A Summoner's Journey

Grand Hero Battle: Ursula

Team for this chapter: Robin, Robinne, Eliwood and Priscilla

After we returned from the Spring Festival, I gave my heroes a break before we tackled the two Grand Hero Battles. I decided to go with Ursula's first, so I headed over to the war room to strategize with Alfonse. Robin, Robinne and Jeorge came in shortly after.

"The two thieves here are clearly the biggest problem" Robin said "We're unable to use infantry allies because of the effective damage of their daggers"

"So we should send in someone who can retaliate at the thieves, but isn't an infantry class" Jeorge put in "What are our options?"

"All our cavalry, fliers and armors we have can't retaliate at a distance" Alfonse reminded Jeorge "Our best option for a "thief killer" is Robin"

"More like our only option" Robinne said "Robin is the only wielder of the Blarraven tome in this army, which is able to deflect daggers, arrows and staff magic"

"So we'll settle on Robin as the thief killer. Who's next?" I asked.

"We need someone that can easily kill Ursula" Alfonse said "Nino and Robinne are our best options"

"Ursula's a cavalier, so it's better that I go" Robinne pulled out her Gronnwolf tome "My Gronnwolf is effective against cavalry heroes and Lucian recently taught me the skill "Blue Tomebreaker""

"She's the perfect Ursula killer" Robin realized.

"Alright, Robinne's on the squad too. Who else do we need?"

"A swordsman who isn't infantry" Jeorge said "Because I doubt the Robin twins can handle the Axe Knight in the hallway"

"Eliwood is the only one who fits that criteria" Robine informed.

"That's fine then. Eliwood has Axebreaker" I said "So who's our last team member?"

"Someone to support the team from the backlines" Jeorge tapped his forehead "I recommend bringing Olivia or a healer"

"I think a healer will be more important here" Robine stated "We fail the challenge if any of us gets defeated, so having someone to heal our wounds and keep us in the fight will vastly improve our odds of winning"

"Alright then. Priscilla will be that healer" I decided, then looked at everyone around the war table "Any objections?"

"None. Now let's devise our strategy to win this fight" we spent the next hour planning out our strategy to win Ursula's Grand Hero Battle. After that was done, we were set to go.

After assembling my team, we headed off into the World of Blazing, Ursula's Grand Hero Battle card in my hand. We landed back in the Bern Manse where we fought Jaffar and Nino, with two cracked walls blocking our way into the building.

"Maxime, are our forces in position?" Ursula asked a Sword Cavalier next to her.

"Yes Lady Ursula. Our Black Fang soldiers are ready to attack"

"Good, good. I can sense our prey has entered the battlefield. It's time to fight" Ursula held up her Blarwolf+ tome, with glowed with blue light "Move to your station Maxime"

"Understood" the cavalier drew his Silver Sword+ and positioned himself just behind the cracked wall, to ambush the attackers when they broke down the barrier.

"Hmm… I can sense…" Robin had his eyes shut tightly "There's an Axe Armor knight just behind the hallway here, next to the cracked walls"

"I suspect that enemies are hiding behind the cracked walls to ambush us if we break them down, so heading through the hallway is an easier approach" Robinne suggested.

"Let's be vigilant and careful of our surroundings. I'll go first since I can take down the Axe Armor knight easily" Eliwood galloped slowly into the hallway and suddenly, a dagger flew over the wall and came down onto Eliwood. Thankfully, Robin's instincts were fast enough to raise a Blarraven wall to deflect it, then he directed the ravens downwards to attack the thieves. Meanwhile, the Axe Armor knight noticed Eliwood and approached him, brandishing his Killer Axe. Eliwood was faster and slashed his sword downwards, cutting the knight by the shoulder. The cavalier managed another slice and thanks to Axebreaker, the knight's Killer Axe was severed in half, rendering it useless. Just as another thief began to enter into the hallway, Eliwood finished off the Axe Knight with a stab to the face, then retreated quickly. But as Eliwood passed the cracked walls, a sinister female voice called out.

"Blarwolf!"

A giant spiritual wolf head came out of the wall and slammed into Eliwood hard. If it wasn't for Eliwood's great resistance to magic, Eliwood would of been defeated already. Thankfully, the location of where the wolf head came from allows Robinne to pinpoint Ursula's position. She rushed over to where Eliwood used to be and opened her Gronnwolf tome.

"Gronnwolf!"

A sharp hiss was heard over the wall followed by the ripping of pages. Robinne's Blue Tomebreaker kicked in. Robinne sent another Gronnwolf through the wall, but this time, a male voice grunted from the impact.

"No time for this!" a Silver Sword slammed into the cracked wall and broke it apart. There, a weakened Sword Cavalier, Ursula and Thief were waiting. But by breaking the wall, they reversed the situation on themselves. They waited for the wall to be broken by us to ambush us, but they completely turned their plan on it's head. Taking the opportunity, Robin unleashed a storm of ravens at the Sword Cavalier, taking him down. Robinne charged into the manse and defeated Ursula with an easy Gronnwolf attack, but not before taking a Poison Dagger to the waist. The thief was about to throw another dagger and end Robinne, but Robin pushed her out of the way and took the hit for her, like a brother would to protect his sister. Robin shot a quick bolt of lightning from his tome to finish off the thief. Meanwhile, the last thief on the field came from the hallway and threw his Poison Dagger at Eliwood. But due to Eliwood being a cavalier, the dagger didn't deal as much damage as it did to Robinne. After being healed by Priscilla, Eliwood galloped over and slammed his sword into the thief's head, killing him in one hit. Finally, the battle was over.

"I am Ursula, the Blue Crow of the Black Fang assassins. Hmm…" the mage cavalier looked me over "I sense… perfection in you. Good.. very good"

"Uhm… happy to have you on our team" I said uneasily before leading my squad back to Askr. The battle awarded us with a 4 star Ursula, coming in with the Blarwolf tome and Rising Thunder special attack. She also had Death Blow and Threaten Resistance as her passive skills. A very powerful kit of skills, to be honest. As I left Ursula to be assigned a barracks spot by Anna, I headed down to the library to continue reading. I've gotten very into romance novels as of late. After all, I considered love to be a very powerful and primal sort of feeling. Something that took hard work, dedication and sacrifice to attain. As I was reading, Priscilla came up to me, resting her Panic staff in her lap.

"Oh hello Lord Lucian" the troubadour said politely, like any princess would talk.

"Hello Lady Priscilla. How are you?" I asked, not even looking up from my novel.

"Ah, I'm good at the moment. May I ask about your book?"

"Ask away"

"Is… is there a reason why you're reading a romance novel?"

I looked up from my book "Sorry?"

Priscilla backed away slightly "It's just that, I heard people often read about stuff they desire. I was wondering if you were under the same fate"

I sighed, putting my book down in my lap "You read me like a book Priscilla"

"I knew it" the troubadour gave a light triumphant smile "Which means… you desire love. Why so?"

I flashbacked to my time before I arrived in Askr. A beautiful lady. Desperate attempts to get her attention. Then the day I poured my feelings for her. The cold silent treatment. Taking her silence as a refusal, I ran off. Then she forgot about me. I saw her with another man, acting as if they were boyfriend and girlfriend. Hopes crushed and a vow to the sky that I'll never love anybody again. I never wanted to taste the feeling of silence and betrayal again.

"Just… there's been some issues between me and a lady back at home" I said to Priscilla "It's the case of unrequited love. I love her, yet she doesn't return the feelings. After I confessed to her, she didn't even respond and the next day, she was acting normal again. Not even a word to me"

Priscilla reached over and brushed a tear off my face, one that I didn't even notice fall.

"I had my fair problems with love too" Priscilla said "Back in my world, I had to reject two great men, a swordsman named Guy and a wyvern rider named Heath. Simply because I was a princess and they were mercenaries"

"Were you able to find true love in the end though?" I asked.

"Yes… I fell in love with a man named Erk. He wasn't of any nobility, but he was linked to Pent, the mage general of my home region Etruria" Priscilla clasped her hands together "That gave him the ability to marry someone like me"

"I'm glad you were able to get a happy ending" I said, resting my head on my hands "Too bad the same isn't going to happen for me"

"If you classify "happy ending" as "true love", you'll be mistaken Lord Lucian" Priscilla said reassuringly "One day, you will return to your world and find someone of your own. Believe me. Don't lose hope. Never lose hope"

"Perhaps I can find that one person in this world?" I wondered out loud.

"Perhaps…" Priscilla trailed off "But please, don't wallow in despair because of one rejection. I had to reject two men back in my world and it crushed me horribly. But they showed great perseverance when they reassured me and said that they understood we couldn't be together"

"Yeah… I see" I offered Priscilla my hand "Thank you Lady Priscilla. I'll try searching for someone else when I get home"

"You're very welcome Lord Lucian" Priscilla nodded "I pray that you find someone that is fit for a leader like yourself"

"One question though"

"What is it?"

"Am I able to still read romance novels?"

Priscilla giggled "Of course you're able to. Who said I was stopping you?"

"Ha ha, good to know" I picked the book off my lap "What are you here for anyways?"

"Well, I was thinking of reading some novels as well"

"Which ones in particular?"

"I actually didn't think on what to read. I just came here because I like reading"

"Would you mind if I showed you around, perhaps introduce you to a book?"

"You don't mind?"

"I'm a gentleman before a bookworm" I said as I lent my hand to the princess.

Priscilla giggled "Well said, Lord Lucian. Lead the way"

Grand Hero Battles are tough to write extensively, so I kept this one short. The next parts are going to be relatively the same length, as they are Michalis's Grand Hero Battle and the first Voting Gauntlet. As always, thank you all for the favorites, follows and reviews. Until next time readers!