Again, this part is not for the squeamish. You have been warned.
Chapter 75 – The Remire Calamity, Part 3 (Red Wolf Moon)
Anna, unnerved by the sight of the Abomination, said, "Whoa, that's a new one."
"You haven't seen this before?" Byleth asked with concern.
"Not something like this. I don't think a few spells or fire arrows are gonna cut it here."
The Abomination let out a dark chortle as it began lumbering toward the Church soldiers, who responded with a hail of flaming arrows. Though many hit their mark, the obese monster was unaffected by the shots, with any flames quickly dissipating and failing to set the beast aflame.
"TEAR MEAT!" the Abomination shouted as it swung its cleaver at the first line of soldiers, smashing them into the ground in a bloody display of force.
"Fall back! Fall back!" one soldier shouted as he fled from the monster.
The soldiers turned and ran, but one unlucky soldier screamed as he was grabbed by the Abomation's left hand. The Abomination squeezed hard, crushing the man's bones in its grip, before raising him to its mouth and then chomping down, devouring the unfortunate soldier from the waist up, armor and all. It then threw away the legs of the corpse as it continued its advance.
As more flaming arrows struck the Abomination, the beast reached for another bone that was protruding out of its flesh and pulled it out, revealing it to be a bone-made meat hook. Attached to the hook were ropes of flesh that acted like a chain. It then threw its hook out at a group of soldiers. The hook went flying past one soldier but then was quickly yanked back, causing the hook to impale the soldier as he was sent flying toward the Abomination, along with two others who got caught by the hook. It then slammed the hook and the soldiers to the ground before slicing them in half with its cleaver.
"MORE! KILL MORE!" it shouted, sending panic through the soldiers.
"Yes, my minion!" shouted Solon. "Slaughter all of these beasts!"
The Abomination let out a roar and continued to charge at the fleeing Church soldiers. It was now getting dangerously close to the students' position. To their horror, they could see the pieces of the third-year students that had become part of its body sticking out of various parts of its flesh. Arms, hair, and even a ruined face or two were visible on the monster's sides.
Byleth, seeing Jeralt was still in battle with the Death Knight, shouted, "Spread out! Surround it! And watch out for that hook!"
As she said this, and as the students moved to the sides to try and flank the Abomination, the monster swung its cleaver at Byleth, who dodged away from the clumsy blow.
"KILL… FELL STAR!" said the Abomination as its rotting eyes centered on Byleth.
It made several more swings at Byleth, but each one was clumsy and slow, so Byleth could easily dodge them. She did not retaliate, choosing instead to draw the beast's attention while the others got around it.
Seeing the others were now in position, she shouted, "NOW!"
The students unleashed their attack upon the Abomination. Swords, arrows, axes, lances and spells all began hammering away at the Abomination. But to the students' dismay, most of their attacks were having little effect.
After slashing the monster with Luin and then pulling back on Celdia's reins, Ingrid shouted, "This thing's tough!"
"We're barely doing anything to it!" shouted Ignatz as he released another arrow, hitting the Abomination in the forehead to no effect.
"Then let's see how it likes this!" shouted Lysithea as she cast a Seraphim spell at it.
The spell struck the Abomination dead center. The beast howled in pain from the holy magic, dropping its meat hook as it turned toward the short white-haired mage. Lysithea turned to run, but she wasn't quick enough, and the Abomination grabbed her left arm. The girl screamed as her arm was crushed in its grip, with several bones cracking as she was lifted toward the Abomination's maw.
Realizing her imminent demise, Lysithea screamed in panic, "WAIT! NO! LET ME GO! DON'T EAT ME! I'M NOT A SNACK!"
As the others attacked in an attempt to make the Abomination drop Lysithea, Byleth swung her whip blade at the Abomination's arm, wrapping the blades around the monster's wrist. The blade glowed red hot as Byleth yanked back hard, causing the serrated edges of the Sword of the Creator to rip into the Abomination's wrist and slice it apart.
The Abomination and Lysithea both screamed, the former in agony, the latter in panic. Lysithea's shrieks were abruptly cut off as Balthus ran over and caught the girl in his arms before dashing away from the Abomination, which was spurting blood from the stump in its arm.
"You okay, little lady?" Balthus asked Lysithea, who could only blush in response to being rescued. Then, as Lysithea let out a loud wince of pain, Balthus said, "Yeah, I'll take that as a no. Better get that arm looked at."
Balthus retreated with Lysithea in his arms as the others continued to strike at the Abomination. Felix slashed several times at the monster's flesh, cutting open several gashes in its side, but this had little effect on it. Fire spells from Mercedes, Lorenz and Constance peppered the monster, yet these did not set its flesh ablaze, while other spells from the others hammered away with minimal effect. Another Seraphim spell from Hapi hit the Abomination's left leg; this blow made the beast howl in pain from the holy magic as it was forced to kneel.
Letting out a groan of anger, the Abomination whirled around with alarming speed and surged its whole body forward at Hapi. As it did, its exposed ribcage bones opened like a set of jaws, ready to crunch down on the dark-skinned girl. Before it could strike, Hapi was scooped off her feet by Alois, who tackled her out of the way. The Abomination's ribcage jaws missed them both, and instead it only got a load of dirt into its chest.
Groaning, Hapi looked at Alois as he let out a chuckle and said, "Looks like I just snatched you from the 'jaws' of doom!"
Irately, Hapi said, "Are you trying to make me sigh?!"
"Err, sorry. Not the time for jokes, I suppose."
"Ugh. Actually, a sigh right now might not be such a bad idea."
"Now, now, let's not make things even more hectic than they are."
The exchange was interrupted by the sound of ripping flesh, and the two turned to see the Abomination's left arm was rippling, as though something were pushing its way through its flesh toward its bleeding stump. A rippling bulge made its way to the end of the Abomination's arm, and a new hand sprouted from the bloody stump, twitching as it emerged.
"Oh, that's just great…" Hapi said sardonically.
"It grew a new hand?!" said Hilda as the Abomination retrieved its meat hook. "That's just not right!"
"We gotta find some way to put this thing down!" shouted Catherine.
The Crusader then delivered a hard slash to the Abomination's side, opening a wide cut that began to regenerate shortly afterward. Catherine grimaced as she backed off, while several Church soldiers began to strike at the monster. The Abomination spun around and slashed its meat hook through an unfortunate pair of soldiers, cleaving them in two down the sides of their torsos.
"Professor, this isn't working!" Dorothea said fearfully. "What are we going to do?"
Byleth grimaced as she tried to think. No matter what damage the students were inflicting, the Abomination wasn't taking any meaningful damage. It just kept regenerating from anything they did to it. While it could feel pain, unlike the lesser undead, pain alone wasn't going to stop it.
"Professor?" Dorothea asked with even more concern.
Byleth's attention was finally caught when she heard the Abomination let out a deep laugh. It then shouted, "RIIIP! TEAR! MORE!"
The Abomination then reached down to pick up two of the Church soldier corpses, scooping them up with its meat hook so it could consume them. As it raised them above its head, however, Byleth noticed something in the center of its opened chest, around where its heart was supposed to be. Part of the monsters' guts had become exposed, revealing a glowing black mass of magic in place of its heart. As it ate the two dead soldiers, the guts began to fill in, regenerating a protective cover around the magical core.
"There! In its chest!" shouted Byleth. "There's something where its heart should be! That must be its weakpoint!" As everyone turned their attention to her, Byleth shouted, "Mages, on my mark, concentrate your spells on its chest! Everybody else, keep hacking away at it! It needs to take material away from other parts of its body in order to regenerate!"
"We're on it, Professor!" shouted Dimitri as he slashed his lance again at the monster's side, opening a large gash that soon afterward regenerated.
As the monster's flesh regenerated, the others saw that part of the material covering its chest receded. It wasn't much, but it was noticeable.
"Teach is right!" shouted Claude. "It can't regenerate itself from nothing! Keep hitting it!"
"Archers concentrate your fire on its arms. Try to take its limbs off!" shouted Byleth.
"On it," Shamir said tersely as she readied another fire arrow.
"You've got it, Professor!" shouted Ashe.
Arrows flew at the Abomination's right arm as it raised its cleaver for another strike, many hitting around the same spot on its sagging flesh and tearing a large chunk out of its arm. Edelgard, Hilda and Dedue let out shouts as they swung their axes at the Abomination's stomach, the girls activating their Minor Crests of Seiros and Goneril, respectively, as they tore off large chunks of flesh. Ingrid and Sylvain slashed their respective Heroes' Relics at the monster's back, ripping off slabs of meat from its torso.
The Abomination growled in pain as it began to repurpose its guts into new material for its body. As its wounds regenerated, the guts in the middle of its chest receded, exposing its core.
"NOW!" Byleth shouted, signaling for the mages to attack.
The mages all released their spells at the Abomination's chest. Combinations of Anima, holy and dark magic smashed into the monster's chest cavity, and it released a howl of agony as it was struck hard. The core within its chest began to fluctuate wildly, and as it did, the dark threads that held the Abomination together began to fade. It was on the verge of breaking up.
Byleth chose her moment then. She swung the Sword of the Creator and sent the whip blade forward like an arrow. At first, it appeared as if she missed her mark as her blade's tip went past the black mass, but then the Sword of the Creator began to wrap itself around the magical core, entangling it within its segmented blades. As soon as the core had been wrapped up by the blades, Byleth let out a shout and pulled back on her blade, causing the Sword of the Creator to rip the core out of the Abomination's chest. Byleth then swung her blade again in the same pull, and the Sword of the Creator eviscerated the core in mid-air.
The Abomination let out a final agonizing groan as it came to a halt, dropping its meat hook and cleaver. And then its body began to fall apart. The dark threads vanished, and the Abomination broke apart into a disgusting pile of guts and blood.
"We… we did it…!" Dorothea said as she panted in exhaustion. "It's finally down!"
As the others began to cheer at their victory, however, Byleth dashed through the crowd. Dorothea noticed and immediately realized where Byleth was going.
She ran after Byleth as the teacher rushed toward Solon's position.
…
From where he stood, Solon let out a grin at seeing the Abomination's defeat, even as his subordinates voiced their concern. He had not expected it to win; it was merely meant to cause further casualties for the Church, and to let him see just how strong Byleth really was. He now had a good grasp of her capabilities.
Now the Fell Star was heading his way, and she looked as mad as a hornet. Seeing her so angry brought a special satisfaction to Solon.
Solon's subordinates moved to engage Byleth as she reached them. A black-armored Fortress Knight swung his axe at her, but Byleth quickly evaded the blow and swung a hand toward him, releasing a Thunder spell at close range. The Fortress Knight cried out as he was electrocuted. A swordsman then tried to cut Byleth down, but she parried two strikes from him and then bisected him through his waist. An archer fired at her, but to his shock, Byleth caught the arrow just before it would have hit her left breast and snapped in two. She then rushed forward at the archer before he could ready another shot and punched him in the head, sending him to the ground before she stomped down on his chest.
In panic, the archer said, "Wait! Wait, NO – GAH!"
Byleth mercilessly drove her blade through the man's heart, killing him instantly.
"Why you…!" shouted another swordsman as he slashed at her.
Byleth simply leaned to the side, deftly avoiding the strike before raising her left hand, which still had the broken arrow shaft in her hand and jamming the bodkin arrowhead into the man's neck. The man gasped as his throat was pierced and he struggled to breathe before Byleth pushed him over, leaving him to bleed out on the ground.
Now only Solon was left. He gave her a loud smirk, goading her to attack.
As Byleth let out a furious shout, Dorothea came out of cover, having witnessed Byleth's fight with Solon's subordinates, and shouted, "Professor, wait!"
Byleth did not listen and angrily swung the Sword of the Creator at Solon. A mere foot before it would have hit him, it struck the necromancer's barrier.
As she pushed harder on the sword, trying to breach Solon's defense, Byleth said furiously, "Why have you gone after this village? What are you planning, Solon?! Why have you made these people suffer?!"
"Heh, you think it has anything to do with this place?" said Solon. "I could have conducted this experiment on any test subjects. Now that I have what I came for, I must bid you farewell."
Then, to Byleth's surprise, a magical circle began to form under Solon's feet. She recognized the pattern immediately: a teleportation spell.
She shouted "WAIT!" just as Solon vanished, his barrier disappearing as he did, sending her stumbling forward as her blade hit nothing but air.
Byleth let out a series of livid breaths as she stood before Dorothea. Then, just as the singer was about to say something to her, Byleth looked skyward as she let out a scream of outrage that could be heard for miles.
The sight left Dorothea terrified. She had never seen Byleth so angry before.
…
The sound of Byleth's scream caught the attention of both Jeralt and the Death Knight. Jeralt did not let down his guard as the Death Knight looked to see Solon had vanished, and his Abomination was now nothing more than a pile of guts that the Church soldiers were now setting on fire to ensure it didn't rise again.
"It appears the Ashen Demon is victorious," said the Death Knight.
Keeping one eye on the Death Knight, Jeralt turned to see Byleth standing before Dorothea on the far side of town. The singer was now approaching her cautiously.
"I have indulged myself for too long here," the Death Knight added. "I do hope we will meet again in battle, Blade Breaker."
Jeralt spun back around to the Death Knight to see black mist beginning to form around him. Realizing the Death Knight was about to warp away, Jeralt charged again at him.
"Wait!" shouted Jeralt, but it was too late. The Death Knight vanished in his cloud of mist. "Dammit!"
For a good ten seconds, Jeralt sat atop his horse as he let his adrenaline settle. Then, hearing a familiar set of approaching footsteps, he did not turn as Anna ran up to him.
"Jeralt, are you okay?" asked Anna.
"I'm fine, Anna," said Jeralt. "The Death Knight escaped."
"Yeah, I saw that. That guy has an annoying habit of doing that. Solon's gone too. Looks like the battle's over… for now."
"Let's see to the survivors. And get the troops searching the village for anyone else who might still be alive."
Anna nodded and followed Jeralt as he rode back toward the Knights' camp.
Told you it wasn't gonna be for the squeamish.
I know some nameless reviewer thought I was gonna have Solon copying Grima, but that's not the case. Solon doesn't even know of Grima's existence, and would probably see him as little better than the other "beasts". Solon's necromancy is less complicated than Grima and the Risen; it's more based on things like the Scourge from Warcraft III.
Also, in regards to Jeralt, I'm going to have next chapter touch on a few things with him (i.e. why he's still working for Rhea despite what happened to Sitri).