Bonding With Bernie

by The Draigg

Sylvain of the Blue Lions and Bernadetta of the Black Eagles are quite the unlikely pair, and yet they find themselves drawn to each other over a shared love of literature and an unexpected kind of affection they feel for one another. But when faced with the various outside forces of reality, can their relationship survive, or will they just be like pawns, pushed around by others?

41. Chapter 41

Chapter 41: Storm and Fury

Here we go, the conclusion to the Battle of the Eagle and Lion! I've been mulling over this chapter for a hot minute, so hopefully it's up to everyone's standards. I've already done what I can on my end, so now all that's left is to release it out into the world. Hopefully you all enjoy the thrilling end to the challenge of honor that all the Houses are undergoing!

XXX

Unlike many of his fellow Golden Deer students, the majority of which were heavily panting and hyperventilating through a combination of battle madness and exhaustion, Claude von Riegan wore a wide, cocky grin on his face. This one was much more natural than the normal disarming one than he wore. It was the self-assured smile of someone who knew that they already won the little scuffle they were involved in.

Indeed, the students under his command were performing admirably, with the underclassmen being the perfect cannon fodder his inner circle of upperclassmen needed. Their bruises and cuts weren't in vain, as they had been the perfect communal weapon of flesh, bone, and purest will needed to smash through the defensive lines the Black Eagles set up along the outer edge of Gronder Hill. It was through that force that the Golden Deer were able to push through the defenses on the western side of the hill, and begin their assault on the upperclassmen of the Black Eagles holed up on top.

Just as Claude made his way onto the center hill proper, he was greeted with quite the sight. Before him was an utterly chaotic scene: Lorenz rolled off of an unconscious Bernadetta while at the same time Hilda smashed her axe through Ferdinand's lance shaft, before bringing the flat end back around to whack the stuffy Adrestian noble with a mighty batting swing. There was a loud, reverberating clang as the energy of the blow channeled through Ferdinand's armor, which only served to draw attention to the fact that the strike also sent him flying back through the air about ten feet. It was as if he had suddenly been swept off of his feet by a storm's gale, he flew so hard and so fast. Claude certainly couldn't blame Ferdinand if he decided to not get back up after such an experience.

"Great work, you two!" Claude shouted over the din of the battle.

Hilda took the time to give Claude the cutest wink possible, despite being in the middle of an active warzone. "Why, thank you Claude! Although I'm worried this line of work isn't suited for a gentle flower of a maiden like myself…"

As soon as she finished speaking, a Blue Lions swordsman charged up towards Hilda, waving his sword in the air and screaming like a maniac. With absolutely no hesitation, Hilda promptly sent the unfortunate student sprawling face down to the ground with a large overhead chop of her battle axe. Claude couldn't help but laugh at how perfectly timed it all was.

"We'll talk about it later," he grinned. Then, turning to Lorenz, he more seriously said, "It looks like our Blue Lions friends have finally caught up. Let's not allow them to have all the fun, shall we?"

Lorenz had just finished dusting off the dirt from his armor when he registered what his House Leader said to him. "Of course! For the glory of House Gloucester and the Leicester Alliance!" he replied, his chest swelling with pride at the thought of winning glory for his bloodline and homeland.

"And for the Golden Deer too, right?" Claude lightly teased.

Lorenz's prideful expression dropped as soon as he picked up on Claude pointing out his gaffe. "Right. That too," he quickly acquiesced.

Around the Golden Deer nobility trio the underclassmen soldiers began to run around them, having completely collapsed the Black Eagles defenses and reduced a massive portion of their fighting strength. Claude, Lorenz, and Hilda took in the scenery as the Golden Deer army rushed all around, as if they were an unmoving stone in the middle of a roaring river. The sight of it all just made the smile on Claude's face grow even bigger. He absolutely loved it when a plan came together.

The brief shared vision for them was broken only a moment later, when Raphael rushed forward with the crowd to be a part of the attack as well. More specifically, he interrupted the trio by grabbing a fleeing Black Eagle underclassman and promptly throwing him between the gap that Lorenz, Claude, and Hilda had in their gathering. With that explosive of an entrance, the three of them couldn't help but stare at Raphael as he joined their group.

"What's with the standing around, guys? We're winning this thing!" the musclebound merchant's son beamed. Leave it to Raphael to have the warmest smile possible while in the middle of a battle. He was truly in his element.

Seeing Raphael's point, Claude nocked another arrow along his bow string. "All the more reason to keep up the momentum then!"

At that, Claude broke his stopped group's ranks and charged alongside the rest of his soldiers, with Lorenz, Hilda, and Raphael following behind him. Surely enough, the overwhelming of the center hill of Gronder Field was happening in earnest. Only a scant minute or so later, even the rear forces of the Golden Deer, such as Leonie, Ignatz, Lysithea, Marianne, and the ever-present Professor Byleth, made their way up onto the fortified slopes as well.

And on the eastern slope on the hill, much the same was happening with the Blue Lions as well.

XXX

By the time that the Blue Lions had stormed their way up the hill's defenses, Sylvain and Felix found themselves heavily panting from how brutal their fighting was. Felix was trying his best to not show how taxing the combat was becoming, but Sylvain could read him like an open book. By going back for Sylvain, Felix had lagged behind enough for some of the gaps in the defensive lines to close, meaning that the both of them had to fight harder than the rest of the Blue Lions in order to catch up. Sylvain couldn't help but feel kind of bad about that. But he would need to save that feeling for later, since self-loathing had no place on a battlefield.

Fortunately, the two were safe enough at the moment to tiredly step up to the back lines of the Blue Lions army, where the archers, magicians, and healers were located. A bit of healing would probably feel pretty good. Sylvain knew that he could use it, since he could feel his arm muscles throb and heat up from how much they were being overused during the fighting. That was besides all the nicks and blows he'd taken during the fighting as well. Sylvain was good at what he did, but not that good to avoid taking hits entirely.

Sylvain and Felix made a bee-line towards the easily recognizable white robes of the healing clerics. How fortune for them that the first one they walked up to happened to be their fellow upperclassman, Mercedes. As expected, Annette was by her side as well. It was easy to figure that they were together not entirely because they were magic users and thus naturally expected to be positioned near the rear, but because their strong personal bond wouldn't allow for them to be too separated otherwise. At least they didn't look too worse for wear, all things considered. Whether that was due to being at the rearguard or having easy access to healing magic wasn't too clear.

"We need healing," Felix bluntly announced to the two. That grabbed the magical duo's attention.

"My, you do both look rather roughed up…" Mercedes noted as she looked at the superficial cuts, scrapes, darkening bruises, and slowly swelling lumps on the bodies of Felix and Sylvain. "Just hold still, please."

With a wave of her hands, magical glyphs briefly formed and flashed in the air before Mercedes, before they turned into a bright light that shone around the forms of her male comrades. It was nothing more than a simple Heal spell, short and to the point. Unlike some of the rather severe cuts and fractures that the Blue Lions healers had seen in the underclassmen foot soldiers, what Felix and Sylvain had in terms of injuries wasn't a whole lot. Mostly superficial wounds and general fatigue. Nothing that the most basic of healing spells couldn't help with.

Sylvain could feel a cool wave of relief wash over him as his cut skin reformed itself and his bruises and lumps stopped swelling and receded. It was a similar feeling to taking a nice cool bath on a warm and muggy day, with a few sprigs of mint and drops of rose water added in for extra refreshment. Such a feeling was just the thing he needed to keep on going.

"Thanks!" said Sylvain, smiling at Mercedes. "Remind me to thank you properly with a dinner out when we get back to Garreg Mach."

Mercedes smiled back, but it certainly didn't feel like it had any warmth or compassion behind it, only existing to be polite. "Don't make promises you shouldn't keep," she replied, her words feeling like ice cubes with sugar on top.

"You just can't turn it off, can you?" Felix observed, rolling his shoulders and stretching his now rested arms.

Sylvain just chose to ignore Felix's snide insinuation. "That's not a 'no', Mercedes," he noted.

"Sylvain, right now probably isn't the time," Annette pointed out, looking over her shoulder. She was holding her hands up angled towards the sky, and her statement was punctuated by a magical sigil being summoned in the air in front of her. Before anyone could say anything else, she launched a large ball of fire towards the hill, acting as the artillery of the Blue Lions. It was fairly impressive how she was able to multitask while casting spells. She was certainly proving why she was able to get into the Royal School of Sorcery in Fhirdiad earlier on in her academic career.

"Fine, fine," Sylvain acquiesced with a shrug. "Can't blame a guy for trying."

"You can at least say that," Mercedes said, her smile still fairly strained.

Felix displayed his trademark scowl. He chided, "What you should be doing is focusing on the battle at hand, Sylvain."

Sylvain adjusted his grip on his lance's shaft. "We've just got to storm the hill, take out two whole armies, and win a victory for the Blue Lions. That can't be too hard for us, can it?" he cockily joked.

"It might be for you," Felix replied, his fist tightening around his sword's hilt.

As much as he didn't want to play around with Sylvain's performative over-confidence, there was a part of Felix's mind that couldn't deny how appealing it sounded. The challenge, the thrill and rush of battle, it was all exactly what he was into. If there was only one thing he would change about the way things were going, it would be to see Annette use the battle axe slung across her back instead of relying on her magic. He was already assured of her magical prowess, but the question of her physical prowess in battle remained unanswered. It was a matter of simple curiosity, honestly.

Before the banter could continue on, a familiar voice filled with regal authority boomed over the formations of the Blue Lions army.

"CHARGE!" Prince Dimitri screamed over the heads of the men and women under his command. Although Sylvain, Felix, Mercedes, and Annette could only see the top of the prince's blonde-haired head above the sea of armor and weapon tips, his voice still boomed loudly enough to be heard over the din of warfare. Such was an appropriate quality for a martially-inclined king.

Felix wasted no time in heading towards the front lines, striding his way among the ranks of the Blue Lions army. At the same time, Sylvain cocked his head towards the sound of the yelled order. "Well, I guess that's our cue, ladies," he noted. Hefting up his spear, Sylvain began to wade through the sea of underclassmen, his form vanishing in an ocean of metal and leather armor.

"Good luck!" Annette cried out after the both of them. She hoped that they could hear it, although she privately doubted that neither Felix or Sylvain could hear her over the chaos going on around them. A normal singing voice wasn't really attuned for screaming loudly, after all. The difference intentional pitches were rather wide.

As Sylvain ran alongside Felix into battle, he began to feel something he hadn't felt before. No, it wasn't because he was just freshly healed, that was by then a somewhat familiar sensation. It was quite a different feeling altogether.

It was almost like a sort of out of body, nearly transcendent feeling. To be running alongside people he knew, while also being a part of the faceless masses of underclassmen, was like becoming a part of one large mass. A surging, forceful mass of over a hundred eyes and over a hundred fists. He was like a kernel on an ear of corn, just one tiny mote that composed a greater whole. A singular body of flesh, iron, and determination. That was what he was a part of. His mind seemed to becoming a part of that collective unconsciousness of war now he was fully in the thick of it. Just one head in a sea of soldiers.

The tidal wave of Blue Lions bodies utterly shattered what was left of the tattered Black Eagles defensive lines. Students in black and red armor scattered, swept away in the violence that the Blue Lions brought with them. Wooden defenses that had been erected for the battle the night before were trampled underfoot. Ingrid showed no mercy, sweeping enemies out of her way with her lance leveled forward. Ashe managed to dodge a throwing axe desperately lobbed in his direction, before returning fire with a weighted arrow of his own. Dedue sent bodies flying with great swings of his hammer. There was no spared expense of effort when it came to charging up the center hill of Gronder Field.

And at the front of it all was Prince Dimitri. He insisted upon being the tip of the spear, as someone of his status should always set an example for others to follow. In front of him, he could feel the cool winds of battle wash over him, as the ragged remains of the Black Eagles retreated towards the top of the hill. Behind Dimitri was the heat of the great heaving body of the Blue Lions, the corpus of strength and will that was allowing him to push ever forward. It was that forward movement that carried him towards his ultimate goal: the top of the hill, where the upperclassmen of each House were gathering to settle the Battle of the Eagle and Lion among them. They would speak the language of battle using glory as their intentions and swords as their words.

Standing before the princeling was his goal. Utter chaos surrounded Claude and Edelgard, who had locked into a duel with one another. Battle raged around them like a storm, with such visages like Raphael and Caspar trading body blows with one another and both refusing to buckle, and Hubert and Lysithea locked in a battle of wizardry where magical attacks shot off in all directions visible. It would only be a matter of pushing through the war-maelstrom to get to the prize at the eye of the storm. It was for that reason that Prince Dimitri allowed himself to submit to the influence of war's violence.

Dimitri's next charge began with him shoulder-checking a Black Eagles underclassman so hard that they careened straight into a pile of splintered wood that once was a helpful bit of cover. He paid little attention to the student's arcing path and instead chose to attack the presence he found himself before: Leonie. The ginger girl flashed a bloodthirsty smile as she twirled her lance and pointed it at Dimitri, having abandoned her steed and other weapons for the experience of close combat not too long ago.

"Never thought I'd actually fight the prince of Faerghus," the mercenary in training commented.

Prince Dimitri chose not to respond with a taunt of his own, instead immediately flinging himself into battle against Leonie. His prize was so close, he could not afford to waste any time in claiming it. By claiming the victory on the top of the hill, he would be able to share the glory of a Blue Lions victory with the rest of his House. Such a reward was tempting enough to embrace the martial instincts within him wholly, no matter the cost to himself.

With learned reflexes, Dimitri ducked out of the way of Leonie's lance stabbing towards his upper torso. Her jabs were fast, that much as clear. Skilled, even. But he had the upper advantage when it came to their physical bodies. At the end of the day, Leonie was a shorter girl weighing most likely no more than twelve stone. Dimitri was much bigger than that. All he needed to do was leverage his strength against the sell-sword idolizer.

When another series of jabs flew in his direction, Dimitri did something that took Leonie completely off guard: he grabbed the upper part of the lance's shaft and yanked it towards him using his brute strength, his feet planted firmly on the ground. Leonie, who had been standing on the ball of her forward foot to thrust, only had a moment to register what was happening before she felt the heat of friction burning her hands as the wooden shaft was ripped from her grasp. Even her strong grip couldn't withstand Dimitri's forceful pulling.

Blood poured out of fresh gashes in Leonie's hands as she briefly looked down at them to assess the damage. The sheer friction and force of Dimitri had torn off a few layers of tender palm flesh. They were fairly wide wounds on the palms of her hands, although fortunately they weren't too deep. The back of her mind briefly registered a deep regret at not bothering to wear better hand protection. The one archer's glove she chose to wear that day was nowhere near enough cover for her dominant hand. It was meant to protect the fingers, not the palm. Now Leonie was paying the price by having stinging, wide hand wounds.

Before Leonie had any further attempts to mentally compartmentalize the damage, Dimitri was upon her again, his lance's head spearing itself into her gut, a critical blow. Even with the blunted end and the leather corset she was wearing for protection, the power of the blow was enough to knock the wind out of Leonie's lungs. She staggered back, feeling vomit start to travel up her throat.

Pressing his advantage, Prince Dimitri then followed up with a mighty sweeping blow, one that sent Leonie sprawling to the ground. He could see that she was in a bad shape, rivulets of saliva and bile pouring out of her mouth as she tried her hardest to stand back up from her spot in the dirt. Dimitri refused to give Leonie any kind of chance to retaliate. With a push from his boot, he knocked Leonie back onto the ground from where she was on all fours, before snatching up her lance from the ground. He left the back half of the shaft on the ground and raised up the weapon to a diagonal angle, before stepping on the lance with the might of all his leg strength and snapping it in two. She would have no further reason to fight if her weapon was destroyed.

Leonie made one more attempt to attack Dimitri, despite her diminished state. It was both a sign of her weakness and strength, with her trying to grab at Dimitri's ankles. Even when her body gave out on her, Leonie's fighting spirit was still as strong as ever. If Dimitri had been paying attention, he would've respected her inner strength. However, as he was refocusing his efforts on Claude and Edelgard, he remained completely oblivious to Leonie's last show strength in favor of leaving her defeated form in the dirt.

For Dimitri, he was ready to penetrate the eye of the storm. His teeth barred, he charged towards Claude and Edelgard. Edelgard had just knocked Claude's axe out of his hands just as Dimitri had intruded on their duel. Upon seeing the Blue Lions leader charging at her, Edelgard immediately entered a guarding stance as the lancer prince intervened, long and furious strides carrying him towards his target. Off to his side, Claude dove towards his axe, no doubt grateful that he had a chance to avoid being eliminated.

"Prepare yourself!" Prince Dimitri yelled as he thrust his lance towards Edelgard. However, she deftly managed to ward off the blow with the flat edge of her war axe acting as a makeshift shield.

"Same to you!" Edelgard replied, then raising her axe above her head.

The head of Edelgard's axe came down hard, burying itself an inch into the dirt as Dimitri sidestepped the large chop. He made an effort to thrust his lance at Edelgard, but the future Empress reacted swiftly, swinging her axe back up in such a way that it knocked the tip of the prince's spear up in the air before it could land a hit. Edelgard then readied another downward blow towards Prince Dimitri, but he decided to tank the blow by bracing the shaft of his lance against his shoulder and using the additional stability to absorb the blow. It was undoubtedly powerful enough of a hit that it would've split Dimitri's shaft if it was unsupported, as Dimitri could feel the energy of the blow reverberate through his shoulder. The blow stung, bit it wasn't enough to slow him down. Instead, he used his positioning to make a move to bring around an arc-shaped strike to Edelgard's unprotected flank.

The end of the lance connected against Lady Edelgard's ribcage, enough to make the Black Eagles leader grunt in pain and grit her teeth. She had been foolish to leave her sides unguarded in an attempt to end Dimitri quickly. She wouldn't allow such a mistake to happen again. However, before the duel between the Prince and the Adrestian heiress could continue, a third presence reasserted itself in the fight.

"Teach! Now!" shouted Claude to his reinforcement.

Before the situation could register to Dimitri and Edelgard, the segmented blade of the Sword of the Creator surged forward and tangled itself around the un-held part of the shaft of Dimitri's lance, whip-like in its coiling movement. The chain-blade then got yanked back, ripping the lance out of Dimitri's hands easily due to being caught off guard by the presence of the Ashen Demon.

Claude wasted no time in taking advantage of the opening, and brought down the blunted end of his axe down on the closest shoulder of Dimitri's he could easily reach. His aim was true, and inflicted a hit from behind on the area between Dimitri's shoulder blade and where his neck began.

Dimitri collapsed to his knees in pain instantly, clutching at his new wound. To him, it felt like the world was spinning. Colors seemed less vibrant somehow, and yet light seemed even brighter. His brain was doing what it could to process the injury, but the searing pain made it hard to focus. It was as if a streak of lighting was travelling down his entire side. Claude had left quite the mark on the princeling's body.

By that point, Professor Byleth had joined the fray by Claude's side, recoiling the Sword of the Creator back into blade form and unsheathing a second blade from his hip. Edelgard found herself frozen in place, processing what she could do as her next move. Things were looking bad. Going up against Professor Byleth and Claude at the same time was going to be hard. The professor hardly looked fatigued from the battle. He could probably fight for weeks on end. Add that to the fact that she was also outnumbered, and her chances weren't adding up well. Still, she had to try to go the distance.

"Professor!" challenged Edelgard. "I'll seize victory for the Black Eagles!"

Edelgard then charged at the Golden Deer's class professor, reading her axe for a sideways strike. However, just as she swung at Professor Byleth, he used his second sword to block the blow mid-swing. Then, using the second blade as his pivot point, he came around to Edelgard's side to attack her flank.

Unfortunately for him, Edelgard was now aware enough to watch out for side attacks. Spinning on her back heel, Edelgard reengaged Professor Byleth head on, denying him the chance at a free flanking hit. If someone unversed in the ways of combat had looked upon that scene, the fluid movements would almost look like a dance. It was no dance in reality, but rather communication. Byleth and Edelgard were speaking the language of combat, their attacks and movements weaving together an unspoken story of thoughts and intentions.

It was Claude's turn to speak, as he charged forward baring his axe towards the Adrestian Lady. However, Edelgard then did something rather risky to defend herself from the two-pronged attack. Breaking off from the blade lock, Edelgard swung out her axe horizontally in Claude's direction, while at the same time grabbing at Professor Byleth's wrist in an attempt to draw him too close to use his swords.

Her plan somewhat succeeded, as Claude was forced to leap backwards to avoid running himself directly into the crescent blow Edelgard had unleashed. Unfortunately for her, Edelgard hadn't counted on one thing: Professor Byleth was completely willing to treat the Sword of the Creator like any other weapon, and not as the priceless Hero's Relic it was. He elected to simply drop the Sword of the Creator, and to use his now-free hand to punch Edelgard directly in the face.

Edelgard's vision filled with bright lights and stars as she clutched her face, grinding her teeth together in agony. Being punched in the face by an armored gauntlet really, really hurt. Tears uncontrollably spilled from her eyes due to the pain. Her feet fumbled all against the ground, the world spinning and the earth beneath her feeling as if she was suddenly standing on a very plush and unstable mattress. In her unaware state, she was unable to see that Dimitri was attempting a counter-attack of his own.

The Faeghus prince had regained his senses, and upon seeing the Sword of the Creator laying in the mud dove towards it in an attempt to use it as a weapon. However, as soon as his right hand gripped the hilt, the strangest, most painful feeling he had ever experienced took over him. Prince Dimitri's eyes surged wide open at the sensation. It was as if every vein in his body was lit on fire. Every organ of his being was screaming out at feeling abject torture. He could only dimly register why that was happening: his Crest was completely unsuited to wield such a blade. It was an utter rejection of his very being, the gift of the Goddess rebuked by her blessed artifact. Had he been in a clearer state of mind, Dimitri would never had dared to do such a thing. It was to his dismay that he wasn't paying attention to what his body was doing on instinct.

"Aaaaaaaaaarrrrrghhhhhhhhh!" Prince Dimitri screamed out before his form went limp. Any remaining strength he had left his body. It was all over a very stupid mistake made in the heat of the moment. Not that such a thing would be acknowledged by him in his then-current state, as he was out cold from the experience.

Professor Byleth remained as focused as ever, only paying attention to Prince Dimitri's self-inflicted defeat faintly. He was never one to leave follow-up attacks untaken, and so he capitalized on Edelgard's staggered state. Byleth was upon Lady Edelgard in an instant, wrenching one arm away from where her hands were cradling her face, before twisting it roughly behind her back and taking her down to the ground. The Adrestian heiress's face was buried in the dirt, flecks of filth clinging to her face where she was shedding tears of pain. Byleth then kneeled down and place a knee on the small of Edelgard's back, leaving her incapable of moving.

Upon having the future Empress rendered helpless, Professor Byleth only had one thing to say to her: "Submit."

The only reply he received from Edelgard's mouth was something muffled from the dirt her face was buried in. However, he understood the intention. Lady Edelgard was spent, completely removed of the will to fight on. Byleth turned his face towards Claude and gave him a silent nod. The both of them understood that they had just won a victory for the Golden Deer.

His smile beaming brightly, Claude thrust his axe into the air as a symbol of victory. "The Golden Deer have defeated both House Leaders, and have claimed victory for the Leicester Alliance!" he proudly declared to all who heard.

Trumpets blared out and cast their sound downward from the above cliffs, the Knights of Seiros having seen the victory of the Golden Deer from their vantage point. They felt confident in declaring the battle over, seeing that only Claude remained standing out of all the House Leaders.

At the sound, the various students of the Houses froze in place and turned their gazes towards the center of Gronder Field, up towards the brandished axe of Claude von Riegan piercing the sky above him. The Golden Deer students then all let out a collective cry of victory, screams of delight and relief sounding out in a cacophony of sheer joy.

The triumph of the Golden Deer was sealed. They won the Battle of the Eagle and Lion. The heady feeling of victory was theirs and theirs alone. For that moment in time, the Golden Deer gleamed as brightly as their House name suggested. They had earned it, and it would be a hard-won battle that would last with everyone, for many different reasons.

XXX

And there you have it, the Golden Deer have won the Battle of the Eagle and Lion! I sincerely hope you all enjoyed it. A lot of time and effort went into writing and editing this battle to a standard that I was fine with. It's my hope that the fury and power of the battle was imparted unto you all through my writing. At least I can say that I had a blast writing it, that's for sure.

This is The Draigg, and I'm signing off on this chapter for now!