My Ghost is a Dork

"Can I Have A Hug?"

"You have a strange aura about you," the girl with the white hair said eariler, and perhaps she was right. Byleth's lack of a heartbeat and the claims of the girl in her dreams could very well point to her being connected to something demonic. Perhaps Edelgard was able to sense that. But that was just it, how did Byleth know her name? How did she know that the tall man with the blonde hair was Dimitri, that the man with the tanned skin was called Claude, and that the girl with piercing lavender eyes and snow-white hair was Edelgard? They never said their names, and no one had told them to Byleth, but the instant that she laid her eyes upon one of the newcomers, her mind would instantly say 'oh, that's Edelgard.'

Byleth shook her head, the battlefield is no place for idle thoughts. She had bandits to rout. She ran towards the nearest enemy and swung her sword. It was blocked by their sword, but Byleth used that to combo into another swing meant to put the opponent into an unfavourable stance and, there! Byleth thrust her sword into the bandit's unguarded torso, piercing a lung, and pulled her sword out to move on to the next opponent.

Untrained bandits were easy, they always made the same sorts of mistakes, all Byleth had to do was bait such a mistake and capitalise on it. A broken stance here, an over-extension there, it was simple.

Parry the blade, stab their face, move on.

Luckily, the nobles she was protecting didn't have much trouble either. Dimitri, or at least she assumed his name was Dimitri, used long, sweeping strikes that easily overwhelmed any guard any of the bandits had, using his lance more like a halberd to great effect.

Break their guard, stagger them, and gut them.

The noble who was maybe Claude stuck to the bushes and picked off the targets that attempted to flank any of the melee fighters. He chose his targets well, and sometimes Byleth had heard grunts from an unexpected direction, only to see an arrow in the bandit's throat.

Dodge to the side, strike their hand, go in for the kill.

Over the sounds of clashing blades and dying men, Byleth heard one of the Bandits saying, "aren't you Jeralt, the Blade Breaker?!" Ah, someone recognised her father. Byleth estimated that the enemy may decide to retreat soon. Still, she did not let up her offence, and neither had the nobles.

Bait the swing, take advantage of their overextension, leave them lying on the ground.

Edelgard in particular wielded her axe in a way Byleth had never seen before. She swung it through the air as if it were a conductor's baton instead of a top-heavy iron weapon. It was impressive, and Edelgard's attacks were devastating to be sure, but Byleth could not help but feel that the style was overall impractical.

Duck the haymaker, cut open their chest, find the next bandit.

Case in point, Edelgard's latest attack was so powerful it not only broke through the bandit's guard but also embedded her weapon in the ground. Luckily, there weren't any nearby bandits standing, she would be fine to retrieve her weapon and continue fighting.

Overpower the nervous one's guard, chop off their hands, they won't be a problem.

Only that wasn't what happened. One of the downed bandits, didn't father get him, had kipped up and started charging towards Edelgard, who only had a dagger available to defend herself.

No! Save her! Don't let her die!

Byleth's normal battle composure had disappeared, something unbidden in her soul took over, she had to save Edelgard! She ran and then pushed her out of the way.

The bandit screamed, "you'll die!"

Byleth was not in a position to stop the attack, her back was to the enemy. She should have known better. It was too late. The bandit's axe swung through the air and straight towards her non-beating chest and she closed her eyes to the inevitable. Something lurched inside of Byleth's chest, there was a massive crashing sound, like a thousand glass windows had been smashed all at once, and the wind had come to a complete standstill. All was silent.