Yet another story battle coming up, but in the meantime let's get some 1v1 action!
Chapter 9 – A Thunderous Duel (Garland Moon)
The end of the Garland Moon approached as the first-year students marched along Magdred Way toward Gaspard territory for their monthly mission. They were not expected to fight this time, though. They had been sent to deal with the aftermath of an uprising started by the head of Castle Gaspard, Lord Lonato. He had turned his sword and those of his men against the Church of Seiros, and the Knights had been sent to put down his rebellion.
As Rhea had put it, it was a good opportunity to show the students the consequences if they ever thought to turn their blades against the Church of Seiros.
Still, due to the abundance of fog that had been in the area for several weeks now, Rhea had seen fit to assign the finest knight in the Church of Seiros to guard the students: the legendary Thunder Catherine. She was considered the greatest of the Crusaders of Seiros, each whom was handpicked by the archbishop for their skill and bravery, and she was also seen by some as the greatest swordswoman in all of Fódlan.
That, of course, led to a lot of the students wanting to ask her questions, and a few like Felix and Caspar wanting to challenge her to a duel.
But it was when the students made camp later in the day that Catherine herself issued a challenge. And it wasn't to any of the students.
Dorothea looked on in slight apprehension as Byleth assumed a stance with a wooden sword and stood opposite to Catherine. The blonde swordswoman certainly looked the part, with a steel breastplate that, to Dorothea's curiosity, was molded for Catherine's considerable bust, but otherwise her wardrobe was one made for practicality in battle. It was covered in scratches and blemishes that showed Catherine had seen years of fighting.
In short, both Dorothea and Byleth knew that she was not to be underestimated.
"The students seem to have taken a real liking to you, Professor Eisner," said Catherine, her tone boisterous and confident. "Let's see just what's drawn them to you."
Byleth did not respond to this, focusing more on her stance. Meanwhile, the students continued to cheer as they eagerly awaited the fight to start.
"Come on, Professor!" shouted Annette. "Show her what you've got!"
"You can take her, Professor!" added Caspar.
"You'd better not lose, or I'll let Captain Jeralt know!" said Leonie.
"Hahaha, this is going to be fun! Right, Ignatz?" said Raphael, giving his best friend a hard pat on the shoulder.
"Y-Yeah, this should be interesting," Ignatz said unsteadily, mostly because of how Raphael didn't know his own strength.
As Dorothea watched, she jumped slightly as Claude slid behind her and asked, "Who do you think's gonna win?"
"Claude!" Dorothea said with a start. "Well, how should I know?"
"Okay, okay. Let me rephrase: Who do you want to win?"
"I… um…"
Before Dorothea could come up with an answer, Catherine made the first move. The sword master rushed forward and made an overhead swing at Byleth, moving so quickly that the students were amazed that Byleth had time to avoid it. Byleth retaliated with a horizontal strike, but her strike was easily parried by Catherine, who responded with a quick slice that forced Byleth to dodge backward. Catherine smirked as she delivered another rapid strike that Byleth parried. The two exchanged blows rapidly and precisely, all while the students cheered and shouted at their duel.
Dorothea was amazed by Catherine's skill, but was further impressed by how well Byleth was keeping pace with the master swordswoman. The two seemed evenly matched.
But as she continued to watch the intense fight, Dorothea's attention was drawn to the sight of Ashe, who was standing next to Dedue. The young grey-haired boy was staring quite intently at Catherine's every move, though it was not a look of admiration. It was hard to tell what Ashe was thinking. Dorothea knew that Ashe was the adoptive son of Lord Lonato and had known nothing as to why the Kingdom lord decided to start his uprising. He, more than anyone, wanted to know what Lonato was doing.
But what did Catherine have to do with any of it?
Catherine jumped back and then, to everyone's surprise, sprung forward with a yell, rushing Byleth in a move that would've caught even the most battle-hardened warrior off guard. But somehow, Byleth reacted perfectly to it, meeting Catherine's strike in a clash that locked their blades together. Everyone was astonished by this.
"Nice moves!" said Catherine. "You're good, I'll give you that! But I'm not finished yet!"
With her last word, Catherine's body let off a flash of light as a symbol briefly materialized over her head. It was a symbol the students recognized: the Major Crest of Charon. As its power fueled Catherine's might, Byleth grunted loudly as the swordswoman began to overpower her.
"Aah! Not good!" squeaked Bernadetta.
"Hey, no fair!" shouted Caspar.
"Do not be losing, Professor!" added Petra.
Just when it seemed like Byleth was about to be shoved back, the Professor let out a shout of her own as her body radiated with a brief green glow. Just like Catherine, a symbol materialized for an instant over her head, but unlike the Crest of Charon, this was a symbol that no one appeared to recognize. Additionally, the symbol did not even look complete, and looked more like a fragment of a whole.
Catherine's eyes widened in shock as Byleth began to push her back, but she quickly regained her wits and wrenched her blade to the side, surprising Byleth as the Professor's wooden sword went flying from her grip.
"You're mine!" Catherine shouted as she thrust her sword at Byleth's chest.
Then, everyone's jaw dropped as Byleth swiftly brought her hands together and caught Catherine's sword between her hands, the tip not even an inch from hitting her right between her ample breasts.
Catherine was truly dumbfounded at this.
"How the hell…?"
Byleth, still channeling the power of her mysterious Crest, pivoted her hands at an angle and snapped Catherine's wooden blade like a twig. Then, with another shout, she tossed aside the broken piece of the blade and swung a fist at Catherine's head. But Catherine, her reflexes serving her well, countered with her own punch.
Both fighters struck the other's head at the exact same moment, sending them both to the ground.
Everyone was silent for a moment as the two fighters recovered from each other's blow. Catherine spat out a small amount of blood while Byleth nursed her throbbing forehead.
And then Catherine began to laugh joyfully.
"That was GREAT!" shouted Catherine. "You're full of surprises, Professor! I haven't had a fight that good in a long while!"
It was at this moment that everyone started cheering again. The fight might've ended in a draw, but it was clear to everyone that Byleth was every bit as skilled as Catherine.
Gasping for breath, Byleth said, "You almost had me there. It could have gone either way. I see why Rhea trusts you so much."
"Same to you, Professor." Rising to her feet and striding over to Byleth as she stood, Catherine extended a hand to the Professor and said, "It'll be a pleasure working with you."
Rising as well, Byleth took Catherine's hand in a handshake.
"But for the record, if I had been using Thunderbrand, I don't think you could've pulled off that blade catch move," Catherine said with a smirk.
Byleth said nothing to this, though her silence said enough.
The students continued to cheer and chat about the fight, while Dorothea sighed in some relief at the result.
"That was a-MAZING!" said Hilda. "Seriously, I thought Catherine was gonna wipe the floor with the Professor once she used her Crest."
"Who would've thought Teach had one of her own," said Claude. "Though I've never seen that one before."
"Yeah, me neither. Hey Professor, what Crest is that?"
Looking at Hilda and Claude, Byleth hesitated before answering, "I… have no idea."
"Huh?"
"I didn't even know I had one until after Professor Hanneman ran a test on me."
"Are you serious?" Leonie asked incredulously. "You've gotta be joking! I mean, Captain Jeralt's got a Major Crest of Seiros, somehow, and you didn't even know if you had one?"
"It never came up when I was a mercenary."
"How very strange," said Ingrid. "Surely Professor Hanneman would have told you what Crest it is, wouldn't he?"
"He didn't know either. He thinks it's some kind of 'mystery Crest', whatever that means."
"Interesting that Professor Hanneman couldn't determine it," said Linhardt. "Perhaps he'll ask for my help in researching the subject."
The students continued to chatter with Byleth and Catherine, but Dorothea ducked out of the conversation once the subject of Crests had started. She had no love for Crests, nor for the society that had been built upon their value.
But as she looked away, she caught sight of Edelgard, who seemed lost in thought. Hubert walked over to the Imperial princess.
In words that no others could hear, Hubert said to Edelgard, "You saw it as well, my lady?"
"How could I not, Hubert?" whispered Edelgard.
Got the idea for the double-knockout while watching a few Naruto clips, specifically Sakura VS Ino, Chunin Exam.
Something I need to note, though, is that even if I might not be ultra-descriptive when it comes to fight scenes, that doesn't mean you can't use your imagination a bit when things get ambiguous.
Also, I've come up with the whole "Crusaders" title to differentiate Catherine (as well as Gilbert and maybe Alois) from other members of the Knights of Seiros (i.e. the Holy Knights of Seiros battalions).