Part One: Concepts of A New Dawn
Garland Moon
Chapter Five: Quelling Rebellion
After routing the Royalists in Gloucester territory the Emerald Sharks rushed back to the Monastery to report unsettling news to Byleth. Byleth was able to confirm that Royalists were going to march into Holy Church State territory led by the eldest son of Count Bergliez. As to not cause a panic Byleth had the Sharks sworn to secrecy while he conferred with the Council of Six. Upon Byleth's return he called Maira, the Emerald Sharks, and the two delegates for a private meeting with him to discuss their mission for the month.
"Before we begin I would like to first praise you all for your wonderful work in Gloucester territory. You handled your situation skillfully and Olaga and Malosi, thanks to you General Ikairo is more faithful to the Meritocracy than ever. You should all be proud of yourselves." Byleth smiled at the young students.
"Remind me to personally thank Akemi and Eliana later." Finn whispered to Hukai.
"Of course." Hukai responded.
"Headmaster, above all I believe we should be thanking you." Malosi said.
"Oh! And why is that?" Byleth asked.
"If it weren't for you allowing us to go the Meritocracy would be on the verge of civil war." Malosi explained.
"The Meritocracy certainly owes you a debt. And I do as well, my father and I are on much better terms since you let me go." Olaga added.
"Thanks is not necessary." Byleth assured them. "Besides I fear after the rest of this meeting you may not want to thank me anymore."
"Sir, what exactly did the council decide?" Lawe asked.
"Against my advisement they have decided to keep this a secret. None except Rhea, the council members, myself, and your class know of the impending attack."
"I don't like where this is going." Penina said. "If no one else knows then that means…"
"That we are going to be sent to rout the Royalists." Atamai finished Penina's sentence. "But I thought the Church State hated the Meritocracy, why are we being sent to protect them."
"Because it is the best way to stir things up in the Meritocracy. The people of the Church State will be mad that we went into their lands and the Royalists in our territory will be mad that we repelled their forces." Finn explained.
"You all are quite the bright bunch. My daughter has done well." Byleth smiled with pride.
"I've done little. They are a very adept group." Maira responded.
"Regardless, it has been decided that you all will be fighting the Royalists and keeping the Holy Church State safe." Byleth announced.
"Maybe if we just played dead the Council won't go after us as much." Fetu suggested.
"The Abyssal Congregation helped us out last time. Do you think they will again?" Kai asked.
"No, nobody knows so Yuri wouldn't be able to justify sending troops." Byleth explained. "But I am a neutral party so I have taken steps to intervene. There are people who owe me a few favors, some Imperial people. I will have Imperial generals fighting with you. That should detract enough anger from the Holy Church State while also showing the Royalists that the Empire disapproves."
"Father, that is more than generous." Maira said, stunned.
"The Meritocracy owes you a great debt." Lawe bowed to Byleth.
"So that means I don't get to play dead?" Fetu asked.
"Oh thank you Headmaster!" Fiafia cried.
"I will see to it that Oceania sends you a gift." Finn said. "Now I hope that is all the news that you have for us."
"It is indeed. You are all dismissed. Fight valiantly this month, much depends on it." Byleth said gravely.
"What was that all about?" Wynne had called Maira into his room to speak with her after she was done speaking with Byleth.
"I can't tell you Wynne. It is top secret." Maira said sadly. She didn't like keeping things from her twin.
"I guess if you aren't telling me then you have your reasons." Wynne reasoned.
"Have you heard anything about that shadowy group?" Maira asked.
"Not yet but I have a few leads that should hopefully pan out soon." Wynne said while deep in thought. "Actually what I wanted to talk to you about was something else, I met Edelgard."
"Father's old student?" Maira asked.
"The one and only. She offered me a job as her chief strategy consultant."
"Well you can't do it." Maira said quickly.
"I know that." Wynne laughed. "I just think that maybe someday, when the Officer's Academy is less rocky and tensions have died down, that I might stop being a professor. I've always wanted to travel."
Maira had never thought of not being a professor. She always felt like that was just the direction that her life had to go in.
"This wouldn't be for a long time but I don't think I would want my kids to grow up here, maybe go here, but I don't want this to be their home." Wynne said. "Well it is all hypothetical. You should rest up for your Top Secret Mission."
Maira couldn't wait to get out of there. She couldn't bear the thought of her brother leaving.
"It's interesting." Sothis remarked. "You having a brother. You are so close to him."
"Why is it interesting?" Maira asked.
"It's just a different type of bond than I am used to seeing. Come on, Wynne was right, you do need some rest."
"Hey Finn, what did you want to see us about?" Leon said as he and the other house leaders stepped into the Emerald Shark classroom where Finn was waiting alone for them.
"First of all. I would really like, on behalf of the entire Naval Meritocracy, to express my gratitude towards Eliana and Akemi. It is because of the two of you that we are in one piece."
"There is no need to thank us. We only did what was right." Eliana said.
"While many despise your country I find it comforting to see something new can exist in Fodlan." Akemi said.
"If you were going to just thank Eliana and Akemi then why did you call us here." Demeter said bluntly.
"Demeter, there is no need to be rude." Johann tried to apologize but Finn cut him off.
"Demeter there is a reason I called all of you here. I need a favor from all of you. I need you to talk to your parents about getting the Council off of the Meritocracy's backs. The missions assigned to us are going to be our downfall."
"If the Council of Six is making these decisions then that means they are probably backed by our parents. How are we supposed to change that?" Leon asked.
"I know that my mom and Akemi's dad do not support the decisions that our representative makes." Eliana countered Leon. "My mother is already working on it, Finn. It isn't the Empire's vote you will have to worry about going forward, nor is it the Congregation's."
"I will also talk to my father." Leon announced. "I don't like the stunt they pulled last month, that is my territory and I should have handled it."
"I'm sorry Finn but I fear speaking with my father would make little difference." Johann looked at the ground.
"That's okay Johann. I understand the political motives, I expected that you might not be able to say yes." Finn smiled but it wasn't that happy.
"I also will talk to my mother. I fear we can't really afford to take a politically offensive stance for much longer anyways." Demeter relented.
"Thank you all." Finn said. "I will not let you down."
"How did it go?" Atamai asked Finn. Shortly after his conversation with the house leaders Finn called Atamai, Hukai, and Lawe to meet with him.
"Well, four of the other house leaders stand with us. Even if one can not convince their parents we have backups which is all we needed." Finn explained.
"I'm assuming the prince couldn't agree." Lawe chimed in.
"Yes, Johann had to remain neutral."
"Makes sense. The Kingdom holds the most animosity towards us ever since we were able to hold the Western Church." Hukai explained.
"Hukai! That was an intelligent thought!" Lawe clapped sarcastically.
"Hold it you two!" Atamai snapped. "Finn, you don't look very happy with this outcome."
"It's something Leon said. He was upset that it wasn't him that dealt with the problem in the Alliance."
"Well that makes sense. I'd imagine if one of the other houses was sent to deal with the Western Church that wouldn't make you very happy." Lawe said.
"No, it wouldn't. So how is Demeter going to react when she finds out that we hid an assasination plot on her mom from her?"
"Are you worried she will pull back her support?" Hukai asked.
"It's possible. But either way we should get through the next month's mission without a clear political agenda, then we will have to see the following month." Finn decided.
"That is the best we can do." Atamai shrugged.
"One last thing, are the two of you coming on the mission with us?" Finn asked Lawe and Hukai.
"Yes, Byleth confirmed that earlier today." Hukai smiled.
"That is wonderful, we need your attack power." Atamai responded.
"I thank you for your praise." Lawe smiled. "And you, Your Majesty, thank you for including the two of us in this meeting."
"Ow!" Hukai yelped. "You didn't have to step on my foot! I was just also about to thank His Majesty."
"Please will both of you stop calling me that! It's embarrassing." Finn objected.
"If you don't want the title Finn I will happily take it." Atamai suggested.
Finn shot Atamai a dirty look and then sighed. "This meeting is dismissed. Come on Atamai, let's head to Polopeka's class."
For the next few weeks Finn and the other Emerald Sharks trained with a previously unseen intensity. Whenever Maira asked why they were training so much harder they avoided the topic. But Maira knew that they were really just nervous about the coming fight. So when Olaga came to him with a suggestion for relieving stress, Maira was all ears.
Maira was doing some paperwork and preparing a fun lesson on aviary travel and jumping off pegasi or wyverns and immediately being ready for combat when Olaga came in literally dragging Kai behind her by his collar.
"C'mon Kai. Tell her!" Olaga demanded from a very unstable Kai.
"No! Olaga I said that I didn't want to!" He fought back.
"Then you really shouldn't have told me. Now you can either tell her or I can punch you and then I tell her!" she threatened, raising her fist.
"Enough you two!" Maira interrupted and the two looked at her.
"Sorry Professor!" Kai whimpered.
"Now Kai. You know you can tell me anything, right?" Maira said softly.
"Yeah Professor of course. It's just, this is really personal and I don't want to bother anybody."
Olaga rolled her eyes. "Kai, stop worrying about bothering everyone."
"Why? Is it really easier to just brute strength through everything? And if I remember correctly somebody seemed to be hesitant to get in everybody's way when they had to go talk to their Dad." Kai snapped.
Olaga's face turned to complete shock. Maira was also shocked. Nobody in all of the Sharks had ever heard Kai snap like that. But Olaga was still able to collect herself.
"Kai, will you just tell her?" Olaga said slowly.
"Fine." Kai relented. "Due to my father's high rank he was given territory to defend and control under the Supreme Leader. He got the most Northern territory. After the Meritocracy gained this land Albinea has attacked our territory repeatedly. Now there is another attack and my brother, who is still sick, went to go help out my father but now they are all in trouble."
"So Kai went to go talk to Finn about securing some troops from Finn. But apparently Oceania is being very careful since there are always rumors of insurrection. But Finn said that if we got your approval that the class could go. Kai said he would follow up on it but I knew better. Hence why we are here now." Olaga finished the explanation.
"Of course we can go!" Maira responded.
"Really! Oh, thank you Professor! I will go round up the others." Kai rushed off.
"I hope he knows I will always help out my students." Maira frowned to which Olaga just shrugged.
"I don't know, that boy confuses me." Olaga sighed before the two of them left for battle.
"Alright Kai, we made it so where are they?" Olaga asked
"From the message I received they are being held in a tower in the middle of a nearby field." Kai responded.
"You mean the tower over there." Olaga pointed to a nearby tower surrounded by encampments with Albinean soldiers.
"The one surrounded by soldiers?" Maira raised her eyebrow while analyzing the situation.
"Eh, we can beat them. Let's strike head on." Olaga suggested.
"That's a little rash isn't it Professor?" Kai asked.
"Indeed it is." Maira said.
"Then what do you suggest?" Olaga asked.
"Let's strike quickly. We will have two units attack from the other side and the three of you can attack the main front from here." Penina said quickly, interrupting.
"Exactly Penina! Great work!" Maira said.
"Thanks Professor." Penina blushed.
"I don't like attacking head on, but if this can help my family…" Kai trailed off.
Maira fought like a demon as usual, when she rushed the first encampment she felt a thrill. She slashed at one soldier and then kicked another square in the chest so he fell in the camp's fire. Then she parried a strike and lunged at her attacker pushing him over. She plunged her sword into his chest when he was down. By now the other camps were stirring and the soldiers were starting to pour out. Before that Maira had completely wiped out the entire camp and was rushing towards a horde of enemies where Olaga was making her stand.
Olaga was also powerful. She regularly altered between gauntlets and axes but right now she was using gauntlets since she was facing so many enemies and needed speed to dodge easily. She acted like a whirlwind, punching and kicking with ferocity. Usually it took three punches or kicks to take an enemy down but with adrenaline running high one punch to an opponent's face and they crumpled. As another wave approached, Maira came to Olaga's aid. They worked well together and a combination of a sword slash and punch enemies would fall quickly. But the sheer numbers were a lot for them. Right when they thought they had over extended the enemies in front of them inexplicably fell. But they knew why they fell. Kai was watching them from the shadows. He was also making his arrows count. Every shot hit a major artery or a pressure point that would maximize the pain. Together the three of them were unstoppable. Even though they were vastly outnumbered they could cut down foes as soon as more came to take their places. But still they were getting tired. And Kai was starting to run out of arrows.
"Guys I'm running really low on arrows." Kai said.
"Alright, come join us and we will get you to that tower. That way you can try to get some reinforcements." Olaga said moving into a more defensive position with Maira.
"Got it. These waves of enemies are waning meaning that the other guys are doing their jobs but I hope they show up soon." Kai said as he rushed into the tower.
While Fiafia and Penina weren't as skilled with a sword as Maira they were both skilled in their own right. Penina was elegant. She moved fluidly with the sword, as if it were an extension of her. She even fit flips and cartwheels into her fighting. She was really having fun with it. While Fiafia wasn't as graceful or good with a sword she still performed admirably. She was good at guarding her weak points and even defending Penina if she ever faltered. If they did get a little scraped up Fetu was there to heal them up. He also put in some work by flashing Nosferatu around and hurting kids. But it was Malosi who was the powerful mage in this group. His Thunder spells were enough to keep the enemies at bay and weaken them significantly. After a bit of time they had almost broken through and reached Maira and Olaga.
On the other side Keola fought furiously with his axe. Each swing knocked an enemy down. But his main concentration was on protecting the bigger powerhouse, Atamai. He used Miasma Δ indiscriminately and wiped out so many enemies. When he had to knock out even more he used his new spell, Banshee Θ which had a larger attack radius. Not to mention his dark magic was scary enough to demoralize his foes. This made it easy pickings for Finn. He had decided to hone his staff skills and used his staff in this fight. His staff afforded him a longer reach and also more versatile attack moves in exchange for less damage. But Finn was still able to attack and knock out enough foes. Eventually they were able to link up with Maira and the other group.
When they all linked up they were unstoppable. They worked together seamlessly and would've completely wiped out the entire force by themselves but Kai's family and their soldiers were rescued. The combined forces were enough to push them back to Albinea.
"We did it!" Kai cried out in surprise.
"See, imagine if we hadn't tried." Olaga said to Kai.
"I guess I owe you a thank you Professor, and you too Olaga." Kai admitted.
After meeting with his father and brother Kai returned to Maira and Olaga to give an update and return to Garreg Mach. "I can't believe my father, I'm not strong enough to wield this!" Kai muttered to himself.
"What is it?" Olaga asked.
"Look at what my dad gave me." Kai showed a beautiful if not odd bow. The bow itself was simple, thin, and had wavy lines etched into it. But it was the material that bothered Maira. The bow was made of something Maira didn't recognize. It looked bony and was this pale, and admittedly wonderful shade of orange. The bowstring shined, literally, it was admitting a blue light and seemed to call to Maira.
"If your Dad gave you that then he has to believe things went really well here." Olaga said with wonder.
"Apparently these were just pirates and the Albineans are actually really peaceful. So he saw it fitting to give his son 'Uhane." Kai sighed.
"What is it made of?" Maira asked.
"That's right!" Olaga realized. "You don't know about Mea Hana Nui. These weapons were forged by Finn and Kai's ancestors, the Outsiders. There aren't many left but they hold incredible power. They are kept by the top families. They are made from a special coral that is extremely rare. The coral grows near Kapena, but the art of making these weapons was lost long before the Outsiders landed here. So the best we can do is harness the coral to repair them. Not that they really need it, they are incredibly durable and each has their own backstory."
"This one, 'Uhane has the strangest backstory. Its name means Spirit. From what I've gathered when it was forged there was an ongoing war between two tribes. Two lovers, one on each side of the war, tried to meet but the chieftain of the eventual winning side killed the two of them with this bow. The spirit of those lovers are now trapped in this bow. And any other lives that this bow has claimed also lost their spirits to this bow. Truly creepy. And truly something I did NOT want to use!" Kai whimpered. "Especially when it was my brother who was originally slated to use this."
"I'm sure your dad had his reasons." Maira ensured him.
"Kai, you earned this!" Olaga tried to cheer him up. "And you can not keep comparing yourself to your brother, he wouldn't want that."
"I only got into the Academy because my brother got sick."
"So, you are still just as good. And I wouldn't have wanted your brother to come because that would've meant we never would've gotten to get to know you." Olaga said.
"Do you really mean that?" Kai asked.
"Of course I do!" Olaga mocked him. "Especially since now you are the new General Namoe."
"What do you mean?" Maira asked.
"When a General concedes his mark to someone it makes them the general of their territory. This was my dad's mark. Though I am letting him govern in my absence while I finish studying at the Academy." Kai explained.
"You are really going places Kai." Olaga smiled.
"I'm sorry for what I said back in the monastery Olaga. You aren't just brute strength and you are the bravest person that I know." Kai said earnestly.
"Thanks Kai. Apology accepted." Olaga tried to play it cool but she was blushing.
"Alright, we have to go back to the monastery." Maira finally said gathering the rest of the Sharks.
After that there was nothing else to do except head out to battle in Church territory. They flew down to Northern Church territory and marched towards the enemy's encampments where they linked up with Byleth's reinforcements. The general that Byleth had procured was certainly interesting.
"Ah, so you must be the old Professor's child." The general said. He had wavy orange hair and wore the clothes of a noble. Actually that was the perfect way to describe him, a noble.
"Yes I am. I assume you used to be a student of his." Maira remarked.
"We both were, actually. We even fought alongside him and Edie in the war, didn't we, Ferdie." A beautiful mage said hugging the noble.
"Yes, that is where we fell in love." the noble smiled at his wife.
"You must be Duke Aegir and the famed songstress Dorothea." Atamai noted.
"The Dorothea!" Fetu gasped. "I love your work. And your later days in the theater. They were simply inspired, I especially loved your rendition of Emperor's Pain in The Story of the Twin-Eagle."
"A fan!" Dorothea smiled kindly. "Normally people focus on my opera days but I am so glad you know of my theater days."
"So these are the people your father instructed." Finn said to Maira. "They are interesting, I hope we are just as close to you as they seemed to have been to your father."
"I think we are well on our way there." Maira smiled.
"Duke Aegir and Dorothea. Thank you for coming to help us, the Meritocracy owes you much." Finn said respectfully.
"To be honest much of the Empire doesn't have love for the Meritocracy, they do occupy our land. But the Emperor, and the two of us, have always admired your system. The way the nobility works is astonishing. It truly rewards the perfect noble." Duke Aegir said.
"Yes I guess that it does." Finn was confused by this assessment.
"Don't give in to his rantings on the nobility. You'll only embolden him. But even if we didn't support the Meritocracy we would still be here to help the Professor and Edie." Dorothea assured us.
"You call the Emperor, Edie?" Fetu asked.
"Of course, she is a long time friend. All of my friend's get nicknames. Just like you Tu-Tu." Dorothea winked at Fetu. This almost caused him to faint.
"Well the enemy approaches. Why don't we get into formation?" Duke Aegir suggested. "Maira, Finn, why don't you come with me? It would be an honor to battle with you."
"Of course! Fetu if you want, you can go with Dorothea. The rest of you take position at that hill over there. Flank them and push them towards us while Dorothea and Fetu corral any stragglers with the other soldiers." Finn ordered.
"Of course. Finn, do you want someone to lead a small group to move into their ranks and disable their larger artillery weapons?" Penina suggested.
"That was a very smart suggestion." Ferdinand said with wonder. "I do not remember even Hubert making plans as good as these."
Maira smiled at how her students were working.
"Yes. Penina you take charge. Take Malosi and Olaga with you. Lawe you also will accompany them. Kai, Atamai, Hukai, Keola, Fiafia that leaves the flanking to you." Finn explained.
"Understood Your Majesty. None will be harmed when the two of us are here." Lawe nodded.
"Perfect, that should be everything." Finn said. And with that the Sharks split up and went to their positions.
Each of the students felt powerful when they rushed down the hill to meet the Royalist's forces. Atamai and Kai naturally held the rear and were slinging spells and arrows before the more forward units had even clashed with the enemy. Atamai was primarily using Banshee Θ but when he needed more accuracy he would use the smaller projectiles provided by Miasma Δ. As he chanted and summoned the dark magic everyone swore they could hear nefarious cackling. Next to him stood Kai. The extra height given by the hill helped to improve his accuracy. When he shot an arrow from 'Uhane it absorbed the power of the spirits and flew faster. They also blasted energy outwards when they hit an opponent. The energy of the spirits also flowed into Kai. He was acting faster, and shot arrows without even looking at his opponents. Almost as if he was on the front lines and could see things from there. The two of them were powerful from the back row. But when the front lines did clash it was a beautiful sight.
Immediately Penina and Lawe led Malosi and Olaga into the enemy ranks. Their focus wasn't on attacking foes but on getting to the large artillery in the center of the enemy before they could use them. One blast from those and the tide of the battle would dramatically shift in the Royalists' favor. Eventually they managed their way to the center where two artillery units sat. Their users were already getting into them and starting to aim. Lawe and Malosi set out to stop the first one. Malosi channeled a blast of Fire and sent it towards the operator. This caught the operator off guard. But before he could draw his bow Malosi was already moving, his job was to pull the attention and also take out any other potential operators in the area. That he definitely did. His uses of Fire were wonderful, he was doing a great job sowing chaos into the middle of their forces. But since he had pulled the operator's attention Lawe flew towards him and leaped off of her wyvern. She rolled and dodged an arrow before slashing upwards with her axe killing the operator. She then remounted the wyvern and flew towards Malosi, picking him up. She gave him control of the artillery. He manned the weapon and fired it into the enemy lines. Penina was doing largely the same at this point. They had already gained control of the artillery by dodging and weaving between enemies and using their combined skills to take out anyone in their way. Olaga was great for big damage and significantly weakened the enemy that Penina could finish off. The battle was really tipping towards the Sharks. Sensing this the Royalists were beginning to retreat and move away from them. But they were just moving towards Fetu and Dorothea.
"Here they come." Fetu sighed.
"You don't like fighting, do you?" Dorothea noticed.
"I'd just rather be acting." Fetu admitted.
"Why don't you think of this as experience? Nobody will be able to portray a war hero better than a battle hardened student like you." Dorothea suggested.
"That is a wonderful idea. Now let's take care of these fiends." Fetu smiled.
"Of course, now watch and learn." Dorothea said.
As the foot soldiers rushed forward Dorothea pressed her hands together and closed her eyes. She chanted under her breath and moved her hands into a different formation. A magic seal appeared in front of her and she stuck out her hand towards the heavens. From the sky giant, burning boulders fell and landed on a squadron of enemies.
"That was Meteor, the most advanced fire magic!" Fetu said with awe.
"Yes, I learned that spell a while back. It drains me more than other magic but it sure did a good job of redirecting some of the troops." Dorothea pointed to the soldiers turning away.
"My turn." Fetu said. He placed his wrists together on his head and moved his wrists to his side. Then a blast of three clear, heavenly arrows appeared and shot towards the enemy. They hit and knocked soldiers clear into the sky. "How was that?"
"Very good. Sagittae is a very good spell to know." Dorothea praised him.
After that Dorothea used Thoron to keep the enemies moving towards their trap and Fetu used Nosferatu and Sagittae.
When the enemies came to them Finn used a variety of magic to decimate them. He used Wind to target the high flying enemies, a mixture of Fire and Thunder for the infantry and cavalry, and for the heavy armor he used Wai. His elemental mastery allowed him all sorts of fun combinations. His favorite was using Wai to flood the grounds and then blasting units with Thunder, shocking anyone in the area. He would also use Wai then Fire to create hot steam that he would move around with Wind to get the enemies uncomfortable and sticky, slowing them down. Eventually he could not cast anymore spells and he took out his staff and charged the lines where Duke Aegir and Maira already were. He swung his staff and used its range to keep axe and sword enemies away until he wanted to get close. With lance opponents he kept it short to get in so they had no options. At this point he was drained and only used magic to take out any bow units, though he would only use Nosferatu because Faith magic is easier to cast. Duke Aegir was really pulling his weight though. His skill with a lance was great. His horse was plowing through the enemy and his lance cleared the way easily. He had no problem with heavy armor either because he would have his horse bring its front legs high so he could deliver an even more powerful blow with his lance. No one could stand up to the battle hardened warrior in front of them. But even more terrifying was Maira. She was simply cruel, any misstep, any hesitation, it was all accounted for and capitalized on. Any slice, slash, and jab with that sword was deadly. She rolled through an enemy line, attacked from behind, and then jumped over an enemy just to dodge behind them and draw attacks toward another enemy. She was amazing. With the enemy being scared and herded to them they couldn't last long and eventually the battle was won. The Emerald Sharks and their Empire reinforcements cried out and celebrated. Victory was theirs.