Part 1: White Clouds

Fight at the Border

The next morning had arrived, and the group were on the road again, only this time, they were in the company of Holst and Judith too. Judith was currently nursing a hangover that she had gotten the night before from excessive drinking. But she didn't seem all that bothered, in fact, despite the headache that had made its way to her, she was laughing at Holst blustering and yelling at her.

"Woman, I thought I told you to not drink so much last night! Now you are hungover and we will be ill equipped for the coming fight!"

"Ah put a sock in it, Holst." Judith said, still laughing. "It's not the first time I've fought in a battle hungover. In fact, it's usually the perfect cure for me. You don't have to worry about a thing, I'll be bring my A-Game today."

"So, what exactly are we dealing with today?" Byleth asked, trying to get back on topic.

"Ah, somebody who wishes to know about the brief! Finally, we have somebody who appreciates order and discipline!" Holst boomed before straightening himself. "The objective is simple. Route the enemy. Those Almyran bastards will be coming from the bridge connecting the two lands together. Now we have had our fair share of tussles in the past, so I know exactly what they are like!"

"And they are like…." Byleth pressed on as Holst realised what she meant.

"My apologies! They are proud warriors! Always dashing in headfirst into battle and to take our wives and daughters home for breeding purposes!"

Both Claude and Byleth looked at each other as she noticed how reserved Claude was being about these Almyran's. This was his land he was defending, you would think that he would have more to say. But nothing.

Holst carried on talking, not noticing the looks. "And so, we must prevent those bastards from taking our land! The Leicester Alliance will not stand from an attack by those devils!"

"Forgive me General, but I doubt a small group of bandits can take a whole kingdom." Byleth replied as Holst froze in place, sweat dripping down his head. Judith laughed and slapped Byleth's back.

"Oh, I need you around more often, if only to cut off the oaf's stories! Perhaps I could give you the version without all the theatrics?"

"I liked it…" Hilda muttered with her arms crossed. "Though the part with the wives and daughters was a little too much. But I suppose I would expect no less from Almyran's."

Claude made a face at that sentence but quickly hid it away and nodded for Judith to carry on.

"Well, as Holst said, we are fending off a horde of bandits from Almyra. They aren't the most discreet bunch out there, so they will most likely announce their arrival when they show up. Now, our scouts have picked up reports and managed to see their numbers. About sixty or so bandits, all male, with no magic users, all using axes. There are a couple who have bows, but we can conclude that they only use it as a last ditch effort."

Byleth nodded. "Sounds simple enough. Get rid of them all and send them back to Almyra."

"Right on the button, Teach." Claude grinned, having gained his usual confident demeanour. "This will be a walk in the park for us. We should be arriving there soon. It's a good job you got us all new weapons."

"I was going to buy clothes with my money…." Hilda grumbled with her hands under her chin and pouting, all while staring at her shiny new steel axe.

"Ah, but you suit it rather well!" Holst boasted, which didn't do much to make his sister feel better. That's when he suddenly looked out the window and smiled. "We have arrived! Soon on our way to glory!"

Byleth slowly got out of the carriage and looked to her right in the distance to see another carriage just sitting there. 'Good. She's in position.'

She looked around to see the Golden Deer all file out of their carriages and onto the field in which the battle would take place. Just like Holst and Judith said, there was a giant ravine between the Leicester Alliance and the Kingdom of Almyra, all connected by a sturdy bridge. Though she couldn't see any signs of an approaching group. But then she closed her eyes and sensed their Ki. They would be here soon.

Hanneman walked forward and bowed to Judith and Holst. "May I take this time to address my students? I feel like I need to talk to them about the upcoming battle."

"Ah, a speech to inspire! I like this! By all means, go ahead my good man!" Holst replied and Judith just nodded with a smile.

"Go on."

The Golden Deer all noticed an unusually serious expression on his face as he turned to address them all. "As you all know, we are here to help General Holst in fending off Almyran bandits. Now, I would say this is a simple mission… but then I thought stopping Lord Lonato's rebellion would also be simple. I'm sure those who were that day remember what happened."

Claude, Lysithea and Leonie all looked at each other and nodded. They were vastly underprepared that day. If it wasn't for Byleth then…

The rest of the class weren't there when that fight happened. The only thing they saw that day was Byleth's attack decimating a nearby mountain. It left them with a horrible feeling in their stomach's as what has happened to cause Byleth to unleash and attack that strong. Hanneman continued and looked over to Byleth.

"It's why I specifically requested for Miss Byleth to accompany us on this mission. I don't want to leave anything to chance. I apologise for not being upfront with you, Miss Byleth. And I hope you understand why I chose you for your assistance."

The Mercenary was honestly surprised. So was the rest of the class. They were not expecting Hanneman to be this serious. Usually he wanders off in favour of his Crest research. Perhaps the incident at Castle Gaspard changed him. And in Byleth's case, he agreed with her own thoughts about this mission. But Claude nodded with a smile.

"He's right guys. Be ready for anything. We almost lost our lives that day, and I'd hate for the same to happen with you too."

"I-Is it too late to back out?" Ignatz whimpered while shaking in his boots. Lysithea huffed to herself and shook her head at her classmate.

"Honestly, you signed up for the Academy. Show some spine!"

"R-Right! Of course…"

"Do we even need to be here?!" Hilda whined while resting her axe on her shoulder. "Why not just send Miss Byleth and the others in the Task Force and just be done with it?"

"Because we are not invincible." Byleth replied. "We may have this power, but I'm sure your classmates wouldn't like it if you were powerless to do anything if they couldn't get to you in time."

"I get it!" Hilda groaned. "Still though… there are times where I wonder if I should even be here. Goddess knows I can't do any of those fancy tricks. All I can do is swing an axe."

Byleth chose to ignore the girls whining and looked around. "So you said that the bandits would be showing up? It's strange, I sensed them coming but I guessed that they would've arrived by now-"

"ATTENTION SCUM OF THE ALLIANCE!"

…Byleth already felt a headache coming on as she looked to the other side of the bridge and saw the bandit leader approaching from his side. He didn't look like much, so it would be easy pickings. That is, if things went smoothly. She just had to get through these buffoons and their shameless ramblings and bravado.

"I HEAR YOU, YOU FILTHY ALMYRAN'S!"

…Oh right, they had a buffoon on their side too. Holst was clearly enjoying the theatrics of this as she watched him stroll to his end of the bridge with his axe by his side. "IS THERE A REASON YOU COME KNOCKING AT MY DOOR AFTER THE BEATING WE GAVE YOU LAST TIME?!"

'Must they be so loud?' Sothis muttered to herself as the only people who weren't weirded out, were the Golden Deer. Even Hanneman was treating this like an everyday occurrence. Judging by the way this conversation was going, it might just be the case.

"THAT WAS JUST A WARNING LAST TIME! WE WEREN'T TRYING!"

Holst laughed loudly and folded his arms. "THEN WHY DON'T YOU COME OVER HERE, THEN? BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN ITCHING FOR A FIGHT FOR WEEKS!"

The leader just growled loudly and drew his sword. "RIGHT, MEN! FOR ALMYRA! DRENCH THEIR LANDS WITH THEIR OWN BLOOD!"

Holst drew his axe in return and grinned. "MAYBE WORK ON YOUR MONOLOGUES! NOBODY LIKES DARK AND GRITTY!"

Byleth and Sothis just stared with a dumbfounded look as the rest just shook their heads. "This is…"

'Absolutely ridiculous!' Sothis screamed. 'This isn't a battle! It's like children's theatre! I can't believe we were dragged out for this.'

Holst then turned around and raised his axe. "Time to meet our enemies head on! FOR GLORY! FOR LEICESTER!"

He charged forward and just left the rest in a stupefied stance. Before Raphael raised his arms and yelled. "FOR LEICESTER!"

"Oh Holsty…" Hilda groaned trying to cover her red face. "Why in front of my friends…."

"Well… I knew Lord Goneril was… eccentric." Claude said, trying to come up with a way to describe him. "He's never like this at the round table meetings."

"Ugh, the fool has an obsession with making a performance out of it." Judith mentioned, walking past him. "We should help him before he gets himself killed."

"I thought it was nice…" Marianne muttered to herself and looked down at her hands but Lysithea just scoffed.

"I could've been training back at the Monastery, but no I have to be part of this ridiculous scene. Okay, let's go."

"Maybe I could've gone with Captain Jeralt and the Black Eagles…" Leonie said to herself as Byleth walked forward, peering into the distance and her jaw slacked seeing a mass horde of bandits coming.

"I… think we miscounted how many of them are here."

Everyone looked at the direction Byleth was pointing at and paled. Judith ran a hand through her hair and cursed. "How did so many escape our scouts? There's like five hundred of them!"

"Uuuuuugh, let's just kill them already!" Hilda groaned loudly lifting her axe and readying herself. Claude looked at Hanneman and smiled.

"What're our orders, Professor?"

Hanneman just adjusted his jacket and pointed to Byleth. "Actually, I am relinquishing control of command over to Miss Byleth. She's more capable of this than I am. What are your orders Miss Byleth?"

Byleth just blinked in response. Her? In command? Preposterous! Though now that she thought about it, she did give commands back at Castle Gaspard. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad-

'Would you focus and tell them

What to do?! They're coming!' Sothis screamed in her head which snapped Byleth out of her thoughts.

"Right. Ummm… Judith, I want you to protect Holst. I feel like he is in over his head."

"Got it." Judith saluted and charged towards the oncoming battle.

"Hilda, Raphael, Lorenz and Lysithea. I want you in front and trying to take the brunt of it."

"Uuuuuuuuugh, fine!" Hilda groaned picking up her axe and running towards the enemies.

"Alright! Let's put these muscles to work!" Raphael yelled, following Hilda with his steel gauntlets.

"Let's make this quick." Lysithea declared, summoning magic and Ki together and rushing ahead.

"Off we go!" Lorenz yelled, kicking his horse into full gallop while grabbing his tome.

With that taken care of, Byleth turned to Leonie, Ignatz and Claude. "I want you three to provide covering support. I don't doubt their abilities, nor yours. But I want to make sure they don't have any advantages."

"Can do, Teach. Leave it to me." Claude smiled, giving a two fingered salute and drawing his bow and forming a Ki arrow.

"I feel like I should be on the front lines, but I'll trust your judgment." Leonie grumbled and drew her own bow that she was training to use Ki arrows with.

"C-Can I really do this?" Ignatz stammered, taking his place beside the archers as Byleth looked at Marianne.

"What kind of spells do you know?"

The girl blinked and just rubbed her arms while looking away. "Just healing spells… oh, and I can teleport others to me…"

"You stay with me then." Byleth declared. "If anyone is in danger, you pull them out of there to get them healed up."

"I-I can certainly try…"

"Professor Hanneman. You stay with the archers. This battle is just getting started."

"Of course."

Byleth then turned to observe the students. She wanted to see how their training was getting on. As well as looking out for funny business.

Hilda narrowed her eyes at the approaching group of enemies as she gripped her axe tightly and gritted her teeth. How dare that Mercenary make her exert herself?! She could've been happily watching from the sidelines but nooooo!

Well, she would show Byleth! Just get rid of everyone before her and she could go home.

"Get that bitch! She's the General's sister!"

She smirked a little at the boldness of the bandits. Dirty Almyran's won't get the best of her as she ducked underneath a sword swing and used the hilt of her axe to jam it into his crotch causing him to fall to the ground and clutching his shattered pride before Hilda looked over him.

"I am NOT in the mood! If I have to kill every single one of you so that woman can get off my back, then so BE IT!" She yelled and slammed her axe into his skull, splitting it in two. But then she noticed two more going after her and blew away strands of hair that were clinging to her face. "You want some?! COME AT ME!"

She dodged the various swings of weaponry coming towards her and threw her axe at a bandit which cleaved him right in his chest and she ran towards him, kicking him to the ground and tearing her axe out of his chest and turned towards the other bandit before decapitating him.

"Right, who's next… URK!"

Hilda fell to the ground when a club collided with the back of her head and left her dazed. She quickly shook it off and looked at who did that to her. One of the higher ups of the bandits if she had to guess who laughed menacingly as he dodged a swing from her axe. "Well, aren't you a cutie? Maybe once we're done I'll take you back with me so we can have some fun. That is, if I haven't caved your skull in by then."

But before he could counterattack, Hilda's axe collided with his club and shattered it in two. He watched as a symbol appeared behind her and knew what that meant. Her Crest activated as Hilda gripped her axe tighter.

"You dare make me exert myself?! To put effort into a fight?! I'll show you what happens when you make me work!"

She jumped in the air and before the bandit could react, Hilda planted her foot into his chest knocking him to the ground and raised her axe in the air and swung it right into his crotch, cleaving his manhood. He roared in pain as he desperately tried to get the blade off him and Hilda just let out a hmph.

"And I'm not interested in doing that, sorry to burst your bubble. As well as other things." Hilda then ripped her axe away and cleaved his head in two to finish the job before looking around. "Are we done yet?!"

'Holy… crap!' Sothis's jaw was on the floor at the display of power she was witnessing from the so called lazy girl. 'She was hiding this much power and skill?! Why does she refuse to work?!'

Byleth couldn't believe it either. She thought very little of Hilda in the time she had known her, but here? She blew her expectations entirely out of the water! She didn't even know how to use Ki, and yet here she was swinging an axe with more power than even Edelgard!

"Yeah, what did I tell you Teach?" Claude yelled from his side as he shot a couple of bandits in the chest with Ki arrows. "Once you get her going, she's a one woman army!"

'Interesting…' Byleth thought to herself as she ordered Marianne to run up to Lorenz while the archers defended her. Hilda had so much potential. She just had to get out of this charade of laziness as she watched Hilda take out enemy after enemy.

But how are her students doing? She looked over to find out.

"Ah, thank you, my dear." Lorenz smiled as Marianne healed a nasty arrow wound on his leg. "I feel like a million gold right now."

"O-Oh, I'm sure I don't deserve such praise." Marianne muttered to herself when suddenly, the pair noticed a pair of bandits charging from behind with axes primed and ready to take them down.

But before anybody could react, two blasts came out of nowhere and threw the bandits back before two dark orbs collided with their fallen forms and ended their lives. Both Marianne and Lorenz looked behind to see Lysithea holding her hands out.

"Either you focus, or you leave. I'm not here to babysit!" She snapped and ran ahead to engage with a group as Marianne slowly shuffled back to Byleth now that Lorenz was healed up.

"I suppose I should try and make myself useful… wouldn't be doing my reputation any good if I just stand here." Lorenz muttered as he spurred his horse to charge to another group.

With Lysithea, she was ducking and dodging swings and punches left and right. Thanks to her training, the attacks coming at her felt way too slow. Not even challenging as she punched one in the face and used Reason magic to disperse the group so she wouldn't be overwhelmed.

'Well then, let's see if this technique I've been working on will actually work.'

She clicked her fingers at a bandit as a symbol appeared on his chest and she ran over to him, sweeping his legs from under him before slamming her fist into his chest, absorbing the symbol and power ran through her body. That's when she dispersed it and the light split to form two purple bodies resembling her. Two Lysithea clones. She smiled in triumph before sending her clones to fend off the remaining bandits.

"Finally! My cloning technique worked! Now then, let's make this quick."

"What?! Lysithea can do that?!" Leonie yelled parrying an axe away from her as she backflipped away from the bandit that got a little too close for her liking and used a Ki arrow to take him out.

"Well then, she's certainly surprising us yet again." Claude said taking pot shots at enemies while looking over at Byleth. "What you think, Teach? Should we push forward? Seems like a good opportunity."

Byleth didn't respond as she watched Judith and Holst fighting off their own group of enemies and narrowed her eyes. This was going too well. She was probably being paranoid, but after two instances in a row of her fighting Goliath's, she figured it was only a matter of time-

"Reinforcements behind us!" Hanneman shouted after spotting a large horde of Almyran bandits coming from behind.

"What?!" Holst yelled in disbelief as he decapitated his foe. "How did they do that?! The only way to this side is from the bridge!"

"Dastard's must have snuck by in the dead of night this week and hid. I have to admit, I wasn't expecting them to be this smart." Judith muttered, sheathing her sword and looked to Byleth. "Why the hell is she not fighting? We're going to get overwhelmed!"

Back with Byleth, she turned to Claude, Ignatz, Hanneman and Leonie and sighed. "Looks like you guys have to defend our backs. Can you do that?"

"Of course!" Leonie yelled, running forward. "I'll make Captain Jeralt proud!"

Byleth just shook her head. That girl had an obsession with her father. No matter, she was engaging the enemy as she looked to Hanneman and Ignatz. "Claude and Leonie will charge ahead, can you two use your bow and magic to keep them from overwhelming everyone?"

"Of course, Miss Byleth! I won't let you down!" Ignatz nodded, notching an arrow to his bow.

"Leave it to me. I will show them my prowess!" Hanneman replied as he put away his bow and took out a magic tome.

She then looked to the trees and hoped that her little helper was there, hiding and ready to assist. She wasn't too afraid as she could help at any point, but she didn't want to. She wanted the students to grow and get experience.

…As well as keep her energy in case things got worse as she saw two getting past the archers. "Marianne, stay close to me. I don't want you getting hurt."

"O-Of course…"

"Finally! Time to show you all what I'm made of!" Leonie grinned, charging forward and taking out her lance and hit a bandit in the face before using her Ki to charge it up and swung it in a wide arc taking out five at once. She pumped her fist and cheered. "If only Captain Jeralt was here to see this!"

"You know, you've had more lessons from Teach than Captain Teach at this point, right?" Claude asked, shooting Ki arrows at the reinforcements as Leonie huffed in response.

"He taught me to be the lady I am today! I will always respect that!"

"Yeah, you're hardly a lady…" Claude muttered to himself as he used Ki to propel himself skyward and slowly charged multiple arrows while slowly falling back down to the ground. He flipped upside down, gave a wink, then released a volley of Ki arrows which took out more and more enemies as he gave a mock bow to his fallen foes. But he saw Leonie glaring at him and gripping her lance so tight the woods was starting to splinter.

"You mind repeating that Claude? I seemed to have misheard you. Apparently I'm not a lady?"

"Never expected you of all people to be offended." Claude remarked with his hands behind his head. "You don't seem like the type who cares about being prim and proper."

"Just because I don't go shopping or wear perfume or wear make up doesn't make me any less of a lady, I'll have you know!"

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry. Let's get rid of the rest of these guys."

Leonie nodded and took her stance. "Let's do this. And try not to steal too many kills."

"Why not make a bet?" Claude asked but Leonie just rolled her eyes.

"I've heard what happens with you and bets, it's not happening."

"Ah, you're no fun…"

Meanwhile, in the empty forests of the Adrestian Empire, a group of mages from Castle Gaspard were huddled together and trying to contact someone using a crystal ball.

"Try and communicate to him!" One of them yelled, frantically looking around. "The longer we remain out here, the more likely we will be caught! We shouldn't be out here!"

"Shut your trap, I'm almost there!" The leader of the group growled as his hands flowed a dark purple while trying to activate the orb. "Besides, we are in the middle of nowhere, nobody will expect to find us here."

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew pat them and the group had to grab onto something to prevent themselves from being blown away. But when they got their bearings straight, they realised something.

"OUR COMMUNICATION ORB IS GONE!" One of them screamed, but whimpered as he heard a voice from behind.

"You're right. Nobody would expect to find you here."

The trio slowly turned around to see Shamir leaning against a tree while holding the orb in her hands. "Fortunately, that's where I come in. I could sense where you were. And unfortunately for you,-"

She crushed the orb in her hands and slowly let the shards fall to the ground and walked towards the terrified trio while cracking her knuckles. "-you got nowhere left to run. I'd say you were remnants of the Western Church, but now I see that you're not. You serve someone else, based on the fact that the Western Church don't have those orbs you were using. Not to mention you were in the background at Castle Gaspard. Now it's time to start talking, or this'll be difficult."

"We ain't telling you nothing!" The third mage screamed, jumping back. "What are you going to do anyway? Fight us? Hate to break it to you, missy, but we got you outnumbered three to one! If anything, YOU should get out of here!"

"Please stop-" The leader tried to say but his colleague continued.

"If I were you, I'd either run away, or prepare to get decimated by our magic! So, what's it going to be? You CUNT!"

Silence washed over the scenery as Shamir just stared at the one that just called her… THAT word. His buddies were cowering in shock at what he just said and looked at Shamir for a reaction. She just took in a deep breath through her nose before brushing her bangs out of her face.

"Yup."

She charged over at blinding speed and swung her leg out to the one who badmouthed her and it connected with his head sending him flying through several tree trunks. She looked at the remaining two and charged Ki in her hands.

"I'm done playing nice. Time to talk, or die. In fact, no, I've got some anger to get through so I'll beat you within an inch of your life before we talk."

"Let's get this bitch!" The third mage roared after getting up from where he landed. "I'm not going down without a fight!"

"…We're going to die, aren't we?" The second mage asked the leader who just nodded.

"Unfortunately."

Back at the Alliance, Byleth was honestly so proud of the progress her students were making. Well, sure, they were only bandits, nothing too special. But it was still satisfying watching them dismantle so many forces at once. And Marianne didn't even have to go out to heal that often, much to the girls relief. It seemed she had gotten quite attached to the Mercenary as Byleth kept her safe.

But then she heard a voice that caused her to freeze.

"GIVE HER BACK!"

She narrowed her eyes and looked around, and told Marianne to stay close. But the healer mage just looked… confused.

"M-Miss Byleth, there's nothing here."

Byleth was confused but then saw her vision start to blur and reality warped and shifted around her. She realised what was going on and sighed. "Marianne, I'm going to be gone for a few minutes. Don't panic, I just have fainting spells."

"W-What?!" Marianne gasped as she watched the Mercenary fall to the ground, and started to panic. "Oh dear, oh dear, it's my fault! Oh, what am I going to do?! Was it my Crest? No it's never caused people to faint before…"

While she was rambling to herself, Sothis watched Byleth's mind shut off from outside sources and hummed while rubbing her chin. 'She's talked about visions before… but is this the first time it's happened to this extreme? Curious…'

"Ugh… where am I?"

Byleth slowly picked herself up and rubbed her head. Another vision. Great. But what was strange was the fact she wasn't even in the Alliance anymore. In fact, she didn't know where she was at all. Maybe another pet of Fódlan? She recognised that it was dark and stormy right now and there were two armies in the distance. She recognised the banners. One was the Adrestian Empire and the other was the Church of Seiros.

On the Empire's side, Edelgard, Hubert and Shamir stood by and stared down the opposing forces of Rhea, Catherine and Gilbert. Hubert though, was worried.

"I am not sure that we can escape from this one unscathed." He muttered with a hand on his chin. "Most of our fighting was on the Kingdom's armies."

Edelgard grunted as she was holding her side in pain. It was true. This was the Battle of Tailtean Plains. She had just fought Dimitri in a bloody battle that she barely won. Though thanks to being the Professor of the Black Eagles, Edelgard got more training from Byleth, but that didn't change just how much of a monster Dimitri was when it came to using his Ki. She could only wonder how the battle would've went if Byleth chose the Blue Lions and trained Dimitri more instead.

But aside from broken ribs and exhaustion, Edelgard managed to win. But Hubert was right. There was no way they could repel the army of the Church like this. She herself was in no condition to fight. That's when the Archbishop stepped forward, wild malice and hatred in her eyes.

"Attention, those who defy the Goddess! You will be slaughtered for the crimes you have committed on this soil! Either surrender, or fight! I don't care as you will all die by my hand by the end of this day."

"My lady." Catherine slowly walked over and kept her eyes trained on Shamir, who sported some cuts and bruises herself from the fight. "Leave her to me please. I'd rather it be me who cuts her down."

Rhea just nodded with that same feral look in her eyes. "I grant you permission to do that. Besides, it's the ones who has taken her from me that I want."

Edelgard cursed under her breath, still holding her side. She couldn't fight, she spent too much energy fighting Dimitri. And that alone almost killed her! She had to think of a plan. Maybe Hubert could-

"El. Leave it to me."

The Emperor gasped, feeling a hand on her shoulder as she slowly smiled seeing Future Byleth smiling back… and placing a kiss on her head. But Edelgard wasn't convinced.

"My teacher… are you sure?"

"Get our forces out of here. Shamir and I will hold them off."

That's when Hubert walked up and bowed. "It is the best course of action for us right now. Professor, I thank you."

"You better live." Edelgard said as Future Byleth smiled.

"Don't I always?"

But then her smile morphed into a grimace as she stared down the Archbishop who was struggling to keep her anger in. "You… you who have taken from me time, and time, and time again! This place will be your grave! Perhaps I shall cut that hideous tail off before getting my mother back, you miserable half breed!"

"Yep. She's lost it." Shamir muttered as she then saw Catherine unsheathe Thunderbrand. "Unfortunately, she hasn't."

But then the Mercenary's eyes widened when she saw something different about her former partner. Tinges of green in her hair. "Or maybe she finally has…."

Both met in the middle as Shamir looked her up and down. "So care to explain the little make over?"

"Lady Rhea gave me power. The power needed to beat you. I wasn't able to keep up with you, but now the playing field is even."

Shamir just looked at her with such disappointment. "You gave up your humanity."

"You did too by going with the traitor. Now, I believe we both know what is to happen."

Catherine aimed Thunderbrand at Shamir as the woman just nodded in response and started to power up.

Meanwhile, Future Byleth watched the Imperial Army leave and faced down Rhea who drew her sword and she in turn drew the Sword of the Creator. But then the Archbishop spoke.

"I know you are weaker than before. And I've been training. I know for a fact that you will not win today."

Future Byleth just cursed under her breath. It was true. Compared to her academy days she wasn't nearly as strong. All thanks to what happened that day. But she wasn't worried.

"I'm afraid you are wrong, Rhea. For I have been holding back a great deal of power."

That's when Shamir looked at Future Byleth with wide eyes. "Are you sure your body can handle it?"

"It'll give us enough time."

As Future Byleth stabbed the sword into the ground, and clenched her fists before she started to power up. And so much was building up inside her that it was cracking the ground beneath her and the heat from it was evaporating the rain around her. The knights just watched in shock and horror as her aura started turning red with her muscles bulging.

"What the hell…?" Catherine gasped, having forgotten her fight with Shamir as they all just stared. But Rhea knew what she was doing and she was now panicking.

"No! There's no way you know that!"

Future Byleth gritted her teeth and roared into the sky as the aura got fiercer and bigger and now looked like flames. Before she then exhaled and the aura dimmed down… until she opened her eyes and yelled.

"KAIO-KEN!"

And her aura exploded as her power increased by so much. Her muscles were bigger than before and unfortunately for the Church, she was way too strong now. But she couldn't keep it up for long.

She had to buy time. And she nodded to Shamir who nodded back and shocked everyone by performing the technique too. Both women stared down the army with their auras bright red and charged.

They just had to hope their bodies could hold out.

"So… this is one of the futures?" Byleth asked herself as the image before her was still. "So Shamir was always by my side. I'm glad. But more importantly, what is this Kaio-Ken? Is this something I learned? And how am I weaker in the future? Oh, I don't know…"

That's when the world around her started to melt as she heard a voice calling out her name.

"Byleth… come on… answer me!"

It was Sothis as her vision slowly went to normal. She was back in the same place in her mind. With the throne and Sothis sitting on top. The spirit just sighed in relief and shook her head.

"Thank goodness, you're still with us. Another vision?"

Byleth rubbed her head and just nodded. But like a dream, it was slowly getting away from her. Only one key thing came out of it.

"Kaio-Ken."

This caught the attention of Sothis. Kaio-Ken? That word sounded so familiar. Like something she felt like she should know. "Where did you hear that word?"

"In the vision…" Byleth muttered and tried to remember. "It's fuzzy but… Shamir and I used it. Perhaps it's something that we learn in the future?"

"Hmmm… mystery after mystery." Sothis said, folding her arms and frowning. But then she shook her head. "We can worry about that later. You passed out in the middle of the battlefield. Luckily, that boy with the glasses and their teacher were able to keep you safe. Try not to do that again!"

"It's not like I choose to do it…" Byleth tried to explain but was cut off.

"No excuses! Now then, you should be waking up any moment now. You'll be happy to know that victory is at hand so there was nothing to worry about."

Byleth nodded and closed her eyes, ready to be back at the battlefield.

"…Waking up…."

"…kay?"

"Come on Teach, wake up!"

Byleth slowly opened her eyes and saw Claude, Hanneman, Ignatz and Marianne all looking over her with concerned looks on their faces. Claude was the first to speak up as he offered his hand. "You all good, Teach? Kinda gave us all a scare when you just collapsed like that."

She just took his hand and rubbed her head to try and quell the headache that was forming and gave a thumbs up. "Just something that happens, don't question it. More importantly, are we winning?"

"More than that, we are driving them away to retreat!" Hanneman said, pointing in the direction of the bandits running to the bridge. "A most impressive display!"

"Yeah, yeah, we're all proud. Of course, I also helped to make sure this oaf didn't get himself killed." Judith smiled, as she walked alongside Holst who had sheathed his axe.

"Ah, yes. A lovely day for victory!" Holst cheered while Hilda looked just happy for it to be done.

"Ugh, I have blood all over my clothes. And I'm sweating! This was not my definition of a good day…" Hilda whined, looking at her clothes.

Sothis appeared next to Byleth and let out a sigh of relief. 'It seems we were worried for nothing. Even with your little fainting spell, it all worked out in the end.'

"It wasn't even that much of a challenge…" Lysithea muttered to herself while Leonie had her hands behind her head.

"Yeah, I'm kinda bummed out. Maybe it's because we train against each other but I was expecting more…"

"Hey, look at little sis!" Raphael cheered hoisting up Lysithea who was bright red. "She managed to take on a whole squad by herself."

"Y-You big oaf! Put me down this instant!" She yelled trying to cool her heated face as everyone laughed at her display.

"How the fuck did they manage to beat us?!"

On the other side of the bridge, the leader of the Almyran bandits threw a rock against a tree and growled loudly. "That cocky son of a bitch won't let us live this one down for years! Where did he get those kids?! They tore my forces apart like nothing!"

That's when he turned to a figure leaning against a tree and pointed at her. "And you! You said you could help us! You sent our reinforcements over to take them from behind, and it FAILED!"

"Maybe calm down boss-" His Right Hand Man tried to say but was cut off.

"No! I'm sick and tired of losing to those Alliance bastards!"

That's when the two heard the woman start to laugh. "Well then… are you that desperate to kill them all? Well, I can help you with that."

She stepped out of the shadows and it was Kronya, who was still wearing her Almyran disguise and she gave a wink. "I was going to save it for a grand finale, but I suppose I can spoil the surprise right now."

She slowly reached into her satchel and pulled out a dark crystal, which was pulsating with power. The leader just stared at it with curiosity and looked at Kronya. "The hell is that?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just something that will give you the edge over those brats. You'll have the power of a hundred warriors in one."

"B-Boss, I don't know if I should trust that." The right hand man said. "I mean, it's dark and creepy-"

"Where's your damn pride?!" The leader yelled. "Time and time again, that Holst bastard has driven us away! This will finally give us a chance to kill him and those brats that humiliated us."

He then turned to Kronya and held out his hand to take the crystal. But something was on his mind. "Who are you? I've never seen an Almyran like you before. And where did you get this?"

Kronya just gave a sinister grin behind her disguise and let out a laugh. "Think of me as a woman who wants to do my country proud. Why wouldn't I want our land to expand? As for how I got this? The less you know, the better!"

As she slapped him on the back and allowed the crystal to absorb into him causing him to roar in pain and his power started to skyrocket with his right hand man looking in horror.

"Oh, did I forget to mention how it hurts? Oops, silly me!" Kronya cackled with glee as she watched him transform. "Now, let's see how this experiment goes…"

The Right Hand Man just watched in horror at his boss starting to change. "What the hell…"

"Well, thanks for helping us out, guys." Judith said, smiling at the Golden Deer and Byleth. "We can take care of the rest from here though. Maybe you should rest before heading back to-"

Suddenly, Claude, Lysithea and Leonie all had a sharp pain in their heads as they all looked panicked. Hilda shook Claude to try and get his attention.

"Claude? What's wrong? Come on, you guys are freaking me out here!"

"W-What the hell is that power?" Lysithea whispered as she was now shaking in her boots. This was bringing back really bad memories of Castle Gaspard. Of when Lonato…

"It's coming from over there!" Leonie yelled pointing towards the bridge that the bandits were running across, as Byleth drew her sword narrowing her eyes and stepping in front of everyone.

"Get behind me. Now."

Meanwhile in the Adrestian Empire, Shamir narrowed her eyes at the mage who called her that word. His two comrades were dead and he was just laughing.

"You think I'm gonna talk?" The mage yelled and charged a dark Ki attack. "Well, you've got another thing coming if you think I-"

CRACK!

He let out a high pitched squeal of pain as Shamir gave him a kick right to his arm, completely breaking it and making him fall to the ground as she placed a foot on the broken arm.

"Talk. Now."

The mage growled and spat in her direction. "Fuck off-"

"Wrong answer."

She applied pressure on the arm earning a scream that echoed throughout the scenery. But then her senses overloaded as a huge power level overtook her.

"What the hell is that?" Shamir said to herself looking in the direction where she sensed it. It had to be where Byleth was!

That's when she heard a laugh behind her and saw the mage aiming a dark Ki blast… at his face. "You're too late! The experiment will proceed! And you'll get nothing from me!"

"No wait-" Shamir tried to stop him but he released the blast and it completely vaporised his head, killing him. Shamir just growled in irritation. "Coward."

But now there was an even bigger issue. She couldn't get to that power level in time. Even though she knew how to fly it would take her at least six hours to get to the Alliance. She couldn't help.

"Byleth… you better pull through again…"

Meanwhile, the Blue Lions were on their way back from Conand Tower, with the mood extremely grim. Dimitri was just staring at the floor of the carriage he was in with the rest of his class, wondering if there was something he could have done to alter the battle. He looked over to Sylvain who was just staring at the Lance of Ruin that they had received from his brothers corpse. The horrifying sight was watching him transform into a monster after trying to use it.

Though if the Prince was honest, the time he fought Lonato was a lot more scarier, thanks to the sheer power-

That's when he groaned loudly clutching his head, with Felix, Annette and Ashe doing the same, which caught the attention of everyone.

"Annie? Are you okay?" Mercedes asked, trying to get Annette to snap out of it. "Oh my, you're shaking!"

"Ashe! Talk to me! What's wrong?" Ingrid yelled shaking Ashe to try and get his attention.

"Your Highness?" Dedue turned to Dimitri with concern in his eyes as he slowly raised his head.

"That power…"

"It's coming from the Alliance." Felix grunted, trying to not look too shaken up as Annette was scared.

"It's more powerful than Lord Lonato…"

"That's where the Golden Deer are!" Ashe exclaimed as he stood up to try and get out, but was stopped by Dimitri.

"There's no point Ashe. None of us can fly and even so it'll take too long for us to arrive. Besides, Professor Byleth is there, she will be able to take that for down…"

"At least I hope she can…" Dimitri muttered to himself so that nobody could hear. He had nothing but the upmost respect for Byleth. But he wasn't sure if even she could take this one on.

Back at Garreg Mach, Jeralt made a face once he detected that power source and stood up, having been meditating with the Black Eagles.

"You felt that too, right, Professor?" Edelgard said with a nervous expression on her face. "It's insane. How are they getting more powerful?"

That's when Caspar spoke up and pumped his fist. "Let's go over there right now! We can help-"

"No."

Caspar looked at Jeralt in shock who looked at him. "By the time we get there, it'll be too late. They're on their own. We just got to hope that Byleth and the brats can handle it."

"Usually I am having confidence in Professor Byleth…" Petra said, looking down at the ground. "But this power… I am fearing it is too much."

"Yeah… me too.

Edelgard just looked in the distance with her hand at her chest. 'Professor… please be okay. I need you.'

Back at the Alliance, there was a lone figure who was inside the forest just outside the battlefield, sitting on a tree branch and was visibly shaking.

"Oh no… why couldn't it have been easy? Just kick their butts and we can go home! But my head is killing me from the power I'm sensing…"

She readied her bow and slowly pulled back a Ki arrow and aimed at the distance. "I hope they don't see me…"

"Okay, so I can't sense Ki, but I can FEEL that! Is that a problem?!" Hilda yelled as they all saw a large hulking figure jump from the other side of the bridge and land in front of them. It was the leader that Holst was talking to before the battle started. But he was different now. He was larger, his muscles were bulging out and he had a permanent dark aura about him. He grinned evilly and stared down the group.

"Oh, I'm glad I took this power! Holst, you've humiliated me for the last time! Today, is where you will be buried with the rest of your miserable group!"

Holst just couldn't believe what he was seeing. Sure, the Alliance fought back the Almyran's a lot, but he just thought it was sport. This however, was getting very dire. So he narrowed his eyes and began to draw his axe when suddenly Byleth stopped him.

"Wait. We need to be careful. He has a dark crystal inside him. But… he has control of his sanity, and that'll spell out trouble for us."

Judith was shaking from feeling overwhelmed by this power. She really wished she stayed in bed today. She wasn't prepared for something like this. That's when she took in a deep breath and looked at the leader. "So what's your name? I like to know the name of my opponent."

"Did you know the name of my men that you slaughtered? But fine, I'll humour you." The leader observed his hands and clenched them. "A new name for a new me. Let's see, I hold in me the power of a hundred warriors. Call me… Legion."

Claude turned to Byleth and tried to keep his cool. "We can win, right Teach?"

But Byleth wasn't listening. She never felt a power like this before. How in the world were they getting more powerful each time? The last time she did this, she barely won. Now this Legion was way stronger than Lonato, and he had his senses too. She wasn't sure if she could win. Or rather, she wasn't sure if she could avoid casualties.

But then she steeled herself and held out her sword and stared down Legion. That's when time froze around her and the world turned black. Sothis walked up alongside her.

'It appears we were right after all. But I know what you are thinking Byleth. If time itself can't allow you to save lives, then it's not meant to be.'

But Byleth just shook her head and looked at her sword. "Nobody is dying on my watch."

'…Then good luck. You have eight Divine Pulses remaining.'

That's when the world returned to normal and she walked forward. "Class, we need to be careful. You understand? Follow my every command and you'll live, I promise."

"There's the Teach I know!" Claude grinned charging up a Ki arrow.

"We will crush Legion down." Lysithea said and conjured up a clone.

"Professor Byleth and Captain Jeralt's training will pull me through!" Leonie yelled.

"Yeah, I can tell I'm out of my league here, so I'll let you take care of the orders." Judith said, standing beside Byleth as Holst gritted his teeth.

"Legion… you gave up your soul just for power… I will make sure you harm nobody!"

Legion just grinned in return and roared into the sky expelling more and more power before charging at them.

"I will let all of Almyra know of what you did!" The Right Hand Man yelled while trying to crawl away. "You won't get away with this! I swear- UUUURRRRRRGH?!"

A blade pierced through his chest and left him dying on the ground as Kronya pulled out her knife and started cleaning it, tutting to herself. "This isn't meant for you, now you got it all dirty with the wrong blood. No matter, it's all going according to plan."

She then reached into her pouch and pulled out her Scouter and placed it on her ear and looked at the Legion and measured his power level, before grinning in delight at the results.

"A success! Cornelia will be most pleased at the results of this. It seems we have mastered the way the Dark Crystals function."

But then Kronya smirked as she looked at her knife and twirled the blade on her fingertip. "But the finale is yet to come. By the time the sun sets, General Holst will be dead."

She sat on a rock as the Right Hand Man succumbed to his wounds and she sighed happily. "But for now, let's enjoy the show."

That's part 2 all done and dusted. Sorry that this took a while, but between me getting injured at work and Age of Calamity coming out I was preoccupied.

Speaking of, you might have noticed I took inspiration for some moves with that game. Such as Lysithea making clones of herself. The Task Force are slowly developing their own techniques.

Also, Byleth got another vision. This one was the Crimson Flower route and you may be confused as to why she knows Kaio-Ken. Well, remember, Sothis knows it and she fuses with Byleth in the future so she passed down her knowledge of it.

You may have noticed that I mentioned Future Byleth is weaker. And that's something that we will touch on at a later date. But you could probably guess as to why she is weaker.

Also, we've hit 70 favourites and 88 followers. That is insane and I thank you all who have taken the time to do that as well as review. It means a lot.

And also, Shamir having Android 18 vibes is something I love. Yeah, she basically did to that mage what 18 did to Vegeta. Love Shamir.

And lastly, I'm making Kronya more of a recurring villian in the White Clouds saga, because she was criminally underused in canon. Cornelia will make an appearance too.

But yeah, join us next time for the finale of this arc where we will be fighting Legion.

Catch you all then.