This is going to differ a bit from the normal gameplay mechanics, but I feel it's a more fun outcome.
Chapter 60 – Overload (Red Wolf Moon)
With the other Golems dispatched, the students rallied together to bring down the last one defending the Chasm of the Bound. Mercedes, Marianne and Linhardt stayed behind to tend to Petra, Leonie and Dedue, all who had been injured during the fighting.
This Golem, codenamed Marcelle, was far different in design than the others, with a head shaped like a golden helmet, a chest plate that looked like an animal's face, and two spiky pauldrons on its shoulders. Its arms were also reinforced with additional plating. Around its neck was a chain holding a strange keystone. Two large glowing coils were extending out of the Golem's shoulders which crackled with magical energy.
In a more feminine tone compared to the other Golems, Marcelle said, "HOSTILES APPROACHING. INITIATING COMBAT PROTOCOL."
Marcelle readied an energy lance and threw it toward Dimitri and his group. The students all ran for cover, but Lorenz wasn't quick enough and yelped as the lance's blast knocked him hard into a rock, cracking a couple of his ribs. Ashe was quick to rush forward and grab Lorenz by the collar, pulling him back to a covered position.
"Hang on, you'll be alright!" Ashe said to Lorenz, who could only groan in pain. Upon getting him to cover, Ashe shouted, "Healer!"
Dorothea was the one to rush over to help, prompting Lorenz to say, "P-Pristine as always, Dorothea."
"This isn't the time for flattery, Lorenz," Dorothea said wryly as she readied a healing spell.
But as she began casting it, she suddenly felt the Mana from the spell being drawn away from her. The spell failed, leaving Lorenz with his injuries.
"H-Huh? What the…?"
Dorothea looked to see where her Mana was being drawn and watched as Marcelle absorbed the energy into its body.
"Oh, not good," the singer said worriedly.
A second later, Lysithea launched a Dark Spikes T spell at Marcelle, but the spell shattered before it struck, and its Mana was drawn into the Golem's body. As it did, the coils on its shoulders began to glow brighter.
"What in the world?" Lysithea gasped.
Upon absorbing Lysithea's attack, Marcelle raised both arms as it said, "CAPACITORS CHARGED. COMMENCING BARRAGE."
Several energy lances began to form over the Golem's arms and head, each one aimed to pelt the students.
"TAKE COVER!" shouted Dimitri.
Marcelle unleashed its attack, sending a barrage of its lances raining down and devastating the area as the students rushed for cover. The blasts kicked up an enormous cloud of dust while shattering rocks and setting plants ablaze.
The dust soon cleared, allowing Dorothea to see the devastation. Her heart sank as she saw Hilda, Ingrid, Ignatz and Hubert had all been hit, each one injured but alive. Ingrid looked in particularly bad shape, her left side bleeding badly as she lay unconscious on the ground.
Dorothea's first instinct was to rush toward them and start healing, but Byleth shouted, "Get the wounded back!"
"Ingrid! Ingrid, stay with me!" shouted Sylvain as he ran out and grabbed the blonde and began dragging her to safety. Raphael similarly hoisted Ignatz onto his shoulder and began carrying him back to safety as Sylvain turned to Byleth and said, "Professor, Ingrid's in bad shape! She needs healing, now!"
"Get to a safe distance first! Don't heal her here or that thing will attack again!"
"Hilda, are you alright?" Balthus said to the pinkette.
"Ow… Baltie, this really hurts…" said Hilda as she nursed her right arm, which had a bad cut on it.
Balthus immediately stripped off his overcoat and used it to wrap up Hilda's arm as he said, "Here, put some pressure on that wound."
"Th-Thanks, Baltie… Guess that's it for me. I'll just go rest up or… something."
Hilda then limped back toward Mercedes and Marianne alongside Hubert, who scowled as he was forced to limp away from the fight, his leg with a piece of rock stuck in it.
Dorothea felt powerless as she watched the others. She had the power to heal their wounds but doing so now would only make things worse. She turned to look at Byleth, who thankfully only had a few scrapes. The teacher looked as though her mind were racing.
Indeed, Byleth was internally scrambling to come up with a new plan. Being unable to use magic of any kind near the Golem was a huge disadvantage. She had thought to use the Divine Pulse to stop the students from attacking, but by the time she had thought to do so, she knew she was past the time limit. She could not rewind far enough to stop Lysithea and Dorothea from unintentionally charging up the Golem.
"Truly this is quite the conundrum, isn't it?" Sothis said to her.
Just then, Marcelle bellowed, "HOSTILES REMAIN. CONTINUING COMBAT."
Another energy lance flew at the students, who were unable to try to block it. Thankfully, the shot went wide and slammed into one of the chasm's walls, causing no harm to the students.
"Jeez, this thing's a real piece of work!" snapped Anna. Byleth saw the merchant had wisely decided to sheathe her Levin Sword, which could've had its power absorbed by the Golem if drawn.
It was then that Byleth said, "Anna, if you've got any ideas, I'm open to them."
"Wha– By, you don't have a plan?"
"I'm saying I need your help to think of one!"
Anna paused for a moment and said, "Heh, first time for everything, I guess. Give me a sec, lemme think…"
The redhead thought hard about what to do as an arrow from Bernadetta struck Marcelle harmlessly. It didn't even acknowledge the terrified purple-haired girl, who squeaked as she ducked back into cover upon seeing her attack doing no damage. Balthus rushed forward with his gauntlets and tried to punch Marcelle, but the Golem swung one of its arms and swatted him, sending him rolling back several meters. The self-proclaimed King of Grappling spat out some blood as he righted himself, but he opted to take cover upon Yuri ordering him to rethink his plan.
Byleth and Anna both were left at a loss for what to do.
Marcelle readied another energy lance and swung it toward Edelgard, knocking the princess back. Edelgard fell to one knee as her muscles screamed in pain, but she managed to pull herself together and dash to the side as another energy lance flew at her, blowing up some distance behind the princess.
It was then that Byleth noticed something. When Marcelle had thrown its lance, the coils on its back dimmed noticeably. A second later, Marcelle began rumbling briefly as it began absorbing Mana from the ambient air around them. The coils began to brighten again.
Byleth was suddenly struck by an idea.
"Anna, look at the coils on its back," said Byleth.
Anna, noticing the same thing Byleth had, said, "Hey, yeah, those things must be where it stores its energy."
"Maybe if we damage them, this thing will give us a break," said Claude.
The young heir of Riegan then readied an arrow and shot it at one of the coils. The arrow hit it squarely but, to Claude's dismay, dealt no damage.
"Okay, that's not gonna work. Those things are tougher than they look."
"And I doubt this thing will let us get close enough to smash them," said Felix.
"Oh, what are we gonna do?!" Annette said in dismay. "I hate not being able to burst this thing's bubble with my spells!"
It was at Annette's words that Anna was struck by inspiration.
"Hey, I got it!" said the redhead. "By, you're gonna think this is crazy, but we should hit it with every spell we've got all at once."
"W-What?! But it'll just absorb them!" said Dorothea.
"That's the idea. I'm thinking maybe we could give this thing more Mana than it can handle and try to overload it! Just like putting too much weight in a wagon."
"Or too much spice in a meal!" said Annette, getting the idea.
"That's an awfully big risk," said Edelgard. "Are you sure about this?"
"Theoretically, such a thing could be done, but I cannot assume with any confidence that such a plan would yield fruit, Your Highness," Constance said gloomily.
"Oh, come on, Coco, it's a good idea," said Hapi. "Unless you all want me to sigh."
"No sighing, Hapi," Yuri said to the redhead. "We don't need more trouble than we have already."
Byleth then said, "We'll give it a try. I trust Anna's judgment."
"That thing will just throw more lances at us," said Felix. "It'll spend all the Mana we end up pouring into it."
"Felix has a good point," said Dimitri.
"I know," said Byleth. "Anybody who's not casting spells at it, get in close and try to distract it. Don't let it throw any of its lances."
"Sounds daring," said Yuri. Then, with a confident smile, he said, "I'm in."
"Alright, let's go pound this thing into scrap metal!" shouted Balthus.
The students moved from their cover, with Edelgard, Dimitri, Yuri, Balthus, Caspar, Felix and Ferdinand all rushing forward to meet Marcelle in close quarters. Claude, Ashe and Bernadetta all fired arrows to try and support them, despite the arrows dealing no noticeable damage. Meanwhile, the remaining mages of the group gathered to prepare their spells.
"Hit it with the best spell you have!" shouted Byleth. "Give it everything you've got!"
Byleth prepared her own magic as Dorothea readied a Thoron spell. Lysithea readied her Dark Spikes T while Annette prepared Excalibur. Constance, despite her pessimism, followed along with Agnea's Arrow while Hapi readied a Seraphim spell. Anna, meanwhile, prepared her own magic, readying a Nosferatu spell.
As the Golem swatted aside Dimitri, Marcelle then said, "SORCERY DETECTED. INITIATING ABSORPTION PROTOCOL."
"NOW!" shouted Byleth.
The mages all unleashed their spells, which flew toward Marcelle as the Golem assumed a defensive stance. The spells all struck and shattered, with the Golem absorbing their Mana rapidly. The coils on its back quickly began to brighten, almost blinding everyone with their light.
"WARNING. CAPACITORS AT 96 PERCENT. MUST DISCHARGE."
To the students' dismay, Marcelle began readying its barrage attack again.
"It's not enough!" Dorothea said in fear. "We need more!"
Byleth saw the mages were all tapped out, each one gasping in exhaustion at having used up their Mana. She was about to order everyone to flee when she saw Anna rush out at Marcelle.
"Anna, what are you–"
"Giving this thing a bit more juice!" the merchant replied as she drew her Levin Sword.
Anna moved with incredible speed as Edelgard swung her axe at Marcelle, the princess letting out a gasp of surprise when her weapon broke on the Golem's armor.
"Hey, metal head!" shouted Anna as she leapt up onto Marcelle's shoulder. "Here's a little extra, on the house!"
Anna plunged her Levin Sword into one of Marcelle's coils, discharging an enormous amount of electricity into the Golem. To everyone's concern, the redhead was shocked by her own attack, causing Anna to let out a series of painful grunts.
"ANNA!" shouted Dorothea.
Then, a heavy surge of energy struck Anna, making the redhead cry out as she was blasted clear of Marcelle's body, hitting the ground with a loud thud. Yuri swiftly ran to her and checked her for injuries, prompting Anna to let out a groan as she tried to push herself up. Her Levin Sword was still stuck in Marcelle's coils.
Marcelle began to spasm wildly as it said, "ERROR. CAPACITOR OVERLOAD. OVERLOAD. OVERLOAD!"
The Golem's body began to fill with cracks as surges of energy began to split the machine apart.
"It's gonna blow!" shouted Claude, prompting those closer to the Golem to run away from it.
A few seconds later, the Chasm of the Bound echoed with the sound of an explosion as Marcelle was blown to pieces, showering the area with bits of ancient metal.
The chasm was silent for almost a minute afterwards. Byleth and Dorothea slowly rose out of cover to see if everyone was alright. To their relief, no one had been injured by the blast beyond a few cuts or scrapes.
"W-Wow…" said Dorothea. "I can't believe that worked."
"I told you, I had faith," said Byleth.
Their moment was broken up as they heard Anna shout with dismay, "Ohh, DAMMIT! Not another one!"
They looked down to see Anna was holding the broken hilt of her Levin Sword. The wavy blade had been shattered in the explosion, and bits of its golden blade were scattered across the chasm mixed with Marcelle's shattered parts.
With a groan, Anna threw the useless hilt to the ground in a fit as she said, "I can't believe this! It's completely wrecked!"
Byleth and Dorothea both ran down to the redhead, with Dorothea asking, "Anna, are you okay?"
"Do I look okay to you?!" Anna snapped. "I just broke a really expensive weapon in case you hadn't noticed! It's gonna cost me a fortune to get a new one!"
Dorothea laughed nervously at this. Anna appeared unharmed, but she was clearly more broken up about this than any injuries she might have had.
"Hey, check this out," said Hapi, prompting the others to look at her.
The dark-skinned redhead had picked up the strange keystone that had been hanging from Marcelle's neck.
"Whaddaya think this is for?" Hapi asked.
Poor Anna, those Levin Swords aren't cheap. T_T
This is basically going to take the place of that super-Golem you face in the next chapter of Cindered Shadows. That thing always felt out of place to me. Something like the Demon Wall from FF4 would've been neater. Now THAT was a memorable boss fight.
I hope I'm doing alright with showing Byleth's improvements in tactics. I know I wasn't doing it all that well in some of the earlier chapters, but you know what they say: No plan survives enemy contact.