Chapter 40: The Flash of Bernadetta
The battle rages on! I hope that I'm doing a good job writing these fight scenes, since although I'm having fun writing them, I can't really look at my own work without some measure of bias. That's the one curse of being a writer, I guess. Although if something is truly bad, I guess I'd still be able to tell. Shit writing transcends bias for the most part, unless if I somehow completely delude myself about the quality. Anyway, on with the chapter!
XXX
Bernadetta blinked rapidly and regained some degree of focus. She had honestly zoned out there for a little bit. It was weird to think that it was even possible to become unfocussed in the middle of a large battle between three armies, but given the relative safety of her spot of cover, it at least protected Bernie from the reality of the situation if only for a moment. Overall, that moment of being in her own bubble wasn't too bad for Bernie. It was at least something to calm down her panic that had dominated her from the start of the campaign of the three Houses.
Sounds of battle filled Bernadetta's ears. Clangs of metal against metal, people screaming, magic spells crashing all around her. And yet beside her, Linhardt didn't seem all too disturbed by it all. He looked fairly tired and sleepy instead. Granted, that was hardly out of the norm for Linhardt, from what Bernie had known about him before.
"S-so, uh, what do we do now?" Bernie awkwardly asked Linhardt. Now that she was back to reality, there had to be something she could do about it. Hiding was the obvious first option, but maybe there was a second way out too.
Linhardt shrugged slightly. "Well, there's two ways I see it: either we fight and hopefully win, or we just wait here and surrender for when either the Blue Lions or Golden Deer inevitably rush the hill to take it."
"That's it? Only t-two options?" Bernie then blurted out.
"Yeah, I know it isn't exactly ideal," admitted Linhardt. "But we're kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place. Or a deer and lion, more accurately."
Bernie couldn't help but whine a little upon hearing that. "Ahhhh, this is terrible! It's awful being stuck here!"
"I certainly won't deny that," Linhardt agreed. However, as he said that, he stood up and wiped off the dirt and dust that got on the rear end of his robes. "But I guess we've got no other choice to pick one. And Caspar probably needs my help, so I'm picking the first option."
"W-wait! Don't leave me here!" begged Bernie, her eyes widening in panic as she peeked over the rim of her cover to look at her departing partner.
Linhardt simply gave an apologetic shrug before beginning to make his way towards the bottom of the hill, wading into the thick of the defensive lines with his hands ready to sling spells. Bernadetta could only keep a brief tab on the green hair of Linhardt's head before it got lost in the combat happening below. It was as if he completely vanished before her eyes.
It felt as if Bernie's heart was going to explode out of her chest as she sat back down, clutching her bow even tighter than before. Her knuckles were so white that they could easily be mistaken for those of a ghost. It was absolutely dreadful to know that she was essentially trapped in a corner up on the hill. Normally she wasn't one to question Lady Edelgard's orders, but Bernadetta couldn't help but mentally curse the decision to take the hill at the center of Gronder Field so quickly. If the soldiers of the Golden Deer and Blue Lions weren't going to kill her, then it would assuredly come from the heart attack she was likely to have from the sheer stress alone. To call it a mortal fear was a the only possible way to describe her current feeling.
That mortal fear made it so that her heartbeat was the only thing Bernadetta could hear in her ears. The pulse was the only sensation her body could process, the heartbeat resonating in her body. Her breathing had become rapid and shallow, her lungs doing their best to provide the body that was failing Bernie whatever motes of oxygen they could gather. It was as if Bernadetta's entire body was at its limit.
At that moment, something in Bernie's mind snapped. It was as if a bolt of lightning had emanated out of her brain, and sent an electric jolt down her torso and into her limbs. For that singular moment in time, Bernie felt as if she had awoken for the first time in her life. The world around her was hyper-real. She could sense ever wisp of dry, cool air that blew across her face. The screams of those fighting all around the hill had become one solid cacophony, a singular overwhelming din of war and violence. Inside her veins, her Crest of Indech seemed to cause her blood to come to a boil.
Something deep inside of Bernadetta had taken control. Something ancient, a reptilian mind that existed in the mind of her distant ancestors who lived in caves and chanted pagan praises towards the sky. It was the call to fight. It was a call to win or die. It was a call to survive. Survive. SURVIVE.
A harsh, shrill cry erupted deep from Bernie's throat. She had no idea if the scream was out of fear, out of rage, or out of some unknown primal emotion. It hardly like she was in control of her body at all. To her, it was as if she was suddenly watching someone else control her actions, her conscious mind observing things in a hazy, dreamlike state. Something else had decided to puppet her limbs.
Through that distant mental window, Bernadetta could see that she had leapt to her feet and nocked an arrow on her bowstring, sprinting towards the western edge of the center hill. There was a vague sensation of leg muscles feeling like they were burning, strained against how hard and how fast she was running. But that was okay. It was like someone else was feeling her pain for her.
In what only seemed like mere seconds to Bernadetta's far-off mind, she could see that her body had stopped at an area overlooking the Golden Deer army clashing with the Black Eagles' defensive lines. The assault from the Golden Deer had begun in earnest, with the majority of their forces having already crossed the stream running across the northern end of Gronder Field and hooking around to attack the center hill's western slope.
Among the throngs of students in plain and versatile battle armor, Bernadetta could notice some of the more prominent Golden Deer students the ranks. As expected, Claude von Riegan was leading the charge, his posture and swagger making him look as self-assured as ever. He was using his bow as a melee weapon, deftly beating in the faces of whatever hapless students attempted to charge him. It was an unexpected fighting style, using a bow as if it was a hardwood stave. Although it wasn't like Claude had much of a choice, leading from the front like he was. However, he at least had both Hilda and Lorenz fighting beside him, with the former making the bodies of unfortunate Black Eagles soar with the sheer impact of her swings, and the later deftly weaving through the scores of combatants with his lance in one hand, and a summoned magical fireball in the other. The three of them together were the might vanguard of the Golden Deer.
The unmistakable mop of Professor Byleth's blueish-green hair was easily spotted towards the back of the Golden Deer army, backing up the rear guard. If Claude couldn't make it on his own charge, then the vastly more experienced Professor would sweep in with his own forces afterwards. Alongside him were the archers and magic users of the Golden Deer, with Leonie shooting her bow and arrow from horseback, Ignatz and Lysithea lobbing arrows and magic towards the gathered Black Eagles defenders respectively, and Marianne attacking and healing with magic in equal parts. For some reason, Marianne seemed the closest to Professor Byleth, as if they were fighting side by side.
Because of those factors, the primal part of Bernadetta's mind made a choice: go for the front lines and hope for the best. With a sudden flash in her sympathetic nervous system, the Varley heiress surged forward, drawing back the strong of her bow. She half-dashed, half-slid down the side of the hill, taking aim at her first target: A Golden Deer lancer.
Before the student holding the lance could even register what happened, they were struck dead-on in the chest with a weighted arrow. Even with a leather combat vest, the impact felt hard enough to immediately send the student to the ground, clutching at their sternum in shock. They writhed around on the ground in pain, before practically dragging themselves towards the back of the Golden Deer army to get healed.
That was satisfactory enough for Bernadetta, who readied another arrow and aimed at another target. Before her, the Black Eagles' human barrier was weaking. As problematic as that was, it also meant that the wider gaps between her allies made for easier shooting. Noticing a Golden Deer soldier rush towards a gap brandishing a hand axe, Bernadetta wasted no time nocking another arrow from her quiver with her deft writer's fingers. She was operating under pure instinct as she quickly eyes the distance between her and her quarry, before shooting the bagged arrow towards the unfortunate warrior. Her arrow hit her mark, with the tip impacting directly with their forehead. The force of it all was enough to send them sprawling back, their limbs splayed out as they fell unmoving onto their back.
Two down, many more to go. Bernadetta's keen grey eyes looked for another target for her arrows. Fortunately, her next choice was easy to spot. Lorenz's height among the other warriors made him stand out quite a bit. It was only natural that he would be the next target.
Another bag-tipped arrow was loosed, headed directly towards Lorenz's face. However, at the last second, he turned away from an incoming blow from a Black Eagles soldier wielding a sword, meaning that the arrow could only harmlessly glance off of his right shoulder pauldron. That only served to draw Lorenz's attention, however. To that end, he swiftly dealt with the swordsman with a quick series of three jabs to the ribs, before raising his arm in the direction of the arrow's flight path and let a weakened ball of fire fly freely.
Bernadetta's newfound keen sense of focus saved her from the fireball. She only barely managed to dive out of the way of the cast magic, with it coming close enough to her that she could feel the arcane flames radiate heat on the side of her face. From behind her, Bernie could hear Ferdinand von Aegir cry out in shock, the fireball nearly having collided with him as its unintended target.
As Bernie pulled herself up off of the ground, she could hear Ferdinand call out to his accidental attacker, "Lorenz! How wonderful it is that we meet on this day!"
With the clear sense of battle enthusiasm, Ferdinand then rushed past Bernie to meet Lorenz head on. To Lorenz's credit, he actively rose up to Ferdinand's challenge, and shoved his way past a weak part of the Black Eagles' defensive line to duel his noble brother in spirit for the sake of honor.
"I rise to your challenge, Ferdinand von Aegir!" Lorenz declared, a proud look present on his face.
Ferdinand flourished his lance above his head with a small twirl before bringing it to a combat position. "Hah! I, Ferdinand von Aegir, shall knock you down—"
The noble with the orange hair's taunt was then promptly cut off by Hilda making a large swing at Ferdinand with her battle axe. From the look of it, she had thrown her entire weight behind the swing, enough to so make Ferdinand want to quick-step on his backfoot to narrowly dodge the blow. It seemed that Lorenz hadn't been the only one to push their way through the gap in the center hill's defensive line.
"Don't interrupt, Hilda!" Lorenz then sharply complained to his pink-haired sister in arms.
"Now isn't the time for this!" responded Hilda in turn, her voice coming out between gritted teeth.
Ferdinand had no further say in the matter. It would have been hard to focus on the tag-team before him if he kept on talking, even more so with the fact that he had to brace himself to block the head of Hilda's axe with the shaft of his lance. From how rapidly she was chopping at it, splinters were flying from the lance handle despite the axe itself being intentionally blunted. There was no denying the force behind Hilda's swings. Her strength was truly deceptive, based on how she normally carried herself.
Upon seeing all of this, Bernadetta automatically launched herself at Lorenz, not buying into the distraction that formed in front of her. Like some kind of spider, she leapt onto the otherwise occupied Lorenz's back and began to choke him against the curved end of her bow. Arrows would do her no good in close range, so she was forced to improvise.
Lorenz's response to the unexpected back attack was immediate, with him furiously swinging his shoulders and back side to side in an attempt to dismount his rider. "Ackk! Arrgh! Hilda, help!"
"Kinda busy here!" she shouted over to Lorenz, before dodging a wide swipe from Ferdinand's half-broken lance. "Ugh, you're making me work!" she then directed at the Adrestian noble.
Lorenz continued to choke against the smooth wood of Bernie's bow. She could distantly feel her arm muscles burn with how tightly she was holding it against her target's throat, which was starting to become slick with cold sweat in light of being unable to pass oxygen through it. At that point, Lorenz had all by given up on holding his lance, and instead was using both of his hands to try and pull away his strangler's weapon.
Bernadetta could feel her bow be pulled back from Lorenz's throat, and then heard the Leicester noble take a deep breath. He only had a moment to appreciate it, however, as almost immediately afterwards Bernie wrenched her arms back to keep on strangling him. There was only one last resort, desperate move that Lorenz could perform in response.
Bracing himself for the fall, Lorenz tensed up his muscles, did a short hop into the air, and then promptly teetered back face-up.
To Bernadetta, time seemed to slow down as she felt gravity take over. In her hyper-real state, she could see the finest of details as she plummeted towards the ground. She noticed the small dimples in the metal of the armor that Lorenz was wearing, for example. Additionally, she could practically count the amount of wood splinters that filled the air as Hilda finally broke Ferdinand's lance in half at the shaft. The expression on Ferdinand's face was of clear shock, as if in utter disbelief that his supposedly honorable duel with Lorenz had been completely supplanted by Hilda.
Those were the last things that Bernadetta noticed before darkness engulfed her as her back and head met the ground. There was no pain involved, at least. Instead, it was like going to sleep. Sleep was nice. Sleep was what Bernie really wanted at that moment. Watching herself fight was tiresome. The inky darkness of nothingness was a welcome reprieve from the effort her body put itself through.
In a way, Bernadetta finally got her wish to avoid the rest of the Battle of the Eagle and Lion.
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And so, Bernadetta's part of the battle comes to a close! I hope you enjoyed her kicking ass a bit. I like to think of it as her natural fight-or-flight reaction finally snapping to the deep end of "fight" for once. Even a cornered prey animal will fight back fiercely if cornered, after all. In any case, I hope you enjoyed the brief flash of Bernadetta's time on the battlefield: a moment in time where she excelled at what she did, before being put out.
Anyway, this is The Draigg, and I'm signing off on this chapter for now!