In a surprising turn of events, the Ashen Wolves dropped down on the Gronder Field before the fighting could truly kick off. They weren't here to fight on anyone else's terms other than their own, however. In the history of Garreg Mach, a fourth contender in this battle had been unheard of and threw many for a surprise. "What's going on here?" Catherine was the first one to ask, scratching her head in confusion. "I thought those kids from Abyss were already in other classes?"
"It was a request from Aelfric." Rhea calmly. "He implored I allowed them to fight on their own terms. I was against the idea at first...however, I decided that it might be alright just this one time." It was a little surprising coming from Rhea of all people.
"The Ashen Wolves are technically a house within the Monastery." Seteth added while stroking his chin. "I cannot say I have good feelings about this. But at the end of the day, this is an exercise for every student. When it was phrased this way, I couldn't see the fault with it."
"Hahahaha!" Leopold was the one who ended up laughing. He found this situation incredibly interesting. "So we've got new fighters, do we? I can't wait to see what they can do!"
"Hm..." Byleth crossed her arms. She had been wondering where the Ashen Wolves went prior to the planning, but this explains everything. "I suppose they have their own thing they wish to prove. I wonder how far they'll get." She recalled that Yuri mentioned he was once a winner of the Battle of the Eagle and Lion, claiming victory for the Blue Lions in the past. As such, it was clear that the Ashen Wolves were not going to be easy opponents...but this was a good thing. A harder fought battle meant an extremely well earned victory, and she had nothing but absolute faith in her students abilities.
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"So, where to get started?" Yuri looked on, knowing full well their entrance caused a lot of eyes to turn their way. "Or should we just let the the Wolves have some fun?"
"Hohoho!" Constance laughed. She brought a parasol to shield herself from the detrimental rays of the sun. This way she could operate at full capacity! "There will not be a single person here who can stand against my magic!" She was going to do her own thing and fly into the sky on her Pegasus, laughing loudly all the while.
"Looks like Coco's gonna do her own thing." Hapi shrugged. Honestly, not a bad idea. Besides, Constance likely concocted some surprise, insane magic plan. So, truthfully, Hapi did not want to be anywhere near that.
"I'm gonna take everyone down!" Balthus was coming to win. Did he have a slight advantage with his age, build, and the fact he even brought Vajira Mutshi? He was a betting man and he was feeling good today.
"Try not to bully them too much. B." Hapi yawned.
"Don't worry, I'll take it easy on 'em..." Balthus said with a grin. There was just one person he completely planned on avoiding: Hilda. He couldn't fight Hilda, because he knew Holst would simply murder him or worse if he hurt her! "Now then, let's get this party started!"
"Let's show them how sharp our fangs really are." Yuri chuckled, the Fetters of Dromi attached to his hand. In this no holds bar contest of strength and skill, the Ashen Wolves were prepared to show their superiority over everyone else. This competition was only just getting started!
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"What's the big idea!?" Monica exclaimed in a fit of rage.
"It appears we have some unexpected guests." Hubert crossed his arms. His expression was twisted in mild annoyance. Out of all things to happen, this was not something he was expecting. That said, he remained calm in the face of this surprise. "It matters not. This just means four additional targets. Surely you can handle that, can't you?"
"Tch..." Monica sucked her teeth, refraining from letting loose an annoyed profanity. "I can handle it."
"AAAH!" Bernadetta cried out as she ran backwards. Constance was in the air, laughing as she wiped her hand forward. This prompted bolts of lightning to strike down on Gronder Field. While there was no real target, it still posed a problem. Constance was simply flexing her magical ability. and since she was airborne, this made her an exceptionally difficult opponent to pin down. "I knew I shouldn't have come here! Why couldn't I stay in my rooooooom!" She was barely handling the battle, but now she had to deal with lightning dropping down as well!? It almost felt like divine punishment...!
"Bernadetta! You must be calming yourself!" Petra exclaimed, getting a hold of Bernadetta to stop her from running. "Take heed of your surroundings. It is unfocused." The lightning was crashing down haphazardly, but Petra was calm enough to see that there was no target. It was Constance showing off. If someone did get struck by her lightning, they were more unlucky than anything else. "The danger you are in, is close to being zero."
"Z-Zero..." Bernadetta gulped. Petra often called her a bunny and she felt like she was being hunted right now. However, upon closer inspection, she could see that minus a few close calls, the lightning wasn't really hitting anyone. It was a dangerous annoyance, but so far... "S-So I'm safe!?"
"About as safe as one can be on a battlefield." Monica said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. This one was so annoying, cowering at any and every waking moment. She couldn't help but wonder how a person this timid could even survive in the real world. "So shoot her down!"
"Ack!" Bernadetta winced at first, but Monica was right. She was an archer, so it was her duty to shoot down airborne enemies! The one thing she could contribute was her aim in this situation! So she took aim at Constance and let an arrow fly! Unfortunately for her, however, Constance saw this coming and her Pegasus swiftly evaded the attack.
"Trying to shoot down my brilliance, are you? I'm afraid that's not going to be so easy! Ohohohoho!" Constance laughed at the attempt, before deciding to fly off elsewhere. It was unclear if she felt threatened or not, but she was gone either way.
"Ugh..." That didn't help with Bernadetta's confidence whatsoever. "Maybe I should let myself get taken out so I can leave faster..."
"I imagine Lady Edelgard would be quite cross with you if you did that." Hubert stated. Bernadetta froze up instantly, believing an angry Edelgard would eat her or something.
"I'LL STAY, I'LL STAY!"
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Despite the arrival of the Ashen Wolves, it didn't stop some of the action going on. Luke and Ashe were still dealing with Shez, who was having a difficult time with the two of them. While she could easily close the gap between herself and Ashe easily, the problem was Luke. Somehow, someway, he just knew where she'd strike from next. She appeared from the left, and was there to counter her. It was clear that she wasn't going to make it to Ashe that easily. But even focusing on Luke was difficult, because Ashe was right there with timely shots. Shez managed to slash an arrow out of the sky, sliding backwards from the two Lions before her.
"This isn't working!" Arval told Shez. It was clear that Shez was at a great disadvantage, and they couldn't bear to see them fight this losing battle for much longer.
"I know. Did these two train together or what!?" Shez grunted to herself. Luke's blade of ice was also a bit troublesome. "Okay...I have a plan."
"You're still going to fight!?" Arval questioned, but quickly remembered who they were talking to. Of course Shez was going to keep fighting.
"Yeah..." Shez grinned. Despite the fact she was working up a sweat, she was confident she could do this.
"Don't just stand around! It's about to get chilly!" Luke said while swinging his sword downward. This prompted a trail of ice to rapidly freeze the ground over, catching Shez underfoot. Going from grass to ice made her stumble and stagger a little bit.
"W-Whoa...!" Shez was struggling to get her footing. This was a problem as Ashe took this chance to shoot at Shez once more. She had no choice but to roll to the side, causing her to tumble along the ice. "Gaaah!" She was able to barely catch herself by stabbing her unique sword into the ground and hold her footing. She looked up and saw Luke aiming a downward slash at her. She jumped back, out of the ice, and then teleported back in, aiming a kick to his chest. This landed and he staggered back, and now, she was staying close to Luke, making sure he was consistently within Ashe's line of sight so he couldn't reliably shoot.
"Heh...! You're still pretty good!" Luke said with a grunt. Going against two swords with only one was a challenge, but he knew how Shez moved. He stepped carefully, not allowing the purple haired girl to put too much pressure on him. Even when he was on the defensive, he was able to remain one step ahead. This annoyed Shez greatly. Luke then saw an opening, parrying one of Shez's swords, only to stab the ground with his blade. This prompted spikes of ice to jut from the ground, acting as a means to push Shez back.
"Ghh...!" Shez grunted, pushed back from the sharp ice. She panted softly, realizing she was far from an ideal situation. When did Luke get this strong!? "He really does know my every move. Has he been training that hard...?"
"Did you forget? This is the man who memorizes everything perfectly. He was never going to be an easy opponent..." Arval said. It was then that they realized...
Shez realized it at the same time. And then she gasped. "AH!"
Luke wore a smirk when Shez gasped so loudly. "Sounds like you've just realized something..."
"All this time!" Shez pointed at Luke. "You've been so eager to join as many missions as possible, because you've been watching everyone since school started!"
"Ding ding ding!" Luke was not afraid to admit this either. He thought it was pretty obvious, but considering the insanity of some of the missions, it was easily glossed over. "I've been keeping an eye on the competition the whole time! So I know exactly what you're going to do and how you're going to do it!"
Shez grit her teeth. This man was her friend and another rival, and right now, he was proving himself. It was a challenge, one she was more than happy to accept. But she was admittedly running out of ideas to get around Luke... "Okay..." An idea came to mind...
"She's still planning to fight?" Ashe noted. That was a little concerning. He couldn't tell if Shez was being brave or just straight up reckless. She was outnumbered...!
"She always is." Luke said, prepared to face Shez head on. Shez did charge forward as he expected and he was ready to cut her down. "Here we go!"
Shez's grip on her unique sword tightened. Nothing in her arsenal could surprise Luke, because it felt like he knew exactly how she thought. So... "Take this!" She tossed her special sword directly at Luke. Luke did dodge by shifting his body to the side.
"I don't think so!" Luke was confident about what was coming next. Back in Enbarr, Shez threw her sword at Myson, and proceeded to teleport to it to catch him off guard. So, Luke swore he wouldn't fall victim to that trick...he turned to catch Shez, however...the sword vanished. "Huh-!?"
Shez had a wide smirk. She had a feeling Luke would see that coming. "Remember this!" And then she shoulder tackled him while he was distracted, knocking him down.
"Agh!" Luke hit the ground hard from Shez's body check. That girl hit like a truck!
With Luke temporarily disabled, Shez finally set her sights on Ashe. Ashe recognized he was a target and began to shoot arrows at Shez, but it was no use. Her unique sword appeared in her hand again, and she either swatted the arrows down, or dodged them by warping. "She's getting closer...!" Ashe grunted.
Shez saw her opening, and this was going to be a repeat of the Mock Battle earlier in the year. She was in front of Ashe, her swords crossed in an X formation. She uncrossed them, violet trails following her movements to land a cross lash against Ashe's chest. "Got you!"
"Gah...!" Ashe's eyes widened, before going white. He fell back onto the ground, defeated. The instant it was made clear he was unable to continue, he was teleported out. This was the Blue Lions' first loss.
"I got one!" Shez exclaimed victoriously. At right as she claimed her victory, she found that her legs were frozen to the ground. "Ah-!?"
"Did you forget about me!?" Luke chuckled. "You got Ashe, but I'm not leaving empty handed either!"
Shez thought about warping...but she'd never done that while frozen. She didn't want to take the risk. It felt too dangerous! "I'm stuck...!"
"You're mine!" Luke was prepared to take this chance to finish Shez off, however...
"Not on my watch!" Ferdinand rode forward on his horse. Due to his speed advantage on horseback, Luke hardly had a chance to react to the incoming lance being thrust his way. He could block it, but that didn't stop him from taking a nasty tumble. This gave Shez enough time to free herself from the ice. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah..." Shez gave a slow nod. If not for Ferdinand, she might've lost then and there...! She looked at Luke, who realized he was now in a bad situation. As such, he slashed the ground once more, creating a wall of ice between himself and the two Black Eagles. With this chance, he retreated. The ice shattered and he was gone. "He's gone..."
"He was wise to retreat from my might!" Ferdinand said with a laugh. "You look down, however. What happened?"
"I didn't realize that Luke was keeping an eye on everyone." Shez said while looking at her sword. "I was able to get one over on him, but for the most part...it felt like he had the better of me the whole time. And if you didn't show up when you did, I definitely would've lost. I don't feel like I won that encounter..."
"Nonsense!" Ferdinand shook his head. "This is not a single person's endeavor. We are all a team. Even if he got the best of you this time, you are still in the competition, are you not? You will have to ensure you win the next bout, is that not correct?"
When he put it like that, Shez couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, you're right! I know Luke isn't going to go down that easily, and neither will I!" If she couldn't be Luke in a one on one, how would she ever defeat Byleth either?! This felt like a trial! "Let's go, Ferdinand! We'll ride together!"
"That's the spirit!" Ferdinand grinned at Shez's resolve. He was happy to help her reignite her fighting spirit. The Battle of the Eagle and Lion was only just beginning!
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Balthus cracked his knuckles, looking around that the competition. There was a lot of fighting going on, so he was trying to figure out who the best person to fight first was! But then his eyes landed on, perhaps the perfect person to duke it out with: Raphael Kirsten. "Hey, Raph!"
"Oh, Balthus!" Raphael just had a smile on his face. "So this is why you weren't around, huh? Planning to take everyone else on?"
"Gotta show how tough the Wolves really are!" Balthus cracked his knuckles. Raphael had a large physique; so much so that his academy uniform was a tight fit! There was hardly anyone else who could match Balthus in terms of physique. "And now that we're here, there's only one thing left for us to do, yeah?"
"Gotta fight it out! You look pretty tough!" Raphael was still grinning, finding this to be exciting.
"Hey, wait a second!" Another voice boomed in, preparing to intrude on this fight between behemoths. Caspar sprinted into the fray, pointing at himself as he arrived. "You guys aren't about to duke it out without me here!" Compared to Balthus and Rapahel, Caspar was...small. He had the energy to match, but the size just didn't back it up.
"Caspar?" Raphael blinked.
Balthus couldn't help but laugh at this. "You, kid? C'mon...why don't you go pick on someone your own eyes? I'm not trying to bully anyone here."
Of course, being dismissed like this only made Caspar more eager to prove himself. He may have had to look up at Balthus and Raphael now, but when he was finished, he was sure they'd be looking up at him. "My size doesn't matter, I can still kick your butts just the same!" He then pointed at the two of them at the same time, a confident grin etched onto his lips. "The size of my strength is about to topple you two giants! I hope you're ready!"