Third-Person POV
The Demonic Beast collapses as a result of the Gambit Boost between Ai, Sakura, Caspar and Dedue.
"Yeah! Right makes might, right?" Caspar raised his fist to the sky in victory.
"That is not how that saying goes." Dedue tells him.
"Yeah, ha ha…" Sakura laughs a little as Caspar brushes them off.
"Hoo… that's one Beast down." Ai let out a sigh as she turned to see the rest of their enemies grouping up.
"If this takes too long, I might be forced to escape. Oh, or do you simply intend to let me go? How accommodating of you! As for me, I intend to kill you all." Kronya teased the group from her side of the battlefield.
"Urggghhh, out of my way!" Saki roars as she sends a soldier flying with a kick.
"You mind if I join ya?" Caspar punches out the one next to her.
"Heh, not at all! But save Krony or whatever for me!" Saki bumped fists with him as the two hopped into the fray, going all out.
"Ack, too many!" Sakura lets out as she's crowded by enemy soldiers.
"RAAAAAAAHHH!" Tae bellows out as she charges straight into them, going wild to protect her friend.
"Thanks Tae, hey Professor!" Sakura calls out to her instructor and runs up to him, "Let's take down Kronya together!"
"You know I'm there with ya!" Saki yelled towards them as she hits a baddie into Caspar, who knocks them down with an axe.
"As am I, it's all our fight. For your father's sake." Ai walked up to Byleth next.
Byleth's eyes widen before he nods and unleashes the Sword of the Creator upon the opposing army. Kronya gulps and lowers her eyebrows before she is then attacked from the left by Leonie.
"Monica. You'll pay for what you've done." The orange-haired apprentice scowled.
"I told you! I am not Monica, I am Kronya! Do not call me by that fake name!" Monica shot back at her.
"I don't care what you're called. I don't care if it takes my last breath. I'll kill you." Leonie grips her lance andreadies her horse for a charging attack.
"Please! My powers are beyond your comprehension. You're just a filthy worm!" Kronya dodges and slashes Leonie in the back with her weapon.
"Argh!" She cried out in pain as Zombies 1-3 arrived with Byleth.
"Stand down for now, Leonie. Go see Mercedes to fix that wound." Her teacher told the young woman as her older classmate ushers her away.
"Don't worry Leonie, the Professor will take care of her." Mercedes said as she healed Leonie's wound.
"And we've got his back, right you two?" Saki asked Ai and Sakura who nodded.
"You'll pay for what you've done to Jeralt!" Ai fires two arrows at the pale assassin, who swiftly dodges.
Sakura then chucks her throwing spear at Kronya, but that misses her too.
"How cute, you're trying so hard! But now it's time to die!" She then flipped over Saki and slashed at her side.
"Gah…" The biker girl then turned around to swing at Kronya, who just grabbed her arm and countered with a kick.
Unfortunately Saki's hand had been removed and Kronya is still holding it.
"What… you aren't… what are you?!" She shuddered as she was frozen in place.
"I could ask you the same thing, bitch, hey Teach!" Saki signaled Byleth.
He then swung the Sword of the Creator to use his strongest skill, Ruptured Heaven, to knock away Kronya.
"To answer your question, it is simple. They are my students." Byleth responded as Kronya was suddenly struck with fear, running as fast as she could into the forest.
The students coming from the left side finally arrived from their battles.
"Hey! She's getting away!" Annette points out.
"Let us halt her retreat then." Yugiri states.
"Everyone, do not let her escape our sight!" Dimitri commanded as Byleth led the entire group after Kronya.
The sinister looking girl was now looking very cowardly as she dashed away from her pursuers, until she reached some ruins and ended up tripping.
"But how? How could I really lose...to a lowly creature like you?" Kronya slowly picks herself up to ask Byleth as she clenched her dagger.
"Stay down, freak." Saki insulted her.
"Well." A voice came from behind Kronya as the students finally caught up.
Sakura gasps, "Tomas! I-I mean, Solon!"
"Solon! Don't just stand there and stare! I need your help!" Kronya begs the old warlock.
"Yes. You most certainly do. Ah, I see that you are here as well. Why do you waste your time around such lowly beasts, when you cannot hope to become one of them?" Solon asks Sakura, who is taken aback by this question.
"Wha… What are you saying?" Ai stands next to Sakura as the rest of Franchouchou join them.
"You got a problem, forehead?" Saki called him out as Lily giggled at the nickname.
"I assume you are the same as her… do you not realize that if those in the church found out what you were… they would kill you?" Solon presses them further.
"Scum like you have no right to say such things to them… We will prevent any such thing from coming to them." Dimitri held out his lance, prepared to ram it right through the dark magician.
"Why are you just making conversations with these stupid creatures?! Help me finish them o—" Solon rams his hand into Kronya's chest, to grab her heart.
"Have no fear, Kronya. Your sacrifice will help to rid of this world of the filthy vermin that have long infested it." He reassures her.
Lily clutches her chest, as someone who's heart also led to their death. The rest of the students just looked on in horror at what they were witnessing.
"I… I can't look…" Junko turned away to avoid the scene unfolding in front of them.
Dark flames begin to surround the ruins as the students step back, Byleth holding his sword up before he is held down by said flames.
"Byleth!" Sakura called out to her professor.
"Solon... Stop this!" Kronya lets out in pain before her heart is completely ripped out.
"T-This is like some Mortal Kombat fatality stuff…. Holy shit…" Saki's eyes were as wide as dinner plates.
"The time has finally come...to unleash the Forbidden Spell of Zahras upon our enemies!" Solon raised the heart into the air, as he also clutched the Staff of Fódra tight.
As Solon crushes her heart, Kronya weakly reaches out to Byleth, "Please...help me…" after falling to the ground hard.
Darkness then consumes her as Byleth then sees it coming his way. He faces it head on, taking the entire force like a heavy wind in a storm… and when it vanishes, so does he.
Solon grins to himself, satisfied with what he had done, "Begone with you...Fell Star."
The Blue Lions were awestruck at what they had just witnessed, their professor disappearing without a trace…
"What was that sorcery? What happened to our professor?!" Dimitri demanded answers from Solon.
"Where is he… what did you…" Ai asks him as well.
"He was swallowed by the mystical darkness of the forbidden spell. An eternity wandering in a void of nothingness, never to return to this world…" Solon explained to them.
"An empty void? Never to return?" Lily started to have tears form in her eyes.
"S-So Teach is… SUPER dead?!" Saki was astonished.
"To think we almost had the Sword of the Creator…" Solon laments.
"No… that's a lie! There's no way the professor is really dead!" Annette shouts out.
"That's right, our professor is no ordinary human!" Flayn walked up to the front of the crowd.'
"I do not believe our professor has fallen." Dedue states.
"Grahragh!" Tae garbled in agreement.
"Yeah! He's still alive, wherever you sent him! And he'll come back to us, I just know it!" Sakura proclaimed.
"It is possible that death has yet to find your friend. But there are worse things than death. Drifting through the darkness with no chance of escape… Overwhelmed with hopelessness… It must be tortuous." Solon laughs making everyone else there even more angry.
"A fate worse than death you say…" Yugiri shakes her head solemnly.
"We cannot abandon hope, Your Highness. Our professor lives, I know it." Dedue tells Dimitri.
Ai looked at him as well, "Indeed… for now, let us turn our attention to… him." before staring daggers into Solon.
"You're right. We will save the professor. But first, let's destroy this fiend!" Dimitri readies himself, filled to the brim with rage, "I'll slice you into a thousand pieces as you watch with horror… You will know true pain before I finally allow you to die!"
His threats were off putting to his classmates, but in that moment they felt similarly. He took away their professor who taught and bonded with them for almost a year. He needed to suffer for his actions.
"How trite. But if you wish for pain, I shall oblige. If you prefer it so, you shall also be added to the ranks of the dead!" The warlock threatened the students.
Suddenly, they heard a noise come from above, as a white cross of light formed in the sky. Their professor then came soaring out of it, holding out his sword, ready to battle.
"So joining Smash… consumes even the darkness itself!" Solon gasps.
"WHAT?!" The students were in shock.
(Okay that's not what happened lol)
Suddenly, a hole is ripped open from up in the sky, red light glowing as Solon and the Blue Lions look upward at it.
"So the Fell Star consumes even the darkness itself…" Solon says as Byleth stands before him, his hair changed from a teal blue, to a pale green.
"Wait… Byleth?!" Sakura and the others ran up to him.
"Professor… That is you isn't it? I am glad you are safe. I was sure that you would return. Please tell me all that happened to you later. For now, it's imperative that we kill the demon!" Dimitri told him as his professor nodded back at him.
Once more the battle began, as Byleth's newfound strength surged within his blade.
"What did you see in the darkness of Zahras? This should be impossible. The only being that can withstand that darkness is…" Solon cut himself off before he could say too much, "Unless I dispose of you myself, I may never have the chance to send you back there!" He scowled as Demonic Beasts and enemy knights were summoned to the ruins.
"Wait, this is our chance to get the staff! Ai, Saki! I have a plan! Are you with me?" Sakura gasped as she gathered her friends and they huddled together.
"I'm with ya, egghead, all the way!" Saki gripped her arm.
"As am I, let's take down this dastard…" Ai agrees as well.
"Uh, dastard? R-Right! Professor, do you trust me?" Sakura then turns to Byleth.
"I do, show us what you have, Sakura." He says before joining the fight with the other Lions.
Sakura gulped and smacked her cheeks to stay focused, and she pointed to where Saki and Ai needed to go towards the top of the hill Solon was on. Saki went left, Ai, went towards the center of the ruins, and Sakura went right. Byleth and the other students covered them easily, especially the former putting that ancient sword to good use.
Ai dodged multiple attacks heading her way, even tripping one soldier to give her allies the edge. She fires an arrow into Solon's chest as she whips out her Brave Sword, and clashes with the Staff of Fódra.
"Grgh, you insignificant creatures do not know what you face. The Church of Seiros will not stand for your kind! AGH!" Saki socks Solon from behind, right into Sakura who swings her lance into his left side hard.
He drops the staff on the ground and as he attempts to grab it, Sakura steps on it, preventing him from obtaining it. Byleth then slowly walks towards the imposter librarian, his face is calm, yet rage-filled.
Solon shudders a bit, "I am terrified by you… Even though an emotion like fear has no place inside me. That means you must be eliminated."
The warlock launches one more dark magic attack, Banshee Θ, yet it's slashed away by the Sword of the Creator.
"Here is something to believe in!"
Byleth extends and spins his blade wildly towards his enemy, making him crumble to the ground.
"To think…that I would lose to mere beasts. But this is not the end… Thales will carry out our mission, somehow…" Solon lets out his dying words.
"Thales…" Sakura pondered.
"Thales… Does he also serve the Flame Emperor? It can't be…" Dimitri wondered as he looked upon the dead body of Solon.
Afterwards, the class hears of what their professor had encountered inside the dark void he was stuck inside. They most definitely had quite the reaction.
"The G-Goddess gave you her power?" Junko asked.
"That sounds so badass! I really want to spar with you now! How about after this, huh? Huh?" Saki excitedly pressed him for an answer.
"Not before me, crossing swords with someone with this much power…" Felix put Saki's hand down.
"Cut it out you two, he just got out of place that should have been inescapable. It's… astonishing to say the least..." Ai smiled a bit as she scratched her cheek, honestly confused about how he escaped.
"It's like the legend of Saint Seiros, right Dimitri? It's so cool that something like that happened to you professor!" Sakura complimented her teacher.
"Indeed. Perhaps the goddess saw the goodness of Seiros within you too, and wished to help you in your quest to defeat evil. Hm. If you're Seiros, granted power by the goddess, then I suppose that makes me… Ah, never mind. I'm getting carried away." Dimitri nodded to her before noticing Byleth beginning to black out.
Byleth then fell to the ground.
"Eh?!" Sakura's mouth was open wide.
"Professor! What's wrong?! Are you...uh… Are you asleep?" Dimitri's eyes were wide as well.
"You know, I'd be tired too if I used that much power, even though I'm a zombie." Ai mentioned.
Dimitri sighed before approaching him, "What is happening these days? Well, it matters not. We must get you help, and fast. Sorry professor, but I have no choice but to carry you back.", he lifted him up on his shoulders quite easily.
Saki volunteered to assist, "I've gotcha Teach. Go get your beauty sleep for now, ha."
Sakura then looked to the Staff of Fódra in her hands, Ai smiles in approval, and she returns that smile. It looks like Franchouchou will be able to return home soon…
END OF CHAPTER 33
I still can't believe how much closer we are to the end. Hoo boy, I can't wait for this upcoming chapter. The ceremony at the Holy Tomb is quite an event for those who recall it from the game, ha ha ha… here we go everyone. Also posting this chapter on my birthday for some reason lol, so I'll leave you all with one question. What do you think will happen to the girls at the end of this?