Book 1: A dragon flaps its wings
Chapter 5: A Blade's Power
15th day of the Guardian Moon of Imperial Year 1176
xXx
The air of the training grounds in the back of Garreg Mach Monastery always felt different to Catherine, like a part completely disconnected from the rest of Fodlan. Names and social status meant nothing here, only strength and skill were important between these walls. As time passed the Training Grounds became filled with spectators, most of which she assumed were off-duty soldiers and trainees drawn to the arena by Lady Rhea's presence. On her mind right mind however right were the only three things: herself, Seteth and the swordsman from another world, Rean Schwarzer.
Catherine mustered her opponent's stance. Rean kept his training blade at his hip, the steel facing away from his enemy. It was the complete opposite of her own stance, holding her own training sword being next to her face, the tip targeting her target.
Seteth raised his arm and both fighters get ready. And then the older man let his arm fell down and opened the fight with a loud "Begin!"
With the signal given, Catherine moved. In one swift motion she closed the distance towards Rean, aiming her blade directly at his neck. Her opponent brought his own blade upwards and the two weapons met with a metallic sound. Catherine's eyes widened as she noticed the power behind the other swordsman's strike. Rean had met her blade in a very specific angle and with enough force to send it on a wide arc to the right, leaving her left side unprotected. An opening he immediately targeted.
Having no time to think, the Knight let her left arm follow the movement of her sword, letting it be pulled forward. This allowed her to bring her armored left shoulder forwards, blocking Rean's follow up attack. The sudden resistance staggered the Divine Blade slightly and Catherine used it to gain back her footing, before starting to go on the offensive again.
The two sword fighters delivered a deadly dance of steel to the audience, Catherine trying to overwhelm Rean with quick and powerful strikes while Rean seemed to focus more on fast, timed attacks. Deflecting and countering everything Catherine threw at him. For a few minutes both were at a standstill, but then Catherine backed down.
She didn't know if she had overestimated her own pain tolerance or if she had underestimated the strength behind Rean's strike against her shoulder from their first clash. But now she felt a dull pain in her entire left arm. And while it wasn't enough to force her to surrender, it was affecting her fighting style noticeably. During the last few exchanges, it had been harder and harder for her to completely block Rean's attacks and as a result, she chose to disengage for now.
The Knight had taken a defensive position now, expecting her opponent to attack. But Rean didn't move. Instead he himself took a different position too, sheathing his blade, but still kept a combat ready stance. Catherine knew this stance, having trained in it for a short time herself. It belonged to a fighting style called quickdraw or Iaido. Like the name suggests, this form focuses on drawing one's sword during the opponent's attack. If performed correctly, it allowed the user to usually circumvent the enemy's defenses and to land a strong, often deciding attack. But at the same time, the user also had to lower his own defenses, making it a high-risk, high-reward style of combat.
After another moment of silence, Catherine made up her mind. She took a deep breath and stimulated the mana in her body to focus on her left arm. Reacting to its stimulus, the energy inside of her began to heal her, allowing the pain to subside. This was the best she could do with her meager skill in Faith magic.
Seeing still no movement of her opponent, the woman grabbed her blade once more with her right hand and then charged.
As expected, Rean waited until the last moment before unsheathing his weapon. Catherine suddenly changed the trajectory of her sword and intercepted its predetermined arc. But since she was holding her training sword with just one hand, the force was enough to knock it out of her hands and into the sands behind her. A murmur went through the crowd, but all of this went exactly as the Knight had planned.
With a combat yell she raised her left arm and delivered a strike at Rean's chest, hitting the ashen haired man dead in the center, forcing him back. Not letting this opportunity go to waste, she followed up with different strikes and feints, keeping her opponent on his toes. But she didn't manage to land any more decisive hits.
Rean on the other hand watched all of her movements. Catherine's strategy was simple, yet effective. Covering him in blows with no chance to counterattack. Every time he took a step back to gain some ground to raise his blade, she was already on his heels, keeping up the pressure. Rean couldn't help butsmile. The woman in front of him was quite skilled. But unfortunately, it wouldn't be enough to beat him.
'Focus on him, keep his legs in mind. When he moves backwards, just move forwards.' Cathine reminded herself. 'There!' she thought, as Rean toom a halfstep back. Letting her body flow into the right motion to go after him, she noticed too late that Rean had stopped. Realizing she had fallen into a trap, she had done her best to stop her movement to prevent herself from colliding with the man, just the opening that Rean had planned.
With practiced ease he swung his weapon upwards, forcing his opponent to take a step back. But this wasn't everything. Once his blade reached the end of the upwards arc he let go, letting it fly into the air above him. Catherine's eyes followed the weapon, leaving her defenseless for Rean's follow up.
"Destructive Impact!" With a clear voice he landed a palm strike directly on Catherine's torso, a powerful burst of kinetic energy flowed through her as he performed a technique of the Eighth Form of his blade style.
This attack resulted in the Knight to be thrown back rolling over ground. Instinct took over as Catherine moved her body around to end up in a kneeling position once the movement stopped. She coughed up saliva and blood from the impact to her sternum and felt winded from having her breath knocked from her. Raising her head again she saw that Rean wasn't planning on giving her a chance to regain herself again this time.
He had caught his thrown blade back into his hand and energy started to gather around the steel. "Arc Slash!" with a wide swing he unleashed a shockwave at his still kneeling opponent, forcing her to jump sidewards to evade the attack. The audience stared in shock as they witnessed the fight reaching another level.
Catherine evaded two more of Rean's shockwaves, before her foot hit something. A quick look downwards revealed her training sword, which she had discarded earlier. Seeing another shockwave
coming she moved her foot below the steel and kicked it upwards, catching it mid-air and intercepting the attack of the Divine Blade. She was surprised at the strength behind this attack, but she wouldn't give up now. With a powerful, defiant yell she pushed through and cut right through the attack.
The tip of her sword touched the ground and suddenly she saw Rean right in front of her. "Gale!" His already powerful strike was enhanced by the sudden increase in speed, sending pain through her arms.
Then he passed her. Turning around she saw the young man standing with his back towards her. And for one moment the woman wasn't sure if that person really was human.
'No. None of that.' Her entire body shook. Was it pain? Exhaustion? Fear? Catherine called back into her mind why she joined the Knights of Seiros. What it meant for her to wear this armor. If she would go down, then she would go down fighting. Her thoughts were interrupted by a follow up attack that she barely blocked.
Catching her footing, the woman threw herself at Rean with another defiant yell, preventing the Divine Blade from a continuous assault. Each of her strikes hold as much power as she could muster. Each was aimed at angles that would make it hard to block. But still, she couldn't break through Rean's defenses.
Suddenly flames started to gather around her opponent's sword and with horror Catherine saw how they formed something. "Burn to Ash!" he declared, Catherine recognizing a serpentine dragon in the flames "And Fall!" The training ground was covered in dust.
The audience gasped at the display in front of them. Some even yelled in terror when they witnessed the Divine Blade's last attack. Rhea herself was shaken. Catherine was a promising Knight and while she hadn't reached her peak yet, seeing her getting beaten so easily was worrying. Especially with the knowledge about Ishmelga in mind. And then there was Rean's last attack. While she was able to hide it well, seeing the flames taking on the form of a dragon of all things had shaken her.
"Lady Catherine, are you alright?" Seteth called through the dust. For a moment he feared for the lifeof the Knight, but then the woman answered "Yes, I am."
The dust settled and revealed Catherine on her knees, but her sword still raised above her head, having blocked the last attack. For the first time during the match Catherine could clearly see Rean's face and she saw a proud smile on his face. But the Knight didn't know if she really deserved it. Instinct had taken over once more and had allowed her to raise her blade in time while her mind had completely shut down out of fear of the enemy in front of her.
She saw the Divine Blade lowering his blade and reaching his hand out to her. "Let's end this here, ok?"
Catherine shook her head. "No, not yet. One last round." she said. The Knight couldn't let it end like this. Not with this fear in her heart.
"Are you sure?" Seteth came towards the two fighters, looking worried.
But the woman nodded. "One last attack. Just one. If I hit you, I win." It was a ridiculous request. Something that any sane person that wanted to win would decline.
"Ok." And yet, they both knew that this fight wasn't about winning. There was so much more on the line.
Seteth looked at the two, inspecting the condition of Catherine especially, before he nodded as well. "I'll allow it. Lady Catherine, you have one attack. If you hit Mister Schwarzer, you win. If he dodges or blocks, you lose." He then stepped back while the two fighters returned to the middle of the arena.
"Begin!" he gave the signal once more.
Catherine closed her eyes. One move. Her body ached. One step. Her eyes shut open. Another step. She focused on her target. Another step. She took in his stance. Another step. One hit was all that was needed. Another step. This would be the end. Another step.
The entire audience suddenly witnessed two more Catherine's appearing in the arena. Murmurs were going through the ranks. "Is this Astra?" "When did she manage to learn this technique?" Rhea was impressed by this demonstration. While Catherine didn't master this high-speed technique yet, being able to create two after images was an impressive feat in its own right.
In the arena two Catherines moved and targeted Rean from his left and his right side. "One attack." Catherine declared. "Can you keep up?"
The Divine Blade took a quickdraw stance again, relaxing his body as an easy to miss soft glow emitted from his body. The picture of a proud brown haired female knight came into his mind, Duvalie the Swift. How they trained outside of Parm. In this very moment, he could have mistaken Cathrine as this world's equivalent to her. "Come!" he challenged her.
Like one, the three women rushed forward, their blades raised to deliver the deciding strike. Rean dodged both of the afterimages and met blades with the real Catherine.
*Clang*
As their blades clashed Catherine once again had the wind nearly knocked out of her as she struggled to push against Rean's blade. Looking at her, Rean with a calm expression said "I believe that this is match" Catherine nodded as Rean relented and took a step back from Catherine.
Seteth walks in between the two "And that is match, the victory goes to Rean Schwarzer' he proclaimed, causing the audience to erupt into a loud cheer at that exciting match.
xXx
"I knew you could do it." Crow yelled loudly, before turning to the soldiers beside him. "And now my prize." he said with a grin, holding out his hand. With a groan the Knights pulled out multiple gold coins.
"It was a pleasure doing business with you."
"Crow?" a familiar voice called out to him.
Turning around, the man from Erebonia was greeted by a familiar face. "Johan. Just the man I wanted to see." The trickster exclaimed. "Give me your hand."
"What?"
"Come on, it's nothing bad. I promise."
Not really trusting the face Crow made while proclaiming this, the guard opened his hand. He then was surprised when Crow put some of the gold coins he just won into it.
"See, nothing bad happened." He explained.
"But what? Why?`` the young soldier asked, perplexed.
"A little thank you, that's all." was the answer he got.
"A little thank you for betting away his pay, I assume?" the older voice of Professor Hanneman was heard.
"What? Betting away my pay?" It took a few seconds for Johan to understand the implications of Hanneman's words. "Crow?" he turned towards the Erebonian. "Don't tell me you…"
"Hey Rean won, easy money, am I right?" Still seeing the angry face of Johan, the trickster continued
"Come on, I know that Rean would win, even if he was going easy on her. So, why not get something out of it?" These words still didn't seem to calm the guard down. "Oh, come on. Do you really think I would bet money on a guy when I'm not 100% sure that I can pay it back? Who do you think I am?"
"I think that you are a really bad friend to have around when it comes to money." Johan answered. "And what do you mean by him going easy on her? Seemed to me like it was a decently even match and he seemed serious enough."
Crow drew in closer putting an arm over Johan' shoulder "Nah, if Rean was serious the arena would be a lot more on fire." He said in a joking manner.
Before Johan could reply to him he noticed Hanneman walk over with an amused expression on his face.
Hanneman laughed. "Come now, I would say that you can let him off the hook this time. And if that isn't enough…" he pulled out a small bag. "I will allow myself to step in for him. Just this once." He opened the bag, revealing it to be full with coins.
"Professor, where…" Johan asked, perplexed.
"Let's just say, I had a feeling that our guests would surprise us today." His eyes rested on Crow for a moment before turning his attention back to Johan.
xXx
The sun was setting and the last rays of the day reached Rhea's chambers. The archbishop had excused herself after the match and had returned to her duties. In the end however, there was too much on her mind, so she had hardly achieved anything else today. The demonstration of Rean Schwarzer's power, the warning about a coming war, the dark feeling from a few days ago.
A knock on her door pulled her out of her thoughts. "Lady Rhea, is everything alright?"
"Yes, Seteth. Please enter."
The green haired man followed the invitation and came into the room. "I'm sorry that I couldn't come sooner. I talked with both Mister Schwarzer and Lady Catherine after the match."
The archbishop nodded, allowing Seteth to continue. "We discussed the proposition you had if he had won, making Mr. Schwarzer hold the vacant position of Captain of the Knights of Serios, he accepted albeit reluctantly. In this position he could train the knights to the best of his ability while also being able to follow any lead that may give us more information about Ishmelga's schemes and possible whereabouts." Seteth paused for a bit before continuing." It is fortunate that we have found someone as seemingly capable as him, our most recent recruits leave a lot to be desired."
Rhea was surprised to hear this." How so?" she asked.
"Well aside from the usually abysmally low number of recruits from the Empire who aren't too bad, ex-soldiers from the fallen house Nuvelle. We received fewer recruits from the Kingdom than usual by a notable margin due to the recent political tensions under King Lambert's reforms as well conflict on the Sreng border near Gautier territory. And in the Alliance Nobles are still clashing with one another for the Position of Duke after Duke Riegan passes, things have increased in intensity as recently a caravan of Merchant's were overrun by monsters. Adding additional reason for worries are eyewitnesses who have claimed to have seen a group of soldiers guiding the monsters. If things continue to escalate you may need to step in."
Rhea was silent for a bit digesting the information, "I see, let's hope it doesn't come to it."
"What about his friend, Mister Armburst?" Rhea turned around, walking towards a cupboard hidden in the shadows of the room signalling a change of topic.
"We think it is better to have him keep up the appearance of a mercenary who has a contract with the Monastery. Mister Schwarzer believes that this gives Crow enough freedom to cover the sources that may not be accessible to a knight while also giving him some authority if he needs it."
The archbishop nodded. "I see." she mumbled, nearly too quiet for Seteth to hear. "And what are your thoughts about this situation?" She knew that they had already decided to trust the visitors from another world. And yet, it felt like she needed to hear his opinion one more time. He was her oldest and most loyal friend after all. Someone whose advice she really appreciated.
"If I am honest, I have wondered the last few days what all of this means." the man admitted. "First your feeling of weakness, then the appearance of our three guests. It seems like something has gone horribly wrong and we just don't know what it is. Our enemies are still in hiding, and we both know that they will be the first to join Ishmelga. That is why I sent Alois to bring Flayn to the Monastery."
Rhea finally found what she had been looking for. Slowly she pulled out a sheathed sword, a weapon not drawn for decades. And yet, it still was kept in top condition.
"But maybe it is a blessing in disguise." Seteth continued. "If Ishmelga really brings them back to the surface, we may be able to end it once and for all. To bring forth a peaceful future for Fodlan."
"Yes." With one swift motion Rhea pulled the sword out of its sheath, catching the last rays of the sun in the cold steel. "Let's hope that this will be the last time." She turned around, with the weapon still drawn. "Will you help me prepare for the battles ahead, Seteth? One last time?" Rhea's voice got her strength back and she managed to smile a little.
"Of course, Lady Rhea." the man promised.
None of the two noticed the transparent form of a girl floating outside of the door. And as such they didn't know about the promise said girl made to herself. A promise, that she would do everything in her powers, so that the Archbishop of the Church of Seiros would one day be able to smile for real.
xXx
This chapter was beta'd by Infinite Zangetsu. Thanks for all your work.
Welcome back, this time a little sooner than normal. This chapter featured the first fight scene of this story and I hope that I could give you a fun read.
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Guest: I thank you for your opinion on my Cold Steel x RWBY fanfiction. And I promise you that the idea isn't dead. But as I already explained, I want to focus on one story for now and may turn back to my first fic at a later date. This return would also most likely be a rewrite.
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