Fight time!
Chapter 31 – A Clash in Abyss (Horsebow Moon)
Balthus made a beeline straight for Dimitri as the other rogues went for the students. The prince met his charge with a thrust of his lance, but was surprised when Balthus swerved to the side, grabbed the lance, and jerked back on it, causing Dimitri to stumble past him. Snarling, Dimitri whirled around just in time to see a backhand blow coming toward him, striking him in the chest and knocking him back.
"Come and get some, kiddo!" Balthus shouted to Dimitri as he continued swinging at the prince. "I won't hold back, so you better not either! These fists are packed with years of pent-up resentment. Time to let loose!"
Yuri, in the meantime, chose to engage Edelgard, easily avoiding a heavy swing from her axe and then slicing toward her head, deliberately only taking off a few of her white hairs. Edelgard hissed at his; she knew he was toying with her. Before she could move, an arrow flew past her, but Yuri deftly leaned to the side with incredible speed, letting the arrow sail right past him. Behind Edelgard, Claude made a growl of aggravation at missing his mark.
Meanwhile, all around the three house leaders, their friends were locked in battle with the Ashen Wolves. Dedue had blocked a blow from a lance fighter with his shield and proceeded to smash the rogue's face with his fist. Ashe had to backstep away from a sword fighter who slashed at his leg, while Marianne and Linhardt tried to distance themselves from the other rogues so they could provide healing to the others.
Hilda made a loud shriek as an axe fighter struck her own axe out of her hands. Realizing how much trouble she was in, she quickly opted to resort to her next best weapon: her charm.
"You wouldn't hurt a pretty, helpless thing like me, would you?" she said coyly.
Unfortunately, this did not have the effect she wanted, as the rogue made a loud "Heh!" as he spun his axe around in his hand and raised it, the blunt end ready to put a nasty bump on Hilda's head. Hilda's eyes widened in dismay.
And then the Sword of the Creator lashed itself around the fighter's axe and, with a quick jerk from its wielder, ripped the axe-head off its shaft. Just as the rogue realized what had happened to his weapon, a bolt of lightning struck him and sent him convulsing to the ground.
"Hilda, get your weapon!" shouted Byleth.
The professor immediately afterward spun around as an archer released an arrow in her direction. In one fluid motion, Byleth cleaved the arrow out of the air and lashed the archer's bow in two. She then retracted her blade as another rogue tried to strike her with a gauntlet. Byleth leaned back, avoiding the strike and planting her hands on the ground as she flipped in a backwards walkover, using her momentum to kick the rogue in his chin as she did. The rogue was on the ground in a daze as Byleth righted herself.
"Whoa, nice moves," Dorothea commented, having watched the whole thing.
Meanwhile, behind the rogues' formation, Constance and Hapi watched as the tables began turning against them and their comrades. Dimitri had now managed to match Balthus, while Yuri continued avoiding attacks from Edelgard and Claude. A Wind spell from Linhardt managed to send one rogue flying into one of the iron gates, while Ashe shot another rogue in her knee, sending the female to the ground with cries of pain.
But despite how the battle was turning against them, no one on either side had been killed.
"Should we be helping them, Coco?" asked Hapi.
"Now, now, timing is everything," said Constance. "My grand entrance into this battle must be splendid in all aspects!"
"Grand entrance, huh?" Hapi paused for a moment and then said, "Come to think of it, there's an easier way to handle this."
As she finished her sentence, Hapi let out a loud, very deliberate sigh.
And as she did, a swirl of magic appeared before the dark-skinned redhead. Seconds later, a creature emerged out of the swell – a Sand Crawler, a massive worm-like beast normally only found in the deserts of the Sreng region.
As the Sand Crawler let out a horrifying screech, Dorothea, who had never seen such a creature before, exclaimed, "W-What is that thing?!"
Before anyone could answer, the Sand Crawler, drawn by Dorothea's voice, swung its body toward her, knocking aside rogues as it did, too fast for her to react.
Byleth and Edelgard spun around just in time to see the side of Sand Crawler's head smash into Dorothea as she made a terrified shriek, sending her flying into a wall with a loud, sickening crack as her head struck the brick surface. The singer's body crashed to the ground, and immediately they could see the lifelessness in her green eyes, frozen in shock in her final moments.
Everyone in the chamber, including the Sand Crawler, froze in place as time stopped.
"Oh my… That was rather unexpected…" said Sothis. "Let us do something about that, then."
Time wound backward. The Sand Crawler pulled away from Dorothea as its strike was reversed, vanishing back into the swell of magic conjured by Hapi.
Byleth stopped here.
"Opting only to go back a short distance this time?" asked Sothis. "I see. You wish to regain the use of my power again as quickly as possible. Good. You are learning."
Time unfroze as color returned to normal in Byleth's view.
Hapi had just finished her loud sigh, and the swell of magic once again called forth the Sand Crawler.
Again, in shock, Dorothea shrieked, "W-What is that thing?!"
Again, the Sand Crawler heard her cry of terror, and again it rushed toward the singer faster than she could react.
The Sand Crawler roared as it raised itself to swat aside the brown-haired girl, and then it let out a screech of pain as the Sword of the Creator whipped itself around what could be considered the worm's neck. The segments of the blade dug into the monster's hide, derailing its attack on the singer.
"P-Professor…" Dorothea said in a silent gasp.
Byleth grunted for a moment as she tried to pull the Sand Crawler away from Dorothea. Then, with a loud screech, the worm wrenched its head to the side, and Byleth made a loud yelp of surprise as she was yanked off her feet and careened toward one of the high walls of the chamber. Instinctively, Byleth swung her feet forward and, rather than crashing into the wall, planted her boots on it and used her prior momentum to run along the wall for a few seconds. Then, as the Sand Crawler thrashed again, Byleth leapt off the wall in the direction of the worm, passing by it as she went.
Then, as the worm thrashed back again, Byleth let out a shout as she landed and, using her momentum, pulled hard on the Sword of the Creator.
The bladed whip ripped through the worm's neck, decapitating the monster in an instant, its body falling to the floor and flailing post-mortem for a few seconds before its body began to dissolve into sand.
Byleth gasped for breath for a second and looked back toward Dorothea. The singer had a look of awe on her face and looked like she was just about to compliment her.
But then Dorothea's expression turned to one of alarm.
"LOOK OUT!" she cried, but it was too late.
Byleth made a loud gasp of surprise as her legs suddenly felt as if they were frozen. Looking down, she saw to her shock that they literally were frozen in ice, and that the ice was rapidly encasing her body. She knew it could only be one spell: Fimbulvetr.
All Byleth could do was let out a cry before she was frozen solid, trapped within what was basically a small glacier.
"PROFESSOR!" Dorothea screamed.
Dorothea rushed up to Byleth's icy prison as a loud, haughty laugh resounded through the chamber.
Dorothea turned to see Constance as she proclaimed, "Ohohoho! Absolute perfection! My spell worked flawlessly!" Turning to the students, she said, "Underestimate the denizens of Abyss and it won't end well for you!" She raised her hands, elbows at her hips, showing the magic flowing between her fingertips as she added, "Now, you will all tremble in fear at my magical might! Ohoho – OHH!"
Constance yelped as a bolt of lightning from Dorothea interrupted her monologue, the blonde barely having enough time to block the spell with a magical ward.
Incensed, she turned to Dorothea and said, "How dare you interrupt my grand entrance! Do you have any idea who you're dealing with? You all stand before the one and only Constance Von Nuve – EEH!"
Another bolt of lightning from Dorothea interrupted the blonde sorceress, who again blocked the spell.
"You impudent little… You dare to attack the great – ACK!"
Again, Constance was interrupted by another of Dorothea's lightning bolts.
With a loud growl of pique, Constance shouted, "Will you cut that out?!"
"Will you just SHUT UP!?" Dorothea shouted back as she sent a Thoron spell at Constance, who again negated the spell with a magical ward. "I'm going to make you pay for what you just did to our Professor!"
"You? You think you can match MY sorcery?" Constance laughed arrogantly at this. "Laughable!"
Constance then sent out a fireball at Dorothea, who raised her own ward to block it. The ward shattered in an instant, overwhelmed by the power of Constance's spell as Dorothea stumbled back with a yelp. Hissing, Dorothea shot another Thunder spell at Constance, but the blonde easily blocked the spell.
With another haughty laugh, Constance said, "You are well out of your league. It would behoove you to cease your struggling and – Huh?"
Constance's change in tone, coupled with multiple cracking sounds, caused Dorothea to turn back toward Byleth. To the singer's surprise, the ice surrounding the professor was breaking apart. A radiant green glow was shining through the cracks in the ice as, for a brief instant, the Crest of Flames could be seen shining from within the icy prison.
Seconds later, with a loud defiant shout, Byleth broke free of the icy prison, causing it to shatter completely and pelt everyone in the room with small chunks of ice. It was enough to make everyone in the chamber stop fighting for a moment.
Byleth fell to her knees, gasping for breath from the effort she had just made as Dorothea rushed back to her.
"Professor? Are you okay?" the singer asked.
Byleth did not reply to this, letting out a loud cough as she greedily tried to suck in as much air into her lungs as possible.
Across from them, Constance stared at the two as she muttered, "I-Impossible… How does she possess such power…?"
Byleth glared at Constance as she tried to stand, but she found herself unable to rise from her kneel. The power that had broken her out of the ice had taken a great deal of her energy. Dorothea knelt down to try and help Byleth to her feet, resting the teacher's arm on her shoulders.
Just then, a loud howl from Balthus drew everyone's attention as Hilda smacked him in the head with the blunt end of her axe, sending him stumbling back. His mask, which had taken the brunt of the blow, fell to the ground, showing a trickle of blood running down his forehead. Everyone could now see his surprisingly handsome face.
"B, your mask!" Hapi hissed.
"Huh? Oh, crap!" Balthus cursed, realizing the students could now identify him.
Then, a second later, everyone in the chamber stopped moving as Hilda, finally recognizing Balthus, went wide-eyed and said loudly, "B-BALTIE?! Balthus von Albrecht, is that you?!"
"Huh? Do I know you from somewhere, cutie?"
Hilda's expression turned to one of utter disbelief, and then anger, as she stormed up to Balthus and stomped hard on his foot. Balthus let out a yelp of pain as he began jumping on one leg and clutching at his injured foot.
"You mean to tell me you forgot all the time you, Holst and I spent together as kids?!" Hilda hissed angrily.
"H-Holst?" Balthus asked as he stopped his hopping. Then, as realization sprang upon his face, he said, "Wait, Hilda? Hilda Valentine Goneril? I don't believe it, it is you! Look at how you've grown since I last saw you…" Then, with a lecherous smirk, Balthus added cheekily, "And in all the right places!"
Shaking her head, Hapi said, "Oh boy…"
Hilda, her cheeks turning as pink as her hair, realized Balthus' insinuation as the grappler's eyes swept over her bountiful chest. Then, with a loud feminine growl, Hilda delivered a swift kick right to Balthus' groin.
The chamber was filled with the sound of Balthus' cries of pain, Hilda's harsh words, and the laughter of those around them as the fight between the students and the Ashen Wolves ended amicably.
Dorothea, who looked on in disbelief as Hilda continued to scold Balthus, suddenly felt Byleth's weight come down on her shoulders. Alarmed, Dorothea turned to see that Byleth was now struggling to stay conscious, and now looked on the verge of passing out.
Indeed, Byleth's hearing became muffled and her vision swam before her eyes as an overwhelming weariness enveloped her being.
Yet even as she blacked out, she could hear Dorothea's voice as the singer said, "Professor? Hey, Professor?! Snap out of it! PROFESSOR!"
Isn't it weird how funny some fights can be?