The 'death' of Baron Ochs resulted in something nobody was prepared for. Because he was holding onto a Hero's Relic at the moment of his death, his body transformed into that of a winged Demonic Beast. Monica was caught within Baron Ochs talons and was unable to move. This was not what she was expecting to happen when she stabbed at him so viciously. "Grr! You worm! Let me go!" Monica screamed in frustration. Since she was so high in the air, nobody could hear how she was cursing this turn of events.

"Another one of those things!?" Shez gasped while looking up into the sky. Considering how loudly Baron Ochs turned into a Deomnic Beast, the fighting mostly stopped on all fronts to see what was happening. The Demonic Beasts that Byleth and her group had to fight didn't stop, however. They were just mindless creatures at this point, after all.

"What an annoyance..." Myson sucked his teeth. Somehow, Kronya managed to mess things up once again. At the same time, chaos did prove to be a useful ally. Everyone was distracted with the transformation of Baron Ochs. So, for that, he could make some use of this. He turned to the distracted Shez, pointing his hand forward as a sphere of dark magic appeared on his palm.

"Hey! Eyes sharp! He's attacking you!" Arval yelled at Shez to snap back into the game. They still had things to take care of.

With Arval's warning, Shez was able to quickly turn around, using her special sword to slash through the sphere of dark magic. "Nice try!" Shez smirked, enjoying the look of shocked annoyance on Myson's face. She then tossed her special sword directly at Myson, aiming for his chest. "Take this!"

"You beast!" Myson easily dodged to the side, watching as the blade flew past him. "Such desperation will never work!" He then turned to fire another Misama shot at Shez, but when he looked over, she wasn't there. "What!?"

Shez tricked Myson. She threw her sword, expecting Myson to dodge. The sword was behind Myson, and she teleported to it, she grabbed it while in the air above him. "I GOT YOU NOW!" Shez roared, swinging her swords down on Myson's back as he turned around. It was a direct hit.

"GAAH!" Myson cried out as Shez's swords cut deep into him. His mage robes were stained black with the blood leaking from his new injuries. She got him. He stumbled forward, grimacing from the hit.

"Nice one!" Luke grinned. He was also keeping that trick in mind for later, because he never would've expected Shez to pull out something that sneaky.

"I was saving that one just for you." Shez said with a wide grin. "Doesn't feel so good when its your back, does it?" That felt so, so good. Even though Myson wasn't the one who stabbed her, she knew he was behind it. Karmic justice felt incredible when she was the deliverer of it.

"Take it from a businesswoman like me." Anna said while tapping her cheek. "It's best to know when to cut your losses. But if you want to sink with this ship, be our guest!"

"You're cornered." Hapi stated. "We took out all your men, too."

"It's the end of the road for you." Luke said while stepping forward.

"Tch..." Myson sucked his teeth. This was, tragically, his loss. He couldn't get away with anything he tried to come for, and yet...not all was lost. "That is the thing about you disgusting beasts. You always assume you have the upperhand. But you forget one thing." Myson pointed his hand to the sky, taking a pot shot at Baron Ochs. This blast of Miasma was powerful enough to capture its attention.

"What did you do!?" Monica screamed, still trying to pry herself free from Baron Ochs' talons, but to no avail. She was stuck. Baron Ochs let out a roar and started to charge spsecifcally at the group of people the blast came from.

"That's not good..." Mercedes said with a nervous smile.

"Enjoy playing with your pet." Myson said as he backed away, warping away from the sticky situation.

"Damn you, Myson! WAIT! GET BACK HERE!" Shez tried to slash at Myson, but he was gone before she even had the chance. Right as she missed, Baron Ochs nearly landed right on top of her. "Gah!"

"Out of the oven and into the frying pan..." Luke grimaced. Myson was a slippery bastard...

"Can you get me out of here...!?" Monica cried out.

.

.

On the other side of Enbarr, Byleth's group was slowly thinning out the Demonic Beasts that attacked Duke Gerth. But their attention was briefly robbed by Baron Ochs transforming. "What a terrible state of affairs..." Constance said with a heavy sigh.

"These things are just popping up out of the woodwork..." Claude was wiping the sweat from his brow. The were thinning the herd, at least. But damn if this wasn't a workout.

"You're not slowing down, are you?" Edelgard was also getting a bit exhausted, but she was hiding it better.

"Naaaah. It's just hot out." Claude replied.

"I'm dead tired." Hilda was panting hard. A little irritated as well. This was waaaaaay more work than she signed up for. "This is the last time I let Balty talk me into anything."

"We're just about done here!" Yuri was slipped under a Demonic Beast, allowing Byleth to cut it down with the Sword of the Creator. Byleth was certainly doing a lot of heavy lifting due to the sheer number of Demonic Beasts they had to cut down. But the others were holding their own just fine as well. There was miraculously minimal damage to Enbarr itself so far, which was something Edelgard was glad to not have to worry about.

"That's almost all of them..." Byleth was glancing over at Baron Ochs, who was currently fighting Shez's group. "We should hurry and help them."

"I couldn't agree more." Claude nodded. With that, the group with the exception of Yuri went over to the last remaining Demonic Beast in the area.

Yuri hurriedly made his way over to Duke Gerth. "There you are. You're not harmed, are you?"

"Yuri..." Duke Gerth looked exhausted. He was a little roughed up from the experience, but other than that, he was not too badly hurt. "Thank goodness you made it. I had no idea things were this terrible..."

"You're telling me. This was not what we expected to walk in on, but trust me when I say the situation is being handled." Yuri said. "But now that we have a moment, what was it you wanted to show me?"

"I was being hunted down for this." Duke Gerth presented Yuri with a strange relic. "This relic. Although it can only be used by one with the Crest of Aubin, you should already know what that implies. These...are the Fetters of Dromi."

"Huh..." Yuri took hold of it of the relic, placing it onto his hand. It was a strange sensation as he donned it, but he could feel its power flowing through him. "Whoa...now this is a nice boost." He then noticed one more bandit dragging their feet over to them from a distance. "A straggler..?"

"What?" Duke Gerth turned around. "Another one...!?"

Yuri knew this would be bad. So he had to put that straggler down before he transformed into another beast; he didn't think he would be able to handle such a thing on his own. The Fetters of Dromi reacted to Yuri's Crest, and before he knew it, he was gone with the wind. Yuri himself was surprised with his speed and was hardly prepared to cut down the bandit. He managed to with ease, but he nearly staggered when he caught himself. "Hooh! Wow. Now that was fast. I think you and I are gonna get along pretty well..."

.

.

"Man, this thing is hard to hit...!" Luke grunted while looking up to the sky. Due to the fact he only had a sword on him, he wasn't really able to strike the transformed Baron Ochs. This was the same for Balthus and Anna. Hapi and Mercedes were able to pelt the Demonic Beast with various magic spells from agar, but they were akin to potshots more than anything.

"I don't want to hit Monica..." Mercedes said with a frown. That was half the battle, just trying to make sure Monica wasn't caught in the crossfire despite being in the middle of the fray.

"Yeah, but we can't keep her flailing about there forever. It's gonna be bad if we leave this thing roaming free." Balthus grunted. "Damn it! I almost had those gauntlets off of him, too!"

"What even happened with that?" Hapi glanced at Balthus for an answer. "I thought you were going to handle it, B."

"I was handling it!" Balthus exclaimed. Baron Ochs fired a ranged attack at the group and they all had to disperse to avoid it. A chunk of a crest stone slammed into the concrete streets and everyone scattered to avoid being hit with the debris. "I beat him in the one on one and before I could snatch the Relic away from him, those attendants of his ambushed me!"

"I can't believe you dragged so many people into this." Hapi wanted to sigh so bad, but she couldn't.

"Can I PLEASE get some HELP here!" Monica cried out. She could see that they were attempting to help her, but since she was stuck within the talons of the beast, there was hardly a thing she could do.

"We are trying! But it's gonna cost a bit extra for this." Anna was always one who came prepared. With a sigh, she had to pull out a bow and arrow.

"...How long have you had that?" Luke asked.

"You know me." Anna winked and took aim. "You always have to be prepared, but it's going to cost someone! Now..." With one eye closed, she took careful aim at the flying beast. She let the arrow fly and managed to strike Baron Ochs in the chest. The arrow wasn't strong enough to do any real damage, but it was there. "That's a steel arrow, by the way!"

"Steel?" Mecedes blinked.

"Oh! It conducts electricity!" Luke snapped his fingers.

"Oh, I get it..." Hapi nodded. She pointed her hands forward to fire a bolt of lightning at Baron Ochs. It was immediately attached to the arrow embedded within Baron Ochs' chest. It was an effective hit, as the electricity stunned Baron Ochs, causing his body to freeze while in the air.

"Hey, watch it!" Monica exclaimed.

"Hold on, Monica!" Shez teleported onto Baron Ochs leg, slashing at the leg with her swords to force him to release Monica. Unfortunately, this only enraged the mindless beast, It thrashed about wildly in an effort to shake Shez off, and he did manage to. "Gaaah!"

"You're useless..." Monica grumbled. She was getting tired of this! But anything else would've blown her cover, so she had to stay the role of the helpless maiden! It was just infuriating how long she had to deal with this. Could these worms do anything right!?

But not all was lost for Monica. Claude soon fired several arrows at Baron Ochs to capture hits attention. The arrows were plenty effective, but it was what came next that actually hurt. Constance then dropped a bolt of lightning on the transformed noble, this one hitting quite hard. Baron Ochs let out a loud roar of pain as he finally dropped Monica, causing her to fall and fast. "Gaaah!?" She was free now, but it was one thing after another. "Oof...!" She then landed...in someone's arms.

It was Byleth. She caught Monica in her arms, looking at her with something that could vaguely be described at concern. "Are you alright. Monica..?"

"W-Wh...!?" Monica's eyes were wide as she stared at Byleth, and her cheeks then turned red from fluster. Byleth was the one who saved her!? This had to be some kind of cruel, twisted joke. She could not believe this is how things played out. "I-I'm fine! Put me down!" She instinctively shoved at Byleth to get out of her hold. This was embarrassing; she was so glad that nobody she actually knew saw this.

"Sorry. I'm glad you're unharmed." Byleth said while looking at Baron Ochs. "...I can put him out of his misery." The feeling of killings someone was one she was already used. What she wasn't used to, however killing someone who turned into an unrecognizable beast was something that was still new.

"Wait..." Monica had to pause for a moment and snap back into character. While she didn't care about Baron Ochs whatsoever, she was currently Monica, not Kronya. So she had to at least pretend that she cared about what was about to happen.

"It's fine." Byleth said calmly. With the Sword of the Creator shining orange as usual, Byleth swung the weapon forward. The bladed chain smashed Baron Ochs directly. The monster stood no chance and slammed into the ground with one final roar. The Baron Ochs reverted back to normal, but...he was of course, just dead now.

"..." Edelgard was scowling a bit. How Kronya could escape this situation getting everything she wanted.

"Damn...I hate seeing that." Luke grunted and even turned away from looking at it. Today turned into a far more gruesome day than he was expecting.

"Is everyone okay?" Mercedes looked around. The first thing she started to do was heal everyone from their injuries. She was grateful she did come along, if only so she could make sure everyone was okay at the end of the day.

"That was a lot..." Balthus walked over to the deceased body of Baron Ochs, pulling Varja Mutushi off of him. The Hero's Relic that belonged to him was now in his hands once again.

"That was an ordeal of a day...perhaps more so because I was here..." Constance said with a sigh.

"We gotta get you outta the sun, Coco." Hapi said while glaring at Balthus. "You're making up for this."

"And we are not going to be lenient about it, Balthy." Hilda said with a huff. "Look how much work I had to do! I should tell my brother about this..."

"I'm expecting plenty of financial compensation for this day." Anna pointed at Balthus. "This is why people don't get involved with the Black Market. I didn't even get anything out of this!" She was only here for curosity, yet this was more than she bargained for.

"Whoa, whoa, hold on! No need for that..." Balthus knew he was in the doghouse for that one. He dragged a lot of people into danger.

"I can't say this was a major loss for me." Yuri wasn't going to share his spoils just yet. But he was pretty content with what he did obtain. "Let's go a little easy on him, though. We did manage to stop something pretty dangerous. Constance and I wouldn't have been able to do anything about all that on our own."

"He is right..." Constance said with a slow nod.

"I'm just glad everyone is alright." Byleth looked over everyone.

"Goodbye..." Monica said while looking down at Baron Och's body. The biggest threat to her cover was now gone.

"...How unfortunate." Edelgard said coldly. Baron Ochs died for nothing...

"What a trip that was." Claude was rightfully exhausted.

"Are we going to tell anyone about this?" Shez asked while scratching the back of her head.

"If need be. As long as everyone is alright, there shouldn't be a cause for concern. Although, I do not know how well they would enjoy hearing about the Black Market." Byleth looked over to Balthus. "But we should just return for the time being."

"Yeah that's...my bad." Balthus really was going to have to own up to all of this in multiple ways. It was ultimately for the best since he did get the Hero's Relic back, but the trouble to get it was almost not worth it.

"I agree with the Professor." Edelgard said while glancing at Baron Ochs' body. "I'll make sure he receives a proper burial of some kind. But otherwise, there is nothing here for us. Monica?"

"I'm sorry Father..." Monica said while weeping. If nothing else, she could at least put on this final act to really sell things. But Edelgard was the only person who wasn't buying it. "You went through all this trouble for me..." But after a few moments of silent weeping, Monica sniffled and wiped her eyes clean. "I'm...okay now..."

"Poor thing...are you sure?" Mercedes asked.

"Yes, thank you. I think I...just need some time alone now." Using emotional grief purely as an excuse, Monica made her exit ahead of everyone else. This allowed her to grin sinisterly once her back was turned. "Finally...that nuisance is gone." It was a little more trouble than she would've liked, but she was glad that things ultimately turned out in her favor. Baron Ochs was dead. That was the last person who was in any position to reveal her identity. There was nothing that could stop Kronya from worming her way deeper into the inner workings of the Officer's Academy. Nothing except...

"You were lucky this time, Kronya. But do not think your luck will last so long. I will make sure you reap what you sow." Edelgard thought to herself. Her battle against the Argathans was going to be a long and bloody one, with Baron Ochs serving as proof as a poor casualty caught in the crossfire of it all. She would have to endure, because the fate of Fodlan was riding on her hands. She would see her ambitions through...no matter what.