"Guardians! You're here! There are reports of Demonic Beasts attacking the monastery!"
The Knights of Seiros stood waiting by Lady Rhea, the Guardians all approaching with Byleth in tow.
"Demonic…Beasts? Have we fought one of those here before?" Moa scratched her head.
"Doesn't matter." Leona stated. "We'll help. Where are they?"
"Apparently near a chapel." Alois stated. "Numerous students have been going in and out of there. We were just about to head out."
"Aww man…" Jose groaned. "Right when I had a cool plan, too."
"What was your plan?" Moa asked aloud, garnering the attention of all in the room.
"Ah, well, actually…forget it. Anyway, whose ass are we kicking again?" Jose sighed, stretching.
"We'll give you the full details on the way there." Catherine spoke, cracking her fists. "We may need the help of some students too. Not to say that you guys aren't strong, of course."
"Not to worry…" Anan nodded. "The sooner we finish this, the better."
As the Knights of Seiros and the Guardians all prepared themselves for battle, Moa switched to comms.
"So…how did you guys, like, not pick that up on your scans?" Moa asked the Ghosts.
"I'm gonna say, probably, we don't have a good biometric read on what they are, so they're functionally just like, animals to us?" Chopstick tried. "After this battle though, we should be good."
"Okay, in that case, next question. Why does the name Demonic Beast sound so familiar?"
"It's basic as hell?" Jose tried. "Pretty much anything we fight could be described using those words."
"Well, yeah, but like, we use the actual names for them, or we use other words. Besides, as mentioned by Chopstick, It's nothing we've fought before because they didn't register their biometrics as hostile."
"If I remember right…" Hornet began. "Cinnamon had made mention of 'Demonic Beasts' back when he first scanned the library. Let me see…yep! Looks like they're created as a result of faulty crests…or misusing a Heroes Relic?"
"Oh, so they're just mutated humans..." Moa sighed.
"I guess, yeah."
"Any hope of turning them back?" Leona tried.
"No." Hornet stated. "No mention of a cure or anything. This wording makes it seem like any semblance of their former self is gone."
"Tragic…" Anan shrugged. "But it makes our job easier. No regrets."
"Damn." Jose reeled. "You don't gotta be so cavalier about it."
"So…we're stuck in a Pyramid Ship with no hope of escaping. Great."
Lus and Ginzo were once again stuck wandering the vast halls of the Pyramid Ship, their path shifting as they went along.
"It's still shifting…" Cinnamon said. "This doesn't make sense. Why would the Pyramid do this to us if it didn't have anything to show us?"
"Because the Darkness wants us dead?" Ginzo sighed. "Why else?"
"No…I think Cinnamon has a point." Fortune let out.
"Huh?" Ginzo snorted.
"I mean, every time we've interacted with the Pyramids, they usually let us out. So why would it trap us and kill us here? If anything, it'd want us to become the champions here and go out and reign terror." Fortune mused, flying around.
Lus stopped and nodded. "That's a good point."
"Okay?" Ginzo shrugged again. "We're still screwed."
Both Guardians and Ghosts stopped moving as they all thought. Their minds raced with several questions regarding the Pyramids being in Fodlan.
Why were they here?
How were they here?
How many were here?
How long were they here?
What do they want from Fodlan?
The answers did not come readily to them. But Lus' mind sparked with an idea. One that came from his time on Europa.
The Titan summoned a Stasis fist, and packed all his power into an icy punch, slamming into one of the Pyramids' walls. "Is this what you want?"
As if to agree, the Pyramid shifted, a new path forming from Lus' impact on the wall.
"...What." Ginzo let out, dumbfounded. "W-w-what did you do?"
Lus sighed with disdain at his correct guess. "...I think this whole time, the Pyramid has been trying to show us that the Light can't save us. That we need the Dark to survive."
"The path forward hasn't shifted." Cinnamon added. "Yet."
"And you knew that punching a wall would work?" Ginzo asked, still confused.
"No. Just felt like it."
Ginzo chuckled for the first time in a long time. "Whatever. Let's move."
"These things are tougher than I expected!" Jose spoke, rolling to avoid a slam from the so-called Demonic Beasts. The Warlock leaped up before stabbing a Dawnblade into it making the beast scream in pain. He then fired off bolts from his Telesto as an extra attack before he finally landed, leaping back once again to see that despite the heavy damage he dealt, the beast was still standing. "Damn. Way tougher."
"It's not just you." Anan agreed, rolling away before firing his new Tex Mechanica rifle into his beast, each round tearing through its flesh as it rushed him. "Somehow these things are more resilient to our attacks than even the Vex were here."
"Thaaaat's debatable." Moa disagreed, helping Anan by unloading several Golden Gun shots into his beast, incinerating it. "Maybe you guys are just worse?"
"Just focus, please." Leona groaned, running circles around her target while letting her Hawkmoon tear into her prey. "We still have to figure out where Ginzo and Lus are. After this."
To her surprise, Catherine capitalized on her attacks by coming from behind Leona, cleaving into the beast's legs before rolling out of the way. "Hope you don't mind me joining in on the action!"
"Not at all." Leona spoke, nodding.
The two warriors rushed the beast to finish it off, Leona using her fists while Catherine used Thunderbrand. Catherine chose to cut through the beast's lower half, while Leona leaped up and delivered serious thunder punches into it, the force of each of them rendering the beast into tender meat.
Anan quickly moved to help students fleeing from another beast by drawing attention to himself, firing more rounds from his ornate rifle into it. The beast charged towards Anan in fury, its flesh being torn apart by bullets as Anan continued to fire. The beast reared its claw up to swipe away Anan, but the Warlock blinked away from its attack, sending out a blast of fire with a snap that incinerated the beast's face.
Jose did much of the same, dodging, rolling, and blinking away from the beast's attacks as it continued to rush him. To his surprise, Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude attacked from the rear with respective weapons of their own, felling the Demonic beasts.
"So how weird is it that these beasts just showed up outta nowhere?" Jose asked, running to meet the students hoping they had answers.
"Quite," Edelgard answered, surveying the field for their next target.
"Not to mention, it was already strange having students frequent this chapel…" Dimitri added.
"Well, people are always up to some shady stuff…" Claude shrugged, nocking an arrow. "But it is strange indeed."
Away from the Guardians, other students fought to aid those escaping. Sylvain, Felix, Petra, and Lysithea were all busy fighting to take down a beast that towered over them and threatened to take them down with furious strikes.
Felix and Petra deftly weaved in and out of the beasts' attack range, slicing into it whenever they could. Sylvain rode on horseback, capitalizing on the pain Felix and Petra inflicted by jabbing his lance into the beast whenever it reeled back. Lysithea made sure to hit hard anytime she fired off a blast of magic, forcing the beast back into a wall, against which the students continued their assault, until-
"Felix, watch out!" Sylvain shouted, pulling Felix away as a mystical blue and black ball of flame appeared in the sky above the beast.
The students all apprehensively backed away, weapons or magic at the ready in case it was needed. The mysterious ball sent out a tendril that wrapped around the neck of the beast, sending in into a horrified frenzy and making it scream out in pain, before the tendril pulled into itself, making it and the beast disappear with an echoing scream.
"What the hell was that?" Felix asked, more annoyed than shocked.
"...Was…was that a ghost?!" Lysithea fearfully asked, mouth agape from the sight.
"I do not believe that was any ghost native to our world." Petra shook her head, slowly regaining her composure. "I am thinking we must tell the Guardians. They will know more I am hoping."
"Well, as long as I don't have to get taken like that." Sylvain shrugged.
"More glyphs?"
Ginzo groaned as he and Lus arrived at what looked to be a wall depicting glyphs or images, arranged in hexagons.
"Visually, I can recognize a few…" Lus began. "This one looks like the Black Garden heart, this one a Hive Knight-or face in general, rather-, The Tower, Pyramids obviously, a Ghost resurrection, and Earth?"
Fortune popped out and began scanning the wall, analyzing it as the Guardians watched their surroundings for any surprise attacks. "Let's see…if I'm reading this right, it goes: Hive Scorn love darkness, yeah of course…" Fortune snickered. "Worship…Witness? Huh?"
"Maybe…they revel seeing the Darkness at work?" Ginzo shrugged. "Or Witness could be a thing, like another race we haven't fought yet."
"It keeps going…" Fortune nodded. "Pyramid Fleet Enter Earth Stop Guardian…that one's pretty self-explanatory."
"Not to mention, it's been ringing kinda true…" Lus sighed. "They just haven't entered Earth yet. I hope."
Fortune scanned the lower half of the glyphs, still puzzled at the wall. "Witness again! What does that mean? Anyway… Witness Commune Traveler Drink Light. Oh…oh no…this is making me scared."
"Is…Are…Witness, whatever it or he or she or they is…do they live in the Pyramid Ships?" Ginzo suggested, moving down the hall a bit further to ensure the coast was clear.
"Why wouldn't we have seen them by now then?" Lus tried. "Or maybe Witness is that vampire thing we saw earlier. Keep going. Hopefully, it specifies."
"Witness Kill…that's it. That's it?" Fortune let out, more puzzled than when she began.
"It doesn't say what Witness will kill?" Ginzo said, turning around to look at his Ghost.
"No!" Fortune shook. "It just ends."
Before the Guardians could ponder the message, the groans of a Scorn Abomination stomping towards their position made them snap out of their thoughts.
"Time to go." Lus sighed, cocking his Heritage. "We'll figure it out as we move."
"Professor!"
As Moa moved to look for the next Beast to kill, Felix, Petra, Sylvain, and Lysithea ran to her.
"Hey, Professor, I don't know if now is a good time…" Sylvain began. "But have you ever seen blue and black flames appear in the sky?"
Moa shook her head. "Blue and Black Flames?"
"Yes." Lysithea nodded. "There was a ghastly orb that appeared above one of the beasts, and took it away!"
"Hmm…oh." Moa let out, recognizing the event. Stay by me."
"Huh?" Sylvain blurted, confused.
Moa switched to comms not a moment later. "Guys, the students maybe, just maybe have seen a beast being Taken."
"What?!" Jose shouted. "How? Quria is dead!"
"As far as we know, Xivu Arath lacks the capability as well." Anan added. "Are you certain?"
"They said something about blue and black flames in the sky, with a ghastly orb." Moa spoke. "And that it took the beast and made it disappear. Seems pretty textbook to me."
Leona sighed, joining in. "Either way, we can't-"
Suddenly the sky opened with a resounded screech, a huge Taken Blight appearing in the sky, directly above Leona. Out from the blight came a hulking Demonic Beast, this one in the usual Taken livery, a mixture of Jet Black and a luminous blue, with wisps of smoke shooting off of it and tentacles on its back. The beast fell to the ground, landing on Leona and crushing her, shattering her body as well as the ground around it.
Jose groaned, immediately rushing towards the beast. while muttering to himself "Ah shit. Why does Leona always get crushed?" Jose summoned wings of flame and took to the skies to give the Monastery new marching orders. "Alright everyone, if you're not a Guardian get out of here now!"
But a horde of Demonic Beast had already begun to block off the exits, encircling the students, knights, and Guardians. They were trapped, and the only way out was through the beasts.
Jose turned his attention to the Taken Beast, now armed with virulent tentacles that forced Jose to evade, and darkness blasts which Jose nearly evaded into.
Moa quickly summoned her Golden Gun, firing off rounds into the Taken Beast and running towards it while yelling at the students. "Go!"
Sylvain gawked as Moa moved away. "To where?!"
But before they could hear the Moa's answer, Felix and the other students were forced to dive to avoid a fireball shot out by another Demonic Beast rapidly approaching them.
Felix drew his sword, rolling out of the way of the beast's wild charge, with the other students hopping or leaping away to escape it. The swordsman quickly ran towards the beast as it was turning around, weaving in and out of its legs while cutting through them. But the beast was unfazed, and nearly stomped the life out of Felix had it not been for him diving out of harm's way at the last possible moment, rendering him prone.
Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude were busy trying to clear a path for other students, anxiously watching the Guardians struggle to fight off the new beast that came from the skies. Dimitri deftly dodged a fireball from a beast before jabbing his lance straight into the leg of one, causing it to scream it agony.
Claude quickly followed up with an arrow to its eye only further extending the pain of the beast. The archer quickly nocked another arrow, aiming for the other eye, making sure to have a lock on his target.
"Watch out!"
Suddenly, Edelgard's voice went shriek in the ears of Claude, causing his arrow to fly wildly off target. When he turned to look at Edelgard, he saw another beast hungrily bounding towards him, forcing him to lay prone to squeeze under it as the beast ran over him and nearly trampled him.
Dimitri hopped backward, nearly knocking Claude down again as the archer rose to his feet, followed by Edelgard joining them.
Before anything could be said, a third beast leaped to their position and tried to take their heads with a claw swipe, only finding meager purchase on Edelgard's arm as the house leaders jumped away. Soon, another beast appeared.
And another.
And Another.
And Another.
They were utterly encircled by Demonic Beasts, all hungrily growling while the students stood back to back to back.
"Damn. No way we can take this many…" Claude cursed, shooting an arrow into a Beast, which promptly disregarded it.
"We'll have to scatter and make a run for it!" Dimitri spoke, jabbing his lance forward to poke away a beast, but the beast craned its neck down and proceeded to chomp into Dimitri's lance, eating the head and leaving Dimitri's weapon a mere stick.
"Look!" Edelgard pointed. "It's the…Scorn!"
A horde of Scorn had begun to poke through the ruined walls, with large hulking ones stomping their way in, followed by smaller ones, ranging from some with flails, to some with growths on their backs, crawling into the area. Behind them was a huge one, with a horned helmet atop its head, holding a huge flaming censer.
"Guardians!" Edelgard called out! "Scorn are here! We need help!"
The Scorn soldier with the horned helmet heard Edelgard's plea and began to stomp towards the students, making them nervously grip their weapons tighter.
Claude once again quickly nocked an arrow and shot it at the Scorn soldier, the arrow hitting its mark but bouncing off as a white aura shrouded the Scorn warrior. It let out guttural groans as it marched toward the students. Claude shot another arrow but received the same result, the arrow unable to penetrate through the Scorn's aura. "Uhh…anyone? We need help here!"
As the battle intensified outside, the beasts and the Scorn did not attack but did not break their circle. They only continued growling and staring down at the house leaders.
Dimitri's grip on his broken weapon tightened, as his breathing intensified. "Why aren't they attack-"
Suddenly, Dimitri, Edelgard, and Claude vanished in a bright flash of light.
Catherine, Shamir, and the rest of the Knights of Seiros were surrounded by Demonic Beasts, with a new, ghastly looking one behind the other beasts currently fighting Jose.
"What the…" Catherine began, backing up into her teammates. It's like they're growing more intelligent!"
"Not to mention the new one behind them…" Jeralt spoke. "This is bad."
Suddenly, as if a gift from the Goddess herself, the Sword of the Creator shot forward towards a beast, before wrapping around the beast's neck, promptly being slammed to the ground before the sword uncoiled and began to furiously slash through the beast, rendering it to mere meat chunks.
Byleth retracted his weapon, assuming a battle stance as the Demonic Beasts turned to face him. As they began to rush towards him, Catherine used this opportunity to blitz one, slicing through its legs as Shamir helped riddle it with arrows. Alois and Jeralt began to run towards Byleth, who was busy whipping away the beasts that tried to surround him, the Sword of the Creator sometimes landing a lucky hit and cleaving through some of the beasts' bodies.
As Catherine repositioned herself to be in front of her now-wounded target, she and the beast stared each other down, sizing each other up.
Catherine then blitzed towards the beast, moving almost faster than it could react as she stabbed Thunderbrand deep into the beast's chest, before using her sword to split open the beast, running straight through its legs and out the other side.
"Eat that." Catherine smirked, standing proudly over the defeated beast.
"We're not done yet." Shamir remarked, running over and dropping to her knee beside Catherine, aiming her bow at an odd figure, holding a flaming censer, with horns upon its helmet. Shamir quickly fired two arrows, both sailing through the air and bouncing off a white aura of the figure. Shamir tried again, this time, the figure swung its censer to block the arrow, continuing its slow march towards them.
"This one seems above our paygrade…" Catherine remarked, readying Thunderbrand while slowly retreating. "Guardians! A little help with this guy?"
Shamir peered over at the Guardians fighting the beast with tendrils, seeming to not have heard Catherine. "They're busy. We'll have to take it out ourselves."
Catherine's retreat halted as she felt a heavy metal gauntlet pat her back. "Not without us!"
Alois, along with Jeralt and Byleth had come to help, the three of them quickly smiling before shifting their focus to the figure bounding towards them.
"I think the Guardians refer to that one as a Scorn." Byleth spoke.
"Anything about a weakness?" Jeralt asked, readying his lance.
Byleth shook his head, only readying his Heroes' Relic.
The figure now known as a Scorn groaned as it bounded towards them, swinging its censer in a circle leaving a trail of flame behind it. Its true size became apparent, as it began to hulk over the knights, even from a distance.
Byleth shot his sword forward in its whip mode, the blade attempting to lacerate its way through the Scorn's aura. The aura did not break, but the Scorn's march was staggered as if to better defend itself.
Catherine used its hesitation as a sign to rush it, Thunderbrand low at her side. The Scorn saw her and swung its censer towards her, making Catherine narrowly leap out of its path, before stepping back in and landing a hearty slice into the Scorn's aura. But it was to no avail, as the force merely shifted the Scorn's footing, making it take a step back before swinging its censer back around into Catherine, landing a superficial blow to Catherine's arms as she struggled to evade it.
Shamir quickly flanked to the right and shot off several arrows to cover Catherine, all of them doing nothing but being a mere annoyance to the Scorn. The Scorn shifted its attention to Shamir, quickly spinning its censer before slamming the ground in front of it, causing long wave of flame to shoot towards Shamir, the flames reaching her before she could fully dodge, setting her boots and pants alight. The flames burned hotter than any she knew, making her yell and grit her teeth in agony as the ignited boots and pants melted the fabric into her legs, before finally being extinguished by her rolling away and patting the flame.
Jeralt rode past the Scorn upon his horse, swinging his lance through the hulking beast, but having little effect. The Scorn wildly swung towards Jeralt in retaliation, but missed, leaving a trail of flame through the air. Alois and Byleth both slashed into it, and both had little effect as the Scorn soldier slammed the ground with its censer, launching both back in a wall of flame, both grunting in pain as the heat singed their bodies. Catherine one last time swung into the Scorn with Thunderbrand, once again knocking the Scorn back, but this time was repaid with a swing from its censer directly into her chest, denting through her metal armor, and setting the cloth parts alight, sending her flying into a nearby pile of rubble. Catherine quickly rolled to extinguish the flame, but was greeted by white hot pain shooting throughout her chest and ribcage, making her wince and clutch at her body in anguish.
Byleth rose and stared down the Scorn, readying his weapon as it slowly turned towards him. Without hesitation, once more he shot out his sword in whip form to pierce through the aura and save his comrades.
Hey everyone, how are y'all doing? Way late, but Happy New Year! May this year be better than the last one! Lightfall is soon approaching, I'm super excited! As always, any and all feedback is greatly appreciated, and thanks for reading! See you in thee next chapter!