The sting of defeat is a painful one.
Chapter 121 – Downfall (Lone Moon)
One of the Hoshidans shouted "Wéixiǎn! Táopǎo!" as the Immaculate One swooped down at the trebuchet in the center of town and unleashed a blast of holy fire into it. The siege weapon burst into a shower of splinters and cinders as it was annihilated by the dragon's fire. The engineers screamed as they were likewise incinerated or left to bleed out from the devastation.
Rhea pulled up from her dive to survey the devastation done to the town. She had just finished off the last of the Empire's trebuchets, as the second was already burning to a crisp, its crew already wiped out. At least now, she thought, the monastery would not be reduced to rubble.
She was then alerted to the sound of several fell roars and turned to see something that stoked her rage. Flying toward her were no less than six Demonic Beasts, though these were a variety she had not seen before. They had wings, appearing similar in many ways to wyverns, but far larger and covered in sickly black bandage-like scales. Each one wore a strange mask over their heads made of what looked like bronze clay, something she suspected was meant to protect their Crest Stones. They weren't as large as the Immaculate One, but still would have towered over any human. The sight of them sickened her, knowing they had to have been created through the desecration of her people's remains.
"Bakemono… HOROBIRU!"
Rhea roared and unleashed a blast of holy fire at the winged beasts, which moved with unexpected quickness as they dodged her attack. One of them retaliated by sending a ball of fire at the dragon, but this attack missed its mark. Rhea flew back, trying to distance herself from the Demonic Beasts as she fired another blast, this one hitting a winged beast directly and sending it screeching toward the ground as it burned to ashes.
The Demonic Beasts pursued Rhea relentlessly through the sky, sending balls of flame and blasts of slicing wind at her, some of them landing hits on the white dragon. As she spun around and blasted a second Demonic Beast into dust, she was immediately struck by three fireballs simultaneously. The dragon howled as it tumbled from the sky, forced to land near one of the walls of the monastery, one that overlooked a deep ravine.
More roars caught Rhea's attention, and she turned to see seven more Demonic Beasts rushing at her, these ones of the ground-based variety. They too wore strange masks to protect their vulnerable heads, but also had more of the bronze clay armor covering other vulnerable points on their hides. She swiped at one of them, smashing the beast beneath her talons. She then snapped her jaws at a second one as it leapt at her, grabbing it by the neck and breaking it with a swift twist of her teeth.
But then the beasts began to overwhelm her, leaping on her to try and pin her to the ground, biting and scratching wherever they could. Even for one as powerful as her, The Immaculate One found herself being overwhelmed. They shoved her against the enormous monastery wall, which began to shudder and crumble, threatening to crush Rhea and her monstrous foes.
Then, as one of the beasts readied its fiery breath, a familiar glowing sword lashed through the creature's mask, shattering it like clay and slicing the Crest Stone on its forehead. The dragon grabbed the beast with her left forearm and flung it toward the ravine, where it screeched as it dissolved to ashes from the destruction of its Crest Stone.
Nearby, as the Immaculate One continued to fight off two other Demonic Beasts, Byleth leapt over the fiery breath of another one and swung the Sword of the Creator forward. The blade sliced clean through the beast from the tip of its nose to the end of its tail. The monster fell in two halves before it disintegrated. A second Demonic Beast then lunged its jaws forward, trying to crush Byleth. The teacher backflipped over the attack, then leapt forward and swung her whip sword again, lashing it around the Demonic Beast's neck. It thrashed as it tried to throw her off, but Byleth ripped her blade back, decapitating the beast.
The sound of collapsing stone made Byleth turn to see the Immaculate One narrowly escape being crushed under the crumbling wall of the monastery. The two Demonic Beasts she had been fighting were not so lucky, flattened by the immense pile of stone and mortar.
With a moment of reprieve, Byleth looked up at the white dragon as it turned to her and stared at the green-haired warrior. The teacher could not help but feel as though the dragon were familiar somehow.
"Naze… kita nodesu…?" the Immaculate One asked.
Byleth could not understand the dragon's words, but knew they were familiar to her.
A laughing voice caught her attention, and Byleth turned to see a group of black mages standing on a nearby hill. Their leader was someone she recognized immediately. It was the same man who had rescued Monica when she had murdered her father.
Thales smiled arrogantly at Byleth and said, "We meet again, Fell Star."
…
Dorothea looked back at the monastery as she heard the Immaculate One's roar once again. As she did, she felt a terrible chill wash over her. Though the dragon was clearly an enemy to the Imperials, who was to say it was on their side? What if it turned its terrible fire on those still left in the monastery?
Bernadetta kept quivering in fear as Dorothea looked at the white dragon's struggle in the air against what looked to be giant masked wyverns. The singer knew they had to be Demonic Beasts of some kind. The notion that Edelgard had sanctioned the creation of such monstrosities tore at Dorothea's already fragile mind.
Worst of all, Dorothea knew Byleth was still there, fighting to save anyone she could. There was no doubt that she would eventually be caught in the crossfire between the Immaculate One and the Empire's beasts.
"Byleth… please be okay…" Dorothea said as she bit her lip.
Then, several more roars and screeches, much closer than the battle near the ravine, caught Dorothea's attention. Alarmed, she looked up to see four Imperial wyvern riders diving down on her and Bernadetta.
Dorothea knew they were in serious trouble. She had to devote all her attention to keeping the Pegasus under control, and she had to ensure Bernadetta didn't fall off. There was no way she could fight in these circumstances.
Dorothea frantically pulled the reins and tried to urge the Pegasus to fly away. The steed, despite its terror, obeyed her commands, but the wyverns closed quickly on the Pegasus and its passengers. The singer looked back in horror, knowing she'd never outrun them.
The first wyvern rider swung his axe at Dorothea and narrowly missed his mark, making her and Bernadetta shriek in terror. Dorothea immediately urged the Pegasus to dive away, despite not having any plan for what to do next. She felt the second wyvern's fangs snap just behind her, ripping away a piece of her uniform near her left shoulder.
As they fled, Bernadetta continued squealing, "We're gonna die! We're gonna die! WE'RE GONNA DIE!"
Again, and again, the wyverns dived at Dorothea and Bernadetta as the diva tried to escape, with each attack coming perilously close to tearing into Dorothea's flesh or knocking their mount out of the air. Dorothea looked frantically around, trying to find any sign of someone or something that could help them. There was nothing. They were alone against their enemies.
As they passed over a river, one of the wyvern riders passed below the Pegasus and began to pull up, intending to strike them from below. Seeing this threat, Dorothea shrieked as she pulled up, with the wyvern rider's axe narrowly missing her steed's belly.
"LOOK OUT!" Bernadetta shrieked.
Too late, Dorothea looked forward and saw another wyvern rider diving at her, capitalizing on her forced evasion. Dorothea immediately steered her Pegasus under the wyvern's attack, with its talons narrowly missing her head. But in doing so, the Pegasus was immediately buffeted by the turbulence created by the wyvern's dive, and for a second it tumbled through the air like a leaf.
That second was all it took for Dorothea to lose her grip on the reins and slip from the Pegasus' saddle.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Dorothea saw the Pegasus moving further away from her, and as Bernadetta screamed her name, she knew she was falling to her death.
And this time, unlike how it had been at Conand Tower, no one was going to save her.
She heard something over the howl of the wind. It was a scream, one of sorrow and pain, echoing across the land. It wasn't her own.
Dorothea let out her own scream of terror as she fell into the raging river below, and with a loud splash, the diva vanished from sight.
…
Flayn stumbled her way through the forest, so tired that she felt like she would pass out at any moment. But she couldn't afford to stop where she was. The Empire was still looking for her. Her trick had only thrown them off her trail for a moment.
Transforming had always taken a lot out of her. The last time she had done it, she had been wounded to the point that she was forced into a deep sleep for almost a thousand years. While she bore no wounds now, she felt the same fatigue washing over her mind. She no longer had the same power she'd had back in those days, back when she was known by another name.
She was afraid. Afraid that she would either fall into a deep sleep that would last her until all her friends had long since passed on, or that she would never wake once the Imperials found her. She guessed it would more likely be the latter.
She heard the shouting of the Imperials getting closer. Through hazy eyes, Flayn looked for any sign of the others, but found nothing. After a moment, she felt it was for the best. Even if she died there, they still had a chance to escape.
Her foot struck a root, and Flayn collapsed to the forest floor. She tumbled down a small embankment, coming to rest in a small patch of grass.
She no longer had the strength to move her body.
The Imperials' voices came closer and closer. Her vision blurred as she saw a group of them appear at the top of the embankment, led by Randolph.
"There you are, girl," said Randolph. "I don't know what kind of magic trick that was, but you won't escape us this time! Take her!"
Two Imperials stepped cautiously toward Flayn as she began to shut her eyes, knowing she faced her end.
The sound of a wyvern's roar and fearful voices was accompanied by a billowing wind as Hyperion landed between Flayn and the Imperials.
"Away with you, Imperial dogs!" shouted Seteth.
Even hearing his voice did not stop Flayn's consciousness from fading. All she could manage before she passed out was to whisper, "Father…"
…
"You…!" Byleth hissed at Thales. "You're the one who helped Kronya escape when she murdered my father!"
"Your father was an obstacle to my designs, as are you, Fell Star," said Thales. "But now, your failure is complete. Garreg Mach Monastery burns, your friends and allies are scattered to the winds, and you… you will never again see another sunrise!"
Thales channeled his power and readied a dark blast of magic as Byleth, still exhausted from battle, raised the Sword of the Creator in a defensive stance.
"Kisama…!" hissed the Immaculate One. The dragon opened its mouth and readied its holy fire as it said, "MOETE SHI-NE!"
Just as the dragon was about to breathe its fire, two of the flying Demonic Beasts swooped down and lunged their talons at the Immaculate One. The dragon screeched as its attack was knocked off target, scorching a line across the field and devastating one of the monastery walls. The Demonic Beasts continued to assault the dragon as Byleth turned to it in alarm.
Thales grinned in that instant and unleashed his spell.
Byleth turned back to see an immense black ball of magic flying at her, far deadlier than any Miasma Δ spell she had ever seen and moving far faster as well.
Byleth leapt to avoid the attack, only to yelp in shock as it turned mid-flight and careened toward her.
Time stopped just as the blast hit her, freezing the moment of agony in her mind and body.
Byleth could already feel her grip on time's flow slipping. She had been using the Divine Pulse more than she thought possible throughout the day, and now she barely had any of the power left to her. She'd get two, maybe three seconds at best.
It would have to be enough.
The blast flew back toward Thales as Byleth's body returned to where she had stood before she had tried to dodge. The spell dissipated back into Thales's hand.
Time stopped just before Thales would have unleashed his spell. And as Byleth felt her grip on time finally slip, everything began moving again, gradually increasing in tempo back to time's normal flow.
Thales suddenly smiled, and then shouted as he again released his magic, sending a barrage of eight violet spears fanning out from him that curved through the air toward Byleth.
Byleth's eyes were wide with shock and horror. This wasn't what had happened before.
Caught completely off guard, Byleth yelped as she leapt away, dodging two of the dark spears and slashing two more out of the air. But then the remaining four found their mark just as the pain from the original spell ripped through Byleth's body. She screamed as she was blasted through the air, crashing to the ground and tumbling violently toward the edge of the ravine.
Byleth was barely conscious. Her body felt like someone was ripping it apart as blood ran down her sides. She coughed loudly as she tried to look up at Thales, who laughed at her as his crimson eyes stared into her green gaze.
"Foolish Fell Star," taunted Thales. "Were you perhaps expecting something else from me?"
Byleth's eyes again went wide with dread. It wasn't possible. No one knew about her gift. She had never told anyone about it.
Could this man know about the Divine Pulse?
"Now, you wretched beast… JOIN YOUR KIND IN EXTINCTION!"
Thales readied another dark spell, creating a dark swirling portal in the air over Byleth. Byleth immediately tried to get to her feet. She mentally screamed at herself to move, to fight, to do anything to survive. She reached for the Divine Pulse, again and again, but it would not heed her call.
She had to get away. She had to live. If she didn't…
"Break your promise to your dear songbird…" Thales said with a smirk.
From out of the dark portal, a black meteorite fired out of the abyss and slammed into the cliff as Byleth's eyes went wider than ever after hearing Thales's words.
The cliffside exploded as Rhea, having just killed another flying Demonic Beast, saw Byleth as she was blasted over the side. The dragon immediately spread its wings, only to be tackled again by two more Demonic Beasts.
Byleth heard the dragon roar "OKASAMAAAAA!" as she felt her body plummet into the ravine.
Byleth could not scream. She couldn't move. Even without her power, time seemed to slow to a crawl as she fell from the cliff. Her grip on the Sword of the Creator was lost, sending the blade tumbling away from her.
She saw something else falling behind her. Droplets of water, falling near her face. Was it raining?
No, it wasn't rain, Byleth thought. Those were her tears…
She had failed.
She had failed to stop the Empire. They had won the battle for Garreg Mach.
She had failed those she had sworn to protect and teach. Her students were gone, their fates unknown to her.
She had failed the people of Fódlan. She couldn't stop Edelgard from beginning her war, one that would surely burn all of Fódlan.
She had failed her.
She had failed Dorothea.
She had promised to come back alive.
She had promised they would see each other again.
She had broken that promise.
She heard the singer's voice. She was screaming.
Byleth Eisner, her eyes filled with tears, finally found the strength to scream as she plummeted into the ravine. Her wailing cry echoed across Garreg Mach Monastery as she vanished into darkness.
Tell me, how painful was that sting?
And tell me, how did I do on revamping the cliff scene? Hopefully I took out some of the "Byleth, why didn't you do something?!" aspect of it from the game.
I'll bet you'll be able to figure out Thales's special power from this scene, but let's see who can get it right first.
Also, I probably got a bit of Rhea's dialogue wrong. If you notice any big mistakes in it, let me know and I'll fix them.
Next chapter will be the last one for Part 1: White Clouds. I'll have an announcement for then regarding Part 2.