This is so stupid. This is so fucking stupid. I should leave. I should just leave right now.
The plan was set. All they needed to do was take out the leader.
Of course, that was not only easier said than done, it was also a complete shot in the dark. Robin predicted that if the monsters were to lose their leader, they would fall, as if the zombie chieftain was the nexus of all the unholy magic that fueled the things. Aedan, on the other hand, was convinced that the stupid bastards were already acting like headless chickens and that the best way to kill them was to get a bigger army and literally kill them all.
Which led to this.
I swear to all the gods that if I die, I'm going to haunt Robin.
Robin's plan was, not better, Aedan would never say it was better, more accessible to the small band of zombie killers. After all, one plan required skill, strength, quickness, cunning, and bravery. The other required about a couple hundred guys with weapons.
That plan lead to this.
"This is stupid," Aedan grumbled.
"Hush! You'll give away our position!" Fredrick hissed.
"Aren't you doing that?"
"Quiet!"
"Besides, we don't even know if they can be taken by surprise. It's not like they're people. Attacking their morale is probably useless."
"Aedan," Chrom said beside him. Aedan could tell that the prince really wanted him to shut up.
Aedan sighed and did just that. The three of them were lurking in the tree line, hidden by the numerous branches and foliage. Now that he couldn't just constantly nitpick at Robin's plan, he had to find another way of amusing himself. Sadly, there really wasn't that much. He ended up playing with his sword, watching how the moonlight reflected off of the steel blade.
"Will you stop that? You're going to give away our position."
Aedan squeezed his eyes shut, willing away the desire to smack someone. Maybe he would just sit here staring into the darkness twiddling his thumbs. After all, it was better than nothing.
The plan was rather simple. They find the leader, and ambush him. Amazingly, they found the leader in little to no time. It was rather obvious really. Aedan had just asked himself, which one of these massive zombie demons is the scariest one? From there, Robin decided that they would split up. Fredrick, Chrom, and Aedan made one group while Robin, Virion, and Lissa made up the other. Chrom's group, almost endearingly called the Hammer group, would ambush and annihilate the creatures after Robin's group, now referred to as the Arrow group, made contact with the enemy.
Virion, being Virion, decided that each group needed names. Something intimidating and warlike.
Robin didn't really care. She just wanted to plan done.
Aedan just wanted to leave. He wanted to drink heavily and forget the fact that there were fucking zombies that were trying to kill him.
Now they were just waiting. Just waiting. Waiting on when Robin and Virion would start raining death upon the field of monsters in front of them. After all, they were all in position. The only thing they needed was a signal, probably some sort of elaborate destructive lightning bolt idea.
"Look there," Chrom whispered, jabbing at Aedan's side. Aedan roused from his staring, blinking quickly to bring himself back to his senses. He looked over and saw Chrom point toward the horde. Following his finger, Aedan saw three figures approach the top of a hill. At the top, one of the figures suddenly started growing brighter, and a single massive lightning bolt, easily the size of a small house erupted from her fingertips.
Chrom managed a small chuckle. "That's the signal, alright."
"Holy hell, how is she still able to do that?" Aedan muttered in awe.
Fredrick gripped his sword tight, and hopped onto his steed. "Come, milord. It is time to join the fray."
"Right," Chrom muttered, wrapping his fingers around the pommel of Falchion.
Aedan stifled a groan. "This is stupid," he said under his breath before he pushed himself off of the ground and followed the others.
From their viewpoint, they saw Virion and Robin rain death from afar. The chieftain had reacted though, pinpointing the attack and sending in his zombie army to attack. A horde of the monsters started moving on the three lonely figures.
"Gods," Chrom breathed out. "There are a lot of them."
Aedan's face was grim. "There's only like a hundred of them. Only need to kill, what, twenty each?"
"Good odds for a Shepherd," Fredrick said.
"Right," Chrom said in acknowledgement. "Let's do it."
The trio emerged from the trees, and Fredrick spurred his mount forward, bringing the horse up to a sprint in no time at all. Chrom followed, running as fast as his legs could carry him. Aedan, being the only one who actually valued his life, hung behind, but moved forward with the group.
A battlecry filled the air as Chrom and Fredrick charged. Fredrick hit first, his armored war horse plowing through a group of the creatures before Fredrick himself started murdering them with massive sweeps of his sword. In one particular instance, his sword hewed through one creature and continued forward, slicing into another, and leaving the two monsters in four pieces.
Shit, Freddy.
Chrom attacked only a few moments after Fredrick's charge. Like a bolt flung from a ballista, he threw himself into combat. His sword slashed and hacked and destroyed everything in its path, leaving behind corpses and limbs. With each slash, another one of the monsters was dead. Chrom ducked a spear before swinging his sword in a circle, managing to decapitate three of the monsters in one blow.
Am I the only normal one here?
Aedan was good. He had been trained since birth after all. He had been an accomplished soldier, and a renowned general. But this was ridiculous. He wasn't heavily armored, he didn't have a war horse, and he certainly didn't have Chrom's ridiculous strength with his stupid unbreakable sword. All he had was a banged up sword, a raggedly cloak, a recently repaired body, and a complete reluctance to fight the zombies without backup. He sighed.
This is stupid.
Loosing a mental "fuck it", he charged in after Chrom.
His own sword flashed. True, he didn't have Chrom's brute strength, or Fredrick's giant ass horse, but he was a good swordsman. Maybe not as good as Chrom, but he could hold his own. And unlike Chrom who fought in a very rigid Ylissean style, Aedan tended to not have any style, preferring to rely on his experience, his reflexes, and the fact that he was a very dirty fighter. He struck high and was momentarily frustrated when it was parried by an undead's ax. That didn't really matter, because with his free hand, he slapped at the undead's arm, jarring its grip and loosening its hold on the ax. It freed up an opening and with a quick slash, the monster's head was in two. From behind him, another zombie attacked, and Aedan managed to duck in time to avoid getting his head cut open. He lashed out with a ferocious kick and killed the bastard as it toppled over.
Aedan glanced over toward where Robin and the others were. Robin had come to join the fray, and again, she became a goddess of war. Her sword struck and another monster was dead. Bolts of lightning flashed and crackled and boomed through the battlefield, each electrocuting another zombie. Even Lissa had joined her, entering the battle, and somehow avoiding axes and spears with great dexterity in her horribly impractical skirt. On more than one occasion, she swung her staff and cracked one of the monsters on the head, braining the thing and often times killing it straight out. Virion, on the other hand, was still at the hill. From his vantage point, he could see everything, and he loosed arrow after arrow with reckless abandon.
Take back the Lissa is a child thing. She's actually holding her own. I'm surprised.
"Fredrick, Aedan, with me!" he heard Chrom yell. "We're moving towards Robin!"
Right, follow the two guys who are literally walking natural disasters.
Fredrick and Chrom moved forward, cutting down all that stood before them, creating enough space for the group to move toward Robin. Aedan, again, hung behind, slashing and stabbing at any zombie that got close from behind.
"This isn't too bad now, is it, Aedan?" Chrom said with a grunt, bringing Falchion down on another skull.
"No, this is awful and stupid," Aedan managed, sidestepping a spear and stabbing his own sword into the side of the monster's skull. "Because, you know, we're only outnumbered like ten to one."
"Admittedly," Chrom said, less than concerned. "Good odds for us, right?"
"Suuuuuurreeee," came the incredibly sarcastic reply. "Only ten guys."
"I mean, on the plus side, we could be – behind you!" Aedan spun, flailing his sword and clipping the monster's arm, managing to hack a solid chunk of its arm off. " – outnumbered twenty to one."
"Alright. They could also be on fire," Aedan grunted back. A stroke of his sword cut off the monster's head.
Chrom managed to bark out a laugh. "And we could be fighting on the back of a giant dragon!"
"This could be for the fate of the world as we know it."
"Right? We could also be fighting the personification of evil while we do that!"
"More fighting, less talking!" Fredrick scolded.
Aedan was too busy keeping his eyes on a sword that was about to take his arm off to roll his eyes. He shot forward, ducking underneath the swing and stabbed the creature in the chest. With a vicious kick, he forced the monster off his sword.
"Sure, Fred, whatever you say," he said under his breath, parrying yet another blow.
It took far too long to reach Robin's position, and Aedan could swear that his kill count had far surpassed the double digits and were somewhere in the low hundreds. Sweat poured off his body, soaking his clothes and making them stick to his body. Not that he could really tell, what with the blood and gore flying everywhere. Multiple times he had to wipe the blood from his eyes. He was exhausted. His armed burned. Just holding his sword took effort. His feet felt like they were dragging rocks. And these fuckheads wouldn't stop swinging swords at him.
This is getting fucking ridiculous.
"Definitely liked my plan better!" he yelled, once he saw Robin. Robin yelled something along the lines of "shut up" and then went back to chopping limbs in two. A blast of lightning sizzled past Aedan's ear, and he instinctively turned as the bolt sailed past his head. The lightning bolt impacted into a nearby zombie, jolting the bastard and burning it into a crisp.
Through the roar of combat, Aedan heard Robin yelling. "Where the hell are we going to get a hundred other guys?!"
Seeing Chrom, Robin jumped into tactician mode.
"Cut through the little ones and attack the chieftain! We'll hold them off! End this quickly or we're all dead!" she yelled over the din of combat.
Lissa screamed something too. "Tell him I'm not delicate!"
"Not the time!" Robin fired back.
Chrom grunted as he threw his strength into another swing, completely shearing off one of the creature's upper body. "I'm on it!" he shouted, before running along towards the chief.
"Aedan!" Robin yelled, turning her attention to him.
"What? I'm busy trying not to be murdered," he hollered back.
"Go help Virion!"
"Ruffles?!"
"Yes!"
Aedan glanced toward the hill that Virion was on. Still, he was there, firing away.
Okay. So, he's fine. That means I'm going somewhere relatively safe. That sounds fucking fantastic.
"On it!"
Hello relative safety!
Aedan moved, stopping briefly to stab one particular fucker who had dared to swing at him with a sword and almost hit him. It didn't take him much time to exit the fray, but the second he left, he understood exactly why Robin told him to leave. As he neared the hill, he saw that there were a few zombies that had detached from the main battle and left to go kill the one bastard shooting arrows at them. One of them had strayed ahead of the pack, and was only a few feet away from Virion. Virion was too focused on the fight in front of him to notice that there was someone, or rather, something behind him. Once it reached striking range, it unleashed a spine tingling moan.
Shit.
"Virion! Behind!" Aedan yelled. He was too far away. The creature was too close to Virion. He wouldn't make it in time if he tried to run. Virion's eyes widened, and he turned, horrified at the zombie. The creature raised its sword into the air, a deadly glint shining off in the night sky.
Aedan planted his feet. This is so stupid.
And he threw his sword.
With a loud grunt, he hurled the weapon, praying that his aim was good enough for the banged up piece of shit to hit. Praying he was going to make it, he sprinted forward the second the weapon left his hand.
Amazingly, after twirling in the air for a solid second, the hilt of the sword slammed into the zombie's side, jarring its arm enough for the sword which was about to take Virion's head off to land harmlessly onto the ground.
That was when Aedan struck, tackling the beast onto the ground.
I am so fucking stupid.
Aedan mounted the creature, putting his legs around the beast's chest, and fired a punch into its face. Another punch followed, followed by yet another, and Aedan decided to be fancy and finish with an elbow. Following his melee, he scrambled off, grabbed his sword from the ground and stabbed it multiple times into the monster's face.
Finally, he stood, breathing heavily.
So fucking stupid.
"I'm… at a loss for words," Virion said, his mouth agape.
Probably because I just beat the shit out of a goddamn undead thing.
"Just pick up your damn bow and start shooting!" Aedan yelled, pointing toward the oncoming mob of monsters that wanted to kill them. Virion nodded, shaking off his anxiety from almost being killed. Again, he picked up his bow and started raining death from the skies.
Aedan moved back toward Virion. The mob was going to come, and it would be safer if they stuck together. Besides, Virion needed protection if he was going to continue firing arrows, and this was the best way to do so. The mob would attack Aedan first before surging forward to drown Virion in a tide of bodies.
A gaggle of the creatures rose to the hill, the bulk of the horde left dead once again by the night endless onslaught of arrows. A trail of the walking corpses laid pathetically behind the seven monsters skewered by arrows, a testament to Virion's skill with a bow.
This is stupid.
Aedan moved forward, hoping to engage the monsters before they surrounded him. Another arrow whizzed past his head, and he felt a surge of hope flow through him as he saw that the arrow impacted one of the creatures in the eye, dropping it to the ground with a hollow moan. Aedan took a deep breath and surged forward, cutting one down and immediately spinning and hacking at another.
The next few seconds blurred by, each one like the last, or rather, like the rest of his day. He sidestepped an axe and retaliated with a slash upwards. Two spears came from above and he slid out of the way like a snake, spinning and turning to dodge the sharp tips of the weapons. His sword flashed, and claimed heads like a scythe through a field of wheat.
All was well. At least, as well as could be considering the fucking circumstances.
That was until Virion decided to yell something that made Aedan mad.
"I'm out of arrows!" Virion yelled.
Fuck! Are you serious?!
"Then what the hell use are you?!" Aedan shouted back, swinging his sword and lodging it deep into one of the monster's skull. Just one more remaining, Aedan thought to himself. He just needed to kill one more and then he could finally catch his breath.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Virion spring forward, unsheathing a long deadly knife from his boot, and stabbing the dagger into the last zombie's neck. He ripped the knife out, reversed his grip and then stabbed the creature two more times, before kicking the monster away.
"That," Virion started cheekily, "apparently."
Aedan scowled. Fucking noblemen.
Still, Virion was a body, and they needed as many people as they could. He proved that he could use knives, maybe he could use a sword? Aedan bent down and grabbed one of the swords off of one of the corpses.
"Know how to use this?" he asked, tossing the blade to Virion's feet.
"It has been some time," Virion said, bending down to grab the blade. "But I think I can manage."
"Good," Aedan said with a nod. "At least you won't be useless."
Aedan glanced back at the others. Another surge of bodies had joined the battle as Aedan and Virion fought the stragglers. Like ants swarming onto bread crumbs, they poured into the small clearing. Hundreds more appeared, as if being summoned from thin air. Unholy moans filled the night, sending a tingle down Aedan's spine.
"Gods above," Aedan muttered. "There's no end to them."
"We need to get the others out," Virion muttered back. "Extraction, if I may."
There wasn't a point, Aedan thought. But he wouldn't say it out loud. They were outnumbered a large number to one. There wouldn't be any possible way that they would be able to survive the onslaught of bodies. The best idea would be to run, even if it were just him. Alone, he should be able to evade the horde of zombies and escape to a nearby town. Maybe, just maybe, he would go back to Regna Ferox, because there was no possible way dead flesh could withstand the harsh cold. At least, that's what he told himself.
So why were his feet moving toward the zombies instead of away from them like a normal person?
He sighed. "Let's get this shit over with."
Virion heaved a magnificent sigh. "Yes, let's. Perhaps some tea is in order after this… debacle."
"Maybe if we spike it," Aedan mumbled under his breath.
As Aedan approached the battlefield, he noticed that his little group of warriors had made an addition. A single blue haired swordsman had joined, swinging his blade around with reckless abandon.
"Who the hell is this?" Aedan yelled, joining the battle again.
"Marth," the blue haired man said back. His voice sounded off. Effeminate. As if he were a little boy and not a grown ass man.
"What, like the hero king?!"
Aedan looked at the man suspiciously. After all, most warriors he had met were barrel chested, with arms the size of tree trunks. After all, one needed to be strong to don plates of steel and heft massive swords into combat. Of course, there were those like Aedan, who were more lanky than anything, but even Aedan was built like a fighter, all sinewy muscle coiled and ready to spring like a cobra.
This person was thin and small and definitely not any soldier that Aedan had seen before. Close cropped blue hair hung towards his shoulders. A mask adorned his face, hiding the top half of it. He wore tight fitting, expensive looking, blue leather, definitely not the sort that a random person would wear. He was slender and lithe, and fought more like a cat playing with a toy than anything else. He would strike once, often just a glancing blow, as if to bait them into traps.
It was also disturbing Aedan a little as to how his mind suddenly went to "oh hey, if he were a girl, he would be really cute."
And yet here he was, murdering the creatures with a fervor that Aedan hadn't seen in a long time. He certainly wouldn't deny that the new guy was a marvelous swordsman. And he wasn't going to deny the help either.
A fitting name for a fitting warrior.
"Well, as long as he killing these fucks with us, I'm fine with this," Aedan grunted, swiftly stabbing his sword into one of the monsters.
"Behind you," came the almost feminine voice. Before Aedan could even react, Marth had jumped, literally, over him, and jabbed her sword into the monster's eye. Aedan whipped around, and only saw the blue haired man move onto the next zombie. The one she had killed last hadn't even dropped to the ground yet.
Holy hell.
The two of them moved forward, cutting a swath through the zombies' ranks. Aedan thought he was good with the sword, but Marth easily outclassed him. Where Aedan would have struggled, or would have just ended up finding some absolute bullshit way of winning by punching his opponent's face in, Marth simply flowed. Her blade moved like a stream of water, fluid and calm, yet furious and unyielding. It was almost hypnotizing to watch.
Yet there was something about the way the boy fought that kept reminding Aedan of someone. Some other blue haired man.
Aedan shook his head. Focus on what's ahead of you.
The duo killed dozens upon dozens, slowly moving their way to where Chrom had situated himself.
"Hey, Prince! We're here to help!" Aedan yelled, slapping away a monster.
"Good to hear!" Chrom yelled back. With ease, he cut down another zombie and looked for his next opponent.
Before Chrom stood a massive zombie, almost clearly the leader of the army. Unlike the others, this one looked as if it had only died recently. While the others had rotten flesh and maggots crawling from their sockets, this one looked as if it were a human, admittedly a monstrous one at that. Its skin was grey and clammy, its muscles bulging and flexing with each titanic step it took. Long spiky hair reached down to the small of its back. A jagged red mask adorned its face, covering its jaw, and revealing its fiery red eyes. In its hand, it held a hunk of metal that only had a small resemblance to an axe.
Almost instinctively, the battle that had been raging heavily suddenly stopped. The zombies had formed a ring around Chrom and the chieftain, and each creature had dropped its weapon. Aedan cut down another defenseless zombie before he stopped fighting, wondering what the hell was happening. The other Shepherds did the same, slowly letting their weapons fall to their sides.
In the impromptu ring, Chrom and the chieftain began their dance of death. An unholy roar erupted from the chieftain's throat, and it brandished its ax, a massive serrated chunk of sharpened red metal. A deadly glint came from its maddened eyes and it charged.
Chrom took a deep breath and steadied Falchion in his hands. He met the first blow with his sword, and batted it away. Taking a quick step to the side, he swung his sword downwards, hoping to end the duel in a single stroke.
Of course though, a single stroke wasn't going to end it. The monster lifted its massive ax and easily slammed the holy sword away. Another roar came from its throat, and it slashed upwards, leaving a massive gash in the earth below. Chrom's eyes widened, and he dropped his sword low, trapping the ax against the ground. Chrom swung again, aiming at the head, hoping, and was once again denied, as the monster deftly backstepped, leaning its head backwards to avoid the blade.
Sparks flew as the two weapons clashed again and again, and Aedan couldn't help but stare, transfixed at the duel in front of him. Chrom moved with speed, agility, strength, and skill that Aedan had never seen in his life. Each blow was violent, yet graceful. Each feint was tactical yet strong. It was ridiculous, Aedan thought. He would have given anything to have a guy like Chrom in his army all those years ago.
This man could have single handedly stopped Walhart's army. Hell, he could have done it easily.
And yet, Chrom had done nothing to the monster. Not even scratched it a single time. All of his attacks were met with violence and aggression. All the tricks that Chrom tried to play to get through the monster's guard were smashed through with brute force. Even when Chrom tried to match strength, he was just batted aside like a fly. If there were any openings in the chieftain's defense, they were covered with enough strength and force to break down a castle wall.
He needs help. Or a miracle.
And Aedan was willing to help. He would have gladly lashed out and stabbed his sword into the chieftain's head while it was turned around. But a thought ran through his head. What if someone interfered? He didn't know if anyone, or rather anything, would stop him if he were to jump in and help. There was a fear that if he jumped in, everyone else would jump in, and instead of one on one, where they at least had a chance at winning, it would be six against a much bigger number. So he stood there, gritting his teeth, praying to all the gods that Chrom would win.
Because gods know what would happen if he didn't.
Sparks flew into the night as the two weapons clashed against another. Aedan could tell that Chrom was beginning to tire. After all, a human could only do so much, and the prince had already been fighting for the entire night, not to mention earlier in the day as well. Aedan could tell that the weapon was beginning to drag Chrom down. His strikes were slower, not nearly as strong as they were earlier. More than once, it seemed as if the duel was going to be over before Chrom jerked his blade into blocking the axe.
Aedan's hands were getting tired from the clenching.
A massive blow slammed Chrom on his back, jarring his blade from his hand. Chrom flopped onto the ground, a ragged cough erupting from his lungs as he hit the ground. The blue haired lord groaned, and when he opened his eyes, he saw the zombie chieftain hovering over him, axe raised up in the night sky.
Chrom's eyes widened.
Aedan winced. This is it.
Chrom closed his eyes and prayed. He reached as far as he could, and just barely made contact with his sword. He wrapped his fingers around Falchion's hilt and jerked it at the monster in a desperate attempt to survive. Amazingly, he lifted his sword in time, managing to strike the creature in the arm with the pommel of Falchion, diverting the ax just slightly. A loud thud echoed through the night and when Chrom opened his eyes again, he saw that the ax was literally an inch away from his head.
Chrom took advantage immediately. He jerked his knee upwards, slamming it into the bottom of the chieftain's back, and knocking it just barely off of him. Scrambling, Chrom pushed himself up onto his feet, and settled back into a stance. Obviously annoyed by the fact that his prey slipped from its fingertips, the zombie chieftain roared into the sky. It surged forward, swinging its axe like a maniac.
Chrom appeared to get his second wind and charged forward to meet his opponent. The two weapons clashed again and again, loud clangs echoing off into the distance.
Chrom met the blow and pushed forward, trying to disrupt the chieftain's balance. The monster only met Chrom's attack with his own, and the two duelists stood in place, their weapons locked in one long continuous engagement, each warrior attempting to out-strength the other.
That was when Chrom did something that Aedan wouldn't have anticipated. Still locked in the engagement, he twisted his hips, and slammed his foot into the chieftain's shin.
The chieftain buckled, suddenly losing its balance. Chrom took advantage, and followed his kick by slamming his foot into the chieftain's knee, snapping its leg into two. Now without another leg, the zombie lost all balance and toppled down to the ground. A haggard roar tore through the sky, and the chieftain pushed itself up in an attempt to continue fighting.
Chrom matched the monster's intensity with an inhuman roar of his own, and took an inhuman leap. Easily five feet off the ground, he brought his blade down on the zombie chieftain's head, cracking it in two.
The beast fell to its knees and an unholy moan filled the air and strange magic took to the sky. Bright light shot through the monster's eyes and mouth and ears and nose, as if someone had shoved a torch into the thing's skull. The scream that erupted from its mouth was long and agonizing, tearing at Aedan's ears as if someone had decided to shove a rod of sandpaper at his eardrum. Cracks of light appeared on the monster's face, as if its face were a piece of paper being ripped apart.
A massive wave of force erupted from the monster as it exploded. The wave slammed into Aedan, bowling him over and knocking the wind from him. He slammed into the ground meters away from the duel. When he opened his eyes again, he noticed that the rest of the humans were slowly beginning to pick themselves off of the ground.
Marth groaned and lifted his head from the ground. "Did we win?" he managed.
Aedan looked around. "Don't think so."
Moans filled the air. Aedan glanced around and saw that not a single one of the zombies had fallen, nor even budged from the explosive wave. The glint of hundreds of steel weapons flashed in the night sky.
Aedan cursed. "Well, guess we're all going to die," he said, only moderately depressed. Well, he guessed, he did deserve this. He was the one who decided to move toward the giant army of zombies, after all.
"Okay, so that obviously didn't work," Robin said, gripping her sword tighter. "Everyone group together! Form a circle! No one gets surrounded!"
Then, the undead things crumbled into dust.
Robin blinked a few times. Then lowered her sword.
"Never mind then."
Aedan just stood there, opening and closing his mouth in an attempt to create words. Finally, he shook his head, threw his arms up in the air, and just started walking away, spewing profanities.
Chrom managed to force out a laugh between breaths. "That's one way to react, I guess."