Unknown Location, Kingdom of Vacuo
Sig landed on top of Avalon, bouncing off his shoulders. He shot out his suit's tail as he landed, skewering Avalon's shoulder. The glowing man was yanked towards Sig, who followed up with an uppercut and backwards hop, carrying Avalon with him.
His tail cracked like a whip, Avalon still impaled on the tip. It threw him down to the ground, where Avalon skidded to a halt. Sig dropped down, painfully stomping on Avalon's groin before kicking him away. Avalon slid through a warp glyph, depositing him on his feet. Azul swung their axe at Avalon, swiping left, then right, then up. Azul leapt into the air, bringing their axe down on top of the white figure, forcing them both back to the ground.
Kira readied her rifle and fired off eight shots, juggling Avalon into the air. She flipped two coins, turned around, and drew her revolvers. Firing over her shoulders, the shots bounced off the coins and into Avalon's body. Two more shots knocked the coins towards Avalon. Kira's left eye flashed yellow as she pressed her fingers together, detonating the coins. When the smoke cleared, the room was empty, save for the students and a few straggling hostages.
"Did we get him?" Kira asked, cocking her head.
"It can't be that simple…" Niko grumbled, readying his axe.
"That's… right..!" Avalon yelled, pulling his body back together from dust. "You've proved to be quite troublesome. In that case, I'll-urk!" He doubled over, body flickering from the borderless white form to his form as Seraphi, a relatively normal-looking man in a suit.
"Guh… I… managed to get back… some control… Run, before Avalon…" Seraphi groaned, before shooting back upright with a blast of energy.
Avalon roared, sending out waves of heat and compressed air that pounded against the stone walls of the complex. The ground rumbled underneath the fighters.
"Shit, he's-" Tobias was cut off by the floor collapsing underneath them. They all tumbled to the ground.
-XNTW-
Tobias groaned in pain as he hauled himself to his feet. The land around him was riddled with chunks of stone and steel scaffolding in the process of melting into a hot slag.
The rest of the students were all either out cold or pinned underneath the pieces of the building. Avalon stood some distance away, the sand underneath him melted into hot glass. He appeared to be unconscious.
"Shit…" Tobias whispered. He stumbled over to the nearest stone. He slumped against it, pushing as much of his weight as possible into the massive rock. The chunk refused to budge. "Double shit…"
Briefly pausing to consider his options, he held up his left hand. Well, it's either this or Avalon kills me, he thought. He raised his wrist up to his face, biting into the flesh of his arm. His own blood seeped into his mouth. He winced in pain, but still felt his strength returning twofold. He drew his sword and slammed it into the rock, cracking the stone. He pushed into it, rolling it off of Rai. He dropped his sword and helped the other boy to his feet.
Working as fast as possible, they managed to add Taiga and Lin to their forces, the rest unconscious.
"This is it. If we don't stop Avalon here, everyone dies." Tobias said quietly.
"Then we won't fail." Rai responded, nocking an arrow.
"Ok, then here's the plan…" Tobias said.
-XNTW-
The desert, Kingdom of Vacuo
The squad of airships kicked up massive clouds of dust as they sped through the sands.
"Are you sure we're even going to the right place?" Professor Xiao Long asked.
"I'm sure. One of the beacons Sig puts in all his equipment is responding from an abandoned factory block this way." Brynhild, Sig's AI companion, responded. She was currently occupying one of Sig's empty frames.
Xiao Long sighed. "I'll take your word for it."
-XNTW-
Avalon's Complex, Kingdom of Vacuo
Taiga approached Avalon unsteadily. Her makeshift prosthetics allowed her to crudely grasp her swords and knives, but didn't allow for much precision. But it'd have to do.
Avalon raised his head.
Wordlessly, Taiga drew her swords. Long blade in the right hand, short blade in the left.
She took off towards Avalon, leaving a cloud of dust and sand in her trail. She slashed as she ran past him, looping back around and repeating. When she felt her grip fade on her blades, she drew several knives, throwing them at Avalon as she ran circles around him.
Despite the absurd amount of sharp implements sticking out of him, Avalon remained standing. As Taiga ran past him again, he shot his arm out nearly as fast as she ran, clotheslining her.
He followed with a barrage of rapid punches and kicks. He seemed solely focused on Taiga. Through the pain, she had one thought: All according to plan.
From beneath the sand, Lin shot out of the ground, hand slamming into one of the gashes along Avalon's back. He recoiled in pain as Lin's liquid form flowed into his body. Lin slowly began reconstructing her own body inside his, leaving Avalon flailing around as his body expanded. Then, all at once, Lin reformed, blasting Avalon apart.
He reconstructed himself in turn, though it was with great difficulty. Before the center of Avalon's body re-manifested, Tobias burst from the shadows, sticking his blade in the empty space where his heart would be. Avalon slammed a hand into Tobias's stomach, sharp nails digging into the shark's flesh, and paused with satisfaction, moving backwards slightly before being pricked by the point of Rai's arrow. He realized that in his focus on Taiga, he had fallen right into their trap.
"Hmm… not bad." Avalon spat. He coughed, unable to breathe due to his lack of heart. "How long… do you plan… to stay here?"
"As long as it takes… until one of us is dead." Tobias wheezed.
The wind whistled through the complex ruins. Then, from the distance, the sound of engines faintly carried on the breeze.
"Heh… Looks like we win." Tobias chuckled.
"Huh-how did they find you?" Avalon heaved.
"That would be Sig's doing. He makes sure to put tracking chips in all his stuff." Rai said sternly.
"Hmm. Then I suppose I lost." Avalon closed his eyes, smiling faintly. He withdrew his hand from Tobias' abdomen.
Rai and Tobias relaxed their grips on their weapons.
Avalon grinned wickedly, reforming his heart and surging with energy. Tobias and Rai were sent flying back, but as they tumbled through the air, they each hit Avalon with their own ranged solutions, Rai firing an arrow and Toby throwing his cutlass. The arrow embedded itself in Avalon's ribs and the sword in his right calf. He collapsed back to the ground, wheezing.
The airships blazed over the horizon, descending upon the ruined complex. From the ships leapt dozens of trained Huntsmen and Huntresses, including the full staff of Beacon, representatives from Atlas, and a combined force from Mistral and Vacuo. They combed the ruins, finding the Beacon students and the rescued hostages.
From a puddle of black ooze, Avalon rose to his hands and knees.
You can't win, Seraphi's voice called from inside his head.
"Duly noted. In that case, I leave it to you to ensure our survival. 'Take the fall,' as you would say." Avalon said.
You son of a-!" Seraphi's voice faded into reality, returning his body as well.
He rose to his knees and slowly held his arms up. Lights shone into his eyes, the last thing he saw before he collapsed, having lost a lot of blood.
"Get this man medical attention, immediately!" Headmaster Pine shouted. "These students, too!"
"Check the surrounding buildings as well!" Professor Arc added, sheathing his sword.
When the medevac team found Wren atop the nearby roof, all that was with him was a chain and mask, the only remaining trophies of a fallen enemy.
Atop a nearby sand dune, a man watched the relief effort, glowing white eyes shifting indifferently. His braided hair fluttered in the wind.
In one hand he held a flask, and in the other, Ferris' limp corpse, held by the breastplate.
A/N: Thank you for reading this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it.
I hope the scene with the airships coming in didn't seem too deus-ex-machina-ey. I also hope that I ended this chapter with a nice cliffhanger for the next story arc.
That's all this week. Leave a review and a favorite, and follow the fic, too!
See ya next week! Cyber, out.