Happy Birthday to me! Leave me some good, non-bashing, non-flaming reviews as a present!
Chapter 99 – Wrath of God (Guardian Moon)
"Professor Byleth? Is it really you?" Dorothea asked as she looked up at the former bluette.
Dorothea could not help but be unsure that the woman standing before her was their beloved Professor. She looked the same, all but for her green hair and eyes. The Sword of the Creator was in her hand, now glowing far more radiantly than ever before, with the hole in its center emitting a powerful light.
But then Byleth turned to Dorothea, giving her a warm smile, and all doubt faded from Dorothea's mind.
"It's me, Dorothea," said Byleth, her voice still somewhat otherworldly. "I'm here."
"Professor… I'm so glad you're alright!"
Dorothea, unable to help herself, dropped Joyeuse as she stumbled over to her teacher and embraced her in a hug, an act that surprised not only Byleth, but the others as well.
"I was so worried about you!" Dorothea sniffled. "I thought you were gone for good! I…"
"It's okay, Dorothea," Byleth said as she put a hand to the brunette's back. "It's okay."
"Um, I hate to break up the touching moment," said Claude, "but we're not yet finished here!"
Remembering their situation, Dorothea and Byleth released their grip on each other and turned at the sound of many approaching footsteps. Out of the forest and from atop an outcropping looking over the ruin, the remnants of Solon's forces rushed to aid their master. Solon himself was shaking in a mix of fear and outrage, despite his efforts to hide it.
"I'd like to ask you about your appearance," said Edelgard, "but we must first dispose of the enemy."
"My sentiments exactly," said Dimitri as he readied his lance.
The others took that as their cue to ready themselves for battle as well. Even those who were wounded, like Ingrid and Marianne, showed they were willing to give their all in the coming struggle.
Among them, Anna looked at Byleth for a moment as the now-greenette looked back at her. Anna then shut her eyes with a smile.
"You really had me worried there, By," said Anna. "I hope you won't mind if I chip in."
Byleth nodded to the redhead in approval.
The heartfelt moment was then interrupted as Solon, who clutched his staff tightly in his right hand, said, "What did you see in the darkness of Zahras?" As Byleth turned angrily toward him, he added, "This should be impossible. The only being that can withstand that darkness is…" His face lit up with brief realization before it curled in anger as he hissed, "Unless I dispose of you myself, I may never have the chance to send you back there!"
Dark power then began to surge around Solon as he let out a dark yell. The bones and dust that had once been his skeletal minions shook before lifting from the ground and surging toward the necromancer. Then, to the shock of the students, several of Solon's black-garbed minions began to cry out in agony as the spell touched them, drawing their blood, flesh, bones, and very lives into the foul ritual. The others seemed unperturbed by the sacrifice of their fellows, something that disgusted the cadets. Solon himself seemed to shimmer with violet and black magic as his body was surrounded by bone, flesh and blood, forming a cocoon that bore more than a small resemblance to the one that the Umbral Beast had emerged from.
"That can't be good," said Balthus.
"Quickly, we must destroy that cocoon!" shouted Lysithea as she readied a spell.
As she did, the remaining black garbed warriors readied their weapons. A mage among them sent a fireball at Lysithea, forcing Mercedes to block the attack with a ward. It was pelted by a second fireball afterwards, breaking the ward and making the healer cry out in alarm. A third mage was about to send his own fireball at Mercedes when he was shot in the chest by Claude.
"Gotta deal with these creeps first!" said Claude as he readied another arrow.
The black garbed warriors charged forth to attack the students. But as they did, numerous shouts could be heard behind them. Some of the students turned to see the soldiers of the Church coming to reinforce them, along with some of the surviving militia.
"We'll handle them!" said one of the soldiers. "Go deal with whatever that thing is!"
With no time to thank them, Byleth raised her sword to the cocoon and said, "Bring it down!"
The students released their arrows and spells at the cocoon, pelting it from afar. To their dismay, their attacks had no effect on it, and all they could do was watch as the cocoon swelled from all the materials that gathered into it.
Then they heard a loud, fleshy ripping noise as the cocoon began to break open. A vaguely insect-like set of legs of flesh and bone burst out of the cocoon, two pairs of four legs apiece. And then the cocoon fully broke, revealing the body of the monster that Solon had created. It looked like a huge spider with its large eight legs and enormous round abdomen of twisted flesh, but it had a skeletal humanoid torso in place of a spider's head. The humanoid portion had an elongated skull with glowing red eyes and multiple mandibles for its mouth. Two massive scythes of bone were in place of its arms. Even its ribcage waved as though it were an extra set of smaller scythes, ready to cut apart anything caught in their grasp. The whole monster looked bigger than even the Umbral Beast had been, though this was mainly due to the size of its legs.
Within the large red abdomen, Byleth could see Solon inside as he let out his twisted laughter.
"Behold my masterpiece, Fell Star!" Solon shouted. "My greatest creation, Baiztencale!"
Baiztencale let out a horrifying screech as its mandibles flapped and it stepped free of the remains of the cocoon. The students were unnerved by such a sight, with Leonie particularly looking like she was about to panic.
"RIP THEM TO SHREDS!" bellowed Solon.
Baiztencale began rushing toward the students with alarming speed for its size. It raised one of its scythe-like arms to slash through its enemies.
"SCATTER!" Byleth shouted just in time.
The students darted away from Baiztencale's attack and spread out. The undead monster screeched as it again swung a scythe, almost slicing Caspar in two when he dodged. Caspar retaliated with a swing of his axe, but the weapon clanged uselessly off the scythe-like arm. As Baiztencale removed its arm from the ground, spells from Lysithea and Linhardt slammed into its skeletal torso, blasting off some pieces of its ribcage. Yet even before the bones hit the ground, dark magic surrounded them and drew them back into place, the bones cracking loudly as they were forced back onto the monster's body.
Within his creation, Solon laughed and said, "You cannot hope to defeat Baiztencale with such feeble attacks! Once he crushes you, I'll add your bodies to his design!"
Baiztencale let out another fell shriek as it was assaulted from above by Ingrid, Constance and Flayn. Ingrid slashed Luin at one of the monster's legs, dealing only a glancing blow, while spells from Constance and Flayn only served to pester the monstrosity. It turned its head toward Flayn and, after another shriek, launched what looked to be a fleshy ball of red webbing at her. Flayn screamed as she and Sumia were hit, entangled by the bloody webs and sent into the trees, becoming stuck as they dangled a good ten meters off the ground.
"Flayn!" Ignatz shouted as he rushed over to see if she was alright.
"I am stuck!" Flayn cried out. "I cannot move!"
Ignatz was about to look for help when Petra rushed up the tree Flayn was dangling from, readying her blade to cut the healer loose. Deciding he had to help, Ignatz readied an arrow and shot it at one of the webs binding Flayn, hitting it and snapping the web in two, loosening its grip on the green-haired girl.
Meanwhile, Baiztencale let out another screech as it slammed two of its massive legs down in front of Annette and Lysithea, sending the two girls flying back from the sheer impact. It then swung its scythe in a backhand slash, slamming the blunt end of its arm into Balthus, who barely blocked it with his gauntlets and was sent crashing into a pillar.
"B!" Hapi cried out in concern.
Angered, Hapi released a Seraphim spell at Baiztencale, hitting one of its legs. The monster screeched as its leg was blown in half by the spell, with Solon's magic struggling to repair it. The monster countered with another ball of bloody webs, sending a yelping Hapi to the ground on her back, covered in sticky red webbing.
"Yeesh, this thing's a real handful!" Claude said as he released another arrow, hitting Baiztencale with no effect.
"Do you have any ideas, Anna?" asked Dimitri.
"Your guess is as good as mine!" said Anna. "I've never seen anything this ugly."
"Solon appears to be controlling it from within its abdomen," said Edelgard. "If we can take him out, then perhaps this monster will perish with him!"
"Aim for Solon!" shouted Byleth. "Surround it so it has to spread out its attacks!"
Several Church soldiers, upon seeing the monster, rushed to aid the students as they spread out according to Byleth's orders. The soldiers bravely rushed in to attack Baiztencale's legs. Solon, angered by this, let out a shout as he swung his hand in their direction, prompting Baiztencale to raise its legs and stomp down, crushing three men underfoot and knocking down the others. The monster then slashed a scythe arm at them as they tried to recover, cutting four more soldiers in half while impaling a fifth on the tip of the scythe. As the soldier screamed in agony, he was raised up to Baiztencale's mandibles and screamed his last as the monster tore him apart in its mouth. His flesh and bone were added to the monster, helping in its regeneration.
"Yes, rush to your doom, you worthless beasts!" shouted Solon. "You will all DIE!"
Dark power began to surge from Baiztencale's body, crackling around its remaining legs and scythes.
"What's it doing?" Dorothea asked fearfully.
Byleth looked on in alarm as the seconds passed, not knowing what it was going to do.
As the monster's power peaked, it stretched its legs, standing on four of them as it raised the others. From below, Byleth could see Solon channeling his power in tandem with the monster.
Just as Byleth shouted "GET BACK!", Baiztencale slammed its legs to the ground, releasing waves of dark red energy all around it. It then slammed down its scythes, releasing a bigger wave that combined with the others, creating a huge wall of dark power that swept all around it.
Soldiers and students who were nearest to the blast, even those who tried to take cover, cried out as the attack all but annihilated them.
And then time froze still as stone.
Byleth had expected Sothis to say something to her. But then she remembered what the little goddess had done for her, and what it had cost. Now Sothis was gone.
For a moment, Byleth felt so very alone.
But then she saw the faces of her students as she wound back time. Their expressions of determination, pride, and their inner strength. As long as they survived, she was never truly alone.
The waves of power returned to Baiztencale as those it annihilated were reconstituted. The small shockwaves ebbed back into the monster's spider-like legs.
Byleth knew she had to go back further. She knew once the monster released its attack, there would be no avoiding it. They had to stop it beforehand.
Time wound further back. She watched in reverse as one of Marianne's spells fizzled uselessly on Baiztencale's legs, while a javelin that had glanced off its thorax returned to Dimitri's hand. Ingrid moved backwards to where she had been before she made another pass at its head, while others moved back further to where they had been around thirty seconds before.
She had never wound back this far. Her limit before had been up to fifteen seconds, but now with Sothis' full power at her disposal, she found she could go back twice that far. She hoped it would be enough. She would not get another chance.
Time resumed its flow, allowing the Church soldiers to continue their rush at the monster.
"Get back!" Byleth shouted at the soldiers. "Don't bother with its legs or head! Hit its abdomen from a distance!"
This was enough to get Ingrid to change target mid-dive, and she let out a yell as she slashed Luin at the bulbous red abdomen. Inside, Solon let out a scowl as the Heroes' Relic damaged the layers protecting him, forcing him to divert his magic into repairing it. Meanwhile, Dimitri altered his aim slightly, throwing his javelin at the abdomen, but hitting one of the legs when it got in the javelin's path. The soldiers who had been crushed before yelped as they narrowly avoided being flattened and bisected this time, though two of them remained unlucky and were sliced in half by one of the monster's scythes.
"You detestable beasts!" Solon shouted. "Time for you all to DIE!"
Baiztencale began charging its attack again.
Byleth knew they were running out of time. They had to stop Solon or everyone there would be killed. But their attacks weren't dealing sufficient damage to Baiztencale. At this rate, the outcome was going to be the same.
Byleth knew she would have to do something drastic.
"What's it doing?" Dorothea asked fearfully.
Byleth knew she had only about ten seconds before it attacked. She lashed the Sword of the Creator out at the top of Baiztencale's legs, aiming at the one closest to its abdomen. The sword wrapped itself around the leg. Byleth then willed the sword to retract itself, propelling her up at the leg as the monster cut down three more Church soldiers.
"Professor!" Dorothea shouted in surprise.
Byleth launched skyward, releasing her sword's grip on the monster's leg as she passed over it. A second later, she was above its abdomen, looking down at Solon from above.
She had a little over seven seconds left.
As Solon looked up in alarm, seeing Byleth in Baiztencale's blind spot, Byleth shouted in a voice not quite her own, "KORE DE KIMERU!"
From where she hung in the trees, Flayn was surprised to hear such words, and looked to their source as Byleth unleashed her attack.
The Sword of the Creator moved like quicksilver as it slashed away at Baiztencale's abdomen, eviscerating flesh and bone and opening a large hole in its hide.
With just five seconds left, Byleth could now see Solon exposed within his creation's body as she landed on its thorax.
But her eyes widened in shock as Solon now directed a Death Γ spell at her.
"Beasts! All of you!" he shouted as he unleashed his spell, hitting Byleth directly.
Time seemed to grind to a crawl as Byleth screamed in agony. The spell wasn't one meant to kill someone outright, but to inflict so much pain on them that they could simply break from it. Even with the power of a god, Byleth could not withstand such a thing.
But it wasn't the pain that stung her the most. It was that she was going to fail. She had only three seconds left, maybe one or two more since she disrupted Solon's concentration. But once he finished, everyone below would be wiped out.
Suddenly, the pain began to fade as warmth filled her body. It was a familiar, welcome sensation, the power of magic healing the pain in her body. The pain wasn't gone, not by a long shot, but it was now bearable.
She did not need to turn to know it was Dorothea casting the Physic spell now coursing through her.
She had about two seconds left.
Despite the Death Γ spell still coursing through her, Byleth let out another shout as she rushed Solon, who now had an expression of mounting panic on his face. His barrier emerged to protect him.
The Sword of the Creator, now in its full splendor, pierced through the barrier as if it were a sheet of paper, and plunged into Solon's chest.
The necromancer let out a choking gasp as his body went numb, his black crystalline heart shattered by Byleth's blow.
"This… is not… the end…! Thales will… carry out… GRAAAHHH!"
Solon cried out as his magic went out of control, and Baiztencale let out an earsplitting shriek as its body began to destabilize. Its legs began to burst with founts of blood, its bones crumbled, and dark energy surged uncontrollably into Solon's body.
Byleth let out a shriek as she was blown clear of Solon right before his body was disintegrated in a dark magical explosion. The explosion blew apart Baiztencale's abdomen and thorax, sending its guts and its remaining legs in all directions as they broke apart.
And with one last gurgling rasp, Baiztencale's head came crashing to the ground, its bones shattering into a million pieces as everyone around it took cover from the falling gore and debris.
A loud thud signaled Byleth's landing next to Dorothea.
"BYLETH!" Dorothea shouted as she scrambled over to the greenette's side.
Byleth lay on the ground, seemingly unharmed, but unconscious. Dorothea immediately began trying to heal her.
But as she did, an overwhelming weariness filled Dorothea's body as her adrenaline and Mana gave out on her. She had been fighting so long, she had been on the verge of collapsing.
She didn't hear Edelgard calling out her name as she fell forward onto Byleth's body and passed out.
And that's the end of Solon. What an asshole. He got what was coming.
Sorry if you wanted to see Solon's ultimate creation for longer, but I wanted this battle to take only 1 chapter. If you need a mental image of Baiztencale, think of the Skull Reaper from Sword Art Online, but instead of a centipede for a lower body, it's more like a giant spider.
I'm wondering how much you guys are liking me inserting these new boss fights into the game/story. Between Solon's Abomination, Kronya's new tricks, and now this big beast, I've been putting in more than a few unique additions. Let me know if you would like to see more.
And yeah, that was one of Byleth's Japanese crit quotes. I may ask around for help with some Romaji lines.
Next chapter is going to be #100. We've come a long way, haven't we?