Main theme: Death Hymn by Lucas King
Arc theme: Rise from the Destiny 2 soundtrack
Theme: Die by Jeff Williams and Casey Lee Williams
"Well now it's getting good."
Emerald gave Mercury a side glance and a raised eyebrow as they both sat on their apartment sofa together, watching the TV in front of them as it displayed the chaos of the Emerald Forest, and the announcement of the Cult of Silver to the world, "I thought that that whole death and destruction thing that was being shown was already good for you?"
"Yeah, but now it's better," he shrugged, "What's the point of getting into a fight if they can't fight back at least a little bit? Makes kicking them back into the dirt so much more fun," the silver-haired boy leaned back into the sofa with his hands behind his head, and chuckled, "You know that Cinder would agree."
Emerald didn't respond, but she knew that Mercury was right about one thing (Even a broken clock can be right twice a day, as the old adage goes): Cinder would definitely agree with him, though she wouldn't be as constantly aggravating as the boy next to her was. She would almost whisper her words in that silky smooth tone of hers, like sickly sweet sugar on the tongue, and she would speak on how it was best to give their enemies just that little bit of hope, before stomping it into the ground and watching them writhe in despair, her hypnotising songlike voice creating a melody of power and authority as-
"You're doing that thing again."
"What thing?"
"That thing where you dream about Cinder actually paying you any time of mind, getting into your pants and riding you raw."
Emerald growled at him and punched him in the arm. He had put his aura up just a second earlier though, so it was not nearly as satisfying as she would've liked it to be.
She wound never question Cinder's orders- Never in a million years- But everyday she had to ask herself why they were keeping this annoyingly aggravating waste of space around, when it would just be so much easier to take him into a back alley and put a bullet in the back of his skull. However, Cinder would always just say that they needed him...
For what?
Cinder had never actually explained whatever plan that she had to them. Whenever they or Roman (Yet another annoyingly aggravating waste of space that she had to share air with) Had asked, all that she had ever replied with was 'Don't think: Obey'. A nice sentiment, surely, but for all of her loyalty to Cinder, Emerald would still at least like to know what exactly she was getting into, if only for her own sake.
That way, if she knew what all of this was for, then she could at least see where Mercury was in all of this, and how inconvenient it would be for them to take him into the previously mentioned back alley and kill him with the previously mentioned bullet.
If it wasn't too inconvenient, of course.
Mercury rolled his arm for no reason other than a show of superiority (He constantly liked to do things like that), And laughed once more, "You know what your problem is, Em?"
"What?"
"You're too high-strung," Mercury answered, prodding her both mentally with his words, and physically with his poker finger, "I swear, you're way too eager to please Cinder for your own good. It's cramping your style."
"Cinder gave me everything," Emerald shot back with a glare, "Have us everything. I mean," she threw her arms out wide at the apartment that they shared together, thanks to Cinder 'Asking' Roman to rent it out for them, "Look at this place. 5 star hotel, with a hot tub, flat screen TV, and a minifridge next to our actual fridge! Do you really think that you'd be able to pay for all of this with an assassins salary?"
"Oh, I don't know," he smiled smugly, "There're a lot of important, well paying people out there who'd want other, equally important, people dead," he shrugged, "I think I'd be fine."
"Up yours."
"Hah, you wish," he went to pause the TV, but found that the live feed wasn't pausing, "Huh," he went, before shrugging it off and getting up, "I'm going to go piss. Let me know if anything happens."
Emerald cringed, "Too much information, Merc."
"Eh, just though I'd let you know."
As he walked off to the bathroom, Emerald swore to herself that one of these days, she was going to tear off his shiny metal legs and shove them so far up his ass, he'd be shitting toes for weeks.
She looked back to the images on the screen, and watched the growing battle unfold before her. Whatever this cult group was planning, they were really skewering their PR, that's for sure. Proclaiming yourself the saviour of the human race, then immediately attacking a school trip, killing scores of people, and then broadcasting it for all of the world to see? Ridiculous.
Then again, maybe the cult didn't care. Maybe this was just a demonstration of their power.
And besides, she had to admit: Whoever had been talking on the radio was certainly charismatic enough to stir up certain feelings within her, and the information that they had released to support at least some of their claims definitely made them seem all the more reliable.
And they were throwing shade onto the ruling classes, so that automatically got points from her.
Still though, if they were this charismatic and truthful with their claims- As well as that sudden interview with the old man Ozpin- Then those things that they said about whoever the hell Ozma (Obvious connection to Ozpin...) And Salem, the supposed queen of the Grimm... It was enough of a dangling thread to get the conspiracy theorists riled up and fearmongering about the end of times and whatnot.
And certainly, there would be a flock of people who would be desperate enough to listen to these people. The homeless, the orphans, the people with nowhere left to go... How many villages and settlements out in the frontier would crave sanctuary so much that they would willingly join this Cult of Silver?
Emerald would know. She was once part of this flock of sheep, after all.
Still though, this 'Queen of the Grimm' business... And Cinder could control a beetle Grimm, couldn't she?
…
She shook it off, and chastised herself for such a ridiculous notion.
A queen of the Grimm?
Now that was too much.
Rolling her eyes at herself, she moved to get up from the sofa herself, and do something else that was much better with her time-
Like tracking down the people who had shot down Cinder 2 nights ago. Then again, these people might just be the ones that had done that, couldn't they?
-Before sparing one last look at the TV, and then seeing...
Someone who she had not seen in a decade.
Emeralds eyes widened, and she jumped towards the TV screen and scanned her eyes over the image shown to her.
There, leading the charge against the cult, was a boy in a cloak made out of pure aura itself.
A boy with golden blond hair, and eyes as blue as sapphire.
A boy who she had not seen since they confronted each other outside a burning building, with one of them holding a burning torch.
"Orion?"
With a roll across the floor, Jaune dodged a wave of ice, and then fired off a series of rounds from his rifle. Strange, the recoil was no longer bothering him. However, he gave the thought no pause as he noticed a wave of ice coming right before him, and panicked.
Shit! My shield can't block all of it-
YOU NEED A SHIELD?
Yeah.
THEN MAKE ONE.
This gave Jaune only a slight moment of pause, before he focused himself, and then forced his aura into a ball in his hands, Okay, make a shield, make a shield, make a damned shield-
White aura danced around his hands, and as the ice reached him-
-Make a shield, dammit!
-He threw hands out, and his aura-
{VOMPF}
-Expanded out into a glowing white, transparent bubble shield of aura that the ice grew around, covering the dome completely in a sheet of frost, before-
{BOOM}
-His bubble shield of aura exploded outwards, shattering all of the ice around him as he looked down at his hands in shock, and muttered, "How... How did I do that?"
YOUR AURA IS YOUR SHIELD. IT IS UP TO YOU TO CHOOSE HOW TO CRAFT THAT SHIELD.
"Is this... Is this my semblance?"
NO. THAT IS STILL LOCKED AWAY.
"Oh..."
BUT...
"But?"
THERE IS MORE THAT WE HAVE FOR YOU.
Jaune blinked at what was said to him by the voices inside his head (Voices that he had resented for so long since his birth- His real birth), Before remembering just where he was, and then spotting one of the bipedal walkers up in the air aiming the square missile batteries on its sides aiming down at him, its yellow spotlight of an eye flashing, before-
{THWOM THWOM THWOM THOWM THWOM THWOM THWOM THOWM THWOM THWOM THWOM THOWM THWOM THWOM THWOM THOWM}
-It fired off a torrent of missiles, all of them flying straight towards him as he-
"SHIT!"
-Threw his hands out once more and pushed all of his aura into his bubble shield, the shield turning completely white as the missiles hit the ground around him and against his shield and-
{BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM}
-Lit everything up into blossoming flowers of orange light and fire and smoke, enveloping everything in black and orange, everything falling silent for a few seconds, until the smoke dissipated, and-
{VOMPF}
-There was Jaune, his aura bubble shield disintegrating and going back into himself as he waved himself from side to side slightly in exhaustion, before shaking his head and refocusing himself, pulling his rifle to his hand as he cracked his neck and eyed the cult forces before him.
YOU CAN'T TAKE THEM ON ALONE. NOT AN ARMY.
I know.
Luckily for them, he had an army at his back.
Takes one to beat one, after all.
"Hey guys!" Jaune yelled back to the initiates behind him, "I can't fight them by myself! Care to give me a helping hand?!"
"You heard him, everyone!" he heard Nana Shaula call out as she cocked her guns, before cracking her neck and going, "Everyone, charge!"
And thus, the battle was on once more.
Only this time it was the initiates who, well, held the initiative.
Cannons to the left of them, cannons to the right of them, cannons in front of them volleyed and thundered as they strode into the valley of death, explosions and gunfire sounded off around them as silver light and ice broke the field around them and was interrupted by bursts of fire and flame. Heat met chill. Hot met cold and clashed to make lightning. Good met evil. Darkness met light.
The Hunter met the Cultist, and their clash was legendary.
Swords clashed together. Shootouts covered the entire battlefield. The world became a giant melee as blasts of energy and heat and cold as flashes of red and blue and white and silver threatened to turn them all as blind as bats.
Jaune ducked behind cover, and noticed Pyrrha grabbing hold of the walker that had shot at him with her semblance, a black glow covering them as she closed her hands-
{SKIRSH}
-And crumpled it up into a ball of twisted metal, before, with a great yell of her voice, she threw her hands to the side, and-
{VWOOSH}
-Tossed the ball of metal to the side and slamming it into one of the 4 legged droid walkers nearby, the metal ball inflating for a second as it crashed to the ground, before-
{KA-BOOM}
-Exploding into a great big fireball that consumed both walker and droid, sending flaming shards of metal across the battlefield, and blanketing the ravine and arena in smoke and ash as the cult was covered in a thick screen of smoke, blinding them and forcing them to switch their helmets to infrared, but too late to react as-
{BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG}
-Torrents of gunfire flew into the cultists. Their armour protected them for the most part, but many of them were left dead, and the rest of them were disorientated and confused, before the smoke cleared and they too regained themselves, aiming their own guns and-
{BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG}
-Letting loose waves of gunfire and ice, beginning the siege proper between the 2 sides.
Spotting a wave of cultists trying to move around their side and flank them, Jaune then called out, "Someone gets to our side! We've got a big mess of these guys trying to surround us!"
"I'm on it!" one initiate called out- A boy in black and blue armour with dual pistols at his side, who then turned to a throng of initiates behind him and yelled out, "You heard him, lads! Let's go bash these cultist fuckers' heads in!" and with a roar of approval, they charged forth to meet the cultists at their sides head on.
Meanwhile, Jaune pointed to the other flank of the cultists, where a line of the cultists Wardens of Faith, bipedal walkers and 4 legged droids began to pepper and bombard the initiate lines with mortar strikes and missiles bombardments, "Anyone with heavy weapons and explosives, get some artillery on those lines!"
Nearby, several initiates cheered, and one called out, "Roger that!" and as soon as the order was given, overhead, scores of grenades and missiles and bombs of all sorts flew in trails of green and red and blue and orange, falling onto the lines of the cultists' heavy weapons in balls of fire and smoke, sending shockwaves of wind and vibrations of deafening sound through the world around them.
"Anima!"
"Yeah?!" Anima called out from her side as she-
{BAM BAM BAM BAM}
-Unloaded round after round from her rifle into the lines of cultists before her, sparing only a few moments to reload.
"You and your boys- Ack!" Jaune stopped to roll out of the way and unload a few rounds of his own into the legs of a charging Sinful, and then slamming the butt of his gun into another, "You and your boys start assembling a crew to flank the cultists on their other side, and start pouring fire into their flanks! If they want to put us to siege, then it's only fair that we return the favour!"
"How many do I need?!"
"As many as it will take!"
Anima smiled viciously, "Got it!" and after transforming into her beast form to bite into the neck of a Templar cultist, forcing it to the ground, before leaping back into her human form and stomping her feet into the heads of 2 Sinfuls, using them as a springboard to jump back into the air and land right next to Dove, Russel, and Sky, leading them off and gathering more initiates for their favour.
He looked around the battlefield, and realised that they were standing out in the open, completely exposed. They needed cover. Luckily there were some potholes and craters in the ground that some of the initiates were loosing to shield themselves, but unfortunately it wasn't enough.
An idea came to mind.
"Pyrrha!"
"Yes, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked as, with a tired sigh, she blocked an incoming blast with her shield, and then fired off a round into the armoured chest of a cultist, knocking him down to the ground.
"Your semblance is levitation, right?"
"Um, no, it's- I've never actually revealed this to many people- It's polarity."
"What?"
"I can manipulate metal through their magnetism."
"What?"
"I can levitate metal."
"Oh."
Another explosion interrupted them, and a surge of ice forced them to dodge out of the way as Jaune looked over the battlefield, and then to the recently shredded piles of metal from droids and walkers nearby, and then smiled.
Looking back to Pyrrha, he then asked, "You think you can make us some cover out of those scraps over there?"
Pyrrha blinked, and then, "How much?"
"Enough for us to hunker down, and stay mobile at the same time. I'd rather we didn't get bogged down by these guys."
Pyrrha looked over to the flaming wrecks of twisted metal, and then back to Jaune-
"Got it."
-Before cracking her neck, and then holding her hands out, that now familiar black glow flowing over them, as the still hot metal nearby-
{SKIRCH}
{KKRRTSSHHH}
-Began to twist and turn in place, right before-
{SKKKEEEERRRRRTTTTTCCCCCHHHHHH}
-Torrents of sheets and shards of metal were ripped off of their hinges and bolts, and collected right over their heads, a steady black aura over them.
And then, at what must've been the speed of sound-
{FLUNK FLUNK FLUNK FLUNK FLUNK}
-Every single piece of metal sliced and wedged themselves into the ground, creating rows and rows of cover and metal shields, ranging from big to small as blasts of ice grew around the metal, and said metal deflected rounds and rounds of bullets, letting then bounce off and pile onto the floor as droves of initiates took to the shields that had now been provided for them, cheering with new and renewed vigour as they fired back between the metal shards and fields within their new trenches and firing lines.
Jaune smiled once more. The battle was going in their favour now, but they still had to deal with the cultists that had woven between their lines and were still charging them, "Everyone at the front of line, start focusing fire on the targets closest to you! Second line, start giving them covering fire! Back line, start focusing on their heavy units and armour, and get some fire onto their air forces! Everyone else, give some covering fire to our flanking units, pick your targets, and take them down!"
Suddenly, Nana appeared next to him, firing off her pistols into the cult's numbers, before asking, "Jaune!?"
"Yeah?!" he replied over the gunfire and explosions.
"What exactly is the plan here?!"
YEAH JAUNE, WHAT'S YOUR PLAN RIGHT NOW?
…
They thought he had a plan.
Heh.
Who has time to think about a plan these days?
All of this?
He was honestly just making it up as he went along.
AH...
THE MARKS OF A TRUE LEADER.
Ah, shut up, stop teasing me...
NO, IT'S TRUE.
HOW MANY TIMES DO YOU THINK THAT A LEADER HAS FACED THE CHALLENGE OF ACTION WITHOUT A STRATEGY?
HOW MANY TIMES DO YOU THINK A LEADER IS FORCED TO JUST 'WING IT' ON A BATTLEFIELD?
IF THERE IS ONE ASPECT THAT UNIFIES ALL GOOD LEADERS, IT IS THE ABILITY TO ADAPT AND IMPROVISE ON THE SPOT.
ADAPT AND OVERCOME, AS THEY SAY.
WITH THAT-
AW, STOP STANDING, BIG BRO, AND START KICKING BAD GUY BUTT!
Jaune blinked, and then smiled. He was more than happy to oblige.
"The plan, Nana?" he began, taking a moment to reload his gun, before finishing with, "The plan is to survive."
More cannons sounded off around them. Nearby, Pyrrha leant against one of the walls of metal as her blonde-haired, red eyed familiar sliced through the legs of a nearby Sinful, before slamming her feet against the thing's chest and throwing it into another Sinful, right before a Deacon tried to slam its shield into her, right before she pulled it out of his hands and threw it into him like a frisbee, before throwing a haymaker with her armoured left fist into the face of another Sinful, breaking its jaw and spewing blood as it fell to the ground.
Jaune blinked, and realised that their lines were still covered and polluted by cultist fighters, and with a crack of his neck, he yelled out, "Everyone who doesn't have a gun, start focusing on the cultists still within our ranks! Everyone else, open fire, and unleash hell!"
Ruby was more than happy to oblige with that order.
{BANG}
Went the barrel of her Crescent Rose in a quick blossom of orange, yellow, and white light, and-
{CHING}
-Went the spend round being ejected from the chamber, as the bullet flew all the way across the battlefield, and landed in the chest of one of the undead Dreadlock Grimm with a satisfying-
{CRUNCH}
-And-
{SPLATTER}
-Forcing it down onto the ground with a black splatter of blood.
Nailed it.
Of course, the thing that was once a Grimm didn't let a simple bullet hole in its chest stop it as it threw itself back up onto its feet and let out a gurgled howl. Any Grimm that had been reborn under the control of a Husk was functionally immortal, and could only be put to rest once the specific Husk controlling them was destroyed.
Thankfully, this was hardly ever a problem. Husks were Great Grimm, and as such, were exceedingly rare. And besides, Husks could only take over recently killed Grimm, as long as they still had some presence within the world before fading into nothingness upon death.
But there were multiple Husk Grimm here. Multiple Great Grimm. A dozen's worth, at least.
And they were all following the orders of the Cult of Silver.
How? How was that possible? Grimm are the natural enemies of mankind. Grimm are destruction incarnate. The average Grimm would go out of its way just to hunt down and kill any and every human and Faunus that it could find. The idea that any Grimm would, willingly or not, follow the orders of any human or Faunus was just pure madness.
And yet, she had always learnt that Husk Grimm were considered... Unnatural, when compared to their fellows. She had never personally encountered a Husk before today, and had only ever heard of them through her studies at Signal Academy, but from what she had been taught, other Grimm seemed to constantly be steering clear of the Husks whenever they were in the vicinity. Sometimes they were even known to do battle with each other. It was like the regular Grimm were afraid of the Husks, or hated them, or something else entirely.
Ruby was starting to suspect that it was that 'Something else entirely' part.
Because, as she narrowed her eyes and zoomed them in on one of the Husks, she was finally beginning to make the connection as to why...
Silver eyes, Ruby's own eyes widened, They've got silver eyes...
Grimm with the power of the silver eyes... Or at least being controlled by the Cult's 'Silver-Eyed Warriors'...
Ruby shook her head clear of these thoughts, Focus on the fight. Worry about that stuff later, and then narrowed her sights down onto another one of the Undead Grimm barrelling right towards them.
{BANG}
Right on target.
The shot sent the Grimm flying back, and into a crowd of its fellows, knocking them all down to the ground. Ruby, meanwhile, gave a quick smile at a job well done as she looked between the sheets of metal that she was using as cover.
"Kid, what the hell are you doing?! Stop wasting ammo on the zombie Grimm!" one of the initiates nearby, however, took umbrage with her efforts, and then went, "At the very least, start shooting at the cultists instead of the Grimm! They're the bigger threat, after all!"
Ruby frowned, but did as she was told and moved her sights towards the cultists that were beginning to retreat behind the lines of undead Grimm, using them as cover against the initiates' attacks. Through her sights, she observed a wounded cultist with a bloody side, as another cultist ran up to hi- Her, actually. Her helmet was off and revealed a feminine face with a cute pair of brown cat ears on her head- Her, and applied some sort of pink biofoam to her side.
Ruby inspected this new type of cultist with the biofoam. It was a cultist that was more machine than man, with silver and blue robes with a red cross at the back of it, with silver metal arms and legs, a metal gasmask with glowing orange optics, and a large plate of silver and blue metal on his chest with blinking silver lights and a glowing red cross built into it. Built into his arms were vats of biofoam connected to sharpened needles and tubes that ran across his entire body, and all connected to a string of pink and clay coloured biofoam patches on his back, hidden underneath his cloak.
Ruby mused at the nature of this new cultist variant- What seemed to be the doctors and medics of the Cult of Silver, as well as... What? Splicers, Bioengineers? Something else?- But then shook her head free of distractions, took aim at another nearby cultist, and...
She hesitated.
Ruby had always blanched at the idea of taking another person's life. Incapacitating them, sure, she could do that. She did that on the night of the robbery, and she could sure as heck to that here.
But actually taking a life? Pulling the trigger? Snuffing out a life like it were nothing but a candleflame?
Could Ruby do it? Could she kill someone and look at their bloodied corpse and go 'Yes, I killed you, because it was you or me, and I chose me'?
And what about that person's family? Did they have a family? Did they have friends? Did they have a spouse and children? None at all? A mother? A father? Would they be remembered, or were they just one in a statistic?
Ruby spared a glance at Yang's bloodied hand, and realised that her older sister must've been asking herself that exact same question.
Then again, did her mother face this same dilemma? Did she once have to choose between the life or death of another?
Was that how she died?
…
…
…
…
Uncle Qrow had always hammered it into her that, once she became a Huntress, she would one day have to choose wherever to take a life or spare a life. One day, she was...
She was going to have to kill someone...
…
…
…
…
She couldn't do it.
Dammit, she was useless here! She could fight and kill Grimm willy nilly, but couldn't handle the death of another person, especially at her own hands! She needed to help, but at this point, she didn't know how.
"Hold the line!" behind her, Jaune- Where had all of that sudden confidence come from?- Yelled out to the lines of initiates around them, "Start wedging them into a chokepoint, and catch them in a crossfire! They'll have to contend with fire from every direction if we do!"
Huh, a decent plan, actually. If they were caught in a chokepoint, then they would have little room to maneuverer, and then picked off without little cover from their overlapping fields of fire. It seemed clear to her that Jaune was just making this up as he went along, but still... Good improvisation on his part.
Now, if only Ruby could-
A soft whistling entered her ears, which then grew louder, and louder, and louder, until...
Ruby looked up.
"GET DOWN!"
The fighter craft from before soared down from overhead, and rained hot fire onto them as it flew back into the air. Explosions and cries of pain and fear sounded off around her as the fighter completed its flyby and ascended back into the sky, whirling around in the air and turning back around to strafe the initiates once again.
"E-Everyone, disperse and get to cover!" Jaune called out as the fighter strafed their position once more with a loud-
{FWOOSH}
-In the air, followed by the-
{RATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA}
-Of its guns, hot lead impacting with the ground and kicking up dirt and bodies as the dead trees swayed and moved in the winds that it left behind.
Ruby looked towards the lines of cultists, and realised that they were regaining momentum. If that thing kept strafing them like that, then the cultists were going to swarm their position in a massive rush all over again, and completely overwhelm them.
Ruby's eyes widened. She knew what she had to do.
"Weiss!" she called out, and in a flash of petals, she was by the heiress' side, watching her unleash a line of glowing blue hardlight projectiles from her glyphs into a squad of approaching cultists, before asking, "Weiss, what does-"
"Ack! Ruby! When did you get here?!" Weiss went before she pulled Ruby and herself behind a sheet of metal as silver and blue fire continued to pour itself into their positions.
"I just- Never mind, what's your aura count?"
"Why do you-" Weiss cut herself off, before then answering with, "My aura's fully charged now, why?"
"What kind of glyphs can you summon?"
Weiss raised an eyebrow, no doubt wondering why she was asking, before going, "Well, it depends on the type of dust that I use."
"Well, what kind of dust do you still have? Hardlight? Gravity? Fire? Electricity?"
"Almost every type, yes. Why?"
Nearby, the fighter strafed them again, and fired its cannons into the ground, pushing a group of initiates out into the open, only for them to be picked off by the cultists snipers and heavy guns, mowed down like sheep in a butcher's shop.
Ruby pointed her finger into the sky and let it follow after the fighter in the sky, "That thing up in the sky is going to keep strafing our positions and pushing us out into the open if we don't take it out," she looked at Weiss, "And that's what we're going to do."
Weiss blinked, "What?"
"Can your glyphs modify a bullet?"
She blinked again, "Into what?"
"Into a projectile with the explosive ordinance of a rocket launcher, and with the power of a railgun."
"...Oh."
"I'll take that as a yes."
It surprised Ruby as to how serious she was acting at the moment. However, right now, lives were at stake, and she had to put any reservations out of the way and focus on the task at hand. Now was seriously not the time for silliness.
Ruby peaked her head out of cover, and then spotted Jaune nearby, taking a moment to duck her head down to avoid a sniper rifle round from catching her in the head, before yelling out to him, "Jaune, I've got a plan to take down that fighter in the air!" she reloaded her sniper rifle with a loud-
{CHLING}
"Give me some covering fire!"
Jaune looked up to the fighter in the air, back down to her, and then nodded his head without question, "Do whatever you have to do!" before looking around to the initiates around him, and yelled, "You heard her! Let's give her some cover!"
At the sounds of fresh gunfire and explosions began to fill her ears in the warzone around her, Ruby grabbed Weiss' arm, and began to pull her into a sprint between the shards and sheets of dilapidated metal, moving so fast that rose petals were beginning to fly off of her body, before pausing within a deep, still smoking crater as the fighter strafed them once more, before looking at Weiss, and finally explaining her plan.
Upon explaining her plan, Weiss blinked for a thrice time, and then-
"You're insane!"
"Do you have a better idea?"
"..."
-She agreed.
As the fighter flew back into the air, Ruby and Weiss continued their sprint across the constantly detonating battlefield around them, picking up speed as they continued to run and run, right until they got to the end of the battlefield and-
"Now Weiss!"
-Jumped up into the air, right before-
{VOMP}
-2 pathways of black glyphs spawned right underneath them, curving up into the air, right into the optimum position if they could get their timing right.
Ruby and Weiss began to run across these glyphs, and right up into the air, as tracer rounds, missile blasts, and pillars of ice began to fly past them and detonate in the sky, though not as much as they could be, thanks to the covering fire that Jaune and the initiates were providing them below.
It was still a lot of firepower being directed at them though, as Ruby and Weiss bobbed and weaved through the air, explosions ringing off around them and clouding their vision with fire and smoke, dirtying them even more than they were before. But that didn't stop either of them as they flipped and danced through the air, Ruby first with her sniper rifle, taking aim at the missiles flying at them, and-
{BANG BANG BANG BANG}
-Shooting down said missiles one by one, detonating them in the air into great plumes of fire and ash as each bullet collided with one of the giant flaming projectiles, whilst behind her, Weiss had to alienate between keeping the glyphs up, dodging the blasts around her, and then juggling vials and samples of dust in her hands, as Ruby looked out into the sky, and-
The fighter in the air had changed its target from the initiates below, and to the pair of them in the sky.
Bingo. The bait was set. Now all was left was to reel it in.
"Ruby!" Weiss began, "We're running out of hardlight dust!" and indeed she was, as the hardlight glyphs beneath them began to flicker and fade with each step that they took, growing fainter and fainter as they began to reach the end of the road.
Ruby, however, did her best to not show her concern, "When I say so, concentrate the last of the dust into a single glyph, and be ready to spawn the rest!"
Weiss hesitantly nodded, and then ducked to avoid another incoming column of fire, as the fighter continued to fly closer and closer to them, narrowing its guns towards them both as its engines continued to grow louder and louder, until-
"Weiss, now!"
-The 2 of them stopped in the middle of the air as all of the other hardlight glyphs around them dissolved into nothingness, all the while Ruby aimed down the sights of her Crescent Rose, her newfound optical zoom on her eyeballs narrowing down her sight even more as she trained them on the fighter heading straight for them, on one of the central engines strapped to the sides of the ship, and then-
{VOMP VOMP VOMP VOMP}
A series of tiny glyphs formed around the barrel of Crescent Rose, each one holding a different type of dust, each one with a specific purpose. Gravity and wind to give the bullet speeds that not even the firing mechanisms of Crescent Rose could reach, electricity to give the bullet an extra electromagnetic punch, and fire and combustion to give it more stopping power. All of these dusts combined together would give a single bullet from a sniper rifle the stopping power of a railgun and the explosive power of a rocket launcher, all from the tiny package of a single 50. calibre bullet from one of the best snipers this side of Vale.
A truly deadly combination indeed.
-She pulled the trigger.
{BANG}
Went the bullet as it left the chamber and interfaced with the glyphs right at the end of the barrel. Combining all of the different types of dust together, the bullet then zoomed faster than a rocket ship, and sliced its way through the side engine of the fighter craft with a shredding-
{KA-BOOM}
-The side engine on the ship exploded into a giant fireball, taking off the entirety of the wing and sending it twirling down into the ground below with a trail of smoke and fire following behind it. Metal shards and pieces flung through the air as-
"DUCK!"
-The 2 initiates had to duck on the black platform underneath them as the 2 halves of the twirling fighter zoomed both over and beneath them in a shroud of fire, just as-
{STAB}
-A flying shard of metal broke through her aura and shot itself right through Ruby's thigh like a bullet.
The girl in question screamed in pain as blood oozed and squirted out of her leg like a waterfall, her knee buckling under the pain as she lost her grip-
{SLIP}
"RUBY!"
-And slipped off of the black glyph beneath her no longer.
She began to fall to the ground, blood trailing from her legs and falling through the air like a pillar of rain as she flailed her arms about and looked from side to side, trying to figure out her landing strategy, whilst also-
Ack! Yep. That still hurt.
With a bloodying leg, she pulled her Crescent Rose towards her, and began to formulate a plan in her head, just as-
{BUCKLE}
{SKIRCH}
What the...
Underneath her, what was left of the ruined metal that was not being used as cover began to twist and turn once more, almost like it was all undulating and mutilating itself into something more, as it all began to rip apart and reform underneath a black aura, reshaping itself like an arm as it reached up to her, until its shape became clear to her.
A slide. A ramp. The metal had forged itself into a ramp.
Slamming down hard onto the thin sheet of metal as shots rang out all around her, just as soon as the 2 halves of the ship slammed into the ground with a synchronous-
{KA-BOOM}
-Ruby began to slide down the ramp at what must've been the speed of a bullet, blood trailing behind her as she screamed out in pain from it, before gritting her teeth and recomposing herself just as the ramp began to level out, before coming to a stop at the bottom and flinging her off, right into the arms of-
{CRASH}
"OOF!"
-Well, less arms, and more body.
Ruby blinked, and got herself off of whoever had stopped her with their body, looking around the battlefield just to see Pyrrha catching Weiss as she gracefully fell to the world below.
Underneath her, someone muttered, "N-Nice one, Pyrrha..." and Ruby looked down, and realised that the person who had 'Caught' her was-
"Jaune!?"
The winded boy in a cloak of pure aura just gave a tired smile, "W-Who else would it be?"
"This is becoming... Problematic."
Baobhan watched as the Cult of Silver's fighter craft was sliced in 2 and crashed into the ground below in a fiery twin explosion, all the while their forces and the initiates below continued to duke it out via guns and bayonets and grenades, explosions ringing off as bodies were felled left and right.
"We were doing so well, and we would've turned all of the initiates to our side, and then presented them to the world once more, renewed and eager for our cause..."
This unexpected resistance had effectively shut down those plans, at least for the most part. They still had all of the initiates that they had previously captured, all tucked away in the troop carriers above, but still...
"It's not enough."
That plan was effectively snubbed, now, and the sudden resistance and throwback of the initiates against their forces had damaged their credibility as a serious contender on the global stage.
They had effectively been humiliated, and even if people realised that the information that they had released was true, they would doubt it due to how soundly this particular group of initiates were beating them back.
…
Oh well.
"A mere setback... Nothing more."
This was all still salvageable.
After all, by speaking out against the corrupt oligarchies that ruled Remnant, they had already won. By underlining the corruption within Atlas, Mistral, Vale, and the SDC (Vacuo was Vacuo, and the... Troublesome elements within the kingdom would play their hand in the Cult's favour soon enough), They had shown their hand, and the cards had played into their favour. Already, through her scroll, she was receiving reports from Cult friendly agents that many people had now turned away from their TVs and were beginning to protest in the streets. Across the 4 kingdoms she was getting words of pockets of rioting taking place, with SDC shops being looted and ransacked, and even the White Fang (Animals that they were, giving good Faunus a bad name. Oh, how Baobhan loathed the group) Were spearheading new propaganda campaigns with the evidence provided by the Cult as evidence against Atlas, serving as the basis for a renewed recruitment effort on their part.
Cute.
But it wouldn't save them.
In the meantime, she suspected that once Ozpin and his cronies arrived and finished up here (As they knew that he would be arriving in the forest soon), He and the rest of the councils would be running damage control soon enough, trying to cover up all of their dirty dealings and corruption, in order to quell new Grimm incursions on their territories, and to stop legitimate police investigations into their businesses.
The Cult wouldn't be having that.
They owned most of the police in Vale, after all, as well as agents in every other kingdom.
In the meantime, she received word of Grimm attacks on Frontier settlements beginning to increase, just as they predicted. With a simple flick across her scroll, she sent a message out to dozens of contacts. Soon, Cult of Silver friendly militias, Hunters, and even agents within Atlas and Providence, would move in to protect these villages and settlements, and would then begin to subtly spread pro-Cult propaganda and so on. Meanwhile, in all of the major Huntsman academies, their own agents would begin their own propaganda campaigns as well, and would begin to antagonise the next generation of Hunters against the current establishments of power.
This little setback within the Emerald Forest... It was just that. A setback. The same as Ruby declining their offer.
For now.
Still though, there was one major flaw in their current plans...
Orion.
Orion, whom went by the name of 'Jaune Arc'.
Orion, who had been granted access to the Silver Kingdom.
…
"It's too soon. It's much too soon."
…
This was a problem.
However, it was not one that couldn't soon be fixed.
Her reaction to his aura awakening, as well as his possession of the link to the Silver Kingdom... That had been a moment of weakness. She had panicked. Jiang Shi would be furious at her, she knew that well.
She would make up for this mistake in the future.
And soon, Orion would see the truth that they knew all too well.
He would join them.
They all would.
Willingly or not.
The Silver Empire would have its Empress...
As well as its Emperor.
It was only a matter of time.
Speaking of time, it was time that they started packing up. Their work here was almost over now. All that they had to do was wait for Ozpin to show up, and that would be when they make their final impression.
Turning to the side, as she and the rest of her fellow Aspects continued to pelt silver light beams and ice blasts of all sorts at the initiates in the front (She refused to be labelled as an armchair general who didn't get her hands dirty like her fellows), Baobhan looked to Ruby Alter and asked, "Is that Nora Valkyries body that your possessing?" upon getting a nod from the woman, she then added, "Good. Now is the time for you to leave, then."
With another call through her scroll, the troop carrier near them began to lower itself to the ground, right in the ravine and next to the ancient ruins, still firing off rounds into the lines of initiates.
"Alter, get on the troop carrier, and head back to the warship," cranking her head to the side, she looked to her fellow Aspects, and said, "Lamia, Lilith, Draugr, Upyr, I want you to go with her too. Guard her. Make sure that none of Ozpin's goons get to her."
"You got it, sis!" Draugr nodded, as she pulled the leashed Upyr along, Lamia and Lilith trailing right behind her as they followed Ruby Alter towards the troop carrier, but not before Draugr called out to the twins that they had recruited from Junior's nightclub, "Come on, mamas! Let's go, let's go!"
"Ah, of course, my goddesses," Miltia curtsied before following them, whilst Melanie just nodded like an obedient little pet and went after her masters eagerly.
Baobhan smiled, looked up to the walkers still in the field, "HWPs, start sending out some rocket fire as cover. Husks, move to the front of our lines and get the hordes in position," and then back at the rest of the Aspects with her, and said, "Well then, shall we get stuck in?"
The sounds of agreement and encouragement were like music to her ears.
"Everyone on the right flank, start- Ow!" Jaune rubbed his stomach momentarily to stop the cramp from Ruby slamming into him from hurting so much, and then continued, "Start concentrating fire on the gap in their lines at your side! Separate them into 2, keep them from coordinating with each other, and pick them off one by one! Left flank, keep focusing on their surrounding forces! Back line, put more fire into their heavy weapons!"
"Roger that!" one of the initiates yelled out as a fresh stream of mortars and grenades flew out from behind them and slammed into the walkers and 4-legged droids with a rainbow of colourful fire, crackling and bursting into shards under the heat and force.
Jaune laughed with enthusiastic mirth in his voice, "Good job!" and then went, "Now change targets to their infantry lines, and start sowing chaos! Take out any leaders and authority figures, and leave them no room to organise!"
At the sounds of agreement, sniper rounds and grenade blasts began to fly out into the lines of cultist manpower before them, sending many of them flying and flailing in the air at the force of the explosions, as well as the back blast from them as the world before the lines of initiates were turned into a hellscape of smoke and ash and blankets of hot silica.
The initiates roared in triumph, and continued their barrage. Entire squads of cultists were decimated, and from the looks of it, their morale was dropping rapidly. Ice walls were being formed for cover, but they were being pounded by dozens of bullets and explosives, and eventually worn down and melted by the flames delivered to them by the initiates. Blankets of soot intermingled with fields of frost as the heat and chill began to commingle together to form a deep humidity, leaving the air wet and uncomfortable.
But that didn't bother the initiates as they continued to slam themselves into the cultist lines, forcing them further and further back from them. Snipers took out leadership figures within their lines. Explosive experts launched rockets into crowds of cultists that hadn't properly spaced out. Melee fighters without any kind of projectile weapons picked off the stragglers that hadn't been able to reach the main crowds.
Their counterattack was working. The cultists were falling.
The initiates were actually winning.
HEH.
What?
YOU. BEING A LEADER.
YOU'RE GOOD AT THIS.
I'm not that good...
TELL THAT TO EVERYONE ELSE.
YOU'RE A LOT BETTER THAN YOU GIVE YOURSELF CREDIT FOR.
Yeah, well, I'll believe that when I...
His eyes widened in fear.
"GET DOWN!"
Dozens of missiles were about to rain down on them.
Initiates screamed and dove themselves in cover as the horrifying whistling of the burning projectiles dove closer and closer towards them all.
"Get in my shield!" Jaune yelled out to the initiates around him as he pushed all of his aura into his hands, and then-
{VOMPF}
-Threw his hands out and formed the bright white bubble shield around him, over a dozen initiates- Including Ren, Ruby, the Schnee girl, Yang, Anima, Nana, Russel, Sky, Dove, a black-haired girl, Pyrrha, the ginger jock guy, and Pyrrha's familiar- Crowding into the bubble, just as-
{BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM}
-Dozens upon dozens of missiles slammed into the ground around them, blossoming and blooming like flowers of fire and smoke, polluting the air and turning much of the world around them into ash and soot, ripping metal plates of cover out of the ground and shredding much of what was left, decimating lines of initiates and disorganising the rest of them.
Even before the final missile had hit the ground, already dozens of initiates were scrambling to reorganise themselves and recover the momentum of their attack, picking out the wounded from the crowds and herding them away for recovery, whilst the bubble shield that had surrounding Jaune was willed away, and he looked around and surveyed the ruined world around him.
Just as the undead Dreadlock Grimm forced him down to the ground and bit its teeth into his arm.
Jaune screamed out in pain, "Mother-" before slamming his shield into its jaw, -FUCKER!" and breaking its neck as he threw it off, only for its neck-
{CRACK}
{CLICK}
{CRACKLE}
-To heal itself in a disgusting display of super healing, as it looked up at him and growled once more, blackened blood foaming from its mouth as it lunged back up-
"RAAAAAU- GUGH!
-Only for a bronze shield to slam into its side, and launch it across the battlefield flailing and screaming, whilst the shield found itself flying back into the arms of the bronze Amazonian right next to her.
"Thanks, Pyrrha," Jaune said, getting a nod from Pyrrha in return, as he looked once more to the battlefield before him, and went, "Now, what the hell was... Ah."
Husk Grimm. About a baker's dozen of them, their mutilated and ravaged bodies standing in a line before the cultists, shielding them from attack as their hordes of enslaved undead Grimm stood before them as well, howling and screeching, as if they were in pain. It was horrible to listen too. Behind them, walls of ice had been erected, shielding the cultists from attack as they recovered and healed themselves.
As the Husk Grimm began to send out their weak, yet still immortal hordes, Jaune then noticed the troop carrier from before, now hovering right next to the ruins built into the ravine nearby, allowing a few of the Aspects from before- Including the immortal twins- As well as...
The fake-Ruby. Ruby Alter. It was boarding that ship.
It was taking Nora with them.
"They're escaping!" the Schnee girl called out indignantly, "Those cowardly curs are trying to run!"
The black-haired girl rolled her eyes, "'Curs'. Who even says that anymore?"
"They're going to take Nora with them," Ren said in a panic.
"I know," Jaune simply stated, a look of renewed determination on his feet.
"We can't let that happen!"
"We're not going to."
As the troop carrier began to ascend into the sky, its living cargo now aboard, Pyrrha turned to Jaune and went, "But how? My semblance isn't strong enough to bring an airship that size!"
"Not to mention that even if you tried, all of the people that they've stuffed inside of that ship could be killed as well," Anima added in with.
Jaune looked to her in shock, "They've been kidnapping people?"
"They've been stuffing hundreds of initiates into those things ever since they got here. My boys and I were barely able to avoid one of their recovery squads when they were trying to capture us as well."
Jaune looked back up to the troop carrier, and clenched his fist, "That's it then: We need to bring down that airship, rescue everyone in there, free Nora from that Ruby Alter thing, and then-"
"And then what?" the ginger jock mockingly asked, "Run off with that thing?"
"And what about the Husk Grimm?" Yang asked with a raised eyebrow, "Those aren't regular Grimm: Those are Great Grimm. Even just one is almost impossible to take down by conventional means! You want to abandon us to those things?!"
Jaune shook his head, and then dryly said, "Nope. What I want to do is take control of that airship, ram it straight into the Husk Grimm, and shove them all the way down into that ravine there. They'll all be crushed to death by the momentum, the blunt force trauma, their own weight, and the sheer size and explosive power of the troop carrier as well. And once the Husks are dead, their undead armies will drop as well."
Everyone blinked, and fell into a shocked silence. Eventually, it was Nana who broke the silence as she then asked, "But how are we supposed to get up there? We've got no way to get back up into the sky!"
Jaune looked around, and then his eyes narrowed on one object in particular.
"Yeah we do."
"What do you mean?"
"I have an idea."
He paused, and took a deep breath.
"A very, very stupid idea."
…WHY DO YOU LOVE STUPID IDEAS? WHAT ABOUT SMART IDEAS? WHAT HAVE SMART IDEAS EVER DONE TO YOU?
APART FROM AVOID YOU.
HUSH, YOU.
Around them, the initiates were being flooded by undead Grimm.
Swords and steel met hordes of nightmarish monsters as their fight for survival continued on. Nearby, the Husk Grimm stood uninterested, sending the occasional ice attack into the crowds of initiates every now and then, but largely just standing off to the side, allowing their slaves and minions to do the work for them.
As the initiates began to flounder and falter, their morale dropping as it looked like the end was inevitable, a sudden voice cut through the air like a knife through butter:
"Don't worry, everyone! Our leader's got a plan!"
A few dared to look back, as they watched a small group of initiates- Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren, Nana, Ruby, and Yang- Crowd together near the back, right where the giant ramp of metal that she had made earlier was positioned, just as Pyrrha threw her hands out, and yelled:
"Everyone, be brave! We're going to take that airship up there, and use it against these monsters!"
Those whom listened dared to blink in disbelief. How? How were they planning to take an entire airship? Especially when it was still raining down fire onto them as it began to drift away towards the giant warship still in the sky. How were they going to accomplish that?
But then, Pyrrha's hands began to hum a steady black, and-
{CRACK}
{SHRED}
{CRINKLE}
{SKIRTSH}
-The metal around her began to twist and turn and rip itself apart, breaking off from whatever constructs, and coming together once more, wrapping around itself and forming what must've been a giant...
No way...
Around her, the metal creased and smoothed itself out, reshaping itself and coalescing, all to form-
"Just remember: Our leaders have not abandoned you! We will never abandon you! Never forget that!"
-A bullet. All of the metal in the surrounding area had been brought together and transformed to form a giant bullet.
A bullet with rungs built into it.
"Everyone on the Recovery Team, grab hold!" Jaune yelled out as he, Nana, Ren, Ruby, and Yang all took hold of one of the rungs that had been weaved and woven into the bullet, holding on for dear life, pushing their aura into their arms so that they wouldn't rip off from the sudden pressure and g-force.
A black aura once more formed around the giant metal projectile.
Pyrrha threw her arms back, her face scrunching up in concentration as she visibly strained her aura to pick up the giant bullet that she had crafted and put together.
5
4
3
2
1-
Nana looked at Jaune, "Hey... Are you doing okay?"
"Erm… I'm starting to have second thoughts."
"That implies that you were having a first thought."
"Good point... Hey, Nana?"
"Yeah?"
"In case I forget to say this later... Augh."
-Lift off.
With a roar of determination, Pyrrha threw her arms forward, and with all of her strength and aura-
{FWOOSH}
"AAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
-Threw the giant bullet threw the air, sending explosions of wind behind it, and sailing through the air like an arrowhead soaring through the heavens.
"LET GO WHEN I SAY SO!"
Jaune was barely able to yell this out over the buffeting winds and howls of air as they all held tightly to the rails and rungs that had been provided to them, their clothes and gear flapping in the winds behind them as the sheer force of the air against them threatening to tear their arms off from its socket, with only their aura keeping their limbs locked in place against the force of the winds.
"Wait for it..."
The troop carrier grew closer and closer.
"Wait for it..."
He could make out the green haired twins, the almost naked girl, the young vampiric boy on the leash, and the fake-Ruby standing on top of the airship, obviously wanting a clean view of the battle below.
"Wait..."
The bullet continued to sail through the sky, gradually loosing momentum as they sailed right underneath the troop carrier.
Right next to it.
Right past it.
Right above it.
"NOW!"
Down below, on the ground, the initiates were angst. The bullet had missed. Weren't they aiming to shoot it down? If not, then what was the point?
But then they remembered: No, it wasn't the point. The bullet was just the transport.
Now it was time for the cargo onboard to make their move.
The Recovery Team let go of the giant bullet sailing through the air, and began to fall to the ground. However, through careful manouvering- As well as some nudges from Ruby and her semblance- They careened down to the roof of the troop carrier, and-
{THUD}
{THUD}
{THUD}
{THUD}
{THUD}
-Slammed their feet into its hull.
"You know-"
The 4 Aspects stood still in shock, but the Ruby Alter monster remained ever emotionless.
"-Now that I see you up close... You're not as tough as I thought."
Opposing the Aspects, the Recovery Team- Ruby, Yang, Ren, and Nana strong- Aimed their weapons and cracked their nuckles.
And in front of them, their leader, Jaune Arc, folded his hands over his chest, and held a look on his face that screamed 2 defiant words:
'Bring it'.
"Now then... Shall we begin?"
Reviewer response time:
C3l3st14: I wouldn't say it's power armour, but much less just actual armour. And as for the other questions... That's all spoiler stuff, so shush.
ReDestrobo: Oh trust me, in case you couldn't tell, it's only going to get crazier from here! Suffice to say, almost everyone is going to have a badass moment by the end of this arc!
Greer123: When you said that, it immediately made me think of the Rally The Troops trailer for Destiny 2. Now, I just have to wonder: Is Jaune Zavala, or is he Cayde-6?
SentinalSlice: Yes (Of a sort) And no. It'll make sense in the future.
DNWorks: That implies that the Cult weren't prepared for something like that, at least. And no, it's not going to be easy. And thank you. I do try.
merendinoemiliano: Hey now, I don't know. I do have a bit of a preference towards Lancaster, but I can't say anything for now.
Xealchim: Yeah, Destiny lore is great. My favourite Lore Book right now is For Every Rose, A Thorn. Truth To Power just confuses me, though. And I needn't say anymore about the ridiculousness of the Chronicon. And hey now, let's not start arguments in the reviews, alright. Let's just keep things civil, yeah?
"You get a badass moment, and you get a badass moment! Everyone gets a badass moment!"
Yeah, this is now basically: Badass the Arc, part 1. Stay tuned for part 2 soon.
And before anyone say anything, yes, I got the inspiration for the bullet scene from Re:Zero. If anyone wants to know what I'm talking about, go check out Re:Zero. It's very much worth your time!
And also, shoutout to one of the best reaction fics on this site: Re:Zero Watching Him Die Again and Again, by mohamedasemabas. It is honestly one of the best reactions fics that you will ever read on this site.
But anyways, with all of that said and done, leave a review, favourite, follow, and I shall see you all next time!
Titanmaster117 out!