The Dustbin

by LoneTaker

The actual professor that was supposed to teach at the Officer's Academy before being replaced by a mercenary of all people, due to the former's unforeseen absence, now finds himself teaching/leading the worst class in Garreg Mach, comprised of the academy's worst students, as their sole Professor. Things cannot get any worse from there, right? Right?

64. Day 64: Graduation Part 3

The Dustbin

Day 64: Graduation Part 3

---

28th of Pegasus Moon, Night

---

Still nothing.

No sign of the Dustbin even after night has set in.

Even after the remaining Snipers and Assassins took post on the tree branches hanging over the forest, there was nary a movement.

Nevertheless, Shamir and her squadron persisted. Persisted, until the very moment when they finally spot the Dustbin and kill them on sight. Granted, their plan hit a massive snag due to... unforeseen circumstances (for the record, Shamir vets all of her personnel before deployment), but as long as their manpower surpassed that of the Dustbin's own, they're not aborting their mission.

Shamir is a professional. She always completes her job unless her client told her otherwise.

Not my first all-nighter, the Sniper internally sighed as she and her men kept overwatch throughout the whole forested area. ... Although, the Dustbin are proving to be an elusive lot... or they're planning to live here for the rest of their lives. Soon as I'm done with this job, I'm asking for a pay raise-

Her ears then flickered to the faint blustering sounds of wings. Something was coming from above.

The Sniper looks up, and spots a lantern flickering in a light-dark shifting pattern that was akin to a code.

"... 'I... hail... from... Church'," recited Shamir before looking back at the Assassin. "... Fetch me a lantern."

The cloaked assailant then hands her the object of her desire before the Sniper then lights it, signaling the flier back with the following.

"The Goddess is good..."

The flier then signals back the following: "... For all creation is good."

Shamir nods before flashing back the following. "You are clear to land."

Upon finishing, Shamir then signals the rest of her men to keep an eye on her as she descends from the canopy, meeting the Pegasus Knight with the Church of Seiros sigil on her mount's standard.

"Report," spoke Shamir.

"We have an emergency," the Pegasus Knight replied as she then handed her superior the writ.

Shamir opens it and proceeds to read the contents before crumpling it in her hands. "... Apologizes if I'm being... unprofessional," she spoke, "but are all of you high?"

"I do not lie," bowed the messenger. "The current Adrestian Emperor, the Archbishop, and everyone else inside the Holy Mausoleum are trapped underneath. We already have a prime suspect of who the third party is, but Captain Catherine and Sir Death Knight are in a truce to rescue our leaders from their unforeseen peril."

"So you're telling me to pull out?" asked Shamir. "What about the Dustbin?"

"Captain Catherine stated that they're to be dealt with later," answered the Pegasus Knight. "The other fliers will arrive to ferry you and your men back shortly."

Shamir sighs at the fact that her leadership has been virtually decapitated. Normally, she'd protest against calling off the hunt, but if her leadership is on the verge of being completely compromised, not only her operational integrity will be at risk, but she won't get paid.

With reluctance, Shamir whistles to signal her men to come down. "Everyone, we're pulling out."

---

Below the (Sealed) Holy Mausoleum...

---

At this point, the once-revered Holy Mausoleum is now equivocal to a literal septic pit.

Rats and roaches outnumber the number people alive inside. Those who are expired are now free food/breeding ground for their new "occupants."

Morale was now at abyssal-levels of low, with the only thing preventing them from taking the "easy way" out was for the fact that they were too scared out of their minds to think straight.

Hysteria. Yes, that little emotion that was once referred to as "the lizard brain" by various circles of academia throughout Fodlan was the sole tether that kept them alive through this literal HELL.

"WHY IS IT ALWAYS RATS?!" screeched Hilda as she smashed her [Freikugel] into the ground, unleashing a superheated eruption upon impact.

"I like animals... but this is too much!" Marianne screeched as she blasted [Aura] at the next tide of vermin.

"STOP ASKING! JUST WASTE THEM-!" one of the rats then cling onto Dorothea's hair. "KYAAAAAA! THEY'RE CLINGING ONTO MY HAIR!"

Meanwhile, Bernadetta was balled up and rocking in place on the floor, with rats and roaches crawling over her whole body, sucking her thumb while pure horror blanketed her now-dulled irises. The only reason why she wasn't devoured was that the vermin can sense rapport with her own pathetic nature. That and she was too scrawny to eat compared top other, meatier targets around.

"GET AWAY! GET AWAY! GET AWAY! GET AWAY!" Annette panicked as she then unleashed [Excalibur]... only for the vermin to rain upon their heads instead. "ARRUGH! SORRY! I MADE IT WORSE!"

"Be mindful of your surroundings next time!" Mercedes warned as she shot her [Magic Bow].

"JUST SHUT UP AND KEEP FIGHTING!" Hubert cried out as he blasted [Miasma Δ] as pesticide. "I'D RATHER NOT MEET MY END AT THE HANDS OF THESE FILTH!"

"I DON'T THINK ANYONE WANTS TO DIE LIKE THIS, MY FRIEND!" Ferdinand pointed out just before his horse, Silver, had its hooves gnawed off and collapsed, forcing the Paladin to dismount and leave the mount to die. "DAMMIT! WE'RE LOSING NUMBERS FAST!"

Dedue simply stomps whatever he can walk over, forgoing using any weapons to reduce drag. "I will wade through Hell and back in the name of my liege!" he declared. "I WILL NOT BREAK TODAY, NOR I EVER SHALL!"

Felix furiously stomps over more rats and roaches. "... The mongrel has a point," he growled. "WE ARE NOT GOING DOWN TO THESE VERMINS!"

"CETHLENN!" Seteth cried out before catching her by her hand out of the pile of rats she was buried under.

"Father, I don't know how to feel..." she trembled as her hands held onto [Caduceus Staff] (used as a bludgeon), "... rage, sorrow, shock, and fear... all of them are overwhelming me."

Thankfully, no one heard (or cared enough) to even listen to them reveal their identities out in the open.

"WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THAT SON OF A BITCH, I AM GOING TO STUFF HIS SCRAWNY ASS INTO A SACK FILLED WITH SAND AND MAKE HIM MY PERSONAL PUNCHING BAG!" roared Raphael as he then threw a giant piece of rubble at the giant horde of rats. "HE'LL PAY FOR DOUBLE-CROSSING US! AND HE'LL PAY EVEN MORE FOR PUTTING MAYA IN DANGER!"

"... Is Maya really in danger?" asked Lindhardt as he temporarily "disassociated" from the current situation while blasting [Bolganone]. "... Also, who's Maya?"

"THAT'S YOUR MAIN CONCERN?!" Caspar cried out as he stomped onto more rats.

"Seriously?!" asked Sylvain as he shook off his [Lance of Ruin] of its vermin. "... How is he that calm?"

"It's Linhardt, don't question it-OH FUCK!" screeched Ingrid as her pegasus panicked. "THERE ARE ROACHS FALLING FROM THE CEILING!"

"ONE IN MOUTH! ONE IN MY MOUTH!" gagged Petra before spitting it out. "... I hate roach."

"I think he's just lost his mind at this point!" Leonie pointed out, checking her surroundings to ensure that her ride doesn't get bitten to death.

"I WISH I WAS THAT CALM!" Ignatz screamed as he swiped away the pests with his [Killing Edge] before spotting Ashe, laughing like a maniac while rocking back and forth while rolled up and laying on the floor. "ASHE!"

The young Sniper was quickly then picked up by his ally. "... There's no honor here in this world anymore," he whimpered while weeping and weakly laughing. "... Hell... WE'RE IN HELL!"

Back inside the thorny cage, Edelgard, Dimitri, Lorenz, and Jeralt, after everyone else died or too weakened to even move a muscle, witnessed the brawl between the traitorous Professor Karna Yuga against the former-Archbishop Rhea-revealed as Saint Seiros.

The holy woman-now vengeful saint jabbed furiously, her fists coming at blinding speeds and tough enough to break stone with a single blow, not breaking her stance as she dedicated all her footing to be solid as possible to add weight to her attacks, whereas the madcap lunatic swung lightning-fast kicks that parried each blow coming at him while moving in an alien-like articulation that wasn't possible for a human, bending his back as if it were made of an elastic, free-standing rope, contorting his body is such an unnatural manner that whoever looked at it were reminded of a snake's body.

"I'LL CLEANSE YOU AND YOUR FILTH FROM THIS WORLD!" Seiros roared as her fists flew like the wind.

"I'LL SMOTHER YOUR FACE IN YOUR YOUR OWN SHIT!" cackled Karna as his kicks shot like deadly whips.

... I'm already having a hard time keeping up with them, thought Edelgard as she watched the fight, both combatants parrying off of each others' blows as evident by the shockwaves emitted from their blows clashing.

"... Her holiness... was Seiros... this whole time...?" Dimitri deliriously mumbled, his own head now on fire from all of the revelations dumped onto him. "... Then this," he then picked up the flame mask off of his chest before looking at Edelgard, "... how much... of all this... is a lie?"

"And of course he was hiding his true powers from us..." Lorenz clicked his tongue. "... If I had a gold coin for every secret kept from us... I'd be on Fodlan's '30 Under 30' within this year."

Jeralt was too busy nursing his ruptured testicles as he watched the fight between Karna and Seiros take place.

As the frenetic melee continued, Karna then first shoots a flying kick, but was then grabbed by Seiros as she then tried to swing him to the ground face-first.

Karna then bends the knee on the leg that Seiros was grabbing onto before he can eat dirt, allowing him to reach for the saint's neck behind himself, pulling onto it in the same direction where he was being swung towards, the combined momentum throwing both of them into the dirt.

Both of them then quickly get back up, running at each other with their next attacks. But just as Karna can throw a kick, Seiros stomps onto it, pinning him down as he leaned forward before delivering an overhead punch, which then turned out to be an elbow strike across Karna's face.

However, Karna, from the inflicted momentum, uses his torquing body as a centrifugal force to wind up a reverse-high kick, uppercutting Seiro's chin with his heel in a perfect crescent arc that his foot drew across the air.

Both of them were grounded just as they quickly get back up, spit out their blood, and resume their fighting stances.

"... The way they move... and act... are eerily similar," commented Dimitri. "... Also... how does he... move his legs... like that?!"

"NEVER SKIP LEG DAY, KIDDOS!" cackled Karna as he then blocked a punch with his shin raised to his upper body before his leg was uppercutted by Seiros in her attempt to throw him off-balance by forcing him to stand on one leg longer than he should.

At that opening, Seiros then shot a kick aimed at his nether regions, but it ends up hitting nothing.

Karna then brings his overshot leg back down before using his other leg to then kick the woman into her crotch, resulting in both of their feet end up in each others' groins.

"... Really?" asked Seiros with a seething sigh. "And before you ask, I just remembered you not having anything downstairs. So what's your excuse?"

"Sorry, reflex," Karna then uses where his foot ended up stuck in as an improvised foothold before transitioning his combined footing into an improvised dropkick.

Both feet make hard contact into her face, knocking away Seiros as she rolled across the dirt before stopping.

Seiros gets back up while spitting aside a wad of green blood and resuming her fighting stance.

"Come on, Seiros," taunted Karna as he bounced up and down in place. "Don't crap out on me right now!"

The saint smiles murderously. "... Be careful what you wish for."

The two moved into a blur once again, only reappearing upon each clash of blows spotted briefly by onlookers before disappearing in a blink once again.

"... So," spoke Jeralt as the pain from his groin finally subsided, "... who's gonna win?"

"... Really?" asked Dimitri, unamused.

Lorenz groans. "... Admittedly, I'm also curious as well," he admitted. "Morbidly so... but really, my will fight has all but been crushed."

Edelgard herself was silently observing the fight between the two architects of Fodlan's woes. She came to the conclusion that no matter whoever wins, everyone else loses.

---

In Shambhala's Central Square Plaza...

---

At the clearing where once Shambhala's town square stood, an improv (and deadly) magic lesson/duel took place between Byron and Solon.

"IS THAT ALL YOU CAN MUSTER?!" asked the Sage while blasting [Death Γ].

"HELL NO!" replied the Eligor as he then casted [Mire B] within the opposing spell to cause it to rupture in on itself. "I'M JUST GETTING WARMED UP!"

Solon couldn't help but cackle in amusement, feeling as if he's slowly regaining his lost youth. "THEN HAVE AT THEE!"

He then opts to throw a curveball by switching to Faith Magic, casting a refined version of [Berserk] onto Byron, causing the Eligor to wince in pain.

"... I've confirmed that using a target's latent testosterones were insufficient," said the Sage. "So I switched around the methodology by targeting the neurons instead! Rather than indirectly influence the target's behavioral patterns, hijacking the brain directly to cause it to lose all rationale all at once is the better alternative! At last, [Berserk] is finally complete-!"

The old man's own head then begins to feel as if it caught on fire, now with both spellcasters suffering unfathomable agony.

"... Good... to know!" cackled Byron with one of his hands extended outwards, his speech strained by his mind being sabotaged by the Sage's spell. "... The 'do nots'... were easy... to figure out!"

"... It's too soon...!" grunted Solon as he kept up his [Berserk] spell while resisting his own infliction. "... To celebrate... boy!"

Both magicians then roared at each other as the next phase between this battle of wills begins.

Byron found it rather difficult to think of a way out of this jam when all his brain can think was about killing Solon in whatever method possible. The same could be said for Solon, whose mind was also on the verge of being compromised despite his experience.

The Eligor was still young physically, offset by the Sage's potency of his [Berserk] spell, whereas Solon was physically decayed (by Agarthan standards), ergo, his mind was structurally frail enough to the point where an amateur's attempt at the same exact spell was difficult for him to resist against.

... Can't afford to lose focus even for a moment! both of them thought the exactly the same thing.

Now both of them focused on how to get an edge over the other.

... My [Berserk] spell is already emulated by this abnormal prodigy, thought Solon as he kept maintaining his grip around the boy's mind as the latter did the same to the former. ... Let's see if I can raise its output!

The old Sage then instills more of his own mana into his casting, amplifying his hold around Byron's mind, causing him to begin foaming at the mouth.

... Crap... I'm losing... control! thought Byron as the murderous impulses began to surge uncontrollably. Can I raise the output like he did?! What can I do from this?! I... I... I CAN'T... THINK STRAIGHT!

Solon smirks as he shakes his head in disappointment. "Pity," he then prepared his [Bohr X], his fingers crackling with dark electricity. "... An 'A' for effort, through."

From his fading grasp on reality, Byron spots the upcoming spell from the Sage's hand. ... SCREW THINKING STRAIGHT! he raged internally, embracing his murderous intent. ... I'LL WORK WITH THIS BUG IN MY HEAD TO MY ADVANTAGE TO SCOPE IT OUT!

"[Bohr X]!" then Solon blasted dark bolts of lightning from both of his hands towards the Eligor.

Byron then ditches his helmet before screeching [Banshee Θ] to counter the spell.

However, much to the elderly Sage's shock, the output for [Banshee Θ] belted by the boy was thrice of that of its default setting. As a result, the oncoming soundwave blasted Solon off of his feet, rupturing his eardrums as the old man was flung back to the ground.

"How?!" the Sage asked while casting [Heal] onto his ears while scrambling back up to his feet, restoring them back to normal so that he can receive his answer.

The Eligor coughs for a moment before giving his answer. "... Anger, no matter how intense its output... can easily be dispelled with a proper release mechanism," he answered, now fully lucid. "Normally... it's expected for a person to act out physically, but not many consider the alternatives."

Solon's eyes widened from the revelation. "... So your screaming caused a triggering of the brain's reaction akin to catharsis?!"

"Hey, if I can't tame my anger..." snickered the Eligor, "... then I might as well embrace it."

Solon, rather than be upset at the boy both mastering and conquering his perfected [Berserk] spell, was now laughing in amusement. "How splendid! To think I overlooked such fundamentals!" he remarked with mirth. "... Guess I'm going senile now, hm?"

"Come on old man, I know you're capable of doing so much more," Byron goaded as he then discards his modified [Hexlock Shield] strapped around his back as a sign of goodwill. "... Stop holding back. I'm ready for the master's degree. Show me everything you've got!"

Solon's laughter bellows throughout the cavern's depths. "... IF YOU INSIST!"

Slamming the tip of his [Staff of Circe] into the ground, Solon conjures a dark magic circle from where he stood.

In anticipation, Byron readies his [Glephnir] tome. "This energy... this malevolence..." he then smiled with excitement, "... a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity if there ever was one!"

From the dark circle emerged a pitch-black tome with an eight-pointed quartz-star printed onto its cover. The pages were bound together by black chains glowing in a dark hue of purple, to which Solon began dispelling the seal.

"... Don't die too quickly," the Sage requested with his elation barely hidden in his voice. "I want to gorge on this sense of fulfillment until I vomit."

The seal completely breaks right before the pages of the infernal tome opens, unleashing its contents to the unprepared world.

Byron's skin began to crawl as the ambient darkness thickened around them, the ground slowly turning into slush during a spring's thaw, and the air around them becoming viscous like a sea of snot.

"Scared?" Solon asked with a smirk as he was unfazed by this eldritch sensation emitting from his tome. "... It's only natural. This form of Dark Magic is quite literally out of this world."

Byron doubled down on fueling his [Glephnir] tome with his mana in hopes of matching this infernal art before him.

"Behold... the 'Fell Roar of Darkness'... the 'Majesty of Primordial Chaos'..." Solon then began his incantation before the floating tome, speaking in an indecipherable language sounding akin to a desperate prayer that which its sole objective was to appease a tyrannical god of darkness while his hands gestured together into a seal-like formation. "... I OFFER MY VERY SOUL ONTO THE DARK GODDESS OF CHAOS! GRANT ME THE POWER TO DESTROY ALL OF MY ENEMIES STANDING BEFORE ME!"

Byron then roars out an infernal howl as both his [Glephnir] and [Garm] began resonating together, forming a violet wolf-like aura around as power gathered around him.

"THE INFERNAL PRAYER!" Byron began his own chant that echoed throughout the air, raising the glowing axe as his own tome of heretical arts fluttered its pages. "THE HOWL BELLOWING FROM HELL'S DARKEST DEPTHS THAT THUNDERS THROUGHOUT ALL CREATION! DRAG THE ENTIRETY OF THIS WORLD INTO YOUR ABYSS AND SIGNAL THE END THAT APPROACHES!"

The two casters, from that moment on, became gods.

Their feet were removed from the ground they treaded upon. Their tongues babbled in an alien lexicon. Their eyes shone with a light akin to hellfire. And their minds were filled to the brim with knowledge beyond all human comprehension.

Every neuron inside of their heads screamed for mercy, but they both knew that they were beyond the point of acknowledging paltry, mortal concepts such as "mercy."

All that mattered to them were themselves now.

"THE ACME OF THE HERETICAL ARTS!" boomed Solon's voice as space itself began melting around them. "[BALBERITH]!"

"THE SIGNAL OF THE WORLD'S END!" Byron and the wolf aura roared in unison. "COMPOUND COMBAT ART: [GJALLARHORN]!"

Reality itself then converged towards Byron at Solon's will as the Eligor then unleashed a space-shattering roar upon the Sage that counteracted against the former.

Two spells beyond mortal comprehension collided, with the only things that were still present in the sphere of vantablack that was formed around them being Byron and Solon, both of whom who are still trying to outdo the other.

"COME ON, BOY!" Solon rapturously bellowed throughout the darkness. "STRUGGLE FOR ME!"

Byron's apocalyptic howl then screeched louder, pushing back against the collapsing space with his voice alone.

"YES! THIS IS WHAT I WAS MISSING!" the Sage cheered as he pushed back harder with his [Balberith] spell. "FIGHTING AGAINST AN EQUAL! THE PAIN AND GRATIFICATION OF LEARNING NEW THINGS! SUCH SENSATION! OH HOW I MISSED IT SO! THIS MY GENUINE LOVE TO YOU, MY BOY! SAVOR IT! FOR NOTHING ELSE MATTERS TO US IN OUR UTOPIA OF FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE!"

This happiness was shared with Byron in turn, howling even louder as the buildings outside of the sphere of pitch-black were blown apart as if they were blasted by cannon fire.

Solon begins snickering like a child, now fully returning to his missing youth that was wasted in squalor. "... I'm truly blessed to have lived up to this very moment," he closed his eyes in satisfaction as he then diverted all mana instillation into one of his hands, freeing up his other hand for an additional spell. "... But I am nowhere near satisfied with the current results. SO SHOW ME YOUR TRUE POWER! [BOHR X]!"

The dark bolt of lightning then blasts Byron dead onto his chest, shutting down all of his bodily functions for a brief moment before coming back to normal. However, the lapse of a single second's worth of focus caused [Balberith] to begin overwhelming Byron.

The collapsing space began crushing him from all directions, compressing him as entire mountains were being dropped onto his body.

I... I...! the Eligor thought in desperation as the unleashed wolf refused to submit, I absolutely...! ... refuse... to yield! Then for brief moment, he then places his finger against his temple, ... TO THE WEIGHT OF THE WORLD!

Against the concept of rationality itself, Byron then casts [Berserk] onto himself, stimulating his mind past its breaking point to then unleash another bellow of the hellish howl, fighting back against the collapsing reality itself.

"Yes! YES!" Solon cheered ecstatically as he then pushed himself to casting [Balberith] even harder. "FIGHT BACK! DEFY ME! SHOW ME YOUR DEDICATION TO YOUR PURSUIT TOWARDS APOTHEOSIS, BYRON AMADEUS NOA!"

Then within his torrent of rage, a flicker of innovation sparked inside Byron's mind.

The concept of "rage" used as a propellant... what if...?

... What if?

... What if? he thought, ... it can be further refined into a purer essence?!

The Eligor smiles at the thought for which he was about to put into a do-or-die practice.

"Let's begin..." he declared as he then focused his [Garm] into his [Glephnir] spell while pointing his free hand's finger into his temple once more. "... THE EXPERIMENT!"

Much to Solon's shock and genuine concern, Byron casts [Berserk] onto himself once again, shocking the boy's mind with an additional stimulant spell. "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!" he pointed out. "YOUR MIND WILL BE ATOMIZED FROM THE OVERSTIMULATION!"

Byron just laughs at the Sage's concern for his safety.

"... Nah," the Eligor then snickered as the sensation of rage slowly began to give away into the most calm of euphoria. "... I'd win."

The formula was already completed as madness upon madness germinated together into a brand-new spell of Faith Magic.

"... [Anew]," the new spell then reinvigorated Byron's body back to its prime condition, surging the mind and body with a fresh tank of the purest bodily energy.

Suddenly, the weight of the world piling onto him felt about as heavy as a pillow full of feathers.

"... Impossible," Solon chuckled in disbelief as his own body began to run out of mana, "... I'm at a complete loss for words."

"THEN HEAR MY ROAR!" Byron's [Gjallarhorn] Compound Combat Art then pushes back the now-faltering [Balberith].

The collapsing space began expanding back outwards, with Solon now beginning to sweat uncontrollably in an indescribable feeling that captured his heart that was once dead to this world.

... Is this... pride? the old Sage thought as [Gjallarhorn]'s bellowing invaded [Balberith]'s collapsing space. ... In someone else?

Solon felt joy in his heart.

But even so...! stubbornly, he then continued to resist the boy's cry of usurpation. "DON'T YOU DARE ASSUME THAT I'LL CONCEDE QUIETLY!"

With the last embers of his strength, Solon then casts [Bohr X] towards Byron.

However, unlike last time, the spell has no effect on the Eligor.

"... Sorry, old man," Byron then mockingly removed his left gauntlet to reveal a now-burnt out [Prayer Ring] that crumbled off of his ring finger along with the rest of his prosthetic arm made from the [Magic Staff]. "I don't fall for the same shit twice."

The last embers of Solon's will faded into oblivion as the howl then reached his soul, breaking the sphere of darkness surrounding them, finally exposing themselves to the now-flattened piece of Shambhala as their time away from gravity's clutches expired.

"Here's one more for the road, just for you!" the Eligor then unleashes his newly-learned spell towards the old Sage as a sign of respect. "[Bohr X]!"

The dark bolt of lightning then strikes Solon directly, the shock shutting down all of his bodily functions and sense all at once before coming back to.

But this time around, the Sage was on the verge of death as his powers now finally bottomed out, now nothing more than a frail old man falling back towards the earth.

Taking the initiative, Byron then grabs his [Garm] axe from the air with his teeth before throwing [Perun]'s chain around the old man and propelling himself towards him mid-fall.

Upon closing in, the axe was swung towards Solon's neck by Byron's one good arm.

"Checkmate."

The last thoughts of the old Sage was satisfaction as his neck was slashed through by the axe's blade.

But before Byron could celebrate, he then crashes face-first into the dirt as the Sage's black blood anointed his head upon his less-than-graceful landing.

"Heheheh..." Byron snickered to himself as he pivoted his dirt-caked face back out into the open before spitting out the dirt that got into his mouth. "... Got em."

He would move, but everything from his neck down were too numb to even twitch a single sinew of muscle.

"... You know what?" he mused as he shut his eyes before spotting [Balberith] laid on its pages before him. "... I deserve this nap."

---

During Vidar's Pursuit...

---

Through the flickering embers of the ruined streets of Shambhala, Vidar's bestial roar bellowed throughout the dimness before an eruption soon followed.

Speeding through the once-inhabited road was the War Master pursuing the Dark Flier as the latter flung all of her Dark Magic at him, the former dodging each spell fire at him with nimble side-skips akin to a wolf's prances.

"HOLD STILL AND DIE! DAMMIT!" screeched the vain Sage.

"YOU HOLD STILL AND DIE...! BITCH!" growled Vidar as he then jumped onto the building before running across them for better elevation and vantage.

The pair then enter Shambhala's main residential area (population: 34), with Vidar still giving chase to the fleeing Sage Cleobulus, the Dark Flier pushing her shadowy pegasus construct to its very limits whereas the War Master's pursuit was seemingly without end.

Just need to get there...! Just need to get there...! panicked Cleobulus as a sharp shard of ice was then shot past her from behind, with the War Master slowly closing in the gap despite being on foot. "GET AWAY FROM ME, YOU ANIMAL!"

"YOU RABBIT! VIDAR WOLF!" snarled the bandaged boy as he continued running in a berserk frenzy. "ME HUNT! YOU PREY! NOT STOP! UNTIL YOU DIE!"

As the chase continued, from the corner of Cleobulus' eye, she then spotted a familiar building.

... Wait a minute, she thought as the Sage recalled that landmark. ... Is this the place? Then that means..!

In desperation, Cleobulus then unleashes another [Death Γ] to slow him down, but this time, she uses her [Asclepius] staff as her mana's conduit, refining the spells output to enhance its overall potency, bringing its destructive power about to a level slightly above an average [Hades Ω], as evident by the size of the skull-shaped fireball being roughly the size of a small cottage.

"DIE, YOU UGLY FILTH OF A HUMAN BEING!" roared the Dark Flier as she then hurled the demonic spell with her [Asclepius]. "[DEATH Γ+]!"

Vidar recognized the "+"-suffix at the end of her incantation. She was doing what Professor Karna did with his own Dark Magic spells, with the only difference being that she didn't bother giving it a different name, let alone, modify its attribute.

"... Weak," Vidar then leapt up into the air and staring right before the glowing eye sockets of [Death Γ+] itself as he raised his [Armads] over his head.

Bellowing out a mighty roar, the golden axe of thunder was brought down, splitting through the skull down across its twain, with Vidar appearing through the halves right as the pair exploded, the blast propelling Vidar further towards the Dark Flier and pouncing her off of her shadowy mount.

The pair then rolled across the road upon their bodies hitting the ground, and kept rolling until the pair broke through a wall and ended up somewhere else within the city's limits. But the thought never entered into Vidar's mind as he then sunk his fangs into Cleobulus' throat before ripping out her jugular with his teeth, giving her no time to even scream.

The War Master then feasts on his claimed trophy. "... I... eat... your throat-"

Suddenly, he was then blasted by a blast of light from his side, striking Vidar's shoulder as he was then sent flying across the room, crashing through various glass containers and piles of paper both laid on tables before hitting his back onto a metal pillar.

Vidar quickly gets back up to his feet before his nose twitched upon smelling something familiar. "... No," he then torqued his head towards the darkness where the scent was coming from, "... you died!"

A seductive chortle was heard from the darkness as Cleobulus revealed herself, completely nude as she gingerly picked up her [Asclepius] staff from her own corpse. "... I did die," she answered. "Twice, in fact."

Then another Cleobulus showed up next to her. Then another. And then another.

And the sounds glass breaking followed up by sounds of rushing water were heard from afar right before the moment when about a dozen Cleobuluses all cornered Vidar.

"Fascinating, isn't it?" all of Cleobulus-clones spoke in unison, most of them wet as if they've gotten out of a bath and have yet to dry themselves. "The beauty of human science... the power to create life beyond the laws of nature... everything, everywhere, all at once... takes place here, the Human Synthesis Plant."

Then all of the Cleobulus point their hands at Vidar, each forming glowing orbs of light from their palms.

"Now do all of us a favor..." they spoke as the gathering lights shone brighter, "... and die."

The whole room is then engulfed in a blinding and searing holy light blasts of [Seraphim] as Vidar ran for his life throughout the lab.

"Where do you think you're going?" all of the Cleobuluses taunted. "Thinking of escaping?"

Then one of the clones then run their mana through the building's walls.

"QUARANTINE MODE ACTIVE," an automated voice echoed throughout the room. "ALL PERSONNEL, PLEASE PROCEED TO THE NEAREST AVAILABLE EXITS IMMEDIATELY."

The blast doors then shut before Vidar before he could escape. He then tries to break out of the wall with his [Armads], but the blow was then bounced off without so much as leaving a dent.

"This place was made to survive a blast from a [Brahmastra] as do the rest of Shambhala," revealed the Sage and her clones. "Now hold still and die, for that is the only mercy I shall ever grant you-!"

One of the clones' head were then ripped off as Vidar was then found one of the tables behind them, holding the head by its hair while the edge of his [Armads] dripped with blood.

"... You... are the one... trapped," snarled Vidar as he stared back at them.

"SHOOT HIM!" the clones then unleash their [Seraphim] spells at him all at once.

Vidar then kicks over one of the tables as cover as he then quickly adapted to his new situation.

At first, his initial panic of being unable to escape was rooted in the possible fact that there was a chance to escape in the first place. But now upon being revealed that escape was all but impossible, Vidar doubled down on his own savagery and self-preservation, all to focus on one, important thing that stood before him right now.

"I GOING TO KILL YOU!" the War Master then charged at the clones through the volley of spells.

The [Seraphim] spells fired struck around Vidar's bandaged body, nicking him all over as his wrapping fell off with his clothes, slowly unraveling his unsightly, melted flesh missing its skin as Vidar's rage grew without limit as the sensation of pain wracked throughout his body.

All that pain inflicted upon him simply spurred him to run even faster towards Cleobulus and her clones.

"YOU WILL RUE THE DAY YOU CROSSED THE SEVEN SAGES!" then the clones all brought their hands together to form a bright magic circle that then released a golden-yellow tome with an image of a shining sun engraved onto its cover. "SEND IN ALL OF THE MORPHS! SLOW HIM DOWN AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!"

The entirety of the Human Synthesis Plant tremors as numerous glass tubes around them all shattering to unleash half-formed Agarthan clones of various builds as they all swarmed towards Vidar.

"Commencing echo-casting," the clones declared as they all began pouring their mana into the tome while Vidar was pushed back by the tidal wave of the Morphs' pale, fleshy limbs.

Vidar knew from his instincts that neither side had any intent of surviving the next moment as long as it meant killing their opposition through whatever means necessary.

Tapping further into this purest essence of his own rage, Vidar's [Armads] begin resonating with his burning, primal desire to kill his enemy.

"... [ARMADS]!" the War Master roared as he then broke out of his prison of flesh. "TAKE...! MY...! SOUL!"

The golden axe then begins to glow blood-red as its infernal light now fully enveloped Vidar in its entirety, now unleashing an absolutely bestial roar that rocked the whole sealed laboratory and scattering the Agarthan Morphs across the cleared-out rooms.

"[Armadura]..." the War Master growled, steam exhaled from between his bared and gnashing teeth, his irises now glowing blood-red, faintly trailing its sanguine hue as he looked up with an expression of the most primal of rage, and his voice becoming like a thunder's boom.

"A COMBAT ART?!" the Cleobulus-clones exclaimed in unison as they ordered the Morphs to pile onto him, only for their bodies to erupt out of the pile with the War Master freeing himself with a burst of hysterical strength.

"... [ARMADURA DE IRA]!" erupted Vidar as he began bulldozing through the horde of the mindless Morphs who could do nary but charge and swipe at whatever was near them, neither option being optimal for their survival against the now-rampaging War Master's warpath.

"I WILL NOT MEET MY END AT YOUR HANDS, YOU FILTH!" the Cleobulus-clones ranted in defiance against his stampede while accelerating her echo-casting around their tome, causing the clones began falling one by one as they were sucked dry of their internal mana. "AMONG THE SEVEN SAGES, I AM THE STRONGEST! I AM THE WISEST! I AM THE MOST BEAUTIFUL! AND ABOVE ALL ELSE...! I AM THE MOST RIGHTEOUS! ME! AND NO ONE ELLLSSSEEEEEE!"

Vidar's roar echoed as his crimson-clad rampage edged closed in towards the Sage as the last of her clones fell from depletion, now finally completing the charge.

"BEHOLD MY DIVINE SPLENDOR SURPASSING THAT OF THE SO-CALLED GODDESS WHO'D DONE NOTHING BUT RUIN US!" the last standing Cleobulus declared as she then snapped her [Asclepius] in two over her knee to provide an additional boost of mana into the opening tome emitting an absolutely-blinding holy light from its pages. "THE 'GLORIOUS ASCENSION'! THE SUPREME LIGHT THAT PURGES ALL DARKNESS FROM THIS SINFUL WORLD!"

In that very moment, one close moment, where nothing mattered, where time had frozen in place and stillness was the only reality, Vidar and Cleobulus were staring at each other in the eye, the former's burning with hellish hate whereas the latter's shone with deluded bravado poorly masking her dread.

As time resumed, the sole deciding factor on who prevails came down to this very clash of strengths.

"[ARMADS]!" roared Vidar as he then spun his thunderous axe in his hands above his head like a tornado before swinging it down with all of his unholy might. "DESTROY! MY! ENEEEMMMYYYYYY!"

"[AUREOLA]!" Cleobulus finishes her incantation as both the rolling thunder and the ray of light collided at the intersection of fate. "CAST YOUR RADIANCE UPON THIS FILLLITTTHHH!"

The once-dimly lit Human Synthesis Plant now brightened like the surface of the sun until their surrounding was nothing but white light.

Both the ungodly axe blow and divine thaumaturgy collided against each other in absolute, primal desperation, as both wielders refused to give the other the slightest of inch.

Even as their skins began to melt off of their flesh, even as their bones began to sear from the exposure, even as their eyes boiled from the unleashed heat, neither of them refused to relent.

"WHY WON'T YOU JUST DIE?!" roared the melting Cleobulus as her body burned all of its reserve mana to maintain [Aureola]. "WHAT COMPELS YOU TO PERSIST THROUGH THIS MADNESS?!"

Vidar, as his strength ebbed and flowed against Cleobulus' spell, he finally remembered.

The flames that stripped of his very identity.

The people that celebrated his people's demise.

The boiling sense of rage that was seared into his soul on that day.

... It was for this very moment. Ludicrous as it was, this was his fated moment.

The moment where Vidar dies in battle with rage in his heart as he ascends into a true warrior. Staring guaranteed death into his face, he makes his decision.

... "Vidar," by pouring everything he has left into this one attack, shall die.

"RUOOOHHHARRRRRRGGGUHHHHHH!" erupted the War Master as his burning muscles that were being stripped from his bone exploded with a burst of latent strength that began digging into the light, forming a wedge of blood-red aura through [Aureola]'s heavenly light. "I CONTINUE! BECAUSE YOU! MY! AND DUSTBIN'S! AND PROFESSOR'S...! ENEMY! ... AND ENEMY! MUST DIIIEEEEEE!"

Unable to comprehend this sudden turn of fate, the Sage's resolve wavered out of pure shock.

"... Who... who...?" her voice trembled as her pure-white light was slowly overtaken by a surge of crimson lightning of [Armads]. "... WHO THE FUCK ARE YOOOUUUUUU?!"

"I! AM! VIÐARR! SON! OF EINNNAAARRR!" roared the War Master as his [Armads] clove through the divine light and down towards Cleobulus' head like a bolt of lightning cast by the gods themselves. "AND I! AM! A GOOOOOODDD!"

The last visages of the Dark Flier's body was her form disintegrating in twain while the vain sorceress' death throes was drowned out by Víðarr's thundering roar as he claimed victory.

As the War Master prevails, the very impact of the colliding powers was enough to dislodge one of the blast doors off of its foundations, freeing him as he was tossed back out onto the streets of Shambhala.

"WARNING. QUARANTINE MODE COMPROMISED," the automated voice from the bombed-out Human Synthesis Plant announced from its speakers as the sirens blared the alarm in ad infinitum. "ALL NEARBY STAFF PLEASE EVACUATE THE PREMISES IMMEDIATELY."

He tried getting up, but he cannot feel his legs anymore.

His fading vision looked ahead, seeing that his left arm was now burnt off while his right arm had its fingers melted around [Armads]' handle.

Víðarr couldn't feel anything. He cannot feel his own body anymore.

... Yet his soul continued to burn, willing his now-broken body towards one direction where he ran from.

... Why?

A voice like distant thunder echoed in the War Master's head.

... Why...? ... Are you... not accepting it...?

A faint, translucent silhouette of an absolutely colossal man whose body was packed to the brim with muscle, a loincloth made of a beast's furred hide wrapped around his waist and his brick-like head was wrapped around with a studded, iron band, containing his messy mane of chestnut-colored hair appeared before the crawling Víðarr.

... You've done enough, spoke the spirit. ... Rest.

"... No," growled Víðarr, crawling past the specter. "... Not... yet!"

... Your body cannot fight anymore, the ghost then reappeared before Víðarr. ... Your legs are nothing but the bones dragged behind by their stumps of burnt meat. Your arms cannot hold any other weapons save for the one. One of your eyes is gone with the other barely working... so why? Are you that eager to seek a more painful death that you are bearing right now? Accept your fate, boy.

"... No," Víðarr answered, his breathing labored intensely. "... Friend... waiting for me... Byron... Sorcha... Selene... Topaz... Cyrus... that white lady... waiting for me... a promise."

... I see, nodded the spirit. ... Forgive me for assuming that you were just another bloodletter deluding himself as some sort of an aspirational hero.

Víðarr smiles as he crawls past the spirit as it disappears for one last time.

... You truly are... a good friend.

---

Back at the (Sealed) Holy Mausoleum...

---

There were three fundamentals behind any form of conflict.

First was motive, the ideological reason behind the fight.

Second was preservation, the physical limit behind the fight.

Third was resolve, the instinctual drive behind the fight.

All three laid the groundwork for how winners and losers were determined. Even Edelgard, or even Those Who Slithered in the Dark (proper title pending), had at least all three of those things spurring their mad ambitions to reshape Fodlan to their will.

That wasn't the case when it came to judging the "fight" between Karna and Seiros.

"AHAHAHAHAHA!" cackled the madman as he and the saint exchanged blows. "COME ON, YOU BITCH! I KNOW YOU CAN PUNCH HARDER!"

... It was nothing more than violence for the sake of violence.

Neither side bothered justifying their brutality, nor they even bothered guarding or dodging each others' attacks, nor were there was anything substantial spurring them to continue in this madness.

It was simply pure violence, leading to naught but mutual self-destruction, both of them taking each others' blows without any form of resistance except "attack." And both of them were enjoying every moment of it.

"YOU WILL DIE SCREAMING, KARRRNNNAAAAAA!" roared Seiros as her fist flew, taken by Karna's face as he then whipped around into a reverse-roundhouse kick hitting her ribs.

The punch all but broke Karna's nose and skull into pieces, whereas the kick shattered all of her left ribcage. Yet despite sustaining those horrific injuries, neither side were on the cusp of even faltering.

Rather, both simply forced their broken bones back into place with their bare hands, with Karna remolding his misshapen face back to normal, and Seiros overstretching her entire left shoulder to have it pull up that side of the body in place of the aforementioned injury.

"... Guess being punched out of your rooms back then kinda helped, ainnit?" snicked Karna. "In Hanafuku, there is a method of conditioning where one conditions said appendage to the point of deliberate injury, then they let it heal, and it comes out stronger than before upon recovery!" He then raps his skull with his knuckle. "My skull's been caved in by your fists so many times that my head is practically an invincible helmet!"

Seiros then slugs the hardest punch she could muster, but Karna parries the knuckle with his forehead bouncing it back, opening her up for a retaliatory kick to her stomach that was quickly then followed up with a knee strike to her chin.

The blow did not concuss the saint even for a single moment, as she then headbutts Karna's face in, only for the latter to use the back-momentum to whip out a high-kick across her twain.

The toes cut Seiros' skirt's height in half right as her chin was cut open as she leaned back.

Both of them recover at the same time, now ramming their heads against each others' while their hands grabbed onto each others', pushing against each other into another deadlock.

"They just won't stop...!" Lorenz commented.

"... Is Saint Seiros bleeding green?" asked Dimitri, which caused Jeralt to look away awkwardly.

The two kept mauling at each other without end, as Seiros then made an attempt to push Karna down with her own weight of her brute strength, Karna moves with the forced direction before sliding himself under the saint, slipping between her legs before craning his back forth to wrap his legs around her waist and pulling her up from where he clung from.

The sight of the Professor twisting the saint's body like a knot sickened to those seeing it, particularly Edelgard, as she was practically in front-row seats to this macabre show of physical torture.

Just how much more... can they take? thought the young Emperor as the two began rolling across the floor, trying to be the one to mount the other for an advantage.

Seiros succeeds getting on top of Karna, for which she began beating his face in with her fists. After a flurry of blows across the pale man's face, she then claps her hands together into a hammer fist before bringing it down as hard as she could, but Karna stops the blow by biting into both her pinky and ring fingers that made up the attack.

"GIVE IT UP!" screeched Seiros as she then tries to pry out her hands out of this filthy man's mouth that clamped down like a steel trap.

"MAKE ME!" he muffled before grabbing onto Seiros muscular thighs as a fulcrum before he began pulling himself out of her mounting.

Seiros, giving up on freeing herself, elects to use her head as a hammer with her hammer fist as the nail to break Karna's teeth with the compound impact.

Karna then frees his legs at the exact moment when Seiros brings her head down as hard as she could, feet and face colliding with one another, but Karna ultimately prevailing over this lockdown as the saint was sent flying back with a fractured jawbone.

"GET UP, SEIROS!" Karna roared as the saint stood back up, forcing her jaw back in place. "... That's more like it! Come on! Let's try keep killing each other!"

Seiros snarls like an animal. "... And I'll be the only one who'll enjoy it."

Seiros and Karna resumed their neverending song and dance of violence that was quickly losing its meaning and grace.

---

At the (Ruined) Grand Archives...

---

"COME ON, BITCHES!" cackled the Agarthan Warlock as he and his Gremory partner blasted a volley of [Miasma Δ] at the McCarthy twins. "DANCE!"

Both the Vanguard and the Griffin Knight (minus said Griffin) took cover behind the shelves that remained standing before running through the cramped halls of the library.

"FEK! FEK! FEK!" cursed Sorcha before she ducked under another shot [Miasma Δ]. "CAN'T GET A CLEAR SHOT AT EM!"

"It's also fekin' dim in 'ere too..." grumbled Selene before she peeked out before withdrawing. "... Wat? Can dey see in de dark as well?!"

The Griffin Knight's statement proved to be true as both Myson and Pittacus' eyes were able to see in complete darkness as if it were midday.

"... No escape," muttered the Gremory as she conjures a cloud of spectral bugs around her hand. "... [Swarm Z]."

The bugs then fly towards where the twins were hiding at, forcing them to flee as Myson was readying his own spell for the very moment that they revealed themselves.

"Gotcha," sneered the Warlock as he then unleashed his payload. "EAT [HADES Ω]!"

A blast composed of damned souls fleeing from the underworld was rushed towards the Brigidian pair as they then dove out of the way of the blast that then took out a fuckton of bookshelves that they could've used for cover.

"... At least dere's more room," grumbled Sorcha.

"Hey! We agree on something!" taunted Myson as he skipped over the pile of crumpled tablets before taking Pittacus' hand and helping her across.

"... Thales going to get mad," spoke the Gremory as she looked around the ruined library and its destroyed contents.

"Hey, bossman said we're in the clear, right?" Myson pointed as the two got back up. "Then that means we can wreck as much shit as we want around here without getting an earful!"

Pittacus smiles as she then casts a spell that summons a dark magical circle before herself. "... Then we can go all out," she remarked as Gremory then pulled out a wicked and demonic-looking lance with dual-pronged crimson spearhead overlaid by a trident-like base and a twitching and shifting eyeball at the weapon's upper neck as a decoration. "... We can... right?"

"FUCK YEAH WE CAN!" Myson replied as he took the chthonic polearm from his partner. "GUESS THAT MEANS YOU TWO BITCHES ARE GONNA GET THE REAL-DEAL, ONE-HUNDRED PERCENT GENUINE MYSON EXPERIENCE!"

With his declaration made, the Warlock then slams the pommel of his wicked weapon into the ground, diverting his mana into it as the surface began to bulge around them as then a group of winged, bat-like creatures made of stone each the size of a large human erupted from the surface, all of them shrieking to signal their birth.

"DE FEK?!" Sorcha cried out in surprise as the stone batmen began flapping their wings to fly.

Myson then lets out a cathartic sigh as he then begins giggling to himself before erupting into a deranged laughter. "DAMN IT FEELS GOOD AFTER HOLDING IT OFF FOR A WHILE!" he roared out with bliss. "... Feels like taking a huge, hot, steaming shit after holding it in for who knows how long. But now, here I am, with the real-deal, one-hundred percent genuine Myson experience! I am Sage Myson of Agartha, former Cantor of the Duma Faithful, the 'Master of [Gargoyle] Terror Invocation,' and the last wielder of [Kriemhild], the 'Lance of Vengeance'!"

"DUN'T CARE WAT DE FEK YE ARE!" Sorcha snarled as she then pointed her [Siegfried] at the swarm of batmen. "YER GONNA BE DE ONE TE EAT SHITE!"

Myson smirks as he then snaps his fingers. "FLY MY PRETTIES!" he ordered as the [Gargoyles] then all flew towards the Brigidan twins. "FLLLYYY!"

The winged Terrors all swarmed towards the pair with their talons lashed out that were all ready to tear them limb from limb.

"DAMMIT!" Selene remarked as she then fired her [Crossbow] at the batmen, shooting one of them down before loading another bolt. "I'M DOWN TE ME LAST ONE!"

Sorcha then swings her massive [Siegfried] blade at the [Gargoyles], cutting through their stone hides with ease as if she was kicking down mounds of wet sand. "DER NOT SO TOUGH, AREN'T DEY?!"

"THAT'S WHY I GOT PLENTY MORE!" Myson then conjures several more of those winged Terrors from the ground before sending them forth to harass the McCarthy twins.

"... I can help," requested Pittacus.

"Nah sweetie, you're cool," he denied as he then continuing summoning more [Gargoyles] to replace the ones cut down. "Take five and chill. Let me show how cool I can be!"

Sorcha then realizes something while cutting down the winged Terrors. "OI SELENE!"

"I'M 'ERE!" she answered while cutting down her share of [Gargoyles] with her [Gae Bolg].

"WE'RE GONNA 'AVE TE TAKE OUT DE FEKER WHO IS POPPIN' DESE FEKERS OUT!" the Vanguard ordered. "ON ME MARK, SHOOT YER ARROW AT 'IM!"

"RIGHT!" the Griffin Knight replied as she and her sister began looking for an opening.

"... Myson," the Gremory tugged onto the Warlock's robe to get his attention. "... Two of them... up to something."

"Noted!" he then summoned even more [Gargoyles] to crowd the pair before winding his arm that was holding onto [Kriemhild]'s veiny shaft. "SO LET'S WASTE THOSE HOES!"

Myson then began charging his own mana into the wicked weapon, causing the eye on the lance to bulge outwards and its crimson spearhead to blow in a scorching shade of blood-red.

"ONE SUPER RED-HOT [KRIEMHILD] FOR TWO BRIGIDIAN BITCHES, COMING RIGHT UP, ON THE HOUSE!" the Warlock then threw his lance towards the pair being swarmed by his [Gargoyles]. "ORDER UP, BITCHES!"

"NOW!" Sorcha and Selene then jump away from where the magic-propelled missile was heading, causing the Terrors to take the brunt of the friendly fire as Selene then used the glare as a screen to shoot her [Crossbow] towards the Warlock.

The bolt then flies towards the ex-Cantor's head through the blast, but right as the glare of [Kriemhild]'s impact-triggered blast faded away, Pittacus blasts her [Miasma Δ] to intercept the Griffin Knight's shot.

"... Loser," smirked the Gremory. "Now what-"

But Sage Pittacus' celebration was cut off as soon as the tip of [Siegfried] charged a massive ball of dark-red mana.

"'ERE'S DE MAIN COURSE!" the Vanguard roared out. "[KÖNIGSGEBRÜLL]!"

Then a massive stream of pure, crimson Dark Magic was blasted towards where Myson stood.

"IN YOUR FREAKING DREAMS!" Myson then slammed his weapon's pommel down once more into the floor and conjures a protective aura around himself and Pittacus. "SECRET SKILL: [PHANTASM]!"

The aura then protects the pair from being atomized by the blast from [Siegfried]'s chthonian Combat Art.

"SUCKS TO BE YOU!" taunted the Warlock as the crimson stream flowed around his aura. "NO MAGIC OR ARROW CAN SO MUCH AT SCRATCH ME-!"

Flickering in and out of the shade within [Königsgebrüll]'s stream of sanguine mana emerged Sorcha, charging from within the blast with her blade pointed towards where she was running towards.

Before Myson could counter from his prone position, the Vanguard sidesteps his hasty thrust of his [Kriemhild] as she then drove the onyx blade through his chest, all the way to the hilt, and out of his back.

"... Wha... how...?" the Warlock weakly groaned as the blade was wretched further into his chest while Sorcha leaned into his ear.

"Ye said 'no magic or arrows,' rite?" she mockingly asked as the blade itself began charging with more Dark Magic. "Gud te know."

"MYSON-!"

The Gremory's attempt at rescuing her partner was in vain as Sorcha then activates [Königsgebrüll] point-blank into Myson's proximity, completely disintegrating him into black dust before the Vanguard then turn's the beam's trejectory towards the Gremory.

"DROP DEAAADDD!" roared Sorcha as she then swung her [Siegfried] with her Combat Art still active, transforming the cavalry-use greatsword into an even bigger sword made of a concentrated stream of Dark Magic mana, totaling the mass of the weapon roughly to the size of a full-length bridge.

The Gremory was then swatted aside by the massive mana blade, sent crashing into a crumbling wall before being buried atop of its remains and the nearby shelves.

"YE DID IT-!" but before Selene could soak in the jubilation, the whole Grand Archives begins to tremor. "... Oh shite."

"Okay, I'm done!" Sorcha remarked as she turned off her Combat Art before turning towards her twin. "NOW RUN!"

The twins then run away from the collapsing ceiling of the library while screaming their lungs out. As soon as they spot the entrance up ahead, both then leap out towards the light, ignoring the flight of stairs below passing them right as they land roughly on the road next to the library that was now reduced to a pile of rubble.

"... Did we...? Did we... do it?" asked Selene.

"... Ye," nodded Sorcha. "... I'm pretty sure dat de saucy twat got flattened in dere-"

Then a sound of the stone pile being disturbed was heard.

"... I take full responsibility fur wat's about te happen next," the Vanguard doubled back as the pile of stones then revealed Sage Pittacus, emerging from the mound like an undead of folktales.

The Gremory came to upon her survival, only for her stoic demeanor to begin crumbling away as she panickingly searched for her partner. "... Myson?" she weakly called out. "... Myson?! ... MYSON!"

"Shite, if I was full rite now..." cursed Selene as she looked at her unloaded [Crossbow] and her barren quiver.

Sage Pittacus then creaked her head to the pair. "... You," her voice trembled in sorrow and rage. "... You... killed Myson."

Sorcha spits to the side while resting [Siegfried] across her shoulder. "... Wat are ye gonna do about it-"

Then a piece of Pittacus' pale skin chipped off like a rotten tooth, exposing a glowing-hot molten surface akin to lava as cracks began to form and spread throughout her face.

"... You killed Myson," Pittacus muttered as her face began breaking apart. "... You killed Myson, you killed Myson, you killed Myson, you killed Myson..."

As her babbled continued endlessly, the twins began to notice that more segments of the Gremory's skin eroding away. The glow's radiating heat warped into a faint haze, steam and smoke began shooting from beneath the facade before it gave away.

"... Is it just me?" asked Selene as she saw the cracks began to reach into the rest of her body, pieces of her dress beginning to combust from within, the embers eating away at both the Sage's modesty and humanity. "... Or did we make thins' worse?"

Then Sage Pittacus' whole head shattered, its pieces falling away from where it once stuck itself on like discarded pieces of a hardboiled egg's shell, replacing her human visage with one made of molten earth and dancing flames. "MYYYSSSOOOOOON!"

The Gremory has now become terror incarnate as the flames from her body devoured what was left of her semblance to humanity. The roar of her pained anguish manifested throughout her whole body, now nothing more than fire fueled by her own soul's agony of losing her beloved.

A Vestal. Yes. Just a pure maiden whose soul was now dedicated to one thing and only one thing only.

Kill the Brigidian twins before she burns out.

"I'M GUTTIN' 'ER!" Sorcha then points her [Siegfried] towards the woman of fire. "[KÖNIGSGEBRÜLL]!"

The dark-crimson stream of mana was shot towards the Vestal, but just before it can reach her, Pittacus then telekinetically beckons [Kriemhild] to her side, activating [Phantasm] to block the Dark Magic shot at her.

"FEK!" cursed Sorcha as the Vestal the flew up higher. "... Wat's it doin' up dere?!"

Selene then spots the flaming maiden raise one of her hands up as it then formed a massive burning magic circle above herself. And from it, a crimson tome with a bright, flame-like aura descended before the Vestal, its pages fluttering open before its caster, causing the closed skies of Shambhala to turn suddenly bright as midday.

"... Oh slag me," gulped the Griffin Knight. "RUN!"

The Vestal then spots the twins fleeing from her from above the illuminated sky. "... No escape," dozens of scorching lanterns the size of church bells then manifested around her blazing form. "... 'Infernal Truth'... 'Purest Fire'... [Forblaze]."

A veritable rain of blazing meteors pelted upon around where the McCarthy twins were running at. The whole district where the library was devoured by a sea of flames, heat hot enough to melt the very stones where the inferno has landed, and smoke thick as a mountain becoming the new sky that the Vestal now dominated.

Pittacus then descends upon her handiwork, both to admire it and to make sure that her enemies were dead. [Kriemhild] orbited around her as she continued her survey through the destroyed environment.

Her flickering eyes then spot a humanoid shaping lying on the ground face-down. She approaches closer, flipping her face over with the floating lance to inspect its face.

"... Sword girl," the Vestal observed before reorienting [Kreimhild] to face its point into her vital spot. "... Die."

The pole arm fell, but just before it can reach her and bury itself into the Vanguard...

"SURPRISE MOTHAFEKA!"

Hidden behind her cape was Sorcha's hand that hand punched itself into the charred chest that she was carrying over her back, pulling [Beagalltach] out of the wrecked box to deflect the wicked lance and nick the Vestal across her chest, spilling liquid flames from the breach.

"YE DOIN' DE SAME SHITE AS YER BOYFRIEND DID!" Sorcha mocked as then shrouded her removed cape around Pittacus' head, temporarily blinding her as it burned away. "BAD MOVE!"

She then smashes her stolen Heroes' Relic across her covered head, opening up another breach right before the flames overcame this maneuver. This however, gave time for Sorcha to retrieve her [Siegfried], now dual-wielding two blades of legend.

"... Yer not lookin' too hot, aren't ye?" asked the Vanguard while Vestal clutched her breached temple that was spilling white-hot ichor akin to molten metal. "... Yer like actual fire, ye ain't gonna burn furevea."

Pittacus then grips her hand around the veiny shaft of [Kriemhild] as she conjures another magic circle before reaching her smoldering hand into it, pulling out an ornate ivory-silver-bladed long sword crowned with brassed gold.

"... I kill you," the Vestal declared as she also began dual-wielding. "... With [Mercurius] and... Myson's weapon."

Sorcha began feeling the slightest pity for this literal hot mess of a woman. "... Ye love 'im, I git it," she spoke in seriousness. "I'll send ye te 'im."

Both Vestal and Vanguard moved in a flash, clashing their armaments against each others within a field of flames. Sorcha's [Beagalltach] ground against Pittacus' [Mercurius]. [Kriemhild]'s crimson tip was intercepted by [Siegfried]'s dual-pronged blade.

Neither side relented to give an inch to the other, but Pittacus still held the advantage on the account of being MADE OF FIRE.

Sorcha's skin was boiling like water as her exposure continued. But due to the Vestal gaining access to [Kriemhild]'s [Phantasm], the only way to deal with her was to get up close and personal.

"... You will die," declared Pittacus, pressing her weapons onto the Vanguard's. "... Slowly... cooking you... like... meat."

Sorcha snickered at her imagery. "... Sorry luv," she replied, "but I've already got me eyes on sumone else."

From behind the smoldering rubble, Selene bursts into the scene as she thrusts her [Gae Bolg] towards the Vestal.

Pittacus momentarily drops her focus she attempted to fight off both Brigidians at the same time, but upon being pincered, she hastily retreats, but not before both Sorcha and Selene knock away [Kriemhild] from the former Sage's burning hands.

The Vestal tries to recall it back to her as she fled back up to the smoky skies, but Sorcha drops both of her weapons to then catch the cursed lance before it can slip away, grabbing onto it, even as her skin hissed from touching the superheated shaft.

"SIS!" Selene cried out.

"DUN'T WORRY ABOUT ME!" Sorcha rebuffed, fighting through the pain to ensure the Vestal's vulnerability. "FINISH 'ER OFF!"

Pittacus then lets out another ferocious roar as she then released her tome from its spellbound seal once more as Selene climbs up to one of the buildings that remained standing.

"I WILL BURN EVERYTHING!" the Vestal declared as she prepared [Forblaze] to carpet bomb about a quarter of Shambhala again.

"Not on me, yer not...!" growled Selene as she then wound back her arm holding her [Gae Bolg] as far as she could.

The martyr's lance resonated with her brooch, connecting her to the weapon's past users who all died tragic deaths. Selene didn't care, since right now, she was literally staring at the face of the fucking sun itself before her very eyes.

"... Only got one shot at dis!" her right arm then began bulking up, turning the skin around it redder and blush as blood pumped past the body's limits. "COME ON YE BITCH! SHOW ME WAT YE CAN DO!"

Blood begins to leak from her arm before she then took aim at the Vestal hanging over her.

"ME BODY IS ME SACRIFICE FUR VICTORY!" declared the Griffin Knight as [Forblaze] was nearing completion. "[WARP SPASM]!"

The [Gae Bolg] was then thrown, leaving behind a ring of shattered sound that sped towards Pittacus as it then pierced through her chest before she could parry it with her [Mercurius].

"... Ah," the Sage then comes back to her senses, now looking at her cindered body that was impaled by the thrown lance as it began breaking apart like an old sandcastle.

She then looked where the lance had been thrown from, where which stood Selene, now her right arm then violently exploding into a red cloud of pulverized meat and bone, causing her to collapse onto the ceiling where she stood her ground from.

Pittacus then realizes one last thing that had happened to her.

"... It hurts," she spoke, the sting of the lance and the burning of her skin now invading her senses.

She can feel pain again.

Her soul had now returned to her.

"... Myson-?"

From where Vestal floated, all darkness from every corner of Shambhala were illuminated by the sun that they were denied for too long.

---

Outside the Collapsed Entrance...

---

"Keep digging! We're almost through!" one Fortress Knight shouted.

"Bullshit! We barely reached halfway!" one of the Adrestrian Grapplers pointed out.

"So much for a morale boost..." grumbled Catherine.

Then behind where the excavation took place, a rattle of footsteps were heard from behind. Everyone turns around to see Count Leopold von Bergliez and the rest of the Adrestian Imperial Army marching behind him.

"I heard everything!" he barked out. "Say no more! All of you that are not us, take a break! Me and boys will finish the rest!"

But before everyone else could react, the War Master and his legion all then shove the others out the way, taking their pickaxes, and just before they can begin, Count Bergliez spits onto both of his thick, calloused palms and rubs them together.

"ALRIGHT BOYS!" he barked. "LET'S DO THIS SHIT!"

The Adrestrian Imperial Army, raising their voice in vigor to their commander's rallying cry, begin digging through the rubble like several colonies' worth of ants devouring a bear carcass.

Count Bergliez wasn't even using a pickaxe. Rather, he was digging bare-handed, and yet he was getting the most work done out of all of the people in his regiment.

"Holy shit!" Catherine commented as she was then handed a goatskin of water. "The old man works fast."

"As he should," the Death Knight remarked as he dragged the unconscious Count Grégoire von Varley (fainted from overexertion, during the first minute of swinging his pickaxe) by his ankle. "... The 'Juggernaut' earned his renown through his sheer martial prowess."

The Swordmaster then sits down next to the skull-helmed rider. "... Curious though," she pointed out. "How did he earn that 'Juggernaut' title? I mean, I was kinda busy with Church work and suppressing Western Church Insurrectionist chapters that I'm kinda behind the news."

"During the war between the Empire and the Brigid-Dagda Coalition, he and his men numbering of three-hundred fended off a combined force of seventy-thousand tribesmen in an isolated position," shared the Death Knight. "... By the time reinforcements came, all seventy-thousand enemy combatants were slain, and among the three-hundred, only Count Bergliez and a dozen or so men survived, knee-deep in mud and gore. The survivors earned several accolades and they and their families entered into nobility. The fallen earned posthumous promotions by two full ranks and their families and orphanages monetarily compensated. And Count Bergliez was then made Supreme Commander of the Imperial Army after removing the previous one for his incompetence that led to said stand in the first place."

Catherine's eyes bulged in shock. "... Whoa," she remarked while lost for words for a moment. "... Coming from the Empire, where class hierarchy is practically set in stone, I'm genuinely surprised."

"The scene was so brutal that even old Ludwig pitched in the compensation efforts, if only to get the heat away from him," the Death Knight commented. "The Empire's a classist society, but even then there are standards for far the nobles are willing to test the commoners' collective patience."

Then scraping sounds in-between staggered steps was heard by the two from behind, revealing Sirs Gilbert and Alois, both being helped along by Professor Manulea and Hanneman.

"... Hey hey hey hey hey!" Catherine rapped as she the approached the four. "You two aren't cleared for duty-!"

"Fuck. That," snarled Alois. "... One way or the other, I AM WRINGING THAT TRAITOR'S NECK!"

The Swordmaster then looked at the Church's head nurse/physician for context.

"... He didn't take the news very well," she answered sheepishly. "... In fact, the only reason why Gilbert is with us is that he's trying to stop him from doing something lethally stupid."

"I'm just here because I also have a bone to pick with that bastard," Hanneman stoically pointed out, his anger kept under wraps better than that of the Warrior's. "... That said though, our invaders now working with us to save both our leaders and kill the fucker who's behind this chaos? Never thought I'd live long enough to see the day."

"Then rest," the Death Knight ordered as he then gestured the Adrestian Imperial Army's division of Bishops towards them. "We do not need half-dead men on the battlefield."

"Noted," Gilbert nods and he and Alois see to themselves to get healed as the skull-helmed rider walks back with Catherine and sits down next to each other.

"... So," the Swordmaster smacked her lips as she watched the cascade of boulders rain from behind the "Juggernaut" and his work, "... if you and Count Bergliez fought, who'd win?"

"He would, single-handedly," the Death Knight answered immediately.

"... Huh," Catherine remarked. "Why's that? I mean, you're pretty strong, aren't you?"

"In terms of martial prowess and skill, Count Bergliez and I are equally matched," the skull-helmed rider explained. "However, he absolutely trumps me in sheer experience. He fought actual wars, survived countless ambushes, and led various men through innumerable quagmires to write entire books about his legendary acts of valor. I'm just an attack dog."

"I see," she shrugged before cupping her chin with her hands. "... Hey, just another thought, but if Count Bergliez and Karna fought, who'd win?"

All the Death Knight can now think upon hearing his name was the sensation of his testicles rupturing after his codpiece was kicked into his sack.

"... I have no freaking clue."

---

Throughout the (Abandoned) Industrial District...

---

Drumming of hooves and clashing of steel rang throughout the alleyways of Agartha's heart of industry now drained of all of its blood.

Riding side to side in the cramped roads wedged between silent factories were Cyrus Iskander atop of Darius, the Battu Steppe King carrying his Bow Knight partner, wielding [Gradivus], one of Fodlan's Three Regalia, battling against Chilon of the Seven Sages, the Great Knight riding atop of his mechanical horse powered by his own mana, who wielded a yet-unnamed ornate lance with a swings of dragon nesting its silver spearhead.

"You're keeping up with me," Chilon commented as he and Cyrus locked lances against each other while riding down the same alleyway. "If you're Battu's standard, then it appears all of our prior assessments of outsiders were grossly miscalculated."

"Thank you for the compliment!" the Bow Knight replied as he and the Great Knight pushed against each other. "No seriously, that is legitimately the nicest thing that anyone outside of my circle has said to me!"

The armored Sage blinked underneath his helmet. "... I swear, those beasts cannot die fast enough."

In concurrence, within the empty factories, Topaz was being chased down by Sage Bias as the latter blasted great bolts of lightning that came in both streams of electricity or hurling giant orbs of electricity at the fleeing Espio.

"QUIT RUNNING LIKE A LITTLE BITCH!" the Valkyrie (without her mount) screeched as lightning was shot from both of her hands while giving chase.

Topaz rolled her eyes in annoyance. "... Normally, I'd figure she'd be boasting on how she's got me on the run," the little mutant Hassashin snarked to herself. "... Was blowing up about a large segment of this underground city that upsetting to her-?"

Then from the outside, a massive flash was shone through the few windows and vents of the factory, ceasing all fighting from within as the two went outside to see what was happening. Following that, a faint siren could be heard coming from another corner of the city, indicating that one of their facilities was compromised on top of everything else.

Coincidently, Cyrus and Chilon were also nearby, and have stopped fighting for a moment to stare at the sun shining over them in the enclosed civilization.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Bias cried out. "... Who got flatlined and went supernova?!"

"... Did Father Sky punch a hole within Mother Earth?" asked Cyrus. "Also, what the hell is that sound? Asking for a friend here."

Chilon then listens what the siren sounds like. "... The Human Synthesis Plant," he answered before looking towards Cyrus and Topaz. "... Among all the people we've fought, you lot are the closest to we've ever had to a viable threat save for those that the beasts worship as divinity."

"Don't count your chickens before they hatch, metal man," growled the Espio as she then noticed that all four of them have reunited. "... It's clear that this battle's dragged on for long enough."

Everyone comes to agree with the Hassashin's claim.

"Very well," the Great Knight declared, raising his lance while drawing his [Bolt Axe] from his back. "... Bias, get ready."

The Valkyrie then looks at her plush rabbit one last times, gives it a hug, and then tosses it aside. "... Living on the edge," she breathed as Bias then pulled out a dark-leather tome emblazoned with symbols resembling thunderbolts around its edge and a diamond-cross-like formation also resembling lightning bolts. "... If we live, then we'll go look for our chooms. We get zeroed by those gonks, then we're joining em. No ifs, and, or buts."

"How do we decide this?" asked Cyrus as he and Darius readied to charge.

Topaz then brings out her chain-[Zulfiqar]. "... Count to three paces."

Both sides nod in agreement as they then turn their backs away from each other.

The first step, they bear their arms.

The second step, a quick prayer in silence was uttered.

And then the third step-

"LIKE I GIVE A SHIT!" Bias then turned before she could take her third step, only find out that Topaz was doing the same thing.

Regardless, the moment when the Valkyrie and the Espio faced each other from afar, the former already opened her tome whose pages were brimming with electricity whereas the latter had her chain-blade already thrown out.

Neither of them deterred, pushing past madness just to kill the other fucker before them. As a result, the two attacks cross paths with each others', the lightning bolt shocking the chain that the Espio was holding onto, electrocuting her while the chain-blade struck the Valkyrie's right shoulder, the conducted blade both maiming and electrocuting her as well, resulting in an instant double-knockout that results in both Topaz and Bias taking each other out by sheer happenstance.

"TOPAZ!"

"BIAS!"

Both riders then throw their companions back into the factory as far as they could for their safety right before they charged at each other.

"RIDE TO THE END OF THE WORLD, DARIUUUSSSSSS!" the Bow Knight roared as the horse responded to him. "UUKHAI!"

"YOU FACE THE LAST IMPERIAL SOLDIER OF THE GRADO!" declared the Great Knight as his mechanical horse hissed with steam in its overclocking. "I AM CHILON, THE 'TOPAZ'! AND WITH THIS VERY [VIDOFNIR] IN MY RIGHT AND [BOLT AXE] ON MY LEFT, I SHALL CUT DOWN ALL THOSE WHO OPPOSES ME AND MY PEOPLE!"

As the horses closed in on each other, their respective riders then raised their arms to strike each other down from the horses.

Back in the empty factory building, both Topaz and Bias were in unimaginable pain.

Both of their tiny bodies spasmed violently as the electricity from Valkyrie's spell ran through their muscles and nerves. Bias' right arm was now practically dead, with her shoulder blade cut in two and suffering severe compound nerve damage resulting in necrosis, leaving the Sage with only her left arm to work with as she then ripped off the wavy blade disconnected from its melted chain from her shoulder right before she picked up her tome off the floor with it. Topaz's right arm was charred black as the remaining chain-length around said limb were melted into her very bones, leaving only her left arm to fight with.

Bias weakly chuckles. "... Guess neither of us are too preem, ainnit?" she snickered. "... Well, can't be worse than literal Child Hunts... I ain't dying until I see you eat shit."

Topaz then painfully forces her left arm to unleash [Blutgang] from between its scales.

"Wazzat? You still got it in ya?" the Valkyrie remarked. "... Aight. Then I guess there's no point hiding it anymore."

From through her clothes, Bias' chest began glowing with an icon resembling a thunderbolt being cast from the sky as her tome resonated with her tome that roared back to life as it floated before the Sage.

"Oh blood of Thrud of the Twelve Crusaders that flows within by veins, grant me the powder bequeathed by divine providence of the anointment of the Divine Dragons..." Bias' incantation began as power surged towards her like a whirlpool drawing water, her voice echoing like thunder snaking across the darkened sky.

"Can't half-ass this anymore...!" in desperation, Topaz then grabs [Blutgang] by her teeth before ripping the embedded blade out of her arm, forcibly ripping the interconnected nerves, blood vessels, and organic tissue that kept it bound to her, spraying an ichor of rich red blood as the Hero's Relic of the [Crest of Edmund] was now held in her mouth, leaving her bleeding arm to draw [Baselard] while tapping into the rest of her collected Crests of [Gautier], [Edmund], and [Chevalier] to reinvigorate her body to its peak condition temporarily.

As soon as both finished their preparations, the two then attacked at once.

"BEHOLD! THE 'HAMMER OF RYMR'!" the Sage declared as she then unleashed a thunderbolt massive enough to be a pillar that held up the very heavens itself. "BRING RUIN UPON MY FOES! [MJÖLNIR]!"

The whole factory and its surroundings were engulfed by a brilliant flash that completely obscured the whole battle from everyone.

At the alleyways, the result of the clash was made clear.

Cyrus managed to knock out Chilon's [Bolt Axe] out of the Great Knight's hand with his [Gradivus]...

... But in turn, the armored Sage's [Vidofnir] lance impaled into Darius' throat as it then ripped a huge slab of meat out of the gouged-out wound, causing Cyrus to fly off of his slain companion and crash onto the road before rolling onto his side upon landing.

And to add insult to injury, Cyrus meant to aim his attack towards Chilon himself, but somehow, the lance's thrust was redirected towards the Great Knight's [Bolt Axe].

"DARIUS!" the Bow Knight mournfully cried out to his slain Battu Steppe King as the Agarthan rider emerged victorious.

"How unexpected," the Great Knight addressed as he turned around to look at the slain horse the size of a fully-grown Duscurian Bear. "While I activated [Vidofnir]'s Combat Art [Mímameiðr] to grant me an additional layer of physical protection, I was certain to drive my lance through your head... but your companion saved you at the very last second...!"

The Bow Knight hears the Great Knight's testimony as he stared at Darius' corpse. "... You saved me?"

Chilon began to weep under his helmet, even going far as to take it off to wipe his tears. "... How brave!" he sobbed in admiration at the beast's sacrifice. "WERE YOU A MAN, I WOULD'VE ASKED YOU TO BE MY FRIEND! BUT ALAS, FATE IS CRUEL ENOUGH TO MAKE US THE MOST BITTEREST OF ENEMIES!" he then faced towards the grieving Bow Knight with a hardened expression. "YOU THERE! BATTUIAN WARRIOR! IF YOU WISH TO HONOR HIS SACRIFICE...!"

Then the Great Knight charged, [Vidofnir] in hand and pointed towards Cyrus.

"THEN FIGHT TO THE VERY END!" the Sage roared as the Battuian then rose up while drawing his [Nidhogg] bow.

Realizing that no mere arrow would penetrate Chilon's thick armor, Cyrus then opts to nock [Gradivus] onto its bowstring, pulling the polearm back as its spearhead reached its rest, imbuing the weapon with the deadliest of poisons.

"FIGHT!" Chilon roared as he approached closer. "FIIIGHHHT!"

With [Nidhogg] fully drawn all the way back, Cyrus then rushes towards the speeding Great Knight.

"OH?!" Chilon remarked, admittedly still high from the rush of facing such a great warrior despite his relatively tender age. "YOU DARE APPROACH ME?!"

"I CAN'T KILL YOU IF I CAN'T GET CLOSE TO YOU!" the Bow Knight replied with fury in his voice.

Chilon laughs at the boy's suicidal bravado. "THEN BY ALL MEANS!"

The two then met each other close enough to each others' killing ranges.

As Sage Chilon pulled his [Vidofnir] back to deliver the killing blow towards Cyrus, the latter then slides across the ground and towards underneath the horse's stamped-metal hooves as he let loose the "arrow" towards the mechanical horse's neck.

The poisoned [Gradivus] melts through the layers of plate metal and cogs as it then appeared from literally beneath the Great Knight's nose, its business end impaling itself through his head, splitting it down the middle as both him and his ride collapsed into a pile of corroded steel and melted viscera behind the Battuian Bow Knight.

"... HOW DO YOU LIKE ME NOW, MOTHERFUCKER?!" Cyrus rapturously cried out before letting out a sigh of relief and looking back at the dead Darius laid before him and the Sage's remains. "... Hold on buddy. I'll get to you soon."

Back inside the factory, the clash between Bias and Topaz concluded with the following:

Bias' [Mjölnir] all but reduced [Baselard] to melted slag... as Topaz threw it into the air to act as a lightning rod to slow the bolt's descent.

From that opening, the Espio manages to cut [Blutgang] through the Valkyrie's tome, rending it in two and across her chest, the incision being deep enough to compromise all of the latter's vital organs.

Black blood sprayed out of her wound, staining the mages of archaic text into ruin as the one-armed mutant Hassashin looked over her.

"... Don't look at me," she whimpered as tears began to fall from the Valkyrie's eyes. "... Don't look... at me..."

As Topaz then ripped off her veil to reveal her monstrous maw brimmed with rows of carnivore-like teeth, a wave of relief washed over Bias.

"... Thank goodness," she wept as the Espio opened her fanged mouth, "... it's just a bad dream-"

Sage Bias was silenced as Topaz devoured her body for its protein to replenish herself. She continued eating the body, savoring its meat while spitting out her augments like a fish's pin-bones.

After finishing her meat, Topaz then uses her [Blutgang], now nothing more than a sword made of bone with all of its Crest-related powers subsumed into her own body, cuts off her charred right arm to let the flesh wound open into the air and let the limb regrow with her nutrients. Still hungry, she then leaves the factory in search of more food.

Upon leaving, she smells fresh meat. Heading towards where the smell was coming from, she then arrives where Cyrus was at, eating the corpse of Darius raw as tears cascaded from his eyes.

"... Oh," he greeted the mutant Espio. "... It appears... I can't finish it all by myself," the mourning Bow Knight remarked. "... Would you...? Partake... in this farewell feast... with me?"

Both Topaz and Cyrus begin eating Darius in the Battu Steppe King's honor.

"... You know," spoke Cyrus as he wept and ate at the same time, "... turns out that Great Knight also called himself... 'Topaz'..."

Both share a chuckle to heal Cyrus' soul.

"... Save the head for me," requested Cyrus as he then cut the horse's head off with the edge of his pilfered [Vidofnir], both it and [Nidhogg] resonating with each other for a brief moment before their lights faded. "... I... need to bury his skull... back at Battu... he did so much for me... it's fair that I return him to his place where he called home."

Topaz nodded as she continued eating. "... We should probably look for the others..." she spoke while eating,"... after we're done eating."

Cyrus nods as the two continued their mourning ceremony for their fallen friend, who quite literally carried the Dustbin on his back since the beginning.

---

At a Village Tavern Somewhere in County Charon...

---

In a remote village bordering the mountains next to Viscounty Siward, there lies a tavern being frequented by the following people.

Farmers coming back from their fields, hunters either celebrating their kills or bemoaning their misfortune of coming back empty-handed, wary travelers resting for a bit after a long day of walking, all were welcome for a good night's worth of drink after a long day.

Sitting by the counter was none other then Byleth Eisner, her [Sword of Creator] completely obscured by being wrapped in bandages, and herself being covered in a thick, hooded cloak. The only things she had to her name was her rucksack full of her essentials and her skills in combat.

Nothing else mattered save for her getting absolutely wasted tonight.

... How many do you plan on having?! asked Sothis as she saw her host downing several pints of mead in a prolonged succession.

Not enough to dull the pain, Byleth mentally replied before gesturing for another. ... Just as long as we fade into obscurity, then everything might turn out alright.

In truth, the last thing that she had on her mind was living the rest of her days as a nameless vagrant living paycheck to paycheck (soon as she hits the red, she was in charge of the class' finances, meaning that she was sitting relatively pretty), but after being pointed out that she was being used by everyone without her knowledge since her birth, the pressure became too much to bear and Karna gave her an out that she took without thinking.

Deep down, there was a tinge of regret leaving children behind to fight a war and die, but the guilt of refusing responsibility was outweighed by her bitter resentment of her whole life being nothing more than an overly-scripted play.

Stopping thinking for a moment, she then downs another pint of mead before slamming the mug down.

"Bartender, does any of your suppliers have the means to provide the following?" asked one man as he handed the man stated behind the counter a slip of paper.

"... Give me a few," the gruff replied as he walked towards the back. "OI UGLY! I NEED YA IN THE FRONT FOR ME!"

The not-ugly-looking young man then took over the counter. "... Since you're here, do you want a drink?"

"A pint of ale," replied the man who sat next to Byleth. "Light. I'm on the move."

As the drink was placed before the man, he then sipped on his mug before setting it back down. "... You look terrible, Eisner."

But before she could defend herself, the man raises his hand.

"Peace," he remarked as he then tips off his hood for a bit, revealing himself as Aelfric, ex-Cardinal of the Church of Seiros and disgraced leader of the Abyss. "... I've not come to bring harm."

"Doin' a real good convincing me..." Byleth bitterly remarked before requesting another drink. "... You're on the run as well?"

"Let me guess, Karna?" asked the ex-Cardinal.

"What did he feed you?" asked Byleth.

The two then began sharing over their respective reasons on why they're on the run while having a few more drinks before leaving after Aelfric's request was granted.

"... Well now," Aelfric smacked his lips. "I do not envy you in the slightest."

"Tch, easy for you to say," deadpanned Byleth. "At least I only have myself to look out for. You got a whole gaggle of people to keep an eye on."

Then the two share a small chuckle. "... Well, maybe it doesn't have to be that way."

"Meaning?" asked Byleth.

"How about coming with us?" asked Aelfric. "After all, the point of the Abyss is that we take in the people that Fodlan has rejected, and we're on our way towards one of the hidden villages that only a few know."

"And the whole fact that I literally have a literal Goddess inside of me?" Byleth pointed out. "... Don't tell me you're planning to capitalize on that too."

"After hearing your story? Out of principal, oh no," Aelfric honestly replied. "... You deserve a life more than that of a vagrant's or an idol's."

Byleth was on an impasse. On one hand, she wouldn't have to worry about struggling to feed herself or run into any danger due to protection in numbers. But on the other hand, her mere presence would paint a massive target on innocent peoples' backs were she were to get involved, and while she was confident that they're formidable enough to survive encounters with bandits, against an organized army or heavens forbid, the Church comes back to take her and kill everyone out of spite, then their would be on her hands.

"... It's fine if you don't wish to join us," Aelfric pointed out. "I know that your existence is... special, in a horrible way. So, before I leave for one of our... safe spaces, I'll say this: there's more to life than just simply being on the run, hounded by those desiring your power. Find something meaningful for yourself and let no one tell you otherwise. You may have been born essentially a slave to fate, but right now? Your freedom is an opportunity to try something new. Who knows? Maybe you can be the one to control your own destiny rather than some faceless orchestrators who only assume that they have control."

Byleth smiles. "... Thanks," she remarked. "... Maybe I might come back and find you guys to settle down."

"As long as you find us, you're welcome anytime," the ex-Cardinal bowed his head before leaving. "Happy trails!"

The two of them returned to the road, with Aelfric's caravan heading further into the heart of the Kingdom of Faerghus, whereas Byleth traveled further east with the intention fo crossing into Leicester Alliance Territory.

Goin' on foot this time? asked Sothis. I mean, hitchhiking was our sole reason for making it to County Charon in record time.

Waiting for a carriage is gonna take too long for my liking, Byleth replied. ... That and mountain terrain doesn't welcome wheeled transport.

... Possibility of there being a bandit encampment? asked Sothis.

Byleth smirks. ... I'm not fighting alone, aren't I?

Sothis smirks back. ... Guess we're stuck together, she pointed out as they see the mountain tower over them. ... Partner.

---

Inside the (Empty) Parliamentary Building...

---

"YOU ARE A THOUSAND YEARS TOO EARLY TO HAVE A CHANCE AGAINST ME, KRONYA!" Thales's voice boomed through the halls in tandem with the roaring of his chain-sword.

"THAT'S A HELL OF AN EXCUSE TO DESCRIBE YOURSELF AS A GERIATRIC OLD FART NEARING SOLON'S AGE!" Tsukiko spat back as her [Muramasa] clashed against the Sage's [Ridill] while the two dueled throughout the hallways.

Exchanging sword swings in the cramped corridors of Agartha's command center, the Sage and the traitor Assassin fought each other tooth and nail while wrestling over who gains access to the launch control room.

"WHAT WILL YOU GAIN...?!" ranted Thales as he swung his motorized blade back down at Tsukiko as sparks sprayed onto both their faces. "... FROM DEFYING OUR DESTINY?!"

"DON'T GIVE ME THAT 'DESTINY' HOGWASH!" Tsukiko then pushed back the motorized blade before jumping into a wall before bouncing back and kicking the Sage across his face. She then follows it up by going for a finishing stab with her [Muramasa], but Thales nimbly rolls out its way before batting her back with the inactive [Ridill].

"ALL HISTORIES ARE NOTHING BUT MANKIND ACTING UPON THEIR RIGHTFUL DESTINY!" Thales roared as he then casted [Hades Ω] towards the Assassin, only for the latter to dodge the spell before she retaliates with another blade lock, to which the Sage reactivated the rotary blades around the weapon's edge. "METHODS AND ETHICS ARE IRRELEVANT AS LONG AS VICTORY IS ACHIEVED!"

"EVEN IF IT MEANT SPELLING GUARANTEED DOOM FOR OUR PEOPLE?!" Tsukiko refuted right as she and Thales then wrestled each other during their blade lock before ramming themselves through another door before its blast cover was shuttered from where they came in. "WHAT'S THE POINT OF WINNING IF WE AREN'T AROUND TO BE THERE FOR IT?!"

"IT IS YOUR FATHER'S FAULT THAT WE SURRENDERED OUR RIGHT TO CLAIM ABSOLUTE VICTORY OVER OUR ENEMIES!" Thales then grounds his sword against the floorboards of the room that they were in to slow the Assassin down.

Tsukiko cuts through all them with her [Muramasa] making child's play of steel plates thick as doors, but that just gave Thales enough time to run his mana through the walls and towards the connected stasis pods containing the remains of the Ten Elites.

All of them broke through their sarcophagi before every one of them rushed towards the Assassin while the Sage fled further into the room they were trapped in.

"OH LIKE HELL YOU ARE!" Tsukiko then charged towards the shambling zombies of Fodlan's greatest heroes and realizing that the distance between herself and Thales was becoming too far apart, she then drew her other sword, crackling with electricity as it was unleashed from its quartz scabbard. "GET OUT OF MY WAY YOU HAS-BEENS! HISSATSU! [RAIJINTO]-RYŪ KENJUTSU OUGI! [NARUKAMI]!"

Dragging her electric katana across the floor behind herself, Tsukiko then whips up her blade to then unleash a massive blast of lightning shaped like a roaring wyrm that devoured all that it engulfed. In a rumbling flash, all of the reanimated Ten Elites were all reduced to ash before her right as the Assassin ran past their dust.

"What the hell was all that for, Thales?!" she mocked as she sheathed her [Raijinto] back into its scabbard. "Easy mode-?!"

Then mechanical whirring sounds could be heard from further in, causing Tsukiko's eyes to widen as she then felt a surge of mana coming from further ahead, where Thales had already accomplished his current goal.

"You're right, they were absolutely nothing," Thales sneered as he now held a large purple grimoire with a golden triangle made of four separate triangles with an indecipherable text written above the symbol. "... So how about I send you playmates that are more of your weight class?"

The twelve sarcophagi numbered from "I" to "XII" all whirred to life as their coverers either opened on their own or were just ripped off from within, revealing the following within the coffins:

A short Fortress Knight armed with an ornate halberd with an especially sharp and long stinger for a point.

A minotaur-like Bow Knight armed with a large oaken bow with an extended silver grip and rest.

A grill-helmed and bare-chested Warrior armed with massive battle axe with one side of the head being larger than the other.

A doll-like female Bishop wielding a winged staff tipped with a large sapphire orb in one hand and a white tome with an eight-pointed gold star stamped onto its cover in her other.

A cyclopian Sniper with a large, orb-like eye on his head armed with a golden bow whose grip resembled flickering flames.

A lamia-like female Dark Knight clutching a large brown leathered tome with an eight-pointed thunder cross printed on its cover in her human-like hands.

A centaurian Paladin wielding a golden, trident-esque lance with a red cord hanging off of its neck.

An ungulate, green-robed Warlock with wings coming out of his back armed with a green tome inscribed with white wing-like patterns on its cover.

A petite and nimble-looking female Swordmaster slowly drew her curved blade with an axe-like crossguard embedded with a red gem from its scabbard.

An Agarthan-styled Dark Bishop clutching a purple-covered grimoire whose inscriptions looked as if belonged on a tombstone.

A Valkyrie with a tail-like protrusion coming from her back holding onto a deep-crimson-colored tome with a stylized white cross-like patter on its cover.

And a portly-looking Assassin covered in a royal treasury's worth of bling from head to toe, armed with a cobalt-colored sword fit for a king.

"And to think all they costed were about four [Brahmastra]'s worth of mana to get them running..." snickered Thales as he then removed his tome from the console connected to the emptied coffins. "Behold, the Grimleal's secret weapons, and the champions of the Dark Dragon God Loptous that we've tamed and modified to our visions! The Deadlords!"

"Seriously?!" Tsukiko sweatdropped in both shock and morose amusement. "Raising the dead wasn't enough, so you literally had to cook up literal monsters based off of their own names?! ARE YOU BLIND TO THE IRONY THAT YOU'RE ACTING LIKE THE VERY DRAGONS THAT YOU DESPISE?!"

Thales ignored her claims as he then issued commands to his strongest minions. "Kill that bitch."

The Deadlords, unlike the hastily-prepared zombies of the Ten Elites, got into their formations while using their warped physiology to their advantage. Mus, Tigris, Equus, Simia, and Porcus took front. Bovis, Anguilla, and Canis all moved towards asymmetrical areas. And protecting Thales was Lepus, Draco, Ovis, and Gallus, all ready to provide supporting fire with their spells and arrows.

First, the Swordmaster and the Assassin rushed forth, swinging their [Balmung] and [Regal Sword] respectively against Tsukiko's [Muramasa]. Then following up, Equus charged with his [Gungnir] lance, forcing her to break off of her engagement to avoid being impaled. Then during her retreat, the Assassin was then shot by Bovis' [Double Bow] that fired multiple arrows at once, to which she deflected all with her crimson blade right before dodging the Swordmaster and Assassin's swings, now supplemented with Anguilla and Canis' [Rexbolt] and [Valflame], thunder and fire exploding throughout the room and leaving Tsukiko less room to dodge.

"Crapbaskets, this is getting out of hand...!" muttered Tsukiko before she dodged a flaming arrow shot from Draco's [Yewfelle] before she was then jumped by Tigris and his [Helswath] axe, dodging the crushing blow from the feral Warrior before he then joined Simia and Porcus in their pursuit for her head. "... SCREW THIS!"

She then retaliates by redrawing her [Raijinto], now wielding in tandem with her [Muramasa], pushing back against the three close-range combatants before grinding the former's edge against the latter's, generating a spark from the legendary katana.

"HISSATSU!" the Assassin declared as she then swung her katanas in arcs surrounding herself before dragging both of them behind her and whipping them forth. "[RAIJINTO]-RYŪ KENJUTSU OUGI! [NARUKAMI]!"

This time, with the aid of her [Muramasa] as her additional conductor, the singular electric wyrm doubled in quantity and quality. The pair of lightning dragons then all snaked towards the nearest Deadlords, electrocuting them upon being devoured by their bright maws, taking out Tigris, Equus, Simia, and Porcus. Then the double dragon constructs made their way towards the rearguard, but Mus, Bovis, and Canis all shielded the rest of their peers with their own bodies, holding out enough until all three of them were expired.

"EAT IT, THALES!" boasted Tsukiko. "I HALVED YOUR LEGION!"

The Sage snickers at her. "... Math was never your strong suit."

Lepus then begins murmuring her incantation with her [Latona] and [Ivaldi] as her conduits. "... [Resurrection]."

Then a bright light cascades from above, causing the fallen Deadlords to pick themselves back up along with their weapons.

"OH THAT IS JUST BULL!" Tsukiko pointed out while then dodging Mus' thrown [Wishblade] before it was returned to the Fortress Knight's hand via magnetism.

"Try again," mocked Thales as he signaled the Deadlords to resume their attack on the traitor.

The Assassin was now pushed back onto the retreat, now Ovis and Gallus casting both [Forseti] and [Gespenst] respectively, blasting a surging stream of divine wind and raining infernal thunder at Tsukiko while she was being pursued by Bovis and Draco's suppressing fire.

"Alright, you fuckers wanna play hardball?!" growled the Assassin as she then sheaths both of her katanas before taking out a small baton-like device with a deep blue-colored grip and crowned with a pair of golden bird's wings in its golden pommels.

Then the device telescopes outwards from both ends into curved, ivory-colored rod-like sections before a string of magic connected the two parallel ends together. Tsukiko then pulls the string back as an arrow of wind was formed upon her draw.

"The [Raijinto] and the [Fujin Yumi]..." growled Thales. "... Who are you to judge me for being like a Dragon when you have the blood of our enemies in your veins?!"

"They did nothing for me," Tsukiko growled as she aimed true towards her target. "NOW EAT SHIT! HISSATSU! [FUJIN YUMI]-RYŪ KYŪJUTSU OUGI! [TATSUMAKI]!"

The arrow of wind was let loose right it then transformed into a spiraling stream of titanic wind wyrms numbering in three, coiling around each others' bodies as they blew away the Deadlords' melee combatants along with their ranged combatants that got too close to them as they made their way towards the rearguard.

Ovis and Gallus tried to counteract the draconic arrow shot with their spells, but the dragons easily overwhelmed them before they were subsequently devoured. In a last ditch effort, both Mus and Equus tried to shield Lepus with their bodies, but their efforts were to be in vain, since the only thing they accomplished with their sacrifices was earning front-row seats to their Bishop's demise along with their own.

Thales then ducked behind the sarcophagi as shielding before the Combat Art was dissipating, now looking upon the sheer ruin left behind its wake.

Tsukiko smiled at her reversal of fortunes as she put her [Fujin Yumi] away in its compacted form. "... Oh I'm sorry, did I just halve your legion AGAIN?!"

Thales growled as he crawled out of his cover. "... You still suck at arithmetic, Kronya."

"THEN LET'S COUNT EM DOWN TO ZERO!" howled the Assassin as she now then drew her [Muramasa] before speeding towards the staggering Canis. "SEVEN!"

The Valkyrie with the tail was stabbed into her chest before the crimson blade was ripped out of her side. Tsukiko then spots the half-dead Ovis missing half of his lower body, trying to reach of the fallen Bishop's stuff in hopes of casting [Resurrection] once again, but she then throws her [Muramasa] into its head.

"Six," then from the corner of her eye, she spots Bovis and Draco aiming potshots at her, for which she then drew her [Raijinto] and swung an arc of lightning towards them while dodging their arrows from where she was prone. "Five. Four."

Tigris then leapt at her with his [Helswath] raised over his head before smashing the brutal-looking axe down at her, only for the swing to miss entirely as Tsukiko decapitated the Warrior from where he landed.

"Three," then she moved out of the way of Anguilla's [Rexbolt] spell from above and retrieved her [Muramasa] from Ovis' corpse before then cutting down the supports of the rafters where the serpentine Dark Knight was hanging her tail from, causing her to fall before the Assassin's feet before her head was stabbed through her helmet by the crimson blade. "Two."

Then the Assassin turns her head to spot Simia and Porcus, now the last of the two Deadlords. In a sign of respect towards the swordsmen, Tsukiko then bears both her legendary katanas towards the surviving pair. "Come."

The Swordmaster and the Assassin both moved in a blink, the former taking initiative by swinging her [Balmung] towards Tsukiko's midsection, forcing her to block the swing with her [Raijinto] as the portly Assassin jumped towards the traitor Agarthan with his drawn [Regal Blade] using his fellow Deadlord as a jumping-off point.

With her free hand, Tsukiko then swings her [Muramasa] at the fat Assassin while emitting a nasty shocking current through her [Raijinto]'s edge, electrocuting the Swordmaster through her own [Balmung] and causing her to slouch from her stagger, causing the Deadlord Assassin to lose his footing, lowering his neck enough to allow [Muramasa] to decapitated him before he could make his attempt at Tsukiko's life.

"One," the headless Assassin then falls behind Tsukiko as then pushes her [Raijinto] through Simia's [Balmung], snapping the blade in two and slashing through the Swordmaster's torso with an upwards cross-cut.

The last of the Deadlords fall before Tsukiko's feet.

"Zero," she then looked back where Thales was at, only for him to be scarce from her presence. "... You fucking coward!" she then rushes towards where he might've gone. "Get your ass back here-!"

But just before she spotted the open door and planned to enter it, Tsukiko dodged a chain-blade lashed out from the dark via limboing under it, sliding on her knees before getting up and resuming her sprint towards where the whip had come from, before the lash was then recalled back towards where it had come from, forcing Tsukiko to block the sneak attack with her [Muramasa] raised towards her head to block the blade whip.

"Didn't take you that much convincing, didn't it?" snarked Thales as he then shuts the blast doors behind the Assassin, now dual-wielding both his [Ridill] and the dark copy of the [Sword of the Creator]. "... To think you'd push me this far."

"... Okay, before we start, I have to ask," the Assassin spoke. "... How the fuck did you get your hands another [Sword of the Creator]?! Isn't like that thing... I dunno, requires the power of the Goddess herself to be usable?!"

Thales then laughs. "You mean this?!" he then flashes the [Crest of Flames] and the [Crest of Ernest] from both of his hands, both resonating with his [Dark Creator Sword]. "Nemesis went above and beyond the call of duty by bringing her entire corpse to us! He was certainly more useful of a pawn than you could've ever been! It is thanks to him that we've acquired the [Thorn Dragon Sign] and the [Prime Dragon Sign]!"

Tsukiko growls. "Bite me."

The two then resume their duel of blades, Thales' [Ridill] and [Dark Creator Sword] clashing against Tsukiko's [Muramasa] and [Raijinto] respectively.

"DON'T YOU DARE ASSUME THAT YOUR TRICKS WILL WORK ON ME!" the Sage roared as he pressed against the Assassin's blades. "BONES CAN'T CONDUCT ELECTRICITY! AND [RIDILL] MADE OF CONDUCT ENERGY WITHOUT HARMING ME!"

"I'LL JUST GUT YOU INSTEAD!" roared the Assassin as she pushed back harder.

During their struggle, neither side removed their blade from the other's, crashing through several tables and knocking down various lab equipment. Trying to break the stalemate, both Tsukiko and Thales kick each other at the same time, knocking both of them away from each other at the same time, with Thales' head being pelted with several notebooks from the shelf he'd knocked down, while Tsukiko's head crashed into a panel with a button on it.

Upon the button being pressed, the room slightly rumbled before a tank containing an albino young male in simple white robes, floating within the container's blue-hued liquid with a mask connected to an elastic tube over his mouth.

"Who the fuck is that guy?!" asked the Assassin.

"That 'guy' you speak of is the true leader of Agartha!" Thales snarled as he shook the fallen books off of himself. "Show reverence to Oracle Epimenides, you cretin!"

"I DON'T EVEN KNOW THAT GUY!" Tsukiko pointed out, which caused the Sage to smirk.

"... Guess you don't remember everything, don't you?" he taunted as the Sage then lashed out his [Dark Creator Sword] at the Assassin, who dodged the attack as she then ran towards Thales.

The two then resume their duel before an audience of one comatose person.

"EPIMENIDES CONTINUED THE FIGHT WHEREAS YOUR FATHER FELL SHORT!" Thales revealed as he pressed down against Tsukiko's blades with his own. "HE TRULY CARED FOR OUR PEOPLE! HE CHOSE TO AVENGE OUR FALLEN! HE STAYED WHEREAS YOUR FATHER RAN LIKE THE SPINELESS COWARD THAT HE IS!"

"SO CHOOSING TO ADMIT THAT WE OVEREXTENDED IS COWARDICE?!" the Assassin pointed out. "HE KNEW THAT THE WAR BETWEEN US AND THE DRAGONS WERE A LOST CAUSE WHEN WE REDUCED EACH OTHERS' NUMBERS TO SO FEW! ONE-HUNDRED AND EIGHT OF US AGAINST TWENTY-TWO OF THEM WAS GOING TO RESULT IN BOTH OF US WIPING EACH OTHER OFF THE FACE OF THIS WORLD! THAT'S NOT A WAR! IT'S MUTUAL DEATH MARCH!"

"IT IS A WAR!" Thales roared back as the blade of his [Ridill] spun around faster. "A RIGHTEOUS WAR THAT WE MUST WIN AT ALL COSTS! A HOLY WAR WHERE WE'RE MEANT TO KEEP FIGHTING TO AVENGE OUR FALLEN! OUR LIVES DON'T MATTER IN THE FACE OF DRAGONS! IT DOESN'T MATTER TO THE FACE OF THIS WORLD THAT WE'VE ENDED UP IN! WE WERE ALL READY TO FACE OUR DEATHS IN SPITE OF OBLIVION KNOCKING AT OUR DOORS! WE WERE READY TO LAY DOWN OUR LIVES FOR OUR CAUSE IF IT MEANT THAT THERE ARE TO BE LESS DRAGONS CRAWLING ABOUT THROUGHOUT THIS DEMENTED MULTIVERSE!"

"ARE YOU LISTENING TO YOURSELF?!" Tsukiko spat back as her [Muramasa] grinded against the spinning [Ridill] while she kept the [Dark Creator Sword] in a lockdown with her [Raijinto]. "WHAT IS THE POINT OF AGARTHA IF WE DIE KILLING DRAGONS WHEN THERE COULD BE COUNTLESS MORE THROUGHOUT CREATION?! WHAT IS THE POINT OF BEING A MARTYR WHEN NO ONE WILL TAKE UP OUR IDEALS IN OUR PLACE?! ARE YOU SAYING THAT IT IS JUST TO LET OUR DREAMS DIE WITH US?!"

"IF IT MEANS THAT THIS FUCKING CONTINENT CONTAMINATED BY THAT GODDESS' TAINT AND HER SPAWN ENDS UP AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS WORLD'S WATERS IN THE DEEPES ABYSS, THEN YES!" the Sage refuted even harder, his [Dark Creator Sword] glowing hot-red. "WE CHOOSE A GLORIOUS DEATH OVER A SHAMEFUL EXISTENCE!"

"THEN YOU ARE ALL A BUNCH OF SUICIDAL MORONS!" Tsukiko then released her [Raijinto]'s powers in close proximity towards Thales' [Dark Creator Sword]. "BATTLES ARE MEANT TO BE FOUGHT AND WON! TO DIE IS THE ULTIMATE FORM OF SUBMISSION! NO WONDER THAT YOU BRAINWASHED ME INTO YOUR CAUSE! EVEN I FIND YOU GUYS TO BE DEMENTED BEYOND ALL REASON! ANY SANE PERSON WOULD'VE CALLED YOU OUT FOR BEING MAD BEYOND ALL LOGIC!"

"SO WHAT IF I AM MAD?!" the Sage then reversed his rotation of his [Ridill]'s blade belt, the sudden shift causing the blade lock to then turn in his favor. "WE'VE ALL GONE MAD BECAUSE OF YOUR FATHER'S STUPIDITY! WHEN HE TOLD US TO STOP FIGHTING WHILE THE RAGE OF OUR FALLEN WAS STILL BURNING IN OUR HEARTS, WHAT ELSE CAN WE FEEL BUT BETRAYAL?! DOES THE LIVES HE'D CORRALLED INTO AGARTHA MEAN ANYTHING TO HIM?! ARE WE JUST PAWNS TO A BIGGER GAME?!"

"Takes one to finally know one, asshole!" snarled the Assassin as she then pushed herself back up to Thales' eye level. "... Tou-san cared for you guys more than anyone else in the whole wide world! He stopped... because he didn't want to see any more of his friends die!"

"WELL GOOD FOR HIM!" the Sage rebuffed as he then smashed his own head into Tsukiko's. Upon her stumbling back, Thales then ditches his swords before tackling her down to the ground, and grabbed her by the throat to choke the life out of her.

Tsukiko resisted, her fingers prying into the Sage's fingers.

"... We all die someday," Thales remarked. "... I knew that before I joined your father's mad crusade against those who walked over us like ants. I knew ever since the first when I picked up my first weapon when I was but a lad. The moment we choose to kill, the value of our lives plummeted that dirt held more worth! I saw everything while you were still a baby, Kronya!"

Thales then began wrapping his hands around Tsukiko's neck even tighter.

"I SAW THOUSANDS OF INNOCENTS DIE WITH STUPID SMILES ON THEIR FACES! I SAW THE HEAVENS BE BLOTTED OUT IN ETERNAL DARKNESS! I SAW THE FELL DRAGON GRIMA DEVOUR THE VERY CONCEPT OF 'HOPE' BEFORE MY EYES WITH HIS MERE PRESENCE!" ranted the Sage. "I SAW MY ORIGINAL FRIENDS AND FAMILY BECOME PART OF THAT MONSTER'S UNDEAD THRALL! I DIRTIED MY HANDS OF THEIR BLOOD OF HAVING TO PUT THEM DOWN OVER AND OVER AND OVER! AND EVEN AFTER WE LAID THAT SNAKE LOW, THE NIGHTMARES OF THE FALLEN STILL HAUNTS ME TO THIS DAY! I CANNOT STOP UNLESS THEIR CRIES FOR RETRIBUTION ARE ANSWERED! AND ANYONE WHO DENIES US OF OUR VENGEANCE SHALL BE ERASED!"

The Assassin chokes as she continues to resist. "... How selfish... are you?!"

"YOU DARE ACCUSE ME OF BEING SELFISH?!" roared Thales as his grip around Tsukiko's throat tightened further. "EVEN AFTER EVERYTHING I'VE DONE FOR AGARTHA?!"

Tsukiko's eyes glared at the Sage's blank pair. "... Yes...! ... I...! DO!"

With the last of her hysterical strength, Tsukiko then knees the Sage's crotch, caving in his testicles through his codpiece, causing him to wheeze like a stricken pig before he was then thrown off by the Assassin.

"... Yeah, we're fucking vindictive," Tsukiko heaved out as she picked up her [Raijinto] and [Muramasa] from the floor while the Sage struggled to get up. "... We're so full of hate against those we slay... that we became blind to our original objective."

"... We continue the work... to slay those the ones calling themselves gods..." Thales heaved out as he picked up his [Dark Creator Sword]. "... What else... is more important?!"

The Assassin shakes her head. "... Forget it," she then points her blade towards the albino youth inside the tank. "You don't deserve to know the truth anymore."

In a single thrust, the glass is then breached by her [Muramasa] and its crimson blade impaling through Epimenides' heart. All of the monitors connected to the youth flatlines as the blue liquid within the tank begins to leak out as it was dyed red with the boy's own blood.

"NOOOOOOO!" Thales roared out as he then whipped out his [Dark Creator Sword] towards Tsukiko.

She dodges the fiery arc as the whip sword then shatters the rest of the tank, spilling Epimenides out of his resting place along with the preserving fluids keeping him floating inside the tank.

"You worship this twerp as if he were a god," Tsukiko pointed out. "... Tou-san was right. Agartha has become its own antithesis."

"I'LL KILL YOU!" the Sage roared, dragging his [Dark Creator Sword[ across the floor. "THEN I'LL KILL YOUR FRIENDS, YOUR FATHER, ALL OF FODLAN, THIS WHOLE WORLD, AND THEN MYSELF! AGARTHA SHALL END ON MY TERMS!"

But just as he can approach her, Tsukiko, then dips her [Raijinto] onto the spilled puddle that the Sage was stepping on, causing it to be electrocuted where he set his feet upon.

"Spoken like a true cad," smirked Tsukiko as she then ripped the tome out of the console connected to the tank. "... Guess you never kicked your Grimleal habit."

Thales then shakes off his electrocution before approaching Tsukiko with suicidal fury. For now, the Assassin opts to retreat to catch her breath while snatching a few more things around the room.

She manages to take a [Master Seal] from one of the shelves before she then reached out towards an axe-like weapon made of bones akin to a Heroes' Relic, but it was denied by the Sage's own Relic whipping its blade before her fingers.

"Welp, time to go," the Assassin then opts to retreat from Thales as he then begun his blind rampage throughout the rooms that they traversed throughout their duel, with him blindly swinging his [Dark Creator Sword] in vain attempts of killing the traitor for her actions.

This inadvertently causes the rafters above their heads to collapse upon Thales due to his reckless swinging of his own weapon cutting down all of the supports.

"That'll buy about... a half a minute," Tsukiko then looked around the corpses of the twelve Deadlords and picked out [Rexbolt] and [Gespenst] from the Dark Knight and Dark Bishop. "... Better not linger."

Right on cue, Thales excavates himself out of his own trap before pursuing the Assassin. "I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU, YOU BITCH!"

Tsukiko was then blocked off by the blast door before her right as the tip of the [Dark Creator Sword] buried itself next to her face from behind.

"... No escape," cackled the now-maddened Sage as his Relic retracted back to its original length. "... You'll die here... and I'll be sure to go AFTER YOUR FRIENDS NEXT!"

Just as Thales could swing his [Dark Creator Sword] towards the Assassin, Tsukiko runs towards the Sage without fear, dodging his swing as her hand then reached for her stolen [Master Seal] and raised it before the Sage's face.

"Don't blink," said Tsukiko as the golden cage containing a rubicund orb within then emitted a blinding flash into his eyes.

The Sage was then blown back by the sudden brilliance as the light then converged into Tsukiko's form. Her modest garb fit for an assailant now became a flowing robe with oversized sleeves laid with overlaid plate armor around her waist and chest akin to that of a Hoshidan Samurai, with her pants were baggy yet tight around her waist and ankles, giving her thighs an inflated appearance. Her twin katanas and compact bow were all strapped around her back, her collection of tomes ([Rexbolt], [Gespenst], and Thales' tome) were sheathed around the sides of her waists, and strapped around the side of her head was a white, gold-horned mask with an expression that seemed to be a mix of scorn and malice.

Tsukiko Kirigakure has now promoted form an Assassin into a Mortal Savant. But just before she could try out her new powers, Thales uses his [Dark Creator Sword] to sneak an attack at her, allowing him to retrieve his own grimoire back into his possession.

"Have to ask before I gut you, but did you deliberately put me in an outfit that can best be described as a cross between a court jester and a high-end prostitute while I was brainwashed for any apparent reasons beyond just for kicks?" asked Tsukiko.

Thales looked towards the side. "... It was Bias' idea."

Both sides then opened their tomes immediately after that small exchange and began clashing spells against each others'.

"[GESPENST]!" Tsukiko then blasted a row of dark lightning towards the Sage.

"[GOETIA]!" Thales also fired dark lightning from his hands, causing both streams of Dark Magic to collide against one another.

Both spells then exploded, to which Tsukiko then casts [Rexbolt] behind herself to propel towards Thales with the blast. The Sage retaliates by swinging his [Dark Creator Sword] towards the airborne Mortal Savant, to which she parries the blade whip with the swing of her [Raijinto] while bringing out her [Fujin Yumi].

"HERE'S AN EXTRA-SPECIAL OUGI JUST FOR YOU, THALES!" Tsukiko declared as she then ground the electric katana's blade against the bow's grip, drawing an ignited bowstring now forming an arrow made of combusted air set alight. "HISSATSU! [RAIJINTO] & [FUJIN YUMI] COMPOUND COMBAT ART! [HINOKAGUTSUCHI]!"

From the ignited bowstrings of [Fujin Yumi], she then lets loose the flaming arrow that then turned into a phoenix, soaring its fiery avian form towards Thales with flames bright and large enough to engulf him whole and then some.

"I WILL NOT BE DENIED OF MY VENGEANCE!" the Sage then taps into his artificial [Crest of Flames] and [Crest of Ernest] to push his [Dark Creator Sword] beyond its limits. "THIS IS THE POWER THAT SHALL FELL THE GODDESS! COMBAT ART! [HEAVEN'S FALL]!"

The segments of the extended whip-sword Relic each then sets itself ablaze, turning the weapon into an infernal flail that then wrangled the phoenix shot out of the air before it then ripped the fiery bird apart into pieces before the clash then exploded, filling the whole room up with thick gray smoke.

"YOUR FINAL GAMBIT WAS USELESS IN THE END!" cackled Thales upon spotting [Raijinto] and [Fujin Yumi] no longer in their wielder's hands. "VICTORY IS MINE-!"

But then a creeping sensation of dread was felt by Thales as a faint crimson gleam shone through the thick fog. Then just before Thales could even fathom what was happening, Tsukiko had already closed the gap.

"... [Muramasa]-ryū Kenjutsu Ougi," the Mortal Savant stoically declared as her crimson blade was released from its scabbard, the sanguine edge crackling with red sparks across its curved length as it was unleashed. "... [Fushigiri]."

The whole room was then overtaken with an engulfing red flash that only left solid black silhouettes in the backdrop. And in that moment, Tsukiko's [Muramasa] decapitates Thales' head along with cutting through the blast doors and the surrounding walls across its horizons, leaving a massive, singular gash around the whole area that they were in.

"Once again..." recited Tsukimi as she slowly sheathed her [Muramasa] back into its scabbard as the headless Sage fell cold to the ground, "... I've cut down another worthless object."

As she then goes to retrieve her [Raijinto] and [Fujin Yumi], a sudden and harrowing reminder that flashed from the very deepest recesses of her brain.

"OH FUCK! THE [BRAHMASTRA]!" she cried out as she then hastily cut off Thales' hand before digging through his body and pulling out a master keycard and making her way back to the launch control room.

Kicking down the cut blast doors, Tsukiko then ran as if her life depended on it, desperately looking for the blast door that she was denied access towards prior towards her duel.

She then finds it, and unleashes [Fushigiri] onto the steel barrier to make her way inside...

"... No!"

... Only to find out that the countdown had just hit zero from the moment she'd entered. Dropping onto her knees in despair, fear then overtook the Mortal Savant's heart as [Brahmastra] launched towards its coordinates.

Garreg Mach Monastery.

"TOU-SAN!"

---

Back Below the (Sealed) Holy Mausoleum...

---

Normally, even during the utmost of apex of madness and bloodlust, a human was still a human.

As fights continue to persist, the overall performance should decline on the account of mounting injuries and fatigue. At some point, there comes a time when the fight has to come to a stop.

That wasn't the case when it came to the fight between Seiros and Karna.

Rather than continue their physical decline from all the wounds and injuries they've sustained from each others' brutalities, they instead steered hard towards the opposite direction, speeding up and boosting their performance with each passing moment, continuing to fight even after forcing their injuries back in place.

They were now entering a realm beyond insanity. They were nothing more than devils whose human-like skins were slowly slipping away. First they fought with weapons, then they were fighting with controlled marital arts, and now they were doing nothing but biting and clawing at each other like wild animals.

"GARGH! YOU BIT ME!" Karna then smashed his head against's Seiros' to stun her before delivering a palm strike across her jaw to dislodge it from its hinges, releasing his arm from her sharp teeth.

The saint pushes her jaw back into place with an audible crack coming from her face just as Karna then slammed his heel down upon her compromised shoulder. She immediately retaliates by grabbing him by his leg and while she was about to slam his face back to the ground, her fingers were then kicked in by Karna's other leg, resulting in her letting him go mid-swing, instead throwing him back to where his khukuri knife was planted at.

Karna cackles as he then retrieved his weapon before bursting out into mad laughter while running towards the saint. Seiros then with her sole good arm left, casts [Fire] before crushing the fireball in her hand and throws the embers at Karna's face, blinding him for a few seconds as she then delivers an uppercut aimed towards his head.

Through the smoke, Karna's khukuri then hacks its blade across her chest, splashing an ichor of bright green across his face Serios' fist instead struck his armpit, dislodging the shoulder bone above it.

"Both of them are down to using only one of their arms...!" Dimitri commented.

"And... you're right," sighed Lorenz before looking at Jeralt. "... She does bleed green."

The Blade Break grimaces. "... We've all lost it. I get it," he groaned as he then reached for his flask, only for him to find that it's not on his person before he then sees Karna disinfecting his bite wound on his arm with the Paladin's booze. "... Fucking prick."

The traitor professor then tosses the emptied flask aside before approaching Seiros and then breaking into a sprint.

However, just before he could lacerate her with his knife, Seiros then picks up a rock and smashes it against his temple, knocking him down and allowing the saint to mount her.

"YOU! RUINED! EVERYTHING!" the saint's fists punctuated with each blow struck upon the man. "IF IT WEREN'T! FOR YOU! THEN MOTHER! WOULD'VE BEEN REVIVED!"

But just as Seiros can hammer both of her fists down onto Karna's face, the latter catches the pair with his own hands.

"... Poor little puppet," snickered Karna as he pushed back against the saint's fists "... To delude yourself... to that extent... that you assume... that everything you do... is within your control."

Karna then pulls Seiros in before constricting his arms and legs around Serios' joints and neck into an anaconda vice.

"So the little puppet... still thinks she's the puppet master..." Karna mocked as he whispered into her ear. "... Here's a sage advice, just for you: check yourself before you wreck yourself."

Seiros then overpowers his submission hold before pulling him down into a cross-arm bar. "I KNOW MY PLACE!" she declared while pulling onto his arm like an over cranked lever. "THIS IS WHAT'S BEST FOR FODLAN-!"

Karna then proceeds to dislocate his own grabbed shoulder to free himself and then use his legs to then lock both of her shoulders and raise her arms up against her will.

"So really, the whole 'revive the Goddess'-plan," scolded Karna, "... is this really your idea or you aping off of someone else's?"

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!" Seiros then digs her clawed fingers into his thighs to get him to release her, but just as the two broke off from each other, Karna kicks dirt into her eyes before dropkicking her onto the saint's face.

"The thing about children... is that the only thing they're good at are emulating their parental figure," he answered before jumping up and slamming both of his knees into her chest wound, causing her scream in pain before Karna chokes her out by slamming his forearm against her throat and pressing it down against it. "... Grow up, you big baby. Stop pretending to be an adult while you're still dictated by your mommy issues!"

Seiros then grabs Karna by his vest and pulling him towards her own head, smashing it against his face to stun him long enough for her to throw him off of her and then send him flying with a roundhouse kick to his side.

Both sides were now on the brink of collapse, only fueled by their perpetual madness and spite towards each other.

The spectators within the cage felt nothing but horror at the sight of how far those two were taking this confrontation. They've inflicted enough wounds and injuries towards each other to kill a normal man a thousand time over. They have lost enough blood that mosquitos had enough to feast upon until the whole species suffered morbid obesity. They broken, dislocated, and dislodged enough bones to donate several whole skeletons' worth to scientific circles as models.

"I can... empathize hate... being a powerful motivator..." Dimitri commented. "... But this... is just... mad. They're mad, pure and simple!"

"Preach it to the choir..." sighed Lorenz. "... They weren't human to begin with."

"Saves me explaining everything," muttered Jeralt. "... Criminy, I am too sober for this shit."

Edelgard was completely speechless at the horror before her. A mad adherent of the Goddess who's done nothing for her people against the devil who only seeks ruin for all.

"... Stop it."

Both sides then sprinted towards each other.

"... Stop it."

In Seiros' mind, she saw that Karna was running in a slouched pattern, his arms dangling before him with his eyes locked onto her. Is he going to throw a punch or a kick? Is he going to set up for a combo or a grapple? Is planning to dodge or slip a counterattack at her?

Only one solution was available: hit him first.

"... Stop it."

Seiros' fist then flashed towards Karna in a hazy blur, but just before the jab can strike his face, Karna then grabbed her jab, turned his back around, and flips the saint over his body, slamming her back onto the earth, knocking the air out of her lungs as she spat out blood.

"Stop it."

Wasting no time, Karna then body-slams her with his chest and belly onto her torso, squeezing more air out of her body before quickly grabbing her arms around her body into a bear hug. He then lifts her up aloft like a giant stuffed animal, and then jumps high into the air with the saint around his arms.

"... Stop it!"

Upon reaching the peak of the jump, Karna then leans himself and Seiros back, now with both her and his heads pointed towards the ground upon their descent. As they both fell headfirst, Karna then begins spinning around like a spiral, accelerating their drop rate to meteoric pace.

"STOP IT!" Edelgard screamed.

"KIRIGAKURE-RYŪ TAIJUTSU OUGI!" declared Karna as he and Seiros spun down towards the ground. "IZUNA OTOSHI!"

Lifting Seiros' head above his own height before they land, Karna plants the saint's head and body into the dirt with a crushing landing that blasted a spire of dust upon its area of impact, cratering the ground where the two have ended up at.

"You are grounded, young lady!" Karna cackled as he then kicked some dirt towards Seiros' direction while emerging from the crater.

"... Please... stop it," Edelgard began weeping. "... It's... too much."

"Aw, poor little Edie can't take being a warmonger anymore?" mocked Karna before he then kicked her in the ribs, bending the armor plating with his toes. "Well, I guess it's made clear that forward thinking isn't your strong suit, AINNIT?!"

"EDELGARD!" Dimitri then ran towards where both she and Karna were at, only for the latter of the pair to then blast him with [Hades Ω], knocking him back to where he was at prior.

"Do not interrupt," Karna faux-scolded. "I'm disciplining a brat over here. Your guys' turns will come soon after." He then looked back down at Edelgard, whose eyes were filled with fear as she saw her former tormentor no longer hidden behind the mask. "... Now then, what part of you should I break first? Your body, or your spirit? I'll let you choose which one."

She tried to give a satisfactory answer, but nothing came out of her mouth.

Edelgard's very soul had now accepted that she was a child before this devil of a man. Nothing had changed for the past ten years save for the fact that she'd deluded herself into thinking otherwise.

Tears began to cascade from her eyes as fear clutched her heart in a death-grip.

"... And spirit it is!" Karna then raises his foot up and aimed his sole towards Edelgard's head. "... Send my regards to that old fart in the afterlife-"

Then suddenly, the caved-in exit then explodes open, bringing light and fresh air back into the depths once more.

"YOUR HIGHNESS!" Count Leopold roared out, ignoring the wave of rats and roaches surrounding everyone. "HOLD ON! WE'RE COMING!"

Then both the Adrestian and the Church forces all flood into the Holy Mausoleum to rescue their companions.

"YOUR HOLINESS!" Cyril cried out as he then ran to look for her. "BACK YOU VERMIN! I'VE DEALT WITH MORE THAN ENOUGH OF YOU!"

"I SEE HER!" Catherine then pointed towards inside the thorny cage. "SHE'S IN THERE WITH KARNA... AND SHE'S DOWN?!"

"GET THESE RATS OFF OF MEEEEEE!" screeched Count Varley while he was pelted by roaches while being covered head to toe with rats.

The Death Knight then swings his [Crescent Sickle] towards the briars to make an opening, only for the weapon to snap in two upon impact. "FUCK!"

"STAND BACK!" Count Bergliez then straps on his [Járngreipr] gauntlets before banging them together. "I'M COMING IN!"

The War Master then lets out a bellowing roar as both of his Relics glowed while unleashing their Combat Art.

"[HARDHUGADR]!" the Count's fists then break through the [Black Briar T+] with ease. "HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT, YOU CREEP?!"

"IT'S OPEN!" Alois then raised his [Brave Axe]. "EVERYONE! CHARGE-!"

But just before their counteroffensive could be undertaken, the whole of Garreg Mach suddenly tremors, causing everyone to stop what they were doing.

"... What was that?" asked Gilbert.

But just as anyone could give their guess, Karna then beings laughing madly at their befuddlement.

"... Well, I've heard of enough of him to know that's a bad sign!" Count Varley pointed out as the rats began to run out towards the exit of the mausoleum. "Smell you later, suckers!"

The cowardly Bishop then casts [Warp] onto himself to escape the battlefield before either Leopold or the Death Knight can get to him.

"... WHAT'S SO FUNNY?!" asked Hanneman.

Karna's laughter ceases as he then slouches down before looking back up to the rest of them, his eyes bulging out like an insect's, twitching and pulsating as if he couldn't hold in any more laughter in his mouth anymore.

"... You schmucks fell for it again," sneered Karna. "Pop quiz: what does it usually mean when rats GTFO from their current location?"

"It usually means that the ship is... sinking..." Manuela pales as she then looked down at where she stood. "... Garreg Mach is sinking?"

And right on cue, another tremor rocks the whole place as the elevation of the very area that they were at suddenly began to feel like a lowering shaft of an elevator used in Mittlefrank Opera Company's more elaborate stages.

"Let me explain!" Karna began to clarify. "You see, my [Black Briar T+] spell doesn't just gain its durability from absorbing local leylines, but they also serve as tools to feel out and as direct siphons into said leylines to fuel up my own mana reserves. For the latter, I was using it to keep my tank full so I can sustain myself while wasting the Archbishop for long enough... to complete what the former was set out to do."

Then something touches Pit's heel. "... Did someone spill ink-?!" then he saw a massive stream of black-colored water trickling in from atop of the stairs. "WHAT THE FAERGHUSIAN TOAST?!"

Karna laughs before resuming his explanation. "... Well, I kinda found Agartha's massive teleportation array around the damn ingle that this place was sitting atop of! Methinks that it was planned to be used for their drop operations, but that's besides the point." he revealed. "So I'd figured, why let a good thing go to waste? Laymen's terms, I've gathered enough mana during my fight with the Archbishop and while fighting, I set up a trap that can only be triggered by someone being strong enough to break through my barricades."

Leopold von Bergliez's eyes widened upon the revelation that even his involvement was part of his madman's plan all along. "... You sneaky cur!"

"Thank you for the compliment," Karna faux-bowed. "So yeah. Garreg Mach is sinking, but not into your typical sinkhole... but more akin Agartha's most power Dark Magic spell in their repertoire: the power to open spatial gaps leading into dimensional voids."

Seiros then pulls her upper body out of the dirt quickly enough to hear the last part of his proclamation. "... [Zahras]!"

The smirk on Karna's face was now nothing more than a pitch-black crescent worn by none other than the herald of this world's death itself.

"... Let's play a new game," the devil sneered. "... It's called 'The Floor is Lava'."

Then the dark trickle coming from the exit the suddenly surges into a black flood, crushing everyone caught under in its wake to be bogged down by the viscous tide that felt like swimming in dense tree sap. Even those who are strong like the Death Knight and Count Bergliez fell instantly as soon as they were caught under the black tide.

Seiros, her shock now quickly turning back into murderous rage as she saw the whole place begin to be flooded with the void between the worlds, attacks the culprit responsible for this mess in desperation, only for Karna to punch her in a blinding volley of fists so blurry that the saint's disoriented vision couldn't keep up on where the next blow was going to come from.

As she was about to anticipate another punch, Karna instead whips up a high-kick that knocked Seiros off-balance right as he then flipped around into a crouch.

"Kirigakure-Ryū Taijutsu Ougi..." the devil declared as he then rushed towards the saint with his finger tips touching her sternum, "Tora Tsuru no Mai!"

He then coils his fingers into his palms, balling it into a fist as the single, compact motion became a devastating one-inch punch to her chest. As she was blasted off of her feet, Seiros first then breaks her body through the briar bars of Karna's [Black Briar T+] spell, and then crashes into the Throne of Knowledge itself, breaking the stone chair's backrest while one of her wrists get caught in a metal binding hidden within the armrests, anchoring her there.

"Well, that's the definition of 'hoist by one's own petard'... those restraints must've been for the ex-merc," Karna then smacked his lips as he then took out his stolen sack of [Warp Powder]. He then looks around at the students and staff drowning in the sea of astral void while sheathing his khukuri knife back into his belt. "And with that... I bid you all farewell."

He then crushes the bag in his hand, whisking him away into parts unknown, and leaving the rest to drown to their fates as the last bits of flat ground was painted black by the void.

"... This...! Cannot end... like this-!" Hubert's words were then drowned out by the astral tides.

"CETHLENN! HOLD ON-!" Cichol's voice cried out before fading away.

"MILORD!" Dedue roared out as he burst from the black sea. "WHERE ARE YOU-?!"

All Hilda did was scream in utter fury and despair as she and everyone else drowned into the unknown.

In desperation, Seiros tried to rip the manacle off of her wrist attached to the Throne of Knowledge, but is now cursing herself for making the thing nigh-inescapable.

"DAMN YOU, KARNAAAAA-!"

Eventually, the whole Holy Mausoleum then turned pitch-black as it joined the recesses of oblivion.

---

Skies En Route to Garreg Mach...

---

"WE'RE ALMOST HERE!" the Pegasus Knight carrying Shamir on her ride announced. "HOLD ON! WE'RE AT THE LAST STRETCH!"

Several pegasi carrying the rest of the Knight of Seiros' detachment all made their way back towards Garreg Mach with the utmost of haste.

But by the time they broke through the night haze and after flying for what it felt like an hour, the group does come upon Garreg Mach...

"WHAT THE WHAT IS HAPPENING?!"

... Currently sinking into what can be described as a giant lake of vantablack cast below it, consuming everything within its eldritch reach.

"... Our home," one of the riders' voices shook in horror. "... Garreg Mach... it's disappearing!"

"But how?!" Shamir asked. "How can a whole location start disappearing-?!"

Karna then appears behind Shamir on the very same pegasus where the Sniper and the Pegasus Knight was carrying her.

"Hi," said Karna right as he then blasted the rest of the airborne escort out of the sky with his [Hades Ω] spell.

But just as Shamir was about to reach for her own knife, it was then found instead placed against her own throat as both she and her escort saw their companions plummet towards their deaths.

"You know how sharp knives are, don't you?" taunted Karna as he then undoes the Sniper's utility belt, letting loose her [Silver Bow], her quiver full of arrows, and the rest of her tools to fall beyond out of her reach, effectively disarming her. "Hey driver. Duchy Goneril. Pronto."

"... Or else what?" she defiantly replied.

"You'll either go there, or you'll go there with one less passenger," threatened Karna. "... You do not want to know what I'll do you when I get my hands on you, young lady. I am very persuasive."

Reluctantly, she complies, flying back the opposite direction from where they were heading.

"What did you do to them?!" asked Shamir. "The monastery disappearing, the Dustbin being made aware of our subterfuge... was this all your doing?!"

"Don't ask the questions that you already know the answers to, madam," Karna replied flatly. "Shouldn't you be more worried about your friends and what I've done to them?"

"What did you do to them?!" asked the Pegasus Knight, her voice shaking with fear.

"They're not dead, I assure you," he answered with a smirk. "But at the same time... let's just say that they're going to beg for death from the fate I've subjected to them."

And just over their head, a large column flies over their heads at mach speed towards where Garreg Mach was at.

As it was reaching its location, various magic circles were cast before its cone head, straightening its trajectory in order to make landfall to deliver its destructive payload.

All it ever accomplishes was simply entering the closing void, entering into the vantablack as if it were another drop in the bucket. Gradually, the mouth leading into [Zahras] shuts entirely, leaving nothing more than a flat plain of dirt where Garreg Mach and the plateau it built its foundations upon once stood.

Both the Pegasus Knight and Shamir looked towards Karna with widened eyes.

"... For the record, that was not part of my plan," he confessed without irony.

---

To Be Continued...

---

Author's notes: We're not done just yet, folks.

So this chapter is just finishing up the fights that needed to be fought, and although I'd like to add more, my fingers are starting to cramp and I need to rest or my hands won't be the same.

Also, during the writing process for this chapter alone, I just finishing reading the Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War Manga, and it can be said that I enjoyed it after someone finished translating the whole shebang. It is sheer 90s-shojo cheese, and I loved every moment of it, and watched the let's play of Fire Emblem: The Sacred Echoes, a fan demake/romhack for Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia using Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones and needless to say, I loved the work that they put into it, and how it improves upon the original, with my favorite being the new characters added, along with Celica's less intelligent choices being nixed in favor of making her more badass, and Faye being less of an antisocial creep in her supports (she can support with other characters besides Alm and Silque).

Now for the real meat of this chapter: the Agarthans and to an extent, the Seven Sages.

In canon, I found their plans to be full of holes to the point where I thought that "the only way that they're plans make any sense within the metrics of success is if they plan to pull a 'take-you-down-with-me'-approach."

... So I did exactly that. I made the Agarthans and their leadership a massive case of "Villainous Last Stand"-trope. They know that they're not going to live. So they're devoting every last of their resources to take as many people down with them as possible. They have no plans to be Fodlan's shadow dictators. They want the whole continent below ocean level by the time they all expire.

They have no low that they aren't willing to sink to (brainwashing one of their own/Kronya), no double standards that they aren't willing to cross (Bias' [Thrud] blood lineage, Cleobulus' Morph experimentations, the Deadlords), and no mercy to those that question their vendetta (the whole Karna-related mess). As for why they singled out Tsukiko/Kronya rather than someone like Bias... more on that in a bit.

But as their behaviors and Tsukiko (aka, Kronya) points out, it's not necessarily a good thing. Their whole "Villainous Valor" are just their egos talking. Peace is never an option for them, but in the next chapter, it will be revealed why they're the way they are... and why Karna left them in the first place.

As for the fight at the Holy Mausoleum, it can be officiated that Karna and Seiros aren't so different from each other when the chips are down. Both have a vindictive streak a mile and a half long and are willing to do anything to kill their enemies, and have the patience to wait years (or centuries) to see their perfect plans through. The only difference being that Seiros plans for every single step (hence why she's a "Control Freak" in certain aspects), whereas Karna plays everything by the ear and makes shit up on the fly (hence why he's more "Wild Card").

And for Edelgard losing her nerve in the end... yeah, there's a scene in one of Fire Emblem Awakening's DLC, "Rouges and Redeemers Part 2," where the adult Tiki can confront the phantom version of Gharnef (who is an ally of all things)... let's just say that Edelgard doesn't have the emotional maturity to tackle her former tormentor, much less defy him after he repeatedly curbstomps her both physically and psychologically.

I also forgot to mention this in the previous chapter's "References," but Kronya's real name, Tsukiko, is also derived from the Japanese Tsukimi/Moon-Viewing Festival. Where the two connect is that Kronya's name is derived from Kronia, a Greek harvest festival venerating the titan, Cronus, taking place around early autumn/late-July, early August, which coincides with Tsukimi, which also takes place around the autumn moon/roughly a month after Kronia.

And for the Guest's Question: Bunet. I want to like using him, but even after removing the whole compounding weaknesses to [Rapiers] that the Great Knight class has... I'd rather use a Paladin or a General (which I did for the latter), and his whole "cook" personality, I found it stale, since it's the only thing that defines him sans his "licking" and "tasting" random shit, which I didn't like.

Now with Garreg Mach literally erased from the map... I need a week-long break from writing. I don't think I can even do the webcomic writing lest I injure my hands.

See you all in the next chapter... where the veil is to be stripped away to reveal the whole truth.

References:

- Seiro's fighting style is based on "dirty boxing" (Slugger/Swarmer-hybrid), MMA (All-Rounder), and Pankration, whereas Karna's fighting style is more akin to Jeet Kune Do, Taekwondo, and Lucha Libre. But if we're going by Yakuza/Like a Dragon parallels, then Seiros fights like Daisuku Kuze from Yakuza 0 with some influences from Ryuji Goda's final boss iteration from Yakuza Kiwami 2, while Karna fights like Shun Akiyama's Yakuza 5 iteration, and/or Takayuki Yagami (specifically leaning towards Crane Style) from the Judgment spin-offs. As for music recommendation for the fight between Seiros and Karna, play "Pledge of a Demon" from Yakuza 0.

- Sage Solon quotes Dr. Peace from No More Heroes before unleashing [Balberith]. As for his reason for wielding said Dark Magic tome of all choices... FOR NOW, I'll just say that the tome contains the name "Berith" in it, #28 of the 72 Demons of Ars Goetia, which Byleth, named after Beleth, is a part of. In the canon game, he recognizes the character as the "Fell Star," so I thought a tongue-in-cheek reference from that scant connection would be pretty neat.

- Byron's Compound Combat Art (only activated if the Grado Sacred Twins Regalia are present in the inventory), [Gjallarhorn], is named after the horn in Norse Mythology that is blown by Heimdall to signal the coming of Ragnarok, the end times for all nine realms. Given that [Garm] and [Glephnir] derive their etymology form Norse Myth, I thought this was the most fitting.

- During Byron's experimentation during the clash of Dark Magic against Solon, he combines two [Berserks] and refines it into the spell, [Anew], used by Faye in her Saint class as her Level 14 White Magic in Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, which acts as a Dancer/refresher unit's additional action-command. In the fic, it works as a "refresher" ala a magical steroid shot to stimulate the body beyond its limits. During said process, he quotes Gojo Satoru from Jujutsu Kaisen.

- [Armads] fic-exclusive Combat Art, [Armadura de Ira] means "Armor of Wrath" in Spanish, and is inspired by Gundam Barbatos' and Goblin Slayers' "trailing glowing red eyes" during their "rage moments."

- Vidar, as he unleashes his final blow against Cleobulus, performs Hector's critical animation (aka, the "HectorCopter") from the GBA title, Fire Emblem: The Blazing Sword.

- Sage Cleobulus and her clones/Morphs -from Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade-(that sacrifice themselves to fuel the tome) uses [Aureola], a Light Magic tome used by Saint Elimine of the Eight Legends that debuted in the Elibian Duology.

- Cleobulus' breakdown is inspired by Fire Emblem: Binding Blade's quote from Narcian: "I am strong. I am wise. I am handsome. And most importantly... I am right! Me! No one else!"

- Vidar/Viðarr's claim of parentage, Einar, means "one who fights alone" in Old Norse.

- Durban, one of the Eight Legends from the Elibe Duology of Fire Emblem, makes a cameo (as [Armads]' ghost) while Vidar/Víðarr is crawling back to Byron while on death's door.

- Sage Myson uses [Kriemhild] lance that was used by Berkut's final boss fight in Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, right down to keeping its innate skill, [Phantasm], which only makes the user take normal damage when fought close-up/halves damage from all ranged weapons. And to further reference the game, he reveals himself as a former Cantor of the Duma Faithful, who still retained his ability to summon [Gargoyle] Terrors. As a whole, his and Sage Pittacus' relationship can be seen as a healthier version of Berkut and Rinea's, where at least here, both are willing to go to Hell and back for each others' sake.

- Sorcha's stunt of using [Siegfried]'s [Königsgebrüll] Combat Art, swinging it around to finish off Myson, and inadvertently destroy the very library they were fighting in was based off Fate/Stay Night's Saber's Noble Phantasm, [Excalibur], but given its coloration, it's more or less Saber Alter's [Excalibur Morgan] during the Heaven's Feel route.

- Sage Pittacus becoming a Vestal after Myson's death correlates to the latter's history, and combined with their shared closeness, yeah, both of them were ex-Duma Faithful, with her being a Witch that just "promoted" into a Vestal, which combined with her usage of [Forblaze] (this one in particular, I just picked it because it looks the coolest), she suddenly jumps up to becoming the most dangerous combatant of all the Sages, but going by FE2/FE: Echoes rules, said great magic costs her own already-fading life, hence why she uses it frugally. Funnily enough, her usage of sword [Mercurius] is a reference to the Priestess class in Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, who use both Swords and Magic. And combined with the fact that one of the titles for [Mercurius] is the "Magic Blade" (the other being "The Spectral Sword"), I thought it was very fitting.

- [Gae Bolg]'s fic-exclusive Combat Art, [Warp Spasm], is named after the feat of Cu Chulainn (aka, the wielder of Gae Bolg in Gaelic Mythology's Ulster Cycle), who has said ability to go all Incredible Hulk when frenzied enough in battle. Here in the fic, it works akin to My Hero Academia's [One For All] Quirk, only that Selene's arm explodes due to her misuse (in her defense, it was getting down to the wire and the alternative was getting barbecued by another round of [Forblaze]).

- Count Bergliez digging through the rubble bare-handed is a reference to his crazy plan in Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes, where he LITERALLY DIGS THROUGH A MOUNTAIN to ambush Claude and his forces behind their base camp.

- Sage Chilon uses [Vidofnir] from Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones. It's "+5 Def" stat modifier is referenced via its Combat Art, [Mímameiðr], is a reference to the lance's namesake's residence, described as a tree that was impervious to both fire and metal, and bears fruits that help pregnant women. His title of "Topaz" is a reference to both the title-naming schemes of Grado's Six Imperial Generals (and the Great Knight class debuting in the same game), but also a gag to how he and the little Hassashin have the same name. Also, JoJo reference to the meme set between Jotaro Kujo VS DIO in Part 3 during his and Cyrus' last exchange.

- Sage Bias uses [Mjölnir] from Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, and also to bear Thrud's bloodline, which allowed her to use said tome in the first place, with the thunder tattoo on her chest being a reference to Ishtar's own thunder mark on her chest from Mitsuki Oosawa's manga adaptation of Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War. She also mentions the "Child Hunts," which in lore, is where the Loptyrian Church (once they regain a lot of political power over the continent) kidnaps several children throughout random villages, have them kill each other, and the survivors are initiated into their own ranks as nobility. More about her will be explained a bit later, and the name Rymr, meaning "Noise" in Old Norse, which is also another name for the Nordic God, Thor, and the implication is that it's one of the nine unnamed Divine Dragons that blessed the Twelve Crusaders, with him representing the element of thunder. And for even darker implications, her fight with Topaz is implied to have triggered PTSD regarding said Child Hunts, given that they're both munchkins of their group (reminder that Topaz is shorter than Lysithea, so she can pass off as a child disregarding her current deformities).

- Thales, in tandem with his canon [Ridill], also uses [Goetia], an ultimate Dark Magic tome from Fire Emblem Awakening, and the King of Liberation, Nemesis' [Dark Creator Sword] with the artificial [Crest of Flames] being named the [Prime Dragon Sign].

- The twelve Deadlords are a fusion of Genealogy of the Holy War and Awakening references while implementing Three Houses class mechanics onto their overall designs. Here are their rundowns of their altered designs and Regalia:

Mus (Fortress Knight): short stature is from his name meaning "mouse" in Latin. His [Wishblade] comes from Fire Emblem's Tellius Duology.

Bovis (Bow Knight): minotaur appearance is based off his name meaning "bull" in Latin. his [Double Bow] also comes from Fire Emblem's Tellius Duology.

Tigris (Warrior): grilled, gladiator-like helmet comes from Fire Emblem Awakening's Warrior class design while alluding to the tiger's stripes, given that his name means "Tiger" in Latin. His [Helswath] comes from Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, where it was used by one of the Twelve Crusaders, Nál.

Lepus (Bishop): doll-like appearance is a parallel to Bias' rabbit plush doll and her name meaning "rabbit" in Latin. Her [Ivaldi] and [Latona] the Sacred Twins of Theocracy of Rausten from Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones.

Draco (Sniper): cyclopian look/literally one giant monoeye is a reference to Awakening's Sniper class design and Fire Emblem Gaiden/Echoes: Shadows of Valentia's Duma and his one eye used as his main means of attacking, tying into his name meaning "dragon" in Latin. His [Yewfelle] comes from Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, wielded by one of the Twelve Crusaders, Ullr.

Anguilla (Dark Knight): lamia-like form comes from her name meaning "snake" in Latin. Her [Rexbolt] comes from Fire Emblem's Tellius Duology.

Equus (Paladin): centurian appearance comes from his name meaning "horse' in Latin. His [Gungnir] comes from Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, wielded by one of the Twelve Crusaders, Dáinn, also dubbed the "Heaven Lance."

Ovis (Warlock): ungulate appearance is inspired by the Behphomet, and comes from his name meaning "sheep" or "goat" in Latin. His [Forseti] comes from Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, wielded by one of the Twelve Crusaders, Ced.

Simia (Swordmaster): being the most-humanlike of the twelve Deadlords is a reference to how in some scientific circles, humans and primates are closer than we like to think, and comes from her name meaning "monkey/ape" in Latin. Her [Balmung] comes from Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, wielded by one of the Twelve Crusaders, Od.

Gallus (Dark Bishop): beaked mask of the Agarthan Dark Bishop comes from his name meaning "rooster" in Latin. His [Gespenst] comes from Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade.

Canis (Valkyrie): tail-like protrusion comes from dogs chasing their own tails, and her name meaning "dog" in Latin. Her [Valflame] comes from Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War, wielded by one of the Twelve Crusaders, Fjalar.

Porcus (Assassin): portly and blinged-out appearance comes from his name meaning "pig" in Latin. His [Regal Blade] comes from Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade.

- Tsukiko (aka: formerly known as Kronya) has both the [Raijinto] and the [Fujin Yumi] from Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright, used by the Hoshidan Royal Family (with the indications that she's biologically related to them). Her combat arts from her weapons are the following:

[Raijinto]-ryū Kenjutsu Ougi/Combat Art: [Narukami] is based off an archaic Japanese word for "Thunderclap" spelled as "鳴神," and based off Genji's Ultimate from Overwatch along with Zenitsu Agatsuma's [Thunder Breathing: Seventh Form-Flaming Thunder God].

[Fujin Yumi]-ryū Kyūjutsu Ougi/Combat Art: [Tatsumaki] means "Dragon Twister" in Japanese and spelled as "竜巻," and its also based off Hanzo's Ultimate from Overwatch.

[Raijinto] and [Fujin Yumi]'s Compound Combat Art: [Hinokagutsuchi] is named after the Shinto Kami of Fire and Volcanos, and whose birth killed Izanami-no-Mikoto. It is spelled as "火焼加具土," which is loosely translated to either "fire-baked clay" in Japanese or "fire-roasted earthenware" in Chinese.

[Muramasa]-ryū Kenjutsu Ougi/Combat Art: [Fushigiri], means "Mortal Draw" or "To Cut the Immortality" in Japanese, spelled as "不死斬り." Its naming inspiration comes from the weapon from Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, while its execution is inspired by Adam Taurus' [Moonslice] Semblance, specifically during the "Black" trailer.

- Upon beheading Thales with her [Fushigiri] Combat Art, Tsukiko loosely quotes Goemon Ishikawa XIII from the Lupin III franchise.

- The last leg of the fight between Karna and Seiros is thematically based off Primal Season 2's "The Primal Theory"-episode, Gundam NT-1 "Alex" VS Zaku II Kai from Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, and Saber VS Lancer from Fate/Zero.

- [Járngreipr]'s fic-exclusive Combat Art, [Hardhugadr], is the anglicized form of "Harðhugaðr," meaning "strong spirit/powerful soul/fierce ego/brave heart" in Old Norse, and one of Thor's many names.

- Karna's finishers to Seiros, Kirigakure-Ryū Taijutsu Ougi: Izuna Otoshi ("Weasel Drop" in Japanese/"飯綱落"), and Kirigakure-Ryū Taijutsu Ougi: Tora Tsuru no Mai ("Tiger-Crane Dance" in Japanese/"虎鶴の舞"), are based off of the "Izuna Drop" used by various ninja across fiction (first originating in the manga, Kamui Den/Kamui Gaiden), and Takayuki Yagami's EX Action: "Tiger Dances with Crane" respectively.