Chapter 35: The Apex of the World

As the Imperial Army stopped at a campsite on their way to Fhirdiad. Byleth was summoned to Edelgard once again, it was nearing sundown, and they would arrive at Fhirdiad shortly. So it was weird to be summoned here already.

Is what he told himself, until he was greeted with Lord Arundel, looking at both Hubert, Sapphire, and Edelgard. Byleth did note that he seemed relatively...happy. In a creepy sort of way.

"So, we have finally arrived." Arundel said, looking at them. "It has been a very, very long road."

"Why...are you here exactly?" Sapphire questioned, with narrowing eyes. "You do realize we haven't won the war quite yet?"

"Yes...but...this has been a day I have been waiting for." Arundel replied, with a twisted smile. "I decided I wanted to see the end with my own eyes. After all, my own niece is about to make history. Succeeding where Nemesis had failed. The moment where humans are finally free from the control of that false beast of a goddess calling herself a saint."

"Even you must know how stupid of an idea that would be." Hubert said, Byleth could notice his cold stare at Edelgard's uncle. "Unless you have some unfound strength, or maybe a powerful weapon of somesorts, would it not be best for you to go home?"

"Don't worry, I couldn't fathom getting in your way." Arundel replied coldly. "Once this war is over. We will finally have a world totally controlled by the Empire."

"Indeed…" Edelgard said, Byleth could sense the bitterness in her voice. "I have been looking into your suggestions for heirs...although, I don't think any of them match the ideals I'm looking for. It seems more like you picked at random."

Arundel crossed his arms. "I see…" he said, Byleth could also sense rage in his voice. "Well, in that case, I shall look into more...suitable...people. We will discuss that later. Good luck on the final battlefield, El."

"Just...go away!" Edelgard snapped. Arundel smirked and proceeded to walk back towards the backup camp.

"Hubert, send a signal out to Rhea." Edelgard said, after Arundel was out of earshot. "Tell her we'll give her one last chance to surrender now, and we will spare her life, only if she abdicates to our pleas."

"As you wish," Hubert replied.

Once Hubert had left, Edelgard turned to face Byleth, he could see that her hair was still thinning, and her face was still pale. Although, she still looked like she wouldn't hesitate to lodge an axe in the back of someone's skull.

"Byleth...I know that this...is less than ideal. However, I think I know the reason you have the power you do." Edelgard said, after an awkward moment of silence. "Why the power of the goddess Sothis resided in you."

Byleth raised an eyebrow. Sure, he knew Rhea most likely had something to do with it. But, it never really occurred to him that he still did not know the answer yet.

"From what I can understand, from what Moon told me at least…" Edelgard continued. "Your father Jeralt was Knight of Seiros for Rhea centuries prior. Yes, Centuries." she said, noticing Byleth's widened eyes.

"Supposedly, your father took a fatal blow in an assassination attempt on the Archbishop's life by one of my Uncle's Agarthan subordinates. Rhea spared his life by giving blood from her, which gave your father a Crest of Seiros."

"Okay...what about my…"

"Your mother, Sitiri, was another test subject of Rhea's, trying to implant the goddess into her instead using the goddess' Crest Stone. Your father and mother fell in love, and they had a baby, that would be you."

"I see...what about…"

"When you were born, your heart didn't work, likely from having been born from a mother with no heart herself. Your mother begged Rhea to spare your life, so she took the Crest stone out of her, placing it in you. The goddess' Crest stone of Flames, combined with the blood of Seiros inherited by your father, is what reawakened the goddess. I guess Rhea didn't realize that her blood was essential to getting the goddess back."

"That is...so she was telling the truth?" Byleth asked, he felt his heart sink.

"Well...there's more to that." Edelgard said quickly. "The goddess was supposed to function like a parasite, taking over your brain and destroying it, until you were no longer you. Instead, you'd just be a puppet body for the goddess."

"I...I see."

"So, I guess we can only assume that the goddess took a liking to you, or her memory was so poor that she couldn't remember her purpose of being in your body. Which brings me to my next point...Byleth, it's not about you and, it never will be, but, do you know what you're going to do after this war is over?"

Byleth bit down, was, was now the time? Should he pop the question now? No...it'd be too much to handle at the moment.

"Um...I think I'll be sticking around." he said. "I mean, I'm sure Moon has some reason for me to stay for time stuff...or something like that."

"I see," Edelgard gave him a disappointed frown. "Well, in that case, I wish you the best. You have helped me carry this burden after all."

Byleth smiled inwardly as Sothis' voice spoke to him.

"I can feel your bond with Edelgard has grown stronger."

Empress Bond Rank: A+

Edelgard

The sun had gone down by now, and Edelgard led him up to the entrance of Fhirdiad, where Rhea had seemingly shut herself in the capital.

"Have they gotten our message?" She asked Sapphire.

"Yes, I believe so." he said. "Shall we go ahead and ignore it?"

"Give them a few more minutes. Let's not be hasty."

"Lady Rhea," Catherine approached Seiros' side. Cyril, Gilbert, and Ashe were all right next to her as well. "I received a message from Edelgard. She's calling for our surrender, offering to spare our lives."

Rhea's angry glare intensified.

"Is it wise we ignore them?" Catherine asked. "Perhaps we could leave Fodlan and come up with a different plan. A revenge strike."

"NO SURRENDER!" Rhea screeched. "Even if we must split the heavens in two, tear the world into bits, we shall not yield to these wicked ones!"

"Understood…what is your order." Catherine asked. "You have my fealty, no matter what, until my last moment of life."

"I'll be here too," Cyril said. "Forever."

"Ashe and I will do as you say," Gilbert said, the last remaining former Lions student nodded in agreement. "We will do so in the name of his highness."

"Good." Rhea said, her glare intensified. "Now...set fire to the city! No evacuations, No warnings, nothing. Burn everything! Let these imperial scum burn in the fires of hell, from which they were born."

"Is...is that…" All of the strike force gasped in horror as the Kingdom capital was suddenly set ablaze. The walls and houses caught a blaze as the whole thing looked ready to collapse.

"They...they set fire...to the entire damn city?!" Bernadetta cried. "WHY?!"

"Looks like they didn't bother to warn the citizens either…" Ferdinand said angrily as several screams started to emerge and people started fleeing out of the front gate.

"Your Majesty…" Hubert began.

"We can't just charge in there...the smoke would kill us all in due time." Linhardt spoke up before Edelgard could give an order. "I wouldn't be surprised if Rhea burned poisonous gas inducing stuff as well."

"We can't just stand here though." Caspar snapped at him. "There are people in danger!"

"And that's exactly what Seiros is counting on." Moon snapped at them. Startling everyone. "She's counting on you to do the right thing! This entire strategy is a kamikaze attack!"

"Moon, it seems hardly unreasonable to…" Dorothea began.

"If we go in there, we face not only the Immaculate one, but all of the Church of Seiros, and the remaining Kingdom Army being forced to fight by Gilbert, in addition to all of the smoke inhalation." Moon snapped back. "Rhea's ordered them to hold defensive positions as she uses her magic as the beast to cover everyone from the fire. If we hold our position here, we wipe out the entire defensive army when Seiros is forced to stop protecting them because it drains her immense power. Catherine, Cyril, Gilbert, Ashe, all of those people, they just die at her fault. The Immaculate one shoots itself in the foot, and leaves only herself left to fight all of us."

"But...are there not still people of innocence in there?" Petra asked. "What will become of those? Are we just going to abandon those who have done nothing of wrong doing to us?"

"Moon makes his point clear though." Sapphire replied. "Going in there while the capital is like this, it's suicide."

All eyes were directed towards Edelgard and Byleth. Both of whom looked at their friends, then at each other.

"Don't you have...Hydrokinesis...or something?" Byleth asked, directing the question back at Moon. "Couldn't you put out the fire."

"He'd have to summon a Tsunami to get rid of a fire that big." Hubert said, shaking his head. "Even if that was safe enough, he'd probably kill way more people with a stunt like that. Waiting here gives the civilians enough time to survive"

Byleth looked at Edelgard, who glanced over at the entrance, then at the roaring flames behind the city walls. All the while, more citizens were evacuated, some fathers and mothers clutching onto toddlers. After a moment, the empress bowed her head.

"Everyone, stand your ground." she said. "No offensive strikes. Attack only if provoked by a soldier, no one goes into that city."

The widened eyes from most of the Black Eagle Strike Force told Byleth that this was not what they were expecting. Even Hubert seemed shocked by her decision. "Your majesty." he said calmly. "Are you…"

"That's an order, Hubert!" she replied firmly. "I've lost enough lives already commanding this war for five years. I'm not about to put my friends' lives on the line in an attempted Kamikaze plan by an insane psychopath who convinced her best soldiers and the remains of the Lions Corp into something like this. Let them be the victims of their own choices."

The entire strike force, after a moment of processing the shock, eventually nodded their heads reluctantly. All of them slowly watched as the impressively built Kingdom Capital slowly started to crumble in the flames.

"Are you...going to be alright?" Felix asked Annette, who watched the capital collapse and burn through the mess of flames.

"I mean...I watched my own father behead my uncle with no remorse…" the orange haired warlock replied, he could still sense the sadness in her voice. However, she wasn't crying, thank the goddess for that. "But Ashe…"

"There's nothing we can do about it now." Felix replied, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You saw what Mercedes, Sylvain, and Dedue did for that boar. I bet your father and Ashe would've done the same."

Eventually, the mass amount of evacuators faded, but the fire still blazed strong as it cackled.

"I think...I think that's going to be it for the citizens." Moon said after a moment. "I'm going to block the exit so soldiers are unable to escape. Though, it's unlikely any of them would be allowed to at this point." His hand flashed yellowish brown as a large chunk of earth rose up from under the capitol entrance gate, consuming the only exit out of the city.

Another twenty minutes would pass before a hissing voice from the Immaculate One weakly shouted from inside of the capital.

"THOSE FUCKING SCUMBAGS!" Even though the voice was clearly weakened from power, it still managed to boom in the night.

From the flames, the giant white dragon emerged, well, it was barely even white at this point, it looked more like a badly burnt marshmallow.

"After all that, she still wants to fight? She's insane!" Dorothea gasped.

"I've had just about enough of this psychotic saint." Moon hissed. Startling everyone. "Allow me to stop this."

"Moon wai-" Before Sapphire could stop him, the boy charged forward, transforming into his dragon form and flying towards the Immaculate one.

Serios charged a large amount of fire. Which Moon twirled around with his massive size. He used his claws to grab the Immaculate One and flew up high into the sky.

"THIS IS FOR ALL THESE INNOCENT PEOPLE YOU'VE KILLED IN YOUR PSYCHOTIC REIGN FOR POWER!" Moon chucked the immaculate one down, then spiked it into the ground with a foot dive. The large white dragon smashed into the ground outside the city. Green light surrounded it as the dragon slowly transformed back into Rhea.

Moon landed on the ground, reverting to his normal self as he glared at Rhea. The last remaining Church of Seiros member weakly coughed as she looked at him. Her glare was hideous as it concealed true rage behind her scared face and burnt dress and skin.

"How...How Dare You." Rhea snarled at him, as Moon slowly approached her. "You lied to me, You schemed me, You...You had me kill everyone."

"You did that yourself." Moon hissed back at her. "I wasn't the one who told you to set fire to the Kingdom Capital, I wasn't the one who told you to take advantage of a manipulated king. I wasn't the one who Kamikazed everyone who was willing to stand by you. You threw lives away in a fight you knew damn well you couldn't win. All for an entity of pure evil who couldn't give two shits about your life. Or was it to keep your desperate control of power you earned through lies and schemes yourself?"

Rhea attempted to punch him, which Moon blocked with his sword, before doing a leg sweep followed by a cross slash, knocking Rhea backwards.

"It's almost laughable," Moon snarled, "All those idiots who stood by you. Only for you to toss them away likes scraps off your fucking plate. You grew mad and hungry for power, power you knew you damn well didn't deserve."

"I...I'll kill you...I do not care if you are Lord Giygas' child who I helped create." Rhea shouted. "You have brought shame to the great world we tried to build. You lied to everyone...EVERYONE!"

Several loud gasps from the Black Eagle Strike Force followed. But Moon didn't care about that, there was a time and a place for everything.

"Seiros...look me in my damn eyes." Moon snarled. Rhea didn't look at him. So, he concentrated some PSI into his foot and kicked her, unleashing a blow of energy that had her roll against the ground, unearthing several bits of land, "I SAID LOOK AT ME!"

Her bright green eyes of rage glared up at him as Moon glared back down at her.

"Why?" Moon asked. "What caused you to get so mad? Sure, some damn thief stole your mother's body because he was persuaded to by Agarthans, that part I understand. But why exact the revenge on all of humanity? Because those people feared the unknown? Why help Giygas turn me and my friends into abominations, monsters, freaks? What was your goal?"

Rhea glared at him as her angry frown turned into a wicked smile. "No matter how many times you ask. No matter how many of us you strike down. You'll never be happy." she said tauntingly. "That was the goal of our experiments. And they worked phenomenally. To create a human, who knows nothing but true love for some. And hatred for everything else. Nothing that could ever make them happy. You could kill as many of Giygas' allies as you could, you could strike all of them down. That won't change the fact that you and your friends are still freaks, monsters with no compassion to anyone other than their own kind."

"I have no sympathy for someone who takes from those who cannot defend themselves." Moon snarled. "If you want to rule with any power, you need sympathy, you need to understand hardships. Sure, I may not be the most intelligent, and sure, I may have cheated and lied to get to where I am. But I know damn well that my job isn't just about me and my lust for power that I don't need, it's for the better of everyone."

Rhea's wicked smile didn't fade. "So then, you freak of nature, just end me. End everything here. You still let people die here. Go back to your freakish friends that I created and tell them all about your heroics. Deep down, you're still a monster, and an evil manipulator at heart. That's all anyone will ever think of you, even if they don't say it to your face. Including your friend Sar-"

Moon's eyes flashed a bright rainbow light that emitted from the area. When the rainbow light faded. Rhea was left encased in solid diamond. A statue of her body, just made of diamond.

Moon huffed out a lot of air as his knees trembled. "Someone like you…" he breathed out. "For someone like you...a fate worse than hell...is what you...fucking deserve." his whole body gave out as he collapsed to the ground.

"Moon!" Sapphire took one step forward, before a massive blast of dark magic struck the ground in front of them.

"What the-"

A bunch of black masked assassins warped in from nowhere. Each of them held onto weird metal blades with blue lightning on their swords. Then, Edelgard's Uncle, along with a masked mage warped in front of Moon.

"Uncle!" Edelgard snarled.

Lord Arundel smiled wickedly as he transformed into the same man Byleth hated in his dreams. The tall man with no pupils, the black coat with red fur and white-purplish skin. The same man who blocked him 5 years ago, stopping him from saving his father.

"Thank you for getting us this far, my sweet niece." Thales said, an evil chuckle on his face. "Unfortunately, it seems as though there are too many differences between us and where we want the future of this nation to go. It's time the Agarthans take this world back! Myson!"

The masked mage nodded as he and Thales turned towards Moon. Thales took out two blood shards of Crest Stones, and struck them into the boy's back. Then, Myson started chanting

"Me invocabunt in magna virtute spiritus Giegue. Misisti iram impii mali potentia inimici nostri!"

Byleth was the only one to notice Edelgard's widened eyes. "No…" she said. "He...he isn't…"

Black light and goo wrapped around Moon's body. His body started to become marked as black ooze poured out of his mouth. His arms turned into a solid black color as they extended outwards. His body grew out black wings that poured out blood. Black light of red markings marked all the way down his now twenty foot tall body, with no legs, it just floated in place.

A small silver crown was perched at the top of Moon's head. Which his face was now etched with black and red markings all across his white face. Black ooze streamed out of his mouth and nostrils. His body twitched and cracked as his head sort of went limp to its side. His eyes were now one bloody red, and a leaking silver ooze. No pupils could be found in his face.

"The Hegemon…" Edelgard whispered. "Sarah...Erick...I'm sorry...I promise I'll make this right."

Inside of Palutena's temple, Erick suddenly jolted upright as a blood curdling scream echoed. He quickly adjusted his glasses and found the voice was coming from Sarah. Who was holding her head. Her eyes were shut, but tears still managed to fall from her eyes.

The door to the room they were staying in burst open as Ness and Paula ran in clutching onto their own baseball bat and frying pan respectively. Even Astro was shaking on his small horseshoe body.

"Momma Sarah?" He honked.

Sarah didn't answer him and continued to scream bloody murder.

"What's wrong?" Ness asked.

"I don't know…" Erick replied quickly. "I finally got her to go to sleep and get some rest, only to wake up to her screaming in pain."

"Moon must be hurting…" Paula gasped. "Remember, their boundation?"

"But...I'm bound to them as well...and I feel just fine…" Erick replied.

"Are you sure about that?" Dark Erick hissed at him. As if on cue, a burning pain, as if acid had just been splashed all over his body erupted on him.

"Fuck!" he shouted, startling Ness and Paula.

"Are you okay?" they asked nervously.

"I'm...I'm fine…" He'd split acid on himself before. But sheesh did this hurt. "I Guess since Sarah is in love with Moon it's hurting her much more. Or...maybe Moon's trying to talk to her…"

"STOP IT!" Sarah wailed. Her golden frying pan flew into her hands and she started smashing it against her head. "JUST STOP! STOP! I WANT IT TO STOP!"

Ness and Paula casted a PSI Shield over him and Erick ran over and grabbed her hand. Sarah's psychical strength wasn't nearly as much as his, but she was still trying to smash Freya against her skull, as her eyes, mouth, and nose now leaked black ooze.

"You can make it stop darling. You know what you have to do to make the pain stop."

"SARAH! Pull it together…" Erick pleaded as he struggled to keep her from smashing her own skull in. "He'll be fine. You need to be strong...don't say anything you may..."

"I HATE HIM!" Sarah wailed as she just continued to cry and sob. Her body shook violently. Making a very disturbing scene in front of everyone. "I HATE YOU MO-"

"SARAH NO!" Erick, Ness, and Paula shouted.

"SILENCE!" Byleth charged into the room and casted a spell. Three rings of light binded themselves around Sarah's waist, legs, and head. Instantly, before she could finish her sentence. Her screaming became mute, but her tears continued to flow violently.

Erick's breathing became heavy as he watched Sarah's body violently shake as she screamed words that never came out.

"What happened to him?" He snapped at Byleth. "What the everloving fuck caused this much pain that it drove Sarah to even think about something like that?!"

"I...I never realized that they shared pain at the time." Byleth replied. "But...basically, Thales turned Moon into some sort of...ancient Agarthan monster."

"What sort of...monster?" Ness asked.

"I think it was called...a Hegemon?

"A Hegemon?!" Their heads jolted towards Pyra, the Aegis blade of Rex. Her red hair seemed blazed. Green light surrounded her as she transformed into her alter-ego Mythra.

"How did they know about a Hegemon?" Mythra asked, crossing her arms.

"Your...your world has Hegemons?"

"No, but I think Malos would certainly know a thing or two about them. Freakin bastard." Mythra scoffed. "A Hegemon is the distorted desire embodiment of someone who wants to lead with power. It basically takes whatever Moon's leadership he has, and amplifies it. The monster you see is his ability to not resolve anything, it's simply a beast torn in two, one evil side who wants to grow strong, and one side who wants to lead peacefully. The strong side of evil is normally what takes them over."

"So...the pain Sarah's feeling…"

"It's the pain of having a mind torn in two. And it won't fade until Moon is either killed, or saved from his form...or...I'd assume something to do with having her feelings towards him change, likely why you casted a silence spell."

Erick looked at Sarah's silently screaming and shaking body. No amount of pain could ever be that destructive. If what Mythra said was true. Then...Moon truly had become a monster.

That's all for today's chapter, I hope you all enjoyed it.

I debated very heavily on what I wanted the final Boss to be. I was torn between reviving Nemesis and Using the Hegemon, the bosses for Golden Deer and Blue Lions respectively. In the end, I decided on the Hegemon, I think that the Hegemon was the right call. Normally, Edelgard takes the place of the Hegemon, but...in the context of this...that didn't seem right.

The hegemon is one creepy looking final boss, so I decided to try and remedy the transformation, as it's supposed to be quite painful from what I understand. With Sarah sharing more pain with Moon and Erick, I wanted to show how much this adventure has worn her down, one where she's tired of pain and suffering to the point she considers wanting it all to end.

Lastly, Rhea, an insane bloody psychopath who just Kamikazes her entire army, and Gilbert, Ashe, and Annette if you don't recruit her just say alright, let's fucking burn down the capital of the goddamn Kingdom. No evacuations or any shit like that. Just fucking burn the city. And people say Edelgard is crazy, at least she didn't kamikaze her troops like an asshole.

Ah well, two chapters remain, I hope you're ready, because this story is soon coming to a close.