Thanks to TehGramerPolise and MasterofBones for their help with this chapter.

Sometimes you go into something just knowing it's going to suck. Going to the dentist, yanking off a bandaid, waking up the next morning after a particularly awesome night of drinking, et cetera.

Point is, I was currently being loomed over by a giant undead octopus monster. That giant undead octopus monster was currently being controlled by a legendary necromancer that even the Etiora had respected. There was no way that this wasn't going to hurt… a lot.

I had only a couple of things I could cling onto. The first was hoping Arnau, Seydin, and Blut could finish their fight and then come kick this guy's ass.

The second thing was that although I was definitely weaker than I had been before, with mana coming in spats and small bursts rather than the river it had been before. The fact that I could feel the mana at all was a distinct improvement; it meant that whatever had been cutting me off before was likely temporary. That in turn meant that there was every possibility that I could get back to full strength.

Either way, it meant that as much as I'd love to just crush this bastard personally, my best shot at winning this was to try to buy time. At least until one of those two things came through.

"Alright, you necrophilic son of a bitch." I called up at him, I made a big show of calling up the Flames of Sarongar so that they burned along my arm and flicked Harbinger to its shotgun form, "Eat this!" Then I let loose a trio of rounds straight up at The Weaver.

Even as the sound of the last shot faded away I was already moving, but I watched as the octopus whipped a tentacle up to to block the shots and then grinned as it blindly slammed a pair of limbs down where I had been before.

I stopped as The Weaver dropped the tentacle protecting him, and then as soon as he did so, I fired at him again.

The tentacle snapped back into position and this time he sent another one sweeping along the ground at me in reply.

I flapped with my wings as I jumped, easily vaulting over the attack and diving back to land on the ground. As soon as the tentacle in front of the necromancer lowered, I fired again.

My grin widened as I watched him block the shots once more. I had been betting on the fact that while the necromancer was a very dangerous and powerful entity, most of the time he probably left the fighting to his minions. As you might figure, that's not uncommon with necromancers; as soon as they get powerful enough, they never deign to dirty their own hands with taking out their enemies. I suspected the only reason he had even decided to fight me was his arrogance and hurt pride from when I had insulted him at the feast… oh and it probably didn't help that that was after destroying his precious creation in the tournament.

This meant that in terms of personal combat he was a novice. I wasn't even sure if Harbinger's gun could hurt him at this range and in my current state, getting in close would be tantamount to suicide. The thing was, he was too inexperienced to know that, so he was willing to blind himself in order to prevent any chance of taking damage, no matter how minimal.

I began rinsing and repeating, firing at the necromancer just enough to make him turtle up, and then moving before he could answer and dodging the blind strikes that came my way. As far as buying time, it was fantastic, if this kept up, I could do this all day.

The problem was that in the back of my mind, I knew it wouldn't keep up forever. The Weaver was a novice but he wasn't stupid. He was already being smarter about how he attacked; trying to predict my movements rather than just attacking where he had last seen me. It was only a matter of time until he tried something tricky.

Finally it came, I had just landed from dodging another side swipe when the stone beneath me rumbled and shattered. A trio of rotting arms burst from the ground, latching solidly onto my right leg.

I flipped Harbinger around into its sword form and cleaved them at the wrist. The flesh parted easily enough and the arms flopped around, allowing me to move, but the hands themselves maintained their vise-like grip.

I leapt up and took off with my wings as I began switching Harbinger back into its gun form, desperately trying to avoid the attack that I was sure was coming.

Instead there was a sudden pull on my leg and I was yanked backwards. I twisted around to see that sewing thread were extending from the wrists of the severed hands, looping back around towards where The Weaver was standing atop the octopus monster.

"Ah cra-" I began as I tried to swap Harbinger back into its sword form to cut the threads, but I was too late as I was whirled around and slammed into the wall.

I let out a gasp of pain and finally managed to cut away the threads with Harbinger when a shadow fell over me.

I looked up just in time for the tentacle to fill my vision and I tried to pull away from the wall to avoid it, but even as I did so I knew it was way too late.

The limb slammed into me like a speeding truck and I felt something snap in my left wing.

Oh Maidens. Oh sweet, merciful, shitting Maidens.

I've broken arms, legs, ribs, collarbones… you name it. I think all of those combined would have hurt less than this.

There was no keeping my composure, not with that kind of pain, I let out a scream of agony and dropped like a rock to the ground.

When I hit the stone floor, the pain from that was almost a welcome distraction from the molten agony on my back that was making my vision flicker in and out of focus.

Damn it, I had to get up, I had to get moving or-

Something slammed into me and sent me flying to slam into another one of the walls and I let out another hoarse cry as my busted wing got twisted behind me. I couldn't move, the pain was too much, every single bone and muscle in my body was screaming at me. I was so tired… couldn't even open my eyes...

"Is this really the best that you can muster?" The Weaver taunted me.

"Lucky… hit… you little shit." I managed between my teeth as I grit them against the pain.

"Honestly." The Weaver continued, either not hearing my defiance or choosing to ignore it, "To think someone so pathetic talked to me in such a fashion."

"Would talk to you like that again too." I mumbled, "Two bit asshat."

"And you…" I could hear his voice get louder, "You destroyed my creation. Did you know that I had stolen her right out from under Qrow Branwen himself? He was at Mountain Glenn with her and some of my minions accosted them; managed to place a curse on her."

Bastard, I knew that... I had been there, I had failed her.

"He even tried to have it removed somehow, something fought against it." He told me, "But I made sure I would get her, she was far too great of a prize." He paused, "She even tried to kill herself to stop me. Of course, as you might guess, death is no true obstacle, not for me."

He sounded really close now, he must be right above me, I could swap Harbinger to its gun form, catch him by surprise.

I weakly closed my hand into a fist, it was empty? I had dropped my freakin' weapon... you had to be shitting me, some freaking Guardian I was. Was it close at least? I tried to open my eyes, but I was tired… too tired… everything was slipping away.

"... Find that as well, after I'm through with you. The amazing thing though is that she wasn't dead; despite the fall, she was alive."

I felt my hearts stop. Oh Maidens no…

"I managed to keep her alive for quite a long time." The Weaver confided, "The mutations take better if the specimen is still living you see… only so much can be done after they're actually dead. I'm a master at the art of prolonging life," His voice was almost a whisper now, "She screamed for a year before I let her finally die." He told me, "And I'm going to do my utmost to make sure you last at least twice as long."

A crimson rage swept through me so hot and burning that it wiped away my exhaustion.

And the mana came back in a roar.

It coursed through me like a hurricane, filling me with power and I opened my eyes.

Sure enough, the bastard was just out of reach, having bent the octopus monster down to gloat down at me.

I held out a hand, "Ignite." I croaked.

The Weaver had just enough time for his eyes to go wide before a gout of black fire poured from my arm.

I must have gone for a full minute simply throwing fire out in a wave, completely obscuring my vision. As I did so, I felt the pain gradually fade away, my wing went from being in agony, to being battered, and then finally just going to a dull ache.

I stretched them wide, marveling at the simple absence of pain, and as I did so I finally stopped the fire. I spotted Harbinger on the ground at my feet and picked up the weapon, twirling it around before turning my gaze forward once more.

The octopus monster was gone and as the flames died down I saw that the only thing standing was a black ball that broke into ashes, revealing The Weaver. His suit was singed and burnt, and his skin was scorched all over his body, with one of his hands being completely charred to a crisp.

The necromancer was breathing hard and his eyes were wide, "How? I saw your life force, it was fading…"

I shrugged, "What can I say? I'm stubborn like that."

I advanced on The Weaver, rolling my shoulder as I felt the strength I had become accustomed to return in full force.

The Weaver stepped back and spat something under his breath.

A massive black whirling portal erupted between us, and what must have been hundreds of the creatures I had encountered at Mountain Glenn poured forth from it. Their slit-like eyes on me as their gaping jaws opened in roars and their praying mantis-like limbs biting into the stone floor as they rushed to attack me.

I simply kept walking and as soon as the first one reached me, it died in pieces on the floor.

I never broke stride as I kept going, cutting, slicing through the monsters, none of them so much as putting a scratch on me.

Finally as I reached the portal I let out a hiss, and purely acting on instinct, I cut an 'x' in the air in front of me.

The portal shimmered and then vanished with a faint 'pop' leaving only The Weaver, who scrambled backwards, "What? How in the world did you-"

I leapt forward, using my wings to land directly in front of him and kicked out at his leg. There was the sound of snapping bone and he went down to his knees with a scream.

I reached down, grabbed The Weaver by the front of his tweed suit and hoisted him up.

"Wait!" He cried, "It's not too late, we can talk this over! I can help you fight Ashuna! Just-"

I slapped him hard across the face, "It's way too late for that." I snarled at him, "It's been too late since Mountain Glenn."

The Weaver's brow furrowed in confusion, "What are you talking about?"

I brought the necromancer's face in close, "That woman you took, her name was Zorja; and this is for her."

I threw the necromancer up in the air and Harbinger flew in a flurry.

The Weaver fell to the ground in pieces that even he would have had trouble putting back together again.

I stood there for a moment above the carnage and then closed my eyes, "Hear that Zorja? That was for you." I whispered.

I opened my eyes, turned back to where I had left Dirge and Kurtan and started walking.

I arrived to find Dirge sitting in front of a large circle of runes in which Kurtan was standing utterly still.

"I assume that The Weaver is defeated then?" The skeletal mage asked without turning.

"Dead." I replied.

"I must admit I'm quite impressed." He told me.

"Well, I tend to impress." I quipped, "Now we just have to find Seydin and the others."

"About that." Dirge said, "I'm afraid that I was forced to use a stasis circle, I cannot move from this spot until it runs out of energy; the fortunate thing is that when it ends the curse affecting the gargoyle should be lifted. However, it means that I'm afraid that you shall have to find our other companions on your own."

I lifted an eyebrow at the mage, that seemed awfully convenient, but considering that at a glance there were at least five or six runes in the circle that I didn't recognize at all it wasn't like I could call him out on it. In addition, the guy was already missing an arm, was it really worth trying to drag his skeletal ass along even if I could?

So I shrugged, "Alright then, have any clue where to start looking at least?"

Dirge was silent for a moment, "If my guess is correct, the Twardow will have pulled them into his lair."

I grimaced, that sounded like a really bad thing, so the mage was probably right, "Okay, so if that's the case, how do I get in?"

"Hmmm… you should be able to use a piece of his thread along with a tracing lock and key circle." Dirge replied.

I scratched the back of my head, "Uh… right…." I went back to the room where I had fought The Weaver and looked around. Finally my eyes went to a piece of white silk and I remembered the strand I had dodged at the beginning of the fight.

I walked over and grunted as I picked it up, surprised at its weight. I then walked over to a piece of the ground that was clear and set it there.

For about a minute I stood there staring at the thing, then I let out a deep sigh. With great reluctance I picked up the thread and walked over to Dirge.

"So uh… tracing lock and key circle." I said.

"Right." The mage replied.

I swallowed my pride, "How exactly do you make one of those?"

There was a poignant pause, "What?" The mage asked.

"How… exactly… do you make one of those?" I repeated.

"A tracing lock and key circle is one of the simplest rune circles in existence." Dirge said incredulously, "How in the Thirteen do you not know how to make one?"

I ground my teeth, "Must have slept through that part in Runemaking 101."

Dirge sighed, "Alright, put the thread where I can see it."

I did so and then used Harbinger to etch a circle into the ground and then waited.

"First at the northern edge put a lock rune." He told me.

I etched in a box with a large circle in the center at the top

"Now at the west put a Huginn rune." He told me.

I blinked, "A what?"

"Oh may the Mist take me." Dirge breathed, "Put a leftward facing raven symbol on the western edge."

I did so and then looked back at him, "Now put a Fehu rune on the eastern edge."

He must have seen the look on my face, because he let out a massive sigh, "It's a stick with two lines pointing northeast on the top right side of it." He told me.

My face burned in embarrassment as I etched the appropriate rune.

"Alright, now etch a connection circle around where you're standing; connect it to the southern edge of the circle."

I drew a circle around myself and then connected it as the mage had directed.

"Now put an activation matri-" Then he cut off, "You know what, it's a 'z' just put a 'z' on the southern edge of the circle and hold on tight."

I did as he directed and the world around me vanished.

It reappeared and I was face to face with a multitude of red eyes and a great slavering set of… okay I don't think they're called mandibles because that's not a spider thing, but there were a bunch of mouth parts slavering in front of me.

It reared back in surprise and Harbinger moved practically of its own volition and soon the spider was twitching on the ground.

"Ah, Qr'Krowl."

I looked past the corpse of the spider to see Seydin standing calmly, slung over his shoulder were two cocoons.

"Hey, is…"

"Jacob was felled by my hand." Seydin confirmed, "I'm sure the Count and Blut would have gladly aided me, but they had been… incapacitated."

"Are they uh…" I nodded at the two cocoons he was dragging behind him.

"Indeed." Seydin replied, "I'm afraid my expertise lies in much less… precise… magics, would you mind?"

"Sure." Seydin put the two cocoons in front of me, he then walked off to the side and began etching runes into the ground, mumbling under his breath.

While he did that, I got to work on the cocoons, carefully cut down their centers with Harbinger until the fey lord and the vampire were free.

"My gratitude, Qr'Krowl." Blut said as he emerged from the silken threads.

Count Arnau simply scowled as he was freed from the cocoon, "Where are Dirge and that traitor Kurtan?" He demanded as he got to his feet.

"Dirge has Kurtan locked up, and unfortunately they won't be joining us." I told him, "And Kurtan's not a traitor, he was under a curse."

The Fey lord let out a grunt, "I see." Then he turned to Seydin, "How are we going to get back?"

Seydin etched one last rune into the ground before nodding sharply and then turned to us, "Jacob's lair appears to have a connection very near to where Ashuna is." He said, "I believe that it leads directly in front of the Throne Room."

I lifted an eyebrow, "Convenient." I noted.

The kobold sorcerer shrugged, "He had them in many different places, how ever do you think he got around so quickly? No doubt this one allowed him to more efficiently attend to Ashuna's wants and needs."

"Any chance he'll be waiting for us?" I asked.

Seydin chuckled, "Oh, he'll almost certainly be waiting for us." He replied, "There is no chance that he wouldn't have sensed the death of Jacob and The Weaver."

I grimaced, considering that I had never told Seydin The Weaver was dead he probably had a point, "Okay then, what's the plan?"

"I'm afraid that there is no intricacy to what we are about to do." The sorcerer informed me, "Secure the daggers if you can and get them back to the priests, other than that, hit fast and hit hard."

I took a deep breath, "Alright, I can do that."

Seydin gave a slight smile at that and then turned to Blut and Count Arnau, "We are prepared then?"

The vampire and the Fey lord both gave a tight nod and Seydin looked down at the circle and drew a line.

I blinked, once again awed by the smoothness of Seydin's teleportation magic, one moment I was in one place and then I was elsewhere, I didn't even notice my surroundings fade away or anything.

This particular time, our little group was standing before a large doorway with two double doors made entirely of gold. As I watched, they slowly opened, revealing a throne made entirely out of twisting bone, and sitting there was Ashuna.

He was dressed in what appeared to be a jaguar skin that wrapped around him like a toga, and on his belt were a pair of obsidian daggers, their edges jagged and uneven.

Seydin didn't waste any time, I heard him hiss under his breath and a gigantic fireball launched from his staff to fly at the monster on the throne.

Count Arnau dashed forward and I followed, along with Blut, all of us with our weapons drawn.

Ashuna stood up and waved a hand as the fireball roared right as his face; a golden light flickered and the spell simply disappeared into thin air.

Predictably, Count Arnau got there first, bounding up the steps to the throne, he whirled his spears in a flurry of attacks.

Ashuna calmly interposed a hand between each and every one. Each time his hand met the Fey lord's weapons, a bright golden flash of light lit up the room… magic of some kind.

Blut and I reached the Mayor at about the same time and I let out a shout as I swung Harbinger, the Flames of Sarongar roaring along its blade.

Ashuna lifted a hand and snapped his fingers, there was a low boom that nearly deafened me and sent me flying backwards.

I skidded along the ground and saw that Count Arnau and Blut had been similarly blasted away.

Seydin let out a shout behind us and there was a crackling sound as a wave of lighting shot past us to collide straight into Ashuna.

My hearts leapt in my chest briefly as the monster staggered back before the attack, but my elation was short-lived as a moment later he extended his hand and the lightning simply vanished with yet another golden flash of light.

I gathered myself up and launched myself forward, and I saw out of the corner of my eyes Blut and Count Arnau do the same.

So it was that I saw the two of them slam into something right before I pancaked into a flat surface that was solid and unyielding as a brick wall.

I shook myself as I backed up and frowned as I saw a slight golden shimmer in the air directly in front of me.

"Keep it up!" Seydin told us, "His magic is powerful, but it exhausts him; if we keep attacking he will tire!"

I didn't need to be told twice, I lifted up Harbinger and began to swing it when without warning it grew heavy in my hands.

It wasn't just my weapon, everything was heavy, my arms, my legs. It was like all of my strength had just vanished.

And it wasn't just me, I heard the clattering of metal and I looked over to see that Count Arnau and Blut had dropped their weapons.

The Fey lord's face was pale and as I watched his face became thin and pinched. He fell to his knees and his frame became gaunt and thin, like he hadn't eaten in days.

That was nothing compared to Blut though, the vampire looked at his hands in disbelief as his hands began to turn a waxy white and then simply fell into dust. He let out a scream and his entire body started breaking apart and falling in itself.

Soon there was nothing left.

"What… what is this Seydin?" Count Arnau demanded.

"I-I-" The kobold's voice sounded weak and I turned to see him on his hands and knees, his staff on the ground beside him.

Ashuna laughed as he descended his throne, "You poor fools." He said, "Brave fools… but fools all the same."

He stopped in front of the invisible wall, "I believe it is high time for an education. An education about mana."

He turned his gaze to where Blut had been and pursed his lips, "It will be too late for some, but better a lesson late than never learned." He turned back to us.

"You see, there is an abundance of energy in the universe." He told us, "That energy then goes through one of two beings… Gaia… which creates anima… and the Dreamers… which creates mana."

He waved a hand dismissively, "Now the Dreamers can't control the flow of mana." He told us, "It would be like trying to find a single grain of sand in the ocean. Thus beings of mana absorb it, use it, and for the most part can be free of their influence."

"Then comes the Filth… the Dreamers will, the extension of themselves into the worlds of mortals." Ashuna murmured, "The Filth demands a price for using mana, it can control it and its flow. The influence it can wield over a being depends on the amount of mana it takes in, most can control themselves up to a point, but when that point is exceeded… a monstrosity is created… a being of the Filth."

I heaved Harbinger up and slammed into the invisible wall, only for it to bounce off uselessly, "Hate. Freaking. Monologues." I groaned, "Why.. do... you... shits... always... monologue?"

Ashuna chuckled, "Patience, Qr'Krowl, patience. I am nearly done, then you can die… normally I would give you all to the Filth, but I'm afraid you've annoyed me far too much for that."

He spread his hands, "You see, we call ourselves beings of mana, but we aren't, we are beings that take mana, that have mana infused into our being. After all that is what separates us from mortals, it is the gift… the gift of mana."

"Freaking. Cultist. Monster." I wheezed, accentuating each word with another blow to the wall.

"We have squandered our gift!" Ashuna cried out, ignoring me, "We have taken like greedy children, never once giving our due back to those that have blessed us with our gifts! Once I learned to accept this, the Filth gave me control over mana; and so now I can rule over all beings of mana so that they too can-"

Then he stopped, stopping so suddenly that he choked on his words and I saw that he was staring directly at me with bulging eyes.

I frowned, as I hit the wall again, I felt weak, really weak, but not really exhausted or abnormal in any way. I could just tell that Harbinger was a lot heavier in my hands than normal. There was a bizarre itching feeling spreading up my arms and I looked down to see the feathers there falling away in clumps.

Finally I felt something detach from my chest and the bandage from the Shopkeep fell out from under my shirt to the floor.

A sneaking suspicion formed in my mind and I turned Harbinger's blade to reflect my face to see my handsome visage staring back.

And by that I mean my good old very human visage.

In the total silence that followed, even a pin hitting the floor would have been deafening.

Then Count Arnau spat something that I was pretty sure was a curse and that seemed to shake Ashuna out of his shock, "Qr-Qrow?" He sputtered as he took a step back, "Qrow Branwen?"

I gave the monster my best shit-eating grin, "The one and only." I told him, slashed one more time, and the invisible wall shattered into motes of golden light.