This one was longer than I intended.
Chapter 33 – The Underground Arena (Horsebow Moon)
The students had been told the enemy numbered somewhere in the seventies. The reality, as they found out, was around twice that number.
Now, sprawling across an ancient underground colosseum, the students of the Officers Academy and the Ashen Wolves were locked in battle with an enormous band of mercenaries. Other Abyssinian rogues had engaged parts of the mercenary band in some of the side passages leading to the colosseum, but the students had to face a considerable chunk of the enemy force. Even with the mercenaries divided, the fourteen of them were still outnumbered at least three to one.
As Dorothea dashed behind a pillar to avoid being shot by a trio of enemy archers, she cursed silently at the situation. Looking towards Constance as the blonde flew about the arena on the back of her black-winged Pegasus, Syrene, Dorothea shouted, "Hey, a little help here!?"
"Tend to your own matters!" Constance snapped. "I have my own – ngh! – dilemma to contend with!"
Constance was forced to pull back on Syrene's reins as a fireball flew at the blonde. As she finished her reply to Dorothea, Constance shot a fireball of her own back at the mage who was targeting her, but the hasty spell missed its mark.
Deciding that Constance wasn't going to be any help, Dorothea turned to look at the others. Marianne made a shriek as a knife-wielding mercenary tried to rush at her, the pale girl blasting him with a Blizzard spell. This was followed up by Dimitri smashing the mercenary with the shaft of his lance, shattering the ice and sending the mercenary tumbling away. Seconds later, Dimitri was forced to block an axe from another mercenary, locking his lance with him in a contest of strength. Marianne was at a loss for what to do, as she couldn't attack the mercenary without the risk of hitting Dimitri.
Behind another pillar, Hapi called out, "Hey, Yuri, you sure you don't want me to–"
"No sighing, Hapi!" Yuri interrupted as he kicked away another kill, causing Hapi to make a loud groan of frustration.
The exchange might have sounded obscure, but Dorothea knew Yuri's decision was probably for the best. Hapi had the truly strange power to summon monsters and beasts just by sighing; unfortunately, she lacked the power to control whatever she summoned. If Dorothea hadn't seen it before when Hapi had summoned the Sand Crawler, she would've thought the Ashen Wolves were joking with them.
"No need to spoil the fun, Hapi!" said Balthus as he punched another mercenary in the head. "We've still got this!" With an eager roar, Balthus then rushed at another opponent, who panicked as the grappler grabbed him and shoved, sending him crashing into one of his comrades.
Then, another yelp of pain made Dorothea turn, and this time her eyes widened with concern. Edelgard had just been hit by a mercenary wielding a large war hammer, smashing aside the princess' shield and making the white-haired girl stumble back. Edelgard raised her axe to intercept the mercenary's follow-up swing, but the powerful blow was too much for her to deflect or block. The princess was sent careening to the ground on her back as the mercenary, not losing a step in his assault, readied another strike. Edelgard growled as she looked up at her attacker, too fast for her to recover.
"EDIE!" Dorothea screamed as she raised her hands to try and cast a spell, but she knew she would be too late.
It was then that a small fireball struck the hammer-wielding mercenary, setting his leather armor on fire and making him scream in panic as he dropped his weapon and tried in vain to put out the flames. Dorothea looked to the source, expecting to see Constance's smug face, but was surprised to see it had been Byleth who had cast the spell.
Giving Dorothea a short glance, their eyes meeting, Byleth said to her, "On your left!"
As if by instinct, Dorothea turned to her left to see another mercenary rushing up toward her. But he was still some distance away, and Dorothea's spell was crackling between her fingertips. She released her Thunder spell, electrocuting her attacker before he could even get close. Not even a second later, another arrow narrowly whizzed path Dorothea's outstretched arm, making her yelp as she took cover behind the pillar.
Taking a moment to avoid being shot, Dorothea looked to Edelgard and said, "Edie, get back! You're hurt!"
Indeed, the Adrestian princess' right arm was bleeding as she pushed herself back up. Even with her heavy armor, she couldn't take everything the mercenaries were throwing at her. Dorothea wanted to run over to heal her, but she knew the archers would make a pincushion out of her if she moved from the pillar. If she did nothing, however, the archers could just as easily make Edelgard into said pincushion despite her armor.
It was then that Anna darted forward, prompting the trio of archers to fire at her. With astounding agility, Anna whirled acrobatically through the volley, not missing a step as she closed rapidly with the archers. Two of them panicked at seeing her approach, but the third drew a knife from her belt to defend herself. A second later, the female archer made a loud scream as Anna's Levin Sword slashed her in the chest, jolting her even as she crashed to the ground. Anna followed up by ducking as one of the other archers tried to club her with his bow. The merchant whirled around and delivered a punch to the archer's chin that broke his jaw, sending him down with several teeth knocked loose. The last archer tried to ready another shot, but never even pulled his bowstring before a shot from Claude pierced his neck.
Anna had no time to thank Claude for the assist. Within seconds, another dagger-wielding mercenary made a quick swipe at her, a blow which Anna dodged by leaping backward. The mercenary continued his strikes at her, not giving Anna a chance to counter. However, Anna's confident smirk remained on her face as she continued to dodge and parry.
Then, as the mercenary made another quick thrust at Anna, he was blocked by a heavy steel shield that broke the mercenary's blade in two. Shocked, the mercenary failed to react in time before Dedue shoved forward and smashed him in the face with his shield.
"Thanks a bunch!" Anna said with a wink at Dedue.
"The fight is far from over," Dedue replied as he readied his axe.
Then, just as Dorothea was about to thank Anna for her help, a scream of terror prompted her and the other students to turn.
One of the mercenaries, his garb suggesting he was the leader, had his left arm around Marianne's torso, his hand incidentally grabbing the blue-haired girl's right breast through her uniform as he held a dagger to her throat.
"That's enough, you brats!" the leader shouted as Marianne squirmed.
Reflexively, Hilda shouted out, "Let her go, you pervert!"
"Shut your trap, girl, unless you want me to cut your friend open."
"Marianne!" Dimitri shouted. He then angrily said to the leader, "You will release her this instant, craven!"
"You don't get to make demands here, boy! Now, all of you brats are gonna drop your weapons, or your pretty friend here gets it!"
Dorothea looked around at the others. Some like Dimitri looked as though they were about to comply with the threat, while others continued to grip their weapons tightly.
"Fat chance, you lowlife!" Anna said, stopping Dimitri just as the prince was about to release his grip on his lance. "If we drop our weapons, what's stopping you from killing all of us afterwards?"
"You think I won't kill this girl if you don't?" the leader retorted.
"Anna, you're not helping…!" Hilda hissed loudly.
"She's right," said Claude. "That'd just be giving you every advantage. Not a smart play in my book."
"C-Claude!" Hilda was dismayed at seeing Claude agreeing with Anna while Marianne's life hung in the balance.
"You think you've got a choice, you brats? I'm gonna give you until the count of five, and if you haven't dropped your weapons, your friend's dead! One…!"
Then, as the leader said "Two!", Byleth made her move. In a strike so quick that the mercenaries were caught off guard, she swung the Sword of the Creator forward, sending its tip soaring at the lead mercenary with the speed of an arrow.
But to her shock, the mercenary leader reacted in time, and moved Marianne in front of the attack.
Marianne von Edmund let out a loud choking gasp of shock as the Sword of the Creator pierced through her larynx.
"MARY, NOOO!" Hilda screamed in panic as the life in Marianne's eyes began to flicker out.
The world froze as the Divine Pulse radiated from Byleth.
"You imbecile!" Sothis snapped. "Do not assume your enemy is too dimwitted to see such an attack coming!"
Mentally, Byleth cursed herself. Sothis was right; she hadn't thought the mercenary leader would be fast enough to react.
The Sword of the Creator left Marianne's throat as Byleth reversed her strike, while the mercenary leader returned to his stance before Byleth had made her failed attack.
Time returned to its normal state.
"…if you haven't dropped your weapons, your friend's dead!" shouted the leader. "One…!"
Byleth's eyes narrowed as she stared the leader in the eye. He was looking back at her, waiting for her to make a mistake. Her mind raced, but she saw no way to get at him before he would kill Marianne, or any way that wouldn't result in the same outcome.
"Two!"
Panicking, Marianne said, "H-Help me…!"
"Three!"
"Marianne, it's going to be alright," Dimitri said quickly. "It's going to–"
"FOUR!"
"ENOUGH!" shouted a man's voice as a surge of white magic formed around the mercenary leader.
Surprised, the leader could not react in time before the magic engulfed his body. With a loud "GAH!", the leader was left frozen in place, stiff as a statue. The spell had paralyzed him, leaving him still grabbing Marianne by her ample right breast with his knife still perilously close to her throat. Marianne continued to quiver in terror, her breaths short and filled with fear.
Dimitri made his move. He rushed forward at the immobilized mercenary leader, his lance at the ready when one of the other mercenaries got in his way.
"OUT OF MY WAY!" Dimitri shouted, his tone one of uncharacteristic anger.
The mercenary tried to slash Dimitri with his blade, only for Dimitri's lance to impale him through his chest. For a brief instant, the others saw a Crest shine above him as he struck – the Minor Crest of Blaiddyd. The power of the Crest led to Dimitri briefly lifting the mercenary off the ground with his lance before slamming the lance's tip to the ground, leaving the dead man barely standing as he began to slide back toward the ground along the lance's shaft.
Dimitri did not slow down as he rushed to the mercenary leader, abandoning his weapon. The leader's body shook as the paralysis spell seemed to start wearing off. But before he could move to kill his hostage, Dimitri grabbed the man by the wrist and squeezed with such strength that the others heard cracks as the leader's wrist was broken. Able to move again, the leader let out a loud howl of pain as the dagger dropped from his hand, only for Dimitri to grab at the man's neck and silence his cries. Marianne whimpered in fright as she was released and fell to the ground, wrapping her arms around her chest defensively.
As Dimitri strangled the mercenary leader and forced him to the ground in a savage display, the other mercenaries regained their wits and raised their weapons, ready to kill the prince.
Their move was met by a hail of arrows and spells from one of the entrances to the colosseum, cutting down a sizeable number of the mercenaries.
"What the hell?!" shouted one of the sellswords before he was struck by a Miasma Δ spell.
The students turned to see who had come to their aid.
"You vagabonds will bring no further harm to our friends!" shouted Ferdinand, pointing his lance at the mercenaries from atop the back of his horse.
Behind him the other first-year students voiced their agreeance with Ferdinand as they raised their weapons for battle. Caspar and Raphael made loud shouts as they rushed out first, eager to get into battle.
"Everyone's here!" Dorothea said in astonishment.
"Their timing could not be better," said Edelgard as she limped over to Dorothea.
"Yeah…" Then, remembering Edelgard's present state, Dorothea said, "Oh, sorry! Hold on, let me heal you."
The singer immediately went to work healing Edelgard's injuries as the rest of the first-year students charged into battle with the remaining mercenaries.
…
About ten minutes later, the battle had ended. The mercenaries had been routed from the colosseum, and the students had again suffered no casualties. That said, the fight had left several injured; Lorenz had been hit by an arrow to his left arm, Caspar had again gotten himself a big cut that was bound to leave a scar, while Lysithea had stumbled into a wall and hit her head after blocking a spell, leaving her unconscious. Some of the others had a few cuts and bruises but none of the injuries were life-threatening.
As Dorothea helped to heal a cut to Petra's shoulder, she looked over to see Byleth talking with Aelfric, the house leaders, and the Ashen Wolves. The priest had come down alongside the other students, and it had been his spell that saved Marianne's life.
"I am relieved that I wasn't too late," Aelfric said to the others. "I do hope my presence proved useful."
"No doubt about it," said Balthus. "We needed the backup."
"Why are you here, Aelfric?" asked Byleth.
"Oh, I suppose I have not discussed that with you. I am the church's custodian of Abyss, so to speak."
"I see. Does my father know about this?"
"Yes, Jeralt knows. He will be glad to hear you are unharmed, as will Her Grace."
Then, at that moment, Dorothea winced in annoyance as she heard Constance laugh, the sound grating upon the singer's ears, and turned to see the blonde chatting with Ferdinand.
"I see, so that brunette is a classmate of yours?" Constance asked, giving Dorothea a quick glance as she did. "Oh, my poor Ferdinand… I cannot imagine how you put up with her."
"I treat Dorothea with the same respect as I would anyone else in the Black Eagles," said Ferdinand. "Yet she still treats me so coldly. She claims it's because I'm like a bee."
"A… bee?"
This at least brought a small smile to Dorothea's face. Ferdinand still hadn't figured it out, and Constance seemed just as confused.
"I haven't the faintest idea what she means by it," Ferdinand said as he rubbed his forehead.
Suddenly, the conversation was interrupted by a blood-curdling scream from one of the Abyssinian rogues. Everyone turned to see one of the rogues near an entrance to the colosseum falling to the ground, blood spilling from his neck.
And as she saw the one responsible, Dorothea's felt a deathly chill run down her spine.
"The scent of fresh blood…"
Atop his steed, the Death Knight emerged from the shadows, his scythe slick with blood.
"The worms will feast tonight!"
Oh look, he's back. At least they have Lysithea this ti… right, she's unconscious…
One thing I think I might've done heavy-handed in this one was Dimitri. Was his savagery too early for the story?