Chapter 118: Battle of Eagle and Lion (IV)
His body ached in ways it had not done so before.
Pain from points it had never done so before.
The experience was as informative as it was unwelcome, it is the thought that dominates the back of his mind as he leans against the tree, watching the others filter through the woods and crouch down, lowering their forms until they were concealed in the brush to the best of their abilities.
They would not linger though, Goetia knew that.
It was risky with the mass of the Blue Lions now marching for their location.
A few spells of healing and he could feel the pain recede, the bruises cover themselves in fresh skin and the fractures click back into place. For himself and for the others as well, but he could not cure exhaustion with the spells of Fodlan. Merely heal the bodies, they would remain as tired now as they were when the fighting ended.
"An impressive display against the Golden Deer."
He broke the silence first, glancing for Edelgard, Dorothea and Caspar.
Because that was all who remained of their class at this point, with Petra and Linhardt defeated during the battle while Hubert, Bernadetta and Ferdinand were left behind to delay the Blue Lions for as long as they could, their class had been reduced to a grand total of three.
Caspar having sported a particularly foul looking black eye before the healing spells blanketed him. Earning a thankful nod of the boy.
Edelgard looked across towards him, a short silence followed as he waited to see how she would respond to the compliment. She rolled her lips and then nodded her head once, speaking her mind after a second more. "Am I to assume this is where you say it was the expected result?"
"...I expected victory, this is true." Goetia did not see reason to lie to them. "Had you fallen against the Golden Deer despite receiving my personal training, I would have been displeased…but I had not anticipated Lysithea and Leonie making such calculated moves. It was an intriguing tactic which could well have spelt defeat. You surpassed them."
"You helped." Was the swift rebuttal. "Was it not you who directly engaged several students and Catherine herself? We are thankful that they prioritised you over us."
Goetia hummed but said nothing in response to that.
Once again, they were correct.
But in truth, there were few alternatives for the Golden Deer. Had they elected to ignore him, he would have decimated their forces with trivial ease, despite his hampered nature at current. Truly, there were few correct choices to have been made and he would provide them with the credit they were due.
It had been a close victory.
But a victory all the same.
"Enough of that for now." Edelgard straightened, a brief wince crossed her face as she adjusted her seating posture. Leaning back onto the tree behind her for support and narrowing her eyes to the distance. Her long silence indicated thought, then she spoke with no less confidence than when the battle had first commenced. "We need to defeat the Blue Lions now."
Goetia watched her and hummed.
He approved of the optimism.
Rather, it was a welcome sight of familiarity.
Almost…
…Would this be called nostalgic?
Something nudged his arm, he turned and glanced down, meeting the eyes of Dorothea as she leaned towards him, he angled his head to hear her better. She wasted little time in pushing herself up and towards him.
"You've got a tiny little smile, you know?"
He stopped, then forcibly straightened his features.
A conscious effort, he jerked back and looked down at the brunette, pinching his brows tight and dragging his lips into a frown. Dorothea gazed back, unrepentant and perhaps looking a touch saddened by the sudden loss of the supposed smile. But he would not be so easily baited into her words.
She doubtless sought some sense of levity.
A grunt rippled in the back of his throat, his head turned away from her and towards Edelgard once again, patiently awaiting her to formulate some manner of plan.
But it was clear to him that her optimism was not quite so universal, he could spy the expressions on the faces of the remaining knights. Some looked rather strained while others looked resigned. There was a defeatism about them, as if they were merely waiting for the final performance to play out so that they could end this.
It was grating for him to see.
His fingers curled into a fist, nails bit down hard into the palm of his hand and sent flashes of pain across his skin. It was a sensation that grounded him, tearing him from the annoyance of those who lacked the conviction and brought only disappointment that he had expected something from them.
Yet there was something else.
He tried to avoid it, but it was there.
Why was he disappointed in their lack of stupidity?
These knights were pushing forwards only because of their orders, it was clear they saw defeat as an inevitability, for some of them, at least. Others still held onto some strange sense of hope, but those were few and far between of the fourteen who remained on their side.
A grand total of eighteen - including Goetia and the students - against Byleth and however many of hers remained.
He would be disappointed in the performance of her if she had lost more than fifteen against Ferdinand and his allies.
The contradiction was buried as Edelgard turned her eyes onto him, they squinted for a moment and her lips went thin. Drawn tight over her features before she leaned forwards, looking at him and then quickly darting out her tongue, it wet her dry lips as she straightened rather suddenly.
"You were teleported with a rescue spell."
Goetia nodded his head. "A rather unorthodox use, yes. I made similar applications of it."
"You can cast it repeatedly."
Another nod of the head, this time without words.
They knew how skilled he was already, pointing out the obvious was beneath them all by this point.
"...How swiftly can you cast it?"
Now that was a question worth asking.
"It is a spell based on individual, rather than groups." Goetia admitted with a frown. "Depending on the proximity, I could transport a maximum of two individuals but no more than that. As for the speed of the casting, there would be an approximate interval time of two-point-five seconds between them. With a margin for error of zero-point-seven."
Caspar made a noise like some sort of excited animal, he did not look at the boy.
"Oh! Are you going to teleport us to fight them when their backs are turned?"
Now Goetia turned and looked at him.
It was an intriguing idea.
…He was just bewildered by the origin of it.
"I am, yes." Edelgard announced, confirming that Caspar's usual brand of dimwittedness had inadvertently allowed him to stumble across a credible idea. Though Goetia would be counting down the weeks until the boy managed to accomplish such a thing twice. "Though we would need to be swift with nearly three seconds…and precise."
Edelgards teeth pressed down onto her lower lip, her eyes glanced to the side and she brought her hand up, gripping her chin and holding it as her mind whirled with methods to make the idea practical.
Goetia left her to that, instead he glanced over to where Dorothea was still standing with some of the other knights by his side and stepped towards them.
"What is your current state of exhaustion?"
He did not bother asking for the injuries, he knew they would be well.
"Winded." Dorothea responded quickly, very clearly masking her tiredness with a strained smile, but it was difficult to avoid having his attention drawn to the faint wavering in her posture. Nor the way her eyelids twitched up and down. "I think I used a bit too much strength in those spells against Professor Manuela."
"You defeated her." He pointed out with a nod of the head. "...Regardless of my impressions, she remained a Professor still. I would assume she boasted of some…passing competency in magical application."
A small huff escaped the brunette as she shook her head. "Passing competency…yes…she was quite good…I'm not sure how many more spells I might be worth. Perhaps one or two…three if I truly pushed myself but I would be quite useless after that."
Goetia frowned. "Are you capable of utilising your hands?"
He received a slow blink, then a raised brow. "...Gotie. Do I look like the sort of girl who would throw punches and kicks?"
"Beauty is not an indication of martial skill, or lack thereof." He responded with, nearly frowning at the naivety of her words. Ignoring the brief blink of surprise of the stares that were now directed at him for some odd reason. "I would encourage learning some manner of self defence once we return to the monastery in the future. It would serve you well enough for situations such as these."
He allowed a moment for the words to settle, then continued on, frowning as he spoke.
"In ideal circumstances, you would have already learned these skills, but that is perhaps my own fault for assuming differently. An oversight. You would have hardly been able to practise such skills within the bounds of my training-"
"Torture."
"..." He levelled her with a disappointed look. "Training."
Dorothea was not smiling at him, instead she was giving him a look one would have expected to find on a corpse. Eyes glazed over and skin a sickly pale. "It was torture, Gotie."
"...The version you fought was weakened." Stressing the word did not seem to dissuade her of that belief.
With a click of the tongue, he directed his attention away from her and towards the knights, he stepped towards them and swept his eyes over them. Four of them were clearly warriors, the final one was a mage, given who they seemed so uncomfortable in their own armour. Routinely picking away at the straps on their vambraces.
The first of the knights seemed more confident than the others, his hand reached up and gripped his helm, pulling it upwards and showing off a bit of his face. Enough to reveal the stubbles of grey and lines spread across his skin, matched with piercing brown eyes and matty black hair pressed against his brow.
"You need something?"
Goetia watched the man for a moment, then angled his head. "Would you be inclined to provide a truthful assessment of the battlefield thus far?"
The knight gave a slow blink before he glanced at the others around him, their full plated helms concealed their faces from him - save for the mage who still looked to their armour as if that was more important than his question - and then he turned back to Goetia and let out a short sigh.
"I think that anything can happen…" A short pause, then he glanced down at Goetia and made a face that he could not quite comprehend.
A mixture of pain and incredulousness.
"What about you?"
"What of me?"
"...I watched you get kicked in the dick."
Dead silence.
"...I fail to see the relevance."
"...Are you alright?"
"I am experiencing no lasting pain."
"...Looked like it hurt."
"..."
Grimacing, the knight leaned back and turned his head, facing one of his peers and hissing towards them, low and angry. "I told you it was a stupid thing to ask them. Now can you drop it?"
The knight in question just shrugged their shoulders and provided no words.
Clicking his tongue, the man turned back to him and sighed. "Maybe we'll win, maybe we won't. I didn't think we'd beat Lady Catherine but…well…here we are…"
"...I believe that I was the one responsible for a majority of the work."
Dorothea sighed behind him and he felt a hand land on his shoulder, he glanced at the limb out of the corner of his eye, but made no attempt to remove it.
"Gotie. Let's agree that it was a team effort."
It was not a team effort.
He did the majority of the work and he was the one suffering the blows so that the Black Eagles would not have to. Had he not been there, Catherine would have doubtless torn a path through the knights and defeated the students who happened to inadvertently cross her path.
"...You may hold whatever belief that you wish, if that should satisfy you."
He was not going to argue with the delusional.
Dorothea was excluded from the list, however, as she was clearly trying to pander to the aforementioned.
Regardless of the opinions of the foolish, there was still some work to be done.
Whether it rewarded them with success or failure now depended on how determined they were.
A sigh drew his eyes, Dorothea stepped closer to one of the tree trunks and pressed her hand flat against it, leaning forwards and closing her eyes. He watched her for a moment, reading her emotions clear as day.
The exhaustion was radiating off her like warmth from a flame.
He frowned and stepped towards her, she did not immediately react to his presence, but he determined that she knew he was now within range of her whispering. Given the way she angled her face towards him slightly, speaking a moment later.
"Something the matter?"
Goetia watched her, then spoke. "That is a question I believe to be better suited for yourself. This is already a situation that has pushed you outside of your comfort zone. I am merely curious as to how far you can stretch yourself before exhaustion."
She turned on him, her lips pulled into a small smile. "My, is that concern I hear in your voice, Gotie?"
"I am drawing comparisons between yourself and-"
"And your old lover-"
"We were not-!" He snapped back only to catch himself, then glanced around and noticed that his raised voice had drawn more than a few eyes towards them. He felt his expression twist in ways it had never done before, a glare at them sent them back to whatever they wanted, he whipped his eyes back to Dorothea and dared her to laugh at him.
She did not laugh, but her smile remained, a touch wider than before.
The urge to click his tongue was barely fought down, his voice remained at a forced calm. "Refrain from turning the experience into a jest to alleviate your own stress. I share a connection with him, but it was certainly nothing like that."
"Mmmh." She made a sound as if she was just humouring him, he huffed and turned away from her.
Infuriating.
She truly could be infuriating at times.
"...Your imagined world aside." He disliked the way her smile widened a bit more. "Yes, Fujimaru was nothing more than an ordinary individual but I am…quickly coming to the conclusion that not everyone can meet his expectations. That is to say…do not try and force yourself into positions you cannot manage."
Dorothea raised a brow at him, then chuckled. "I'm rather sure I can't be as good as your old…"
His eyes narrowed at the silence, Dorothea gave nought but an innocent smile.
But her eyes betrayed her, as did her emotions.
They both knew what she was doing.
"...enemy." She finished. "But at least you're giving me an excuse for when I get knocked flat on my back…promise that you'll be by my side and nurse me back to health?"
He stared at her. "If you are so grievously wounded that you require immediate medical attention, then I can take up the matter of healing you myself. Should I be otherwise unavailable, Flayn can manage in my stead. She is a healer that I can levy some trust towards."
His response did not garner an immediate reply.
Merely a short sigh as the brunette leaned back and rolled her eyes, giving him some strange look that seemed bordering pitying, but not close enough that he felt annoyed by it. It was as if she was telling him he had missed some context within the words.
"...Why are you determined to win, anyway?" Dorothea inquired, angling her head. "Edie I can understand, same as everyone else…but I wager that you came here to test Lysithea, right?"
Credit where it was due, Dorothea was correct in some aspects.
"I have taken upon myself the role of aiding the Black Eagles finding victory." He explained. "Testing Lysithea was indeed an objective of mine, but do not be so concerned that I will abandon you now that it has been completed. I should have made it abundantly clear by now that I was aiming for a victory, in much the same capacity as the rest of your class."
A soft chuckle. "I might have figured that…"
Her smile turned smaller, but it felt more genuine.
Her emotions were…clearer than before, pure.
Gratitude.
That was what he felt.
"I just wanted to hear you say it though." She continued, then straightened and smiled. "I think it sounds much more comforting when someone comes out and tells you that they are going to have your back."
Goetia kept silent.
His eyes peeled away from her and towards Edelgard, watching the girl speak with some of the remaining knights, then she looked over and waved her hand, beckoning him to come over and join them.
"Perhaps." He admitted to Dorothea as he turned and stepped away, "Though I am also of the belief that some things should be so obvious that they need not be said at all…Was my resolve to aid your class ever perceived to be in doubt?"
It was a strange thing to ask.
He would have assumed that the Black Eagles would have acknowledged all the effort he was putting in to training them and formed the conclusion on their own. Even by this point, it seemed peculiar to bring it up now.
Unless they believed that he would not struggle until the end.
He would.
"...No, it wasn't." Dorothea replied behind him, her voice barely above a whisper. "I'm glad you decided to help us."
"Your words contain a hint of defeat within them." He replied back, not accusing.
Simply curious.
It was…vexing that they were faced with such trivial odds and yet held defeat within them.
Dorothea might not have been equal to Fujimaru Ritsuka, even he could tell that at a glance, but he would have hoped for the same level of resolve within her when it came to victory. Even in the most mundane tasks, the ones that he would have dismissed as madness or simple self-torture.
Fujimaru never backed down.
"I think I'm being realistic." Dorothea hummed back to him, then sighed. "But it's nothing against you, just that…well…you have to admit, the situation isn't exactly all that good at the moment, is it?"
"No." He would grant her that. "But until we have lost, there is always the chance of victory."
They were close enough now that Edelgard had heard his words, he could tell as much by the raised eyebrow she sent his way, then to the curious look she aimed at Dorothea before shaking her head and folding her arms.
"I have formed a plan that I believe is our best chance." She began, then made eye contact with him. "...It should go without saying, but we will be relying on you to keep the Professor busy while we enact it."
Goetia angled his head. "I assumed as much…but doing so would remove me from rendering aid to you against the Blue Lions."
Edelgard met his eyes and did not back down.
"Defeating the Professor is not our mission." She began, not even blinking as she parroted the words he had spoken to her. "Defeating the Blue Lions is. True, you will be removed…but so too will the Professor."
He searched her expression for any sign of weakness.
He found none.
She was convinced of whatever plan she had formulated and was going to stand with it, whether they won or lost in the outcome.
"Very well." Goetia rumbled. "Let us hear it."
They had managed to catch the tail end of the battle, but nothing more.
All they had really seen was the Golden Deer retreating in force after being defeated while the remnants of the Black Eagles charged into the woods and then vanished into the treeline, she assumed they would have pushed further in but wouldn't break cover just yet.
The Black Eagles would probably use this chance to rest and recover, the Golden Deer had given them a definitive beating, even if they hadn't lost by the end of it.
Byleth caught sight of Dimitri's frown and approached the boy, his eyes were still locked on the distant treeline, not noticing her until she was practically upon him.
Even then, it wasn't until she had her training dagger pressed against his neck and his eyes going wide at her that he even noticed. The pair of them stared at one another for a few seconds, then she removed the dagger and slipped it back into the sheath.
"Dead." She bluntly announced. "You didn't notice me approaching. I could have been an assassin."
Dimitri stared at her in shock for a moment, then moved his free hand up and rubbed at his neck for a moment, eyeing her warily before shooting a wry smile her way. "I would bring up the fact we are surrounded by knights and at the front of the army…but I can already tell you would have some answer in the form of disguises?"
Good, he was learning.
She nodded all the same, then turned her eyes to the same direction and kept them there.
"You are concerned about the outcome of the battle?"
"Claude caught them in a trap and they defeated him." Dimitri replied quickly, rolling his jaw from side to side and taking in a short breath. "Goetia's presence cannot account for that victory alone. Edelgard and the Black Eagles have fought us tooth and nail to get even through their initial starting zone."
He turned and waved behind them.
"We outnumbered them, but I cannot help but feel anxious towards this."
"Good." She nodded again, then turned and met his eyes fully. "Never lower your guard until the enemy is destroyed. Black Eagles are proving to be dangerous. Do not underestimate them."
Dimitri made a face, then shook his head. "I tried not to, but I did not envision this…I had believed I knew how Edelgard thought, but then she pulled a trick that would have made Claude proud and now…"
Byleth hummed.
He had gotten complacent, but at least he was aware of it.
"What do you want to do then?"
She watched him and waited, his expression relayed anxiousness.
Then he gave a single nod of the head and turned to face her. "We march forwards, shield's and spears to the front. If they hide in the woods, we will need to expose them. Though forcing them out of the woods is not our objective. We need to keep them contained in such a place where they cannot risk using destructive spells, out of fear of setting their surroundings ablaze."
She nodded and stepped back.
It was his plan to formulate, she would simply let it play out.
See if he truly understood what she had taught him.
He moved back and then raised his hand. "Cavalry, to the front. We'll flank around the forest and then catch them. Try and box them in."
It sounded similar to the Golden Deers plan, but she knew there would be more to it than that.
For one thing, he was accounting for the mages and removing their ability to use fire spells.
Good.
The air and frost spells were another matter entirely, but any advantage was still and advantage.
"Move-"
He cut himself short.
Byleth saw his eyes widen in both alarm and surprise, she was halfway through turning when she heard the noise clear as day. It was a sharp sound which cut across the silence and seemed to drown out all other noises.
A horn.
She turned and stared at the forest, allowing herself only a single blink to express her surprise.
The shadows emerged from the edge of the forest, entering the daylight with a steady step in their movements. It was a steady but confident march of the remnants of the Black Eagles, filtering out of the forest one by one and forming a thin line, a row of what remained of their forces.
A clear mismatch, the students themselves all stood at the forefront of the group, even at the distance Byleth could see that they numbered perhaps a dozen, it could have possibly been more, but nothing close to the number of Blue Lions.
It was a bizarre action.
She spotted him quickly, perhaps instantly, walking side by side with Edelgard, golden hair fluttering in the faint breeze.
Goetia gazed down and met her eyes at the incredible distance, she knew they were looking right at one another.
The Black Eagles were still marching towards them, having not slowed their walk as they emerged from the shrubbery.
It was a move that spoke of madness, meeting their troops in a frontal assault.
Either desperation, or planning.
She was sure of the latter.
Goetia was confident, that was for sure, but she would have never called him stupid or reckless when it came to fighting. While she knew less of Edelgard, the words of Dimitri did not paint her as someone who would resort to a tactic like this unless there was something else at play.
Unorthodox.
She was intrigued.
What sort of plan was this?
She was wary, that much was certain, but there was a sense of expectation about them now. She was hoping for something that would startle her. It would serve as a teachable moment for the Blue Lions if the Black Eagles formulated a plan which put them on the defensive.
Alternatively, it would teach them that cornered individuals will fight harder than any others when they are determined not to surrender.
Sothis sent a wave of exasperation through her mind, she could feel the Goddess roll her eyes.
Byleth mentally glanced back at her and raised a brow in expectation, unsure of where the Goddess was finding the problem with her thoughts. Surely Sothis could understand the direction that she was coming from.
Silence was the reply.
With a mental twitch, she turned away from Sothis and back towards the Black Eagles marching towards them. The closer they got, the more definitively she could see their members. Her eyes glanced down to one thing in particular, she could feel Sothis rouse slightly, clearly seeing the exact same thing she was seeing.
It was a rather…unusual sight.
That being, clenched in Goetia's hand, was the definite shape of an axe.
He was wielding an axe.
The first thought was whether Goetia had lost so much magical energy that he needed an axe to begin with, but she very quickly dismissed that.
The second thought was whether he even knew how to swing a weapon in the first place, she had never seen him use them.
He could clearly throw a punch, but that was the extent of his physical skills, as far as she had actually seen.
So for him to be wielding an axe was giving her a level of concern.
"Form up!" Dimitri's voice carried rather far, she leaned away from him ever so slightly as he bellowed directly into her ear. Not that he probably realised what he was doing, but he was quite a bit louder than her father was when it came to shouting. Not by much, but definitely louder all the same.
A rumble of moving bodies behind her and the clank of metal.
She allowed herself to step back into the line of the forces, either side of herself and Dimitri, the infantry stepped forwards and fell into place with them. A clatter of spears lowering down as she heard, over all of that, the creak of bowstrings being pulled tight, the ruffle of mages preparing themselves.
They had more archers and mages than infantry now.
But they still outnumbered the Black Eagles by a good deal.
That was what her mind was coming back to again and again, the numbers advantage.
How would she solve that?
Separating them into smaller and more manageable groups was a start, but then that would rely on fighting repeated battles again and again and again. At current, she could not see a feasible way for Goetia and Dorothea to manage something of that scale, perhaps if they had some more mages present. They might well have done, the disguises were quite convincing.
The second plan was catching them by surprise, sowing as much chaos into their ranks as possible and taking advantage to deal out considerable damage before retreating and preparing to do the same again. Hit and run tactics, traps, distance focused combat.
Byleth ran through the scenarios.
They were all possible.
"Archers." Dimitri commanded, the creak of bowstrings got louder, then they snapped at the next word. "Loose!"
Whistling shot over her head a second later, she glanced up to see the dozen or so arrows sailing through the air and towards the Black Eagles, of course not even a moment later, a couple ward spells formed up in front of them, the arrows harmlessly bounced off the front of them, even if those behind had raised their shields as well.
The ward spells came down and the Black Eagles continued their march, at a faster pace this time. Not quite a run, but a jog.
Byleth pinched her brows.
This was desperate.
No, it couldn't be that.
Something else was happening here that she couldn't quite see.
Goetia broke away from the others and moved into a run.
She blinked.
It wasn't just a run, it was a charge, he was bounding towards them with speed that she would have been impressed with if she wasn't alarmed with the origin of it. Her eyes swung onto the Black Eagles just behind him, they were starting to move faster but were still moving slower than Goetia.
Another whistle of arrows flew overhead.
The Black Eagles raised their shields or formed spells.
Goetia did neither, he just powered through and managed to avoid being caught in the arrows.
The distance had closed.
He was ten or so metres from them now.
She stepped forwards and broke away from the line, raising her sword up in challenge and pointing it towards him. Even then, there was something at the back of her mind telling her that this was wrong. That there was something else at play here she couldn't quite see.
It was an instant.
She spotted it out of the corner of her eye, a flash of light at the front of the Black Eagles lines, a pillar stretched up from nowhere and consumed a couple of the fighters and then vanished.
Byleth stopped only for an instant before her mind clicked.
A rescue spell.
But then where would it-
Right behind her, she heard the roar she would associate with Caspar, then a heavy crunch like metal striking metal and a cry of pain from someone. She did not turn, but she knew others had done so, the flashes of light came one after another, the entire front of the Black Eagles vanished within ten or so seconds, and she heard the battle forming right behind her.
Where their fighters were decidedly not facing.
With the sole exception of one.
Goetia stopped, reeled his arm back, and then swung it forwards.
The axe sailed through the air as nothing more than a clumsy lump of metal, he had the power and the range, but not the accuracy or the skill. It was a small relief, she supposed, that there were some things she could certainly beat him at. All the same, she stepped forwards and into the path of the axe.
A twist of the sword slapped the weapon out of the air and onto the ground, a rattle of the sword and a clap of steel. She met the eyes of Goetia as he jumped. He pushed off the ground and into the air, his lone arm coiling backwards and his fingers curling into a fist. The distance between them was not so great that he couldn't clear it.
She prepared herself for-
It was a jerked motion.
A brief flash of light whited her eyes and then an impact registered against her skin, her eyes widened as she stared at the tanned fist pressing down into her jaw and forcing her head to the side.
Something happened.
Either Goetia pulled her closer or he teleported himself closer, it didn't matter much.
She turned her body and let the remainder of the punch glance over the top of her head, pulling across and slashing out towards him. Then she felt the pulse of magical energy right next to her, the world span as she felt the impact like a hammer. A clap like thunder and she was twisting through the air, watching colours flash past until she hit the ground.
It wasn't the most comfortable of landings.
But she was back on her feet in an instant, her eyes snapped up just in time to see the fading circle of light from around Goetia's hand.
Punching her in the head and then using a spell?
He wasn't taking chances.
…It was a curious method as well.
She would need to remember something like that and try teaching it.
Magic spell punches.
Useful.
"Of course that is what would interest you." The muted whisper of Sothis was briefly registered and then set to the side.
Byleth could not afford distractions right now.
She pressed forwards and closed the distance, the ground underfoot gave way to her strength and dented inwards, her next step punched a hole through the dirt and her final step brought her directly in front of Goetia, his own eyes having tracked her movement, but his steps slower than she would have expected.
Ah, yes.
Limiting himself.
But still dangerous.
That punch had been very stimulating.
She saw his arm raise, rather than for a spell, she watched it fall over to protect his upper body, a clear block against her attack.
She stopped and swept in from the other side, raising her left leg and twisting around to catch him. Her knee slammed into his ribs, perhaps with too much force. The sound of them shattering echoed through her ears, she watched him stumble and make a wheezing sound, but she did not debate it, moving in from the other side and-
His shoulder slammed into her, he fell with the kick and hammered his body into hers.
It was a blur what came next, he pressed close into her and then turned, she felt a grip on her arm pull her forwards and then her world rolled, in the next moment her back was slamming hard into the earth, a faint grunt escaped her as she looked up, quickly spotting Goetia looming over her, shadow blocking out the sun above their heads.
Byleth bucked the lower part of her body upwards, spreading her legs wide and then clamping them down like the pincers of a crab against Goetia's head.
Tensing her thigh muscles as tight as she could, she pulled forwards after locking him down, throwing his body over the top of hers and sending him into the earth, almost instantly, she could feel him scramble to free himself of the leg lock, she responded by pressing tighter together, aiming to choke him out.
His hand clamped around her thigh and pulled.
It was a startling thing to feel just how strong he was even without the magical spells, for a brief moment she debated whether he decided to forgo the restriction, but the fact he was still trapped told her otherwise.
He pulled, a muffled grunt escaping him as he managed to gasp out a breath, freeing himself just enough to breath.
She sat up, raising her fist and preparing to strike him in the head.
A flash of light and she found herself in free fall, blinking just before she hit the earth.
Another rescue spell then.
Rolling around, she shot to her feet-
Her head snapped to the side, pain lanced across her temples.
In the split second before she felt the blow, she had seen the tanned heel flying towards her head, she stepped backwards and avoided the kick that would have caught her gut. Hopping back once more and staring as Goetia slammed his foot down, he was panting rather loudly, his chest rising and falling as he stared at her.
It was an unusual look for him.
Seeing him strained like that, but she knew he was still dangerous.
He recovered fast and managed a full spinning kick into her head.
She didn't know he was that flexible.
And he did that with broken ribs.
Red eyes looked her up and down, lingering briefly on her sword, then back to her face where they narrowed.
Goetia twitched.
It was all the warning she got before a wall of ice burst from the ground and raced towards her, strength poured into her muscles as she swung out her hand on instinct. Her knuckles collided with the wall with a thunderclap, she felt the air twist in the wake of the blow, the ice shattered immediately and flew back towards Goetia-
She leaned back at the flash of light, a beam launched right past her shoulder and into the distance, she darted quickly and moved to close the gap.
There was a tugging sensation, a sudden ache shot through her and she stumbled a moment, as if someone had just drawn the strength from her body. It was only a short misstep, but it was followed quickly by a swirling wind, a vortex formed around her in a split second.
More power coursed through her body, building underneath her skin.
It felt like she was holding the string of a bow.
So she let it go.
The pressure around her exploded outwards, the wind spell burst apart with a howl, time slowed to a crawl, but it was nothing more than her perception of it. Goetia was moving slow as well, as was her body. It was a brief thing, long enough for her eyes to flicker towards him and see him in the midst of bringing up a ward spell.
Byleth turned and lowered her body, pressing down against the ground and launching herself forwards.
Sword raised, she thrust it into the centre of the spell.
It was a grating sound on her ears where the steel met magic, a cracking came next. Great fractures spread across the face of the spell in mere blinks. She stepped forwards, pressing more strength into it, her eyes boring into Goetia's as she forced the sword closer and closer.
The resistance started to struggle, she could feel it waver.
Another stomp, she threw her weight into the spell and it broke over her body, pushing through the shattering remnants and closing the distance.
Goetia's arm swung about, the back of his knuckles collided with the sword, throwing the thrust off course and away from his body, his hand opened and glowed.
Byleth swung out and clapped her hand over the top of his, her fingers curled around and she held his hand tight between her grasp.
It was a split second, she saw his eyes momentarily widen.
Then pain flashed over her, the spell exploded between their hands and she found her eyes swarmed with smoke, yanking her hand back and fighting back a hiss at the pain over her palm. Unable to curl her fingers, she turned it around and looked down.
Her eyes ran over the peeling skin and blackened palm.
It still burned, some patches were starting to bleed where others were fully burnt over.
She could feel the glare of Sothis in the back of her head, the chiding of her reckless actions.
But Byleth knew she could take it.
Her head rose, the cloud of smoke parted.
Goetia slammed a fist into the side of her head.
The second she had felt the spell pull her, she was already swinging, she knew that whomever was in front of her, they would have been an enemy.
Her axe had collided with the back of some archer, shattering the quiver and splintering the arrows, they were knocked face first into the ground before anyone even realised what was going on. Even when they started to turn, she was still in a better position than any of them to start fighting.
Perhaps with more time, they could have mounted a better defence.
They did not have that time, and neither did she.
It was a chance that would not last long, so she needed to capitalise on what opportunity she had been given.
Bringing her axe to bare, she swung once more. A man raised his bow in a futile attempt to protect himself. Even with her training weapon, she still had more then enough power to bypass whatever protection he tried to shield himself with.
The axe shattered the bow and carried on, striking the chest of the man and knocking them down with a wheeze, she stepped over him and followed the attack through, the butt of her weapon landed in the chin of another, the head of the weapon crashed into someone's knee and popped.
A punch to the head cut off whatever scream they would have let loose.
It was just as much of chaotic mess as before, but it was…something feral.
Edelgard did not regard herself as a savage person, but there was something about this that was almost enticing.
Not the violence, but the meaning.
They had a chance now.
A real chance.
Caspar jumped past her, screaming at the top of his lungs and flying right into one of the few knights who seemed to have managed to force his way to them. Of course, Caspar flying into him ruined a chance at a counter offensive, the blue haired boy immediately sent them sprawling - all while screaming - and then charged into the mages who were scrambling to put some distance between themselves and the boy.
There was a sharp cry by her side.
She turned and swung, her axe knocked aside the spear aimed for her, she met the gaze of Ingrid who pushed forth and thrust once again. Edelgard closed the distance with her, looping the axe under the spear and pushing up and over her head.
She pressed them back, trapping them against their own forces and then tugging to the side, throwing the spear away and kicking down into their knee. Ingrid grunted as she lost the weapon, managing to throw a fist at the last moment.
Edelgard raised her elbow and let the fist strike that instead.
Ingrid gave a sharp hiss as she drew her hand back, recoiled back, and then coughed when Edelgard slammed her knee into the gut of the blonde, despite the size difference between them, looping the shaft of the axe behind her neck and tugging forwards, flipping the girl over her leg and onto the ground.
Her eyes scanned out the next target, but she was already gritting her teeth.
They were getting bolder.
The Black Eagles were losing momentum, she could see it.
If that was bad enough, the situation managed to get worse.
The lines parted just wide enough for her to spot a certain figure fighting through to get to her. She frowned and clenched her jaw, preparing herself as she knocked aside another attack, swiftly countering the one responsible.
Dimitri was drawing closer.
"Ooof!"
A sharp pain, she glanced and nearly winced in sympathy.
Caspar was nearly thrown to the floor when Dedue landed a two handed strike into his guard, the taller boy moved with horrifying speed and accuracy as he made another step and swung again, Caspar barely managed to raise his axe, even then she heard the crash and watched him shudder as he nearly lost his weapon.
Edelgard stepped back and glanced.
Dimitri pushed through and swung his spear like a club right towards her, another sidestep let her avoid the blow.
His attack struck the earth, kicking up a cloud of dirt as he carved out a groove with his blow.
…Idly, she noticed it wasn't as large as the time the shadow monster missed her and hit the ground.
But it was no less daunting.
Dimitri met her gaze, pulling his spear back and tensing himself.
She prepared herself and charged forwards first, sweeping out to meet his attack head on, her arms groaned and her jaw clenched hard enough that she was sure she would shatter her teeth if she pressed down any harder.
"I figured you would have a plan." Dimitri got out through gritted teeth, his face set in a stern mask. "But this was far beyond my expectations…I'm impressed, but unsurprised."
Edelgard, despite herself, smirked at him and raised a brow. "I did not realise you had such high expectations for me."
The boy made a noise of amusement as he stepped forwards and shunted her back, briefly breaking their lock. "I would call it realistic. I should have figured not even a disadvantage would set you-"
She swung at his head while he was talking, unfortunately he was just as fast and stepped back, knocking her blow out of the way, then sending her an unimpressed look.
Edelgard merely shrugged.
"Talking during a fight is a bad-"
She blocked his thrust aimed at her gut.
"Yes." Dimitri responded with an unseen smile. "It is."
He stepped and hopped forwards, thrusting down at her. The blow skidded off her guard, she stumbled all the same from the force, then moved backwards as his thrust turned to a swing, both hands on the shaft, he brought his entire body to bare upon her. She raised her axe and braced herself.
The blow felt like the kick from a mule, battering at her arms and just struggling to keep them upright.
As expected.
His strength was absurd.
But she was not going to back down.
Before he could recover, she closed the distance and made her own swing, the just about raised the spear to save himself, but she saw him flinch with the blow, and it only continued from there. His head and his legs, even at his arms and his fingers. She aimed for anything that would force him to adjust his footing.
He was being pushed back into his own lines and it removed his range of mobility.
A spear was only useful if he had room to swing without worry.
And she was too close for him to manage an accurate thrust.
Edelgard spotted the movement in the corner of her eye and moved on instinct, stepping aside from the slash and staring at the swordsman. Her eyes narrowed as she changed targets, reversing her axe and moving from Dimitri and onto him, though one eye remained on the blonde as he composed himself.
Two blows into the exchange, she returned to Dimitri and brought up her leg, throwing it forwards and slamming her boot into his gut, folding his body with the blow and earning herself a faint wheeze.
The sword fell again, she looped the head of her axe around the blade and yanked upwards, drawing the arms of Felix away from his body.
Edelgard stepped close and swung her free hand up, her fingers curled into a fist and sending a heavy punch into the liver of Felix. Or where she assumed the liver would have been, she was hardly accurate. Though the results spoke for themselves, the boy grimaced heavily and fell back away from her.
Twisting the axe around, she dragged it towards herself and then spun, throwing Felix into the face of Dimitri and sending the pair of them staggering away from her, the boys tumbled into one another and struggled to immediately separate themselves.
She stepped forwards and kicked off the ground, launching her body into a shoulder bash-
A hand engulfed her entire face and stopped her momentum, she had a brief moment of panic before she felt herself get pushed backwards. Or perhaps thrown backwards was a better word, very nearly tripping over her own feet and landing on her back, catching herself only by the grace of someone being behind her.
Raising her eyes, she stared at the looming figure of Dedue.
Face set in a stern frown while his eyes glinted in a way that she recognised.
Hubert would make that face if anyone harmed her.
At least she could understand the motivations, but Dedue had a certain stature about him which was just as daunting as Hubert.
"Gah!"
A feminine cry of pain and a flash of light, for a brief moment she thought it might have been Dorothea.
But when she glimpsed the red haired girl flying over their heads, she came to the conclusion that it was Annette. Though quite what Dorothea had done to earn that level of damage was as impressive as it was intriguing.
She could ask later.
Edelgard tensed herself and readied her axe.
Dedue took the initiative and hurled himself at her, the mass of his body falling down towards her with the axe clenched in both hands.
Another fist landed into his already broken ribs.
Goetia struggled to avoid making a pained expression at that, the refusal to show weakness was gradually losing in the battle against the reality of the situation.
And the reality was that engaging Byleth in a fist fight with his current limitations was, perhaps, not the wisest move he could have made.
Though it would have been easier if he had two arms, he did not.
Another mental note to curse Fujiamaru was made.
Clenching his teeth, Goetia saw the sword fall and then raised his arm to block it, the edge of the blade dug into his skin. Even blunted, the progressive attacks were wearing away at him and it was starting to show. Rips and tears in his robe combined with bruises forming across his arm was evidence of his battle with Byleth.
His hand flashed and light burst from them.
Byleth kicked off the ground and flipped over his head.
Or tried to, at least.
In the second before the explosion detonated at the base of her feet, and she pushed off the ground, Goetia stepped back and swung his arm up. Just in time, his fingers curled around her ankle and pulled downwards. With a silent cry, he swung her body into the ground with as much force as he could muster.
She bounced up, her eyes flickered and landed onto him.
She twisted and launched a kick towards him as she rolled, he leaned back and felt it graze his chin, but otherwise missed him. Another spell was already forming in his hand by the time she was up, he launched the gale into her chest and watched it send her skidding backwards, her body braced and only managing to separate them by feet at best.
It was a distance she cleared in a single step.
Another blow struck his arm and he felt something shift in his wrist.
She had aimed higher and his hand spasmed, a numbness spreading over it.
Goetia curled his lip into a faint snarl and stepped forwards, sweeping the arm up and throwing an elbow at her. She caught it in her free hand just before contact, but the proximity allowed him to land a headbutt against her face, though it wounded him just as much.
It felt like he struck metal.
Byleth appeared dazed from it, and he moved to capitalise.
He slammed into her waist and wrapped his lone arm around her, pulling her upwards and then letting gravity do the rest. They fell forwards, his weight crashed into her own as he bodily slammed her into the ground, shifting the earth underneath them a touch. He pulled himself up and drew back his hand.
Ignoring the crack of bones as he formed a fist, he prepared to land the first punch.
Byleth's legs blurred and then closed around his ribs, squeezing inwards.
Pain lanced through him immediately as she applied a crushing grip to his already broken bones, shattering them further. Something broke under his skin, something that felt like a jolt of lightning shooting through his body. A thud under the bones and then he fought back a cough, though something warm and metallic swirled behind his teeth.
He ignored the idea of a punch and merely held his hand out to face her.
She caught on, her hands found his wrist and jerked to the side, pulling them over and reversing their positions, she straddled his chest while preventing him from levelling a hand at her, all while meeting his eyes with the same bland expression she always wore.
But he did not miss the trails of sweat dripping down the side of her face, nor the way her expression was twitching.
One hand flew away from his, darting towards her waist and the hilt of the dagger she kept there.
Goetia twisted his arm around and slammed it into the ground next to them.
Flames burst out, the explosion sent them both reeling, knocking her off his body and sending him flat onto his face.
Despite the protest of himself, Goetia scrambled up and ignored the way his legs no longer felt attached to him.
He whirled around and charged forwards.
Byleth barely managed to raise her head before he slammed a knee into her chin, knocking her to her feet, he ducked down and looped around behind her, kicking down into the back of her leg and then sweeping his arm around her throat, pulling her into a headlock while pressing down on the grounded leg.
Her hands came up, clawing at his arm and then reaching towards his face.
He clicked his tongue and leaned back when she nearly thrust her thumbs into his eyes, he could heal them later, but it would not do him good to lose them now.
Releasing the headlock, he did not allow her to scramble forwards.
His hand clamped down onto the back of her collar and then he tugged, throwing her backwards and kicking her legs out from beneath her at the same time, Byleth struck the ground as his eyes glanced from her. A frown formed easily on his lips the second he caught sight of the Black Eagles and Blue Lions not far from them.
It was difficult to observe, but it appeared to be going poorly in the favour of his own class.
Which meant he would need to intervene-
Something rained against his skin.
Goetia turned his eyes and stared at the small shards of crystal-
His mind whirled and his eyes widened for a moment, then he clamped them shut and brought his hand up, slamming it over his face and ducking down to hide his body from potential blows.
Mere seconds later, felt the head radiate off the detonating crystals, light poured through the gaps of his fingers for what felt like hours. It was an expanse of time he felt vulnerable within, and when they finally did fade, he whipped his hand away from his face and snapped his eyes to the location they had come from.
His hand came up, slapping away the fireball that Mercedes threw at him.
She stopped for a moment, perhaps registering he had just backhanded her spell.
But it was time enough he was granted to raise his hand and counter-
Byleth's fist smashed into the side of his head, he felt his body leave the ground, his feet no longer centred on the earth.
He could no longer feel his jaw.
Rather, he could feel no tension within it, it was opened wide and he could not shut it.
Dislocated.
He would have clicked his tongue if he could.
His body struck the earth and rolled, eventually finding himself staring up at the sky.
Slowly, he blinked and pushed himself up, jaw still hanging low.
Pressing his hand against the grass, he rose back to his feet once more and took in a sharp breath. He heard a small gasp and looked across to the origin. Mercedes was staring at him in a mixture of surprise and horror, her eyes fixed firmly on the lower part of his face.
Goetia ignored her and turned his eyes on Byleth.
She was staring at him, a look in her eyes he could not quite place.
"You can surrender."
It was an offer, or perhaps a demand.
He could not care which.
Pressing his hand against his jaw, he pushed up until he heard a click.
The pain earned not even a twitch from him as his jaw was forced back into place, the movement had Mercedes flinch.
He never broke eye contact with Byleth.
"Surrender is for those without a chance of victory." Goetia responded. "I still stand."
Neither of them responded.
He did not grant them the opportunity to, in the moment the words left his mouth, his hand snapped up and his fingers closed into a fist.
The tower of ice burst from the dirt between them, rising half a dozen metres in the air and half of that across. The upturn of dirt had the pair of them stumble away from the display in surprise.
His fist opened, the tower shattered and rained down upon them.
He swung out at Mercedes, a gale swept her feet out from beneath her, a second sent the falling body spinning through the air and into the distance. Whether she was neutralised or not, she would not pose an immediate threat to him.
Byleth recovered fast.
Dark spikes slammed into the ground in front of her, then exploded, a cloud of purple obscured her from the world, he followed through in the same breath with a thoron, the beam cut through the dense smog and revealed nothing, he glimpsed the cloud burst open like a balloon as Byleth rolled out and to the ground.
Thunder dropped in her path, throwing her back before a flame crashed into her shoulder, stumbling her for a moment. Another thunder struck behind her, she was thrown forwards and into the path of a frost spell, the rising pillars of ice battered against her body like a dozen punches.
The mana swirled inwards and exploded out.
Byleth charged him down.
Stepping off the ground and into the air when he threw a spell at her feet.
Another pillar of ice emerged behind her, but not that she could see.
The rescue spell carted her away before she could reach him, instead she threw herself right into the ice and slammed face first into it. His fist closed and the spell shattered outwards, the explosion punting her a good few metres and onto the ground, rolling a few times before coming to her feet.
Except that action appeared to be nothing more than an accident, merely that she had landed that way through luck and nothing more.
His hand turned on her once more, he pulled on his reserves of magical energy.
The world warped as he commanded it, dragging her back towards him with nothing more than a mere twitch.
The rescue spell brought Byleth directly in front of him, even in her daze she recognised the impending danger. Yet it was too slow for her to respond, his fist struck against her cheek before she could raise her arms to block, then a well placed kick sent her into a short stagger, twisting her body.
Another kick aimed at the other side, another punch to the head sent her into a retreat.
He ducked low, avoiding the right hook.
He stepped forwards and laid his palm flat against her midsection.
The gale spell exploded from his fingers, the shockwave travelled up his arm as the thunderclap carried the woman several metres in the air and away from him, her body rotating out of her control before she struck the earth hard. He waited for a moment to see if she would move.
She did not, though she did twitch.
He straightened and turned around, raising a hand towards the Blue Lions.
Foolishly, they had turned their backs on him during his battle with Byleth.
Magical energy swirled around his finger tips.
He stopped for a moment.
It was a surge behind him, as though a vortex dragged all the magical energy to something behind him. Goetia cut short the spell and turned his body, but too slow to move, he heard the thunderous roar of something shooting towards him, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.
He did not even register the hands snaking around his body, merely that they were now there.
Then he was being pulled into the air, dragged off his feet in a single fluid movement, in one moment he was staring at the sky, in the next the ground was accelerating towards him faster than he could react to.
It was a split second image of the world being flipped on its head that lingered with him.
Then a crack as his head was smashed into the earth.
Edelgard fell backwards, another gasp tore its way free of her lips as she knocked away the next blow which came from some knight who thought to try his luck.
They were becoming common.
Her eyes slid left and right.
Another gasp as the man beside her was knocked down by a spell from somewhere, it had peeled away from the front lines and knocked them down.
She let out a breath and pulled her arms back, tensing her body and leaning forwards.
A blur broke from the others.
She mentally chuckled.
Of course it would be Dimitri.
He skidded to a halt and swung for her, she met him blow for blow and yet her arms ached.
He was fresh and had not been fighting for as long as she had.
But she could see the damage her efforts had managed to reward her with, perhaps that was the truth of it.
Yet she could not help but feel disappointment that she had not managed to claim the victory.
That being said.
She wasn't about to make it easy for them either.
She raised the axe up, knocking aside the thrust for her and then stepped forwards and swung down, Dimitri stepped back and avoided the blow. Edelgard made to rise it up when a sword fell upon the shaft near her hands, she clicked her tongue and drew them back instantly, the axe dropped to the floor in the next second.
Edelgard looked to the one responsible.
Felix thrust towards her, she raised her arm and swung it shut, trapping the sword between her bicep and her ribs. Then swung her head forwards into the boy, cracking their foreheads together and loosening his grip on the sword. The knee to the gut cemented it as she pushed him away from her and to the ground, her right hand gripped the hilt of the blade and freed it from herself.
Internally, she exhaled.
She was never quite a fan of swords.
Her eyes glanced over the array of faces and then took in a breath, taking on a stance and waiting for the next who would be brave enough to face her.
She opened her mouth to speak, then stumbled forwards with a gasp as something slammed into her from behind, scrambling and wrapping around her like some sort of insect. She swung out wildly to dislodge it, but noticed at the last moment the shape of Dedue thundering towards her.
The weight on her back threw itself off, sending her stumbling forwards and closer to the mountainous youth.
His hand slammed into her face and wrapped around her temples, pulling her up with a single motion and then throwing her down. Air rushed out of her body as if pulled directly from her throat, a singular wheeze escaped her as she lay there, staring up at the sky.
Shadows loomed over the top of her, she squinted at the shapes before closing her eyes.
What she really wanted to focus on now was breathing again.
She could worry about the bitter taste of failure later.
"Uhm…"
Distantly, she hears the voice of someone, but she can't place them.
"Those two are still fighting…"
Edelgard feels her lip twitch at the news.
Her eyes slide towards the distinct shape of Dimitri and meets his gaze, the two of them stare at one another, her mouth curls into a smile. "As you were then."
She grunts out, then closes her eyes and exhales.
Dimitri's exasperated sigh is a token victory for her, but it feels good to hear all the same.