Part 1: White Clouds

Training Begins: Part 2

The time was 4am. The sun was just starting to rise up to bring light into the Monastery. Everybody was still deep asleep, and with Claude draping off the bed snoring lightly as he was having a nice dream.

"Awwww, yeah. Just a dash of this spice, and Edelgard will end up no different from a dragon….. hehehe."

His blissful dream state abruptly ended however, when a loud banging sounded on his door causing him to fall off his bed.

"You have five minutes to get up." Byleths voice sounded from the other side before hearing her footsteps move. No doubt to wake up the other two. He nodded to himself and picked himself up.

"On it, Teach." Claude yawned before slowly getting back in bed. "Just…. resting….. my eyes…."

Snuggling back up to his bed, he sighed happily drifting back into dreamland….. until a wave of coldness washed over him and stopped his ability to breathe for a second.

Claude gasped loudly sitting up coughing and looked to his side to see Byleth there with a bucket that was now empty. "I warned you. Get dressed, now. Training starts in ten minutes. Report to the market."

"Jeez…. being harsh are we, Teach?" Claude shivered now cold from being soaked and watched her leave, picking up two buckets full of water that looked really cold and closer his door.

He sighed and wiped water off his face before he started grabbing his training clothes. But not before he heard two loud screams minutes apart which came from Edelgard and Dimitri. Byleth got to them too, and he would hate to see what she did next.

That gave him motivation to dress faster and luckily, all he had to do was put on his wristbands. He was now ready to go.

Claude groaned trying to run out his room and to the entrance but found it difficult due to the heavy clothing he currently wore. On his way out, he saw his two fellow leaders jogging out of their rooms all wet and irritated from being woken up in such a way.

"Teach dump a bucket of water on you too?"

"Very unnecessary!" Dimitri yelled.

"Just keep going!" Edelgard grunted picking up the pace. "I'm afraid what she will do if we don't arrive in time!"

That was something that they could all agree on, but then when they ran out the three noticed something immediately. "It's dusk?!"

"It's way too early to be out!"

"Stop shouting. People are trying to sleep."

The three leaders yelped in surprise seeing Byleth run next to them. "You're late. You were supposed to be there two minutes ago."

"You threw a bucket of water on us!"

"Because you were taking too long. Not to worry, we are here now."

They saw the market entrance and were quite surprised to see it so barren. Only a few vendors were up preparing their stalls for today, but Byleth was looking for a certain vendor.

"Oh hi Byleth! Are these the volunteers?"

They all turned to see Anna the merchant who was beaming at them as Byleth nodded. The three were confused on what was happening as Ann approached the group.

"Professor, why are we here? I thought we would go to the field again and practice our Ki control." Edelgard asked yawning while adjusting her top so it wasn't all ruffled and partly tucked in.

"It's simple. You need to be in better shape in order to maximise your Ki. That's why I brought you out here, this is Anna."

"Hello!" Anna smiled waving.

"She delivers all the ingredients to the Monastery for the cooks to make their meals, and usually she has assistants. This time however, you three will be helping her."

Claude scratched his head and nodded. "Alright, seems simple enough. Where is the stuff then?"

"Behind you." Byleth replied as she watched them turn and almost collapse from shock at the sight.

The pile before them was huge. Like, they could probably count over one hundred boxes filled with all sorts of ingredients. From carrots to meat to even a crate filled with wine.

"Y-You can't be serious Professor! That'll take us all morning!" Dimitri yelled while Edelgard just looked nervous.

"It won't take you all morning."

They sighed in relief but Byleth wasn't done. "You have two hours."

"WHAT?!" The three yelled wheeling around to Byleth as she looked at them with a serious expression.

"May I remind you, that you three begged me to teach you how to use Ki. Well, this is part of it. To make the most of your Ki, you must push your body past its limits."

Byleth then pointed back to the dorms as she continued. "Now, you can quit at any time. But just know, that if you do, then that's it. I'll no longer teach you. Are we clear?"

The three looked at each other and nodded, now feeling motivated to try as they jogged over to the pile and picked up a box each ready to start.

Byleth watched them start to jog up to the dining hall and sighed noticing two presences behind her. "You two aren't allowed to help them."

She turned around seeing Hubert and Dedue also up and dressed, no doubt to keep an eye on Edelgard and Dimitri. Hubert stepped forward glaring at the mercenary. "With all due respect 'Professor', why are you pushing them so far? Logic dictates to start off simple, and I wouldn't like harm to come to Lady Edelgard."

"As I said before, it's about breaking your limits." Byleth explained continuing to watch her students pick up box after box and jog. "I'm not a fool. I may not be affected by weaponry, but I know everyone else is."

She then turned to Hubert who kept that glare on her. "Ki can do a lot of things, but it's at the cost of your own energy. That's what the training is for."

"Ah yes, I understand now. It's like a rolling snowball effect." Hubert placed a hand on his chin nodding. "The stronger your body is, the easier it is to handle your Ki."

"Exactly. Physical and mental strength are key components for mastering Ki. If you don't do that, you might as well break yourself."

"I see. I must apologise Byleth, it seems that I have underestimated you." Hubert chuckled looking at Edelgard who was panting hard carrying two crates at this point.

"But I still need to make something clear. If you do harm Lady Edelgard, I will have to dispose of you."

"You are more than welcome to try." Byleth replied with a dangerous glint in her eye. "Though, I must remind you that I can easily take you on."

Hubert had a nervous look in his eyes, seeing that Byleth was not bluffing. Of course he knows of her power from Edelgard , but that didn't mean he wouldn't try.

"Pick up the pace Claude!" Dimitri panted, with sweat pouring down his face as he had three crates in hand with his arms shaking at the heavy weight.

"I'm trying!" Claude yelled back. "I'm not freakishly strong like you are!"

"Both of you shut up and keep going! We're running out of time!" Edelgard growled only carrying one crate still due to being physically weaker than the other two.

The two males agreed on that and kept on running while Anna looked up at the sky. "Think they'll make it Byleth?"

"….I believe so."

Dedue grunted looking at the pile. "Only twelve more boxes and crates to go. And only ten minutes left."

He then turned to Byleth and frowned. "I would like to assist them please."

"If you do that, you're taking part in this training too. Is that what you want?"

"….I do not. I apologise." Dedue said as he bowed before her.

Edelgard now had the last box trudging up the stone stairs, with Dimitri and Claude helping her up and pushing her. "Come on! We only have sixty seconds!"

They made it to the back room as Edelgard shakily handed the lady box to the cook who smiled warmly at them. "Thank you so much."

With the task completed, they collapsed to the ground panting heavily. Claude started laughing in delight pumping his fist up. "We did it!"

"Congratulations, you managed to do it. With three seconds to spare." Byleth said walking up to her students and turned to Anna who smiled.

"So same time tomorrow Byleth?"

What?

"Of course." Byleth nodded. "Though, I feel that they need to push harder as that was too close."

What?!

"But for now, it'll be a nice warm up for the rest."

WHAT?!

"W-Warm up?" Edelgard whimpered as she refused to believe she heard that.

"Yes, come along now students. I'll take you to the next part of your training."

"I want to cry." Dimitri groaned slowly picking himself up while the other two followed suit.

"Let's just gets going. I don't want to invoke the wrath of Teach." Claude mumbled now walking behind Byleth.

"Your Highness, please let me help." Dedue said helping up Dimitri.

"I thank you for your concern my friend, but there is no need. Now I must get going."

Edelgard sighed trying to walk but her arms and legs felt like jelly. She then saw that they were approaching the fishing pond and was wondering what mad plan their Professor had this time.

"We're going to be doing fishing."

"Really? That doesn't seem so bad." Dimitri mumbled scratching his head. "But, where are the fishing rods?"

Byleth just kept on looking at them blankly and nodded towards the water making Edelgard gulp and pale.

"I-I can not swim Professor! I would drown!"

She watched Byleth click her tongue in thought as this did complicate things. That's when she saw Shamir walking past and called her over.

"What is it Byleth? You need help?"

"Yes. I'm training these three but a little hiccup in my routine means I need to improvise. Can you watch over Dimitri and Claude for me?"

Shamir nodded looking at the two males currently testing the water, wondering how cold it is. "What will you have me do?"

Byleth leaned in to her fellow mercenary and whispered in her ear. Shamir slowly grew an evil smirk which made Claude and Dimitri look scared. That's when Byleth turned to Edelgard.

"You're with me. Come along."

Edelgard nodded while Hubert followed the pair as Shamir pointed to two baskets. "Right, your training session this time is to get in the water and grab as much fish as you can."

"But how can we swim with these clothes weighing us down?"

"You can take off the tops but that's it."

Claude shrugged now grabbing the bottom and grunted trying to lift it off. "I guess, that helps a little."

That's when Dimitri saw Shamir draw out her bow and taking a couple of arrows from her quiver. "U-Uuum. Excuse me Miss Shamir, but, what are you doing with that?"

"Oh yeah, I guess I forgot to mention." Shamir smirked evilly walking towards them. "This is testing your stamina and reflexes. So, I'll be shooting arrows that you have to dodge while you're in the water."

Both of them truly believed Byleth to be insane as their tops finally came off and dented the ground. "Jeez, Teach is out for our blood isn't she?"

"Get going." Shamir said kicking both boys into the water and readying her bow. Dedue just watched from a distance and sighed shaking his head.

…

"Why are we in the greenhouse, my teacher?" Edelgard asked following Byleth to the location. The greenhouse was quite spacious and was very well kept with a lot of flowers starting to sprout for the new year ahead of them. But Byleth had something else in mind.

"We are going to be planting seeds to grow our own crops at the back of the greenhouse. You will till the land yourself. With your hands."

"M-My hands? That's not possible! The grounds too-"

"I would advise you to stop complaining and start tilling the land. After that, I'm going to restructure your training. You better get a move on, I'll be timing you."

Edelgard growled in frustration at Byleths blunt orders, but took a deep breath and overlooked the plot of land she would be cultivating. 'Okay Edelgard, it's not a big deal. You're the princess of the Adrestian Empire, you won't let dirt ruin you.'

With that thought in mind, Edelgard stuck her hands in the soil and started to tear it up to loosen the soil. She cringed at how her hands were already feeling the brunt of it but chose to carry on.

Hubert just glared at Byleth who was overlooking Edelgards progress and closed his eyes. He would need to do research on this woman. She was a complete mystery.

"Pick up the pace Edelgard! You have thirty minutes!"

Gritting her teeth in anger, Edelgard tried ignoring the hot pain going through her hands and started going faster squeezing her eyes shut in concentration. "I wonder how the boys are doing."

…

"WATCH IT! YOU ALMOST HIT ME!"

"That's the point, now hurry up!"

"YOU ARE CRAZY!"

"Don't test me your Highness. Or I'll actually start trying."

Shamir smirked watching the two frantically swim to collect as much fish as possible. She fired another arrow in the air watching it sail down almost hitting Dimitri. "I could get used to this."

Thirty minutes had passed after that, and the three students were on their knees panting. Claude and Dimitri were soaked and even had scuff marks from almost being hit by arrows while Edelgards arms, knees, hands and fingers were caked in mud. Byleth loomed over them shaking her head.

"I must say I'm disappointed. But we have room to improve. You're done for now."

All three breathed a sigh of relief thankful that it was finally over. "Get cleaned and dressed before getting breakfast. You don't want to be late for class."

Wait. What?

"C-Class?" Edelgard whimpered.

"A-After all of that?" Dimitri whispered looking down.

"We still have to go to class?!" Claude shouted in disbelief.

Byleth nodded as she handed the boys their shirts. "This isn't part of your academic year. This is something on the side. Oh, also remember to wear those shirts and wristbands with your school uniforms."

With that, she walked away as the three collapsed to the ground just completely exhausted. Sothis appeared next to Byleth smirking.

"Well, look at that. It appears that meathead isn't your key trait. You are fiendishly clever, I must admit."

Byleth looked at her partner giving a nod. "I can be serious when I want to be. But Edelgard is missing a key point in the training by not knowing how to swim."

"Perhaps it's best to teach her how to do that."

"Maybe." The mercenary hummed closing her eyes.

"Byleth."

She turned to see Shamir walking up to her still having that smirk. "I have to thank you. I've never had that much fun before. How would you rank them?"

"There is a lot of room for improvement. But honestly, I thought they would give up after bringing all the supplies in. So there's progress."

"Oh yeah that reminds me. The Knights of Seiros want to do their own training. Feel like helping out? You can judge me on my Ki."

"I would like that." Byleth adjusted her coat following the archer who brought up a point.

"Think they're cursing your name?"

"Now, listen. If I know those three, then they would know how great of a teacher I am." Byleth closed her eyes nodding in thought.

….

"She's completely insane!" Edelgard screamed in the dining hall before slamming her head onto the table next to her bowl of oatmeal. She was currently with her Black Eagles class who were a little intimidated from this training program.

"Edie, your poor nails!" Dorothea gasped looking at the Empress' hands seeing them all calloused and rough from the constant digging.

"S-S-S-She sounds scary! Scarier than Professor Jeralt!" Bernadetta whimpered hiding in a book. "Y-You don't think she would make us go through that do you?!"

"Unlikely." Hubert replied standing next to Edelgard. "She is doing this on the request of Lady Edelgard. She is not an official professor of the academy."

"I am not following. What is the reason for the training?" Petra asked watching Edelgard lift her head up.

"To acquire a power to help the Empire. Though I knew it would be hard, I didn't anticipate it would be breaking my body. That or she's just having fun." Edelgard replied spooning oatmeal into her mouth with a deep frown.

"That being said, could you please keep it down next time?" Linhardt replied yawning. "Your screaming was keeping me up."

"I must agree. As a noble, you must learn to ignore the pain and hide it away. You don't want to seem weak do you?" Ferdinand replied smiling. Edelgard did not appreciate that one bit.

"Is that so? Would you like to take my place then?"

He chuckled nervously in return clearing his throat. "I-I'm afraid I have other matters to tend to and can't fit it into my schedule…."

"Well, whatever that woman's making you do, it's working. Look!" Caspar exclaimed looking at Edelgards arms.

"Oh wow Edie, he's right! You're packing in some muscle aren't you?" Dorothea giggled.

Edelgard saw that they were right. It was slight, but she was getting stronger. She was even adjusting to the clothing under her uniform. 'Perhaps she is right about this. My energy inside feels stronger too.'

At another table, Dimitri was with his classmates from the Blue Lions who watched him slump on the table completely exhausted letting out a long quiet groan. Dedue held a plate of eggs and bacon next to the Prince.

"Would you like me to feed you, your Highness?"

Normally, Dimitri wouldn't let Dedue baby him like this. But he could barely move after doing all that, so with a long sigh, nodded. "Thank you my friend."

"It's a rare sight to see the boar like this." Felix grunted sitting down looking at Dimitri who looked pathetic getting fed.

"Stop calling him that!" Ingrid scolded. "And besides, it's obviously that mercenary who pushed him this far. He can't even pick his head up."

"Oh dear, you have bruises and cuts all over!" Mercedes gasped lifting his arm to inspect the damage from Shamir. "How careless!"

"I dunno guys, it looked kinda fun. If you don't count the screams, that is." Annette chimed in beaming.

"But hey, you got some scars to brag to the ladies about, your Highness!" Sylvain grinned giving a wink but only received a punch to the ground from an irritated Ingrid.

Ashe was looking in awe at the broken down form of Dimitri and wondered how far Byleth pushed him, but concluded it must be doing some good if it's that intense.

"Really guys, it wasn't that difficult." Claude shrugged at his own table while Marianne was busy tending to his fresh set of cuts and bruises.

"I seem to recall you screaming and begging for it to be over while I was trying to sleep." Lorenz huffed sipping at his tea. "Honestly, you are supposed to be our leader yet you sounded like a baby."

"Ah, trust me Lorenz. Teach is no pushover. Hardest I've ever worked."

"You still haven't explained why you're doing this." Hilda said folding her arms.

"Are you trying to get more beef in your arms?! You need to eat more!" Raphael yelled shoving a plate of pork in Claudes direction.

"No, I do not think that's his plan. Though I'm definitely stumped." Ignatz said adjusting his glasses.

"Well…. maybe don't push yourself so hard…" Marianne muttered. "I'd hate to see you get hurt….."

Lysithea huffed munching on her cakes poking his arms. "Well there's a difference, that's for sure. You didn't have as much muscle."

"You think so? Awesome, that means that it's working!" Claude grinned digging in to his eggs.

Leonie hummed not paying attention as her eyes landed on Jeralt and Byleth walking in the dining hall. 'Is this the training they wouldn't let me do back then? Would they let me do it now?'

Jeralt told Byleth to make her way to the table with the staff who were currently eating breakfast. "Don't worry, I'll make sure to get you plenty of food, okay?"

Byleth nodded and saw Shamir sitting at the end and walked over to sit beside her. Her fellow mercenary gave a smile. "Hey there, hows it going? Did you have fun today? The knights certainly didn't."

"Ah, to think my knights were completely bested! You made them look like mere children!" Alois exclaimed with a hand on his chest shaking his head. "I must commend you however Shamir! You have vastly improved!"

"So it was you two that sent those poor men to my ward! Honestly, you could've spared them or held back a little." Manuela sighed but gave a smile at Byleth.

"I don't believe we have met. I am Manuela. Professor, Physician, Songstress…. and available~" She added with a wink.

"Please don't seduce my daughter Manuela. Besides, she's hardly been one for romance."

Shamir chuckled to herself shaking her head as she watched food pile in front of Byleth. "You weren't kidding about your appetite were you?"

"Huh? What?"

Byleth had stopped paying attention and was instead sucking up the noodles in front of her. She had attracted an audience as Manuela just sighed loudly dropping her head.

"Why couldn't I have been blessed with a metabolism like that…."

"I saw your battle with the knights today. A remarkable display of strength and skill!" Hanneman exclaimed. "You must have a powerful Crest!"

"A…. what?"

Hanneman was spluttering in disbelief looking over to Jeralt who slapped his head. "Oh yeah, I never told you about Crests, did I?"

"How could you not tell her about one of society's most important subjects?!"

Jeralt just shrugged munching on toast. "I don't know. Just never came up. That strength is her own, not because of some birthright."

"W-Well regardless, would you be so kind as to let me see if you have one?" Hanneman asked looking at the woman who was still eating.

Byleth paused with a mouth full of eggs and giving a shrug, nodded at his proposal. "Splendid! I shall get my tools immediately!"

Manuela sighed watching her colleague run off leaving his breakfast behind. "Honestly, that man needs to learn how to relax…."

She then turned her attention to Jeralt giving a smirk. "I certainly hope that you are prepared for the mock battle next week. If I win, perhaps you can buy me dinner?"

"Not interested. I loved once and she's gone now. Besides, my Black Eagles will win easily."

"Well, can't blame a girl from trying, can you?"

At this point, Byleth was thinking to herself while on her seventh bowl. She knew that Edelgard would fall behind due to her inability to swim. So she would have to get the princess up to speed fast.

…

"I'm going to be doing some private tutoring with Edelgard." Byleth said looking at Dimitri and Claude. "While I'm doing that, Shamir will be helping you with meditation."

"Move it along, you two." Shamir grunted. "I'm not fooling around today."

Edelgard was confused before fear crept up at her chest seeing the pond yet again. "Professor?"

"I'm going to teach you how to swim. You're going to fall behind if you don't learn."

Edelgard gulped as she was staring at the water hugging herself in fear. She didn't want to do this. It scared her, not to mention that meant showing skin.

But then Edelgard felt a hand on her shoulder as Byleth held a skin tight suit. "I have noticed you don't like showing any skin. I'm not going to tell you to do that, since I feel like that makes you uncomfortable. Wear this instead and it'll cover you fine."

'Okay… that helps a little…'

Edelgard excused herself, going inside to quickly change. Byleth looked over at the water crossing her arms as she wondered if three students could be the limit. What if others wanted to come too to learn?

"No. I'll only do it if they ask and understand the brutality of it." Byleth muttered shaking her head as she saw Edelgard come out.

She had the skin tight suit on as well as her gloves and shoes abut still had that nervous look on her face. "Excellent. Now, just come to the water with me and hold my hands."

"…..Do you promise to not let go?" Edelgard mumbled looking away cursing herself. What was she doing? She was acting like a child!

But Byleth just nodded as they slowly trudged into the water. She instructed Edelgard to take deep breathes while doing it. Soon, they were up to their waists in water as Edelgard looked around.

"This… doesn't seem so bad."

"Good." Byleth said. "Now let's actually get you swimming."

She saw Edelgard hesitating and gave her hands a gentle squeeze. "I've got you. Don't worry."

Edelgard looked towards her teacher and slowly sucked in a breath, nodding. So she took her time wading in and gasped when it went up to her neck as she started panicking. But Byleth still held on and told her to float on her belly, that was the next step.

"Just control your breathing and float. You'll sink if you panic too much. Relax."

"Of course…. my teacher."

Byleth smiled as Edelgard managed to do what was asked. She was still holding her hands as the mercenary started swimming too so she didn't drown. "Okay. Now just start kicking your legs."

"Like….like this?" Edelgard squinted in concentration as Byleth smiled, impressed with the progress.

"Perfect. Now I'm going to hold your waist while you use your arms to swim. So just reach out with one hand and it's like you're clawing the water to you. Simple?"

"I suppose…"

"Good. Now give a shot."

"Okay…" Edelgard mumbled doing as was told. "Okay Edelgard, just claw. And kick. Claw. And kick."

That's when she realised what she was doing. She was swimming! It was working! Edelgard laughed in delight doing more swimming in circles before she realised that Byleth wasn't holding onto her anymore. Instead she was at the edge smiling lightly.

"See? That wasn't so bad was it? Good job!"

Edelgard blushed lightly as she smiled back. "Thank you my teacher."

"Great. Now that we have that out of the way, let's catch you up. Do twenty laps right now."

"….I hate my life." Edelgard muttered as she forgot about the training.

…

"Oh thank the goddess that it's over!" Edelgard groaned slumping on the chair as she just needed a few minutes. Or hours. But unfortunately that luxury wouldn't come.

"I see my niece has been busy."

Her eyes snapped open as she stood up to see her uncle, Lord Arundel approach her. "May I ask the reason for this surprise visit uncle?"

"Why, you wound me Edelgard. Can I not have a reason?"

She narrowed her eyes approaching her uncle who looked down at his niece. "There is something different about you. What is going on?"

Lord Arundel just ignored her and paced forward. "I hear that you have been learning a new power. Ki, I believe it is called?"

"What?" Edelgard gasped looking shocked. "How do you-"

"Oh please Edelgard. You really believe it to be a big secret? We know a lot of things, and we are currently trying to bring out the limitless potential of Ki. All you have to do is help us and we can help you unite Fódlan a lot quicker,"

She looked at the hand of her uncle who had extended it for her to take. How dare they assume she would help! Emotions were running high in her head as she clenched her fists and slapped the hand away earning a shocked look from Lord Arundel.

"I will master Ki on my own. I do not intend to give that power to you, it will only be for myself."

"You better watch where you stand, girl." Arundel growled looking at her. "We gave you your gift, we can easily take it away. And you know what happens when a Crest is removed. So do not test our patience."

He then turned away intending to leave as he looked at her. "We still request the Death Knight in our ranks. Don't make this difficult."

Edelgard was gritting her teeth watching him go as she had to control her breathing. What was wrong with her? Why did she act up like that?

"That was not like you, Lady Edelgard."

She turned around to see Hubert there with his arms behind his back. "You're right… I don't know what happened. It's just…. I'm working so hard to master Ki, and then they want me to ease off the hard work?"

"While I agree, we need them for your plan to succeed. You can then get rid of them after uniting Fódlan. But for now let's keep them on our side."

"Yes… you're right. Thank you Hubert."

He gave a smile and bowed towards the Princess. "Anything for the Empire."

…

"You were not acting in character enough. You almost gave yourself away!"

Lord Arundel was covered in black smoke before an elderly man took his place. "M-My apologies! I let my emotions run high when that girl dared to challenge us."

"It is alright Solon. We have planted the seeds of doubt in her mind. You have done what is needed so far, you will return to the Monastery as Tomas and keep an eye on that woman. Do I make myself clear?"

Solon slowly bowed and closed his eyes. "Of course, anything for you. What of Edelgard?"

"She intends to play this game of theatrics, then so shall we." The figure replied. "We shall act in good faith for now. However, we will have no need of her soon. I believe we will give those bandits the 'Flame Emperor' hired some better weaponry for that mercenary."

Solon bowed as he took his leave closing the door behind him as the figure closed his eyes. "She will be a problem if she masters Ki. No matter, we have our own warriors. We just need to install fear and hopelessness."

…

Edelgard couldn't sleep. The nightmares were too much to bear tonight since her uncle came over to visit. She was restless, needing to punch something, or work off her anger. Anything really.

They think she is weak. That same scared little girl who they made watch all her siblings die. They think she can't fight back. They're wrong!

She got out of bed and got her wetsuit on and slowly snuck out the dorm making sure nobody heard her. Not even Hubert.

Though Edelgard failed to notice two people watching her walk out the dorms, with it being night time and the moon still high and curfew on full effect.

"I'll show you. I'll show everyone. I am Edelgard von Hresvelg and I am not weak!"

"Great motivating speech there Princess, but don't think you're doing extra training without us."

She wheeled around to see Dimitri and Claude walking up to her still in their training uniforms as she stepped back. "Why are you two out here? There's a curfew!"

"Coming from the girl who decided to sneak out and try to train by herself." Dimitri replied. "We're in this together, so we do it together."

Edelgard was speechless as the two walked past her to take off their shirts and shoes. "Coming in Edelgard? We promise to slow down so you can keep up."

Her eyes hardened which motivated her to walk up. "As if I need you to go easy on me."

At the corner of the building, Byleth was watching them and smiling at her students as Sothis appeared.

"Well, would you look at that? You actually can smile. It suits you."

"I'm just glad to see them take this seriously now. Something happened to motivate Edelgard but it is making her push her limits. I'll need to see what happened…."

She then turned away yawning as Jeralt walked up. "So you up for doing some sparring kid? I know it's night time but we haven't had a chance lately."

"Do you need to ask?" Byleth said as Sothis sighed shaking her head before disappearing.

…

Six days had passed, and now it was time for the mock battle as the three leaders stood before Byleth who looked at them. "Alright guys, this is just a mock battle okay? That being said, it's good to show off your training these past few days. So keep your weighted clothing on and give it your all."

"Of course Professor." Edelgard beamed. "The Black Eagles will reign supreme."

"I wouldn't underestimate the Blue Lions Edelgard." Dimitri quipped.

"Ah, must we resort to violence?" Claude winked laughing to himself.

"If you are finished kid, we would like to grab our house leaders." Jeralt said walking up to the four with Manuela and Hanneman in tow.

Byleth gave a nod and saluted everyone before walking off to the place where the rest of the staff were. Shamir gave a smirk seeing her partner approach. "Got an idea on who will win?"

"I'm not sure. We will just have to see. All three of them improved a lot."

That's when Seteth moved forward to address the three teams who were about to fight. "As you all know, this is a mock battle. Please do not push yourself too hard. The rule is if you get hit three times, you are out. Or if you can no longer fight, you are also out."

Jeralt chuckled as he stood behind his Black Eagles. "This should be interesting. Hope you taught them well kid, because I don't plan to fight that much."

"Ready! BEGIN!"

…

Yeah, the training stuff really put me in a writers block that I hope will be put to rest for now. I know where the story is heading but I'm just taking my sweet time getting there.

I noticed a hiccup with Arundel last chapter after learning his identity. Whoops. So I offered an alternative to fix that little hiccup.

So yes, the leaders have had decent training in Ki. You might think it's too fast, but Videl learned how to fly in the span of a week and I'd argue these three are stronger than her.

That being said, tune in next time to see if the training paid off. Edelgard knows how to swim, and I hope to try and include Dragonball humour too.

Also, holy crap. A lot has happened to the world between this update and the last. I'll just say guys, wash your hands, keep your distance from people, and listen to the health professionals.

On a brighter note, we passed 15 favourites and hit 25 follows. Quite a good milestone guys. Thank you so much.