When Edelgard and I get up into the sky, her expression changes back to serious and focused. No time to waste getting to work, even though she was stuck in a prison cell for a month and had to fight against her own trauma to stay okay in there. I try not to let myself be awed by her. Byleth is objectively more powerful than her in terms of battle prowess, but a lot of the mystique around them faded when I realized that their powers were gifted by Sothis. Edelgard has needed to scrape and claw for everything, and after all my years of leading and fighting I'm now realizing I'm no match for her when I'm alone.

In fact, it's me who needs to buckle down and focus here. We need to focus on cutting a path for the friendly church soldiers to reach Seiros. I stay by Edelgard's side as we fly around to scan the area and map out paths to approach Seiros from, and I spot a group of church soldiers fighting against some more of the golems. I hadn't tracked them before, and I point them out to Edelgard.

"I agree that it doesn't look like they're part of Seteth's group," she says. "Let's go see if we can rescue them and enlist their aid."

She flies off towards them before I can respond. Well, I was going to do that anyway, so no point in acting sour about it. I follow her, and when I get closer I recognize the legions that are fighting. They're led by Catherine and Shamir, and I'm confident that many of these soldiers were the same ones who distracted the Imperial troops in Enbarr and allowed us to take out Hubert. I see the remains of multiple golems on the ground, but the remaining three have them backed into a corner.

Edelgard flies in and swerves in an arc, attacking all three while dodging all retaliatory attacks. With their attention focused on her, I fire off shots at the part of the armor she exposed with her attack. I hear Shamir shout and her battalion unleashes a gambit on the one I fired at. I take more shots at the remaining bits of protection, and after knocking off all the amor the construct reels over, stunned. Edelgard is still engaged with the second one, while Catherine has the third. I strafe around and fire off as many shots as I can in rapid succession. With the combined might of me, Shamir, and her battalion, we're able to take out the golem before it regains its footing. I look down at Shamir, who glances at Edelgard and then at me.

"Is that who I think it is?" she says.

"On our side now," I say. "Serios went-"

"Berserk, yes. I'm capable of putting basic facts together."

"Well, Seteth says we need to kill her. And who better to enlist in that mission than someone who's been trying to kill her for the past year?"

Shamir snorts. "If this gets you killed, I won't go to your funeral."

"Aw, I know you care. Let's talk after we get rid of these damn constructs. Who's idea was it to make those, anyway?"

Shamir shrugs and goes back to shooting. As with just about everything, I suspect I can blame their existence on Rhea. Not like these golems helped us much against the Empire, and now that they're finally doing damage in fights it's against us.

I fly over to where Edelgard is circling around the second, darting around its attacks with alert stance and retaliating. I draw its attention by firing at the spots in its armor Edelgard exposed, and she lunges in when its head turns towards me. The two of us fly around the golem in wide arcs. I try to stay away from Edelgard so that it can only focus on one of us at a time. I imagine like we're two electrons orbiting around a helium atom. We move fast enough that the construct can't keep up with us, and eventually we're able to take it out through a combination of small attacks. I let out a sigh when it collapses to the ground. Edelgard flies over to me and does a loop in the air to draw my attention to her, and then she steers her wyvern towards the last remaining golem.

I follow behind her and converge with Catherine and Shamir. Catherine is bloody and bruised, but keeps fighting.

"Retreat and heal," Edelgard says. "We can finish this."

"Didn't take orders from you before, not going to now," Catherine says. "Consider yourself lucky if you're not next."

"I saw you fail to take down a mage with Shamir and Claude in tow. Forgive me if I'm not quaking in my boots."

"Let's focus on the battle for now," I say. "I can explain later."

Sheesh, when did I become the diplomat here? I want to go back to being the angry one who has to be reined in by Dimitri.

With the four of us combined, we're able to reduce the golem to scraps within seconds. Catherine, true to her word, doesn't use healing focus until the fight is over. She looks close to death when the golem falls, but in less than a minute she's scratchless.

"You want to come down here, or keep hiding out of reach in the sky?" Catherine says.

It takes me a second to realize she's talking towards us. I have Omar land but stay in alert stance in case more fighting breaks out. Edelgard continues to circle in the sky.

"Guess she's trusting I won't shoot her down," Shamir says, smirking.

"I'm half tempted to tell you to," Catherine says.

"And like usual, I would ignore you."

I never stopped to think about how couples arguing could extend on the battlefield. The only other power couple I know fighting in this war is Edelgard and Byleth, and something tells me they weren't squabbling about every little detail between crushing their foes.

"So what's the deal, Claude?" Shamir says.

"Mostly what I told you. We need to take out Seiros, and Edelgard was the only option available."

"I'm not fighting alongside Imperials," Catherine says.

"Then you'll sit this fight out. Because it's not just Edelgard. We have about a dozen Imperial commanders making sure we stay organized, and together they're more valuable than you are. If you decide to sit this battle out, that's your choice. I wonder what your explanation will be to Seteth as to why your conviction buckled in the moment that matters most."

Catherine narrows her eyes. "You always did change sides too quickly. Fighting the Empire to protect your own lands, but invading Fhirdiad when it was convenient for you, to protecting Fhirdiad when you realized that Dimitri could offer you more than Edelgard, and now teaming up with Edelgard when she's someone you can use to undermine the church that Seiros set up."

"Indeed," Shamir says. "And for that, you deserve my applause, Claude."

"What?" Catherine turns on her. "This faithless, two-tailed rat-"

"Is the same as me. Did you forget how I deserted in Fhirdiad as well? And I'm more than happy to team up with the Imperials. We might get some inside knowledge about how they run their armies. The organization of the Knights of Seiros lags in the past."

"What do you say, Catherine?" I ask. "You going to lose three powerful allies in one swoop today?"

She grips the hilt of Thunderbrand, and for a second I'm convinced she's going to charge me. But after a second, her hand falls to her side.

"I hate this," she says. "Everything I do is for Seiros. The one person who accepted me for who I was and showed me the way."

"And the best course of action is to kill her," Shamir says. "Seteth said so, and he knows her better than anyone."

"According to who?" Catherine points at me. "Him?"

"The first time he stood against Seiros, she thanked him for it. I'm thinking that we should trust him in standing against her again."

Catherine growls. "Fine. But I won't take orders from the Imperials."

"That's fine," Edelgard says, flying down and landing on the ground, "But you should listen to Claude." She turns to me. "What do you think these knights should do?"

Catherine narrows her eyes. "I don't-"

"Listen to him," Shamir says. "Neither of us were made to be commanders. If he gives us stupid commands, we ignore them."

I bet Edelgard knows what I'm about to say. Catherine won't take it from her, but she might take it from me. Let's see how this goes over.

"We should rejoin with the others," I say. "By now, they should be breaking through the white beasts and other defenses Seiros has set up, and will be at the main monastery entrance. We reconvene there and charge Seiros as one."

"Sounds good," Shamir says. "This chaotic battle doesn't help us. The golems and white beasts don't have brains or organized assaults, but we do. Time to leverage that to our benefit."

"I still don't like this," Catherine says.

"Well, right now we all need to unify under Claude's leadership," Edelgard says. "I don't like taking orders from him either, but everyone following a bad order is better than nobody following a good one."

Wow. Way to throw shade at me. At least it seems to placate Catherine for now. After Catherine and Shamir's forces head off to the monastery entrance to reconvene with the others, I fly back into the sky with Edelgard.

"Since when do you take orders from me?" I say.

"Had to make it look like I had no power in order for Catherine to accept me," Edelgard says. "I still don't trust someone who follows orders to burn down a city with civilians still inside of it, you know."

Yeah, not a bad point. We accepted Catherine's help because we needed her as one of the few remaining leaders of the Knights of Seiros alive, but there was a reason I tried to kill her back at Fhirdiad. In her defense, though, even if she hadn't followed orders, I'm sure Rhea would have gotten one of the other knights to do the job.

"And…" Edelgard hesitates. "I'm not sure I should be saying this, but if you give me an order, I will most likely follow it."

Wait, what? I stare at Edelgard and blink.

"What about that statement is so surprising?" she says. "I took orders from Byleth when we were fighting side by side."

"But I'm not them."

"Nobody can be them. We're not the people Fódlan needs, but we're the ones it's going to get. You've followed my instructions when it makes sense, so I will exchange the same courtesy towards you. Hubert always considered you to be a bigger threat than Rhea and Dimitri, you know."

"I find that hard to believe. My forces in the Alliance-"

"Army number didn't matter. At least not at the start, when Byleth could assure us victory in every conventional battle. But you were the one person who could throw a wrench in our plans. Neither Byleth or Hubert predicted your gambit of invading Gronder."

I look away. "Not one of my prouder moments."

"It was a noble effort, and kept civilians out of the fight. I know Dimitri was the one who massacred those villages along the way, not you. You're too hard on yourself, Claude."

Ah, I had forgotten about the path of destruction Dimitri left in his path through the Empire. I wonder how all of my Blue Lions former classmates felt about the desolation that came with him. Did they… take part in the carnage? If I had seen Dimitri commit those deeds firsthand, would I still have sided with him at Arianrhod and the Tailtean Plains?

"Hubert was also impressed that you brought the Almyran general Nader in to flank us when we invaded Derdriu," Edelgard says. "And commented at how he was surpsied you were able to make Hilda into a stable commander. The two of you… would have got along if you were born in different times, I think."

Is that true? I never liked Hubert from the moment I met him. I respect his skill, but even at the academy he had a ruthless streak that hinted at darker plots. I recognize that him killing his own father and other Imperial lords who had a stranglehold on the region's power was necessary for what he had in mind, but I don't know if I could be friends with someone like that.

But still. From Edelgard's perspective, Dimitri is a rampaging bull who has only barely managed to restrain himself in recent months, and Seiros is an unstable dragon who torched her own city to make it more difficult for Edelgard to advance. I managed to get along with both of them eventually, and here I am flying side by side with Edelgard after all she's done.

Maybe in another life, all of us could have been friends for real. Instead, almost half of the elite students who entered the Officers Academy are dead. My chest tightens when I think about all of the laughs, smiles, and kisses lost in the war.

"Claude?" Edelgard says.

"Now's a bad time for me to start waxing philosophical. Let's regroup and end this for real."

That's what I told myself at Gronder, at Enbarr, at Shambhala, at Central Park. I wonder if this path is going to keep elongating in front of me, if I'll have to keep killing until the day I die.

If that's the case, then I'd better sharpen some more arrows.

#

By the time that we fly over to the monastery entrance, it's easy to see Seiros below, her body towering over the surrounding trees. I tell myself that I fought her once before, and I can do so again. I don't have Byleth with me this time, but I'm also not trying to stop a nuclear arsenal from being unleashed on a burning city. Gotta take the bad with the good.

"Tell them what to do," Edelgard says. "You need to be the one who's seen as being in control."

"You had no problem taking the reins yourself when we were talking with Seteth."

She rolls her eyes. "That's because nobody was stepping in, and we needed to move quickly to gather up the stragglers that were being hunted down. Are you going to do your duty as commander or not?"

Fine, fine. I fly down to where the army can hear me and take a deep breath. My voice could never carry across the battlefield as well as Dimitri's or Seiros', which is part of why I tried to go off on my own little missions. But it looks like today, I don't have a choice.

"I will not try to downplay the tragedy of what is happening today," I say, "And I will not lie to you and say that there is glory at the end of the tunnel from killing the person who gave us so much. But there is something even sweeter we're chasing. Peace.

"If Seiros is not stopped, she will rampage across all of Fódlan, consuming and consuming until there's nothing left. Your friends, spouses, children, legacy, all torn apart by the tragedy unfolding in front of us right now. And if Seiros does recover, how do you think she'll react? As someone who fought through thick and thin with her, I can say that she'll be unable to live with herself.

"It is your duty as knights sworn to Seiros to protect her realm, even from her. It is your duty to carry out her wishes, even if it means that harm comes to her. Do not let hesitation hold you back because the enemy once wore a friendly face. As one, we will cut a straight path through the enemy forces and strike at the beast that Seiros has become. And when we do, we will fulfil her wishes to bring peace to Fódlan. We fight for the same reasons we always do. For the safety of our loved ones. To build a better world for our children. Do not forget that."

After I finish, a round of cheers go out. Blegh, I hate speeches. I swallow the icky feeling in my throat and shove a hand forward towards the army in the distance, and the allied forces charge forward.

Let's end this.

"Not the most conventional rallying speech," Edelgard says. "Good thing those knights will eat up anything, huh?"

"Remind me never to do that again."

She laughs. "You're willing to fight a dragon that can swat you out of the sky like you're a gnat, but public speaking is too much for you?"

"More common fear than death itself. Let's survey the situation."

Edelgard and I fly over the battlefield as the two armies clash. We fight a few white beasts on our way, and by this point we're able to anticipate their attacks and use alert stance to avoid most of the damage. Edelgard draws most of their attention, and in the few cases where she does get hurt she uses healing focus to remove the wounds. I still can't believe there's no limit on how often she can use that.

Before long, it's clear that our organized army is winning out against the chaotic waves of possessed church soldiers. Even without the direct command of me and Edelgard, the officers are taking the battle slow and letting the enemy soldiers throw themselves against our front lines. Slowly but surely, we advance.

"You see that?" Edelgard points down at the battlefield. "A path to cut through. I'm thinking that we'll want to take a small group of elite soldiers to attack Seiros anyway. Since I don't know if the regular infantry will be able to pierce her hide and any sort of area attacks she can use will be devastating if we bring an army."

Yeah, that's how these things usually go even if I'm not trying. Still, it's good to have someone to discuss this with.

Before I can respond, Edelgard flies down and starts organizing the Black Eagles and church commanders into a coordinated assault at the straight path to The Immaculate One. So much for her letting me play commander this time. I hover by, but once I see that everyone's listening to her I fly out to the front lines and start taking shots at the possessed church soldiers standing in our way.

The enemy doesn't have many archers, which lets me free fire at the soldiers below. I do my best to pick off what look like the commanders before remembering that the possessed soldiers don't have the same command structure that we do. It's not as simple as taking out the leader and watching the rest of them scatter. With that knowledge, I focus on the enemy archers first, and then the mages. I manage to force the enemy on the defensive with a hail of arrows, and right when I do Edelgard leads the strike force straight into the lines of enemies that are already reeling. She and Seteth tear through the flanks atop wyverns while the others provide ranged fire. Blasts of wind and lightning hurl groups of enemies into the air, and Bernadetta launches enough arrows into the mix to halt any charges. It doesn't take long before we're able to rout them.

A clear path to Seiros. I take a deep breath and fly overhead, watching the people on the ground scramble through the break in enemy lines. Edelgard and Seteth look fine even after I saw them take several attacks each, which I suppose is the benefit to having so many mages on our side. Linhardt and Dorothea being able to heal at a safe range will be invaluable in the upcoming fight.

Seteth, Edelgard, and I reach Seiros first. This is the second time I've been up close to the Immaculate One, and I had forgotten how massive she is. When I enter her shadow, it feels like I'm about to take shots at a mountain and hope that it will topple over.

"Seiros!" I do my best to project my voice out. "Do you remember any of us?"

She shoots a blast of energy at me in response. With alert stance I'm able to mostly swerve out of the way, but the white energy catches my side and I let out a grunt in pain. Right after, a cool sensation surrounds the wound, and the flesh heals up. Nice to have friends around to watch my back when I continue to make stupid decisions.

Edelgard flies up and starts taking attacks at The Immaculate One. Pillars of blue flame erupt from the ground and she comes out singed. I have Omar fly down to her side and I can see the look of rugged determination on her face.

"We should split up, not stick together," Edelgard says. "We don't want her attacking both of us at once. And if you fall, I won't be able to help you."

I glance over to Seteth as he flies up beside us. His jaw is clenched, but his eyes look forlorn rather than focused. I think back to how I couldn't bring myself to kill a friend even when I was convinced it was necessary. The fact that his resolve hasn't wavered yet is impressive in itself.

"Ready to go?" I say.

A quick nod. "Edelgard's right. Split up and take attacks when she has her back turned to us. Focus on alert stance if she has you in her sights. Fly over to the healers if you or your wyvern is hurt."

Sounds like we have a plan, then. I have Omar fly up, Edelgard goes left, and Seteth goes right. Seiros' dragon gaze follows me first, and as I keep ascending she reaches out with her neck and attempts to cleave me clean in two with her teeth. I kick Omar into a sprint and we're able to avoid her snapping her jaw shut, but I can feel the force of wind behind me when she does. I look behind me to make sure she didn't bite Omar's tail clean off.

All right, I need to focus on dodging. I meet her gaze and narrow my eyes at her. She next tries to claw me out of the air, but I'm able to dip under her right claw and then over her left. I let out a breath. Just like those flying obstacle courses from when I was first trying to learn to fly a wyvern after being stuck in Fódlan for what I thought was going to be the rest of my life.

The Immaculate One continues to eye me, and I think I see a glint of frustration on her lizardlike face. I stick out my tongue at her and hold my hands behind my head like deer antlers, same as I did to Edelgard when flying away. In this case, my childish jeers might even have a practical use. The more time I keep her occupied, the more time Edelgard and Seteth have to break through her defenses.

Seiros leans back, and I can see that she's preparing for another breath laser attack. I have Omar fly straight towards and over her until I'm behind her head. She lets out a roar that sends vibrations through my body. Looks like the trick is to stay close to her. If we get far, it's much easier for The Immaculate One to aim her breath attacks.

She shifts her position, rotating her body with several stomps that focus her attention on Edelgard. I take the opportunity to start firing away. I'm not sure if she gets stunned like the Demonic beasts do if all of her armor gets broken, and I can't afford to experiment right now. I take some shots at the areas of her hide that Seteth has exposed with multiple lance strikes, but I also need to stay away from him so that she can't focus on both of us at once. I rely on my silver bow since I'm convinced I'll need Failnaught for Byleth, but I don't do nearly as much damage as I would like. Still, progress is progress, and I can only hope that we can eventually whittle her down.

After I take several shots, she changes her focus to Seteth. And then eventually, it goes back to me. I'm not able to dodge every attack, but alert stance allows me to swerve out of the way of certain death and take glancing blows instead. Whenever too many pile up, I fly until I can see the healers and either Dorothea or Linhardt uses Physic to close my wounds.

We're not losing, exactly, but The Immaculate One is close to immovable. Eventually, we'll run out of healing magic. We need some way to break through her defenses. Some more firepower.

Right when the thought crosses my mind, I hear a war cry from below. I risk a glance down to see Catherine charging in with Shamir right behind her. Berndadetta shoots out some cover fire while Catherine lunges in with a flurry of blows from Thunderbrand. Seiros lets out a roar and tries to stomp on her. Catherine tries to dive out of the way, but her leg gets caught. She laughs, and stands back up as soon as Flayn heals her mangled leg.

This woman only has one plan, but I can't complain when it saves my ass time and time again.

Under the constant bombardment of attacks from air and ground alike, I see Seiros starting to reel. I fly over her to look at the damage we've done, and nod to myself when I see all the wounds we've been able to inflict. She can't have that much left in her.

"I will… tear you down…"

Seiros beats her wings. Omar tries to stay hovering in place but the force of the air pushed towards us sends him flying back. I've never been more grateful that I'm hooked into this saddle. I see Edelgard and Seteth get knocked back in similar fashions.

Then Seiros takes to the sky.

I gnash my teeth together as she flies away from us, bobbing up and down like a sputtering airship about to crash. I fly towards the area where she was and reconvene with Edelgard and Seteth.

"We have to go after her," Seteth says. "I don't want to drag you into this, but I can't take her on my own and we can't afford to track her until she lands again with Nemesis on the loose."

"I'm not about to back down," Edelgard says. "I knew what kind of creature Rhea is and the risks involved. I was determined to end her at Fhirdiad, and now is no different."

"You're right, Seteth," I say. "We don't have a choice. Let's save Fódlan's future together."

Seteth lets out a sigh. "I thank you both for being willing to do what is right. If there were more people like you back when Nemesis killed Sothis, we might have been able to prevent the atrocities that took place."

Well, at a minimum that means Seteth is starting to trust Edelgard more, which is good. I exchange a glance with her. She nods, and then soars up into the sky after the Immaculate One. I have Omar follow her.

I take aim at Seiros as the wind whips past me and Omar flies futher into the sky where the air is thinner. A couple shots I fire graze by her hide, and after we've almost reached the clouds Seiros begins to hover. She turns back at us and lets out a roar.

The three of us resume our usual attack patterns, each of us orbiting around her while trying not to collide with the others so that she can only focus on one of us at once. However, unlike when she was on the ground, The Immaculate One is more maneuverable in the air and she's able to attack all of us with energy beams, claws, and tail swats. My own situation is tricky. The closer I get to her, the harder it is for her to aim her beam attacks, but the closer I am to her sharp claws and bonecrushing teeth. I'm safest when I fly directly over or beneath Seiros where she can't reach me, but I can't stay in those positions for long. I need to let my allies take up those momentary safe havens as well, and if we all group up there then the Immaculate one will simply maneuver around us.

In fact, Seteth and Edelgard do a great job of absorbing Seiros' attention for as long as they can. I'm used to being the one having to fly in and distract enemies with my brazen idiocy, but today I'm with two other people who are just as aggressive as I am in battle. Seteth is the one that surprises me, since outside of the battlefield he's so reserved and strait-laced. I guess the battlefield makes certain people come alive.

The downside of them taking some of the heat for me is that I end up craning my neck to take glances at their injuries whenever they pass by, and it's clear that Seiros' glancing blows are adding up more quickly on us than our attacks are on her. If we keep fighting like this, we're not going to win. After a few minutes of fighting I have a number of cuts and bruises to my own name as well, but nothing life-threatening. Edelgard and Seteth look worse for the wear, with both of them bleeding from a half-dozen places on their body.

Seteth shouts for us to reconvene. I fly over, and when I do I see Edelgard using healing focus to close her own wounds. Still, her wyvern looks bad and there's not much time before The Immaculate One sees us clumped and starts unleashing attacks.

"I need to fly down for healing," Seteth says. "We can keep fighting her after. We're almost there."

I can hear a twinge of desperation in his voice. Even at Shambhala, he never faltered. His wounds must be more serious than he's letting on. I exchange a glance with Edelgard and nod.

"We can keep her busy," Edelgard says. "Claude, try not to attract as much attention. You're frail and obvious."

When I open my mouth to respond, a wave of cold washes over me. It burns like hellfire, and for multiple seconds I'm not even able to twitch my fingers. I hear Seiros let out a roar, and when I'm able to look I see her flying into the zone of cold she created, and the icy air closes some of her wounds.

"Hoarfrost," Seteth says. "I'm not sure I can make it back down to the healers now that Seiros is rejuvenated. She will pick me off."

"We have to try," I say. "There's no alternative."

"No," Edelgard says. "There is."

Seteth exchanges a glance with her and nods. "It's the best way."

Before I can ask what he means, Seteth flies towards The Immaculate One, brandishing Seiros. For a moment, I freeze up. Does he not know that he's going to die if he charges directly at her?

No, he does know that. That's exactly why he's rushing in.

"We need to stop him," I say.

"Then we'll all get killed. He's going to buy us time, and we need to use that to finish this fight."

Fuck that. So many people have died already in this war. Marianne, Judith, Raphael, Mercedes, Leonie, Alois, Gilbert, Petra, Felix, Ingrid, Caspar, Hubert, Ferdinand, Sylvain. I won't let there be another. I fly after Seteth. I'm gaining on him. I can get to him in time. Seiros opens her mouth to fire a laser.

Seteth kicks his wyvern into a burst forward, and he rams his lance twice through the inside of Seiros' mouth, stabbing upwards. The lance pokes out of her scales on the other side. Seiros lets out a pained roar and fires off an energy beam.

No.

Not another.

Seteth is vaporized by the attack immediately, and it continues towards me. I try to swerve out of the way, but I know I'm too late. I close my eyes.

A force yanking my arm. I open my eyes to see Edelgard pulling me to the side. The laser beam grazes by me and Omar. After I recover from my flash of pain, I can see that one of Omar's wings is hurt. He can't support my body weight on top of his own. Edelgard sees the same detail, and she hoists me up onto her wyvern.

"Go," she tells Omar. "Go to the healers."

He lets out a pained squawk like he understands her and starts to descend. He beats his wings rapidly but still flutters and falls, but me worrying about him won't help matters.

"Seteth…" Another name to the list. Another moment where I wasn't strong enough.

"Get a hold of yourself." Edelgard steers us towards The Immaculate One. "You turned our opportunity into a liability. Is this how you react every time someone you know dies?"

I want to retort, but I don't have the energy to. My response comes out as a whimper.

"Shit," Edelgard says. "This is what you do whenever an ally dies, isn't it? How did you make it so long in this line of work?"

I didn't want to. Why can't I just run away with Dimitri and live a simple life together where nobody can other us? Visit Lucina occasionally and play video games with Morgan. Other people are living that reality, and here I am watching my friends die one by one because I can't save them.

"I can't tell if this sentimentalism makes you weak or if it makes you strong for pushing through it," Edelgard says. "But today, you don't have a choice. You're the only one who can react to Byleth's miracle, and we'll need every bit of help we can get to kill them. So we're winning this and you're staying alive, whether you like it or not. I'm not about to fail my duty to free them from pain because you threw your life away."

I inhale. Fight now, mourn later. Every time I tell myself the war is going to end, another catastrophe strikes. But this time is different. It has to be.

"We need to get to a place where we can attack Seiros without her being able to respond," I say. "Fly me over her."

She glances back at me over her shoulder. "Is this what I think it is?"

"Yes. And you can't judge me for this."

Edelgard lets out a sigh. "True enough. But if you die on me, I'll never forgive you."

She has her wyvern ascend, and after dodging another laser beam with a barrel roll, she flies me over Seiros. I look down and see a field of white scales below on her back. Time to end this.

I leap off Edelgard's wyvern and draw Failnaught, nocking an arrow as I fall. Right before I land on Seiros' back, I unleash a Fallen Star attack. The bolt of darkness arcs forward and hits her in the back of the head. One of the uses of Fallen Star I haven't utilized as much as I should is that it momentarily stuns the enemy, preventing a counterattack. In this case, it makes the Immaculate One go still as I land on her back.

I must break a bone when my feet slam into her body, but I don't feel any pain. I know that the painkilling endorphins will only last a few minutes, but that's long enough to finish this. I draw my blade and start taking slashes, walking towards the front of her body. She lets out a roar and spins around in what feels like an Aileron roll maneuver, where she's rotating around a horizontal axis while keeping the center of her body still. I run up the side of her body as she spins, onto her stomach and then onto her back as the motion finishes. At the last moment I'm knocked off, but I manage to grab onto her scales. Using the area under her scales as makeshift fingerholds, I do my best to stay on and climb up.

As I ascend, I see a hand reaching over the edge. I reach for it and almost slip, but I feel a grip around the wrist and Edelgard hoists me up. She pulls me with one arm while her other hand is holding onto Aymr that has been stabbed into Seiros like a flag staked into ground. She yanks me onto Seiros' back, and stumbles forward from the momentum. She tries to pull her axe free, but it doesn't come out.

I open my mouth to thank her, but I'm so winded that the words don't come out. She nods as if I spoke out loud and runs over to the front of The Immaculate One's body. I follow her and halt next to her when she pulls out a blade and points it downward, like she's King Arthur about to leave Excalibur in stone. She moves the sword in my direction, leaving some of the hilt free for me to grab.

"Let's do this together," she says.

"For Seteth," I say.

I grab onto the sword handle, my fingers right below hers. Our eyes meet. The rapid wind sends strands of hair in her face, and her gaze remains steady. I take a deep breath.

Together, we drive the sword into The Immaculate One's neck.

As the blade digs in, I know we got underneath the scales. A critical hit. Seiros lets out a pained roar. She continues bobbing and fluttering, but it feels like I'm standing on unstable ground.

Then we start falling.

The Immaculate One descends slowly at first, and then transitions into a full dive. The ground and the trees are getting larger and larger as they rise up to meet me. I'm going to die. I'm going to-

No. I can't afford to panic now. I still have a job left to do.

"She's wobbling too much," Edelgard says. "We need to jump or she'll fling us off."

As if to prove her right, Seiros twists in the air and we nearly lose our footing. I grab onto Edelgard's arm to keep her tumbling off Seiros' side.

"Aim for the trees," Edelgard says, "And make sure you aren't rotating at all when you jump. If your legs absorb the damage, we can wait until the healers are able to fix you up. But if you spin and land on your head…"

Yeah, game over. I nod, but when I take the first step pain shoots up my leg. Red floods my vision. Looks like the pain from jumping onto Seiros' back finally caught up with me. I'm vaguely aware that I cry out. I come to the next second, and I'm lying on Seiros' scales. Edelgard picks me up and holds me princess-style. Second time in the same day I get carried like this. Talk about embarrassing.

I say, "What are you-"

"Don't distract me."

I follow her gaze off Seiros' body and towards the ground that grows ever larger and nearer. Planning her jump angle to ensure that we both survive. My legs are still in pain. Must be the damage from landing on Rhea that I knew was going to kick in sooner or later. Well, all I can do at this point is hope that she pulls through.

Edelgard runs to the edge and jumps off Seiros' falling body.

The leap is smooth, and we fall through the air without rotating. She pulls me closer to her, and while I know it's to keep from dropping me and has no sentimental meaning behind it, I can't help but feel safe. I look at the ground as it rises and rises and rises to meet us. My breath catches in my throat, yet I'm perfectly calm.

Edelgard lands on the ground. I feel the force of impact transfer through her body to mine, lighting up my vision in pain again. I feel her arms shake.

But she doesn't drop me.

After a few seconds when the blinding pain is replaced by more tolerable throbbing, I see Edelgard with her eyes closed. Breathing in through her nose, out through her mouth.

She takes a step. And then another.

Logically, I know what's happening. Her healing focus and natural endorphins are allowing her to stay on her feet. But the way she can walk after falling from the clouds and taking the brunt of the damage for both of us makes it impossible for me not to be in awe. It's like she's a superhero.

Then the world goes white. It reforms around me, and I'm on the ground looking up at Flayn. Ah, right. She can use the rescue spell that brings me to her. She leans down and places her hands on my legs. A cool sensation spreads through my body, and the pain fades. In my new peaceful clarity, I stare into Flayn's green eyes. They ask the obvious question, the one I should have been prepared for. What happened to Seteth?

I can't. I avert my gaze. Her hands stiffen on my legs. Neither of us spoke a word, but we're exactly on the same page.

It takes me several seconds to rise to my feet. Healing magic is amazing, but it can't take away all the soreness, especially with the ridiculous stunts I pull.

"Listen," I say. "I'm sorr-"

She holds up a finger to my lips, cutting me off. Then she starts to walk away. Not a good time to talk about it, then. I follow her to see that she's approaching Edelgard, who is knelt down on the ground next to Seiros. I see the crash marks on the ground of where her dragon body must have landed, but she's in human form now. Flayn runs up to Seiros, and I follow seconds beind.

"Seiros," Flayn says. "My father. He can't be…"

"I am so sorry, Flayn." Seiros' voice comes out as a croak.

"And you're leaving me too," Flayn says. "I will be the last of my kind."

"The last Nabatean…" Serios closes her eyes. "Well, not exactly. You should seek guidance from Indech and Macuil, but I'm afraid I can no longer guide you. I assume my wounds are too bad to heal, but even if they weren't I can't risk this happening again."

Wait, the other two saints are alive as well? We're losing so much knowledge with Seiros' death today.

"I love my uncles, but you know how distant they are. I… do not know how I can go on."

"I know it's cruel of me to leave you, but you'll find a way. It won't be easy, but you've grown so strong over these past years."

"And we are here for you if you need assistance," Edelgard says.

Huh. I thought she hated the Nabateans. Flayn's eyes narrow in suspicion at Edelgard, who I can tell is pretending not to notice.

"Claude," Serios says. "Survive and help build this world with the knowledge of your own. Don't let us repeat our mistakes, and don't let us fall into whatever traps your people did."

Somehow I get the feeling that she isn't talking about Almyra when she says my world. Do I have any secrets here?

"And Edelgard," Seiros says, "In my chambers, there is a letter for you. Please read it. That is all I ask."

A pause.

"I will," she says.

I can't tell if Edelgard is lying to make Seiros feel better, but the notion of her caring about Seiros' feelings is so strange to me that I have to assume she's telling the truth.

"All of you," Seiros says, "Do a better job with this land… than I did."

Seiros lets out one final sigh, and her body goes limp. Edelgard's fingers go to the side of her neck to check for a pulse, and after a pause she stands up. Dead, then, but likely doesn't want to say that in front of an already distraught Flayn.

"I will mourn you," Flayn says. "You and father both. You… deserved to live in a world free from Thales. A world where we could be safe from daggers in the dark. It's not fair." Flayn shakes her head and sniffles. "But I will go on. The Nabateans need someone to remember them."

Edelgard's eyes go soft. "A world free from Thales…"

"We're here for you if you need anything, Flayn," I say, "And we're grateful for your help. After we defeat Nemesis, peace will finally be here."

"I was so happy when Byleth started to look like me," Flayn says. "And then… they fought against the people I loved. But I still wanted them to join our family. To have to kill them as well…"

Edelgard hangs her head low. "I love Byleth more than anyone else left in this world, but it has to be done." She glances over at me. "Claude, you had better make this worth it."

"In receiving Byleth's miracle, you mean?"

"I'm counting on you," Edelgard says. "There's nobody who can beat them in a fight. But if you can work with them, we might stand a chance. I wish it were me, but anything to put them out of their misery."

"I will," I say. "I promise."

After a pause, Edelgard nods. "Lysithea says you never break your promises. I'll hold you to that, Claude." Turning to Flayn, "Where are the others?"

"We spotted King Dimitri's army retreating from Nemesis," Flayn says. "After Seiros flew away, she lost control over her beasts and the others went to support the Kingdom and Alliance troops. But I stayed because…"

Because of Seteth. She doesn't have to say it.

"Well I'm glad you did," Edelgard says, "Since Claude is required for us to have any chance of stopping Byleth, and I had no way of healing him."

"I… am glad I could be useful."

"Of course," Edelgard says. "We all appreciate you, Flayn. Let's move out."

I start to follow Edelgard leaving, but when I look back I see Flayn staring at Seiros' body. I walk over to her, and after it's clear she notices me I put a hand on her shoulder. She looks up at me with watery eyes, her green irises as large as lakes.

I open my arms up as a suggestion. Flayn throws herself into a hug, burying her face in my chest. Her arms are squeezing me to the point of being uncomfortable. I do my best to hold her as she cries.

"What am I going to do without my parents?" she says.

"That's a question I've been trying to answer for a long time. There's no easy solution, but all I can say is that you're not alone."

She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. When her eyelids flash back open, she adopts a look of determination and steps out of my embrace.

"Let us end this horrid war once and for all," she says. "So that nobody else has to lose their parents."

I match her deep breath and nod. Byleth, I'm coming for you.

Hi, everyone! :) Blegh it's been almost a month since I've updated. The good news is that I have all of the remaining chapters written (we have three more chapters and an epilogue), and I'll try to get them all up soon.

And I know I've killed off like half the characters in the game but this cast is still huge. I'm trying to give everyone a role in the final battle, and you can be the judge of how well I pull it off. :)

Writing this chapter made me wonder if I've been watching too many Marvel movies. It's like that thing those movies always do where the hero boards an enemy vehicle and takes them all out by hand but with Claude and Edelgard boarding a dragon instead. At least I can rest knowing that the FE cutscenes have some truly wild anime-esque moments so it's not like this is too much more ridiculous than what actually happens.