Here we are at Chapter 113. We're almost done and caught up with the series. Anyway, I do not own RWBY or Tales of Berseria. They belong to their respective owners. I only own my OCs. Here's chapter 113. Enjoy. Happy Birthday Ruby Rose!
Chapter 113: A Broken Front
In Ironwood's office, the members of Team RVWBY prepare to stand against the Ace Ops. The people they once called their allies are now their newest enemies.
"Please, you can't just try and stop us," Blake says.
"You heard the General. Until this is all over, you are under arrest. Velvet Crowe, I'll give you one last chance. Come peacefully, or we'll make you. As the Fall Maiden, your duty is to protect the world, not just one settlement," Harriet says as she locks down the room with her scroll.
Velvet doesn't budge, "You don't get it, Harriet. That's exactly what I'm doing. If I were to just leave Mantle to die, then how can I protect the rest of the world? How can you save the many if you won't even try to save the few? I won't become Ironwood's pawn like the Winter Maiden. Ironwood let his paranoia get to him, just like in Vale. And I refuse to make the same mistake as him," Velvet activates her arm blade.
"Please, don't make us do this," Vine pleads.
"Don't make us have to go through you by force," Blake retorts.
The members of Team RVWBY ready their weapons, prompting the Ace Ops to do the same.
Harriet grunts, "Heh, you really think you can beat us? We're the best huntsmen in Atlas,"
Ruby smirks, "You were... Then you trained us," she suddenly uses her semblance to speed right past them, breaking through the barricaded door and goes out into the hallway.
Harriet growls and gives chase. The rest of their allies clash with their weapons. Velvet kicks Melina out of the office. Melina rolls back onto her feet and jumps back as Velvet stabs her arm blade into the floor where she once was. The two end up down one hallway away from the others. Meanwhile, Yang throws a series of punches at Elm, forcing her back while blocking with her hammer. However, Yang gets one punch in across her face. Elm staggers back, but then uses her semblance to hold her ground and then head-butts Yang in the face, followed by knocking her to the side with her hammer. Behind Elm, Weiss jumps from glyph to glyph to evade Vine's arms. Vine manages to grab Weiss at one point and pulls her in to Elm, who holds her with hammer.
"Please, just come peacefully and we won't hurt you," Vine pleads.
"Speak for yourself. They betrayed us!" Elm seethes.
"Don't pretend to be the victims here," Weiss retorts before conjuring up a pair of glyphs beneath their feet, forcing Vine and Elm into the air.
Weiss manages to get free and jumps away while Yang fires off a couple of shots. Elm and Vine manages to block them before landing back on their feet while Weiss regroups with Yang.
"We're trying to save the people that we ALL swore an oath to protect!" Yang yells.
"Just forget it, Yang. They're just like the machines they create. Don't know how to make their own decisions. They just do what they're told like the mindless, soulless drones they are," Weiss insults them.
Elm roars and charges at them while Vine jumps up to the upper levels. Inside the office, Blake dukes it out with Marrow, jumping from wall to wall as she makes hit-and-run strikes against Marrow who blocks the attacks. At one point, Marrow makes a slash at Blake with his boomerang, only to hit one of her clones. He turns around just in time to block a surprise strike from the real Blake.
Blake pushes against him, "You can't tell me you're seriously okay with this? Sacrificing hundreds, even thousands of innocent people just to save Atlas and keep the relics away from Salem?!"
"If Salem gets her hands on the relics, then the whole world will be destroyed. It would be millions, not just a few thousand. We're trying to save all of Remnant," Marrow argues.
"If you think you can save the world by letting it fall apart first, that's not saving the world. It's holding onto what's left of it. That is not what it means to be huntsmen or huntresses. A huntsmen or huntress protects others to the bitter end. It's the oath we took. It's the oath you forgot!" Blake pushes Marrow back and fires her pistol at him, forcing him to spin his boomerang to block the shots.
Meanwhile, Velvet and Melina trade blows. Velvet spins in the air as she swings her arm blade around at Melina. Melina deflects the blow with her left tonfa and goes for a counter strike with her right. Velvet ducks underneath the strike and brings out her foot blades. She throws a few kicks with the blades, forcing Melina to block with her tonfas. Velvet thrusts her arm blade at Melina, but Melina uses her semblance, causing Velvet to phase through her. This gives Melina a chance to kick her in the back, but Velvet manages to land on her hands and then jump back onto her feet.
"Why can't you just do the right thing here?" Melina asks.
"That's a question you should ask yourself, Melina. Or maybe you only know how to do what you were told," Velvet retorts.
Melina looks disheartened, "You know... I really did like you. We could've been something special, you and I,"
Velvet remains unhindered, "No, we never could've been like that. Because you don't know how to make your own decisions. More importantly, there's only one person in this entire world that I will love like that... and you're standing in HER way. I won't let anyone harm Ruby," Velvet readies her arm blade.
Melina sighs and charges at Velvet. Velvet makes a downward slash of her blade, while Melina blocks with her right tonfa. She goes for a strike with her left, but Velvet brings her right knee up to deflect it, followed by a left punch to Melina's ribs. Melina throws a spin kick, but Velvet backflips under it and then fires off her gauntlet's gun. Melina uses her semblance, causing the bullets to phase right through her. Velvet grits her teeth and charges at her as Melina does the same.
Near the elevators, Ruby fights against Harriet. Ruby uses her semblance to bounce off one wall and then swing her scythe at Harriet. Harriet races around her with her semblance, moving behind her and getting a punch in across Ruby's skull. Ruby twirls her scythe around to get Harriet to jump back, and then fires a few shots behind her, using the recoil to zip across the room in order to get close and strike Harriet on her side. Harriet growls as she gets back on her feet and chases after Ruby, who uses her semblance to evade her. The two zip around before racing straight at each other. Harriet jumps in for another punch, but Ruby slides under her, firing a close-range shot at Harriet's chest before they pass. The two turns and face each other, with Harriet growling as she zips around the room in order to throw a double jump kick at Ruby. The attack sends Ruby flying back into the room where Blake is fighting Marrow. Marrow throws his boomerang at Blake, only for Ruby to fly in and knock it back to him.
Harriet follows Ruby into the room, "Marrow, cut the crap and take them down already!"
"I'm trying to arrest her, not kill her, Harriet. There's no need to be that excessive!" Marrow argues.
Blake throws her chain-scythe at Harriet, forcing her to duck. Blake pulls on the ribbon, firing the pistol from behind Harriet. Harriet uses her semblance to evade the shots.
"It's not excessive if it's necessary!" Harriet says, but then sees that Ruby moves right past her with her semblance, and growls as she gives chase.
Meanwhile, Weiss conjures a few glyphs to send out some fireballs at Elm, but she swings her hammer around to block them. Yang comes in and makes a punch at Elm, but Elm dodges the strike and thrusts her hammer forth to send Yang flying back. Weiss creates a glyph near her, allowing Yang to bounce off of it and land a bunch on Elm's skull. Vine sends out his arms to try and grab them, forcing Yang back while Weiss conjures a few glyphs to make her way towards Vine. However, Vine swings his arms around at Weiss' glyphs, smashing them and managing to get a hold of Weiss. Yang sees this and growls.
"Focus on me, brat!" Elm yells as she swings her hammer at Yang.
Vine pulls Weiss in, but she conjures a black glyph to stop his arm cold. Vine tries to break free but then Weiss conjures a summoning glyph to create the right arm of her Armas Gigas with its sword. It slashes at Vine's semblance arm, slicing it in two and freeing Weiss. Weiss lands on her feet and rejoins Yang after she catches Elm's hammer and shoots her away. Weiss finishes her summoning, bringing out the full form of the Armas Gigas.
"Time to finish this, Vine. Don't be soft. They made their choice," Elm says.
Vine grabs out some rocks from the wall across from him, "Are you trying to tell me? Or yourself?" his question makes Elm angry.
Weiss' summon readies its blade, "We won't let you take Velvet, or the rest of us,"
"We made our choice, but you made the wrong one when you turned your backs on the people you were supposed to protect," Yang adds as she cocks her gauntlets.
Weiss and Yang charge at their opponents. Elm goes in with a swing of her hammer, but the girls both dodge to the side, allowing the summon to swing its sword at Elm's hammer. Elm uses her semblance to hold her ground as she blocks the attack, but that leaves her open and allows Yang and Weiss to move past her. Vine throws some stones at them, but they dodge and Yang catches one and hits a bunch of charges onto it. She throws it up in the air, allowing Weiss, who c0njures a few glyphs into the air, to use a glyph to send it flying at Vine. Vine knocks the rock to a wall, but Weiss uses that chance to trap his extended arm in a black glyph, followed by trapping the other one. Weiss then uses another glyph, which had the charges frozen in the air, and turns it black to send them flying at Vine. They explode when they collide, just as Weiss releases her glyphs, sending Vine into the air. She creates a few new glyphs, allowing Yang to bounce into the air above him. She throws hard punch to his back, sending him through a few black glyphs and crashing into the floor. Yang uses those same glyphs to fly down and smash her fist down on him, taking out his aura and knocking him out.
Elm manages to push the Armas Gigas back, just in time to see her ally go down and is shocked by the display. The scene did not go unnoticed by the others as they momentarily halt their battles to gaze upon the scene. Back with Blake and Marrow, the pair parry a few strikes from one another as they clash with their blades. Blake uses her semblance to cause Marrow to hit a clone, allowing her to make a strike from behind. He swings his boomerang around, making her jump back, and then throws it wide. The boomerang flies around towards Blake, but she swings her katana and knocks it away. Marrow catches it, but then Blake throws her chain-scythe into the ceiling and swings around to throw a kick at Marrow. Marrow side-flips from the attack and then swings his boomerang at her. Blake backflips over the swing and fires her pistol again. Marrow blocks her shots with his weapon, but then Blake comes in, only to disappear as a clone and makes another surprise strike against Marrow's side with her blade. Marrow changes his boomerang into its rifle form and fires several shots. Blake maneuvers around each shot and lands back on the desk. She jumps at Marrow with her blades out.
"Stay!" Marrow snaps his fingers and freezes Blake with his semblance. "I'm sorry it had to be this way," he says and prepares to fire, only for Blake to disappear; another shadow clone.
Marrow widens his eyes, "I'm sorry too," he hears behind him and looks just in time to see Blake several quick strikes on him with her blades.
Marrow's aura depletes and he falls to the ground, out cold. Blake sighs as she sheathes her swords. With Velvet, she activates her demon claw and fires off a fire arte at Melina. Melina phases right through it with her semblance and manages to get a strike on Velvet's chest with her tonfas.
"You can't beat me if you can't touch me, Velvet. Just give it up," Melina notes.
Velvet gets back up, "You don't get it, Melina. I'll never give up, because I know Ruby won't give up,"
Velvet jumps into the air with her demon claw reeled back, her Maiden powers activated. She slams her claw down on Melina, who uses her semblance again to make her phase through and hit the ground.
"You're a slow learner, aren't you?" Melina prepares to attack again.
Velvet glares at her, "Actually... I'm not," Velvet's power goes and freezes the floor, including Melina's feet. Melina tries to break free, but the ice starts spreading across her legs. "You can phase through things, but you can't phase the soles of your feet, otherwise you'd fall through the floor. That's the weakness of your semblance,"
Melina tries to attack, but finds her body freezing right up to her neck, imprisoned in the ice. Velvet raises her claw and readies a fire arte close-up. Melina can only look on in shock before she is blasted point-blank with a fireball to the face, breaking her out of the ice and knocking her out as her aura depletes. Back with Yang and Weiss, Weiss's summon swings its sword down on Elm, forcing her to dodge to the side, only to have to block a strike from Weiss and then get nailed by a punch from Yang. Weiss conjures a glyph under her feet, but Elm uses her semblance to keep herself on the ground. However, Yang uses her semblance to smash her fist into the floor, breaking the ground apart and forcing Elm up into the air. The Armas Gigas throws a hard left punch, knocking her into a wall. Weiss uses a black glyph to force Elm straight down into the ground. Just as Elm struggles to her feet, Yang comes in with a vicious uppercut to her jaw, sending her back up just in time for the Armas Gigas to swing its sword down on her, causing her to crash back into the ground with her consciousness and her aura gone.
In the final battle, Ruby uses her semblance to fly around Harriet's body, making a strike on her back with her scythe. Harriet uses her semblance to move again and makes a few hit-and-run strikes against Ruby. Harriet comes in at Ruby's rear, only to get knocked to the side by a blast of fire. The two look to see Velvet as the one who intervened. Ruby smiles and readies her scythe. Harriet growls and charges at Velvet, but Ruby gets in her way with a swing of her scythe, thus allowing Velvet to come in with a swing of her claw. Harriet jumps back, but then Ruby attacks from the side with her scythe, staggering her. Velvet then manages to grab Harriet's skull and slams her to the ground. She then throws her in the air, while Ruby jumps at her and makes one more strike against her with her scythe. Harriet falls onto the ground with her aura depleted. She tries to get back up to fight again, but fails and falls back onto the floor as she passes out.
"You okay?" Velvet asks her girlfriend as she deactivates her claw.
"I'm fine. But we're not done yet. We still have to stop Ironwood and get to the Winter Maiden," Ruby says.
"Then let's finish up with these goons and get moving," Velvet says.
…
Meanwhile, Winter and Penny prepare to take the Winter Maiden's power and transfer it to her.
"Are you ready for this?" Winter asks Penny, but Penny doesn't respond. "Penny?" she reaches for her, but Penny slaps her hand away.
"Don't think for a second that I agree with any of us. There is nothing good in any of this," Penny retorts.
"...Penny," Winter mutters.
Just then, an explosion shakes the room. They look at the door, just in time to see it explode. When the dust settles, they see Emerald Sustrai on the other side.
"Emerald Sustrai. You were working with Cinder, the one who was responsible for what almost happened to me," Penny says.
"Yes. And I've going to finish... what Cinder started," Emerald says as her eyes begin to glow and she pulls out her pistols.
Winter and Penny ready their weapons, "We won't let you touch her," Winter says.
Emerald smirks, "It doesn't matter what you want... I will not rest until I kill Velvet Crowe!"
…
Meanwhile, Velvet, Ruby, and Weiss race to reach the Winter Maiden in time. However, as they get further into the facility, they find one obstacle in their way. A sudden blast of dark energy erupts in front of them and they jump back from the surprise attack. They look to see the figure in black standing before them.
"I was wondering when you would show..." the figure removes his hood, revealing Innominat's face. "Velvet Crowe,"
Velvet narrows her eyes, "Innominat,"
Innominat smirks, "Yes, and this time, you won't escape. This time... I'll devour you, Velvet Crowe,"
And that's the chapter. Only one more to go before volume 7 ends. And then we'll be ready for volume 8. Velvet prepares to fight Innominat, while Winter and Penny face Emerald. This battle is far from over. How will this battle end? Until then, please Read and Review. Again, Happy Birthday Ruby Rose!
