"Is mother here?"
"No, Seiros. And call her Goddess, she may be our mother but she deserves reverence."
"But mother told me I can call her as such, Cichol!"
"Mother spoils you too much–"
"Oh let her act as such for her age, Cichol."
"Mother!"
"Hah! See? You called her mother, Cichol!"
"A slip of the tongue…"
"Now, Seiros… What is it you need?"
"I want to hear your song again, mother! Please?"
"Oh Seiros, you truly love that song don't you? Very well but keep this a secret from Indech and Macuil. Those two are the more envious ones when it comes to attention."
Edelgard walked past Catherine's corpse with the latter's blood still dripping from the Aymr, having killed her without any form of hesitation after her part in burning down the city that Edelgard had intended for to surrender due to the hopeless situation.
Instead, such wishful thinking of the Emperor was burned down when Rhea had seemingly ordered Fhirdiad to be torched down rather than let it fall to the Empire. That Rhea intends to bring down everyone with her if this must be her last stand against Edelgard.
"Take Thunderbrand." Edelgard ordered towards Felix who looked absolutely pissed off from the atrocity done to the capital of his homeland by the hands of those who should have been defending it from them. The memories of his youth visiting this city and meeting with those he called friends, even Dimitri at that time, were nothing but ashes now as the blaze continually spread.
Felix picked up the Thunderbrand, glancing at the weapon and glaring at its dead owner, a look of silent fury in his eyes at the one to carry out the order to burn the very city they were in.
"Has anyone heard of the others? The professor? Lysithea?" Edelgard asked Hubert, having last seen the two after she was separated from them due to a burning and crumbling building falling down.
"Nothing, Your Majesty. Only reports of Kingdom soldiers loyal to King Dimitri deserting and revealing their coercion…"
"No doubt they will claim that they are not accountable for what atrocity has been done to this city and its civilians." Edelgard scoffed, not bothering to hide her anger at what was done here and how it made this final conquest much more difficult than it should have been.
Hubert shook his head. "On the contrary, the reports said that even those same soldiers were killed by the Church of Seiros for trying to put an end to this madness. Now, the remaining ones are bent on rescuing as many trapped civilians as they can."
Edelgard bit her lower lip in frustration, watching some of her soldiers kill any Knight of Seiros they came upon, all of which yelled at how salvation and damnation is found within the flames, words filled with religious fervor that led to such a situation being allowed to happen.
She also witnessed how her own soldiers helped the civilians they found trapped or lost within the burning city, the look of despair and hopelessness in their eyes had eerily reminded the Emperor of the same feeling she once felt many years ago.
"Even the Boar wouldn't want this." Edelgard heard Felix remark before he rushed off to find a Knight of Seiros to fight to vent out his anger.
Edelgard mentally agreed, even Dimitri blinded by his own hatred wouldn't even dare to lift a finger to hurt his own people voluntarily. The betrayal the people of Fhirdiad must have felt towards their 'allies' must have been devastating. They all never saw this twist coming as Edelgard never thought Rhea would go this low to even fathom such an act.
"GRRROAAAAGHHHH!"
Edelgard glared at where the roar was coming from, above just a set of stone steps leading to where the castle gates of Fhirdiad was Rhea, the Immaculate One. The one to truly answer for this was her and the Emperor is hellbent on making sure justice is delivered today as well as her triumph over Rhea and those who fight for her.
"Move out, we push forward to Rhea." Edelgard commanded the Imperial soldiers and the Black Eagle Strike Force who weren't separated from her in the burning city.
"Hubert, leave out detachments to aid any civilians we come across and get them out of this place, then send word to every able bodied man to come to our location to help us. We need every man we could get."
Edelgard wasn't a religious person but she believes that even the Goddess knew they needed the numbers and might of everyone to fight the Immaculate One or else, this burning city may as well be where their ashes will rest.
Byleth led the way into the now burning ruins of Fhirdiad, fighting any stragglers of the Knights of Seiros still stubbornly fighting against them while Lysithea helped paved the way with ice magic to cool down any flames that she could put out with it.
Still fresh from his battle with Cyril, Byleth would glance at Lysithea, listless since she landed the final blow to the Almyran's heart. Byleth wanted to talk to her about it but a burning city is hardly the place to confide with one another especially with Rhea still lingering about at the center of the blaze.
There was also this certain matter that Byleth had suddenly felt…
He was feeling weak, as if his stamina had been drained from every fiber of his body.
'Why am I suddenly feeling weak?!' Byleth thought, his entire body felt so frail all of a sudden, as if the strength he's had all this time have vanished. The Sword of the Creator, which felt like a feather to wield, felt heavy in his hands for the first time. The Sword of the Creator itself was losing its glow and then regaining it, only to repeat the cycle over and over again.
He wondered what was happening to him, especially with the worst timing. Could it be that he has far exerted himself lately? He didn't particularly use much of his powers against Cyril earlier in their one-sided battle. Was it because of how much he had exerted himself to match the might and skill of Rhea back in Tailtean Plains? He hasn't fully recovered from that battle after all, his bruises still sting from time to time. Even so, Byleth wondered if there was a limit to the power that Sothis had bequeathed to him… if it was finite…
Or could it be that since Rhea has chosen him to host Sothis' soul and along with it, her power, could it be that defying her will be the source of his diminishing power?
The very thought of it scares him not because he has grown accustomed to the power but on the possible repercussions of it in his life. The awful timing of it especially in the middle of a monumental battle against Rhea that will hopefully be the last. He felt fear that this power, power that he needed more than ever, would fail him and his life would cease.
"Byleth?"
The former professor turned to his lover, the listless look having gone and replaced by a concerned look after seeing him visibly slow down in his movements.
"I'm fine." Byleth told her, not wanting to lie to her but he must. There was no turning back now and he couldn't afford to worry Lysithea else she might make a mistake later. He then continued walking forward, acting as if nothing had been bothering him.
Lysithea wasn't buying it but did not bother to call him out, fully knowing that both of them are to the point of no return anymore. Any thoughts of how Lysithea should have tried harder to convince Edelgard to lay off the siege for another day were brushed by her own mind. She recalled that even Byleth told the Emperor to press the offensive and to pressure the Church of Seiros before they could reorganize, into surrendering from a siege defense of futility.
Only to be met with the burning of Fhirdiad as a response by Rhea and her remaining followers being too desperate and blinded by their faith to even see sense anymore.
This was a now or never moment for all of them, too much was at stake now for them to back out and with Rhea's roars becoming more agitated, it felt like a wake-up call for them to hurry up.
The Immaculate One beheld the fiery carnage she had created, standing up on her hind legs she watched as the sun from the frigid mountains of Faerghus has began to rise and with it signifies the beginning of the Blue Sea Star's departure, said to be the original home of the Goddess.
The same star that Rhea remembers Sothis mentioning about back in the ancient days of Zanado, when all was still well in the world.
"Mother, what is that shining blue star that sometimes appears in the night sky?"
"That… is where I came from, Seiros. I happened to call that place home until my arrival to this world to guide its people after I saw them bereft of hope."
"How did you know, mother? How can you tell?"
"Countless brutalities and disorder has made the people desperate for something… for someone to alleviate their sufferings. The inhabitants of this world yearned for salvation. I heard all of their prayers, their wishes and their desires. And so, I took it upon myself to take on a form similar to theirs and present myself as the one they have collectively prayed for."
"That is amazing, mother! So that is why everyone here calls you a Goddess! You became their hope and the one to treat them with kindness!"
"Mother…"
She remembered the promise of Sothis that she will bring her there, to the Blue Sea Star, that one day her mother will take her children to the place she called home once humanity and the land was done healing. A promise that never came to be as shortly after, Zanado was set upon by swathes of barbaric bandits, taking everything from her.
And now she faces the same predicament of fighting against an army of enemies she labels as heretics led by those who threaten to take or destroy everything she has built all these centuries. Starting with the Emperor clad in red, glaring up at her with cold hatred backed by the numerous heretics who had rallied behind her.
The image of Wilhelm, her once stalwart ally and very first believer overlayed on top of Edelgard for a brief moment, the look Edelgard was giving her was similar to the determined hatred Wilhelm bore towards Nemesis and those who served under him. The resemblance of their resolve to vanquish their foes was enough to pinch something within Rhea to make her growl in rage.
The righteous anger that Wilhelm had that Rhea used to her advantage is now reflecting back at her… against her.
"Rhea! Your tyranny ends today!" Edelgard pointed the Aymr at the monster before her. "The sun will rise at your corpse covered in the ashes of this city and the people you burned with it!"
"You dare judge me? The temerity you possess astounds me to no end, Edelgard."
"Temerity? You speak as if you're infallible despite all that you've done." Edelgard responded. "I'm not here to judge you, Rhea. We were way past that. I'm here to deliver your execution."
Rhea bellowed out in rage, the Imperial Army that surrounded her braced themselves for what she was about to do. Most of them showed fear against her but within it was also a desire to finally put an end to the rabid beast responsible for the atrocities done today, and a desire to end this war once and for all.
Things will not end like it was in Garreg Mach five years ago.
Lifting her front claws up, the Immaculate One drove them to the Imperial Army in front of her. Those who were quick enough managed to avoid the impact but the unfortunate ones weren't lucky, they were either crushed or eviscerated. Their rent armor and shattered flesh are almost bloody paste.
"Humanity and your fragile bodies! I will crush you all and show to you to fear the Goddess and her last born's power!"
"Archers, fire at will!" Edelgard ordered the sniper battalion led by Bernadetta, ordering them to rain down hell towards the monster's hide, only for them to bounce off of Rhea's scales, going as far as only sending slight pricks to Rhea which only irritated her.
"RAAAH!" Rhea roared out, charging up power from within her maw in the form of a sphere of near blinding rays of light that disoriented most of those who stared at it.
"TAKE COVER!" Edelgard yelled out the order with great haste after witnessing the very same attack that sent Byleth missing for five years.
It was all for naught when Rhea unleashed a stream of concentrated fire, incinerating or blasting everyone caught in it as the monster spread it around indiscriminately, causing more flames to burst in the already scorching city and breaking any organized formation within the Imperial Army.
Before Rhea can revel at the carnage she caused, she was bombarded by many different spells that pushed her face and neck back from the combined force. Damaged by magic but not significantly to the point that she couldn't react accordingly, Rhea grabbed chunks of the earth below her and threw it towards the magic corps that Dorothea and Hubert commanded.
The magic corps were prepared, however, to focus firing towards the chunks of earth to break them into small harmless pieces in an effort to protect themselves. What they did not account for is the fireball that Rhea spewed out that blasted the magic corps away.
Unlike the Demonic Beasts that they have fought in the past, Rhea's control over her monstrous form was apparent with the fact that she could perform coordinated consecutive attacks that no mindless beast in a rampage could do. The fact that she targets those that attack her to disable or kill them was clear to see despite her descent to madness.
Next, the cavalry lead by Ferdinand initiated a charge with their lances ready to pierce Rhea's giant body only for the latter to turn her attention to them and was quick to swing her tail around, sweeping the mounted soldiers away before they were burned by either the flames or the stream of fire Rhea had unleashed towards them.
Even the infantry suffered their own set of casualties when Rhea's attacks had also hit them.
At this point, Edelgard is just sending her army to their deaths as despite her hulking size and increasingly eroding mind, Rhea was a force to be reckoned with. They have never truly fought her in this form, the past encounters with the Immaculate One always involved them running away to avoid her wrath directly with the last one just Rhea unleashing a blast before flying away as one last act of vengeance to the ones who defeated her human form.
"She must have a weakness." Edelgard murmured as she ran around, trying to find the perfect opening to launch an attack towards Rhea. It was imperative that she seizes that chance with significant results, otherwise the efforts of those who fight for her will be for naught.
"Bernie!" Edelgard paused for a moment, seeing from a distance a frantic Caspar approaching an unconscious Bernadetta, having been swept by Rhea's recent attack, rendering her unconscious when she hit her head on a broken wall. Blood flowed from a gash on her head. For a moment, Caspar looked on in shock then his blood boiled, enraged at seeing Bernadetta's bloodied unconscious state, Caspar howled in rage and charged towards Rhea with his gauntlets ready.
"Caspar, that's suicide!" Ferdinand shouted out just as he was removing himself from his grievously wounded horse. The others also tried to warn Caspar off but he had allowed his anger to get the best of him, shouting curses towards Rhea who had taken notice of him by now.
Rhea merely scoffed at Caspar's foolish charge, raising her right claw and ready to tear him to many pieces, she brought it down towards him with the intent to leave nothing intact of him until Rhea roared out in pain as two of her claws were severed by none other than Edelgard, utilizing the power of the Crest of Flames to make the cut downwards, causing the fresh stumps on Rhea's monstrous hand to spew out large amounts of blood.
"You wretched bitch!"
Edelgard did not want to attack this way, she was waiting for the right moment to land a decisive single blow to the white dragon but seeing Caspar was about to die from a reckless charge, something in her told her to stop him from getting killed by Rhea.
Despite her severed claws, Rhea swiped at Edelgard with her injured hand, the Emperor kicked Caspar away to avoid him getting hit and jumped just as Rhea was about to hit her, narrowly avoiding claws that would have eviscerated her upon contact.
Just as Edelgard landed on her feet and looked back at Rhea, she was met by a stream of concentrated fire coming towards her from Rhea's maws. Having no choice, Edelgard brought up the Aymr, still empowered with her Crest of Flame to block the attack. The concentrated ray of fire was indeed being deflected away but the power behind it was beginning to wear Edelgard down as if she was feeling an unstoppable force pushing, her firmly planted feet on the ground began to be pushed backward as Edelgard screamed out, trying to stop Rhea's attack from overwhelming her.
Her arms were beginning to tire from the struggle, her guard was faltering as Rhea showed no signs of stopping her attack despite the best efforts of the Imperial army in making her stop, only to be swept away by the might of Rhea's tail.
'It's no good. I can't keep this up anymore!' Edelgard was beginning to panic, the thought of falling short against Rhea when her goal, the point of this entire war, was just an arm's reach away.
With a loud growl, Rhea intensified her fire even more which finally pushed Edelgard back and steadily towards the tall raging fire enveloping a building behind her.
Just as the flames were about to touch the Emperor's cloak, Rhea was bombarded by a series of dark spikes that exploded upon contact on her face while her stream of fire was deflected away by another weapon, a sword just as she was distracted away.
Stopping her own fire, Rhea looked annoyed at whoever hit her face with dark magic but her pure white eyes widened in rage when she caught sight of the one who had deflected away her fire alongside Edelgard.
"You!"
Rhea growled angrily at the man standing before her, Byleth, glaring at her with such hate in his eyes. His sword raised up to be ready for whatever she'll throw at him, behind him was Edelgard being hastily assisted by Hubert and Caspar as she was forced down to her knees, her stamina spent defending herself from Rhea's flames just now.
For a moment, Rhea saw Nemesis standing before her, his eyes thirsting for blood while covered with it, the blood of her brethren with the offending weapon of the Sword of the Creator dripping with it. Such a sight repulsed her greatly as she saw more and more of the man on Byleth as he stood defiantly at her, his sword coated with the blood of the people who served Rhea.
"I'm sorry that we took a bit longer." Byleth apologized, having almost witnessed one of his closest friends getting incinerated by Rhea. Lysithea soon arrived beside him, being the one responsible for blasting Rhea's face with the explosive spikes of dark magic.
Edelgard gave him a nod of thanks and a smile to him and Lysithea for their timely arrival.
"So it seems both Catherine and Cyril have fallen."
"Cyril's dead." Byleth coldly said, remembering his previous opponent earlier and all the words they had shared, something that still made Byleth's blood boil at how far gone the Almyran is in his fanaticism towards Rhea, not just him but also those who willingly committed the brazen act of torching Fhirdiad and with it, it's citizens.
Rhea merely looked down at Byleth, looking as if she wasn't even bothered by the news that one of her most loyal servants had been killed. Byleth noticed the cold indifference of the monster before him and it only intensified his glare. The former professor thought that Rhea would at least show some sentiments to one of her most faithful followers who followed her orders despite how heinous they were.
But there was nothing else within Rhea's head except her the wrath she yearns to bring down upon her enemies.
"You don't even care that the person who followed and kept believing your madness is dead?"
"Cyril and Catherine have both served their purposes as did the others. They are just sacrifices now in order for me to cleanse this world of the wretched such as you and everyone else bearing arms against me and the Goddess!"
"And that makes you disregard every life, even those who were loyal to you and those who should have been protected by you?!" Lysithea yelled angrily at her, enraged at what has been done to the city and people of Fhirdiad and Rhea's indifference to what she has or was done at her behest.
"I am not to be judged by you humans, your race knows nothing of true sacrifice. The only ones who know are us Children of the Goddess, we know of the great lengths that the Goddess have done in order to preserve this world and its ungrateful inhabitants."
"You're impossible!" Lysithea shouted, disgusted at the woman who the world had once looked up to for guidance, her true self showing itself more and more as someone who cared not for the lives of those who flocked around her.
"You are just as delusional as Cyril and those knights who blindly followed you for the crimes you have committed here." Byleth said, pointing the Sword of the Creator at Rhea.
"You will pay for all you have done, Rhea." Byleth declared as the Sword of the Creator glowed brightly in response. "Everything you have done in the centuries leading to now will catch up to you and this time… no one is around to save you from me again."
Rhea unleashed a deafening roar towards Byleth's continued defiance. The bitter memory of how she was bested by him in Tailtean Plains as well as what Byleth had told her about his connection to Sothis and how he knew the Goddess triggered her wrathful tendencies even more.
Edelgard had recovered by now and stood between Byleth and Lysithea as the Black Eagle Strike Force and the Imperial Army, those who were left standing, stood up, reinvigorated by the display from Edelgard and Byleth in their resolve to fight Rhea despite her power and stature.
"The only ones who shall pay the price of anything are all of you for treason and blasphemy of the highest extent! You treasonous humans will fall once again!"
"So it's true. You don't value human life at all. Isn't that right, Immaculate One?" Edelgard said, her strength having returned.
"Fools who do not accept their own sins are undeserving of salvation! You humans are the ones who betrayed! You betrayed me, and you betrayed my mother!" Rhea rebutted in her monstrous voice, failing to grasp any form of accountability for her own crimes as she flapped her wings and roared at the humans surrounding her.
"I did not betray you or her. I never believed in you from the beginning." Edelgard said, giving Lysithea and Byleth a nod, a nod that the time has come to finally put an end to this madness and the war.
Releasing an ear shattering roar, Rhea spewed out a stream of fire once again, those who were skilled enough avoided it while those who were caught were burned as the Imperial Army charged at Rhea with all they had. The mages who were grouped together were preparing their Resonant Lightning with Dorothea at the head while the archers continued firing from a perceived safe distance to distract the winged monster long enough.
While unleashing fire, Rhea thrashed around with tail and claw to anyone who dared to approach her, stomping, smashing and rending anyone unfortunate enough as some managed to impale her legs with swords and lances before their final breaths.
Getting angrier at the impetuous soldiers for wounding her, Rhea concentrated her power on her legs before forcing them down on the ground, causing it to cave and unleash an explosion that sent anyone near her away. This included several of the Black Eagle Strike Force and Byleth, the latter managing to impale his sword on the ground to prevent himself from being thrown away by the force of the shockwaves caused by Rhea's explosive slam of her legs, Byleth's resistance didn't last long as he was flung towards a wall that fell and buried him under stone rubble..
Edelgard and Lysithea had managed to hide behind a broken wall just in time to avoid getting swept by Rhea's attack and only emerged when the dust cleared, peeking out of their hiding place, Edelgard saw the devastation Rhea had wrought with a single attack.
Many of her melee soldiers had been sent back either dead or unconscious, the buildings around Rhea had all been leveled down and much to Edelgard's horror, she saw Hubert and Ferdinand lying down on the ground unconscious with blood flowing from the left side of Hubert's face. Felix, Sylvain and Petra were lying face down not too far away, the Thunderbrand that Felix took from Catherine earlier just a few distance from Felix's fingertips.
Just as Rhea roared, she was blasted on her head and neck by a huge bolt of lightning, making her screech loudly in pain with Resonant Lightning inflicting severe damage on her scales before she charged up a ball of fire and sent it towards Dorothea and the mages, blasting them away and stopping the Resonant Lightning from further injuring her.
Horrified at the sight of Dorothea slumped on the ground unconscious and wounded, Edelgard tried to come to her side only for Rhea to stomp her right foreleg in front of her, the same leg that has two of her claws severed by Edelgard, finding her finally and growling at her with pained wrath, her teeth visible to show the Emperor that she was ready to gnash her bones with it if she felt like it.
"Your Majesty!" A battalion of spearmen called out from behind Rhea, coming to their Emperor's rescue as they impaled their spears on Rhea's hindleg, specifically the right one which seemed to elicit a loud painful roar from Rhea before she used her tail to smash the soldiers into bloody paste. Just as Rhea was about to turn to Edelgard, she felt a sharp stinging pain on her left foreleg all in part of Edelgard lodging her Aymr on it.
This was followed by more spikes of dark magic impaling themselves on Rhea's scales before detonating, nearly sending the beast on the cindered ground.
Flinching from the dark magic, Rhea turned her glare towards Lysithea, firing her spells from a distance with the Thyrsus. Edelgard saw Rhea's change of attention and her eyes widened in horror when she saw her opening her maw to unleash a stream of fire towards Lysithea's direction.
"No!" Edelgard cried out, taking out the Aymr from Rhea's foreleg to hit her with it again only to be swatted away by Rhea's bloodied foreleg, sending her crashing onto a burned brick wall.
"Burn in body and soul with my flames!"
Just as Rhea was about to unleash the fire in her mouth, she was hit by a sharp whip from below her chin, the lash was so strong that it tilted her up to the gloomy sky and unleashed the stream of flame towards it, illuminating the otherwise dark skies with her fire.
Bleeding from below her chin, Rhea was lashed by another strike towards her neck and another one to her chest before the whip retracted back into a sword. Lysithea looked relieved at the timely return and save from Byleth, dirtied by ash and soot, head bleeding from the cuts on his cheek and brow.
His eyes were ignited with protective anger, he did not care for the stinging bruises and the reopened wounds he had received from Rhea, there was only a resolve to kill Rhea here and now for all she has done to his mother, his father, to the world and now for what she just tried to do to Lysithea.
Despite the feeling of the Sword of the Creator getting heavier in his grip, Byleth didn't let it bother him. This wasn't the time to worry about his power, all he has to do is to unleash it without holding back, something that he hasn't done even with his earlier duel with Rhea as he tried to capture her alive that time. This was the perfect opportunity for him to cut loose and never live to regret it.
"You dare to keep looking at me with such defiant eyes, you thief?" Rhea asked Byleth, the latter didn't say a word and simply raised the Sword of the Creator and manifested the Crest of Flames to empower his sword and shroud it with white gold flames.
"You stole my mother's heart and coveted even her soul! How much more must you take from me?!"
Again, Byleth said nothing, having none to tell the crazed monster before him. He charged as Rhea readied another stream of flames to fire at him, this didn't faze Byleth while he was running straight towards her.
Rhea unleashed her concentrated beam of fire to Byleth's direction with pinpoint accuracy, Byleth however used his Crest's power to empower his Aura spell, creating a pillar of light infused with the Crest of Flames to offset Rhea's flames much to her surprised anger.
Emerging from the dissipating pillar of light, Byleth had the Sword of the Creator turned into it's whip form and lash at Rhea with it, Rhea prepared to defend her head from any grievous injury but soon found out that wasn't Byleth's intent to begin with. Instead, Byleth targeted Rhea's wings, slicing through her wing's membranes, causing her to roar in pain and bleed from her wounds as Byleth landed smoothly on the ground to retract the whip back into a sword.
Rhea couldn't even afford to flap them anymore as more and more blood flowed out and sprayed the fires around her, some embers getting extinguished as a result.
"What have you done?!"
"Now you won't have the means to escape anymore, Rhea." Byleth said, watching Rhea writhing in pain at her new injuries while also noticing the injured right hindleg of Rhea, the place where Byleth had inflicted a severe wound in during their previous duel in Rhea's human form.
"The sun will set on this city with your ashes scattered around alongside the ashes of your followers and those you condemned to burn." Byleth added, his eyes determined to see it through.
"Then I shall drag you all with me!"
Noticing a spell circle on one of Rhea's foreleg, Byleth's eyes widened as he realized it from his earlier battle with her. Quickly looking above, he saw a giant blue arrow made of magic descending down towards him.
Agnea's Arrow, and this one seemed much bigger than the one he had braved. Bracing himself to use the Aura spell again, Byleth was forced to defend himself with the Sword of the Creator when Rhea simultaneously let loose her concentrated beam of flames towards him. Deflecting it away, Byleth could feel the intense heat of Rhea's flames through his sword, even the handle was beginning to get hot and soon after sear his palms all while Agnea's Arrow descended upon him.
All of a sudden, magic circles of light and dark magic formed above and below Agnea's Arrow and unleashed the Aura and Hades spell to collide with Agnea's Arrow. Byleth briefly glanced behind him to see Lysithea performing the very same magic combination she did against Cornelia and he could only dread at the effects of it on Lysithea as her Crest of Gloucester manifested to empower both her spells and the Thyrsus.
The colliding spells above Byleth exploded, sending shockwaves around him that even staggered Rhea back, if only slightly. Lysithea wasn't done and using the Thyrsus' power, casted Warp on Byleth to teleport him away from Rhea's flames, warping him just beside Lysithea as she nearly collapsed from overexerting herself.
"Lysithea!" Byleth worriedly called out but she shook her head.
"Don't worry about me, I can still fight–" Lysithea wasn't able to finish her sentence when Byleth grabbed her with his free arm and dove to the side to narrowly avoid getting burned to crisp by Rhea's flames.
"COME OUT CHILD!" Rhea dared Byleth. "It makes no difference where you hide! You will fight me!"
Byleth was tempted to come out but stayed still where he and Lysithea were hiding, watching Lysithea worriedly while she vomited blood from overexerting herself with her magic and Crest use.
"G-Go…" Lysithea weakly told Byleth. "End this madness, end it all Byleth." Lysithea urged her, weakly shoving away Byleth's hand touching her shoulder out of concern.
Rhea frantically searched everywhere within the ruins with a frenzied glare and bared fangs, using her high stature to find her targets while fending off any soldier from the Empire from attacking her while the others waited for their time to strike.
Some of those she has seen that have fallen were people she may or may not have recognized from her time in the monastery, when the fallen were still students but it bears no such sentiments for her. They have voluntarily chosen their fates by siding with the heretics of Edelgard.
"M-Monster…"
A voice took Rhea's attention and she looked down to see Ashe, his body bloodied and broken, having been swept away by the blast of Rhea's fire and his lower body having been buried by rubble. He looked at her with a glare of hatred that rivals that of hers and even at the face of death in her form, Ashe bore no fear as spite kept him awake to look her in the eye.
Rhea recognized him as Lonato's adopted son. Immediately, she peered closer to him before scoffing at how none of a threat he was at his state. It would seem that even if Ashe did not share the same blood as Lonato and Christophe did, he bore the stink of treachery that they bore towards her and her Church.
Deciding to end any more link to the family that has defied her time and time again, Rhea was raised one of her foreleg up, the one that Edelgard severed two claws from Rhea, to crush Ashe to paste with it.
"Rhea!"
The monstrous Archbishop looked up and her eyes lit up in anticipation upon catching sight of Byleth once again, standing tall before her with a determined look, his hands tightly holding on to the sword that Rhea firmly believed that Byleth had stolen from her and the Goddess herself.
Every part of Byleth's body is aching now, reopened wounds hurting and fresh new ones taking effect as the adrenaline begins to wear off. His sheer will is what allows his entire body to push forward against the monster before him, he is the only one who can stand up to her now, everyone else is either dead, knocked out or displaced somewhere in this goddess-forsaken city.
Even Rhea was beginning to feel the debilitating effects of her own injuries, her rage can only fuel her for so far, the blood she had lost from her maimed wings, severed claws and the lacerations from Byleth's Sword of the Creator accompanied by the piled up minor wounds and the exhaustion she is now feeling from rampantly attacking everywhere in Fhirdiad, it was all taking their toll in her.
Byleth knew this confrontation needs to end in his victory, he can no longer feel his grip on the wheel of time anymore ever since he felt it's loss in Tailtean Plains, he cannot rely on that ability anymore. His grip on his sword, now feeling its weight more than ever, tightened as he channeled more strength than he did from within him. Every last sliver of what Sothis has given him, he was willing to bet on his sword.
Running towards Rhea with the Sword of the Creator pulsating red orange with embers of white gold fire dancing around it.
Rhea knew she couldn't unleash another stream of fire in time to hit Byleth with it at the rate that the former professor was running towards her, she opted to use her claws to slash him down, swinging her claws from her injured hand, Rhea was certain she could hit Byleth with them due to the size and range of them.
Which shocked her when Byleth brought himself down to the ash covered ground, sliding down on the ground to avoid the sweeping claws coming at him. Next, Byleth embedded his sword on the back of Rhea's hand and ran, slashing the scales and the flesh beneath it as the Sword of the Creator cut through it while Byleth ran forward towards Rhea as her right hand hit nothing but a pile of ruined rubble.
Byleth slashed through Rhea's arm, stopping the laceration at the point where Rhea's elbow bone was as she unleashed a cacophony of anguish and anger at the fresh wound she had received, blood rapidly pouring out.
The former professor had no time to look at his fresh handiwork, jumping immediately to avoid the sweeping tail of Rhea in an attempt to pay him back for this latest transgression upon her flesh. Successful in avoiding what could have been an attack that could break his body, Byleth took the opportunity to bring down his sword to the tail of Rhea, severing a chunk of her tail with the unnatural sharpness of the Sword of the Creator, causing Rhea to unleash another roar of pain as she thrashed around with the loss of a chunk of her tail.
However, her random thrashing is what caused her to hit Byleth with her body, causing him to be flung on a still intact wall, denting it with his shape. Byleth cried out in pain as well, spitting out blood from his mouth. Before he could even pull himself out of the wall, Rhea was unfortunate enough to regain control of her senses beyond the pain and unleash a ball of fire towards Byleth to burn him into a crisp.
A shadowy figure emerged, deflecting away the ball of fire that Rhea had unleashed back at her, surprising her and Byleth as to who had come to save the latter. The fireball exploded near Rhea's face, singing her scales black.
Byleth's eyes widened to see Edelgard's back facing him, covered in what seems to be a purple aura reminiscent of the same aura Lysithea has with her dark magic. He could clearly see something was different in Edelgard, the presence of black tendrils forming into four malleable spiked shoulder guards on her right shoulder was obvious, extending to her right hand.
The black mass of tendrils was slowly spreading around different parts of her body as her Aymr on her right hand was also being covered by them, its glow beginning to take on a purplish hue.
"Are… you alright…" Edelgard asked in between ragged breaths, she then turned to Byleth to reveal patches of what appears to be black scales on her cheek and chin, the Emperor's eyes were glowing a demonic red, red as the blood that flowed from her forehead as her crown and ornamental horns were shattered, loosening her ashen hair caked with her own blood, ash and soot from the fire.
"Profe… ssor? " Her voice initially echoed as the patches of black scale flaked off of Edelgard and the mass of black tendrils withered to nothing, her demonic red eyes returning back to its lavender color. The Aymr had also returned to its usual glow, Edelgard coughed out blood the moment her appearance returned to normal, steadfastly maintaining her ground.
Pulling himself out, Byleth was still shocked by what he had just seen from Edelgard, her appearance and her aura earlier bothered him. Rhea roared in pain and fury, snapping Byleth out of his daze, glaring at Rhea once again as he erased any thoughts he had about Edelgard's earlier appearance.
"Why must you humans defy us? Continue to betray me after all what we have done? Why has everyone abandoned me?! Even my own kin?!"
Rhea rambled, every last bit of sanity she once had, forever splintered for she was unable to process why victory seems to keep eluding her even at her most powerful against a host of humans who merely possessed fragments of the power she and her brethren possessed.
"Seteth left you because of what you clearly are now, Rhea." Byleth said. "A monster hiding under the visage of a saint, now that you have lost everything, you have nowhere to hide your true self from!"
"You dare speak for Cichol?! What have you done to poison his and Cethleann's minds to abandon me?! You have turned them against me!"
"You did that yourself!" Byleth yelled back at the rambling beast.
"YOU SPEAK NOTHING BUT DECEIT AND TREACHERY!" Rhea bellowed out a roar of fury. "NOW GIVE MY MOTHER BACK! GIVE IT BACK!"
Rhea raised her neck and unleashed another breath of fire, causing Byleth and Edelgard to roll out in opposing directions, Rhea didn't know who to chase first as targeting one will surely leave her vulnerable to the other.
"Your reign of tyranny is over!" Edelgard declared, raising the Aymr up which was mimicked by Byleth with his Sword of the Creator.
Deciding that she couldn't afford to let the other be, Rhea moved her neck to sweep her fire breath to hit the two all at once until she noticed something out of place above her, glowing orange red and descending down fast to the back of her neck.
Thunderbrand, Catherine's sword, Rhea wondered what it was doing at the air above her until it was shrouded in dark magic and propelled down with such speed that Rhea couldn't avoid it getting impaled at the back of her neck, stopping her fire breath as she even struggled to cry out in pain due to Thunderbrand being impaled in her neck.
Byleth and Edelgard, as they charged towards the distracted Rhea, glanced at who was responsible for such a pivotal moment for them. They saw a struggling Lysithea casting the necessary spells she needed to do in order to give them an opening.
By utilizing Warp to transport the Thunderbrand that Lysithea managed to get from near Felix, above Rhea, Lysithea used the Thyrsus' power to channel her dark magic into the blade and have it impaled on Rhea, coughing blood along the process and near the point of losing consciousness from the strain.
For a brief moment, Byleth felt vindicated of his decision to make Lysithea learn Warp five years ago, not expecting that it would be used at such an important battle. He and Edelgard continued onwards before taking a massive leap, using the last bit of their stamina to do so alongside one final attack.
"End it!" Lysithea managed to scream out as the rest of her allies weakly watched what was to be this war's climax.
"Humanity needs no gods!" Edelgard cried out.
Hurling out their battle cries, Byleth impaled the Sword of the Creator in Rhea's head, the blade going through her skull and then her brain while Edelgard slammed the Aymr on the other side of Rhea's head, shattering her skull and chopping her brain within.
Byleth and Edelgard continued to scream, the former more so as he unleashed every last vestige of Sothis' power as well as his own in this one last strike before pulling out the Sword of the Creator as Rhea's head erupted from the sudden influx of power, sending Byleth rolling on the ground and Edelgard falling on her back just a few distance away.
'M-Mother…' Rhea looked up at the heavens, to gaze upon the Blue Sea Star one last time before she was either blinded by the blood that rushed down from the gaping fatal wound on her head or her very soul itself leaving her.
Edelgard and Byleth were quick to look back at their latest handiwork after regaining their balance, seeing Rhea raise her neck upwards, breathing her last before going limp as her body collapsed on the burning ruins beneath her, blood pooling around her many wounds, specifically the fatal ones in her head. Even after dealing such a decisive blow, both the Emperor and the former professor weren't sure if that truly was the end.
"I-Is it… over?" Edelgard asked, unsure if this is truly the end of the adversary she had longed to defeat all these years. An adversary that she initially didn't intend to kill, exile was to be her fate had she been captured or surrendered but what Rhea had done to the city that is now her grave, Edelgard knew she couldn't let her live anymore. The crime that Rhea had done to the city and its populace was too much for any kind of leniency to forgive.
Byleth on the other hand, used his sword as a crutch to stand up, he felt his power leave him with that last strike, the Sword of the Creator by now has felt heavier than before, struggling to even hold it just to stand up. He couldn't tell if it was just his exhaustion or he had used up all what Sothis had given to him. He had successfully vanquished Rhea, something he failed at twice prior and with this, he had finally gained some closure from what Rhea had begun in his life and that of his mother and father.
It didn't matter anymore as Byleth couldn't even think about the matter nor revel in his victory, a victory that he had just begun to feel after the adrenaline had left him. His vision darkened as if he had gone blind and any strength he had in his limbs had forsaken him, his hands finally let go of the Sword of the Creator, dormant even with his touch, as his body collapsed face first on the ground.
He wondered if it was his injuries that caused this, the overexertion of unleashing everything he had or if this was death finally coming to claim him once and for all, after eluding it for so many times.
Byleth couldn't even think anymore, his consciousness waned but even so he tried to open his eyes one last time, flashes of images that he felt like dreams were all he saw: Edelgard cradling him and looking at him with frantic eyes and the sight of Lysithea literally dragging herself towards him, her hands feebly trying to reach for his and just as he and Lysithea can touch each other's hands, his own body went limp as darkness took him.
There was no celebration, even as the sun rose up and the fires extinguished, there was no fanfare in Fhirdiad.
Only wails of anguish, loss and despair.