War is brutal. War is cruel. War is hell.
Enjoy the fights.
Chapter 95 – Blood of the Eagle and Lion Pt 5 (Great Tree Moon)
Ignatz coughed from smoke inhalation as he tried to help Balthus drag Raphael away from the flames all around them. The Beast of Leicester had lost consciousness and had several third-degree burns that required immediate attention, yet Ignatz never had an affinity for healing magic. Balthus, meanwhile, had exhausted his Mana in protecting himself from Cornelia's Hellfire Bolero, yet the burns on his handsome face showed he hadn't gotten away unscathed.
The casualties the Alliance had sustained were horrendous. The Imperials had swept into their ranks after the inferno had engulfed the hill, and now they had lost well over 10,000 men and women, more than a quarter of Claude's army. And with the Loyalists now attacking their east flank, the Alliance army was in dire straits.
"Hang on, big guy!" Balthus said as he dragged Raphael by his right arm. "You're not dying today!"
As Ignatz turned to give orders to others who were trying to evacuate casualties, she heard a woman's sadistic laughter over the crackle of fire and the clamor of battle. Turning, Ignatz spotted Zola as the Skrael Warrior slashed through two Alliance swordsmen in one swing. She then whirled around, knocked another down with the back of her fist, and then stomped down on the poor soldier's head hard enough to crush his skull.
Laughing loudly, Zola shouted, "That's what I'm talking about! Come on! I'm not nearly finished yet!"
The Black Eagle ace then turned as another Alliance soldier tried to stab her. She immediately swung her axe at the soldier, shattering his blade as he tried to block, and splitting his head in two.
As she removed her axe from her latest victim, Zola caught sight of Balthus. Recognition flashed across her face as she advanced through the flames toward him. She only stopped her advance to cut down another soldier who tried to attack her from the side.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Zola said before licking her lips. "The self-proclaimed King of Grappling." She raised her axe at Balthus and said, "You and I have a score to settle."
Trying to keep his cool, Balthus said, "Can you take a number? I've already got a lot of people who want a piece of me."
Scoffing, Zola said, "They can have it out with me after I take your head."
Ignatz knew they were in trouble. Balthus might have beaten Zola before, but the brawler was in bad shape and wouldn't stand a chance against her now. In any event, the Alliance's forces were being pushed back all over the place, and a fight with her could result in them being cut off and surrounded.
Steeling himself, Ignatz drew his sword and said, "Balthus, get Raphael out of here. I'll hold her off."
"I'm sure I misheard that, Iggy," said Balthus.
"Get him out of here, now!"
Seeing the determination on Ignatz's face, Balthus nodded and said, "Don't go dying on us, you hear?"
With that, Balthus hoisted Raphael onto his shoulder as Ignatz stood his ground against Zola. The Black Eagle smirked, seeing the fear in Ignatz's eyes. He knew he stood no chance and yet he was challenging her all the same.
"Lining up to die first, are you?" said Zola. "Fine by me. But try to struggle a little, would you? There's no glory if you don't give me a challenge!"
Ignatz's reply was to place the palm of his left hand on his blade, infusing his blade with an ice Spellblade enchantment. He knew it wouldn't last long among the flames, but it was better than nothing.
As he finished enhancing his blade, Zola came roaring toward him, whirling her axe around her like a deadly tornado. Just as she swung her axe at him from above, Ignatz dodged to the side. As Zola's axe slammed into the ground, Ignatz immediately thrust his icy blade at it, unleashing the Spellblade's enchantment and freezing the axe to the ground.
Ignatz then turned toward Zola, hoping to see the ace caught off guard.
To his surprise, Zola had already released her axe and was now swinging a fist at him.
Ignatz cried out in pain as Zola's blow cracked his jawbone, followed by another blow to his chest, cracking two of his ribs and causing him to drop his sword. Zola laughed as she dealt another series of punches to the bespectacled archer, who could not defend himself against the onslaught. She then finally dealt a kick to his chest, sending him to the ground on his back, struggling to breathe.
"Oh, come on!" Zola boasted. "That was pathe–"
Zola stopped as she heard something metallic hit the ground in front of her. She looked down to see a small iron sphere with a wick at the end. Said wick had been lit.
Alarmed, Zola leapt back just before the bomb exploded, the blast sending both her and Ignatz tumbling away.
As he stopped rolling, Ignatz looked through the smoke and fire, his glasses cracked, hoping to see if Zola had been killed in the blast.
To his dismay, Zola was still standing, though a fragment of metal had dug into her right shoulder. Zola winced briefly before tearing the fragment out of her shoulder and tossing it aside. Then, as though she hadn't just been injured, she stormed over to her axe and kicked the ice it had become stuck in, shattering it and freeing her weapon.
"Was that your best shot?" said Zola. "You'll need more than that to kill me."
Ignatz knew he was finished. He could barely stand, let alone fight. He watched in horror as Zola stepped toward him, stomping on his sword and breaking it in two as she walked. Soon, Zola was just meters away from Ignatz, gazing at him with murderous intent.
"Time to die!" Zola shouted as she raised her axe.
As she did, several strange lights surrounded Ignatz. A second later, the blonde vanished and was replaced by a familiar lavender rogue.
Yuri swung his blade at Zola's axe and knocked her strike aside before darting back. Then, finishing his Force spell, Yuri sent it point blank into Zola. The Black Eagle howled as she was sent flying back, appearing to land in part of the inferno.
Yuri smirked at how his plan had gone better than he'd hoped.
Yet, as Yuri moved to help the others in the battle, he did not see that Zola had, in fact, just narrowly missed landing in the fire. Still, she had several new burns to contend with.
Knowing she wasn't about to catch up to Yuri, Zola cursed as she stumbled back to look for a healer.
…
Having seen the exchange between Yuri and Zola, Claude was relieved at Yuri's save. Ignatz was a good friend, and he didn't know how he would've broken the news to his family if he had perished. Still, he knew Ignatz wasn't going to be fighting anytime soon.
Claude scowled loudly as he looked at his broken army. He thought he had planned for anything the Imperials could throw at him, but nothing could have prepared him for Cornelia Arnim. The feat she had pulled off should have been impossible. Everything he'd learned in the Officer's Academy and from other sources told him no one should have been capable of such powerful magic.
But the reality was that the Duchess of the Faerghus Dukedom had pulled it off, and now his plans had, quite literally, gone up in flames.
Claude then looked to the north to see several battalions of Loyalist cavalry rushing to cut off his army's escape route. At the same time, a battalion of cavalry archers from the Black Eagles were firing indiscriminately into the raging fires on the central hill. Most of the shots were hitting his battered and burnt troops, though some were hitting the Imperials instead. Yet the cavalry archers did not cease their attack; friendly fire was clearly acceptable for them.
Readying Failnaught, Claude whistled for his Immortal Corps to follow him as he sent Simurgh into a dive. Attacking the cavalry archers wasn't the wisest of ideas, but he knew he had to at least draw their attention so his forces could regroup.
As he and his Wyvern Riders swooped down, Claude fired an arrow that hit one of the Imperial horses in the head, sending it and its rider crashing to the ground. Another horse failed to avoid colliding with it, resulting in another rider being sent to the ground. The others in the Immortal Corps began to fire as they dove in. But as Claude pulled up from his dive, he saw the cavalry archers were returning fire on his fliers, with several scoring hits that sent the Wyverns and their riders to the ground.
One archer in particular, a Brigid woman with green hair, loosed three arrows at once and hit three of his fliers simultaneously.
Knowing she had to be one of the Black Eagles' aces, Claude banked Simurgh around to attack Setiawati, who turned to the threat. Claude fired a shot, but Setiawati leaned and narrowly avoided being shot in the head. Then, without missing a beat, Setiawati released her own arrow at the Master Tactician.
Claude let out a loud howl of pain as the arrow hit him in the chest, sending him falling from Simurgh's saddle and tumbling across the ground. The leader of the Leicester Alliance came to an eventual halt just feet away from the Brigid huntress.
Wincing loudly in pain, Claude looked up to see Setiawati aiming Sharanga at him.
"Kematianmu akan menyebabkan kemenangan kami," said Setiawati as she drew her arrow.
As Claude was about to accept his impending demise, she heard a familiar voice shout, "NO!"
Alarmed, Setiawati turned just as Petra rushed out of the smoke and leapt toward her, tackling her former mentor off her horse and sending them both to the ground. Setiawati rolled as she landed and then dodged away from Petra's blade as her horse ran away.
Looking at the princess, Setiawati realized Petra was angrier than she'd ever seen before. There was no uncertainty in her eyes – the princess wanted her dead.
"KAU TIDAK AKAN MENYAKITINYA, SETIAWATI!" Petra shouted furiously.
Petra roared and screamed as she took swing after swing at her mentor, who was forced onto the defensive. Setiawati, shocked by Petra's ferocity, could not find an opening to attack or escape.
But then, as Petra lunged toward her, Setiawati saw her chance and rolled to the side, dodging Petra's attack. She immediately swung around and readied an arrow.
To the huntress's surprise, Petra had done the same, and both were aiming at each other.
Both Brigid warriors fired simultaneously, and both howled in pain as their arrows found their mark just under each other's collarbone.
Wincing loudly, Setiawati staggered to her feet as Petra tried to do the same.
Amid her grunts of pain, Petra hissed, "Aku belum selesai denganmu!"
"Perjuangan kita takkan berakhir di sini, Kemuning," replied Setiawati.
At that moment, Petra heard the whinny of a horse and turned to see Setiawati's steed rushing to its master. Before Petra could try to stop her, Setiawati grabbed the saddle and, without mounting up, allowed her horse to drag her away from the battle.
Realizing she could not pursue, Petra let out a cry of rage.
…
The Imperials facing the Loyalists panicked as the King of Lions ravaged his way through their ranks, followed by his Lionheart Corps and the paladins of House Fraldarius. No matter how many men they lost, the Loyalists kept advancing. Even if they risked being surrounded, they continued to kill.
Dimitri roared as he slashed another Imperial in half from skull to pelvis. The King of Lions' face was now covered in blood, especially around his mouth. Dimitri was so consumed by his bloodlust that he had already bitten three Imperials as though he were a rabid wolf.
The Imperials in his path began to flee, thinking him to be unstoppable. Dimitri did not bother pursuing them; only one person on that battlefield mattered to him.
Snarling, Dimitri turned back toward Edelgard. The Emperor was now watching him, yet she did nothing as her minions died in droves to protect her.
"EDELGARD!" Dimitri shouted at the top of his lungs.
Dimitri broke into a sprint toward the Flame Emperor as Rodrigue shouted, "Your Majesty, wait!"
Dimitri ignored him. No one was going to stop him from ripping the Emperor to pieces.
Not his followers.
Not the Imperials.
Not the Duchess.
No one.
As he finished carving through another ten Imperials, despite taking a few minor injuries in the process, Dimitri heard the loud screech of a Wyvern and looked up to see one with ruby scales diving toward him. On its back was a brown-haired woman he immediately recognized.
Ladislava shouted as she slashed Longinus at Dimitri, who dodged her attack. As Fenix pulled back toward the sky, Ladislava leapt from his saddle and lunged toward the King of Lions in midair. Dimitri slashed Areadbhar at Ladislava, forcing her to block his strike, which sent her flying back. As the Crimson Warrior landed, the King of Lions rushed her, swinging his lance rapidly at her. Immediately she deflected strike after strike as Dimitri forced her on the defensive. Ladislava soon tried to counterattack, but her strike missed the blonde king, who dodged back.
Readying herself to strike again, Ladislava said, "You will not take one more step toward Her Majesty, you butcher!"
"You cannot stop me, wretch," Dimitri snarled. "But I will be glad to give Edelgard your head before I remove hers!"
Dimitri rushed Ladislava again, but this time his attacks became far faster and wilder. Ladislava quickly found herself struggling to block all his attacks.
Then, hearing Fenix's roar, Ladislava leapt up to allow Fenix to rush at Dimitri, the Wyvern's fangs bared toward him. Dimitri let out his own roar as he swung Areadbhar at Fenix, striking the Wyvern with such force that Fenix was sent tumbling through the air like a leaf, crashing to the ground nearby.
"FENIX!" Ladislava said in shock.
Fenix growled softly before slumping his head over.
Seeing her partner wounded so, Ladislava let out a furious howl as she rushed at Dimitri, planning to end him whatever the cost.
But Dimitri whirled around and, as his Minor Crest of Blaiddyd blazed over him, shouted, "OUT OF MY WAY!"
Areadbhar radiated crimson light as Dimitri thrust it at Ladislava, stabbing her right below her ribcage as she stabbed him in the chest with Longinus. However, Ladislava's strike had just barely breached Dimitri's armor, leaving him with only a flesh wound.
Before Ladislava could even grunt with pain, the sheer force of Dimitri's strike sent her flying back. Ladislava felt several bones break as she tumbled and rolled across the ground, finally coming to a stop right next to Edelgard, who looked down at her champion in shock.
Ladislava, her body broken and bleeding, looked up briefly at Edelgard and said, "Lady… Edel… gard…"
With that, Ladislava slumped over and passed out.
That's gotta hurt.
I hope you weren't expecting Dimitri to go down like he does in Verdant Wind. That always felt like such a brutal injustice for him. Instead, we're gonna have him duke it out with Edelgard.
I probably need to focus a bit more on Byleth's role in the battle, though. There's a part in it that I'm having trouble with, but I'll get it done.
EDIT: I've extended the chapter slightly to give an explanation for why Claude didn't see Cornelia's attack coming. He would've changed his plans if he knew Cornelia could use such a powerful Hymn, but everything he'd learned told him her feat should've been impossible. As such, he couldn't have seen it coming.
EDIT2: Sorry everyone, but I was very busy this weekend. Next chapter will be delayed until next week.