It's a little scary how willing the Daphnel soldiers are to follow me into the jaws of the lion (pun intended). I float the idea of following the army with the Blaiddyd banner expecting sighs and stiff shoulders, but I'm instead met with steely looks and nods. And the more I think about it, the less catastrophically stupid my idea seems. An extra few legions of foot soldiers weren't going to do much in a city defense when we're trying to keep the enemy at the gates anyway. And it's not like losing me hurts our tactical skills with Holst here to garrison the city.

So on the same day that I get the reports of the Kingdom army, I decide to follow them. The only task left is to decide if I want to get my friends dragged into this. Lysithea and Hilda have defined rolls to fulfill here at Derdriu, and Lady Ordelia is going to kill me if I get her daughter dragged into an even more dangerous and hopeless situation. That leaves Leonie and Ignatz. I hesitate when I realize I'm pulling my commoner friends to the front lines again, but they'll want to know.

I call the two of into a meeting room in Derdriu's capitol building. Despite the imminent threat of invasion, they arrive smiling and laughing together. This is the strength and conviction from us that Byleth will never see while they use their godlike powers to cut down entire legions alone. I first outline my plan to them, and without me asking both of them say that they want to join.

"We recognize how desperate the situation is, Claude," Ignatz says. "I know you've been making preparations, but it's Byleth we're talking about here. If we can ally with this Kingdom army and gain an extra ally, we might stand a chance at holding Derdriu."

"I wonder if any of our classmates will be with them," Leonie says. "Many of them joined the resistance against Cornelia's regime, right?"

Sylvain and Felix definitely, as their houses are still resisting Cornelia's rule. Ingrid's house Galatea is in no position to act against Cornelia, but isn't exactly friendly towards her either. I bet all three of them are riding with an army that has a Blaiddyd banner. As for the others, I have no idea.

And then… Dimitri. I read the reports four years ago saying that he was executed. I swore to put an arrow through Cornelia's eye after I finished protecting my homeland. Is it possible that he's out there with them?

"I feel obligated to remind you that this mission is dangerous," I say. "If the Empire finds us sneaking through territory we occupy, we're dead meat."

Especially since I promised Edelgard not to attack any of her soldiers in the Alliance before the Derdriu fight. Which I ideally won't be doing, but I doubt she'll believe that I'm taking an entire army through her territory for reconnaissance and parley even though it's the truth.

Leonie laughs. "Neither of us would be in Derdriu right now if we only thought about ourselves. We all want to protect home. And if that means embarking on a desperate plan, I'm in."

I want to deny the "desperate" part, but I can't. She and Ignatz are both right that despite my plans, we're at a massive disadvantage. It's like that Avengers scene. I can say "We have an army," and Edelgard will reply with "We have a Byleth."

But more knights from Faerghus could change that. Many of the Kingdom soldiers are better trained than our Alliance troops anyway, since warfare is ingrained in their culture. Felix told me that he held a blade before he ever picked up a pen.

"I know you feel responsible for us," Ignatz says, "But Leonie is right. We swore to protect this land, and I'm prepared to do so until I breathe my last."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," I say. "If you're surrounded and the situation is hopeless, you surrender. Got that?"

Ignatz nods, and Leonie narrows her eyes at me.

"Okay, Leonie?" I say.

A pause, and then a slight nod. Her expression tells me not to push it further.

"So you're both serious about this," I say. "Risking your lives again in a situation where we're dead either way if we get found out."

"Don't become a merchant, Claude," Leonie says, smirking. "You have no clue how to sell an idea. But I'm in. If Edelgard is busy invading Derdriu, we can take any army that comes our way."

"I'm in as well," Ignatz says. "This is my chance to leave a mark on Fódlan's future, and I won't waste it."

I exhale. It's done, then. My friends are getting dragged into my deadly ideas again. I hope this last gambit pays off, because without it I'm left with nothing.

#

A few days later, we hit the road. I only tell Holst, Hilda, and Lysithea that I'm leaving to limit the potential of a spy relaying information to Edelgard. I'm not sure how much I can trust Holst to keep his mouth shut, but I also can't disappear on him without warning.

The army consists of me, Ignatz, Leonie, and the Daphnel soldiers. Being small means that we're mobile enough to move quickly, but when we reach Empire-occupied territory we need to slow down in order to remain unnoticed. A part of me worries that if the Kingdom army continues on their pace we'll never catch up to them, but I'm sure they'll be slowed down by battles and trying to find a way across the bridge.

During this time, I get constant reports from Daphnel intelligence agents about the state of the Kingdom army. The first ones indicate that they're moving towards the Great Bridge of Myrddin, so I head there first. But before arriving, I'm told that they decided not to attack and went off to the east. There are a few smaller bridges in that area that are less tightly garrisoned than the Great Bridge of Myrddin. We had to forfeit them after our loss to Edelgard, which wasn't a big deal. They're not big enough to move the Imperial army across, so they don't do her much good. But for small, mobile armies like mine and the mysterious Blaiddyd one, a bridge like that could be the perfect answer.

As we turn east and continue sneaking through Empire-occupied territory, we get reports of the exact bridge that the Kingdom army used to cross into Imperial territory. I let out a resigned sigh when I hear that they've gone charging into the Empire, and I ask the army if they're willing to follow me further into this mission. A part of me hopes that they'll say no so that I'm forced to turn back, but everyone wishes to make contact with potential allies even if it means pushing into the Empire.

So that's it, then. With a ragtag army and Emperor Edelgard on our doorstep, we're invading the Adrestian Empire.

It takes us longer than I like to reach the bridge where the Kingdom army crossed. At first, I don't see any Imperial guards. When I get closer, I see large swaths of corpses on and around the bridge, all wearing uniforms of the Empire. Many of the dead soldiers carry normal wounds, but some are mutilated and torn apart in ways that I don't even feel comfortable saying out loud. The corpses are fresh enough that it can't be the work of crows or other scavengers, which means that someone did this. Most likely multiple people, judging by how many corpses are mutilated.

Do I want to work with people like that?

I take a deep breath. Mutilating corpses is odd, but the dead can't feel pain. Edelgard is the one hurting the living, and I'll take almost any help I can get at this point. Cornelia and Those Who Slither in the Dark are off the table, but so far all I know is that this army has some brutal soldiers. That's not enough for me to give up on them entirely.

I lead the army across the bridge and into Empire territory before the Imperials realize what happened and send more soldiers to garrison the bridge. I'm sure they've detected the Kingdom army at this point, but if my forces can stay hidden then we have the extra surprise advantage.

Stealthing through enemy territory is still slower than I'd like, but I can tell that we're gaining on the Kingdom army based on the trail of destruction that they leave behind. I find storehouses pillaged, large areas of land burned, and villages razed to the ground with no nearby commoners. This does give me more pause. Killing civilians to weaken the production of the enemy makes a twisted sort of sense, but I'm not sure I can bring myself to work with people like that. Still, I've gone too far at this point to turn back. If I'm confronted with irredeemable monsters, I can take them out myself and use the goodwill I gain with Edelgard to petition for more generous treatment of Alliance territories.

Once I see the signs of destruction, I have us pick up the pace. And soon, it becomes clear that we're gaining on the Kingdom army. Our supplies start to run low, but we're able to forage some from what the Kingdom army didn't take or burn after killing villages. It's scummy, but it's not like the people who farmed that food will have a chance to eat it.

And eventually, I spot a pegasus knight messenger flying towards us. My heart skips a beat when I think Edelgard's found us, but when he gets closer I can see that he's one of ours. He lands on the ground in front of me and gets on one knee while handing me a letter. I don't have time to comment on how I want them to treat me like a regular person when I'm this curious about what could be inside. The seal has the house Goneril emblem, so this letter is either from Holst or Hilda. I hope that's a good sign. I open the letter and begin reading.

Claude,

My apologies, but Derdriu has fallen. I could make all the excuses in the world, but none of them satisfy even me. Your professor is really something else. Lysithea and Hilda are safe, so don't worry about them. Nader was also instrumental in weakening the Imperial army and he almost turned the battle around on his own, but ultimately his efforts weren't enough and he was forced to retreat. He told me that he had never lost a battle before, so it sounds like this is his first.

Edelgard and Byleth know that the Kingdom army is marching into their territory, but I don't think they know about you yet. They're going personally and sending a small strike force for a couple reasons. First, their army suffered great losses at Derdriu and they need some soldiers to remain and garrison the city. Second, they do seem intent on trying to protect their people and want to deal with the burning and pillaging Kingdom army as soon as they can, which requires ending a force that's small and mobile. This gives you one more shot to take out Edelgard when she's not standing behind a massive army. Take her out and the Empire crumbles. I'm sorry to leave this to you, and I can only hope that you finish what we started.

Come back alive, okay? If something happens to you, I won't know what to tell Nader.

-Holst Goneril

I read over the letter a couple of times without saying anything. When I look up, the entire army's eyes are on me.

"Edelgard took Derdriu and is now on the way to fight the Kingdom army," I say. "We're the wild card in this equation, so let's make our element of surprise count."

A series of nods meet me. I wonder if they have the same doubts that I do about potentially joining forces with such a ruthless army. If we do kill Edelgard and Byleth here and the Kingdom army is allowed to keep rampaging, the common people living in Adrestia will pay the price. If I do ally with the mystery Blaiddyd army, I must keep them under control.

And that's not even mentioning the instability that Edelgard's death with no heir will cause in the Empire. I imagine local lords uprising and vying for power, fighting battles against neighbors until the fire of war spreads across all of Adrestia. And then I have a better idea.

I instruct my soldiers to capture Edelgard if they can. We can use her as leverage to broker a peace deal that doesn't rely on us marching into the Empire and putting out fires started by ambitious nobles. As always, I'm surprised at how willing they are to follow my commands. I hope that if I do have an idiot idea at some point, people will tell me.

When we draw near to the Kingdom army and I can start to see flags in the distance, fog sets in. I mutter a curse under my breath. I tell the soldiers to keep advancing, since we can't afford to lose the trail of the Kingdom army now. As we make our way through the mist, I begin to recognize the scenery. We're coming up to Gronder Field, where we fought the Battle of Eagle and Lion back when we were students at the monastery. Everyone else has fond memories of the competition and celebration while I was busy sulking that Byleth bested me again.

Riding up to the field where we fought as classmates makes me wonder if fate is real. And if it is, why it wants to play us for cruel twists. Marianne, Raphael, Judith, Dimitri. I will win for their sakes. Byleth has bullshit anime protagonist powers, but I must find a way to take them down. Rhea almost killed them at the Battle of Garreg Mach five years ago, so I know they're not invincible even with the goddess's power.

The fog beings to clear, and I can hear armies marching nearby. Ignatz asks me if we should try to fortify here, which isn't a bad idea.

"There's a ballista in the center of the field that I can operate," Ignatz says. "Can't be too different from shooting a bow."

"The center of the field will be the middle of the action if a fight breaks out," I say. "I don't want you on the front lines."

"Someone has to be, Claude. Does my life mean more than any other soldier you put in my place?"

I don't have an answer for that. Ignatz smiles and pats me on the shoulder.

"It makes me happy to see how much you care about us," he says. "Don't worry, Claude. If the situation looks dire I'll drop my weapons and surrender."

"You're not going to take no for an answer, are you?"

"I will follow your commands. However, this is what I came here to do."

Fuck. Well, time to hope for a miracle. I can't force him to stay back and carry the regret of not chasing after a key battle objective for the rest of his life, but I bite my lip when I think about my roommate back at Earth high school. If Ignatz here dies, the sweet kid who put up with my dimension-hopping shenanigans is toast as well.

"Think about Maya," I say. "And make sure that she doesn't have to lose her best friend as well as her brother. Okay?"

"I will. Thank you for allowing me to do this, Claude."

Ignatz takes a group of soldiers up to the ballista, which is ungarrisoned when he arrives. This will give us a tactical advantage if a fight does break out, but I recall how it didn't even slow Byleth down during the Battle of Eagle and Lion. Is it to much to hope for that I won't have to face them?

The rest of our soldiers line up in battle formation. Leonie will be giving most of the orders to the bulk of our army, and the way her voice carries across the field reminds me of the Knights of Seiros with decades of experience. Everyone around me is tense but focused, looking into the milky fog and ready to shoot what comes through.

The fog continues to fade, vanishing entirely in the span of a couple of minutes. I get a closer look at the Kingdom army to the west and see in the distance a blonde man with an eyepatch wearing dirtied animal furs. When he looks up at our army, the look of hunger and bloodlust on his face makes me pause. It's hard to make out details from this distance, which makes the fact that I can read his aggression even more concerning. Still, it can't be anyone I know, right? None of the Blue Lions students were like that.

Then to the north I see Edelgard's army arrive. Well, "army" is a bit of a strong word, since it's comprised of Edelgard, Byleth, the other Black Eagles students, their battalions, and a few legions of additional soldiers for support. But I'm not fooled. Edelgard and Byleth are one-person armies all on their own, and the ragtag strike force they brought along for speed purposes might be more of a threat than the Kingdom army.

"Kill every last one of them!"

The sound carries across the whole field, larger than life. It came from the Kingdom side, and I can see their soldiers charging forward. The voice is Dimitri's, which means…

I hear sounds of shuffling from the north and jerk my head over to see Edelgard pointing Aymr forward, and her soldiers begin their charge. As big class reunions go, this one's got to be the worst in history. Still, I can't back out now. Dimitri seems volatile at best, but fighting the Empire together gives us our best chance at victory. And with Derdriu fallen, this is my last chance to take a stand and protect my lands and the people living on them.

I give the command to advance. Time for one last fight against Edelgard and Byleth.

#

I fly up to the front lines on our western flank, which is in the direction of the Blue Lions army. We need to team up before anything else happens if we want a snowball's chance in hell at stopping Byleth's rampage. I give Omar a pat on the shoulder as we soar up to take a look at the battlefield.

That's strange. Dimitri's army is charging at us with spears and swords pointed our way, almost as if he wants to fight us. Shit. I fly down to the soldiers and see Leonie leading her horse in front of them, hand on her recurve bow and eyes narrowing at the Kingdom soldiers.

"Don't make the first attack," I say, "But be prepared to engage. I'll try to parley."

I snap the reins and direct Omar to fly towards the charging Kingdom army. The foot soldiers raise their shields at me, which isn't a good sign. How do I convince them that I'm not an enemy? I scan the ground below for important people when I catch a motion out of the corner of my eye. I jerk Omar out of the way in time for Ingrid to fly by on her pegasus, spearing the air where I was moments ago.

"What's wrong with you?" I say. "I thought you were fighting the Empire."

"Dimitri said to kill whoever's closest and not part of our army."

Another charge with her lance. I jerk Omar up and out of the way and ready my bow.

"And you listened to him?" I say.

"Being a knight is about following orders from your lord. It's nothing personal, Claude. Retreat if you don't want this to turn ugly."

Like hell I'm going to retreat. I need to talk to Dimitri and knock some sense into his pudding brain. I fire a few arrows at Ingrid. She dodges them, but they come close enough that she darts away. Must be hunting for easier prey. I don't bother giving chase, and instead scan the ground for Dimitri. It's not hard to find him, charging behind his soldiers with his glowing relic lance Areadbhar in hand. I swoop down out of reach of his lances, which his soldiers do raise at me, but close enough that he stops his charging to look at me.

"Claude. Get out of my way before I cut you down."

"You're already trying to slice us apart. Edelgard is that way." I point towards Byleth's strike force. "Let's team up against her, okay?"

"I don't care. You're all the same to me."

"I'm the same as the people who framed you for murder and tried to have you executed?"

Dimitri's eye twitches. He lets out a roar and lunges at me. He jumps higher than I expect and his lance is longer than I realized, but I manage to yank Omar up and away from Areadbhar's tip before it cuts open his stomach.

"You don't know me, Claude. You never did."

"And yet I'm still better than the Empire. If nothing else, we're more soldiers to die weakening them. But you have to stop your soldiers from killing us in order to do our part."

Dimitri snarls. He glances over at Byleth's forces, who are advancing while surveying the situation.

"Kill the Imperials first," Dimitri says. "We'll deal with the other rats later."

A series of nods, and lances point towards the Empire army. Dimitri barks at them to charge and they run off to the north. I let myself exhale and fly back over to Leonie. She has our troops moving towards Byleth and the Black Eagles, but is keeping a fortified flank between us and the Kingdom army.

"They should be on our side for now," I say. "Try to support, but also keep your distance. Dimitri might resume his onslaught against us if we do defeat Edelgard."

"Got it. Our soldiers' lives are my first priority, but if I see an opening I'm going for Byleth for betraying Captain Jeralt."

"Suppose that's all I can ask for. Stay alert."

I fly north towards the center of the field. It's a good thing Ignatz didn't fire the ballista at Dimitri's forces. As I approach, he keeps firing into the lines of Byleth's army, though the Black Eagles have so few soldiers with them that most of the shots go wide. Still, it's doing a good job at dissuading Byleth from charging right in. That bought time might be what we need.

I have Omar drop me on top of the fort and I run down the stairs into the weapons area where Ignatz sits with the ballista. He lets out a cry of surprise but takes his hand off his blade hilt when he sees me.

"Sorry for the scare," I say. "The Kingdom army is a tentative ally. Keep on firing at the Black Eagles. If you think you see yourself starting to get surrounded, run."

"Oh, I did need to tell you," Ignatz says. "Do you recognize those, Claude?"

He points over to some barrels in the corner of the room. They're the explosive ones I've seen Byleth's students use for the blaze gambit that battalions can perform.

"Too bad we don't have time to set up a strategy with them," I say. "If we had a catapult we could lob them at the enemy."

"Right, but there's still one potential use," Ignatz says. "If I think that this fort is going down and I'm surrounded by enemies, then…"

"No. You are not blowing yourself up to take out our opponents. If you're in danger, you run. Got it?"

A pause. "I understand."

I'm not convinced he's going to follow commands, but I don't have time to be drilling this into his thick skull. I dart out one of the ground entrances of the fort and see Byleth's army charging towards us. So much for the ballista keeping them at bay. It does make sense, though. While they thought we were fighting Dimitri's army, they could dance outside the ballista's effective range and wait for a better time to strike. But now they have to charge, and if they move quickly enough they can overwhelm the ballista.

I hear noise coming from my right and left, and the Kingdom army charges to meet Byleth and the Black Eagles. Ignatz keeps his aim on the mages in the back line, and part of me hopes that he kills Hubert. I'm guessing Byleth won't allow that with their turn back time ability, but we have to burn those uses one way or another anyway.

Sylvain and Felix charge forward past the fort, each leading a squadron of soldiers while Mercedes follows behind and heals wounded warriors with white magic. I look up and see Ingrid leading a group of pegasus knights. Aerial warfare has to be where we get our advantages from. Byleth may be skilled enough to stop even a cavalry rampage from reaching their back lines, but there's nothing that their small army can do to stop pegasus knights from ripping through their ranks.

Except…

Right on cue, a volley of arrows goes up, taking out a handful of Ingrid's pegasus knights. I grit my teeth and burst into motion. A quick scan of the field tells me that there's only one legion of archers in Byleth's army, and leading them is Bernadetta. She never seemed like the type to keep firm command of her battalion, so there's a chance for me to create chaos.

A blast of magic erupts in the ground next to me, which is my cue to get moving. Flying will make me a target for the archers, so I advance towards the front lines on foot. I see the Kingdom and Empire armies clashing ahead of me, with Leonie's troops providing cover fire and Ignatz blasting them with ballista bolts while Hubert and Dorothea's mages send bolts of lightning and dark energy into the Kingdom lines.

Steel ringing on steel. Explosions that shake the earth. Screams. I don't have time to focus on any of them. I skirt around the two clashing armies and run towards Bernadetta's archer corps. I move through nearby foliage to avoid notice, which slows me down. Still, I don't dare look back to see how the fight is progressing.

Eventually, I'm crouching in the underbrush with a clear shot at Bernadetta. Inhale, exhale. I ready my aim with Failnaught.

And then I realize what I'm about to do. If I shoot to kill, a real person back on Earth will die along with this version of Bernadetta. I've come to terms with killing, but Earth Bernadetta is a civilian who has nothing to do with any of this mess. And I can't shoot to take her out of the fight by injury since she'll be back on her feet after a heal from Linhardt. Funny how healing magic on the battlefield can make fights deadlier since incapacitation is no longer an option.

I don't have a choice, do I? Even if I end up being on the wrong side of history, I've come too far to back down now.

I nock an arrow and fire. Fallen star.

I watch the arrow soar through the air, coated in the darkness of the relic weapon's magic. Bernadetta doesn't see the arrow before it hits her and she drops.

I did it. I killed-

Time freezes and colors turn to dark greys and blues. Divine pulse. I let out a mental scream as I see time rewind and Bernadetta stands back up. When time returns to normal, I nock the arrow again to see Byleth sprinting towards me. I fire the shot, and Byleth shoves Bernadetta to the side. They take the arrow to the shoulder and don't even flinch.

God, I'm fighting against a machine.

Byleth yanks the arrow out of their body. Not a good move under most conditions since it leads to more blood loss, but white magic coats their wound and it disappears moments later. Skilled white mages can heal across the battlefield, so it's no wonder that Linhardt can keep his allies alive without me being able to see him.

I scramble back further into the woods as Byleth runs towards me. If I can make it to the other side, I should be able to call Omar and get out of here. I look back over my shoulder to see Byleth gaining on me, their Sword of the Creator glowing. I meet their gaze for a second, and their icy cold eyes take me back to the battle at Garreg Mach five years ago.

Is this where I die?

The links of Byleth's blade stretch out into whip form, and the air around me becomes a blur as blade links slice back and forth. One of the slashes swings by my chest, and I can feel the tip of it slicing open my skin like a paper cut. A few inches deeper and I might be dead from that. When the links of Byleth's whipsword reform into a blade shape, the trees around us fall and I realized that they sliced through all of them.

I've never seen them use the Sword of the Creator's combat art Ruptured Heaven before. Now I know what I'm in for.

The good news is that I have an open sky now thanks to all the fallen trees. I loose an arrow to keep Byleth occupied and let out a shrill whistle. Seconds later, Omar swoops down and I hop onto his back. I direct him up and away from Byleth, and when I look back I see them regarding me with a neutral expression. I'm surprised that they didn't try another attack.

I wonder if it's worth trying to take down Bernadetta again so Ingrid's forces can advance. Looks like I'll need to assess the situation at large again. I fly over to the front lines, swerving to dodge a few stray arrows. There, I see the Kingdom army falling back. Sylvian, Dimitri, and Felix are in full retreat. Ingrid is nowhere to be seen, and I don't spot any of her pegasus warriors in the sky. I hope she feel back when the volleys of arrows thrown her way became too much to deal with.

A shattered retreat for the Kingdom army must mean they got their asses handed to them, given how ready they were to charge into battle. And in such a quick amount of time, even with me keeping Byleth occupied. The retreat is disorganized, and I see Leonie holding the line for our soldiers so that the Kingdom troops can't march through our ranks and disrupt our formation. The tactic works, and they go around us on their way off the battlefield.

I fire some arrows at the Imperial forces chasing after the retreating army. I know it's standard warfare tactics to cut off and slaughter retreating enemies since actual battles have fairly low casualties, but after all of Edelgard's platitudes about wanting to help the people of Fódlan it's hard for me to stay calm enough to keep my aim steady. I see her advancing towards the fleeing Kingdom soldiers in full Imperial armor rather than atop a wyvern. Even with most of the Kingdom troops in disarray, she's shouldn't be quick enough to catch most of them, but her combat art raging storm gives her a burst of inhuman speed after she uses it, allowing her to cleave through large swaths of her foes and keep in hot pursuit. I see her chasing a group of healers and have Omar follow her. If this world had Geneva conventions, she'd be violating them by attacking field medics. Time to see if I can put an arrow in her throat and watch her life force bleed away.

One of the priests whirls around and blasts Edelgard with a burst of fire that ignites the grass around her. She steps through the flames looking singed but not slowing down. This is the Flame Emperor I could have stopped if I had seen that she was more than a regular insurgent. I have Omar dive towards the scene of battle, and I recognize the face of the white mage who attacked Edelgard.

Mercedes. Even now, her combat posture wavers, and she grimaces when she looks at the burn scars on Edelgard's skin. Back on Earth, Mercedes told me that she's the empathic type. I can't imagine what it must be like for her to be flinching and recoiling at every attack she throws out.

Mercedes unleashes another spell, and the ground beneath Edelgard erupts into lava. The molten spray catches the Adrestian Emperor, but Edelgard darts out of the way of most of it. She's almost to Mercedes now, and I can tell that I won't be in time to stop her.

Instead of running, Mercedes looks back at the other healers, who are now well out of Edelgard's reach. Edelgard raises her axe Aymr, and Mercedes closes her eyes. I can see tears spilling out of her closed eyelids, but she doesn't look afraid.

Please.

Edelgard brings Aymr down on Mercedes.

This time, I try to stay in control of myself. Mercedes isn't someone I swore to protect, and I should be used to this by now. But before I know it, I'm screaming and firing shots down at Edelgard. She smirks as the arrows punch through her armor. She walks towards me, and healing magic coats her burn marks. They disappear in seconds.

"Why?" I say. "She wasn't a threat to you."

"Then what were those fire and bolganone spells for? She got in my way to make sure the rest of the Kingdom had healers so they could drag this war out. Her little stunt will likely cost thousands of lives as they rampage through more villages, so I lost myself in anger. You're no different, you know."

"Monster. Don't claim to care about anyone other than yourself after starting this war. How many people in the Kingdom are starving because of you, do you think?"

"I have nothing to do with Cornelia's rule."

"Why bother with that excuse? I know you're a pathological liar. And it looks like you're a sociopath as well. So does the rush of blood when you murder someone give you something to live for?"

Edelgard smiles. "Thanks for chatting, Claude. Time to say goodbye."

A distraction. I swerve Omar to the side in time as an axe whizzes past my shoulder. I glance over to see long hair braided in the pattern of Brigid. Petra turns her wyvern around and meets my gaze. Her hunter's eyes tell me that she means business, and if she's here more support must be on the way. Time to make myself scarce.

I fire one last shot at Edelgard before flying off. The arrow goes wide, and I hear her laughing as I let the winds carry me away. The Kingdom army has almost entirely retreated by now, and the only soldiers left are those who are wounded and can't escape as quickly as the others.

"We'll get her later, Omar," I say. "For now, let's focus on keeping our people alive."

Marianne, Raphael, Judith, Mercedes. And if I'm not careful, there could be more names that I need to add to the list.

Ignatz. Is he still in the fort? I fly back over to see Edelgard and Byleth advancing towards the stronghold. Ballista bolts keep firing from inside, so Ignatz must still be in there. Edelgard and Byleth walk inside. I have Omar go faster, but I know there's no way Ignatz stands a chance against the two of them. Even if I can make it there, we still lose that fight.

Without warning, the fort explodes, expelling bits of rock in all directions. I jerk the reins to have Omar make a sharp turn before I can fully process what's happening. Rocks pelt me and Omar lets out a cry of pain. And then-

Frozen. Grey and blue. Another Divine Pulse.

The world rewinds, and I'm back with Edelgard standing over Mercedes' dead body. This time, I take off without a word. One nice side effect of Byleth turning back time is that it did erase the wounds I took from the explosion. Byleth might be able to adjust based on the situation, but so can I.

I fly over to the fort to see Byleth dashing for the entrance. They don't notice me, and I unleash another Fallen star shot from Failnaught that takes them right in the chest. Another Divine Pulse activates, and we're back to a few seconds ago without me having the element of surprise. How many times can Byleth use that damn power in a single fight

I have Omar dive towards the fort. By the time I reach the entrance, Byleth is walking out with Ignatz following her. His hands are in the air, and he has a cut on his arm that's still bleeding. When Byleth sees me, they hold the Sword of the Creator up to Ignatz's throat.

"Fire an arrow and he goes down with me," They say.

"I know you'll rewind time instead."

"Ah, I forgot you were aware of my little secret. Fly back to your army and tell Leonie to surrender. I prefer not to harm someone else who sees my father as a parent figure."

"Sorry, Claude," Ignatz says. "I was planning to detonate the fortress, but I couldn't even do that right."

"Don't think about that right now. Do what the Imperials tell you to and stay alive. I'll try to get you out later."

I fly off without acknowledging Byleth's request. Honestly, I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I didn't see the details of how the Kingdom army got demolished, but I can't imagine that our forces stand a much better chance.

Omar starts to slow down by the time I make it back to the main army. I give him a pat on the shoulder as he descends, and I land him next to Leonie. She acknowledges me with a nod and resumes staring out at the battlefield with a clenched jaw.

"Things are looking bad," I say. "What happened to the Kingdom army?"

"Sloppy and unorganized," Leonie says. "It doesn't matter how skilled their knights are when they have a leader and we don't. Take out Byleth and the entire Adrestian army collapses."

Coup de grace, coup d'état. There's something to what Leonie is saying, but she doesn't understand how hard it is to kill Byleth. I still have no idea how many times they can use Divine Pulse without running out of energy. Maybe three's their limit, or they could have dozens more. With the power of the goddess on their side, anything's possible.

"You're not about to tell us to give up now, are you?" Lenoie says, studying my expression. "We followed you all this way to get a taste of the action, and we have yet to prove our mettle. Besides, throwing down our weapons is an easy way to get slaughtered."

"You have that little trust in Edelgard and Byleth?"

"Tell me, Claude. Did they give Marianne a chance to surrender? How about Raphael? Judith?"

Edelgard said that she did try to convince Judith to surrender, but she also said that she had nothing to do with Cornelia's rule when I know she worked with Those Who Slither in the Dark as the Flame Emperor, so I can't trust her words. I saw Edelgard strike Judith down when she was alone and a non-threat. I saw Hubert kill Raphael to rile me up. I saw Byleth refuse to rewind time and save Marianne. And here today I see Edelgard cutting down a defenseless Mercedes.

Leonie is right. The Adrestian Empire forced us into this corner, and now they have to deal with us lashing out.

"So can I give the order?" Leonie says.

"Go ahead. Let's make this last shot count."

She shouts the command to charge, and the way my ears ring tells me she has a better military voice than I do. I run a hand over the smooth scales on Omar's neck. He looks back at me with his reptilian eyes, and I can't help but smile. We're in this until the end. With Derdriu fallen, we have nothing left to lose.

I snap the reins, and Omar takes off into the sky. I can trust Leonie to command the Daphnel troops, since it seems like she has a knack for it. Many of them are mounted archers with recurve bows that remind me of the Mongol warriors I read about while bored in elementary school. The way they strafe back and forth while firing off shots looks difficult for the Imperial soldiers to deal with. If the Adrestians try to charge, they're running at an army that can reposition in a moment. And if they try to turtle up, they get worn down by constant arrow fire.

And then I blasts of magic tearing through our troops. Right, the Mongols didn't have to worry about that when they were pillaging Asia. I should do something about that. Plus, it's long past time I dealt with Hubert.

I search for him while flying overhead and firing arrows down into the Imperial army. Despite their high morale, it does look like they've suffered heavy losses, and it's not hard to pick out Hubert from the crowd. He commands a legion of dark mages that fire "volleys" of their own magic and leave entire parts of the battlefield covered in what looks like dark, goopy acid.

"I was wondering when you'd show your face," Hubert says. "Not ready to give up yet? I have ways of… persuading you to beg for mercy. It wouldn't do to have the commoners rioting after your death, now would it?"

I grunt and swerve around a lightning bolt from Dorothea. I hope I don't have to fight her as well. The crackling sound leaves my ears ringing as I nock an arrow. Hubert looks up at me and smirks.

A giant bolt flies through the air and slams into Omar's side, right next to my leg. Omar lets out a cry and starts falling. I yank on the reins but it's no use. The ballista. How could I have forgotten about the damn ballista? Omar and I plummet to the ground together, and my vision turns red with pain as I hear a crunch sound. Were those my bones? Endorphins should keep my limbs active long enough to escape, so I don't have a way of telling for sure.

My vision returns and I'm still holding onto Failnaught. I hop to my feet in time to dodge a blast of dark magic from Hubert. No time to prepare a fancy combat art. I fire two arrows in rapid succession. The first goes wide, but the second nails him right by the waist. He hisses like a snake and runs off before I can shoot more.

I want to pursue, but that could be a waste of time or lead me into a trap. I want to check up on Omar, but there's nothing I can do to help him at this point. All I can do is make sure the rest of my army is standing strong. I grit my teeth and run towards the active battle zone. I fire more arrows, and I can tell that Failnaught's bowstring is about to snap. These fancy relic weapons weren't made with durability in mind, but I can hope it gives me enough shots to take down Byleth.

I'm behind lines in the Adrestian army, which means I have to take out anyone who notices me so that Byleth's army can't collapse on me and rid themselves of the Alliance leader. I aim to injure by aiming at the legs, but I do hit the stomach of one poor soldier as my worn bowstring makes my shots fly wide. I hope Lindardt heals her before it's too late, but I can't focus on that right now.

I make it to the front lines to see that the Alliance forces are scattered and in disarray. And somehow, as always, Byleth and their students look mostly untouched. I didn't notice Byleth use Divine Pulse, but perhaps I can only feel the effects when I'm close to them.

One of the few remaining soldiers charging at the Black Eagles is Leonie. She slings her bow over her shoulder, pulls out a lance and shield, and kicks her horse into a sprint straight towards Byleth. Ferdinand charges towards her on his own horse, and a swing of his axe against her shield throws her off her mount. Her horse panics and runs off. She snarls at Byleth, tosses aside her shield, and runs towards them with her lance in both hands.

I ready my bow to provide cover fire, but a pair of soldiers charge at me and I'm forced to take them down before they can slice my throat open. During this time, Leonie attempts to stab Byleth, who darts to the side and grabs onto Leonie's lance. They pull the weapon in and Leonie is sent stumbling forward. A slice to her arm makes her drop the lance, and Byleth holds the tip of the Sword of the Creator up to Leonie's stomach.

"Hands up," Byleth says.

"Why did you side with Captain Jeralt's killers?" Leonie says. "Answer me, traitor."

"Your time here is done. Hands up. I won't tell you again."

Leonie spits and reaches at her waist for a knife. Byleth rams the Sword of the Creator through her stomach. Leonie's eyes widen. She opens her mouth, but no sound comes out.

No. Not again. Not two in the same day. I can't-

Byleth draws their sword out, and Leonie's body crumples to the ground.

Why? Leonie was surrounded and armed only with a knife. What did she think she was going to do? I'm too tired to scream. I draw an arrow and release an arrow using my Fallen Star combat art. The bowstring snaps as the arrow flies through the air and slams into Byleth's shoulder. I see them inhale, which is more of a reaction than I got out of them before. They turn around to face me, and I hear footsteps behind me. I whirl around to see Caspar, bladed gauntlets braced for combat.

"Too bad about your bow," he says. "Why don't you surrender and save us both the trouble?"

No hope of escape, no hope of victory. Once again, I led my friends to their deaths and I have nothing to show for it.

I drop broken Failnaught to the ground and hold my hands in the air.

Byleth walks over to me, arrow still in their shoulder. I glance around and see that many of the other Alliance soldiers surrendered, and a few are retreating. They and the Kingdom army have nowhere to go now. I hope the Empire lets them surrender, but it's out of my hands at this point.

My little stint in Fódlan is done. Game over.

"That was a hopeless shot, you know," Byleth says. "Worse than hopeless. If you killed me, you were going to be dead meat once Edelgard found you."

"I remember you asking me to kill you if you ever turned into a demonic beast. That was a convincing act, you know. Pretending like you understand fear."

Their gaze goes to the ground. "I didn't want it to come to this, Claude."

"Bullshit. If you cared about stopping a war, you wouldn't have started one."

A pause. After a battle that filled my ears with shouts, screams, and clanging metal, the silence is eerie.

"I suppose you're right," Byleth says. "I'm powerful enough that my decisions and actions speak for themselves. Which brings us to what we're going to do with you."

"You going to let Hubert torture me? On Earth that would be a war crime."

"And yet it was the trademark of the US government's invasion of Iraq. And I'm glad you brought up Earth, Claude. Because I'm going to send you back there."

"Uh…" Caspar glances between me and Byleth. "Should I have heard of these places before?"

"Don't sweat it," Byleth says. "Claude, toss your sword charm on the ground. Don't make any sudden movements if you value your life."

I do as I'm told. Even if I want to cause more trouble for them, now isn't the time. Byleth walks over and picks up the Falchion charm while maintaining eye contact with me for the entire duration. They study the Falchion pendant for a few seconds.

"Thales broke it five years ago, right?" they say.

"Why does the timing matter?"

"Answer the question, Claude."

"Yeah. Almost five years ago."

A bubble appears around the pendant, and everything inside is the same dark color that the world is when Byleth uses Divine Pulse. I look around, but nobody else seems to see anything odd. After a few seconds, the bubble vanishes, and Byleth tosses the charm back to me. I catch the necklace part of it and raise an eyebrow at them.

"I figured out how to apply my power locally to a small object," they say. "Can't do it for bigger entities, and it can't bring creatures back to life. I tried it on one of the rats in the monastery."

So they rewound only the pendant to a state before Thales deactivated its dimension-hopping powers? Which means…

I can go back to Earth.

"Can your regular Divine Pulse take things back that far?" I say.

"If it could, I'd have solved our problems before they spiraled out of control. What I did here was more of a weird trick. Think a video game physics exploit."

All right, now everyone else must be convinced we're speaking in another language.

"Go home, Claude," Byleth says, "And don't come back."

"It looks like I don't have much of a choice here," I say, "I can promise that I won't fight you here in Fódlan so long as no more Golden Deer or Blue Lions students from our class die. The moment one of them does, I'll be back to hunting you."

"You're not exactly in a position to make demands, Claude. But I can agree, since I do owe you one for helping me deal with those bandits. I'll make sure to let Edelgard and the others know that the other students must be taken alive."

At least this way I have some sort of leverage over Byleth. Despite everything that's happened, I have to appreciate them recharging my pendant's power. They have to trust me at my word that I won't cause any more trouble for them, since I could easily pop back over here after they left and continue my resistance.

And if the other students aren't in danger while the Alliance is no more, I don't have a reason for ever coming back here. So I guess this is my goodbye to Fódlan. I debate saying farewell to Byleth, but I'm not going to pretend to be friends with them after their army killed people I care about.

I grab onto my pendant and begin transporting myself back to Earth. Byleth keeps their steady gaze pointed at me for the entire time. And sure enough, after about a minute the world goes white. It's time to go home.

Marianne, Raphael, Judith, Mercedes, Leonie…

I'm sorry I couldn't save you.

Hey everyone! I had to work on drafting up my NSF GRFP fellowship application (prestigious award for science grad school that will give me 3 years of funding if I get it but it's like SUPER hard to get), so it was nice to get back to this. I'm going to take a break in November to do national novel writing month so I hope I can make some good progress before then. These fics always take longer than I expect to finish.

And let me tell you that trying to put meme jokes and serious character death in the same chapter makes me feel weird. But that's fanfic, I guess. Byleth is so canonically OP that it's fun writing about the poor people caught on the other side of the battlefield as them.

Next chapter we'll see what's changed on Earth over the past five years for Claude. I always have a hard time writing battles so for me at least it will be a nice break.

Hope you all have a wonderful day! :D