The scout reported something stationed near the entrance of the palace—the scout left after confirming it, so there wasn't much description. Still, she assumed the 'thing' was something of Thales's creation, if not belonging to his people as a whole; he was hesitant to show her much, but she knew they were capable of more than just dark magic.
Edelgard spoke with Claude and Jeralt again to confirm everyone could head out, and the combined army moved into the capital fairly uniform. Them being there was enough of a warning; she doubted that Cornelia went unaware of the army moving, at least.
Mages came to greet them just outside the castle, and the battle officially began. Considering Claude fought alongside the others, Edelgard thought it only fair to join the rest; Hubert and Monica would be nearby regardless, and after seeing her Byleth did the same.
In any other circumstances, she might have tried to argue with them to go somewhere else—but she knew it was a personal matter to them, for one reason or another. She wasn't as sure for Byleth, but for Hubert and Monica the memory of the Holy Tomb still lingered because it felt like a failure. It helped that the mages weren't exactly trustworthy to begin with, so fighting honorably was seemingly beneath them.
There weren't much—if any—Kingdom soldiers; a majority of the group was mages, with a few creatures adding to the numbers. Those creatures…did not look alive—they seemed to be made by people and held together by magic, rather than a twisted result of experimentation or misuse of power. The way they moved, however, did remind her of when the students fought beasts after Rhea gave Byleth the Sword of the Creator.
Edelgard tried to move forward as much as she could; her small group made progress while the others still fought behind or around them. She didn't spare any lives of the mages—even if she could capture one, she had a feeling they would disappear again. To that end, she didn't plan on extending any mercy to Cornelia either; it did no harm at this point to lessen their numbers. Better opportunities to find out more would come later, when this war was dealt with.
Smaller groups were able to move around and investigate where Cornelia was, if she stayed. After a few hours of fighting, it was Edelgard that found her in the throne room.
Cornelia looked bored, but stood up when she saw them.
"It's rude to keep someone waiting, you know," Cornelia mused. "Do you mind if we make this quick? I have more important things to do than fighting Anselma's precious daughter."
"Very well." Edelgard didn't need to give any separate order; the other three moved with no command or request.
Cornelia was the only one in the throne room and was, as such, outnumbered—but it seemed like she was fighting rather half-heartedly. She didn't put up great resistance; it felt like she was more interested in drawing out the fight than actually winning, or wanted them to think it was easy or hard and falter.
Edelgard, Hubert, Monica, and Byleth fought together more easily than she would have guessed; the other three all covered for Edelgard, but she covered for Byleth when neither Hubert nor Monica did. After a little bit of taking and responding to the hits, Cornelia winced.
"I'm done here. I'm not going to let my life end in Fhirdiad of all places."
It only took her a second to disappear, and they all paused. Edelgard waited for something more—for another one of those mechanical beasts to show up, or mages to come in through the entrance to the throne room. Instead, there was only silence beyond the quieter, distant sounds of fighting elsewhere in the castle.
Judging from the other three's expressions when she glanced at them, the sudden end wasn't an expectation they had for the fight. It took a few moments before Edelgard recognized what it meant; Cornelia was likely asked to leave, if it wasn't an act of pure self-preservation.
"I want to make sure no other mages escape," Edelgard said firmly.
No one else protested, so they returned to the main battle to find their allies having gotten rid of most enemies aside from the mechanical beasts. Edelgard was able to defeat them a little easier than the others, with Byleth's help.
Every enemy soldier was killed, and when the battle ended Edelgard waited outside of the throne room for any further reports. All three of her watchers during the battle did remain close, but Monica and Byleth were asked to help with different things, leaving only Hubert after a time.
Kingdom soldiers were found in the dungeon, reportedly—Edelgard was, admittedly, hesitant to check herself, but trusted the word of those who stated it. Only two dozen were dead, while the remaining hundred or so were still alive; she wondered if they knew, even among the negative circumstances, that they were fortunate any of them remained at all.
She decided to let them be for now; if she was lucky, she may be able to convince a few to lay down their arms and surrender, especially those that had been at the academy two years ago. More immediate concern went to who would stay at Fhirdiad to make sure the Kingdom nor Cornelia tried to retake it, and whether or not their attention would shift towards the other Kingdom lords in a continued search for Dimitri and Rhea.
