Chapter 49 – Axzura's Rage


Neptune


The blue haired huntsman grips onto a brick that sticks out from the building above where Fury has entered. He can feel the heat of his flames from up there, making him sweat as a reaction. He looks up and his eyes widen when he sees Watts stood above and pointing his two revolvers at him. He fires the revolvers over and over again at him, and Neptune swings out of the way and catches onto another brick, moving round the building to avoid Watts' gunfire. "You seem to be just as persistent as your friends, boy!" Watts yells with anger, stepping around the rooftop, looking at where Salem is, seeing the rest of his enemies have reached the Statue, beginning their assault. He grits his teeth out of anger, and then he looks for Neptune.

He looks over the edge to find Neptune, but he cannot see him. He narrows his eyes when he looks, until Neptune suddenly jumps upwards and kicks him in the head, making him stagger backwards. Neptune lands and he aims his rifle at Watts as he stands there, holding both of his Revolvers in his hands, transforming them into their blade form. Watts smirks as he stands there, and Neptune paces back and forth as he watches his every move. "Not letting you get away this time, Watts." Neptune snarls as he stares at the man. Watts spins his blades through his fingers as paces back and forth on the rooftop above where Fury is facing Kassius, Ren and Sun.

Watts stares at him, and then a sinister smirk appears on his face. He begins to piece it all together, he knows that his parents were in that village when he destroyed it with the Dam, but he never realised that he was in fact there as well. "You were there...weren't you?" Watts questions him as he stands there. Neptune raises an eyebrow with confusion when he watches him, because he knows that Watts is doing this to lower his guard. So he plays along, but stays ready for any kind of rush attack that he is planning with this discussion.

"Where?" Neptune responds as he paces with him, they circle one another on the rooftop of the building.

"That Village, west of Mistral where the Dam blew." Watts adds as he watches him, and Neptune's eyes widen and he grits his teeth. He can see it flashing in his eyes again, how his parents plummeted into the rushing waters of the dam that exploded.

"What has that got to do with anything?" Neptune questions with angered eyes as he watches the villainous man who patrols him with those blades extended by his legs. The light from the huge spotlights inside of the cave glimmer off the sharp curved blades. Watts provides a cruel smile under that moustache that makes Neptune even more enraged when he glares at the man.

"Did you ever wonder how the Dam exploded?" Watts asks him as he walks around him, his trench coat blows in the breeze from the cracks in the cave that reveal some sunlight from the surface. Neptune narrows his eyes with anger as he stares at the scientist that circles him.

"No and I don't intend to dwell on it." Neptune states as he scowls at the man, but Watts does not seem to care. He seems to have an urge to bolster that cruel ego of his even further by revealing the truth to the boy. Whether or not that is a good idea to piss off a Huntsman like Neptune is a good idea or not is up to him.

"Well – I believe that you deserve an answer." Watts tells him. He walks around as if he was giving a speech to a bunch of students about something, further adding to how little he really cared about all the souls who lost their lives in that flood. "You see...we attempted to destroy Mistral many times before. Once by corrupting their finances, but some good people of Atlas decided they could help the poor souls out by lending some lien to them. Another method? We tried the same strategy we used on Beacon; send in some students undercover...but that failed as well, because the Huntsmen there were not as thick as they were in Beacon." He continues to explain and Neptune keeps his teeth gritted as Watts speaks to him with that cunning smile on his face. Watts then stops as he turns to Neptune on his heel, smiling at the boy as he turns.

"And the other option? We attempted to floor Mistral with the lake in their little Dam District just west of the city; we calculated that the amount of water and distance between the district and the city would be enough to destroy the city." He announces, and Neptune's eyes widen with horror now that he has realised the truth. The dam's explosion was not an accident, it was all planned to destroy Mistral...

Neptune's shock can be seen in his blue eyes, and the consternation on his face makes the man smile evilly at him. "It...Was..." He stammers with disbelief at this revelation, and then Watts holds out both of his hands as he stands there with that smile.

"It was me, dear boy." Watts tells him, like he is proud of his involvement in the death of his parents. "You know, I only suspected that your parents died there when I saw you there with the Schnee Girl." Watts explains with a chuckle and Neptune tightens his grip on his Rifle, his hair crackles with anger as his Semblance begins to activate. "You know it really is a shame that the Knights were able to destroy Mistral as quickly as they did – made the deaths of your parents utterly meaningless." He says with a smile – that is the final straw for Neptune. His eyes erupt with lightning and his anger is fully unleashed.

"Shut up, you son of a bitch!" Neptune roars with rage, his voice becoming crackly with the lightning that bursts from his skin, transforming his rifle into his Trident Form, electricity passing through the prongs as he points it at him with gritted teeth. Watts smirks and he holds his blades up, ready to fight.

"Come then, Huntsman...have your revenge." He challenges. Neptune roars with rage as he sprints at Watts and jumps at him with his Trident and swings it towards him as Watts slashes with his Daggers.


Kassius


Fury stands before them, the fire never ceasing its brightness and heat as he glares at them. His teeth are gnashing together and he growls aggressively like a feral dog, cinders and magma drooling like saliva from his mouth as he stares at them and slowly stomps towards them. Every footfall makes the ground shake. Sun and Ren stand with him with their weapons at the ready. "Um...Okay...Any ideas?" Sun asks them and the two of them look at Ren and he just shrugs, just as concerned as they are. Their attention is caught by the savage voice of Fury as he stands there, saying something.

"Trove..." Fury gnarls animalistically as he stands there, barely even pronouncing the word when he stands there, his hands are actually shaking with rage, constantly clenched into fists. His fists are so tight right now that the obsidian is actually cracking and crumbling, only to be regenerated by the magma.

"What's he saying?" Sun whispers into Kassius' ear.

"I dunno." Kassius responds, keeping his eyes focused on the Berserk Knight of Fury before them as he speaks to himself, muttering things over and over. The loss of his Trove has made him go full berserk mode, the only way to calm him is to destroy his form now. Even the other Knights could not calm him down, that is what they are dealing with. A monster that cannot tell friend from foe anymore.

"Trove...hidden...from...me..." Fury snarls with anger, his burning eyes twitching as he remembers picking those golden coins up and watching with anguish as they all turned to dust before his very eyes. For whatever reason, he could not touch them, like some kind of curse has made that impossible for him. "Stolen...from me..." Fury growls, louder this time as his head looks up at them and his fiery wings flex outwards. "Taken...from me!" Fury roars, his words turning into berserk roars as he stares at the three huntsmen before him and the fire that surrounds him now ignites to a forest fire level.

"Uh oh." Ren says with fear as Fury throws his arms back and his jaws open wide as he bellows at them and sprints straight at them. As he pulls his arms back, the action rips his ribcage open for a moment.

"Watch out!" Kassius yells, the three of them dive out of the way, Sun rolls it off and he holds Ruyi Jingu Bang in his hand as he sees Fury smashing into the wall, sending cracks up the wall and to where Neptune is battling against Watts just above them. Fury steps away from the wall where the flames are burning from his impact, he sharply turns his head and he roars again and does the same thing, pulling his arms back and roaring before charging. This time, however, Sun spots the ribs opening up from his aggressive pulling his arms back. The crunching bang of the bones snapping out of place as he does that goes through them, revealing what looks like a burning hot core in the centre of his chest.

"What the hell's going on with his ribs?" Sun asks them as he stands there, and the two of them focus on the ribs as they break open and then he prepares to run at them, scraping his foot into the ground like a Bull would before charging. Ren looks at the heart and then he looks at the others.

"He's breaking his ribs over and over again to bring himself pain..." Ren points out, holding Stormflower up to figure out how to fight him in this form. He was always tough to fight, but Kassius has an idea.

A crazy one.

"A looks like there's a core in his chest...alright, that's got to be a weak spot! Aim for it!" Kassius calls out, activating Vulcan Nox by thrusting his arms upwards to make the bracer extend and the barrels activate. He aims and fires a bullet into the chest and magma bursts from his chest like flesh, but he keeps on charging. Kassius fires a couple more rounds at him before he gets far too close for comfort, using the thrusters in his Exo-Suit to dodge the monster as he passes him. Fury drags his massive hands into the ground to slow himself down and then he forms his axes in his hands for more attacks. The impact of his axe into the ground melts the stone and then he charges again, and when he does the ribs open up as well.

Fury sprints straight at Ren and the Kuroyurian Huntsman aims both Stormflower Pistols at the Berserk Knight and he shoots the green rounds over and over again into his chest, adding some more damage to his chest. He manages to do enough that there is a pulse from the chest of the Berserk Fury and he roars with agony, staggering back and he presses his hand to his chest with anger and pain, magma leaking from the wound and then the ribs reconnect back into place. "That's definitely a weakness!" Ren calls out, retreating from the Knight before he recovers. Fury growls and then he howls to the sky so loud that it echoes out of the caverns, even Glynda can hear it where she is. He roars with pure rage and then he uses his wings to send his form high in the air and then crashing down in front of Kassius, slamming one of his axes down in front of him.

Kassius is knocked onto his back and then he starts to crawl back as Fury whacks the axes down over and over again before his feet where he was, tearing up the ground with the rage that he unleashes upon where he is. Kassius uses the thrusters to jettison himself back and then he lands back where he was, shooting Vulcan Nox at the Berserk Fury. "Wait till he gets close, then shoot him in the chest!" Kassius calls out to the others.

"Yeah! You get cosy with him, I'll stand back!" Sun sarcastically says, transforming his staff into Shotgun Nunchuck Form. Fury turns his head and then roars at him, sprinting straight at him. Sun fires them over and over again, one at a time as he juggles them at a time, ejecting empty shells onto the floor as he fires at the charging Fury that is running right at him. Sun laughs when he jumps over the Knight and lands behind him. Fury turns round and then forms a Fireball in his open palm and throws it straight at Sun, he uses his Monkey Tail to wrap round a damaged piece of rebar and he swings out of the way of the fireball. As he flies through the air, he keeps shooting at the Knight beneath him, hitting him in chest a couple times, but it has not yet done enough damage to make him get weaker. Fury turns and he sees a crushed car under some rubble and he grabs it with his hand and pulls it from the rubble with ease and throws it straight at the Monkey Faunus. Sun's eyes widen when he sees the car flying towards him. "Uh oh." Sun groans just before the truck takes him out of the air and he plummets with it. Before it could crush him under its weight, he crawls across it and gets onto the roof, leaping off and landing on his two feet before it hits the ground.

Kassius and Ren sprint at the Knight of Fury and he turns, seeing them both running at him. Fury grits his jagged molten teeth and he snarls, smoke bursting from his nostrils, swinging his axe in one hand at them both, scraping it across the floor as he tries to hit them. Kassius slides under the legs of Fury and Ren jumps up and he runs across the Knight's arm, shooting him in the side of the head. Kassius jumps up and hangs onto his chest with his cybernetic hand, taking Lash Equinox and stabbing it into the Knight's chest over and over again to try and pry his ribs open. Kassius strains, feeling the fire burning against his cybernetic arm. Fury glares at him and grabs him with his burning hand and he throws him into a building with force. He then jumps in the air and spins round with his swings extended, the action throws Ren from his shoulders.

He lands with a crash, making the ground beneath them shake erratically.

Fury turns, his eyes burning bright and hot as he stares straight at them. Kassius groans with pain, pushing his body up slowly as the rubble falls off his shoulders but he falls onto his back with pain. Fury stares at him and walks towards him with anger in his eyes. Fury pants with anger, the axe held tight as he stares at him. "Die...Huntsman!" Fury roars as he brings his axe down with force, but something stops the axe. Kassius opens his eyes and he sees Sun's Via Sun Semblance holding the arm of Fury up with all their might, he looks through the hole and sees Sun there with his hands together.

Kassius takes his chance, noticing that Fury's ribcage is wide open, and he yells, driving his sword into the chest of Fury, and there is a second pulse, the flash throws Kassius back and he rolls across the floor, landing outside on the other side of the building, but still in the same courtyard. Fury roars with pain, staggering around and even falling forward at one point, stopping his fall with his massive infernal hand. He growls with then shrieks to the sky again, and Ren notices a difference in Fury's body.

There are cracks forming across his body, ones that are not being healed by the magma. Ren gasps, realising that they are sourced from his chest, the more damage that they will do, the less stable he will become. "Guys! It's working!" Ren calls to them, pointing at the cracks on Fury's titanic body as he stumbles out from the building, growling even more furiously than he already was.

"Got a question – what will happen when we destroy his body?" Sun asks them, a factor none of them have actually taken into consideration. But if it is anything like the Fire Elemental Warriors that Fury was able to summon when he was in control of himself, then it might be one big explosion.

"We'll figure that part out when we get to it!" Ren tells him, since Fury has recovered and now has turned to face them. Sun sighs with annoyance when Fury's eyes meet theirs.

"Let me guess...he's gonna charge?" Sun wonders.

The sound of his roar and the rumbling of his footfalls gets closer.

"Yep."


Penny


The Grimm are swarming towards the entrance at full force. Penny launches her swords into the chest of a Beowulf and kills it instantly; most of the Acolytes of Lien have made a full retreat, back to the Drift of Wandering Star or are dead at this point. A Griffin flies towards Penny with a roar, until a purple flash impacts the Griffin in its side and knocks it out of the sky, and into Raven's blade. Raven nods at Glynda as she stands at the front, using her Crop to fight as many of them as she can, tearing the terrain apart and forming objects that she can launch at the horde. She creates a giant arrow and launches it towards the Grimm, killing about seven Beowulves in one attack.

Taiyang rushes forward and punches a Beowulf in the head hard enough to knock it onto the ground. He ducks down to avoid the claws of a second Beowulf but he spins round and roundhouse kicks it in the head as well. He then engages his semblance when a Boarbatusk attacks him, his hand glows orange inside of his skin and he punches the Boar so hard that its tusks shatter from his powerful punch, and with his other fist he strikes down its head, and kills it instantly. Taiyang smirks as he stands there; he does not need to use a weapon, for his semblance makes his punches far more powerful naturally anyway. A red portal opens next to him, and Raven jumps out from it and cuts the wing from a Nevermore's shoulder before it could grab Taiyang. She lands next to him with her helmet on and she watches as the huge Nevermore crashes down from the sky and into the field again, she looks at Taiyang and she nods, smiling behind her helmet.

A blue bolt of dust shoots past them and the Architect walks forward with his rifle in both hands, firing it over and over at the Grimm, nailing them in their heads. A Creep takes a round straight to the skull, but he turns when he senses a Wraith forming beside him. The hooded Ghost howls, swinging its lantern and sword straight at him. The Architect lifts his metal arm up and the ghostly lantern shatters upon impact and he transforms his rifle into its sword form and he strikes it across the head, the Wraith bursts into red flames as it is destroyed. He then throws the sword and it stabs straight through the heart of an Ursa that was charging at him, roaring as it attacked. Professor Port jumps in and fires his Blunderbuss into the chest of another Ursa that attacks him, but he kills it long before it could do any real damage to him. The massive Bear Grimm groans with pain as it collapses to the ground with a thud. He throws the firearm in the air and catches it by the barrel, swinging the battleaxe across the heads of three Possessed Skeletons by Geists, their bodies shatter from the impact and the Geists attempt to flee. Port laughs as he watches them flee, shooting his blunderbuss and ending them before they get out of range.

He smiles under his moustache, but quickly changes when a Deathstalker erupts from the ground next to him, roaring as it lands right beside him. The Deathstalker roars, swinging its tail round and smashing Port back, sending him back to the others. The Deathstalker snaps its pincers as it stands there, approaching them slowly. Oobleck smiles when he sees the huge Scorpion rushing towards them, igniting the end of his thermo and he leaps towards it, pirouetting through the air and creating a powerful explosive attack on the Arachnid. The Deathstalker staggers back and Oobleck aims his Thermo at the beast, firing a fireball straight into the head of the monster, killing it instantaneously.

Port groans as he gets up. "He got lucky." He sighs as he stands there, Glynda helps him up, looking around the area as the Grimm keep on congregating towards them.

"There was a pulse from inside, the Grimm are trying to get in." Glynda tells them all, noticing the glowing red eyes are glowing even brighter than they usually are; The Relic of Choice is still controlling them in their paths. She then spots a Guardian Knight emerging from one of the buildings with the sword in its hand.

"Protect the Relic!" The Guardian Knight shouts as it sprints towards them, they all seem to share the same voice as well, a scratchy monstrous voice.

"They just keep coming..." Penny whimpers fearfully, looking at Glynda.

"We can hold them off." Glynda assures them.

"Yeah, for how long, though?" Taiyang asks her. Glynda does not answer, because she has spotted something approaching towards them across the town that they passed. Many soldiers sprint to their aid.

The White Fang.

And at the helm of these men...

Adam.

"Is that Adam?" Raven questions when she spots him charging to them with Wilt and Blush in his hand as he runs with his men.

"I thought he was supposed to stay back and recover?" Penny states, her memory clearly starting to recover herself.

"Maybe he changed his mind when he took Ilia's body back to the ships." Glynda states. He has his teeth gritted, slashing Grimm Beowulves out of his way as they charge.

"He's bringing reinforcements!" Port tells them, seeing the soldiers he has brought, including a truck with a Machine Gun attached to the back of it and enough soldiers to hold the entrance. If they can make it.

"Even with these soldiers, defending the entrance isn't gonna be easy!" Taiyang tells them all, Adam keeps on sprinting and he points ahead with his finger, looking back at the men and women that follow him.

"Advance!" Adam roars to them.

Suddenly the Giganotosaurus Grimm erupts from the buildings and clamps its enormous jaws onto his arm, carrying him above the floor and marching off with him. Blood sprays from his arm and he does not even scream, he just grunts as the monster takes him away from his people. The White Fang and the defenders of the Gateway gasp with horror when they see him being carried away by the Grimm Giganotosaurus.

"Commander Taurus!" A soldier screams with horror as they watch him get carried away by the beast. But Adam points at them as he is carried by the monster with Wilt and Blush, since it was his other arm that was bitten off.

"I said advance, goddamn it!" He yells, amazing and inspiring his soldiers from how despite facing death right now, he is still giving them orders and believing in the cause. "The Grimm are converging on the entrance! Don't let them in! Do not falter!" Adam yells as the Giganotosaurus carries him, and the soldiers are given the courage to keep going in his name. Adam grits his teeth with anger and he presses his legs against the side of the beast's head, he slashes Wilt and Blush across his own arm to free him from the jaws of the monster, and then he falls past it.

But he is not done yet, he stabs into its leg and swings round, using the momentum to throw himself back up into the air. Blood is pouring from his wound, but he ignores the excruciating pain as he slashes the monster across the face with Wilt and Blush. The Giganotosaurus roars with pain as black smoke erupts from its wound, staggering aside from the impact. He then drags his blade down its face as he falls by it, yelling as he does it.

He plummets back down to the ground and he lands on the ground with pain. The Giganotosaurus turns its massive head and it slowly moves towards him, growling with anger as it stares at him. The two huge Therapod feet stamp down before him as it stands there, looking him right in the eyes. The creature growls faintly as it stares at him, the three clawed arms scraping against the floor.

His stump is still bleeding across the floor and Adam is ready to accept his fate, until a White Fang painted Atlesian Fighter jet comes flying round the mountains and fires a missile straight into the side of the Giganotosaurus' head, making it roar in pain as it staggers aside from the missile hitting its head. Adam does not know who it was that saved him, but she knows what she is doing.

Her large green eyes staring at the monster that roars at her craft, long red hair down her head. Pyrrha is the one flying the vehicle, seems the Onyx Phantom has granted her experience in many different things than just fighting skills, including the experience in flying vehicles like that.

The roar of the afterburners echoes across the islands, cracking every now and then as she breaks the sound barrier. The Giganotosaurus bellows at where she glides, and she banks round for a second attack, firing the machine guns at the beast and launches another missile into its leg. The Giganotosaurus roars with pain from the impact, smoke billows from its fresh wounds, staggering back and Adam gets out of its way. He runs off, tearing some of his clothing from his body and wrapping it around his stump to stop the bleeding as best as he can. He keeps on retreating whilst the Giganotosaurus tries to fight Pyrrha.

Pyrrha banks round and she starts to fly directly for the Giganotosaurus, and narrows her eyes and then fires two missiles that blast straight towards its head. The Giganotosaurus roars at her, the missiles fly directly into its mouth and they explode inside of its head. The roar is silenced instantly and the skull completely explodes into chunks that fall all around them. The Giganotosaurus topples over onto the ground with a heavy thud, smoke erupting from its corpse as it decays away where it fell. Pyrrha looks at the smoking body and she smiles as she knows she helped them a great deal by killing that thing.

Penny gasps when she sees Pyrrha in the cockpit of the jet that just killed the huge Creature of Grimm, saving Adam's life from it as he runs to them with his arm still missing. The Jet banks round and it begins to fly straight for the Drift of Wandering Star, the missiles ready to be unleashed upon the vessel.

Inside of the Bridge is Orson, and his eyes focus on the jet that flies straight for them. He clenches his hand into a fist when he sees her. "You damned traitor." He snarls with anger when he looks right into the cockpit. Pyrrha grits her teeth, and she patches herself into the Bridge so then he can hear her voice.

"You took me from my friends, you and your alliance..." Pyrrha snarls. "Time I returned the favour." Pyrrha concludes, firing a missile straight towards the bridge. Orson's eyes widen and he dives down to avoid the missile.

"Hit the deck!" He yells, the missile shoots straight through the glass and it explodes into the back of the room. Many soldiers scream as the hull breach sucks them from the ship and plummeting down to their doom. Orson hangs on and before long, a defence to a hull breach activates, a shield generates before them and protects them. Pyrrha flies behind the Drift of Wandering Star and she engages the Vertical Take-Off and Landing feature of this Aircraft, hovering behind the engines and she fires all of her remaining missiles into the Vessel's engines. Missile after missile into the fuel cells of the ship, exploding one after another and creating one impressive light show.

Orson looks at the screens and his eyes widen when he realises what she is doing. "Crap! All Acolytes of Lien Forces on the Archipelago! Full Retreat!" He orders, nearly breaking his voice as he does it. The thrusters erupt, blasting fire out from the cells and the huge black, red and gold ship starts to move away from where she is. Many Acolytes of Lien Aircraft are seen flying away, even some Boats, until the Krastax that watch the seas rise up and pull them under to devour them all.

Only aircraft will be able to escape this island alive.

Pyrrha watches as the ship flies away, she is out of missiles and machine gun rounds. She stares at the Drift of Wandering Star as it retreats from the islands. Pyrrha looks down at the entrance where the Grimm are trying to kill them, where the White Fang are shooting them with the weapons that they brought with them and the Huntsmen that defend it.

She wants to help.

But she does not know if they can trust her yet.

She takes her jet and flies away from the Island, leaving them as she disappears into the clouds.

Glynda watches as she leaves, she saw her face in the cockpit and she sighs. "We'll find you Pyrrha, I promise sweetheart." She assures with a smile, only wishing to help the girl be free from what these people did to her. She still helped them, saved most of their lives by killing that Giganotosaurus and by scaring the Drift of Wandering Star off.

All they need to worry about know are the Creatures of Grimm and the Guardian Knights that will not stop until they get inside.

Adam limps over to them, his hand pressed against his stump and everyone is stunned at his survival against that monstrosity that took his arm. "How – How did you survive that?" Taiyang questions with complete and utter disbelief.

"Well...I guess a stubborn enough person can survive anything." He says, clearly talking about Yang and how he did the same thing to her. He looks at his arm and then at her father. "I guess that makes Yang and I even now." He chuckles, Taiyang doesn't, but he just nods to him. Appreciating his help. A soldier helps improve the patching up of his wound, actually managing to stop most of the bleeding.

"You sure you can fight one-handed?" The Architect asks him, looking concerned with his metal brows raised slightly. Adam chuckles as he holds Wilt and Blush tight.

"Never stopped me before." Adam assures.


Ruby


Ruby yells as she slashes Crescent Rose at Death, and he swings Ferrum Arctus straight at her. Their blades scrape across one another, sending sparks dancing and raining everywhere, loud metallic bangs echo through the place. Ruby bounces back and she shoots her rifle at the Knight as he goes to attack her. Yang jumps in and punches the Knight of Death across the face, causing him to stagger back as the shot of Ember Celica does some more damage to him. He growls with anger, tightening his grip on his sword as the shadows repair the damage done to his face. Death charges the black lightning through the blade of Ferrum Arctus and he unleashes the bolt of lightning towards them, Yang dives out of the way and moves Ruby away as well.

Death turns sharply when Qrow swings his sword towards him and their blades impact with a metallic bang. Death scrapes Ferrum Arctus across his and then kicks him in the chest. The red eyes of Death stare at his red ones emotionlessly. Death chuckles menacingly, spinning his sword through his fingers. "So you've come here to die like your beloved." Death snarls and Ruby's eye widens with confusion.

"No." Qrow growls as he points his sword towards Death. "I came here to kick your ass." He snarls, striking first at Death, the Knight deflects his sword and they keep on fighting.

"Yang? What was Death talking about?" Ruby asks with a very concerned voice, since she still does not know the truth about her heritage.

"Later." Yang says to her, firing Ember Celica at a Beowulf that was inside, killing it instantly. Blake throws her grappling hook and she swings round and kicks Fear in the head with both feet. Fear grunts, staggering back but then he grins maniacally, spinning round and slashing at her with Formido Falcem, the curved blade of his scythe misses her by an inch. He laughs as he attacks her, firing his Crossbow with one hand towards her as well, the bolt misses her by an inch.

"You were born to flee, weren't you Blake?" Fear challenges with that smile, and Blake grits her teeth, shooting at him, and then making a shadow of herself to dodge the slash of his scythe. "Always leaving that shadow of yourself behind...that's what I like about you! We're the same, you and I." Fear chuckles.

"No we're not!" Blake yells, slashing Fear and he deflects Gambol Shroud with his scythe, spinning it through his fingers to deflect her bullets from hitting him.

"Okay, fair enough. You run from fear, whilst I bring it!" He yells, his wings stretch outwards and he throws himself high above her and he holds his scythe in both hands to bring down above her. Yatsuhashi pushes Blake out of the way and he holds his bronze sword over his head to stop Fear, the much bigger and heavier being pushes the warrior down to one knee from the impact. He roars as he swings round and slices across Fear's back when he jumps off. Fear grunts and he stands there, staring at the boy.

"Keep talking." Yatsuhashi challenges. Fear smirks.

"Ooh...I love a challenge – you'll be regretting that later!" He yells, spinning the scythe through his fingers so fast that it looks like a blur. He creates a horrifying howl from his mouth that stretches down further than it ever should, and then he slams it down. The Fear Toxin busts from his body and it begins to have its effects on Blake. She gasps when her surroundings transform before her very eyes, becoming the destroyed remains of her home, on fire from what Fury did to the place.

Blake staggers back, terrified from what she is seeing. She then sees the body of Fury walking towards her with his hands stretched out as he walks over to her. She already figures out that it is Fear disguising himself as her fear, after what he did to her parents; he has replaced the terror that Adam once filled. "Your fears will never leave you, little Blake." Fear snarks as he walks towards her. The fact that she has figured out that it is just Fear messing with her head; she shakes it off, quickly able to tell the difference due to his mannerisms, Fury never walks like that.

"Nice try!" Blake yells, running at Fear, and she slashes at where he was, until he vanishes into a swarm of crows. She looks around, and she turns, seeing Fear spinning round and roundhouse kicking her in the chest, sending her flying back. She slides across the floor and groans with pain where she has fallen.

Yatsuhashi looks around and he screams with fear when he sees that he is on the edge of a cliff, beginning to panic when he sees the far drop. His fear is heights, and he staggers away from it, turning his head and seeing three individuals moving identically to one another as one person. The dead bodies of Coco, Velvet and Fox walk towards him, all speaking with their voices. "You killed us, Yatsu..." Velvet tells him with dead eyes, and he stutters with horror. He then feels a cold hand touch his shoulder and he turns, seeing himself stood there with the same dead eyes.

But Fear is the one speaking.

"What a selfless fear." He chuckles, grabbing him by the throat and throwing him off the cliff. Yatsuhashi screams with terror as he thinks he is falling to his death, but is just in fact being slammed into the ground by Fear. The ground cracks upon impact and the toxin wears off, and he stands beside the two of them with that smirk.

"Hey!" Oscar yells, getting his attention and he turns, seeing Oscar sprinting towards him, then suddenly appearing right in front of him after activating his semblance. Oscar roars, slamming his fist straight into the side of Fear's face, so hard it knocks the Knight off his feet. Fear rolls across the floor and then he slams the Scythe down into the ground, scraping it through the ground. Oscar stands ready and he smirks at the Knight of Fear as he gets back up. "Didn't see that coming, did you?" Oscar says to him, and Fear shakes his head.

"Not at all." Fear admits, the most honest of the Knights as always.

Weiss yells, using her Glyphs to fight Loss as she bounces around to attack her, but Loss has got the same powers. Starla yells, using her own glyphs to throw herself straight at Weiss with her Tonfas at the ready, yelling as she slashes at her with the curved blades. Weiss gracefully dodges the blades and slices across Loss' back. Starla yells in pain and she lands with perfect form, staring at where Weiss lands on the other side. Weiss points at Loss and she aims her sword at the Knight, darting towards her as she creates a Glyph under her feet which carries her at great speeds. She slams Myrtenaster into Loss' chest, and the impact launches her back. Loss lands on both feet and then connects her Tonfas together into Bow Form, drawing the string and forming an arrow that she launches straight at her.

Weiss gasps, her eyes widen and she dives out of the way before the arrow could even touch her. She keeps moving towards Loss to do another attack, but Loss kicks her in the chest and then snaps her bow in half again, using them as Tonfas. She slashes and slashes at her and then she presses her hand against Myrtenaster to stop her blades. Loss pushes her down with her strength, her glowing blue eyes staring down at her from behind the veil. The metal creaks as she pushes towards her and Weiss looks at her, knowing that she is a Schnee. "Starla! I know that you are the best of them! Why are you helping her do this?" Weiss screams to her, and Loss stares at her.

"You think I have a choice?" Loss shouts back, grabbing Weiss by her hair and throwing her across the room again. Weiss yelps as she crashes to the floor and rolls. She presses her hand to the floor and tries to get back up, looking upwards and seeing Starla walking towards her with her Bow in her hand, drawing an arrow and aiming right at her head. "I have my duty." She says, sounding just like Weiss when she believed that was the only reason for being a Huntress, which also shows how much Weiss has changed, and how close she was to becoming just like Loss.

"So do I, but you should never let your duty define you." Weiss says to her, and it is clear that Starla is still in there, more so than her other comrades. Because she actually begins to contemplate on what Weiss is talking about. Suddenly a beam of white light crashes into Loss' side and pushes her back, she strains as she is pushed back by the powerful light of the silver eyes. Weiss turns and sees Kragen is the one assisting her, walking towards Loss and constantly blasting the light from his eyes. Kragen yells, spinning round and slamming his Isomacium Staff across her cheek, sending Loss airborne and crashing down on the ground. Kragen offers his hand to her and she takes it, he pulls her back to her feet.

Loss stands back up and she stares at the two. "You don't have to do this." Weiss says to her, but Loss just aims at her again.

"What've I left to fight for?" She yells with anguish, launching an arrow straight at her, and Kragen spins his staff fast to shatter the arrow before it could hit either of them. She snaps the Bow into her Tonfas and sprints directly at them both. "Help your friends, she's mine." Kragen tells her, and Weiss nods, running to help Ruby and Yang against Death who is still fighting them both and Qrow at the same time. Kragen strikes first and she ducks and slides past him, but just as she goes to slice his aura, he blocks it with his staff and hits her in the head with the weapon. She grunts and then she jumps at him, he catches her by the neck and slams her into the ground. She wraps her legs around his neck and forces him onto his own head, rolling backwards and landing on her feet. She stamps down at his head but he moves at the perfect moment to dodge the heel.

Coco is unleashing the full fury of her Machine Gun at Tyrian who is sprinting towards her, dodging the bullets and he jumps at her, kicking her in the chest with both feet. Coco grunts, falling backwards and dropping the chaingun, Velvet punches at Tyrian and then swings her foot up into his chest. She then grabs his long scorpion-like tail of hair and punches him in the head as she pulls him back with force. Tyrian snarls with anger and he wraps his actual tail around her throat and lifts her off the floor, slamming her head-first into the ground. He extends his pincer blades, which are still stained with Ilia's blood, and he goes to stab her just as he did to her.

Fox leaps in out of nowhere and tackles Tyrian into the floor, the Scorpion Faunus barks with anger when he releases the Bunny Faunus who coughs from being choked like that. She has her hand to her throat where Tyrian had her at his mercy, and she looks over at Fox as he punches Tyrian in the head. Tyrian laughs maniacally, slashing Fox across the cheek of his already scarred and blinded face. Fox spins round and punches at Tyrian and their fists impact at the exact same time, creating a shockwave that blows the dust away from them. Tyrian lunges forward with his scorpion barb but Fox catches it and wraps it round his arm just like how Tyrian did to Ilia's whip, pulling him closer, he then yanks him towards Fox and punches him extremely hard in the face.

Tyrian slides across the floor and he punches the ground with anger. He turns his head and he rushes towards Fox, but is met by the pissed off Coco Adel, her sunglasses pulled down as she stares at him. The chaingun aimed straight at him. "Don't mess with my team." She snarls, the barrels spin round extremely quickly and then she unleashes the storm of bullets, they all hit him in the chest and he is sent flying through a brick pillar that stands there. He groans with pain as he lays there.

Jaune presses his shield up against Hazel as he goes to stab the Arc Boy, pushing against the massive muscular man as best as he can. Hazel grabs the shield and rips it from Jaune's fingers and he punches him right in the gut. Jaune winces and Hazel picks him up by the throat and punches him straight in the face. "You could have chosen any life but this..." Hazel sighs, he is clearly tired of all of this, but he cannot face betraying Salem, for he only wants revenge for his daughter.

"Oscar told me...about what happened to your daughter!" Jaune winces as he grabs the wrist of Hazel and the man's eyes widen with disbelief when he hears the boy mention her.

"What?" He questions.

"Why do you keep helping her? She was the one that ordered Cinder to kill Amber! I was there when she was killed!" Jaune rasps as he tries to free himself from Hazel's grip. Hazel is clearly contemplating everything that Jaune tells him, but then he sees Ozpin in his memory and pure anger appears to come over him.

"Ozpin made her become the Fall Maiden, he did all of it! She died because of him! She never wanted that power!" Hazel roars with anger and Jaune looks at him.

"I know! I am not defending Ozpin; the man has to answer for more than just your daughter! But you and I both know that we cannot let her win!" Jaune says to Hazel, and he begins to contemplate over whether or not he should actually switch sides. The boy is right...Ozpin has committed wrongs against both sides, turned his daughter into the Fall Maiden and tried to turn Pyrrha into one as well, using her idea of Destiny to manipulate her. Before he can change his mind, however, a supersonic squeal gets closer and closer, and he sees Nora launching towards him and she slams Magnhild against his chest so hard that he releases Jaune and throws him into the wall with a heavy bang.

Oscar darts over to Hazel and he looks at him. Hazel looks at Oscar and all Oscar does is offer his hand to him. "Please...help us..." He begs him with his hand stretched out.

We can bring Ozpin to justice together!

We just need to stop Salem; otherwise it will all be for nothing.

Your daughter would have died for nothing.

Hazel looks up at the boy, and he grabs his hand.

Cinder blasts flames straight into Death as he fights Qrow and he spins round and kicks the Branwen in the side of the head. Death is pushed back by the flames but his shroud of darkness that protects the Isomacium is making him unstoppable. She then slashes across his chest with one of her swords, and she looks at Ruby. Ruby nods at her, and Cinder nods back. Oscar darts over to them and he looks at them. "We need to get to Salem! Cinder, do you think you can challenge her?" Oscar asks her.

"I can try." Cinder says with a shrug.

"That'll have to do." Oscar sighs.

Cinder nods and she takes off, using her abilities as the Fall Maiden to fly towards Salem where she is beginning to activate the Relics. Cinder floats up behind her, staring straight at her. "Salem!" She shouts, and she turns, glaring at the amber eyed girl.

"Cinder..." Salem growls with anger. "I should have known you didn't have the stomach to do what was necessary." Salem snarls.

"I can't let you activate those Relics, Salem." Cinder tells her. Salem smirks sinisterly at Cinder, and then powerful forks of lightning burst from the relics.

"Try and stop me." Salem challenges. Cinder grits her teeth and blasts towards Salem, swinging her fist towards the Dark Queen.

Oscar looks up at Cinder as she fights, and then he looks across the cavern, his eyes widen with shock when he sees.

Neptune is getting beaten by Watts.

Watts shoots Neptune in the leg and his aura has been depleted, blood sprays from the wound and he collapses to one knee.

"Weiss!" Oscar calls and Weiss' eyes widen.

"What is it?" Weiss asks.

"Neptune's in trouble! I'm gonna help him!" Oscar promises, darting off to help Neptune before it is too late.


Kassius


Fury roars at them and he charges once again at them, just missing Sun as he swings his axe straight at him. Sun rolls out of the way and he aims Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang at the Titan as he slams against the wall. "Come on, baby! Come to Sun Wukong! Check out these guns!" He taunts as he flexes to Fury, the Demonic Beast stares at him and roars, his ribcage cracks open again and he sprints towards him again. Sun rapid-fires the two shotgun Nun-Chucks over and over again into his ribs and then there is another fiery pulse and the cracks spread across his body. Fury shrieks with pain, staggering back and shutting his ribs with his own hands as the magma leaks from his chest.

He slams both fists into the ground extremely hard and the cavern shakes; they are still very close to the Volcanic Core, perhaps on top of it. They know that if he explodes, it could trigger the Volcanic Chain Isles into a massive eruption. If that happens, then they need to get off those islands as fast as they possibly can. Fury howls to the roof of the cavern with rage as he rips chunks of obsidian from his own head out of anger. He then stares at Ren and sprints right at him again, but something has changed.

His body has become so unstable that lava is pouring from his core and leaking onto the ground, creating a trail of lava behind him. Kassius spots it and his eyes widen when he sees it. "He's leaking lava! Keep clear!" He yells to them, and Ren shoots into Fury's chest over and over again, rolling aside just before he could grab him. They have learned a valuable lesson; they cannot risk using melee on the core because they will take damage from his burning body, only firearms will work against him. This berserk roars echo for miles and he narrowly misses Ren, swinging his axe at him to try and kill him, but Ren is too quick for him to hit. Fury slows down, sliding across the floor and swinging at the air as he slows down, barking every now and then.

Fury's wings stretch out and he throws himself at Ren, slamming both fists into the ground with force, sending cracks through the floor and spilling Lava right in front of him. Fury pulls his arms back again and his ribcage breaks open once more, gallons of lava pouring from the wound as he charges at Kassius and Sun. They both start firing over and over again into his core, the light glows bright from inside his body, the cracks becoming ever more present in his body. They both roll out of the way, separated by the magma, but they can still jump over it. Fury crashes into the building that Neptune is being beaten by Watts. On top of the building, Watts draws his Revolver and points it at Neptune's head, hardly even reacting to the quake beneath them.

Watts chuckles menacingly. "It really is a shame...all those lives wasted...and for what? We never even used the Dam idea ever again." He laughs cruelly and it only makes Neptune that much more enraged.

Fury steps back from the building, sharply turning his head with a screech and he roars, sprinting at them again. Kassius aims down the sight of Vulcan Nox and fires a bullet that flies directly into Fury's ribs. The impact creates another, more violent pulse. Fury staggers back and he roars with pain, now he is unable to close his ribs, they are broken open and the magma will no longer repair the damage. Worse still, something else is happening to him. Superheated Pyroclastic Ash is venting out from his core and is following the trail of magma when he charges. The cracks are so unstable as well that there are mini explosions going off across his body in different places.

Sun spots the ash and his eyes widen. "Oh shit! Pyroclastic Ash!" Sun yells, rolling away from Fury and holding his breath to not breathe the stuff in.

"Don't breathe it in!" Ren advises as he shoots at the Knight when he runs at where Sun was. Fury swings at Sun and just misses, he is getting closer with every swing. Kassius loads a new set of rounds into Vulcan Nox.

Explosive Rounds.

Fury stares at him and sprints straight at him, roaring extremely loudly as he runs straight at Kassius. Kassius waits and waits for Fury to get closer, he then rolls out of the way and Fury smashes through the wall he was stood in front off. The wall shatters like glass and he stumbles inside. The building is the same one that Watts and Neptune are on top of. What both Watts and Fury do not realise, is that Kassius saw Oscar and they nodded, since they both know the plan.

Fury turns and he roars with rage, his ribs still wide open.

Kassius fires the round, and the explosive round lands straight in the core with an explosive bang. The explosion ruptures throughout the entire cavern. Fury's eyes widen and he roars with agony as he staggers back from the explosion, cracks spread across his body in many places, small explosions going off everywhere on Fury's form. He staggers back as he falls to both knees and he throws his arms back, roaring endlessly to sky. Kassius, Ren and Sun look at each other. "Is he gonna?" Sun asks, noticing the cracks glowing brighter and brighter, the chain reaction of explosions growing more frequent and aggressive as it goes on and on.

Ren's eyes widen. "Yeah...I think we should run." Ren tells him.

"Good idea." Kassius agrees, the three of them run as fast as they can from the courtyard where Fury is about to explode. His roars grow louder and louder as the explosions get worse and worse.

Watts smirks at Neptune, truly believing that he has won this fight, his gun pointed at Neptune's head as he stands there. "What's your masterful plan next, Neptune?" He scoffs. "The God of the Sea, and he cannot even look at water." Watts chuckles as he stands there, and Neptune holds onto his Trident when he notices that Oscar is there.

"Yeah..." Neptune chuckles.

Fury's cracks spread over his head as he roars with rage as he is about to detonate.

Watts' eyes widen when he notices that something is wrong, seeing the others are fleeing and the howls of Fury. They are constant, not every now and then like they used to be with when he was charging to kill them over and over again.

"But I have something that you don't." Neptune says.

Watts guffaws.

"Oh yeah? And what would that be?" Watts questions.

"Friends who don't abandon you." Neptune says, and Watts' eyes widen.

The explosions blow Fury's limbs off one by one and the three of them get as far from Fury as they possibly can.

"See the thing you have messed up on here, Watts..." Neptune begins as he stares at the man who is realising that he is about to be defeated, but he cannot wrap his head around it.

"I don't think you've wrapped your head around the gravity of the situation here." Neptune chuckles, and Watts begins to feel the heat.

Fury's arms cross over each other as his core is about to go off.

"In other words Watts..." Watts says with a smile.

Neptune pulls his yellow goggles down as he smiles.

"Na-Night." Neptune says proudly.

Fury's bellows stridently as he throws his arms back and the cracks glow ever so bright and there is a deafening bang as his limbs explode and his entire form erupts into flames. His scream is demonic as is explodes, fading into the explosion as he rids himself of his enraged form. The explosion consumes the whole courtyard and wipes out the statue and where they fought. Kassius, Sun and Ren cover their heads as they take cover from the powerful explosion. The paroxysm is so powerful that it rides up the building, shattering every window with fire bursting out from them and towards the roof.

Watts realises his fate, his eyes widen, and the roof begins to come apart with fire rising up beneath them. But then time slows down immensely, and Oscar sprints to Neptune's aid. Oscar grabs onto Neptune, and the act of doing so un-freezes Neptune from the time that he was just in, and Oscar helps him get away.

Then time resumes as they retreat across the rooftops.

Watts reaches out for them, roaring as he tries to escape the blast. "No!" He howls as the fire consumes him and the entire building shatters like glass into flames, his scream cut off by the blast of the explosion. Oscar gets Neptune to safety and they both look back at where he was.

Tyrian hears his Scroll beeping and he looks at his Squad Aura Screen.

Watts' slides into the red, and then into nothing.

Along with a constant flat line.

Watts...is dead.

Through using Fury's eruption as a weapon, they killed two birds with one stone.

Tyrian looks in the direction of the explosion and his eyes widen with disbelief at the realisation that someone managed to kill Watts.

And it was his own ego that killed him.


Author Note - Watts is dead, what did you think of his death? It was a death I planned ever since the very beginning of this story, since I wanted to give him a pretty epic send-off. I hope you thought his death was right for his character. What did you think of when Adam lost his arm to the Giganotosaurus? An idea on the other hand (get it?) I thought of pretty recently in fact, because I wanted there to be some BIG consequences of this suicide mission alongside the death of Ilia Amitola. I also thought it would be real ironic considering what he did to Yang as well, so let me know if you liked that!

And Pyrrha! She decided to help them for a bit! Killed the Giganotosaurus and managed to drive Ortega and the Drift of Wandering Star from the Volcanic Chain Isles! She will return, do not worry, but in this story that is the last we will see of her. She will be a BIG part of Act 3 and the rest of the series.

And Hazel has decided to turn against Salem and help bring Ozpin to justice, or to learn about WHY he did what he did.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! One of the chapters I have enjoyed to write the most, and the next one shall be pretty epic as well!

As always, please review and let me know what you thought of this chapter! Did you like it? Any improvements you think should be attended to in Act 3 and onwards? Your support and opinions mean the world to me, so don't feel like your opinion (no matter what your opinion is) go unspoken. I take all into account, not just the nice stuff.

Stay tuned for the next chapter!

- Onyx Phantom