"Cold" It was the only thing he could thought of as he opened his eyes once again. The world he could see was covered in snow, a blizzard falling upon him. He had lost the count of how many times he had opened his eyes before feeling the pain that was piercing through his very own soul.

"So, you are still refusing to disappear from this realm"

"I can´t just give up on everything I´ve been fighting until now. No matter how many times I have to die, I will stand up until I break free from this nightmare" he said as he pointed with his sword towards Rhea. Around him there were the corpses of the many times he had died by fighting against her.

"You think that you are brave, but your soul is starting to crack, I can feel it. In this realm my power is at its apex while yours is starting to fade away. I can control everything that happens in this reality. This is my definitive gift to you, the proof of the love I placed upon you. You are the only one that will experience the extent of it until you finally fade away from this reality"

"I don´t need any of you anymore and you are waiting in vain, I will get free from this..." he said as he charged at her with his own sword while she was standing still. He was about to hit her when in the split of a second her sword parried the attack as a deep cold entered his body. When he looked at his left hand, he could see how it was starting to fall apart.

"I must admit that your endurance is something I respect, but this world is of my creation. Your efforts are fruitless. As they have always been"

"Curse you!" he shouted as he prepared a fire spell but it was too late as he fell to the ground. He was trying to get up again when he was pierced by a thousand ice spears, the ground starting to turn red around him.

"In the end you will break and your soul will be mine for the rest of eternity" a voice whispered to him in the ear before the world turned black once again.

…..

"I was killed…again" he thought as he sank deeper in his own consciousness. Before him he could see everything, he had been through, every single failed attempt to overcome the cursed reality where he was, but it had not purpose. A part of him was exhausted, tempted to give up since every single attempt was taking more parts of his inner self. No one would really blame him for resting after the endless deaths and failures he had to been through in this cursed world.

Giving up would be the most logical answer…

And because of it he needed to keep fighting, it was the only thing he had left, his determination to fight no matter the challenge.

When he opened his eyes, everything was covered by snow, a landscape he had grown weary of.

"You truly are a fool for returning here" Rhea said as she cleaned her sword from the blood of his own body a few meters away from him. "Can I ask you why are you clinging to your existence like that?"

"As long as I have control over my decisions, I can´t just give up, I need to keep going, for everyone, I know they are waiting for me"

"Those feelings are something I am greatly aware of, but your hope is a delusion. I won the war; the armies of the Empire were crushed by the Church and you are the only thing left of that pathetic attempt to destroy me…If you really wish to meet them once again…you should rest for the eternity"

"You lie!"

"I will destroy that resolution of yours, no matter what you try to do, your existence will end by my hand"

…

"How is him?"

"You already know the answer to this. No matter what I tried to do, those crystals in his body won´t disappear" she said as she observed the body next to him. Byleth´s skin was pale, but he was still breathing, yet that would be something difficult to believe when most part of his body was pierced by white crystals of pure ice. "These crystals contain a power that overcomes all of us, it is a curse that we can do nothing about. The answer to that problem hasn´t changed in all these years, Balthus"

"No matter how many times you tell me I can´t avoid feeling useless. If I were stronger, I might be able to destroy those things…"

"And being killed in the process? Not even an expert wizard would be able to scratch the surface of this powerful spell. This has the signature of Seiros. We can do nothing for him, just wait"

"Damnit! Woke up soon, you idiot!"

"Balthus, are you just giving up? You are the only idiot here if you are thinking he hasn´t been fighting until now. Besides, do you really think he would want to leave us alone? He is our friend, of course he will come back at us" Yuri said, his eyes filled with determination.

"Balthus, are you crying?"

"Not at all, it´s just that there is too much dust here. You are right, Yuri, thanks for reminding me"

…..

It was snowing outside, but he couldn´t avoid feeling even more cold coming from the room before him.

"Lady Rhea, I come here to report you about the situation at the frontline" Rhea was sitting on a throne of light silver colors, her gaze focused on a mirror next to her, but she smiled as she looked at him.

"I hope that you have come with good news, Seteth"

"The frontline has stabilized and the main path towards the heart of the Holy Kingdom has been blocked. The continuous storms that had been falling upon the enemy lines had taken its fair death toll and our forces are preparing the long-awaited plan to retake the monastery"

"I see, has the Emperor finally found her demise?"

"I fear she has avoided another assassination attempt, but our agents were able to escape. Besides, their intents to sabotage our operations have ended in another failure. However, I recommend to proceed with caution, the Adrestian Empire has many resources we lack and their armies have been keeping the western part of the Holy Kingdom"

"I see, if she doesn´t die by them I will have to do it myself when I finish with him"

"We haven´t received any reports about him, I suspect he is de…"

"You are wrong, Seteth, he is still alive" she said as she showed to him the mirror she had been watching until now. When he looked upon it, he froze in horror.

"Rhea, what have you done? This magic is a violation of every rule our…"

"I am being merciful, he just needs to surrender his existence to me and then he will be released from every pain he has been experiencing, but the fool is raising once and once again. He doesn´t seem to understand the limits of his own existence"

He could see how many of them had fallen yet he continued to fight, it was something he couldn´t avoid to respect.

….

"This will be the one!" he thought as he avoided an attack aimed at him while he cut her arm off. He was about to finish her off, when he was stabbed from behind.

"An interesting movement, but doomed to fail, nevertheless" whispered a voice behind him. When he looked behind, he could only see two emerald eyes before he felt a sharp pain in his throat, he was being beheaded.

"There is no opportunity for you to defeat me, you would be wise to surrender to me once and for all. Give me everything you have and your painful existence will come to an end" he could hear a voice say as he was engulfed in darkness.

The pain was menacing to overwhelm him, he tried to move his hands, but they didn´t obey him. He was sinking deeper and deeper in the dark.

"I need… I need to…"

He then felt a pair of hands embracing him from behind, his body shivering due to it.

"I will have everything you have and you can´t do anything to avoid it" whispered a woman´s voice as the hands started to enter his flesh, they were slowly approaching his heart.

"You are mine…"

He could only feel cold, had the world turned into ice, his hope starting to shatter. The hands were already on his heart, its grip growing stronger.

"Enough of this madness!" shouted a familiar voice, a spear of green light piercing through him, and then he was released from the freezing grip.

"Take my hand!" shouted the voice as he felt warm extending through his body, before the world around him grew brighter.

"You were saved by the skin of my teeth" Sothis said as she caught her breath next to him.

"You saved me…" he said, he wanted to hug her, but he was feeling too weak.

"You aren´t saved yet, I´ve been trying to contact you for a long while, but my daughter has been too fixated on you, gosh, where did she learn such manners" Sothis sighed, before looking at him. "Listen to me closely, you are being cursed. This reality built around us is a world created by my daughter to torture you until crushing your soul…I suspect she is trying to get rid of your existence to rewrite your personality to her own liking. The only way to destroy the curse is to defeat her in this world"

"I´ve been trying it all this time, but I have only failed"

"Well, that´s why I´m here don´t you think?" Sothis said before looking worriedly at their surroundings, cracks were starting to appear in the small world Sothis had created within Rhea´s illusion. "This is a world of her own doing, but that doesn´t mean that she is playing fairly, look at this" she said as familiar glyphs started to appear before him. "She is anticipating everything you do against her because she nullified your divine pulse"

"My divine pulse…nullified?"

"More than nullified she is distorting its function. She is forcing you to return over and over again to face her until your soul gets crushed by despair in an endless cycle of suffering"

"Can you lift up such spell?"

"I´m afraid I can´t, her mark is too deep in your soul already. No matter what you do, if you try to use the divine pulse you will be trapped again in this nightmare"

"In that case, what I can do? Her grip is already too strong on me"

"Why are you giving up already? She thinks of you as a tool she can use to her own liking, but you have showed to me that you are more than that. You have been able to overcome many trials and this one won´t be the last one you will face in your life. You need to have more faith in yourself. Your divinity has been marked by her, but your humanity had always been free, use it. Never forget you aren´t the Sword of the Creator, you are just a man with a good heart" Sothis urged him as the world around them started to crumble.

"Sothis, thank you for everything…you have just given me what I needed the most…hope"

"You silly, if it weren´t by me you would be clueless in this world. Byleth, even if she is my daughter…teach her a lesson, I didn´t raise my children to do such terrible things"

"Thanks for everything Sothis, if it weren´t by you I would have disappeared by now" he nodded as he jumped to his judgment.

…

"So, you are raising once again. I thought you were finally able to understand, but it seems that you aren´t a reasonable being. How many times do I have to tell you? Your efforts will mean nothing, in the end you will be mine for the rest of eternity"

"I refuse to accept such destiny, no matter how many times I have to suffer I will continue fighting for my dreams"

"For your dreams…as I expected the words of a madman. In this world there aren´t any dreams just nightmares and shattered illusions. Can´t you see how many times you have died by now?" Rhea said as she observed all the corpses left behind their battles.

"No matter what you do, you are powerless. I created you and, in this world, I am at my apex. A feeble being like you should beg for mercy instead of continuing this farce" Rhea said as she mercilessly smashed him to the ground. He couldn´t about spitting blood, but even in that state he needed to continue.

"I…won´t…give up. Everyone…is waiting…for me"

"You shouldn´t be worrying about the wellbeing of others, can´t you see? Your soul is the one that is getting shattered now. How can you save anyone, when you can´t save yourself of your punishment?"

"You could never understand, even if it means my own demise…I need to protect them!" he said as he released a fireball against her, but it was cut in half by her. She then throwed at him an ice javelin that pierced through his stomach.

"If you are still breathing that only means that the power of our creator is flowing through your traitorous veins" Rhea was before him, her sword filled with a cerulean light. "In the end, you will be following the path I have created for you, your resistance is in vain"

"Even if the crest of flames is inside me, that doesn´t mean that everything I´ve done, everything I will ever do is a consequence of its existence" he said as he started to pull the spear out of his stomach.

"You are a fool if you refuse to admit the magnificence of the powers granted to you. The Sword you wield is a clear example of that" Rhea said as she pointed to the Sword of the Creator with her own.

When he looked at it, he remembered the words he had just heard before.

"Never forget you aren´t the Sword of the Creator, you are just a man with a good heart"

"Rhea…I´m sorry for you, but my death won´t bring Sothis back, not like this" he said as the sword of the Creator started to glow with an incandescent light. And then it shattered, green sparks flowing around them.

"What…did you just break the sword?" A shocked Rhea asked.

"I will never be Sothis. I will face you with everything I can do…as a human"

"You are a fool if you think that you can overcome me like this! You were just a demon in the end…the Ashen Demon…a merciless murderer" Rhea roared as ice creatures started to surround her, all of them adopting her form.

"Not anymore…I´m just Byleth Eisner" he said as he prepared to withstand the incoming attack.

…

"What is going on? The crystals are starting to glow, we must…"

"Don´t approach, it could be dangerous!"

"But if we don´t help him, he might…"

"Is your faith in the Professor so weak, Balthus? He is trying to fight the curse off. He has been fighting against it all these years, the only thing that we can do is ease a bit his pain as he continues his fight" Hapi said as her hands grew brighter.

"Hapi is right, we need to give him strength" Constance said as she joined hands with Hapi and Yuri.

"Professor, better you win what you are fighting" Balthus muttered as he joined them.

…..

"Curse you, monster! Do you really think that you can get rid of my curse? No matter what you do I will make sure to destroy you!" Rhea said as she put herself before the mirror, ancient glyph starting appear on its surface.

"Rhea…" Seteth muttered behind her as he observed through the window a familiar man fighting against what appeared to be an army of Rheas.

…

"Why do you continue to fight? Why are you willing to die for a future without hope?"

"I can´t just give up on them. All of them…they have their own dreams…they are willing to change this world for the better. How could I refuse to help the people I love?" he said as he destroyed one of the clones before avoiding another attack.

"You are a fool!"

"I am, I´m not denying it. I´m a fool… a fool that thinks that can change this world with his own actions…a fool that is willing to do anything for the wellbeing of his friends…a fool that has discovered that he can feel pain, loneliness…and love" he said as he charged his body with his own aura, his body eradiating a blue light.

"A blue aura, coming from your soul…you aren´t using the force of our creator…then what are you using against me?"

"I told you…I will face with everything I can do. I might be a human, I might be broken easily by the power of the gods or ancient sorceries, but as long as I keep breathing, I will stand up again…I won´t give up on hope…never!" He shouted as he charged towards her. They tried to create a magic barrier, but it was too late as he released the power of his own soul upon them. The explosion shattered the ground, blue flames scattered around as the ice copies of Rhea started to fade away.

…

"The ice…it´s starting to crack!"

"Only a bit more…until then we have to remain by his side"

"Come on, Professor, you can do it, return to this world" Yuri said as he released his own healing spells on him.

…

"Do you really think that you can defeat me like this?" Rhea said as she tried to catch her breath. "If I die, you will do as well. Your fate is linked to my own to the end of times! Don´t you understand?" Rhea roared as she started to turn into the Immaculate one. "Our souls will be one to the end of existence, no matter where you go, no matter what you do, no matter what you decide to protect or love…everything you will ever experience will be mine"

"Even in that case I will keep walking forward, I won´t let everything I have get robbed from me!" He said as he lifted his silver sword, blue flames starting to appear on its surface. "Rhea, your end comes now, the curse will be broken now"

"Die!" Rhea said with a roar as she attacked, but her attack was cut in half by his own.

"Impossible, how could you?"

"Don´t you understand? They are waiting for me. As long as I have hope I won´t be affected by your curse. Now it is time to end this" he said as he cut through her flesh, blue flames following his cuts. Rhea tried to stand up again, but her legs crumbled as the ice around her started to shatter. The Immaculate One was no more, instead of it an injured Rhea appeared before him.

The ice was starting to disappear, small flowers starting to appear all around, but he could feel that the fight wasn´t over yet.

"Why clinging on such feelings…don´t you understand…if it weren´t by me you would be dead…your mere existence is due to me…I took care of you when no one else couldn´t help…not even your father"

"And I won´t forget that Rhea…but in the end we have to follow our own paths…I didn´t want you as an enemy…that´s the only truth I can tell you"

"Remember my words…everything you have will disappear…no matter what you do my mark on you won´t disappear, it´s already deep within you" Rhea said as she stood up again, a deep mist coming from within her.

"Countless times I´ve suffered here…countless timed I´ve failed" he said as he prepared his guard "But even the longest winter comes to an end. And with the end of winter the promised spring comes bringing new life to the world" he said as she was quickly approaching him with the fury of a blizzard.

He could feel the cold, but this time he was prepared, his blade stopping the cold in front of him.

….

"Lady Rhea, you are bleeding!" Seteth said alarmed as he looked at the wound in her stomach. A silver sword was coming through the mirror Rhea was manipulating until now, but she didn´t appear to feel the pain as she was engulfed by pure ire.

"Die!"

…..

"From where have appeared these ice hands?" Balthus said as he shattered one.

"More than hands I would say they are claws" Yuri continued as he shattered another pair.

The room where they were had frozen unnatural hands trying to approach the body of their Professor, but that was something they couldn´t allow to happen.

"If something like this is happening it means that the spell is on its limit. We have to continue pressing forward"

….

"Lady Rhea!" he shouted as he came to her aid. Apart from the wound in her stomach, she didn´t appear to have any other visible wounds, but she looked very agitated.

"How could he…how could he" Rhea muttered before standing on her own. "Seteth"

"Yes, Lady Rhea?"

"Prepare the troops, we will need them very soon. The war has weakened our enemies, we have to take advantage of this situation while it lasts"

"What about your wounds?"

"My wounds are none of your concern, this is nothing from what I have already suffered. Now leave this place"

"Understood, forgive my intromission" he said, although he was worried about what had just happen in the room. He had many questions, but he knew that the answers to those were unreachable to him.

"You might have broken free from my reality, but that means nothing as long as you have my mark in your soul…your existence will end up being mine…no matter what you do…no matter what, your path will end with you by my side…for the rest of eternity"

….

He felt an intense pain coming from his chest, his lungs trying to get some fresh air, but it was like he was trapped by something. Was he still trapped in that alternate reality?

"Balthus, you brute, you are going to kill him at this rate!" said a familiar voice next to him.

"Oh, sorry, Hapi I was just too happy" Balthus said as he relaxed his embrace from him. "It´s been a while Professor. I didn´t know you take such long naps. You had all these little guys worried about you"

"Don´t act so cocky, you were about to cry like a baby just a moment ago"

"Balthus?"

"Who else would be so strong like me? I carried you over to this place. Just with these muscles of mine"

"Muscles without a brain will be of little help" Yuri interrupted him as he looked at him. "You got all of us really worried. You were in a very poor state when we found you, pierced by multiple crystals yet you were somehow alive"

"Me and Hapi have been checking all these years your health. The magic that was employed on you is something I have never seen, not even something I have read about. I beg of you to tell us what has happened to you"

"I´m glad to see all of you here, I thought I had lost everyone, but looking at a familiar face is a relieve" he said with a weak smile as he tried to stand up, but he couldn´t, yet something they had said had been intriguing him.

"You shouldn´t push yourself too hard. You had just been released from a spell, or at least most of it. After all the time you have been unconscious you should respect your own limits a bit more"

"How much time have I been unconscious?"

The Ashen wolves looked at each other, before looking at him.

"Professor, you have been unconscious for five years. We will need some time to explain everything that has happened until now. I´m sure you have a lot to ask about, but first you should recover some energy, you look completely exhausted"

He was about to complain, but they were right as he felt an extreme tiredness taking hold of his body.

"Five years" he thought as everything grew darker. "What has happened to this world while I was unconscious and more important…are they…is she ok?" he wondered as everything disappeared from his sight.

絶望の氷と希望の愛 (zetsubounokooritokibounoai)

愛is the most generous kind of love, the one that embraces us all when we are surrounded with those that have a deep meaning to our existence. It is the one that mark us all one way or another.

Next chapter will be the last of this year, I expect to publish again January the 8th.