Chapter 91: Blood of the Goddess

The demand from Miklan went unanswered, her focus split between the pounding headache that was encroaching upon her either courtesy of herself or through Sothis who was mutely growling in the back of her head. Elsewhere, her eyes landed on the Heroes Relic that was held in the grasp of the man that was most certainly not inactive, which ran counter to everything she knew about the man.

"What the-?" A gasp from behind her, she identified the voice of Sylvain a moment later as a scuffle brought the boy to the forefront. The sounds of combat had died the moment the rough looking bandit leader had broken into the room, everyone had gone silent and even Dimitri had stopped himself in the middle of his rampage, all eyes were upon Miklan with either wariness or hope depending on who was affiliated with him.

Milkan swept his eyes from her to just over her shoulder a moment later, the apprehension vanished within a split second and was replaced with a taunting grin, his posture loosened just a little as the spear was held by his side, a rather nasty look entered his eyes as he spoke in a mocking tone of voice. "Well, if it isn't the pampered little ass. I'm surprised that Father would even let you out of his line of sight given how much he bent over backwards for you. Isn't he worried you'll crack a nail?"

She didn't dare look behind her and take her eyes off the man, she had seen what he had done to the door the moment he entered. That wasn't normal by any stretch of the imagination and she didn't know if that was the extent of his strength or if he had more, either way it was approaching Dimitri's level of physical prowess. If that translated into speed, then taking her eyes from him would be beyond stupid.

"Miklan-the lance!" Sylvain sounded beyond mortified, she got the impression he would have been pointing at his older brother. "You-you can-?"

"I'm wielding it?" A scoff from the bandit as he leaned backwards, the sneer remained on his lips. "Yes, I am. Because someone out there recognised my talents and understood that I was the only one deserving to wield this spear. I guess the Goddess favoured me all along…not that it helps now." the sneer vanished into a deeply disgusted scowl, Byleth was surprised he wasn't drooling venom at this point. "Not when you've already stolen everything that ever mattered from me!"

"B-but you don't-" Sylvain still sounded at a loss, she could not blame him. "But you don't have-you didn't have…"

Miklan ran his fingers along the length of the blade, almost as though he was stroking the spear. "A Crest? I've got much more than a crest now, you pure-bred dog." he lowered the weapon back to his side and narrowed his eyes. "Years I lived with the knowledge that you had just replaced me, that if it wasn't for you then I would have gotten everything I ever deserved…Now? Now I'll just be content with strangling the life from you in reparations for all you've done to me-"

"All I've done to-?" Sylvain repeated, then she heard a snarl from the boy that she hadn't ever expected to hear from him. A sound of feet stomping on the ground. "All I've done to you? What about everything you ever did? I never turned you into a bully or a tyrant. I didn't force you into robbing towns or pillaging our home. That was all you. The only thing I've ever been left with is cleaning up the messes you've made as you marauded your way through life!"

Miklan's eyes narrowed and his lip curled backwards. "Shut your mouth, you worthless little runt!" his voice echoed out, he stomped forwards and cracked stone beneath his boot, snarling openly at the boy. "What would you know of anything! Getting blessed from birth, you don't understand the life I suffered through and what it meant for me when you were born! The moment it was revealed you had a crest I knew that I was going to be tossed aside like trash! You'd slob around like some fucking damsel while I would live in your shadow forever!"

Raising his hand, he pressed his finger into his chest. "I assembled these men. I trained them. I carved out a living here. I stole the Lance of Ruin and claimed my birthright. I did this. Me!" the finger whipped around and stabbed towards Sylvain. "The only thing you've ever done is just feed off the success of everyone else like a leech! Breezing through life without ever having to struggle for anything-!"

"I struggled for my life just by living near you!" Sylvain hollered back, cutting off his brother before a bark of laughter escaped him, sounding more hollow than before. "But I figured that this is how you would react. It was never your fault and it was always someone else, right? You're always just the victim and it's everyone else that's the blame…You think that because fate dealt you a bad hand, suddenly you can make life difficult for everyone else?"

Miklan glared at him in silence, allowing for Sylvain to deliver the next words without any hint of emotion.

"You're as entitled as ever, Miklan."

The man froze, his expression washed over with pure fury before it faded away. The hatred remained in his eyes, yet his words were spoken without volume. "Entitled?"

The word was repeated with pure incredulity, he brought up his left hand and then pointed to himself as though he was still coming to terms with what had been said. "Me? You call me…entitled?"

He fell forwards, laughter ripped itself free of his throat as the hand moved up to cradle his forehead, she would have rushed him were it not for the unease that she felt. Unsure of what would happen and a part of her was certain he would react to her. Better to let him make the first move.

"Y-you're actually calling me entitled? You? A pampered little dog?" His head snapped back up and the hand flew from his face. "You're nothing without that crest! You've never been worthy of the status you stole from me! The only thing of value - the only reason father ever picked you over me - is because your blood is just a bit more special than mine! There's nothing else that would have ever mattered beyond that and you're going to call me entitled? Take a look in the mirror, Sylvain."

His grip on the lance visibly tightened.

"You're nothing but entitlement, Sylvain."

"Awfully linguistic talk from a man who would rather spend his nights robbing the poor and shitting in the woods." She blinked at the comment, her head twitched in the direction of it but she didn't quite turn. She didn't need to on account of Felix strutting forwards and into her line of sight, a mocking smirk on his face as he did so. "You lose out on being made an heir and then suddenly you find your calling in life is banditry? I'd say that you're absolutely pathetic to have based your entire personality around the fact that you weren't showered with praise."

Felix paused for a moment as though to let the words settle, then shrugged his shoulders. "Not that I was expecting anything else. Shallow as Sylvain might be at times, I'm astounded to have met someone even more low than him at his worst. All of the ego and none of the skill."

It was a rather backhanded defence but she wouldn't expect much else.

And it seemed to have an effect immediately, if the snarl on the lips of Miklan was any indication-

Stone cracked as she hurled herself in the direction of Felix, the world moved in slow motion for her and one other. Sword moving across and up as she made to intercept Miklan, she'd only just caught the moment in which he was going to move before she launched herself. His head turned towards her as her sword struck the underside of his thrusting spear, diverting it up and just above Felix head, the boy still frozen mid expression.

Miklan's free hand swung forwards, she leaned and ducked underneath the blow and swung her own leg outwards into the shin. The man stumbled but corrected himself a moment later as he turned the punch into a grab, moving as fast if not faster as he swung the arm down and aimed towards her. Narrowly missing her as he did so, but it was too close for her own comfort.

The moment her foot touched the ground, she was using it to step away, the sword of the creator split apart and gravity took control, falling over the head of the spear and wrapping around it with a jerk of movement, gripping the hilt with two hands and pulling with all her might. Miklan stumbled for half a step in her direction before he growled and pulled back, he pulled harder.

Stone beneath her boots crunched and wedged around her shoes before she was moving through the air towards the man, he brought his arm up flat to catch her, his forearm slammed against her chin and she felt her vision white out from what could only be described as hitting a hammer with her face, her body snapped backwards and fell down, her shoulders struck the floor a second later and cracking filled her ears.

An armoured boot loomed over her head.

She rolled forwards right between the legs of the man, the sword still locked around the head of the spear, and twisted the moment she got into a crouch, yanking the sword once more and wrapping it around the right leg of the man like a noose, this time he stumbled and fell forwards, her eyes barely noticed that the others were starting to catch up with what happened around them and were moving, both sides rushed towards the other once more both incensed by what was happening.

Miklan snarled and pulled, her feet gave out beneath her and she was being dragged forwards once more, his hand clamped down at the wire between the sword segments and yanked her directly towards him, stepping over her as she did so and freeing himself from being tied up.

The sword snapped down away from the spear as she rolled away, the head of the glowing weapon buried itself into the ground where she had been a second later, her eyes widened as it slipped all the way down to the teeth in a single thrust, cracks spreading out from the point of impact.

The spear was pulled upwards like a shovel, sending chunks of stone flying off at incredible speeds towards her and whomever had been behind her. Bringing her arms up and blocking the attacks, wincing at the impacts and what was obviously going to be a rather nasty bruise on her skin, then whipping them down.

Turning at the last second, the thrust from Miklan barely soared past her cheek, dropping herself down as she did so to avoid the crossguard and shooting forwards, swinging her fist up as she did so. Her hand clenched into a fist as she swung up and into his side beneath the arm, the metal of the armour folded to match her knuckles and little else, Miklan remained virtually unmoved even as she struck him hard enough to bend steel.

She knew that wasn't right, she also felt her knuckles scream the moment she touched skin and felt as though that had been the metal she struck, he was much tougher than a person should be. The sword came up and in front of her, bracing with both hands on the weapon as Miklan swung down, she was forced onto her knees instantly, feeling the ground give way beneath her with a deep groan. The red head loomed over her with a frown, eyes searching her for something.

"I don't care what you are, if you try and take everything from me then I'll-" A blur of movement and something struck the man in the back of the head, a splintering sound of wood and then nothing else, not even a rustle of the hair from where he had been struck. It cut Miklan off in the middle of his sentence, he stepped forwards and shoved upwards, knocking the weapons high and then swinging his shin into her gut, her body screamed as she folded with the blow and ejected the air from her lungs, being knocked away from him with a boom.

Next thing she knew, she was striking the wall with enough force to get buried into, stone folded behind her back.

A shattering of glass filled her ears, time snapped back to where it had been moments ago.

"I don't care-" Miklan trailed off in the middle of his shout as a look of confusion washed over his face, he stepped away from her and narrowed his eyes in clear bewilderment, her own confusion lasted until the man whipped around and brought his free hand up, grabbing the spear which Sylvain had swung at the back of his head. The two of them remained locked for a brief second.

She swung her shin upwards and into the side of his leg, Miklan let out a shout as he staggered to the side from the blow, with a grunt she rolled backwards and then kicked off the ground, launching forwards and driving her shoulder into the side of the man with enough force to send them both careening into the ground, soon rolling out of the way as he slammed his elbow down into the ground and cracked the stone.

Though that barely compared with her mind catching up to what had just happened.

"What did you do?" Miklan snarled at her, scrambling to his feet and glaring at her, all but ignoring the attempt by Sylvain to reposition and instead turning on his heel and swinging the spear towards his brother, she launched herself forwards and tackled the younger redhead, hearing the whistle of the spear passing right above her head as she knocked the pair of them out of the way and to the side.

Rising to her feet, she turned and brought her sword up only for her arms to scream in protest as Miklan swung again, striking her guard and very nearly blasting right past it. Strength comparable to the Demon Sitri fell against her with a great deal more skill, already stepping in close and swinging for his arm, his other arm came forwards as he crouched down, the sword sliced through the steel armour but met resistance the moment it touched skin and ground to a halt.

Miklan's face strained as she clearly bit into flesh but was unable to progress further.

Something flowed around him, it was barely an instant before she felt as though the air rushed right past her towards Miklan, the only warning she got was the dust around them being visibly pulled towards the redhead in a single instant movement before light flashed before her eyes and it felt as though her entire body had been run down by a horse.

A feeling of weightlessness overcame her, eyes swinging open and finding herself twisting through the air without the ability to control herself. The moment she touched the ground it was in a rough pile, grunting to herself from the impact and rolling several times before she controlled herself, scrambling back to her feet and turning her eyes to Miklan as he stood in the centre of a mangled remains of stone of wood. The man rose from his crouched position and looked rather surprised before he threw his head back, letting out a mocking laugh as he did so.

"This is far better than I could have ever dreamed!"

His head snapped down towards the closest target - one of the recovering knights - and charged them down before they could even get up. Byleth could do little more than watch as the tower knight, clad in thick plate steel and weighing more than two men, was slammed into and sent hurtling through the air courtesy of an almost lazy kick from the man, the steel around the chest bent inwards from the kick, striking the wall a second later and burying itself within it.

The wheezing Miklan gave was almost psychotic.

"Better than I could have ever imagined!" He didn't even acknowledge the ball of fire which struck air right in front of him, Byleth narrowed her eyes as the orb of fire from Annette looked as though it struck something that wasn't there and washed over nothing, unable to even reach him.

Twirling the lance, the eyes of Miklan fell onto Sylvain as the laughter dipped away, replaced by the same look of disgust. "Now then…as for you, I've stomached your pathetic face for much too long-"

She was already moving through the air before he could get the sentence off, her left leg raised upwards and swinging down from the side. Probably sensing her or something, Miklan had cut himself off and turned with the spear pointed upwards, her kick slammed into the shaft of the weapon, his knees buckled from her strike and the sound of shattering stone filled her ears, dust rose from the ground as cracks ran across the floor. Miklan snarled as they held the pose for only a moment.

Her free hand swung down and pointed directly at his face, the circle of magic formed before her palm and fired within seconds, streams of flames rushed straight into the face of Miklan and earned a snarl from the man, the force of the leg carried onwards with the distraction and pushed downwards, the spear being knocked from the hands of the man and clattering to the ground at his feet.

She struck the ground, whipping around with the sword brought across to slash at the man-

Her pupils dilated at his fist was mere inches from her face, it was only instinct that stopped time for her and it accomplished nothing. She heard the shattering of glass, she felt the world crawl to a halt around her, but it did nothing to stop the fist from slamming into her left eyebrow. Her vision whited as her head turned numb within an instant, not even an ounce of feeling.

Only blissful nothing in that single moment.

The next was pain as the right side of her head was engulfed in a tightness, her skull slammed down hard against the stone floor as her body folded with the punch, ears ringing and eyes blurry, she felt the fist pull from her head and something tough clamp down around her ankle, feeling only a brief tug on it before she was pulled up and the world blurred around her as nothing more than colours.

Despite it all, the sword of the creator remained firmly in her hands. The weapon split apart and slithered forwards as she flew, the moment she felt a touch of resistance from the weapon she snapped it backwards, now with a new weight pulled along with the returning tip. Her eyes cleared just enough to see Miklan speeding through the air towards her with his right arm caught in the grasp of the sword.

Her free hand swung behind her, this time blasting off a single powerful gust of wind and propelled her forwards like an arrow. Her body twisted as she picked up speed and then extended out her leg as she did so, her shin crashed into the face of Miklan a moment later as the sword pulled free of his arm, her eyes locked onto him as the head remained stuck to her shin while the rest of his body carried onwards, the momentum flipping him backwards and underneath her.

Time resumed for everyone else, her body dropped back to the ground as Miklan crashed into the ceiling with an explosion of dust and debris, she caught only a moment of it before she fell to the ground, striking the floor roughly and rolling for several metres, flipping over a couple of times and then having her move stopped when she slammed into the wall at he side of the room, coughing out as she did so and getting onto her hands and knees.

From behind her she could hear the crack of stone followed by a pained groan as something gave way, a whistle and then a trembling crash as she assumed Miklan dropped back down to Fodlan, hopefully feeling worse than she was because her head was pounding from that punch, unable to fully open her left eye and when she did it was nothing but spots of white and blurry colours.

Dragging herself upwards, she thrust her fingers into the wall and pulled her body back to its feet, ignoring the protest it gave out within her and leaning against the wall for support. Her breaths came out in pants as she fell against it with a groan, turning herself over until her back was pressed against it and staring across the room.

Not a single person had moved, both knights and bandits had stopped whatever they were doing to stare at the two of them. Heads turning between herself and the location Miklan had fallen, presumably the shattered table where he currently lay. She wasn't sure whatever had happened to him - perhaps something similar to Lonato - but all she needed to do was hope that it killed him or knocked him out or something.

Wood shifted.

Miklan rose up from where he had been lying at an angle, as though rising from out of bed he rubbed his forehead and shook it several times. Dragging his gauntlet across his features before pulling it away and revealing the split lip and nasty bruise that was now forming across the front of his face, nose bent at an angle-

A crack.

Byleth stopped as she watched the nose right itself, the blood that had been trailing down his face climbed back up to the open wounds. Her lips parted ever so slightly as the scarlet trails slithered back into the cuts which knitted close within the span of a couple of seconds. Not even a trace that he had ever been wounded remained save for the dents and cracks in his armour, nothing more than cosmetic damages however.

With the healing came clarity for Miklan, his eyes focused on her for a brief second before they snapped down to the Lance of Ruin which still lay on the ground where she had knocked it. They both turned their eyes on it for a brief moment and then glanced back to the other, Byleth narrowed her single working eye on him, her grip on the wall behind her tightened with a clap of splintering stone.

Miklan exploded forwards at the same time she pulled, ripping a chunk of rock from the wall and hurling it right towards the face of the man, she kicked off a moment later and followed in the wake of the throw, the redhead slowed for only an instant to bring up his forearm, the projectile shattered into dust off the front of his armour without so much as staggering him, but it was enough for her to reach the Lance first and kick it to the side and the direction of her own forces.

Thrusting her sword forwards as she did so.

Miklan glanced down for a brief second before slapping his hands together.

Her momentum stopped in a single moment, her feet refusing to carry her any further forwards. Her lone eye widened just a touch at the sight before her, with Miklan having caught the sword between his palms, stopping the tip from reaching the front of his body. Her head snapped up to look him in the eye at the same time he stared at her, she wasn't sure which of the two of them was more surprised but he reacted first.

With a twist, he dragged the sword forwards and freed his hands from it, the moment it skated past he swung the back of his arm into her face, her head snapped back as he struck like a warhammer, light danced through her eyes as she very nearly stumbled over her own feet. Catching herself at the last second and planting her foot down, she ducked at the next and managed to avoid the followup jab, pushing up and ramming the top of her head into the chin of the man.

"I'll deal with him! Get the rest of them!" She called out the only command she could before she was swinging up in an effort to bifurcate the man, his wrist blocked her movement when he stepped close, her free hand rose up and caught his other as he tried to punch, the two of them struggling against the other, the cold feeling of sweat trailing down her brow as her arms started to tremble. Miklan's jaw visibly clenched as his veins started to bulge. Between the two of them, something would have to give.

The faint cracking beneath her feet was the only warning she got before support fell away from beneath her, a gasp pulled itself free of her lungs as she found herself dropping down amidst a shower of rock and wood, twisting through the air and being able to look up just enough to see the rest of the floor falling away, though fortunately it was left to a small gap where she and Miklan had been standing, briefly catching sight of him falling in after her and flipping through the air in an uncontrolled fall.

Her body hit the ground a moment later, the air being shunted from her lungs with a single cough, a thud nearby from where Miklan landed. Still with enough strength to drag her arms up and cover her face, rolling into a small ball as the rest of the floor fell in after her, showering her with dust and debris of various sizes.

A growl from the corner of her hearing and thudding footsteps was enough of a warning for her to drop her arms back down, her eyes narrowed immediately as she caught sight of the foot of Miklan racing towards her head.

Time snapped backwards.

She was back in the air, twisting her body at the last moment and dropping down onto the ground with a smooth motion, the shock reverberated through her knees as they buckled, kicking forwards as she caught sight of Miklan's fall and pushing off the ground, the red head turned at the last moment, both of her feet pushed off the ground and she flung her body forwards, landing the drop kick onto his chest.

Steel bent inwards until it touched skin, they hung for a single moment before a boom shook the air around them and Miklan was propelled across the room like an arrow, slamming into the far wall a moment later and disappearing in a shroud of dust and falling rubble, she dropped down a moment later, rolling backwards and stumbling for a moment to catch herself.

Her breathing was ragged, in and out with irregular intervals and her muscles ached like never before.

'H-he can-'

"He can move through our time, yes!" Sothis snapped back at her, cutting off the thought but Byleth could sense the horror in her words as she spoke. Not that she blamed her, the only other one capable of doing that was Goetia and that was for reasons unexplained as of yet. "We can still use it against him but he is stronger than us! I don't know! I-it's like those metal monsters we fought in the valley but-but I can't-this is-"

The clouds parted as Miklan shot forwards, clearing the distance within a single heartbeat and swinging his right arm forwards in a haymaker.

She braced her body, bringing up the flat of her sword and gritting her teeth. The moment the fist made impact she could see the air waver around them in a sphere, rushing outwards in a thunderclap as the power of the punch rushed through her entire arm, going numb and feeling herself being pushed backwards, her feet dragged through the floor and tore grooves through the rock under her boots.

Miklan remained where he stood at the moment of impact for only a moment before he was charging again.

Grabbing the sword with both hands she stepped forwards and swung at the charging man, they dropped down as the sword swung over the top of them, yet she was already prepared for that as she thrust her leg out, he struck her shin and stumbled over the top of it, falling forwards and crashing into the wall behind her with the trip. She reserved the sword and threw herself backwards, feeling the weapon bite through his armour and touch the skin of his back, Miklan released a hiss which soon turned to a howl as she thrust the sword deep into his body.

She was midway through turning her head before she caught a flash of movement, being thrown away when an elbow struck the front of her face and ripped her hands free of the sword, being thrown from Miklan and into a roll for a few metres before coming to a halt, pulling herself back and whipping around as the redhead gripped the sword by the blade and started to pull.

With a wet squelch and a hiss of pain, the man ripped the sword from his side and then tossed it away from him with a snarl. He pressed a hand over the area of the wound as he turned to face her, with narrowed eyes for a brief moment before he took in a sharp breath and started to straighten out. Then pulled his hand away and showed that there wasn't even a drop of blood touching his armour, he didn't even move as though he had been hurt.

"You must have been seen by him as well…" Miklan accused, though she didn't know who the 'him' was that they were talking about. "All that power in the hands of some nobody…that must be it. Of course he'd hand it out to someone else, he just wants to see what happens. Well, I don't care if you're his ally or not. I'll still kill you." he rolled his shoulders and started to march forwards. "After that, I'll head back upstairs and kill that little rat of a brother of mine. Only fair after he stole my life from me!"

The sentence was punctuated with him kicking off the ground once more, the floor shattered with an upturn of cobblestone, with two steps he was upon her with both hands raised up and clenched together, his eyes burning with clear intent as he swung the hammerfist right down towards her. She threw herself back at the last moment, he dropped down and struck the ground underneath them with the blow.

An explosion ripped through the floor and dropped them down once more, the world falling around her as she was thrown down to the next floor underneath them and working hard to maintain her balance. Hitting the ground and bending her knees-

Miklan caught her in the chin with an uppercut, she went airborne and her flight was stopped only by the ceiling, at least for a brief moment. It soon gave way and her body punched right through it back to the floor they had been on and still going, flying up and striking the next ceiling before she stopped, buried midway through the stone and with her vision blurry.

"Ha!"

A roar and then her attacker shot through the hole right towards her, having taken a single jump and reaching her within the same breath. She swung her arms on either side of her, punching the wall and propelling herself from the section and towards the ground, Miklan slammed into the spot where she had last been, he twisted around and kicked off the wall and back towards her, this time tackling her and dropping them back through the floor once more.

The world turned to nothing but noise and motion around her, pausing only for a brief moment before a pulling sensation sent her tumbling through the tower once more, resistance was felt and then passed right by, only the briefest sensation of being pushed by something before she continued.

When it came to a halt, she found herself lying on the ground and staring up at a low hanging ceiling. Coughing out several times as she rolled onto her side, spitting out a wad of blood as she did so and placing the flat of her hand against the ground. Adjusting herself, she eventually managed to rise up to her hands and knees and stagger to her feet, swaying around for a moment as her eyes barely registered the location she was in, dimly recognising the mangled remains of a bed she had landed on but little else.

Her head turned, almost tripping over herself as she moved with it and landed on the large hole in the wall which showed several more walls between herself and Miklan. The redhead recovering from clearly having thrown her and sporting a bloodthirsty grin on his face as he started to stride forwards, stepping through the first hole before he started to speed up.

The next wall just crumbled as he sprinted through it, the final wall fell away and then he was upon her with hands outstretched.

She caught his wrists and let herself fall backwards, bringing her legs up and placing them flat against his chest as she fell into the roll, a look of surprise washed over the face of the man before she pushed with all her might, releasing his wrists and kicking up, sending him into the ceiling above them and out of the tower entirely, or at least out of her line of sight.

Her legs dropped back down, lying flat on her back on the mangled floor and breathing in and out.

Left eye welded shut with probably blood and her right eye was still rather blurry, she couldn't see much and her body was sore all over. The worst part of it was that she was certain that Miklan would probably be back soon and with or without the relic, he was certainly going to be a piece of work to deal with.

Not that she could give up now.

She had her students to help.

If she died then there was nothing to protect them.

She needed to move.

A deep breath flooded into her lungs, they burned but it was enough, her body started to move with strength she barely felt, hands pressed flat against the rough floor pushed her up until she was sitting, coughing out a few more times, she pulled her legs up and then pushed once more, throwing herself to her feet and hobbling, falling into the mangled wall and using it to support herself.

Her fingers curled against the cracked stone, dragging herself forwards and into the gaps. Stumbling over each and every single one of them as she clutched at her side, painfully aware of the tightness in her ribs and the pain that came with each breath she took. Each step she took was as though it might well have been her last, but she never stopped walking.

"Rewind time-"

'No.'

"Byleth-!"

'It might end differently or worse…he's aware of it.'

That was the crux, he knew she was doing something and there was no guarantee the result would change.

"Fine! Just…I'll see what I can do about your body!"

Her confusion as to what Sothis meant lasted until she felt a tingling sensation move through her, turning her eyes to her hands and through poor vision watching as the bruises started to reverse. Though it was noticeably slower than the others, that left her a touch unsure of what was happening. It didn't feel like it was healing though.

'What are-?'

"Quiet! I'm reversing the time of your body but I need to be sure I don't turn you into an infant." The hiss from Sothis was enough to silence her, the clear strain in her voice was more than enough to convince her not to speak. Though she was unsure of when Sothis had been able to do this, or maybe it was just too risky or something. Either way, it was starting to feel a little better but that didn't amount to much.

Stumbling into the main room once more, she looked around before her eyes landed on the fallen sword, limping towards it and fighting back a hiss each time she did so. The gradual fading of the pain aside, it still hurt.

Leaning down, she curled her fingers around the hilt of the sword and pulled it back upwards, the weapon started to glow once it was in her palm once more, the burning orange lighting up the room they stood in and showing off the full extent of the damage they had done.

Her head twitched at the faint rumble.

The floor erupted, rocks flew in every direction as a spot not far from her was punched upwards. She turned towards it and tensed herself once more, taking a couple of steps backwards at the shape which burst up from the ground, then dropped down. Her lips pulled themselves tight and her hands came to the sword, eyes narrowed.

Miklan cracked his neck as he glared at her. "Not bad for your kind…" the comment was a thinly veiled insult. "But I'm so much more than any of the Crest bearers have ever been. Not even you with whatever magic you're doing. Heh…I'm probably stronger than the original Gautier at this point."

'How much stronger can you make me?'

It was the only thing she could think to ask, she wasn't even sure that Sothis could make her stronger in the first place but it didn't matter. If there was a chance, just a single chance, then it was one that she would take and grab hold of.

The moment the question was posed, she could practically feel the hesitation within Sothis for a few precious seconds, before the Goddess eventually replied. "More than you currently are, but to do so without understanding the limits of your body…bestowing more of my power onto you could-"

'It won't matter if we're dead. Do it.'

"...As you wish."

Her body felt like it was on fire, she felt the surge course through her within the same instant, her eyes bulged and she stumbled forwards, her muscles strained and tensed, she could feel the world tremble around her, the glow she unleashed of pale green light matched the intensity of the sword, so much so that Miklan actually stopped walking and stepped backwards while bringing his hands up to cover his eyes.

It was as though she was surrounded by a vortex, each breath felt as though she was going to have the air ripped from her, it was a miracle unto itself that she could even manage to stand up, despite all of that, she was able to fight through the pain just long enough that she could bring her eyes up to bare onto Miklan, the man lowering his arm and then fixing her with a snarl, only to divert his eyes from her and to the rubble for a brief instant.

She followed his line of sight.

The Lance of Ruin buried along with the other sections of debris, clearly having fallen through with them.

The pair of them glanced at the other once more.

Miklan dived and she launched forwards, his hands were barely around the spear before she was upon him, swinging her leg upwards and catching him in the chest with her shin, this time the armour all but disintegrated, the air visibly wobbled for the briefest of seconds before wind rushed into her face, the man released a single silent gasp before he was catapulted from her and striking the wall with enough force to fly through it, she felt the tower tremble with the impact.

She cared nothing, instead she pushed off the ground and made to follow them through the whole-

"Professor!" She briefly paused, her head snapped up towards the entrance in the ceiling and locked eyes with Sylvain, the red head stared down at her for a brief moment in shock, then he quickly shook his head and nodded to her once. "I'll be right down!" not even giving her a chance to argue before he was already moving, disappearing away from the hole.

Her attention snapped back to the direction she had launched Miklan, she pushed off the ground and was outside before she even realised it, cringing as her face was beaten by the torrential rain which had only managed to get worse since they had stormed the tower, her eyes swerving around before the landed on the figure on the ground, her left hand flew up and the gale propelled her towards the ground with her sword raised above her head.

She locked blades with Miklan, his spear held up and braced with both hands, the ground cratered beneath his feet as they glared at the other. She felt the push of resistance before he shoved her back, landing in the mud and slipping through it for perhaps half a dozen metres, the crack of lighting in the distance briefly casting their shadows across the ground as the rain fell around them.

They charged at the same moment, the mud splashed with each step she took as she was upon Miklan once more, slamming into the spear. The world thundered around them, air rushed away as the shockwave ripped through the earth and shattered it into chunks, all the while she kept her attention fully on the face of the man in front of her, visibly showing strain at having to fight her off at this point when compared to before.

With a twist, Miklan jerked the spear and turned it like a windmill, moving so fast that to a regular person it might have seemed as little more than a blur of glowing light. For her, she could make it out just find and swung at the last moment, locking her blade against the head of the weapon and stopping it in its tracks, shoving forwards and staggering the man before whipping the blade free and slashing up.

He leaned back and to the side, the slash passing just inches above his face before he thrust, she sidestepped and brought the sword back and down, slamming it into the top of the spear and into the ground. The impact tore a crevice through the earth beneath their feet, both pushed away to avoid slipping into it. Though Byleth found herself blinking at the distance, she had only intended a few steps and suddenly found herself halfway towards the edge of the woods.

It lasted until she watched Miklan kick off the ground and into the air, the spear held above his head and rapidly falling towards her. A crack, she kicked from the ground and launched herself into the roll, striking the ground with her shoulder and carrying on, twisting around just as Miklan hit the ground and buried the spear down, mud exploded upwards from the landing, soon dissipated by the chunk of rock which blasted out of the spray and towards her.

She stepped forwards and swung her fist out, her knuckles struck the centre of the rock shattering it and sending the debris flying over her body. Miklan was right behind, swinging the spear towards her like a club. She turned, bringing the sword up in a guard and then clenched her jaw.

The force of the strike rocked her body, sending her airborne for a few moments before she dropped back down with a wet squelch into a large puddle. Her arms trembled, still vibrating from the shock, then pushed herself forwards and ignored the explosion of rainwater around her, Miklan still righting himself by the time she was upon him and swinging across.

He stepped forwards, bringing his free arm up and blocking her at the wrist with his forearm. She just swung the other side of her body around and slammed her left hand directly into his nose, hearing a meaty crack and watching a spray of blood shoot out from where she struck him, at the same time a sharp pain lanced through her own hand. Miklan's head snapped backwards as he stumbled away, then his eyes whipped onto her and he countered.

She twisted, pulling the sword down and across through the earth before swinging it up, diverting the thrust of the spear above her head as she did so, then shoving and sending the blow veering off course by a wide margin.

Miklan rammed his shoulder into her chest like a hammer, propelled backwards into a roll she splashed through the mud for a few chaotic seconds then found herself staring up at the sky. Another crack of lighting was followed by a roll of thunder, she brought herself up and onto her feet a moment later, twisting around and whipping the sword outwards in a wide swing, the blade opened up and the many segments lashed across the ground churning the ground into a wall as she brought the blade across.

The mud splashed into the face of Miklan, she kicked off the ground and charged forwards, snapping the sword back into its regular form, she brought her right leg up and slammed her heel into the abdomen of the man, he bent with the blow and fell forwards, she ducked underneath him and behind, bringing the sword up and slashed down and across. Metal bent and split where the blade made contact, slicing into flesh and splashing blood onto the ground this time.

A cry of pain left the lips of the man as he stumbled forwards for half a second, then whipped around like a blur and brought the spear with him, she leaned backwards as the tip of the spear passed within a hair's breadth of her eyes. She could feel the gust of wind snap her hair around as it moved. She stepped forwards and swung up, Miklan's hand came down and grabbed her sword before it could get much speed and power to it.

He pulled it up and above the pair of them as he brought the spear back around and struck her in the side of the head with the shaft of the weapon, the blow was more than enough to make her head spin as she was held in place with the sword. Then the armoured boot of Miklan struck her in the chest and the sword was pulled free of her grasp as she was hurled from the man with the blow.

Another roll of thunder, though whether that was the storm or her body striking the ground wasn't known to her, all she was aware of was being weightless and then hitting resistance for all of half a second before it broke behind her, a splintering groan and suddenly she was hitting the ground and watching a tree fall over the top of her body, her hands flew up and caught it by the trunk, bemusedly surprised when - after a moment of struggle - the fallen tree actually stopped and held itself there.

It was more than enough for her, with a groan she sat up and placed the tree on her shoulder as she brought herself back to her feet. Ignoring the protest in her body as she hefted the weight up and locked eyes with Miklan, she took several steps forwards before breaking into a jog, a few steps later and she brought the tree trunk up and hurled it towards the man, putting every ounce of strength into it.

The leaves were ripped from the branches in the same second, the tree tore itself apart with the force before it even reached the man. The end result being a mixture of high speed splinters and greenery being launched at Miklan, it worked in that the man brought his arms up - likely out of reflex - to cover his face from the spray of wood.

She was already in front of him before the leaves had settled, throwing herself forwards and towards his legs as she did so. Her shoulders slammed into his waist as she pushed up and off the ground, sweeping her arms behind the man's knees and lifting him off the air. She jumped and pushed forwards, ensuring that Miklan took the brunt of the impact into the ground, quickly pushing upwards until she was standing.

Within the next breath, she stomped down hard onto his head, ensuring that she drove her heel as close to his eye as she could possibly manage. He turned his head at the last moment, ending with her crashing it into his temple but the end result was more or less the same in that he was distracted, so she merely brought the leg up and then drove it down several more times to be sure, at least until she broke the skin.

Her eyes flew to the sword still gripped in his hands, darting down and snatching it right out of his palm and into her own hand, the glow overtook the sword once more as she brought her eyes back down towards Miklan, reversing the sword in her grip and then pointing it directly towards the throat of the man, in the next breath she made to drive it down.

He twisted and slammed his arm into the side of her leg, throwing her aim off and only just grazing the side of his throat rather than piercing it. She frowned and made to draw the blade across. That was when she felt something clamp down hard against her knee and then she was flying through the air once more, managing to turn her body just enough that she handed on her feet, stumbling in the mud for a moment until catching herself and turning in the direction of Miklan.

The bruises and cuts on his face were already healing up, the nose she broke snapped itself back into its proper position but the face of the man remained in a furious snarl. That was good, he was becoming more angry and less skilled the longer it went on, his frustration would eventually cause him to make some sloppy mistakes.

He made it all of a single step.

Byleth heard it when he probably didn't, a faint whistle of something travelling through the air at high speeds, in the next moment a blur of silver punched right into the side of Miklan, his eyes visibly bulged from whatever had struck him, a cough broke out of him as he stumbled for a moment, they both looked down to the shape and Byleth caught on first, the spear which Dimitri had been armed with now protruded from the armour like a branch.

The blonde appeared in the next moment, rushing forwards and grabbing hold of the spear before hefting it up into the air with Miklan still on the end of it and showing no strain at holding the man, with a snarl the prince turned and swung it like a hammer, driving Miklan into the dirt with a crash which outright snapped the metal spear in his hands in two, leaving the blade trapped in the chest of the red head.

Her first thought of where Dimitri had even come from was put to rest when she turned to the side just in time to see Sylvain come sprinting out of the doors to the tower, looking rather out of breath and a little haggard. She almost frowned at the sight as she realised he must have sprinted right the way down the tower and past all the halls they had come from, though it was pointless if he wasn't going to be much help when he arrived.

A metal thud whipped her eyes back to Dimitri and Miklan, then blinked twice as the prince was now using the broken spear like some sort of club, repeatedly striking into the head and body of Miklan while showing no intention of slowing down, each strike creating a crack equal to the thunder as chips of metal now went flying. A moment later the blonde thrust his hand down and grabbed hold of the broken spearhead, twisting it rather violently and then pushing it deeper into the man who cried out, swinging back and catching Dimitri in the chest with a frantic blow.

It was enough to send Dimitri into a roll through the dirt, she raced forwards and caught him by the shoulder, briefly catching a glimpse of his expression as she did so. A mixture of pain and fury, they met eyes and he snapped his head from her with a huff, letting her pull him up as he breathed in and out. "Sylvain and I rushed down, we used the holes you made in the floor to travel most of the way. The others are still coming down, the bandits are all but taken care of."

The quickly fired off news was welcome enough, but she briefly considered his words of using the holes she and Miklan had fallen through, which implied they had jumped down them. Rather reckless but she wasn't going to say no to any help at this point.

Sylvain stumbled towards them with a spear in hand, breathing heavily before shaking his head from side to side and looking between them and Miklan, the grimace on his face lasted barely a second before he turned and brought out his spear to bare, briefly pausing as he glanced to the now unarmed Dimitri before sending a worried look her way.

"You broke your spear." Byleth commented, the blonde paused for a half a moment before she carried on. "Pick and choose your moments. Myself and Sylvain will open them for you. Avoid being hit, he's strong now. Like Lonato."

"Gaaaaah!" Miklan's cry of pain brought their attention to the man, now on one knee and slowly extracting the spearhead from his body, pulling it out with a gasp and tossing the bloodied steel shard away from himself, pressing his free hand over the wound and then whipping his head towards them with a burning glare. He opened his mouth to speak, only for blood to drip from between his lips, coughing twice and spitting out yet more of the scarlet liquid before his jaw snapped shut and he settled for a glare.

His lungs must have been pierced with the spear.

But he would probably heal now.

Unless…

Time shattered and cast itself back.

"Gaaa-" Miklan froze up as he realised what happened, by that point she was already moving and with her sword flying towards him like a whip, Miklan rolled to the side to avoid it, spraying blood from his lips as he did so.

She snapped the sword back and then whirled on the man before rushing forwards once more, he brought the spear up in a clumsy guard as he tried to move his hand to the spearhead once more, not that she was going to let him. She ducked and brought her left arm up, the guard had turned into a thrust which she parried to the side, nicking her arm against the head of the spear as she did so and feeling pain like never before, but that didn't stop her from driving the pommel of her sword into the still visibly head of the spear and pushing it further into the body of the man.

His bloodied wet cough was a welcome sound, his hand pressed against her face and shoved her away, not that it mattered much as Dimitri flew into the picture a moment later, fists clenched together and swinging up, his hammer fist struck the underside of Miklan's face and made a sound like cracking stop, she watched blood and teeth fly from the jaw of the man.

Dimitri's hands fell back down, grabbing the top of Miklan's head by his hair and then throwing him, the ripping sound was accompanied by the boy tearing a chunk of crimson lockes from the head of the bandit, tossing his body away as he did so. Miklan striking the ground in a rough heep as his body couldn't decide whether it wanted to treat the missing hair which was now trying to heal or remove the spear once more.

Miklan scrambled onto his feet, a snap of wood as Sylvain broke his spear against the front of the man's face without doing much of anything beyond being a distraction, but it was one she needed. Throwing herself forwards and into the mud, her legs snaked around Miklan's and clamped around them like scissors, twisting her body and dragging the man face first into the dirt.

Dimitri fell on his back a moment later, gripping him by the back of his head and pressing him hard into the mud, driving his face into the puddles and - if the furious thrashing of Miklan was any indication - actively drowning him in it. She spun around and slashed across the back of Miklan's legs, they went limp a moment later but she knew better than that.

Bringing the sword above her head, she aimed it right towards the back of Miklan and then thrust it downwards, driving the weapon through the armour and into the spine of the bandit, it felt as though the body was fighting her over every single inch, clenching her jaw and gritting her teeth as she pressed further downwards, jolting the blade as it went deeper and deeper until it struck home, she felt a brief shock as the resistance broke and then pushed it all the way through until the weapon buried down to the hilt.

Miklan was still thrashing though, a move that should have killed anyone else and the man was still fighting and fighting very hard at that. This was beyond Lonato, he at least died after being struck with fatal wounds, she had no idea what was going on with Miklan.

Something was pushing against her-

Miklan shot up rather suddenly, throwing Dimitri off his body and driving his head back and directly into her face, white exploded in her vision as she fell backwards, the surprise was enough to keep her dazed for a moment as she shook her head, watching as the red head stood up with the sword jutting from his chest, though no longer armed with the Lance, he turned on her and glared hard. Stumbling for a step or two as he stared down at the sword through his front with wide eyes, looking aptly surprised.

A choked cough sputtered free of him as his hands gripped around the blade, trembling all the while, then he started to push it backwards, grimacing as the sword was rather forcibly ejected from his body. Hissing out blood and spit, he eventually shoved the sword all the way through, it dropped into the mud behind him. He stumbled for a moment and pressed his hands over the wound before snarling and aiming a burning glare onto her.

He took a single step.

His chest exploded open, shards of metal were flung forwards as his armour was ripped apart. Miklan froze abruptly and stared at the glowing orange weapon which had been forced through his back and out the front. Blinking profusely as he stared at it in clear confusion, she glanced behind to see Sylvain stood behind his brother, the Lance of Ruin in his hands being driven right through the back of the boy.

Sylvain took in a deep breath and then pulled, dragging the spear out of his brother and staggering them. Turning the spear in his hands and holding it closer to the head as his expression turned blank. Miklan turned and opened his mouth, likely to say something though never getting the chance.

Stepping closer, Sylvain swung up and buried the head of the spear directly into the neck of his brother and continued on, without making a noise he cleaved right through flesh and bone and out the other side with a single fluid motion. Miklan's now headless body thudded against the ground in the next moment, like a puppet without strings as the head rolled away before coming to a stop.

The three of them stared at the body in complete silence, as though waiting for something to happen to it.

Nothing.

It remained motionless.

Movement caught her eye as Sothis appeared, a confused expression on the Goddess as she floated closer to the body, invisible to all but her as she extended her hands towards it and then pressed the flat against the body. A moment later, she felt something deep within her - like a shock of lightning - then the Goddess pulled her hand back as though she had been similarly zapped with it. Neither of them said anything, then Sothis slowly started to disappear, a troubled look on her face before she spoke some parting words. "...He shall not rise again from this."

Byleth wasn't sure how she knew that, though she didn't get the chance to ask.

The strength which had once flooded her body abruptly left her.

She was out cold before she even hit the ground.

AN: Yeah…those blood things are one hell of a boost.

Miklan, during this form, was indeed strong enough to be a considerable threat.

As for why time didn't work on him?

Well…That is for later.

Much later.