Korrina and the Black Eagles

Final Chapter: Scorched Legacy

After a few hours of marching, the Black Eagle Strike Force finally happened upon Fhirdiad. After 5 long years, victory was finally within reach. Strangely, though, the smaller force led by Lorenz was still outside the city. Korrina asked what they were doing out there, to which Lorenz replied that Catherine was put in charge of defending the city while everyone was out fighting, and no one could really get in on her watch. Korrina responded to this by saying, "We'll see about that. We've beaten Catherine twice in the past. I'm sure we could do it again." Soon afterwards, Hubert appeared with Shamir and Thales. Nobody wanted Thales back on their side after what he did to Arianrhod, but Hubert insisted that they needed the extra manpower for this invasion. Thales wanted to simply observe the battle from a distance, but neither of the co-empresses were ever going to approve of this. Edelgard then told Thales that if he were serious about aiding the Black Eagle Strike Force, he would need to prove it. Thales was not happy about this, but since he was walking on vey thin ice at that moment, he had no choice but to oblige.

Much to everyone's surprise, Fhirdiad was never evacuated at all. It was clear that most of the civilians locked themselves in in anticipation of the coming siege, but there was absolutely no effort put into a proper evacuation. Even Claude bothered to seal off the entrances to his capital city and try to contain all the fighting to the pot area. Here, though, nothing was done to protect the civilians. To many in the Black Eagle Strike Force, this was severely troubling. Even Edelgard tried to call for Rhea's surrender in an effort to reduce the casualties or at the very least draw what remained of the Knights of Seiros outside of the city. For a few minutes, Edelgard's request was met with an ominous and telling silence. None could anticipate what Rhea's response to this request would be though.

Without any warning, the entirety of Fhirdiad exploded in a fire the likes of which had never been seen before. It wasn't the first time the Knights of Seiros had used fire in battle (Seteth himself attempted this in the second battle for Garreg Mach), but this strategy had never been used in a heavily populated city before. It was obvious that Rhea wished to take the Black Eagle Strike Force with her, but no one believed that the civilians of Fhirdiad, who had absolutely nothing to do with this war, needed to share her fate. For this reason, Korrina gave one final denouncement of Rhea before forming a strategy. Korrina noticed that the castle where Dimitri used to live was on a somewhat elevated position where the flames wouldn't reach. With this in mind, Korrina said, "Everyone, head for the castle on top of that hill at once. Since it is not in the immediate vicinity of the fire, it should make for a much safer battleground. If the Knights of Seiros try to stop you, don't waste anymore time than necessary dealing with them. We only have so much time before the city becomes completely engulfed in flames, and when that happens, it will be impossible for any of us to close in on Rhea."

Unlike most battles, no one had the time to split up. With the fires raging and buildings crumbling everywhere, the only option was to zero in on the castle in the back. Predictably, the Knights of Seiros arrived to slow their progress. To make matters worse, Rhea had made some special golems for this occasion. These had more defenses than the golems that the Black Eagle Strike Force had faced 5 years ago, but the surrounding tactic that worked on Dedue worked on the special golems too. The only problem was that there were two golems that they had to worry about at the same time and no high ground to turn to. However, the Black Eagle Strike Force was versatile enough that they could move away from one golem to concentrate on the other. After a few minutes, the golems at the former entrance to Fhirdiad were destroyed, and the Black Eagle Strike Force was free to enter the city proper.

Once inside Fhirdiad, there was absolutely no room for error. Buildings were collapsing everywhere, and the spontaneous timing of them made it impossible to predict when the next would fall. Silvain for one was quite horrified that Rhea would do this to his capital and people. He asked himself if Rhea had no shame or regret as he carefully navigated the remnants of the city. The flames, too, severely restricted movement. The Knights of Seiros, too, did everything to stop the Black Eagle Strike Force and ensure they died alongside the civilians. Multiple snipers and Pegasus knights tried to ambush the Black Eagle Strike Force at every turn, and they didn't have much time to waste fighting. Fortunately, Thales was able to summon some monsters and a few of his dark mages to combat these threats as well as the golems scattered around the crumbling remnants of Fhirdiad. There were still a fair number of great knights charging towards the Black Eagle Strike Force, and the extraordinarily narrow space made it impossible to avoid their attacks. Thus, Caspar and Alois took the lead and smashed those great knights with their axes. The next obstacle was the generals strategically placed on the road that lead to the castle. Lysithea and Lorenz were able to take them out with ease, but the bigger threat was the golem approaching them. The road was heavily guarded, so the usual surrounding tactic could no longer work. Thus, the Black Eagle Strike Force had to fall back on its strongest warriors (the co empresses, Caspar, Ferdinand, Alois, Raphael, and Silvain) to fell the golem before it could do too much damage. From there, the Black Eagle Strike Force took out the remaining generals and made it to the castle where Dimitri once lived.

There were multiple entrances into that castle, but with the fire growing in intensity, the Black Eagle Strike Force only had time for one entrance. Thus, Korrina focused on the nearest entrance: the one protected by Gilbert. As she approached her old comrade, Korrina asked, "Why, Gilbert? Why do you still follow Rhea, even knowing that she's responsible for this?" Gilbert only looked down and said, "I'm afraid I cast myself into this fire long ago. I realize now that I may have been in the wrong, but it is already too late for me. All I can do now is follow his late majesty's final command: to protect Fhirdiad from the likes of you!" With these 2 words, the two commenced their final fight. Gilbert had much stronger armor than previously, but he didn't stand a chance against Korrina. After Korrina powered up, all it took was one slice to stagger the old general. From there, Korrina leaped into the air and stabbed Gilbert in the heart with the Sword of the Creator. The castle interior was a maze filled with mages. The Black Eagle Strike Force had to tread carefully and guess the way to Rhea. Fortunately, Silvain knew the way to the throne room where Rhea was likely waiting.

When the Black Eagle Strike Force located the throne room, Rhea was waiting and already in her dragon form. Several knights blocked the way, but they were easily dealt with. Rhea, on the other hand, would quickly prove to be the toughest enemy Korrina ever faced. The moment Rhea saw Korrina, she demanded the return of her "mother". The only response Korrina could muster was "I am not your mother! I never was!" before leading the charge. As the Black Eagle Strike Force drew ever closer, Rhea spewed a massive white beam from her mouth. Most of the Black Eagle Strike Force was able to leap out of the way in time, but Ferdinand's armor restricted him just enough to take most of the attack. Nearly every healer in the Black Eagle Strike Force tended to him while Edelgard continued the attack on Rhea. Unfortunately, the sound of Rhea's attack alerted every remaining knight to their location. Cyril was the first to ambush the Black Eagle Strike Force, but Bernadetta was able to take him out before he became a massive threat. Catherine was the next to appear. Shamir decided to snipe her before she could make it to the top of the stairwell, but Catherine's rapid movements made it difficult to get a good hit on her. This caused Shamir to change her strategy and shoot Catherine the moment she reached the top. Catherine was able to block one of the arrows with her sword, but Shamir was far quicker than expected. Next, Shamir went for Catherine's sword arm and incapacitated her. From there, Shamir went for the finishing blow and pointed her next arrow right between Catherine's eyes. It was the only time Shamir ever expressed hesitation or remorse, but she was still able to finish the job. Rhea continued to put up a fight as the Knights of Seiros continued to come, and some of the Black Eagle Strike Force began showing signs of fatigue as avoiding Rhea's attacks became more of a chore. Soon, Annette came with her own relic: a magical axe named the Crusher. Annette was clearly angry with the Black Eagle Strike Force for killing her father Gilbert, but there was no time for condolences. All Korrina could do was take a moment to slice Annette with the Sword of the Creator before Rhea could get a chance to attack her. After Annette was gone, most of the Knights of Seiros seemed to be dealt with. All that remained was Ashe, but Ferdinand was able to tank his arrows and finish the lad. With everyone gone, the Black Eagle Strike Force was now free to concentrate on Rhea. Unfortunately, the Black Eagle Strike Force was worn out from all the fighting while Rhea only seemed to get angrier and angrier with each successful hit on her. Thus, Korrina instructed everyone to go for the neck and finish the fight quickly. Thus, Silvain threw the Lance of Ruin that cursed his brother while Ferdinand tossed that Arrow of Indra that Thales gave them into both sides of Rhea's neck. This did massive damage to the dragon, but it was far from enough to kill her. Even Shamir's arrows and the Sword of the Creator weren't doing any fatal blows to Rhea. If this fight did not finish soon, Rhea would narrowly outlive the Black Eagle Strike Force and win this war of attrition. Only one option remained. Korrina would need to use all her God Ki at once and give her life to end Rhea once and for all. Thus, Korrina began to concentrate ALL of her God Ki and told Edelgard to take the Black Eagle Strike Force and get out of Fhirdiad. The fire had mostly died down by now, so evacuating the survivors was also a high priority. After all, this final attack was all but guaranteed to kill all the survivors indiscriminately. Once the entire Black Eagle Strike Force was safely removed from the city as well as whatever civilians survived the inferno, Korrina discharged her entire supply of God Ki in the form of a massive explosion. The sheer force of this explosion was comparable to the atom bombs from our world. Rhea recognized that her life was in danger and tried to fly away, but she only succeeded in getting off the ground before she took the explosion at point blank. With this final effort, the war ended for good.

The explosion from Korrina's final attack could be seen from every corner of the continent. By the time it finally receded, all that remained of Fhirdiad was Rhea's corpse. It was a miracle that Rhea's body was still intact after an explosion that intense, but that was the only thing that survived. As for Korrina, her body was eviscerated from the massive amount of energy released from it. Nothing remained of her, not even the Sword of the Creator. Edelgard, Alois, Albein the Gatekeeper and the rest of the Black Eagle Strike Force were heartbroken by this loss, but it was necessary to finish Korrina's dream. Thanks to Korrina's sacrifice, a world without the relics or Rhea influencing it was finally a reality.

Thales was found guilty and executed for his crimes against the Adestrian Empire and all of humanity. The only reason he was even given a fair trial was for the sake of moving on from Rhea's tyranny. When word of what Rhea did to Fhirdiad got out, most of the Church of Seiros denounced her and left the faith. Most of them now follow Korrina's vision of a god beyond Sothis and hypothesize about what may appease this god. Edelgard married Ferdinand on the grounds that he was the most qualified to lead the new Adestrian Empire (even with the death of Flayn on his hands). Ferdinand spent most of his reign appeasing the families of everyone who died in the war, and Edelgard used her remaining time on the planet trying to integrate the people of Faerghus and Leicester into the empire. Hubert spent the rest of his life protecting the Adestrian Empire from the Agarthans and others who would threaten it. For her magical talent, Lysithea was integrated into Hubert's personal guard and never stopped developing her magic. She died young but was remembered for being one of the greatest sorceresses of her time. Lorenz took over the former alliance portion of the Adestrian Empire while Silvain took over the kingdom portion, as they were the highest ranking people from those regions coming off the end of the war. Hanneman retired after a tip from Hubert opened him up to a variety of tools that made his dream of making crests available to the general public a reality. Lindhart now continues Hanneman's research, but the horrors of war never left his mind. Petra used her connection to Edelgard to peacefully claim independence from Adestria and taught her people the ways of flying as she promised long ago. Brigid now stands as a fierce military power, capable of repelling any invasion. Manuela spent the rest of her life restoring Garreg Mach to its former glory and became its new headmaster upon completion. Bernadetta got a job there as the main gardener and lived the rest of her life in peace. Albein was brokenhearted that his fiancée perished, but nevertheless continued his job as gatekeeper. His greetings hid a certain amount of sadness to them now, but Albein kept at it as he believed that Korrina would have wanted him to go on. Raphael opened up a fitness center in the monastery and now works as its instructor. He now makes a living teaching others how to be as strong as he is. Alois was put in charge of rebuilding Adestria's army and was named its new commander. He still maintained close ties with Shamir, though the relationship was largely one sided. Shamir went back to her old job as a mercenary, but still works with the Adestrian army from time to time. Dorothea decided to turn her war experience into a sweeping opera depicting the co empresses, their relationship and their war against the Church of Seiros. It struggled to get off the ground at first since the war scars were still fresh, but Ferdinand's surprise performance and endorsement of the play helped elevate it to national status. Claude stayed in Almyra and never returned. It was for the better. The deaths of Hilda, Flayn, Seteth, Felix, Ingrid, Mercedes, Annette and Ashe were never forgotten, and they were all memorialized in front of Garreg Mach.

The End

Merry Christmas

Thank You For Reading

Notes

I currently have no plans on doing one of these for the Blue Lions or Golden Deer, as the real point of divergence is far enough away that I would be writing the same story 3 times.