Somewhere in the Sreng Desert
Seteth started down the large dragon as it lay resting in its bed of sand. Judging by the amount of sand covering the dragon's body, it was clear the creature had been here for quite some time. The beast cocked it's head as it stared Seteth down.
"Why have you come here, Cichol?" The dragon grumbled.
"Honestly, Macuil..." Seteth pinched his nose in annoyance. "If you don't already know why I'm here then your powers truly have failed you in your old age." This only had the effect of frustrating Macuil even further.
"You dare insult me, brother?!" Macuil roared. The building shook as sand rained down through the cracks from above. "I warn you that may not be the wisest decision you've made in your lifetime. Well, that or taking up with that mortal woman..." Seteth hid the anger in his eyes as he continued.
"No matter. I'm here at Serios' behest. She wishes for you to return to the monastery, Macuil. We fear something foul is on the rise in Fodlan. We'd feel safer knowing all four of us would be there for her protection. As your brother and a fellow dragon, I ask that you consider returning with me.
"All four? So you've actually managed to find Indech?"
"Sadly no. Likely he's hidden at the bottom of a lake somewhere." Seteth watched as Macuil's massive body heaved in something resembling a laugh.
"Seems I should have taken a lesson from him. Nevertheless. The world of man disgusts me. You know all too well that I want nothing more than to lay here and die. I bid you farewell brother." Macuil laid his head back down upon the sand. He clearly wanted nothing further to do with this conversation.
"I see... I will inform Seiros. I wish you well, brother." With that, Seteth turned on his heels and started for the exit. Before he could leave, however, Macuil called out to him.
"Before you go, Cichol," said Macuil as he thrust his beak down into the sand. "I want you to take this for Cethleann. Even if I disapprove of the way she was brought into this world, I'm not one to hold a child accountable for the sins of her father." When Macuil raised his head, a shimmering silver staff could be seen clutched in his beak. "It's not the Caduceus, but something tells me you two don't carry your old weapons anymore." Seteth picked up the staff and twirled it in his hands. The staff was made from polished Mythril and ended in a bright blue sapphire surrounded by dragon wings. Seteth smiled weakly.
"Thank you, brother." With that, Seteth turned and left the building.
Corrin - Sreng Desert
Corrin yelped as another arrow whizzed past her face. She barely dodged in the nick of time as three more flew by in quick succession. It hadn't taken long for the Golden Deer to chase out the ruffians who were hiding at the old shrine, but no sooner had they been taken care of when their reinforcements arrived. As if the surprise attack wasn't enough, fighting in the desert was proving to be a challenge for the students as well... In the time it took one student to locate a bandit, the bandit would disappear into the sand only to pop out somewhere else. As Corrin dragged herself to her feet, she looked around to see her students having just as much of a hard time as she was. It was deathly obvious they were unsuited for fighting in these conditions.
The only students who seemed to be doing well were Claude and Lysithea. The former of which soared about on his wyvern, nimbly dodging any arrows that chased him into the air. Lysithea had the advantage of hanging back from the rest of the group and firing spells at their attackers. Watching her, Corrin almost found herself regretting not taking magic lessons with Leo during her time in the Northern Fortress.
"Professor!" Lorenz breathed heavily as he ran from behind a group of fallen pillars. His hair was damp and matted with sweat while the rose on his lapel actually looked wilted for a change. "I can't ride my steed in this condition, and Marianne is preoccupied with healing Hilda and Ignatz to use magic! We need a proper response and Claude isn't listening to my advice. We need a new plan." Corrin shoved him aside to swipe at a swordsman who attempted to attack the young noble.
"I'm working on it, Lorenz! Get Raphael and Lysithea to the front lines. Lysithea has been our main fighter so they'll want to target her. You and Raphael will have to shield her from incoming attacks. Meanwhile, I have an idea." With that, Corrin left Lorenz to initiate the first steps of her plan while she set off to find Marianne. The girl was ducked behind a stone wall nursing a flesh wound on Ignatz's arm. Hilda meanwhile sat next to Marianne, cradling a leg that didn't appear wounded.
"Ignatz, Hilda!" Corrin said as she approached. "I need you two for a sneak attack. Ignatz, you've been keeping up with your reason training haven't you?" When the blonde boy nodded, Corrin pointed over the wall to where Lorenz and Raphael were protecting Lysithea. "So those three will keep the bandits busy. I need you and Marianne to take the long way around the ruins and hit them with a surprise attack from behind. They all appear to be archers so those longbows of theirs will be useless once you get within range. Marianne, you stay back here and prepare to heal anyone who takes a heavy hit. If we lose you, it's over." Marianne nodded, grateful to be off the frontlines.
"What about you, Professor?" Ignatz, now fully healed, readjusted his glasses as he stood. "You have everyone accounted for except yourself? Will you be joining us in the surprise attack?"
"I will," She replied. "I'll just be taking a different route. Don't worry, I have my Yato to keep me safe." Corrin patted her trusty sword and jumped over the wall, "Now go!"
In a matter of moments, Ignatz began dragging Hilda through the sand while the enemy bandits remained focused on trying to take out Lysithea. It seemed none of them noticed she was intentionally missing with her dark magic in order to conceal the strike team's approach. Corrin smirked to herself as she ducked into the shadow of a leaning pillar. She felt excited at the prospect of having a successful mission to report back to Rhea once they returned to the monastery. Corrin was so wrapped up in her head however, she didn't notice the lone thief sneaking up behind her.
"Yargh!" The thief jumped at the princess, swinging his sword in a wide arc. Corrin whipped around to raise the Yato when suddenly... everything went still. Corrin looked around bewildered as time seemed to slow down right in front of her. Then, the Yato suddenly began to glow. It was a glow that Corrin had seen once before; right before her battle with Anankos. As the thief's blade came down, a geyser of sand erupted at Corrin's feet. A new sword appeared from the hole, glowing the same color as the Yato. It was a rather large weapon with a broad blade and no point at the end. Corrin barely had time to process what was happening when a beam shot from the sword and struck the Yato.
The Yato then began to transform in Corrin's hands. The guard began to uncurl itself and flatten out into a cross-like shape. The blade widened out, becoming heavier in the girl's arms as the pointed tip of the blade flattened to match the other sword. Finally, one of the slots on the Yato's blade began to shimmer a bright green. If Corrin were to look closer, she would have noticed a strange-looking symbol inside the light. From the hilt down, the Yato looked largely the same.
Corrin only took a moment to process the sudden change in her sword as time began to speed up again. Raising the Yato, Corrin slammed the new sword into the side of her attacker. The new size of the blade caused it to strike much harder than she intended, sending the thief flying right into a crumbling pillar. Corrin stared open-mouthed as she looked from her sword to where the thief now lay.
"Impressive, Teach!" Corrin looked up to see Claude's wyvern hovering over her, "You didn't say you were a magician too! You'll have to teach me that fancy trick with your sword sometime. Right now, we should probably take care of these fools first!"
"Er... Right, Claude!" Corrin replied as she couldn't be bothered to process what had just happened, "Mind giving me a lift? We have a surprise attack to finish."
"Yeah, Lorenz filled me in on the details. Those idiots are too focused on Lysithea to worry about what the rest of us are doing. Get on!" Claude extended a hand while Corrin launched herself off the ground and caught it mid-air. With a big grin on his face, Claude steered his wyvern and took off towards the enemy. No sooner had they arrived than Corrin saw her students had already begun the attack. Hilda and Ignatz, even with their recent training, were already more than a match for a few desert dwellers who only ever fought from a distance. They were too used to ambushing their enemies to think anyone would perform the same attack on them.
Smiling with satisfaction, Corrin lept from the back of the wyvern and dove straight into combat. Even with her smaller figure, the Yato's new form felt feather-light in her hands as she swung the massive sword in wide arcs across the battlefield. Any thieves that attempted to dodge the blade found their feet locked in place thanks to strategically placed ice spells from Ignatz. Any stragglers who managed to avoid Corrin's sword found themselves meeting the end of Hilda's hammer. Soon, the remaining enemies were neutralized and the Golden Deer found themselves resting in the shade of a crumbling wall. Marianne rushed from student to student, checking each one for possible injuries that needed healing.
"Ugh... Finally, that mess is over." Corrin slumped down in the sand as she let go of the Yato. Only once she let it go did the girl realize how tired her arms were after swinging the sword around so much. Picking it up, Corrin looked the blade over once again, trying to understand just what had happened. Ever since she'd arrived in Fodlan, the blade had reverted back to its sealed form. Only when that new sword had appeared had the blade shown any of its magical abilities. The Rainbow Sage had told her the sword would activate when she met the 'proper heroes', but he'd never said anything about the Outrealms. As Corrin mused over the blade, a shadow fell across her vision. She looked up to see Claude with a big grin on his face. In his hand, shining in the sunlight, was the mysterious sword from earlier.
"Look what we found, Teach!" Claude held the sword up. "The Church never said anything about weapons being stored at this shrine. Maybe if we talk to Seteth he'll let us keep it as a trophy in our classroom! A first successful mission!" No sooner had Claude mentioned his name than Seteth seemed to magically appear from behind a nearby wall.
"Claude, you'd do well to hold your tounge. All the items here, regardless of WHAT they are, are holy objects of the Church of Seiros. They are to be treated wi-" Seteth stopped as he saw the weapon in Claude's hands. His mouth fell open in shock and he moved to get close to Claude. "By the goddess! The Sword of Begalta!?" Taking the weapon from Claude's hands, Seteth began to inspect the weapon.
"Um... Seteth? Is this sword famous or something?" Corrin cocked her head as she watched him. For some reason, Corrin couldn't help but sense something was off about Seteth. He had disappeared upon arriving at the shrine and only seemed to show up once the sword became an object of interest.
"The Sword of Begalta is one of the four holy weapons of the Church," Seteth explained. "It was the personal sword of Saint Macuil, the strongest and wisest of the four saints. It supposedly vanished along with Macuil after a great war many years ago. If this is the real weapon than how it wound up here in Sreng is anyone's guess. I can almost feel the divine energy emanating from such a great weapon." Looking around to the Golden Deer, Seteth halted his inspection and stowed the sword on his belt. "We'll tend to our wounds for now and head back to the port in one hour. We'll need to get out of the desert before nightfall or we run the risk of encountering more brigands and thieves. The priests and clerics will scour the shrine for any remaining artifacts. Good job, students. You've made the archbishop very proud."
Holy crap this chapter took forever to do. Nothing against Corrin, but she is my least favorite of this trio and it gets harder to write extended scenes for her as this goes on. She is way too naive... I've always had trouble identifying with her as a character so I hope people enjoy the way I've been writing her. Also, the Yato is interesting again! This is another twist I've been wanting to throw in for awhile. I love the Yato as an idea, but the Omega Yato was an overdesigned mess in my opinion. Anyway, thanks for reading till the end and we should be seeing a new chapter in the next month!