Third-Person POV

The reveal of the Flame Emperor's identity and Dimitri's complete breakdown had left the Blue Lions mostly speechless. The ones who weren't still had trouble processing all this information, barely making small talk so they could let it set in.

"Y-you're kidding, right?" Sylvain put his hand to his head in confusion.

"H-He's s-scary!" Lily cried after seeing The Prince's rampage.

"This is Dimitri…?" Junko shuddered.

"So that's Flame Emperor's true identity…" Ashe simply stared at the two royal heirs to the Kingdom and Empire.

Edelgard however, completely unmasked and in distress, stayed silent, "...".

"Before I break your neck, there is one thing I must ask you." Dimitri coldly tells her.

"Stay out of my way." Edelgard speaks.

The Prince interrupts her, "I don't recall giving you permission to speak. Answer my question. That is all you have left to do. Flame Emperor...no. Edelgard. Tell me now. Why did you cause such a tragedy?"

Edelgard goes silent again, "...".

"You killed your own mother, and yet you haven't even had the decency to stop and consider the reasons behind your actions. Have you?!" Dimitri angrily confronts her.

"I already told you, I had nothing to do with that." Edelgard responded, albeit with slight irritation.

"Ha! It was foolish to think I could reason with a lowly beast." Dimitri slowly steps towards her, before two remaining Imperial soldiers guard their emperor.

"Your Majesty, now!" One of them signals her.

"You are a monster…" Dimitri states before cutting down the soldiers in cold blood, glaring at Edelgard after doing so.

"Wait!" Sakura holds her arms up as she moves in between the Emperor and the Prince.

"You don't have to do this, Dimitri. This isn't you! Please!" She tearfully tries to talk him down.

Edelgard gasps, seeing her friend come to her aid like this.

"Get out of my way." Dimitri demands silently, but you could hear the rage within his voice.

"I won't. She said she's not responsible for what happened in Duscur. And yes, I know about all of that. Just listen to me…" Sakura begs, "Listen to—"

Then a sound echoed throughout the Holy Tomb. It stunned every single student in attendance when they heard it and turned to see what had caused it.

Dimitri had knocked Sakura away, too livid to be convinced not to kill the woman before her.

Sakura lied on the ground, tears leaking out of her eyes like crazy, the hard landing causing her left arm and leg to pop off.

Lady Rhea gasped at what she saw, Franchouchou realizing they've been exposed as zombies.

"Tch… Come, Hubert!" Edelgard grit her teeth before summoning her vassal to warp her away from the tomb.

Byleth and Dedue walked up to Dimitri, and the rest of the Blue Lions ran up to help Sakura, reattaching her limbs and lifting her up.

"To flee is futile, wicked girl. The Church of Seiros will raise its entire army against you, until you have been captured and punished! You have defiled the Holy Tomb, dishonored the goddess, and humiliated your brethren. That crime will never be erased, even if you burn in the eternal flames, and spill all of your blood into the goddess's soil!" Rhea curses Edelgard, the archbishop in far from a good mood, she then turns to Byleth, "Come, Professor. Let us return and decide upon our next course of action. And you girls, we shall discuss what happened just now as well." She addressed the zombie idols as she departed for the monastery.

"Ngah…" Dimitri utters, wishing he could have gotten to Edelgard quicker.

"Are you... OK?" Byleth asks him.

Dimitri looks down in grief, "We weren't able to defeat her."

Dedue walked closer to him, "Your Highness…"

"That is the least of our problems right now, Dimitri." Ai bluntly stated to the prince as he turned to see the damage he had done.

Dimitri just ignored her and instead ranted to himself, "I will kill Edelgard. With my own hands. I swear it!", he then turned to Byleth, "Let's return to the monastery, Professor. It is clear what must be done."

His Highness began to walk away, but then gasped when he saw what he did to Sakura. The poor girl shook when he looked her way, the expression on her face said it all.

She was afraid of what her friend had become.

The Blue Lions all began to leave the tomb, Sakura being helped out of there thanks to the assistance of Ai and Ingrid. Not a single one of them spoke, not willing to break the tension, as they all returned to the monastery. All of them, worried of what would happen next.

"So the Church excused you guys? Even though you're zombies?" Annette asked as Franchouchou walked through the classroom door.

"Yes, surprisingly. Mostly due to the service we have provided to the Church as students, rescuing Flayn especially provided a good case for us. Although it is a must to keep our makeup on, in order to prevent panic and draw unneeded attention to the monastery. " Ai explained.

"The professor vouched for us as well. Saying that with what had happened in the tomb, more allies are needed to fight what is coming. I'm glad that our hard work was rewarded..." Junko tried to smile, yet was reminded of the previous night's events.

"Even still, what occurred last night has not left much room for celebration." Yugiri shook her head.

"Well, I'm happy that you girls aren't going anywhere for now." Annie tries to lighten up the mood, but fails.

"For now, there's something much more important we must address. The condition of our house leader." Ai crossed her arms and leaned against the wall.

"So... He's finally shown his true face. The same Dimitri I've seen once before–a beast who loves spilling blood." Felix grimaced, disgusted at what he had seen.

"..." Sakura after having been checked by Manuela had bandages wrapped around her left arm and leg.

Tae looked to her, wondering what was on her mind.

"You're wrong! I'm sure of it. There has to be an explanation…" Ingrid shook her head in disbelief.

"Y-Yes, he brought up what happened in Duscur, thinking that Edelgard was responsible so…" Junko wondered aloud.

Sylvain sighed, "I knew he'd been carrying the burden of that tragedy. I understand his thirst for revenge. His family and closest friends...all massacred right in front of him. But...it still doesn't add up. There must be more that we don't know."

"That's true. Dimitri didn't come unhinged until after the Flame Emperor was unmasked…" Mercedes brought up.

Ashe then asked a question that was on almost everyone's minds, "You don't think...there's some connection between those two...do you?"

"Indeed, no way would he react like this if he did not know her well. Could they be—" Ai pauses as she hears a chair smash to pieces against the wall.

"Who the hell cares what caused it, His Highness has gone absolutely batshit insane!" Saki growls.

"S-Saki calm down!" Annette told her.

"He's supposed to be our leader, right?! I can't follow a guy who enjoys slaughtering dudes, even if he went through some terrible shit…" The biker girl grit her teeth angrily.

All throughout this, Sakura has just been curled up on her chair, not willing to participate in the conversation.

"You're being really insensitive to how he's feeling right now. No better than Felix." Ai scolded her.

"Hmph." Felix grunts.

"Ugh… I don't give a damn. Everybody's got dead people! It's no excuse to get everybody else dead along the way!" Saki stormed towards the door and Ai chased after her.

"Oh goddess… I truly hope we can return to those peaceful days from months before." Mercedes clutched her hands in distress.

"Yeah…" Lily puts her head down on her desk, wishing the same.

"Saki, please." Ai catches up to her.

"Go away, I need to punch something. Unless you want to volunteer." Saki grumbled.

"I know that you're angry, especially after what Dimitri did to Sakura. But we have to focus on figuring everything out, especially with what we saw with Edelgard." Ai said, frustration in her voice.

"What else is there to know? She and the empire are our enemies and I'm going to help kick their asses. By the way… I talked with Teach about this, and he said it was my choice." Saki then whipped out a golden arm band and wrapped it on her shoulder.

"Claude suggested it to me in case things ever got too rough, but now I'm ready. I'm transferring to the Golden Deer tomorrow morning."

Ai's eyes widened and her mouth agape, "What... did you say?".

"You heard me, I'm joining another house. I can't imagine what that psycho, Dimitri, would do when he's back out there on the battlefield. And I don't want to be around to see it. He's no leader anymore."

"Saki, consider what you're saying here. We need to stick together, if you leave now then…. Huh?" Ai turns around to see their manager, Kotaro walking towards them.

"What do you want, Shades? We're busy here." Saki bluntly stated.

"We're leaving." He said.

"What?!" The two idols responded.

"You heard me. We had just received news that the Adrestian Empire has declared war on the Church of Seiros. There is no way we are putting ourselves in that amount of danger, so we'll use the staff and return to Saga before then." Tatsumi explained.

"We can't leave now, what will happen to—" Ai is interrupted by Kotaro raising a finger at her.

"I already discussed this with your Professor and Lady Rhea. They told me if I did not want you all to fight in something like this, then it would be best to leave. You have a few days to decide whether or not you agree. Good night."

Ai and Saki gasped as Tatsumi walked away.

Unbeknownst to them, Sakura slipped away from the classroom and saw their conversation.

Holding her hand to her mouth in disbelief, "Edelgard… declared war? We're going home? Saki's in the Golden Deer? What do I do? What do I do?"

END OF CHAPTER 36

The epilogue to the previous chapter's bombshell. Plus a couple more surprises in this one as well. And we're on the brink of war too! What is happening here? The end is fast approaching, and I can't wait. See you all next time!