Last update of the year. 2022 has been rather eventful, so let's send it out with a bang.
Chapter 75 – Imperial Counterattack, Part 2 (Great Tree Moon)
Time ground to a halt as Byleth watched Ladislava's javelin hit Bernadetta in the chest. Seeing the Black Eagles rise from the fog below the bridge, Byleth knew she had to warn the others before they came up. They were all facing away from the surprise attack, with only a few being quick-witted enough to turn to Byleth's warning.
The javelin left Bernadetta's chest as her scream of terror reversed itself. Yuri, who had been too late to knock her out of the way, sprinted backward as Ladislava's javelin returned to her hand. The Crimson Warrior and her Wyvern flew backwards below the bridge.
Ten seconds had been turned back, and so the flow of time resumed its course.
Knowing what was coming, Byleth spun around early and shouted, "BEHIND US! THEY'RE COMING FROM BELOW THE BRIDGE!"
Now alarmed, most of the Church's front line began whirling around just as Fenix rose above the bridge.
Ladislava, who had been readying herself to throw a javelin, saw the whip-like shape of the Sword of the Creator lashing toward her and Fenix.
But to Byleth's dismay, Ladislava masterfully rolled Fenix to the side, dodging the attack by mere inches. Without missing a step, the Crimson Warrior threw her weapon at Bernadetta, who was too terrified to move.
"GET DOWN!" Yuri shouted as he tackled the purple-haired archer.
This was then followed by Yuri howling in pain as the javelin hit him in his left shoulder.
"Yuri! YURI, NO!" Bernadetta screamed as she saw her wounded friend grimacing.
At the same time, Byleth had shouted, "FIRE!" to Shamir and Ignatz.
As the two released their arrows, their subordinates followed up with a volley of arrows and crossbow bolts.
Still soaring skyward, Ladislava shouted, "EVADE! EVADE!"
The Black Eagles and their mounts quickly began to take evasive maneuvers, veering away from the hail of projectiles. But six of the Eagles were not fast enough, with their mounts being riddled with arrows and bolts. Three of the fliers who had been hit plummeted toward the Airmid River, but hundreds were now soaring up from below the bridge, throwing javelins, firing crossbows and short bows, and hurling quick spells at the Church's soldiers, who desperately attempted to return fire on the Empire's elites.
Ignatz turned to one of his ballista crews, which was trying to turn toward the attacking Eagles, and saw a scarred blonde woman rise from below, brandishing a fearsome battle axe.
"LOOK OUT!" Ignatz shouted, but it was too late.
With a loud roar for battle, Zola leapt off her Wyvern and brought her axe slamming down on the ballista, cleaving it in two with a single blow as she landed. Splinters and broken parts flew everywhere as Zola ripped her axe from the now-destroyed siege weapon, whirled around and decapitated two Alliance soldiers in one swing. One of the Knights of Seiros rushed to avenge them, but Zola spun around, maintaining her momentum as she smashed aside the Knight's shield. Her second swing at the Knight cleaved through his helmet, taking off the top half of his head as Zola's laughter filled the air.
All around her, Byleth could see the Black Eagles and the Church's army engaged in brutal close-quarters combat. She swiftly lashed the Sword of the Creator at one who was about to bury his axe in Annette's back, cutting him down and causing his blow to narrowly miss the mage. Annette, who briefly realized how close she had come to dying, sent a Cutting Gale toward another Eagle, sending him and his mount plummeting off the bridge.
But as this latest enemy fell away, Byleth heard Anna shout, "West side! There's more of them!"
Shocked, Byleth turned just as Salia soared up from the bridge's western side, readying a fireball. Taking only a split second to choose a target, Salia hurled her spell at one of the Church's two Onagers, engulfing the weapon and four of its engineers in a fiery explosion. More Eagles who flew up began throwing javelins and spells, with others firing their crossbows and short bows at the Church's soldiers, whose backs were turned to the second wave.
At that moment, Byleth knew they were in trouble. In trying to counter the first wave with the Divine Pulse, she left her warriors open to being flanked. And though she reached for the power again, she found herself unable to wield it again so soon.
Cursing under her breath, Byleth looked skyward as Ladislava and Fenix banked around for another diving attack.
Ladislava, for her part, was surprised at how fast the Church had responded to her attack. But the plan was still going well, considering how quickly she'd thrown it together.
…
Fifteen minutes earlier…
Salia knew Ladislava had her moments, but her latest plan seemed almost suicidal.
The plan was to fly below the fog layer above the Airmid River on their approach to the Great Bridge of Myrddin. This would prevent the Church from seeing them coming, but it meant the Black Eagles would be flying nearly blind, and there were numerous parts of the ravine that either jutted out or became alarmingly narrow. Any mistakes could see the Eagles crash into the walls of the ravine.
And worst of all, they had to fly through as fast as possible. There wasn't time to navigate through the mist slowly and cautiously. Every second they wasted meant more men from the 5th Army would die.
Salia was envious of Trauare and Setiawati, who had been sent along with the 9th squadron to assist the 5th Army's vanguard. In all, 350 of the 500-strong Black Eagle Strike Force would be flying through the foggy ravine.
Ladislava and Fenix flew at the front of the procession of Wyverns and Pegasi. She was used to leading by example, but such a treacherous path required her to guide her fliers in. Any losses incurred on the way would make the job a lot harder.
So far, they hadn't lost anyone. But they were still at least a kilometer from their target.
"Stay close to your wingmen, Eagles," Ladislava said, deliberately trying to avoid shouting in case someone from the Church heard them. "And stay at this altitude. Don't go above the fog or the Church might spot us."
As she said this, Ladislava kept her eyes focused on the way ahead. She could barely see 20 meters ahead of her with how thick the fog was. She would have only a split second to react if a part of the ravine blocked her way.
Then, as if on cue, Ladislava saw a large crag jutting out in front of her. Below it was another crag, leaving an opening only four meters wide between them.
"Down!" Ladislava said as she and Fenix dove down and soared straight through the opening.
Behind Ladislava, most of the Eagles saw the threat and dove down to avoid hitting the crags. But as Salia was approaching the obstacle, she saw one of the new recruits flying too low.
"Lanhart, you're too low!" Salia shouted, doing her best not to be too loud.
Shocked, Lanhart pulled up hard on the reins to his Wyvern. But in doing so, he climbed too high. Before he could compensate, the recruit's head struck the crag, breaking his neck and sending him tumbling off his mount. Salia had to violently roll Alektra away to avoid hitting his body, which fell into the mist below.
Seeing this happen, Zola scoffed and said, "Damn rookie…"
The blonde Skraeling and her Wyvern soared through the narrow gap with ease, with her squadron following close behind.
Ahead of the others, Ladislava could start to hear the din of battle from above. Looking up, she could see the Great Bridge of Myrddin coming into view.
"Almost there, Eagles," said Ladislava. "Just a little further."
Then, as if in response to her approach, Ladislava saw another pair of large crags coming into view, creating another narrow gap. This one had only about three meters of space.
Pulling on Fenix's reins, Ladislava went into a barrel roll. The Crimson Warrior and her mount went soaring through the opening without slowing down. But as she cleared it, she saw two more crags and another opening between them below, though this was a five-meter gap. Still going at full speed, Ladislava sent Fenix into a dive, weaving through the obstacles and avoiding the crags by mere inches.
Seeing this, many of the Black Eagles slowed down, unable to follow Ladislava through the dangerous maneuver. But another of the rookies, seeing the others slowing down, yelped as she veered up and to the left to avoid a midair collision. Yet in doing so, the rookie and her Pegasus hit the canyon wall at full speed. Both the new Eagle and her mount were killed instantly. The others had to maneuver to avoid them as they fell.
Though no others were lost to this mistake, it slowed the Eagles down, requiring them to navigate slowly through the two gaps that Ladislava had barreled through. For the next five minutes, Ladislava and Fenix had to hover as the Black Eagles moved slowly through the crags.
Soon, the Black Eagles were through the ravine and taking up positions directly below the Great Bridge of Myrddin.
"Everyone alright?" asked Ladislava.
"Lanhart and Piper bought it," answered Zola.
After a brief hiss at the losses, Ladislava asked, "Anyone else?"
"I don't think so," said Salia.
Ladislava breathed a sigh of relief. She had honestly expected far worse, but their casualties were light so far.
The sound of battle above caught the attention of the Eagles.
"So, Ladi, what's your plan now?" asked Zola.
"Everyone, form up into your squadrons," answered Ladislava. "Squads One, Three, Seven, and Ten will go up first. Hit the Church on their east flank. Prioritize any siege weaponry you see. Salia, you take Squads Two, Six and Eight. Wait sixty seconds, then rush up and hit the Church from the west side. That should be enough time for us to get their attention."
"Got it," said Salia.
"Well, what're we waiting for?" Zola said in anticipation. "There's killing to do."
"I'll take point," said Ladislava. "Everyone ready?" Ladislava waited for a second, and then said, "GO!"
With that, Ladislava and Fenix soared up to lead the attack, with around 200 other fliers following behind her.
…
Cyril heard the roar of a Wyvern and turned to see the Black Eagles engaged in battle with the Church's soldiers. The group of fifty fliers he led was barely a quarter of the way to Lorenz and Leonie's fight.
"Turn around!" Cyril shouted. "The others are in trouble!"
"But what about Leonie and Lorenz?" Alicia shouted back, but Cyril did not reply as he flew back toward the bridge.
Seeing the others under Cyril's command turning around, Alicia knew she had to follow. She turned around, hoping Leonie and Lorenz could handle things without them.
Above the battle, Ladislava was pulling out of another diving attack when she saw Cyril and his fliers heading toward the bridge.
"First Squad, on me!" Ladislava shouted, prompting about forty riders to break off from fighting with the Church's ground troops and fly up beside their leader.
"For Lady Rhea!" Cyril shouted as he drew his bow, prompting a battle cry from his squadron.
Cyril fired his shot at one of the Black Eagles, prompting the flier to roll away from the attack. But as he did, Cyril rapidly readied another arrow and fired it at the Eagle's Wyvern, scoring a hit to the mount's neck. The Eagle howled as he lost control and was thrown from his saddle, with both the Imperial and his mount crashing into the ravine wall.
The Almyran rider had no time to celebrate as he heard one of the Church's Pegasus Knights shrieking in agony. He turned to see the unfortunate rider had just been bitten by Fenix, whose claws had torn into the rider's Pegasus. Fenix tossed aside the rider and released his grip on the Pegasus, sending both falling to the ground, already dead. Ladislava then leaned to avoid a slash by another Pegasus Knight's lance and followed up the dodge by slashing Longinus through the Pegasus's belly. Both the mount and its rider tumbled away from her.
Alicia, meanwhile, spurred Welkin to fly as fast as he could as two Eagles dived toward her from behind. Looking over her shoulder, she saw the Wyverns were catching up to her. She looked back to where she was flying and saw to her relief that Shamir was readying a shot aimed at her pursuers. Shamir fired, hitting one of the Eagles in the shoulder. The Eagle, reeling from his injury, pulled on his mount's reins and broke off from attacking Alicia. His wingman did the same, allowing Alicia a moment of safety.
Shamir glared at this. The Eagles knew when to back off, unlike so many other Imperial soldiers. This made them all the more dangerous. They were a lot smarter, more skilled, and far more experienced than most soldiers the Empire had.
Above the battle, Ladislava finished cutting down another Church flier when she saw Cyril readying another arrow from atop his Wyvern. The Almyran and his mount were behind her.
Cyril fired at Ladislava, but the Crimson Warrior slashed the arrow out of the sky with Longinus before pulling Fenix skyward. Determined not to let her escape, Cyril urged his mount to pursue as he readied another arrow.
Ladislava continued to soar skyward as Cyril gave chase. He lined up another shot and fired, but the arrow fell away before it could reach Ladislava. As he readied another arrow, Cyril saw Fenix beginning to reverse his climb.
Cyril knew this tactic. It was something he learned from watching a seminar at the Officer's Academy, despite that he wasn't officially a student. The rider, upon reaching a high altitude, would reverse their climb and dive in on the one chasing them, using speed to their advantage.
He lined up his shot, ready to fire at Ladislava once she and Fenix began their dive.
But as he aimed up and Fenix continued his roll, Cyril found himself looking up at the blinding light of the sun.
At just the moment the sun's light filled Cyril's eyes, Ladislava, who was now hanging upside-down, leapt from Fenix's saddle.
Cyril, shocked at this, fired his shot at the Crimson Warrior as she dived toward him.
The arrow passed by Ladislava's left ear by less than an inch.
A second later, Cyril let out a stunned cry of pain as Longinus's blade ran him through.
Ladislava and Cyril fell from the Almyran's Wyvern as Fenix dived toward them.
In the middle of their fall, Ladislava swung Longinus, sending Cyril away from her as Fenix reached his partner. She grabbed onto Fenix's saddle and pulled the ruby Wyvern out of his dive as Cyril plummeted away from her.
In his final moments, Cyril said weakly, "Lady… Rhea…"
From the bridge, Byleth watched in horror as the 20-year-old boy hit the ground.
And so we have our first major fatality for the heroes. RIP Cyril.
Don't get me wrong; Cyril being an Est-Archetype means he's very strong and he has great Combat Arts, but personality-wise I don't really like him. Probably because of how he keeps simping for Rhea and how he can be a jerk to others like Ashe or Hilda (despite that they're trying to help). Additionally, if you look at the in-game data, Cyril having Aptitude is actually not as good as you think. It raises his growth rates across the board by 20%, but if you look at his growths without it, you'll see that all Aptitude is doing is boosting his otherwise very weak growths, something which could've been accomplished just by raising all his growths by 20% baseline. IMO, it would've been better if Aptitude made it so Cyril always gets at least 4 stat points whenever he levels up. This is how it's done in Dark Deity for Alden, which makes his development way more consistent.
Unfortunately, I had long planned on Cyril being killed-in-action. The manner in how he would die, however, underwent a few changes as I wrote things. I originally was going to have Zola kill him, but I later decided on having Ladislava do the deed. Either way, I did say when I first started out this fic back in 2020 that not everyone was gonna make it. You can't realistically have a war where everyone you care about makes it out alive. And Cyril is far from the only character I plan to kill off.
Now, as for the ravine run part, I basically had it as an homage to the ravine run in the Area 88 OVA (look it up on Youtube; it's such a good scene). Of course, Wyverns aren't nearly as fast as fighter jets, but it's mostly the same idea. Heck, one of the redshirt rookies, Lanhart, has his name taken right from that scene's English dub.
2022 has been a long year. I'll see you all in 2023.