Time for the month's story battle, one that I'm sure left a lot of people with a bad taste in their mouths. This will also include our first look at how the Divine Pulse is going to be factored into the story.

Chapter 10 – Mutiny in the Mist (Garland Moon)

It was all supposed to be a clean-up mission. At least, that had been the intent.

But the students now found themselves fighting for their lives as Lonato's rebels attempted to cut them down. A significant force of them had slipped through the perimeter set by the Knights of Seiros under the cover of fog, and if the students didn't stop them, they would be well on their way towards Garreg Mach Monastery. Their objective was clear: stop the rebels from breaking through.

But it was who they were fighting that made them hesitate. The bulk of the rebels were not trained soldiers, but a peasant militia. Men and women who should have been in their homes doing chores, tending their fields or seeing to their families. Instead they were now locked in battle with the students, who had no choice but to strike them down.

Dorothea fired a bolt of lightning from her hand, striking a woman armed with little more than a pitchfork and sending her to the ground. The singer winced as the peasant began screaming. In the chaos of the fighting, Dorothea couldn't make out a name, but she knew the woman had to be screaming for a loved one.

Trying to keep her mind on the battle, Dorothea turned to see Dimitri parry a clumsy swing from another peasant's axe that was aimed at Marianne. Dimitri easily followed up by thrusting his lance through the man's chest, causing him to drop his axe.

"Lord Lonato…" the man gasped. "Please, don't die…"

The peasant slumped over as his eyes went dim. Marianne could only watch with a look of horror across her pale face.

"I am sorry," said Dimitri, "But did you really think you would get away with this?"

Dorothea turned away from the gruesome display, but immediately she was met with the sight of Petra dodging another peasant carrying a crude sword.

"You think we're just gonna do nothing while you try to kill our lord?!" shouted the peasant, raising his weapon for another strike.

But Petra was far too quick. The Brigid princess darted forward with her own blade and slashed open the peasant's stomach. Dorothea turned away again, knowing the man would be dead before long.

"Lord Lonato doesn't deserve such sadness and anger… Now it's your turn to suffer!" shouted another voice, this one from an older man wielding a hoe.

The man was standing over Ignatz, who struggled in pain to get up as the man raised his hoe, about to plunge its blade down into the boy's back. His swing was interrupted by Raphael, who grabbed the garden tool and wrenched it from his grasp before delivering a punch to the peasant's gut. The peasant went down, coughing up blood as he lay on the ground.

"Sorry, pal," said Raphael. "But I can't just let you hurt my best friend."

"T-Thanks, Raphael," said Ignatz as he pushed himself up.

Ignatz then yelped as his left leg seemed to give out, and Dorothea could clearly see the cut running down his shin.

"Easy, buddy. I got you," said Raphael as he wrapped an arm around Ignatz's torso and lifted him up. He then shouted out, "Healer! Need a healer here!"

Dorothea cursed herself at this moment. She hadn't been taking Byleth's sessions on Faith magic all too seriously, but now would've been a good time to know such magic.

It was to her surprise, then, that Linhardt came running out of the mist and knelt down next to Ignatz and Raphael.

"Let me see," said Linhardt. He then waved his hand, channeling his magic into Ignatz's wound and closing the cut.

"Lin!" said Dorothea. "I thought you were back at camp."

"That was my intent at first, but the Professor insisted I come along." Finishing his work, he then said, "Alright, good as new."

"Much appreciated!" said Ignatz as Raphael let go of him, allowing the bespectacled boy and his muscular friend to return to the fight.

Dorothea walked up to Linhardt as the green-haired boy took a deep breath. All the carnage around him must not have been good for his well-being.

"Lin, are you–"

"Now isn't the time to worry about me, Dorothea," Linhardt interrupted. "Listen, I suspect that this fog is magical in nature. This sort of thing would usually be sustained by a mage."

"So, we need to find him and take him out."

"Unless you plan to fight this whole battle blindfolded, yes."

"Thanks, Linhardt. I'll let the Professor know… if I can find her in all this."

But just as she said this, the fog suddenly began to dissipate.

"It would appear she already knows," said Linhardt.

Dorothea had already started running to find Byleth even before Linhardt finished his thought.

…

Byleth swung her blade to her side as she stood over the body of a Gaspard mage, sending a splash of blood to the ground. With the mage dead, his fog spell was now dissipating. This would allow the rest of the Knights of Seiros to locate and reinforce them. All the students had to do now was hold out until they got there.

A shout drew her attention to another rebel as he charged out of the mist at her. This one was a knight rather than a peasant, clad in heavy armor. Byleth leapt back as he swung a heavy axe at her, easily avoiding the strike. Her attempt at a riposte, however, was met by the knight's steel shield, which deflected her attack. The knight then shoved forward with his shield, forcing Byleth to stumble back.

Byleth knew she would have trouble with him. As good as she was with a sword, her weapon didn't have the bite to get through such thick armor with any ease.

But then she saw Dorothea running through the mist toward her, readying a Thunder spell as she ran. At the same time, another rebel came running out of the trees, his sword poised to stab the diva in the back.

"Behind you!" Byleth shouted, but her warning was too late.

Dorothea made a loud choking gasp as the rebel's blade pierced her back. Her eyes widened and her pupils narrowed in shock. Byleth could see tears beginning to form in the singer's eyes.

A sound like shattering glass filled Byleth's mind as time ground to a halt. The world around her froze as still as a statue, and all colors seemed to invert across her vision.

It was the power given to her by Sothis, one she had used to save her own life over two months prior when she had nearly taken an axe to her spine from Kostas while protecting Edelgard. Now she hoped to use this power to save another. The power to turn back the sands of time… the Divine Pulse.

Byleth watched as the blade exited Dorothea's back in a reversal of how she had been stabbed. The girl ran in reverse back into the fog, along with the rebel who had stabbed her. Within an instant, Byleth was now back several seconds before Dorothea's fatal wound.

"You have your chance now," Sothis said in Byleth's mind. "Now go and challenge that girl's fate."

Time began to flow again, with all colors reverting to normal.

Byleth dodged the knight's strike again, but this time made no attempt to riposte, knowing it was fruitless. Instead she dashed toward the knight and, catching him off guard, shoved his shield, making him stumble backward. But she made no effort to attack him afterward; her focus was on saving her student.

Dorothea once again came out of the fog, spotting Byleth running toward her. Dorothea again readied her Thunder spell to be used on the knight that was whirling around to attack the Professor from behind, and again the singer was oblivious to the rebel behind her.

Without a word, Byleth drew her dagger and threw it at the rebel, narrowly missing Dorothea's shoulder. Dorothea gasped in shock, and then heard a loud gurgling behind her. She whipped around to see the rebel with Byleth's dagger in his throat. The rebel slumped to the ground as Dorothea realized just how close she had been to dying.

A loud shout behind Byleth reminded her of the knight she had been fighting, and she whipped around to block his strike. She narrowly positioned her blade before the knight's axe, and then yelped as the force of the blow sent her flying off her feet, her sword clattering to the ground, broken in two.

"Professor!" Dorothea shouted in concern.

Immediately she thrust out her hand, sending a bolt of lightning into the knight. The knight's thick armor was useless against such magic. He stumbled back a couple of steps as he was electrocuted, and then fell to the ground with a loud metallic thud.

Dorothea gasped for breath. She had already been throwing several spells by now, and it was taking its toll on her. She looked over to Byleth and, to her relief, saw the Professor was only lightly injured.

The diva rushed to Byleth's side as she said, "Professor, are you alright?"

Groaning briefly, Byleth said, "I've had worse." Then, seeing her broken sword, she made a groan of disappointment.

"Well, better it than you," Dorothea remarked as she looked at the sword.

…

Ashe was heartbroken. All around him, people he had known as a boy, people who had been kind to him, were dying. Some of them were even dying by his own hand; he had shot the town baker in the chest when he had tried to kill Mercedes. He had no choice, he told himself. But that didn't change the fact that he had killed a man who had shown nothing but kindness to him.

And now he was staring up at the man who had taken him in and raised him as an adoptive son. Lonato Gildas Gaspard's lance was trained upon Ashe, who had dropped his weapon in an attempt to show he meant no harm to his mentor.

"Stand aside, Ashe," said Lonato. "I must destroy these evil-doers by any means necessary!"

"Please stop, Lonato!" begged Ashe. "Whatever your reason for doing this, we can still talk it out!"

"Rhea is an infidel who has deceived the people and desecrated the goddess! We have virtue and the goddess herself on our side!"

"Even if all that's true, dragging the townsfolk into it like this isn't right! Please, you must surrender for their sake!"

"I can do no such thing, Ashe. If I did, it would be a disgrace to Christophe's memory. That witch had him executed for a crime he did not commit! I must see her face justice for it!"

"Lonato, I miss Christophe too, but this won't bring him back!"

"Enough, Ashe! If that is how you feel, then prepare yourself! I'm putting an end to this!"

Lonato's horse reared back as he spurred it forward. Ashe yelped in shock as his mentor charged at him and swung his lance.

His blow was met by a blade that glowed a bright orange light, cleaving off the head of Lonato's lance.

Lonato spun his horse around as he slowed it down from his charge, tossing away his broken lance as he turned with a look of utter hatred at the woman who had condemned his son to death.

"It's you…" Lonato hissed. "Thunderstrike Cassandra! It was your wretched zealotry that killed my son! I will be the one to kill you, no other!"

Catherine turned to face Lonato with a look of grim determination. Her true weapon, the Hero's Relic Thunderbrand, glowed vibrantly in her hand as it crackled with red electricity and the Crest Stone on its pommel shone a red light.

"You have lost all sense of justice, Lonato," said Catherine. "You want to fight me? So be it. I'll send you to meet your goddess… and to Christophe."

"You DARE to speak his name?!" Lonato raged as he drew his sword. "He was your friend! He trusted you! And you sent him to his death in the name of that apostate witch!"

Lonato let out a shout as he spurred his horse forward, charging at Catherine. Catherine readied a stance and rushed to meet Lonato.

"LONATO, NOOO!" Ashe shouted, but it was too late to stop what came next.

Catherine yelled as she leapt up at Lonato, who was too slow to react, and cleaved through his armor in a single well-aimed strike. With a howl of agony, Lonato fell from his horse, crashing on his back as Catherine landed neatly a few meters from him.

As his lungs filled with blood, Lonato sputtered and said, "That vile woman… Christophe… Forgive me…"

Rushing to Lonato's side, Ashe looked at the mortal wound Catherine had given the lord of Gaspard. He knew there was no saving him.

"Lonato, I…"

"Ashe… I'm… sorry…"

With that, Lonato's head slumped to the side, and his eyes closed for the last time.

Catherine could only watch in remorse as Ashe wept for his former mentor.

Anybody else feel sorry for Ashe? T_T

Anyhow, writing the Divine Pulse in action is no easy feat. Be on the lookout for the various limitations and drawbacks I've put in for the purposes of the story.