"That's it? That's your plan?"
Ashton was almost surprised by how offended Byleth looked at the pointed question. Claude had been the one to speak out, his eyes wide with worry.
"What is wrong with it?" Byleth asked. "If it plunges into the chasm, even if gravity does not do our work for us, it allows it to be destroyed at a safe distance with concentrated magic attacks. The biggest problem is actually getting it to the bridge."
"Yes, that is what worries me most. How will we lead it there?" Claude continued. "Who would be willing to face down a giant machine with dozens of smaller machines, all of which have proven incapable of being hurt except with Saint or Hero relics, and lead it to the bridge? And how will we keep it from catching on to that plan?"
"By making it seem as if it is winning," Edelgard said, "I see what you need, professor."
"I realize nothing in war is without sacrifice," Claude sighed, rubbing his temples. "Still, this just seems like it'd lead to a lot of death. I was hoping above all else to avoid that, but perhaps this might be the only way."
"That is, if it works," Dimitri said, his arms crossed as his single eye focused on Byleth. "Let us say, worst case scenario, that this plan does not work, and the machine simply rises from the chasm again after being blasted with magic and falling thousands of feet. What then?"
"We try it again, of course," Byleth said, "call it a feeling, but this creature, it is not invincible."
Ashton narrowed his eyes at Byleth. There was a knowing glimmer in his pale green eyes, almost like he somehow knew from experience. Clearly that was not possible, but it was still there.
"...Uh huh," Dimitri hummed. "I will defer to your judgment, professor, but I am still wary of this plan."
"You can be wary of it all you want. In fact, continue to do so. If something goes wrong that I cannot foresee, then do everything in your power to keep those remaining alive," Byleth said, not a hint of dourness in his voice even as he spoke of abject failure.
"Then it is a good thing that will not happen," Seiros stated, "You have the Goddess on your side, Byleth. I pray for her and her children that that is enough."
"The Agarthans heralded a deity, and I wonder how many remain in this world," Edelgard said, "not that I would be averse to the Goddess being on our side. If what the Church espouses about her is even half-true."
Seiros' lips thinned but she said nothing.
"There shall be no ideological discussion in this war room," Byleth said, brows furrowed. "We have enough on our plate right now. In just a scant few hours, the greatest threat to the continent will be here, and we must do everything in our power to stop it. If you cannot tolerate each other until it is destroyed, then we are surely lost already."
The room went silent at that.
"This is going to be the battle that decides the fate of Fódlan. Whatever happens after this will only be able to happen because today, we won," Byleth continued, placing his hands on the table and switching his gaze between the three leaders. "Whatever happens, on this day, we chose to live instead of giving ourselves to some higher being."
Ashton wasn't sure how or why, but he couldn't see Prometheus approach so much as he felt him approach.
Garreg Mach was a natural fortress, and even in its dilapidated state, it would prove a hard target to crack for any invading army; it was a testament to either Edelgard's resolve or to the size of her army that they were able to take the monastery five years prior. Even still, with hundreds of soldiers of all colors standing at the battlements, their uneasy gazes turned toward the unnatural purple sky, it was clear that the coming battle would be the worst seen on the continent.
And Ashton could feel it coming. He still didn't know how to explain it. It was like some part of him remembered the presence approaching, and was frightened beyond a reasonable measure. Seiros was healed, Arawn was fine, and every fighter was dedicated to winning the day, and yet, there was a part of him the entire time, waiting for the Vessel to finally arrive, that wanted nothing more than to turn tail and flee into the countryside.
It was easy to ignore those feelings. Ashton had done it more times than he could count. It had faded away with every battle he participated in, but to feel it again so strongly - a sense of finality filled him. This was it. It was either do or die.
When Prometheus' vessel was within sight, it wasn't as a triumphant reach over a mountain or a deathly wail upon the wind. No, it came in fire. Tree burst into flame long before Ashton could even see the body of the Vessel, crawling its way toward the monastery. One arm after the other, the vessel dragged itself through the land, looking like a giant hand was puppeting it with strings. Every action was unnatural, every movement was like watching something that knew what life was, but didn't quite understand its finer concepts.
And that was when its forces came upon Garreg Mach.
They came from the sky as they wanted to do. Giant screeching metal eagles upon the wind that swooped down and cut several dozen men in half. Ashton didn't wait as he slammed his hammer forward in anticipation of the same being done to him, and he heard the satisfying metallic 'clang' as the Aurora Hammer crumpled the red metal wing and caused the abomination to veer hard to the right, crashing into a building in a pile of scrap.
Ashton wondered, before the retreat, just what Prometheus' plan was for Garreg Mach. What was so important about the monastery?
There were not as many flying creatures as Ashton would have thought, though the ones that soared through the sky, letting out distorted and mechanical screeches, were definitely enough to keep a majority of the combined army of Fódlan busy. Even so, Prometheus' Vessel kept its slow and steady pace, dragging itself through the mud and dirt with its hands, its eyes firmly facing forward.
It was like staring down at a hurricane.
"Fall back!" Ashton shouted, "Fall back to the Academy!"
It needed to sound panicked, because knowing the machine god, it could probably hear him. Even then, the terror in Ashton's voice was mostly genuine; the winged metal creatures cut through men and women with impunity, painting the stones of the walls of Garreg Mach in blood. Though every so often one fell in a pile of metallic gore, in a battle of attrition, they were going to lose.
Slowly, but surely, Ashton's men pulled back, and he could see other battalions led by former students and old generals doing the same, fighting with all their might as scores of soldiers fell.
It was more difficult for the winged creatures to attack them as they weaved through the Officers Academy's tighter quarters, but even with a distinct advantage, it would not last.
Ashton watched as a single, metal hand grasped the side of the wall he had just been standing on, the stone cracking and breaking under the strain of its death grip as it lifted itself up. Even from his distance, Ashton could feel the ungodly heat radiating from the Vessel. Its skeletal frame looked to be constantly burning.
It did not last as a blast of energy struck it in the side of the head, causing it to stumble over and nearly fall back past the wall. A screech rang out, almost like that of a squawking eagle, as it regained its balance and looked out over the Officers Academy, its red eyes glowing brighter than before.
"PLEASE EXERCISE CAUTION-"
It was interrupted by a different beam that struck it in the chest, narrowly missing the glowing spot at its center. A noise akin to an annoyed snarl echoed through the now-silent battlefield.
"-WHEN AGGRAVATING MY TEMPER-"
It was struck again from the same direction as the first beam, and it roared.
"WHEN I FIND WHO IS DOING THAT, YOU WILL WISH I HAD JUST KILLED YOU."
Very easily angered, I see.
Ashton expected a beam of red energy from the creature's mouth, just like when they passed it by in their escape from Shambhala, and he was exactly right. A moment later, it laid low a dozen buildings with such power after only a few seconds, reducing whoever was inside to nothing but crushed piles of meat. Afterwards, it dragged itself down the wall, nearly crushing the part it had been sitting on, and continued to move towards the bridge.
"C'mon! Go! Into the monastery, get in there! Now!" Ashton said, watching as the last of his surviving men made it into the building, leaving only himself, Byleth, and Seiros at the gates. The Officers Academy had been reduced to almost nothing but a smoking ruin, and above it all, Prometheus still crawled forward. Ashton knew what its goal was now: the Holy Tomb beneath the monastery. What it would do when it reached it, Ashton had no clue, but it definitely could not be good.
The doors slammed shut, and the three were face to face with a god.
The Vessel stopped just short of the bridge over the chasm, its red eyes staring straight at the trio.
"IS THIS TO BE YOUR FINAL STAND? YOU DO REALIZE THAT I CAN VAPORIZE YOU FROM HERE, YES?"
Ashton didn't know if Prometheus could even hear them from the distance they were at, but he spoke anyway. It occurred to him that something else must be at play. Something he didn't know about. He looked to Byleth briefly before finally speaking.
"Well, what can we do? You burn anything that comes close."
"INDEED. SUCH IS THE WEIGHT OF MY PRESENCE IN THE PHYSICAL PLAIN. EVEN SO, NOTHING IS INSURMOUNTABLE. NOT TO HUMANS. NOT TO DRAGONS. IS THE CYCLE BROKEN SO EASILY?"
"Here he goes on about some sort of 'cycle' again," Ashton said, looking to Byleth who rolled his eyes. "You have a lot of intellect but precious little to do with it, do you not?"
"I SEE THAT BITING WIT HAS A PLACE IN YOUR BLOODLINE." Prometheus stated. "SOME THINGS CAN CROSS ANY BARRIERS, IT SEEMS. YOU ARE MORE CORRECT THAN YOU KNOW. I COULD HAVE DESTROYED YOU AS YOU SOARED PAST ME, BUT I DID NOT. I COULD HAVE DESTROYED YOU IN THE DEPTHS OF SHAMBHALA, BUT I DID NOT. BECAUSE THAT WOULD HAVE PROVEN NOTHING. YOU NEED TO BE AT YOUR FULL STRENGTH, AND I NEED TO TEST IT."
If I just keep him talking…
"And how well's that working out for you?" Ashton asked.
"QUITE WELL, IF THE STATE OF THIS ACADEMY IS ANY INDICATION. I HAVE NO ILLUSIONS OF VICTORY HERE, HOWEVER. THIS IS MERELY THE FIRST STEP. PERHAPS I COULD HAVE. OR PERHAPS THE POWERS OF SOTHIS WOULD ENSURE THAT FAILURE ALWAYS OCCURS."
Ashton's brows furrowed as he turned to see Byleth with slightly widened eyes, but otherwise no change in expression.
"The Goddess' powers dwarf those of an Agarthan god. The Church has always known this to be true," Seiros declared.
"PUT YOUR DOGMA BACK WHERE IT BELONGS, SEIROS OF NABATA. I HAVE NO PATIENCE FOR IT. I HAVE COME TO TERMS WITH MY INEVITABLE FAILURE, BUT HAVE YOU COME TO TERMS WITH THE ATROCITIES YOU HAVE COMMITTED, AND COULD HAVE COMMITTED? SHALL I SHOW YOU A WORLD WHERE YOU FAILED?"
Ashton watched as a winged silhouette, outlined by the unnatural sun, soared forward, light gathering in its mouth. He finally understood what was happening.
"IN EVERY WORLD, IN EVERY REALM THAT HAS THE FIRE EMBLEM AS A PILLAR OF ITS MYTHOS, A HERO RISES, CLAIMING IT OR USING IT IN SOME FASHION. AND EVERY VILLAIN WISHES IT DESTROYED OR TO USE IT AS WELL. REGARDLESS, SAID VILLAIN IS ALWAYS VIOLENTLY AND BRUTALLY CAST DOWN. NOT EVEN A 'VICTORY' IS AS SUCH. I HAVE SEEN IT MYSELF."
"None of this makes any sense…" Seiros grumbled.
"OF COURSE IT DOES NOT. YOUR VIEW IS LIMITED, BUT I SEE ALL. AND IT IS NO DIFFERENT HERE, EVEN WITH ME ACTING THE VILLAIN. EVEN HAD I DESTROYED YOU, THE MAN BESIDE YOU IS THE TRUE LORD OF THIS STRAND OF REALITY. BUT NO MATTER. I WANT TO KNOW, CAN YOU-?"
Prometheus snarled as a beam from Arawn's maw pierced through his back, blasting just beside the glowing section of the Vessel's chest. It reached out its hand, grasping Arawn's dragon form by the tail, and threw him at the monastery. Ashton's heart stopped as Arawn crashed into the building, sending stonework falling to the ground that he narrowly avoided.
Prometheus' form burst into flame even as the trio jumped to action. The Sword of the Creator surged forward, its chain-like length smashing against Prometheus' shoulder, unaffected by the heat. It cut through the metal, but could not sever the limb.
Moving to grab the chain whip, Prometheus was interrupted by a blast of magic from Seiros, knocking it back slightly and allowing Byleth to wrench the blade from Prometheus' shoulder. The machine god let out a mechanical screech before angling its head directly at the monastery doors, red light gathering in its mouth.
Ashton was sure that, if not the end of him, then an end to a good portion of the people in the monastery, tucked away. If Arawn's fall hadn't crushed them, that was. The final blast never came, though, as an arrow of light soared through the air somewhere behind Prometheus, striking the Vessel in the back of the head and angling the beam downwards, narrowing avoiding the bridge and instead slamming into the mountainside.
Rocks fell near Ashton again, and he looked up, watching as Arawn shook off debris from his body and wings. He took to the skies again, and this time, his breath struck Prometheus directly in the center of its chest, bypassing the flames that surrounded it.
Prometheus went slack jawed as it looked down briefly before its arms failed it. Broken terrain followed it as it sailed past the bridge and into the abyss. The last thing Ashton saw of it was the eyes, still glowing even in the growing darkness of its fall.
Ashton moved forward, hammer still in hand, as Seiros turned to see to Arawn and Byleth. Peering into the deep abyss, Ashton could see a faint light gathering.
He was nearly blinded when a beam of red light shot out from the chasm, surging into the sky. A voice rang out in his head.
OUT OF ALL THREE OUTLANDERS I TOOK FROM THE WORLD OF STEEL, YOU HAVE MY PITY MOST OF ALL, ASHTON.
Why's that?
YOU HAVE THE BACKING OF A DEMIGOD OF NABATEAN DESCENT. YOUR FAMILY LINE HAS GONE ON LONG WITHOUT YOU. YOU ARE AN ARTIFACT IN A WORLD THAT HAS MOVED ON. BUT MOST OF ALL, I MUST ASK, WHAT HAVE YOU ACCOMPLISHED? WHERE ARE YOUR GREAT DEEDS? YOU COULD DO NOTHING AS THE OTHERS DESTROYED MY VESSEL. EVEN THE THREE LORDS, THOUGH THEY DID NOT PARTICIPATE IN MY DEMISE, HAVE ACCOLADES TO THEIR NAME. AND SO I ASK YOU, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE THAT WARRANTS YOUR CONTINUED EXISTENCE?
I'll find them. I'll find the others, and we'll find you, and destroy you once and for all. You are right; I do not belong here. Nothing I have done will truly live past my death. But I will put an end to you, when I find you. Nobody will have to suffer you again. I have people who love me, regardless of what I have or have not done. What do you have?
The beam of light fizzled and sparked out, decaying into nothing but a slim line through the world. Ashton swore he could see something, as if the beam was a physical slice through the world itself, but he couldn't make anything out.
And then, he heard laughing.
HAHAHA! LAUGHTER!? LAUGHTER!? I DID NOT THINK MYSELF CAPABLE OF SUCH A THING! YOU ARE A LORD AFTER ALL, ASHTON! COME, THEN! THIS IS NOT THE END! I AWAIT YOU IN THE WORLD BETWEEN WORLDS! THE ROAD AHEAD IS FRAUGHT WITH PERILS AND WORLDS OTHER THAN THESE, BUT BRAVE THEM, AND YOU SHALL HAVE WHAT YOU SEEK! BRING IT TO ME! BRING ME THE END OF THIS LIFE! BRING ME THE END OF THE CYCLE!
At the end of Prometheus' last words, Ashton could have sworn it sounded less like laughter and more like crying.
When at last the red light faded away completely, leaving nothing but an afterimage in Ashton's eyes, he nearly jumped out of his skin as he felt somebody's hand grasp his own.
"It's over," Seiros whispered. "We are still here."
"Yeah," Ashton said, exhaustion coloring his tone. "I… you didn't hear that, right? In your head?"
Seiros tilted her head, her brows furrowed. "Hear what? Did that creature speak in your mind again?"
Ashton's lips thinned as he looked down into the chasm. "This isn't the last time we'll see him. This isn't over. It is for this world, but… well, I do not think that's the last we have seen of that thing. Sorry to put a damper on the mood, but I-!"
Ashton still had doubts, of course. Prometheus had been right; the most Ashton contributed to its defeat was distracting it as Arawn lined up a shot. A shot that ended up missing. And in the end, what had he accomplished? Even so, when Seiros kissed him, he knew that he had succeeded in one thing, and that was in changing her life for the better.
For him, that was enough.
The first thing to do after the battle was burn the dead. There were too many to give proper burials to.
Of course, the death of Prometheus' Vessel was not the death of its minions, as Ashton saw at least three fly off into the distance as the sun set over the horizon, returned back to its original hue. Even so, Ashton's enjoyment of it was dampened by the smell of burning flesh on the wind. The armies were in shambles, and Ashton wondered if, somehow, that was going according to plan. He did not know Byleth very well - in fact, he knew little outside of his immediate family all too well - but he did not pin the former mercenary as a tactician on that sort of scale.
Nonetheless, the fight could not continue that day, even with the death of Prometheus' Vessel. The house leaders had not been seen together since then, with all of them suffering wounds from the attack, but all alive. There were not going to be very many celebrations; perhaps a few groups would toast to victory, but with the death of so many, Ashton admitted that there didn't seem to be a lot to celebrate.
By tomorrow, Ashton and Seiros would keep to their word; their destination was Zanado to the west, where they would stay far away from the troubles of the rest of the continent.
Even if all out war would break out again, even if they were threatened by it, at least Ashton knew that there would be a place for war to even take place. Such a thing had been called into question before the Vessel's destruction.
Of course, nothing in life was as simple as leaving.
The duo came from the ruined gates of Garreg Mach, and despite over a decade, Ashton recognized her instantly. A short woman with dark blonde hair tied into a ponytail, with ramshackle leather armor and a sword on the right of her hip - Elizabeth Eleanor Wright, in the flesh. And by her side, a pale woman wearing a cloak that hid most of her face, though Ashton could see the red eyes beneath the shadow of her hood, and the silvery plate mail under her cloak.
"Well, well, well," Liz said, a shit-eating grin on her face. "Fancy seeing you here, huh?"
Just one more chapter and I get a well deserved rest lol.