12/26 Ethereal Moon (night)
"They escaped" she thought as she walked in her own room, the rain hitting the windows and walls of the monastery.
"The loss of one of the strongest knights of Seiros is surely a devastating event for the Church. They have exposed themselves, from now on the archbishop will be more cautious with her surroundings. I wonder what they were thinking when they did such a move" Hubert wondered with an analytical look.
"I don´t think that Jeralt´s death was a premeditate attempt, but an unreasonable action from Monica" She was certain that the fact that their leader had appeared in front of them, risking his own life in the process, was a clear example that Monica´s actions were out of control the moment she decided to confront her Professor and his father. Recalling those events, she couldn´t avoid feeling remorse. "I should have done something to avoid this outcome"
"And risking your life in the process? Well meant actions would bring nothing but suspicions, Lady Edelgard. Being cautious isn´t something to feel sorry about"
"What is the purpose of the power I have if I´m unable to use it? I´ve told more than once, if we rely too much on them, we will find our demise, but there is no point in talking about ifs, the damage is already done. Even if your knowledge of healing magic is limited what did you feel when you assisted the Professor?"
"I felt an intense energy coming from his body, but looking at him he appeared to be in an extremely weakened state. I must admit that such level of energy could be considered inhuman. We should be prepared for the worst, Lady Edelgard"
"Nonsense. You know him, even with such an imbalance of power I´m confident he will overcome his injuries" "That energy must have been the true power of his crests released. The Crest of Flames. Is that the price of using such power? In that case could happen the same outcome to me too?" she wondered as she looked at her own hand. Even if both of them were the only known beings to be wielders of the Crest of Flames she had the feeling that her Professor had to endure a different path to obtain such power. "The fact that he can use a crestless weapon is a reminder that the power within him is far superior to the rest of crest wielders"
"I´m confident about it too. However, these events have brought an interesting outcome that could affect our own plans. Lord Arundel…I mean Thales appeared to have been in the receiving end of the Sword of the Creator. If we are lucky enough, we could be free of one of the biggest obstacles to recover control of the Empire"
"I wouldn´t hold my breath about it. They are known for their unnatural abilities. But even in that case I don´t think that we will hear from him for a while. In that case we have to take advantage of the situation. Hubert, return to the Empire to prepare the final steps of the imperial succession"
"I will certainly do so, Lady Edelgard" he said bowing to her. "This is certainly a great opportunity to make sure that there aren´t major obstacles against us. Lord Arundel had sent spies to investigate my whereabouts, but it is a pity that I found them first" he said with a sinister smile. "I highly doubt that they are stupid enough to make another move, but I beg you to avoid risky situations"
"Don´t worry, Hubert. I will remain with my eyes wide open. We will meet next month then"
As he left, she couldn´t avoid sighing. The loss of Jeralt was highly unexpected, but the worst part was to see Byleth in such a deplorable state. "Even someone like him is able to shed tears. He must have really loved him" she said as she thought about her dear ones. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard someone knocking at the door. As she opened it, she was surprised to see both Claude and Dimitri waiting in front of her room.
"Edelgard, do you have some time to talk?" Claude said in an unusual serious tone.
"I don´t mind, come in" They entered the room, Dimitri accepted the chair she was offering to him as Claude took a place next to the window of her room.
"I guess that this day has been a tough one" Claude sighed as he looked through the window, the sound of the bells reverberating in the distance. "To be fair I didn´t expect something like this to happen. How could we be so blind?"
"Only a coward attacks hiding its identity. The Flame Emperor and the rest of them have been moving in the shadows all this time. It is time to bring them to the light of justice" Dimitri said as he looked to his hands.
"The forces of the Church will be certainly alert from now on. Forces had already been sent to the surroundings of the monastery. I highly doubt that they are any of them here anymore"
"In that case we have to chase them down. For the Professor" Dimitri said looking at her. She hadn´t seen that look on his face before.
"The question isn´t if we have to chase them down or not, but where they are hiding, Dimitri. We need first to know their location, but for now there isn´t too much we can do. Furthermore, I think we should focus on the wellbeing of the Professor before we prepare any plans to counterattack" She had already heard that the Church was preparing a massive operation for the following month, but she suspected that it would bring more harm than good.
"Edelgard is right about that, Dimitri. We should check the Professor to make sure that he is getting better. Transforming students into beasts, how strange. What is the purpose of this group? There are too many unanswered questions, but for now the only thing we can do is to make sure that the Professor is fine. How about we go to visit him?"
"I thought that the access to the infirmary was restricted until new order from the archbishop"
"Well technically it is, but I came across with one of the keys of the infirmary and there isn´t always a guard on the gate so…" Claude said with a mischievous smile.
"That isn´t unexpected coming from you, but I must thank you this time" she smiled
"Thank you, Claude, although you shouldn´t be stealing things"
"I didn´t steal it, I just picked it. Let´s go"
Most of the church forces had been sent to the area surrounding the old Chapel so they found no one on their way to the infirmary.
"I guess that they took a moment to rest" Claude said as they arrived in front of the door of the infirmary, no one to be seen. Only the sound of the rain could be heard as they approached the infirmary. Rhea has been insisting on isolating the Professor for the time being, although she doubted the punishment would be hard on them if they got caught.
"Wait…The Professor isn´t here"
"What do you mean, Claude?" she said alerted as she entered the room as well, but Claude wasn´t wrong. The room appeared to be empty, although there weren´t any signs of violence.
"Do you think he was taken away by those who have committed all these atrocities?" Dimitri asked, picking a short sword.
"Highly doubtful. There aren´t any signs of violence. And even if they were able to enter the room, the grounds of the monastery are heavily watched now"
"Then what? Do you think he flew away?" Claude asked.
She was about to answer when she realized that one of the windows was opened.
"You may be right about it, Claude. He must have escaped from this room through the window"
"Really? But how? It doesn´t make any sense"
"He must have used the Sword of the Creator" she said as she realized the sword was nowhere to be seen.
"The Sword of the Creator…such a strange yet powerful weapon" Claude said in an unusual analytical look. "Anyway, we have to search for him. Why the hell would he leave in his condition?"
"For retribution against those who caused so much pain. I can´t really blame him, I´m aware of those feelings quite well" Dimitri said lost in thought as if he was thinking about something else. "I will help both of you"
"Let´s go, there is no time left to waste. Bring your battle equipment. We don´t know if we will have to fight or not"
"Of course, imperial Princess. Don´t worry, I won´t let Teach get hurt. He still has so many interesting stories to tell us" Claude laughed as ran to his room.
…..
"I sense magic here" he thought as he applied a spell on one of the walls in the lower part of the monastery. As he did so, the wall gave way to a secret path, but looking to the marks on the ground it appeared to had been used recently, torches lit on his way to find them.
As he entered the passage, he felt that he was sinking himself into the depths of the monastery, the pain in his heart and head coming to him from time to time. When he was wondering if the path he was following would end he arrived to a large area.
"What do we have here?" said a voice from the shadows.
"It´s very easy to ask about the whereabouts of someone without revealing yourself. Show yourself and I will say to you who I am" he said, preparing his sword for battle.
"He got you there, Yuri"
"And you have already revealed my name to someone who we don´t even know. Would you be ok if I reveal your identity in front of someone like that, Balthus?" said a purple haired man a few meters from him. Next to him was an especially muscled man, which appeared to be missing a shirt.
"Haha. If they aren´t asking for money then I don´t have any problems. If he wants a fight, I will let my fists decide the outcome"
"You guys are always so troublesome; it almost makes me sigh" said a red-haired girl with red eyes.
"Don´t do that here Hapi! We don´t have enough space for what might happen" the man called Balthus said alarmed.
"Don´t worry, I´m more careful than you. You have done it again"
"Before you spoil my chance. Allow me to introduce myself, person from the surface. My name is Constance von Nuvelle and I will make sure to protect the inhabitants of the Abyss from evil-willed persons like you" said a blond-haired woman laughing, her exaggerated gestures reminding him of Ferdinand.
"The Abyss?" They didn´t appear to be extremely paled skinned and their way of speaking reminded him of the students he had been teaching. However, there was something strange to them.
"The people that has made his home under the very same monastery. If you don´t know about it how have you come to this place?" Constance asked, evidently shocked by his lack of knowledge.
"Enough of the small talk. It is obvious he is lying. He must be one of the masked people that had been entering the undergrounds of the monastery for months" Yuri interrupted her. "That sword must be a Hero´s relic. I don´t know how you got your hands on it, but it is clear that you are a menace. There is no time to waste" he said as he whistled. As he did so, the passage he had come through was closed by a wall and from the shadows started to appear countless bandits prepare for battle.
"You must be a foul or full of yourself if you think that you can come to this place and leave freely. We don´t allow people from the surface to roam here as they please"
"People from the surface?" he thought. They didn´t appear to be related to the likes of Monica and Solon, but he didn´t have another option but to fight. "If this is the only possible outcome, I have no other option, but to kill all of you" he said as one of the enemies was already charging at him. Already prepared for the charge he parried the attack and blessed his enemy with a quick death, cutting effortlessly through armor and bone. It didn´t matter that they had the numbers, they couldn´t compare to the power of a relic.
As he was preparing to finish off one of his enemies, he received the impact of a bolting spell. Surprised by the sudden hit he searched for the source of such spell.
"Surprised? You should check your surroundings if you mean to leave this place alive" Constance laughed as she prepared another potent spell.
Before he could do anything about it the guy called Balthus tried to hit him with his gantlets, he counterattacked with his sword, but he stopped his attack with his free gantlet. Looking at his weapon, he realized it was quite similar to other relics he had seen.
"Surprised? You can consider this one of the relics. I´m sure that it is the first time you have seen a weapon like this" he laughed before punching him in the stomach with his free hand. Coughing blood, he barely avoided one of the spells aimed at him.
"Did I punch you too hard? We are just getting started!"
Despite the enemies he had defeated he knew that there were too many of them.
"You are too weak" whispered a voice inside his head.
"No, I´m not weak and I won´t die here! I must keep fighting to avenge my father and protect all of them!" he said as fury extended through his body.
"Uh? What is he talking about?"
"Avenge his father? The bells that had been ringing in the surface, could it be that…" Yuri said, but his words were interrupted as he charged at the enemy lines.
….
"This place is so cold. Why do I have to be here?" Linhardt complained as they continued their path through the tunnel.
"I couldn´t think about a more suitable healer and you were still awaked" Edelgard said as she continued walking with a torch in her hand.
"How troublesome, I should have just taken the book and return to my room then"
"Claude when you said that you wanted me to accompany you to an interesting place, I was thinking about something completely different" Hilda sighed.
"I will repay you later, how about a cup of tea?"
"It is a promise then. Don´t even dare to forget it!" she smiled.
"Dimitri I will do my best too!"
"I´m counting on you, Ashe"
The combination of all the house leaders and some of the students from their respective classes was a really rare sight. The idea of bringing a smaller group had come from Claude, since if most of the students were to leave their rooms at night, they would attract the attention of the Church forces.
"This place is really filled with secret passages" she thought as they continued their path. They had discovered the secret passage by chance, as she felt a strange energy emanating from what appeared to be a mere wall. "This might be what Hubert feels when he senses magic. I should improve my magical abilities too since they proof to be useful"
"This passage appears to have no end. Are we really heading into the right direction?"
"Even in a situation like this you are complaining. I´m not sure if I should feel relieved or not by your lack of change under pressure, Linhardt"
"Quiet! Do you hear that?" Dimitri interrupted them, his body already adopting a battle position.
"Cries… There must be a fight down there" she said, preparing her axe. "I have the feeling that the Professor is down there, we have to go fast!" she said as she ran into the direction of what appeared to be a battle. As she descended, the tunnel they were crossing started to get wider until she arrived to a wide area. A few meters from her she could see a group of corpses, but luckily there was no sign of her Professor among them.
"What are these guys doing down here? I didn´t expect such numbers" Claude said with his bow already prepared looking for potential enemies in the shadows.
"They must be thieves" Dimitri said examining one of the bodies. "I don´t know what they are doing here, but if they are fighting against the Professor, we must defeat them. As he said so an explosion happened, a cloud of dust blocking their view of their surroundings. When the cloud disappeared, she could see him battling against a group of enemies through the destroyed wall.
"That is the Professor. We need to hurry up!" she said as she crossed through the new opening.
Most enemies were focused on Byleth, which appeared to have sustained various injuries as he kept fighting. Using her axe, she crushed one of the enemies from behind. Her surprise attack was quickly accompanied by the rest of the students.
"Reinforcements? What the hell?!"
Surprised from the sudden attack from behind them, the enemy lacked the necessary time to counterattack their arrival as they crushed through them.
"My Teacher! Are you ok?" she asked as she arrived to his side, repealing an attack aimed to her head.
"Edelgard? What are you doing here?"
"I was…we were worried about your wellbeing"
"We were searching for you, but you just disappeared, Teach. There is no need to go on your own"
"Claude and Edelgard are right, Professor. I understand the pain you have to endure and it will be an honor to help you, but to achieve it you have to find the place where they are hiding. These ones appeared to be simple thieves"
"So many young people down here. There are cute ladies too! Sorry if I punch you too hard!" a muscled man said as he approached Hilda.
"Be gentle with me, I´m a frail lady" Hilda said with a smile as she blocked the attack with a swift move of her axe.
"That voice… I have heard it in another place…Could it be?!"
"Why are so many people coming to a place like this? This is so troublesome" a red-haired girl said as she casted a spell against them.
"No matter the number of enemies we will crush them. If I want to recover my former position there is no other way around" a blond-haired girl said using a freezing spell.
"Wait, that tone and gestures… She must be a noble"
"It seems that we have new visitors, time for the plan B. Open the gates!" a purple haired man which appeared to be the leader of the thieves ordered.
As the leader ordered so she could hear a heavy sound as the gates to their sides opened a group of giant worms appearing from them.
Avoiding one of the thieves she charged against one of the giant worms which was about to attack Linhardt from behind. Using her axe and the power of her crests she crushed through the carapace of the beast with a brutal hit to the head.
"Retreat Linhardt, leave it to me!"
One of the other worms was preparing to attack, but was impaled by a whip-like attack.
"Thank you, my Teacher!" Looking at him, she could see how exhausted he was as he nodded to her.
"I didn´t expect such a welcome to a place like this. I´m sorry but we will be taking the victory today. How about you surrender?" Claude said with a teasing smile as he defeated another of the thieves. Even though their enemy had the number advantage at the beginning of the battle, their numbers were quickly reducing.
"There is no victory until I am defeated. Try me if you want to" the purple haired man said with a teasing smile.
"As you wish"
The arrow that Claude shot at him was extremely fast, but was effortlessly avoided by him.
"You are too slow" he said as he aimed at him with his fingertips. With a mere move of them the bow Claude was using was thrown away from him, leaving him defenseless.
"What?..."
The leader of the thieves was almost on him when he was stopped by Dimitri.
"Who are you? What are you doing in a place like this?"
"The same could be said about you" he smirked. "That face… you must be Dimitri, the leader of the Blue Lions"
"How could you know something like that?" asked a shocked Ashe.
"I have my contacts. Your face is familiar too"
As Dimitri was battling against the leader of the thieves and Byleth was fighting against the remaining beasts she advanced against the mages.
"These students from the monastery dare to come here. It is really troublesome"
"You don´t look too different from us, but if you dare to stand before me, I have no other option but to bring you down"
"That face…are you Princess Edelgard, the heir to the imperial throne?"
"I am. How about it?"
"Ugh, I wish I wasn´t here right now"
Avoiding her spell, she knocked her down with the base of her axe.
"I surrender! I beg for your mercy, Princess Edelgard"
"I hope that you have learnt your lesson"
"I surrender too. How troublesome. Hapi doesn´t like to fight"
As part of their leaders started to surrender some of them did the same, although those next to their leader continued fighting to death.
"You are beautiful and strong. I like women like that"
"Thanks for the compliment, but I don´t think that my brother Holst would like someone like you"
"Your brother Holst?! Oh my… I´m dead!" he said as he suddenly stopped fighting. "Please don´t tell your brother about this!" he said bowing before her.
"What the hell? Why did you stop fighting all in a sudden? I guess that the fight is over then"
The fight was almost over, but their leader appeared to refuse to surrender.
"You are fast" Dimitri said, catching his breath.
"I told you I won´t be easy on you. I might be the only one left, but I have to set a precedent to all of them"
He was about to attack Dimitri when he was disarmed by the whip-like form of the Sword of the Creator.
"Oh, I didn´t expect something like that, but you aren´t the only one to have little tricks like this" their leader smirked as he jumped on her Professor with a hidden dagger under his arm.
Jumping on him they rolled as they fought with each other. Claude was preparing to shoot, but he couldn´t as they were constantly moving. The fight ended a few seconds later as Byleth immobilized him with his body sitting on top of him.
"The battle is over. Stop this nonsense"
"If you didn´t want to fight why coming over here? I can´t trust your words"
"I was searching for the murderers of my father, a group of pale skinned people"
"You mean the masked people? I´ve heard that the leader of the Knights of Seiros had died"
"He was my father. He was killed by one of them"
"How about we start from the beginning? I´m sure we have plenty of time to discuss everything that had just happened" Claude said as he approached the rest of the surrendered bandits. "We aren´t here to fight against you. We were just trying to find the Professor"
"The Professor? Then it is true that all of you are students from the monastery. If you have time to spare follow me. There are many things that need to be answered right now" their leader said as he stood up again, helped by Byleth.
With nothing more to say they followed him and the rest to the lower levels of the monastery, the place known as the Abyss.