Part 1: White Clouds

Byleth vs Lord Slug: Round 2

"Ashe! Over here!"

Ashe saw Marianne waving him over and he hoisted Flayn back up to properly secure her in his arms before running over to the blue haired girl and gently set Flayn down. He then looked at Marianne with an unsure look.

"Her injuries are pretty bad. It'll take some time to heal her to proper fighting shape."

But Marianne shook her head. "I might have a way to help. Hilda taught me the basics but… well, let's hope it works."

As Ashe watched Marianne slowly get her breathing under control, she placed her hands on top of Flayn and he saw the healing magic slowly cover her hands and started to envelop Flayn. But Ashe then noticed that the healing magic looked… different than usual. It wasn't like the normal healing spells that he saw all the time, it was mixed with something. But then he realised what it was as he could sense it getting stronger and stronger. It was Ki!

And after a while, she slowly took her hands away and panted, slowly catching her breathe as Ashe saw all of Flayn's wounds were completely healed up. Seeing his bewildered expression, Marianne explained to him.

"After I was unable to save Hilda's brother, it haunted me. Kept me up at night, unable to escape it even when I did my normal tasks like tending to the horses or asking Dorte how her day was. But every day… I would see you all training. And so, I walked up to Hilda one day and begged her to teach me the basics of Ki."

Ashe nodded as he saw the results of the healing worked amazingly as Flayn groaned. Still unconscious, but completely fixed up as Marianne continued.

"She was hesitant at first. Not that I could blame her, it looked tough. But I asked her to at least help me with unlocking my Ki. I explained how I had an idea. That you all use your Ki to power up your weapons and spells, why can't I do the same with my healing magic?"

"It's an interesting theory. And from what I've seen, it looks like you were right!"

"Oh, I wouldn't say that I was right…" Marianne said, fighting a blush and looking down. "It was actually Hilda who encouraged me to go through with it."

That's when Ashe saw something he was not expecting. Soldiers and fellow classmates, all who should've been dead or permanently disabled, were up and about like nothing happened. Did… she heal them all?

"Marianne, this is amazing! You may have single handedly changed the way everyone looks at healing spells!"

"I don't know about that…"

But that's when Ashe felt a familiar Ki and gasped, turning around. "Professor Byleth! She's awake!"

And as she turned to see, a figure stood in front of her… a figure wearing a mask. She yelped and jumped back, but the figure raised a hand in order to put her at ease.

"Do not be alarmed. I need your help."

"Oof… well, you certainly hit harder I'll give ya that." Lord Slug grunted, slowly picking himself back up and looking at Byleth who still stood there glaring at him.

"Professor! You're awake!" Annette cried out, hugging her tight and burying her head in her arm. "It was scary!"

"I wanna stay in my room after this!" Bernadetta wailed, hugging her other arm as Byleth smiled at them.

"It's okay, my students. I'll take over from here. Now go and rest up, just in case."

As the students all ran away to a safe distance, Jeralt and Shamir walked up to her and looked her up and down.

"So. You lost your arm." Shamir bluntly stated.

"Wow."

"What? I'm right. I'm asking what her plan is."

Jeralt nodded and looked at his daughter. "She is right, kid. Think you're up to it?"

"I think so. I got a pretty good zenkai boost from the last fight, and while it will be tougher to fight with one arm, I need to try."

"…Okay kid. Just be careful."

As he ruffled her hair, the two then flew off into the distance to also heal up as Byleth then turned and glared at Lord Slug who scoffed.

"Ya done? I'd like to break you again. I'm surprised that you managed to actually recover from that."

"Yeah, I'm told that I'm resilient." Byleth replied, throwing her coat onto the ground. "And every time you put me down, I'll get back up."

"Well then, I'll just make sure to take much more than your arm this time." Lord Slug grinned clenching his fists.

'This is it… the final battle. You better be ready for this Byleth.' Sothis said in her head

'Yeah… me too.'

As both clenched their fists and started to power up with loud roars and charged at each other, their fists colliding with one another creating a shockwave that threw the spectators onto the wet mud. Lord Slug grunted in surprise when Byleth actually managed to push back.

"Huh… what the hell? How did you get so strong? You were a walking corpse when I dealt with you! There's no way you had time to get stronger!"

Byleth glared at him and pushed him back never more before vanishing from sight making him growl in surprise, wondering where she went… before yelling loudly in pain when he felt a severe blow to his back and turned to see Byleth holding the Sword of the Creator which created a massive burned cut on his back. He yelled loudly and charged at her again but she dodged to the left and used her remaining arm to sock him right in the nose and then jumped to up to knee him in the face and finally landed on her feet and drew her leg up and slammed it right into his stomach causing him to soar off into the distance.

'You're doing great so far! That Zenkai really went a long way! But the battle has just started, don't get cocky.'

As Lord Slug charged back towards her at blinding speed, Byleth had Sothis stop time just before his fist made contact with her face.

'Just like we practiced. Use his strength against him.'

After rewinding time, she dodged to the side, and using his momentum, slammed him into the ground again, before grabbing his collar and grunted loudly, using all her strength in her one arm to throw him in the air and held out her hand.

"ASHEN BLAST!"

A giant explosion of Ki shot out of her hand and struck Lord Slug directly into the chest, and when he fell back to the ground, she stayed tensed up.

"Get up. I know this isn't the end."

"…Well, well, well." Lord Slug grunted, getting up. "Whatever you did to get this boost in power, it has paid off in spades. The only other person who was even able to damage me this much was the girl with anger issues."

Byleth's blood ran cold as she clenched her fist. "What did you do go Flayn?"

"Oh, just put her down for good. She was getting a little too rowdy for my liking so I put her in the dirt."

She quickly closed her eyes and searched for Flayn's Ki. Okay good, she was with the healers and it wasn't faint. She was going to be okay. But then Lord Slug slowly approached her with a big grin.

"But honestly? I'm glad that you were able to survive. Now it's a shame I'll have to break you again, but this time around I can actually have some fun and get serious."

"Hmph. You'll be destroyed this time, by my hand."

"You seem confident in that statement."

"I am."

"THEN SHOW ME YOUR STRENGTH!" Lord Slug roared and shot out a Ki blast from his mouth which Byleth rolled to the side to avoid and flew upwards to launch a volley of Ki blasts at him. Lord Slug used his arm to block the blasts and also flew up to meet her head on, and she barely dodged an uppercut to her chin and kicked him in the face before using her arm to brace against a punch she wouldn't be able to dodge in time. The impact threw her across the area and she managed to stop herself and dropped herself to avoid another attack aimed at her head and she then flew upwards again using the Sword of the Creator to slash at his chest causing a deep gash to form and followed it with a kick and then an uppercut to his chin. But then when she tried to slash at him again, he grabbed her face which caught her by surprise as she tried to free herself, and did so by using the whip function to grab his leg and yanked hard to make him fall down onto the ground as she stepped back to gain some distance.

'I would say victory is near, but we know how last time ended up. Be ready for anything.'

"Trust me, I've been doing that ever since I woke up."

As Lord Slug picked himself up and growled loudly before grabbing a tree trunk beside him and ripped it out of the ground and threw it at Byleth who sliced it in half with her sword and back flipped away from him when he tried to slam his fists into the spot where she once stood. He tried again, but this time Byleth grabbed hold of his arm and used it to launch herself behind him and slashed him in the back before launching a few Ki blasts again on the ground beneath him to put off his balance. And as she was flying towards him, Lord Slug was sticking his hand out to fire a powerful blast at Byleth. When all of a sudden, her body was coated in a red aura and she picked up blinding speeds, avoiding the Ki blast and slamming into his side and threw him into the air before landing on the ground and was too distracted with whatever just happened to see Lord Slug faceplanting the ground.

"What… was that?"

'Interesting….'

"What?"

'Nothing, just an observation. Focus on the fight.'

After picking himself up again, both Lord Slug and Byleth glared at one another as silence fell between the two.

"She's doing it." Rhea whispered looking at the fight. And she certainly noticed that red aura. Only one person she knew could use that technique…. Was it truly working?

"Holy crap, the Professor has gotten so much stronger!" Hilda exclaimed.

"Not quite."

She turned to Shamir and tilted her head in confusion, but Shamir continued. "Notice how she almost never goes on the offensive? She waits for him to make the first move and in a way, uses his own strength against him. Seems that Byleth learned that she can't beat him with strength alone. She's being smart and reserved this time around."

But then next to her, Jeralt made a face. "She will have gotten a huge Zenkai Boost from the last fight, but seems that even she knows that it still won't be enough. If only she was able to harness the power of the Oozaru…"

"Hmph, seems that you had more fight in you than I thought. Even without an arm, you're still able to form plans and best me in little ways. I'm impressed. I extend the offer to you as well then." Lord Slug said.

"Since I am in dire need of a new crew, I am offering you a place on my ship. We can travel the entire universe together, and ransack all the planets. Riches beyond your wildest dreams."

"Tempting… it would be nice to maybe find where my mother came from…"

But then her face hardened as she glared at the Namekian. "But this is my home. And I won't sit by while you destroy it all."

"Suit yourself. Don't say that I didn't give you a chance. Now, where were we?"

"I believe that I was winning the fight."

"And I applaud the effort. Like I said, you're being smart about it. But I think it's high time I put you down for good. Because while I can kill everyone here, you're the one who's truly like a cockroach. Constantly coming back. Well, I'll make sure you're just a puddle on the ground when I'm done."

With that… he clenched his fists and started yelling. At first, Byleth thought he was simply powering up, but then to her horror… he started growing.

"What in the world?" Byleth gasped out looking at the Namekian growing larger and larger.

'Okay this is new… goodness, are there any ways that this foe won't surprise us? Be careful, this just got a little more difficult.' Sothis said at her side.

As his shadow loomed over Byleth as she stepped back in shock at just how large Lord Slug had grown. And once he was done, she couldn't believe it. He was as tall as Garreg Mach itself! Maybe even larger! And he laughed in glee and looked down at her speaking in a booming voice.

"Time to squash you like a bug!" As he slammed his fist into the ground, causing debris to fly up, she took to the sky to avoid getting crushed and was now eye level with Lord Slug before shooting a Ki blast at his face causing him to stumble backwards before recovering and clapping his hands together as a loud bang sounded from the clap that rung in Byleth's ears causing her to groan in pain, and he used that moment to slam his hand open palm on her causing Byleth to slam hard into the ground forming a crater as she groaned again and shook her head, picking herself up and taking in a deep breath, before releasing.

"Come on Byleth, focus."

And when she finally focused, something clicked in her mind as she narrowed her eyes in thought. And she looked at Sothis.

"You noticed that too, right?"

'I did. Perhaps we can use this to our advantage. But the larger size will make this a challenge. Look out!'

As Byleth backflipped away from a large fist trying to squash her again and then jumped onto his hand before running up his arm as he grunted in surprise.

"What the hell are you doing?" He asked as she kept running and flew in the air when he slapped his arm, before sticking her hand out and firing another Ki blast at his face, as Lord Slug roared in pain clutching his face.

"Will you stop fucking aiming at my face?! It hurts like a bitch when you do that!"

But then he yelled in surprise when Byleth flew right into his stomach causing him to cough up blood from the force of the impact as purple blood trickled down his chin before he wiped it away and growled. "That's it! Get over here!"

As he managed to grab Byleth out of the air and grinned. "Now that you're in one place I can take my time crushing you into a million tiny pieces."

As he started applying pressure and Byleth let out a scream of pain as she felt her bones starting to break.

'Do something! He's going to kill you!'

"Dammit! What do I do?!"

As at the other side of the battlefield, Ingrid had heard Byleth's screams and gasped at seeing the giant behemoth slowly crushing her. "Oh no! Miss Byleth!"

And she never felt so useless in her life. She had no Pegasus, none of that special Ki power that Ashe and the others had. She was just a girl who was in way over her head. But then she looked at the lance in her hand… and narrowed her eyes. And then turned to a Pegasus knight who was treating her injuries.

"Hey! I'm going to need to borrow your mount…"

Meanwhile, Jeralt had tried to step in and save Byleth but Lord Slug grinned evilly.

"Uh, uh, uh! Nobody move! If anybody tries anything funny, I'll crush her right here and now!"

And to make it clear, he crushed her even more making her scream out in pain as Sothis frantically looked around.

'DO SOMETHING!'

'I CAN'T! MY RIBS ARE BEING CRUSHED!'

As Lord Slug giggled in glee, the rest of 141 looked on in horror as they couldn't do anything but watch. Lord Slug just kept laughing as he announced his victory.

"This is it! Once I'm finally rid of you, I'm going to take my sweet time demolishing your students one by one-"

SCHLICK!

"URGH?!"

Everyone was stupefied on what just happened. One moment the Namekian was gloating and spouting monologues (something Claude noticed that he did a lot of) when suddenly he was roaring in pain and using one of his hands to hold his eye. To the group's surprise, a lance was sticking out of it as Lord Slug yanked it out with purple blood oozing out of the wound. But one question was on everyone's mind. Who the hell threw that lance?

"Hey! Over here!"

They all turned over to see-

"INGRID?!" Dimitri exclaimed as flying on a new Pegasus was Ingrid with a look of fury.

"Hey! Over here! I threw that at your eye! Next one I throw will be at your mouth to shut you up!"

Lord Slug growled and looked at Ingrid with hatred. "Oh is that so? Well then, If you want your Professor so badly, then HAVE HER!"

As he threw her at blinding speeds towards Ingrid, but the blonde Lion predicted that would happen and purposely fell off her Pegasus in order to avoid Byleth who sailed past her.

"Sorry Miss Byleth!" Ingrid called out before placing her fingers in her mouth and letting out a loud whistle to call the Pegasus back to her so she doesn't have an unfortunate end. While Byleth was soaring across the sky, she was stopped abruptly by Jeralt who managed to catch her and slowly lowered her to the ground, using the forest as cover.

But on the other side Claude noticed something during all this… he noticed Lord Slug flinched when Ingrid called for her Pegasus. It was a slight reaction, not many would've noticed it. But he did. And he hummed in thought as Shamir touched down in front of Lord Slug. That's when he had an idea.

"Hey Shamir! Can you whistle for me?!"

"What? Claude, I'm not in the mood for your games right now-"

"Just trust me! I think I have an idea!"

Shamir glared at Claude… but then sighed and relented as she whistled a tune, which wasn't that loud. But Lord Slug grunted in pain again as the sharp whistling was hurting his ears badly.

"It's working!" Claude exclaimed. "Everyone! Keep whistling! It hurts him!"

"There's no way it's that easy." Felix said as Annette also whistled a tune. He sighed and like Shamir, relented as the rest of 141 started whistling a tune. And soon enough the other students joined in, as Catherine and Alois were looking confused.

"Are we seriously… whistling?"

"It could be an excellent plan! I propose we join in!"

"…Alois I'm not-"

"AAAAAAAAGGGGH! God it's like one drill in one ear! And one drill in the other! AND THEY'RE MEETING IN THE MIDDLE!"

"…Fuck it, let's just do it."

Lord Slug was growling loudly falling down to his knees and desperately trying to cover his ears as the whistling was so painful to his hearing. And he clenched his jaw and stuck a hand out charging a Ki blast.

"That's it! Time for the universal mute button!"

"Everybody get down!"

As he fired the blast, covering the entire area and disintegrating so many buildings and trees. But something happened that made Lord Slug pause.

"Oh balls… that was my ship. My only ship." As he looked at the now destroyed space ship… before the group all pick themselves up.

"AND HOW ARE YOU ALL STILL ALIVE?! I SHOT YOU POINT BLANK!"

"To be honest… I have no idea on how we're alive anymore." Caspar groaned, pushing rubble off of himself.

"Yes, it seems that fortune favours us." Petra coughed as dust was around her which thankfully got washed away by the rain.

"We've got another problem." Shamir said, flying next to them. "Until Byleth heals up, she's out of commission again."

She froze in place as if hearing something and she narrowed her eyes nodding before helping up Caspar and Petra.

"She's just given us valuable intel. We just need to go at it alone again."

"Miss Shamir!" Ingrid called out on her Pegasus. "Allow me to help!"

"Ingrid it's too dangerous-"

"I don't care! I have proven that I don't need Ki to fight! I am not a spectator! I am a knight! Let me defend my home!"

"…Fine. But if you die, that's on you."

"We're coming too!" Shamir turned to see a good majority of the regular students behind Ingrid as well as Catherine and Alois and a good chunk of knights who all wore determined looks on their faces. The notable exceptions were the healers like Marianne and Linhardt. The rest of 141 looked unsure… but they didn't have a choice. Edelgard, Lysithea, Flayn and Byleth were down for the count. With Lysithea just collapsed after exerting too much pressure on her body. They needed the numbers. But this time…

"We know his weakness." Shamir said after thinking about it. "We need people who can whistle, it's what keeps him immobilised."

"Ugh… everything hurts… but not nearly as much as before…" Byleth groaned, slowly waking up as she realised she was in her fathers arms as he looked at her with concern.

"You still with us, kid?"

"Yes… I think so. My body hurts, but nothing will compare to last time."

She then looked around and realised that they were in a different place. "Where are we?"

"In the woods. You were about to go all the way to Almyra if I didn't catch you. It seems this guy won't give us a break. Now he's gone and brown to the size of a mountain."

"Hmmm…"

Jeralt saw Byleth thinking deeply despite most of her body failing to move. "What's wrong kid? You're thinking pretty hard there."

"Dad, I've been hit by this Lord Slug multiple times."

"…Yes kid, I'm aware of that. What's your point?"

"My point is that when I got hit by him in that giant form, it didn't feel any different from his other attacks from earlier."

"What? What do you mean?" Jeralt asked, helping Byleth sit up as she hissed in pain.

"What I mean is that, I think that this whole giant form is just something to scare us. It doesn't actually make him any more powerful, just a bigger target."

She then groaned again as her body was in agony. "Still… it still hurts when he attacks me."

"Miss Byleth!"

Both Jeralt and Byleth turned to see Marianne standing there with a look of shock before strengthening her resolve and kneeling next to Byleth.

"Marianne? What are you-"

"I am here to help. Please hold still for a moment."

She held her hands out and closed her eyes and scrunched her face in concentration. Until like with Flayn before, a different feeling healing spell enveloped her body as like… well, magic, Byleth's body repaired itself and looked at Marianne catching her breath as she looked very pale.

"How did you…" Jeralt started to say when he saw Byleth flex her arm as if her body wasn't crushed in the first place. But then he sensed the remnants of Ki.

"Huh. Using your Ki to boost your healing magic. I have to admit, that's pretty smart if you to do. Good job."

"Thank… you… Professor Jeralt." Marianne panted out as she remained knelt down and looked at her hands as Byleth nodded.

"Now I understand why Hilda was with you after training. But it seems that there's a downside to this, isn't there?"

Marianne looked down at the grass below her and nodded. "I feel myself getting weaker every time I use it. It's something I'll have to work on… but I know this can help people."

"Wait, hold on." Jeralt spoke up. "How did you even get here? Last I checked, you were tending to the injured and were quite a ways away from there."

"That would be my doing."

Byleth and Jeralt stiffened when they heard a distorted unfamiliar voice and they quickly stood up to see… a figure in strange black armour. But the figure raised their hand to ask them to stand down.

"I mean you no harm. I was the one who brought Mar- the girl here to heal you. I noticed that she has more advanced healing magic compared to other healing mages. And we need you in top fighting condition, Byleth Eisner."

Byleth narrowed her eyes in suspicion. Her Ki felt strangely familiar… but whatever it was, she couldn't get a good read on it. Instead she opted to just ask a question.

"Who are you?"

"Who I am is if no importance at the moment. The situation is dire, what with this Lord Slug attempting to drown this world. Instead I opt for another solution to help even the tides. The Oozaru."

Both Jeralt and Byleth tensed up at that while Marianne just looked confused. "The… what?"

Instead, Jeralt just glared at the masked figure. "I'm not even gonna begin to wonder where you got that kind of information from and assume you know as much as we do. And if I'm right, then you should know that Byleth here can't control that form and goes on a rampage."

"Perhaps she cannot." The masked figure replied. "But at this point, we're all out of options. Your '141' members aren't strong enough to defeat this foe. The only one who can is her, and her Oozaru form gives her a power boost which will help turn the tide. That and there's another way to help provide backup."

"How? Most of our allies are gone and the ones who are still alive are injured." Jeralt said. But then at that point another voice spoke up.

"I believe that I can provide assistance."

They all turned with Jeralt, Byleth and Marianne looking surprised at who it is.

"Seteth?! What are you doing here?"

He had his hands behind his back as he surveyed the scene. "This masked figure and another ally are assisting us. We have the necessary backup from the other nations in Fódlan thanks to the use of teleportation magic. Once you transform, then we can begin the counterattack."

"Well if you of all people are teaming up with this person then it must be a hell of a deal." Jeralt said to which Seteth narrowed his eyes.

"I am merely sick of being stuck on the sidelines expecting one woman to solve our problems, even if she is the key to beating Lord Slug. The reinforcements we gathered will deal with the remainders of his forces. I believe his transport vessel got destroyed so he can't escape either."

"There's another problem." Everyone looked to Byleth who pointed up at the sky where the black clouds were blocking any natural light from getting through. "We need a full moon for that to happen and there's too many circumstances for it to be impossible. The last full moon has passed already, I'm pretty sure it's still daytime and more importantly, the clouds are blocking the sky. Without the moon, I can't do it."

"I can help with that. All I ask is your permission. Because like I said, we're out of options and your Oozaru form is our final hope."

Byleth was about to respond when Sothis's voice sounded in her head. 'This might be a good opportunity… I have an idea. But it is a long shot.'

As the two silently conversed with one another before Byleth looked at the figure and nodded. "Very well. What is it you're going to do to assist us?"

Jeralt was surprised to see Byleth agree, but the masked figure just nodded.

"I am glad that you have agreed, even if I can sense your hesitation. As for how I will assist, I have a technique that can provide a false moon."

"A… false moon?"

"Correct. While it it's not exactly like the moon that we have, it carries the necessary components needed for you to transform. I hope you are ready."

As the figure clenched their fist and charged Ki up their wrist and into their palm, while under the mask, they were grunting.

'Just like we practiced… keep charging… until it collects in your hand.'

The energy kept building up into finally it stabilised in their hand before they threw it up into the air.

"Burst open and MIX!" They yelled clenching that same hand as the ball of Ki exploded in the air and reformed to take shape, shining down on everyone.

"Wow…it's so beautiful." Marianne whispered.

"I can't believe it… it is almost identical to our own moon." Jeralt said. That's when the masked figure turned to Byleth.

"What I did has more than likely alerted whatever is left of his forces to your location. All you need to do is look at it, and the rest will follow suit."

"All I have to do… is look at it." Byleth mumbled to herself as Marianne still looked confused.

"I don't understand-"

"We should get going, kid." Jeralt grunted, escorting Marianne away. "You don't want to be here for what happens next."

That's when he looked at Byleth and nodded. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"I do. Please protect Marianne, Father."

"The attack came from over here!"

"Time's up. It's now or never Byleth Eisner."

As Byleth slowly nodded to the masked figure and looked at Sothis by her side. "Ready?"

'Yes…'

And with a long exhale, Byleth slowly looked up at the ball of light that was in plain sight from the clearing in the forest. She had to admit, it was a pretty good imitation of the actual moon. Despite the fact that it was still raining, and getting into her eyes she still kept looking at the fake moon taking it in. But suddenly, she was hit squarely in the back by a devastating blast of Ki and was again thrown back through the forest.

"Miss Byleth!"

"Byleth!"

"Shit!"

She heard the various voices as she kept soaring through trees and rocks, only this time she emerged from the woods into the clearing where the ocean connected. She fell straight into the water and as she was slowly sinking into the depths she looked up at the slowly dimming light… before her eyes turned from blue to a hollow pink.

Sothis clenched her fists. She was ready.

…

"I hope that Ki blast didn't hit anyone…" Claude said, patting the singed ends of his hair as he only just barely dodged a massive Ki attack that erupted out of Lord Slug's mouth as the Namekian was getting angrier and angrier.

"WILL YOU ALL JUST DIE-"

WHISTLE!

"AAAAAGGGGHHHH!"

Shamir shot a Ki beam out of her finger after whistling loudly to stun him before it struck him in the eye. Seems that she had a habit of aiming for the eye. She looked to her right at the various students who weren't powerful, but having the ability to whistle was a massive help. She doesn't know why, but this creature was very sensitive to loud whistles. And that bought them huge windows of opportunity to land some shots.

"She landed here!" Jeralt yelled looking over at the cliff into the ocean and cursed.

"Do you think she…" Seteth didn't want to think about that next word. But before Jeralt could answer, his head hurt from the massive amount of Ki that was building… and he grinned.

"It worked."

"…Well then, here we go again." Seteth said.

"Woah. Did you all feel that?" Annette asked 141, who all held their head in pain wondering where that spike in Ki was coming from.

"It's insane! It feels like… like…" Hilda was trying to rack her brain on what it felt like… before her eyes widened. "Oh no… is that?"

Claude and Dimitri looked at each other and grimaced before the former let out a nervous laugh. "Well uh… I guess we need that power now of all times."

*Song: Godzilla combat theme (King of the Monsters)*

"The hell is everyone standing around for?" Lord Slug asked. Wondering why everyone stopped fighting as 141 looked… nervous. Before grinning and laughing.

"I get it. You got nothing left in the tank so now you're scared."

"I'm scared, don't get me wrong." Bernadetta said, nervously clutching her bow. "But not of you."

"Huh? Then what the hell are you-"

Suddenly, a giant Ki beam shot directly into Lord Slugs chest and threw him into the side of a mountain to which he groaned loudly and patted his chest seeing scorch marks on it.

"Who has an attack like that-"

RRROOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR!

Everyone froze when they heard that familiar roar and they slowly turned to see a giant shadow with red eyes peering through the rain as Dimitri licked his lips nervously.

"It's now or never."

That's when the Oozaru let out another loud roar just as a battalion of Pegasus Knights flew alongside it and it growled loudly, looking at Lord Slug.

"Wait. How the hell did they get here?!" Felix's eyes bugged out as he recognised the insignia of the Kingdom on some of the Pegasus Knights. Not only that, but at the Oozaru's feet, there were more reinforcements on foot as well as on horseback.

"I thought we didn't have time to get reinforcements?" Claude said to Dimitri who looked just as shocked.

"We didn't. How did they get here so fast?"

"I'm sorry that I took so long to recover, gentlemen."

They both turned to see Edelgard running up to them and both shared a relieved smile.

"Better late than never, Edelgard. This is a turn for the ages, that's for sure. Let's just hope that Te- er, I mean the Moon Beast has what it takes to win."

Edelgard slowly looked up at the Oozaru who kept growling, it's eyes trained on Lord Slug as she wondered… how was she staying in control?

'I have to admit, this was a gamble. But how in the world does she have a clear mind? Never mind that… we are counting on you, my Teacher.'

And in the depths of Byleth's mind, her aggravated state was on her knees with Sothis behind her holding her hands on either side of her head, channeling magic into it.

'I can't believe this is working. I can just have you able to direct your anger towards the enemy, but I can't clear your mind. We just have to hope that this is enough. Go get him!'

As the Oozaru roared again at Lord Slug who chuckled. "Oh, I think I heard of this one before. How fascinating. Very well, come at me then!"

As the two giant behemoths charged towards one another and barged their shoulders together with a manic look looking into a wild red eyed look as the two began the next part of their showdown.

*Music: Dragonball Z Ending theme*

With the help of an unknown ally, Byleth is once again the mighty Oozaru! But can Sothis keep her in check long enough to finish off Lord Slug? Find out next time on, The Ashen Saiyan!

Against all the odds, we're actually approaching the finale of the Lord Slug arc, I can't believe it. Now I hope some of you noticed the inspiration for the showdown between the Oozaru and Lord Slug, that being Godzilla vs King Ghidorah. Also really glad Super Hero came out during this arc because it gave us some more insight into Namekians such as the giant form being a bluff.

Now before we get into the nitty gritty, just real quick I'd like to recommend a brand new story on the crossover tag. That being New Life in Another World by OrangoDBZ. It's already on 6 chapters and it's more of a unique take on the two worlds than this story and Tactician Robes. So yes, huge shout out to OrangoDBZ, always great to see more stories on the crossover tags.

Now I'm actually gonna properly respond to reviews in the future, only feel it is right especially to those who have stuck around for a while.

SuperSaiyanFever: Indeed, let's hope she has what it takes even with a missing arm. Thanks for sticking around buddy, you're one of the dedicated ones and I appreciate you always leaving a comment!

Now on top of this, we passed 200 followers! Absolutely insane to think and I can't thank you all enough for taking the time to read my attempts at sounding cool haha. And don't worry, while this arc is one of the biggest ones I've done the story isn't over yet. We still have many more arcs to follow!

And finally, to everyone patiently waiting for the next chapter of Tactician Robes, it's currently being worked on as we speak. And it's going to be interesting, especially since the fight against 'Marth' in Ragna Ferox is going to go VERY differently. After all, for those who saw the universe chapter of this story knows that 'Marth' isn't FULLY human. And we can't just have a boring old sword fight now, can we?

But anyway, I've blabbered on long enough. Please join us next time, to either the penultimate or the finale of the Lord Slug arc.

Catch you later!