Context note: "Warlock" isn't a class in this fic, it's just a term that the characters use to distinguish criminal mages (since the original Old English word for "warlock" meant "oath breaker").

This chapter also makes heavy use of geological terms. Just to avoid confusion, a cirque is basically a three-sided valley.

Hope y'all had a good Thanksgiving!

Killer Instinct (Part 2)

The five-day trek to the fort felt much longer thanks to the cadets. In all fairness, it would have been a much faster journey in flat terrain, but the central Oghmas were the densest of the entire range. There was no such thing as flat land for much of it, we were either going up a slope, down a slope, on the side of a slope, or along a crest. Fortunately the Church-built convoy roads made travel substantially easier, though they also necessitated constant security. The elevation was higher than Garreg Mach in several places and the air was much more thin and arid. It nearly became frigid when the sun went down. The Blue Lions had the least trouble functioning in this environment, having all been raised raised in the cold north, except Mercedes. The southern-raised Black Eagles certainly had the worst time here, especially the tropical islander Petra, who had never experienced such cold in her life. Nonetheless, Jeralt kept the force marching at a relentless pace, day and night, halting very briefly each day to eat, and resting for no more than six hours per night before moving out again in the pre-dawn hours, all until we finally reached Fort Oghma-Epsilon.

The fort was built atop a wide ridge that was artificially flattened ,and it was already nightfall when we arrived. The cadets were half-asleep on their feet as we marched through the gate. The garrison commander, Sir Astram, immediately met with Jeralt, Shamir, and Caeda to get our force quartered in the fort's expedition barracks. Hanneman, Manuela, and I took our cadets straight to their barrack bay where half of them fell asleep on their bunks before unpacking their fresh uniforms. Lysithea even passed out on her rucksack and had to be placed on her bunk. But there was no rest for the house leaders or the cadre as Jeralt called the necessary briefing with Astram, his garrison staff, Shamir, Caeda, and all the company and troop leaders. We naturally had to be there as well.

Soon all subordinate leaders were huddled around a large table map in the fort's command post and the long deliberation began. Being tribunes, Dimitri, Edelgard, and Claude did not speak during the meeting. I myself didn't speak much either. Now that I was a cadre, my sole responsibility was the cadets. I was no longer part of Jeralt's chain of command, and thus couldn't take participate in his decision-making process in any official capacity like I had my whole life. I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

Astram provided us with all the intelligence his garrison had gathered on our enemies. The bandits were not as skilled in concealment as they seemed to think, despite trying to use both the natural terrain and the Nabatean ruins in Zanado to their advantage. Based on visual contacts and natural signs of human activity, Fort Epsilon estimated the bandits to be anywhere 700 to over a thousand. Their hole-up site was confirmed to be in the ruins atop a plateau, strangely called Old Baldy, that was nestled in the pocket of a cirque valley less than ten miles north of the fort.

We had to have spent well over an hour discussing the execution of our operation; from on-site reconnaissance, which elements would attack, which elements would set up blocking positions, how the fort would sustain our force with convoys, and the succession of command. Jeralt made the command decision straightaway that our center of gravity would be Old Baldy itself. The ruins that sat on top of it, plus the cirque's ridges that surrounded it on the north, south, and west sides made it the key terrain where the enemy was likely to concentrate the most. There were ruins on the north ridge of the cirque as well, but any advance towards there would have swing wide around nearly the entire cirque, giving the enemy valuable time, and we simply didn't have the man power for an effective pincer movement. A single cavalry troop could move that far in good time, but not infantry. Two mostly intact bridges connected the plateau to the cirque on the north and south sides. The western ridge had a natural saddle point connected to the plateau that was much higher than the rest of the valley, there were also the remains of a bridge on that saddle point but it was now collapsed. Jeralt carefully considered all terrain factors in order to figure out exactly what we needed to do clear the ruins of Old Baldy. It seemed that any rational attack on the plateau would have to go across the south bridge, taking the time to circle all the way around to the northern ruins would be risky. But Jeralt always found solutions where others never looked, and as usual, it sounded absurd at face value.

"How low is the saddle point from either of the ridges?" He asked Astram's intelligence officer.

The man blinked in surprise before answering, "About a quarter-mile below the cirque's western ridge. Same for the plateau."

"And how far does it stretch from the west ridge to the plateau?"

"Roughly half mile."

"Then we'll send a flanking element directly across the it."

Everyone in the room was silent for a moment.

"Please tell me that's a joke, sir," said Caeda.

"He's not joking," I deadpanned, I wanted to slap her for knowing better than to flagrantly question her superior in the middle of a war council.

"The only other options are an encirclement that will buy them time to retreat, or bottleneck our whole force across the south bridge," said Jeralt. "It may be uneven, but it's far higher than the rest of the valley and our best chance to hit them with an attack they won't expect."

"Third Recon can join the flanking element," said Shamir, referring to her own men.

As cavalry scouts, the troopers of Shamir's 3rd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron could fight as dismounted light infantry if needed, particularly in terrain that didn't favor horses.

"And I presume we'll need a suppression element to draw the enemy's attention to the south bridge?" She asked.

"Exactly," said Jeralt.

After more deliberation it was decided that most of Jeralt's brigade would act as the suppression element that would advanced across the south bridge to the plateau in order to fix the enemy's focus as much as possible. Jeralt himself would directly command the suppression element with his dismounted heavy troopers up front, followed by all four of his heavy infantry companies. Astram committed an archer company and mage platoon from the garrison to the suppression element. Shamir would command the flanking element, which would be spearheaded by Jeralt's light infantry company, reinforced by Shamir's dismounted troopers. Jeralt's archer company and mage platoon would support the flanking element. Caeda's pegasus troopers would then attrit the enemy's formation and momentum with a dive charge as the flanking element would strike them as hard and fast as possible. At the very least, the bandits would be pressed on two sides

"Alright," said Jeralt. "Now that our plan has been refined, let's make sure our men are fed and rested, we'll brief the operation first thing in the morning. Any further questions?"

Hanneman raised his hand. "Regarding the cadets, which elements of the force will they be permitted to shadow?"

"Choose yourselves whichever you want for your respective houses, first come first served," Jeralt dismissively waved his hand. "Just have them placed with a unit before step-off."

It would have been completely reasonable to leave it at that. But then I remembered my conversation with Jeritza, and it compelled me to speak up.

"I request that the Blue Lion House join the assaulting element."

Everyone glanced at me, particularly Dimitri.

Jeralt just looked at me and said, "Granted."

No one raised any more questions and the meeting was adjourned.

"Pass the word to the Lions," I told Dimitri as we cadre and cadets left the headquarters. "Make sure they all know exactly what's going to happen tomorrow."

"Are you not coming back to the barracks, Professor?" He asked.

"I will later, I'm going to talk with Jeralt."

I technically should have called him Sir Jeralt in front of the cadets to respect his knighthood, but I was too used to just using his first name from our mercenary days and he didn't even care about knighthood titles to begin with. I was just about to chase after him and his brigade officers when Edelgard spoke.

"If I may ask, Professor, why did you request for the Blue Lions to join the flanking element?" She almost sounded indignant.

I gave her an odd look as I turned, I really didn't like her tone.

"Why are you concerned about that, Your Highness?"

"The flanking element will have the most dangerous mission, will you not? If the bandits detect your movement over the berm, you'll be exposed."

I really didn't feel like arguing with the Adrestian Princess at this hour.

"Then pray the Goddess's protection over us as we go over the top."

Edelgard frowned at my response, though I wasn't being sarcastic.

"You'll surely need as many hands as possible, the Black Eagles should go with the Lions."

I blinked.

"That is not your decision to make, Your Highness."

"She is right, Your Highness," Hanneman interjected. "I have already decided that the Black Eagles will join the suppression element. I personally don't think it's worth the risk for your class to join the flanking element with the Blue Lions."

"And yet Professor Eisner deems that the Lions are more qualified for the risk than we are?" she scowled. "We bear the same responsibility of this mission."

Before she could say another word, I stepped up close to her, deliberately staring down the smaller girl from my greater height to get my point across.

"Your Highness, with all due respect, I alone decide the actions of the Blue Lions," I said in noble Adrestian. "They are under my command and you do not have the vested authority to overrule me in their affairs, regardless of your rank. You should be more concerned with your own house. You will prove to be a lacking ruler if you're more concerned with the share of glory than the readiness of your own men-at-arms. "

Her steely, lilac eyes hardened at my rebuke and direct challenge to her pride. She simply stared back for a moment, as if trying to make me to back down by sheer force of will, but she had neither the combat experience or the physical stature to deter me. So she broke first.

"I understand, Professor," she curtly said as she stepped away.

"Good."

"Let us put that matter aside and rest while we can for the night," Hanneman firmly said. "Tomorrow will be the day of battle."

"Yes, goodnight," Edelgard said as she abrasively walked back to the barracks.

Hanneman gave a hefty sigh. "Please forgive her, Byleth. She doesn't mean to be insubordinate, she's just. . . letting her ambition cloud to judgement."

"That's the second time she's disrespected me," I said. "I've only tolerated it because of her rank. She does it one more time and I'll kicker her dwarf ass."

"I assure you, it will not come to that," Hanneman waved his hand. "She and I will have a discussion about it later. Until tomorrow."

He then made his way back to the barracks.

"I think we'll keep the Golden Deer with the suppression element as well, Claude," Manuela said to him.

"No argument here. We'll be sure to send extra prayers to you and His Kingliness, Teach," Claude winked at me. "Maybe we could even send Marianne with you for white magic support, especially after the performance of the mock battle."

Dimitri rolled his eyes at Claude's cheeky implication, but didn't let his rival house leader bait him. "I think Mercedes is completely capable for our task."

"Whatever you say, Mitya."

"Boys, please, we've had enough dick swinging for one night," Manuela sighed.

"I'll catch up to you, Your Highness," I said as a walked away.

'You were a bit harsh towards Edelgard, don't you think?' Said Sothis.

'I've worked for her kind for years, she doesn't actually give a rat's ass about 'sharing the responsibility', she's just competing for glory against her rivals. Her whole house is, really.'

I freely admit that I was rather bigoted towards Adrestian nobles back then, and to some extent I still am. Adrestian pride was well documented even beyond Fódlan, but the Adrestian nobility shared a pride amongst themselves that often veered into arrogant machismo. It actually made sense, given their ancestral dominance over entire continent, but it was also irritating to deal with. I couldn't even count how many times I had witnessed it in my mercenary days.

So of course, it didn't surprise me at all when I observed the same attitude in the Black Eagle House. Edelgard always tried to project an outward appearance of no-nonsense pragmatism, but that was just a mask to conceal her self-inflated belief that she was above her rivals. I could tell from the beginning that she saw herself as the standard of strong, decisive leadership, and she certainly had an iron will, but she lacked Claude's adaptability and Dimitri's empathy. Her retainer Hubert took just as much pride in how ruthlessly effective and cutthroat he could be for his future empress. Ferdinand was so proud of his heritage he was practically an exaggeration. Caspar truly believed he could fight anyone. The normally indifferent Linhardt viewed most other cadets as dumber than him. Petra wasn't even a Fódlander, yet the Adrestian pride definitely bled over into her natural pride for Brigid. Even the common-born Dorothea was a prima donna, both literally and figuratively, who rather hypocritically indulged in all the same pretentious vanity as the nobility, despite disliking nobles in her own mind. That's why I could barely tolerate opera songstresses like her and Manuela, they had no self-awareness. Bernadetta was the only Black Eagle cadet officer with no sense of pride, but that was only because of her extreme, trauma-induced insecurity that made her a completely insignificant leader who just barely scraped by at the academy. The odd thing about it is that Hanneman certainly didn't foster that overall stuck-up attitude. He may have been an Adrestian noble himself, but he was too professional to let ego control him. Edelgard already controlled the class in that sense.

And if I'm being honest, I didn't find the Golden Deer to be particularly attractive either. Lorenz was so full of himself that he was worse than most Adrestian nobles, an accomplishment in and of itself. Hilda was such a chronic procrastinator that, as Claude once put it, "If you look up 'lazy' in the dictionary, her picture won't be there because she never got around to submitting it." It's a miracle she never flunked out of the academy. Lysithea was a prodigy magician, and one of the few able to control dark magic, but her talents were offset by her petty brattiness, fragile ego, and obsession with displaying maturity. Ignatz was very kind and intelligent but his combat skills were terrible. Raphael on the other hand was very skilled in combatives, at the cost of being heavily dull-witted. Marianne was a gifted white mage and surprisingly adept equestrian, but severely lacked self-confidence and command presence nearly as bad as Bernadetta. Claude, finally, had every quality an effective leader should have and was perhaps the sole force that held his house together, but I had issues with his rather obnoxious personality.

The popular myth that I was given the ability to choose which house to teach is ironic in hindsight, as I think I would have still led the Blue Lions if I had actually had a choice. I believe now that I naturally fit with the Blue Lions more than I did with the Golden Deer and especially more than Black Eagles, even though I myself was a born Adrestian who spoke Faerghian with a slight accent. Faerghian nobles often displayed no less vanity than Adrestians or Leicestermen, but they usually wren't nearly as arrogant as Adrestians. The very traditional culture of the Holy Kingdom heavily discouraged the sin of pride, or at least overtly and boastfully displaying it. The Lions were certainly more humble than their Adrestian peers, and even plenty of the Leicestermen, but I never saw that as one of their weaknesses. Dimitri and Ingrid may have been bullheaded, Sylvain may have been a philanderer, and Felix could certainly be arrogant in his honed sword skills, but neither they nor the other Lions were prideful enough to pretend to be anything they weren't. For all their faults, the Lions shared a determined, unpretentious focus that was a common attribute of Faerghians, even the two foreigners Dedue and Mercedes shared it. It came naturally to Dedue, as Duscurites traditionally shared many similar values with their neighbors, even if most Faerghians were unwilling to admit it. Mercedes by contrast was ironically an Adrestian noble by birth, Enbarr accent and all, but she was supremely humble by nature, in stark contrast to most of her people, and had long adopted Faerghian culture.

In time, their focus would push them through the darkest days of everything that was coming. I had no way of knowing that at the time, of course, but I was already beginning to recognize it's potential. I could only do what I thought was best to turn my students into killers.

"Hey, kid, care to join us for a drink?" Jeralt said as I approached the fire pit where he and the other brigade officers were gathered.

"Don't mind if I do."

I wasn't a hard drinker myself, rather uncommon for a mercenary, but a little ale by the campfires was always a healthy way to calm the nerves the night before battle. So I sat down and communed with the closest thing I had ever had to family.

"I wasn't expected that request you made," said Jeralt. "Especially since you were hesitant to have them on this mission to begin with."

"I was wrong," I said as I sipped my drinking horn. "I was being to protective of them, maybe I was too protective back in Remire."

"What changed your mind?"

"I had a conversation with Jeritza before we left. It made me realize that all the training in the world is useless to the cadets if they can't instinctively put it into action."

"As long as you're willing to take that risk," Jeralt said as he took a swig.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, please, you're one to talk about risks," I said half jokingly. "I wasn't gonna say it in front of everyone else in the war council, but the attack plan is a high roll even by your standards."

"She's got a point, Boss," Nicholas added.

Jeralt just shrugged, he knew that we meant no disrespect. "I won't deny it. But the Seneschal ordered us to prosecute the Law of Macuil, and I tend to do exactly that." He took another swig. "Besides, like I've said so many times, the enemy will have a delayed response to what they don't expect."

"I hate it when you're right," I sighed.

The brigade officers and all traded glances, understanding the gravity of the situation. Saint Macuil's law had uses other than war, but specifically applied to enemy combatants, being ordered to 'prosecute the Law of Macuil' was essentially a euphemism for 'kill every last one.' Even though the Ministry of Religion superseded the Church of Seiros within the Adrestian Empire, the Church was still the only organization in Fódlan with the recognized authority to officially sanction that law.

"I suppose your cadets better be prepared for the bloodshed, Byleth," said Devon.

I inspected my horn as though I had never seen such a thing, I could only manage to say, "They better be."

"It'll be a shame not havin' you back with us, ma'am," said Ivar.

I glanced over at the salt-and-pepper haired man, who had been walking with a limp from the wound he received back in Remire.

The brigade's chain of command had been completely restructured. Erwin was the official leader of Omega Troop and Jeralt's executive officer. Ivar, Devon, and Nicholas were now company leaders. Devon commanded Alpha Company, the skirmishers, Ivar commanded Beta Company, the first of the heavy infantry units, and Nicholas was the leader of Zeta Company, the support unit composed of the archer company and mage platoon. Gamma and Delta Companies were led by two of our other veterans named Vasily and Beowulf who had not held leadership positions before.

Ivar really shouldn't have been there, however, as his leg had still not fully recovered from his wound. The proper procedure would have been to have his first platoon leader assume temporary command of Beta Company, but Jeralt claimed that he insisted on joining the mission to finish what we started in Remire. Ivar had been with Jeralt since the very beginning, so Jeralt simply couldn't bring himself to order him to stay at Garreg Mach.

"Y'know, you really shouldn't have come with that leg of yours," I said to him.

"I'll let it full heal after we've finished those bastards. We own that much to Pierre."

". . . yeah. . . you're right."

The image of Pierre's corpse flashed through my mind, his mail and gambeson split open at the chest by what had to have been multiple strikes from an axe. I knew that regardless of my decisions, the Blue Lions could all potentially suffer similar fates. Sothis was silent.

The brigade assembled long before dawn. Every platoon conducted a thorough pre-combat inspection; armor was donned, weapons were checked for dents and rust, horses and pegasi were saddled, the supply convoy was re-inventoried, officers took roll calls and briefed the plan to their men. But before any of the companies were fully assembled, the cadre assembled our cadets outside the barracks.

"Oh boy, it's happening. . . " a visibly nervous Annette said while fiddling with a buckle of her brigandine.

"Stay calm, Annie, we'll make it through," Mercedes gave her a small side hug for comfort.

"I'll give it my all," said Ashe.

"Just don't get separated from the formation," Felix said as he closed the cheek pieces of his steel helmet.

I had risen and garbed in full battle dress before everyone else and meticulously inspected each of the Lions as Hanneman and Manuela inspected their houses. Most every cadet wore their uniform gambesons as required, but their equipment varied beyond that.

Mercedes and Annette both wore their mage tunics and carried their mana staffs of spiraled birchwood. Though Annette also owned a small brigandine and carried a short battleaxe in her belt for personal defense. Ashe was dressed as a skirmisher with a leather jerkin and cervelliere. He had brought his longbow as a precaution but chose to carry his short spear and shield for the battle instead, he also had an axe in his belt as a sidearm. Felix was dressed similarly to me with a haubergeon, brigandine, and steel plates for his legs, shoulders, and forearms. His gauntlets were even spiked on the knuckles in case of an unarmed brawl. He kept his shield slung on his back as he carried his personal two-handed estoc, which was specifically meant to pierce mail and plates. I would have preferred he carried an arming-sword to allow for holding his shield, but based on his combatives skills, Felix was the only cadet that could be trusted with such a longsword. Dedue wore a Duscurite-style spangelhem on his head and a hauberk coat underneath a Duscurite oxhide jerkin that was branded above his heart with his clan insignia. His large round shield was also Duscurite, painted with the Molinaro clan insignia as well, and his weapon was a double-bearded pollaxe.

Dimitri, Sylvain, and Ingrid were the most heavily armored, even more than me, as befitting the three horsemen of the class. They each wore hauberks and most of the steel plates that they would have worn as mounted knights. Because they were fighting on foot, however, they smartly chose infantry boots instead of cavalry sabatons for easier movement. They also wore nasal helmets over mail coifs rather than the knight helms that would have tunneled their vision too much while on foot. They carried the same spears and triangular shields along with arming-swords as sidearms. I had tried to convince them that they could afford to dress lighter and still have plenty of protection with less bulk, since they weren't going to be in the saddle, but Dimitri was adamant that they condition themselves to plate armor as much as possible so that they could become as agile as seasoned knights, so I conceded.

"Listen up," I said to all of them, "the sprint across the saddle will be the most dangerous maneuver. We will no doubt be spotted and it's a narrow strip, so keep your heads down and your shields up. And stay in formation as much as practicable."

Situations like that were precisely why I had drilled them in sprinting up and down inclines while weighted by armor.

"I must admit, I'm really not looking forward to that part," Mercedes anxiously squeezed her staff.

Sylvain chuckled, "If only we could be mounted for that part."

"I wish I could ride with the valkyries for that part," Ingrid glanced over at the pegasus troopers, nicknamed 'valkyries' after the angels that took fallen warriors to Eden.

"To bad the terrain and ruins will do no favors for horses," I said. "And trust me, Ingrid, you'll actually be safer on the ground, especially if the enemy has longbows."

Just then, Dimitri was approached by none other than his two rival house leaders, which seemed to be an odd tradition for them.

Edelgard already had her pride back on display, dressed as an infantry officer of the Imperial Adrestian Army. She wore an officer's scarlet surcoat branded with the golden, double-headed Imperial Eagle. I could see the outline of a brigandine under the surcoat plus the mail sleeves of her haubergeon. She also had steel spaulders, vambraces, greaves, a mail coif, and a plumed kettle helmet. Her rectangular Adrestian shield was covered with scarlet linen emblazoned with House Hresvelg's golden Crest of Seiros. Unlike most Adrestian officers, she carried her personal Zoltan battleaxe in her belt as her primary weapon, rather than the traditional halberd or pollaxe, but still had an officer's short arming-sword as her sidearm.

Claude, on the other hand, was much less conspicuous in his battle dress. As appropriate for him, he favored practical efficiency over a display of might. He was the only cadet to not wear the uniform gambeson of the academy, instead wearing is longer personal gambeson that had thicker padding and jack chains sewn into the sleeves. He also had a brigandine over his gambeson, a barbute helmet strapped hit his belt, and his arrow bag slung over his shoulder. Something that briefly caught my attention, however, was the shamshir sheathed on his belt, another early indicator of his true heritage.

"No time for shit-talk you two," I deadpanned. "This isn't a game anymore."

"I'm not that shallow, Teach," said Claude.

"Nor am I," said Edelgard. "I just wanted to say. . . good luck, Dimitri." She spoke as if she were being coerced to say that.

"And I've gotta admit, I could've handled the situation better when we faced those assholes back in Remire, so give 'em Hell for me," Claude smiled.

"After today, the ones who survived won't even live to regret the day they attacked us," said Dimitri.

All three houses walked to the assembly area together to fall in with our respective elements. The sky was still dark and the sun would not come up for some time, and it was in the pre-dawn cold that the gravity of what was about to happen finally set in for the cadets.

"I can't believe we're not going with the flanking element!" Caspar whined.

"Not. Another. Word. Caspar," Edelgard said through gritted teeth.

"Have courage, friend," said Ferdinand. "We still have the honor of representing the pride of Adrestia!"

"I will be giving witness to Brigidine pride!" Said Petra, and she certainly looked the part of a Brigidine warrior with her clan face-paint, colorful linen tunic, and long dagger.

"Yeah, it's all just another way to die anyway," Linhardt deadpanned.

"Please don't talk about dying!" Bernadetta squeaked.

"Keep your chin held high, Bernie, I will be standing next to you!" Said Petra.

"Even if we die today, the Goddess will preserve our souls," Marianne said solemnly .

"Send some extra prayers our way," said Annette.

"If today is our last, there's nobody I'd rather die next to than you, Ingrid," said Sylvain.

"This is not the time for that, Sylvain," Ingrid scowled.

"I'm serious," he actually seemed offended.

"Lock it up, Lions, Alpha Company is right there," I said as I guided my house away from the flock to fall in with the skirmishers.

"Come back alive, guys!" Said Hilda.

"Save some fun for us!" Said Caspar.

"King of Lions!" Said Claude.

And so the Blue Lions reported to Devon's Alpha Company and fell into the first platoon's rear rank. I judged it necessary for my cadets be in the first formation of the flanking element to hit the enemy, but not the tip of the spear. Hanneman and Manuela took their houses to Beta Company in the suppression element. The cadets then learned the meaning of 'hurry up and wait' as the units around them all conducted their inspections and the student's nervousness turned into boredom as it happens to all soldiers before battle.

The black sky gradually morphed into gray as we finally marched out of Fort Epsilon in tactical columns with Shamir and Caeda's troopers carefully screening our movement. The pegasus riders of Rho Troop took particular care to conceal their flight through cloud-bounding as much as possible so that their silhouettes wouldn't be spotted against the dark sky. Our planned route was a winding series of jagged ridge-lines and concealed mountain paths that Shamir's 3rd Recon guided us through. Orderlies gave updates to the officers when we passed each checkpoint, though nobody spoke above a whisper. Noise discipline was enforced as strictly as practicable, less we create a raucous echo across the valleys and gorges that could alert the bandits from miles away.

The sky was fully gray when we reached the final checkpoint, where the the pegasus troopers confirmed the enemy's presence in Old Baldy's ruins, exactly where they were projected to be. The checkpoint was a natural crossroads of trails on the low end of a ridge-line that intersected with the cirque, and would serve as the staging area for the supply train as well as a casualty collection point. Everything past that demarcation was considered hostile territory. Jeralt called a final leader's huddle to ensure all officers would be synchronized as much as possible and the force split up into the flanking and suppression elements. Shamir ordered Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Troops to dismount, the security detail sent by the fort stayed behind at the checkpoint to guard the horses. Delta Troop remained mounted, their task was to ride around the cirque's crest to probe the northern ridge for enemy activity and block any reinforcements.

"This is it," I told the Lions. "There's no going back from here."

"Here we go. . . " said Mercedes.

Nobody said anything else, there were no more words to be spoken. I swept my gaze across the faces of my students. Dimitri had subtly converted into the silently stoic fighter I had seen him become in Remire. It was as though he was suppressing all hint of conflicting emotions and focusing his mind on the singular task; killing. His normally friendly and boyish eyes took on a feral gaze, almost like that of an apex predator that smelled blood. I could barely see Dedue's gaze through the eye-slots of his helmet, but he looked melancholy, like a man about to do unpleasant but necessary business. Felix was so impassive he almost seemed bored, but I knew that was just his way of focusing his mind. He eventually told me that he played out rehearsals and contingencies in his head before every battle. Sylvain seemed like a completely different person, his carefree philanderer attitude was replaced by that of a magistrate preparing to pass judgement. Ingrid's eyes showed just a hint of natural fear, but she still maintain her usual professional bearing, slowly breathing through her chest to channel the fear into aggression. Ashe was also trying to control his breathing in order to dilute the effects of fear. Mercedes and Annette were plainly the most nervous. Mercedes was more subdued about it, being the oldest of the class at twenty-three. Annette kept touching her axe handle like a lucky charm.

Jeralt's brigade standard-bearer then blasted the call to advance, reverberated by all the other signal horns, and the suppression element advanced forward in column straight up the ridge-line to the cirque's crest, and the bridge to Old Baldy. Shamir's dismounted troopers then formed column behind Devon's Alpha Company while Shamir herself stayed with her own Alpha Troop. The flanking element waited until Jeralt's group was roughly a hundred paces ahead of us. Then, on Shamir's order, our signal horns blasted advance up and down the column and we moved forward at double-step. There was no longer a need to conceal our presence and Jeralt's men rose up a war cry as they reached the cirque's crest and advanced on the bridge. We could see for ourselves that the enemy was fully alerted to our presence when our element reached the crest. I saw a scramble of movement on Old Baldy across the bridge, swarming out of the ruins like a kicked hornet's nest. Most of Caeda's Rho Troop were already flying straight overhead to the plateau, but some of them guided the flanking element from above as we peeled left on the cirque's ridge-line to reach our objective. Delta Troop rode ahead of us in tight wedge formation. The ridge was narrow and all formations remained compact. A potential ambush would thus be devastating. There were plenty of draws nestled right below the ridge's trail where bandits could spring a trap. The pegasus and horse troopers were our vanguard against such an attack.

Delta Troop hit just such an attack as they reached the saddle point. Over the noise of pounding boots and thundering hooves, I heard shouts, screams, and horse whinnies. Our pegasus escorts immediately dived like birds of prey. I saw a trooper tumble the side of the ridge, his screaming, thrashing horse came sliding down behind him. But the vanguard cavalry crushed the ambush almost as it began and the pegasus riders pulled up and turned away to rejoin Rho Troop, their task was accomplished. Delta Troop rode beyond the saddle point as they continued their combat patrol and Alpha Company came up to see the skirmish's aftermath. Dead bandits littered the path, some with javelins in their torsos and others cut open by longswords. One friendly horse was dead and it's rider limped back to our platoon's rear rank and fell in next to my cadets, one hand clutching his bloodied hip and the other clutching his bloodied javelin. Mercedes tried to create a Heal glyph but the limping trooper waved her off.

The last recon cavalrymen to pass our objective dropped sashes behind them to mark the highest crossing point for the saddle, it had previously been marked on our maps. Devon's horns sent the call for reassembly down the column. I could see Jeralt's element clashing with the bandits on the bridge. Their battle was essentially a massive shoving match as Jeralt's men pushed and stabbed against the hostiles in order to clear the bridge. The element's mage section generated natural lighting from the heavy clouds to terrorize the bandits and break up formations, taking care not to bring the lighting too close to ur own men. Rho Troop began to spread out and circle the sky above the plateau, creating a crowd-control formation called the 'buzzard's circle'. Warlocks tried to cut them down from of the sky with wind spells, but they were too wild and unfocused to be accurate. The valkyries easily curved their pegasi around the bright blades of wind-powered mana. While in the ranks of Delta Company, the Black Eagles and Golden Deer would get nowhere close to the fray. But my Blue Lions were about to charge headlong into it and I took the brief opportunity to check everyone.

"Remember the hill sprints!" I said. "Let gravity do half of the work and then run like hell to the other side! Keep your breath other contro-"

I was interrupted by a sudden boom and the entire platoon was tossed into disarray as bright threads of lightning bolted up from the ground around us. I stumbled and fell from the disorientation, hearing screams and shouts all around me through the ringing in my ears.

'Shit!'

We had been hit with a natural lightning spell.

'Quickly! Keep your cadets together!' Said Sothis.

I grabbed my spear and pushed myself off the ground.

"Cadets! Talk to me!"

"Where alive!" Sylvain shouted, he was already back on his feet and visually confirmed that nobody in the class had died.

Everyone had been partially disoriented, but Dimitri, Dedue, and Sylvain acted quickly to pull everyone up. Mercedes and Annette were guarded from direct harm by their mana protection, but the enemy's spell had shaken Mercedes and utterly terrified a trembling Annette.

"Get your shit together, Dominic!" I roughly shook her. "We need you in this fight!"

"What the fuck was that?!" Felix yelled on impulse.

"Warlocks!" I said.

The platoon was now a chaotic gaggle and our advance across the saddle was attrited. I heard multiple soldiers shout that Devon was dead.

'Fuck! Not now!' "Mercedes! With me!"

I pulled her with me as I pushed through the gaggle to the front rank. The air above our heads crackled with electricity as our mage sections waged the magic duel with the enemy. Invisible mana trails were broken apart, re-harnessed, then again and again.

I grabbed a soldier and yelled, "Where the fuck is Devon?!"

He pointed to a body that was half incinerated. A lightning bolt had instantly killed him. Mercedes shot me a horrified look, knowing there was nothing she could do.

Somebody yelled, "Arrows!"

A barrage of arrows hit the edge of the ridge-line, killing half a dozen men. I looked across the saddle to see bandits lined up at the edge of the plateau. And I saw the flashes of mana glyphs.

'Oh, shit.'

I heard signal horns blasting the call for advance, meaning that Shamir was indirectly telling us to move our asses.

"Platoon leader!" I yelled.

"Right here!" A man pushed himself out from under a dead comrade.

"They're about to hit us again! We have to move!"

"We're not gonna make it with those bastards trained on us!"

"Those warlocks will overpower our fields!" Mercedes said on the verge of panic.

"There's no fucking option!" I yelled. "We go over the saddle or die! Sound advance, now!"

"Professor, what's happening?!" Dimitri shouted as he ran up to me.

"Your Highness! Stay ba-"

Several small bolts wildly struck close to the edge. I instinctively ducked. I looked up, saw more arrows falling, and raised my shield to protect my head. An arrow ricocheted off the rim. I realized the warlocks were using wing magic to propel the missiles, a technique that was only semi-reliable. But then I heard the fully panicked voice of Mercedes.

"Professor! Professor!"

She grabbed my shoulder and I looked behind me to see Dimitri slumping over next to her. An arrow was sticking out of his mail-clad neck. I felt my blood run cold. Sothis gasped inside my head.

"Dimitri!" Ingrid screamed in anguish as she rushed to him.

The signal horns blasted advance. No one moved. The Prince violently thrashed on the ground, clutching his neck, hacking up blood. Mercedes tried to generate a Heal glyph over her wand with shaking hands. But I knew it wouldn't work in time. Frothed blood covered his mouth, more blood squirted from his neck where the arrow had severed the vessel. His coughing and thrashing died down within heartbeats. Through the shouting, spells, and horn blasts, I barely heard his last strangled breath leaving his throat.

Dimitri's voice echoed in my head, 'With you on our side, Professor. . . I do not fear death.'

Jeritza's voice, 'They can only learn it from combat. And Killing.'

Jeralt's voice, 'As long as you're willing to take that risk.'

Then the world went quite as I stared at Dimitri's corpse.

"No. . . no-no-no. No!"

A sudden wave of energy burned through my body like fire in my bones. And time itself froze.

For the first time since I had met her, Sothis looked at me with genuine concern.

"Byleth?"

"Turn back time."

"What? But-"

"Turn back time! Now!"

"But. . . the flames are awakening in your body! I don't know what it will do to you!"

"I don't care, damnit!"

"Byleth! You don't know if you can can save him!"

"Turn back time!"