The sounds of battle resonated as the wind swirled.
After heaving for breath, Ruby wiped the sweat off her forehead. That alpha beowolf put up a tough fight. It was fast, but not fast enough to match her unrivaled speeds.
Sorry, Ruby thought unapologetically. You're not going to hurt Blake.
After Ruby hopped off the corpse, she adjusted her beloved sniper rifle and reloaded it. She'd used a ton of ammo against the grimm. After, she gazed around the forest. The moonlight and burning temple provided the perfect light for her to see in the darkness.
Blake and Emerald seemed to be evenly matched. Ruby wondered if she should go help her girlfriend or Yang, who caught her attention in the form of a grunt.
They're holding their own, Ruby observed. I don't want to throw off their tempo.
A fragile yelp.
A deathstalker a few feet away gave a menacing screech directly at Goodwitch, who was floating on her broom. The shockwave was so powerful that it stunned the professor and made her spin dizzyingly like she lost control of Wanda.
Before, the deathstalker tried to come to Mercury's aid. The blonde brawler was more of a match than he originally thought, so he called for backup. Unfortunately for him, Glynda was there to intercept the monster before it could lay a pincer on her precious student.
Swiftly, Ruby aimed her gun and shot the beast directly in one of its eyes before it could claw the dazed Glynda. A red orb popped and oozed crimson, and the scorpion-like grimm gave a pained shriek.
That did the trick. Grateful, Glynda sent Ruby a nod. Directly after, the professor shot out a yellow bolt into the exposed skin, where the eye used to be. The pincers flailed wildly, and that was enough to give Goodwitch an opening for a few more critical hits.
"Ruby!"
The call undoubtedly came from her beloved girlfriend.
"Yeah, Blake?!" Ruby instantly replied, thinking she may need help.
The faunus was panting slightly as she rested her katana by her side. In front of her, Emerald lightly heaved and composed herself. Before Blake could think, her opponent dashed to her, trying not to give her time to recover.
When the two clashed, Blake pushed forward with all her might on her sword. Her muscles strained in protest, but she didn't mind.
"Oz and Weiss need help!" Blake exclaimed.
Her words rang true. In the distance, there were clashes of red, green, and white. The red was too swift for the green and white to keep track of. Crimson collided against them several times. Multiple grunts ensued as they became a blur.
"I'm on it!" Ruby reassured.
Until now, Ruby had been content with helping whoever needed it. She'd made several last-minute saves so far. It was finally time to engage with the half-demon. Ruby's blood boiled in excitement. Cinder was undoubtedly fast, but was she faster than Ruby?
Several fireballs whizzed past Ozpin and Weiss, who narrowly tumbled out of the way in time. Where the flame spheres landed, the grass and trees ignited in smoke and fiercely hissed. They would've been burned alive if their reflexes weren't so sharp.
"W-woah," Weiss stammered.
"Be careful, Weiss," Ozpin ordered.
"Are you okay, Oz?" the priestess asked. Part of the man's skin was scorched black, but there were no burns present.
Ozpin pushed up his glasses as he stared at the devilish woman. "Yes, are you?"
"I'm ready to go."
With that, Weiss launched off one of her glyphs. Ozpin was left to back her up.
In midair, she whirled her rapier for a direct blow into the half-demon's torso. However, Cinder was ready to counterattack and readied herself with the pair of dual swords. The metal gleamed under the moonlight as Weiss rapidly neared.
Oh no, Weiss thought. This won't be enough.
Weiss was sure that she wouldn't be able to break through her defenses. At least until a bullet whizzed by directly to the left. The bullet struck Cinder in the shoulder, which caused to lower her arms in pain. Only to realize her mistake a split second later.
Ruby! Weiss thought. Thank you!
There was another bullet soaring straight at the half-demon. She was white and emblazoned the darkness. With Cinder's defenses down, Weiss slammed into her opponent with a devastating force.
Cinder let out a yelp, which caused a smirk to form on Weiss' lips.
The two crashed to the ground, leveling the ground and making a dent in the area. The priestess had effectively pinned her opponent to the ground.
Satisfied to see her eyes closed, Weiss got off Cinder once she stopped struggling and took a defensive stance a few feet away. An attack like that wouldn't kill a powerful enemy like her. Weiss fully anticipated that she'd get back up in a second.
Like the attack was nothing, Cinder leaned up without effort and erupted into furious flames.
"You wench!"
From the intimidating flames, Weiss hesitantly stepped back with Myrtenaster poised.
A shout came from behind. "Move!"
Swiftly, Ozpin pushed Weiss out of the way just before the livid half-demon could impale her with a blade.
In time, Ozpin used his cane to block several slashes from the raging inferno. The two were engaged in fierce melee combat. Each of them zipped past the other and then clashed again and again. Several poor trees were knocked over in the chaos.
While they fought, Ruby caught up to Weiss.
"Thank you for the save earlier, Ruby."
"No problem, Weiss," Ruby happily replied. "How're you holding up?"
After a deep breath, Weiss admitted. "She's a lot tougher than I thought. Ozpin expected this, though. He hasn't been letting up."
"For an old man he can kick some," Ruby said, silver eyes watching the colliding green and red.
There were various familiar yelps in the distance. In response, the pair whipped their heads to check on their teammates. Since they were so busy dealing with Cinder, they didn't know how their friends were holding up.
Unbeknownst to them, another round of grimm had been summoned. There was an overwhelming amount of them. Blobs of darkness encircled Yang, who was busy with the monsters and Mercury.
It was mesmerizing to watch Yang expertly dodge a kick from Mercury, and then swing a punch directly in a creep's snout before deflecting another kick. The blonde dodged most hits, but she was slowing down. It was obvious that she was having trouble juggling all these opponents. And she wasn't the only one. Glynda fought hard to pick off as many grimm as possible that surrounded Yang, but there were simply too many.
"Oh no, Yang!" Ruby said as she cocked her sniper rifle, intending to pick off grimm as well.
"Hold on, Ruby," Weiss said softly as she lowered her gun.
Ruby took a moment to realize what her friend was saying. After a firm nod, Ruby smiled.
Just before Yang was almost hit in the back of the head by creep's sturdy tail, Ruby cupped her hands over her mouth.
"Cover!"
In a split second, the priestess shot off a streak of white light from the tip of her rapier as her bangle, tiara, and locket glowed. Before she could do so, everyone, including the guardians, dropped everything to cover their eyes.
Before, Blake narrowly dodged a slash from Emerald and she tumbled to the ground with a grunt. The faunus used the grass as cover. On instinct, Yang had ducked while covering her eyes. Glynda floated above everyone and faced the other way until it was safe.
The white hypnotic spark flashed several times before fading. The entire horde vanished like it was never there. Since their opponents didn't see the blinding flash coming, they were left dazed.
"Weiss!" Yang worriedly chided while Mercury was busy wiping his eyes. "Save your energy! That was the second burst!"
"I'm okay, Yang!" Weiss called back in reassurance. She didn't sound out of breath and her voice projected well. "Mother helped me!"
Lilac eyes scanned her girlfriend. Weiss must've meant that the jewelry that belonged to her mother was helping her. Which was true. Weiss didn't even look tired at all. In fact, she looked like she was in better condition than Yang herself.
To reassure her, Ruby checked Weiss' heartbeat by placing a hand over her back. Weiss was about to protest, but stayed still.
"She's not lying, Yang."
Yang looked visibly relieved by that information. From experience, she knew that her girlfriend tired from excessive use of her purification abilities. The increased number of relic pieces probably helped keep the exhaustion at bay, too.
"Oh thank god…" Yang breathed. "Welp, good work!"
Since she was so focused on her girlfriend, Yang wasn't aware of anything else. Nothing really mattered. Her girlfriend was always the top priority. Imagine her surprise when her entire body shifted to the right several meters so suddenly that she almost fell over.
"W-woah!"
A sparkling sigil was beneath her feet. Where she was standing a moment ago was Mercury, who adorned a frown from missing his chance.
"Thanks, princess!"
"Pay attention, blondie!" Mercury yelled.
Instantly, Yang was struck in the torso by one of his steel legs. Due to the course of battle, his movements were inevitably slower. This gave Yang enough time to grab that leg and throw him to the side.
Fortunately for him, he kept his footing.
"Aw, you want my attention?" Yang asked with a smirk.
Mercury let out a snarl. Unfortunately, Yang was stuck with mostly parrying and barely dodging his jabs. Every strong kick caused a dent in her aura. His legs were so powerful that they felt like steel.
Steel eventually collided with bone and Yang was sent soaring backward with a yelp.
"Agh!"
Rather than the soft grass, Yang crashed into a tree. The air was strangled from her lungs as she coughed and gasped. Her yellow form slid down agonizingly slow.
It was harder to breathe.
Before Mercury could land another kick in her torso, Yang gathered her wits and dove out of the way.
There was a red blur that was threateningly livid as it approached the white and rose duo.
It was moving so impossibly fast that Ruby didn't have time to even think-
Luckily, she didn't think. Her body reacted on instinct. She held up her sniper rifle, which acted as a barrier from the half-demon.
"Give me the relics!"
The daunting dual swords shined under the moonlight and almost caused Ruby to lose her footing. Instead, Ruby grit her teeth and stood her ground, using all the strength in her body to keep Cinder from advancing.
She wasn't going to advance so much as an inch if Ruby had a say about it.
Those eyes were a fiery amber. Cinder's outfit was burning, and the dark crimson in her shoulder was dry. Perhaps the bullet wound from earlier had already healed. It did nothing to detract from her daunting strength.
"You're not…" Ruby stuttered, finding the strength in her voice and body. "... getting them!"
That was the push Cinder needed. Before Ruby could react, the half-demon pushed her to the side like she was a mere fly. From the raw strength, Ruby whizzed past her entire team with a squeal like a mouse.
"Ruby!"
Before Ruby could crash into a tree, Weiss conjured a trail of glyphs to catch her. Instead of a harsh impact, Ruby gradually slowed down before backflipping and landing firmly on her feet several hundred yards away.
"She sticks the landing!" Ruby announced for her team to hear.
From the sight of Ruby being okay, Weiss sighed in relief.
This left Weiss vulnerable, so Cinder grabbed the collar of her school uniform and lifted her off the ground like a bully. The priestess grunted as her feet left the ground. Her hands gripped the burning arms of Cinder.
Cinder's teeth bore ominously as her eyes flared red. "You're going to end up just like your mother."
That comment caused Weiss to grit her teeth. It was hard to breathe and all Weiss could do was feebly try to loosen her assaulter's iron grip as she kicked her legs.
"Mom…"
"That's right," Cinder growled lowly. "Your mom's not coming to save you. I made sure of that."
It was futile. Weiss couldn't get away. Cinder had her right where she wanted her as she gasped for breath. The moment Weiss grasped the enemy's wrist in a last-ditch effort, there was a burning sensation. Simultaneously, the bangle flashed white and Cinder let out a scream of pain.
Suddenly, there was a tap on Cinder's shoulder. She didn't look behind her and instead strangled the priestess harder with an evil growl. The bangle only burned her even more. But Cinder fought through the pain. She just wanted the priestess dead. She was done secretly fearing her existence and wouldn't let anything distract her from her goal.
"Your opponent is me."
It was Ozpin's calm voice that trailed hauntingly into her ear. Instantly, Ozpin whacked the half-demon's hands off his precious student. When Weiss dropped to the ground, the guardian rammed his weapon directly into Cinder's back.
As a result, Cinder struck a tree and another… and another… and another in a domino effect. The sound of ripping roots rumbled in the atmosphere.
After Ozpin checked Weiss over, he concluded she was fine. Just winded as she gasped for air.
He shot off like a rocket directly at Cinder. He didn't want to give her a nanosecond to recover.
Before he could get close, there was a loud thump that rang their eardrums and shook the ground intensely. The enormous mass landed directly in front of the headmaster like it was trying to block his line of path that led to the half-demon.
The entire team and guardians wobbled from the sudden earthquake that leaped out of the dense shrubbery. A large black shadow towered to the sky. The grimm let out a menacing roar and pounded its fists in the ground like a rabid animal.
When the dust settled, its identity was revealed.
A furious beringel grimm.
It roared in a fury, searching for prey. Its red eyes targeted the nearest person, only for them to land on Ozpin.
"Oh no," was all Ozpin could say.
The beringel bellowed in anger like something had greatly wronged it. Its menacing eyes never left the headmaster, who could only stand there in shock from how sudden its appearance was.
The beast's fist was the size of a minivan as it jammed into Ozpin's body. Even though he blocked, the sheer force behind the punch was easily enough to send him sprawling back with a yelp.
Before the monster could go after Ozpin, Ruby shot it in the back in rapid succession. That had little effect, but she stole its attention. Large fists dented the ground as it slowly turned around to face the new target.
Ruby firmly stood her ground as she let a breeze graze her cheeks. If anyone could handle this new threat, it was her. She was the only one fast enough.
After a deafening bellow, the beringel lunged. Only for it to be confused when Ruby vanished a second later.
"I'm over here!" she shot one of the nostrils, which earned a roar. Then she darted to the other side of the confused grimm. "Nope, I'm here!"
After this went on for several minutes, the beringel was fed up. With rage, it swung its arms in a circle. That would've hit Ruby if a glyph hadn't pushed her up in the sky.
"Woah!" Ruby yelped as drifted high in the air, trying to compose herself.
"Be careful, Rubes!" Yang shouted.
Somehow, Ruby landed on its bulky arm. When the grimm almost grabbed her, Ruby flipped over and shot one of its eyes in midair.
"Direct hit!"
The ape roared and covered its eyes.
"It's super effective!"
"That's her favorite grimm," Emerald said with a smug smile. "You better watch yourself!"
When the beringel pounded its massive fists into the ground, Emerald and Blake wobbled a bit.
"So it was her," Blake thought out loud.
It was confirmed. Ruby was right. The beringel that attacked them randomly in the city was because of Cinder. She could control grimm. Who knows what other grimm she sent after them. There'd been so many it was hard to tell if the encounters were a coincidence or planned.
When Ruby yelped in the distance, Blake's cat ears flicked. That distracted her, so Emerald took that as her chance to strike. The kamas slashed her a few times on her chest. This tore Blake's school uniform into shreds and her skin was sliced.
"Agh!"
Blood seeped from the wounds, but they were already healing thanks to her aura. It also helped that they were shallow cuts. Almost like Emerald was hesitant to cut deeply.
Before Blake could recover, there was a beowolf directly to her left. This briefly left her to wonder why Goodwitch hadn't picked it off before it could reach her. No matter. Expertly, Blake bent over backward and wielded her katana directly into its neck.
She expected the head to roll off, but instead, the beowolf vanished on impact.
"What the- agh!"
What she saw wasn't real, but the sudden assault of pain was. Golden orbs squeezed shut from the slashes across her skin. Her back, arms, and legs weren't spared. There was no repairing her uniform.
The cuts weren't deep. This left Blake to question why. It was clear that Emerald wasn't going for any killing blows when she had the chance.
As Blake stumbled, she unintentionally dropped her katana as her arms leaked blood.
An illusion. Good going, me, Blake thought sarcastically.
Emerald loomed over the injured faunus and raised the lethal kamas for a final blow-
- until a bright yellow bolt knocked her off balance, causing her to drop a single blade.
"Agh," Emerald grunted more from surprise than pain.
Blake looked over her shoulder to see that her savior was Glynda, who was floating on her broom with a smile.
That gave Blake enough time to compose herself and pick up her katana. "Thank you."
"Try not to be tricked again."
After a nod, Blake grit her teeth before wrangling with Emerald.
As far as Cinder could tell, they were getting nowhere.
The tides had been even. Each wave was more fierce than the last, but that wasn't enough.
The grimm Cinder had summoned kept getting annihilated. Either by Goodwitch, or that annoying white light.
Yang was more of a problem than she originally thought. Mercury went through the proper training, but it was clear that he was struggling against the brawler. They were both clearly out of breath and refused to fall.
Emerald was more of a disappointment. She made more mistakes in combat than Cinder could count. That sly faunus was even more skilled in trickery than her underling. To put the cherry on top, Blake was perceptive and read her movements like a book some of the time.
It was clear that the relic hunters and guardians formed a set plan should something like this arise.
It was time for the next stage. The tides would be turned after this. Cinder smugly smirked from the thought. Try all they want, it won't turn out well for them.
Before Ozpin could advance a single step, Cinder called out.
"Stop right there!"
Ozpin stood there, wondering what she had planned. She had that look on her face like she'd been thinking. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good.
The half-demon held out her hand. The familiar gastly purple surged like a whirlpool in her palm.
Ozpin's eyes widened, knowing what that meant.
When Cinder made a fist, there was a strangled cry.
"Weiss!" Yang yelped, only to be rammed in the torso by Mercury. "Ugh, dammit! Get outta my way!"
"Make me," Mercury barked.
A low growl.
The priestess held a hand over her chest before collapsing so suddenly it was frightening.
Her friends could only watch. Ruby was preoccupied with the beringel. She'd abandon it, but then it'd pose a threat to everyone there. Blake was trapped with Emerald, who'd definitely go after her if she tried to leave the fight, and Yang had her hands tied with Mercury, who refused to let her go.
Thinking on her feet, Glynda flew on her broom and intercepted the beringel that Ruby had been handling.
"Go to her!"
"Wha- okay!"
Before a few beowolves could swipe at the downed priestess, Ruby shot all of them in rapid succession. When it was clear, Ruby dropped to the ground and held onto her friend.
"Weiss?! Are you okay?!"
The bangle, tiara, and locket seeped an ominous black.
A tortured groan.
"Okay, oookay," Ruby said. "That's a no."
That's a big no!
Stay dandy,
~Toto