Chapter 90: Elevator out of order, take the stairs
A rustle, so silent that even she could barely hear it, the bushes parted before her with a single hand adjusting them. Her eyes narrowed as they flickered across the structure. It was as the reports suggested. The tower had been without maintenance for many years and she could see multiple points of entry which would likely be shored up to account for them.
If the bandits were smart, that is what they would do. She would make the assumption that they were not utterly stupid and would act accordingly. Her gaze flickered upwards, lingering on the shadow that stepped across in front of a small window. It lingered there for a moment and then moved off.
Perhaps Ashe could have made that shot if the wind was favourable, but she did not believe that was the case at the moment.
Her eyes returned to the ground, a few lightly armoured guards moving around the length of the tower, moving in groups of two or three but no more. It was the early hours of the morning, she would assume that the others would be either asleep or inside the tower for some other reason. If they could get close enough to get in before they could raise the alarm, then it would be well enough to gain entry before it became a narrow fight. Those were unfavourable.
Moving her hand back, she let the bushes fall back into place and stepped back into the shadows, turning around and creeping back towards the direction where the others currently resided. She had a plan already formulating in her mind, but it would require a two pronged effort and a degree of stealth. Given the nature of the tower, it was designed to be able to counter siege efforts from forces greater than they currently possessed.
Something touched her nose, she tensed for a brief moment before she loosened her guard as she realised what it was, another drop of cool water landed on the top of her head as she turned upwards, the murky clouds hung above her head, already threatening to open up on them. Running around outside in that weather would be difficult, worse if they got spotted and bogged down in the mud.
Her pace picked up as she pushed her way through the bushes and into the clearing where her forces were gathered, some had their heads turned to the sky from the onset of light spitting while others faced her, namely Gilbert and Dimitri being at the head of the group with the pair of them looking to her quickly.
"It seems as though the heavens might open up on us, Professor." The Prince spoke, his voice grim as he folded his arms over his chest and seemingly ignored the rain altogether. "The clouds above paint a rather dire picture, and if the worst comes to worst and we are caught out in the storm, it will make our battle today all the more difficult…" a pause before he winced. "Though I am certain you are already aware of such things to begin with…"
She was, but it was more that he knew the importance of it.
"The tower has a small contingent of watchers." She began immediately, hands moving to her hips. "Three patrols of four and one patrol of five moved near the main entrance. The windows above had watchers making routine movements back and forth to keep an eye out. I assume it goes in all directions. Approaching without being seen would be a problem, not certain that an archer could make the shot from the ground. Probably not in this weather."
Gilbert grunted to her, though he looked neither surprised nor disappointed. "Conand tower was built during the war for surveillance and for countering siege's. That it can still serve that purpose well all these years later is nothing to be surprised about, but it does make our situation problematic…My concern would be our capability of entering. I have little doubt the moment they see us will be the moment they unleash an alarm and our entrance will be compromised."
That was her concern as well. If they had someone capable of warp spells, then that would be little issue. They could place a small group ahead of them and enter quickly to keep the doors open while the others approached, but they didn't have something like that. Even if she stopped time and moved with Sothis, she could only do so for perhaps four or five seconds at most.
"I've got an idea for that." She turned to the voice, Sylvain approached with a rather confident look on his face as he waved to them. "I've been told that I do look a bit like Miklan from a distance, but the way I see it by the time I'm close enough for them to actually notice it's me…" he shrugged his shoulders.
Dimitri frowned and opened his mouth, yet it was not him who had the chance to voice his discontent with the plan.
"Absolutely not." That vocal disagreement came from Felix, evidently having overheard the words of the boy. "Perhaps you would look like him from a distance but the moment you got close enough, they would attack you and even supposing you bested the four on one, that leaves the other patrols and you alone." the boy folded his arms and scowled, Sylvain's confident look melted away and was replaced by a troubled curl of the lips as he was presented with the flaw in his plan. "Which would place us right back to where we started. Quite frankly, this is something we should have planned for immediately after we left."
She turned on him and raised an eyebrow. "I am not clairvoyant. I cannot plan for battlements and patrols that I do not know exist." he scowled deeper but turned from her, not willing to push the topic further. "There are rundown areas of it, places that would be much more difficult for them to guard."
There was another strategy that would work rather well, now that she considered it. Her hand came to her chin as she pinched it between her fingers, humming to herself as she did so before she brought it away. "They remain untrained in actual combat. They are still bandits and likely haven't faced a proper force, even with their assistance from Miklan." she turned to Gilbert. "If they were presented with the belief they were facing a force greater than we truly possess, then their resolve would be in disarray."
The ginger looked thoughtful at the plan, nodding his head up and down the longer he seemingly thought about it. "Indeed. If they show little efforts in moving to a new location, then perhaps they believe they have managed to elude the forces of the Holy Kingdom. If they were presented with the belief that they had attracted the attention of a full army rather than the hundred or so we have, then I believe their resolve would be shaken by the display."
"But how would you create such a display?" Dimitri questioned with a tilt of the head. "I appreciate the plan has merit and it does sound as though it would work, especially if we were to support it with a sudden and rather aggressive attack that would shock them, but how would we present ourselves as a force larger than we truly are."
"We will need all the spare torches we have." She replied without missing a beat. "Place them around the edge of the forest leading to the clearing of the tower. Once they are placed, light them and rush back to the main force while making as much noise as possible with our armour. We'll use our mages to throw a few large scale spells at the tower and the walls and then rush right towards the gate. The ones on the ground shouldn't be able to tell and keeping the ones in the windows distracted should stop them from revealing our deception."
Gilbert brought his hand up, tapping against his chin and then nodding his head up and down several times. "Yes…a sound strategy which, if nothing else, is bold enough that I believe it is well suited for this particular opponent. Though I must ask, what if this plan fails and they somehow see through it? Those gates were designed to hold back battering rams for hours and even the damaged sections will be well defended. Bandits or not, they shall put up a rather tough fight if they believe they have no other chance."
'Sothis? Could we break down the gates?'
"Break them down? You believe me stronger than a battering ram?" A scoff from the Goddess was followed by a telling silence. The fact that she hadn't actually said she could not meant that the answer to the question was that she either didn't know or she was too embarrassed to say that she probably could do that and didn't want to be compared to a battering ram. "It is not related to that. I am merely bewildered that your first instinct is to ask whether or not I can grant you strength to punch through walls as opposed to using our authority…but the answer to your question is yes."
That was all she needed to hear.
"I can get through the gates."
Gilbert blinked at her. "Excuse me?"
"I can get through-"
"No, I heard you the first time." He replied slowly and mildly puzzled. "I am just wondering how you would accomplish that, those gates are reinforced steel and opening them up would require a great deal more effort than we can muster-"
"I'm stronger than I look."
Dead silence.
Gilbert blinked twice, then squinted at her. "Are…are you joking?"
"No."
More silence.
Gilbert turned to Dimitri and looked at him, the prince nodded his head up and down several times to confirm her words, gesturing to her as he did so. "I can understand your doubt, Sir Gilbert, but I can attest to the strength of the Professor. Quite frankly, I have never seen another individual quite like her. Not least of all because of her ability to wield the sword of the creator, which I have deduced means she holds a powerful Crest with perhaps a greater ability than my own."
The sobered expression of the man was proof that he took the words very seriously, turning to her with a critical eye as he looked her up and down. As the seconds ticked by, it felt as though his stare became more intense before it loosened a touch, he nodded once and spoke at length. "In that case, I shall defer my judgement to the Prince. I have seen the power of the Heroes Relics first hand and I know of the Blaiddyd crests abilities. If the Prince speaks of your strength, then I shall trust him."
She hadn't actually seen Dimitri really push himself during training with his crest beyond a couple of broken lances. She saw him trade blows with Goetia that one time and didn't think anything of it, though having seen what Goetia was capable of with his hand now, she reevaluated just how strong Dimitri was in a physical contest. Though she would need to know the limits of it to be sure.
All the same, it was better that they work on the plan now before the rain got too heavy. It might work to obscure them but it would make the charge quite a bit harder. Thick mud made running rather difficult to manage.
He hated the rain, he absolutely hated the rain and if there was one thing he hated even more than the rain it was the rain with guard duty. He didn't even see the point of it, they had managed to go days without any sign of pursuit and if the Kingdom cared enough, they surely would have sent an army after them by now or something like that.
The boss stole a Heroes Relic for Goddess's sake.
Tucking his hands under his pits, he growled under his breath as the rain started to pelt at his face, the howl of the wind was all the warning he got before it felt like someone was throwing stones into his eyes. Bringing his hand up, he covered his eyes and growled a bit louder this time around.
What was even the point of being out here in the first place?
"How long until we switch?" He called out to the person next to him, they paused in the middle of whatever they were doing and looked over their shoulder. He turned to them and then scowled openly as he noticed the sort of position they were actually in. "Are you some sort of idiot? Why in the fuck are you pissing against the damn wall!?"
"Wha-?" The man didn't quite turn around - good, if they did that he would have punched them out - but he did look over their shoulder fully with an expression of an idiot. "What do you mean? Where else am I supposed to piss?"
"I'm standing right here you-!" He snarled at them, bringing up a finger and stabbing it towards them. "Do it in the bushes rather than right next to the wall, I won't want to be walking through all your piss when I walk in and out of the doors you dirty pig."
The guy grunted back to him with a visible scowl. "The rain will wash it all away! I'm not walking into the middle of the woods during a fucking storm just to have a piss." he waved a hand around and turned his eyes back to the wall. "It's fine! Not like this place isn't a dump to begin with, wasn't the boss talking about moving?"
"Later. We don't need you marking your territory like a damn mongrel-" Something caught his eye, he turned his head towards the outcrop of the woods and narrowed his gaze. Squinting at whatever it was, a faint orange glow just behind the trees. It was faint and the rain made it difficult to see, but it was there. Flickering with brightness, he squinted a little harder at it.
"Hey, did anyone go to the woods earlier?" He called behind him as he took a couple of steps forwards, he didn't know if it was Jason's group that had wandered out there or something or maybe even Felicia's. They went on these big long walks but he couldn't help but feel the slight tension in the air, as though something was about to happen. Like steel in his gut.
"Huh? I don't know, why?"
"Because I think there's a torch in the-"
The words died in his throat, his eyes widened as he saw the entire front of the forest spring to life with the same glowing torches, stringing around all across the edge and even along either side, his head snapped both ways as he realised what was happening. Then he heard it, the deep shocking sound and the faint shudders in the ground. A distant crunch and a striking of steel against steel.
The woods practically came alive, pouring open as what could only be hundreds of knights came charging out of the woods and rushing directly towards them like a wave of metal. A shocked gasp pulled out of his mouth as he watched balls of fire fly off from the charging army and flying towards the tower just behind him, he didn't stick around long before he was already turning and sprinting towards the door.
Outright ignoring the cry of alarm and terror from the man who had been pissing on the wall a second ago as he moved as fast as his legs could carry him. "Attack! We're under attack! Knights! Knights! Knig-"
Something thudded into his back, a sensation like someone had just punched him and he found himself unable to speak, he blinked several times in confusion as his legs slipped out from beneath him. Carried forwards by his run, he fell forwards and crashed into the dirt, opening and closing his mouth and yet finding himself unable to make a single sound.
How come he couldn't speak?
Who hit him?
Wha-
Something flooded his mouth and erupted from between his lips, he opened up and coughed out a wet gurgle. Blood spattered onto the ground right in front of him, the thundering sound of knights drew closer and closer, even if he couldn't hear them he could still feel it, the shaking of the earth right beneath him. He needed to run to the gates and get behind them but his legs weren't moving. No matter how much he willed himself to do that he wasn't able to stand up.
His left hand weakly flopped around behind himself, moving towards the tight feeling in his back and pressing down on it.
A hiss escaped him as pain flared through his body from the moment his fingers touched against him. They moved up and pressed against something solid, about as thick as his finger and almost as though it was growing out of his back.
A shadow fell over him, he caught a flash of green and then a glowing orange light. Then nothing.
Blood sprayed through the air as she slashed down the wounded man, not even breaking her stride as she sprinted for the doors and watched as the others who had been closer started to get the idea to close them, it was too late by this point as she watched arrows whirl over her head towards the fleeing bandits.
They didn't have many archers but they had enough for this sort of thing, besides her students could account for in skill what they lacked in numbers.
Those who weren't taken out quickly were wounded enough that they couldn't get away, not even able to raise their weapons before they fell upon them and quickly dispatched them, though she kept her eyes solely on the wooden gates as a couple managed to scramble inside, she heard the groan as the doors started to move outwards, intent on closing and sealing them out.
Her eyes narrowed and she sped up, lowering herself and feeling Sothis energy floor through her limbs.
It was surreal, everything felt as though it was now moving in slow motion for her as she closed in on the gate. Before she even realised it, she was upon the gate and swinging her left arm forwards in a fist, the moment it made contact with the gate she had expected to meet some resistance, yet she surprised even herself when the wood parted for her, as though it was old and rotten it flaked away as her fist carried on and carved right through it..
She moved with it, right through the gap between the doors and into the hall, the sound followed with her along with the shattering of wood. Even if they had managed to close it, she had managed to punch the bolt lock clean off the door, she whirled around and slashed across, the the glowing sword split itself into a whip and blurred across, neither bodies nor metal offered even a hint of resistance as she carved through them.
The sword snapped back as she turned around, ignoring the sounds behind her as she brought the weapon up and across, cleaving through the breastplate of the closest man to her who had an expression of complete surprise on his face, the force of the slash carried him upwards and sent his body flipping through the air.
She kicked forwards and into the next one, thrusting forwards and driving the sword to the hilt right through the back of the woman who had been trying to turn around. Pulling it free, she dragged the body along with it and tossed the corpse aside, fixing her eyes on the entrance to the tower and glancing around until she found the nearest staircase.
A man with a spear turned on her and gasped.
The sword split and accelerated forwards as she cracked it like a whip, the tip buried itself into their face and right through it, ripping it back and spinning the body as she did so before it clipped back to its normal form.
Sounds rushed to accompany her, the crash of wood and splats of bodies hitting the floor, then a grinding noise before a heavy crash behind her. She felt her hair flutter at the shock of the powerful impact, felt the tremble of the ground beneath her. Turning around, she looked towards the gates to see that her slash had carved through not just the gatekeepers but also the wooden doors themselves, the top half of both of them lying on the ground.
Her eyes rose quickly, the front of the charge lost a bit of momentum as they stared at her with clear surprise in their eyes. That was a bit silly of them to do, she decided. With a silent jerk of the head she waved them forwards and turned towards the halls once more, if there was one thing she figured it was that they would need to fight their way up.
Echoes reached her ears.
Then a horn blasted out from above her and through the open doors, cutting just above the storm. It blew several times before the echoes got louder, her head snapped up to the ceiling and her eyes narrowed as she heard the sounds above her, falling dust as the bandits were likely clambering to launch some sort of counter attack.
Her eyes snapped to the staircase and she broke into a sprint once more, jumping over the body without losing stride as she did so and throwing herself up the steps, three or more at a time. Barely catching sight of the door before she was upon it, she felt a slight shove against her shoulder and then nothing, the door in front of her folded inwards and was launched off its hinges.
Dozens of eyes stared at her, some in the middle of getting changed and others were already rushing towards the door.
The hesitation of them cost them dearly.
Time flickered as she jumped forwards, their bodies remained frozen as she rushed the closest man and slashed across. Time resumed and they jumped as she had gone from the door to being directly behind one of them, she heard the thud of a head hitting the floor, a faint rolling sound before it came to a halt. She ducked down, her elbow slammed into the back of the corpse's knees, flipping it over her shoulder.
Her hand tightly gripped the collar of the body, she made not even a sound as she tossed the headless body into the midst of the bandits, sowing further chaos as some either yelled from shock or dived out of the way to avoid being struck by it. Those who recovered made it obvious when they yelled at the top of their lungs and swung at her.
An axe was deflected, the pommel of her sword caught them in the chin and shattered bone, her palm drove itself into their nose and they fell backwards, gurgling and falling silent. She slashed across, the raised sword was struck from the hand of the wielder - flying away somewhere - and the edge bit through the body and appeared out of the other side without losing speed.
She kicked, the body flew back into another.
Rushing steps from behind her, the eyes of the enemies widened further as they rushed backwards and raised their weapons, forgoing getting dressed at this point in favour of grabbing whatever they could to defend themselves. With a series of mighty roars, the thickly armoured knights charged headlong into the midst of the sleeping quarters and displayed nothing but brutal efficiency.
A blonde blur, Dimitri rushed right past. She caught the moment he swung his right hand up into the gut of someone unfortunate enough to be in his way. The man folded with the blow, the leather armour bent inwards and his body soared through the air and struck the ceiling above them with a crunch, the stone cracking from the impact.
Dimitri was already swinging his spear like a club, catching the next attacker in the side of the head which promptly vanished.
All else vanished into a blur of action, they were fortuitous with their timing to catch them unprepared such as this, but she was certain that the floors above them would be much harder to bypass, especially given the fact that warnings were likely to have been flooded around the tower because of the horns.
A sword was parried to the side, she stepped close and drove her shoulder into her attacker, slashing up and across, they fell backwards with a deep slash across their chest and red now staining their clothes. She rushed forwards in the instant they touched the ground, falling upon another bandit with the same zeal, slapping the spear out of their clumsy grip and then striking them in the throat with the same hand, the sword piercing through their chest and tossed the body aside.
She ducked under a slash and dropped down, sweeping her leg out and slamming the back of her attackers feet out from beneath them. She turned as they fell sideways and swung upwards with all her might, one body turned into two as the force carried the remains higher and higher until they struck the ceiling.
It had never been quite this easy before, it was concerning.
If she wasn't careful, it would invite arrogance.
Her hesitation nearly cost her, a glint in the corner of her eye and she sidestepped a thrust of a spear, looping an arm around it as it passed just underneath her pit and then locking the limb down, stopping the spear in its tracks. Her left hand shot outwards and clamped down around the wrist of someone bringing an axe down from the other side.
The wrist folded with a crunch as she bent it to the side, the axe slipped from the hand of the man with a pained gasp which almost became a scream. Her sword arm, still looped around the spear, thrust forwards and shattered the shaft of the weapon with a single fluid movement, driving the blade to the hilt in the chest of the man, she twisted the blade and swung out, pulling the blade from the body and back to the spear wielder, opening them up across the collar as she did so.
She turned to the next attacker only to blink as she found herself devoid of targets, the sounds of battle dying down all around her as the ambush trailed off. It had been over swiftly, it was impressive and made her feel a little touch of pride that her students were carrying themselves so well. Briefly catching a glimpse of Ingrid ripping a spear from the head of a corpse and flicking the blood from it.
"Miklan isn't here." The comment from Sylvain drew her gaze to the redhead, his eyes looking over each of the bodies with a frown before a sigh escaped him, his head shook from side to side as he brought it up, there was clear disappointment on his face though she doubted it was because he wanted to be the one to kill him. Probably that there was still more to do.
"The quarters for the commander resided at the summit of the tower, it was also one of the better defended positions, according to information that I studied." Gilbert remarked as he walked forwards, stepping over bodies as he did so and grimacing himself, approaching the doorway to the next set of stairs and poking his head through, bringing it back a moment later. "I would assume that is where Miklan has made his residents. There are several more floors…though I do not believe the floor above us will be anything useful. It appeared as though there was a hole leading into it."
She cut into the conversation. "We were always going to clear the tower, whether Miklan was on the first floor or the top floor. Better to make a clean sweep than leave behind stragglers."
"I'm in agreement with the Professor. Aside from the nature of Miklan's crimes, his allies are all still guilty of preying on the innocents nearby for their own ends." She turned to him, unable to see his face with his back to her, yet she almost thought she heard a growl in his voice as he spoke. "Allowing a single one of them to walk free is unacceptable in the face of all they have done."
His spear was pulled up with a squelch as he turned from the body, flanked by Dedue who remained silent as he stood by the Prince, looking rather unconcerned by the words in the least.
Sylvain nodded his head and waved his hand. "Yeah, I know, I know…Just…I wanted to get Miklan quick before he became a problem." he started to walk forwards to join with the others. "He's always been a bully but he's also been a tough one at that. Don't like the idea of anyone else getting hurt because he's…" he made a strained face and shook his head. "Let's just move."
Holding up her hand, she stopped them as they were moving and turned her attention to Gilbert, approaching the man and coming to a stop behind him. "They will know we are coming by now. We should send the heavy knights in first to punch through the doors."
Gilbert nodded once. "My thoughts exactly." he raised his left hand after placing his shield down and gestured forwards, sidestepping away from the door with her following suit. The heavy footfalls were followed by the thickly armoured tower knights stomping through the doors and heading up the stairs, the first twenty of them passed before she and Gilbert followed suit.
She heard the raised voices up ahead and the sound of striking steel with cries of alarm.
Evidently the next floor was much better protected than the one they ambushed.
He'd been on his feet after the first horn went off, the others that followed just drove the point further into him.
The door was slammed open and fell off its hinges as he strode forwards, clipping the armour to himself as he did so. Scowling openly as he caught sight of the others in the midst of getting dressed as well, though much slower than he was. Whatever pride he might have felt about being better than them was overshadowed by the nature of the situation right now.
"What is going on?" He growled, eyes sweeping around the room and looking for anyone who might give him something useful.
"Boss, we're under attack!"
He stopped what he was doing and shot a look towards the man who had spoken up, they quickly wilted under the weight of his glare. He could tell they were under attack because the attack horn had just gone off. Anyone with a working head would have been able to tell that the weather outside was perfect for launching an attack because it was pissing with rain. That was why he increased the number of patrols in the first place.
"I have ears you dimwit." He snarled at them, further driving them backwards as he moved for the straps around his breastplate and started to fasten then tight. In fact, it was remarkably easy to hold it in place as he did so. Rolling his shoulders once he completed it and moved for his shins. "I want to know who in the valley of torment is attacking us and how many there are!?"
The words bounced across the room, his voice thundering loudly as rage slipped into his words. An absence of sound brought his attention up to see the dozen or so who were in the room had stopped what they were doing and were now staring at him like lost children. He growled at them and waved a hand. "Nevermind! Set up choke points at each of the doors. The stairways are the only way of getting up. Find some of the loose debris or even some barrels and block them up with it."
No, there was something better he could do.
"You!" He pointed to the nearest, a rather ugly looking woman with a split lip paused and turned to him. "Grab the barrel of wine we stole and spill it right down the stairs. Empty the entire thing, the moment you so much as see someone who isn't one of us rush around the corner, set it alight. That'll keep them from coming up."
She moved quickly, understanding what he was asking and rushing off to get the barrel in question.
He was more annoyed now, he had stolen that wine because it was one of the better tasting ones that Gautier had kept, but it seemed now as though he wasn't going to get the chance to enjoy it.
Strapping up the final piece of armour, he rolled his shoulders and felt a savage grin form on his face at how light it all felt. As though he was wearing nothing at all. Turning, he marched back into his quarters and made for the wall, his fingers slipped around the shaft of the weapon and lifted it up, he felt the hum of the spear in his very bones, shuddering through his body as light travelled along the surface of the weapon.
The joints beneath the head started to twitch and click, moving as though they had a life of their own.
A genuine laugh spilled from his lips, each time he looked at it, it never got old.
With a shake of the head, he turned back around and marched into the room, pausing when he caught sight of someone rushing towards him with their hand raised.
"Boss! Paul says it's a whole army who rushed through the main gate!" He frowned at the words now before he mentally scoffed at the idea. There was no way an actual army would have been able to march through without being detected by their scouts, or even without catching sight of them. "Says they moved through into the beds!"
That would be over a third of his fighting force probably dead by now then, caught with their literal fucking trousers down. With a scowl, he turned from the man and clenched his jaw in thought. He'd assume they were kingdom soldiers, which meant they would have the advantage of surprise and skill.
A grin pulled on his lips.
But simple brute force would overcome both of those.
His mind returned to the promise of the arrival, one that he had been waiting for so very long. His hand tightened its hold on the spear, the grin that split his features was as savage as it was excited. He pushed past the people before him and made for the staircase. "All of you, with me to the next floor. We'll make our stand there."
They would need to.
Either they killed their attackers to a man or they would all die.
It was pleasantly simple.
Progress was starting to slow, even she could tell that from her position as she met blades with another attacker, a dark haired man with a scar across his upper lip. The only notable feature about him, stepping back as he went for a headbutt, raising her arm and striking him in the nose with it.
She stepped forwards and brought her sword down, they parried it to the side and recovered from the attack. Avoiding the counter thrust and snapping her hand forwards, grabbing his wrist and twisting as she pulled them past her, rushing forwards as she did so and reversing her sword in her hand, bringing it across slashing through the man as she pulled.
With a flick of the wrist the sword was back in it's regular hold, brought up to block a downwards slash from a sword and braced with the other hand, she shoved back and sent her attacker staggering, unable to take advantage as she snapped her hand up and frowned, an arrow skidded off her skin and above her head leaving a small red gash across the back of her hand.
With a swipe, she thrust her open palm towards them. Fire jumped from her hand and surged across the room, the archer rolled to the side to avoid being caught with the attack. She returned her focus to the swordsman before her, rushing towards them and continuing the assault, the sword was knocked out of position by the third strike, the forth pierced through their throat and was yanked backwards.
A tower knight barged past her, ramming bodily into the next man and slamming them into the ground with a quiet gasp, bringing their boot up as they walked over and stamping down onto the head, raising their shield to block a spear thrust towards themselves. She rushed forwards, driving her sword into the spearman's side and yanking it free with a nod to the knight.
Despite their efforts, they had gotten more organised as time had gone on. Even if they couldn't actually meet them in quality, they could keep the encounters constrained on account of the hallways they were having to clear inch by inch. A drawn out process and if they were smart they would be using this time to set up traps. Bandits could be quite cunning like that when pushed into a corner.
She skated to a halt at the next corner, time flickered as she stepped around and into the open, sure enough she instantly spotted four or so archers with their arrows already nocked and drawn, aimed directly down the hallway for whoever would end up going first. She stepped back around and flickered time, resuming its course.
Her hand came up in a stop gesture, the first one to slow by her side was Dedue. She flicked her fingers up and then pointed around the corner. He nodded once, raising his shield up to cover his face and then stepped forwards and into the open, the sound of steel bouncing off his shield met her ears instantly. Annette followed right behind and thrust her hand forwards, orbs of fire leaping from her and rushing down the hallway, she heard the cries of alarm and scrambling of footsteps.
"Clear these rooms!" Gilbert's voice echoed down the hall behind her as she moved to join the others, crouching behind Dedue as he moved with steady pace.
Both she and Annette popping out from behind the tanned man and throwing out spells to keep the archers off balance, she caught the moment she struck one of them in the leg with one of the orbs. The man let out a panicked cry and fell backwards, slapping his hands against his now burning knee to put the flames out. He'd dropped his bow in the meantime.
A door to her left swung open as they passed it, she turned to see a man jump out of the now open chamber and towards them, thrusting a spear as he did so, Annette was closest and froze up the moment she found herself the target of the attack. Her hand rushed towards the back of the girls shirt and snaked hold of it, already pulling her backwards and to the side to avoid the thrust.
She needn't have bothered.
The crook of an axe hooked around the spear and dragged it to the side and way off course, a shape blurred past and was followed by a wet crunch as Gilbert appeared, slamming the ridge of his shield into the head of the man and driving it into the doorway, yanking it back with a wet squelch and a thud as it fell backwards.
His eyes snapped onto the pair of them with wide orbs before he composed himself once more, resuming his walk and coming up beside Dedue with his shield raised. Only stopping to call back a couple of words to them. "Be careful, more may be in hiding in these next doors."
He was right, that had been her own little blunder there.
Another tower knight moved past, joining Dedue and Gilbert and completing the advancing wall of steel. She turned around and waved to the others, pointing to either side of the hallway and the doors they were passing by. They got the message and started to systematically kick the doors inwards.
Dimitri walked forwards and flat out punched the door right off its hinges, marching into the room where a scream was cut off a moment later, reappearing with a splatter of blood on his face and an expression devoid of emotion as he silently moved onto the next door and repeated the same process.
Shaking her head, she turned back around and moved up behind the knights, her hand tapped against Dedue's shoulder twice. Without a word, he stepped back and allowed herself and Annette to poke their hands through the gaps, just enough time to fire off a single spell before the young man stepped forwards and filled the breach once more. All the while she could hear the thuds of arrows against the front of the shield wall, glancing down and stepping to the side to avoid another which skated right past her feet.
"Eyes down and watch for ricochets." The warning was passed back to the others as she turned back around to march in step behind the wall once more.
Moving out of the opening every few moments to unleash a ball of fire before retreating back. She knew for a fact they would be running out of hallway soon and according to Gilbert there would only be a couple more floors left after this, with no sign of Miklan and the Lance of Ruin so far, she would assume they were as Gilbert said and residing on the upper floors.
Rather foolish, the best chance would have been for him to come down and lead from the front given that she would assume him to be the most skilled member of this group, he'd probably been teaching them given that the skill of these bandits was a touch higher than she was normally used to dealing with. They would have been good enough to be a low tier mercenary unit. They probably would have had greater longevity if they stuck to that as well.
Pity, really. No helping it though.
"They are in full retreat." Gilbert's voice echoed from up ahead, the wall broke formation and allowed her to see the bandits sprinting up and through a doorway ahead of them, only just catching a glimpse of the spiral staircase before the door was slammed shut and the familiar noise of a bolt being latched echoed through the stone corridor.
"Dimitri." She called behind her, already moving forwards and towards the door, she could just about hear the clatter of footsteps receding up the stairs as she drew closer to the door, either her senses were getting better or they weren't all that quiet. Probably a mixture of the two, either way she wouldn't have to immediately prepare herself to fight someone.
The blonde appeared at her side, the pair of them marching towards the door. A single look towards him was all the instruction he needed from her. With a nod of the head, he slipped the silver lance onto the holster on his back and rolled his shoulders, bringing up his knuckles and cracking each one before he moved just ahead of her towards the door.
He came to a stop in front of it and took in a deep breath, his pulling his right arm backwards and visibly shifted his stance before he swung forwards, his fist impacted the wooden door and carried right on through, splintering wood and shuddering the barricade as he made contact with it. A moment later, he exhaled with a deep groan of effort as he pulled. There was perhaps a few seconds of strained effort before the hinges shrieked in protest and came loose, bolts were pulled from the door with a clatter of metal soon following.
Dimitri stepped backwards and whipped his arm to the side, tossing the door away from himself as he did so and shaking his fist a few times as though he'd just bumped it against something. The blonde reached back up, unlatching the spear before he took a single step forwards-
"Not before the knights." She called out, he stopped midway through the step and turned around to face her, for a brief moment she thought he might argue. He caught himself and nodded his head up and down, silently taking a step to the side and out of the way of the tower knights now moving on the door.
"An impressive display of brute strength, but I would say the boy has proven himself to be a touch…over-eager so far."
The comment by Sothis filtered through the back of her mind, she tuned out what was happening around her for the brief moment and glanced towards Dimitri stood at the side, between the moving shapes of knights she focused on his expression. The clear impatience where he looked as though he desperately wanted to just break ranks and rush up the stairs. Then there was the sharpness in his eyes that was not there normally, like he was in some sort of trance.
Sothis was right, he was a bit invested in what should have otherwise been a routine mission. Though perhaps it was because of the theft of the Lance and he was just eager to get it back for the Kingdom?
"A possible explanation to be sure." The agreement from Sothis felt more like an acknowledgment than an actual way of saying she was right. "Though I am certain it is not the true one. This is not the first time the boy has expressed an excitability in the less than civilised means of confrontation with others."
She was right on that account as well.
Nothing at first but now she was starting to get a sense of it, he was becoming a touch more savage and brutal.
Boar Prince.
Her eyes narrowed just a touch.
She never did ask why Felix called Dimitri that, perhaps it was finally worth asking him-
Her nose flared, she caught the scent a second before she jumped back and opened her mouth to let out a cry of alarm to the others behind her. The brief glow from the steps was followed by a stream of flames rushing down towards them, blasting through the doorway and rushing over the knight who had just moved in front of her, the man let out a shout as he fell backwards and rolled away.
Shouts of alarm and cries of pain rang out above her, a stream of knights came stampeding back out of the doorway and into the corridors with licks of fire chasing after them and a vaguely fruity smell. Her eyes narrowed, the thick scent of wine clung into the air. So that was what they had done, a smart enough little plan and not one she could really plan for ahead of time but worth knowing all the same.
A shattering of glass.
The world moved in reverse, the knights rushed back into the stairs and right the way past them. She held her ground as all of it happened, her own body returning to the place it had been prior to all that happened before it cut loose. Just after Dimitri had been told to step to the side. She moved forwards and into the doorway, looking over her shoulder towards the others and then looking back towards the others, finding the person she needed.
"Mercedes." The woman blinked at being called out, then managed to push her away through all the others until she was coming towards her. Eventually halting right next to her and tilting her head slightly to the side. Byleth gestured to the stairwell. "Blow a cold stream right up the staircase. Cold as you can for as long as you can."
Mercedes blinked once again "I…I'm not all that skilled in that sort of magic, Professor. I've only attempted it a few times-"
"It's fine." She reassured the girl. "Just do your best."
With that said, Mercedes took a single step forwards and then held her palms out in front of herself, closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath before opening them up. A visible stream of frozen water surged upwards, frost crept up the staircase and around the corner, clinging to the walls and marching upwards while showing no sign of stopping, the seconds ticked past as beads of sweat started to form on the brow of the young woman.
She waited a bit longer, then reached out and placed her hand on the shoulder of the platinum blonde, they let out a sigh and nodded their head, stepping backwards as they did so and ending the spell. Examining the stairwell, it would be unusable like this without someone slipping over but she could just about sort that sort of thing out with a couple of spells of her own. Either way, it looked like a tundra and any wine that was either coating the stairs or at the top of the stairs would have been frozen as well.
"Professor." Gilbert's voice behind her, she turned as the knight approached with a bemused frown on his face. "Might I inquire as to what sort of strategy this is?"
"Could smell wine." She jerked her thumb to the stairwell. "Wine catches fire.
The man understood a moment later. "I see. A most devious trap all the same and one we might have walked right into. Yes…I recall there being a short mention of wine theft from the Gautier manner at the time during the incident but I would have assumed them all to have drunk it the first night." he brought his hand up and rubbed his chin.
"Most would have done." She admitted, that's what she would have thought if she had been told about it. Not a lot of people would think about using a barrel of wine as some sort of exploding trap but it would seem Miklan was a touch smarter than the average thug. She supposed it must have come with his birth, he was the son of a Noble and had been educated. "Could be nothing but why take the risk?"
"Why indeed." Gilbert rumbled with a nod of the head, turning his eyes to the stairwell. "Though we shall need to melt our way through now. Unless you have some solution to this sort of conundrum?"
She had a plan for that.
"Annette." She called out, almost missing the way the man locked up for a half second as the younger girl walked around the side of him, her own eyes lingering on him for a moment before she brought her focus to Byleth herself. "We're going to melt the ice with fire."
The girl nodded her head.
"Mercedes. We need a gentle breeze from behind."
Another hum of affirmation
"Steam will flush it out." She explained, this was the sort of thing she knew about through having seen before. Both she and the redhead assumed their places at the base of the steps and held their palms out, the circles formed around their fingers before they glowed a brilliant orange, flames rushed forwards and without any ounce of control, surging straight into the stairs with a hiss, the strong wind rushed for behind her and carried the hot mist upwards, already she could see the frost melt as the temperature climbed higher and higher in the staircase.
It would probably take some time but they had nothing but time on their side, unless there was something she was missing there was nowhere else for Miklan to go at this point as they had the tower surrounded. He was effectively trapped and with most of his forces already dead.
It was just a matter of cleaning up the last of them and by the explanations she knew of, a Relic would not work without the matching Crest.
Her ears strained, gasps of alarm filtered down from the top of the stairs as whomever had been near them suddenly took a face full of superheated steam. It probably wouldn't be very pleasant for them. Water was rushing past her feet now, through the blurs of vapour she could see the melting ice and frost on the staircase.
She stopped, holding up her hands to the others and signalling for them to stop as well. With a final gust of wind, Mercedes blasted the remainder of the steam right up and into the face of whomever else would have been up there. Byleth was already moving up the stairs with the gale force right behind her, moving three steps with each stride and bounding up as fast as she could.
Rounding a corner, she caught sight of a brown barrel and reacted on instinct, holstering the sword of the Creator on her back and jumping up the final set of steps, her hands flew forwards and snagged the top and bottom of the wooden barrel and lifted upwards, hoisting it above her head and looking for even the slightest sign of movement, she caught it in the form of a woman stumbling away with bright red skin and grabbing at her face, likely the victim of the steam oven.
Good enough.
She stepped forwards and swung the barrel down onto the woman, it exploded with a shower of red liquid and splashed over herself and her target, they were knocked down the ground and with a swift freeing of her sword and thrust downwards, she ensured that they were dead. Her head snapped up and searched out the next of the targets, this room was a touch wider and filled with tables, candles and lanterns., boxes lined the walls.
This was their mess hall.
Good enough.
She sprinted forwards, cutting through a man before he could even react to her and swung her hand beneath the headrest of a chair, yanking it up and hurling it across the room like an arrow, ignoring the shattering of wood as she was already in the middle of a turn, parrying aside a thrust and ducking beneath a slash at the same time.
Her foot stomped down on her first attacker's boot, she reversed the sword and drove the pommel of the nose of the second. Her head slammed into the first as they leaned forwards to let out a cry of pain, something crunched against her forehead. Her free hand clamped down around the back of his head and dragged him, throwing the first into the second and then thrusting her sword through the pair of them before yanking it free.
A scuffle behind her heralded the arrival of the reinforcements, sure enough Dimitri sounded as though he was the first one through if the rapid footfalls was any indication and the deep growl like a beast. She couldn't chance a look though, but she didn't need to as a shout was accompanied by an entire table going flying over her head and crashing down into the row of defenders.
Dimitri followed in like a storm, sending bodies flying the moment he was in the midst of them. It was almost disturbing how easy he made throwing a grown man through the air, especially since she hadn't actually seen the full extent of his strength.
They were dealing with the last few dregs though, if there was any further resistance left it would be above them in the final room which - to her knowledge - was the planning room and the commander's quarters. Unless Miklan would lead them all down here right now, that wasn't-
"Wait…something is…something is wrong here I…" Sothis voice whispered through her mind, briefly distracting her that she almost missed the slash. She skipped back to avoid it, responding with a palm strike to the face. They staggered backwards and retaliated with another swipe, this one she blocked the sword, locking the hilt around the blade and reversing her grip, thrusting downwards and dragging both weapons down as she drove the blade into the foot of the man.
She leaned forwards, pushing the blade into the right angle and then pulling it upwards and right into their chin. Teeth went flying, soon followed by blood as she whipped the blade up and carved them open across the chest. Their body fell backwards as her mind returned to Sothis words, internally frowning at how strained and worried she sounded at this point.
"Something is coming and I…wait…this presence…I know it but I can't…I can't remember…I-"
The doors at the far end of the room burst open, and burst in the sense of a bubble. They just erupted in a wave of splinters and bent steel from the hinges, she brought up her hand to protect her eyes as she felt the debris bounce off her, then whipped her arm down and narrowed her gaze as a shape moved out from the cloud of dust, a crunch of footsteps and the clanking of armour.
Yet her eyes lingered on something else.
The glow of orange, the spear with a rounded base and a short head, running a short distance down the shaft were protrusions that looked as though they were made from teeth at different angles, chittering as they infrequently moved at different speeds.
The man stepped out of the cloud and into the open, bright red hair with a nasty scar coming across from the top right of his forehead and down to his left cheek, hardened brown eyes and rough cut features, a scowl on his face as his eyes swept about the room. Dressed in worn down thick plate armour, she would assume this was Miklan.
But she was focused on one other detail.
Why was the Lance of Ruin active?
And why did she feel so uneasy all of a sudden.
His eyes landed on her and narrowed. "You…Who-no…what are you?"
Plan in theory: "Distract their targeting, confuse their senses, disrupt lines with intimidation."
Plan in reality: "Leeeeeeeeroy Jeeenkins!"