STEP FOUR: CONQUEST
At the Branch of Fate, Corrin decides to side with Nohr. Even after witnessing all that Nohr has done to Hoshido, Corrin wants to find the answers on their own. There had to be an explanation as for why Nohr would do such terrible things to Hoshido, and Corrin knows they will only get their answers if they go back to Nohr to speak with Garon about it personally.
The Nohrian royals celebrate their victory of receiving Corrin's help and try to fight the Hoshidans, attempting to break their morale right off the bat. However, the Hoshidans retreat, knowing that they have less soldiers than Nohr. The Nohrians hesitantly back off as well and return to Castle Krakenburg to regroup and speak with Garon. Before they leave, Corrin crosses paths with Azura, who says that they'll undoubtedly meet again before retreating back to Hoshido. Along the way, Corrin runs into Jakob/Felicia, who joins the party.
Once the Nohrians arrive back at Krakenburg, Garon regards Corrin with mistrust, saying that they might be a Hoshidan assassin sent to kill him. Iago suggests that Corrin be tested to assure that they are loyal. Garon tells Corrin to go to the Ice Tribe to quell a rebellion rising up. Corrin tries to ask Garon about the attack on Hoshido but doesn't get the chance before Iago pushes them out the door.
Before Corrin can arrive at the village, they are swarmed by Faceless. Iago, suspecting Corrin was a traitor, had summoned them to kill Corrin and eliminate who he saw as a threat to Nohr. Corrin begins to grow weaker as the number grows larger, but luckily, they aren't alone. Elise appears, followed by Silas, Effie, and Arthur, all of whom were sent to guard her. With the new help, the group manages to hold off the Faceless until they are all defeated. Satisfied with the victory, Corrin moves forwards and towards the Ice Tribe.
The group arrives later on in the day. The Ice Tribe greets Corrin and Elise with open arms, recognizing that Elise is known for her peaceful views across Nohr. Corrin greets Flora, who had returned to her tribe after Corrin was taken in by Hoshido. Corrin and Flora go to see the leader of the tribe, Klima. Corrin says that they do not wish to fight with the Ice Tribe, wanting to make peace with them. Klima asks if Garon requested Corrin to come. Before Corrin can answer, Iago enters. He tells Klima that Corrin and Elise were sent to quell the Ice Tribe's rebellion by Garon's orders. Corrin tries to explain that they were going to settle the matter with diplomacy, avoiding violence if possible, but Klima jumps to conclusions and sends the Ice Tribe members to attack Corrin. Odin and Niles, who had been following Iago by Leo's orders (as the prince was growing suspicious of him) since he left the palace, appear and help out Corrin.
After the rebellion is put down, Klima remarks on how no members of his tribe were killed. Flora is hesitant, but Klima says that she should go with Corrin to ensure that other encounters were peaceful like this one. Flora reluctantly follows along, her wish of wanting to protect Felicia and Jakob from harm winning out in the end.
When Corrin's army arrives back in Nohr, Garon is angered to find that Corrin did not defeat the rebellion alone. Iago suggests that perhaps Corrin needs to be sent out to the front lines to prove that they truly are loyal to Nohr. Garon agrees and has Corrin go conquer a fort on the border between Nohr and Hoshido.
At the fort, the army finds Nyx and Azura. Azura had been brought by the Hoshidan guards, who no longer found her trustworthy due to her Nohrian heritage after Corrin's betrayal. Nyx was trying to find a rare tome that was said to be nearby but was mistaken by Hoshidans for a Nohrian caster that could create Faceless and tried to capture her. Corrin and friends manage to rescue both Nyx and Azura from the harassment of the Hoshidans and conquer the fort. Both join the fighting force, though Azura is a bit unsure. She ultimately decides that Corrin's good intentions are enough for her. Nyx later grows into an important role in the army, acting as the tactician before Leo arrives and a helper to him once he joins.
One of the captains briefly mentions how Corrin has not stopped the prince from going forwards in his plans in a nearby port town. Corrin decides that they should get to the town and look into what is going on.
Upon their arrival, the army finds Takumi and a large number of Hoshidan fighters. Angered at Corrin's presence, Takumi sends his army to attack Corrin for their betrayal of Hoshido. The group thinks that they're overwhelmed and will be unable to win this fight without a few deaths, but luckily, reinforcements are coming. Camilla, Selena, and Beruka all appear to help out. The army holds off Takumi's forces from reaching the docks, so the second prince and his forces retreat to reconvene. Camilla brings a message to Corrin from Leo that they should head to Notre Sagesse, as he had heard from Iago that he was planning on sieging the kingdom for Nohr despite the neutral and peaceful nature of the isolated land. Knowing that the innocent people of Notre Sagesse would be harmed in the process, Corrin agrees to go there. The army hops aboard a boat and sails over there.
When they get there, they confirm that a troop of soldiers sent by Iago is in fact present, though the mage is not there. Wanting to protect the innocent civilians, Corrin fights off the Nohrians, killing them all in the process. Corrin is a bit unsure of it at first, but Elise assures them that more people would have been hurt if they hadn't come to help the innocent people. Also, a difference between this rewrite and Fates: Kaze does not join in Conquest here. I personally found it a bit peculiar, so it is not included here.
The Rainbow Sage, the leader of Notre Sagesse asks to see Corrin and Azura. He gives them Safaia and the Yato, saying that they are the heirs to these weapons of a lost kingdom surrounding Notre Sagesse. Azura is incredibly interested in this land, but she says nothing about it. The Rainbow Sage suggests that the two leave before anyone grows suspicious of them. Shortly after the group leaves, Iago appears and speaks with the Rainbow Sage briefly before killing him 'for the glory of Nohr'. Despite Corrin's wishes to protect Notre Sagesse, they were in vain, as Iago had finished the job without them.
The army returns to Krakenburg afterwards. Garon expresses his disappointment that Corrin was gone for long and didn't even take down one Hoshidan royal. Corrin feels bad due to the guilt trip, but Iago provides a suggestion to Garon. Since Corrin is so good at suppressing rebellions, maybe they should go and suppress a rebellion in the Nohrian territory Cheve. Iago has told Garon that Corrin was responsible for the fall of Notre Sagesse instead of it being him to keep Corrin from sticking around in the capital. Iago is hoping that Corrin will be killed out in battle, hopefully in Cheve where the fiercest of warriors reside. Garon agrees that Corrin is good at making territories fall or surrender such as the Ice Tribe and Notre Sagesse, so Cheve is their next destination since the Nohrian general overlooking the territory has fallen. Corrin tries to ask Garon about the attack on Hoshido once again, but Iago doesn't allow it.
On the way, Ryoma finds the Nohrian soldiers in a fort where they were resting for the night, on his way to Cheve as well to meet up with Takumi and Scarlet, who are already there. Ryoma is angered by Corrin still being with Nohr and having taken Azura on top of that, not believing that his soldiers would cast out Azura. Corrin is forced to fight so that the Nohrians can get through. During the battle, Laslow and Peri appear, both having been sent by Xander to help win the day. Ryoma ends up retreating.
The army gets to Cheve not long after. Takumi is there along with Orochi, Reina, and Scarlet. Cheve had successfully overthrown their Nohrian oppressors in the town. Corrin fights, though they truly don't want to, repeatedly reminding themselves that they won't get any answers about the Hoshidan attack without continuing to fight the innocent people. Corrin avoids killing anyone in the combat, which surprises Takumi. The Hoshidan prince asks why, and Corrin explains that they do not want anyone to be caught up in the aftermath of this war if they are truly innocent. Takumi retreats, a purple flare surrounding him briefly before he disappears. Azura remarks that he has changed for the worse and that something has gone seriously wrong. Screams interrupt their conversation. They return to Cheve to find Hans killing all the Chevois rebels. Orochi, Reina, and Scarlet are all slaughtered in the aftermath. Corrin goes to attack Hans to stop the genocide, but he threatens to expose Corrin as a traitor and weak link to Garon, which would undoubtedly result in execution and fail to help anyone. Cheve falls to Nohrians.
A letter comes from Garon, requesting the group to travel to the pleasure country of Nestra, specifically to Cyrkensia, the city that never sleeps. He is hoping to ally with Nestra in the war and wants the best reinforcements there are. Upon arriving, Azura ends up performing at the wishes of a few Nestrans who hear her singing to herself. One of their acts has been canceled due to injury, so they need someone to entertain Garon. They provide Azura with a spare costume to perform in. Azura decides to sing and dance for Garon, noticing that something about him was suspicious and reminded him of Takumi's mannerisms of anger. Garon groans in increasing discomfort and demands that Nohrians attack the soldiers. Corrin, Camilla, Leo, and Elise, recognize Azura and offer to help her sneak out from the Nohrian guards. In a stealth mission, the group manages to sneak Azura out and to safety, asking for answers about Garon's discomfort during the performance. They pick up Keaton and Jakob/Felicia (whoever Corrin didn't start with) along the way. Azura says that the song, which was taught to her by her mother, was meant to expose corruption, though she had never seen it in action before. Now having seen Garon's anger at the song and his sudden weakness to it, Azura knows that he is being corrupted by something. Leo also says that Garon has grown darker in recent years and that there is no way that he's truly the same man that he knew in his youngest years.
Garon tells the army that the duke of Nestra denied his alliance proposal. Angered by this, Garon tells them that they'll just need to conquer Nestra by force. He drags everyone into the fight against the Nestran people. During the battle, four new fighters appear. Charlotte and Benny appear with Gunter. The two border guards had found him on the Nohrian border not long before from when he was knocked unconscious and left behind by Hans just before Corrin was taken in by Hoshido. They join the army. Xander also appears by the orders of Garon and joins in the fighting at long last.
Corrin tries to spare people, but Hans and Iago don't allow it. A large number of Nestran people are killed in the minutes that follow. Garon laughs over the conquest of yet another country. Now, Cheve, Notre Sagesse, and Nestra are all under Nohrian control.
The group heads towards Hoshido next by Garon's orders. They pass through Mokushu, where they run into Shura. Shura reveals that Mokushu, while previously stating it was allied with Nohr, was planning to betray them to take over Nohr after killing Garon and the royals at a later point. The group is hesitant to believe in Shura, but Kotaro appears and strikes down Elise, which ignites a battle to take down the traitorous daimyo. They succeed and push onwards.
Garon requests that the group cut through Izumo next to conquer the country. The Nohrians follow his orders and are sent into the palace to take Izana's life. Seeing the fighting as too violent since it would kill many innocent people, Corrin spares the townspeople. Izana decides to join the fighting, trusting Corrin to end things peacefully. Everyone tells Garon that he has died, however, to keep the ruler from being killed off.
On the way to the palace, Iago sneaks off for a brief moment and overwhelms a small village with Faceless. Leo sees this and has all of Corrin's fighters follow him to see what is happening. Iago leads the Faceless in killing the villagers for sport, laughing all the while. Corrin rescues a young girl, who reveals herself to be Mozu (but due to the late nature of her join time, she's promoted into a Master of Arms). After the group saves her, Mozu joins in to keep anyone else from coming to the same fate.
Next, the group cuts through the Kitsune hamlet, running into it by accident. The leader, Kaden, suspects that they are hunters here to take the fur of his people. Corrin denies this, but the Kitsune attack anyways. Corrin spares as many people as possible before pushing onwards to Hoshido. They are hoping to spare as many people as possible, though they know that things likely will end with violence so long as Iago and Hans are present.
Nyx, who has grown into the position of a secondary tactician beside Leo, suddenly goes missing before the group can reach the last stretch into the castle town of Shirasagi. The final stretch, which has been dubbed the Eternal Stairway, ends up being a difficult area to traverse. As the group tries to figure out where Nyx has gone, Iago summons a large number of Faceless. The group struggles to push on through them, but they ultimately succeed.
When they reach the end, Iago is fighting with Nyx. Iago reveals a bit about Nyx's past before her murderous casting, saying that she was once set to inherit the knife Spectre that he now has. However, because of her spell that killed so many, including most members of her family from a noble house. The final survivor ended up being Iago's father, who passed on the knife. Iago knew full well of how dangerous Nyx was, and upon realizing she was part of the Nohrian army, decided to eliminate the threat, recognizing that she could one day turn on them and kill everyone in the army, which would lead to a Hoshidan victory. Iago stabbed her in the stomach with Spectre, leaving her badly wounded and dying.
The group retreats to the Astral Plane to treat her severe injuries, but Iago follows them. Lilith offers herself as a distraction while Elise heals Nyx's injuries, but Iago ends up killing her in the process before retreating, satisfied that he had brought the army down a notch. Corrin mourns Lilith's loss and vows to end Iago once and for all because he killed her. Nyx also gains the knife Spectre.
Angered with Iago for murdering Lilith, Corrin presses on, looking forward to finally taking him down. However, Iago is under constant surveillance from Hans and Garon, so that's easier said than done. The army is forced into their bloody conquest of Hoshido, staring with the fort where Sakura is near the palace aside Subaki, Hana, and Yukimura. Corrin spares as many people as possible in the process. Yukimura offers to surrender after being defeated if everyone there, including Sakura, gets to live. Hans ignores this and kills many Hoshidans, including Subaki and Hana. Sakura breaks down in despair, but Elise tries to console her alongside Xander. Their attempts are unsuccessful as she mourns the loss of her retainers. (Not saying she was in love with one of them, but she totally was, and it was not Subaki.)
Next, the army had to fight with Takumi, who was on the wall that surrounded the palace of Hoshido. Takumi's soldiers are all killed in the fighting, including Oboro and Hinata. When Takumi is taken down, he begins to glow with purple fire. He hurls himself from the wall afterwards, but his body has gone missing when they check. Azura mourns Takumi's supposed death, but Corrin tries to tell Azura that Takumi must be alright. Azura goes along but clearly doesn't believe her, as nobody could survive a fall from that height.
The Hoshidan castle is nearly in sight. Out in the garden of Castle Shirasagi, the group has to fight with Hinoka. Hinoka and her retainers are defeated. Instead of waiting for Hans or Iago to kill her, Hinoka asks that Corrin execute her. Camilla, who is standing by Corrin, offers to do it when Corrin denies it, but Corrin stops her and speaks up.
Corrin tells Hinoka to run. Iago and Hans are close by and they don't want her to meet the same fate as countless Hoshidans before her. They ask for her weapon as proof of her death. Hinoka says that she just wants to die at this point, knowing that Corrin and Azura have left her and that Takumi and Sakura are dead. Camilla tells her that Sakura is alive and that she wouldn't be happy to hear Hinoka had asked to die. Invigorated with hope, Hinoka hands over her weapon and runs alongside Azama and Setsuna. Camilla briefly notes that Hinoka is rather cute and that she'd love to get closer with her one day.
Corrin's army presses on into the Hoshidan throne room. Ryoma is there waiting. Iago, now with Corrin's army, tells Ryoma that Takumi has committed suicide and Hinoka was executed by Corrin before departing. Ryoma's anger increases exponentially and he lunges for Corrin. Kagero, Saizo, and Kaze all appear with more troops to fight off the other soldiers as Ryoma and Corrin duel. The group is defeated, but Ryoma survives after being struck down by Corrin.
Corrin hurriedly whispers to him that Hinoka has escaped, which surprises Ryoma. Before Corrin can explain, Iago appears with Garon. They say that it is time that the Hoshidan prince dies, as he is the last obstacle in their way. Iago and Garon push them to kill Ryoma and win the war, but Corrin hesitates. In the end, Ryoma won't allow anyone else the satisfaction of killing him. He commits seppuku and dies, telling Corrin that he thinks Hinoka will make a fine queen.
Iago takes this chance to tell Garon of what he had been doing during the fight with Ryoma. He had found none other than Hinoka leaving the area with her retainers. He recognized her as the one who scarred his arm years and years ago and captured them all, planning to execute Hinoka publicly for the insult she had caused him. Iago leaves to kill Hinoka, who is currently in the dungeon beneath the Hoshidan palace, with Hans following after him. Corrin and friends follow Iago and Hans. When they catch up, Iago has already killed Setsuna and Azama and badly beaten Hinoka. Corrin and the army fight Iago and Hans to save Hinoka from dying, winning and killing them both in the process. Elise heals Hinoka and leaves her there in the dungeon with Camilla, who is going to watch her until things are safe. Camilla, thinking Hinoka is much like Corrin, is caring to her like she is to her sibling, resulting in them developing something of a bond, even if it is incredibly strained due to the dispute between their kingdoms.
Once the group arrives back in the throne room, Garon begins to laugh. He is speaking with a man named Thalone, who had been previously unseen in the war. Thalone laughs as Garon ignites with purple flames. Thalone flees not long after, never to be seen again.
The group recognizes these flames as the same ones that surrounded Takumi, who was undoubtedly under some outside influence. Corrin and Azura tell Xander, Leo, and Elise that the only way to free him from this corruption is to end his life. All of them agree to help in memory of what their father had once been.
Garon is defeated by Corrin's army and dissolves into purple fire. While things appear to be over, an arrow flies by Corrin's head. Takumi appears, burning with the same flames, his dead body reanimated by the power of Thalone. Thalone had been able to control Takumi for quite some time. Similar to how things had gone in Birthright, Takumi had slipped into Valla briefly at the start of the war, where he encountered Thalone and was controlled by him. Following Takumi's death when he threw himself from the wall surrounding the castle town, Thalone's power revived him and left him under the man's control. Since Thalone wanted to take down both Nohr and Hoshido, Takumi follows this and tries to kill Corrin. With a large number of invisible soldiers, Takumi fights to end Corrin's life. However, he is not the only one.
Mikoto had died not long before of an illness that had struck during her recovery from her severe wounds. After her passing, Thalone approached her body and took control of her. He found her while he was fleeing from the palace to escape Corrin's forces. Mikoto ends up fighting alongside Takumi, bent to Thalone's will to destroy Nohr now that Hoshido had fallen. In the end, they are both defeated and freed from their possession though, going onto the afterlife. They give Corrin thanks before dying. Corrin tearfully wishes them farewell as they also dissipate into purple flames and fly skyward.
After the war, Xander is crowned King of Nohr. He and Queen Hinoka establish peace between their kingdoms, though they rarely interacted afterwards. Hinoka is said to have struggled with depression for the rest of her days.
Azura went missing after the war, having seen her home taken down by Nohr and unable to take it. She lived the rest of her life alone on the border of Valla, looking into the mysterious fallen kingdom that had been mentioned by the Rainbow Sage before his death. She detailed her findings in a notebook.
You have followed through to the end of the path of conquest and fate. However, you can't help but wonder what would have happened if your choice had been different…