Anniversary Day
Act 7: End of an Era
Onychinus wakes up in his room in the Sanctuary. The room was large. The bed, with a nightstand on each side, is positioned in the back right corner when compared to the position of the door, which is centered on the wall. At the foot of the bed is a short dresser. On the left side of the room is a bookcase with a chair and small rounded table for reading.
Onychinus is wearing nothing but black sweats. He turns to his left to see Amaranth, wearing a red nightgown, still asleep. Her head rest on his shoulder and her right arm is on his chest. Onyx smiles slightly as he listens to her slow and soft breaths. In the year that has past since his initiation, Onychinus has rekindled his relationship with Amaranth, but they were still a good distance from official remarrying. This is actually Amaranth's room that the two are sharing.
Onychinus grabs his scroll from the nightstand and checks the time. It is 3AM, 2 hours before they're expected to be up. Onychinus gently moves some hair from out of Amaranth's face to behind her ear. Knocking on the door draws Onychinus' attention away from the girl with him. The knocking also wakes Amaranth up. She yawns as she props herself up on her elbows.
"Can you get it?" Amaranth asks.
"You know, you could just order me to answer it." Onychinus says as he gets up, "You are the Grandmaster."
Onychinus opens the door to see one of Cultis Ex Ipsis members.
"Sir." The cultist says, "I wish to speak to the Grandmaster."
"She's busy." Onychinus states, "I will relay the message."
"I was ordered to speak only to her." The cultist responds.
Onychinus opens his mouth to speak but Amaranth interrupts him.
"Let him in, Onychinus." Amaranth orders.
Onychinus turns to Amaranth. He nods and steps out the way.
"You will need to leave." The Cultis Ex Ipsis member tells Onychinus.
Onychinus furrows his brow as he leaves the room, closing the door behind him.
"Now, what was so important that you had to wake me up so early?" Amaranth asks.
"Lord Umbra has expressed concerns about your relationship with Onychinus." The cultist states, "He wants to make sure your judgment is not clouded by emotion."
"We've been over this." Amaranth groans, "My loyalty belongs to the Cultis Ex Ipsis. Should Onychinus be a traitor, he will be dealt with. I will see to it personally."
The Cultis Ex Ipsis members nods and leaves the room. Shortly after, Onychinus reenters the room.
"They still don't trust me." Onychinus says.
Amaranth walks to Onychinus and kisses him on the cheek.
"Give them time, they'll trust you." Amaranth assures, "They're like family to me. They can be the same for you."
Amaranth yawns.
"I'm going back to bed." Amaranth states, "You coming?"
"Give me a second." Onychinus says.
Onychinus places his scroll on the nightstand, then he opens the drawer on the nightstand and takes out the Shard of the Riders. Onychinus places the shard down next to his scroll and gets back into the bed.
Onychinus, now wearing the armor of the Eighth Rider, holds his hand out in a gripping fashion. A katana made of trux grows out of his hand. Amaranth takes the blade from Onyx and inspects it before wrapping the tsuka with a black ito.
"You know, you wouldn't have to keep recreating these if you just made a scabbard." Amaranth comments.
"It gives me the element of surprise." Onychinus argues.
"It also leaves you vulnerable as you create it, and holding the tsuka without the ito is uncomfortable." Amaranth counters.
"I'll just leave this in the armory and teleport it to me when I need it." Onychinus states.
Anna holds Empress Swallow on her lap, examining the runes on the blade. Iris places her hand on her daughter's shoulder.
"We'll find him." Iris assures.
"It's been a year." Anna states, "We don't have that much time left before the Pillars of the Riders are ready."
"Ironwood is ready to mobilize." Iris says, "We should go."
Trux grows out of Onychinus' head, covering his face with a helmet. He turns to his left to see Amaranth sheathing her daggers.
"Be safe, okay." Amaranth says.
"You may outrank me, but I'm still twice as strong as you." Onychinus says, "I'll be fine."
Amaranth rolls her eyes.
Ironwood places his hands on a map of Remnant, pointing to a location in Vale.
"Umbra has built a supply depot here." Ironwood explains, "Camo's been monitoring the area for the past month. According to his report, the next shift change should be occurring in two hours. This is the best time to strike. The guards tend to get sloppy near the ends of their shifts. We'll need to hurry, we don't want to deal with twice as many guards. Anna, you will lead Team RWBY and a few of my men to secure the supplies in the depot. Rely on stealth, and don't allow the Cultis Ex Ipsis to be alerted of your presence.
Amaranth and Onychinus watch in the Shadow Zone as Anna, Team RWBY, and a few Atlesian soldiers sneak into the large base camp being used as a supply depot.
"Everything has gone exactly as you predicted." Amaranth comments.
"We'll wait until they're leaving, then we'll strike." Onychinus states, his voice deepened by the helmet.
Sneaking past the guards and into was easy. Little did they know, the guards were ordered to do a sloppy guard and Camo's theory about them being tired at the end of their shift was incorrect. Once inside, the group began quietly dispatching the guards.
"How do we get out?" Ruby whispers.
"There should be a couple bullhead landed behind the depot." Anna responds.
As the group drag the supplies to the bullhead, the air around them suddenly gets cold. Anna stops and Ruby shortly after.
"Do you feel that?" Ruby asks.
"The cold." Anna responds.
They turn to see Onychinus walking towards them, his sword in hand.
"Open fire!" One of the Atlesian soldiers orders.
All the Atlesian soldiers begin to shoot at Onychinus, who deflects their bullets with his katana while walking towards them. With the help of his Aliquam, some of the bullets hit the shooters. Congeria on his sword rubs off onto the bullets allowing them to bypass the sildiers' aura and kill them. Onychinus lift one into the air with his Aliquam, and brings him closer. Once close enough, Onychinus swings his katana, killing him. Onychinus uses his Aliquam to pull the weapons from the remaining soldiers' hands. He slashes the one closest to him, then chokes the life out of the next one with his Aliquam. Onychinus then throws the body to the side using it. The last soldier turns to run, but is stabbed in the back.
Anna and Team RWBY stare in shock at the "new" warrior.
"RWBY, go!" Anna orders, "I'll cover you!"
Onychinus swings his katana with one hand, and Anna struggles to block. Team RWBY begins to sped up the pace of their actions. Onychinus breaks the clash and pushes Anna back with his Aliquam. Anna ges back up and charges, she swings, but Onychinus easily deflects the blow. The same goes for her next three strikes as well. Anna stabs at Onychinus, but he moves to the side and grabs both of Anna's wrists. Onychinus holds Anna in the air by her wrists and tightens his grip, causing her grip on Empress Swallow to loosen. Onychinus effortlessly tosses Anna to his left. Anna gets up and tries to charge, but is pushed back Onychinus' Aliquam.
"Your uncle has deceived you..." Onychinus says as he uses his Aliquam to rotate Anna's blade so that the edge faces her.
Onychinus then forces Anna's arm to begin moving towards her neck.
"...into believing that you can become a Rider." Onychinus finishes.
The blade is but a few millimeters away from Anna's neck as she struggles against the force. Anna activates level one of her Verto. With her increased strength, Anna pushes against Onychinus' Aliquam and charges at him. Anna swings and Onychinus blocks, this time, holding the katana with both hands.
Weiss sits in the bullhead's seat.
"You know how to fly this thing?" Yang asks.
"I've been learning from the General." Weiss states.
Ruby activates her COM to call for help.
Anna breaks the clash and tries to swing, but Onychinus sidesteps and pushes Anna with his left hand. Anna stumbles a bit, but quickly recovers. She charges again. Anna swings but at his chest but is block. Anna then swings at Onychinus' legs. Onychinus traps Anna's blade between his and the ground releases it as he throws Anna backwards with his Aliquam. Anna charges and strikes again. Onychinus blocks, only using his left hand to hold his katana. Anna stabs at Onychinus, but he pushes her blade downwards with his own. Anna swings downwards, and the two clash again. Onychinus pushes Anna backwards and swings at her legs. Anna blocks the blade. Onychinus then swings high and Anna blocks that one too. Anna struggles against the iron grip that Onychinus has as their blades stay locked. Anna separates and tries to swing, but Onychinus is faster. He slashes Anna's shoulder, cutting through her shoulder pauldron, jacket, and shirt, while only scraping against her arm. The blade was coated in congeria, but the cut was not deep enough for the poison to take effect.
Suddenly, Titanus in his Guardian form falls out of a massive portal. Ruby's call for help was answered. Titanus lands on the ground, punching it and crushing Onychinus beneath his fist. Anna begins walking towards the bullhead, but stops when she hears Titanus moving. She watches in complete shock as Onychinus uses one hand to guide his Aliquam as he lifts Titanus.
"If that doesn't kill him what will?" Ruby asks.
She had left the bullhead, the moment Titanus arrived.
"Not us." Anna states, "Run!"
Ruby and Anna, clutching her shoulder, run to board the bullhead as Weiss begins taking off. Blake fires two shots at Onychinus, who calming walks after Anna and Ruby. Onychinus deflects both shots. The first hits Blake shoulder, and second hits her head, knocking Blake onto her back. Anna and Ruby jump on. Onychinus holsters his blade by placing it in between himself and his belt. Anna gets a good look at the weapon, or more specifically, the Shard of the Riders as it is inside the tsuka. Weiss flies to Titanus who had retaken his form as the Temple of the Riders. One of the guards that was taken care of earlier walks up to Onychinus, having recovered during the battle.
"My lord, I will mobilize forces to pursue." The Cultis Ex Ipsis member states.
"That will be unnecessary, Officer." Onychinus states.
In the designated hanger of the Temple of the Riders, Team RWBY and Anna, still clutching her shoulder exit the bullhead.
"Make sure they can't track us." Ironwood orders.
Silicon enters the bullhead to inspect it.
"You alright?" Yang asks Blake.
"I'll live." Blake states.
Some of what little remained of the congeria from Onychinus sword rubbed onto the bullets when he deflected them. While not enough to completely bypass her aura, they did more damage to Blake than normal.
"Anna," Ruby shakely calls, "Who was that?"
"I'm not sure." Anna states.
"How do we fight him?" Ruby asks.
"Fight?" Anna repeats, "Ruby, we were lucky to survive."
Onychinus removes his helmet and places it on his nightstand.
"Impressive display." Amaranth comments, she is sitting on the edge of the foot of the bed, "I can't help shake the feeling that you weren't trying to kill her."
"I wasn't." Onychinus states, "You remember our deal. Anna needed to survive the battle."