"I… must apologize once again for my shameful display back at the village. I could not bear the sight of such a horrid injustice, and my mind went completely blank because of it…" Dimitri sternly confessed, his gaze firmly set on the glistening night sky above him as the combined ranks of the Blue Lions and Golden Deer finally began to close in on the outer limits of Garreg Mach.

"What even happened to you, Dimitri? It's like… you were a totally different person out there." Bernadetta hesitantly asked, internally debating whether she should even look the prince in the eyes out of fear of setting him off.

"Isn't it obvious? He can deny it all he wants, but his royal highness is nothing more than bloodthirsty beast pretending to be a man, Bernadetta." Felix cut in, earning him a great number of disapproving stares from his fellow classmates as he peered into the back of Dimitri's skull with barely contained disgust. "You've all seen it for yourselves; how he ruthlessly slaughtered all those soldiers attacking the village… the pure ecstasy and bloodlust in his eyes as the boar dove down that cliff in search of prey-"

"Felix, that's enough!" Sylvain loudly warned in the midst of his friend's furious rant. "He wasn't-"

"And what sort of excuse are you going to make for him? Claiming justice for those who lost their lives is one thing, but can you deny the sadistic joy he took in watching the suffering of those he butchered? Well?" Felix sharply demanded, peering over to a downtrodden Dimitri whose gaze had fallen to the ground below.

The swordsman eagerly expected a response from the blonde prince, but it never came, instead filling the air with an uneasy silence as Dimitri made no effort to refute the claims levied against him.

"Well, I think he was completely justified!" Monica suddenly spoke up, drawing everyone's eyes to herself as the redhead took a defiant stand by Dimitri's side. "Can any of you take one look at what those heartless bastards did and tell me they didn't deserve to have their hearts ripped from their chests for it?" she challenged, taking a moment to peer into the eyes of everybody present before continuing. "If anything, Ashe's village was lucky to have as many survivors as it did. If Castle Gaspard hadn't been so close by, or if our classes didn't arrive when we did, there would have been a total massacre! The killing, the pillaging, and the burning… it would have continued until there was nothing left but ash!"

"Monica…" Dimitri's eyes lit up in surprise at the girl's impassioned speech. At that moment, the young prince found himself staring back in the girl's fiery red eyes. They were the eyes of someone who had stared into the deepest abyss of hell, just as he had all those years ago.

Even Bernadetta could hardly believe what she was hearing at this point. Her bloodlust was still as clear as day, but the heartless killer she thought she knew was actually displaying empathy of all emotions. Was this really the same sadistic mastermind that laughed in the faces of those she deemed inferior?

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news again, but I'll need you guys to put your big discussion on hold for now." Catherine suddenly announced, holding another letter in her hand as she stepped into the middle of the fray.

"I don't know if I like that look you're giving me right now…" Sylvain nervously commented upon noticing the knight's troubled expression.

"You'll probably want to hear this most of all, Sylvain. For starters, I'm sure you'll be relieved to know that the Lance of Ruin is still safely within House Gautier's territory, just as you left it."

"What?! Then that means…"

"So… was Lonato's lance actually a replica all this time?" Byleth calmly theorized upon hearing the revelation.

"That would be an accurate way of putting it, yes. That would certainly explain why Lonato's lance and Crest Stone shattered upon his demise…" Catherine confirmed, eliciting a rush of confused murmurings throughout the entire group.

"Is it even possible to create an artificial Hero's Relic? Hell, has anyone even tried before…?" Claude wondered aloud, placing a hand to his chin in deep thought as the house leader's mind began to fill with many troubled thoughts.

"I've never heard of anything like this in my life, but I'm afraid the news doesn't end there." Catherine shook her head in frustration before turning to Sylvain once more. "We've also received reports that your brother Miklan has suddenly vanished from Kingdom territory without a trace."

"Seriously…? You don't think anything happened to him, do you?" Sylvain cautiously asked with his mouth left slightly agape.

"If your brother was killed, we surely would have found some sign of it, but as it stands now, we've got no info whatsoever."

"I don't like where any of this is going…" Bernadetta silently commented as she covertly separated herself from the rest of the group in an effort to clear her mind.

"It seems the winds of fate will only continue to veer off the course we know from here."

"Ugh, it's just been one thing after another with this mission… it's giving me a massive headache."

"So you are beginning to feel this strange wave of dizziness as well? How very troublesome." Sothis grimly noted as the purple haired companion proceeded to clutch her head in pain.

"Please tell me you know something about this…"

"I do; your professor and I have both felt this same sensation before. You should get some rest as soon as possible."

"You know, that might just be the best suggestion I've heard all day." Bernadetta perked up slightly upon hearing Goddess's words of advice, craning her head in the direction of the monastery with a faint smile of anticipation. "Just a little further and you'll be home again soon, Bernie."


The first thing on Bernadetta's mind upon setting foot on Garreg Mach once again was to scurry off to the sanctity of her room and plop into her bed face first. These plans… were quickly dashed the moment she came across her former Black Eagle classmates lingering across the monastery's entrance hall with downtrodden expressions spread across their faces.

"Ah, Edelgard. It seems your house must have finished its mission earlier than expected." Dimitri was the first to greet them as he stepped out from his own group to face with Edelgard directly. "Did… something happen to go wrong along the way?" he asked, taking note of the sorrowful atmosphere that seemed to fill the air around them.

"No, we have managed to accomplish our objectives, but the results were… less than savory." Edelgard hesitantly admitted before responding with a query of her own. "And what of yourselves? Did you encounter any unforeseen complications on your mission?"

"Oh, you don't know the half of it, Edie." Monica chimed in, sporting an atypically serious look as she emerged from behind Dimitri to reunite with her original class. "Why, we encountered these strange vermin in crimson armor setting fire to Ashe's village shortly after we finished our business with Lord Lonato. Do you happen to know anything about this, Edie?"

"Wh- what…? I've never heard anything about this…"Edelgard exclaimed in genuine surprise, her gaze wandering off to the side as her mind began to race for answers. "Hubert…" she looked over to her trusted retainer with a concerned expression, making sure to consider her next words very carefully under the watchful eyes of her fellow students.

"I'm afraid we're just as starved for information as you are, Monica." Hubert coolly replied. "Perhaps you can start by relaying all that you know for us. I believe this matter will likely warrant further investigation…"

All the while, Bernadetta silently looked upon the unfolding conversation from behind the safety of her professor's body, remaining still as a stone in the hopes that none of her former classmates would notice her.

"Oh, Bern! Thank goodness you're alright!" Dorothea's voice suddenly called out, completely unaffected by the shorter girl's desperate attempts to remain out of sight.

"Gyah…! Uh, hi, Dorothea…" the lavender haired girl reluctantly stepped into view, struggling to maintain a straight face in a vain effort to keep the pain in her head at bay.

"Is it true that Ashe's village was under attack by an unknown force…?" the songstress asked, her voice laced deep with concern.

"Indeed it was. It was a grizzly sight to behold if I'm being frank. We've managed to round up a decent number of survivors, but I fear this isn't something they'll be able to recover from any time soon." Byleth grimly nodded before taking note of a trembling Linhardt lingering just behind Dorothea. "Permit me to ask, but what exactly happened on your mission to the Western Church?"

"Ah, so you've heard about that too. Well, I'm afraid the end result may have been more bittersweet than your own excursion…"

"You don't know the half of it." Linhardt spoke up, his voice filled with disgust as his gaze lingered on the floor beneath him. "This was only supposed to a peaceful negotiation… and it ended up turning into a senseless bloodbath."

"Oh no… did you lose anybody out there…?" Bernadetta asked, her voice filled with concern at the thought of losing any of her old classmates.

"Thankfully, we all came out unscathed, but I can't say the same for denizens of the Western Church… Gods, it was horrible…" Dorothea forced her eyes shut in a vain attempt to repress her recent experiences.

"I've been told that you were all sent to capture the officials of the church… I suppose it would be safe to assume that they sent out soldiers to prevent you from reaching them?" Byleth calmly questioned, his own stoic expression remaining as still as ever.

"Well yeah, we were totally expecting that to happen!" Caspar loudly stepped into the conversation with his own input. "We fought them all off alongside the Knights of Seiros just like any other mission! But… then the knights had other ideas when we finally stepped inside the church…"

"Their conduct was truly despicable." Ferdinand added, his hand perched on his forehead in disbelief as he joined in the retelling of events. "I'm afraid I know little of the man leading our expedition... yet sure enough, there were still defenders waiting to stop us within the church itself, and so we continued our battle as normal..."

"What I am not understanding is why the knights were killing the people that did not wish to fight." Petra shook her head in frustration at the memory of the indiscriminate slaughter that ensued inside the church's sacred walls. "And why did we all do nothing to stop them?"

"Oh no… you don't think the Western Church was also housing-"

"Yes, I fear that may just be the case. It seems they were not nearly as lucky as the refugees from Ashe's village." Sothis immediately agreed with her companion's concerns before she could even finish her sentence.

"Believe me; I wanted to smack some sense into those knights more than anything, but it all passed so suddenly… damn it!" Caspar audibly grumbled, sharing in Petra's frustration at their class's relative inaction.

"I had no idea… were there… any survivors at all?" Bernadetta nervously asked, to which she was met with an uneasy silence from the entirety of the Black Eagle house.

"So what was stopping you guys?" Monica's voice cut through the silence like a searing knife through flesh.

"In case you haven't noticed, we didn't exactly kill any innocents ourselves." Dorothea snapped back, her voice dripping with venom as she glared back at the redhead with thinly veiled contempt.

"Maybe not, but you still helped out the guys that did it anyway, all morals be damned." Monica returned the songstress's glare with a scornful look of her own.

"Why don't I ask how many people you killed while you were off on your little excursion?"

"As tragic as this event may have been, you must also remember that there were dangerous individuals within the church that had to be eliminated." Edelgard's voice boomed as the Adrestian heir stepped in to diffuse the tension before it could escalate into a more heated conflict.

"Surely there must have been a better way to settle things-" Byleth immediately protested the crimson princess's logic only to be cut off by a dismissive wave of the girl's hand.

"Though it came at a great cost, we ultimately did what was necessary to fulfill our obligations. As it stood, there was no other way to resolve the situation."

"You can't seriously believe that, Edelgard…!" Bernadetta instinctively blurted out, a decision she instantly regretted when her old house leader's attention was drawn directly towards her with an intimidating glower.

"The professor is right, Edelgard. Those people did not deserve to die." Dimitri called out before the princess could say another word.

"And do you believe yourself to be the perfect judge of who deserves to live and die? A few moments ago, I seem to recall hearing that you happily slaughtered the soldiers attacking Ashe's village with utter glee."

"This is different. Those men deserved the fates they were given the moment they cast away their humanity in such a vile manner, especially when their victims were no longer capable exacting justice for themselves." Dimitri refuted, refusing to stand down from his personal claims.

"Look, the way I see it, the two of you should just agree to disagree." Claude suddenly announced, placing himself in between the feuding house leaders without warning. "Perhaps we could all settle our differences over a nice feast between the houses instead?"

"That does sound quite appealing, but I'm afraid we'll all have more pressing matters to attend to first." a commanding voice echoed throughout the room, prompting Byleth's eyes to widen in surprise as the professor immediately recognized the source of it.

"Ah, Father. What brings you here at this hour?"

"I know it's late and all, but Lady Rhea's just called for a school-wide assembly. I don't know why she couldn't have just saved this for tomorrow, but she's expecting all three houses to stand in attendance within the hour." Jeralt flatly explained, much to his own personal reluctance.

"Well now, this is quite a surprise. I wonder what that daughter of mine could possibly have to speak about…"

"Ugh, do we really have to do this now? My head is seriously killing me…"

"Then you will just have to grin and bear it until the speech is over. Everyone will surely notice your absence if you scurry off to hide in your room before then."

"Oh, come on…" Bernadetta hunched over in defeat as she continued to listen in on Captain Jeralt's conversation. As she might have expected, several students already began to flock around the esteemed knight in the hopes of having a word with him, chief of which was Leonie, who was all but climbing up on the captain's soldiers to grab his attention.

The one thing that really stood out in comparison was the reaction of Monica, who was not nearly as welcoming of Jeralt's presence as her peers. Though the redhead made an active effort to hide her distant scorn, Bernadetta quickly took note of her tightly clenched fist off to the side, which only seemed to grow tighter with every word Jeralt spoke.

Whatever deep seated grudge Monica held on the captain was unknown to her, yet Bernadetta couldn't help but feel a great sense of unease at the way the girl was peering daggers into Jeralt's head. With that, she made a mental note to keep a closer eye on Byleth and his father from now on, just in case.


"I've never seen so many people packed into a single place before…" Bernadetta mumbled aloud, practically shrinking in place amongst the myriad of students, faculty, and knights flooding the room around her with a loud chorus of rumored chatter.

"Well, I suppose the big announcement did come on short notice. Whatever Rhea has to say must be extremely important." Byleth calmly noted.

"Well, I'm sure we'll find out soon enough. It looks like Rhea and Seteth are about ready to take center stage." Jeralt pointed out as the two green haired officials made their way to the center of the archbishop's room in a serene manner. Their presence alone seemed to silence the massive crowd gathered before them within seconds.

"Now then…" Seteth began, his voice booming through the air with a strong sense of authority. "Loyal followers of the teachings of Seiros… we have gathered you all here in the aftermath of your most recent missions to warn you of a great threat to the peace and tranquility of the lands of Fódlan."

"Indeed. I have been informed of the unsavory outcomes of your recent expeditions to cease the advances of Lord Lonato and the Western Church." Rhea recounted the circumstances leading up to this assembly as she began her own address. "Civilians or not, we must punish any sinners who wish to inflict harm upon believers. With that said, the blood spilled in these recent events has been nothing short of astronomical, and for that, I can only hope the souls of the departed are able to find peace with the Goddess."

"That's a pretty sly way of saying you hope they all burn in hell."

"Quiet, Monica!" Bernadetta urgently shushed the redhead's snide remarks in a desperate bid to avoid attracting any unwanted attention.

"You have all done a commendable job of subduing the immediate dangers posed by these vengeful renegades, yet I'm afraid our troubles are far from over on that end." Seteth grimly stated as he held out a large scroll with one hand. "I'm sure you must have been made aware of the ongoing plot to assassinate Lady Rhea we've uncovered with the efforts of the Blue Lion and Golden Deer houses. It is with this revelation that we have unveiled the presence of a far greater foe lurking from behind the scenes of the Western Church." the green haired official continued, unfolding the outstretched scroll to reveal the uncannily familiar sigil of a jet black serpent curling around to devour its own tail.

"Wait a minute… that was the symbol we found on Lord Lonato's letter…!"

"Indeed it was... I cannot help but feel an uncanny sense of familiarity from this sigil…"

"There has been a secret society slithering through the annals of our history since before even the Dawn of Fódlan…" Rhea calmly explained, her eyes filled with a controlled, yet overflowing sense of animosity towards the society in question. "In their unending hubris, these twisted snakes have continued to threaten the harmony of our lands for well over a millennia. In spite of the Church of Seiros's constant efforts to stamp them out of the shadowy pits they call home, they have always found a way to endure through the searing judgement we have enforced upon them time and time again."

"They have taken to calling themselves Ouroboros… a symbol of eternity, if you will, and a perfect representation of the vicious cycle they have trapped themselves in as a result of their own self destructive actions." Seteth informed, just in time for Rhea to abruptly cleave the outstretched scroll in half with a concealed rapier she had been carrying for just such an occasion.

"I consider this an annoyingly tenacious serpent, to say the least. No matter how many times you slice off its head, it always finds a way to regrow it as if nothing had happened."

For just a moment, Bernadetta caught Monica flashing a small smirk on the edge of her lips out of the corner of her eye as Rhea looked upon the remains of the bisected sigil with overwhelming scorn.

"I trust you may have all surmised this by now, but the members of this society were the hidden masterminds behind the actions of Lord Lonato and the Western Church. Signs of their emergence have been steadily piling up throughout the past couple of moons, which only makes the reveal of this assassination plot all the more troubling, especially with the Goddess's Rite of Rebirth just around the horizon."

"Indeed it has, Seteth." Rhea simply gave her advisor a gentle nod before allowing him to continue.

"This brings us to your collective mission for the coming moon. As you may have been told, the efforts of the Blue Lion and Golden Deer houses have recently uncovered a sinister plot to assassinate the archbishop on the day of the ritual. To that end, you are all to act as on site security for the monastery from now until the end of the Rite. It is far from ideal to be mobilizing students for such a task, but I fear even the knights do not have enough hands available to properly deal with this looming threat."

"Know that we cannot turn a blind eye to those who would blaspheme so heinously, and this goes tenfold for the snakes of the Society. Should you ever come across one of them, they are to be captured immediately or killed on sight at your discretion. Though they have ways of hiding their true appearances, they can easily be identified by their pale white skin and blood as black as night."

"She… really has no idea about the refugees from the village, does she?"

"And we had best keep it that way if we wish to avoid more unnecessary bloodshed."

"I fully realize that there are those among you who may be adverse to such… extreme measures, but you must know that the only blade that can dispel calamity is one forged from unshaking reason, and the iron will to do what must be done. For with the eternal blessings of the Goddess Sothis, you shall all be guided to a world free of discord and strife. Cast aside your doubt, and continue down this path, and one day… all of your sufferings shall be nothing but a distant memory!" Rhea finally concluded with a grand sweep of her arm, to which she was met with thunderous applause from the vast crowd that had gathered before her.

"It… fills me with great unease to hear my name used as the justification for this cause…"

"No kidding… I won't deny how dangerous the Society is, but to mark every last Agarthan for death by proxy is just…"

"Wow. That was an amazingly corny speech." Bernadetta's thoughts were cut short by another snide remark from Monica, who responded to Rhea's conclusion with a slow, yet clearly condescending series of claps. To the other side, she found Byleth with an utterly bewildered look on his face. If memory serves, this may just be the first time he'd ever heard Rhea speak the Goddess's name aloud.

There were certainly more questions than answers in this situation, but the lingering pain in Bernadetta's head left her with little concentration to even think about investigating further. With the assembly concluded and under the cover of a chorus of clamors, the violet haired girl retreated to the sanctuary of her room refresh her mind for the days to come.