamed as he was more-or-less crushed between the knight and the wall, losing his grip and crumpling to the floor.
"ASHE!" Hapi yelped.
As Ashe lay on the ground, curling up in pain, he let out another scream as the knight kicked him. Then, satisfied that Ashe wasn't going to get back up, the knight turned his attention back to Hapi. Terrified, Hapi looked around at the battle. Things were quickly going badly for their team. She could see a column of more Imperial troops rushing toward them. She then turned to see Anna locked in battle with three more of the enemy, while the Imperials had finished off the boar she had summoned. Petra, Felix and Shamir were all engaged in battle, and Petra let out a shriek as she was dealt a cut to her left arm.
Hapi looked back at the knight as he picked up his mace, and she knew she had only one option left.
Hapi let out a sigh. And then another one. And another. And another.
She didn't stop sighing. Not after the fourth beast she summoned, a Dire Wolf, grabbed the knight in its jaws and ripped off the man's arm. She didn't stop when the seventh monster, a grey-scaled Demonic Beast, smashed the trebuchet and sent it toppling to the ground in a shower of splinters. She didn't stop when, after her tenth summon appeared in the form of a Roc, Anna rushed at her and yelled for her to stop.
She didn't stop until, after summoning a twelfth beast, Anna struck her in the back of the head.
The last thing she heard before blacking out was Anna shouting, "FALL BACK! FALL BACK!"
The last thing she saw before darkness overwhelmed her was the sight of Ashe being dragged away by two Imperial soldiers.
This is going bad fast, isn't it?
Yeah, I already killed off one of Ladislava's wingmen, but if you know the source material for where the names came from, you probably saw this coming. Writing the air combat scene was tricky, because we're never really shown complex air duels in the Fire Emblem series. It's not like dogfighting in real life, as the combat is mostly melee range. I hope I did the scene well.
By the way, I'm wondering if I'm using appropriate numbers for the scale of the battle. Last chapter, I said there were around 1,000 defenders of Garreg Mach, while the Empire's initial attack force is 2,000 strong. Is that a good number, or should I go back and increase it? Remember, medieval battles weren't usually fought with hundreds of thousands of troops; even a force of 500 strong was significant back then. But then again, this is Fire Emblem, so if you think I should make the battle bigger in scale, let me know.