I know I know. It's been like two weeks. Maybe three. Lost track on the account of all the papers and presentations I've given. Also, the new Avengers film. Aside from that, still job hunting and searching for a place to live for the summer, as well as an internship, so yeah, I'm not having the greatest of fun lately. But I'll get through it.
Anyway, here's the chapter, so enjoy.
Chapter 55: Downfall
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It was quickly approaching nighttime as Dante was on the balcony, watching the sun set in the distance.
"Are you sure about your decision, brother?"
Dawn made slow strides towards the teen, holding something in her hands.
"Sure as can be. We need people here, just in case it's a trap. You guys are like the ultimate contingency plan that can evolve on the fly. I'll definitely feel better about it. Besides… all of you need to recover."
"But why do you have to go?" Dawn said, "I can go-"
"Trust me."
…
…
She really couldn't argue with him…
"What's that?" Dante said, nodding to his sister's hands.
She raised the white and black cloth up, showing him that it was what remained of the teen's old coat. Half of it was charred black and burnt up, while most of the fabric had been torn or cut away, leaving not all too much.
"Even with my magic, I couldn't repair it. I'm afraid Ms. Kitsukami's power was just that great. And… I no longer have access to the materials I used to make it."
"It's fine." Dante commented, holding up his old coat, "Was thinking it was about time to retire it anyway with Anvil."
"What did you do with your previous sword anyway?"
"I melted it down with Eclypse. Made some bullets and some shells for Ruby and Yang. White Nail Bullets I call them."
"Decent enough choice I suppose, given their color." His sister shrugged, "But was it really alright to make shells for the blonde one? She seems… very irresponsible…"
"Yang's got that impression on some people. But don't worry about it. She's smart enough to know when to go all out or not. Just thought it'd be good to give her some extra firepower."
"I'm sorry. This is all just so… unorthodox…" Dawn answered.
"Well, get used to it little sister, because that's how we do things most of the time."
The girl only offered him a smile, turning away briefly as she reached into the pouch tied through the side belt loops of her shorts.
She could feel it's smooth texture, and the energy welled up within. Dawn thought it would have been enough by now, but… It wasn't.
If this was going to work, she needed more, which meant…
She needed to make one more trip while Dante was away.
"Are you sure about this, brother? At the very least bring Ms. Embryl with you."
"She's the only one running at top speed while everyone else is recovering." Dante noted, "She needs to stay here with you. Can't take any chances of them hitting us while we're gone."
"If that's your decision, then…" Dawn let out a sigh, eyes trailing towards the setting sun in distance, "Just be safe."
"Don't need to tell me." Dante said as he walked off.
"Someone always has to tell you."
"Yeah whatever. Bye." The teen waved off as entered inside, closing the door behind him.
Dealing with him was just frustrating at times for Dawn…
She glanced around briefly before reaching into the pouch once more, pulling out the item to take a glance at it.
It was a round, perfectly smooth crystal that was the size of a golf ball. It was the very same crystal she had given Weiss Schnee almost a year ago. Previously, the gem only held small trace amounts of black and white energy, but now…
A dim glow of multiple colors swirled inside. But that was the problem. It was dim. Nowhere near enough.
For a time now, Dawn had a hunch this crystal was going to be needed. Soon. That's why her actions now were all the more important. But she had to be careful. Where she was going… she was going to be an unwelcome guest for the forces above.
Her hood would be needed one last time.
Night had come.
Dante, RNJR, Qrow and Ozpin walked under the light of the lamps guiding their way back to Haven campus. For a gathering like this late at night… Something was up.
At least, the once immortal and his sword thought so. It's why he kept his open, rarely even taking the time to blink as he scanned the area constantly. No traps, no people hiding or skulking about…
And still no faculty.
A few more steps forward, and they entered the building seeing Lionheart standing on a terrace at the top of the stairs that was held up by a statue.
"Why hello. Thank you for... coming." He spoke rather nervously, "There... seems to be more of you than last time."
A coward and apparently blind. Though I suppose that boy counts.
Oscar's one of us now Eclypse. We take care of him like we take care of everyone else.
"You know what they say, 'The more the merrier'. So what's going on with the council?"
"Why... did you bring your weapons?"
What the-
Master, kill him.
Eclypse-
This is my advice. Kill him now. If not, then spare him if it will please you. Just stop him.
"What? Leo, we're Huntsmen. You okay?" Qrow asked.
"Of course! Of course, sorry. Just haven't had my evening coffee."
"Look, it's nice to see you, but we got work to do. Are we getting support from the council or not?"
While the two talked, Dante's head moved towards a corner of the room spotting... a black bird perched on the balcony railing?
"Mom?" Yang suddenly called out.
Everyone's attention quickly turned to the bird, seeing it fly away just as Qrow shot at it, only to miss. The bird flew down behind Lionheart, transforming into Raven Branwen with her Grimm-like mask.
Do you think..?
No, she's not one of them. She weaker by comparison. That… and she doesn't give off the same feeling they do.
"They... they really are magic…" Nora said in awe.
"If you're going to shoot me, shoot me." The raven haired woman said as she took off her mask, "That was insulting."
"What are you doing here?!"
"I could ask you the same thing. You've been scheming, little brother. Planning to attack your own sister."
"Leo... what have you done?!"
"I…"
"Bastard sold us out. And even sold out the other Huntsmen and Huntresses within the kingdom." Dante noted, glaring at the man.
"Leo did what any sane person would in his position." Raven said, glaring at the teen, "He looked at all the information he had in front of him, assessed the situation, and made a choice. And it seems you all have too."
I retract my earlier statement. Kill the bitch first and the coward last.
"You have the Spring Maiden."
"I do."
"Then hand her over and let's work together! We can beat Salem!" Qrow pleaded.
"All that time spent spying for Ozpin and you still have no idea what you're dealing with. There is no beating Salem!"
"You're wrong. We've done things that most people would call impossible, and I know the only reason we were able to do it is because we didn't do it alone! We had people to teach us, people to help us, we had each other." Ruby said, "Work with us. At least I know we'll have a better chance if we try together. Please." She asked, holding her hand out.
"You sound just like your mother."
"Save your breath Ruby, she's not gonna listen." Dante spoke out as he took strides forward, stopping just a few dozen yards away from Raven.
"And who might you be?"
"Oh? Me?" The teen asked with mock surprise, "I'm the guy who's gonna kick your ass by the end of this."
"Oh really?"
"Best believe it." Dante said, pointing his sword at the woman, "Listen and listen well bitch, because I'll only tell you once. There isn't a single thing in this Creation that me and my sword can't cut or kill. Monsters? Good as dead. Demons? Might as well be dead. Angels? They'll wish they were dead. Gods? They'll wish that they were never born. Got that?"
Without warning, Raven drew her sword and made a cut in the air, a red and black portal opening up. From it, two fireballs soared out, one hitting Dante as he raised up his arm, and the other flying past him square into Ruby's torso, launching her several feet back.
Dante swept away the smoke blanketing his front, eyes struggling to see who was stepping out of the portal.
"Hello boys and girls."
He froze up at the sound of that familiar voice, looking up to see it was exactly who he thought it was.
Cinder fall had strutted out on the field with some bandit girl, and her flunkies Emerald and Mercury.
"You…" Dante managed to word out, glaring at the group.
"C'mon, is that any way to greet your old friends?"
"Want me to break your legs again? I'll move higher this time to take more from you." Dante replied to Mercury.
"Everybody stay calm!" Qrow cautioned
The doors behind them all opened, seeing an immensely large man with tanned skin and a bit of beard walking through, closing the doors immediately after.
"Hazel..!" Dante heard Oscar whisper
"The White Fang are prepping demolition charges and securing the school grounds. No one's getting in, and no one's getting out."
Guess you were right all along Eclypse… This was a trap.
I only confirmed your thoughts for you. We were both right from the beginning. You only wanted to believe that he wasn't up to no good.
Still…
Don't be upset about it, Master. We'll correct this mistake soon enough.
"Raven... How long have you been with them?"
"Aww, don't take it personally, little bird." Cinder mockingly spoke, "Your sister was a recent addition. The lion on the other hand... Entrance into the Vytal Festival was a real treat, Leonardo's been sending Salem all sorts of information for a very, very long time. Isn't that right, professor?"
So that's how they got in so easily… I knew they couldn't just sneak their way in by their own merit. Someone had to have been helping them on the inside. And I guess we just found out who their inside man was.
"It was you... You sit on the Mistral Council. You had information on every Huntsman and Huntress in the Kingdom, and you gave it all to her?!" Qrow asked.
"I-"
"I couldn't find any of them because you let her kill them!"
…
At the very least he looked ashamed…
"Aw now, don't beat yourself up about it, Lionheart, I'm sure Tyrian and Hazel would've found them on their own eventually."
"What is wrong with you..?" Jaune spoke up, making Dante look back at him, "How can you be so broken inside... to take so many lives, and then come here and rub it in our faces like it's something to be proud of?!"
"Jaune…" Dante cautioned.
"All with that damn smile on your face!"
Like Jaune, everyone else was raring to go at them, drawing their weapons. But that was the last course of action anyone should have taken.
"Everybody, stay calm!" Qrow said.
"I'm gonna make you pay for what you did! Do you hear me?!"
"Jaune!" Dante voiced more loudly, stopping Jaune from walking up further, "Don't."
"Well?! SAY SOMETHING!"
What was there to say? She was an evil, conniving bitch that didn't care about stepping over others to achieve her ridiculous goal of gaining more power.
All Dante knew was that everyone had to keep calm without rushing in. Doing that with all these powerful fighters in one room… that'd be a grave mistake.
Dante looked up to Cinder, who seemed… confused, if anything.
"Who are you again?"
The once immortal sighed, "Shit…"
Jaune rushed past Dante, wielding his weapon in its two handed form as he lunged at Cinder, who summoned an obsidian scimitar and blocked the blonde's attack.
Ruby made to leap into the air but was immediately dragged back down by a chain from Emerald.
"You're not getting near her."
Jaune was pushed back by Cinder and the two began fighting. Yang ran forward to join the fight, but Mercury landed in front of her.
"Hey there, Blondie. I'm thinking you owe me an apology for my leg, don't ya think?"
Without speaking a word, Yang growled and used her Ember Celica to project herself forward to take on the silver haired assassin.
In the distance, Raven drew her sword and met Qrow further ahead, their blades locking together in a clash.
"Running away was one thing, but this..! You've crossed the line!"
"Sorry, brother. Sometimes family disappoints you like that."
"We're not family anymore."
"Were we ever?"
"I thought so, but I guess I was wrong."
The two then proceeded with their fight, while Vernal, the bandit woman, confronted Weiss.
"Let's see what the Schnee name really means." Vernal said as she drew her weapons while Weiss held up Myrtenaster.
"I'm more than a name."
"Hm, prove it."
Weiss activated a glyph below her and projects herself forward to fight the woman Maiden.
Oscar had snuck up the stairs to Lionheart, while the man he identified as Hazel confronted Ren and Nora, who held up their weapons defensively.
"I don't wish to fight either of you.
"Nor I you." Ren replied.
"But we will if you're with her!" Nora told him.
"Very well, then." Hazel spoke, cracking his knuckles and neck.
Lionheart watched nervously from above, suddenly noticing Oscar walking up behind him.
"Young man, I don't know who you are or what you think you're doing, but for your sake, I suggest you leave. Now."
Oscar defiantly remained stationary before taking a few more steps toward Lionheart.
"I'm warning you!"
Lionheart holds out his wrist-mounted weapon, but Oscar prepared to draw something from behind him.
"That's enough!"
Lionheart rotated his weapon, having a glyph appear above it which conjured a flaming rock that launched at Oscar, who held out his arms in front of him defensively as the attack explodes. Oscar remained unscathed, though his Aura shimmers. He continued to proceed up the steps and drew Ozpin's cane.
"Ozpin?" Lionheart said in disbelief.
"Not quite." Oscar said as he proceeded forward, his attacks forcing Lionheart on the defensive and whacking him back a few steps.
"This can't be... I knew you would be back, but... You made it here! You found Qrow! How?!"
"Leo... What happened to you?"
"Wait. You can't have had this form for long. You're... not really Ozpin right now. Boy. Child. If I deliver you to Salem, she'll have to be pleased with me, and I can finally get out of all of this! I can finally be free!" Lionheart proclaimed, now determined as he prepped his weapon again.
Oscar proceeded forward at Ozpin's mental instruction, ready to fight him.
Dante… didn't know who to go help. Should he help Ruby? Ren and Nora with the large man? Or Jaune.
His thoughts were interrupted when he saw Jaune being knocked to the ground, and immediately made up his mind.
"I'm starting to remember you. You're the dense one that can't tell when he's out of his league." Cinder stated, smiling viciously at him.
Jaune got back up and clashed blades with Cinder again.
"Are you going to let her die too?"
"Stop messing with me!" Jaune shouted at Cinder.
"If that's what you want…"
Cinder ignited her scimitar, which was now fully coated in flames as she attacked Jaune, steadily pushing him back as he toyed with her.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!"
Dante heard Ruby's scream, stopping his sprint to look back and see a bright light engulf the area, but soon die down once Ruby was knocked unconscious by Emerald.
Suddenly, Cinder fell to her knees, holding her left arm in pain as she looked up, barely dodging Jaune's attack as it chipped her mask that concealed the left side of her face. As Cinder moved out of the way, Jaune tripped and fell, the fire slinging woman getting back up herself with a furious expression, activating her Maiden power while doing so. She then stepped on top of Jaune to hold him down.
"Did you think you actually had a chance against me?! You?!"
Jaune struggled to reach for his weapon while Cinder calmed herself and deactivated her Maiden power.
"You're just a failure with a death wish."
"If I die buying them time, then it's worth it. They're the ones that matter."
Cinder looked to Jaune's comrades as they fought against their respective foes, smiling evilly back down to him.
"You think so?"
Her gaze wandered to Weiss, who was knocked back several feet away, and began to slowly conjure an obsidian spear.
"No... NOOOOOOO!"
His pleas unheard, Cinder threw her spear, smiling as it impaled Weiss through her abdomen.
The heiress looked down in shock as everyone stopped their fighting, staring in equal shock. The spear slowly disintegrates as Weiss went motionless, slumping forwards before falling to the ground.
Just as Jaune reached out to her, he was kicked in the side by Cinder, sending him flying in the heiress direction as she laughed at him.
Her laughter was cut short however, feeling a blade surge forward from her abdomen, and looking down to see a pure white blade in place.
She looked back, angrily swinging her left hand at Dante as he removed his sword and ducked her attack, the two exchanging a few quick slashes with each other before Cinder threw the teen back with a blast of fire.
Just as he slid to a halt, and made to get back up, a spear shot through the air and into his stomach, bringing him to his knees as he winced, looking up to see the evil Fall Maiden make her approach.
"All this time… and I still don't understand you. Why play second fiddle to these… weaklings? We're so much stronger, you and I."
"Stronger… huh?" Dante said, wincing as he pulled the spear out of him and crushed it in his hands, "You're not strong. You're anything but strong."
"What am I, then?"
"A fire slinging bitch who doesn't have power… but useless shit!" Dante shouted at her.
"Then I guess I'll have to educate you thoroughly… Maybe after I capture you, you'll see things my way once I play with you enough."
Cinder stopped before Dante, reaching out to the downed teen with her hand. But it was stopped, grabbed hold of by a black armored hand as the woman looked up in shock to see Eclypse standing there in her combat attire, glaring at her with a disgusted look.
Without a word, the platinum haired girl smashed her free hand directly into Cinder's face, absolutely shattering the woman's Aura as she was sent flying.
"Hands off my man, you fire slinging slut."
The evil Maiden slowly propped herself back up, touching her nose to smudge off the blood from her face and glare back at Ecylpse.
"Who the hell are you?!"
"Me? I'm the one who's going to cut off your hands, fry them, and then feed them to you if you touch him again, whore." The platinum haired girl replied menacingly.
Without speaking another word, Eclypse helped up Dante, touching his wound and making it vanish as he stood up on his own again.
He looked around him, noticing the others having been knocked down, save for Qrow and Oscar who kept fighting Lionheart and Raven. Jaune was already sitting at Weiss' side, holding her as the other's got back up to shield him.
"Don't you see? You're at a disadvantage?" Cinder stated proudly as Mercury, Emerald and Hazel stood near her, "You're wounded and a lot weaker than I remember. Do you really think you or your friends have a chance against us?"
Dante chuckled to himself, Eclypse smiling with him as she transformed back into her sword form in the teen's hand.
"I hate repeating myself… So I'll say it for the last time…" The once immortal started, pointing his finger at Cinder, "There isn't a single thing I can't cut or kill. You and your friends aren't an exception. And trust me when I tell you this… You're all fucked."
The evil Fall Maiden looked to him with a serious expression, not sure whether or not she should take his threat seriously.
"I'm really mad right now… And by default…" he said, giving the group a thumbs down as he gave them a devilish smile, "That means your asses are as good as dead, scumbags."
(Casey Edwards Feat. Ali Edwards - Devil Trigger, Devil May Cry 5 OST, HQ Full Song)
"You must be crazier than I originally gave you credit for…" Cinder said with a half smile.
"Maybe… But I know one thing for certain." Dante said dropping his hand, "There isn't any need to hold back or show you assholes any mercy! So I'm gonna do things my way and take you all down! You and your big bitch of a boss that's behind this whole shitshow!"
Unamused, Cinder brought up both hands, dozens upon dozens of flaming swords and spears appearing around her as she smirked confidently at the teen. Dante smiled right back at her with a gleaming ferocity in his eyes that made the others behind Cinder take a step back.
Without warning, Cinder forced her hands forward and shot everything she had at Dante all at once.
The white haired teen leaned forward briefly as white and black Aura crackled around his person, then stood up straight as he raised his right arm high up into the air, giving all of them the middle finger as he screamed, "FUCK YOU!"
(0:51)
A blast of the teen's Aura shot out from all around him, disintegrating all the flaming weapons in the blink of an eye.
As the energy died down, Cinder's eye went completely wide as she looked at the transformed Dante in awe, seeing twisted, segmented black armor covering him from the neck down all the way to his feet. His head was almost skull like with slanted eyeholes that showed his black sclerae and glowing white irises, and the two long horns on the sides of his head that stood straight up.
Dante's hand lowered and he immediately became a blur, swinging for Cinder first as he pushed her back all the way into the wall. He made to stab her with his hand, but was stopped by chains wrapped around his wrist, being pulled back by Emerald straight into Mercury.
The silver haired assassin made to kick Dante, but the teen spun his body around to avoid his heel, grabbing Mercury's ankle as he pulled him back with him and slammed him face first into the floor with a sickening crack.
He then reared back his chained arm and slammed Emerald into the ground opposite of him, and then began to swing her around like a toy before he flung her away from him.
"Hey bitch!" Dante shouted in a hollow, echoing voice, flinging Mercury into her, "You dropped this!"
The teen spun around in time to meet Hazel head on, the two grabbing hold of each other's hands as they tried to overpower each other, the ground beginning to crack and split apart under their tremendous force.
Dante then reared back his head and head butted Hazel far enough to put some distance between them, and charged forward as he brutally assaulted the man.
"You won't remember your own name when I'm done with you!" The teen shouted as he continuously punched and kicked Hazel with a furious flurry of punches and kicks, finishing with a powerful front kick that sent the man on his back.
(1:45)
Dante felt a force crashing into his back, turning his head around to see Cinder lobbing fireballs at him.
The teen summoned Eclypse back into his hand, slicing at the flames and blocking them with relative ease as he made his way closer. Suddenly, her flames became more focused like pins, making them a lot stronger and forcing Dante to dodge them as he leapt back to put some distance between them.
(2:09)
"Seems you weren't all talk after all…" Cinder commented, keeping her flames handy as her allies began regrouping with her.
"You know me." Dante replied as he slung his sword over his shoulder, "I don't just talk shit. I back it up. And right now… I'm feeling I can take on the whole world!"
"Why are you wasting your time with this boy?" Hazel asked, "He's clearly not open to joining our side like you thought he would."
Dante's echoing laugh carried out across the room, "I'll show you who's the 'boy' in a second."
(2:21)
The armored teen raised up Eclypse and swung outwards across his body, unleashing a spreading torrent of black and white Aura that crashed into Hazel, who stood at the front to defend his allies. The violent wave of Aura was too much, enshrouding everything around the man and leaving both him and his allies blind.
The Aura began to die down, and Hazel looked around, seeing Dante was nowhere in sight.
When he turned to look behind him, like a bat out of Hell, the transformed teen emerged from the within his blackened Aura, pressing cold, black, double barreled steel against Hazel's forehead and pulling the trigger.
(2:36)
A thunderous gunshot that sounded like a miniature cannon rang out, rocking back the man's head as it was engulfed in smoke while Dante planted his feet on the falling man's body, turning to aim his double barreled handcannon at Mercury to unload a dual shot into him before spinning around and giving Emerald a taste as well.
The chamber of the teen's huge, double barreled revolver slid out, letting him quickly load in six large black and white bullets with three blindingly fast flicks of his hand before flicking his wrist to move the chamber back in with the momentum, taking aim at Cinder before firing.
(2:48)
The evil Maiden raised up her hand to form a thin barrier of flame, but the two large rounds passed through easily, one missing her her head while the other crashed into her shoulder, shattering her Aura Shielding once again as her back crashed into the wall.
Emerald came to Cinder's defense once more, this time trying to stab Dante in the back of his head, only to find that her weapon bounced off of the twisted black metal. She was then grabbed by the her face, and then forced head first into the ground before being repeatedly slammed into ground until her Aura shielding broke.
Then, with a forceful kick from Dante, she was punted away back into the recovering Mercury, downing both of them once again.
(3:12)
Dante turned around to see Hazel standing a short distance away from, letting out a light chuckle as he flicked his wrist to force the chamber out, quickly loading in two bullets before giving another flick to close it back up. He twirled his gun around twice to make it vanish in a burst of black and white Aura, then cracked his knuckles as he quickly walked towards Hazel, and then broke out into a sprint.
The man ran at him as well, taking the first punch only to miss while Dante side stabbed him and delivered a quick jab to the man's gut, giving him a few more punches as he danced around his foe.
It was a little bit annoying to keep hitting him and seeing him keep going, like he wasn't feeling any of it.
Dante leaned back to avoid a few swings and kicks, and found an opening to assault Hazel with another barrage of punches, his last punch to Hazel's face forcing him back on his heels.
The armored teen rushed forward, delivering a powerful uppercut under the man's jaw to launch him up slightly as he shouted, "GET..!" and then another punch to the chest to bury him in the ground, "FUCKED!"
He wasn't done. This one apparently didn't feel pain all too much just like he did, so he had to inflict as much damage as he could.
"Come here!" Dante said, grabbing Hazel's leg with both hands, raising him up before slamming him down.
He then began swinging the large man around, making sure to keep his face against the ground to make it really hurt as he spun him around. After about ten spins, Dante threw Hazel with all his might, letting him crash into the statue that held up the balcony.
The teen's armor melted away from his body like ash scattering in the wind, all while he raised up his left hand, clenching his two bottom fingers together to shape his hand like a gun and fire at the tossed Hazel while he chuckled.
(4:04)
Dante saw a glint of red from the corner of his eye and leapt back to avoid Raven Branwen's crimson katana, summoning Eclypse to his hand to engage his new target. He swung at her three times, the older woman blocking his first two strikes and parrying the third with a strong swing to put him off balance.
Taking her chance, Raven immediately swiped her sword into Dante's side, her blade sinking deep into his flesh and stopping at his bone, confusing the woman. Just as she tried to pull away, Dante's left arm hooked her into place.
"Not a chance..!" The teen spoke, using his right hand to grab the woman's sword out of her hand, ripping it out of his body and twirling it around so that the point faced her as he made to stab her, "Now it's your turn!"
He tried to stab Raven with her own weapon, but with quick thinking, she moved her hand in front of her as she moved her body out of the way, letting her weapon pierce through her palm as she was forced backwards and past Cinder.
(4:27)
Raven was beyond shocked as she drew her weapon out of her palm, her Aura already working on closing up the wound as she got up to reengage the teen. She was swept up Qrow, taking their fight elsewhere as now only Dante and Cinder stood face to face.
"Why do you refuse to branch out from these weaklings?!" She shouted at him, "You are stronger than all of them by leaps and bounds! You can be so much more if you just abandon them and join our side! The world could be yours!"
Dante chuckled softly before laughing at her, "You dumb bitch! You really think I want something stupid like the world? Hell no!" The once immortal said as he plunged Eclypse into the ground, "I don't want stupid trash like the world or more power. All I want is to live my life my own way without anyone telling me who I am or who I'm supposed to be. So you can take your stupid power and shove it."
"Are you really that stupid?" Cinder asked, angry with the teen, "Don't you see you're on the losing side? They'll all die one way or another. There's no stopping us now, not when we're so far above the rest of you."
"Way I see it, you're not even close to winning yet. We're just about even. And right now…" Dante explained as he held up Eclypse once more, "I'm gonna cut you guys down to give us the big leap before the finish. Then? Your boss is really gonna start feeling a chill down her spine as we come after her and she's got no more little pawns to put in her way to slow us down. Way I see it… you're the ones who're going down, not us."
"Is that so…" Cinder said, raising up her hands to form two dual scimitars in her hands, "I thought I saw something in you. Something noteworthy. But you're more or less the same, only with more power than the rest."
"If you think having crazy power is all that you need to get by through life, then you're wrong." The teen said with a sigh, "Take a tip from someone who's already been down that road of misery and shit. It's never worth it."
"Then there's nothing else to talk about it." Cinder said, taking a stance.
"Not like there was any room for it anyway. I wouldn't have joined your side even if it was the last best thing to do. Especially if your ugly ass is on the team."
She growled at him as her swords lit ablaze, and he smiled all the while, chuckling softly as he took a stance with his sword before he lunged forward first.
(5:45)
They both leapt at each other, Cinder using her weapons to leave vicious streaks of flame while Dante countered with his Aura, extinguishing her flames with each swing. It was frustrating Cinder that even with all her Maiden power's Dante was still keeping up with her effortlessly with that dumb smile on his face, like he was having fun.
Was this all some sort of game for him? A way to kill time? Fun for him?!
Just thinking about it and his stupid grin made her all the angrier as she kept attacking and attacking him, not wanting to show the full force of her power, but not wanting to lose to him.
But he was starting to push her back. Was going all out the only way she could beat him?
Was this the extent of her power?
She clashed with Dante for a brief moment before he kicked her away, twirling his sword around as it changed back into its double barreled revolver form, the teen unloading three shots of all six bullets into Cinder. She blocked the first four bullets, but the last two landed as intended, the first shattering her Aura yet again while the other one grazed her cheek.
When she looked behind her briefly, she was shocked by how big of holes were left in the wall.
It was as if tank shells hit the damn wall..!
After loading six more bullets and flicking the cylinder back in, Dante twirled his gun into his sword form once more and charged Cinder, who lashed out at him with her blades to let loose streaks of flame.
Unmoved, Dante kept dashing at her, slicing at her flaming waves like they were nothing, sliding under the last one before he kept up into the air, charging up a torrent of white and black Aura as he slammed it down on her.
Cinder unleashed her own blast of flame, and at the last moment, fire and Aura crashed into each other, setting off a chain explosion that swept both of them up.
(End Song)
Dante flew out of the smoke, crashing onto his back and rolling a few times until he stopped, letting out a small groan as he tried to get back up, only to slump down again.
"Damn it…" he winced, "That could've had a cooler finish… Ugh…"
The teen relaxed his body, letting himself rest for a moment until he saw Oscar slid down to him.
"Dante, get up! Get up! We need you!"
"Just a minute professor… I'm working my way into a second wind now… Try again in a hot minute…"
"Dante, please! You need to-!"
"OZPIN!"
Dante propped himself up with a sigh as both he and Oscar looked up, seeing a very pissed off Hazel approaching them.
"Shit… He isn't dead yet..?" The teen complained.
"You thought you could hide from ME?!"
Hazel ripped his coat off, grabbing a pair of lightning Dust crystals from a couple of pouches on his legs.
"You'll pay for what you did! You'll die over and over again!"
He then stabbed the lightning Dust into his arms, making even Dante wince as he watched the man's blood vessels turn yellow and pop out from his skin, lightning coating them. His eyes glowed yellow, and he let out a rather loud roar.
"What the fuck is with this guy?" The once immortal asked.
Hazel let out an almost inhuman roar as he charged them, Dante grabbing hold of Oscar as he leapt away with him, summoning his sword in hand and charging it with a torrent of his Aura. With a quick swing he discharged his Aura from his blade, unleashing a flood of white and black Aura to consume the angry man.
Dante dropped down behind cover with Oscar, wincing a little as they both looked around the corner.
"Do… Do we fight?"
"That guy?" Dante questioned pointing a finger to the man, "Hell no. You stay away from him. Pretty sure that guy can eat you in one bite if he tired."
They both looked on at the battlefield, seeing Yang fighting with Mercury and Emerald, odds evened out a little bit with the thrashing the once immortal gave them.
Further ahead, he saw the bandit woman, Raven and Cinder taking off in… some sort of lift?
"Bring out the professor for a bit Oscar. Need to have a little chat with him."
Oscar gave him a quick nod, Dante seeing his eyes flash briefly to show Ozpin was in control again.
"Where the hell are they going?"
"The Vault down below the academy." Ozpin answered, "Mr. Aetherveil, it's imperative that you give chase to them. Allow them to unlock the vault, and by whatever means available, steal the Relic and escape."
"Sorry professor, but I'm not gonna do that right now." Dante immediately replied, earning a look of shock, "In case you haven't noticed, you've got a very large and pissed off man who will likely cannibalize you. I don't think I need to tell you the process of what happens after he eats you and you settle in his stomach for a while."
"Dante-"
"Look, I'm not gonna let that wannabe Hulk kill you just yet. I'm gonna help you deal with his gigantic ass, then I'll go grab your shiny toy. Deal?"
He shook his head briefly, letting out a quick sigh as he looked up at the teen, "Deal."
They stepped out together to confront Hazel, but immediately after, the farmboy's eyes flashed once again, Oscar now back in control as he breathed heavily.
"Why is he so upset with us?"
"He didn't tell you my tale, did he, boy?" The large man said, finally spotting them and menacingly walking forward, "I thought you looked familiar… To think that evil was inside you when our paths first crossed… Your blood won't be on my hands, it'll be on his!"
Just as he made to punch, Dante, with the help of Qrow, blocked the man's initial attack, forcing both of them backwards.
"The hell is he on about?" The once immortal asked.
"Tell him, Ozpin! Tell him how you KILLED HER!"
"Her?"
Dante was the only one to look back at Oscar, noticing his eyes flash once again for Ozpin to take control.
"Gretchen Rainart was Hazel's sister." He began, "Despite her brother's wishes, she enrolled at Beacon Academy to become a Huntress and tragically lost her life on a training mission. Hazel... holds me responsible. He's wounded in a way that cannot be healed."
That's why he's so pissed off with Ozpin...
"You know now!" Hazel shouted as he knocked Qrow out of the way and kicked Dante further back, "You can forgive me for what I'm about to do!"
"Did she know?" Oscar asked, now back in control.
The man froze at the question, eyes completely wide.
"Did she know the risk of being a Huntress?"
"She was only a child! She wasn't ready!"
"She made a choice!" Oscar shouted back at him, "A choice to put others before herself! And so do I!"
Hazel just glared at him, his face scrunching up with anger as he took steps forward, stopping as soon as Dante stood in front, pointing his sword at him.
"Is he your newest pawn?!"
"Tch… Get real, assclown." Dante spoke up, "In this little game of chess, I'm the Queen piece. You? You're the itty bitty pawn I'm gonna step on in the next minute if you don't chill out."
He growled at the teen, and the teen smiled back with his devilish grin, baring his teeth a little.
"I'm no one's pawn. I think for myself. And like little Oscar here, I made my choice to put my all on the line for others too." Dante explained waving his sword a little, "You're clearly not a blood thirsty idiot like the psycho fire flinging bitch and her flunkies, so I'm gonna give you a choice now. Back the hell off, and go home."
"Go home?!" Hazel shouted, outraged at the idea Dante proposed.
Then, he lowered his sword, walking a few steps forward until they weren't that far apart.
"This path you're on… vengeance… There isn't any peace at the end of that road. I know because I've killed a lot of people that deserved it, and it's never been of any benefit. It's only sent me further down the hole with almost no way out."
Hazel untensed himself, looking off to the side briefly before he glared back at the teen.
"Just go home, man. You're not like these other clowns. You're better than them. Forget about vengeance. Forget about killing Ozpin. Just do the right thing and walk away now."
The large man let out a deep breath, shaking his head at the once immortal.
"I can't do that."
"And I can't let you kill Ozpin either."
"Then you've chosen death!"
Hazel swung for Dante, but the teen leapt back, joining Oscar's side again. Oscar glared back, determined to fight, but a brief shimmer in his eyes, and Ozpin came back in control.
"Since you insisted Mr. Aetherveil… Work with me to defeat him."
"Don't need to tell me, Professor."
Dante and Ozpin charged forward, weaving around Hazel's string of attacks with ease. For a brief moment, Dante looked up, seeing Lionheart trying to set up and attack and was ready to counter with one of his own. Thankfully, Qrow stepped in and handled the situation, knocking off one of Dante's worries so that he could focus on his fight with Hazel.
But another thing was creeping up on him…
She's fine.
Dante's head jolted up as he dodged another attack from Hazel, looking over to Jaune and the others to see… a white shimmer glowing over Weiss' body.
His Aura is healing her. Rather… his Aura is amplifying her Aura's healing mechanic. It would seem your hunch was right, Master.
She's gonna be ok..!
Focus on the fight. Weaken him enough so that little Ozpin boy can handle him on his own. We have a fire wielding bitch to kill down below.
Dante and Ozpin kept up their hit and run tactics, blitzing Hazel from all sides as he swung at them wildly, missing each attack. They were far too fast for him to hit. The once immortal landed a shattering uppercut under Hazel's jaw to rock his head back, giving Ozpin the opening he needed to strike the man across the face with his cane and send him on all fours.
The duo prepared to deliver the finishing blow, but the large man let out a quaking roar, smashing his fists into the ground to create a lightning shockwave that sent the two flying. Dante saw Qrow being knocked back into the wall, looking up to see flaming rocks being fired at both him and Oscar as they went on the defensive briefly.
Hazel was getting up to come after them again, but Ren came to their rescue, and was doing his best to hold the large man off to little avail until he too was tossed like a rag.
"Is this how you face me Ozpin?! Hiding behind children?! A monster like you must be stopped!"
The once immortal batted a flaming rock back at Lionheart, making him duck for cover as he charged Hazel, "I'm a young adult for your information!" He spoke, sliding underneath the man's legs and striking out his knees to make him fall.
Dante quickly got back up, throwing his sword into his left hand as he gave it two quick twirls to transform it into its double barreled revolver form. He quickly ran up to the man, stepping on the back of his left knee to keep him on the ground as he grabbed Hazel's right arm and brought it across his neck, pulling hard enough to stop him from moving.
Without second thought, Dante fired off three quick shots to unload the whole chamber of six bullets before letting go of Hazel's arm and kicking him in the back.
What is with this guy's Aura?! He's eaten up most of my attacks so far!
The large man began to get back up, prompting Dante to slide out the chamber and load in six bullets as he resided himself again. Before he got the chance to attack, a very angry Nora rushed in to slam her hammer down on his head, Hazel caught Magnhild and slammed Nora into the ground, grabbing her head and electrocuting her with his lightning Dust-enhanced arms, all while she screamed out in pain.
"How many more children must die for you?!"
The once immortal moved forward quickly, but soon stopped as he remembered what Nora's Semblance was, smiling as he lowered his gun.
Suddenly, Nora grabbed Hazel's wrist, making the man look at her in confusion. Nora, who had inadvertently been enhanced by Hazel's electricity thanks to her Semblance, stood back up and flipped the large man over her shoulder like he was nothing. He was sent rolling back several feet away while Nora took up Magnhild defensively, Ozpin grabbing her attention.
"His Semblance... He can block out pain. It's how he is able to handle injecting so much Dust into his body."
No wonder he couldn't feel any of my attacks… He's got my pain insensitivity in the form of a Semblance.
Dante's thoughts were interrupted by the small crackles of pink electricity coming from Nora, who wore a rather angry and dark expression on her face.
"I don't need him to hurt… I just need him to GO DOWN!"
Hazel had finally gotten back up, roaring loudly as he charged Nora once more. As he got near her, Nora prepped herself quickly before swinging her hammer right into Hazel's chest, launching him through the wall and outside with considerable speed.
Dante chuckled to himself as Nora slung her hammer over her shoulder the two fistbumping each other.
"As much as I like you Nora, you are seriously one scary lady sometimes."
"Ditto!"
The teen scrunched up his face a little to express confusion but shook his head right after with a small smile on his face.
The teen decided to look down at the steel in his left hand, glancing over the gun form Eclypse had taken on.
It was a black, vertical twin-barreled revolver with an ergonomic, white wooden handle, and a small white engraving of Dante's Shadow Skinned head etched just above the guard of the trigger on the black metal. The twin barrels were thick, and at least a foot long, fed by top and bottom ends of a six-barreled rotating chamber that could break out to the side to be loaded, paired with a unique hammer designed to fire both bullets simultaneously.
The clean iron sights of the weapon and the rest of the build almost resembled a Smith and Wesson Model 500 revolver, only with a much higher caliber and a second barrel running beneath the first. The only sight that could be seen was the front sight, which had a white illumination embedded within the black steel of the sight.
A trailing branch pattern left an aesthetic gap between the top and bottom barrels, three engraved branches entwining together form the top of the wooden handle, carved into the back of the rotating chamber, and arching up from the metal just before where the bottom barrel started to visually reach up and break through the two barrels and arch forward internally toward the muzzle of the gun.
Just before the muzzle of each twin barrel sat six small compensator ports for smoke to stream out of, three at each side of the ends of the two octagonal shaped barrels, leaving twelve small openings in total to reduce recoil and muzzle flip. The cylinder had a modified left-handed crane and cylinder release tab, which gave Dante the ability to quickly reload his weapon with blinding speed since the casings sprang out of the chamber to load new ones in easily.
Speaking of the bullets, they were large. Really large. Not as big as Ruby's Crescent Rose bullets, but close to it. When training Dante to use this form, Eclypse told him the bullets loaded into her were of the same material as she was made of in her sword form. They were essentially bits of herself that she cloned and formed into Dante's hand each time he reloaded her.
This gun form of Eclypse's was made to kill big targets. Very big targets. But it worked just as well on small ones.
"When did you start using a gun? Didn't you say you hated using them?" Nora asked.
"Yeah… I did. But Eclypse managed to convince me otherwise, so I rolled with something I actually thought I'd like." Dante said, raising his piece up so Nora could get a good look at it as she cooed in awe, "Eclypse took on the shape, and she helped me get my shooting back into shape."
"Can you guess which part of me he touches when he pulls the trigger?" Eclypse's voice sounded out with a slight electronic tone to it.
The teen immediately tapped the butt of the gun, getting a small moan out of her as he shook his head again.
"Touching my butt so shamelessly in public… You've gotten bolder, Master."
Dante looked back at Nora, smiling as he slightly scrunched up his face to broadcast his annoyance while the girl nervously giggled at him.
"Please ignore everything she says."
"Pull my trigger and I'll pull yours."
"Are you seriously making these jokes right now?" Dante asked.
An explosion behind them drew Nora and Dante's attention to the fight with Yang and Emerald and Mercury.
"I'll be back in a bit. Help Yang out Nora." The teen said as he took steps forward.
"Where are you going?!"
"I'm going down there to put a few rounds in that fire flinging bitch so that we can call it a week already." The once immortal said in a dark tone.
Taking his chance, he zipped right into action, getting between Yang and Mercury to fire off a shot at the assassin as he ran past him with blinding speed. With one obstacle cleared, he took a shot at Emerald next, his eyes not fooled by her petty illusions as he knocked her down.
With his path clear to the Vault, Dante flipped into the air and dived headfirst into the elevator shaft, feeling the rush of air pass him by as he descended down the dimly lit cavern.
Master… I'm sorry…
About what?
Because of our improper reconnection, and the mass influx of Aura I stockpiled, I'm weakening you unintentionally because of our link. Because I can't control the draining, you can't fight at full strength.
Like I said, it's not your fault. Aside from that, there's no use in crying about what's done already.
We'll be at a disadvantage. Two are Maidens, one is just a normal human with great combat skill, making three total.
About that…
What?
Do you really think Raven Branwen is the type to just surrender like that? Hand herself over to someone like Cinder without much of a fight?
…
She could be waiting for the opportunity to betray her...
Exactly. I have a feeling Raven hates her just as much as we do, so if we play our cards right…
It'll be the three of us against Cinder. Total and overwhelming victory.
And if we need to… we'll fight Raven for the Relic after.
She could be anticipating us working in a temporary truce only to take the relic from her after.
Then we just hit her first before she gets us.
Dante's eyes started to see a glow further down below, and soon saw…
Cinder and Raven. That bandit woman with Raven was taken out.
Seems like they're turning on each other already.
The evil Maiden made to attack Raven, but before she did, Dante transformed his gun back into its sword form and lashed, loosing a thin wave of white and black Aura that crashed into the ground between the two women. The teen himself soon landed in between them with a soft thud, looking up at both of them before he turned to Cinder, twirling his sword around to turn it back into its double barreled revolver form and pointing it at her.
"What is this?" The woman behind him asked.
"You don't like me and I sure as hell don't like you. But if this goes any further, we're all gonna be in big trouble." Dante explained, looking back briefly, "I don't know you all that much, but I know one thing for sure. You're just like me when it comes to not letting people have their way, or getting away with something. And like me… you understand that we can't let her have her way." The teen finished, looking back to Cinder.
Raven felt conflicted. She didn't know if she could trust him enough to not stab her in the back if they were both fighting Cinder Fall. But… he was with Ozpin's group. A do-gooder. The likelihood of that happening was almost nonexistent.
Even if it were only for now, she would have him help fight the Fall Maiden. He certainly proved his worth earlier.
"If I didn't know any better, I would imagine you're on the wrong side." Raven said, stepping forward with her sword drawn and her eyes having a red glow to them.
"Been given that line a bunch of times in my life. Always thought the people who told me that were full of crap. I am me… and only me. No one else. That means I make my own decisions."
"Even if you're on the losing side?" Cinder said, her eyes blazing as well, "There's no winning this Dante. You, Ozpin, and your little friends can't stop us."
"You think so, huh?" The teen smirked, "Seeing as you're not some sort of god, I think my chances are pretty damn good. I take you down… and I'm a step closer to ending all this."
"But can you even take those steps forward?" A new voice sounded from behind Cinder.
Dante's eyes narrowed on the approaching figure, taking in the sight of him as he stepped out from the shadows at last.
He wore a black, purple trimmed, open coat that had long split tails reaching to his ankles, the sleeves tucked into fancifully plated black gauntlets with numerous wavy patterns spanning the metal, the fingertips clawed and sharp. Underneath that coat, was a dark purple shirt with long, tattered lapels that flared outwards. The shirt was open enough to expose much of his chest, and with it, a large, and ugly scar across his body.
He also wore black dress pants with a silvery colored belt, the pant legs also tucked into a pair of knee high plated greaves sporting the same design and black color as his gauntlets.
He looked young, about Dante's age, and had pale skin and messy black hair that almost reached his shoulders, a few strands of his bangs loosely falling between his eyes. The eyes themselves were of an ultraviolet color, with black slit pupils.
As soon as the once immortal realized who it was, his eyes widened briefly before he focused his gun on the newcomer.
"I killed you. So why are you still alive… Asher?"
"That attack nearly did kill me." Asher spoke, his face becoming more visible as Dante saw another large scar across his face, "But by Lady Scylix's grace… I lived."
"You're with them now?"
"Cooperating. Aside from Cinder Fall…" as he spoke, a twinblade formed in his hands from ultraviolet colored Aura, "I am the only other person that can face you."
The energy dispersed, revealing it to be Scylix's own twinblade.
He must have claimed it before the dimension collapsed.
"Looks like we've got our work cut out for us." Dante spoke.
"Apparently so." Raven replied, drawing her sword, "The Fall Maiden is mine. Don't interfere."
"Tch… Stingy…"
"Do you have a problem with the arrangements?" Asher asked Cinder.
"None. He's yours, just as promised if we failed to convince him."
"Good."
Without another word, Asher darted forward and swept up Dante with him, taking them further up to some of the cliffs and rock formations above that the teen passed by. They were punching and kicking each other as they could while the flew, finally pushing each other away on top of one of those cliffs.
The once immortal could hear the clashing of swords down below, and peeked over the edge to see Raven and Cinder beginning their own fight.
"You should be more worried about yourself."
Dante immediately pointed his gun at the man he thought he had killed, looking over his terrible scars all the while. It wasn't generally possible to survive a blast from him that large, but if someone was lucky enough…
They were seriously going to be marked for life.
"Don't think just because I'm not at my best I can't kill you for sure this time."
"You can try. But I'm not the same as I was." Asher said, lifting up his hand to examine it as ultraviolet lightning crackled between his fingertips, "I'm much stronger now, thanks to my lady."
"And that's why you're here. Revenge."
The young man dropped his hand, glaring back at the teen, "However you managed to defeat lady Scylix was nothing short of a miracle. And now… you're much weaker."
"I don't think you noticed, but I have a big fucking gun pointed at your head." Dante stated, "Regardless of how strong you are, if I tap you with this bad bitch enough times, you're gonna be pretty dead."
"You won't manage to harm me with that pitiful human tool."
"If I shove this down your throat I will. Then you'll be breathing bullets." Dante sighed, looking off to the side briefly before he glance back at the youn man, "Look, if you're here for revenge, I'm gonna tell you what I told the angry giant. Go home Asher. All this? It isn't worth it."
"Isn't worth it? This is my second chance. A renewed chance, where now… I am much stronger than before." He spoke fingers cracking with with ultraviolet Aura, "I'll use the second chance Lady Scylix gave me to take vengeance for the both of us."
"You think this is what she wants? For you to take vengeance? Asher, she let go of everything in the end. She got what she wanted all this time, even if she ended up passing on. Scylix didn't save you just to die."
"Perhaps… But this…" the young man reached down, digging his finger into his flesh and dragging it down to reveal a glow deep within, "This will grant my own wish."
(DMC 5 - Dante's Full Battle Theme - Subhuman)
Dante's head tilted up as he took a deep breath, his fingers clenching tighter around the handle of his gun as he kept a focused glare on the man.
"While we had the remains of the Last Gem of the Ancients… we didn't work on it without some sort of back up plan." Asher replied, pointing to the Gem in his flesh, "We created a faux-Gem using both the essence of Grimm and human souls mashed together into this small crystal. It's incomplete, and by comparison much weaker than the original Three Gems… but it'll be enough to defeat you."
He's hellbent on vengeance, Master. I don't think there's any use in trying to convince him.
Dante let out another sigh, "Well I've got news for you pal. I've got too much to live for now to go and get killed by someone like you. That's why… I'll stop you with anything and everything I have, no matter what."
"Then come to me… Dante Aetherveil. Meet your reckoning head on, as you always have done."
(0:51)
Wasting no time, the once immortal stepped forward as was asked of, firing off three shots before quickly reloading and swapping his to its sword form. Asher blocked those shots, not without difficulty due to how strong those bullets were.
Dante came in fast and swung hard, but the man was prepared, meeting the teen head on with Scylix's repaired twin blade. They sliced and slashed at each other violently, not scratching the other as they parried their strikes and timed their blocks accordingly. Taking serious damage wasn't something neither of them could afford, and they both wanted to make sure they would last for as long as they could.
Asher batted the once immortal away a couple of yards, twirling his weapon around briefly as it charged up with fire and ice. He then paused briefly and plunged his staff into the ground with the flaming end, sending out a crawling column of fire before he spun around and plunged the opposite end in the earth, loosing a tidal wave of ice. Black flame and jagged black ice joined and swirled together, homing in on Dante.
The teen reared his sword arm behind him, keeping the blades point to the ground as his sword flooded with white and black Aura. He then spun around right, slashing outwards to unleash a violent wave of his Aura, Eclypse apparating in the form of an Aura specter briefly to let loose a wave of her own. Their two waves of Aura combined together to form a large X formation, crashing into the torrent of heat and cold, resulting in a blinding explosion that sent both skidding back on their heels form the force.
Asher looked up, and quickly spun his twinblade in front of him, shattering the numerous Aura Swords threatening to pierce his flesh. He then had to double his efforts, turning and dodging in various angles to slice and avoid the various Aura Swords apparating all around him.
Dante jumped out of the smoke high above, and struck down on his opponent, the two right back at it with trying to tear each other's throats with their weapons. The once immortal made for another heavy, downward swing, only to have his blade bounce of the spinning staff. With it, came a nasty current of black lighting that made his arm go numb briefly.
Now wide open, Asher made his move, stabbing at the backtracking Dante. Still trying to drover his balance, the teen was running backwards to avoid the point, and soon moved his head out of the way to avoid the extending point. Swinging upwards, the once immortal managed to break his opponent's guard briefly and slammed the butt of Eclypse into his attacker's face, giving him a brief window to leave a small cut across Asher's chest.
The young man slid back, clutching his chest briefly in his moment of pause before he looked up at Dante with a glare, grabbing the center shaft of his twinblade. He then forced the pole together, contracting it before he split the tool apart, transforming the staff into two large swords. Twirling the blades around, one weapon crackled to life with black lighting, while the other with black fire.
Wasting no time, Asher went straight to slashing, cutting at the air in front of him to unleash numerous waves of lightning and fire. Dante slashed the first few waves as quick as he could, but his injuries were hampering his speed, and Asher only seemed to quicken in pace, as if he were some charged up machine. The once immortal began dodging around, transforming Eclypse into her gun form so he could slip in a few shots.
This made Asher slow down, but each dodge allowed him to perform a spinning slash to loose more waves. Dante jumped up top towards another floating monolith, reloading Eclypse within two seconds before he swapped her back into her sword form. The once immortal looked behind him, seeing homing trails of ice dart into him from multiple directions, sending him crashing back down into the dirt with a loud thud.
"Is that your best, Aetherveil? You're far weaker than you were the last time."
Fuck this..!
Fuck this..!
With his voice and Eclypse's ringing through his head, Dante frustratedly slammed his fist into the ground, pushing himself off the ground as he stood back up and glared at Asher. The once immortal raised up his arms as black Aura gathered around his body, and when he forcefully outstretched them, his Shadow Skin immediately forming on his entire body.
(3:39)
Asher lashed both blades out at Dante to unleash fire and wind this time. The teen simply raised up his gun and blew away the waves, his gunshots sounding like blasts from high intensity laser cannons as his bullets glowed with white and black Aura, tearing through the elemental waves. His four shots found their mark, two scraping by while one bullet lodged itself in Asher's shoulder, and the other in his gut, launching him into a wall.
The armored teen immediately rushed him, landing repeated punches to Asher's face without pause. Metallic clangs sounded throughout the cavern as Dante kept punching and punching. Asher's body lit up with his ultraviolet Aura and let loose a blast, forcing Dante away. The teen dug his blackened claws into the earth to slow himself down, twirling Eclypse back into her sword form as he rushed in.
Ultraviolet beams shot out from Asher's palms as he thrusted him at the once immortal, who sliced up the scorching waves as he got closer. He then slid on his knees and raised up his sword, unleashing a small flash of his Aura to blind Asher as he got back up and stabbed Asher in the gut. Both went towards the wall, Dante carrying him all the way as they crashed into the bedrock once more, the armored teen giving a few good punches to the face and stomach.
Asher finally worked up the strength to fight back, clapping his ultraviolet coated hands over the sides of Dante's head. While it didn't do too much damage, it succeeded in disorienting the armored teen as intended, allowing Asher to go on the offensive as he slammed his foot into the ground, causing a pillar of rock to rise up and throw Dante in the air.
Twirling his resummoned twinblade, Asher took aim and tossed it at Dante, who leaned back to let the point go over him, scraping the underside of his chin. The teen grabbed the shaft of the twinblade and swung it down on Asher's shoulder, cutting into slightly as the young man took his weapon back.
The two struggled for control of the weapon, and even bashed each other in the face whenever they had better control to strike back. Dante in the end managed to rip the weapon free and stab Asher with it, pushing him away a considerable distance.
(5:17)
"Enough!"
Asher extended his arms as his whole body became coated in ultraviolet Aura. It soon dispersed, revealing dark purple scales made up the entirety of his coat. The rest of his body covered in a thick black hide that almost looked like leathery thin armor. A small crown of large black thorns layered the top of his black flesh, and when his eyes opened, they glowed with ultraviolet energy entirely. The tails of his scaly, dark purple coat elongated and shaped like large draconic wings.
Extending his hand, the now demons Asher called back his twinblade, giving it a quick twirl as he glared at Dante. Without warning, the two sprinted for each other and swung their weapons, sword and twinblade crashing into each other with extreme force to create a shockwave.
(5:29)
Asher's scaly coattails went rigid, now acting like wings as they flapped once, launching both of them in the air. Asher's wings kept flapping them up, making the two warriors quickly ascend as they thrashed each other against the stone. Dante was thrown off of his opponent, but he quickly gripped onto his opponent's foot as thy kept ascending.
Asher went to kick Dante in the face to make him plummet but missed when the teen moved his body out of the way and pulled Asher down to him, allowing them to resume their devastating punching match. Light began to peek out from above, and the two emerged from the elevator shaft high up into the air, giving each other wicked right crosses that sent both of them flying away from one another.
(End Song)
Dante hit the ground hard, rolling around for a few moments until he slowed to a halt. Asher crashed into the ceiling and promptly fell down on top of the balcony with a heavy crash, cracking the whole platform.
The once immortal's Shadow Skin quickly peeled away from his body like scraps of ash, exposing him as he struggled to stand back up, groaning all the while.
Taking a quick look around, he noticed Emerald, Mercury and the giant cannibal Hazel were long gone, and everyone else's eyes were on him, except for a certain blond bomber.
"You're okay!"
Dante felt someone crash into him, tackling him into the ground. The strong but slender arms crushing him, and cute little voice belonged to none other than Ruby, lovingly squeezing the life out of him as he tapped her arms.
"Ruby..! Tap out..! Tap out!"
The little reaper gasped and let Dante go, who fell down against the ground with a small crack as he let out a small whimper.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She said, helping him sit up straight as she patted him down to check for injuries and brush off some of the dust, "Is..?"
"No… Not over yet…" the teen sighed as he rested his head against Ruby's shoulder, "This one's gonna take a bit longer… You wouldn't know him since you didn't see him last time, but Scylix's lackey, who I thought I killed, is back. And you can bet he's out for blood."
"You can do this!"
Dante looked to the little reaper with confusion, "No 'Not without me!' or 'I'll help you!' this time?"
"Well… This is your fight, isn't it? And it's personal. Besides… I believe in you, so you can beat him!"
…
That phrase and cute smile of hers was enough to seemingly heal both his wounds and refresh him for the fight he was soon enough about to begin once again.
When Dante tilted his head off towards the left, he saw someone very unexpected standing there and staring back at him, unsure of what to do as her cat ears flicked briefly.
"Well well, look who decided to show up late to the game. Looking for a tag in, Blake?"
"Good to see your humor is still terrible." Blake replied with a warm smile as she walked over hurriedly.
"Hey, it's an acquired taste. Takes a while to grow on you."
"Right." She said skeptically, looking him over, "So it's true what Ruby and everyone else said… You really were…"
"Ah, don't sweat the small stuff." Dante waved off.
"You practically died twice and you're just brushing it off like nothing?" Blake asked, only getting a shrug from the once immortal as she shook her head, "Typical…"
"When'd you get here?"
"We heard Mistral was going to be attacked by the White Fang, and came over with back up. It took some convincing, but we managed to convince a lot of people from Menagerie to come help."
"One big step forward…" Dante chuckled as he stood back up with Ruby's help, "So… how we doing here?"
"Yang went into the vault to back you up, but you're up here now." Ruby explained, "And we managed to beat back Emerald, Mercury, and that huge guy."
"Then we're in the lead. Nice." The teen noted as he stretched himself out, summoning Eclypse to his hand, "You guys may want to step back. Round 2's about to start."
Ruby and Blake did as he asked, and quickly walked over to the side were Jaune, Weiss and the others rested, recovering from their wounds.
Suddenly, the balcony exploded into pieces as Asher shot out of it in his normal form, tackling Dante and taking the teen with him as they flew outside.
The two rolled on the ground, and the once immortal, when on his back, planted his feet onto Asher's chest and kicked him off. Both came to a halt, looking around them to see themselves surrounded by a large mass of Faunus soldiers, perhaps the ones from Menagerie Blake brought.
"Everyone, get back! Move back to a safer distance!" The once immortal shouted.
The mass of people did as he asked, talking amongst themselves all the while as they kept their eyes glued to Dante and Asher.
No pressure…
Tons of pressure. Your heart rate is a tad elevated.
Give me a break already…
"How perfect… A crowd surrounding us… here to witness the end of the supposed Hero of Remnant!" The young man vocalized loudly as he stood on his feet once more.
"No… It's not gonna be the end. If anything, a new beginning." Dante responded as he stood back up as well.
Asher smiled a twisted smile, "We both know you don't have the power to keep this up for much longer. You'll crack with enough pressure."
"Not today I won't. Or any day for that matter."
"You think you can win as you are?"
"Maybe… Maybe not… All I know is that I've still got some fight left in me." Dante stated as he point Eclypse at the young man, "And I'll use everything I've got to defeat you."
Asher was in awe. He just couldn't believe Dante could still stand there, confident that he had any sort of chance. Asher had more power at the moment. He could crush Dante if he broke his limit.
But… why didn't he then?
Was he expecting more? Was he hoping for more? A sudden burst of power to just… randomly well up within the once immortal?
He didn't gain this much power just for it all to come to a close here, so easily. That's all he was showing really. Defiance. Defiance against a higher power that towered over him.
Was it foolishness? Or was it some sort of predictive force within Dante that allowed him to confidently stand defiant and claim victory?
What was this man that he did not fear certain death?
Asher held up his twinblade, gripping it tightly as he took his stance. Dante did the same with Eclypse, preparing himself to defend as soon as Asher moved.
But the once immortal's eyes fixed on a specific area of the crowd, seeing people being pushed aside as someone in a white cloak made their way.
Dawn suddenly burst through the crowd, quickly eyeing up the area and finding Dante as the siblings locked eyes. When the teen looked to his sister's hand, he saw she was holding something.
A sort of crystal ball with a technicolor of bast energies inside it.
Once she reared back her arm, Dante knew what she had intended to do with it, and so prepared himself to catch the crystal.
Hoooo boi! That was some spicy fighting!
Yes, Eclypse has a gun form now. If you didn't realize it by know, she's a shape shifting weapon. She can take on the form of various weapon types, all with her style and design as a weapon, and even adopt some of their properties with her own spin on things.
But yeah, did most of the fighting to demonstrate what kind of gun form Eclypse will be taking on and how Dante will fight with it in the future, both in and out of Shadow Skin. I plan to implement and show off more weapon types as we move on.
And hey! Who would've guessed Asher was still alive! In case you forget, Asher was supposedly blown up by a massive discharge of Dante's Aura in the form of his Aura Wave attacks. Literally, he got swept into it and carried off before it blew up like a mini nuke. But hey, he's back for now. And his reasons aren't as they seem...
Now, what about that orb in Dawn's hand? What exactly might that be? Find out in the next chapter, "my friends".
That's all I've got to say, so with that...
I highly recommend you all go check out the freaking amazing story Rogue Huntsman written by Xera Stark. The story overall is absolutely fantastic and is a must read, so I suggest you seriously read it. You won't want to miss out on this story. Plus, I'm working on it with him as a co-author, and my characters are in it too. So if you want to see a sort of alternate story and such with my characters in it, go on over and give Rogue Huntsman a read.
And hey! Go check out HydraFLow's story Lost in Binary! It's equally as awesome and entertaining, and tells Rogue Huntsman's story from his characters' perspective, like how Knights of White and Black (my alternate story) tells the tale from my character's perspectives.
Questions? Ask them anytime. I will try to answer without spoiling.
Please remember to review, follow and favorite this story if you really enjoyed it and want to continue seeing more of it. And hey, even tell others about this story! Remember that your support is what helps make this story grow even larger and what helps improve it. With that, I bid you all an excellent week/weekend!
Bye-bye now!
