This part is not for the squeamish. You've been warned.

Chapter 74 – The Remire Calamity, Part 2 (Red Wolf Moon)

Dorothea shook in revulsion and horror as she watched the undead man and his son shamble toward her and Byleth. The man's chest still let out spurts of blood from his pierced heart, while the boy's head dangled at an unnatural angle thanks to his broken neck. Their faces were devoid of emotion, and both had only one purpose: to kill them.

"How…?" Dorothea said in fear. "How is this… Is this like the Rite of Rising?"

"No, this is something else…" said Byleth. Her expression then turned to anger as she said, "This is Necromancy…"

The father then rushed forward with alarming speed. Byleth swept in front of Dorothea and lunged the Sword of the Creator through the undead man's chest.

The blow had little effect on the undead thrall, who let out a loud groan as he grabbed a surprised Byleth and prepared to sink his teeth into her neck.

Time stopped just before the undead thrall was about to tear into her throat.

"That was too close for my liking," said Sothis, having been the one to use the Divine Pulse this time. "You had best try something else."

The zombie released his grip on Byleth as her sword exited his chest. The undead man ran backwards to where he had been a few seconds before.

Time resumed its flow, and the zombie again charged at Byleth and Dorothea.

Again, Byleth moved in front of Dorothea. This time, instead of lunging her sword, Byleth delivered a swift kick to the zombie's chest that sent it stumbling back. The undead man quickly recovered and, along with his dead son, the two thralls rushed forward. The two were hit by a Thoron spell cast by Dorothea, the lightning blasting the two away.

"Good shot," Byleth said to Dorothea.

"Thanks."

But then the two heard the thralls let out another moan as they shambled back to their feet, seemingly unharmed by the lightning spell.

"Oh, not good," said Dorothea.

"Normal attacks don't work on them…" Byleth hissed.

Byleth's mind raced for a solution. She had never fought the undead before and learning to fight them wasn't part of the first-year curriculum at the Officers' Academy. Necromancy was considered taboo in Fódlan, and those who practiced it were mercilessly hunted. It was such a rarity that most people in Fódlan never encountered the undead. Now she was left wishing she had read up on it a bit.

Byleth then looked over to where Solon had been, thinking to try and take him out. The necromancer had moved out of her range, and now he was being joined by several new figures in black robes and armor. She knew she wouldn't be able to get to him easily.

As Byleth tried thinking of what to do, she heard Anna shout, "By! Down in front!"

Byleth whipped around to see Anna about to throw a lit torch in her direction. Startled, Byleth yelped as she dodged to the side, allowing the torch to fly past her and strike the undead father in the chest. The zombie howled as it caught fire, its flesh quickly burning away and spreading the flames to the undead son. Both were reduced to smoldering, unmoving corpses.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Dorothea said, "Nice save, Anna."

"Don't mention it," said Anna in an utmost serious tone. "I hate dealing with these things."

Not taking her eyes off Solon, Byleth asked, "You've faced this before?"

"Yeah, back in Nohr. One of the few places where Necromancy is openly practiced. Listen, By, these things are everywhere. We have to regroup."

"Wait, what about the others?" Dorothea asked with worry.

"I told them to pull back as soon as I realized what was going on. They should be at the entrance to the village with the Knights."

"And what about the civilians?"

"We did all we could."

Dorothea did not look completely assured, so Byleth said, "Dorothea, we can't help anyone if we die. We have to regroup with the others."

"Y-You're right, Professor."

"Come on, let's–"

Anna stopped as she heard the distant whinny of horses and the faint sound of hundreds of hoofbeats approaching Remire. The redhead saw a plume of dust approaching the town from the southwest and pulled out her spyglass to get a closer look.

The sight of the Death Knight leading a host of no less than fifty cavalrymen filled the merchant with dread.

"Oh, shit…" Anna cursed. "As if things couldn't get any worse…"

…

Jeralt scowled as he struck down another thrall, his lance slicing through the undead woman's arms and chest. The body slumped to the ground and stayed dead. He then made another hard swing and cleaved an old undead man in two from head to pelvis. With how he used his lance, one could've sworn he was wielding a sword instead.

Catherine made a shout as she first punched an undead minion before delivering three swift slashes of Thunderbrand, cutting her victim into ribbons. Shamir drew another arrow, having lit the tip on fire, and fired it into the forehead of an undead man, setting him ablaze. The Dagdan woman was about to draw another arrow when another zombie rushed at her, forcing her to draw her karambit and slash out the undead woman's throat. This did not stop the zombie, which clumsily grabbed her left breast as it tried to bite her. Before it could sink its teeth into her, Catherine cleaved the zombie's head from its shoulders.

"Thanks," Shamir said as she shoved away the dead woman.

"Not gonna let some undead floozy feel you up and get away with it," Catherine said jokingly, which made Shamir scowl at her.

Behind the Knights, the first-year students were forced to battle with the undead. Some were doing acceptably, able to strike down a few such that they stayed dead, but it wasn't so with everyone. Ingrid let out a shriek as one of the undead thralls attempted to rip her left arm off before Felix slashed off the zombie's arm and then lopped off its head. Bernadetta screamed repeatedly as she tried to crawl away from a zombie that had tackled her, kicking frantically at it until Edelgard slammed her axe into the zombie's back, splitting the undead thrall's torso in half. Raphael let out several loud grunts as he was jumped on by five zombies, and then he let out a loud howl of pain as one of them bit his left arm. He began throwing them off him as Balthus grabbed two of them and threw them toward a burning building, setting the undead ablaze.

"Sheesh, never thought I'd have to fight something that's already dead," said Balthus. "Gotta say, it's no fun."

"You okay there, Muscles?" Hapi asked Raphael.

"Y-Yeah!" Raphael said loudly as he threw another zombie away, allowing Lorenz to blast it with a small firebolt. "Just a little bite, that's all."

Hapi's eyes widened at hearing this as she said, "Oh, that's not good."

"W-What? What's not good?"

"I've heard old stories that if you're bitten by the undead, you'll turn into one."

Raphael's expression of shock and dismay spoke for him.

"That's just an old wives' tale!" said Anna, prompting the others to look at her as she returned with Byleth, Dorothea, Dimitri, Marianne, Petra, Claude, and Ignatz.

"Anna, you're back!" said Mercedes. "Thank goodness you found everyone."

"You sure I'm not gonna turn into a zombie?" asked Raphael.

"You'll be fine," Anna replied. "Getting bitten by one won't turn you into the undead. That's just superstition."

Raphael let out a loud sigh of relief at this.

"Even so, I'd better have a look at that," said Dorothea as she channeled a healing spell on Raphael's wound.

"Thanks, Dorothea," Raphael said with a friendly smile.

"Professor Eisner, Dorothea, are you two alright?" asked Edelgard.

"We're okay," said Byleth.

"Only asking about them, Princess? I'm crushed," said Claude.

"I knew you would find some way to weasel out of the clutches of these… things," said Edelgard. Claude made an amused smile at this.

"Professor, we are not having the training in fighting the non-dead," said Petra.

"Yeah, what's with these things?!" Caspar said as he punched away another zombie. "I keep hitting them and they don't stay down!"

"Brute force will only get you so far against the undead," said Anna. "Listen everyone, I've faced things like this before. They're weak to fire and holy magic."

"I can muster such spells," Constance said gloomily. "However, many of our companions, valorous as they are, are unable to wield such magic."

"Doesn't mean you can't help. This is gonna sound brutal, but you gotta hack off their arms and heads. If they lose those, they can't hurt anyone. We then have to burn the bodies so they can't rise again."

"M-Miss Anna!" Marianne said in shock.

"That would be a desecration of their remains!" said Ferdinand.

"I know it sounds like overkill," said Anna, "but trust me. It's how it's done on other continents." Then, muttering to herself, Anna said, "Guess I should be glad these things aren't the Risen…"

Nodding to this, Byleth said, "You heard her. Use fire and holy spells or use blades to take off their limbs. Archers are to use fire arrows. Raphael, Caspar, Balthus, you all start throwing the bodies onto that pyre!"

Byleth pointed at a roaring fire inside a nearby house.

"What about Solon?" Dorothea asked as she finished healing Raphael.

"We'll deal with him once we've regained control of the situation."

Dorothea gave a reluctant nod at this. She wanted to go after the necromancer, but she knew Byleth was right. The undead were too numerous; they had to thin their numbers first.

As Byleth shouted out her orders, Anna took this moment to dart toward Jeralt. Dorothea and Byleth noticed this, but they decided to tend to their own fight.

Upon reaching Jeralt, Anna said, "Jeralt, we've got big trouble heading this way from the southwest."

"More trouble than a horde of undead?" Jeralt said as he cut down another zombie.

Anna was about to explain when the loud sound of whinnying horses caught their attention. Jeralt and Anna turned to see the Death Knight had stopped upon entering the village far ahead of his cavalrymen.

He then said, "My blade craves their flesh… The weak will wither and die…!"

Grimacing, Anna said, "Yeah, a lot more trouble."

"Hmm, so that's the Death Knight," said Jeralt.

"Jeralt, be careful. He's REALLY good. Don't hold back against him."

"Thanks for the advice, Anna. I'll keep my guard up, as always."

At that moment, the Death Knight's subordinates rode into view, charging forward with shouts for battle as the Death Knight bellowed, "TO THEIR DEATHS!"

The black armored horsemen rushed directly for the soldiers and students as Jeralt shouted, "Shield wall! SHIELD WALL!"

Despite still being in battle with the undead, the Church soldiers quickly moved to their positions, bringing their shields together and leveling their lances to meet the oncoming cavalry charge. But the Death Knight's cavalry did not slow down, plowing through any undead that got in their way as they charged. From anyone else's perspective, the charge seemed suicidal; the fifty or so horsemen that the Death Knight led were heavily outnumbered by the Church soldiers, who still had around 250 men. At least 80 of them were making up the shield wall, making an impressive bulwark lined with lances that were ready to cut down the oncoming horses.

Then, the Death Knight rode out in front of his men, his scythe crackling with dark energy. He made a large swing of the Scythe of Sariel, sending a massive crescent-shaped wave of dark energy at the shield wall. The attack cleaved through the front line of shields like a hot knife through soft butter, instantly killing over 20 Church soldiers and breaking the formation.

The cavalry plowed into Church's broken line, with many Church soldiers being killed quickly by either the cavalry or the undead.

Seeing the line being broken, Jeralt shouted, "Archers! Aim high!"

Shamir and her archers immediately readied their bows and fired a volley at the Death Knight's cavalry. Several cavalrymen were hit and brought down but any arrows that struck the Death Knight himself broke upon his armor. The Death Knight made another wide swing with his scythe, cleaving three Church soldiers in two with a single blow.

Grimacing, Jeralt readied his lance and urged his horse forward, charging at the Death Knight. The Death Knight was about to cut down four more soldiers when he realized Jeralt's approach, and he swung around to block the Blade Breaker's strike with his scythe.

"That's far enough, Jeritza," Jeralt said coldly.

"The Blade Breaker…" said the Death Knight. "Do try and make this challenging for me."

"Be careful what you wish for!"

Jeralt made another strike at the Death Knight as he said this, his blow blocked again by the Scythe of Sariel. The Death Knight countered with a slash, which Jeralt deftly deflected with his shield. The two horsemen then began a series of clashes. Each of their blows was expertly made and each block was calculated. Neither of them could gain an advantage. Jeralt's experience and strength matched the Death Knight's ruthlessness and ferocity.

Then, as the two separated from another clash, the Death Knight said, "Not bad. Show me more of your strength, Blade Breaker."

Jeralt tightened his grip on his lance as he prepared for the Death Knight's next onslaught.

…

From his place in the rear of the village, Solon watched as the Death Knight clashed with Jeralt and scowled. He hadn't expected the Blade Breaker would give them so much trouble, but his forces had almost finished bringing down his undead minions. The Death Knight's cavalrymen were also withdrawing, but this was expected; it had always been the plan for them to make a quick strike and then retreat to avoid too many losses.

He then looked toward Byleth and the first-year students and realized he had misjudged her power. She was now cleaving through the undead rapidly with her blade, despite that it was clearly not at its full power. Meanwhile, her students had changed their tactics and now were effectively putting down his undead minions. A few had been injured, of course, but none of Byleth's students had been killed. Trying to raise the dead Church soldiers now would demand more of his resources than he was willing to part with.

"Lord Solon, should we retreat now?" asked one of Solon's subordinates.

Solon placed a hand to his chin as he pondered. Logically, it would make sense for him to retreat now. But he still had not fully gauged Byleth's power. He needed to learn more.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the broken bodies of the third-year students from Garreg Mach. They had not yet been raised as undead.

"No, not yet…" said Solon. "I have one more experiment to perform."

Solon then raised his hand, channeling his dark magic. As he did, the remaining undead that were attacking the Church soldiers suddenly ceased their attack, and then began shambling back toward the bodies of the third-year students.

Upon seeing the zombies retreating, Lorenz said, "Ha! Look at them run!"

"They're pulling back!" Annette said thankfully. "We did it!"

As the other students expressed their relief, Byleth looked at Anna and saw the redhead's expression of concern.

"Anna?" asked Byleth.

"Something's wrong," said Anna. "Undead don't retreat on their own. They don't feel pain, they don't know fear. Solon must be up to something."

Then, as if on cue, the group heard Solon's voice booming through the village, amplified by magic. The necromancer was again channeling a great deal of dark magic that could be seen from the other side of the village.

"It seems I underestimated you beasts," said Solon. "Your struggling is proving most irritating. But let us see how you handle THIS!"

Solon then unleashed a powerful sphere of dark magic into the center of his remaining undead. The zombies, along with the dismembered bodies of the third-year students, were lifted off the ground and began to combine around the sphere. The ripping of flesh and breaking of bone filled the air as the corpses were twisted and reshaped. Blood and guts spilled from around the dark sphere as the bodies were merged in a blasphemous, gruesome display.

As the Church soldiers and the students watched in horror, the bodies combined to create a massive corpulent monstrosity as big as a large house. It looked vaguely humanoid, but numerous dismembered limbs and torn flesh lined its body, sewn together by dark magical threads. Its head was a grotesque mockery of a human face with a pair of rotting eyes. Its chest cavity was split open, revealing its guts and what looked to be its ribs protruding from its flesh.

The sight of the gigantic undead monster made Marianne faint instantly, and she fell into a concerned Dimitri's arms.

"Now go, my Abomination!" shouted Solon. "And crush these beasts to pulp!"

The Abomination let out a loud growl as it looked toward the Church soldiers. It then reached its right hand to what looked to be a giant bone sticking out of its side and pulled it out of its flesh, revealing it to be a huge cleaver made of bone.

Then, in a tone that made everyone shudder in fear, the Abomination growled as it said, "FREEESH MEEEAAATTT!"

I hope I don't get sued by Blizzard for this. ;)

I also hope I'm not gonna give too many of you nightmares with all this. But seriously, imagine having to fight an Abomination (ala Warcraft) in Fire Emblem. Yes, an Abom like Stitches, not the Butcher demon from Diablo.

And yes, Jeralt versus the Death Knight. I know I didn't make it all too descriptive, but that would've dragged it out too long. Use your imagination. :)

And finally, yes, a reference to FE:Awakening. Good thing these aren't the Risen, indeed.