Part 1: White Clouds

Legion

"Hahahahaha!!! Now, who will be the first to challenge me? I can't wait to crush you all. In fact, why don't you all come at me? That'll make things more fun! Either way, you will die so it does not matter to me!"

"Stay focused." Byleth said to everyone behind her, narrowing her eyes as she kept her sword trained on Legion who just stood there with his arms folded, waiting for them to make the first move. She didn't want to admit it, but she was nervous. Nervous for the lives of her students as well as Hanneman, Judith and Holst.

But strangely enough, there was something else she was feeling. Her blood was pumping and a small smile found its way onto her face. She remembers this feeling. She had this when she was fighting off with Lonato. A proper challenge to test her might, to see how far she can push herself.

Byleth was feeling excited.

But she couldn't let that get to her head. After all, there were lives at stake here, and she couldn't always rely on her little cheat card to turn back time. She had to figure out a plan, and fast.

"You have five seconds before I come over there and kill you all myself! What are you, scared?"

…Oh it was on now. Her battle instincts took over as her aura exploded around her and she took off towards him. "Lysithea! Lorenz! On me!"

"Of course!" Lysithea nodded and charged after Byleth with Lorenz following closely behind and charged up a fire spell in his hands while riding his horse. Legion just laughed and watched the trio come forward. He stood there and waited for them to do their attack, and this action really ticked off Byleth.

How dare this thing mock them! She would show him how well they do when she beats him to the ground-

She almost stopped in shock as to what she was thinking. When did she ever think like this? These emotions inside her kept on bubbling up as of late. If she was honest, she didn't know how to feel about it. There were times where she wishes she could go back to feeling nothing at all.

'Focus! He's coming!' Sothis screeched in her head.

Byleth's eyes widened as she narrowly dodged a fist slamming into the ground. Legion was a lot faster than she thought, despite his larger size and she told Lysithea and Lorenz to fall back.

But before Lysithea could, she screamed as she was grabbed by the head and picked up by Legion who left her dangling in the air.

"Let her go!!!" Leonie screamed getting ready to charge in but Legion just laughed at both her and the girl in his hands who was struggling and kicking and screaming to break free.

"You want me to let her go? Very well then. I'll let her go." He grinned as he looked towards Lysithea and a sickening crunch filled the air which stopped everyone in their tracks. As blood started leaking down the girls head as Legion threw her towards everyone and she flopped onto the ground, with her head caved in. She was dead.

"YOU BASTARD!!!" Leonie screamed and ran to Legion and he was ready to meet her head on.

But suddenly, the whole world froze around them as Byleth stood there and looked at Lysithea and her unfortunate demise. "Lysithea… I'm sorry. I will make sure that I will do this right."

Sothis appeared next to her and looked on ahead with her arms behind her back. 'You really think you can save all of them?'

"I have to."

'…Very well. Let's pray that you are powerful enough.' The spirit sighed and summoned her time glyphs once more to turn back time. 'You and I both know it's going to take a miracle to bring Legion down with no causalities. We can win, of course but-'

"I'm not looking for statistics Sothis. I just want you to turn back time."

'I am only trying to help. You have seven Divine Pulses remaining.'

Byleth just nodded and found herself standing in the same spot as she was when Lysithea was killed. Although this time, she was ready and threw out her hand and shot out a Ki blast before Legion could crush her students head. It clocked him in the face which allowed Lysithea to channel her Ki and break free from his grip and she held her head panting.

She almost died there. She had to be careful as she went to summon a clone but was stopped by the others who had come to show up and fight. Everyone knew that they had to work together. They all looked towards Byleth on what to do while Legion recovered from her attack.

Byleth gripped the Sword of the Creator and nodded. "Follow your instincts everyone. Protect yourselves as well as each other. You understand?"

Everyone nodded back and readied themselves as Legion loomed over them all. "Well now, you're not the ants I thought you were. This could actually be fun. I think it's high time I showed off more of my power, don't you think?"

The group all paled at that statement and didn't know what to say. He was holding back?! Byleth knew he didn't have to use all his strength when he killed Lysithea. Now he had more?!

"Looks like this is going to be tougher than we thought." Claude grimaced while holding a Ki arrow aimed at his face.

"Yeah… I can't wait." Byleth replied and felt her blood pumping once more. She was going to enjoy this as Legion roared into the sky and started to power up more, the force of his Ki throwing everyone back. Only Byleth remained in place, though she had to use a lot of power to not be blown away.

This was going to be fun.

"It seems that this latest version of the crystals are a success, Lord Thales." Cornelia smiled in glee as she held aloft an orb which displayed the fight between Legion and the Golden Deer. "All the kinks have been worked out and we can start moving on to a brand new batch. Ones that can allow us to get stronger of our own accord by recharging the crystals."

"Good. You have done remarkable work, Cornelia." Thales nodded while sitting on his throne overlooking the battle. Though, his attention was drawn to Byleth who kept on displaying impressive feats of strength. Always seeming to be one step ahead of Legion.

Hubert had noticed this, and turned his attention to the woman too. "You two seem to know something I don't… Lord Thales."

"I know many things you do not know, lap dog." Thales replied leaning back on his throne and placing his hands together. "Do you ever wonder how this Byleth woman always appears to be one step ahead at all times?"

This puzzled Hubert. Thales never gave him the time of day most of the time aside from calling him by his nickname. But Hubert decided to humour him and replied. "I assumed that based on her Mercenary background and the fact she is the daughter of the Blade Breaker, that would mean she is a force to be reckoned with."

"Tell me. Do you know anything at all about her?"

"…No. There are no records on her anywhere. No birth records, no family tree, nothing at all. It's like she just appeared out of thin air one day."

"Her father is certainly impressive." Cornelia continued on for Thales. "However, her mother was a different story."

Hubert raised an eyebrow. "Mother? Ah yes, Sitri Eisner. One of the few records I could find of her. A nun who resided in Garreg Mach but was unfortunately taken from us due to childbirth complications."

"And this is why you never rely on silly books and records." Cornelia replied, still watching the fight. "Because all of that was created to fabricate a lie. The Archbishop did not want people knowing who she truly was."

Now this caught Hubert's attention. He slowly turned around to the pair and narrowed his eyes. "I know who she is. A creation of the Immaculate-"

"Wrong."

"…What?"

But Thales just raised a hand to silence them both. "You like to ask your questions, lap dog. In time, you will get your answers, providing you stay in line. Now watch the fight."

They all turned their attention back to the orb, but Hubert was just left conflicted. All the reports he gathered were completely false? Just who was this Byleth woman? Who was this Sitri? He hated not knowing what was going on. But he had to endure to get his answers not only for himself, but for Edelgard too.

Byleth slashed at Legion's shins and jumped back when he tried to slam his fists directly onto her but narrowly avoided it. She smirked a little and told everyone behind her to close their eyes before performing a Solar Flash and blinding Legion who clutched his eyes in pain. This was their chance to launch a counterattack as Raphael charged forward and tackled him to the ground before repeatedly punching him in the face while Hilda grabbed her axe and went to damage his legs. Suddenly, Legion got his senses back and caught Raphael's fist and prevented him from landing another hit.

"Like an annoying little bug…" Legion grunted before ripping Raphael's arm clean off. Hilda gasped loudly and covered her mouth in shock, dropping her axe in the process before Raphael screamed loudly in pin clutching his stump trying to stop the bleeding. But before Legion could finish the job, time froze and started to rewind once again. Sothis appeared next to Byleth and shook her head, with sweat start to form on her brow.

'Six remaining. You better make them count.'

"I know what I'm doing."

'Where did this stubbornness come from…'

Byleth rolled her eyes and waited for time to resume before activating the whip on her sword and struck Legion in the chest before he could attack Raphael, the force of the attack being enough to throw Legion away and let go of the brawler, who just picked himself up and gave a big grin.

"Thanks for that Miss Byleth! Gee, I sure would've been a goner if it wasn't for you!"

She just dropped her head in return and groaned to herself. 'These kids are killing me… come on, it's not over yet.'

"We need a plan, Teach." Claude said as he ran up to join her side with Hilda and Raphael coming back.

"I swear… if we get out of this alive, we are going to a spa!" Hilda yelled as she clutched her axe tightly while anxiously looking around for Legion who was thankfully still on the ground.

"Right… a plan. We need a plan…"

"What about that giant beam attack you did to Lonato?!" Claude asked while keeping a Ki arrow trained on Legion. "You know, the one where you got really angry?"

"I don't remember how to do that!"

"Well, how about you use that sword of yours to slice him in half?!" Leonie yelled.

"You think I wouldn't have done that already?!"

"Why don't you punch him really, really hard?!" Raphael yelled but got a hit in the stomach from Lysithea.

"If you aren't going to be helpful, don't talk!"

Byleth gritted her teeth and clutched her head, trying to think. She was running out of time, she had to be smart. Maybe she could use the sword, but she needed to get a clear shot.

She then looked towards everyone and nodded. "We need to hold him down so I can get a clear shot to wound him with the Relic. Lysithea, Leonie. I'm tasking you both with holding him down. The rest distract him as best as you can. Then I can come in with a shot."

"Excellent! Split him apart! A worthy way of killing!" Holst roared raising his axe high and charged towards Legion, who was getting up. Claude was panicking as he tried to shoot an arrow at him but he slapped it away, the aura around him getting darker as he growled.

"Right… this is getting annoying now. You lot have had your fun, now it's time I pick you apart piece by piece…"

Byleth steeled herself and nodded to Lysithea who charged forward while snapping her fingers. Legion grunted in surprise as symbols appeared on his limbs as he tried to get them off.

"What the-? What the hell is this stuff?! Get it off me!!"

"Oh don't worry, I'll get it off you in a minute." Lysithea replied and slammed her fists into his limbs and produced two clones who clenched tightly to his legs preventing him from running away. He was about to grab Lysithea but found himself being shot at by Ki arrows courtesy of Claude and Leonie to which he laughed loudly. But then he noticed something about Claude.

"You look… familiar- URGH!!!"

He got shot in the face, quickly shutting him up as Claude glared. "Sorry, you've got me confused with someone else. Can't say that we have met before. You have one more chance to surrender, and leave."

Everyone looked to Claude in shock as Lorenz almost dropped his tome. "Are you insane?! He is a beast!"

"He still has a choice." Claude said and kept staring at Legion. "If he says no, we kill him."

But then they all saw him slowly start to laugh as Claude's eyes widened when he saw Ki charging in his palms.

"You think I will stop now?! Well, here's my answer! SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR FRIENDS!"

"NO!" Claude screamed as Legion fired a Ki blast which headed straight for Marianne, who just stood there frozen in fear as it went closer and closer. She couldn't run, she couldn't hide.

…Perhaps this was meant to be. She would free others of her burden. This was her time to-

Marianne couldn't finish that thought as she felt herself being thrown to the ground out of harms way as she locked eyes with Hilda, who had pushed her away just in time for her to not be killed. Unfortunately, that meant that Hilda was in the crossfire and the last thing Marianne saw was Hilda smiling as she was blown to atoms by the attack.

"HILDA, NO!" Holst roared as he grabbed his axe and charged towards Legiom, who was starting to break free from Lysithea's grip.

Marianne just sat there, frozen in fear as she just broke down crying at what her friend did to save her as she clutched her head. "It's all my fault…"

But time froze again and started to rewind once more with Byleth knowing what to do next. Sothis just looked at her, panting heavily and nodded.

'Five.'

"I understand."

"You think I will stop now- URRGH?!" Legion was beginning to charge his Ki attack once more like before, but this time Byleth used the whip function on her sword to impale his hand and prevent him from attacking. He was so caught off guard that he didn't notice Raphael grabbing his injured hand and holding it in place with Leonie doing the same to his other arm. He was now fully trapped and unable to escape. The fact that two of the people holding him were trained in Ki made it next to impossible.

For good measure, Hilda slammed her axe into his right foot to make sure he couldn't run off even if he broke free.

Byleth felt the Sword of the Creator's power course through her as it started glowing red with power and she flew towards Legion at a rapid pace and pointed the sword straight at his chest for a fatal blow. Good. This would surely end the fight in one fell swoop. It was all in place. She just had to make the shot.

And then a loud roar came out of Legion as she impaled him through his chest with black blood pouring everywhere and Byleth panted, still keeping the sword embedded deep inside him. "…Is everybody okay?"

"Did we win?" Lorenz asked quietly, still keeping a fire spell charged. It felt too easy.

Byleth was about to reply when suddenly a dark chuckle came out of Legion which froze everyone in place. "If that is the best that you can do, then there's no point in playing around…"

"You're kidding… after all that?!" Hilda yelled but screamed when she was flung away by Legion kicking her in the chest.

"HILDA!" Claude yelled and jumped up to catch her before she got even more hurt. When they landed, he quickly checked to make sure nothing was broken. "You okay? Tell me if anything hurts!"

"Everything…" Hilda groaned, but slowly sat up and coughed. "But I think I'm okay."

That's when they both saw Legion throwing off everyone that was holding him down and grabbed Byleth by the face with her sword still in his chest. He charged a Ki blast and had full intention of shooting it point blank at her.

Claude gritted his teeth and formed multiple Ki arrows but suddenly, a beam of Ki shot past him and struck Legion right in his eye. He yelled in pain, dropping Byleth and clutching his face in agony. Claude slowly looked behind him to see it came from where the trees were and looked over at Byleth, who was wiping blood off her mouth and smiled.

"She really thought of everything, huh? A secret sniper… but who is it?"

Meanwhile, Byleth looked ahead at Legion and saw that her sword was still in his chest. "Well… I prefer using my fists anyway."

As she took off her coat and tossed it away before sliding into her stance, staring down Legion who started charging at full speed towards her.

"Come on guys! You've been like this for the past ten minutes, give us an update!" Ingrid yelled at her fellow classmates who had their eyes shut and sensing the battle that was going on.

Dimitri opened his eyes and glared at the floor. "Too many close calls… it's thanks to Professor Byleth that everyone is alive."

"Though I detected a large influx of Ki in the area." Felix chimed in. "It's not a Ki I recognise properly. Seems like she brought in extra help."

"I don't know if they can win." Annette whispered to herself. "Oh, I hate feeling useless! I wish I could help!"

"It's okay, Annie." Mercedes smiled taking her friends hand into her own. "I'm sure that they will win. After all, goodness always prevails in the end, does it not?"

Nobody chose to answer that as the four Ki students closed their eyes and looked out for the Ki signatures once more.

Both Byleth and Legion met in the middle and locked their hands together in a grappling match to try and overpower the other. That's when Legion leaned in close.

"You're pretty strong, aren't you? You're not like the others. I'll enjoy killing you!"

He started charging up a Ki blast from his mouth which Byleth countered by swinging her whole body up into the air, still holding onto his hands and brought them behind his back and slammed her feet onto his body sending him crashing into the ground. Lysithea saw an opening and tried to send a Ki blast over to him but Legion's vast aura just shrugged it off completely as he powered up more and more.

"I can't even hit him now…" Lysithea whispered in disbelief.

That's when Claude looked at his hand and nodded. "I have an idea for an attack. It's a pretty big one, and I've not used it properly before. I'll need some time to charge it up. If you guys can keep him away from me, I can get to work."

"…How long do you need?" Leonie asked while watching Claude clench his fist and using his other hand to hold his wrist in place.

"I don't know. Two minutes? Five? Like I said, I haven't properly used it, but I'm all out of ideas."

Hilda blew out a breath while Marianne healed her injuries to keep her fighting. "Claude… you're paying for my new uniform when we're done here."

She then stood up and used her axe to keep herself propped up with Judith and Holst running over to them. Hanneman chose to stay next to Claude and keep him covered, while the rest would help Byleth with Legion.

"Guys… I'll need that time, you know that, right?" Claude asked as he started charging Ki into his closed fist.

"Just keep charging, and we will keep him at bay!" Lysithea yelled.

Meanwhile, Byleth was trading blows with Legion who was keeping her on the back foot. This was bad, she was getting weaker, and more exhausted as time went on. While his power was steadily increasing. Where was this power coming from?!

"What's wrong, monkey girl?! Running out of steam?! Too bad for you, I'm just getting started!"

"Hey! Big guy! Over here!"

Legion turned around for a split second only to be met with a punch to the face by Raphael and an arrow to the chest by Ignatz. That's when Leonie came charging ahead and jumped to where the Sword of the Creator lay in his chest and grabbed the hilt and started to pull on it, before screaming in pain as the sword seemed to be rejecting her in a way.

"LEONIE!" Lorenz yelled, using magic to keep Legion down. "You don't have a Crest! You could die if you use it!"

Leonie just gritted her teeth at the red hot pain flaring through her and narrowed her eyes. "Professor- no… Byleth needs this! We need to take it out! Keep his arms away!"

"Pathetic… this is just sad." Legion said and swatted Raphael away before grabbing Leonie and chuckled. "You're way out of your depth here. Let me show you how."

Leonie tried to break away but a sickening crunch filled the air as her neck was broken by Legion who just dropped her to the ground leaving her lifeless.

"Not good enough…" Byleth muttered as she called on another Divine Pulse. At this point, Sothis didn't need to tell her what her limits were. She only had four left. She heard about Claude charging up a special attack, and Leonie was trying to get her sword back. She had to make sure that those didn't go to waste. But everyone was losing steam fast. Even if they got the sword back, everyone could barely stand. This was taking everything they had. Was it enough? No time for thinking like that.

When time resumed to just before Legion was going to grab Leonie, Byleth jumped forward and grabbed his hand before turning to Hilda. "Do it! Now!"

Hilda nodded and slammed the axe straight into his arm, which gave Leonie enough time to rip the sword out of his chest with her screaming in pain as the sword clattered to the ground. Before Leonie could fall, Lorenz caught her and surveyed the damage.

It was really bad. Her hands were completely damaged with red marks covering them. Almost looked like her nerves were damaged due to that stunt. That was one of the many consequences of trying to use a Relic without a Crest. Worse of all, she was completely unconscious.

"Everyone, I'm taking Leonie out! She's in no condition to fight!" Lorenz yelled with Judith helping him get her on the horse. She then turned to Marianne and clicked her tongue in frustration.

"A battle healer isn't going to cut it. She needs an actual doctor. But until Legion has been defeated, we can't get her out of here."

"I'll keep an eye on her." Lorenz said, getting on his horse. "Let's be honest, I'm not doing much to help anyway. Just try and defeat that brute!"

Byleth rolled out of the way of a fist slamming into the ground and picked up her sword, watching the power flare to life before slamming Legion to the ground. "Leonie… thank you for this. I'll make sure it won't go to waste."

She then looked behind her to see Claude with his eyes closed charging up the attack. Sweat was dripping down his face as he had to concentrate so not to disrupt it forming. His fist was glowing yellow and overflowing with power. Byleth looked to Legion and then to her sword.

"Lysithea. Do you have any power left?"

"A little… but I'm afraid I've run my magic reserves and my Ki dry." Lysithea replied looking at her shaking hands. "And it's getting really hard to stand…"

"But you can still fight?"

"To my dying breath."

"Good." Byleth then turned to the rest of the warriors there and frowned. "If anybody wants to leave, do so now. Because we need to make sure that Claude can get that attack all charged. Can I count on you?"

"You have my blade." Judith nodded.

"And my axe!" Holst grinned hoisting his weapon on his shoulder.

"Yeah, let's beat him into the ground!" Raphael grinned, punching his fists together.

"We've come so far… a little more wouldn't hurt." Ignatz mumbled to himself.

"If we make it out of this…" Hilda started to say but was interrupted by Byleth.

"I will personally buy all of you new clothes and a day at the spa if we win. We all need it."

That's when the fire in the girls eyes returned and she gripped her axe tightly. "Mama needs that spa day!"

"For Leonie… we will win!" Marianne whispered to herself and now sported a determined look and Byleth nodded to her, smiling.

She then looked over at Claude and closed her eyes. 'Claude? Can you hear me?'

In her head she heard a strained voice talk back. 'Heh… kind of rude to drop into my head unannounced, wouldn't you… ngh… say?'

'Claude, we're going to keep Legion distracted long enough to let you charge up your attack. How long do you have?'

Silence followed for a couple of seconds before Claude's voice sounded again. 'Three minutes. Give me three minutes and it should be ready. Though I don't know what will happen to me. I only just started developing this technique.'

'You'll get your three minutes. I promise.'

'Heh… because I have Professor Hanneman and our mystery friend backing me up? Speaking of, mind telling me who that is?'

'No.' Byleth rolled her eyes and turned to Legion who picked himself up. 'Stay focused.'

'Got it… thank you.'

The connection was now cut off as Byleth stared ahead and sighed. "Everyone… CHARGE!!!"

"Like lambs to the slaughter. This is starting to piss me off!" Legion yelled, grabbing Byleth by the throat and attempting to crush her but found his hand clenching nothing. An after image.

And then he found his face in the dirt once more when Byleth came flying down and slammed her feet in the back of his head. Hilda went for a powerful swing of her axe but missed due to Legion dodging at the last second and punching her square in the face which sent her flying back and slamming her head against a rock.

"HILDA!" Holst yelled, running towards his sister. He saw that she was bleeding from her head and checked to see if she had a concussion. No, she looked fine but then he saw her standing up and shakily grabbing her axe.

"Not yet… I can still fight…"

"Hilda please, you're hurt-" Holst tried to explain but Hilda cut him off.

"If Claude can't charge his attack, then all of this was for nothing! We lost Leonie and Lorenz, we can't afford anyone else!"

Holst widened his eyes at her resolve. This was very unlike Hilda. But she had a point. He looked over to Claude who was gritting his teeth and his fist was now coated in Ki as he kept charging more and more, with Hanneman keeping his magic charged to try and keep any attacks away from him.

Hilda got to her feet and gripped her axe tightly. "We need to do this. We have to."

"…Lead the way, sister." Holst said, grinning widely and Hilda smiled back as they ran back into the fight.

On Byleth's side, things weren't going well. She had to use two more Divine Pulses back to back just to save Ignatz and Marianne. Ignatz was completely obliterated from a Ki blast and Marianne was impaled by a Ki blade formed by Legion. She barely got them out of there in time but that only meant she had two left before Sothis had to rest.

'Claude! How much longer?! We're running on fumes here!'

'A little more… it's almost ready…' She heard Claude weakly reply. 'I can feel it…'

That's when his eyes widened and he looked at his fist which was now completely stabilised and overflowing with power. "It's done! It's finally done!"

He then narrowed his eyes at Legion in the distance and drew his hand back. Unfortunately, Legion detected that influx of Ki and looked ahead at Claude and fired a beam of Ki directly at his heart which struck home and he fell to the ground, dead and the Ki in his hand dispersed.

"NO!!!" Hanneman screamed.

"CLAUDE!!!" Hilda screamed, starting to run towards him but time froze once more as Sothis appeared next to Byleth, looking exhausted and panting.

'You have one left… though from the looks of it, you've got this in the bag. You just need to hold him in place. Good luck.'

Sothis was right. She just needed to hold Legion in place. And luckily, she had just the tool for that. Time resumed to just before Legion was about to end Claude's life. But this time, she was prepared as she used the whip function of the sword to wrap it round his neck, acting as a leash and she used all her strength to pull back and cause him to focus on trying to get it off from his neck. But then Legion growled at Claude and fired another Ki beam from his mouth but this time it got intercepted by the sniper that was in the trees. Though it didn't disrupt the blast completely, it bought time for Claude to dodge out of the way to avoid harm.

This was it! She looked towards Claude and screamed.

"CLAUDE! DO IIIIIIT!!!"

"EVERYBODY, GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Claude yelled which everyone heard perfectly clear and he thrusted his hand out before saying his new Ki attack.

"BUCK CANNON!!!"

A large yellow beam erupted from his hand and made a beeline towards Legion, who couldn't escape due to Byleth using the sword to hold him in place. The attack was so powerful, it ripped up the ground as it travelled and burnt the grass that was in a certain radius.

"No! NOOOOOO!!! I can't lose like this!!!" Legion screamed before the Buck Cannon struck him in the chest and went straight through him, as he went sailing through the air now that Byleth got the whip off of his neck and he went crashing to the ground, not moving. Everyone didn't move. For fear of jinxing it.

Claude chuckled to himself and blew out a shaky breath. "Jeez, it was a lot more powerful than I thought…"

That's when he looked to see severe burn marks on the hand he fired the blast from and grimaced. "Oh, that doesn't look good. Oops, and here comes the other part…"

He groaned and collapsed to the ground, his energy completely spent. Everyone waited with baited breath at Legion to see if he would recover. But Byleth noticed the shards of crystal nearby and then saw the dark aura dissipate. It was done. They won.

"We did it…" Byleth panted as she sank to her knees. "We won…"

"We… won?" Lysithea panted, having needed to be held up by Ignatz who started laughing in joy.

"We won!!!"

"Oh, thank the Goddess…" Judith whispered, slumping to the ground as exhaustion took over.

"Victory for us!!!" Holst roared holding his axe up high as Byleth slowly walked towards Claude who was knocked out. Everything hurt, but at least they were all okay.

"Thanks Claude… you helped us make sure there were no casualties."

She then looked to the forest and smiled. "Thank you as well…"

"So, Legion was defeated? Booooring!" Kronya sighed with her hands on her chin looking glum. But then she shrugged and jumped down from the rock she was sitting on.

"Oh well, we got what we wanted so I probably would have killed him anyway. But there's one thing missing from this show… what is it…"

She clicked her fingers and grinned. "Of course! The grand finale! Oh this'll be glorious…"

"Holsty… I think I'm ready to stop fighting for a while…" Hilda whined as she looked at her dirty and torn clothes as well as the various marks on her body thanks to the battle. But Holst just laughed in response and slapped her on the back.

"Nonsense, little sister! You have the potential to be so much more! Here, let me go get your axe."

Hilda just rolled her eyes as Holst walked over to where her axe was and picked it up, before holding it out to her. "You just wait, you will be a fine warrior to our land and nobody will-"

SSSSSHRRRRRRRNK!!!

"URRGH!!!"

Time stopped as Hilda looked at Holst with horror on her face, as he slowly looked down to see a sword sticking out of his chest. "Oh…"

The blade slowly pulled out of him and he collapsed to the ground as Hilda saw who did it. An Almyran woman. With a manic grin…

"HOLST!!!"

That caught everyone's attention as Byleth looked up from Claude and gasped in shock. She didn't know there were more here! Without thinking, she activated a Divine Pulse to just before Holst was stabbed and narrowed her eyes swinging her sword towards the girl...

…But all of a sudden, a dark ball of magic collided with the blade and stopped her attack completely. Byleth couldn't believe it. She just watched as Holst was stabbed by the girl again, but that's when she noticed something.

The girl had a Scouter! Just like those at the Mausoleum! But she had to get over there and stop her, maybe try to save Holst. But her legs buckled underneath her and she collapsed to the ground. Her energy was spent. She could barely walk now. Or fight.

She was out of options. She could do nothing.

Hilda just gritted her teeth as the girl tutted to herself and cleaned her blade. "I don't think big brother is going to make it. Then again, maybe you should take this as a lesson. Never have your back turned."

She then looked towards Hilda and giggled maniacally. "Because you never know who will be there to STAB you!"

"I'LL KILL YOU!!!" Hilda screamed, and with newfound energy, took off and charged towards the girl.

"Hilda, no!" Byleth yelled, trying to reach out to her, but she couldn't. She was too tired.

The woman just tilted her head and smirked seeing Hilda about to throw a punch but just caught her hand and yawned loudly.

"You have no idea just how out of your league you are, little girl!" The woman said and slowly started to apply pressure on Hilda's hand as Hilda tried to get out of the grip, before screaming as her hand was being crushed.

"You know, I was ordered to just kill your brother. But two Gonerils? Now that sounds like a bonus!"

That's when a Ki beam shot her in the chest and threw her off her feet, earning a yelp of surprise from the woman. Though the attack was nowhere near fatal as the woman sat up and growled loudly. "Alright! I've been seeing you throughout the battle, where are you?!"

She stood up and pressed a button on her Scouter and looked around for Ki signatures. A grin of malice appeared on her face as she saw one hiding in the trees. "There you are…"

The Almyran started charging a Ki blast and aimed it at the trees. "It was fun when you kept Legion at bay, but doing it to me is super annoying. Begone!"

"NO!" Byleth yelled as she could only watch as the blast collided with the trees and she heard a scream of pain. Thankfully, she could still sense the Ki and hoped they took that moment to retreat. They did more than enough to help.

The woman now looked at Hilda and placed a foot on her chest and started applying pressure causing her to scream out in pain. "Now to finish you off-"

A beeping sounded on her Scouter as she heard a voice. "You've done your orders. Now retreat."

Furrowing her brows, the woman slowly lifted her foot off of Hilda and turned away. "Well, looks like you should count yourself lucky. You get to live another day… well, can't say the same for your dear big brother."

She then blew a kiss and giggled. "Byyye!" Before teleporting away. Hilda slowly got up and held her head in pain. She felt dizzy, and on top of that she could barely move-

"Hil… da…"

Her eyes widened as she quickly turned to see Holst on the ground. With newfound energy, she picked herself up and ran towards him and knelt beside him, holding his hand. But he just smiled.

"It's okay, Hilda… it's okay." Holst whispered before coughing and tried to catch his breath. "When it comes to the battlefield… you never know when it's your last."

"No… no! I can save you!" Hilda yelled and looked around. "Marianne! Where are you?! I need you!"

"Girl, stop it." Judith said, slowly placing a hand on her shoulder. "She's not got any healing left in her. And even if she did… this is too great of a wound to patch up. There's nothing that we can do."

"Ah, Lady Judith." Holst smiled and coughed again. "How fortunate that your lovely face is one of the last ones that I'll see."

Judith just smiled back and rubbed at her eye to stop any tears from leaking out. "Well, I'm glad I got to fight your last battle with you."

"No!" Hilda yelled, trying to apply pressure on the wound which caused him to groan in pain. "You're not dying! Our family needs you! The Alliance needs you! I need you!"

Judith then held her close as Hilda started crying into her chest. "Please don't leave me…"

Byleth was watching in the distance and that sentence triggered something in her. She felt the world going dark again as another vision took place.

"It looks like… I'm going to have to leave you now."

The scenery was just outside of Garreg Mach. Byleth wasn't sure what was happening, but her own father was on the ground. And her Future self was kneeling over him. A detail worth noting was that Future Byleth didn't have her green hair in this vision. It was just her regular blue.

But she looked sad. Her dad was dying.

Jeralt felt droplets of liquid hit his face and looked to see it was his own daughter, shedding tears. For the first time in her life, she was crying.

He simply smiled to himself. "To think, the first time I saw you cry… your tears would be for me. It's sad. And yet, I'm happy for it."

Future Byleth just kept on letting her tears fall as Jeralt let out a sigh of content, happy that his daughter was the last thing he would see. "Thank you… Byleth."

And like that, he stopped moving and his breathing ceased. He was gone. Future Byleth's eyes widened as more and more tears fell as rain started to pour on the two. She tried shaking him to try and get him to respond.

"Dad… wake up… dad please. Please!"

She covered her eyes , trying to rub the tears away, but she couldn't. "Dad! DAD! DAAAAAAD!"

And then she roared into the sky, letting out all her pain and anguish. The only two emotions she knows at this point. Sadness at her fathers death. And anger at the one who did this. Her fists were clenched so hard that her nails were drawing blood out of her palms.

Until suddenly, something snapped in Future Byleth. Her hair turned golden, and her eyes changed from her usual calm sapphire blue, to a cold teal. The power she gave off was incredible as she kept screaming into the sky, before slowly stopping and crying over Jeralt's corpse, still in her strange golden form.

Byleth returned back to reality after that vision and looked at Hilda crying into Judith's chest. She then noticed her face was wet and touched her cheek. There were tears leaking down her face. She was crying. But why?

The vision was already starting to fade away from her mind, leaving only one key detail. That golden form.

Something happened to her in that vision, and to Jeralt. Something to trigger that form. But what was it? How come her future self never used it after? Was this something she would attain in the near future?

All her questions were halted as she heard Holst start to speak again.

"Hilda… it's okay. I know you will lead our house well."

"I'll… I'll make sure they pay!" Hilda growled, holding her brothers hand. "Those Almyrans are nothing but savage animals! I'll kill them-"

"Don't."

That caught Hilda off guard. Did Holst just tell her not to? As if sensing her confusion, he looked into the sky. "Don't judge a whole nation based on the actions of a few. Sure, we had our fights but I always thought we shared a common sense of respect. But something changed today… you noticed it, right Judith?"

"Yeah… I did…" Judith responded and looked down. She ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "Fuck, this is turning into one big mess…"

Everyone had crowded around the dying General at this point as Holst called out for Byleth. "Can you please grant this dying man a favour?"

"Anything. What do you need?" Byleth asked, kneeling down beside him.

"I want you to train Hilda how to use those powers of yours." Holst coughed out which surprised everyone around him. The most being Hilda who just stared. "You've seen it for yourself, Miss Byleth. She has incredible potential. But she was always afraid of being compared to me. Well, now she doesn't have to be. She can be stronger than I could ever be."

He then looked at Hilda too. "Can you promise me that? Will you push yourself to your fullest potential? And bring honour to our house?"

Byleth slowly looked to Hilda and closed her eyes. "If she accepts, I can teach her."

"I'll do it!" Hilda sniffled, and squeezed Holst's hand tighter. "I'll make you proud Holsty! I'll be super strong, no more lazy Hilda, I promise!"

He slowly smiled and nodded to himself. "Good." Before looking at Judith. "Please… don't let the Alliance go to war with Almyra. If we do, then we are… good… as…"

Holst didn't finish his sentence. He was gone, the life drained from his eyes as Hilda sobbed loudly into his chest, overcome with grief. Lysithea just looked over to Claude, who was passed out, and Leonie, who was being watched over by Lorenz. She then looked down at her hands and clenched her fists.

"After all this training… I was still so weak… I know my training isn't complete but I should be so much more!"

Byleth closed her eyes and nodded to Judith. "Let's get the injured and fallen out of here. We should hold a service."

"Agreed." Judith replied, standing up and letting Hilda cry into her brothers chest. "But this just complicated things further. I'll… I'll explain later, let's just get out of here…"

"Yeah, you're right. Lorenz is looking over Leonie right now, but she needs a doctor. So does Claude. I'll stay behind with Hilda." Byleth said and Judith took charge for now, leading the rest of the Golden Deer away. All except Hanneman who wanted one last conversation before going away.

"I fear that war may be on our horizon, Miss Byleth. I just hope that the power you and the others possess are enough to stop that from happening."

Byleth watched him walk away after those words were spoken and looked at her hand before clenching it. But the sound of Hilda crying snapped her out of her thoughts and she turned to the pink haired girl who wiped her face and then spoke.

"Miss Byleth… I want to ask you a question. Do you think the Almyran's are a threat?"

"No." Byleth replied, standing beside Hilda. "Your brother said not to judge a nation based on the actions of a few people. I think he was right to say that."

Hilda just laughed to herself and sniffled, turning away from his brothers corpse as soldiers slowly carried him away. She just couldn't look at him right now. "Claude told me you always knew what to say. He also told me the reason for your little Task Force. That girl… she was one of the people you're looking for, right?"

"It's too soon to say." Byleth replied. "But it's possible. She did look like she was meddling in others affairs."

"Hm." Hilda hummed to herself and looked straight into Byleth's eyes. "I was serious when I said I would join you. If you allow me to. I know we haven't always seen eye to eye on things. I like to make things easy, you like to run everyone into the ground and be a general fun sponge-"

"You're not helping your case here." Byleth deadpanned.

"Buuuuuut, you're tough and stuff! And if Holsty wanted me to get myself to my max potential, then why not let you help me?"

Byleth honestly wasn't sure. She has seen Hilda fight today, and while she was very impressive, she also lazes about when it comes to her classes if what she heard from Hanneman is true. Not to mention the reason why the Task Force was made in the first place.

"You know my training is very difficult."

"I know."

"And we're going to be fighting more of these enemies as they appear."

"Yup."

"And yet, you still want to do this?"

Hilda nodded. "Holsty wants me to do it. And if that girl that killed him is one of them, then I can personally cave her skull in with my axe! Claude even taught me the basics of Ki, so I'm already one step ahead!"

Now this surprised Byleth. She knows Ki already? No wonder she was stronger, if she already has it unlocked. Then there was no doubt in her mind anymore. "Okay. Welcome to Task Force 141."

Hilda beamed at being accepted, but it soon changed into a look of sadness once she caught sight of Holst being covered with a white sheet and she started to cry in her hands again. "I just can't believe he's gone…"

Byleth watched Claude and Leonie be taken away and placed a hand on Hilda's shoulder. "Let's go. I suppose I owe you a day at the spa. Will that make you feel better?"

"It's… a start." Hilda sniffled and smiled at Byleth before hugging her. "Thank you… Professor."

"Anytime Hilda. Anytime."

"So, Legion was defeated. Yet, the mission was a success." Cornelia huffed while scribbling notes on a slate. "It's just a shame the crystal was destroyed."

"We do not need it, as we now have the data necessary." Thales replied and stood up. "You are to remain here for now and keep on calibrating. I will pick up our little helper."

"Do you honestly think that he is to be trusted?" Cornelia asked while turning off her Scouter to which Thales grinned.

"The dog knows not to step out of line and the girl knows that she has no say in the matter. In any case, I'm feeling generous for him and decided he could have some answers."

With that, he teleported away leaving Cornelia by herself who walked up to a keypad and inputted a code in before watching the door open.

"Let's not waste time then."

Hubert was standing behind a tree with his arms behind his back as he watched the woman who killed Holst walk up to him.

"Where were you when I got shot?!"

"My orders were to ensure General Holst's demise." Hubert replied and watched her start to glow a dark colour as her disguise slowly melted away revealing Kronya who picked dirt off her fingernails and huffed.

"Well, at least you were good for something. That Mercenary is too much of a bother. How she and her brats managed to defeat Legion is a wonder to me."

"Because she is the Fell Star."

Both Hubert and Kronya turned to see Thales approaching the pair. "She has the power of Sothis inside her. As such, she is capable of many things. But it is her very biology that makes her a threat. Kronya, you are dismissed. Get ready for your next mission. They will be ready by the end of the week."

"Aye, aye!" Kronya grinned and walked away before teleporting out of sight. Thales then turned his attention on Hubert.

"You have your questions and your thoughts. I think it's only fair that after today, you deserve to know more."

Hubert raised an eyebrow as Thales lead him out to the battlefield where the fight against Legion took place. Not a soul in sight, as everyone had taken away the injured and the dead. But Thales was more interested in what was around him. He took out a Scouter from his pocket and tossed it to Hubert who caught it with one hand.

"Put it on, and see for yourself."

Hubert eyed him skeptically and slowly put on the Scouter and pressed a button watching a cloak of magic go over his left eye and allowed him to see what was in the air. Balls of blue light everywhere. Though when he took it off, he couldn't see them anymore.

"You know what that is?" Thales asked. "Those are remnants of the Ki that was used today. Everytime the Fell Star and her brats use Ki, the particles are left in the air. And that works in our favour."

Thales slowly took out a Dark Crystal and looked into it, smirking. "One of Cornelia's greatest inventions. The ability to store Ki inside these and in turn, we can use it on our enemies."

He held it high in the air and Hubert watched as the Ki particles slowly got sucked into the Dark Crystal, and making it glow more and more with power. Once that was done, Thales handed out the crystal to Hubert who blinked in surprise.

"You have been most helpful ever since Edelgard appointed you to our service. And this is me reaching out an olive branch to you. You can keep the Scouter, and you can power up that crystal as much as you need to. That's one of our newest models, which you can use to absorb Ki even when it's inside you."

But then Thales glowered at Hubert with a hard glare. "Please do not bite the hand that feeds you. Or I will have you killed. You hear me?"

"…You humble me, Lord Thales." Hubert said, bowing to him and placing the Crystal in his pocket. "So, what is next?"

"We have done our part in the Alliance." Thales replied, placing a hand on his shoulder and teleporting them back to the base. "They will be in shambles and wondering who to point fingers at. The next part is causing chaos in Fódlan. That is where the Fell Star comes in."

Hubert frowned in confusion as he watched Thales input a code on a keypad before watching the door open. "Tell me, how familiar are you with the Moon Beast?"

"That's just a rumour." Hubert replied, as he followed Thales throughout the base.

"Ah, but it's not. It is as real as you and I. The only reason that it hasn't appeared in so long is because it needs the right conditions to come out. And that's exactly what we are going to do."

He opened another door and Hubert's eyes widened at what he saw. A strange device that looked partially destroyed and was hooked up to various cables and wiring. It looked unlike anything that he had ever seen before. Nothing from Fódlan.

"This is…"

"Alien? That's because it is." Thales said, picking up a notebook. "You see, this is a transportation device. Which has given us so much valuable data, as well as the true identity of the Moon Beast. And our window is fast approaching for it to be unleashed upon Fódlan once again."

Thales could see Hubert's confused look and Thales just chuckled in return. "In due time, you will see. What is in front of you is but a taste of what we have found out. Especially the true nature of Edelgard's Mercenary Professor."

Hubert was handed the notebook which contained so much valuable information. "Oh, and this is for you only. If you give this to anyone else, you will be killed. Understand?"

"…Yes."

"Good. Now, let us make preparations. Soon, destruction will reign upon Fódlan once again!"

"They were successful… were they not?" Edelgard asked, having been sensing the battle along with Jeralt, Petra and Caspar.

"Yeah… but General Holst lost his life in the process." Jeralt grunted and ran a hand through his hair. "This is starting to take a turn for the worst."

"Well, what are we to do now?" Caspar asked, still irritated that he just stood around while his teammates were fighting for their lives. But Jeralt had another idea in mind.

"We train. After all, The Battle of the Eagle and the Lion will soon be upon us." Jeralt grinned, standing up and stretching. "And I'll be damned if you guys get stomped on by the others."

"It is appearing to be the best course of action." Petra nodded which Edelgard agreed with.

"And I sense our training will be vital in the coming future, so we get to see how far we have gone. Plus, it would help to serve as a nice distraction from all that has happened."

"Yeah! Aw man, I'm so pumped!" Caspar yelled, having forgotten all about his earlier frustrations and Jeralt smirked to himself.

"Good. Now you three do ten laps around the Monastery. Now."

"Yes, Professor!"

Jeralt sighed, watching them jog away as he sensed someone behind him.

"That fight was way too close for comfort." It was Shamir who had just flown over after getting her information. "Seems they're catching up to Byleth fast. Or even surpassed her. That's bad news for us."

"Yeah. We're in trouble. Sometimes I wonder if what we're doing is enough." Jeralt said, folding his arms together.

"Only one way to find out. Either we run away like cowards, or we die knowing that we have it our all." Shamir replied, clenching her fist which made Jeralt chuckle.

"I like you, Shamir. Never change."

Shamir just smirked in return. "I don't plan to. But back to business. The Blue Lions will be returning soon, I passed them on the way here. I propose once the Golden Deer arrive, we double on the training. At least teach them how to fly. It could help them a lot."

But then they noticed a figure slowly making its way towards them and Jeralt instantly recognised them. "Seems she did her job already…"

"Who is that?" Shamir asked. "I wasn't aware Byleth was teaching more students."

"Yeah, this one prefers to keep to themselves."

But once they could even greet the person who was running, they shot past the two and made their way to the dorms before locking a door behind them. Jeralt just growled and shook his head.

"If she was in that battle, there's no doubt that she was injured! She can't shut herself in her room again!"

Shamir just placed a hand on his shoulder and looked into the distance. "Seems this person got here pretty quick. And I have a feeling I know who it is. In that case, let's wait if Byleth can coax her out. She is good at working miracles."

"Yeah… let's do that."

"…I've got a bad feeling about this, Jeralt."

"…So do I."

Well, now I'm satisfied with the Legion arc being complete. I'm glad I took the time to do this, because I honestly had fun writing this part. The ending was a little rushed yeah, but nobody is perfect.

So yeah, you could probably tell who it was that helped them in the fight, right? I've been dropping not subtle hints. I know it doesn't make sense for her to return that fast, but think of it as a freak ability to return to her room as soon as possible.

Also, you might think Leonie being hurt by grabbing the sword doesn't make sense, and I would agree. But using a relic does take away health in the game if you don't have a Crest, and I decided that the Sword of the Creator is a special case that only someone with the Crest of Flames can wield it, Crest Stone or no Crest Stone.

So Hilda is joining the Task Force, which is great because I love writing for Hilda. She's one of my favourite units. And that means no more Golden Deers to be recruited.

Claude has his own original attack. I decided to keep with the Deer theme when coming up with a name. Fear the Deer after all.

Byleth would definitely go Super Saiyan at Jeralt's death. Look, if Goten and Trunks can get it by playing around and Caulifla can get it easily, I think I'm allowed to have Byleth achieve it. But why doesn't she use it after she fused with Sothis? I do have a reason.

So the Dark Crystals are the same mechanic I use in another fic, Pokemon: Elementals as they both kind of serve the same purpose.

(I will be continuing Elementals, just not anytime soon, I'm in full gear with this story, okay?)

Lastly, we just passed 90 followers! It's quite insane to me that people are always interested to come back and read this story, and I thank every single one of you. Also we are currently at 74 favourites which is also pretty insane on its own too.

So yeah, join us next time for the epilogue of the Legion Arc and onto the Death Knight chapter. It's gonna be pretty interesting.

Catch you later!

EDIT: So, this chapter was finished 3 days ago. But the site is really buggy and for me, the desktop version isn't available on mobile. So I had to use the veeeeery useful app and do the chapter there. But I had to re format everything, like applying italics, bold letters, the works. Hopefully by the time Ch 21 rolls out it'll be fixed. Apologies if certain points look weird.