Time for the big mock battle!
Due to length, I plan to split this into 3 parts. I don't want to go over my self-imposed word limit per chapter.
Chapter 46 – Battle of the Eagle and Lion Pt. 1 (Wyvern Moon)
The 27th of the Wyvern Moon had finally come, and the first-year students of the Officers' Academy were now gathered at the vast, sprawling plains of Gronder Field in the Empire. Each house had themselves readied at different parts of the field, with the Black Eagles in the northern portion across a small stream.
It was time for the famed Battle of the Eagle and Lion, a mock battle that took place once per year for the first-year students of Garreg Mach. Second-year students would fight in a mock battle of the Crescent Moon War, while third-year students would fight a mock battle depicting the Battle of Tailtean, each one at different times of the year.
Across the stream, the Black Eagles stood before Byleth, each one armed with wooden training weapons rather than anything more deadly. Being a mock battle, the Church of Seiros wanted to minimize any serious injuries. Each student was also given a small platoon of Church soldiers to command, though each numbered no more than 10 soldiers apiece. Still, it was more than enough to make things crowded for the students.
Dorothea looked skyward to see a familiar green-haired girl riding above them on the back of her new Pegasus, Sumia. Seteth hadn't wanted Flayn to fight alongside the Black Eagles for a few reasons. Firstly, he didn't want his little sister getting injured. Second, she was only an honorary student, so having her leading an additional platoon would make things unfair for the Blue Lions and Golden Deer. Lastly, Seteth had instead wanted her to act as an impartial healer, ready to swoop in if someone were to be seriously injured.
The rules of the battle were simple: whichever house scored the most eliminations would win the three-way battle. Eliminations were only counted for any students who got taken out, not their subordinates, but it was the soldiers' duty to both protect their leaders and take out enemy leaders. If a student was eliminated, their platoon would be forced to leave the battlefield.
Taking a brief step away from the group, Caspar stretched his arms as he said, "Ahh, Gronder. Feels kinda good being in my home territory every now and then. I just hope we don't ruin all the grain out there."
"Professor, if it is up to you, how would you approach this battle?" asked Edelgard.
Byleth took a moment to ponder the question, and then said, "By being audacious."
"That's… an interesting answer. What do you mean by that?"
"The same thing we did back during the Great Tree Moon."
"My, my, that is bold," said Hubert. "Engaging both the Blue Lions and Golden Deer simultaneously may have worked before, but they will be ready for such a tactic this time."
"Y-Yeah, what if they gang up on us?" asked Bernadetta. "Oh, they'd flatten us for sure!"
"Only if you again decide to hide rather than fight, Bernadetta."
Bernadetta made a loud groan as she mumbled, "I'm never going to live that down, am I?"
Turning back to Byleth, Hubert said, "Our strength is superior. So, if we do lose, it would be on your shoulders, Professor."
Ferdinand took this opportunity to say, "If you're not confident you can do this, just sit back and leave it to me."
"I don't think so, Ferdie," said Dorothea. "Knowing you, you'd probably have us all rush right into an encirclement."
"Dorothea, you underestimate my prowess in battle. If we were to be encircled, I would be the one to break us out."
"I'm so sure you'd be able to pull that off," Dorothea said sarcastically, which brought a look of displeasure on Ferdinand's face.
"Are you two about to fight?" asked Caspar. "Haha! Count me in! Wait, no. I think we all need to calm down."
"We have no lack of opponents," said Petra. "I am ready to go hunting for our enemies!"
"Agreed," said Edelgard.
The sound of a trumpet echoed through the plains, a sign that the Battle of the Eagle and Lion was about to begin.
"The battle is about to begin," said Edelgard. Turning to the platoon soldiers, she shouted, "The flag of the Black Eagles will soon grace Gronder Field!"
The soldiers cheered as they raised their weapons, ready to begin the fight.
…
Anna kept herself hidden in a bush overlooking Gronder Field. Technically, she wasn't supposed to be there, but she had come up with an idea for a business venture, and now all she had to do was wait for her moment. In the meantime, she smiled at the view she had, able to watch the entire battlefield.
Reaching into her pouch, the redhead pulled out a spyglass and peered through it to look on as Dimitri stepped before the Blue Lions. Spyglasses normally were frowned upon in Fódlan since the Church didn't like their uses, but Anna figured what the Church didn't know wouldn't hurt them.
She watched as Dimitri pointed his lance and shouted out to the Black Eagles and Golden Deer.
"You all should know… I am not about to go easy on you today!" shouted the prince.
Anna made a smirk at this, amused by how Dimitri always took himself too seriously. She then looked over to Claude and the Golden Deer, the young schemer twirling his bow in his hand. Though she couldn't hear what he said, she knew enough on how to read lips.
"As long as we can pull off the win, it doesn't matter how," said Claude, earning both looks of ire and respect from the other members of the Golden Deer.
Finally, Anna turned to look over at the Black Eagles, who she was personally rooting for. She watched as Edelgard flicked her hair over her right shoulder as she spoke.
"Our victory must be absolute… no matter what it may take," said Edelgard, prompting several soldiers behind her to draw their practice blades.
Behind Edelgard, Byleth readied her own practice sword with confidence. She obviously wasn't allowed to use the Sword of the Creator, but Anna knew she wouldn't need it for this fight.
"Go get'em, By," Anna said with a smile.
The merchant then looked up at a cliff that was overlooking the battleground. Archbishop Rhea watched as the students and their soldiers prepared to charge into battle.
Standing next to her, Seteth turned to a nearby flagbearer and said, "It is time."
On cue, the flagbearer raised the standard of the Church of Seiros he held, visible to all those below in the plains.
Swinging her hand forward, Edelgard shouted, "Forward, now!"
At her command, the Black Eagles and their platoons charged forward.
Raising his lance, Dimitri shouted, "For honor!" as the Blue Lions rushed into the fray.
And standing amidst the Golden Deer, Claude raised his hand wordlessly, the simple gesture enough to send the students of the Leicester Alliance forward.
As the three mock armies ran to meet one another in battle, Anna said to herself, "This is gonna be good."
"Do tell," said a taciturn woman's voice, which made Anna jolt where she sat.
Nervously, Anna turned around to see Shamir standing over her, her hand on the grip of her sheathed Dagdan karambit. The knife was shaped like the claw of a large cat.
Anna broke out in a cold sweat as she said, "H-H-Hey, Shamir? How're things with you?"
"I'll be asking the questions here," Shamir said with a glare. "What are you doing spying on the battle?"
"Spying's kind of an ugly way to put it. I'd prefer 'spectating'."
"Semantics."
"Look, I get what you're thinking: you think I'm trying to tilt the scales in favor of the Black Eagles. Well, I'll tell you right now that's not why I'm here. By doesn't need my help to win this fight."
"Really? You just assume I think you're trying to give Professor Eisner an edge?"
"Well, yeah. You're kinda giving off that vibe."
"I know you better than that, Anna. I know you're here because you're up to another one of your money schemes."
Anna laughed nervously at this, and then said, "You got me there. Yeah, I was hoping to make some quick gold here."
"How so?"
Anna then made a gesture over to another bush, this one looking somewhat fake. Shamir strode over to it and pulled off the fake cover, revealing Anna had brought a small cart filled with various drinks, fruit, and treats.
"Refreshments?" Shamir asked in confusion.
"Everyone's gonna be awfully tired once this is done, yeah? Figured I'd bring them some vittles and drinks after the fight's done."
With a sigh of disapproval, Shamir said, "And you'll probably overprice these too."
"Hey, hard to put a price on convenience."
Just then, the two women heard a loud shout coming from the field and looked back at the battle.
"Ooh! Sounds like it's getting good," said Anna. "Hey, toss me an apple, would you? One of the green ones. Oh, and you can have one on the house if you want."
Shamir sighed again, though this time it was one of acceptance. She grabbed herself a red apple while tossing a green one to Anna, and then took a seat next to Anna in order to watch the battle unfold.
…
Raphael roared as he barreled his way through several soldiers and made a beeline towards Dedue. However, the Duscuri man stepped aside and Raphael's face lit up with alarm as Annette sent a small tornado spinning at him. Raphael was promptly lifted into the air by the twister and, after being flung upwards, came back to the ground with a loud thud. He barely had a moment to rub his head before Dedue placed the edge of his practice axe to Raphael's chest. Sheepishly, Raphael laughed as he held his hands up in surrender.
…
Out in the open, Sylvain yelped as he avoided a hard swing from Leonie's lance as their two horses passed one another. Spinning his mount around, Sylvain looked back to see Leonie readying another charge, her expression showing she was rather pissed off at him.
"H-Hey, are you still mad at me for saying you were – WHOA!"
Sylvain yelped as Leonie's next strike nearly smacked him hard in the head.
"Yeah, you're still mad at me…"
"Hold still, dammit!" shouted Leonie. "You're not getting away from me that easily!"
Leonie made another charge toward Sylvain, and this time her lance found its mark, smashing into the redhead's armor and sending him tumbling off his horse. Sylvain groaned loudly as he lay on the ground, his whole body aching painfully from being unseated.
"Gotcha!" said Leonie. "That'll teach you to watch your mouth."
Knowing he was never going to live it down, Sylvain simply decided to lay on the field in defeat.
…
Claude made a slight frown as Edelgard bashed one of the yellow Church soldiers with her shield, followed up by her smacking the soldier across the head with her practice axe. The soldier fell to the ground, having been knocked unconscious.
The princess, it seemed, was taking the battle a tad too seriously.
Claude then made a loud smirk as he stepped out from behind his cover and shouted to Edelgard, "Hey Princess! Heads up! There's a rat right by your Imperial feet…"
Unexpectedly, Edelgard's eyes went wide with terror as she made a loud shriek. Her gaze whipped around, trying to find the supposed rat.
Claude almost burst out laughing at seeing this.
A second later, upon realizing there was no nearby rodent, Edelgard turned to Claude with a look of absolute fury on her face.
"How dare you make a fool of me!" Edelgard shouted. "You will not beat me with such childish tactics!"
"Ah, so the sheer terror in your eyes was… something else entirely," Claude said in amusement. "My mistake. Anyway, it was only a – WHOA!"
Claude made a loud yelp of surprise as Edelgard's axe came flying at him, almost striking him in the chest, and instead embedding itself in a tree.
"Whoa, Princess, take it easy! It was a joke!"
"You really hope to unsettle me with childish jokes, Claude? You're going to need more than that!"
Edelgard then charged right at Claude, prompting him to fire an arrow at her that struck her shield. Realizing he wasn't going to stop Edelgard in such a way, Claude spun around and beat a hasty retreat back into the trees.
"COWARD!" Edelgard shouted, electing not to follow him.
Then, realizing just how riled up she was, Edelgard brought a hand up to rub her face.
"Ugh, to think I fell for such a stupid trick…"
…
Hilda had a look of dismay on her face as Caspar punched out another one of her soldiers. So far, she had avoided doing any of the fighting herself, but now it looked like she wasn't going to have much of a choice.
Sighing, Hilda raised her practice axe and said, "Guess I gotta…"
Seeing the pinkette, Caspar said, "There you are, Hilda! You and I have a score to settle!"
"Huh? What are you talking about, Caspar?"
"You know, the way you beat me back during the first mock battle."
"Ohhh, you mean when my blouse came unbuttoned? I told you, I didn't mean to do that."
"Yeah, well, I'm not falling for that trick again! Hope you're ready!"
Caspar let out a yell as he ran toward Hilda, with the pinkette readying her axe to counter his attack. But then, as Caspar neared her, a stray arrow landed right in front of his foot, causing him to trip on it. Caspar let out a series of yelps as he stumbled forward and, as Hilda let out a cry of surprise, he crashed right into her, sending the two toppling to the ground.
"Ow… Stepped in that one…" Caspar groaned as he tried to push himself up.
But as he did, he felt something rather squishy in his hand. Rather, it was in both hands, as they were close together. Opening his eyes, he looked down to see what he was grasping.
Beneath him, laying on the ground, Hilda's cheeks were turning beet red at the realization that Caspar had his hands on her breasts, grasping them through her shirt.
Hilda let out a loud shriek, prompting Caspar to release his hold on her chest as he stammered, "Hilda, I'm sorry! It was an accident! I swear I didn't mean to–"
Caspar's protests were silenced as Hilda smashed him across the head with her axe so hard that he immediately lost consciousness.
Hilarious.
Stay tuned for the next part, but I'm going to spoil you on something that's coming: Dorothea VS Felix, one-on-one.