Catherine and her Knights were the first to reach the tree line by the time the mist had settled down around them, where nothing could be seen past no more than a dozen meters. However, it wasn't until Kratos and his students had entered the woods close behind them when the attack came. Suddenly, arrows shot through the thickened fog from deeper within the forest. A couple of knights had been caught completely by surprise as they were struck multiple times and fell to the ground.

"Archers!" Another one hollered, as he moved and took a stance in front of his fallen comrade with his shield raised. "We're under attack!"

"Defensive formation!" Katherine yelled back. "Protect the students!" The Knights immediately maneuvered as ordered, forming a tight, curved wall of steel as they knelt down to protect their entire bodies. Projectiles continued to fly at the surprised company and deflected harmlessly off of their shields. As Sylvain was rushing to get behind the makeshift cover that the knights provided, one arrow in particular flew right by his head and embedded itself into the tree next to him. This caused the red head to let out a yelp in surprise, tripped over himself and landed face-first into the grass and mud.

Kratos, seeing this, immediately came to his aid while keeping his own shield aloft. "Get up!" He ordered, grabbing the boy by the collar of his armor and heaved him back up effortlessly while simultaneously shoving him towards safety before the Spartan added himself to the formation. While most of the Blue Lions had already huddled behind the Knights, Dedue had also taken the initiative of strengthening their defense as the Duscan took his place right next to his professor.

Meanwhile, the soldiers wounded in the ambush were quickly tended to, with Mercedes and Marianne working to extract the arrows and heal their injuries as they were carefully moved to safety. One of them cried out in pain, his eyes squeezed shut as the barrage of arrows became more intense. Catherine, realizing that the archers were focusing on sound to find their targets, hissed. "Keep him quiet!"

At first, Marianne, who'd been tending to the man in question, was at a loss about what to do about his screaming. However, once Mercedes realized that her own patient was already beyond saving, she immediately came over to the opposite side of her fellow healer and pulled a piece of cloth from her medical bag. "Marianne, lift his head up for me, please."

"Huh? U-oh, right." The blue haired priestess did as she was asked, and Mercedes stuffed the bundle into his mouth as soon as he opened his mouth to yell again. "There we go," she commented, offering Marianne a wry smile. "That should help."

As silence returned, save for the muffled sounds of pain, the intensity of the arrows flying towards them noticeably decreased. Catherine nodded in approval and then turned her focus back to the tree line.

"Good thinking, lass." Mimir said told her from Kratos' hip.

Kratos himself on the other hand stood absolutely still, scanning the fog for any sign of movement. "Stay sharp." He whispered to Dedue, who responded with a wordless nod.

The barrage slowed and then stopped altogether when the sound of pounding hooves approached from beyond the archers, accompanied by a commanding voice shouting, "Hold your fire!"

Though neither Kratos nor Mimir recognized the man ordering his troops to stop, they did however catch a glimpse of Catherine and Ashe's reaction to it respectively. From his peripheral vision, the Ghost of Sparta could see the knight captain's body go rigid. Her grip tightening on the hilt of her relic, her face hardened with such intensity that Kratos knew all too well. Meanwhile, Mimir watched as Ashe's head shot up and his eyes widened. The boy looked as though he was going to spring to his feet at any moment, but thankfully Dimitri noticed this as well and placed a firm hand over his classmate's shoulder to discourage him from doing so.

"Knights of the Church," Lonato's voice spoke out again. "We have you surrounded. Lay down your arms, and you will be allowed to leave without retaliation. In the Goddess' name and my honor as a knight, you have my word."

Despite being held in place, the ashen haired archer's body language became more feverish before suddenly yelling out, "Lonato! It's me! You must stop this!"

"Boy!" Kratos turned his head at the young lad, only to be answered with the sound of yet another arrow pinging off of his shield.

From beyond the fog, Lonato could be heard yelling angrily. "I said hold your fire!" The sound of clanging metal shot through the air, followed by a painful holler; presumably from the individual who fired at Kratos. There was a pause. "Ashe, my boy… you should never have come." Lonato's voice moved through the fog. "Though, that is to be expected. I should have known that the witch would try and use you as a pawn in her twisted game."

Kratos scowled deeply. "The boy was not sent here against his will!" He called out. "He came here of his volition- for you!"

"...Is that so? And I presume you are the leader of these men? Where is his professor? Tucked safely behind his books back at the monastery with the rest of his students?"

This time, it was Catherine who spoke. "This is the captain of the Knights of Seiros. Lord Lonato, you are hereby ordered to stand down, or you will be cut down where you stand."

A neigh from Lonato's horse echoed through the woods as though its rider suddenly jerked on its reign. "So… it may seem that the Goddess continues to smile upon me to this day."

"What is he talking about?" Annette asked aloud, only to be answered with a shush from Ingrid.

Lonato continued. "Not only has the witch sent Ashe to finish her dirty work, but she was also merciful enough to send my son's murderer to me as well." The atmosphere took a sudden shift upon the rebel leader's accusation, and the students looked at one another in a mix of shock and confusion.

"...Catherine," Ashe uttered out, his gaze fixated on the blonde knight "What does he mean by that?"

The woman ignored him, keeping her attention focused solely in front of her. But before she was able to get her response out, it was Dimitri's turn to speak out. "Lord Lonato! This is Prince Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Faerghus. The Blue Lions and I have come on behalf of our classmate. As a member of the Royal Family, I implore you to reconsider your intentions and-"

"ENOUGH!" Lonato roared, his voice laced with a bitterness that seemed to echo through the trees. "Prince Dimitri, while I hold no personal grudge against you, your title bears no weight here." He then turned his attention towards Ashe, his tone softening but still firm. "Ashe, my boy, I beg of you one last time, walk away from this. You should not have to suffer for the sins of others. I do not wish to see you hurt, but make no mistake, I will not stop my crusade against the church. Not for you, not for anyone."

Lonato's focus shifted back to the assembled group. "As for the rest of you, I offer one final ultimatum. Leave now, peacefully, and you shall not be harmed. However, your safe passage comes at a cost—hand over your captain. She is the one we seek justice from, not you. You have five minutes to decide." With that, the horse neighed once more, and the sound of pounding hooves became faint as Lord Gaspard rode off.

"So what do we do now?" One of the knights asked the other.

"Silence!" Catherine hissed at them. "Scout, report. What do we know about Lonato's forces?"

From behind, the scout that had reported earlier spoke into Catherine's ear. "Captain, the last I'd heard, Lord Lonato had abandoned his fortress and is currently on the run from the Church's main division."

"That much is obvious. But do you think he's lying about having us surrounded?" Catherine asked skeptically.

"No, but I believe that he doesn't have the time, nor the numbers to confront us in a skirmish; and as far I'm aware, we are the only ones preventing Lonato from any means of escape."

The captain nodded and said to another subordinate next to her. "Lieutenant, is there anything that we can do about this fog?"

"I'm afraid not, captain. We don't have any mages to counteract the spell. Plus, we can't afford to divide our forces in order to find its source."

From nearby, Mimir huffed from Kratos' hip. "Daw, that's just bloody brilliant. Since we're essentially blind and with no knowledge of the terrain, there's no way we can manage an offensive without getting attacked from multiple directions." As the discussion was going on amongst the adults, an idea suddenly came to the orange-haired student, and Annette kept a low profile while crouch-walking over to Mimir's head.

"Professor Mimir," She spoke slowly yet hurriedly. "You remember the first law of magic, right?"

The head looked at the girl as if to say, you're bloody joking, right? But the seriousness in her eyes has led him to humoring the question and answered, "Aye, I do." He then recited, 'Mana cannot be created nor destroyed; it can only be transformed or transferred from one form to another."

"Right," she nodded, her mind racing through the implications of this fundamental principle. "So, if we apply this law to the spell that's been cast over us, we can deduce that the mage must be drawing mana from a source, transforming it to fuel the spell. The scale of the enchantment suggests a significant, sustained draw of power. If mana can only be changed or moved, then this spell's energy has to be coming from somewhere. And if we can trace the flow of that mana back to its origin, we should be able to locate the mage."

Mimir seemed to be impressed by this explanation. "Aye, that's sound reasoning. If we can sense the disturbance in the mana currents, or find where the mana is being siphoned from, we'll find our caster."

"Exactly! So, my idea is that by merely changing the raw mana into something that is more visible to the naked eye, we can see exactly where it's getting pulled from." Annette's excitement faded. "However…"

"The change will only last a brief period of time." The head finished for her. "And… you'll have to go out in the open to clearly see where it will lead." Even though Mimir was unable to shake his own head, his expression gave off that exact impression. "Nay, it's too dangerous, lass. There's no way I'd risk you exposing yourself when we're already short on time. It's already clear we've no intention of surrendering or backing down, and I wouldn't forgive myself if you-"

"But then everyone else will still be dead where they stand if I don't go." The female mage insisted, then to the ashen warrior towering over her. "Am I wrong, Sir Kratos?"

The Ghost of Sparta considered her words. "I will go with you." He said after a moment's pause. He stabbed his spear into the ground to allow himself a free hand and held out Mimir to her. "Hurry and inform the captain of the plan. Time is short."

Annette didn't waste a beat and did exactly as was told, and nigh half a minute passed before she came back with Mimir in hand. "We're good to go, Brother." Mimir informed him. "Catherine says she doesn't care how we do it, just as long as we find our heading."

Kratos nodded once and took Mimir back from Annette, securing him at his hip. He then turned his attention to Annette, his gaze firm yet not without concern. "Listen carefully," he began, his voice low. "No matter what happens out there, you are to stay close behind me. Do not leave my side under any circumstance."

"Yes, sir." Annette answered, her usual spirited demeanor replaced by a focused seriousness.

With a final look shared between them, Kratos began to move. He walked slowly out into the open, his shield held in front of him, with Annette following closely behind as he reached back to wrap a protective arm over her shoulder. Watching their step as they go, the two silently distanced themselves from the safety of the knights until they were in the ideal spot for Annette to work her own spell. "Right here is perfect," She whispered.

Her professor stopped, and Annette took a moment to allow herself enough room to work in. She began to wave her hands in a circular motion, as though she were molding a sphere of clay in front of her. Eventually, the air began to spin within the hypothetical sphere and change into a skyish blue color. Once it was visible enough to see clearly, Annette then released the sphere and set it loose into the open air. Almost immediately, the transformed energy began to break apart into something resembling that of a water current. Kratos and his student watched as it was carried in the direction slightly off from where the archers had been shooting from, yet still in the direction where they expected more hidden enemies to be lurking in.

All was perfectly still by the time Annette's spell had dissipated. Kratos was about to turn his head to give her a nod in approval when two arrows suddenly came flying in their direction; one deflecting off his shield, while the other flew past the girl's ear by mere inches, causing her to shriek involuntarily.

"GET DOWN!" He yelled, grabbing and pulling her to the ground while using his own body and shield to protect her from all directions.

Catherine, who along with the rest of the knights were now fully aware of where to go, drew Thunderbrand as it crackled with raw power. "TAKE THEM ALL DOWN!" The battle cry of the company shook the very ground as they charged forward, and utter chaos broke loose.