Demon in Fodlan

by Mundatorem

Goetia, surviving his failure at the Temple of Time, finds himself in a new world. Despite the rather unusual nature of it, he finds himself disappointed that he see's much of the same human nature that he saw on Earth. Determined to discover what it was that made human life worth the struggle, he decides to use his second chance to find the meaning of his own life. (Azure Moon)

59. Chapter 58: Grand Battle

Chapter 58: Grand Battle

A casual backhand struck the chestplate of the charging knight. Metal bent inwards, bones snapped and the man died instantly, despite that the force of the strike kept him moving, his broken body sailed through the air and crashed into the wall of the training hall. The body struck it with a meaty thud, sliding down and going still, a trickle of blood leaking from the mouth of the now dead man.

The clawed hand lazily moved forwards, stopping a sword with ease. The other hand moved up and clasped around the head of the attacker before the hand tensed and pushed inwards. The skull broke under the pressure instantly, the head reduced to pulp as the arm pulled the corpse forwards and hurled it over their shoulder and disappeared into the distance.

Sitri strode forwards without a hint of hesitation in their step as they moved through the monastery, arrows and spells washed over them without much concern. A fireball struck his right shoulder, leaving barely a mark as they stared down at it before raising their head and gazing towards the cleric as they prepared another spell.

He didn't get the chance, a single crimson bolt shot across the space between them and obliterated the man's head before he even had the opportunity to realise he was a target. The body dropped to the ground, panicked cries only intensified as the knights ushered away the ordinary officer students and rushed towards the Demon. Sitri paid them no mind as they fled, in the long term it meant very little to him.

Sitri knew he would eventually get around slaying them, a few hours difference wouldn't mean much in the long term.

His new wings opened up, the skin lining the inner sections of the wings split open and unveiled dozens of glowing red eyes. Each optic nerve lit up with a small circle of magical energy before firing forwards, throwing forth dozens of short bursts of light towards the knights.

Those at the forefront were killed instantly, their bodies torn to shreds by the barrage of spells. The knights who had been behind them fared moderately better, having seen their comrades getting massacred they had the sense to halt their advance and find whatever form of cover they could, ducking behind anything they could see close enough to them or just dropping face down onto the ground.

One knight even hid behind a bush and avoided being hit by a stray bolt. The victory was short lived as Sitri raised his left hand and opened up his palm, light flickered between his fingers before it coalesced into a smooth orb and shot forwards in a singular beam of light. The attack struck the knight as he tried to get up, the force of the attack blasting him off his feet and sending his corpse ragdolling through the air. His body cleared the length of the ground in front of the dormitories and crashed through the front of the greenhouse.

Sitri lowered the arm, releasing a single scoff as he continued his advance forwards. A spear wielder jumped him from the side, flinging themselves from the upper floor of the dormitory and releasing a battle cry as they leapt through the air with their weapon pointed downwards to try and skewer the Demon.

They were met with a swift uppercut which - judging by the sharp crack that echoed through the air when fist met face - killed them instantly and launched them back into the wooden railings, the wood snapped inwards and the body hung limp from its position.

Sitri's head moved barely an inch as an arrow struck the side of his head, earning a dull look from the Demon God as they turned to stare down at the projectile now lying on the ground. Sitri's eyes slowly rose back up, a few more arrows crashed into his chest and bounced off. Inclining his body forwards, Sitri launched themselves forwards in a burst of speed which caught the knights by surprise, clearly not expecting movement so rapid from a being who was so large.

Sitri slowed down in front of them, clawed toes digging into the cobblestone path directly in front of the archers.

"S-shit!" The commander cried out, the woman's voice echoed through the helmet in panic as her hand moved down to the sword at her hip. Sitri stepped forwards, their right arm coiled back before shooting forwards with their fingers outstretched. The commander released a sharp gasp as she was knocked off her feet and into the air, hanging limply off the end of Sitri's arm. She reached up to feebly grasp at the limb spearing through her chest for a split second before a wet cough echoed through her helmet and her arms dropped to her side.

"Oh fuck!" The man closest to the dead woman cried out as he dropped his bow and lurched away. Sitri swung the arm to the side and casually flinged the corpse away as they stepped forwards and raised up their foot and kicked forwards. The man's chest caved inwards and sent him rolling back off the edge of the rising and onto the ground below.

Sitri's eyes turned on the other wounded individuals and flashed a brilliant red. The look of utter terror that passed through their faces gave him a wave of satisfaction. Indeed, killing these humans was cathartic in a way. The Incineration was impersonal, few of the Demon Gods were actually present for any of the true destruction and they would learn of it through the reports of those who had been present.

Being here, killing humans with his own hands.

Taking vengeance against them for what they took from him and his kind.

It was…

Enjoyable. With each human he felled, the feeling of fulfilment would only rise.

He thought as much as his hands clasped around either side of a man's head, pressing inwards and crushing it instantly, throwing aside the corpse and flicking the viscera from his hands as he searched for his next target.

---

"Keep the evacuation going around the back!" Seteth all but roared out orders as he sprinted across the field in the direction of the most concentrated screams "Someone find Flayn and make sure she gets out! Along with the students, we cannot risk their safety here!"

It was utter pandemonium, what had started out as an incursion at the bridge had spilled out into a massacre. The knights and clerics who normally patrolled the bridge had been able to delay the demon attacking them long enough for the students and other civilians to escape.

Delayed in the grizzly sense that the demon had decided to make a sport out of killing them rather than pursue the fleeing students. At this point - from what he could gather from the scattered reports getting through by survivors - the demon was making its way through the dormitory area and towards the greenhouse and pond.

If they could keep it delayed there for even a few minutes, then that was time enough for them to get more people out of Garreg Mach. Seteth was cursing internally at the timing of the attack, many of the knights were still away at the Western Church along with their best fighters, such as Catherine, Jeralt and Shamir were away.

"Seteth!" Alois' voice cut through the swarm of panicking students as he muscled through, closely followed by a dozen or so knights and just as many magic users. "I managed to scrape together what I could, I've sent word to the knights patrolling the town at the base of the Monastery!"

Seteth grit his teeth and nodded his head, it would have to be enough. He turned to the knights he had already assembled before he looked past them towards the direction of the pond. He could see some clear nervousness only intensify when a scream cut through the air soon followed by a tearing sound like metal being bent horrible.

Then the top half of a knight flew from around the corner of the mess hall and crashed into the pavement.

If that wasn't a disturbing sight, Seteth didn't know what was.

"Alois." Seteth turned to face the knight, he started to visibly sweat as he sensed the powerful creature start to approach "Get Flayn out of the Monastery along with the students. Should I not return…" he pursed his lips "I…"

"You will return." Alois assured him with an unusually serious expression "I will deal with this, between the two of us-"

"Alois." Seteth cut him off again as he turned around to face the oncoming threat. The being strode around the corner, stepping into line of sight and then turning its head to face him. He could feel its case lock onto him, he watched as the creature inclined its head ever so slightly before turning to face him fully. "I am better suited to this…now go!" he ordered as he brought up his trident and started to run forwards "Go and do not look back!"

"Knights!" Seteth called out as he charged towards the pale skinned beast "With me! We shall fight for the sake of all those who might live!"

With that rallying cry, the knights released shouts of their own and started to sprint forwards, Seteth could vaguely hear Alois shouting out orders behind him to head for the gates but he wasn't paying attention to that at the moment. His focus lay solely upon the creature as it started to move towards him, soon picking up the pace and spreading its wings wide before giving a single power beat and sending it skywards.

Seteth had just enough time to widen his eyes and raise his trident in front of him as a guard before the being crossed the distance between the two of them and slammed into him. Both their hands rested on the handle of the trident and pushed forwards, Seteth's feet left the ground moments later with both himself and the Demon sent careening through the air and above the heads of the men he had meant to be leading.

His vision was filled with the pale skinned armoured face of his opponent, two hurled horns on either side of the forehead and crimson glowing orbs glaring at him with no visible sign of a mouth. Despite that, the being spoke in a tone filled with more venom than he could have thought possible.

"Why?" It demanded as they flew through the air "Why do you fight on behalf of humanity!?"

Seteth's air rushed out of his lungs as their direction shifted and he was directed downwards, his back slammed into the inner section of the wall with more than enough force to have killed a normal man five times over. Seteth merely felt his ribs crack from the impact, although it was still an incredibly painful experience for him.

The Demon's left hand came free of the trident and cocked back, clearly wanting to take a punch at his head. Seteth grit his teeth and pushed forwards, shoving the trident up and to the side to deflect the fist as it was launched towards him. The attack was shunted to the side and embedded itself in the stone next to him. Not one to wait around, Seteth kicked off the wall and shoved them both backwards.

A hand snaked around and tightly clasped the back of his neck as they were in midair and spun the pair of them, Seteth being hurled away and downwards, ragdolling across the ground before sliding to a halt. Sitri was still floating in the air, giving an occasional beat of their wings before they dropped down to the ground, marching forwards.

"What is it about humanity that makes those like you decide to fight on their behalf!?" Sitri demanded, Seteth coughed out and was sent skywards when the Demon God swung its leg upwards and slammed it into his already bruised ribs, the man did several corkscrews through the air before he crashed into the ground. "What is to be gained from this?!"

"Halt, demon!" Sitri paused and looked to the right, watching as the knights Seteth had tried to lead against him rushed down the stairs, the fleeing civilians being shoved aside as they charged. The lead knight was sprinting as fast as they could. Sitri recognised it, the final act of the mad and desperate. Still, if the odd human was willing to throw away their life, who was he to argue with them?

"In the name of the Goddess, you shall-" A bolt of light from Sitri's right wing cut off whatever he was going to say, along with his lifespan. The momentum carried him forwards and across the ground, slumped face down with a hole the size of an apple punched through the centre of his chest and still steaming away.

"Hmph." Sitri merely scoffed, then turned back to his intended target.

Seteth's fist buried itself into his cheek, the force was enough to send his head snapping to the side in both shock and a slight twinge of pain. Sitri stepped backwards as the man moved in again, this time swinging his other arm upwards and crashing it into the area where his ribs would have been.

Sitri punched him back.

And Sitri punched harder.

Seteth's body folded with the blow, hunching over forwards and collapsing to his knees coughing and sputtering in an effort to get air flowing through his lungs. Sitri had punched him right in the sternum, a single high powered jab. Seteth could already see them pulling their arm back and aiming to punch down into his head.

A knight slammed into Sitri's side in an effort to tackle them. Sitri didn't so much as flinch as the full weight of the man struggled against them. Their head did incline towards their attacker, indicating that they had at least acknowledged an effort was made. That was all they did though, their right hand grabbed the back of the knight's head and tossed them away without a care in the world, flinging them as if they weighed nothing.

Sitri swung his fist down at Seteth, the green haired man surged upwards, inclining his head only slightly to the left and dodging the blow, wincing as it barely touched upon his cheek. He felt a brief twinge of satisfaction at seeing the crimson orbs widen for a moment before he slammed his shoulder into Sitri's torso and wrapped his arms around their waist, using his full strength to lift them off the ground and charge forwards, ploughing through whatever was in front of them and making sure Sitri took the brunt of it.

Fortunately they were in the market, and there was plenty around that he could use as weapons. Sitri released barely a grunt as the pair of them crashed through the front of one of the stalls, splintering wood and denting metal before they burst from the back of it. Still, Seteth maintained his grip, releasing a primal roar as the wall came into sight. Not even slowing down - rather speeding up - Seteth crossed the distance much faster than a human could possibly dream of and smashed into the brick, the pair of them disappearing in an explosion of smoke and debris.

---

Space ripped itself open.

Goetia, Rhea - carrying Byleth - and the Ashen wolves stumbled through the barrier, all caked in dust and coughing heavily. Goetia wiped the soot from his eyes and shook his head. The moment Sitri transformed, he had rushed upwards and punched a hole through the ceiling, bringing the entire inner chasm down on their heads. Or at least part of it, fortunately many of the supports were still functional else he suspected they would have more problems.

Then he heard a gasp and looked around.

His expression steeled itself.

It seemed they already had problems.

Red eyes lingered on the body of the knight impaled on a length of wood of the first floor dormitory, hanging down from the splintered bannisters and a grotesque decoration. They were not the only one either, Goetia's eyes shifted left and right as he beheld corpses in various states of appearance along with burn marks littering the ground.

Points of impact from Sitri's attacks no doubt.

"...He has gotten more powerful." Goetia bluntly remarked "But the situation is not yet unsalvageable."

Rhea whirled on him with a thunderous expression "How then!?" she demanded with no small amount of rage. Goetia was aware it was more directed at the situation than himself, he supposed he could understand given all she had done to make this possible. It appeared to be on the verge of destruction.

Having everything you devoted your life to destroyed by someone was something he was aware of.

His eyes darted to the Ashen wolves "You should find the evacuation and join them. I suspect the knights are holding them off." he then looked to Rhea and Byleth "Get her back awake if you can, failing that…" his lips thinned "Find someone to take her away and then join me. As it stands, you and I are the best hope this monastery has for survival." he turned away and made his way towards the entrance to the dorms.

"And where are you going!?" Rhea demanded, he could understand her confusion given that he looked to be heading for the opposite direction of the battle. However, there was still a pressing issue.

"I'm going to collect something to aid me." Goetia simply replied as he prepared himself to teleport, speed was of the essence. "Magical energy consumption is an issue that I will negate." he vanished before he could elaborate further, leaving the others alone to themselves.

Rhea wordlessly grit her teeth, controlling her breathing as best she could. Given the way the Ashen Wolves all took a single step away from her, she doubted she had succeeded. "All of you…" her voice dropped into a stern whisper "Do as he says. There would be an evacuation, aid those who you can find…please."

"...Yeah." Yuri nodded his head once, giving her a determined look "If there's one thing we Abyssians don't do, it's abandon people." she gave him a briefly grateful look before Yuri turned around "Alright wolves! Lets sniff out some survivors! Time to show we're better than the surface dwellers!"

Rhea watched as they all sprinted off, heading towards the shouts and cries she could hear in the distance. She turned down to Byleth in her arms and softened her features, an undertone of panic in her movements as she set the Professor down on the ground as gently as she could and held her hands up, already allowing them to glow in an effort to heal whatever imagined damage there was.

"Please…" Rhea quietly begged "Don't leave me alone again…"

Her pleas went unheard.

By all but one.

Sothis watched Rhea with a critical eye, there was desperation in the woman as she worked. Her eyes darted down to Byleth and then at her again. She didn't know what to make of half of what had been said, despite that it was clear that the Archbishop did truly care for the child in some capacity.

Whether that was because of what Byleth was or who she was…Sothis couldn't even begin to guess. Or perhaps she didn't want to guess. This entire situation had moved too fast for her to have a moment to think. The truth of it was that right now, people needed help.

Her people needed help.

They worshipped her.

Believed in her.

They didn't even know her and there was such confidence in them whenever they spoke of the Goddess. The Goddess see's all or the Goddess was merciful and kind to the believers. Sothis didn't care about any of that.

She didn't have to be all knowing or all merciful.

She certainly knew she wasn't. Maybe once she had been but - as Goetia had said - that was long ago. She wasn't the person these people probably wanted her to be. She wasn't the person these people believed her to be either. She doubted they would be impressed either.

Sothis bantered with a one armed demon on the regular, narrated the failed love life of the pair of them and spent most of her time on the equivalent of babysitting because of the sheer disconnect between Byleth and her peers. If she was this all powerful Goddess, she probably wouldn't even have to bother with half of that stuff.

Despite that, Sothis felt her lips twitch upwards.

She probably wouldn't trade any of it. Not that she'd let either Goetia or Byleth know about it. The former would probably stare at her as though she'd grown a second head before calling her a buffoon and the latter wouldn't know how to accept that sort of state. Byleth was very blunt and she'd end up saying something similar to Goetia but less ill-conceived.

Sothis floated down to the body as Rhea continued to work on it. Closing her eyes, she reached out towards Byleth's head. Desperate to get the younger girl to wake up so that she could do something. Anything. Sothis was not about to let anything happen to this place or the children living here.

Not because she was some benevolent Goddess to her worshippers.

But because if these truly were her children, then she would be damned before she let them die.

---

Eyes snapped open.

Her vision was blurry and she felt a headache coming on, she could make out a figure standing over her with pale green hair. As her sight became clearer, the features became more and more definitive. Rhea was sitting over her with wide eyes, her mouth slightly agape.

"P-professor?" She called out in a timid voice, almost childish voice. "A-are you…I-is that you?"

Sothis stared at the woman as if she was an idiot. "What in the-what do you mean 'is that you?'" she couldn't help but snap at Rhea "Who else are you expecting her to be, fool?"

What she wasn't expecting was for Rhea to recoil away from her as if she had been struck. Sothis merely rolled her eyes "Why are you looking at her like that now?" she asked with a hint of annoyance, gesturing her arm away from the pair of them and towards the sounds of screaming "Stop dawdling around and help the child deal with that creature." she looked to her left, where she expected Byleth to be lying "And don't just sit there silent, say…some…thing?"

Sothis trailed off as she found herself staring at - instead of Byleth - a patch of grass. She raised an eyebrow in confusion and looked around "What in the…" she paused, her eyes went wide as she noticed something. Her sight drifted back down to the left.

She raised a hand and stared at it.

"This…is not my hand." She said in a dumb tone of voice before she looked towards Rhea, the woman looked on the verge of cheering and crying. "...Oh dear." Sothis said in a cringing tone. "I…I am in her body, aren't I?"

Rhea was still too awestruck to react.

Sothis grumbled to herself as she rolled Byleth's body over and clumsily got to her feet. She had been so used to floating around that the act of using her legs was rather novel to her. She wasn't incompetent and it seemed that the body of Byleth at least remembered how to use the legs.

"Sothis? Why am I not in my body?" Byleth's mind dumbly echoed through her head. Their heads. It was someone's head right now.

"I don't know!" Sothis snapped, jolting Rhea once again "I just know that we've swapped places!"

"...Can I have it back?"

Sothis felt veins bulge in her temple "I'm not planning on stealing your body forever, dolt!" she waved her hands around "I didn't even mean to do this!"

"...What now?"

Sothis felt Byleth's arm fall back to her side, her expression darkened slightly. "Now…I punch something." She took a single step forward.

Then fell flat on her face.

"Mother!" Rhea cried out in alarm, Sothis merely gave a muffled groan into the dirt before she rolled her head to the side.

"Goetia must never learn of this, understand?"

Byleth was disturbingly silent.

---

Goetia burst into his room, battering the door open with enough force that it was ripped from its hinges and sent clattering to the floor. He moved in with a sense of urgency as his eyes darted around.

He knew there would be something here to aid him.

Something that would at least bridge the gap between himself and Sitri. The issue was magical energy. Sitri could just generate more than him now and that had been before they absorbed the remains of a high powered dragonkind homunculus.

It still wouldn't be anything near that of a Demon God at full strength, the fact the Monastery was still standing was proof enough of that but it meant Sitri would most certainly be equal in power to a Servant. Maybe not a high class Servant but even falling into the category of being equal to any kind of Servant made you an incredibly high threat to ordinary humans.

Even those with Crests would be unable to content with them for long.

Or at all.

His eyes scanned around the room before they landed on his drawers. The area where he had been studying just after the mission with the Golden Deer. The Crest Stone of the phantasmal. He rushed forwards, gripping the draw and yanking it open to expose the contents within. His eyes settled upon the smooth stone from the larger phantasmal that had attacked them.

His research had shown that it could absorb magical energy at a fairly decent rate and exhibited limited degrees of regeneration. However, there was only so far that could carry him. The amount of magical energy he would be flooding through the crest stone would likely be far in excess of what it was designed to handle, to say nothing of the impacts onto his own body if he decided to go ahead with this insane plan.

Which it was.

The plan was absolute madness.

At best the stone would buy him five minutes of power if he used it on full blast. Ten if he was conservative with it but Sitri wouldn't be conservative, he didn't need to be. He had a much greater source of magical energy than him.

Closing his eyes, Goetia reached out and clasped the container the stone was in before applying pressure to it. His hands shattered the protective casing and clasped around the tone itself before raising it up and staring at it. His lips drew themselves into thin lines.

If he did this, then there would be no turning back.

He would have to kill Sitri.

He would have to kill another Demon God. Permanently kill them. Sitri would never again walk the world in any capacity.

And he might end up alone.

Alone with nothing but the company of irksome humans, irritable phantasmals and a useless Goddess.

What a sad state of affairs.

The other issue was that this could end up causing serious damage to his body as well, it was a crest stone designed for a phantasmal and his body was - for all intents and purposes - human. The only other human who attempted something like this was Sigurd when he consumed the heart of Fafnir.

The condition of Goetia's human body and the condition of Sigurd's body were as different as night and day.

There was one upside.

Goetia knew spells, thousands of spells.

Exhaling one final time, he levitated the crest stone out of his hand then gripped his robe before tearing it off himself. Leaving him bare chested with only dark trousers on. The crest stone floated back to his hand and laid in his palm.

Goetia wasted not a single second moment in forcing it into his chest, biting back a scream as agony lanced through his body as he physically split apart the skin over his heart and kept on going. Pushing his hand through his ribs and breaking them in the process, then shunting aside his lungs when they blocked his passage.

What had happened to him that he would bear this horrific agony for humans?

---

Alois and Flayn rushed through the Monastery, the man was already heading towards the exit as he did so. The Ashen Wolves were right behind him as he did so, he had already run into them while finding the last of the stragglers, rushing through the great hall and then sliding to a halt and widening his eyes when he saw the student body in front of him.

Those from the officer classes at any rate.

"Wha-!?" Alois gaped "What are you all still doing here?"

His response was Manuela sending him an annoyed expression then gesturing to the doors in front of them. Alois looked and winced. They had been blocked shut by falling debris, no one was leaving that way and judging by the fact they were still here it meant that it had happened recently.

"We will need to move around-" Hanneman attempted to reply, then stumbled as the ground shook and dust fell from the ceiling upon them. The man looked upwards with a noticeable frown before his eyes came downwards "...As I was saying, we shall have to find an alternative route."

Alois grit his teeth and nodded his head, setting Flayn down and backing away from them before gesturing to the side "We'll go around and cut through the stables." he announced before turning around "Come students, we shall have to make haste."

Flayn looked up at Alois "Where is Seteth?"

Alois was pointedly silent as she asked the question, dragging her along behind him and biting his lip.

"A-Alois…where is Seteth?"

"...I'm sure he'll be fine." Alois assured her in the softest voice he could manage "Seteth is a remarkable man and a strong older brother, besides he'd never try to leave you alone would he?"

Flayn's lip wavered for a moment before she gave a single nod of the head "Y-yes…" she nodded resolutely. "You're right."

"What's going on out there anyway?" Claude asked as he rushed across behind Alois and following him up the stairs "Me and her highness got away when the…thing first attacked but since then-"

"We're evacuating the Monastery." Alois informed him "I trust your professors were aware of that as they-"

He was cut off and ducked down, covering Flayn with his body. The area behind them exploded inwards sending a mountain of debris sailing through the air towards the students.

Hanneman was quick to react, with a show he waved his hands and launched a powerful blast of wind from his hands, sending away the worst of the rocks or at least shifting their direction to avoid hitting the students as they fled before he jumped backwards.

The cloud of dust near the entrance dispersed, a shadow rushing through it.

Seteth's back crashed into the ground, he rolled to the side as a fist soon followed. The arm buried itself around a foot in solid stone before it ripped itself free and sent debris hurtling past them.

Sitri had to give the phantasmal some meagre credit.

They were proving a bigger inconvenience than he had initially believed. That didn't stop them from following the punch through and swinging their body around. Slamming the back of their arm into Seteth's face as he tried to stand up and flooring him again. Sitri swung his leg forwards and sent Seteth skidding along the ground in a daze.

They marched towards him once again as he shakily got to his hands and knees, spitting out a wad of blood onto the ground.

"You suffer for beings who understand nothing of you or your kind." Sitri bluntly stated as they swung their right arm and clasped it around Seteth's throat, hoisting him into the air and leaving him gasping for breath as he clawed at the extended limb. "What is the point? Where does this madness come from?"

Sitri hurled him backwards, Seteth crashed into the base of a support pillar with enough force to shatter the bricks and bury his body an inch in solid stone. The man wheezed, blood dripping from his mouth and nose, his right eye forced shut and the left side of his face swollen and already turning an ugly shade of purple.

Sitri had barely a mark on their body in comparison as they strolled towards him.

"They will never appreciate this act. Nor will they get the chance." Sitri spat out "You have merely thrown yourself into your own grave."

Sitri's wings rose up, extending to their full length on either side and unveiling the dozen or so eyes lining the thin membranes. The ocular orbs all focused on Seteth and started to glow menacingly, all but heralding the death of the man.

"If you wish to die a fool's death, then very well."

He heard footsteps rushing towards him from behind, he ignored them. There was little that an ordinary human could-

Sitri felt an influx of mana in the next second, their eyes widened and their head snapped around.

"Get away from him!" The shout was nothing shy of feral, Sitri's head snapped upwards just in time to catch a fireball to the face. His head jolted back slightly but did little else as it lowered back down and he stared at the young girl with green hair glaring at him from the top of the steps.

Sitri's eyes then narrowed as they saw yet more individuals around the room, all halfway up the steps and staring at him with shock and dawning horror.

"So this is where you fled." Sitri stated as he turned towards them glowing eyes on his wings still shining menacingly as he stared at each and every single one of them before his eyes fell upon Lysithea and narrowed. "You…what interest did he possibly have in you? Why would he…" he growled out, the pale haired girl stepped back as she felt a murderous aura radiate throughout the room.

Dimitri stepped in front of her and raised his arms to shield her, glaring back at Sitri with narrowed eyes as the other students and teachers in the room tensed themselves.

"No matter." Sitri decided upon "I shall be rid of you all-"

The wall next to him exploded inwards, Sitri raised his arm and turned towards the explosion, jumping back as he sensed a powerful magical signature rushing towards him. Crimson eyes widened as a shadow blurred through the dust towards him.

A fist slammed into his chest, he felt his body bend with the impact before the fist exploded with purple light and blasted him away from his new opponent and crashing into the wall in the far side of the room.

The fist fell back to the side of the owner before it was raised up and examined by them.

It was attached to a dull golden coloured arm, the skin was similar enough to Sitri's. Armoured and scaled, however the skin tone darkened into a dull red the further along the arm it got until from the wrist onwards it was a deep dark red colour. Resting atop each of the knuckles was a sharp red diamond coloured gem. The hand flexed twice before it clenched into a fist.

Goetia felt a wave of nostalgia as he stared at the new limb that had replaced his missing one, he had manipulated the magical energy to form a shape that he was most comfortable with a similar shape to his arm from his days when he had been more however it was slimmer and shorter, perfect to match his body at least. His eyes darted to the side, seeing the audience in a state of shock.

"Quickly, depart from here." Goetia called out to them in a deep reverberating voice which echoed the exact same tone and pitch from Sitri's. "I shall delay-"

"Nothing." Sitri's voice cut through the room as they pushed aside the stones covering their body and stepping back into the open. Glaring openly at Goetia and beholding their new form.

Goetia turned to face him and glared.

He was standing tall without a shred of hesitance, shirtless and revealing his rather tone muscles. His body was glowing with dull golden lines running down his left arm in the shape of an intricate pattern. Fire seemed to be expelled from his head, warping around either side of his head and forming a shape akin to a pair of antlers which hung down from his body.

"I see. Is this how desperate you have truly become?" Sitri scoffed as they flexed their own magical energy "Using the primitive core of a low class phantasmal beast? This desperation of yours is…unsettling."

"The time of words has passed." Goetia bluntly stated as his eyes glowed, the air around him shifted and he started to float a foot off the ground, spreading his arms wide. "Let us end this here and now."

Sitri stared at him in silence before a low chuckle emerged from his throat, soon bursting forth into a howling laughter as he threw his head back "Now you truly do remind me of Solomon! Appearing to find resolve right at the very end when you are far too late to achieve anything! Despite this new found power, you are still outmatched!"

Goetia narrowed his eyes "Given our record of facing opponents who we outmatch, I would not so readily make such a boast of victory."

That cut the laughter from Sitri. The Demon God now glared at Goetia "You suggest yourself to be Fujimaru Ritsuka?"

"Hardly." Goetia scoffed, his expression flickered for a moment before it hardened. "...He would have had the sense to kill you before this bout of madness could take root."

Sitri launched himself forwards, a single burst from his wings sent him hurtling across the room and tackling Goetia, the pair of them were carried forth and crashing into the ceiling of the chamber and out of it.

"W-wha-!?" Lysithea sputtered before she rushed down the steps, all the while staring at the hole "Teache-" Dimitri grabbed hold of her arm to stop her, she whirled on him with shock "But-"

"Not now!" Dimitri snapped but not unkindly "We must make the most of this chance he has granted us to-"

"Father!" Flayn cried out in shock and horror as she charged down the steps towards Seteth, no one made a comment on the fact she had all but outed Seteth as her father. Mostly drawn between concern for Seteth and horror for what they had just witnessed.

"Quickly!" Manuela barked as she charged down the steps after Flayn "Anyone with muscles, help me grab Seteth then we can get out of here!"

"What about Sparkles?" Claude couldn't help but ask, still transfixed on the hole in the ceiling and the now furious sounds of battle from outside.

"He's on his own right now!"

---

Goetia's armoured fist crashed into Sitri's cheek at the same time their own fist found a home in Goetia's chin. The pair staggered away from each other before Sitri charged forwards again, swinging his other arm around.

Goetia raised his arms to block, bracing himself and gritting his teeth as the fist slammed into his guard and held his ground. Shoving the blow aside and launching himself towards Sitri again, raising his right arm at point blank range and unleashing a beam of pure purple light into Sitri's chest, the attack rocketed them away from him and into the air.

As they flew, Sitri spread their wings to reorientate themselves, their counterattack was swift as they barraged the area that Goetia was standing at with hundreds of beams launched within a few seconds. The forging of magical energy was swift and precise, each one more than capable of landing mortal wounds if they found any.

As the smoke cleared, Goetia was still visible, his arms raised in a blocking motion. The skin around them steamed with burn marks lining each arm before they parted and allowed Goetia to spy through the gap at Sitri. With a wordless roar, magical energy rushed towards Goetia and darkened into black smoke before he spread his arms wide, dragging the smoke with him and across either side of his body.

Space screamed and flickered as dozens of orbs formed alongside each side of his body and then activated, a spell mirroring that of Sitri's was fired back towards him. Thin lances of light raced across the sky towards the Demon God. Sitri gave his wings another beat before he dived downwards, racing to avoid the attack and charging towards Goetia.

The tanned man frowned and drew back his left arm, light coalescing around his fist and spinning around his arm with such speed that it looked as though his entire hand was coated in violet light.

Sitri's feet impacted the ground, sliding towards Goetia and kicking up stone as they did so and pulling their own right arm back and forming a thin layer of red light around it as they did so. The moment the two came within punching distance, they launched their fists forwards. Sitri was faster, taller and had a longer reach. At the last moment, Sitri ducked down and slid underneath Goetia's fist, slamming his own into the man's chest and blasting him away.

The impact sent Goetia spiralling through the air before he smashed through the side of the greenhouse, landing upon a bed of flowers and what looked like several vegetables.

And one corpse but that was dismissed fairly quickly.

Clambering to his feet, Goetia was swiftly joined by Sitri who burst through the wall soon after him and swung his arm upwards in an uppercut motion. Goetia's hand lashed out first, his right arm caught the punch before it had a chance to strike him and allowed him a retaliation, his left hand snapped forwards and caught Sitri in the side of the head.

Despite that, Sitri was still - most certainly - the physically stronger of the two, demonstrated when he tanked the punch then grabbed Goetia's wrist and jerked him forwards and span his body, striking him in the nose with his elbow and snapping his head to the side as a result, blood dripping from the broken nose.

Not releasing his wrist, Sitri spun his body around and dragged Goetia along with him, hurling the man through the doors to the greenhouse and shattering them into wooden splinters as he did so. Goetia bounced twice along the ground before spinning around, digging his fingers into the stone floor and halting his movements. His head snapped up, blood still leaking from his nose as he slowly picked himself up and rolled his shoulders.

His nose self righted soon after, the magical energy from the core managed to heal the worst of the damage. The bruises on his body gradually healed but it was a very slow process and Goetia was pushing himself enough as it was.

"You're slipping." Sitri bluntly stated "As it stands, you have no chance to-"

A beam of light rushed over Goetia's shoulder and struck him in the chest, blasting him further into the greenhouse.

Which promptly exploded.

Goetia raised his arm, blocking his sight and frowning heavily before he looked over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow.

Rhea stared at him in surprise, clearly looking at his new appendage and horns of burning fire. She soon shook her head and seemingly dismissed it, focusing back on the burning greenhouse "How injured are you?"

"Barely." Goetia grunted in response "And Byleth?"

Rhea's expression shifted to one Goetia could almost describe as elation before it tempered out, earning a raised eyebrow from him.

"Hang on!" Sothis voice echoed out "I'm coming now!"

Goetia sensed the divine spirit approaching before he saw her. Not that she could have hidden it in the least. The activation of a divine core was not something that could be concealed so easily, especially not when it was in use. He stared as Byleth - with glowing green hair and similarly glowing green eyes - appeared next to Rhea.

Goetia squinted at her "...What are you doing in her body, Sothis?"

Rhea gaped at him.

"I didn't mean to!" Sothis snapped back in equal measures of annoyance as she waved a hand in his direction, Rhea's eyes darted to her at the familiarity between the two of them "I was trying to wake her up!"

"You've stolen her body!" Goetia snapped back, pointing at her "Between the two of you, she is the one with the actual fighting experience!" his voice was full of blatant annoyance aimed at her "Of all the times for you to discover your ability to assume command of your vessel, why would you choose the most inopportune one!?"

"Oh yes!" Sothis hissed back at him "Because I was watching this disaster unfold and thought 'you know what? Now would be a great time to remove the actual combatant from the field of battle and replace her with my untrained self! What a master strategist I am!'"

"Then get out her-"

Sitri strolled through the infernos and out into the open, the attention of the three fell upon him instantly.

His wings spread wide, not even awaiting any sort of response before unleashing a barrage of spells upon the group. Goetia swept his arms in front of him, forming a barrier in front of himself swiftly and blocking the attacks.

Rhea ducked to the side and raised her left hand, forming a ward spell and gritting her teeth as the spell started to crack then shattered moments later. The Archbishop ducked down to the side, avoiding the worst of the bombardment and still wincing at the few shots that struck her but otherwise suffering no real injuries.

As for Sothis?

She instantly jumped down to ground level and ducked behind Goetia, the man clicking his tongue in annoyance at her and levelling an irritated look towards her "Can you not access her knowledge!?"

"Why would I know to do that!?" Sothis snapped back "She can't access mine!"

"You're an amnesiac! There's nothing to access!"

Sothis scowled at him in response, opening her mouth to respond before her eyes widened and she scrambled away from him "Watch out!" she cried out. Goetia's head whirled around to see Sitri charging at him, clearing the distance in a single step and swinging their fist towards him.

The punch shattered the barrier and continued on, landing on Goetia's face and snapping his head to the side. Goetia stepped backwards, his lip pulled into a snarl before he swept his arm up and knocked the arm to the side and countered, slamming his right arm into Sitri's side and then moving forwards again. Sitri tackled him and beat his wings once, carrying them both into the air.

"No you don't!" Sothis called out, jumping through the air and grabbing Sitri's left leg before he could get far. The Goddess swung her borrowed legs and pulled with all her might against Sitri, however as she had long since left the ground there was little in the way of force she could generate to pull them down.

The same could not be said for Rhea, who grabbed Sothis ankles and pulled downwards with all her might, then pulled back. Catching Sothis while Goetia and Sitri crashed roughly into the ground. Goetia scrambled to his feet and cocked his fist back. Sitri caught the punch, the grabbed the back of Goetia's head and mashed it into the ground repeatedly before he tossed him away.

Then jumped at Rhea.

The green haired woman shoved Sothis to safety and freed up her hands, assuming a combat stance and ignoring the tear that went through the base of her gown as she widened her stance more than the clothes would allow. She raised her right arm, supporting it with her left and blocked Sitri's haymaker, then lashed out with several attacks aimed at his body and the final striking the eye on the centre of his chest.

Sitri staggered back with the enhanced blows, swinging his own arm upwards at her. Rhea punched his inner elbow and blocked the attack before she ducked away and spun on her heel, swinging her leg upwards in a roundhouse kick.

His wings opened fire, blasting her point blank and sending her flying from him.

Sothis fist crashed into the side of his face, he staggered with the blow. Being punched by Rhea was one thing, being punched by Goetia was another.

Then there was being punched by a Demi-Servant of a Chief God.

He whirled on Sothis, twisting his wings and sweeping them through the air like blades. Sothis virtually vanished. One minute she had been there and the next she was gone. Then Sitri was kicked in the back of the knee, falling forwards. Sothis was suddenly in front of him and slamming a punch into his face.

Then suddenly a kick to the side.

Another punch to the chin.

An elbow to the back of the head.

Flexing his wings, Sitri unleashed a pure wave of magical energy from his person. He heard a gasp of surprise then whirled on the sound. Sothis in Byleth's body staggered backwards, then widened her eyes and raised her arms in a blocking motion as Sitri swung his entire body weight behind the next punch, slamming his fist straight into her crossguard and pushing her downwards.

Her back crashed into the stone and bounced up, flipping over in a roll. Sitri grabbed her leg and pulled. Swinging her through the air before hurling her away from him.

Then got tackled by Goetia, the man kicked off the ground and launched them both backwards, crashing through the wall and back into the main hall. The two wrestled on the ground before Sitri swung his head upwards, striking Goetia in the chin and pulling a clawed leg back and kicking upwards.

Talon-like toes sliced into his side and caused a flash of pain to shoot through his body as he was sent skywards by the kick. Sitri was swift to take advantage, rushing upwards like a missile and tackling Goetia through the ceiling, forming yet another hole.

The pair grappled with each other, Goetia's right hand roughly grabbing Sitri's face and trying to stick his thumb in his red orb while Sitri was trying to brand Goetia with a burning red palm.

Goetia's eyes flashed and Sitri suddenly felt his weight skyrocket. His wings tensed and then buckled as the pair raced towards the ground as if they weighed a tonne. Which they now did.

As Sitri had said, Goetia still possessed all his knowledge and while he might have felt the preference for physical combat return to him after so long without it, he wasn't going to make the same mistake he made at the temple. He was going to use every spell he could think of to his advantage.

With that in mind, he flipped Sitri over and then increased the weight another tenfold before kicking downwards. Sitri plummeted.

---

"Hurry up!" Claude shouted out to the others as they rushed around the corner to the stables "And keep those healing spells on Set-"

A white blur crashed into the ground, kicking up an explosion of dirt as it impacted the soil around the stables. Such was the power of the impact that Claude felt himself get physically jostled by the strike, even if ever so slightly. As he lowered his hands, he watched as the Demon Sitri climbed out of a rather large crater and back into the open.

Goetia slammed into his back, flying in and sweeping his arm through the air and clotheslining Sitri in the back of the head. Sitri's head snapped downwards and crashed into the edge of the crater, Goetia whirled on the wings, then stamped down on Sitri's head while his right hand clasped around the base of the right wing. Goetia released a snarl as he pulled.

Sitri gave a shout before his left wing spun in Goetia's direction and unloaded on the man, staggering him away and forcing him to raise his arms in protection as the veritable storm of needle size light blasts assaulted his body. Sitri shot upwards, swinging his arm up and catching Goetia in the chin with the attack.

They took a step forwards and swung their arm at him, Goetia ducked under the attack and placed his hands against Sitri before shoving him away and slamming into the wall behind him. Goetia charged forwards, bringing his right arm back and swinging it forwards, he then retracted it and did the same with his left.

Soon enough, Goetia's arms became little more than blur as he rained down punch after punch against Sitri and drove them further and further into the brickwork. Eventually, Goetia drew back his left hand with violet light positively exploding forth from it and swinging it forwards. The fist crashed into Sitri and detonated, the explosion of purple flames blasted Sitri through the wall with Goetia following behind him.

Claude remained rooted on the spot, still able to hear the furious clash going on inside and debating whether or not to look inside.

A flash of red light followed by an outraged cry robbed him of that notion very quickly.

---

Goetia's guard caught the fist, the next one slipped through and slammed into his cheek. He staggered back before Sitri swung upwards into his chest and lifted him clean off the ground with the impact. Spreading his arms wide, Sitri unleashed a singular blast of crimson light from his chest, slamming it into Goetia and blasting him out of the hall and through the Monastery into the market area.

He charged out soon after, he would have kicked off the ground if - the moment he stepped foot outside - Rhea hadn't drop kicked him in the body. Sitri staggered with the blow and whirled on the woman, Rhea swept her leg out and slammed her foot into the back of his knee, his right leg buckled from the impact before she rolled back, placing her hands behind her head and pushing off the ground. Her legs crashed against his face, heels digging into his eyes and knocking him onto the ground.

Following through, Rhea made sure to press down on Sitri's face with her footwear before rolling off of him.

Nary a second too soon before Sitri released an enraged roar and fired off beams of light in every direction possible. Rhea hurled herself over the edge and into the small offshoot area just next to the main talls. Avoiding the worst of the damage and ducking down.

Sitri continued to roar even as he climbed to his feet, thrust his hands into the ground and tore up a large section of the monastery's stone flooring. Then turned towards Goetia and hurled it across the length of the market with ease towards him.

Goetia saw the stone flying towards him and hurled his right arm forwards, his fist touched the stone and shattered it into dust. Only for his eyes to widen as the second the debris parted, he caught sight of Sitri in the wake of the projectile. Sitri's right hand clasped around his face before swinging him up and slamming him down, all the while they were still charging forwards.

The end result was Goetia being dragged along the ground with his face tightly pressed against the stone and his skin peeling away from the friction. With a muffled cry, Goetia slammed his left arm into the ground and halted their movement, the pair rolled across the ground, Goetia hissing as the crest stone did the natural healing. He could already feel his skin start to knit itself closed.

Sitri growled and whirled around to face Goetia, raising up a clawed foot and stamping down where he should have been.

Instead, his foot crushed nothing but empty stone.

His head snapped up.

Goetia was now several metres away with no sense that he had teleported. The Demi-Servant was with him and Phantasmal stood by their side with a fierce scowl. Sitri narrowed their eyes before they understood.

"You flickered time." Sitri stated, by the flinch on the Demi-Servant, it appeared they guest accurately "A power granted by the Divine Spirit? The Chief God of Fodlan, Sothis?" Despite that, Sitri felt no fear in facing down Sothis.

Especially when her clumsy attacks showed that she hadn't the slightest idea of how to fight.

"Goddess!" Sothis called back with an irritable scowl.

"I don't care." Sitri bluntly replied, then charged forwards. Throwing himself into the middle of the group. He would have to take out the Goddess first, her ability was the most troublesome. Made all the worse when he recalled that Goetia would still have some semblance of Independent manifestation. It would grant him autonomy during moments of temporal manipulation.

The Goddess and her clumsy punches he could deal with easily.

Goetia, he could not.

Unless…

Sitri slammed into the ground, his fist buried in the stone as the group had jumped to either side of him. His head whirled on Sothis "Two seconds without movement." he bluntly stated "Perhaps three. That is your limit but no more."

Otherwise she would have just run off, found a weapon, then returned and stabbed him. Instead she had to reappear each time she struck him and during the moments of time freeze, Goetia had not been able to take advantage of it.

It implied a short length of time. The Goddess's sudden stillness all but confirmed the hypothesis.

Sitri swung his wings wide, beams of light fired off indiscriminately in an effort to break up the group. His plan worked, he threw his entire body behind an uppercut, catching Rhea in the gut with the strike and launching her skywards and away from him. Turning away, he threw a fist towards the direction of Goetia and the Demi-Servant.

Or rather, it was pointed at them.

The fist itself struck the ground, unleashing a wave of power which split apart the ground and travelled towards them as a river of violet light. Goetia raised his right arm and struck the attack with a back hand, the light dissipated from the strike as Goetia then raised his left hand towards Sitri.

The Demon God gave a single beat of his wings and launched himself skywards. Fortunate for him, as the ground imploded moments later before it boiled into lava. Goetia's eyes snapped upwards and dozens of blades of wind were launched skywards in an effort to chase him down. Sitri was no veteran when it came to aerial movements, in fact he was rather clumsy on account of never having wings before.

As a result, several of the attacks slammed into him and sliced large gashes through his armoured hide. Dark blood spilt from the wounds before they knit themselves closed. Sitri did not wait long to counterattack, dozens of beams of light shot back through the air in the direction of the pair.

They impacted against a thin barrier in front of both Goetia and Sothis, the former having his hands raised towards Sitri before he clenched his fist. Sitri felt the temperature around him drop rapidly. A thin layer of ice covered his outer body and caused his wings to freeze up. Just as swiftly, Sitri flowed magical energy through his body. Superheating his skin and melting the ice from him as he fell back through the air.

Twisting around, Sitri crashed down into the ground feet first, then rocketed themselves forwards. Shooting towards Goetia and throwing his shoulder forwards and slamming it into Goetia, he was shunted away and crashed into the far end of the courtyard. Swinging around, Sitri attempted to throw a punch towards Sothis. The girl vanished the moment his fist came within an inch of her face.

In the next moment, Sitri staggered forwards as something impacted his back. Giving a single grunt, the Demon God whirled around and found nothing present. His eyes narrowed as he sensed for magical disturbances, then turned around again and swung his elbow backwards. He was rewarded with a dull thud, a crunching and a gasp of pain. Following the elbow strike, Sitri turned around and swung his other arm forwards. The fist crashed into Sothis guard, staggering the girl backwards, soon followed by an overarm punch into the top of her head and shook her physically. Her eyes became fuzzy and unfocused.

His right leg swung up into her side, folding her body over the limb with a sharp cough and swinging the leg down. Hammering her into the ground with a tremendous crash. Sitri grabbed her by the hair, dragging her back upwards and bringing his fist back to punch her.

"Gugh!?"

A pained gasp emanated from him instead, his right wing snapped to the side as he felt something punch through it. He released Sothis and staggered away, his head instantly shot upwards and glared at the spear now lodged in his wing. With a movement, he brought the wing down and clasped a hand around the polearm, ripping it from their body and snapping it in half before throwing the broken weapon away.

His head turned towards the direction the spear had come from, instantly finding the source as a blonde haired young man with a furious glare aimed at the Demon God. Prince Dimitri, the memories of Aelfric told him. The blonde boy was standing there with his arm outstretched, located at the turn around where the stables led towards the main entrance to the Monastery.

He was not alone either, a small convoy was behind him all in similar states of shock from the action of the young man.

"Nice work!" The tanned boy - Claude - shouted at him in a tone a mix of panic and sarcasm "So much for a clean getaway!"

Dimitri flinched, widening his eyes and realising the position he had put his classmates in.

Sitri was still glaring at them, then gradually spread his wings once again and prepared to bombard the stupefied group. Instead, a pair of arms wrapped around his waist, Sitri widened his eyes and moved to grab them before he felt himself lifted off the ground. Sothis let out a cry of rage as she bent her body backwards and slammed Sitri head first into the ground.

"What sort of move is that?" Byleth asked inside her head in a voice of intrigue.

"I don't know!" Sothis shouted back through her mind in a voice tinged with panic as she unwrapped herself from Sitri and rolled forwards, spinning around and launching a kick into the Demon God's exposed back. Unearthing them from the ground and sending them flipping through the air as a result before they crashed back into the ground.

"Professor!" Dimitri shouted out with clear relief "Thank the Goddess you're alright-"

"See?" Sothis pointed at Dimitri, the boy blinked at the unfamiliar voice coming from the familiar face "This is what I am entitled to, a little thanks."

"Umm…what?" Dimitri stumbled through the next sentence with a look of mystification before his eyes widened and he pointed behind her.

"Raaa!" Sothis let out a gasp as she stopped time. Throwing herself to the side and catching sight of the fist heading for the back of her head. Time resumed and the punch blew past her without even coming close to striking her. Sitri's head snapped down and followed her as she lay on the floor, the Demon God clasped both hands together over his head and glared down at her before swinging down.

Sothis rolled away as the fists crashed into the stone, cracking it as a result.

Sitri snarled and rushed towards her, only for Goetia to slam into his back with a shoulder barge then grab his wings and hoist him over his shoulder. With a growl, Goetia slammed Sitri into the ground, bringing his right arm back and then repeatedly punching the Demon God in the back of the head, forcing his armoured skull further and further into the stone with each strike.

Goetia's head snapped back when Sitri drove an elbow into the front of his nose, then shoved their body backwards and flew high into the air with Goetia still clinging to them like a barnacle. Sitri twisted midair, turning the direction of their body and ensuring that Goetia bore the brunt of whatever they crashed into.

In this case, it was the upper floor of the dormitories and disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

"I need a weapon!" Sothis realised, then turned towards the group "The Sword of me-the Creator or whatever it's called!" she demanded from the group "Where did you take it!?"

"I can show you." Rhea called out as she returned from wherever she had been launched, sporting a trail of blood leaking down her nose "Come." she rushed towards Byleth and extended a hand, the Goddess took the limb and the pair soon vanished in a teleportation spell.

"Dimitri!" Claude snapped at the young man "Now is a good time for us to get a move on!" he called out, already resuming his rapid pace towards the entrance of the Monastery "No telling how long Sparkles can-"

The upper floor of the dormitories exploded outwards, Goetia went ragdolling through the air with no visible control with Sitri shooting out after him. Crashing into Goetia in the midst of his flight and throwing him down towards the gate, the metal bent with the impact and contorted to perfectly hold Goetia's body. The man released a pained groan before Sitri flew into him again, striking him with such force that he was punched through the metal bars with a horrific shearing sound of metal breaking and further down towards the hill.

However, the moment Sitri made to pursue a blast of pure violet light struck him in the chest and rocketed him away from Goetia and back through the air, as the blast died down the man was soon spotted in the wake of the attack. Shooting forwards like a missile with his arms at his side to make his body more streamlined.

Sitri righted himself as Goetia got close, throwing a punch which clipped Goetia on the shoulder as the man landed a solid strike on Sitri, knocking him back further with a deep thudding sound which echoed about the Monastery. As he pursued further, Sitri countered him with a two fisted strike, swinging the joint arms across and catching Goetia in the side of the head and rocketing him down towards the ground and into the pond.

Goetia struck the water with an explosive splash, soon followed by Sitri diving down into it to press the advantage.

"As I was saying!" Claude hastily called out in clear panic "Make sure you hold onto Seteth tightly now!"

"But what about-" Lysithea made to say before the water in the pond steamed and exploded outwards, boiling water was launched through the air and rained down upon all those present. Goetia flew back through the air, raising his arms in a crossguard block as Sitri rushed towards him and slammed a fist into the guard, sending Goetia flying back further through the air and swiftly followed by the Demon God.

"Later!" Edelgard exclaimed as she rushed past the pale haired girl and towards the exit "We must prioritise our own safety first."

"Lady Edelgard is correct!" Hubert supported her as he jogged alongside them "As it stands, we have no method of battling this beast!"

Only Flayn failed to acknowledge him. The young girl was still glaring in the direction that Sitri had been launched in. The girl sent one final glance towards her wounded father being carried by Raphael.

Her lips drew themselves into a thin line.

While everyone was rushing towards the entrance to the Monastery, Flayn's eyes were focused upon the distant sounds of battle. Her teeth grit themselves into thin lines.

Garreg Mach was her home now. No matter what Seteth would say, she was no child.

She had seen war, fought in war.

She would not allow anything to threaten the people of Fodlan again.

'I am Saint Cethleann of the Four Saints.' She chanted in her mind with steel determination.

Her hands crackled with magical energy, tapping into her draconic blood.

'And I shall help bring an end to this violence for you, Father.'

No one noticed her slip away, unsurprising as she made barely a sound.

---

Two fists slammed into their opposite numbers.

Goetia instantly switched tactics, the air around his fist condensed into a ball and launched itself forwards with the force of a cannon. Sitri was sent rocketing away from him with the left side of his face shredded by the attack. Not that he took the injury and did nothing.

Goetia himself winced as a beam of light sliced through his right shoulder and out the back of his body, similarly taking a step backwards in response. With a mental command, he dropped the temperature around him once again. Spears formed of supercooled ice manifested next to him and hurled themselves forwards a split second later.

Sitri raised his head in the direction of the attack and swung his wings over his body, forming a thin shield between himself and the projectiles. The ice spears shattered against his defence, the thin membrane being reinforced by however many enhancements Sitri could muster to his command before spreading them wide.

At the same time, Goetia threw his own arms to either side of him and dragged forth dark clouds of magical energy.

The air around them screamed as both Goetia and Sitri hurled thousands of blasts of magical energy at each other. The thin needle like projectiles either struck each other in the air and detonated or went wildly off target and ended up obliterating their surroundings.

Sitri growled before the central eye on his chest glowed a brilliant crimson red. Dozens of magical circles formed around Goetia in a dome and all facing inwards. Goetia swung his arms upwards, a barrier formed around himself a split second before the circles detonated and he was consumed in an explosion which sent debris hurtling past Sitri and tens of metres into the air before it rained down as burning rain.

As the dust settled, Sitri watched as Goetia's barrier wavered slightly before it shattered into nothing. The Demon God narrowed their eyes as they watched the antlers atop Goetia's head flicker ever so slightly, the flames seemingly losing their lustre by the moment. Sitri could see it for what it was.

Goetia was losing steam. As long as he prevented him from using his high speed incantation, he could avoid any sort of Greater magical ritual. It was a simple trick to dealing with Casters.

Sitri made to charge forwards before a beam of light descended from the sky next to him for a split second before it vanished. He kicked back but still felt the lance of pain wash through his body as a large slice opened up in his torso beneath his glowing eye. Sothis glared up at him with the sword of the Creator in hand before she spun on her heel and kicked him in the gut, staggering him away.

Stumbling backwards, Sitri raised the back of his hand and blocked Rhea's follow up attack with her own sword before she kicked him in the side of the knee, earning a stumbling motion from him.

He snarled at her before parrying the blow to the side and swinging his other arm towards her head. Sitri gasped as another cut opened up along his body on the side and Sothis seemingly appeared next to him once again before she pulled the sword back in preparation for a thrust.

Sitri unleashed every single one of his eyes at point blank range. The attack was indiscriminately and purely focused on getting all of his opponents away from him.

Air around him rushed inwards, the winds lashed against his body and peeled away thin parts of his outer skin. He whirled away from Rhea and the others and locked onto the new target.

Flayn stood with her hand outstretched, glaring at Sitri with a magical circle spinning in front of her palm, keeping up the excalibur spell.

The presence of an entirely new phantasmal was Sitri's breaking point.

This was absurd.

"Why!?" He snarled, leaning his head back and dodging a sword slash from Rhea, the side of the metal barely even kissed his cheek as he pulled his fist back "Tell me why!?" he roared as he threw the fist forwards and smashed it into the flat of Rhea's sword when she held up the flat of the weapon as a guard. She winced and used the force of the punch to give herself some distance.

"Why do you all fight so hard to protect humanity!?" Sitri howled with rage as he pulled his arm back and then raised it high when Sothis swung the sword of the Creator down at him. He growled as the sword buried itself an inch into his forearm, with a roar he threw her back from him and raised his right hand, blocking a beam of light from Rhea with his palm, completely ignoring the searing agony that lanced through him as a result of the attack. Even as Flayn landed yet another gale blade into his back.

Goetia charged forwards, catching Sitri in the chin with an uppercut only for the Demon God to retaliate by swinging his head down and slamming his forehead into Goetia's. His former king released a pained gasp and staggered away.

Sitri attempted to gain some height before Sothis pulled back the glowing sword in her hand and hurled it forwards. The blade split apart, each chiselled section seemed to extend further and further as it became disjointed and held together by a metallic cable running through the centre.

The new whip found purchase, wrapping around Sitri's left wing and then being yanked downwards. Sothis released a cry of effort as she swung Sitri through the air above her head before she brought the sword down, along with the Demon God. Slamming both of them into the ground in an explosion of dirt and then yanking the sword back, snapping it into its original shape.

"Why!?" That did nothing to stop Sitri's rage as he burst from the cloud of dust with a thunderous tone to his voice, Rhea backflipped through the air to avoid him crashing into her, instead his fist buried itself a foot into the ground and solid rock.

"You all must know that mankind is unworthy of this effort!" His voice was fanatical at this point, disbelief mixed with utter contempt as he glared at them. Then staggered to the side as Flayn threw another excalibur spell at him. However, this time Rhea joined in, the two of them working furiously to form a miniature tornado of high speed magical wind around Sitri.

Blades formed by the high powered vacuum lashed against Sitri, dozens of cuts forming on his body by the second.

With a roar, Sitri unleashed a burst of magical energy from his body, dissipating the spell in its entirety and preparing to counterattack. Sothis rushed in the moment the spell had been disabled, time halted as she moved around Sitri, then resumed it again and swung the sword of the creator at his back.

It was an utterly clumsy swing, more like swinging a club than anything else.

Despite that, it still did its intended job.

Sitri released a cry as Sothis succeeded in slicing his right wing clean from his body. Before the appendage had even touched the ground, Sitri whirled on Sothis with an enraged snarl. Catching her in the chest with a backhand and sending her flying away from him and slamming into the mess hall, crashing through the walls and into the tables.

He turned back around, eyes instantly landing on Rhea as she rushed in from his right side and went for a slash at his neck. He lashed out first, grabbing the sword in her hand by the blade and pulling it out of her grip with his left hand, she stumbled forwards before his right slammed into her chest and launched her away from him.

"This devotion of yours is insanity!" Sitri spat furiously "You are all mad! What meaning can you all find in defending humanity when you are all inhuman!?"

Sothis reappeared from the hole, watching as Goetia charged Sitri with the Demon God spreading his wings wide at him and charging up his spells.

Sothis froze time. Sitri's attack was halted.

Goetia's was not.

Within the span of two seconds, he threw around thirty blows into Sitri's body. Each of which was drawing up the vast magical energy now flooding the area as a result of Rhea, Byleth/Sothis and now Flayn being present. All of which made for excellent fuel for the core.

Each fist struck Sitri's chest like a cannonball, cracks formed in his outer carapace in the shape of knuckles.

Time resumed.

Sitri rocketed away from Goetia, his armour chipped and falling apart. Leaving behind a trail of scale fragments strewn across the ground as he crashed through the wall of the mess hall. Sothis ducked to the side and raised an arm as Sitri was blasted through one of the support pillars, sending a shower of stone fragments shooting across the room as a buckshot.

The hole was soon filled when the other combatants came rushing in.

"Not one of you!" Sitri roared as he threw his body from the wreckage "Not a single one of you is human and yet you all fight to defend them!" his single wing raised up and glowed menacingly "WHY!?"

The roar was accompanied by a flash of crimson light as dozens of beams raced across the room towards the group as they rushed in. Goetia charged forwards and raised his right hand, extending a shield around himself and working as a barrier. He looked over his shoulder at Rhea as he did so and angled his body downwards at the perfect inclination for a ramp.

Rhea sprintied towards Goetia, kicking off his body and launching herself into the air. Sitri tracked her movements and made to reacquire her as a target before he was struck in the best by a burst of light from Flayn. The Demon God gave a single staggered step before Rhea crashed down into him, slamming her elbow into his shoulder. Sitri snarled and threw her off of him and into another pillar.

Time ground to a halt.

Goetia unleashed a dozen rapid fire spells on Sitri at once.

Time resumed.

The air around Sitri boiled, then dropped to subzero, then he was struck by blades of wind before finally being subjected to an explosion of light at point blank range. The end result was Sitri being catapulted through the air and obliterating the kitchen section of the mess hall. Sitri bounced across the main hall before stabbing his hands into the ground and slowing himself.

He looked up just in time for Sothis to catch him in the chin with her knee, his head snapped backwards and he staggered back.

Goetia slammed a fist into his gut and folded him over, then another into the side of his head.

Rhea struck him from the opposite side with a double fisted punch which cracked the skin around his cheeks. His head swerve directly into the glowing spell of Flayn, the girls eyes glowed a brilliant green before she unleashed a blast of fire directly into Sitri's face.

Sothis rammed the Sword of the Creator through Sitri's back, the weapon punctured through the Demon God around the location of his kidneys and out the front of his body. Sitri snarled and whirled around, his fist swinging through empty space as Sothis ducked down underneath the attack.

Rhea caught him in the back of the head with a haymaker, Sitri staggered forwards and directly into Goetia's uppercut.

Sothis slammed her leg into his gut, just underneath the sword before she spun around to his back, twisted the blade and then wrenched it to the side, tearing out across Sitri and slicing him open. Splattering dark coloured blood across the floor and earning a choked gasp from Sitri.

"Rrrrraaaaahhhh!" Sitri's gasp turned into a roar as he spread his arms wide "Incineration Ritual Sit-"

Goetia punched him in the side of the head with enough force to shatter his rightmost horn. Sitri staggered with the blow, the incineration Ritual being cancelled before they turned towards him. Flexing their power, they released a wave of magical energy designed to force the others from him back.

Goetia brought his right hand up, power coalesced around his knuckles before he swung his fist towards Sitri's chest. Aiming directly at the point where the Spirit Origin point lay.

Sitri snarled and swung his own arm forwards.

Goetia's fist smashed straight into Sitri's already wounded chest, splitting through the armour and entering the body before emerging out the back. Sitri gasped in shock one final time, dark blood dripped down the front of their body, splattering along the ground and forming a puddle underneath them.

Goetia stared unblinkingly at Sitri as they stared.

"Now…" Sitri choked out with some small measure of vindictive pleasure "Now…you are Solomon…"

The burning antlers atop Goetia's head flickering out. Red eyes became unfocused and his mouth hung open. Dead silence permeated between the two of them before Goetia slowly directed his eyes downwards.

And to Sitri's fist which had punched through his chest directly at the spot where his heart was.

Sitri clenched their hand, Goetia jolted as the Demon God crushed both his heart and the Crest stone attached to it in one fell swoop. That wouldn't save Sitri though and they both knew it. Goetia had obliterated his Spirit Origin.

He had killed them.

The scope of that act struck him like a punch, his eyes widen and his breath turned shaken, ignoring the thick substance building up in the back of his throat as he comprehended what he had just done.

The crime he had just committed.

"Is that regret…in your eyes…Goetia?" Sitri asked language shifted into their native tongue of Hebrew, the Demon God's voice was laced with disgust "Where has your confidence gone? Your…righteousness…"

Goetia could barely hear him over the sound of his own laboured breathing. Sitri's body slowly started to crumble away into dust, flaking from his body and dissipating into the wind that blew through the great holes in the walls.

"You should let yourself die here…by my hand…" Sitri's tone of voice turned softer as they struggled to remain upright. "It is kinder than the fate that awaits you…Solomon."

They fell backwards, their arm snapped and remained lodged in Goetia's chest as he gave a laboured and bloodied cough.

Sitri crashed into the ground, shattering like porcelain and flaking away.

Goetia staggered backwards, reaching his new arm up and grabbing the limb stuck in his chest.

He would have to remove it in order to facilitate the necessary spells to transfer his biological functions elsewhere so that he could recover. He felt blackness start to creep in from the corner of his eyes as he dropped down to one knee.

"No you don't!" Sothis snapped as she grabbed him, stopping him before he could fall over "You don't get to die until I punch you once!"

Despite himself, Goetia scoffed "Merciful Goddess…indeed…" he grumbled in a quiet tone as he ripped the arm from his body, spilling blood across the ground in front of him and earning a panicked gasp from Flayn as she slid to the floor in front of him and gaped at him.

Goetia reached up towards the hole in his chest, already his eyes felt heavy and started to channel what little magical energy he had left into the limb. Carving away symbols into the wound to repair his internal injuries as well as fulfil the function of his destroyed heart.

His eyelids started to flutter and his arm fell limply to his side.

He could at least feel the spells taking effect, confident that he would wake up when he had suitably recovered.

He stared at the spot where Sitri's remains were.

For a split second, his fear of death was overridden by an even greater fear.

The fear Sitri was correct and he was becoming Solomon.

In the moment before he lost consciousness, a small part of him wished to never awaken from their slumber.

---

AN: Long ass chapter.

You're welcome.

No Omake this week, I just gave you 13k words of Goetia fighting someone.

Before anyone starts ranting about how Goetia should have clapped Sitri, remember that he was subconsciously holding back against them.

He really didn't want to kill Sitri and risk being alone again.

Anyway…

There will be a brief timeskip when the next chapter starts.

Ergo, to the point where the Knights are coming back from the Western Church campaign and find out everything has gone to shit.