AN: Hey everyone, I have the next chapter here. This is the one a lot of you have been waiting for, the fight between archers and riders. It was a hard battle to write, with a lot of characters having moments when they shine. As the title of the chapter shows, the silver eyes concept comes into play here. However, the way they work in this story is different than in the RWBY series. It acts here in a way to fit in the Fate series of abilities, doing something I think is cool. Hope you enjoy this chapter, let me know what you thought or if you have any suggestions, and have a nice day.
Chapter 23 – Silver Eyes Revelation
Archers vs. Riders.
In the plains far outside the Academy walls, Raby and Astolfo were waiting next to Cu Chulainn. There were no obstacles for half a mile in all directions. In the distance, Archer sored through the sky, carrying Cinder in his arms like before. He landed near the group before letting her go. Cu Chulainn turned to him with an annoyed expression, "You know, for someone who asked me to set up this match. You have some nerve being late."
"Call it last second preparation," Archer responded, "Also, I had to help out one of her teammates walk again." He then looked over to see Ruby and Astolfo, "At least you two were here on time."
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Astolfo said with an uneasy smile. The svelte paladin then looked over to Ruby, seeing her stare at Cinder with an odd expression, "What's wrong?" He said as Cinder crossed her arms
"Sorry," Ruby said Cinder, "I thought you looked familiar."
"I get that a lot," Cinder replied with a smile on her face. She then turned to Cu Chulainn, "Shall we get started?"
"You're always to the point." the blue-haired lancer said with a smile, "Very well, this is a two-on-two fight. And it looks like it's archers," He said to Cinder and Archer before cutting himself off to look of over to Ruby and Astolfo, "versus riders." He then started back up as he smiled, "You four can go all out here. I just going to monitor just in case something goes wrong." He then glanced over to Archer, "Like, I don't know, someone gets a concussion after a locker gets dropped on their head. I have to be there to take a picture of it."
"That's not going to happen to me," Archer said to Cu Chulainn before turning to Ruby, "But, I'm interested in how much ingenuity you have."
"And I look forward to seeing what your Noble Phantasm is," She said as she held out her arms, calling her Crescent Rose to her hands in its scythe form, "I hope it's really cool."
"It's not that cool," the blue-haired said under his breath, but Archer still overheard and glared at the blue-haired lancer. Cu Chulainn cleared his throat, "Without further a due," He said as Cinder and Archer created their respective short swords, one in each hand. Astolfo drew his sword as he readied his stance. Ruby's eyes focused on her opponents, who were a few meters away, "Begin!"
At the start of the match, the two archers threw their weapons towards the riders. The short blades spun as they arced in their path through the air. Ruby and Astolfo took up a defensive stance as the weapons approached. However, the had a sudden look of confusion as the four blades all converged a couple of feet in front of them, creating a large smoke explosion. Astolfo was encompassed by the smoke, while Ruby jumped back to avoid, "What type of starting move was that?" Astolfo said before coughing in the smoke cloud, his vision was blurry as he couldn't make anything close to him. Suddenly, he saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes approach him rapidly. He then noticed what looked like embers in the smoke formed two short blades in the approaching person hands, leading to the person attempting a downward swing with both weapons. The svelte paladin held his sword horizontally to block. Upon impact, a shockwave was created that pushed away from the smoke.
It was Cinder that attacked Astolfo, glared down at him with a sinister smile, "I'll be your opponent for now." She said as Astolfo gritted his teeth.
Not too far away, Ruby got ready to rush Cinder. However, she stopped herself as she saw a red arrow pass right by her nose. She looked over at Archer's position but did not see him their right away. The silver-eyed girl only saw what looked like a red dot almost a quarter of a mile away. She changed her weapon to it sniper form and looked towards the red object, discovering Archer with a bow in hand, "Hey!" Ruby shouted as she looked away from the scope, "Why are you running away!?"
"Ruby, he's an archer class," Cu Chulainn answered, "People in that class typically don't fight at close range." He then looked over to see Cinder attempted multiple slashes towards Astolfo, "Typically, but there are expectations," He then looked back to Ruby, "You should probably find a way to close the distance."
Ruby then turned back to see Archer, dead center in her scope. Just as she was about to pull the trigger, the silver-haired man shot a volley of glowing red arrows into the sky. Ruby looked up to see the projectiles heading straight for her. Quickly, she sprinted to her right to avoid the attack. However, Archer continued to fire into the sky, each arrow on a path towards the silver eyed girl's location. Ruby continued to run, but the rose petals she left behind were obliterated by the arrows before they could fall to the ground. She turned back to Archer, attempting to sprint towards him, but a barrage of arrows landed in front of her. Halting her movement while Archer smirked before continuing his barrage, "Think Ruby, think!" She said as she started to run again to dodge the raining down of arrows. Suddenly, an idea went off in her head. She took out her scroll and began texting while running.
In the distance, Archer hear an odd sound coming from the sky above. He looked over to see something resembling a rectangular metal box. While Archer had a look of confusion, Cu Chulainn had a line of sweat come down his face as he took another step back. Suddenly, Archer remembered what the object was, causing him to make a single laugh, "Does she think I'm as dumb as Lancer to fall for the same trick?" He said before aiming at the flying locker in midair, fired a crimson arrow towards it. However, Ruby jumped towards her locker form the ground. she landed on the door and angled her body forward, causing the locker to dodge the arrow, "What?" Archer said in disbelief as he witnesses Ruby riding her rocket locker through the sky.
While clashing blades with Cinder, Astolfo looked up to see his roommate in the air, causing a large smile to form on his face, "Now that's using your Riding Skill!" The svelte paladin called out, causing Ruby to turn to him with a slight wave before heading towards Archer.
However, in the distraction, Cinder knocked Astolfo's sword out of his hand. The sword fell on the ground a few feet away as the black-haired archer point her left-handed short blade to Astolfo's throat, "You should pay attention to the lady in front of you."
"Sorry," Astolfo said with a cheery smile, "But if Ruby is going to start making a comeback, I might as well stop holding back." He said before whistling, causing his Hippogriff to appear behind him. The majestic creature screamed while Cinder had a look of panic. The black-haired archer jumped back as the Hippogriff tried to bite her. Cinder gritted her teeth as Astolfo mounted the Hippogriff, "Let's see how good your archery skill really it." The svelte paladin said before the majestic creature flapped its wings to take off. Cinder combined her two swords, creating a longbow.
Embers started to burn off her dress, gathering to form three arrows. She grabbed them and started to take aim at the svelte paladin, who had ascended high in the sky. She fired the arrows at the same time, but each shot was off by a few feet from hitting its target. Astolfo smiled as each arrow passed next to him. However, Cinder grinned as the arrows began to glow a burning white in the middle of the air. The three arrows exploded, forming a black cloud of dust around the svelte paladin.
However, in the smoke clearing, Astolfo and the Hippogriff were unharmed. The two were safe in a yellow bubble. Under Astolfo's left hand was a leather-bound book, "A forcefield." Cinder said under her breath as her smile faded.
"You're going to have to do better than that." Astolfo declared as force field faded. He extended his left hand, causing a flurry of golden particles to gather in his hand. The concentrated to form a large white lance with gold adornment, "Fest your eyes on the Trap of Argalia," Astolfo said as he held his weapon in a jousting position, the Hippogriff screaming in intimidation, "You'll be down with a single touch." He then descended rapidly towards Cinder, a spiraling golden aura formed around his body and mount.
Cinder stood in a calm stance as she glared at Astolfo. Just as Astolfo was about to connect his attack, Cinder jumped to her left to avoid the hit. In the middle of her dodge, she formed a single arrow and fired it towards the Hippogriff. However, the majestic beast evaded the arrow as Cinder recomposed herself on the ground. She glared up at Astolfo, who was winking as he looked down at her.
At the other end of the field, Archer failed to land a hit on Ruby as she rode her locker through the air. She quickly closed the gap between the two, prompting Archer to deconstruct his bow and arrow. Once she was closing in on him, Archer knelt to place his hands on his ankles. Ruby then backflipped off her ride, causing the rocket locker plummeted towards the silver-haired man at high speed.
Cu Chulainn grinned as he waited for the locker to hit its mark. However, the grin soon faded as Archer jumped straight up, avoiding the locker. A gust of wind erupted from his ankles as he ascended into the sky. Quickly, he passed Ruby in altitude before leaning his body forward. Another blast of wind ejected from his ankles, creating an almost shotgun noise. Archer descended towards Ruby, attempting a downward vertical left kick. The silver-eyed girl blocked the kick with her weapon, the body of the sniper rifle colliding with the back of his heel. However, Ruby was still sent flying back towards the ground, crashing into the dirt, and dropping her weapon a few meters from her body. Archer landed back on his feet near Crescent Rose, looking over to see Ruby try to get back up.
As Ruby pushed herself up, she looked at Archer's ankles. She noticed what looked like black ankle gauntlets, "So, that's your Noble Phantasm?" She asked as she got back on her feet, stumbling a little bit before rebalancing, "It kind of looks like my sister's weapon."
"These are a trace of Mercury's Noble Phantasm," Archer said before the ankle gauntlets faded away, "With me making his new legs, I thought that it would be good to make a copy of his weapon as well."
"You can copy weapons, that's so cool!" Ruby responded with a gleeful smile, "Can you copy any weapon?" Archer smirked as he looked over to see Crescent Rose on the ground. He picked it up, causing the weapon to return to its scythe form in his hands. As he examined it, Ruby had a look of confusion. Suddenly, Archer tossed Crescent Rose back to Ruby. The silver-eyed girl caught her weapon in midair, tilting her head as she looked back at Archer. The silver-haired man raised his right hand, causing a bluish lightning to form in his palm. As he closed his grip, an exact copy of Crescent Rose formed in his hand, "Wow!" Ruby said in awe as Archer took up a fighting stance with the weapon.
"I do like the color," Archer said as he looked at the traced Crescent Rose, "But, I'll just keep it in this form." He then looked over to Ruby, who held her weapon in a similar fashion, "Shall we?" He said before Ruby nodded.
The two then rushed towards one another, the blades clashing on impact. Each one pushed the other back, but Archer regained his footing first. He attempted a horizontal swing towards the silver-eyed girl. Before she could get hit, she ducked the swipe. She then attempted her own horizontal strike to his ankles. Archer did a short jump to avoid the hit before stomping on Ruby's scythe, halting its movement. Ruby then looked up to see Archer attempt a downward vertical with his weapon, but Ruby let go of her Crescent Rose rolled to her left to avoid the hit. The copy scythe embedded into the ground, prompting Archer to let go of his weapon to reach for Ruby. He grabbed the silver-eyed girl by her cape as she tried to stand up. As she struggled, Archer pulled the cape of her head, temporarily blocking her vision. Before she could pull off the cape, Archer delivered a right spin kick to Ruby's stomach.
Ruby was sent flying back a few feet, landing on her back as she held her stomach in pain. As she stood back up, Archer grabbed both scythes, wielding one in each hand. Ruby had a line of sweat come down her face as saw Archer rush her. He attempted an upward slash with the scythe in his right hand, following up with the same attack with the scythe in left hand. Ruby fell back as all she could do was dodge each strike. Her breathing became heavy as she tried to avoid the endless assault. She tightened her right fist and attempted a right jab. However, Archer dodged slightly to the left, causing the punch to completely miss. Before Ruby could recover, Archer punished with a quick knee to the silver-eyed girl's stomach. Ruby gasped for air as she held her abdomen falling to her knees.
On Cinder's side of the battlefield, she continued to fire arrows towards the svelte paladin. One of two things always happened. Either the arrow missed due to the Hippogriff's evasive actions. Or the arrow hit its mark but could not penetrate the force field. Astolfo continued to try and land a ramming hit with his Trap of Argalia, but Cinder always managed to dodge at the last second. However, her breathing was slightly weighed, but her gaze was infuriated towards the svelte paladin. While she stood with her bow, the embers around her became less apparent. "Oh," Cu Chulainn commented, "You seem to be out of arrows."
"I guess you don't have as much of arsenal as your partner does," Astolfo called down from the sky, followed by the Hippogriff screaming.
Cinder glared up at the svelte paladin, her eyes began to glow with a fiery, yellow aura, "Archer told me you could be an annoying foe." She said as she held her bow in her left hand, extended her right arm with her palm pointed to the sky, "That's why he gave me this." Suddenly, a pillar of red aura formed on her right hand. In her palm was a short, spiral-bladed sword with a blue handle.
"Hey," The blue-haired lancer said as Cinder strung the sword like an arrow, the spiral form straightening out as she aimed for Astolfo, "That's one of Archer's Noble Phantasms." A line of sweat form on his face as Cinder smiled, "It's not advised for someone use another's Noble Phantasm without practice first."
"What do you think this is?" Cinder commented as a circle of fire formed around her feet, "Besides, you said anything goes." She aimed with her left eye as it glowed more violently.
The svelte paladin looked down to see a circle of fire around Cinder's location, "Oh boy," Astolfo said as he stayed in the air in one position, "She's serious now." Suddenly, he had a smile on his face as the forcefield formed around him and the Hippogriff, "It would be rude of me to try and dodge."
The energy radiated from Cinder's arrow as she aimed at her target, "If I can reach for the stars, then I can hold them in my hands." She chanted as she focused her gaze completed on the midair target, "Caladbolg." The black-haired said before letting go, unleashing the arrow towards the sky. Upon release, the shockwave from the arrow put out the flames on the ground while pushing Cinder back to the ground. The Caladbolg rapidly headed towards Astolfo, leaving a spiral trial in the sky on its path. It collided with the forcefield, creating an explosion near five times as large as the one Cinder's arrows made before.
Archer looked from across the plain to see a large fireball in the sky. A few seconds later, a shockwave passed over his body, almost knocking him off balance. While on the ground, Ruby turned her head to look towards the explosion, now seeing a gigantic black cloud in the sky. Near the bottom of the cloud, Astolfo's body freefell towards the ground. Ruby's eyes widened in panic as she tried to crawl to get up, but Archer blocked her path with one of the scythes. She turned to him in anger, but Archer pointed back to the black cloud.
As Ruby looked, she saw the Hippogriff emerge from the smoke, its body badly damaged, but it still screamed with all its might. It sored downwards towards its rider, catching him on its back, and slowly fell to the ground. Ruby turned back to Archer, "I would worry about yourself before him." Archer said as he reposed with both scythes, "This match isn't over yet."
Ruby took up a defensive stance as she tried to back up, but Archer walked forward. She had one hand on her stomach as she looked for an opening. Suddenly, Archer rushed her, attempting to strike with both scythes at the same time. Ruby continued to dodge, but each hit managed to get closer and closer to her body. Suddenly, the silver-eyed girl reached behind her back, pulling out a single rifle round in her left hand. She then rushed towards Archer as he attempted a downwards swing with his right-handed Crescent Rose.
Just barely, she dodged the brunt the slash. The scythe only grazing her left shoulder, ripping the cape in the process. However, Ruby reached up and grabbed the right-handed Crescent Rose, pressing a button near the beard end of the blade. Archer looked in confusion as an ammo loading mechanism opened near the grip. Ruby focused on it as she jammed the rifle round into the slot. As the loading mechanism closed, Archer horizontally swung with his left-handed Crescent Rose. Ruby ducked the swipe, only cutting a few strands of hair off the top of her head. She then looked to the see the firing trigger of the right-handed Crescent Rose, pushing it back before Archer could react.
The right-handed Crescent Rose fired the round. However, the exhausted port ejected a black smoke as the frame began to overheat. Archer released his right-handed grip on the weapon before it exploded. He shielded himself from most of the blast, but Ruby dived for the Crescent Rose in his left hand. Due to his distraction, Ruby manage to pull the scythe out of his hand before he could recover. Archer stumbled for a bit before rebalancing, While Ruby reposed with her scythe. He turned to her with a slight smile, "And what exactly was your plan there?"
Ruby had a slight chuckle as she tried to catch her breath, "Well, you made a good copy of my Crescent Rose. But, I noticed you didn't quite match the sniper configuration as well as you thought." She said as Archer crossed his arms, "You made the barrel too narrow. Also, the ammo clip with pushed up near too close to the firing mechanism." She said as she changed her scythe it sniper form, pointing to the different parts as she talked, "With that, firing one of my high caliber rounds would not only damage the barrel but cause a type of overheating before the whole thing would break apart." She then smiled as she looked back to Archer, "If you want, I can give you a few tips on the match."
"No thanks, firearms were never my specialty," He said before uncrossing his arms, reforming his Kanshou and Bakuya in his hands. Ruby shrugged before changing her Crescent Rose back into a scythe. A sudden silence fell between the two as they stared at one another. Abruptly, the two vanished in a flash, Ruby only leaving rose petals behind. Through their empty section of the field, the sound of blades clashing was heard from all around. Sparks glinted off the weapons with each impact as the moved over the plain at high speeds. The two suddenly reappeared, the blades of the short swords grinding against the blade of the scythe. The two then vanished again as they continued to clash.
On the other side of the field, Astolfo was opening his eyes. The svelte paladin's clothes were severely damaged, ripped, and slightly burned. He had multiple cuts on his face and the ends of his cap were tattered. His Hippogriff had landed on the ground, laying on its stomach as it breathed heavily, "Well, that hurt a lot more than I expected." He said with pushing himself off his Hippogriff. The svelte paladin then petted the majestic creature on the head, a slight smile on his face, "You did well out there, leave the rest to me." He said before the Hippogriff made a weak scream before fading away.
Astolfo then looked over to see Cinder walking over to him. The bow was now in her right hand as her left hand covered her left eye. "You're still willing to fight," The black-haired archer said as she lowered her hand, she revealed her eye was near completely red. A trail of blood from her left tear ducked was going down the side of her face. Her attempt at using Archer's Noble Phantasm had lead to her own popped blood vessel.
"Well, normally I would try to fake getting knocked out at this point. So, I didn't have to fight anymore." Astolfo said as he stretched out his back. he then titled his head, hearing the sword clashing getting closer, "But, if Ruby's still fighting, I shouldn't give up yet."
Cinder then gritted her teeth as she broke apart her bow into two short swords. Astolfo quickly scanned the area to see were his Trap of Argalia had landed but found it nowhere in sight. However, he glanced over to see his sword from earlier on the match on the ground. He then glanced back to Cinder with a slight smile.
Suddenly, Cinder rushed towards the svelte paladin, attempting a vertical slash from both directions with her short swords. Astolfo stood his ground, reaching to his cape with his right hand. As Cinder was a few feet in front of him, he ripped off the cape and threw the large fabric towards Cinder.
Cinder slashed right through the cape but lost sight of Astolfo. She turned to discover the svelte paladin running to his sword. The black-haired archer tossed her right short sword like a dagger to Astolfo. However, he ducked the blade and continued to run. Cinder weapon landed right next to Astolfo's sword, just a foot past his, "Nice try," He called out as he put his right hand on the handle of his sword. However, the confidence in his expression faded quickly as saw the Cinder's blade glow a white-hot red, "Ut-oh." He said before the short sword exploded. The blast from the shockwave flung the svelte paladin back, causing him to land on his back. As he looked up, he saw Cinder attempt a downward stab towards him. Luckily for the svelte paladin, he still held onto his own sword and used it to block the sudden attack.
"Why are you so annoying!" Cinder declared as she gritted her teeth, trying to force the blade down into his chest.
"I'm annoying?" Astolfo asked with a slight smile, as he pushed back with his sword. He then managed to roll away from the stab and stand back up, "I'm not annoying, just eccentric." He said as he had both hands on his sword's handle.
The two then titled their heads to the left to see Ruby and Archer were only a few feet away. Archer dodged as the horizontal slash from the silver-eyed girl by jumping into the air. He landed to the right of Cinder as Ruby ran to Astolfo's left, "Hey Ruby," Astolfo said in a cheery voice, "You still haven't beaten Archer yet?"
"No, he's pretty strong. Also, fast." Ruby responded with a smile, but her breathing was heavy, "I think I'm going to pass out soon."
"Well," Astolfo said with a smile as he looked over to the two archers, "We better finish this quickly then."
Archer glanced over to Cinder, "Are you sure you can continue? I didn't intend for you to use Caladbolg this quickly." He said with a slight smile form on his face, "But, it is amazing you are still standing after firing it."
"I'm fine," Cinder responded angrily as she focused on Astolfo, "I will not be made a fool of by this child any longer!"
Archer then closed his eyes as he had a slight chuckle, "Very well," He said before opening his eyes, glaring down at the two riders, "Let's us end this."
Suddenly, Cinder and Archer rushed Astolfo. The svelte paladin tried to parry the three blades but was quickly overwhelmed. Cinder raised her short sword over her head for a downward attack. However, Ruby changed her Crescent Rose into its sniper form, firing a shot, and destroying the short sword.
Seeing the defenseless opponent, Astolfo headed towards Cinder this his sword raised. However, Archer stood in his path, crossing his blades to block the downward slash. The silver-haired man glanced to his left to see Ruby aimed at him with the sniper rifle. Right as she had her finger on the trigger, Archer took a slight breath, "Overedge." He whispered under his breath.
Suddenly, his Kanshou and Bakuya glowed in a white light before elongating, nearly tripling in length with gaged edges. Ruby was in shock as Archer then refocused on Astolfo's weapon, tightening his grip on his own. Acting almost like scissors, Archer used his short swords to cut through Astolfo's sword, snapping it in two. Before the svelte paladin could react, Archer slashed him across the chest with Bakuya. At that moment, Cinder jumped over her teammate. While she was in the air, Archer tossed her Kanshou. After catching it, the black-haired archer connected with a downward slash on the Astolfo with Kanshou, creating an x-shaped scar on his chest, as she landed.
Astolfo then fell on his back as Cinder landed on the ground. She and Archer then looked over to Ruby, who had a look of fear on her face. Suddenly, the two archers rushed the now lone rider. In close range, Ruby changed her weapon back to its scythe form. She tried to parry the onslaught of stashes but felt quickly overwhelmed. Cinder and Archer perform a simultaneous upward slash with the short swords, the blades connecting with Ruby's Crescent Rose. She was still in a stunned state from the force of the impact, her hands over her head as she tried to hold onto her weapon. At that moment, both archers unleashed a spin kick, each one mirroring the other's motion, with the target point of Ruby's stomach. The silver-eyed girl flew through the air, landing on her back a few good distances from her opponents. She coughed as she tried to find the will to stand back up.
Astolfo raised his head slightly, looking to see the marks on his body. He tried to push himself back up, but soon found Cinder pointing the end of Kanshou at his throat. He gritted his teeth as he looked up at her, smiling down at him. The two then looked over to see Ruby standing back up her feet slight shaking as she struggled to hold her balance. Archer deconstructed his Bakuya as he looked at Ruby, "This fight is over." He said as Ruby tried to hold her scythe properly, "Unless, you have one more trick up your sleeve."
Ruby had a slight smile come on her face, "Just one more," She said before raising her scythe behind her head. At that moment, she sprinted forward with a gunshot coming from the end of her Crescent Rose. She continued to fire to increase her velocity towards her opponent, a flurry of created a trail behind her.
Archer watched as the silver-eyed girl approached. He remained calm as he raised in right hand in her direction, as it to intercept her attack, "Rho Aias!" Archer said before a lightish red light emanated in front of him. The light gathered and formed a type of barrier, one in the shape of a flower.
Ruby continued, unfazed by the incoming barrier. She swung her scythe towards the barrier, creating an eruption of energy from the collision. The tip of the scythe tried to pierce the barrier, but it could not embed any deeper than an inch. Ruby yelled as she tried to force her way through, but Archer remained calm. Suddenly, Archer's expression changed as he focused on Ruby's weapon. The lightish red energy radiated violently. The silver-haired man then thrust his right arm forward, causing the barrier to abruptly create more layers of shields.
One of the outer layers collided with Ruby's body, forcing her to a stop before flinging her back. As she flew back, her grip on Crescent Rose was lost. Her weapon fell to the ground, the frame warped and the bladed cracked. Ruby landed on her back again, this time, she did not have the strength to stand back up. She had just enough strength to push herself into a sitting position, but she then noticed a line of blood from the top of her head down her face.
In the distance, Cu Chulainn walked over to the group, "Well, I hate to admit it," The blue haired lancer said in a regretful voice, "But archers win this round."
Astolfo barely managed to pull himself up, looking over to see Ruby holding her head, "Sorry Ruby," He said as he held his chest in pain, "We gave it our best shot."
"You did put up a good fight," Archer responded as he looked over to Ruby, "But you didn't push me enough for me to use my true Noble Phantasm."
"I think you should show her it now," Cinder said as she had a slightly sinister smile, "She looks like she is about to cry, it might cheer her up."
"There's no reason to say something like that in that tone," Cu Chulainn responded as helped up Astolfo, "Now, all of you should go to the infirmary."
"Come on Ruby," Archer said as he walked over to the silver-eyed girl, reaching out with his right arm. However, Ruby continued to whale in pain as she held her head, "It's okay, you probably are just experiencing some blunt force trauma from that last hit." He said as he reached down towards her.
Suddenly, Ruby looked up towards Archer. Her eyes began to radiate a silver light the expanded over the area. Archer retracted his hand in fear as he covered his eyes. Cu Chulainn and Astolfo watched in shock as the light encompassed them. Cinder's eyes widened in panic as she could not avoid the light.
After a few seconds, Archer opened his eyes. However, he had a look of confusion on his face. Everywhere he looked was pure white. He was unable to tell the depth of field, the vastness of white seemed to stretch on for miles. He turned back to see Cinder, Cu Chulainn, and Astolfo with a similar look of confusion, "Wh– Where are we?" The blue-haired lancer said as he stood. He then looked at the ground seeing it as a pure white texture, but no shadow was cased. He then looked up to the sky, seeing the exact same shade of white.
Astolfo also looked down, placing his hand on what he assumed the ground was. It solid and flat like smooth marble, "This is weird." He said as he saw a drop of blood fall from his body. However, the blood drop did not hit the ground. It continued to plummet to the bottom of a seemingly endless void, "Really weird." He said as face remained in a shocked.
"Archer," Cinder angerly asked the silver-haired man, "What is this place!?"
"I'm not sure," Archer said as he examined the area for any indication of something different. He then looked over to the silver-eyed girl, whose eyes only now slightly glowed, "But, I think we're in Ruby's re-."
"No," Cinder interrupted in anger, "There is no way this little girl has the power to make something like that." He then glared over at the silver-eyed girl, who had a look of innocent confusion of the matter, "There is no way this is her doing. It must be something else. This has to be something else!"
"Cinder," Archer responded, "You're the one that told me about the silver-"
"Don't try to use my words against me!" Cinder shouted back.
"Calm down." Cu Chulainn responded, "Yelling isn't going to get us out of here."
"How do we get out of here?" Astolfo asked before turning to Ruby, "Can you get us here?"
"I... I." Ruby said as she now had both hands on her head, "I-"
"Shut up," Cinder interrupted as she looked over to Ruby, pointing at her with Kanshou, "You didn't make this. This isn't yours." The black-haired archer then started to walk towards Ruby, her grip on the weapon tightening.
Suddenly, Kanshou vanished in her hand. She turned to look over to Archer, who had an enraged look on her face, "Cinder!" he said as he glared at her, "What were you about to do?" Cinder did not answer, only glaring back at him as her breathing became heavy. Suddenly, Archer's expression changed to worry, "Cinder, don't move." He said as he raised his right hand slowly, causing Cinder to have a look of confusion.
Suddenly, Cinder felt something sharp slight pressed against her throat. Her eyes filled with panic as she tried to stand still. From Archer's perceptive, he saw a thin white scythe blade over the black-haired archer's neck. He then noticed someone standing behind Cinder. The body type looked female, only slightly taller than Ruby. The person also wore an outfit that resembled Ruby's, but this person's wardrobe was pure white, making her nearly invisible in this environment. The hood was also up, covering most of her face. However, the eyes were still visible. They glared at Archer with the same silver color as his and Ruby's. Cu Chulainn and Astolfo had a look of panic. As to them, the person in the white hood was completely invisible. The white-hooded woman's silver eyes narrowed as she glanced over to silver, slowly moving the scythe blade closer. Cinder looked down to see a small cut form on her neck, a slight amount of blood pouring out, "Archer," Cinder asked in as she tried to tilt her head back, "What is trying to kill me?"
Suddenly, Ruby looked up towards Cinder, but her gaze was more focused on the person behind her. Ruby's eyes widened in alarm as her arms fell limp, falling to the ground. Her mouth remained open as she began to hyperventilate, "M-Mom!" Ruby asked as her eyes quivered.
Archer looked to see the white-hooded woman glance over to Ruby, but the eyes were still focused as she stared at her. Ruby's breathing became more rapid as she made eye contact with the person. Abruptly, Ruby's breathing slowed to a near halt as her eyes slowly closed. She then fell forward, laying on her stomach on the white ground.
Suddenly, the white void around the group began to fade and disappear. Archer watched as the white-hooded person faded also. Once freed, Cinder began to take deep breaths as she held her neck, her eyes quivered as she fell to her knees. Astolfo ran over to Ruby, cradling her in his arms as the girl had now passed out. Cu Chulainn was dumbfounded as he walked over to Archer, "What just happen?" The blue haired-lancer asked, "Was that even real?" As Archer looked over the area, he noticed something falling from the sky like snow. The silver-haired man reached out to grab the object. Upon pulling it closer, he could identify it as a petal of a flower, "What is that?" Cu Chulainn asked.
"A white rose petal." Archer answered before looking over to the silver-eyed girl on the ground, "What we just went through was Ruby's Reality Marble."
AN: There you go, the big fight ended in a win for the archers. I had a lot of fun using the different weapons each side had, including mixing some of the weapons like Archer using duel Crescent Roses and Cinder managing to fire Caladbolg. Astolfo got to use a lot of his weapons but just got outclassed here. Ruby also got to do some cool stuff like riding her locker and figuring out how to break Archer's false Crescent Rose, (Note: the locker is not Ruby's riding mount I have planned, I just wanted to use it in this chapter for the fight as reference to V3). And at the end, she pushed herself so hard that the silver eyes activated. Here, her silver eyes take her and her foes to a reality marble that is a pure white void. In that void lies a person that looks very familiar to Ruby, a person only those with silver eyes can see. This is the ability of her silver eyes here, very different than what V3 showed, but is a change I made to fight the world of this crossover. Though, it does seem to effect Cinder's mental state the same way none the less. That is all for now, thanks for reading, and hope to see you in the next chapter.