Ruby dodges Amber as she uses her semblance consecutively to stay ahead of her superior, The Fall Maiden blasts a wind of cold air towards Ruby, intent on freezing her in her tracks literally. The young reaper surprised her by dashing backwards with her semblance and appearing at her side.
Amber had no defense, she was knocked away by Ruby with a powerful swipe, sending her into a tree with a resounding thud.
Ruby pumped her free hand's fist as she smiled brightly, 'I finally got you Amber!"
Amber gets up, holding her side as she laughs a little, "that you did my pupil…very good."
Qrow was drinking on a nearby tree branch, before sighing, "kids are growing up way too fast."
Ruby uses Speed and appears in front of Amber, "you okay?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine, I've had worse." Amber waived off, "besides don't be concerned if you hurt your enemy…they won't care if they hurt you."
Both were brought out of their conversation when a loud boom sounded, before they to see Naruto and Salem clashing in a fury of blows. Weiss jumped to Naruto's aid, only for them to dodge as Salem used some sort of technique to blast wind all around her.
The blonde teen's hair flashed between its golden locks and snowy white, indicating he was on the verge of becoming a full Ayakashi, he just needed another push.
Amber sighs as she looks up at the dark clouds, "Maelstrom will be making landfall in thirty-six hours."
"I'm already talking to Ozpin about mobilizing students to several villagers and small coastal towns." Qrow states, "but you have to understand that Kami and Merlot are still at play."
"Yes, and I'm sure one of them wants this to happen as a distraction to get to Naruto or Weiss." Amber points, "possibly Ruby."
"Well…I did cut off her arm." Ruby sheepishly points out while the young reaper runs the back of her head.
Naruto dodges Salem's punches as he returns with a jab and catches her on her shoulder, a clean hit.
Naruto using his forearms blocked Salem's kicks as he spun around and delivered his own that managed to connect. His mother recoiled with the impact before blasting him away and catching with Weiss with a clothesline.
The former heiress crashed onto her back and skidded, breathing heavily as she got up, she turns to Salem smirking at them. Her ornate white hair flowing behind her as her aura flows about her. She was being observed by Qrow, whose eyes were red now as he looked at her.
"Your body is weakening…why are you pushing yourself to the grave…you should just be standing on the sidelines and coaching." Qrow looked at her, "why push him?"
Naruto dropped into a fighting stance with his right foot past his left one, both of his arms crisscrossed and his palms facing forwards. Salem did the same stance, before chuckling, "just by observing me you've learned Frog Kumite."
"You still need to teach me Sage Mode." Naruto points out with pride as Weiss lands by him.
"Senin Modo…Sage Mode, takes a months long mediation and practice to master. However, my focus is getting your dormant powers to rise, battle meditation is now the focus." Salem tells him, "the little in-between form you have now easily makes you half as powerful as I am…and at the level that most would dream of."
"Half isn't good enough mom, I want it to have it into a full form before this month's end. We've been training sixteen hours a day for the last week and a half." Naruto drops his stance as they talk, "I'm pushing myself as far as I can go with you."
Salem nods as she drops her stance, "that is true…but you can't force yourself to do something without your body being ready for it. The Ayakashi transformation puts extreme stress on the body and if you're not careful any amount dark aura could overtake your being…you won't be an Ayakashi then…but a monster."
"Which is why I'm giving you baby steps towards it, one cannot simply have short cuts to power, in the end…the price is far greater than the actual worth." Salem instructs Naruto as she looks at Weiss and smiles, "and you've got people to protect…and people to protect you."
"Which is why I must go beyond myself," Naruto says as he dashes towards Salem, "and like I told Amber…if I must bleed…hobble…or crawl I'll do so!"
Salem blocked the flurry of punches coming from Naruto, before throwing a punch at him, only for him to spin on his right heel fast enough to create an afterimage. Salem spins on her heel as well, blocking a kick from her forearm.
Naruto and her launch and block kicks respectively, before both drew back and attempted to punch one another. Only for Naruto seemingly wildly miss, just like Salem, and her eyes widened when she felt something impact her.
"In-Incredible…Vacuum Fist!"
She was blasted back as righted herself, before wiping a small bit of blood on her lip, her wounds rapidly healing…but this only pushed her body to stress more.
Smiling, she deactivates her Ayakashi form, "that's enough for today…besides…tomorrow we'll be helping a village survive mother nature herself. Please go rest, take care, and good night."
Naruto nods as he drops his form, only to hear a loud thumping noise through out as his body as his collapses on his knees. "W-what…the…"
Salem looked at her son, before sighing, "see…even in the half way point the body is stressed. Your body is tensed up from the pressure of the forces inside of you being released, while maintaining a human body. As soon as you dropped the additional power your body couldn't hold it in and is now suffering from the drawbacks."
"It similar to one other technique from the old world, The Eight Gates Release, each level puts more stress on the body because its temporary…but if one makes it's a permanent form then the stress is nullified due to the person's body achieving a resonance that could handle the power." Salem instructs, "which is why I've been getting tired more lately…since I cannot maintain my form due to the seal constantly drawing from it, I cannot withstand the pressures for too much longer than you."
"You've grown strong Naruto; my halfway point is at least Glynda when she fights seriously…perhaps even Ozpin." Naruto's eyes widened, "and to achieve it at your age is astounding."
Momoshinki walks towards The Dead Volcano as he wields the blade, he smirks as he watches Death Wing fly over the Volcano. His golden and black energy swirled around him, and his blade. The Ayakashi looked around, before seeing green eyes in the forest around him.
Chuckling he raised his sword up, "moon light great sword of Boruto Uzumaki, crescent fall!"
As he sinks his sword into the ground, all his outside aura flowed into it and channeled into the ground. Making it crack and glow as well, before a loud screech and the explosion of earth filled the air as The Green Grimm around him were exterminated by the glowing light.
Momoshinki chuckles, before laughing as he spins the sword around in his hand. He noticed Kami to his side, before looking at her, "so you wish to fight me after all?"
"I dare not," Kami speaks with feigned fright as she looks at him, "is our deal still on?"
"One fruit for me, one fruit for you." Momoshinki says, "is he still asleep?"
"Yes," Kami says as she crosses her arms, "I've decided that the old fool is not worth my time…plus someone with your smarts could easily duplicate his Genetics Modification Research."
Kami watched as Momoshinki nodded, "then lead your Grimm out of my way."
Kami whistles, making several dozen Green Grimm come from the forests, before they all started to walk away, off to the distance thunder and lightning roared as Momoshinki walked towards The Dead Volcano.
Walking into the Volcano's entrance, blasting down the metal doors by blasting them golden colored energy, Momoshinki came to the main room of the hollowed out Dead Volcano. Looking at the giant tree in the middle, Momoshinki saw two fruits near the top, along with several cocoons strewn about.
"The Cocoons still bare a little life energy inside of them, obviously this God Tree isn't like the original Otsutsuki God Tree, their fruit required an entire planet to grow…but this tree requires very little. No doubt Merlot has modified it to where the fruit grants those powers only seen in The Old World…powers comparable to Bijuu themselves." Momoshinki observed the tree as he licks his lips, the plump red fruits radiated with literal energy.
Chuckling, he walks forward, only to stop when he heard the entrance collapse behind him. He looked behind him, before noticing that rocks had fallen over the entrance…and it had been blocked by a purple barrier of some sort.
His eyes widened in realization, a realization that furthered by looking over at a cocoon that bared no body inside of it…but he found the husk of Merlot's old body sitting in front of it. "That bitch, she tricked me!"
"Don't blame dear old Kami for her betrayal, she knew very well who held her leash." The voice of Merlot echoed throughout the hollowed Dead Volcano.
Momoshinki turns to see Merlot sitting on a makeshift throne, before he watches him eat an orange, sucking on the juices with much delight. "I see…that you're carrying a relic of immense power. The Moonlight Great Sword…Sword of Boruto Uzumaki."
Merlot was wearing armor that was chainmail by designed by himself. In the likeness of a warrior he had researched in the ancient tomes he found, one Madara Uchiha.
"It's an exquisite, powerful, artifact." Merlot says as he gets finishes the orange off, "a true sword…for one true king."
sign, his own design, baring a red colored metal as its base. His hands had demi-gauntlets on as he held the remnants of the orange in black leather gloves. his electric blue eyes looked upon Momoshinki with intense…desire?
This made Momoshinki back up a little bit, he watched as Merlot's white hair flowed in a wind that seemed to form around him. "If you're wondering, I've captured an Illumine and Umbra, and thought its not perfect…I've created Otsutsuki DNA that spliced into my genes via that cocoon. I also took upon myself of using that energy that you gave me from Salem…it was much needed acceleration to my evolution."
"I see before me an abomination, Ayakashi should never mix blood with Umbra or Illumine." Momoshinki hisses at Merlot, "you're nothing, but an amalgamated fool."
Taking a deep breath, Merlot chuckles a little bit. "I read an interesting tome prior to putting myself inside of the cocoon. That once was a carp, a sea rat, struggled against the waterfall…he became a dragon. This was a tome written by Uzumaki Naruto…it was a tome about his life lessons, written probably prior to his betrayal."
"I'm not an abomination Momoshinki, I'm merely a carp that has became a dragon, and you're afraid of this dragon." Merlot reaches over to his side, grabbing a wine glass filled with what appeared to be expensive wine. "Tell me…what do you think I would do on The Night Throne?"
"I already can see it, you would slaughter everything and everyone. You would make Grimm the dominant species on the planet and mimic the process that the young half breed did to make them become sentient." Momoshinki grips his relic sword. "You'll be a mass murderer…I merely seek to control the masses."
Scuffing at Momoshinki's answer, Merlot sipped upon his wine. "I wouldn't kill all humans, I would still need humans to breed with my…well…Pawns. I would be curious to see, the scientist in me anyway, if Grimm that became sentient could do like faunus and humans could. It's already been shown that Umbra, Illumine, Humanity, Ayakashi, and Faunus can interbreed with one another…why not these Pawns as well.'
Momoshinki looked at him disgusted, "you are a twisted individual."
"No more so than some of the most influential leaders in humanity's illustrious history," finishing his wine Merlot tapped the glass which shattered, "all things must be broken and rebuilt…it'll only make it stronger."
"So, let me guess, you plan to place Kami in a cocoon inside of the tree once she consumed her fruit." Merlot chuckles at Momoshinki's question.
He looks Merlot dead in eyes as the man speaks, "I merely wish for more power…no different than anyone else."
Getting up from the throne, Momoshinki watched as Merlot took a deep breath, and held his hands out. "Come…"
Momoshinki wasted no time and charged at Merlot, full powered, only for the abomination to easily dodge him. The full blooded Ayakashi's eyes widened as he was kicking across the hollowed room of The Dead Volcano.
A good part of forty meters in total, before slamming into the side.
Rolling forwards once he landed, Momoshinki gripped The Moonlight Great Sword and slashed it forwards. "Crescent Slice!"
Merlot forms a barrier that easily blocked the golden wave of energy, before he pointed his hand out in front. "Scatter!"
Several seal arrays appeared in the air around Merlot and blasted forth beams of light that Momoshinki barely dodges and forces him to run full speed around inside of The Dead Volcano.
Spinning about as he somersaulted above Merlot, Momoshinki formed a large ball of golden light and launched it at Merlot from his free hand.
The monster merely backflipped and avoided the massive powerful attack as it impacted his throne. It destroyed the makeshift throne in a golden explosion of light as Momoshinki landed in the following crater before deflecting one of the beams of light off his sword.
Merlot chuckled as Momoshinki slices at him, sending waves of golden energy at him, he stumped his foot down, making earth rise to form a wall that blocked the strikes.
The impacts alone shook the mountain, along would causing shockwaves that even made the tree itself sway.
Merlot causally walks from behind the wall, his green and black energy swirling around him, "so this is the power of an Ayakashi…its not bad."
"Had you been a day later…I'd be facing death." Merlot says as he deflects another slash with his left palm alone.
Snapping his fingers, his captured semblance Scatter ended, only for him to place both hands behind his back. "I really should thank you for giving Salem's energy."
Momoshinki's eyes widened when wooden branches emerge from where he was standing, he quickly stepped away, and watched as they grew thorns.
He looked at Merlot who still had a twisted smile on his face as he blurred out of view with speed alone, appearing behind Momoshinki with ease. The Ayakashi barely blocked the resounding kick that sent him skidding across the flooring of the Dead Volcano.
In burst of speed, Momoshinki appeared in front of Merlot, much to the man's surprise and managed to slice one of Merlot's arms off. The abomination responded by blasting Momoshinki with a green bolt of lightning, another semblance had taken from The Illumine in the cocoon.
Momoshinki landed with a thud, before he rolled backwards, and stood straight up. Deforming the sword, he formed golden spheres in his hand that he raised above his head and outstretch his hand in a circular motion.
The two golden orbs multiplied as he moved his hands to around ten, and he launched them all. "Golden Phantom Orbs!"
Merlot smirks as he deflects them off his right hand, before his left arm's stub began to bubble with black blood and form into a new arm with claws on his fingers. "You ruined one of my perfect arms, good on you."
Momoshinki eyes widened when Merlot charged at him, he managed to get his sword back out and slash at the man, only for the man to catch his blade with both of his hands easily.
Merlot's arura blasted around him into a thick flame like energy, screeching as he held the sword back from slicing his head off. However, this stalemate ended with Merlot holding the sword with one hand and gripped Momoshinki's face.
The Ayakashi roared into the palm as Merlot's energy flowed onto him, screaming in agony, Momoshinki fell to his knees. Green energy slowly formed over him, before Momoshinki looked up at Merlot who wore a wicked smile.
"Ah, so, that was it huh?" Merlot questions only for a cloak of pale blue energy to emerge around Momoshinki as he blasted Merlot off him.
The abomination slammed into the side of the volcano, landing near the tree, getting up he coughed up a little bit of blood.
Momoshinki was breathing hard, a burn mark in the shape of palm was festering on his face. "I will not let you dominate me with That Umbra's ability!"
The palm mark slowly started to disappear as Momoshinki's aura fixated on healing the wound.
"Incredible…" Merlot chuckles, "too bad that my fruit isn't ready…but I bet when I give the tree you…it'll bare me strong fruit."
Momoshinki's blue cloak disappeared when he felt something stab through him, looking down, he saw a branch with thorns was sticking out of his chest. Miraculously, somehow, Momoshinki avoided all of his vital organs.
However, breathing and coughing up blood. Momoshinki fell to his knees, agony completed the defeat as he watched Merlot walk over to him. Looking down at the ground, Momoshinki scrunched his fists up, slowly blood leaked from his palms as Merlot neared him.
"I will not let you have my power," Momoshinki looked up at Merlot who looked at the sword that was lying next to Momoshinki's side.
His makeshift scabbard might have been cut when he stabbed Momoshinki through with the branch, slowly, advancing forwards Merlot looked at the sword. "Like I said…fit for a true king, not some callous fool who thinks he holds a royal deck…when only holds a pair of twos."
"I've lost…" Momoshinki accepted this, only for his eyes to narrow.
"I will take that sword, and I will track down every Ayakashi on this world and kill them. None shall stand in my way, I will rule upon The Night Throne as a true king of this world." Merlot says, "and I'll be the true Ayakashi…not the pretender! The race that control Grimm and Grimm shall rule Remnant."
"I will rule over this world, and once I find a way with my immortal powers, I will rule other worlds as well!" Momoshinki watched as Merlot went on a mad triage on his plan.
"For I am Merlot," Momoshinki watched as Merlot looked at him as he raised his hands, "and you will praise me…like you are now?"
"No…Merlot…this is my biggest insult to you possible." Momoshinki gritted his teeth. "You may bare the blood of an Otsutsuki and Ayakashi."
He slammed both of his hands into the ground, which generated a seal over the relic, "but I cannot allow you to have a relic! No pretender shall stand on The NIGHT THRONE!"
Merlot watches as the sword disappears in a puff of smoke, before he roars out in rage, he grabs Momoshinki by the throat and hoists him up. "What have you done with The Blade of Boruto Uzumaki?!"
"Hehe…hehe…" Momoshinki spits Merlot's face, "fuck you."
Merlot's response was one of nothing but pure action on rage, he drove his palm inside of Momoshinki's chest and killed The Ayakashi without hesitation.
