Brace yourself for some anime logic.

Chapter 99 – Blood of the Eagle and Lion Pt 9 (Great Tree Moon)

Cornelia rarely took any big risks. She did not want things to come crashing down around her as a result of taking a gamble. Any risks she would take were calculated thoroughly, and only taken if the chance of failure was virtually non-existent, or well worth the reward.

But as Cornelia stood some one hundred meters behind Byleth as the Archbishop ran Edelgard through, she knew she would have to take a gamble.

She could not allow Edelgard to die now, not before her plans to overthrow Thales had come to fruition. She had invested far too much in the girl to let her perish. But even with her mastery of magic, it would not save the Emperor from her mortal wound.

Only one thing could save her now, and Cornelia was not certain if it would work.

If it failed, Cornelia would lose Edelgard as an ally, and her goal of overthrowing Thales would be dealt a significant setback.

But if it worked…

Just as Edelgard was about to touch Byleth's cheek, Cornelia's power surged through her, her long pink hair billowed around her, and her eyes began to glow a blinding violet light as she unleashed the power of Dominus at full strength. Practically anyone looking at her would see the glow from Cornelia's eyes as she reached for Byleth's mind.

Edelgard touched Byleth's cheek just as Byleth felt something grip her subconscious. Her eyes shone bright violet light as a single inexorable thought filled her mind.

LET. HER. LIVE.

Time came crashing to a halt. The sound of shattering of glass in Byleth's mind was distorted as she reached for the sands of time.

Edelgard's hand moved away from Byleth's cheek as the Archbishop's tears slid back up her face. The Sword of the Creator was pulled out of Edelgard's chest as the Emperor's arm moved away from its failed attempt to block Byleth's strike.

The sands of time resumed their course, yet Cornelia's command followed Byleth's mind through the Divine Pulse's power.

LET. HER. LIVE.

As the flow of time returned to normal, Edelgard tried to move her sword to defend what was sure to be a fatal strike from Byleth. As she did, she saw a violet glint in her former teacher's green eyes, one that had not been there before.

Byleth, realizing she was about to run Edelgard through once more, changed her sword's course, delivering a slash that struck the Sword of Seiros from the Emperor's grip. Edelgard yelped as the blow knocked her down on her side.

Before she could recover, the Sword of the Creator's blade was at her throat.

Edelgard stared at Byleth. The violet glow in her eyes was gone.

Having Edelgard at her mercy, Byleth was lost on what to do. She could end the war here and there. All she had to do was finish Edelgard off, and there would be peace.

The words resounded in her mind and gave her pause.

LET. HER. LIVE.

Byleth stood before the Emperor wordlessly, yet Edelgard could see the hesitation in her green eyes. Byleth, for her part, could not understand why she was dithering. Where had these thoughts come from? Why could she not go against them? Her mind was practically screaming for her to kill Edelgard, but it was drowned out by the words that continued to echo in her head.

LET. HER. LIVE.

Despite knowing she had to kill Edelgard to end the war, the words in her mind stayed Byleth's hand.

The Archbishop then heard the crackle of electricity far too late to react.

Byleth cried out as a Thoron spell struck her in the back. She desperately tried to reach again for the Divine Pulse, but the power was exhausted.

Standing behind her, Cornelia channeled lightning into the Archbishop as Byleth screamed in agony.

Three seconds later, Cornelia finished her spell, and Byleth collapsed unconscious to the ground. The Shield of Seiros fell away from her left arm, but her right hand remained clutched around the Sword of the Creator.

Sighing, Cornelia said, "How unsightly…"

Cornelia walked over and scrutinized Byleth's prone form for several seconds. Before she had struck the Archbishop, she had felt the familiar power of Dominus on Byleth's mind. Yet she hadn't used it on her since she trapped Byleth in ice.

The Duchess smiled as she pieced everything together.

Panting from exhaustion, Edelgard rose to her feet and moved to retrieve the Sword of Seiros. She then walked back toward Byleth, intending to finish her former teacher off.

As Edelgard readied her sword, Cornelia said, "Don't." Edelgard looked at Cornelia in confusion as the Duchess said, "She's much more valuable to us alive."

Edelgard paused as Cornelia smiled at her. She knew Byleth would never take their side. Yet Cornelia must have had a plan for her former teacher, and deep down, Edelgard still wanted Byleth to side with her. But would letting Cornelia have her be for the best?

As Edelgard struggled with the decision, the two suddenly saw a series of magical lights surrounding Byleth.

Edelgard immediately recognized it as a Rescue spell.

Alarmed, Cornelia tried to counter it with her magic, but the Duchess was just a second too late to stop Byleth from disappearing. The Sword of the Creator vanished along with her, but the Shield of Seiros remained on the ground.

Cornelia's face contorted in anger as she whirled around to where she sensed the spell was coming from. Some four hundred meters away from them, Anna finished warping Byleth to her. She was much too far away for Cornelia to use Dominus on her.

Furiously, the Duchess pointed toward Anna and shouted, "AFTER THEM! Do not let them escape!"

…

Anna let out a loud "Whew!" as she finished warping Byleth to her. She had only recently learned the Rescue spell and already it was proving worth the effort.

Seeing Byleth was out cold, Anna reached into her belt and pulled out a batch of smelling salts and, despite recoiling to the stench, brought them before Byleth's face.

"Come on, By! Wake up!" Anna said frantically, knowing the Imperials were going to be after them.

The overpowering odor filled Byleth's senses and, with a brief gasp and a cough, Byleth was reawakened.

Besides the stench that overwhelmed her, Byleth could feel one thing very acutely: pain. Someone had hit her hard, but the fact that she felt pain meant she was still alive.

"By, you alright?" said Anna.

"A-Anna, what–"

"AFTER THEM!" a voice shouted, which snapped Byleth back to full consciousness.

The Archbishop staggered to her feet as Anna saw at least forty Imperials rushing toward them.

"By, we've gotta go! Run! RUN!"

Byleth, hearing the approaching Imperials, did her best to retreat with Anna despite the pain wracking her body. Each step she took was agonizing due to the electrical shock she had received, but she knew she couldn't slow down even for an instant or they would be caught.

Two Imperials rushed into their path, but Anna quickly slashed through them both with her Levin Sword. Then, to the redhead's dismay, she saw more Imperials rushing to cut them off.

But just when Anna thought they were going to be surrounded, she and Byleth felt a familiar power fill them as they heard a song over the chaos of battle.

…

Marianne was shocked when she heard the call for the Loyalist camp to be evacuated. They had thousands of wounded that would be next to impossible to move, but the Imperials were closing in.

With all the noise around her, she couldn't properly make out what the messenger was saying. Yet the expression on the soldier's face filled her with dread.

Apprehensively, Marianne said to the messenger, "Where is Dimitri?"

The messenger, realizing the queen had just asked him where the king was, found himself unable to answer.

As fear began to fill her heart, Marianne shouted to the man, "Where is my husband?!"

The soldier lowered his head, trying to avoid her gaze.

Marianne knew what it meant.

Dimitri was gone.

"No… No! Where is he? WHERE IS DIMITRI?!" Marianne screamed as tears filled her eyes, trying to deny what she knew was true.

Marianne was about to storm toward the man and force him to tell her what had happened when Gilbert grabbed her by the arm.

"Let go! Let go of me!" Marianne shrieked.

"My Lady, you must get to safety!" said Gilbert as he tried to restrain her.

"NO! NO, LET ME GO! DIMITRI! DIMITRIIII!"

"Mary, we have to go!" pleaded Mercedes. "The Imperials will be here any minute!"

Marianne continued to scream for the man she loved, unable to break free as Gilbert had two men escort her back to her carriage.

…

Dorothea saw Anna's rescue of Byleth after the latter had been struck. The brunette couldn't see who had hit Byleth in the chaos, but she knew Byleth had been fighting Edelgard before then.

Now the diva watched as Byleth and Anna tried to outrun the Imperials, but it was clear they would never get away with their own speed. There was simply too much ground to cover and too many Imperials who could get in their path.

Knowing she had to help, Dorothea turned and said, "Lana! Cia! Help me!"

Despite that they hadn't fully recovered from the last Hymn, the twins began channeling to their friend once more. And despite Dorothea's own waning Mana, she began to sing, desperate to save Byleth and Anna.

cantia sariata amaristia atilta sortie

As Anna and Byleth ran, they felt the familiar power of the Song of Swiftness fill their bodies.

sarita camiyata mirifiria atista imia

camia sori

Dorothea sang as the Hymn took hold, causing Byleth and Anna to accelerate to speeds far exceeding what any human could normally reach. The two rushed past a group of six Imperials who, in their astonishment, moved far too slowly to stop them. Without missing a beat, Byleth and Anna carved through four other Imperials who were right in their paths, moving so quickly that the first one didn't start bleeding until the fourth had been slashed.

sarita camiyata mirifiria arita

Hearing the Hymn from across the field, Cornelia readied her own spell to try and stop Byleth and Anna from continuing their escape. Electricity crackled as the Duchess's long hair billowed around her.

The Duchess knew it would be nearly impossible to hit Byleth and Anna at such speeds. However, she had a different target in mind.

As she sang, Dorothea heard the boom of thunder. Looking up, she saw a magic circle appear in the sky above her that crackled with electricity, the telltale sign of a Bolting spell.

Dorothea would've immediately moved to dodge, but she couldn't stop the Hymn now. If she did, Byleth and Anna would be exhausted by its aftermath and would be at the mercy of the Imperials.

The same went for Lana and Cia, who were right underneath the circle. If they stopped channeling Mana to Dorothea, she wouldn't have enough to keep the Hymn going. They were already almost tapped out, and they wouldn't have nearly enough to defend themselves.

Dorothea kept singing, desperate to save Byleth and Anna.

cantia sariata amaristia atilta sortie

Byleth and Anna weaved and dodged through flames and blades as they rushed for safety. But as they ran, Byleth saw the circle of lightning forming above Lana and Cia.

Even at the speed they were moving, they wouldn't reach them in time.

sarita camiyata mirifiria atista imia

Aided by her supplicants, Cornelia finished readying her Bolting spell, which she aimed at the twins. She knew Edelgard would never let her off the hook for attacking Dorothea directly, but she could at least take out the two that were supplying the diva with Mana.

camia sori

"LOOK OUT!" shouted Flayn as she flew to intercept the attack.

Flayn and Sumia made it over Dorothea, Lana and Cia just in time. The Bolting spell came crashing down, striking a ward conjured by Flayn. Yet even with her skill at defensive magic, the green-haired cleric struggled to hold off the powerful spell. For several agonizing seconds, the lightning streamed down toward her as Flayn did everything she could to hold it back.

"Flayn!" yelped Lana.

Just as Dorothea began the final verse, Flayn's ward failed her, and she screamed as she was electrocuted by Cornelia's magic.

sarita camiyata mirifiria arita

Byleth watched as Flayn toppled from Sumia's saddle as the Pegasus tumbled out of control. Despite the pain in her own body, Byleth ran as fast as she could, creating a sonic boom as she accelerated to an unbelievable velocity. Using the speed she gained, she leapt into the air toward Flayn, catching her just before she hit the ground.

The Hymn ended.

Almost instantly, Byleth felt as though every ounce of strength she had left was ripped from her body.

The Archbishop and the green-haired cleric tumbled as they hit the ground. Though it was a rough landing, it wasn't a fatal one. Yet upon hitting the ground, Byleth once again lost consciousness, the strain from the Hymn and her prior injuries proving too much for her.

"BYLETH!" Dorothea shrieked as she ran to the Archbishop's side.

"Flayn!" Lana said as she rushed over to help her fellow cleric with Cia in tow.

Anna, who similarly felt as though she had just run all the way across Fódlan, fell to her knees as she gasped for breath.

They were safe, but only for the moment.

…

Edelgard had never seen Cornelia so angry before.

Indeed, the Duchess was furious at losing Byleth, but she wasn't raving or ranting at anyone over what had just happened. Instead, Cornelia took several large breaths as she glared out at where Byleth and Anna had fled to.

To Edelgard, however, her lack of outburst made the Duchess all the more terrifying.

After a few seconds, however, Cornelia recomposed herself.

"How unfortunate…" Cornelia hissed.

Cornelia turned to Edelgard as the Emperor said, "Cornelia–"

"Her escape isn't a total loss for us," Cornelia interrupted. "At least we have a suitable consolation prize."

Cornelia then knelt and scooped up the Shield of Seiros, which had been left behind.

"Seiros's shield?" said Edelgard.

"Yes. This will prove vital in the coming days, El."

"How so?"

"That can wait, dear. For now, we must press our advantage."

Edelgard nodded and turned back toward the battle. She had a lot of questions she wanted to ask the Duchess, but she had no time for them now.

The Loyalists, Alliance, and Church armies were in full retreat as the Imperial Army hounded their every step.

"Run them down!" shouted Edelgard. "Wipe them from the face of Fódlan once and for all!"

The Imperials roared at their Emperor's command as they continued to slaughter their foes.

A real head-spinner, wasn't it?

It's a weird thing to try and combine mind control with time-based powers. There's a lot of logic bombs that can result from it. Hopefully this will serve as an adequate reason for why Byleth would use the Divine Pulse to spare Edelgard's life: because Cornelia forced her to do it.

While Cornelia had some trouble doing it to Byleth before, there's a difference between being resistant to something and being immune. Byleth is NOT immune to mind control, so Cornelia could still enslave her mind if she used it at full power. And, while having the command follow Byleth's mind through time sounds farfetched, it's how I'm justifying Byleth undoing Edelgard's death. I'm sure there's other anime or manga that have even more convoluted stuff than what I'm doing.

As for Byleth, she would've been so shocked by Cornelia hijacking her mind that she'd have a hard time processing what the hell just happened to her, and doesn't realize that it was mind control. She still doesn't know that Cornelia can use Dominus since she wasn't looking in Cornelia's direction and didn't see her eyes lighting up. As such, she doesn't realize that she was forced to use the Divine Pulse; she thinks she did it voluntarily, but the truth is she did it involuntarily.

If this logic doesn't do it for you, I dunno what else to tell you other than "try to suspend your disbelief".

Also, once again, the song Dorothea uses is "Battle of the Shadows" by Yuki Kajiura, a song used in the anime Princess Principal.

We'll have our 100th chapter next time, so stay tuned.