These are very troubling times. No doubt a sentence you have all heard many over and over again, but that doesn't make it any less true. I hope you and all of your families and friends stay healthy. We should all take a page from Bernie's book and stay indoors. What can I even say about this chapter. I tried a lot of things here, did any of it work? No idea, as with most things I do. I read my stuff over and over and after a while it just kinda turns to mush in my brain. All I can hope is that this at least gives you some entertainment during this quarantine.

"Hmm…"

"..."

"I don't get it."

"..."

"I mean I really don't get it."

"Ahem…" Byleth cleared his throat. "Have I done something to solicit your intense gaze?"

Catherine gave a hearty laugh then suddenly poked the Black Eagles professor in the shoulder. "You bet you have!" She scanned his figure and smirked. "I mean you're way too plain! A random merc who just happens to be the son of the Blade Breaker, and for some reason you keep getting special treatment from Lady Rhea, even going so far as to make you a professor?!"

Byleth pondered for a moment. "Well I apologize if you find it dissatisfying, but I can assure you I will do my utmost with the task I was entrusted with."

The knight groaned. "Uggh… there you go again with that matter of fact bull. Is this something you even want to be doing or are you going along with it all cause it's just another one of your jobs? Do you even care about the church? Our mission? Your students?"

Byleth furrowed his brow. "I…"

"You have no need to answer that, my teacher." Edelgard spoke abruptly, appearing at their sides. "Regardless of your intentions, you have led the Black Eagles class proficiently thus far, and your results more than speak for themselves."

Catherine rolled her eyes. "Hmph, You say that for now Lady Hresvelg, but I don't trust this guy one bit." Catherine looked back to the former mercenary. "I still think you're up to something, and once I find out what that is, you better be ready to taste my blade."

"..."

"Yeash, sounds like the professors getting an earful over there, nice that it isn't me for a change." Caspar whistled.

"Although she does bring up a good point, in fact it's something I've been pondering myself. Lady Rhea making him a professor seems highly illogical when taking into account his former occupation. He had no prior experience in any sort of role that has even a remote relation to a professorship, yet he was chosen to instruct our class. Somehow his skills far exceed what his resume would indicate." Linhardt responded.

"Your claims hold some truth Linhardt, it is unlikely that a common mercenary would have anything akin to a formal education or the skills to articulate as well as our professor does. Either the Blade Breaker is an excellent tutor, or there's more to our esteemed professor than meets the eye." Ferdinand added.

"Sure it's strange he's as smart as he is, but you don't actually think the professor has any bad intentions do you? He can be a little strange at times, but hardly ever menacing." Dorothea questioned.

"I-I don't think the professor is a bad guy… He's not a bad guy is he?" Bernadetta peeped.

Petra shook her head. "I do not have that thinking. The professor has niceness, he is no villain like you all have been saying."

"I never said he was a villain. I just said that there is probably something he's hiding." Linhardt yawned.

Dorothea put a finger on her chin. "Well… I think everybody has something they wouldn't like to tell others, that's perfectly normal. I think we should trust the professor unless he gives us a reason not to."

"Something they don't want to tell others…" Bernadetta whispered.

"Did you say something Bern?"

"N-no! Nothing at all! Sorry to bother you!" Bernadetta screeched back.

Dorothea gave a concerned look. "Ber…"

"Man, is it just me or is this fog getting worse?" Caspar questioned, cutting her off.

"Hmm. You are not mistaken, this fog is indeed getting thicker." Ferdinand agreed as he waved his hand through the air.

Their aforementioned teacher rejoined the group of students as soon as he noticed the change. "Be on guard, this fog has greatly reduced our visibility. The enemy will have the upper hand should a conflict arise."

"Oh lighten up will you prof? You're scaring your poor students, we won't be fighting today. I'm sure the vanguard cleaned up everything already." Catherine said smugly.

"Even if we were to run into unforeseen troubles, I doubt any issues will arise with the mighty wielder of Thunderbrand on our side." Hubert mused.

"Thunderbrand...?" The professor questioned.

"You mean you've never heard of it? It's one of the great Heroes' relics you know!" Catherine said as she unsheathed her unique looking weapon.

She was met with a blank stare.

The knight sighed. "Right, I shouldn't even be surprised at this point. Why did Lady Rhea make you a professor again? Just know that this thing has a lot of power. Don't be surprised if I accidentally cut you down in a fight, fish eyes."

"Fish eyes?" Byleth responded.

Hubert rubbed his chin. "On another note, this is all very strange. One must wonder why Lord Lonato would be reckless enough to incite such a hopeless rebellion."

Catherine frowned. "I suppose it all goes back to the Tragedy of Duscur. Though your professor probably hasn't even heard of that either."

"I am aware of the name, however…"

"The king of Farghus was murdered by the people of Duscur roughly four years ago. I believe that about sums it up, correct?" Edelgard explained abruptly.

"Well, yes, but there's more to it then that. They had accomplices."

The royal raised her eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yeah, accomplices within the kingdom itself. Including Lord Lonato's son, Christophe. He was handed over to the church for execution and well, he probably not only resents the church for that, but me as well. Considering I was the one that handed him in."

Byleth rubbed his chin. "Curious... the church carries out executions?"

"Well, at the time the kingdom was in no position to deal with the situation, and they asked that the church pass judgement in their stead but…"

Byleth held up his hand to stop her. "We are being watched."

Catherine clicked her tongue. "What are you even…"

"Ambush!" Screamed a knight near the front of their formation.

Soon a large swarm of arrows burst through the treeline raining the church knights with arrows.

Bernadetta immediately curled up.

HUH!? Are those arrows!? REAL arrows!? As in the ones that can kill you!?

"Damn! Shields in front! We need to defend against the next volley!" Catherine shouted, now fully in battle mode. "Damn you, looks like we're going to have to fight after all, professor." She briefly scanned the large area ahead of her. "I will engage with the knights and to draw the enemies' attention. I don't want the students to fight, but with this damned fog we won't know where all their forces are. If any slip past us, it's up to you and your students to take care of them. It's time you showed me what Lady Rhea sees in you."

Byleth nodded back.

"Alright then." Catherine unsheathed her relic and charged to the front line. "Form up and take down everybody that breaks through that fog! We don't know how many there are but we are going to push straight through them! Show them what it means to defy the goddess!"

The Knights of Serios cheered and met the oncoming opponents directly who had begun to slip through the fog.

We're fighting right now!? Like NOW now?! We weren't supposed to be fighting today! I've been lied to! LIED to I say! Get me out of here!

"Keep at it! The more of them here, the less the students have to deal with!" Catherine shouted as she joined the fray herself, the glowing red strikes of Thunderbrand could be seen through the fog, tearing through her opponents with ease.

Byleth turned to his students. "With the enemy forces now engaging with the knights, the large volleys should cease from fear of hitting their own. We have more room to move but do not be careless, we make the perfect targets for snipers hiding in the cover of trees and fog. Stay close to me and keep your eyes peeled for any signs of an enemy."

"Very well my teacher, Black Eagles, prepare for combat!" Edelgard commanded.

The students gripped their weapons and got into formation.

This isn't fair! I didn't have time to prepare myself! If I knew I was going to die today I would have at least left a will. Oh I sure hope the plants in my room get watered when I can't take care of them anymore.

"I can smell blood in the fog, the battle rages on. Your orders professor."

"The knights are taking on the bulk of their forces on the main road, this leaves their sides exposed to more attacks from the woods…" His eyes trailed off to the dense forest on the side of the road. "So… we will push into the woods and cover the knights lower flank, perhaps we may even attempt to outflank the enemies ourselves."

"I would recommend we try a different approach." Hubert interjected. "The visibility is low enough in the woods already. With this fog, venturing in without the knowledge of our enemies would be akin to suicide."

"It will be a large risk yes, but so far none of their forces should be behind our formation given that there were no attacks during the initial ambush. Additionally, the trees should provide us much needed cover from any arrows. I will keep to the front and any surprise attacks will be directed towards me." Byleth unsheathed his blade. "Once I begin to engage, I trust you all to know how to proceed after that. The knights can fight on the path due to their tight formation, but we lack the defensive capabilities to compete in the open."

"Hmph, very well. I just hope you are not putting my Lady in unnecessary danger."

"We are in a warzone Hubert, the danger has already found us. I agree with your plan fully, my teacher, let us push into the woods." The Adrestian heir concluded.

"Alright! I'm raring to go! Let me at em!" Caspar shouted.

"I should have taken a nap after all, I really do despise battles." Linhardt yawned.

Dorothea opened her thunder tome. "I'm not too enthused about fighting kingdom soldiers either, but now we have no choice but to face them."

"With battling comes experience, we must be facing them." Petra added.

Bernadetta clasped her bow tightly. "Absolutely not! The last time we went into the woods, I-I almost got eaten by demonic beasts! You can't make me..."

Ignoring Bernadetta's protests, the class pressed onward.

"B-but…oh why do I even bother..."

Byleth gave one more instruction before heading in. "If any of you observe something out of the ordinary, no matter how insignificant it may seem, inform me. Any information we can gather in this fog is invaluable."

With their professor leading their advance, the Black Eagles class slowly crept into the woods. Trees surrounded them on all sides. The dense fog ensured they could not see more than a few feet in front of their faces. With strained eyes, they made sure to keep their Professor and each other in view to ensure nobody would become lost in the mist.

The fear of a sudden unseen attack weighed heavily on the minds of the students. Nobody dared to speak out of fear of giving away their position. They had to trust their professors' sense of direction, as they had already lost themselves in the fog.

W-wh-wh-why are we doing this! Is the professor actually crazy!? This has to be the cruelest form of torture imaginable! I bet there's somebody just waiting to strike me down behind one of these trees, and there's a lot of them!

Bernadetta closed her eyes and shook her head profusely.

Nononono! Don't think like that, you have to stay strong Bernie! There's nothing to fear! Just push ahead and…

She opened her eyes and looked to her left. It was only for a brief moment, but she could have sworn she saw a dark masked figure lurking in the shadows of the mist staring directly at her. With a single blink, the figure was gone, only the blackness of the unknown remained. She instinctively wanted to scream at the top of her lungs but quickly pushed her hand over her mouth, she absolutely couldn't scream now.

Wha-wha-WHAT WAS THAT! A monster!? That can't be real! I-I know! Maybe the fog is just playing tricks on me. I mean there's no way that there would be a scary masked thing with kingdom soldiers, right?

Petra moved into Bernadetta's vision and motioned forward. Bernadetta had stopped and the rest of the formation was still advancing. Bernadetta nodded and resumed her march.

I-it's nothing, I didn't get much sleep last night, it must be because of that.

Bernadetta tried to brush off the experience but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was very wrong.

The group continued for some time until…

*CRUNCH* The sound of a branch being stepped on was deafening in the silence of the forest.

The whole class abruptly stopped and stared at Caspar.

"It wasn't me. Don't give me that look." He whispered in annoyance.

Realizing the truth in his student's statement, Byleth immediately assumed a fighting stance.

"Wraghhh!" Soon a screaming man burst from the fog straight towards the group, his axe poised to strike. "Lord Lonato doesn't deserve such sadness and anger... Now it's your turn to suffer!"

As planned, Byleth intercepted his attack, but shortly after even more enemies came pouring out of the mist to join their comrade in conflict. Soon, the professor found himself engaged to a number of enemies and backed up slowly to ensure all of them were drawn out where they could be seen by the rest of the class.

With the enemy forces finally exposed, it was time for the Black Eagles to retaliate with an attack of their own. Edelgard motioned her hand forward and the melee fighters moved up and joined the clash to alleviate pressure from their professor.

"Forgive me for the intrusion, but it seems like you could use the help of my noble self." Ferdinand, eager to show off this time around was the first to join the fray. He ran up and used the length of his lance to drive off a swordsman looking to get in a strike on their professor, who already had his handful with the bulk of the enemy force.

"Indeed, as capable as you are, any individual would find themselves hard pressed to fight this many opponents at once. Allow us to fight by your side." Edelgard proclaimed as she blocked an incoming strike with her axe.

"Your help is appreciated, to think they would all rush in the moment we were in sight." The professor said through gritted teeth.

"You would think we're just gonna do nothing while you try to kill our lord?!" Screamed another enemy soldier as she clashed with him.

No way! There's too many of them! I have to get out of here quickly!

Bernadetta planned to quickly turn around and sprint off in the other direction but was stopped by a firm hand on her collar.

"I do hope you're not planning on running Bernadetta. It would not do to have deserters in my lady's company. Otherwise I will have to deal with them. I am sure you wouldn't want that, so I will ask again." The black haired mage pulled Bernadetta in closer and whispered into her ear. "You don't plan on running, do you?"

Bernadetta shook her head furiously in fear.

"Good, because it's our turn to join the battle." Hubert hummed as he motioned to the rest of the ranged fighters.

A reassuring hand was placed on Bernadetta's shoulder. "Don't worry Bern, I'm scared too, but as long as we do what we learned in class, everything should be fine." Dorothea said with a soft smile.

What we learned in class? Oh yeah that's… wait… what did we learn again?

"Forests."

The class silenced themselves and stared blankly at their professors abrupt statement, the first thing he had said since class had started a few moments prior.

"Ummm… what about forests professor?" Dorothea questioned.

"That is the topic of today's class. As you all know, we will be venturing into Faerghus territory for the next mission, much of which is forested. The road we will be taking in particular is surrounded by dense woods. I figure this is a good time to explain the basics of combat within a forest." Byleth began to draw diagrams on the chalkboard. "Generally, the forest is far from the ideal place for a battlefield. Trees hinder the use of large well built formations, cavalry, and arrows. There is, of course, one thing a forest is ideal for." He scratched a large "X" on the board in the middle of a company of knights.

"An ambush." Edelgard said sternly.

"Precisely, the trees provide the perfect cover to carry out a large scale ambush that could decimate any force without the proper preparation. Not knowing where the enemy could come from is detrimental to any military unit. Ranged units form the back line and are usually protected but should something like this happen… "

"They would be completely wiped out." Linhardt said, his face still planted on his desk. "A shame really. I'd hate to be the poor fellow caught in that."

What did he just say?! W-wiped out?!

Byleth nodded. "Which is why, in any scenario where the enemy cannot be seen, it is especially important to ensure that more defensive units are always further ahead from the back line than usual. They will provide not only information by scouting, but also gain the attention of enemy forces, thus protecting more vulnerable units."

Bernadetta sheepishly raised her hand, a surprise to the rest of the class. "D-does that mean somebody like me, who uses a bow, is useless in a forest?" She asked.

The professor shook his head "Far from it, in fact it is exactly ambushes like this where ranged fighters like you become the most important. Your role would be… "

Wait, that would mean that… I have to do that?!

"Lets go." Hubert scorned. "Do not fail us Bernadetta."

The Black Eagle mages began to offer their support to the battle. Without the help of any mages of their own, the enemy forces were being driven back despite their advantage in numbers.

Bernadetta sat in wait behind a tree panting heavily. The professor explained to her that it was her job to take out any enemy snipers that attempted to interfere with a main skirmish. An unchecked archer could take out many of their allies safely from behind cover without anybody noticing, and so she would hide until the enemy archer exposed themself and take them out to prevent that from happening.

Seriously?! You gave such an important job to me? I don't understand what you're thinking at all professor!

The battle raged on, and despite her overwhelming desire to flee, the memory of Hubert's fury was more than enough to keep her grounded at her position. She looked everywhere for any sign of an enemy archer, but with the trees and fog, it was nearly impossible.

If I was an archer, where would I be? Wait a minute… I am an archer!

She kept scanning until she focused on a particular spot. It seemed like exactly the place she would be hiding in if she were in that area. Sure enough, for a brief second she saw a glint in the distance, magic from Dorothea had reflected off of something.

The enemy's arrow, I can see it! B-but… can I hit that?

She looked back to her classmates clashing fiercely against the enemy, she had to do her job.

Here goes nothing I guess!

She notched her arrow and quickly fired it with deadly precision. It flew over the heads of everyone in the skirmish and disappeared into the fog. A sharp cry of pain in the distance gave evidence that her arrow found its mark.

Whoa, did I get stronger?

With the demise of the enemy archer, the rest of the kingdom forces were defeated by the students of the Black Eagles class.

"That appears to be all of them my teacher." Edelgard announced breathing heavily from the fight.

"Indeed, excellent work. Anybody who has received an injury, seek treatment from Linhardt right away." The professor announced.

Caspar wiped the sweat off his forehead. "Phew, not to say that wasn't difficult, but I kinda figured Kingdom soldiers would be, well… tougher? The way our enemies fought reminds me more of the brawls I would get in with other kids."

"I was noticing that too, it does have strangeness." Petra pondered. "Also, I might be the only one having this thinking, but does this fog seem to be having even more thickness than before?"

Byleth stood still for a few moments. "Indeed… I have never experienced fog of this magnitude… perhaps magic is the cause?"

Hubert cleared his throat. "It is certainly not impossible, dark magic has a wide range of uses and could create a fog such as this, but the user would have to be very powerful, somebody we would not want to get mixed up with."

Somebody we wouldn't want to get mixed up with?

Hubert's words brought the image of the masked thing she saw earlier in the forest to her mind. She was probably seeing things, but the professor did say to mention anything…

"Like somebody with a dark bird mask and a black cloak?" Bernadetta whispered.

"Did you just say a dark bird mask?" Edelgard asked abruptly.

"Uh y-yes! I thought I saw something like that earlier when we were walking in the forest."

Edelgard looked at the ground for a brief moment, then towards the professor. "This is just a hunch, my teacher, but I believe that masked figure Bernadetta saw has a hand in this unnatural fog. I would advise we seek to dispose of them immediately."

"Very well" Byleth nodded. "We shall… "

"How bothersome." An unknown voice spoke out of thin air.

The students raised their guards and looked in all directions for the speaker, but nobody could be seen.

"Show yourself!" Edelgard commanded.

"Ah, ah, ah my dear. That wouldn't be any fun now would it. You all seem very keen on getting rid of me, so I think I'll stay far away from you, after all your little group there seems very dangerous. I do want to keep this fog going after all."

Maniacal laughter could be heard from all directions.

"I just thought of a most wonderful idea, since you're all so dangerous together, I'll just split you apart. The fog of war is a terrible thing, hard to tell friend from foe when you can barely see your own hands. It's not uncommon to strike down your own comrades, but if I'm speaking honestly, that's the fun part."

*Snap*

Bernadetta blinked, and suddenly, everybody was gone

Wha… wha… wha… WHAT!?

Bernadetta frantically looked hoping to catch any glimpse of her classmates, but it was futile. She was alone.

No no no no no, this CAN'T be happening!

"Hello! Is anybody there?! It's me, Bernadetta!" She called out, but there was no response.

Everybody's gone?! How is that possible, they were just here a second ago!

She began taking steps forward through the forest. "Petra? Caspar? Edelgard? Professor? Anybody? Please, don't leave me here…"

"Oh don't worry, I can keep you company." Slow laughter emanated from behind her.

Bernadetta's heart froze, she was no longer alone. She gulped and slowly turned to face the new presence. It was the masked man she had seen in the forest earlier.

"Why hello there little one! A pleasure to meet you." He said with a gentle bow. "You may call me, Caligo. Might I have the pleasure of knowing your name?"

I'm going to die.

"No? Oh well, I was only trying to be polite. You're quite perceptive aren't you though, to think somebody actually spotted me in my beautifully crafted fog." He placed his hand on his mask and sighed. "I really must commend you. I suppose archers do require good eyesight but yours is amazingly effective, dangerously so." He then took his hand off his mask and stared directly at Bernadetta. His voice took on a darker tone. "I can't have you ruining this, and so I'm going to get rid of you first."

Get rid… of me?

Bernadetta immediately sprinted off in the other direction as fast as her legs could take her. "Not happening! Not happening! Not happening! Somebody, anybody! Please save me!"

Caligo put his hand on his chin. "I was worried that she might be really skilled since she was the only one that could see me, but this is how she is?" A smile crept from under his mask. "My lucky day."

Bernadetta continued to run until her lungs screamed for air. It had been a number of minutes since the dark mage had shown himself. Heavily panting, she propped herself against a nearby tree and looked behind her. "I think... I think I lost him."

"Incredible really." Caligo appeared from the fog next to her. "I would never have imagined somebody like you could run that fast for that long. You really are full of surprises." He channeled dark magic in his hand. "But you're a fool if you think you can escape me in my fog. This ends now."

Perhaps it was the lack of oxygen to her brain, or maybe the extreme amount of adrenaline running through her body. Whatever the case, Bernadetta knew, this was a fight she could not run from.

Nobody is coming to save me. I have no choice…

Bernadetta grabbed an arrow from her quiver and shifted her stance.

"You were so keen on running away not too long ago, now you want to fight?" Caligo took his own stance. "This is starting to get interesting."

The dark mage quickly launched a burst of dark magic at Bernadetta. She rolled out of the way and the blast crashed into the tree behind her. The archer retaliated and shot an arrow directly at her attacker as soon as she found her footing, hitting him dead on.

"Got em!" Bernadetta shouted in triumph.

Caligo grasped at his wound and laughed, only to dissipate into mist.

A moment later, his voice continued, as if coming from the fog itself. "It's not going to be that easy. I was going to save this for that professor of yours but you seem to have some skill after all, so it's time I got serious."

Again the dark mage appeared from the fog, but he was not alone. Other identical masked clones came out of the fog one by one until Bernadetta was surrounded by half a dozen of them.

"Let me show you what I can really do." They all said in unison.

"Wha-what! Hey, that's not fair!"

"Well of course not, that's what makes this fun!" The dark mage shouted as his clones all fired dark blasts of energy at the girl.

It took every ounce of Bernadetta's concentration to not get vaporized by the onslaught. She weaved through the misty forest using the trees as shields. Debris flew through the air and the once silent forest was filled with chaos. Bernadetta managed to fire a few shots at her attackers in between dodging but each hit would just cause the clone to dissipate and be replaced with another.

"Seriously?!" Bernadetta screamed in frustration.

"Impressive, but you can't do this forever! I'm sure you're already tired out from all that running, so why don't you just be a good girl and die!" Caligo shouted.

He's right, I can't keep this up for much longer. Which one is the real him? Think, Bernie, think! There has to be something I can do, anything! What would the professor do in this situation?

"Your eyesight is impeccable Bernadetta, you have the makings of a proper archer." Byleth stated.

"Th-thank you professor." Bernadetta blushed and looked to the ground to avoid eye contact. It was not often that she received compliments.

"While a good eye is key in archery, to rely solely on it during a battle could prove fatal. I have seen many slain due to their overreliance on what they could see. Which is why I suggest you practice with your other senses."

"My other senses?"

"Smell, touch, hearing, these are all just as important tools on the battlefield as sight. Mastery of combat requires mastery of the senses. Just take that into account should you find yourself in dire situations. I believe there is the saying 'Looks can be deceiving?'" The professor stroked his chin in thought. "I am unsure if I am using that proverb correctly…"

Bernadetta laughed. "It's OK Professor, I get what you're saying. I'll try that."

Looks can be deceiving huh.

The spells being launched at Bernadetta were very real, the destruction they left in their wake was proof of that. The clones on the other hand, disappear whenever she attacked one. They were nothing but fog illusions created by that dark mage, and if they were illusions…

Footsteps! Those things are walking around but I can't hear any footsteps from them! So where is he?

Bernadetta frantically tried to process all this information in her head while barely dodging the many projectiles thrown at her.

He has to be close enough to see me, but he knows that I might see him through the fog so he is probably being extra careful to hide himself.

Bernadetta gasped at the sudden realization.

Are you telling me he's invisible?! What kind of horror novel am I in right now?! A poor girl all alone getting chased by some invisible maniac and his army of fog clones! How am I supposed to beat that?!

"Give up already! It's only a matter of time before I kill you, then I can move onto the rest of your classmates!" Caligo threatened.

He's so annoying, I hate having to listen to him. Oh right, stupid Bernie! Use your ears! If I can't see him, I just have to listen for his footsteps. But there's no way I can locate him in this situation! I don't even have time to breathe, let alone listen for his steps!

"What an enormous ruckus. If you're going to treat a young lady this roughly you should have at least taken her to dinner first."

"Dorothea!" Bernadetta cried out in joy.

The songstress appeared from the fog next to where the two were battling.

"Is this guy giving your problems Bern? Why don't we teach him a lesson in etiquette." Dorothea said as she prepared her own magic.

"Another pest has shown up? That matters not, you can both die together!" Caligo screamed.

Dorothea fired her spells at a few of the clones only to be met with the same surprise her classmate had earlier.

"What the heck is this? He just keeps on coming no matter how many of these I blast." Dorothea complained.

"Those are just illusions, we need to find his real body. B-but that might be hard cause I think he is invisible."

"Invisible? Well how are we supposed to find somebody that's invisible?" Dorothea asked as she continued to launch spells.

Even with her sudden appearance, the dark mage had the upper hand with his endless onslaught.

With Dorothea here... I might just be able to do this.

"Dorothea, I need you to protect me for a few moments!" Bernadetta blurted out. Her eyes suddenly widened at the suddenness of her own demand. "Uhm p-please, if you don't mind."

Dorothea smiled. "Of course, do what you need to do. I can't hold him off for that long though."

The songstress shifted to defense and used her spells to block the oncoming attacks.

Bernadetta notched an arrow and closed her eyes. She tried to filter out the sound of magic explosions in the air.

Listen Bernie, listen! He probably won't be standing still forever so I just have to wait for him to make a single step.

She continued to listen to no avail. Was she wrong? Would he not move at all? Would her plan fail and cost both her and Dorothea's lives? She was stupid for believing that she could actually defeat him.

*crunch*

Aha! There you are!

"Finally giving up and accepting your death? I told you it was usele…GAH!"

The clones began to dissipate and the true Caligo appeared slumped on the ground, an arrow lodged now into him. "Wha-what! How?!"

"Never underestimate a woman's intuition. You should never have messed with Bernadetta here." Dorothea taunted.

"I-impossible… damn you…this isn't over… " Caligo tried to prop himself up but dropped to the floor motionless.

Dorothea grabbed Bernadetta and shook her lightly. "That was incredible! You did it Bern! Woman's intuition aside, how did you know he was there?"

"W-well I just used my other senses like the professor told me." Bernadetta laughed nervously.

"Your other senses?" Dorothea gave a bewildered face. "The professor sure says some weird stuff huh. Although it always seems to help out in the end."

"I suppose it does."

With the dark mage now dead on the ground, the fog began to disappear. It eventually faded completely and visibility in the forest was restored.

Dorothea looked around in amazement. "Wow, what do you know? He really was the cause of all that fog."

"Y-yeah. I thought I was going to die." Bernadetta breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hey! Dorothea! Bernadetta! We are over here!" Shouted a familiar voice.

Caspar was waving at them from a distance away with the rest of the class, their professor included.

"I am glad to see you two unharmed. I apologize for not being with you, to think that mage could delude us like that." Byleth reported as the duo joined them. "With the fog gone, I take it you have managed to defeat him?"

"Yep! Bernadetta here took on the baddie all by herself, she was really quite amazing." Dorothea gloated.

"Excellent work Bernadetta, he was a tough opponent. There is no telling what that mage would have done had the fog continued longer." Complimented Byleth.

"Oh, w-well. It was nothing I guess." Bernadetta fidgeted. "I just used what you taught me."

"Is that so?" Byleth mused. "Everyone, the fog may be lifted, but keep your guards up. It would be unwise to drop them now. We still have a battle to finish."

The class prepared themselves and followed the professor to regroup with the knights. All except one.

Ferdinand looked back into the forest uneasily, the sight he was met with when the fog cleared still burned into his mind. "R-right. A battle... "

Alrighty then... That's all for now I suppose. I'm actually going insane haahhahahahaaaaaa.

Until next time...

-Arcale