Rhea had wanted to get back to the story of what had been happening in Hyrule the same day. However, she and Seteth had work they needed to get done that they couldn't delegate to anyone else. The next day, she, Seteth, Jeralt, and Byleth met back up with the company in the meeting room.

"So, while Kronya was searching for Dinraal, we had an interesting encounter with the Yiga Clan..." Lysithea began.

"They got the Raven?" Master Kohga asked.

"They did," one of the spies said. "But it appears he wasn't the only one who died. When the Hero's company reached Serrene Stable, they numbered one less than they had before their battle with the Raven."

"One less? I send one of my best killers, one of my Circle of Six, and he only takes out one of them?" Kohga demanded. "Bring the other five in here!"

Soon, four of Kohga's best assassins were standing before him. Kohga noticed the discrepancy immediately. "Where's Hancock?"

"Hancock is dead, Master Kohga," Sooga informed him. "Six individuals foiled the attack on Dry Wells. Hancock was slain by one of them."

"So I'm down to four elite killers?" Master Kohga ranted.

"Master, allow me to have the honor of bringing you the heads of—" Sooga began.

Kohga cut him off. "No. I need you here, just in case. Flagg, Zimmer, I want you two to get rid of the Hero and his band of chumps. Get the priests of Ganon and the technologists to help you. Dzu-Teh, you're the backup plan. If the Hero gets his hands on the Master Sword, that's when you get involved."

As three of his four best assassins left, Kohga's worries did not abate.

Even after acquiring fresh horses, it had taken six days to get from Serenne Stable to Snowfield Stable. When they got there, they started talking to people at the stable. There were a number of people there, including a few people giving instructions on shield surfing. Lysithea noticed someone familiar, though, namely a merchant who had been at several other stables they had visited. However, what was notable is that he had been at Serenne Stable.

"How did you get here before us?" she demanded. "We took the quickest way from Serenne Stable to Snowfield Stable, and we were on horseback!"

The merchant, Beedle, seemed to look for an escape. But before Lysithea could get answers, Leonie grabbed her arm. "Company meeting." Lysithea reluctantly followed.

Leonie brought her to the rest of the Company, who were with a man who introduced himself as Ethan Barton. "Please, you need to help me," Barton said. He detailed how his niece had been kidnapped by a bandit gang who had holed up in a cave system in the nearby mountains.

"I'm not a rich man, but my priest, Aeron Flagg, gave me some money to help me find her," Barton told them. "I only have 250 rupees left, but you can have it all if you bring her back!"

"Don't worry, we'll get her back," Link assured him. "What does she look like?"

After getting a description of Barton's niece and the location of the bandit gang, the Company went to rescue the girl.

By nightfall, they had reached the gang hideout. There, they forced their way in. The bandit gang was half comprised of Hylians, and the other half were Rito. They were perhaps unusually well-armed for bandits, but they were not skilled enough to be a real threat to the Company, and they only outnumbered the Company by about three to one. By this point, that wasn't enough.

Somehow, the bandits had gotten their hands on Guardian Scouts that hadn't been infected with Malice. It was possible the hideout had been a secondary storage area before the Calamity that hadn't been found. Still, the Guardian Scouts weren't the Advanced Guardian Scouts that had been found in a few of the Shrines, but rather the ordinary type, and they were also destroyed fairly easily.

However, there was no sign of the kidnapped girl.

The Company had managed to take the bandit chief alive. He denied they had ever kidnapped a girl matching the description of Barton's niece. Even under threat of torture, that was what he insisted.

"Guys, I think we've been had," Raphael said. However, before any of them could question them, they heard the gates to the hideout open.

When they went to see who had entered, they realized that someone had locked them in the hideout with two very large King Dodongos.

Immediately, the Company went to kill the King Dodongos. Link and a few of the others focused on one, while the majority of the Company focused on the other.

Having been warned about the creature's fire breath, Lysithea and Hubert countered with Miasma whenever it tried to prepare to roast them, while the other mages and Bernadetta peppered it with ranged attacks. When it tried getting close and using its claws, Linhardt used Stasis to buy time for the others to get out of the way. They were making progress, but the battle wasn't a sure thing.

Then Lysithea had an idea. Conjuring a Dark Spike, she sent it down the throat of the Dodongo. The Dodongo fell on its side, and Annette cut its stomach open with her Bladesaw.

Turning to the other Dodongo, they saw that it was already dead.

"Let's see who set us up," Leonie said.

The Company opened the gates to see around fifty Yiga, sixteen in bulky Ancient Tech armor, thirty-two in ceremonial robes, one in both, and one in ordinary if expensive clothes. The one in ordinary clothes was definitely familiar.

"Barton," Dimitri said. "There never was a kidnapped niece, was there?"

"No," "Barton" said. "I do have a niece, but she's never been kidnapped. And I must say, I'm impressed that none of you died. By the way, my name isn't Barton. It's Zimmer."

"Zimmer, this was supposed to be our great equalizer," the man in both armor and robes said. "The bandits and Dodongos were supposed to kill most of them."

"Relax, Flagg," Zimmer said. "We wield the absolute cutting edge of Yiga technology, the Y-51 Power Armor. I'd consider that equalizer enough. As for your priests...do they not have Ganon on their side?"

"Well, yes, but..."

"Then what do you have to worry about?" Zimmer asked. He turned back to the Rising Sun Company. "For the record, I thought the bandits and Dodongos were entirely frivolous, but Flagg wanted to try using them." He took his shirt off, to reveal that much of his body had been replaced by Ancient Tech. Once he had done that, he drew his katana. "Now, I believe there's nothing left to say. Don't worry, I'll make sure it is remembered that you fought well."

With that, he charged at Link, slashing at him. The other Yiga in power armor sans Flagg drew an assortment of weapons, while Flagg and his cultists called spells to hand.

Petra, Leonie, Ignatz, Ashe, and Cyril drew their bows and started shooting down the cultists. Raphael began grappling with a power-armored man, his gauntlets enabling him to match the man's armor. Edelgard's Goron-made axe burst into flame, and she started hacking at another man in power armor. Caspar started swinging the Boulder Breaker. Others took out the Ancient Weapons they got from Robbie.

Annette charged at Aeron Flagg, her Ancient Bladesaw ready to kill. Flagg conjured a ward to hold the Bladesaw back, but an arrow charged with light magic broke the ward. Flagg just managed to dodge the Bladesaw anyway, and tried to cast a spell at her, but missed.

The two then had to dodge a Yiga Clansman whose armor was shattered like an eggshell being sent flying by Caspar's Boulder Breaker. Flagg then hit Annette with a magic beam.

Utter agony. Annette could barely keep standing. It seemed like it would never stop.

Until it did. Annette quickly realized what had happened. Linhardt had used his Stasis rune to briefly time-lock Flagg. Annette didn't waste her chance, bringing her Bladesaw down on his shoulder, and cutting.

Time resumed for Flagg. The Ancient Bladesaw bit through his power armor and into his body.

Shoulder.

Chest.

Hips.

Flagg fell to the ground, imperfectly bisected.

Meanwhile, Zimmer's katana clashed against Link's broadsword.

"Very good," Zimmer complimented. Zimmer swung at Link again, but Link dodged his swing and slashed back.

Unfortunately, with Zimmer's body being made of metal rather than flesh and bone, his sword merely bounced off.

"Sorry. I know it's sort of cheating," Zimmer said. "But on the other hand, getting so much of my body replaced with machinery was both extremely costly and extremely painful. So I can't say I feel too sorry for you for being outmatched."

Link tried swinging his sword at Zimmer's head. That, at least, looked like it was organic. Unfortunately, Zimmer caught the broadsword in his hand and shattered it.

"I'll let you get another one, just once," Zimmer offered.

"Thanks," Link said. He realized that most of his weapons wouldn't be any more effective against Zimmer, so he took the one weapon he thought might be effective from his belt, namely, his Ancient Shortsword.

Zimmer frowned slightly. He changed his stance from a two-handed stance to a one-handed one.

Link charged at Zimmer, but Zimmer's hand rocketed out of his arm and wrapped itself around his throat, pinning him to the door to the bandit hideout.

Zimmer dashed towards Link to finish him off, but Link got the hand off his throat. It didn't seem like he would be able to avoid the blade in time, but then time seemed to slow, and he just barely managed to avoid Zimmer's blow.

"Hmm," Zimmer mused. "You're a fast one, aren't you?"

Link analyzed Zimmer for anywhere there might be a weakness. He couldn't find one. It looked like Zimmer was going to beat him.

Desperate for a win, Link threw his sword at Zimmer's head. Zimmer managed to dodge easily, but it gave Link just enough time to use Magnesis on him. Fortunately, at least some of the metal in Zimmer was magnetic, and Link held his sword arm in place above his head, while picking up his broken broadsword.

Zimmer tried kicking Link when he got close, but Link dodged, placing him behind Zimmer. Using what was left of his sword, he stabbed Zimmer where his spine connected to his skull. That spot, it seemed, was not made of metal, and the stab killed Zimmer.

Link turned to see the rest of the Company cleaning up the last of the Yiga Clansmen. As the last of them died, exhaustion hit Link all at once, and he dropped to his hands and knees.

Claude got some Energizing Mushroom Skewers out of one of the Korok Pouches. "Eat up, Captain. We still have to loot the bodies."