"Duck!"
Lysithea moved immediately, having long since learned to listen to her partner without any hesitation. She was rewarded by an axe flying sideways past where her head had been and Cyril quickly shooting down the man holding it.
"Thanks," she replied quickly before gathering her magic and throwing it at the forest where a group of archers had been hiding. The spell was enough to chase them out of their cover which made it simple work for her and Cyril to clean them up.
"No problem," Cyril replied promptly as he scanned the area.
"You two work very well together," Leonie commented as she gutted a priest with her spear. The caster fell onto the floor as she rejoined the two of them.
"Well we had a lot of practice," Lysithea admitted as they made their way north. It was difficult to see anything past the fog so at this point she was having Leonie and Cyril lead her to the correct direction.
The Professor had split them into three groups. One consisting of her, Leonie, Cyril, Marianne, and Hilda would head north. The other, consisting of Lorenz, Raphael, Ignatz, Lindhart, and Sylvain, would head South. Both would continue clearing out their respective before eventually meeting at the other side of the lake. The third group which consisted of the Professor, Claude, Flayn, Shamir, and Catherine, would stay close to the Archbishop to escort her and clean up the areas the other groups had gone through.
The Archbishop had always been an unfamiliar figure to her before the Professor had come to the Monastery. Now though she was acting very peculiar and Lysithea was quite glad that Claude was with their Professor, if only to make sure nothing funny happened between the two of them.
It wasn't like the Professor had much of a choice of which group he was going with, Rhea had shown an unnerving fixation on him and did whatever it took to stay near his presence. As soon as the fighting started, it seemed more like she was protecting him. In just a few seconds she had rushed forward past a dumbfounded Catherine and took down a chunk of the enemy before the Professor even had an opportunity to get involved.
After that the fog came and it became difficult to see what the Archbishop was doing, but it was likely from the loud cracks and faint screams in the distance that she was clearly breaking some bones.
Lysithea glanced at Cyril who seemed very enthusiastic as he quickly moved forward with a tight grip on his bow. They were making good progress but apparently it wasn't enough for him as he sped past Leonie.
"Hey Cyril, maybe slow down a bit," Lysithea suggested as she and Leonie picked up their pace to catch up with Cyril.
"Can't Lady Rhea's already fighting too much as it is."
"She'll be fighting even more if you run by the enemy without noticing them. Besides if we can find the mage controlling the fog, then we can get this mission done that much quickly," Lysithea explained to him
Cyril stayed tensely silent, but otherwise slowed down his pace having clearly understood the logic in her words. He was normally quite level-headed and smart in his own way, but that all seemed to go away the second the topic of Rhea was brought up.
"Thank you Cy-" Lysithea was promptly interrupted by an arrow into her left arm that knocked her onto the ground. That arrow was soon followed by another volley that would begin to land in the area around them.
Cyril and Leonie both moved quickly while under fire. They each grabbed an arm and dragged her to a large rock to use as cover. Somehow the rest of them had come unharmed as Leonie had miraculously deflected an arrow that would've headed straight for her chest.
"Glad I got that private lesson with Jeralt," Leonie commented as she crouched down behind the rock with them.
"What sort of lessons involve deflecting arrows with a spear!?" Lysithea asked as grit her teeth and tried to pull the arrow out of her shoulder. It burned where the arrow was embedded as she pulled. "Where's… Marianne?" she gasped as she continued to pull despite the pain.
"Cut off behind us by some reinforcements I think," Leone replied as she peaked over the rock and nearly received an arrow to the eye as payment. "Hilda's protecting her though and they have the Professor behind them so it should be fine."
"Where did they even come from?" Cyril asked as kneeled down and helped pull on the arrow. "I could've sworn we took most of them down back there."
"They were summoned here by some mages probably," Lysithea explained before Cyril gave the arrow one last jerk. She gasped as it came out with a disgusting squelch. It took all her will to stop herself from collapsing due to the pain and instead sit up straight to cast a Heal on the injury.
As Lysithea healed herself, both Cyril and Leonie took out their bows and tried to shoot at the enemy. They were only able to get a few shots in before another volley of arrows forced them to duck down into cover once more.
"You hit anything?" Leonie asked.
"Nope," Cyril replied.
"Lysithea how's your arm? Do you think you smoke them out with a spell?"
"I can't. We're too far away," Lysithea replied regrettably as she finished her spell. Turns out Hubert had been right about criticizing her spell list. She had nothing that could reliably reach those archers from this distance and she'd be a walking pincushion if she tried to get in range. It also didn't help that she only had one good arm at the moment. "And even if I was in range it'll be hard to get a good shot with just one arm."
She was no Marianne or Lindhart when it came to healing, and it was less effective when done on one's own body. The most she could do was stem the bleeding which still left gaping hole in her shoulder. It was difficult for her to move that arm much less use it cast spells or hold a sword.
"Well that's not good," Leonie replied as she blindly fired an arrow into the tree line before ducking back down.
"How many archers are there?" Lysithea asked.
"About six I'd say," Cyril replied. "At least judging by the direction each arrow was shot."
"Really? I counted eight," Leonie replied.
"Well we're cornered anyway," Lysithea bit out annoyed.
"What do we do then?" Cyril asked.
"Either we wait here for the Professor to reinforce us or find a way to break free ourselves," Lysithea replied. "Of course, this is all assuming they don't come here to finish us off."
"Yea I think they're already starting to move half of their numbers to do that," Leonie told them as she risked taking yet another peak over the rock.
Lysithea cursed. This was bad. If they didn't come up with a plan soon, they'd be dead.
Think. Remember those assignments the Professor had given her. Remember the different scenarios he set up with those strategy games. How would he go about doing this?
"You know Warp, right?" Leonie asked.
"I do. Only one use though," Lysithea had only just said that when she began to realize what Leonie was planning
"Can you teleport me right behind those archers in the trees? Do it just before the rest of their friends get here."
"You're suggesting a pincer attack with just the three of us?" Lysithea asked.
"I am," Leonie replied.
"You'll be alone and surrounded by those archers."
"I'll use the tree line as cover. They'll have a hard time hitting me if I keep moving through the fog."
"Let me do that then," Cyril replied. "You can two can stay here."
Leonie shook her head. "I don't know about you, but I'm used to moving around the forests back in my village. This is what I trained for."
"All that training will go to waste if you die," Lysithea argued. "It's reckless! A single misstep over there is all it would take."
"Either that or we all die here, besides I could say the same about some the things that you've done," Leonie argued.
Well Lysithea couldn't really argue with that. Even she had to admit that not having a very long life tended to make her a bit more reckless her actions. That didn't mean she wanted others to follow her example though. "They're going to notice me teleporting you there though. The second you touch the ground they'll shoot you down."
"Not unless I give them something else to look at," Cyril commented.
Lysithea eyes went wide as she looked at Cyril. Had the two of them gone absolutely mad!? Why were the people with potentially long lives volunteering for a suicide mission?
"You're going to charge into the firing line of six-"
"Eight-" Leonie interjected
"Eight archers. How is that a good idea?" Lysithea asked Cyril.
"It isn't," he admitted as he took out his axe. "But it's the only shot we got. You've got until the count of ten before I start charging."
"Cyril you can't do this!" Lysithea shouted at him.
"I'm sturdier than I look. One. Two"
"Leonie stop him!"
"Sorry Lys." Leonie took out her spear. "You better start casting that Warp."
"Three. Four."
"Oh! You two are insufferable!" Lysithea shouted before putting her hand on Leonie's body.
"Five. Six. Seven."
"You two better come back alive," Lysithea said angrily as she channeled Warp through her arm.
"Eight."
Leonie raised a thumb. "Don't worry we got this."
"Nine."
The spell finished and Leonie disappeared in a flash of light.
"Ten!" Cyril shouted triumphantly as he leaped over the rock and charged at the enemy. They would immediately focus their fire on him as Leonie would appear in the tree line behind them unnoticed.
With the spell finished, Lysithea then took out her own sword and ran around the rock. If they were going to die, then they might as well die together.
If only so she could chastise them for their stupidity in the afterlife.
Claude had always been good for a rousing round of payback. It was a good way to vent and there was an incredibly large amount of people in the Monastery that could use the closure it provided. Plus. there was always this nice bubbly feeling in his chest whenever he saw someone get the comeuppance they deserved. However, there was something a bit disturbing about watching Ashe as he made his way across the battlefield.
"Hey, Teach," Claude called out from nearby. "Is it just me or has Ashe over there been a bit unstable?"
They watched as Ashe shot an arrow into a mage's leg before walking up, snarling, and then stabbing an arrow into his throat.
"A bit yes," Byleth replied.
"Should we be worried?"
A desperate shout followed by a large explosion could suddenly be heard nearby. It wasn't difficult for Claude to figure out who that was.
"Teach I think that was Lysithea's group. They might be in trouble," Claude replied.
"I agree. Keep an eye on Ashe, I'll go reinforce their group with Flayn," Byleth told Claude.
"Got it teach."
The Professor signaled Flayn to follow and the two sprinted toward the explosion. When she failed to keep up however, he slowed down next to her, wrapped an arm around her waist, and hoisted her against his side as he ran. Surprisingly enough Flayn seemed perfectly calm as the Professor carried her around like a sack of potatoes.
With that amusing sight in his mind, Claude turned toward Ashe's location. It wasn't too difficult to get where Ashe was. Apart from what was happening with Lysithea's group, the current state of the battle was actually quite good. They had come very prepared for the enemy's tactics and the person they were supposed to be protecting was quite deadly herself.
Both Catherine and Rhea were making short work of anyone that wanted to try and kill the archbishop. Thunderbrand's wielder would cut through most of the enemies that headed their way while the rest would be blasted back by Rhea's faith magic or, surprisingly enough, have their heads caved in by her fist.
He would've whistle at the sight of the Archbishop going hog wild on these men if it didn't risk him getting beheaded by Catherine for the perceived offense. She and Cyril tended to get very sensitive whenever Rhea was involved.
Claude raised his bow and quickly shot down an assassin that had been attempting to sneak up on Ashe while he was busy stabbing yet another person in the face. "You should really keep an eye out there," he commented smoothly as he made his way to the boy.
"I am," Ashe bit out as he pointed an arrow toward a rock line a fair distance away. "I think I saw their leader over there. His robes were different from everyone else's."
"You sure about that?" Claude asked. If the bishop was there then Claude couldn't see him, he'd have to trust on Ashe's words alone and he didn't seem to be in best state to make a rational call at the moment.
"I'm certain. Call the Professor. We can end this right here."
"Can't. He went to help Lysithea's group, they're in trouble."
"Then what about the Southern group?"
"They're busy right now and probably the reason we aren't being swarmed here right now," Claude informed him.
"If that's true… then we can do this ourselves. I don't see many enemies over there."
"You can hardly see anyone in this fog." Normally Claude was all for crazy and risky schemes, but the danger of such a charge was hardly worth the reward if it was a success. Ashe wasn't thinking clearly enough about the risks they were taking or of the fact that they would probably capture the Bishop anyway if they just helped out the others clear out the enemy.
"That's why I came prepared for this." Ashe opened up a satchel and revealed that it was stuffed full of torches. There was enough to illuminate half the entire battlefield.
"And why didn't you let us know you had these earlier?"
"Because they won't expect me to have a way to flush them out where they're hiding. We set these on fire and shoot them ahead with our bow. Light up the entire area up ahead and charge depending on the numbers we see ahead of us."
That was actually a very solid plan, one that Claude himself would've thought of. "We'll have to be quick though. Chances are they'll bring reinforcements the second they realize what we're doing. Also the people here are pretty fanatic, they won't start running once their leader is dead."
"They'll be scattered and demoralized without their leader though. And besides the point of this mission was to kill him in the first place."
"Capture," Claude corrected him. "We're supposed to capture him… though I'm sure I can give you some private time with him if you need it."
"… Thanks." Ashe took the first torch and nocked it against his bow.
Claude nodded as he grabbed a torch from the bag and did the same.