Setanta immediately throws his spear directly at Aoife, which causes her to back away, and then moments later, he arrives there, saying, "Did you miss me?"
Smiling, I say, "No, I felt peaceful for the first time in a while."
Setanta, kicking me in the gut, says, "No time for that, peace is for the dead, the living must struggle on."
Φ Turning to face the traitorous beastkin, I say, "Now have you bastards said your last goodbyes."
The woman who was just fighting Ferdiad says, "Son of Lugh, now that you're here, I hope that you will listen to me and get all of your little friends here to surrender."
"Not a chance, unlike you traitors, scum, we don't want to spit on our people's graves."
Sighing, she says, "Why do you struggle to understand the fact that humans are worth protecting?"
I giggle a bit and say, "Because humans are cowards who merely run and hide from the world. They once ruled the world, no even more than that they have all but tamed it, but their behaviour which is far more brutish than any beast leads them to destruction. Among all beasts that live, humans are without a doubt the only ones who aim for their extinction."
"What a sweeping statement, but it is still unfounded. You think you, who has barely left the comfort of your home, can judge millions of people in such a manner without even knowing them."
"I know enough."
"A childish excuse."
"Then answer me this: why does the empire of Louernia exist?"
"Because the humans had abused us back when we were also humans."
"You don't understand, I am asking today why the empire of Louernia exists."
"The hell are you getting at?"
"Humans outnumber us 10000 to one beastkin. If the humans wanted, they could annihilate us faster than we ever could to them. They hold books which pass down knowledge that can improve every facet of life, they hold numbers that could kill us merely based on time, they can train, and some can even fight against beastkin.
But with all those advantages, they still haven't been able to stop our empire, and it is simply because they refuse unity; instead, they stay in their own little communities, dividing themselves even though power is with unity.
Dividing and conquering is a fundamental principle of warfare, and humans are willing to do this due to their minor debate or hatred for one another. Yet suppose their lack of unity brings destruction upon them. In that case, they will blame anything but that because their logic only exists to benefit their ever-changing happiness in a single moment, forgetting any future sadness it may bring."
Shaken, she says, "That isn't true."
"Then tell those who are running away to turn back and help fight us, if even five per cent of those humans came here to support you, we would be overwhelmed and our chances of escape would be finished."
"I can't do that."
"Exactly because those humans fear for their own existence so much that they will put their greatest defenders in harm's way. To humanity as a whole, you beastkin are far more valuable than half of those humans, yet you must throw your life away so they can escape. They don't even have unity when there is a threat of enslavement for them all."
"Enough!" she says. "Someone born strong like you has no right to say anything about them."
Hopping from left to right, Setanta says, "All those who live can have strength, the humans are just beings who like to pretend they don't, that's why I hate them."
I lunge forward towards her and say, "Everyone rises again."
Invigorate the men around me to fight back against the armoured beastkin who are shaken by my words.
"You know it is a shame that such a beautiful old lady like you has to die here."
"How sweet of a thing to say to a shrivelled-up fruit like myself, I will make your death painless."
"Not a chance!"
We both continue to attack each other, and as we do, I notice that she is not only using red branch battle arts, but her technique is sharper than mine; it may even be approaching Scáthach.
Smirking, I say, "But still, you're unlike master, you are not near your physical peak."
I dodge her spear, again and again. If I can't be as sharp as her, I can counter by using my youthful stamina to exhaust her, and when she eventually slips, I will strike.
Seeing her slip, I use red branch battle arts: Sonic thrust. But then at that moment she instantly speeds up, and I can hear her behind me whispering, "Goodbye."
I try to turn around, but I can tell her spear is going to pierce me.
Though lucky Ferdiad, even in his injured state, knocks her spear away, and both of us move backwards.
"She seems to be a Wonderbeast beastkin, but that still doesn't explain how her body can move that fast without any charge in her heartbeat; my hearing should be able to tell."
Ferdiad then socks me in the face, and I say, "The hell was that for?"
But then Granny comes towards making Ferdiad move forward and counter her, and as he does, he says, "Look closely, Setanta!"
As the two of them fight, I see it is like their bodies are encased within a flowy aura, but I struggle to fully make it out.
Seeing Ferdiad get forced back, I move up and assist him, and together we make her move back. Ferdiad then says, "If you can see it, you need to control it with intense concentration, because if you do, it will make whatever part you send it to stronger."
"I see that's how she was able to move that fast."
Φ I purposely only used spirit energy to move faster so I wouldn't hit him with a blow of it and accidentally awaken his perception to it, but it seemed Ferdiad figured out what his trigger for it was.
It pains me to do this, but for the sake of humanity's future, both of these boys cannot leave the battlefield, especially now.
Φ "You got all of that Setanta, because if you don't, Aoife is going to kill you."
"I do, and don't think for a second I am going to let you continue being stronger than me."
Smirking, Ferdiad says, "You'd better get used to it, since it will be a given from now on."
"In your dreams."
We both move and then clash with Aoife. She is far stronger than someone her age should be able to be, this is hard for me to keep up with so I am hit a few times.
Ferdiad is hit as well, but it is far more due to his physical state rather than a lack of skill. Right now, I am dead weight, though I am not struggling for nought.
Each time I get struck with one of her heavy blows, I recoil with pain but at the same time, I see the flowy aura more and more around the both of them and myself.
Follow Ferdiad's instructions, concentrate it and send it through your body. Aren't you going to be the next king of Gorias? You need to show your worth immediately on this battlefield.
"Red branch battle arts; Star flower," I say as I move forward and send seven quick strikes towards Aoife.
Suddenly off balance from that attack, I am struck by Aoife, who says, "You're not used to the new power!"
My body moves backwards, and as it does, Aoife comes in towards me with a thrust, which Ferdiad blocks for me.
Ferdiad says, "Setanta, reduce the amount you are using."
Getting back into the battle, I say, "No way."
"Right now, you won't be able to accumulate your techniques into your new strength in time. It took me an entire night to do so, just focus on support or you will leave to many openings."
"No way, trust in me," I say, staring right into Ferdiad's eyes.
He stares back, and then he takes a step back as I charge forward. Trying to get the most out of the flowy energy, I push my body to the limit and attack again and again against Aoife.
I mess up repeatedly, but Ferdiad comes in and supports me in those moments. With each mess, I learn, and we continue to keep going.
Eventually, she says, "Red branch battle arts; Camellia japonica," and she vanishes from my sight and appears behind me.
Ferdiad, wasting no time, hits me with a sky flower to the side of my body, knocking both of us out of the way of her blow, and then getting up, I charge towards her, but she uses the same technique again and manages to pierce my calf with her spear this time.
With my calf injured, my ability to use red branch battle arts drops dramatically. She charges at me again, and I struggle to keep up with her and am eventually stabbed in the body.
The way she fights is unorthodox; she has a habit of using her spear as a staff and dealing body blows with it. She can seamlessly move from using it as such to fighting with it like a standard spear.
When handling a spear, the ability to instantly go from a stationary point to a deadly thrust while keeping yourself safe is the weapon's main advantage. As you advance in skill, you can get better at making it completely unreadable, where you're going to strike.
Normally, a spear would break if one used it like this. The flowy aura reinforcing her weapon is the only reason she can fight like this without it snapping.
A skilled swordsman's movements can be tracked simply by the nature that a sword requires more movement, but a skilled spearman can be almost unreadable.
Combining this skill with her ability to switch between using her spear as a staff or spear makes it even worse for us.
After taking another body blow, I notice she is prepared to use clover, so I get in position, and she comes towards me. She is going to dash in front of me, stop, strike at the joint in my body to disable me, and then move towards my throat.
Clover is strong because it tricks people who are used to the high-speed combat of Red branch battle arts, so when you suddenly stop, it throws off their reaction time and the attacks which come after that disable their ability to block and ensure your victory. But it won't work against someone who holds knowledge like me.
"Red branch battle arts; Clover."
She lunges forward and stops right in front of me, but then, instead of the attacks against my joints, she slams the spear right into my foot, pinning me to the ground.
Then, as I am filled with pain, she slams her fist into my chin four times, and then moves to a familiar stance, then says, "Red branch battle arts; Sonic thrust."
Then, with a blow that surpasses the speed of sound, she hits me in my stomach, and I am sent upward. As all of these blows hit me into the air, my foot got pieces of wood stuck within it as it fiercely pulled against the spear, pinning it to the ground.
Eventually, my foot dislodges the spear, but not until it has gone through about half of it. Grabbing her spear, she quickly pulls it, making an even bigger hole through my foot and whacking me into the air again.
Right now, my existence is synonymous with a ball that kids won't let fall onto the ground, an utterly embarrassing sight for anyone to see.
She modified clover to trick me, and I fell for it. Right now, she is truly outclassing me, but still, I have a partner on this battlefield.
With a large boulder in front of him, Ferdiad prepares to thrust into it, and I say, "Time to turn this battle around."