When the action stops, play "Another World of Beasts" from Final Fantasy 6. You'll thank me later.
Chapter 44 – The White Wolf (Lone Moon)
Ashe knew he was dying. He couldn't feel his right arm. The coppery taste of blood filled his mouth. His chest was in more agony than he had ever felt before. He guessed he had at least three broken ribs, along with whatever other damage the Dire Wolf's blow had inflicted.
Though unable to move, Ashe felt Alicia cradling his head. He couldn't hear her properly, her voice muffled to his ears, but he could see through his wavering vision that she was screaming for help. She turned back to the wounded archer, and though he couldn't make out her words, Ashe knew she was imploring for him not to die.
He heard two more voices screaming. Even with his muffled hearing, he could tell they were the voices of his siblings, Luneth and Refia. His heart sank with the realization that they weren't fleeing with the other refugees.
His body shook, both in fear and shock, terrified of the end, fearing he had failed his family.
He suddenly felt warmth enter his body, despite the cold snow that surrounded him. The pain in his chest, though still quite agonizing, was becoming bearable. For a second, he wondered if it was because he was passing into the hereafter. But he saw the look of awe on Alicia's face, and he realized someone was healing him.
As Byleth rushed across the snow toward Ashe and Alicia, intent on stopping the Dire Wolf that was looking to devour them both, Dorothea channeled her Physic spell on Ashe as best she could. She put everything she had into the spell, determined to save Ashe's life or at least buy time for someone to help him.
Byleth quickly sent a fireball at the Dire Wolf that loomed menacingly over Ashe and Alicia, burning its hide and prompting it to turn to its attacker. Snarling the Dire Wolf charged at Byleth. The wolf lunged at the greenette as she roared and swung the Sword of the Creator. The whip blade slashed through the wolf from nose to tail, showering the snow with blood and guts as Byleth continued running toward Ashe.
The Archbishop planted the Sword of the Creator into the ground before kneeling next to Ashe, assessing the damage to his body as she readied her own healing spell.
"Lady Eisner, please help him!" Alicia said in near panic.
"Please, don't let my brother die!" cried Ashe's sister, Refia. The girl shared his gray hair but was easily eight years younger than him.
Concentrating on her healing spell, Byleth did not reply to Ashe's sibling. She had to at least buy time until Linhardt could arrive, knowing he was a far better healer than she was.
At the same time, Alicia turned to see Petra dodge another wolf lunging at her, only for the wolf to catch a Church soldier in its fangs. Petra fired an arrow into the wolf's side, but this didn't stop it from mauling the unlucky soldier. She then saw Catherine cut down another wolf, only for three more to force her and Shamir on the defensive. Leonie, having run out of arrows, thrust her lance at another wolf that had already been wounded by Felix and Yuri, finishing it off. Anna slid under another wolf and slashed it with her Levin Sword, slicing open its throat before sliding out beneath it, narrowly avoiding being crushed under the dead wolf's body.
But the flow of wolves wasn't stopping. The White Wolf continued to howl and summon its packmates, despite that over twenty Dire Wolves now lay dead or dying across Magdred Way. More Church soldiers and Gaspard Knights had fallen, with over 70 dead and another 80 wounded. Men and women were screaming, whether from pain or panic.
Moments passed before Linhardt finally reached Byleth's side and said, "Let me see! Move over!"
"Please, mister, save my brother!" said Luneth, Ashe's younger brother.
"Linhardt, can you handle this?" said Byleth.
Deciding to spare any details, Linhardt answered, "I'll do what I can. But we need to move him or deal with those wolves."
Nodding, Byleth turned and asked, "Alicia?"
"I'm okay," Alicia replied. "But Ashe… this is all my fault." The brunette's eyes began to water as she said, "I just wanted to help get his people to safety and I ended up leading us all into this mess…!"
"Alicia, it's not–"
"It is! I should've spoken to you about this in the first place, but I didn't want to trouble you! I just… I didn't want Ashe or his people to suffer because of what we did in Ailell! I – I'm so sorry, Lady Eisner!"
Not caring that her hands were still covered in Ashe's blood, Alicia ended up burying her face in her palms as she sobbed.
After giving the girl a few seconds to cry, Byleth put a hand to her shoulder and said, "You did what you thought was right. I won't fault you for that. But the others need our help and I need your strength. Please, Alicia."
Though stunned for a moment at how considerate Byleth was being, Alicia managed to recompose herself as she wiped her face on her sleeve, removing the blood and tears. Looking down at Ashe, she saw the pain in his expression soften as Linhardt continued healing him.
Taking a deep breath, Alicia said, "Okay… okay, what do you need me to do?"
"Join up with Leonie. Help her provide support to the others."
"What about you?"
"I'll go after the White Wolf. Linhardt, as soon as you can, move Ashe to the south with the others."
"Do I look like I can carry him by myself?" Linhardt snipped.
"We'll help you," said Luneth. "Please, just save our brother."
"Yes, yes, I'm working on it."
Byleth drew the Sword of the Creator from the ground and dashed off toward the White Wolf as Alicia ran over to the dead wolf that had wounded Ashe, retrieving her lance. She then rushed over to Welkin as the Pegasus dashed toward her, with Alicia leaping onto his saddle and directing him to fly toward Leonie's cavalry.
Alicia then looked to see two more Dire Wolves charging at Byleth. Byleth leapt over the first one as it lunged at her, dragging the Sword of the Creator along its spine as she ran across its back. Then, after leaping away from her kill, Byleth whirled around at the second wolf and, extending her blade into its whip form, slashed through the canine's neck, decapitating it. A third wolf turned toward Byleth, but this one was intercepted by a hail of arrows from Bernadetta's squad and a Thoron spell from Dorothea.
Byleth watched as the White Wolf, Fenris, now turned its gaze toward her. It did not snarl or bear its fangs as she cut down another member of its pack. Meanwhile, the rest of the Dire Wolves continued to be driven away from the Gaspard refugees as they fled toward the south road. Ashe's siblings were now struggling to carry their wounded older brother to safety.
Byleth closed to within a hundred meters of Fenris, dashing past a surprised Catherine and Shamir. The White Wolf, seeing the greenette glaring at it with killing intent, bared its gleaming white fangs and charged.
Byleth, for her part, was caught off guard by Fenris's unbelievable speed, moving almost five times faster than its packmates, despite being over twice their size. She swung her blade at the pack leader, but her strike only met air as Fenris dodged. She then felt the White Wolf's forepaw smash into her left shoulder and shatter it for only an instant before she froze time.
Fenris lunged back to where it had been before hitting Byleth, to the left of where Byleth had struck at it. She ran backwards, putting distance between herself and the mighty wolf until she was three seconds back in time.
Time resumed its flow, and Byleth watched as Fenris rushed at her.
This time, Byleth did not strike, instead allowing Fenris to make the first attack. She had only a split second to dodge as, instead of swinging its forepaw at her, it attempted to bite her. Byleth leapt upwards, dodging Fenris's fangs as her body glowed green with power and the Crest of Flames blazed in her eyes.
"Kore de owari da!" Byleth shouted, yet over the din of battle, no one heard her words.
No one, that is, except Anna, who turned in surprise to her green-haired friend as she unleashed a flurry of slashes from the Sword of the Creator. The whip blade sliced through Fenris's body as Byleth delivered the White Wolf a multitude of slashes in two seconds.
But to the dismay of everyone who watched Byleth's attack, no blood was drawn from the White Wolf. It was as if Byleth's attack had hit nothing but air.
Byleth landed on Fenris's head and sprung off it, landing a good twenty meters away. She impacted with the ground just as the phantom pain of her shattered shoulder ran through her, but she only winced to it briefly, doing her best to endure the pain.
She was more concerned with how her attack had done no damage to Fenris. She knew her sword had met its hide. It had gone clean through the wolf's body. But none of its blood coated the Sword of the Creator, nor did any stain the snow beneath Fenris.
Byleth's eyes widened in realization. It had gone through too cleanly. There was no resistance from bone or sinew.
She realized Fenris was immune to physical harm, even from a Heroes' Relic. It was more like a ghost than a physical being. But she had still felt it when it hit her, and she had still touched it after her attack.
She thought to try a magic attack when, suddenly, a Thoron spell from Dorothea struck Fenris. A second later, both Byleth and Dorothea were dismayed to realize the spell had no effect on the White Wolf. Fenris didn't even acknowledge Dorothea's attack.
Just as her mind scrambled for an answer, Byleth realized Fenris had stopped attacking. It was now just standing and watching her.
No, it wasn't just Fenris that had stopped. The other Dire Wolves had ceased their attack as well, and they were now looking toward their pack leader and at Byleth. Stunned, the knights and soldiers stopped fighting against the wolves.
"What's going on?" Catherine said in surprise. "Why'd they stop?"
"Quiet!" Shamir hissed at her partner.
Fenris was now staring Byleth in the eye as it slowly walked toward her. But despite how menacing the creature was as it loomed over her, Byleth did not raise her blade in defense.
Then Fenris growled out a word.
Sothis…
Byleth, too shocked to respond, stared into Fenris's bright blue eyes. Everyone else on the battlefield watched in stunned amazement, completely surprised that the White Wolf could speak, though some did not understand its word.
Fenris growled another word to Byleth.
Strong…
Again, Byleth was too stunned to reply.
"Is… Is it… talking?!" Anna said in astonishment.
Fenris ignored the redhead and spoke another word to Byleth.
Leave…
This time, Byleth understood what Fenris wanted.
"It wants us to leave," Byleth said loudly.
As she said this, one of the Dire Wolves moved back toward the woods where Fenris had emerged, stopping to grab the corpse of a fallen Abyssian rogue. Another rogue saw this and tried to stop the wolf, but this resulted in several more snarling, including Fenris.
Byleth quickly realized what had angered them and shouted, "Leave the dead. Carry our wounded out and head for the south road."
One of the Knights protested, "But Lady Eisner–"
"I said leave the dead!" Byleth interrupted. "There's nothing we can do for them now. Tend to those who still breathe."
The knights and soldiers obeyed her order, cautiously moving to assist the wounded. Any time one of them moved toward one of the corpses of the fallen, it was met by a series of snarls and bared fangs. The wolves, meanwhile, grabbed the bodies of the fallen and dragged them toward the forest.
"Alam menggunakan semua…" Petra said in her native tongue as she watched a wolf carry away a Church soldier's body.
"What did that mean, Petra?" asked Caspar. He had heard the tongue of Brigid before, but he wasn't fluent in it.
"It means 'nature uses all'. The wolves will eat the bodies of our fallen, for they hunted us as their prey. The bodies of the wolves will nourish the soil, bringing new life to this region in time."
Caspar decided not to comment on this as he helped another wounded soldier.
Alicia, meanwhile, watched as the others moved southward. As she did, she spotted one of the Dire Wolves lying on its side and whimpering in pain. Its stomach was split open.
Alicia flew down to the Dire Wolf and dismounted Welkin. She looked down with pity at the fallen wolf as it writhed in agony.
Then, in an act that made everyone stop in their tracks, including the Dire Wolves, Alicia let out a mournful shout as she drove her lance into the wounded wolf's neck, severing its spinal cord. The wolf let out a brief whimper and then fell silent.
"Alicia, what are you doing?!" Brigitte said in disbelief. "Are you trying to get us killed?!"
Byleth watched as tears flowed down Alicia face as she said, "I'm sorry. I just… I didn't want it to suffer."
Worried that the wolves might attack again, Byleth looked over at Fenris as the White Wolf gazed down at Alicia's humane act. To her relief, Fenris showed no sign of aggression.
Realizing they weren't at risk of being attacked again, Brigitte sighed and said, "Dammit, Alicia… You and your golden heart sometimes…"
Byleth kept an eye on Fenris and its wolves as she and the others left the area, heading south to join with the refugees of Castle Gaspard. Fenris, in turn, watched as the Archbishop and her comrades left its domain, and gazed at Byleth until she was out of sight.
Creepy, yes?
Before you ask, no, Fenris is not a Nabatean. Fenris is meant to be something else entirely. But I'll let you speculate on what it is. I drew a little inspiration on it from the Loth-Wolves in Star Wars Rebels. They're just one kind of very special creature among a plethora of them (albeit Star Wars is on a galactic scale).
I wanted to get to some dialogue after the battle, but I don't think I'd be able to compress that into my 3,000 word limit per chapter. As such, we'll be doing one more chapter before I switch the focus over to the Black Eagles.