Main theme: Metro Exodus rap by Jt Music, featuring Andrea Storm Kaden
Arc Theme: Through The Valley by Shawn James (The Last Of Us 2 trailer edition)
Theme: Forbidden Knowledge from the Destiny 2: Beyond Light soundtrack


Be with me my dear
For the end of our world
Where the monsters lay in wait
For our bodies to rot and curl

Be with me when the remnants fade
And death comes knocking at our door
And we go to slumber in the Fortressa
And wake and feel no more

Be with me when the reaper comes
When the sun creeps low
And our rest comes to us
As the world looses its glow

And when we feel no more pain
And our sufferings are no longer in vain
Let us pray and pray
For yet one more day
Where we may see each other again

Recovered poem from the ruins of New Fortressa


"You're mad."

"Ren-"

"No, Nora, you will listen-"

"I have listened, Ren. This is the only option we have to us."

Ren looked away and held his hands to his face, groaning in exasperation, before looking to Nora and, under the oppressive blue lights of the cage around them, "Nora, this- This isn't going to work! You and I both know it! I don't care how much training you and Voltage have been doing! You-"

"Do you have any other ideas, Ren?" Nora said to him as she glared up at the green-dressed boy, pointing an armoured hand to the metal pillars that were projecting the electric fence around them, as well as a pair of students that were trying- And failing- To cut it open, "Because bullets and cutters aren't working against those things, and if we try to use explosives in such an enclosed space without any cover at all, we might just blow ourselves to pieces, with or without aura. This is the best that we can do."

She then pointed to the TV screen on the wall. The images of Jaune and Melanie doing battle with Grimm and their pet dragon continued to flicker and flash at rapid speed across the screen.

"Look at them, Ren. Jaune and Melanie are fighting for their lives, and Ruby's been taken to god knows where by these monsters. If there is any other option, then now's the time to say it."

To her side, Voltage nodded and folded his arms in front of himself, "Nora's right, and we all know it. If we had access to our tech back in Beacon, then frying the electronics would be a hell of a lot easier, but we don't, do we?"

Ren paused, and bit the insides of his cheek, but before he could say anything, Shadestep cut in with, "How long will it take?" he waved off Ren's sharp look, "I know that this is bad, and I know that it might... It might kill them, but we have to think about this logically. It wouldn't be the first time that they- And the rest of us- Have almost died, and it sure as hell won't be the last," he looked back to the 2 electricity pseudo-twins, "How long will it take to get everything ready?"

Voltage and Nora looked to each other, and then back to him, with Nora going, "With Skipjack and the Constructors' help? About half an hour, maybe."

"Sounds about right," Voltage put in, "I mean, the aura dampeners in the walls are 80 years old, and are incredibly unreliable tech. Not to mention that even without my semblance, I've got entire battery packs filled with spare electric charges on me to power an entire 2 story house for a day and a half. I'm pretty sure that even if we couldn't fall the dampeners, we'd still be able to overload the electric fence around us, if only at a bigger cost."

After a long pause, he then gestured to him and Nora.

"To us, I mean."

Everyone around them stopped, and the remaining members of High Command looked between each other, before they shared a collective nod, and Shadestep went, "Alright then, get it done. The sooner we get out of here, the better."

He spared a look to the TV on the wall.

"For their sake, if nothing else."


…Wha…

Where...

Where am I?

Where's Jaune? Where's Melanie?

The Grimm... What happened? Did they take us? Where are we?

Around her, the world suddenly rattled, and she realised that she had been restrained, her hands pulled out into a capital T, and her feet restrained at their ankles, almost like she was on a cross.

At least there weren't nails in her hands. She really didn't want to repeat that part of the Two Brothers' bible.

It was a whole thing.

Suddenly, a voice called out, "Finally, our sleeping beauty awakens," it wasn't a voice that she recognised. It sounded almost... Reverent. Worshipful.

She didn't know how to feel about that.

Then, something else began to fill her ears. Sounds of combat and struggle, but with an electric warble to them. Almost like a recording, or a broadcast.

What exactly was going on?

Slowly, she opened her eyes, one of them, healthy and silver, blinded by a white and blue light, the other, broken and milky white, shielded by the darkness of her hair.

In front of her, looking down onto her trapped form, was a red, gold, white, and blue Techion, big and tall and with large grey metal shards on his back, almost like wings, as the metal person tilted their head to the side queerly, as if curious at her condition.

What condition? Being tied down to a metal cross with this guy? Whoever he is, anyways. Goddammit, Ruby, pay attention. Figure out where Jaune and Melanie are, and get to the others. Warn them that there are Grimm in the city, if they aren't already aware.

The Techion leaned back, and if he could smile underneath that grey metal faceplate that he wore, then he probably would be, "At last, our goddess awakens..."

…What?

The Techion took 3 steps back from her, and then bowed, "Forgive me for the... Spartan accommodations, my lady, but it was the best that I could manage," he- She recognised his voice as male- Then lifted himself up and threw his arms out wide as, in a grandiose tone of voice, went, "I am Templar, of the Choir of Silver. You may look upon me, and recognise your priest."

Huh?

What was this guy talking about?

Priest?

What?

Then, another thought came to her mind.

"...'Choir of Silver'?" Ruby faintly asked as her senses worked themselves back up to full strength, "You're not... You're not with the Ascendant Court?"

"Bah!" 'Templar' threw his hand to the side, a mechanical groan behind the movement, and scoffed, "As if I would want anything to do with those animals. I have no want to be part of their pointless war," he stepped away from her, and scoffed again, "I have much bigger ambitions than just mindless slaughter."

It was then that Ruby finally noticed the 2 other Grimm in the room-

One of them a chilled Baron Grimm in silver and white robes, with a horned domed helmet with a blue light in the middle, and 6 tubes where its neck vents should be that emitted cold smoky air, and a fiery Scion Grimm covered in burnt silver robes and armour, a black and red helmet with a orange glowing cross with horns in it and a fur cloak that stretched across its back, as well as tubes of liquid fire dust covering its body, and shards of dust stabbed into its skin, leaving its internal organs glowing underneath its burnt skin that was covered in dry red blood.

-Looking down at her, the former tilting its head to the side whilst also performing what must've been a curtsy, whilst the other folded its heated arms together in scoff and looked away with a growl, as the last unique occupant in the room-

-A 4 limbed silver, white, and glowing blue beast of a Techion covered in fur, and with 4 blood red optics settling within a flat horned head, as well as vents that let loose black smoke across it as the mechanics in its hands shimmered a deep purple-

-Tilted its hind legs down in reverence, the last remaining occupants in the room, being the silver cloak wearing Disciple guards, doing the same as well.

Ruby groaned as she fidgeted and readjusted herself against her restraints, groaning as she asked them, "Where are... Where are my friends? What have you done with them?"

"Oh?" Templar cocked his metal head to the side, "You mean the heretics? Those whom allowed you to come into our arms in the first place? Those whom failed to protect you?"

He moved out of the way, and allowed what had been creating those strange electronic noises to be seen.

"Tock is having her fun with them."

It was a TV screen. A screen with poor sound and visual quality, as well as the occasional flicker, but a TV screen none the less.

And on that screen, Jaune and Melanie were fighting for their lives.

In the screen, they were weaving and worming their way between a series of humanoid Grimm, Disciples and 4-armed Clerics, all of them armed with spears, hunting rifles, and a flamethrower, and all of them covered in robes and quills and armour that were coloured in green animal scales and yellow coloured ochre. With them, a ruined, emaciated dragon slammed its beak and head down onto where Melanie was just standing, letting out a groaned cry as the glowing blue collar around its neck shimmered and let out an electric shock into the beast, forcing it to fight once more.

"And once more, our esteemed fighters from Beacon leap their way out of certain death!" the voice from the monitor- 'Tock', presumably- Roared out in laughter as the crowd around them cheered once more, "But let's just hope that they'll be able to keep up this performance, yeah? Y'never know when something might just pop along to ruin your whole day!"

"What are you-" Ruby struggled against her restraints as the woman's voice on the screen rattled on, "What have you done? What are you doing with them?!"

"I have done nothing to them, and am doing nothing to them," Templar added in as he gestured to the screen once more, "That is all Tock's doing."

"Then do something about it!"

"I'm afraid that that is out of my reach. The arena is Tock's realm, not mine."

"That's an excuse- A flimsy one at that!- And we both know it!"

"Perhaps, but, truth be told," Templar chuckled, pulling out a sword and teasing it across her cheek, drawing a thin trail of blood from her as he then leaned in close and said, "I would rather they not interfere."

He stroked a finger over her bloody cheek, smearing it pinkish red.

"I would rather have you to myself."

(Behind them, the Techion on hind legs seemed to flex their hands at this, but did nothing.

Not yet, at least.)

Ruby flinched involuntarily.

She had felt this touch before.

Flashes in her mind. A deceiving grin. A laugh. An intruding hand.

She had been scared then.

No more.

This time, she would be strong.

Be strong.

Be as strong as she could be, and then stronger still.

It was all that she could do.

"What..." Ruby began with, biting her tongue as the fle- metal finger released its grip on her face, "What do you want?"

Templar took a step back, and then spread his arms out wide, in a grandiose display of power- His power over her- And then cried out, "Why, to worship our goddess, after all!" his voice echoed out through the ruined hall around them- A church building, or a monastery- And seemed to send vibrations throughout every surface of the building as he then continued, "To worship you, my dear Rose."

"...What?" Ruby blinked once, twice, thrice, "What are you... What are you talking about?"

"She knows not how special she is?" behind Templar, the Techion asked this out loud, its voice scratchy and scraping as it- He- Walked forwards and waved a hand over her face for dramatic effect, "Has the false light idol swayed her away from the light that she was born from?"

Ruby looked at the Techion with an uncertain look, "What are you... What is it that you're saying?"

The Techion queered its head, "Are you not aware of your silver eyes?"

Silver... Yes, Ozpin had told her about it. She said as much.

"Aha, yes, indeed! Your eyes are a connection to the gods themselves- To the Twin Gods! And that is why you are holy to us, our goddess!" the Techion threw its hands out and twirled itself around, its fur twisting along with it as its 4 crimson eyes looked back down at her and said, "It is your eyes that connect themselves to the gods! It is your eyes that we worship, for they are holy and sacred, like the first bible of the Brother Gods, only to be truly blessed with their power- With their touch! It is that which we worship. That which we find divine."

The Techion then bowed itself, and pressed its hands against the floor.

"And since you now hold that power, it is in you that we shall once more find divinity."

Ruby couldn't help but listen to the Techion's voice, hearing the booming rasp behind it, and then couldn't help but ask, "You... You're a Grimm, aren't you?"

To her shock, the Techion nodded vigorously-

A Grimm Techion. An actual Grimm Techion. This is... This is incredible. Something like that has never happened before... Not that I know of, at least.

-And got back onto his feet, saying (Almost shouting), "Indeed indeed! I am Attis, the God of Rebirth! I am Grimm reborn into Techion through the sciences of man! I was born of the Ascendant Court, lost to the winds of the Emerald Forest when the slaughter was commenced! But then I was found! Found and reborn by the powers of the Choir of Silver and the light that they bring, and now, because of them, I have devoted myself to their cause, and to yours, in the name of the-"

"Attis, enough," Templar stepped forward, putting his hand on the chest of the Techion and forcing him out of the way, "Temper yourself."

'Attis' seemed to be slightly frazzled by this, "B-But, my priest! I was merely-"

Templar pulled out his sword, and applied it to Attis' neck, "Step. Back. Understood."

"I... I... O-Of course, my priest..." Attis nervously bowed, before stepping back, and balancing his metal frame against one of the rotten pews of the hall around them.

"Heh, you want me to kill the little sycophant, O' Great Priest?" the fiery Scion Grimm asked as it- He- summoned a bright flame in his hands and barked out a gurgled laugh, "I can make it quick, but I can also make it painful, if you want."

"Wha- Wait, no, I-"

"Save your- What do the humans call it? Oh yeah. Save your murder boner for something worthwhile," the icy Baron Grimm spoke in a feminine voice, folding its- Her- Hands together as she breathed out another blast of cold air and said, "He's not worth it."

Attis himself looked to have been cowed by their words, and pressed his 4 hands together awkwardly.

(Ruby could use this to her advantage.)

"Your eyes are the gateway to the gods themselves," Templar ignored the interaction of his lessers as he continued on, "Yours is the power that may grant us power as well, through our worship of you."

"Worship! Worship!" the Disciple guards in the hall chanted out once Templar finished speaking, their ugly voices like nails on a blackboard as they renewed their vows of worship.

"After all, is one not made powerful through their worships of the gods? Is one not saved by them, blessed to join the afterlife when they devote themselves to their cause? Is one not made one with salvation?"

"Salvation! Salvation!"

"For when the gods see our work through you, they will know of our great deeds! For when we spread our light across all of Remnant, they will know our strength! And when they return to this world, and see all that we have done, they will thank us, and will create a new heaven on Remnant!"

"A new heaven on Remnant!"

"And all of it, my dear Rose," he tilted the flat part of his sword up to her chin, and lifted her head up to stare at his imposing figure, "Begins with you. The powers that you possess- The object of our worship- Are the closest thing to a god that Remnant has, and through them, we shall harvest the light within, and-"

"I am no god."

This got him to pause, as did everyone else in the hall, and they all looked to Ruby as she did her best to look as defiant to him as she could.

"You think I'm some... Some sort of new god, or whatever?" Ruby asked, "I'm none of those things. I'm just- I'm just me..."

She made a show of slumping against her restraints.

"I'm not special. I don't want to be special. I don't want to be the bees knees. I just want to be a normal girl with normal knees..."

Ruby never wanted to be special.

She never wanted to have been born with silver eyes.

If she had known that her eyes were this special... She didn't know what she would've done, but she doubted that it would've been something good.

Ozpin hadn't revealed much about her eyes, but she was beginning to suspect that there was a negative side to them.

A much larger negative side than just Salem...

The Patch Massacre came to mind.

She had lost her home when the fortresses of Scrap, Mend, Forge, and Tool had been blown up from the inside out (Had that been the Grimm themselves, or people working for the Grimm?), And the Grimm had surged into the island at force, purging everything that lived there, and burning everything else. Signal Academy was felled, most of its teachers killed trying to defend the gathered villagers and settlers within, before they were all killed themselves, its former students all being killed to the individual as their ships were torn out of the air and left to shatter and burn on the ground below, every small village and community there was burned and slaughtered, their blood channelling rivers through the mud and muck, she-

Dammit, it was happening again.

She couldn't help it. Patch was now a scorched wasteland, and everything on it had been reduced to ash and cinder. She, Yang, and Zwei... They were part of the 5% of people that had been able to escape the massacre, but most of them had been children that had either escaped from Signal before it was destroyed, or had been sent from their families and small communities to the single ship and few Bullheads that were able to punch through, with so few viable escape vehicles for all of them that they were all crammed in like sardines as they were all made orphans by the battle.

That was a lie. It wasn't a battle. It was a one-sided slaughter.

And her father... Taiyang Xiao Long.

He died, right in front of them.

His leg was torn from its joint in a shower of blood by an Ascendant Beowolf, and had been dragged away into the burning forests.

Drone flights over Patch days later eventually found his corpse.

A single puncture wound through his chest. Nearby, the cliff that once held her mother's grave had collapsed to the ground below, the grave shattering and splintering into a million pieces as it fell.

She and Yang were made orphans of the state after that, with Zwei being one of the only worldly possession that they had left, save for their weapons and the clothes on their backs, but after the incident with Iris-

TOUCHING TOUCHING INTRUDING BAD BAD BAD STOP

-Headmaster Ozpin took a particular interest in the both of them (Ruby didn't know why then, but now she did, and she wasn't sure how to feel about it) And placed them in much better living conditions, before using their previous training as Huntresses, as well as their position as wards of the state, to pull them into Beacon Academy, where on the first day she met Jaune, and then...

Well, then everything else happened.

Next thing she knew, the entire Emerald Forest and beyond was engulfed by the Ascendant Court's army, her first Crescent Rose was destroyed, Kay Nin died right in front of her, half of her body was scarred, and after all of it, she was finally told of the significance of her eyes, and placed on a team.

A team that wasn't afraid to tell her that they didn't want or need her.

And after all of this, now, after being kidnapped by a crazed group of Grimm cultists and their creepy Techion leader, whilst her 2 closest friends (Even if she wasn't exactly on the best terms with Melanie right now) Were being forced to fight for their lives in a demented blood sport, there was only one thing that Ruby could think to herself...

Was she the reason that all of this had happened?

Was her silver eyes the cause of all of this pain and torment and suffering and death?

Was this all her fault?


A long time later, she would realise that it wasn't.

The Grimm never cared about her silver eyes in the first place.


"You are humble, my soon-to-be-goddess," Templar chuckled as he shifted through a bag near him, and pulled out her beloved weapon, Crescent Rose 2.0, "Very humble indeed."

He flicked the weapon into its scythe form, and ran his metal finger across the blade.

Before Ruby could say anything about him touching her baby like that, he said something that shocked her into silence.

"Just like your mother, in fact."

"What?" Ruby asked.

Her eyes were stinging.

"Oh?" Templar asked, "Have I finally peaked your interest in what I have to say? Well, yes, I knew your mother. I knew her quite well. In fact, you could say that we were," he chuckled, "Best friends, in fact, back in Beacon."

He knew her mother he knew her mother he actually knew her mother?

"Ah yes, she was the humble sort indeed," Templar nodded to himself, "Very humble, but also bratty, a lot of the time. Very annoying, but also very enduring. Her death... Yes, her death is a tragedy."

Her eyes were beginning to well up. Stop it, stop it. Why was she like this? Why was she always so close to a breakdown whenever someone mentioned her mother? Her good eye flickered a silver light.

"We were sister teams in Beacon Academy. We were practically inseparable. Ours was a tight bond that no one else could break, and it was both of our teams that were informed of Salem by Ozpin himself, and it was Summer Rose whom picked me up out of my depression when I felt like the world was collapsing down around me."

Ozpin? Did Ozpin know about Templar? When was he going to tell her about this? Why didn't he tell her about him?

The Techion laughed again, "Did you know I actually fell in love with her, after that? She was the love of my life, and oh! Such plans I had for the both of us! I still think she was the reason why I began my worship of Silver-Eyed Warriors in the first place. It's a mystery for me even now. But," his laughter became a snarl as he looked downwards towards the Crescent Rose in his hands, "For that worship, I was banished from Beacon, and from the woman that I loved, all for what I believed to be the right thing to do."

When was Ozpin going to tell her about any of this? Dammit, why were her eyes welling up with so many tears?

"I tried to spread my faith to others, but was ruined for it. I encountered Summer Rose again, and expressed how I felt- How I feel- To her, but she called me-" he barked out a humourless laugh, "She called me disgusting! A possessive creep! Can you imagine that? To be dissuaded by the one that you cherished so dearly!? Do be denied perfection! Because she was perfect! She was divine perfection!"

She looked from Crescent Rose to Ruby.

"Unlike you."

"...Wha-"

"Do you believe that I saw your imperfect eye?" Templar marched forwards and threw her hair to the side, revealing the milky white orb where silver should be, "Do you think I am stupid enough to not notice an imperfection like this?"

The thought had crossed her mind, but Ruby didn't say it as she leaned her head back and went, "W-What are you talking about?"

"Y-Yes, my priest, what are you-" Attis was stopped by the other 2 Grimm, one out of cold callousness, the other of pure sadism. They didn't want what was about to happen to be interrupted.

"Such imperfection cannot stand. Our idol- Our figure of worship- Must be perfect, as every idol is, but in order to do that, we must cut away the filth to show the purity within."

He twirled Crescent Rose around in his hand-

"Stop! Plea- Ugh!"

-And pointed the tip of the blade to right under her bad eye.

"And now-"

"Please, don't!"

"-You will be perfect."

And with one single, bloody strike-

{SLASH}

"AAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

-He scooped out Ruby's bad eye.


Bowing out of sight of another patrolling Grimm drone, much like herself in design, hiding in a broken hole in the side as it passed, Eri quickly flew out of her hiding place, and into one of the nearby rooms. A Grimm Disciple in a silver cloak was maintaining a cobbled together generator. One of the generators powering the coliseum, and connected to the jamming network.

With a long charge of green energy, she zapped the Disciple, and let it drop dead to the floor.

Shuffling the cloak to the side as its owners body faded into nothing, Eri assessed the generator in front of her, and, against the loud cheers of the Grimm crowd above, she plugged herself into the generator and the Grimm network, and-

Dammit, she was blocked out.

It would've been foolish to assume that she would just immediately be able to access the Grimm's network without a dozen firewalls in place, but still, it would've been nice.

Hm, in order to access the network, she would need to spoof an electronic key to pass through the firewalls. Such a task was relatively simple, seeing as how everything was running on a hodgepodge system of old Pre-War electronics, and-

Spoof-Key progress: 0%

Spoof-Key progress: 1%

Spoof-Key progress: 2%

-She had already begun the process of generating that key, but that did not help the current situation with Master Jaune and Mistress Melanie, and she couldn't just destroy the generators, because that would do nothing abut the network itself since this wasn't where they were transmitting it from-

She could destroy the generators, though.

If she destroyed each individual generator, then the entire coliseum would lose power. Heck, if she destroyed them, then the sheer force of the explosions would rip apart the stadium and destroy almost, if not all of the Grimm present, and even the low-hovering Carrier above!

But it might also kill Master Jaune and Mistress Melanie...

Floating away to find the nearest armoury, she pinged her plan over to the 2 fighters above.

She liked her idea.

Her very explosive idea.

(She was taking after her mother after all.)


Dash to the side, block a blow, and then a riposte to his opponent. Roll to the side to dodge a dragon's strike, and then sent a shot into one of the fighters.

Rinse, dry, repeat.

It was a good plan if Jaune had ever heard one, but he found himself growing fatigued as these Grimm- The Undertakers, the Techion had called them- Began to adapt to his strategy, as did the wounded dragon in the arena with them as he and Melanie continued to dodge and weave themselves around the Grimm and their ravaged pet, the dragon in question throwing a wing down and making a sweeping motion with it, catching Jaune with it and-

{CRASH}

"OOF!"

-Sending him crashing into the wall with a loud bang, the crowd cheering as his armour protected him from the brunt of the blow, and his aura began to heal his wounds, only for the dragon to quickly move to pounce on him, just as-

{BOOM}

-Melanie released an explosion of blue fire at her feet, propelling her through the air as she threw her fist back and-

{CRACK}

-Launched another great explosion of blue fire into the head of the dragon, sending it tumbling back as her aura healed her hand underneath her knuckleduster, only for it to burn again under the heat of her semblance as she released a wave of fire into the Undertakers around her, before absorbing a flurry of fire from the Undertaker with the flamethrower, and looking back to Jaune and asked, "You okay?"

"Yep, I'm- Ugh!" Jaune groaned as he pulled himself out of the wall and straightened his back out, before pulling out his folded up shotgun from his lower back, and cocking it in his hand, "I'm doing good. Better than I thought in fact. I had thought that these guy's would've killed us by now."

"I don't think these guys have ever fought a Hunter of any kind before," Melanie theorised as she pulled out another pair of throwing knives and sent them flying into the armour of one of the Undertakers, "Probably spent most of their time killing civilians than fighting actual warriors."

Running up to the Undertaker who's armour she had just impaled, she grabbed the knives in its chest, launched herself off of it, and then threw the knife down into the neck of another Undertaker, imbedding itself in the animal scale armour underneath, but not piercing through until she threw her fist down and unleashed another punch of blue light into the neck of the Grimm, killing it and shredding the skin on her arm as her knuckleduster flared with life.

"See?" Melanie said as she pulled her throwing knives from the Undertaker's armour and fading corpse, before throwing them into another Undertaker- A Cleric Grimm- And then rolling to the side as she pulled out her Mangler Shot-Pistols and fired them into the head of the dragon, "Plus the dragon's so emaciated that I'm amazed that it can even walk, let alone fight."

"And with that, an Undertaker's down! Score one fer the Hunters of Beacon!" the Techion called out over the speakers around them, and against the boos and jeers of the Grimm around them, she then called out to them, "But 'old onto yer seats, fellas and fellets-"

Melanie winced, "'Fellets', that's not even a word..."

"-'Cause the home team ain't out of the field yet! They've still got 8 fighters and a dragon to their name, so don't expect this match to end without a speck of blood on the floor!"

"Yeah, our blood preferably," Jaune drawled out sarcastically, to which Melanie gave an equally dry nod, as he-

{KA-CHOOM}

-Unloaded a shotgun shell into the armoured chest of a Cleric Grimm, keeping himself still through the gun's recoil as he pumped it again and fired off another round into the same Grimm, shredding its armour and knocking it back into the ground as it growled in anger, but was supported by one of the Disciples with spears, as another with a hunting rifle took aim-

{BANG}

-And fired at Jaune, hitting him on the right side of the chest, though even if his considerable mass of aura hadn't been up, the extra blackened metal padding on the right of his chest would've stopped it anyways.

Still though, the blow was enough to send Jaune stumbling back, almost falling onto the ground, before a Disciple punted him into the ground via a haymaker to the helmeted face, and winced in pain as its knuckles broke from the impact. But, it was not enough to stop it as it went to throw its electric spear down onto him-

! ! ! ! \( ^0^ )/ ! ! ! !

-Only for Jaune to apply his shotgun to the unarmoured joint in its leg, and blow it clean off, sending the Grimm tumbling to the ground and clutching its bloody stump in pain as he pulled himself back onto his feet, and inspected the icon that had suddenly flashed onto his helmet's HUD, "Eri?"

Melanie looked back to him in the middle of her fight, and asked, "What do you mean, 'Eri'?"

"Pyrrha and Nora's droid! She's texting me!" he paused again and opened his channel to her, "Eri, is that you?"

d=====( ̄▽ ̄*)b

"Eri, where are you? Where is everyone?"

( ‵□′)───C<─_-)|| (っ °Д °;)っ ( ‵□′)───C<─_-)|| Σ(っ °Д °;)っ

/(ㄒoㄒ)/~~ ᓚᘏᗢ ( •_•)⌐■-■ (⌐■_■)

"What does that mean? Where the others captured as well?"

>﹏<

"Right, and you were able to get away before then, yeah?"

Jaune looked over to Melanie, who was still battling against the 2 Cleric Undertakers, as well as one of the Disciples with a hunting rifle, before she dodged a blast of flame from the flamethrower Disciple, whilst Jaune was forced to busy himself with the violent dragon near him as this time, he jumped over one of its sweeping wings, and fired a shotgun round into its beak as he then asked, "Okay, where are you now?"

(⊙_(⊙_⊙)_⊙)
┗|`O′|┛

"You're underneath- You're in the coliseum with us?"

( •̀ ω •́ )✧

"Wait, doesn't Pyrrha's drone speak in emoji?" Melanie called out to him as she quickly soothed her hand over a piece of burnt skin on her arms before delivering a swiping kick to one of the Cleric Undertakers and asking, "How the hell are you able to understand her?"

"Oh, one of my sister's is a mute, and she only ever talks in emojis when she's texting. It's a hard to learn skill."

"Bite me, I'm going to learn it."

"Well, that's a whole different conver- Ah! A whole different conversation!" Jaune yelped as he rolled to the side to avoid the flamethrower Disciple, and then sent a shotgun blast into its armoured head, before ducking to the side once more from the dragon, and moving back to Eri's comm channel, and going, "What about Ruby, Eri? Where's Ruby?"

( ‵□′)───C<─_-)|| ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ╯︿╰ ᕦ(ˇò_ó)ᕤ

"The Grimm've got her? Dammit. Well, what'd we do now?"

( ‵□′)───C<─_-)|| ┗|`O′|┛ (⊙_(⊙_⊙)_⊙) \( ^0^ )/ Σ(っ °Д °;)っ

"Okay, in layman's terms, what does that mean?"

And then, instead of an emoji, Eri's reply was just a single word:

ka-boom

Jaune was liking this plan already.

"Heh, well, alright then... But we'll still need a way out of this place before it..."

He blinked, and then looked up at the withered dragon before him.

"...Goes up."

The dragon bayed and croaked out a roar, its electric collar lighting up blue and sending an electric shock across its body once more. It whimpered in pain, before being driven into a frenzy once more.

Jaune knew what he had to do.

Looking over to Melanie, he then jumped over to her side and went, "Hey Melanie? That dragon's collar is the only thing keeping it cooperative. If we destroy it, or at the very least switch it off, it might just attack the Grimm as well-"

"Or at the very least fly off, and give us the chance to escape," Melanie finished for him as she fired 2 scattershot rounds from her Mangler Shot-Pistols into one of the Cleric Undertakers, before going, "That's a good enough plan from where I'm standing. Might as well give it a shot."

Jaune nodded, and then spoke into the comms, "You hear that, Eri?"

(๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

"Well then, let's get to it," he said to the both of them, as he then dodged yet another strike from the dragon, and muttered to himself, "Plans. Who doesn't love a simple plan?"


"And there we go. Who doesn't love a simple solution?"

"..."

"Oh, don't give me that look. I told you it would be a simple matter of cleaning up the blood around your eye."

"..."

"Now now, my dear, don't look so sullen. You have a presentation to look forward to."

"..."

"...Hey, look at me."

"..."

"Look at me."

"..."

"Now."

"..."

He grabbed her chin, and forced her face up, "Now, look at me."

She stayed silent, but did indeed look up at him. Her single remaining eye was dull and lifeless, but not dead.

"...That's better," he said, letting go of her chin and allowing her to be carted off once more, satisfied with the look that was only meant for him, "Now then, let us hope that you are presentable for the crowd below."

"..."

The curtains in front of them were divided to reveal the harsh light below, and the air around the stage was cold and lonely, reeking of rusting metal and turning wood. Down below was a crowd of only a few hundred. His most loyal followers out of the entirety of his choir.

And she did not react any more.

Twirling the bloodied Crescent Rose in his hand, Templar stood himself behind his damaged captive, Adonai to one side, Ares to another, and spread his arms out wide, "To my most loyal brother and sister Grimm, I present to you, the reward for your sacrifices! Ruby Rose, the first of our pantheon of Silver-Eyed Gods!"

The crowds of hundreds cheered in jubilance and joy, but Ruby Rose stayed slumped in her cross, broken and drained.

Where her bad eye once laid itself, was now hollowed, and left as nothing but an eyeless red hole.

Behind them, hidden away would stand Attis, his loyalties beginning to divide themselves.

(And all the way in the basement of the cathedral, the Tinkerer would watch all of this, and smile at their ignorance.)


Changed this to an M rating. Finally, am I right?

Sorry that this chapter was so short. It's not my best when it comes to writing, I know, but I really just wanted to get this written down and released. Next chapter I'm having is probably going to be devoted to Jaune, Eri, and Melanie against Tock and her lot, so it'll probably be a lot longer.

Or at least a bit longer.

Probably a lot.

Then again, I might start doing shorter chapters instead of constantly aiming to break the 10,000 point. I know a lot of you might not like it, but that way I can get content out quicker, and it might actually be healthier for me, because it takes a lot of effort to write these chapters, can I just say?

Anyways, my university has picked up again now, and I've got online work to do, so I can't promise when precisely the next update will be. Hopefully by the end of February, but again, I can't promise anything.

But anyways, with all of that said and done, leave a review (I look forward to seeing how many of you write about how much you hate Templar now, because he is supposed to be a despicable villain) Favourite, follow, and with that, stay safe, stay healthy, and I shall see you all next time!

Titanmaster117 out!