Emerald Rain

Conand Tower:

Byleth:

The month went by quickly and before Byleth knew it the Black Eagles mission was upon them. Byleth, Sylvain, and the Black Eagles students left the monastery and drew close to Conand Tower. "This weather is unfortunate, Those villagers were right when they said a storm was brewing" Edelgard said breaking the silence as they traveled "But they were more afraid of an attack then they were of a storm, let's end this quickly" She stated, and Byleth nodded in agreement.

"The thieves have taken Conand Tower as their base... there it is in the distance" Hubert said.

"Miklan must be more skilled than your average thief to have taken over a place like that" Edelgard sighed.

A knight that Lady Rhea assigned to help them named Gilbert spoke up "This are was the site of a massive battle several hundred years ago when invasions from the north were at their peak" he stated "This tower was built for both surveillance and defense, It will be difficult to seize it" Gilbert added.

Edelgard turned towards him "You know your history, Gilbert. If I recall correctly you're from the Kingdom, aren't you?" Edelgard asked.

"I left my home a long time ago. If you have any questions about the mission I'll be happy to answer them" Gilbert said.

"What do you know about the leader of the thieves?" Byleth asked. Gilbert began to tell her how House Gautier had a fixation with the heir needing to have a crest, so he could imagine why Miklan might have left.

"There's no reason that crests should have the power to dictate someone's destiny" Edelgard said sternly "Don't you agree, Gilbert? He was just another victim of cruel fate" she asked "Forsaken by the Goddess who now demands his execution" Edelgard added. The rest of the trip to Conand tower was silent nobody quite knew how to respond to what Edelgard had said.

The students drew closer to the tower, and Gilbert shouted to them "Prepare for battle" then led them into the tower.

The battle was fairly tough but they managed to push through it even despite all the reinforcement that Miklan was able to call to prevent them from reaching him. Once they had finally reached Miklan the battle didn't last long he was strong but there were more of them.

"I can't believe I lost to a bunch of noble brats," Miklan spat.

"Handover the Lance of Ruin, Miklan" Sylvain shouted to his brother.

"You... Urgh..." Miklan said he began to make a bunch of weird noises and this black stuff came from the Lance of Ruins and began to engulf Miklan's body. He was soon submerged in it, Byleth watched in horror as he soon turned into a horrific beast as Aelfric and Sitri had. Byleth looked at the beast before them, It had a marking of the crest of Gautier on its face. Just like the image Claude had shown her.

"Miklan... My brother" Sylvain whispered in horror, and Gilbert lunged an attack at the beast before them. The rest of the students followed in his lead, after a while of fighting him they managed to take him down. Once defeated the beast turned back into Miklan and the Lance of Ruin.

Byleth, Edelgard, Gilbert, and Sylvain walked up to where Miklan laid dead "So the lance and Miklan still remain" Gilbert said as he inspected Miklan and the Lance. Gilbert grabbed the lance of Ruin and handed it to Sylvain, Byleth thought he was probably afraid of what happened to Miklan and didn't want to suffer the same fate. Byleth looked at Sylvain, he looked disgusted for a moment but he quickly hid that emotion away.

"Sylvain, are you ok?" Byleth asked quietly.

"Yes, it always falls to the younger siblings to clean up the messes of their older ones doesn't it?" Sylvain said with a laugh. Byleth just stood in silence unsure of how to respond to that.