Day 1 of the Pegasus Moon

Santaniel hummed as he picked at a Dragon stone, he came to call them such a thing off of instinct. The fluorescent green of one shining in the dim fire flight.

He wrote in a small journal, 'Day One of the Experiments, I've hit a lead to where there is a poison that naturally attacks the Crest in a human body, practically eliminating it. Xavien got me some and I'll be practicing on the ones I believe to have been implanted in me as a child. Results:'

He set the quill down and took the gem between his fingers and set it down upon a small dish, the poison ready. He let the poison drip onto the gem and heard the hiss start, he poured half the vile out and watched as it consumed the Crest of Seiros.

————

Day 3 of the Pegasus Moon

"Hey Hephaestus, have the debrief?"

Santaniel was still fiddling with the gems, this time, his jacket on the table as he did so. "Yeah. Turns out we're taking a trip to the underground of the Church. The Holy Tomb." Santaniel clicked his tongue, "Alright. Also, I'm doing a quick test. Do you mind popping outside with Xavien? As soon as I go awol, just off me, alright?"

Hephaestus cocked his head at his kid's statement, "That isn't happening and you know it. If we need to I can grab Marianne-"

"No. This is a secret for right now, no one else is learning about this. Alright?" Hephaestus nodded and took his leave outside, waiting for Santaniel and whatever he was planning.

————

Santaniel took the Crest of Macuil and the Crest of Ernest out, setting them in the tray with the rest. He picked out the Crest of Noa and the Crest of Daphnel. "I wonder if this'll work..."

He put the jacket back on and went outside, the faint sunlight shining dingily on the island, "You guys ready?"

Xavien nodded resolutely, Hephaestus much more hesitant. "Let's get this show on the road then..." Santaniel took a deep breath and focused his energy like he did when he'd transform, focusing it into the spot where his wings would be like the Crest of Macuil, but nothing happened.

"Well. That was an off one..."

Hephaestus seemed to pick up on what he was attempting, "You have the Crest of Noa in there, right?" Santaniel nodded and they shared a silent conversation. He took the jacket off and took out the Crest of Daphnel, "Give it a shot."

Hephaestus fit his lanky figure into the jacket, fitting him much more than Santaniel, mainly due to the height difference, "You guys ready?" Santaniel nodded and Xavien did too, hands already on his daggers in their sheathes.

Hephaestus followed Santaniel's lead on how to transform, focusing heavily into his arms and eventually his Crest burned in front of him, along with the light around him burning into that of a nova.

Santaniel shielded his eyes and when he looked back up, Hephaestus didn't have the regular hands, he had scythe like blades on his arms. His hands extended into two clawed feet for a dragon, the scythes leaking a venomous air and his breath smelled like a bundle of poisonous flowers.

The Bloom Dragon.

"YES! Breakthrough baby!" Santaniel cheered as Hephaestus flashed again, taking off the jacket. "That's odd. Maybe something in the coat helps people transform when they bear the crest… It's like an amplifier."

Santaniel nodded, "If we could recreate these kinds of jackets, imagine how powerful people would be... actually. Scratch that. Too many power hungry lords out there would try and abuse that power. However, if we just share it with people here at the academy, we could plow through any mission we need to."

Xavien felt the jacket between his fingers, the fabric having a small scale like pattern

"Hey. What's the odds this is made of Umbral Steel?" Santaniel scratched his head, flipping through his memories. "As far as I'm concerned and as much as Arti taught me, Umbral Steel is actually the bone like exoskeletons of Demonic Beasts or I guess in this case- Dragon scales? Maybe it acts like a relic and the gems act like Crest stones, but they need a 'Major' crest like mine of Macuil or Ernest to actually activate. That means someone like Flayn or Seteth could transform… IT COULD ALSO HAVE TO DO WITH BLOOD!" He bounced up and down on bis feet, "What if that's what the Agarthan's were doing at Remire?"

Hephaestus looked lost in thought, shaking his head, "I… I have to sleep on that one Sant. I have no clue how they would do that."

Hephaestus suddenly froze up and Santaniel knew the look on his face, "Oh. So you're just now putting it together huh?" Hephaestus made a face at him and Santaniel mocked him back with a playful smile, "Yeah. My mom is one of them as well, wasn't she?" Hephaestus nodded.

"She was Ernest."

"Well yeah I get that she worked hard but-"

"No. Your mother was Ernest. The Thorn dragon."

"Honestly? I... Kinda figured as much."

———

Day 8 of the Pegasus Moon

Santaniel groaned as Byleth handed him the homework for this week, "Are you sure you're the same Professor? You know I hate riding animals." The assignment was for sky watch, along with Lysithea go figure, and it was to last the entire month.

"It is not on an animal." Santaniel pinched the bridge of his nose, "Nor do I like transforming in front of people who don't already know it. Can we at least have the rounds where I'm not going to be around other people? Maybe the early mornings?"

Lysithea frowned at him from behind and he could feel her emotions radiating, he'd been feeling more powerful recently and he couldn't tell why, something was amplifying him.

"Lys I know you don't mind taking an afternoon sky watch, but I seriously don't want this getting out. I'll pay you back by studying during the afternoon with you so we can get up on time for it, alright?" She nodded and rolled her eyes at his stupid grin, "Thank you Lys."

"Where's Claude by the way? Where's some of the others too?" Santaniel looked around the classroom and found him absent from the bunch, along with Ferdinand, Dorothea, Ingrid, and Yuri were absent too.

"Yuri is just out to the bathroom. As for Claude he's most likely giving a birthday 'gift' to Hanneman. Ingrid, Ferdinand, and Dorothea have transferred back to their original houses as they prepare for graduation. Santaniel nodded and went back to looking through his assignments.

"You also gave me an extra axe sheet on accident, I've maxed out my credit on it, and you set my goals to Authority and Black Magic, remember?" Byleth nodded and apologized, "Force of habit gets us all."

Santaniel returned to his Authority homework and spied the answer immediately, 'Something's up with me. Does this have to do with recent success or just something else? Maybe... No. That isn't it.'

He marked up the answer and observed the Professor talk to Hapi who seemed much more upbeat than usual, at least next to him. 'Something's up with the entire class recently. Everyone's peppier and more lively, even Felix was being more affectionate with Annette earlier.'

His mind took that as instruction to remember when he observed Felix attempt a kiss with Annette at the green house this morning and fail miserably. Annette began trying to teach him and Santaniel left before they could get each other to a C on their skills.

'Maybe I'm just missing something? I'll ask Xavien and Hephaestus if they feel the same later.' Santaniel returned to his assignment and listened to his classmates chatter, and then Claude's feet clatter against the stone floor as he ran away from Hanneman. He oh so gracefully hid behind the half breed.

The elderly man waltzed through the door with a noticeably different hair cut and confronted Santaniel who shielded Claude. "Move child!" Santaniel smiled lazily and saw a new opportunity for fun, "Sorry, but what are you talking about?" Hanneman looked as if he were about to blow and summoned a Fire in his hand, "Move so the delinquent behind you is properly punished!"

Santaniel summoned a Fire twice the size of Hanneman's and looked at him flatly, "Great move genius. Besides, only the professor's of their house can punish them. Get your old ass out of here before I bring your cremation up a couple years."

That seemed to pull him back to reality and Hanneman left grumbling about delinquents and Claude gave Santaniel a fist bump in celebration, "Gotta protect my friends right?"

————

Day 9 of the Pegasus Moon

Xavien grunted as he lifted the body of his latest hit into the furnace, lighting it with a match to burn. "That's done." He grumbled as he hopped out of the window and rolled, hustling his way over to a mirror, "Ok. So that's done. Now I get to go home and-"

"Hey Xavien!" Xavien slapped his face and turned around, smiling at Raphael, "Hey bud. Ya mind heading with me for a moment? I was on-"

Raphael nodded and ducked through the mirror, Xavien sighing as he walked through, "Thank you. Now, what's up?"

"I just wanted to say what's up and ask if you wanted to grab a bite to eat." Xavien nodded, "Of course. I'll help you out with your possible knighting contracts as well, let's just head back to the monastery for it, alright?"

That's the last time he takes Raphael out to a party as an excuse to make a hit.

—————

Day 10 of the Pegasus Moon

Lysithea was walking back from the library with a stack of books in her arms that she would never be able to carry at the beginning of the year, 'Guess all that training with a sword is good for something.'

She readjusted the stack of books in her arms as she walked past the gardens. She raked her mind as to where Santaniel had been for the past couple weeks, 'Is he planning something like Claude or planning something like Hilda?'

She recently had accepted Claude's teasing a bit more, him acting as a big brother more so than anything, and had more time to talk with Hilda and Marianne now that the work had finally calmed down. Plus she promised Santaniel she'd get to bed earlier now that they had sky watch in the morning.

Lysithea's first thought as someone punched her in the face was, 'What the hell?' Then it was embarrassing as she heard a couple boys laugh and yell out to draw a crowd, picking up her face to degrade her even more, something about women?

She hung out with 'That Freak'?

The last thought was fear as she heard her assailant scream and saw the luminous violet and viridian that so often marked people's demises.

—————

A few minutes beforehand...

Santaniel sniffed the air. 'Blood?' He knew the smell pretty clearly but it was a bit surprising since he was just talking with Ferdinand and Dorothea about how to throw a party in the gardens. "Hey Ferdinand. Dorothea. Come with me for a moment."

Santaniel could tell something was up and his gut feelings never usually failed him, evident with Xavien and Hephaestus commonly using him as a 'Make-sure-things-don't-explode-or-go-awfully wrong' mechanism. He was sure something was bloody, but what could it be…

The answer came when he rounded the corner. Lysithea. With a black eye, blood dripping down her lips, and people surrounding her. Some deadman picking her chin up off the ground to talk to her.

The man who had a goddess damn death wish. He was going to have it granted.

Santaniel immediately went into attack mode.

He unsheathed his axes and light flickered around him as he huffed out fire. Not a word was uttered from the crowd when Santaniel plunged mythril into muscle and through bone, ushering a scream from the man that wouldn't reach the goddess if it tried. It was his turn to be the judge.

Santaniel drove his elbow into the guy's face, cracking his facial bones and turning cartilage into mutilated tissue. The man threw a punch back but missed by a mile and Santaniel drove the other Twin into his shoulder, "Mess with my girl again, and you'll be burning in my flames till this world ends."

He put his lights out by making him bite the concrete and stomping on the back of his head.

—————

Ferdinand and Dorothea rounded the corner to see Santaniel already done and picking up Lysithea, a frown on his face and the broken body of who she assumed to be her assailant.

"Heal her." Dorothea obliged and casted the spell, her Ferdi taking Santaniel's place in reprimanding the bunch. She looked up and saw that Santaniel's eyes weren't their usual color, for the first time seeing his eyes slit and their luminous purple and green, no anger, no bloodlust, but worry and compassion.

'Is this what Edie was talking about? That people like him are mindless monsters?'

—————

Day 11 of the Pegasus Moon

Lysithea woke up to the sound of gentle breathing, faint fire light glowing in the hallway. Seems the Professor saw to it her request was fulfilled. The memories of what happened were still fresh in her head, 'So that must mean I'm in the infirmary.'

She looked around and found the source of the gentle breathing, smiling at a sleeping Santaniel. 'He really is protective.' She sat up and rubbed her eyes, stifling her yawn, pulling her legs over the bed and tried to stand, her legs still a bit numb from not walking for a day.

She tentatively stood, holding the bed for balance until she got acclimated to walking, and she went over to Santaniel, gently shaking his shoulder. "Hey, wake up," she whispered.

————

Santaniel opened one eye to look at what was going on. In his half asleep world, he saw Lysithea and wrapped an arm around her shoulders and brought her in for an embrace. "Hey," he greeted casually, "What time is it?"

"Sometime around midnight." She answered, the suddenness of the hug startling her a bit, but it seemed she leaned into it. "Too late for anything so just go back to sleep..." His words dropped off like he did back into his dreams.

————

Lysithea stood there still a bit stunned, wondering how she would get out of his embrace.

"Uh..." After a couple minutes passed and Santaniel didn't wake back up, she sighed and leaned into him, her face red as he brought her legs up, a reverse piggyback, and put her face in his chest to fall asleep. 'We've been getting up early so we'll be fine.'

————

Day 15 of the Pegasus Moon

Hilda slammed Freikrugel between the Professor's feet, a ball of Miasma shooting over her head as Lysithea charged her spell with Thyrus. Santaniel launched like an arrow using his wings for a brief speed boost, slamming into Hilda, and was only waved off by Felix and his Aegis Shield being able to deflect the blows.

Flayn huffed as she shot Nosferatu over Byleth's head and caught Felix sleeping, Santaniel moved in and took advantage of Hilda moving to help Felix.

"Hey Lys- whoa!" He ducked as Catherine slashed at him with Thunderbrand, "Hands off the mage and eyes on me boy, I'll show you what the Knights of Seiros are made of!"

Santaniel grunted as he was disarmed on the left side, followed by the right. Good thing he had a new toy, one that he picked up on a special mission. Santaniel unsheathed his Venin great sword he named Leistung, power, parrying Catherine and slammed into her with his full body.

On the other side of the battlefield Flayn was shooting Fire at Hilda and Felix to make them dance with an occasional Fortify to help her team keep up and running. Lysithea was back in the fold now too, shooting Lightning from her Levin Sword at Byleth and it put them into a stalemate until either Santaniel or Catherine won, speaking of the devil…

The clattering of Umbral Steel and a boisterous laugh could be heard from Catherine as she yielded and commended Santaniel on his skill, letting him back into the fray.

"Bring it Felix!" Santaniel picked up his Holy Twins and engaged with Felix, Leistrung once again on his back, waiting to be wielded when his master demanded it. Byleth took advantage of the distraction of Santaniel and swept Hilda's feet, Flayn shielding him from Lysithea's Lightning but she couldn't protect him from an actual blade slash.

She moved quickly between Byleth and Flayn, taking them both out of the fight due to her speed and suddenness. Felix was soon out as well, even though he got a couple hits in on Santaniel, the two experiments circling each other in an anticipatory duel.

'He works off people's mistakes, so I have to make him move in first, so if I cast magic I should win. He's talented but his just doesn't pack the same punch as mine.'

She conjured up Miasma and shot it forward, Santaniel using Fire to counter it. "I can wear you down Lys. You know that."

"Don't just assume you've won already."

"I know I have." Santaniel finished the spell for Ragnarok and the flames crashed onto her like waves in the ocean, singing the hairs on her arms, but was dispelled as soon as they made contact, protecting her from actual harm. Byleth commented on the fight. "Don't ever respond to your opponent when they say something, unless you're certain you'll win no matter what Lysithea."

Santaniel ruffled her hair and smiled, "Still a really good fight. If I didn't have Leistrung I was toast against Catherine."

"Where'd you even get that thing? Seems dangerous." Santaniel shrugged, "Got it from a job with Xavien."

Any attempts from Lysithea to get where he got such a weapon from were shut down much to her chagrin, "I'll tell the story later. I promise." He sealed it with a kiss on her cheek and she blushed, "Fine."

Santaniel picked up a bow after everyone left and focused his energy into the arrow, knocking it. Cracks of lightning traveled through the head and the arrow exploded, covering Santaniel's face in splinters

"Yeah. Something is haywire."

—————

Day 17 of the Pegasus Moon

"Thanks Petra, I'm happy you were able to make it." He said his good bye to the Brigid woman and went through the mirror and into his home, setting the little nest of wood on the table. "Ok, so. I'm not the best with crafts but I can make it. I got this."

Santaniel took the two marble orbs, ivory white speckled with black, inscribed with the two different Crests that afflicted her and he set them in the center, barely wide enough to fit them snuggly.

He took the tanned hide and cut a thin strip from it, fitting the rest to the back to secure his orbs and tied a loop to hang it from on the top. He breathed a sigh of relief when it held up and he stuck the three colorful feathers to the bottom of the nest.

"I did it. And it looks alright. Just need a small box and some foil to wrap it in! Now to do another quick experiment."

Santaniel wrote in his journal, 'Day two of the experiments: I will be using my blood with a diluted version of the poison to see what effect it would have on me. Results:'

He cut his thumb and dripped some blood onto a porcelain plate, adding the watered down poison to the red and green mixture.

He watched as the blood bubbled, heating up, but when it was done it was rid of the green and ended as pure ruby red. 'Results: Rid of green/Draconic blood, further tests will ensue.'

————

Day 20 of the Pegasus Moon

Hephaestus whistled as he shopped in the marketplace, giving a quick hello to Anna, carrying on to the battalions guild. "Byleth requested I get myself and Santaniel battalions, so who would benefit us the most is the question."

'Santaniel of course occasionally transforms into his dragon form so I think maybe a Beast Pack would work best. I can get a group of Bishops and have them heal while I use Rescue on someone.'

He signed the waivers, and greeted the leaders of both, one human and he had Gizmo assert dominance in Santaniel's pack for the future.

Santaniel had already pretty much domesticated Gizmo after all, that might be a nice business to go into if they give up fighting for cash.

He turned to leave with his bags and bumped into Catherine, "Oh. My apologies Mrs. Catherine." He brushed past her and left, Hephaestus had the supplies Santaniel needed to throw a surprise party for Lysithea, and Hephaestus had to help him with Hilda otherwise the Gonereil heir would take over the plan.

"Hey Hephaestus!" He stopped in his tracks and turned, "Yes?" Catherine ran up to him and gave him the gift wrap Santaniel needed and he thanked her profusely, "It's no problem! Who are you giving a gift to? Mercedes?"

Hephaestus shook his head, "It's for Santaniel's gift. He's giving one to Lysithea for her birthday and he just needed the wrap and the box to put it in." Catherine smiled, "Papa bear taking care of his kid! Love to see it!"

"Please don't call me papa again."

—————

Day 28 of the Pegasus Moon

Lysithea overslept in the library. Big time.

She raced out the door, slipping past a disgruntled Hanneman who was arguing with Manuela and she practically flew down the stairs, struggling to catch her breath while she ran.

She nearly fell but was caught by Alois, giving him a smile of thanks as she arrived at the classroom. "Where is everyone? Shouldn't they be in class today?"

————

Santaniel summoned the scry, peering into Byleth's mind to tell him, "3..." Lysithea walked into the room, peaking around, "2..." She stepped towards the desk where Claude was hiding with the cake, "Now!"

————

The torches all lit at once, and color streamers fell from the ceiling at the pull of a string from Byleth. All the Golden Deer and some of Lysithea's closer friends who originated from the other classes popped out as well.

"Surprise!" Claude popped up in front of her with a cake covered in chocolate frosting with a picture of her and happy birthday drawn on by Ignatz. Hilda and Santaniel came out from behind the doors with stupid grins and she knew they were the ones behind it.

Raphael and Leonie dragged out the table with the gifts, some small, some large. Marianne waved at her and gave her a small hug, a very rare act of affection from the Edmund woman.

Lorenz bowed gracefully and smiled, "Happy Birthday Lysithea. I granted the money for it so I hope it's worth every piece."

"Hey I came up with the surprise!" Claude exclaimed playfully, bumping into Lorenz as he rolled his eyes with a less arrogant air than usual. "Ignatz obviously took care of the drawing, and Leonie, Raphael, and Balthus took care of the streamers. Marianne, Constance, and Hapi lit the torches during it. Professor obviously allowed it and got you a gift. Yuri helped everyone keep the secret and even got Bernadetta out of her room!"

The small purple haired girl eeped at her name being mentioned, going back to her pillar which she hid behind.

Hilda continued where Claude left off, "As for Mercedes, Annette, and Felix, they managed the gifts and helped people wrap where they couldn't, and made some smaller sweets."

'Any thing's possible for love I guess.'

"Linhardt slept through everything..." She pointed to where the man slumbered on a hidden desk, "Hephaestus and Xavien let us know when you were coming," She spoke of the devils and they appeared, coming through the double doors grinning.

"Flayn made some grilled fish for Raphael and the people who don't exactly like sweets, like Felix. The other people from the houses couldn't come today unfortunately due to them being off on their missions for this month. And obviously, me and Santaniel planned the entire thing!"

She wrapped an arm around Santaniel's neck like a big sister would, and he shook his head, "I came up with the location and spread the word, Hilda did most of the planning. Oh! I also made the cake, I got the tip from Annette that you liked double chocolate so that's what's on the menu today. Let's eat!"

Lysithea blushed as she felt Santaniel grab her hand while everyone else closed in on the pastries, "Heeey... There won't be any for us!" Santaniel rolled his eyes and pulled her in for a moment, "The gift I have is a bit more private and I just wanted to tell you ok? Besides I already told Claude that at least one piece is to be saved for you ok?"

Lysithea nodded and pulled him to the Professor's desk and pushed through the crowd at a surprisingly fast pace and popped up in front of Claude, "Two pieces!"

He happily served them and slid his gift on to the plate as well, "Happy birthday Lysithea." She thanked him and turned to find Santaniel with Byleth and discussing tomorrow's mission.

She scowled and pulled his sleeve, "Focus on today! You said so yourself that we need more time to ourselves and to relax!" Santaniel sighed and took the piece of cake, taking a chunk out of it.

"I'm not the best baker but I tried my best with the cake. I tried some Enbarr sweets and just reduced it to be stomached for the rest of the class." Lysithea nodded and bit into the cake, bouncing on her feet at the taste to the amusement of Byleth and Santaniel. 'Well if that made Byleth smile it definitely is the same one as before.'

The day seemed to fly by as Claude brought out tons of games that he, Hilda, and Felix shockingly did very well at, Santaniel and Lysithea winning their fair share too, mainly in the reflexes or strategy department.

Yuri won a couple games of cards, one of them being strip poker, and needless to say she didn't ever need to see Lorenz in his underwear. As the daylight waned out Santaniel eventually pulled her to the side, "Ready for your gift?"

She nodded and smiled, "Well, I'm not the best with crafts so you can thank Petra for gathering the stuff, well, besides the centerpiece..." Lysithea took the medium sized box, about the same size of her face. She undid the wrap carefully, prying open the box to reveal the white and black speckled orbs that matched the design of her Crests, she silently gasped as she picked up the dream catcher.

"I... thank you." Santaniel smiled and put it back in the box, "I know you wanna keep that a secret so I figured I'd give it to you in private. Let's go and join the party again." He was about to turn and leave until she pulled on his coat again, "Hm?" Santaniel looked down and met her gaze, she got on her tip toes and kissed him as best as she could.

It was assisted by him leaning down a bit to return it, brushing her hair aside and he held the side of her face.

They broke it off at Claude saying, "Awwwww, the love birds-" He stopped his teasing at Santaniel and Lysithea both summoned Fire in their hands, "Not a word. Otherwise I'll happily let Hanneman incinerate you, maybe I'll help. Got it boy?"

Claude laughed nervously, "Hehe, sure thing!"

"Let's go back and join the party now, we can be with each other all we want once we graduate."

————

Day 29 of the Pegasus Moon

Santaniel didn't feel comfortable at all.

He passed by a mural on the wall that had four of the saints, Macuil included, as well as Seiros and he felt an uncanny resemblance to her and Rhea.

'They're descendants, of course they'd look similar... Right? If my mother was Ernest, that'd mean dragons can live for thousands of years. Then would that mean...'

"Dear Professor, please take a seat on the throne." He cut off his thoughts and whipped around to see Byleth climb up the steps, sitting atop the throne. Everyone seemed to hold their breath but Santaniel. He waited and it seemed like minutes had passed.

'Weird, time slowed down or did I?'

Whatever the hell happened it didn't again, Byleth getting up from the throne seemingly breaking it. 'So, if there are dragons who are named after Crests, does that mean-'

"Stop right there!"

'Can we not have a month where we go without this bullshit?' His eyes shifted onto who was speaking and who was beside them, the Flame Emperor. Payback time.

Santaniel reached for his axes, whirling them into striking position and awaited his orders, his battalion of wolves surrounding him. 'Hmm, how can I use these...'

Santaniel scanned the area, listening to their commander shout. "Get those Crest stones from the caskets! And take those old bones too!"

"Wolves! Protect!" He pointed to the area around the coffins, signaling to them what to do. 'Wait, Umbral steel is from exoskeletons... Bones... Something is adding up but I can't focus on that right now. Time to fight.'

Santaniel turned to Lysithea and stared at her, "Ready?" She nodded her head resolutely, "Let's mess 'em up Lys."

Santaniel focused his energy into his palms and summoned his talons and then into his back for his wings, "Lets go."

A bright flash surrounded the area as he fully transformed, all fours and let Lysithea hop on his back. "Wait..!" He heard Flayn and Seteth exclaim something but it was time to act, he whipped up his tempest and shot off.

"Ragnarok!" The flames consumed a battalion as Luna from Lysithea took out a different one, the power of duel Crests showing off.

He roared and roasted a demonic beast as he engaged it, slamming his head into it and cracking it's skull. Hades converted it and the mages surrounding him into a smudge on his feathers.

He roared and whipped up a whirlwind, pushing them into a corner and Lysithea used Death on them, tearing into them like butcher knives. "It's one of those freak monsters! Kill it!"

'Who told them about me..?'

Santaniel reared back and let them bask in his hellfire. It was assisted by Miasma rain from Lysithea summoning multiple around Thyrus' head and shooting them like a volley. The man who was giving the orders confronted him and took a slash at Santaniel's leg which he jumped back from, cutting across his chest with hawk like talons.

He severed flesh from his body and made him squeal like a pig lead to their slaughter. "The only monster here is you!" Lysithea called from his back. "I was... only following orders... NOOOOOO."

He was silenced underfoot by Santaniel, "So was I."

The next confrontation was filled with hate, spite even for Santaniel. The reason he came here was to get stronger. Now it was time to kill the one who pushed him here. The Flame Emperor.

Santaniel's luminous eyes shining down on them like spotlights, piercing any souls like he was casting his judgement. And he did. Their scentence was death.

He shook off Lysithea and landed, eyes glowing and body back to normal. He took his Holy Twins and brought the chain taut and stood, challenging them to move. "You are nothing but a beast, no matter what form you take."

Santaniel stayed still, humming. He was ready. Red was a blur for his vision, and dipped back, he'd experienced this before. They didn't change. Stuck in the past, staring at the future.

He was in the present, refusing to be shaken up. It was all he had to look forward to, spending his time. Right now, it was revenge in the present. So he'll take it.

He drove his elbow back, hard. It cracked iron and drove them forward. He grabbed the creases in the neck, throwing them back towards the stairs. Holy Twins followed and embedded themselves into her chest. He strode forward, rocking their clock with a right hook.

He'd break that porcelain mask off their face.

He jumped back as they tried to return the favor with Fire. They were weak. He grabbed the chain of his Twins and ripped the blades from their skin, ruby blood flying over his face. "You deserve this."

He grabbed the helmet and ripped it off their head, snow white hair and porcelain skin underneath. He listened to the clicking of heels and boots, so he stepped away.

Rhea and the Professor confronted Edelgard, Claude following them up on his wyvern. Santaniel scratched it under the chin, and Lysithea warped him to her. She scolded him for leaving her behind, "I'm sorry Lys, I won't risk losing you." He kissed her on the cheek and apologized.

He won a battle. Now they would have to win a war.

Four Hundred and Ten Weeks Left