I'm back by popular demand!

Just kidding. This was way overdue, I know, I know. Again, finals. Life. Death. All that jazz. Poor excuse for not updating sooner but hey, I'm not exactly getting paid to do this.

But seriously, thanks to each and everyone of you who continue to stick with my deranged ramblings. I appreciate your feedback and your support, truly I do. This started purely as an outlet to my own mobius loop of thought process, but I have always valued the opinion of others. Now, more so it seems the deeper I dig myself into this pit. But its a good pit. There's snacks and wifi.

Brehze, IlluminatiAnimeLover789, dekuton, Zin0179, thank you so much for your brief but inspiring comments.

ArialArika, I really appreciate you pointing out some of the things you find distracting, and I will strive to take them to heart. I don't really mean to leave cliff-hangers mid chapter, but sometimes my mind just hops around from person to person when events happen simultaneously and I just tend to follow that. You're right about the balance, too. I have a hard time trying to pin down exactly where the Grimm stand on a level of strength, and as such their presence remains more on the level of 'nuisance'.

BluJuice, I am always severely humbled when I get a review like this. I realize that I have a long way to go to making something I wouldn't hesitate to show in the general public, and final polish is planned at some point. But more than that I want to take this as a learning experience for when I might attempt a more original storyline. I try to play to my fortes, but will fully admit that I am not as proficient as others at using aspects like the Japanese language to their fullest. But that does not mean I will keep from trying. We all strive to improve ourselves, and the only way to do so is to continue to practice.

So with that said, I apologize in advance with once again leaving you with a cliffhanger, but rest assured the next update will not be nearly as long a wait. And I hope it continues to bring as much pleasure to my cute little readers as it does to me.

*Supply of Pleasure Limited*


Even as he was losing, losing the battle outside, and himself here inside, piece by piece in the hollows of his own mind, he was unwilling to relent. He did not view his actions as a sign of forfeit, for with each piece of flesh, each drop of life handed over willingly to that symbiotic creature he had only recently acknowledged as part of himself, he imbued it with carefully measured portions of his will and intent. He was not giving up the ghost, he was merely passing it on.

Though all logic said that he would most likely cease to exist in the aftermath of this odd ritual, he could not help but feel that there was something else unaccounted for, something besides his body of muscle, tissue and fat. Something besides the restive energy tumbling through their pathways, a piece of him which would live on. There, but not there. What was that called? He could not remember. Hanging on to memory was becoming too hard.

The beast itself could not be brought to care, nor pay any attention to what thoughts might be manifesting within the death throes of his previous jailer. He was too much enthused with this sudden windfall to take notice of that insignificant sack of flesh feeding him through an IV drip of viscous azure, as said meatbag lay complacently on the chamber's floor. The mortal coil would soon be gone, from this world and hopefully every other (the Kyuubi did not want to contemplate the possibility of running into the annoying brat at any other juncture) and the great Fox would become whole again. He would neither be, nor be beholden to a parasite for that precious energy. He would be complete, and indebted to no one as it was always intended to be.

Even as he relished in the invigorating feeling, the Fox could not help but feel antsy and impatient with the relatively slow process. Contemplating all of the carnal pleasures he would enjoy when he found himself outside once again could only occupy him for so long, and his wandering gaze turned back on the slowly decaying body of his latest container. This might only have been a surreal manifestation of the boy, but it brought him pleasure none the less. Seeing the leprosy consume him from the toes on up made him ever so glad that he was not a construct of flesh and blood. Naruto lay flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling with a straight face seemingly devoid of emotion, but with narrowed eyes the beast's acute vision caught the last glittering trail of a tear streaking down his cheek.

This was just too perfect.

"What's the matter whelp? Which foolishness are you now regretting? Is it chasing after the other little meatbag? Is it trusting that naïve old man? Coming to his school? Making friends? There are so many that I can't remember them all… help me out here." The king of the tailed beasts was no longer afraid of the soon-to-be-former Jinchuriki suddenly reneging on his promise, it was far too late in the process to stop it in any case. And he was no longer afraid of what would become of him on the outside, figuring that if the blond had survived thus far, then with his donated flesh, in whatever form it was to assume, the Kyuubi should be alright as well.

There was quite truthfully, a modicum of regret after he uttered the barb. He was the epitome of hatred after all, but this human was perhaps the most interesting he had ever encountered, offering him an unprecedented opportunity at rebirth, not only in a fresh new body, but in a fresh new world. That did not mean that he had not irked the great beast during his lifetime, however, and his toothy grin only grew with the anticipation of what added strife the jibe would bring him.

But Naruto did not rise to the challenge. He did not utter a single word to acknowledge the fox nor what surely must have been the excruciating pain as the flesh peeled itself away from his fingertips, and like confetti on a strong wind, wafted over to the rapidly heeling hide of the Fox. He was too busy focusing on more important things than a vindictive furball. Sure, he had regrets, but nothing so base as to revolve around himself and his predicament.

He simply regretted not being able to know for sure if this sacrifice would be in vain. It was all he had left in him, but he still wanted it to count. He wanted to be able to see the face of his friends one last time, and know that they were safe. He would settle for that. He would have to settle for less.

What might it be like, from the inside looking out?


"Look out!"

Glynda whipped around to see a charging Boarbatusk bounding upward over the rows of seatbacks like a black log rolling in her direction. When had it had the time to get behind her? Even as this question passed through her head, she already found that she had thrown herself flat against the ground as the midnight beast gave one final tumbling leap at her, already commencing its deadly revolutions.

But even as it went sailing over her with its razor-sharp spines like a Buzzsaw hissing in the air above her head, she somehow caught the near invisible vapor trail following a muted bang which managed to intercept the beast even in its insane gyrations. There was a whimper and a crash as the black and white blur careened out of her sight, and a pause of a few seconds as she caught back up on events, realizing for the first time that the voice of warning had not come from inside her own mind.

Using a seatback in front of her, she lifted herself quickly to her feet, and glanced up the rows of seats to where the Boarbatusk had likely landed, only to see the body rapidly vaporizing out from the massive rut it had gouged. She then snapped her head to her other side only to see the voice of reason that had manifested itself so timely in her favor.

General James Ironwood stood there stock still with his arm locked and extended, revolver still smoking from its most recent activity. And though the man was still immutable in his stance, he did appear to be worse for the wear. His prim military cut was slick with grease and the stray hairs that swept across his forehead were matted to his brow with sweat. The tailored white uniform he had born so proudly was torn half to shreds, the right sleeve gone altogether leaving his military-grade prosthetic exposed to the world. What part of his body wasn't covered in tarnished metal was swathed in red scratches and black ash that had permeated his skin.

But the disheveled appearance of the man did not bother Glynda, nor did any of her personal feelings about the man get in the way of the relief which overcame her at his sight. After all, she probably did not look too great herself, and the mere fact that the both of them were alive was cause enough for celebration.

Her hand whipped up and tossed an eraser-sized object at the man who with a surprising amount of delicacy intercepted it with his mechanical appendage before it could impact his face. He opened his palm to see the still intermittent blue light of the distress beacon winking up at him.

"You're late."

He gave a single chuckle as he hocked the now superfluous device to the side and once again met the woman's gaze which was displaying even now a rare glint of amusement. Then again, it could have been the dim light, because the rest of the glare was clearly 100% Goodwitch ire.

Not that he could blame her either. This whole day had not entirely gone according to plan, and from the circumference of destruction around the woman, along with the sprawled bodies of White Fang members piled every which way, it was easy to see that she had had a particularly trying time with it.

Still, that did not warrant the attitude she directed his way given his timely arrival. He huffed even as he made his way up to her position.

"It's not like I didn't have my own problems to take care of, you know."

She sighed and her stern expression softened slightly as she relented.

"The field hospital staff are all ok, you'll be glad to know."

She was. It was a small concession in this day of loss, and it assured her that even though she had not been able to guarantee the safety of any students, that a handful had now been confirmed to have made it out unscathed. Relatively.

"And the rest?"

The hard man's expression turned grim, and the shadows stacked up along with the bags under his eyes.

"We have no idea how many spectators were in the stadium when we went down, but we've been keeping a count of the injured and the rest that were brought in…" Here the man paused and averted his gaze. He was a soldier, and death was a sure thing in his profession. But his glory years were far behind him, and the majority of his service had been spent in peace. And even in the sporadic conflicts that did arise, the dead constituted soldiers and enemies. Civilian collateral was unheard of in their day and age, and so what he was forced to admit was impossible to quantify in his mind, and yet that was exactly what he had to do.

"And?"

The woman pressed him, and he could not help but admire her fortitude.

"We've counted twenty-one-hundred dead so far, and about a quarter of that is from the people brought in injured."

The headmistress clenched her eyes shut, now it was she who could not meet his furtive glance. In reality It was perhaps better than they could have hoped for. At maximum capacity, Amity Coliseum could hold 7,700 spectators and an additional 500 staff and competitors, and they had been quite near that when the cruiser hit so it was just over a quarter that had perished thus far. Still, each of those had been someone who had not had to die.

And to make matters worse, from what Ironwood had stated almost a quarter of that, perhaps 500 had died on the operating table, either from injuries sustained during the crash, or perhaps from the two subsequent invasions. The majority of medical staff that they had acquired were all from the student body for the most part, and so each of those deaths would be attributed to one of those unfortunate children who would be forced to question their fault in the whole travesty of a response.

It was an improbable confluence of ill fortune that brought them here, and in those regards that loss of life was an acceptable amount. But for the students who would shoulder the burden of having all this happen on their watch, there were no amount of words that could assuage that kind of guilt. And it would then fall to her to sweep up the pieces of their shattered innocence. It would be her job, and she as she feared, hers alone.

Was Ozpin still alive? What about Naruto, Sasuke, Pyrrha, and Amber for that matter? What was going on outside those walls, what kind of situation could have precipitate the fierce battle they had been waging? What sort of calamity could have brought down upon them these plagues all at once?

This time, even as painful as they might be, she sought the answers. Even as her internal dialog waged war looking for internal responses, her body acting on some more primal instinct found itself moving off into the darkness alone. It realized suddenly what she had been doing prior to the intrusion of Grimm and Faunus terrorists, and adrenaline yanked her aside once again to search for the four, all too-often wayward students who had been lassoed out of her sight as soon as she had become overwhelmed by the Grimm piled on top of the White Fang.

Her heart threatened to beat out of her chest as she leapt off into the smoky darkness against the echoing protests of Ironwood, so far away in her concerns that he may as well have been among the piles of dead. She yelled out their names past the scratching of her throat which had become layered like volcanic ash.

"Ms. Schnee! Ms. Belladonna! Ms. Xiao-Long! Ms. Rose!"

There was no answer but the incessant crackling of dying fires all around as she probed the darkness with her desperate cries.

"Ms. Schnee! Ms. Belladonna!..."

She took another step, slipped and fell to a knee as she broke down into a coughing fit. She removed her hand from across her mouth and spat out a nasty black blob that had become dislodged form her hacking. She paid no mind to the very undignified but necessary gesture and gulped down the air that had been stolen from her.

"Weiss! Blake!" She continued to call as she picked herself up and recommenced tracing the direction she had seen the four girls run off in. She kicked off her high-heels, for once finding them an unbearable hindrance. Each passing second that they delayed her, each second that a response was not forthcoming was another slap in her face, condemning her for neglecting her primary duty.

She knew that if Ozpin were to hear this he would berate her for such a negative thought.

But he wasn't there. He was probably dead.

As were all the others.

"Yang!"

"Ruby!"

"Team RWBY…."

She slowed now, her strength dying with her last desperate plea. The all but certain knowledge that it was in futility robbed her of it. They had already lost so many today. She had yet to hear how many of the students had succumbed to the invasion, but she dared not hope for the best. Not now. Perhaps never again. What was there really to hope for now? She had let those four students out of her sight for a split second because she could do nothing to stop them. She had let the other three go because she didn't think she could do anything to stop them. And here she was now, chasing shadows, and trying to stop the world from turning.

"Over here!"

Too elated with the sudden outburst, she had no time to redress herself with self-doubt as to whether or not she was simply imagining the outburst, and she deftly skipped over seatbacks in the direction of the call, her stockinged feet tearing and scraping at the oft-twisted metal and plastic. But even if she had had her Aura activated, she would have felt no pain in that elated state.

She saw the white dress before anything else, even in the dim light it was quite an arresting sight. It was not until she got within spitting distance that the blemishes became noticeable, both the big and the small. And it was still quite the piece of work, stained as it was, the untoward marks contrasting heavily with the base color giving off a stomach-turning tie-dye.

The young Schnee heiress was struggling to carry the limp form of her much larger teammate, once swathed in shades of gay yellow, now a homogenous mass of ruddy brown a shade too familiar for Glynda's liking. The jacket that she had adorned had long since been abandoned, or perhaps stripped off of her in an attempt to assess the damage, which even at this distance and light was evidently sever. The slowly drying blood stemming from the young woman's sternum was pooling there in her cleavage, and having already soaked through the tank-top was now flowing down onto the other girl straining under her heavier weight.

The headmistress's face became as pale as Weiss's as the situation unveiled itself to her, but she did not waste any time dwelling on frivolous emotions such as shock as she practically flew the last few steps towards the two young huntresses. Her arms had already found themselves underneath the unresponsive blonde boxer and despite the petite girl's best efforts, the strain finally proved too much for her and Yang practically dropped into her awaiting grip.

Glynda did not falter, however, despite being a well-proportioned woman, her statuesque height lent her increases in strength ample enough to lay the young woman down gently on the ground. A clear a space as any, as once Weiss relinquished the other woman into her care, she quickly swept away any lingering debris from the walkway with her scratched hands and chipped nails. The responsible adult quickly went to work assessing the girl's condition, starting with the most evident injury, but careful not to miss anything else that would later hinder her efforts.

Her hand hovered over the pool of blood which was sloughing off her raised chest and onto the ground, before it darted to her own skirt and quickly tore off a healthy peace which she then used to wipe off as much blood as she could from the puncture which was barely visible underneath the muddy pool. It was more like trying to bail out water from a sinking ship than cleaning a wound, and the cloth soon became inundated. But it had served its purpose, and tossing it aside, she could at least now see the extent of the damage.

A clean cut. The smallest but most bravely wished for favors in this bleak day was granted. But even as she viewed the vertical injury along came the slightest indication that it was not as of yet too late, a shallow rising of the chest, which unfortunately brought forth a new wave of spurting fluid which obscured her operation once again. She barked out a curse which was so unexpected that it made the other, otherwise complacent observer who was hovering over the woman's ministrations, jump back in fright at the shocking expletive. She flinched again when a delicate but blood-stained hand was shoved in her direction.

"Water Dust."

The simple statement made the inexperienced huntress blink in no small amount of confusion as the other woman's eyes were still fixated on her charge, despite the apparent demand directed towards her. It was a hesitation no one, least of all the unconscious blonde could afford.

"Now!"

This then stirred Weiss out of her daze, and she quickly fumbled with her weapon once holstered, now all but forgotten at her waist. She tumbled through the revolver's cylinders searching frantically for any of the requested substance that she might have left which had not been expended in the recent bout. Her fingers found the telltale pale blue vial even before her eyes saw it, and despite her trembling digits she was able to pass the precious substance over to the one who had requested it.

Glynda accepted it without a word, and her still nimble finger deftly pried off the lid which kept the granulated substance housed. Very carefully, as to not disturb the volatile substance, she took a gentle pinch of the glowing blue particles and held it over the barely-breathing Yang.

With only the tiniest pressure, like she was trying to give an ant CPR, she 'popped' the granules and out of that miniscule amount a pitcher full of water flowed and cascaded onto the once again muddied wound. The water quickly washed away the blood which had suddenly accumulated, and not missing a beat Glynda already had a swatch of her skirt in the other hand and was sponging up the result.

This time when her hand shot out, it was even less a request than demand, as she knew exactly what she was looking for. Still not looking up from her work, the blonde woman snatched the pocket-sized sewing kit from within the folds of the stained-white dress. Weiss, just watching passively, was too surprised at the action to be indignant at the invasion of her privacy, and also too shell-shocked to ask the question of why the older woman happened to know where she had stashed the kit.

Before Yang's body could muster another attempt at a breath, Glynda had already applied a good deal of pressure on the wound with one hand, while somehow managing to thread the needle with the other. Just because she had never been a housewife, didn't mean that she hadn't had ample practice with the utensils. She was, after all, in charge of a combat school. Quick as a seamstress her nimble fingers glossed over the much too pale skin, trailing the thread behind and suturing the wound closed before the still stunned girl's eyes.

She bit off the remaining string and tossed the now superfluous needle aside, tying a simple knot to secure the ends. For once, she missed the dusty old Qrow and his perpetual flask of disinfectant. She let out a sigh of relief as the young woman again attempted to draw a shallow breath, and yet the ugly fix on her once perfect chest did not rend. Her face could not show any satisfaction at her job well done however. It had saved her life, hopefully, but it would without a doubt leave a lasting scar. A blemish forever etched on Yang's skin, and Glynda's conscious.

And even though one wound had been dealt with, there was still far more to do. The night was young, more so than she, and it had already seen fit to age her even further.

Finally Glynda glanced back up at the anxiously awaiting teammate of the victim. Weiss almost wished she hadn't though, when she saw the frigid look directed her way. She involuntarily gulped and tried to assure herself it was simply a product of the severity of the situation, and not a reproach for any unconscious misstep on her part.

"Where are your teammates?"

Weiss opened her mouth only to realize that no words were forthcoming. In her myopic mission to get help for her severely wounded friend she had lost track of her team leader and their resident Faunus. Thankfully, the responsibility was alleviated from her shoulders when a weary voice interrupted their huddle from the darkness behind the white-haired girl.

"We're right here."

Though the new voice was too scratchy and hoarse to be recognized immediately, both huntresses had no troubles picking out the visages of the two missing team members through the dark haze. Though their faces were easy enough to recognize, there was a very foreign and unaccustomed solemnity etched behind the dark smudges adorning both of their faces. It made them both look like different people, faces familiar only as one dreamed.

The stern look the headmistress had instinctively adopted broke upon the revelation that the other two were alive, and from the look of things, intact. Thought before she could let herself relax fully, she comprehended the look shared by her two charges, which contradicted her earlier assessment. They did not appear to have sustained any major injury to their bodies. Though they both seemed to be supporting one another as they picked their way carefully over the rubble, there steps were steady enough. But more than that there was a certain fragility worn like a porcelain mask. The normally stoic and reserved black-haired beauty was visibly shaken, and though her captain was admirably showing a tough front, it was painfully obvious that something had touched a harsh chord in the two of them.

"We're fine."

As if reading the unspoken thoughts of the two conscious women, Ruby spoke for the two of them, contradicting their concerns with an obvious lie. Still, they were both on their legs, however shaky they might be, and the spatter of blood flecked across the youngest girl's face did not seem to be her own, so for the moment the only thing Glynda could hope to do was to praise these smallest of favors, that her oversight had not resulted in any deaths, so far.

The younger woman was another story, however.

Even before the scythe-wielding girl noticed the prone and pale form of her sister sprawled out between her teammate and teacher, Weiss was already on her feet and half-way over to the two of them. As Ruby opened her mouth in what might have been a shocked exclamation of dismay, her partner cut her off, assuring her that her sister was fine. Ruby bit her lip to keep any unthought words within their seal, but clearly wished to protest this statement, seeing the unhealthy pall of white on her sister's skin and disturbingly fresh pool of blood in which she still lay.

Still, she didn't get to adopt this expression for long before a shocked look was forced upon her, as Weiss thrust her body onto the two women busy supporting one another. She somehow managed to envelope the two of them under her petite frame, swaddling them with her almost glass like embrace. Both Blake and Ruby could only muster identical slack-jaws as they were buried into the abnormally warm gesture, their own turbulent thoughts smothered by the unaccustomed display of affection.

"You two are alright! I'm just so, so, glad!"

And with that the frozen wall with which she had held her emotions at bay for so long melted and gave way to a torrent of tearful moraine. Oddly enough, this unprecedented admission of fragility from their reserved teammate helped instill a renewed strength in the other two. Concern for another superseded the need for inwardly directed compassion, at least temporarily. Not that they could blame their teammate for this late-blooming development of sentiment, it had without a doubt been a trying day for all.

It also helped the mute observer come to terms with her own inwardly directed verbal lashing as she watched the touching scene of camaraderie, all the while the little voice trying to remind herself that this would not have even been necessary if she had been able to do her job properly. But even she could not hold her inability to shepherd the blooming huntresses in contempt for long, it had been a hard enough task staying above water in the flood of White Fang members and later Grimm which had washed over them in the wake of an already calamitous disaster.

Her brow furrowed and small wrinkles which she might later worry would lead to crow's feet appeared on her face at this thought. It had indeed been a series of coincidentally unfortunate events which had lead them to where they now were. In fact, one would have to be foolish or blind to assume that they were indeed coincidences, and not in fact carefully planned orchestrations by their devious enemies. The question then remained, why had they not seen this coming? With all of their accumulated knowledge from Ozpin and his numerous operatives, they should have been able to prevent this, or at least guessed that it was coming.

Shouldn't they?

But even this event in its entirety, which had seemed to catch them so well off-guard smacked of a rushed operation. Even the apparent leader of the White Fang had admitted as much in his off-hand remark at the beginning of the combat. And they had survived after all. At least most of them had. So, did that mean that their enemies were simply incompetent. Was it bad luck? Or maybe, something else?

But the stray thoughts which were festering silently over the unknown fate of the largest threat broke out violently, and cast her aside from these internal evaluations, forcing her to interrupt her student's consolation session with what might be a hard question.

"Where is Adam Taurus?"

Even as their heads were buried in the stray locks from Weiss's now loosened ponytail, Glynda caught the two, dark-haired girl's flinch, and the pained look flit back over their faces. Even the previously sobbing girl suddenly stopped the waterworks as she could feel the tension manifest in the two within her grip, which she loosened to allow her friends to address the gentle command. She looked between the two as they could only meet the straight stare of their senior.

"Dead."

Ruby herself felt a pang at the hollow response her Faunus friend gave to that question, as she could not help the lash of guilt which wrapped itself around her neck in the knowledge that it had been she who had done the deed. She had taken a life, not only from this world, but obvious to her even in her socially stunted mind, someone that was close to her teammate and friend.

This answer satisfied the older woman, however, and she nodded gravely at the response, knowing then the reason behind their pained expressions as well as the hard road the two had ahead of them. Of course, it would be hard on all of them as she knew it would become her duty to heal these invisible wounds long after she dealt with those on the surface.

But even in this troubled trail of thinking there was the spark of hope that went along with it. The knowledge that in the end it could be fixed, because they were all alive, and that was the only thing at the moment that mattered.

But how exactly were they alive? The White Fang had appeared in droves, but there were only a finite number. The Grimm, on the other hand, while stymied by the walls of the stadium, had seemed to come in and endless, if sporadic stream, only to suddenly retreat from the battleground like a cat which had abandoned a ball of yarn, no longer interested in batting it around.

As she looked around at the destruction which still encompassed every inch of the once gleaming stadium around them, she could see the remains of the tarnished white armor of the Faunus terrorists lying strewn about the wreckage under the dim glow of the waning firelight. But nowhere did she see even a hint of the larger and more animalistic creatures which they emulated. The Grimm had vanished from their sight. Both the dead, obviously, as well as the 'living'. This abject lack, more than relieving her, made her nervous.

So it was no surprise that her entire body froze with the ice which creeped in to her limbs as an unearthly howl echoed throughout the open arena and rung their bones like tuning forks. Though they had all to some extent been vaguely aware of a commotion besides their own going on outside the walls which both trapped and defended them, and flinched on occasion when they heard tell of an especially violent impact or explosion, they had been too engrossed in the life or death scenario unfolding in front of them to pay it much head.

But this cry, half growl half shriek, wholly comprised of pain, joy and wrath would have halted even the fall of rain as it now made each and every one within earshot halt involuntarily with hitched breath and hearts all simultaneously skipping a beat.

It was impossible to speak until the echoes had died out, and even then, there was a hesitance with the innate knowledge that something had accompanied that ungodly sound out of the maw and was now present with them on this earth.

"W-what was that?"

Nobody was even sure who asked the question as they were all thinking it, and it must have come collectively from their fear-addled minds. But even though the question was given voice in that eerie silence which fell after the rumbling settled, no one was brave enough to hazard an answer.

But even in the midst of that debilitating fear, another distress started to swell in the hearts of all those still conscious. Concern for their comrades abandoned on the outside of the wall shoved its way to the forefront. And it was this apprehension which was now coursing through their blood and quickly pushing out the ice in their veins and stirring them to movement.

This nagging thought never being far below the surface for Ruby, made her the quickest acting. In her small stature and she was able to purge her body of the paralyzing agent before any of the others. Now that those immediately around her had been deemed in no immediate danger she and remembered their other wayward friends that had been separated from them so long ago and knew that she had a duty to go to their aid.

"Ruby!"

Weiss managed to call after her team captain as the younger girl broke free from the invisible shackles which still bound the other three remaining. Her words fell well behind the thrashed edge of her crimson cloak as it trailed the rapidly fleeing huntress. Without even thinking, Ruby stole another page from her two male friends, who were presently outside the walls and very much closer to whatever had frozen the world with merely a sound. She leapt from the highest row of seats while still in the midst of her accelerating semblance, and like a firework streaming through the cloudy night she shot up onto the rim of the coliseum, quickly digging in the blade of her weapon to keep herself from sliding over the edge.

She righted herself on that perilous edge and was suddenly very grateful that she had a sturdy grip on Crescent Rose as she gazed out over the landscape still smothered in the darkest part of the night, for otherwise the abject shock she experienced might have made her falter and tumble down over the side and into the awaiting sea of darkness before her. As it was, her grip unconsciously tightened around the haft of her weapon, and every other muscle in her budding body clenched when the image presented to her eyes reached her brain.

The burning rush to action which had so quickly moved her to action just as soon abandoned her again and she was once again turned to stone.

She could only look on at the incredible scene unfolding before her, unable to fully comprehend what it was but also unable to deny its cataclysmic profundity.

"Ruby! What has gotten…into...you…?"

Weiss's chastisement of her leader's sudden flight died off along with her labored panting as she staggered up from the wall's edge, her foot stumbling slightly as it left the last of her glyphs forming a ladder up to the top. She caught sight of what had obviously entrapped the attention of the younger woman and was also struck dumb with the scene that was presented to her.

Similar reactions affected the other two as each through their own means caught up to the speedy huntress after they too shook off the initial debilitating feeling. Despite being the most experienced of the bunch, even Glynda had to keep herself from dropping the limp form of Yang as she stepped off the hastily raised platform and onto the marginally more solid ledge. It was quite hard to miss the landscape of destruction spread out before them from their vista. And it was even harder to ignore the central figure in that picturesque hell stretching as far as the eye could see. The focal figure coated in needlelike burnt orange and black, bathed in an ethereal light without an obvious source.

Despite the now highly agitated Grimm Dragon circling overhead and squawking indignantly at the writhing mass, it was fairly clear that it was not this moderately imposing being which had produced the earth-shaking noise which drove them to both action and inaction.

No, as the four pairs of eyes gazed on in a reverent awe at the mammalian mass which slowly started to unfurl like a bloody moonflower, they each instinctively knew that it was this unfathomable construct that had touched them so deeply. Not even its gargantuan size could rival the shear feeling of malice and just plain wrongness which it exuded. Each of them had an untranslatable warning screaming out from their most buried genetic code that what they were witnessing just did not belong.

This time, nothing was said. What they were seeing could not be identified merely by describing the appearance. As it straightened above the settling dust and arched its back it assumed a vaguely vulpine form, though with an additional eight tails flitting about autonomously. But even calling it a fox would not be doing it justice, for even as an earthly rumble resembling a chuckle shook the tiles beneath their feet, it was obvious that whatever this was, was beyond their comprehension. Calling it a god or even a demon would only be a half-truth.

Whatever it was did not matter anymore, it was here in front of them as real as a wildfire. And somehow, they had to stop the inferno from consuming all that they knew. But what on earth could the four of them hope to accomplish all alone?


It was obviously a fleeting notion of madness which put him in his current predicament, standing alone between a veritable goddess of flame, her pet Dragon, and an unconscious or otherwise unresponsive teenager.

Oh, and certain doom. There was that lurking in the wings as well.

He could have sighed, but opted instead for a sharp intake of breath through his teeth as he danced around the stream of flame which etched its way through the ruined tile like a snake snapping at his heels. Though when he landed, he had to quickly shift to the other foot and leap off again, getting no respite from the whip-like appendage that the devilish woman controlled with nary more than twitch of her wrist. And while he was already breathing heavy, the toll from his previous battle and a building being dropped on him was finally showing its effect. The only variation from steady state which affected the woman was a mild chuckle as she smirked at his feeble efforts.

He begrudgingly had to hand it to the kid for keeping the woman at bay for as long as he had, though that had not been why he intervened. It might have been part of it, it might have been as he previously stated in his sorrowfully sober bravado that he was sticking up for a friend of his niece. It might have been many things including his usual propensity for getting mired in sour luck, or it could have been a deep-seated need for self-preservation which drove him to this madness.

A flick of his own wrist brought his scythe around his body and bisected the stream trying to intercept him, the rivulets parting on either side. As he winced as the near-miss of the liquid fire singed his eyebrows, he was inclined to believe the latter. It might have been madness to confront the person who had felled so many of his comrades before him, but it was clear there was no other option. Besides, he had his own axe to grind.

The blade twirled in his grip, catching the stream of flame in its makeshift turbine, becoming a vortex of flame in his grip which he loosed with a twirl of his own body, sending the flame discus back where it had come from.

He might as well have spit at the woman for all the good it did. She raised an eyebrow as if questioning his sanity trying to fight fire with fire, and for once Qrow was perhaps inclined to agree with her. He was far less sane without alcohol in his bloodstream.

He had no more time for introspection however, as the boomeranged move amused Cinder for only the briefest of moments, before she decided to illustrate just what the technique was supposed to look like. Crimson eyes widened and already pale skin whitened a degree further seeing the tornado of flame which was suddenly hurled at high speeds in his direction. There was no wrangling this one.

In fact, there was barely anything he could do, even in a desperate dodge, throwing himself bodily to the farthest side of the ruined tower he could still feel the conflagration lash out at his back through the last vestiges of his cape. And in fact, dodging it might have been more foolish than he first realized as he suddenly found himself tumbling into open air.

Simultaneously cursing and moving into action, he lashed out with his scythe, hooking the end to the crumbling lip of the tower. As it found purchase in the mistreated material, his arm was jerked almost out of its socket and his body protested the sudden change in acceleration as he slammed back into the wall. Painful though it was, it was better than the alternative, as a wave of flame lapped over his head, and he looked down the scant hundred meters to the other option. If it was possible, the Grimm looked disappointed, though he mused it was more at his poor showing than at his narrow escape from their clutches.

Not to be deterred by any firestorm or sea of teeth, however, with a quick show of acrobatics he flipped back up onto the relatively safety of the floor. Relative being the key word, for as soon as his two feet planted themselves firmly back onto the flat surface, they were nearly shaken off again as the massive reptilian Grimm touched down right in front of him, its mass shaking the whole structure and causing more than a few worrying cracks and groans.

Qrow clicked his tongue. Why did the bad luck always seem to so doggedly cling to him?

He was already resigned to his fate, however, and as he steadied himself, he raised his empty hand to the snarling beast, open palm beckoning in a 'come hither' gesture. If he was going to die, he was going to die cool. Never mind the fact that the last scrap of his cape was still on fire.

Though it appeared that the beast had grown bored of simply being an observer, it was surely in no hurry to devour this puny morsel. And apparently, it wanted to toy with him first. It unleashed a massive roar in his direction, the rank air washing over him and extinguishing the smoldering garment on his back.

But even as he began to regret his foolhardy bravado, the fetid breath was mercifully cut off with a choking sound as a bronze-colored blur alighted on the creature's extended neck. Its mouth slammed shut with a wet snap as its jaw was forced into the ground, this time making more than a few cracks as it sunk a few hands deep into the reinforced flooring.

Qrow blinked, and in the moment after he opened his eyes again, he found himself staring at the rather pleasant sight of a toned female backside kitted in Romanesque armor, which if anything accentuated the highly attractive muscled frame. Despite being imminently more pleasurable a sight than the bottomless pit lined with razor-sharp fangs he had been previously confronted with, it did beg the question of just what the hell was going on? His mind had gone blank, otherwise any of the dozen implausible possibilities that normally would have populated his thoughts would have seemed down right mundane in the current circumstance.

Reality insisted upon its streak of ridiculous and he was left no more time for contemplation. Even as the creature extracted its bruised cranium from the ground with a jerk from its muscled neck, another blur followed in the wake of the first. This time, it was harder to pick up on because it was black on black, but the effect it had was no less visible. The bus-sized head dipped again as the form impacted on its brow, but instead of forcing it down into the ground and quickly retreating from the rather dangerous position, the shade apparently had other ideas, as with slashes of a blade which could only be distinguished by the fleeting twinkles in the scant light, it tore into the armored hide.

Qrow had not yet tried his own hand at piercing that hardened material, but he had his own doubts over his blade's effectiveness. Not so, it seemed with the figure, as the beast gave a grinding screech with each blow that was directed at its forehead. It thrashed about in pain and desperation, trying to rid itself of this bighting insect. Finally, its efforts seemed to pay off, else its attacker was not achieving the headway it desired and the blur was cast off from the brow, only to touch down gently next to the well-formed female warrior on its ashen wings.

Though his reality was never one to be classified as normal, Qrow had to seriously question his own sober sanity with his two apparent saviors' timely arrival. An Amazonian warrior who towered over her demonic angle of a partner were hardly his idea of good luck coming to his aid, but who was he to complain?

"Are you through screwing about?"

The winged demon seemed eager to prove he had a temperament to match his complexion, as he turned halfway around and glared at the veteran huntsman with scarlet kaleidoscopes nestled in his overall charcoaled appearance. Even with facial features barely distinguishable past the homogeneously dark tone, Qrow could feel the scowl being directed towards him.

He blinked, as the nagging feeling in the back of his mind ushered him back within the borders of his own reality, and the gargoyle petulantly shaking its wings in front of him became recognizable in a different context.

"Sasuke?" He hazarded the most unlikely guess, but was proven right as the figure's gaze narrowed an iota. "What are you doing here?"

"Excuse me, but I think that-" The two interlopers threw themselves to either side of a clawed limb the size and weight of a crane slammed down in between them. Coming out of her own roll, Pyrrha hefted her spear at the cantankerous dragon's head with startling velocity. "-WE HAVE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO WORRY ABOUT!"

Showing more speed and awareness than it had the previous times it had been assaulted, the dragon cocked its head back and let the implement sail under its chin. Lest they give the creature the idea that they were as simpleminded as it was, Pyrrha redirected the weapon back towards her now black-sheathed hand, and it complied, doubling back in a tight arc. Obviously unaware of the woman's innate ability, the dragon was once again totally unaware as the metal missile struck right on target, lodging itself in the beast's eye.

The other two combatants were all too eager to follow the huntresses' advice as they both leapt out of the range of the Grimm's pained thrashing. It howled in dismay as it whipped around back and forth trying to dislodge the offending object from its eye, its tail swiping around violently, forcing Qrow to duck underneath more than once in the course of his evasion.

But even as it seemed they had scored a minute victory, they were given no time to pat themselves on the back as they were suddenly reminded of the larger threat to their health and wellbeing. With as much brawn, and easily three times the brain of the monster Grimm, Cinder once again descended upon her enemy, and Qrow was slow to put up any sufficient kind of defense.

As embarrassing as it was to once again be saved by a junior huntsman less than half his age, Qrow found himself exceedingly thankful for the young man's intimate spatial awareness as he interjected himself between the scythe wielder and the oncoming wall of flame.

Qrow was hesitant to guess what the younger man might hope to do when confronted with such an unvarnished display of power. And at one time Sasuke might have agreed that it was a move more easily understood coming from his bullheaded teammate. But after months of hesitance and careful avoidance, he had stumbled upon the unanticipated evolution of his once accursed seal. It appeared that in addition to no longer being harassed day and night by the sultry whispers of the seal, the abilities it bestowed had evolved as well. The extent to which he could not yet fathom. But for now would settle upon the immediately tangible benefits.

Namely the fact that upon growing wings they were no longer those grotesque travesties of hands, but rather something akin to that of a raven's. More flight-worthy, though no less sinister in his opinion. Especially when coupled with the overall shroud of darkness which percolated over his otherwise unmarred skin.

Oh, and he could control fire a hell of a lot better.

In fact, he seemed to be able to control all of his elemental manipulations with greater ease, without that nagging voice inside of his head urging him to succumb to his more primal emotions.

It was too good to be true.

But it would do for now, and so it was with full confidence that he leapt in front of the taken aback Qrow, with the assurance that he was not going to sacrifice his all too precious life for a person who he didn't particularly like on a good day. And that sentiment was not because the man reminded him too much of his silver-haired teacher. Definitely not.

Instead of the two of them being seared alive by the quick burn, the winged archangel simply spread himself wide in the face of the raging inferno and the flames saluted his audacity, parting as they passed the two would-be victims by giving them a wide berth. But merely emulating the parting of the Red Sea was not the limit of Sasuke's ambition, and he knew that he had to do better than that if he were to best their current adversary.

His open palms clenched, and the flames rushing past haltedin their retreat, and as he crossed his arms across his crimson haori the inferno actually backtracked, the wall going concave and crashing in on itself before the churning whitewash coalesced into chutes of compressed heat. The entire intensity of the fires was compressed into molten vines the size of tree trunks which the young man bent to his will with but a thought. And opening one arm wide the flames rushed to encircle his extended appendage in a double helix which fed in on itself, condensing into a sphere the size of a basketball.

Cinder watched on with one eyebrow cocked in intrigue. She had kenned the boy right away, despite his drastic change, chalking it up to the boy's yet unknown semblance, and was more interested in the prowess it seemed to grant him to reign in her own fire abilities. It was not that she was worried, as long as it was ablaze, she could fight fire with fire.

But Sasuke was not done.

Even as he thrust the ball of flame ahead of him, finally releasing the strenuous hold which kept the totality of the firestorm at bay and a cone of unfathomable heat spread outward from his open palm rushing at the still bemused woman, he knew, they both knew, that it wouldn't be enough.

Though it was a little harder to eschew the blaze, just based on sheer intensity, she was the new Fall Maiden after all and it was well within her power. Rather than waste the effort to capture and redirect the dense stream, she instead shifted slightly in the air and held out a single hand to deflect it. Like passing a finger in front of a hose, the flames which never even directly touched her open palm, were splayed throughout the night sky behind her.

Her asymmetrical smirk endured the entire time the torrent of her own flames continued its assault, and as it trickled off into a sheen of afterglow, she couldn't help but assert her dominance with an appropriate jibe to the young man who was clearly trying so hard to kill her.

It was actually kind of touching, in a way. Never before had she been so despised on a personal level.

"Impressive. But really, you have a long way to go before you can hope to best me at-"

She drew back at the first sight of the achromatic missile shooting through the last remnant of embers, but she was a split second too slow to dodge the entirety of the boy's attack. For even as she evaded the black fish swimming out of the red sea, it dragged a crackling barb beside it on a hooked arm, and this hook managed to snag, tearing a deep gouge in her shoulder.

Her scream of pain could not be heard over the sound of thousands of birds decrying the false dawn, and she temporarily lost control of the flames which kept her aloft and fell clutching the already cauterized bite in her arm. She did not have far to fall, however, and luckily enough smacked down onto the floor of the tower, dangerously close to the edge but safe enough for the moment. This generated another bout of pain. But it was far less than the previous, and its anticipation helped focus her thoughts so that it did not unduly distract her from her now admittedly dangerous opponent.

She felt her teeth grind as she clenched her jaw, biting back the pain and pointedly ignoring the too familiar smell of burnt flesh as she staggered to her feet. She glared back across the arena to where the black specter touched down and immediately fell to a knee. She smirked, despite the grievous wound, because it was obvious that he had devoted far too much energy into that one attack. It was not a terrible gamble on his part, and it might have worked against her, given another hundred lifetimes or so.

But she was not a one trick pony herself, and even with one arm severely weakened, she could still fight. Proving this, with much effort she raised the damaged arm and locked it at the elbow, at which point a carbon colored bow manifested in her grip, and with her good arm she seamlessly knocked a single arrow which had not been there before and let it loose at the devilish boy still gasping for breath.

Sasuke was still getting used to this new transformation and had not anticipated just how much of his energy the redirection and counter would take out of him. Manipulation of the flames, and to a smaller extent the lightning-based Chidori had drawn not only a significant amount of chakra, but also stole a good chunk out from within him. Quite where, he could not yet place, as this was only the second time he had ever attempted such a thing while in this state.

But his adversary was not apt to give him a chance for a third attempt, as before he even realized she was on her own feet, the arrow she had knocked was sent in his direction far too fast for him to even contemplate avoiding. He didn't even have time to regret not preemptively unsheathing his blade in case of just such an outcome. He could only watch as the tiny series of concentric circles rushed at him in high definition glory, his suddenly cooperating Sharingan tracking every bend and wobble in its flight.

Of course, it also managed to track, seconds before it even actually happened, the timely intervention of a mildly dustier crow who cut the lone attack out of the air with a careless flick of his wrist. Sasuke himself was not so petty as to be embarrassed at having to be saved in such a situation. It had happened before, and his rescuer had been far more irritating to the young man on a personal level.

Cinder in turn deepened the frown which had snuck its way on her face during her fall, at this latest of developments. It was clear enough that she could handle one or the other no problem, but even at full strength she was unsure of her ability to tackle the two of them at the same time. With all of their current injuries, however, it was hard to judge how she might fare alone against the odds. But then again, she wasn't exactly alone.

To punctuate her internal monologue the armored body of Pyrrha came flying out from left field, crashing into the gallantly posed Qrow who tried to recover his pride with some kind of catch, but ended up with the redhead firmly seated upon his chest, knocking the wind out of him.

"Sorry." The said woman apologized as she rubbed the new dent she had acquired in her breastplate and struggled to balance herself with only Akoúo, not having been able to recover Miló since she had lodged it in the beast's eye.

"No problem." Qrow gasped out. "Need a hand?" He asked her, even as she offered her own to pick up the dazed man.

Three heads turned as a rumbling growl and irritated stomp reminded them of the other danger which still lingered in the area.

"If it's not too much trouble…" She shrugged with an apologetic look.

But of course it was. Spare hands were a precious commodity at this particular moment, and they were stretched thin as it was. Sasuke and Qrow had only managed a little headway with Cinder and her newfound proficiency with fire. And apart from missing an eye on the left side of its head, the only effect they seemed to have on the dragon Grimm was to piss it off enough that it was actively devoting itself to their demise, instead of taking the time to play with its food.

Just now catching his breath, Sasuke glanced around in search of what he hoped might even their odds a little bit. But he was having a hard time locating it. Despite the impressive fireworks show that he and Pyrrha had managed to spy on their short flight over the seamless tide of Grimm, he could find hide nor hair of his misanthropic teammate.

Before the blond had disappeared into the night, Sasuke could clearly tell that his selfless act was for once fueled by something other than naïve charisma, the telltale signs of the Bijuu's influence obvious now that he knew what to look for. With that kind of firepower on their side it should have been an easy win, as Sasuke himself might have attested to. So then, where was he now when they needed him?

Another mammoth growl and gnashing of teeth directed his vision once again back over to the monster Grimm, and without his legendary eyes he might have missed the fleeting glimpse of blond hair splayed out on the cold ground somewhere beyond the creature's legs. Even as he physically recovered from his strenuous attack, he suddenly felt incredibly weary at that ill-omen. For whatever the unresponsive sight of his colleague portended, it could not be good. Still, he refused to give up so early in the game. These months had humbled him with regards to his own strength, but borrowing a page from his teammate's book he reinvested hope into their chances at prevailing as a team.

One of his teammates was without one of their weapons however, so that took first priority. The beast lunged at them snapping its cavernous mouth in their midst as they scattered to all sides, never going too far from one another though, everyone recognizing that their chances lay with sticking together. As his wings shot him off to the side the polish brass haft of a familiar spear winked at him and Sasuke managed to arrest his hasty evasion. With but the barest touch of his foot with solid ground he was back off the direction whence he came in a flutter of wings.

Luckily enough for him, the Grimm was already blind on the side of his approach, so even with his poor luck that the creature then lashed out randomly in his direction, he had ample time to sidestep the cumbersome lunge and with a flighty leap passed right by the creature's head, snagging the protruding weapon in the process.

Wordlessly he hocked the weapon over the scaled head in a blind arch that he was confident would reach its intended target. On the other side Pyrrha easily plucked her weapon out of the air with light hop off the ground. And even as the dragon with its one good eye now trained on the Amazon recognized the imminent danger she posed, the woman had already shifted Miló into a rifle and let loose several potshots at that beady red optic.

However, there was a reason that this particular Grimm had survived long enough to become so massive, and it proved its ability to learn and adapt then and there as it clamped its lid shut in anticipation and blindly twisted its head towards the projectiles, intercepting them with the bony part of its skull. Already knowing where its target was, it had no need to look as it jerked the horned protuberances at the woman still shocked at her near miss.

She managed to duck underneath the unexpected headbutt, and barely managed to roll to the side to avoid the follow up as the creature slammed its claw down into the ground where she had been. But even flailing around aimlessly, the creature had an instinct as to where his flighty target had gone to, and Pyrrha was caught dead as the other bladed appendage came whipping at her from the other side.

Even as she threw herself down she realized that it was a bit too late to dodge the entirety of the massive swipe. But as it turned out, it was enough to dodge the swipe in its new trajectory as an equally sharp and curved object deflected it up and over the now two bodies.

"Watch yourself, kid."

Qrow grunted out as he lifted himself up from where he had taken a knee under the immense pressure of the Grimm's armed appendage. As he glanced back to make sure his latest charge was able bodied enough to recover herself, however, his narrowed gaze widened as a cloud of graphite-colored arrows swept across the battlefield towards them. A flash of red and bronze interjected itself at the last moment, and he could once again resume breathing as the laughing green eyes shot back his direction.

"Same to you."

Despite the playful banter, the two were not quite as lighthearted as they had been, recognizing the desperation of their situation being hemmed in from both side by powerful opponents. It might have been gallows humor if either had stopped to think about it, but the instinct to stay alive above all else prevented them from imagining this worst-case scenario. And indeed hope seemed to be clinging on with chipped tooth and nail as their third member once again made himself known.

Sasuke had by this time once again drawn out his trusted blade, and its honed edge was relentlessly biting into the small gaps in the beast's armor. While it was probably no more than a mild irritation to the mythical monster, it was ample enough distraction to turn its attention away from the other two for the moment. Which was good, because Cinder chose that time to remind them that she was still in the game.

A column of flame spewed forth from her open palms and splattered on the nigh-impenetrable shield held up in defense. Though the two were safely huddled behind its protective curvature, the shield's bearer had to bite back a wince as the metal she clasped firmly against her bare skin began to heat up rather uncomfortably. Thankfully the stream cut off rather abruptly and without wasting a split second the two had shifted to the attack and burst from behind their shelter.

Cinder was seemingly prepared for their assault, and was already waiting and ready with several arrows knocked. But even as her fingers started to loosen on the taught string, she had to take a swift step back flinging the arrows in wild directions as a black blur passed in front of her followed seamlessly by the raging Grimm as it tried again to snatch its prey from mid-flight. She was caught completely by surprise and almost dropped her bow as she unceremoniously tripped and fell on her rear.

The two attackers did not halt their charge at this latest development, and merely changed targets as with hastily coordinated grace each threw themselves at whatever glaring weakness was put in front of them.

A horizontal slash swifter than the eye could track passed over the open mouth from snout to adoral, removing more than a few of the deadly fangs. And with those barriers gone, the redheaded warrior leapt above the remaining ones and stood up to her imposing height within the gaping maw, simultaneously lodging the sharpened spear point into the soft and unarmored roof.

Instinctively the Grimm made to snap its jaw shut on the offensive thorn, which only served to drive the wedged object further into its upper palate. The throaty and wet screech nearly drowned Pyrrha as she clung on for dear life, trying as hard as she could to keep her grip on Miló as the beast shook its head back and forth in unadulterated rage, and to keep the weapon wedged between her and a messy end.

Though the spear had managed to lodge itself rather deep into the fleshy part of the creature's mouth, it had a hard time penetrating any farther, coming up against what must have been another unfathomably hard bone in the oversized skull. And soon, with all the shaking, and despite using all of her might to keep it drilled into the roof of its mouth, the pointed edge eventually slipped. Luckily for the weapon's owner, she was roughly tossed clear out of the cavernous mouth before the jaw could clamp shut.

Even though she had ample time to anticipate this eventuality and rolled to dissipate most of the harsh impact, Pyrrha still winced as her shoulder blades roughly scraped against the pockmarked surface. And worse yet, the creature did not seem to be much slowed by either the loss of a few teeth or the toothpick which had gotten caught in there afterwards. It had already begun to turn its attention back to the two pesky attackers when a commotion on the other side forced its attention away from them again.

It jerked its head up and back in what seemed to be surprise as a salvo of flames was sent its way. One managed to burst itself on its lower jaw, but the beast remained only mildly nonplussed, rather more intrigued than angry at being unintentionally targeted. But as its head lifted away, the two warriors caught a glimpse of the intense fight that was transpiring on the other side of the wall.

Sasuke and Cinder were engaged in a breathtaking dance of sword and fire, with the former obviously dominating in the fencing match, while the latter tried to retard his assault with her superior control of the flames. Sasuke had learned from his previous encounters though. And rather than trying to overpower the woman at her forte, he instead capitalized on his own strengths. Though he was far from the best swordsman around, he was solidly ahead of the injured woman who could hardly seem to deflect the long sword with her own hastily manifested blade and was furiously using her flames to give her a little breathing room.

But his previous attack had managed to slow down his enemy, and his two added appendages only made him faster. And so he was zipping to and froe all around, harrying the woman and relentlessly prodding her defenses. He was waging a war of attrition, pecking at any stray moves which opened up even non-vital areas in her defense. Normally this was not his style, and it was something more suited to his comatose teammate. But with the recently sustained injury coupled with the fact that the woman had been fighting continuously up until this point, Sasuke felt confident in this choice of tactic.

But there had been a shift in the normally immutable confidence on her face, and what they were not to know was just how frustrated Cinder had become. Gone was that condescending amusement at the interminable stream of rebellions to her victory. They had since proved themselves to be more than a simple irritation. She had initially assumed that she would have to take things seriously when confronted with the unpredictable blond, but his unusual early resignation had reignited her confidence in her own skills, and every other attack to this point had only reinforced this idea.

But now she was actually being pressed once again by opponents she had thought of as insignificant. Had she underestimated the powers of the Fall Maiden, or those of the two mysterious teens? Or had she overestimated her own? Regardless, she would muse over these questions later, after she was the only one standing.

This time, when Sasuke took a swipe at her intentionally feeble defense, she let go of her ashen blade, mildly surprising the blackened teen and causing a moment's hesitance. Which was just what she needed to gather the flames she had been so carelessly tossing about previous. They coalesced in a cocoon around her wrapped frame and Sasuke was forced to stop in his assault. Realizing what was about to happen, he tried to quickly backpedal away from the obvious boobytrap, but by that time it was already too late and the cocoon burst forth in a gaseous bubble which tried to immolate him.

His arm moved of its own accord, trying to put something between him and the oncoming wall of flame. Just because he could control the flames better, did in no way make him immune to their effect, and he could already feel some of his unruly raven locks catching alight.

In most cases, a blade was a poor substitute for a concrete wall between a person and an uncontrollable conflagration. But even though Sasuke had forgotten, the sword had not, and it remembered clearly its birth, that it was forged with more than steel. The flames latched on to the unconscious injection of energy into the length of the blade and like a black hole began to attract the wild blaze inside its alloy.

Sasuke watched incredulously as layer after layer of flame was diverted from the goal of his total consummation, to fueling the nova that his weapon had now become. Every millisecond that passed by only increased the intensity of the blade's brilliance, going from red hot, to white, to so bright that it was painful to look at with his acutely trained eyes. It was so astonishing that he was able to ignore all the flames that it didn't manage to capture in its limitless gravity, and which more than singed his other extremities.

Time stopped for all those that looked upon what was transpiring on that odd pedestal. Pyrrha and Qrow could only watch in astonishment mutated from horror as their comrade they thought was doomed suddenly reappeared from the nebula of fire with his sword aglow like a star being born in front of their eyes. Cinder's face had once again gone through its bipolar exercises as the evil smile was slapped off by pure shock. Even the Grimm dragon seemed intrigued enough by this once in a lifetime event to stop its pained thrashing and cock its head in curiosity.

But like Icarus flying too close to the sun, that winged man had no concept of just what power he was toying with, and whichever gods ruled over him in that brief instant decided to remind him of his mortal limitations. Soon after that joyous moment of glory when the lovingly forged blade had become a brilliant beacon of hope, the sword shattered with a crack that seemed to split everything in two. The blade, the sound, and even the sky were all rent asunder in an instant as that nova exploded outward, casting the blackened specter away from its expanding center.

His comrades tried calling out his name, but nothing could be heard over the blast, an accumulation of thousands upon thousands of roaring flames consuming everything in their path all at once. Everything went white for a handful of painful seconds like a flashbang going off in all of their faces.

Normal vision returned all too soon to reveal the aftermath. And like an actual cataclysmic event, the scene in front of them had changed at a cosmic scale. Everything in an evenly spaced radius around the two combatants was charred and black, the rooftiles all seamlessly blending one into the other in desolate equality. Even the boney face of the onlooking dragon seemed to have been somewhat bleached, and it was even whimpering as it pawed its one remaining eye with delicately retracted claws.

Fortunately, they spied the raven-haired youth soon enough. He had not been thrown too far off, but judging from where he lay immobile he had probably impacted the wall of Grimm on his trajectory. Which was probably the real reason why the beast was currently nursing a sore spot on its face. But it was painfully clear that he wouldn't be getting up anytime soon, even though he was desperately trying to. Gone was the dark angle, and in its place they were returned an overly crispy teen, the obliterated wings lingering only as two light patches in the scorched ground around the young man. His clothes had mostly been burned away, vaporized in an instant and what remained was clinging to the flesh which was charred and blistered, the peeled skin and the threads snagging one on the other.

Still, those crimson eyes blazed hatefully in unwavering defiance, unscarred among that lunar surface.

And as the two bystanders followed their spite-filled trail, they stopped counting their blessings and simply tore up the scoreboard. What at first looked like a statue carved from coal, or maybe a french-fry stuck in the fryer all day, suddenly shifted. And like plaster cast the black coating started to crumble off, revealing a breathless, but otherwise unharmed Cinder underneath.

As if the woman couldn't even believe her own luck, she blinked incredulously, shaking off motes of black from her eyelids. She ran a hand through her still nearly immaculate hair, mild frizzing aside, and tossed her head back as if she was only shaking off a deep sleep. When her face once again leveled to where they could see it, it held an expression they had yet to see worn by the femme fatal. It was a small but rueful smile which somehow managed to convey every ounce of rage she could have possibly possessed in her body. Her amber eyes narrowed only slightly, but with a jaundiced malevolence that froze even Sasuke as he struggled to prop himself up on unsteady arms.

Red eyes fled from their post as the imposing woman took a few, near silent steps towards him. Neither Pyrrha nor Qrow could bring themselves to move to their friend's aid, paralyzed not out of fear or injury, but out of innate knowledge that there was nothing more they could hope to do. Sasuke watched her with a look that was unreadable in his marred face, but despite his apparent inability to fight back any longer, he was clearly not admitting to fear. Not yet.

Not ever again.

Her slow approach reminded him so much of his brother, so long ago and so far away. And yet this resurrected memory declined to bring along the bile with which it had always been associated. The image of his brother towering above him, above the bodies of his family while he was helpless to do anything about it no longer haunted him the way it used to. His burned body felt little, felt nothing, but he himself could feel another fire still flickering away deep within him. He recognized it as a seldom used emotion. But it was different from whatever he felt before, and it was reserved solely for what was unfolding in front of him.

All else was burned away, he could not think of the snake, nor of anything else that lead him up to this point. After that cleansing fire, his previous life did not exist. Was he born again from the flames, only to fall before their might? Irony seemed to be the only universal truth.

No, he decided as the woman towered over him and the scene stilled. There was at least one more truth.

"You know, you really are like your friend."

He knew.

"I was standing over him just like this. He too tried his best, but in the end it just wasn't enough."

What they did was never enough, there was no such thing. They had to keep fighting for every scrap of existence.

"It's sad, in a way, that nothing you two did had any effect. The world will keep on spinning, and a new dawn will come. Unfortunately, you won't be there to witness it." She bent down with her good arm propping her upper body as she spoke softly into his charred face. "Who knows, maybe in another time, another place, you two would have amounted to something. But not here. Here we play by our own rules which you two in particular seem to have a hard time following."

Sasuke strained to separate the melted flesh of his lips, ignoring the blood which trickled into his mouth as the skin tore off. From that small gap carried a handful of mumbles that even in her close proximity Cinder strained to hear.

"Hmm? What was that?"

She humored the dead man and leaned down further, nearly pressing her peerless cheek against his own ruined face as he struggled to wet his lips to try and repeat what could very well be his last words. If they were though, he wanted them to count. The strangled sounds tickled her ear as they finally worked their way free.

"Fuck your rules."

Her wicked smile only grew in mirth at this declaration. At first anyway.

They felt it before anything. All of the concentrated malice just displayed by Cinder would be but a pinprick compared to this lance of raw emotion which shot through all those present. It was a cold fire burning from the inside out, and it drained away all the color from her rosy cheeks.

With an unobstructed view, Pyrrha and Qrow were the first ones to actually witness something happening, though it began and ended in only an instant. One moment they were four humans and one imposingly large Grimm, and the next they were all but dwarfed by a presence which superseded all of their previous notions as to what was possible. It was not inconceivably larger, though having another creature which rivaled if not surpassed the Grimm dragon appear in a split-second was still shocking. But more than that, the totality of its presence was unfathomably dense, incomparably powerful, and impossibly filled with vengeance.

The sound it elicited was indescribable, but heard by all as a roar which shook every bone in their bodies. They all lost control of their facial features, not having a look which could properly convey the shock and awe appropriate in this instance. Except Sasuke. He smirked.

Fuck the rules.

He knew someone who broke them on a daily basis.