DISCLAIMER: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts nor Fire Emblem Three Houses characters, Square Enix, Nintendo, and Disney are the owners.
RedRat8: Considering Sora's presence, it's a very nice question, man. But you're right on something, his sole actions could lead to some butterfly effects and even if the war is coming up in a few years, it could, and it will, feature different outcomes or something.
CHAPTER 25 – BATTLE AT THE MAUSOLEUM
/
After witnessing Aelfric's betrayal, Sora and the others agreed to head for Holy Mausoleum to rescue Yuri and the others, but there was a catch, the place was heavily guarded by the knights of Seiros so they had to wait until midnight to sneak into the mausoleum without being caught.
/
EIGHT HOURS LATER…
The night had fallen and the Black Eagles team finally set up to head to the mausoleum sneaking past the asleep knights to carry out their mission to stop Aelfric from doing his rite.
"Well, no one's here, let's move." Byleth indicated her students to head to the big doors to the said place while watching the corners to make sure that there was no gatekeeper awake.
Byleth proceeded to quietly open the doors and everyone went downstairs to rush to the Ashen Wolves' aid.
"Don't worry, Yuri, Constance, Balthus, and Hapi…" Sora thought in determination. "We'll get you guys out of here."
/
HOLY MAUSOLEUM – MIDNIGHT
Meanwhile, Hapi, Yuri and Balthus finally woke up to find themselves somewhere inside the Mausoleum.
"Whe-Where the heck are we?" Hapi stuttered having her sight crystal clear of Yuri in disappointment.
"Finally, you're all awake. Good morning, sleepyheads. Or is it good evening?" Yuri replied apparently showing his evil intentions.
"Yuri…! You scoundrel! You are unfit to speak to us, you liar!" Constance barked in that state.
"Yeah, yeah, liar, blah-blah. Nothing I haven't heard before." The guy said making fun of them.
"Look, pal. Enough beating around the bush." Balthus interrogated him in anger on his voice. "What exactly are you trying to accomplish here? Where's Aelfric? And what the fuck are you plotting?"
"Will you shut up with your questions, Balthus?" Yuri was growing annoyed by the man's attitude. "Alright then. I'll lay out for you. Aelfric intends to reenact the Rite of Rising. He's preparing everything as we speak."
"What is this silly rite, anyway?" Hapi questioned him in disbelief and intrigue. "He trying to do some crazy magic to raise the dead or something?"
"Actually, yes." Yuri continued. "By offering up the blood of the Four Apostles in the chalice, you can bring someone back to life. Saint Seiros performed the ritual 995 years ago, but not enough blood was given up. So the ritual failed, no clue what happened after that. That's what Aelfric concluded after scoring the records, anyway. And now, through extreme persistence, he's found the chalice and the four of us, with out Crests. He's placed us under his direct supervision within the Ashen Wolf House, and he did all of it to ensure a successful ritual: The Rite of Rising."
"You mean that he intends to drain us all our blood?" Constance demanded in anger. "To kill us?! Such an act would be unforgivable! An atrocity! I cannot die in this wretched hovel!"
"Yeah, that sounds painful…and permanent. Count me out." Hapi expressed the same emotion, only to realize something concerning about Yuri. "Hang on, the number four includes you too, right? So you're gonna die too?"
"Yep. That's the idea." He assured them, much to the team's shock.
"And here I thought we were close, but all this time you've been skulking around, deceiving us. It hurts, boss. Hurts badly." Balthus spoke in that state and sadness due to his friend's betrayal, only to change his demeanor into an angry but challenging glare. "You wanna die? Fine, I'll kill you myself, you son of a bitch. Just stop with this fucking nonsense of yours and face me, fist to fist."
"Shut it, man. I've lived through hell and worse, you know?" Yuri said throwing him the same glare. "After clawing my way here, you really think I want to die?"
"Then why throw your life away for the likes of Aelfric?" Balthus retorted making this question.
"Don't you get it? Some things are more important than my own life. Some things are worth protecting." Yuri replied throwing lots of nonsense to his friend.
"You're not making any fucking sense…!" Balthus hissed in anger, not understanding what he was talking about.
"It would seem that you want to be punished severely, Yuri." Aelfric appeared in the scene asking the lilac-haired boy if he wanted the same treatment as the others.
"What? Is that a sort of threat?" Yuri talked him back in arrogant voice. "There's not much you can do to me that hasn't already been done."
"True. You took wing from the mud into which you were born and rose to such great heights." Aelfric praised him for not letting himself give up. "To break your spirit would take far too much effort. Though, if I must, I will kill your mother in addition to your dear people."
That sounded really evil, it was at this moment when Aelfric started to show his true colors, his evil intentions he was really planning to carry out.
"Oh… so that's it. You were trying to protect your mom." Said Balthus having his face written in dismay.
"Aelfric, what is it you are hoping to accomplish with those evil actions of yours?" Constance interrogated him in annoyance.
"To resurrect someone I lost long time ago… no matter the cost." Aelfric answered her question showing his true intentions. "Surely there are those for whom you'd do similar."
"Perhaps… Even so, we would never annihilate those we care for!" the girl was upset after hearing him speak this nonsense.
"There's nothing I wouldn't do, nobody I wouldn't trade to see the light in her eyes once more…" Aelfric retorted while showing them a young woman with teal hair laying on a pedestal in a white dress, much to the Ashen Wolves' surprise and shock at the same time.
"Woah… That lady looks real dead, man." Said Balthus shocked as everybody else.
"She is… for now." Aelfric assured him.
That's right, Aelfric's true intentions was to revive that woman at the cost of Yuri's and the others' lives, in other words, Aelfric was completely obsessed in seeing her back to life without caring about the others' lives.
"Aelfric… You're gonna regret this." Balthus threatened him.
"I accepted the regret I might feel form this long time ago. As long as she returns, nothing else matters." He reiterated his immense obsession, much Balthus's and the others anger. "Yuri, if you think you'll be pulling anything funny, think again. The knights of Seiros won't save you. No doubt they're indisposed right now on some mission or other."
"Well, that's freaking shame." Yuri said starting to let out his own intentions as well. "The whole evil villain look really doesn't suit someone as 'pious' as you, Aelfric. Heh Heh…"
"Yuri, I could…" Hapi tried to speak but Yuri interrupted her. "Not yet."
The dark mages entered the mausoleum and walked towards the others, all of them were under the command of Aelfric.
"It is time. Take them." He ordered them to take them somewhere else inside the mausoleum. "Your blood will pour forth, filling the chalice.
"You really are an idiot…" he said acting out of course.
"You were diligent, Yuri. You kept me abreast if all the Ashen Wolves' movements." Aelfric congratulated him for his actions. "As recompense for being such a good student of my flock, I will gladly hear any final words from you."
However, Yuri had few tricks under his sleeve, a backup plan of his own.
"Heh, that's fresh. If you knew me at all, you'd know these won't be my final words. I'm simply biding my time." He said in a challenging tone.
"For what…" Aelfric questioned him confused.
"For the goddess's descent. Can you hear it?" Yuri put a smirk on his face, much to the man's confusion.
Suddenly the bells resounded throughout the mausoleum intriguing Aelfric in the process.
"Bells? This late at night?" said the man in confusion.
"Yeah, you heard that, Aelfric? That's the sound of your demise. The knights are releasing my people as we speak." Yuri stated shooting a badass glare on him. "The ones you locked up and hid away."
"How did you know about that…" Aelfric interrogated him out of shock. "Wait, the Knights of Seiros?!"
"Heh heh… like I said, the evil villain look really doesn't suit you." Yuri said putting a smirk on his face, before making a big confession. "I know it was you who sent on that mission that ultimately led to me landing in Abyss. Overall, your execution was lacking. Lady Rhea has been on to you as well. Oh, and just so you know, I've been working for her since before I began working for you. She had me keeping an eye on you. Told me to inform her if you seemed to be planning anything."
"You!" Aelfric looked at him in shock.
"But you took those I care most about hostage, which limited my options." Yuri continued. "You chained up the Wolves and kept a tight grip on my rogues in Abyss to ensure I wouldn't betray you. I struggled with whether or not tell her everything. After all, my allies' lives were on the line. I deliberated on what to do next, knowing I'd have to rely on my own cunning to see this through. I waited for the chance I could rescue my mother and allies. All while I was paying lip service to you. Until today. The day you pulled all your forces in so you could attempt this ritual. You're not villain, fella, with that sticky conscience you call a heart tripping you up. Not like me."
"I see… you always were one step ahead of me all this time." Aelfric praised him for his cleverness. "It doesn't matter, the ritual has begun, there's no stopping it now. You guys will all die. Just a bit longer."
"Don't think for a moment-." Yuri was about to finish his sentence when…
"That shit isn't getting off, pal!" Balthus grunted as hard as he could before successfully ripping the ropes. "Seriously, boss. Did you have to tie us up so tightly?"
"Sorry, Balthus. I figured those little tears would be enough for you to break though the rope." Yuri apologized for his actions he did.
"I may be the Unbeatable King of Grappling, but I'm also bleeding profusely…" Balthus said feeling how his life was slowly draining down. "You didn't wonder why it was taking me so long? Think next time, will ya?"
"I haven't the slightest clue on what you two are rambling about, but please untie our ropes as well!" Constance whined and told them to untie her.
"You're talking. Do it yourself. I dispelled the silence from you ages ago, or hadn't you noticed?" Yuri stated leading her to understand that they could flee themselves without any more problems.
"I see." She said before untying herself and Hapi in the process.
"It's great that we're not tied up anymore and all that, but we're still being actively drained…" Hapi spoke nonchalantly but also concerned about their life.
"I've invested everything to ensure my success today. My private funds, a veritable army…" Aelfric said expressing frustration and anger towards the Ashen Wolves. "Surround them! Don't let them escape! The ritual will not be stopped!"
"Ugh! Why won't it cease?" Constance felt a sharp pain in her body. "We are freed, and yet our blood still drains from us?"
"Well, this wasn't part of the plan…" Yuri laughed nervously.
"This is not a moment for laughs, you idiot!" she scolded him for his reckless expression. "Our lives are drifting away!"
"Hold on, hold on, Constance, stop panicking, alright? You know I'm never unprepared." He asked her to calm down.
"Hey, you've always a trick up your sleeve, don't ya? I can hear your secret plan running our way." Balthus said aware of his friend's idea.
At the precise second, Sora and the gang arrived at the mausoleum only to see what was happening to the Ashen Wolves and Aelfric.
"Guys, something is happening to Yuri and the others." Sora commented upon feeling their energy drift down. "Their lives are being depleted."
"You don't say, mister Sora…" Hubert knew well what he was talking about.
"The Rite of Rising… Of course!" Edelgard said figuring the actions that were being carried out. "I think it must be it."
"Their blood is being drained and then transformed into… raw power." Linhardt explained them. "Ugh… I… that's a lot of blood. Too much blood. This is hard to watch."
"No way… We gotta stop them!" said Dorothea with determination.
"Guys! Could any of you step within the magical vortices beside us to obstruct their flow?" Constance called them.
"What do these vortices have to do with it?" Sora asked her for the reason.
"It is crucial to halting the Rite of Rising! The vortices are repelling our Crests of the Apostles! We can't block them ourselves! That's why you guys gotta step in these vortices, Sora! Quickly, now!" she explained the actions to take.
"Look, we really want to help, but right now, we just can't. Please do what you can!" Yuri cheered them besides asking the team for help.
"So this is how it feels. Infinite power flowing forth from the chalice." Aelfric spoke while feeling the power of the artifact at cost of the Ashen Wolves' lives. "Without the chalice… I doubt anyone will survive."
"You're just gonna kill everyone, including your allies?! You're really out of you mind!" Sora yelled in anger after hearing the threatening message.
This was a life-or-death battle for everyone, they had to reach the vortices in order to stop the rite and take Aelfric out once and for all, so Byleth came up with a plan.
"Okay, guys. We have to save Yuri and the others, and stop the rite. Sora, listen, we need your keyblade powers to clear this whole area combining your thunder element with Dorothea's." she gave instructions to carry out the mission. "And then some of us will step on the vortices to finally stop Aelfric."
"Right!" all of them nodded saying yes. "Also we need some of you provide cover for us just in case."
"Okay, let's go, Sora!" Dorothea said engaging the knights alongside his partner.
The two clashed with the Aelfric's knights and performed a double Thundaga on Aelfric's henchmen to take them out and clear the area in the process.
"Nooo! Stop it!" Aelfric screamed in frustration after witnessing his henchmen's defeat. "The rite will continue no matter what!
"The room is clear! Let's move!" said Byleth running towards one of the vortices, and successfully stepping onto one of them, precisely aside of Yuri.
Edelgard ran towards another vortex, especially where Hapi was standing, while Sora headed to another one where Constance was localized, and finally, Caspar headed to the last one where Balthus was.
With that, they successfully stopped the ritual, making Aelfric mad as hell, even giving a death glare not only at Byleth, but Sora too.
"The ritual… it cannot fail!" he said out of frustration and anger at the same time. "You… You little bastard! You ruined my most crucial rite!
"Forget it! There's no way you're taking Yuri and the others' lives!" the keyblade wielder retorted pointing his keyblade on the man, challenging him.
"He's right! You wanted to revive somebody… and yet you tried to get us all killed!" Constance seconded in the same tone.
"It matters not whose blood it is anymore." Aelfric spoke giving all of them a menacing and threatening glare. "Even if I must your blood to see this through, I will!"
"We'll see about that!" Sora replied entering in dark form with his Oblivion keyblade to engage a huge fight between him and Aelfric.
[INFORMATION: Defeat Aelfric!]
Aelfric casted the meteor spell to try and crush Sora, but this boy reacted in time to quickly slide around him while completely avoiding the meteor.
"Wha-Ah!" Aelfric let out a pain grunt while being brutally slashed by the keyblade wielder.
After dodging the dangerous attack, Sora laid a strong air combo across Aelfric's back and ended it with a wave which sent the man flying down to the floor.
"You… HOW DARE YOU?!" Aelfric roared in blind rage at the boy standing up. "I was willing to carry out my most important ritual! And yet you come here and fuck this up!"
"Aelfric, do you think this will make Sitri happy? Killing everybody at your sight including your allies?" Sora scolded him due his extreme madness. "Think about how she would feel if she saw you doing this!"
"Shut up! You have no idea of how sad I was after losing the most important person I had!" Aelfric replied angrily.
"Yes, I do! I have experienced losses and I have come to accept that the dead can't come back!" the keyblade wielder talked him back in the same emotion. "You should accept it as a real man, Aelfric because otherwise, you're gonna have a really bad day!"
"GO TO HELL!" Aelfric screamed in anger while launching a fire spell, which the keyblade wielder countered with ease, too much for his horror. "What the…?!"
"See ya!" Sora let out a grunt while performing a strong Ars Arcamiun on him with a strong combo slash across his body.
"Did you see that?" Dorothea said with amaze. "He's pretty quick, it's like he's a rabbit in a human body."
"A rabbit?" Petra remarked as she could in the same feeling.
"Yeah, he's so fast, which means he's pretty flexible." The girl explained her.
"I see."
After performing the said number of slashes via Ars Arcamiun, Sora defeated Aelfric with the Zantetsuken ability and sent him flying towards the wall.
"Sora! You did it!" Edelgard called him heading to the zone.
"This man was crazy." He replied turning back to normal.
"He indeed is." She replied turning to Aelfric, who was standing up with difficulties.
"Are you okay, Sora?" Byleth called him.
"Yes." He replied.
Aelfric limped towards the gang with a visibly sadness, but also frustration and rage on his face.
"Professor. You would raise your sword against me?" he questioned her, and then gave her some shocking news. "Your mother lies here! Waiting for us! Waiting for you! Don't you want her back?"
"Byleth, is that true?" Sora asked her in shock, just like everyone else. "Or is he just trying to mess with us?"
"Yes… it is true" she confessed her students. "My mother died giving birth to me, she gave her life so I could live."
"There is no room for doubt. I know her appearance better than anyone. This… is her." Aelfric stated in an obsessive tone. "An upstanding nun who married Jeralt, she died 21 long years ago…"
It was then when everybody saw that woman lying on top of the pedestal, much to everyone's shock. That woman, was Sitri, Byleth's mother.
"Look, mister ritual." Ferdinand said. "Do you think we're gonna believe that anybody who died twenty years is still such a pristine condition?"
"Incredible, isn't it? It's as though she remains untouched, even after all these years…" Aelfric assured them showing a lot of obsession towards Sitri. "Perhaps her body differs from others. Beautiful, ageless… perfectly preserved by some secret only she knows. Whatever the case may be, it is strange, is it not?"
"You're really psycho, man." Caspar murmured in disbelief.
"It's been 10 years since I found her. I came across her body, frozen in time, deep underground." Aelfric continued. "I have worked tirelessly to solve the riddle of her death and bring her back to life.
"Halt, Aelfric." Rhea appeared alongside Alois to stop him.
"Rhea!" he replied in surprise and anger. "You are the cause of this! It was you who killed her! When she gave birth to a child who made no sound."
"What…?" Edelgard said in shock like everybody else.
"Tell me what you've done to her! Why does her body remain while her spirit does not?!" Aelfric demanded in rage.
"I owe you no words on the matter. But I will tell you this…" Rhea began. "She made the choice to die, that her offspring might live. I respected her will. Nothing more. Aelfric. Just as I viewed her, so do I view you. You are as my own child. Please, cease this futility."
Aelfric laughed maniacally in response. "You expect that I should fucking believe you without question?! You see her lying here before you, and yet you 'owe no words' Rhea, I am finished with you. The only thing that remains to be done is to complete the ritual." With that Aelfric teleported away to try to carry out the rite elsewhere.
"Hurry! He cannot have gone far." Rhea asked them to chase after him.
"No need to remind me twice." Byleth understood her words. "Everyone, let's go after Aelfric!"
"Yes, we must stop him at once. Let's figure out where he disappeared to." Edelgard said willing to go.
"What about you four? Can you still keep up?" Dorothea asked the Ashen Wolves if they were still in conditions to keep on their feet.
"Hah! It'll take a lot more than that to stop. If anything, I feel speedier with less blood weighing me down." Yuri assured them with a badass smirk on his face.
"Probably for the best that he drained us, otherwise our blood would be boiling." Balthus seconded with the same feeling as his friends.
"Ugh, speak for yourselves, I feel atrocious." Constance said feeling annoyed by the two and turning to Sora with a smile. "We must end this, and swiftly."
"Count me in." Hapi expressed her willingness to join the fight.
"Then we're all on the same page. But first things first… Let me see this pretty face of yours, boss." Said Balthus before punching Yuri on his face, to everyone's amuse.
"Ouch! What the fuck was that for?!" he whined in pain and surprise.
"Why the hell didn't you tell us?" Balthus interrogated him due to his past actions and supposed betrayal. Nobody couldn't blame him for punching Yuri on his face given on the circumstances and all that. Yuri needed to learn a lesson in a hard way after all.
"I'm sorry I had to use you all. But there wasn't much choice, someone would've died for sure otherwise." Yuri explained his reasons to play the traitor all this time. "It could've been any of you. It could've been one of my rogues, someone from Abyss… Who knows."
"You imply that you didn't trust us enough!" Constance reprimanded him for his cowardice. "I'm very disappointed of you, Yuri.
"Use me or don't, but it would've been nice if you'd asked us first." Hapi said in the same feeling as well.
"Look, I get it, okay? Your people were being held hostage. You were between a rock and a hard place." Balthus spoke understanding his reasons. "But I thought we were pals. Buddies till the end."
This took Yuri aback, he never knew exactly what having a true friend meant... until now. "I need you… all of you. I've been a fool. Thank you for always being there for me. Even now."
"All right, I think this fool gets the picture. Time to find that another asshole and take him down!" Balthus stated his desire to take Aelfric out once and for all. "Will you guys help with that?"
"You got our word." Byleth accepted.
"Haha! I love the hip of yours." Yuri compelled her qualities. "Let's do this, Wolves."
/
Meanwhile, Aelfric was preparing himself to start the rite while remembering his days with Sitri in the monastery. It seemed that he was in love with her. Pretty much apparently, but his unhealthy obsession with reviving her reached the most extreme level of insanity, even going as far as trying to drain Yuri's and the Ashen Wolves' blood to make his dream true.
Aelfric's P.O.V
[Still of Aelfric and Sitri talking to each other at the monastery twenty-one years ago]
To me, growing up in the shelter of the monastery, she was my world…
All of the memories I hold of her… learning, growing, walking hand in hand… she left me in awe.
[Change of picture to Jeralt handing her flowers to Sitri, who looks delighted]
If that's what makes her happy, then I will watch her walk away with warmth in my heart.
If that is truly what will make her happy…
Surely he will make her smile. That's I wanted for her.
To Sitri, confined in the walls within the monastery walls, he was her world.
I saw the way her eyes glimmered when they spoke. And her otherworldly smile when they became engaged.
The look on her face when she told me how happy she was to bear his child…
It was enough for me to see her happiness… to witness it from a distance.
She breathed her last, 21 years ago. I have never forgotten.
She died before she could see the face of her beloved child whom she had so lovingly nurtured…
The funeral was a solemn affair. We gathered in the graveyard, said our farewells, and watched as her casket was lowered into the soil.
That was the end of the story.
Or so I thought. Until 10 years ago, when I found her… her remains, hidden deep within Abyss. She looked as beautiful as ever.
End of Aelfric's P.O.V
Aelfric was more than determined to perform the rite and revive Sitri by any means necessary as far as to have to face the consequences, which could be fatal for him and everybody else.
END OF CHAPTER 25
A/N:
This is it, the final battle of the Cindered Shadows is coming up next and then, the main story will resume with more of Sora's adventure's being unfold.
Will Sora and the others stop Aelfric once and for all? Find out in the next episode.
See ya.