Final Version 3.0
"Tell me brother…tell me - why you do what you do."
A clang of steel on bone followed the question. An overly long, straight great sword whose blade had flames dancing around it against a poisonous, curved bone sword clashed together, as their respective wielders tried to push each other for an opening for a clean strike.
"Is it curiosity? A twisted need to meddle into everything? Or perhaps you are bored? Which one is it?"
The clash was followed with a powerful kick from the wielder of the steel sword that sent the opposition sliding back. However, he remained standing as he perfectly blocked the kick with his own sword.
"I dunno, you tell me – aren'cha supposed to be like ma inner demon or an evil doppelganger or some overused trope like that? The 'I-know-your-deepest-darkest-secrets-an'-desires' kind'a thing?"
The cocky voice that responded belonged to a man in a heavy set of golden armor decorated with a ragged blue cloth insignia on his chest. The Zweihander in his hands was a massive blade that was even taller than him, and yet he didn't look like he was putting any physical effort into wielding it.
However, the most prominent feature of the man was his mask that covered his entire face. The mask itself was bronze in color and it was shaped into a contorted, screaming face of a bearded man, effectively concealing the identity of its wearer.
"Hah! You use quips and sarcastic jokes to conceal the fact that you don't know the answer yourself. Is it because you don't want to know, do you?"
On the other side of the armored, masked man was a person who, despite being shrouded in shadows and dark energies as if he was the abyss personified, managed to look even more bizarre. While the leather footwear and arm wear were quite unimpressive, the bulky chest armor looked like it was made of black, hardened vines.
The stomach cavity was so unnaturally bloated that it would leave a normal viewer perplexed to how something like that could even fit an average human body. It made the skull mask with rare strands of hair on his head look quite tame.
"Nah, I just don't care. Serious talk now Edgy McEdgelord, how many times have we done this same song and dance routine? Don't get me wrong, I love the sparring but are you SERIOUSLY going to bug me with the same questions over and over like a broken record?"
The arena they are fighting in isn't much of an arena as it's a simple, wide marble platform that seemed to stretch out infinitely. What was interesting about the location were the many border-less mirrors in the black sky, each an every one of them showing a different picture.
"It gets old real fast, lemme tell ya."
And there were a lot of mirrors showing various pictures – one showed a swordsman with a peculiar scar on his cheek and even more peculiar dull blade; the other depicted a road warrior driving through the wasteland, trying to find inner peace; a second mirror presented four strangely masked men fighting the law for to keep their ill-gotten gains.
"Because you know what will happen in the end, right? You know that the sign on your neck spells certain doom for you…and yet, instead of seeking a cure so you can fulfill your destiny and conquer everything, you waste what is left of your time by indulging in hedonism and pointless frivolities!"
The shadowy figure conjured up a wooden staff and shot out several beads of raw dark energy from it and towards the masked man. The attack was repelled by a sudden burst of light, with the source of said light being a necklace that dangled from the man's shoulders.
"Destiny can suck it for all I care. Why? Because I like being my own boss. And if ya got a problem with that…", The man went into an offensive stance with the Zweihander, pointing at his opponent:
"Then yer welcome to talk to this!"
Both men charged at each other and the heavy blades clashed, their sounds echoing throughout the blackened void filled with mirrors.
After three strikes, the masked man managed to stumble the shadow by delivering a strong headbutt which was followed by a spinning horizontal slice that launched him backwards.
The shadow grunted in pain as he stumbled on the ground, barely managing to stop the momentum with his own blade. He used it as a crutch to try to get up and was doing his best to ignore the flaming wound on his stomach that his shadow energy was trying to extinguish.
He cursed the whole situation - his brother, himself, the prophecy of the Conqueror that he could only fulfill with the help of his brother. Unfortunately, he made it very clear the first time they met that he will never help him on making the prophecy come true.
'Coward.' Shadow thought as he shot a hateful look towards his brother.
If nothing else, the brother is at least right about one thing – this became a routine: whenever he tries to beat some sense into him, his brother overpowers him and defeats him. His shadow form shatters and then it needs to reform before going after him again.
"What's the matter 'brotha'? Tired already? I can do this all day, ya know." The masked man mocked as he was reflexively tapping the blade of the Zweihander on his steel shoulder pad.
The shadow was tired – physically he was capable of doing fighting him all eternity if need be, but the toll on his mind that ultimately, he isn't going anywhere is starting to drain him. So far, he could not find a single weakness in his brother's combat ability nor his willpower.
A mirror floated by him, showing a red-hooded girl fighting creatures of darkness that weren't unlike him.
Weakness…
"Heh…the solution…was right in front of me all this time…"
Weakness.
"Brother…your mind is like an open book to me."
"Prob'ly filled with useless info to the brim – but go ahead, what're ye getting at?" The confidence of his brother was about to be completely shattered; of that he was sure.
The shadow got up and pointed the tip of the dark curved sword at the mirror.
"They are your favorite, are they not? Even though you resent their makers for what they've done to them, you still hold their creation dear in your heart, don't you?"
The shadow noticed that the tapping has stopped and that his grip on the Zweihander tightened considerably.
"Tell me, dear brother…what would happen if someone like me decided to go and…how would you phrase it? Ah yes – blow off some steam?"
"Do that, and I'll take ma time dismantling you piece. By. Piece." The cocky, playful voice was replaced with a more serious and menacing tone, indicating that he meant every single word. But the shadow didn't flinch to the threat, and continued:
"So when you do a similar thing yourself, it's perfectly fine? But now that it happens to something it concerns you personally, you're taking offense? What a twisted double standard that is, isn't it, brother?"
"Eat a dick."
The shadow chuckled at the insult and started caressing the edge of his blade, adding:
"Besides, the pain you'll cause me won't compare to the agony I'll inflict to them!"
The shadow jumped into the mirror, the surface which rippled like water when he passed through.
"NO!" The masked man screamed as he sprinted towards the mirror, hoping he won't be too late.
Ruby had absolutely no idea what was happening now.
One moment she was taking a well deserved nap (a very deserved nap considering she was completely exhausted from the battle of Haven) and in the next one, she finds herself in a big, black room that looked like a...movie theater?
'Am...am I kidnapped?'
The case against that claim was that no one of sound mind would imprison someone inside a movie theater. Second, she was neither stripped down (thank Gods for that), restrained or cuffed - a stupid thing to do if you're kidnapping a kid with literal superpowers.
What did she notice, however, was the lack of the familiar weight on her that was Crescent Rose, which concerned her a bit. But she wasn't worried too much - she now knew hand-to-hand combat, courtesy of Ozpin and, later on, Yang. True, she was a far cry from being a proficient fist fighter but she could proudly say that she wasn't as useless as before at Beacon without her beloved weapon.
After a quick examination of the walls, she didn't see any kind of exit. Since she watched a lot of cheesy spy movies with Yang, Ruby took an effort to touch every side of the wall as much as possible. Alas, there were no hidden plates to push that would open a door that was hidden as just another brick wall.
Speaking of bricks, Ruby felt the walls, while black in color, were unnaturally smooth and cold to touch.
'Huh, it's almost like marble.'
She also thoroughly searched the seats - all 34 of them. And while they didn't hold any secret buttons either, the seats themselves were color coded and unevenly split into three groups - white, grey and black, with white having the most seats while the grey having the least. Specifically, there were 22 white seats...
'Waitaminute, that one seat is too wide to count as one! It's probably one of those couples-only seats. I think...maybe.'
She counted 23 white seats, four grey and seven black, amounting to the previously mentioned number. The uneven split between the chairs looked a bit out of the ordinary for Ruby, which only mounted questions upon existing questions.
What really caught her eye was the massive theater screen and the space between it and the chairs, a good fifty feet if she correctly estimated. Ruby cautiously sat on a a front white chair and noticed that, despite the size of the screen (which she guessed was around sixty feet), the whole screen was visible within her cone of vision. There was also a very wide stage that wasn't elevated too high from the floor - she'd guess it took a bit more than half of the space as all the chairs did.
The chairs were also pretty nice - comfy and smooth leather, each seat had their own armrests - at least she didn't have to push other people to adjust her arms. If there were other people coming in the first place.
Ruby decided enough was enough, got up from her seat and yelled out:
"Yang! Weiss! Uncle Qrow! Headmaster Ozpin! Is anyone there?!"
The hooded Huntress-in-training became increasingly worried since there wasn't any kind of response whatsoever. So she put herself in a fighting stance, now aware and ready to take on anyone who has beef with her.
'Speaking of beef, I could go for a sandwich with some right about now...even though I'm not really hungry...ugh, focus Ruby!' She scolded herself as her eyes wandered around the theater room. The general silence didn't help ease her mind.
Suddenly a whooshing sound permeated through the room as Ruby now focused on the white seats. Particles of light started to gather above the first three seats on the left in the middle row and started to form familiar silhouettes. A second later, the silhouettes were complete and from the light came her sister, Blake and Weiss.
"Guys!"
Both Weiss and Blake looked like they were just waking up from a deep sleep while Yang groaned as she had her hand on her forehead.
"...Ruby?" Weiss groggily asked.
"C'mon, wake up! I need your help!" Ruby yelped as she started shaking all three of her teammates simultaneously in rapid succession, quickly switching between each girl.
"Headache's...killing me." Yang muttered a complaint while she was being shaken awake by her sister.
The first one to come to was Blake who jumped from her seat and observed her current surroundings.
"A theater? Where...where are we?" she asked outloud, to which Ruby responded:
"I have no idea. The whole room is closed off and I couldn't find any secret exits or hidden switches. I checked everything!"
By that moment all the girls woke up and stood up from their respective seats and carefully looked around them, noticing everything Ruby had before they got there. Before they could do anything, Yang cleared her throat and said:
"So, is this supposed to be a joke or what? Because I don't see-nema the point."
Yang grinned, expecting the following reactions: Ruby groaned, Blake rolled her eyes and Weiss grabbed the bridge of her nose and looked very upset for some reason.
"Is this seriously the time, Yang? We're trapped in Gods-knows where and, from what Ruby said, there are no exits at all! I can't believe- Oh my God...Yang, your arm!"
The rest of RWBY, completely shocked by what they're seeing, stared at Yang as she raised her right arm.
That was made out of blood, flesh and skin. Her own arm.
Yang shrieked and recoiled from shock as she started shaking her arm like she was possessed. Her sister and others quickly reached out to her and tried to calm her down. The panicked shrieking toned down to rapid takes of breath as Yang kept her right arm extended away from herself.
"It's alright Yang, it's al-" Blake comforted her. What the Faunus didn't expect was her friend to snap at her:
"Shut up Blake! Just - just..."
Yang shook off the grips of her teammates and independently regained her footing. Now calmed down, she was looking at her arm and thought whether or not someone or something was playing a very cruel trick on her.
So she took a step forward and touched it with her left hand. She gripped below the hand and concluded:
'It's...it's there...'
She squeezed it harder for good measure but it didn't change the fact that she could feel it all - both a pulse and the pressure of her grip. However she wasn't convinced yet and thought of an another thing she would do to prove that this wasn't real.
Yang put her thumb in her mouth and bit hard.
"Yang, what the hell are you doing?!" Weiss screamed as she saw a little trail of blood coming from the finger. Weiss felt Ruby putting her hand on her shoulder and turned around to face her, only to see a look on her friend that could be interpreted as:
'Let her do what she needs to do.'
Yang, on the other hand, stared at her hand again. She felt the burning sensation of an open wound, as well as blood pulsing from it as her body's immune system was naturally forming a scab on it.
And then she started laughing. She was laughing like an utter maniac, which made her teammates look at each other and then at her with worry spelled on their faces.
"It's really back. Shit, I...I can't believe it's fucking back! Yeah! YEAH!" Yang exclaimed as she jumped in joy, fist-bumping in the air. She went her now returned hand through her hair, obviously trying to look as cool as possible, and said:
"Salem better not be screwing with us now, otherwise..."
She stopped and looked at the rest of RWBY with the biggest shit-eating grin she could muster. They all knew what was coming - they accepted defeat as Weiss said:
"Get it out of your system, we know you want to..." Weiss grumbled, her mind fully prepared for what was to come as Yang continued:
"She's gonna find herself in h-arm's way!"
The rest could only hold their groans as Yang wheezed on her own joke. Soon all of them gathered around her and gave her encouraging words, to which Yang replied:
"Heh, good to be back!" as she cracked her knuckles. She turned to Blake and calmly added:
"Hey, sorry for lashing out there."
"It's fine Yang, don't worry about it. Good to see you back as well." Blake smiled and paused for a moment as her eye caught wind of her thumb that still bleeding. A bit stupefied, she asked:
"Uh, shouldn't that have healed already?"
True enough, Yang knew her Aura should've automatically healed the bite mark. She decided to do it manually by focusing directly on the wound.
What surprised Yang was that she couldn't feel any trace of her power within her.
"Guys - I can't feel my Aura. Like, at all."
"Huh?" Ruby muttered out.
"It's like it was never there to begin with! Is it because...?" Yang stopped as she looked at her arm. Weiss stepped in and said:
"No, definitely not that. I can't sense my own Aura at all. Blake?"
"Can't feel a thing. What about you Ruby?"
What Blake didn't know is that Ruby already went into position and jumped in the same way when she'd morph into rose petals. Obviously the rose petal part didn't happen and Ruby came crashing down on the floor.
"Nope! Doesn't work for me either!" Ruby said in a cheerful manner as she quickly got up and dusted herself, earning an annoying glare from Weiss and a chuckle from Yang.
The same whooshing sound Ruby heard came from behind Weiss, which stopped her little rant. The light particles started to form the people in the first row, which introduced the senior staff of Beacon, Ruby's and Yang's uncle & father, Weiss's sister as well as James Ironwood. What was most surprising is the appearance of both Oscar AND Ozpin separately, with the former Headmaster being in his previous body before the Fall.
As Ruby, Yang and Weiss ran to their respective family members, the light on the other two rows dissipated into other people, one of them being Blake's parents, Illia and Sun that she immediately rant towards to. And while RWBY was trying to explain the current situation (and Yang to shock both her dad and her uncle with her arm), team RNJR (sans Ruby) were waking from their own stupor.
"Ugh, I feel like I just went into a fistfight with an Ursa..." Jaune groggily said. Nora, who was beside him, said:
"Me too, fearless leader. Me...too...oh..."
Jaune looked up towards Nora and Ren, and was left confused both of them sporting wide-eyed faces of shock. They were looking over his shoulder, and before he could turn to see why they acted like they saw a talking Grimm, he heard a voice...a familiar voice that he was sure he would never hear ever again.
"Jaune?"
And there she was - Pyrrha Nikos, in the flesh. Uninjured, unchanged and full of life...just like Jaune remembered her.
"...Pyrrha?" Jaune muttered out, flabbergasted. He thinks that someone is playing a cruel trick on him, that this Pyrrha is nothing more than an illusion. But that thought was shattered when he touched Pyrrha's hand that she extended towards him. Their hearts raced as they looked at each other with tears in their eyes and renewed hope in their souls.
"Pyrrha!"
"Jaune!"
Both of them leaped into each other's arms, and hugged tightly. Almost as if they were afraid of losing each other again.
They looked at each other with tearful eyes...and were promptly tackled by a crying Nora before they could do anything that could transition into something that's not very PG. While Nora sobbed how much she missed her, a content and happy Ren watched and smiled at the whole scene unfold, with Nora wiggling both of them as Jaune and Pyrrha started laughing.
This didn't go unnoticed, as the present people had mixed emotions of bemusement and happiness. And while Ruby was one of the more happier people, she couldn't help but sense the familiar feeling of guilt slowly creeping on her. But she decided to let the newly reformed JNPR have their moment - at least she could do was not interrupt them.
"Ruby?"
Her eyes went towards the source of the voice...which only lead with small tears forming in her eyes.
"P-Penn-"
"RUBY!" said the cheerful voice of Penny as she lunged at Ruby, who was still muttering out her name. The Huntress barely managed to stand her ground as her android friend collided on her in a hug.
"Penny, you're alive!" Ruby exclaimed as she hugged her back.
"It's so nice to see you again, friend Ruby!" Penny happily stated. However, when she looked at her friend's face, she saw small tears running down her cheeks, which left the android a bit confused.
"Ruby, why are you sad?" she asked.
"W-Well, people cry when they are happy too Penny." Ruby muttered as she tried to wipe her face with her sleeve.
"Oh! Well, good to know - thanks Ruby!" Penny smiled at her friend, which made Ruby all more happy - two of her friends were back, and there is nothing she could think off that could ruin this moment...
Well, almost nothing.
"That was oh so very sweet - so sweet that I think I got diabetes by just watching, if I'm being honest."
The sarcasm came from none other than the self-proclaimed Vale king of crime himself...
"Torchwick!" Blake shouted as she tried to reach out for her weapon, only to remember that Gambol Shroud isn't on her. All the other sitters are carefully watching Torchwick, who was without his trademarked bowler hat and was currently positioned on a gray seat.
"Relax Kitty Cat, I'd be out of my mind if the first thing I wanted to do in the first few seconds of being alive is to fight you. See, unlike you, I don't have suicidal tendencies and my priorities are pretty straig-"
Roman didn't get a chance to finish his sentence because he felt someone poking his back. He turned and saw a very welcoming sight (at least for him).
"Oh - hey there kiddo, how're you doing? Gotta say, the hat looks good on you." he spoke in his usually casual tone. He did mean it - his hat does fit Neo quite well. The only weird thing now was that Neo had her head down, with the feather on his hat poking his cheek. Roman quickly realized what was up when Neo looked at him with her tear-stained eyes.
"Ugh, come on Neo, don't cry - it's embarrass-"
She stopped him mid sentence with a tight hug. Roman knew there was no way he could fight her on this, so he only sighed and hugged her back.
"There, there...I'm here now."
Yang, on the other side, smiled and joked:
"Aw, so he does have a heart!"
"Don't ruin it, Blondie." he quickly responded, to which Yang chuckled as she continued her previous conversation with her dad and uncle.
It didn't pass even 5 seconds before more came in - two precisely, right above Roman and Neo's seat. The particles formed first the shape of Raven Branwen in her usual bandit attire without the mask; the second shape was that of Adam Taurus, clad in his gray combat suit and his personalized White Fang mask.
Both of them quickly came to their senses and immediately noticed each other.
"Branwen."
"Adam."
"Still leading that cesspool of degenerates you call a tribe?" Adam asked, with clear venom in his voice. Raven, however, only chuckled at the remark and responded:
"Never claimed to be otherwise - unlike a certain someone I know."
Adam's brow twitched in a bit, showing Raven that she struck a nerve. She added:
"I see you still hide it."
"And it's none of your business." Adam scoffed.
Before Raven could say anything, Qrow got up from his seat and spoke:
"Raven."
Her gaze went to her brother, who was looking at her with a mix of disgust and anger.
"Brother." Raven responded with a smile on her face.
"Don't brother me - after that stunt of yours in Haven, you and I have no relation whatsoever as far as I'm concerned." Qrow gritted through his teeth. Yang also wasn't looking very favorably towards her biological mother. Tai pinched the bridge of his nose and simply asked:
"Raven...what did you do now?"
"Made decisions and survived - not like you would know anything about that."
Taiyang only sighed and remained silent as Qrow and Yang glared at her - he wasn't going to have this conversation again. Summer, Gods bless her soul, believed that Raven would return if she talked everything through, she could convince her to change and return to them, have Yang actually meet her mother.
But Tai knew that Raven had some of the most screwed up priorities when it comes to family. It's not that Raven can't change.
She just won't.
"Leaving your family for the company of cutthroats who rob the poor - great life decisions so far." Yang passed a sly smile to her mother, the kind that conceals the disgust you have for the person you're smiling at.
Yet another wooshing sound appeared, now coming from the black seats as the same particles from before now formed all the people above them - the people being the sworn enemies of the ones in the white seats.
The first one to come to her senses was Salem, who immediately took notice of everyone in the room. As well as seeing Ozpin in his form as the Headmaster of Beacon. The first thing on her mind would be to punish the currently incapacitated Cinder for lies if she didn't saw two people who were proven to be dead - the first being the lowlife Cinder hired as her own pawn, and the other being one of Ozpin's many fools who gave their relatively short-lived lives for him.
'Restorative magic - is it just like the Brothers? Or perhaps something else? Whatever it is, it is now gone - I cannot detect any trace of magic anywhere, neither in this room...nor in me or Cinder. Inconvenient, but manageable.'
Salem looked at er own skin, which was still ashen white with black veins protruding beneath it. But if her appearance didn't change...
'Then how come Cinder looks like before she was wounded by Ruby Rose?' Salem thought, curious of how this restorative magic works.
"Hazel, Tyrian - we have company." she said.
Tyrian eagerly jumped from his seat, looking like he was itching to rip someone apart at her command. True, he didn't have his weapons or his tail, but Tyrian will find a way to please his lady.
Hazel, on the other hand, calmly stood up while trying to contain his rage upon seeing Ozpin on the opposite side of the room. His expression filled with hate and utter disgust towards the former Headmaster was visible to all. However, Aura or no Aura, he knew better than to engage in a fight with a group that clearly outnumbered them.
Mercury kind of sat down and relaxed - he didn't really care much about what's happening. Sure, it was surprising to see Cinder alive, well and not looking like a freak anymore, but for now he just wanted to enjoy the long lost feeling of having actual toes. Of course, it didn't mean that he wasn't prepared if shit was about to hit the fan - he just wanted to puff out for the moment before that happens.
Above him seated Arthur, who was more perplexed about the room they were in rather than the occupants in it. Besides the massive screen and the theater itself, he noticed the lights symmetrically positioned on both sides of the room. The lights were floating orbs of...well, light. He would've appreciated that the situation doesn't escalate in combat, as he knew he was very inefficient without his weapons or Aura.
Emerald couldn't believe that not only Cinder was beside her, but that the injuries she suffered, as well as that...black arm she had. She had her beauty back, the one thing Ruby Rose took from her that almost drove her insane. But while the skin was mended back into place, the look in her eyes showed that the spirit was still furious. Rightfully so because she saw Cinder grit her teeth when she saw Ruby Rose hugging that stupid robot girl.
"ROSE!"
The Fall Maiden cried out, with all the hate and anger that cultivated inside of her after Ruby Rose crippled her at Beacon. However, her cry of hate was the high point of her threat, as she found herself completely incapable of neither conjuring her weapons or summoning fire balls. In fact, she found herself being incapable of doing anything at all.
"What?!" Cinder exclaimed as she looked at her shaking hands. She completely ignored the fact that she got back her arm and was now more stunted at her sudden lack of any magical power.
"Cinder - stay back. Wherever we are, this place took all of our abilities. And from what I can see..." Salem said, her mouth grew into a smile as she was examining Ozpin and all his lapdogs, both young and old.
Both the occupants from the white and black seats were tense and looked ready for a conflict. Roman and Neo on the other hand got up from their seats and went behind Raven and Adam - a smart choice (in Roman's opinion) for anyone not looking to be caught up in a potential crossfire.
"They are in the exact same position."
The words of her mentor calmed Cinder down a bit. While there wasn't anything more that she could want besides curbstomping Rose to death, she was level-headed enough (for now at least) to recognize a losing battle of numbers. What did caught her eye were 2 two things - a familiar nuisance she killed at the Beacon tower and her presumed-dead employee.
"Roman, what a surprise - it seems the news of your death were greatly exaggerated." Cinder spoke in her mildly-threatening seductive voice. Emerald thought that the way she said was like her crippling injuries never happened. Like the old Cinder she knew and...adored, was back.
Roman, on the other hand, was a bit peeved that he had no cigars in his pocket. He responded:
"Cut to the chase, my dear - you want me back as a 'less-than-willing' employee, don't you?"
She smiled - while Torchwick knew his place and knew how much significance he had to her (which wasn't very much to begin with), she always found his inherent disobedient nature that came in form of his sarcastic remarks something to be removed completely. After all, a pawn that thinks for itself is something no good leader should have.
"Quite perceptive of you - of course, I am willing to be more generous than before and-"
"Ah, I'm afraid I have to stop you there. See, I'm currently on a...sabbatical of sorts, so I won't be looking for a job any time soon."
While he was conveying his response, the thief formed a fist near his chest while his other hand next to it was mimicking the action of pulling a lever. The more he 'pulled' it the more transparent was the middle finger that was slowly extending from his fist.
Roman stopped and looked at the middle finger that was pointing in Cinder's direction. He had a faux shocked expression on his face and exclaimed:
"Well, heh, apologies but I have no idea how THIS happened."
Snickers could be heard from the younger members at Roman's action. Cinder gave him a passive look that screamed 'you're-going-to-regret-that' while Emerald rolled her eyes and said:
"Classy, Torchwick."
"For you dear? Anytime." Roman responded as both he and Neo looked at their former employer and colleagues with the smuggest of smirks.
Sensing the rising tensions between the three parties, Ghira stood up and pleaded:
"Please, can we not fight each other and calmly think where we are? Fighting among ourselves will not solve anything-"
"Hnh, I beg to differ. After all, it worked before...didn't it, Ghira?"
All eyes were on the grumpy terrorist that interrupted the Menagerie chieftain. Sun, in all of his wittiness, had a nice response (if he does say so himself) for Adam:
"Says the guy who got schwacked with a double-hammerfist."
Yang let out a short and a hearty laugh and asked:
"Wait, really? Really?!"
"Yep. Was there when it happened - it was hilarious." said Sun with a smile on his face.
"That's like the weakest and most telegraphed move ever! You can literally see it coming from a mile away! Ha ha ha!" Yang added and laughed even harder. Blake wasn't sure if Yang was low-key mocking her unarmed skills (which weren't that much good to begin with, if she was being honest) or Adam who got hit by, what Yang says, a very impractical and weak move.
Adam remained stoic in face of the mockery and decided to turn the tables on the blonde.
"Like that idiotic lunge that cost you an arm?" he mockingly said, noticing how Yang became a little distressed at his remark. But that wasn't enough for him.
"I know what you are thinking: 'no Aura, no weapons, no Semblance - he doesn't look that scary'. Heh, let me enlighten you..." he got up from his chair and slowly walked out in front of the Grey seats, never breaking eye contact with the blonde girl.
"I don't need a weapon to take back what's mine."
Yang's eyes widened in shock. She looked at her right arm and knew what he meant by saying that.
Her father was understandably pissed at the one who crippled his daughter, but Taiyang knew that he was goading her to attack him. Partially because no sane person would ever say something like that, and partially because Adam was in took a stance that was very familiar for him - left leg in front of the right one, knees bent for stability, left arm raised in front for defense and right arm was next to his face with an open palm.
'He's preparing himself for a counter throw!' Taiyang thought. However, he didn't get a chance to tell her as Yang, who was clearly pissed off to no end, cracked her knuckles and started walking towards Adam.
"Alright, it's a date then..."
Wherever the blonde's fist would go, either high or middle, Adam knew she wasn't going to land it. No Aura meant their bodies were considerably weaker and thus more prone to injuries - for him that was the foundation of his simple strategy: with a single step he grabs her fist with his left hand and her face with his right palm, then use Yang's own kinetic force of her obvious rush to stop her dead and finish it with his right palm literally slamming her head on the floor. Even if she decides to fake the rush, he would be fast enough to close the gap, use his own kinetic force to replace Yang's and perform the takedown. Best case scenario - she'd die immediately of internal bleeding in her crushed skull. But considering his luck at Haven and the girl's clear cut toughness, he'd be happy enough if she ended up with a light skull fracture.
"My fist..."
Yang, on the other hand, already formed a plan the moment she stepped out of the seats - fake the rush, stop dead in her tracks and then kick the bastard in the groin as hard as possible. Then a swift DDT will be enough to incapacitate him so she can break every bone in his arms - a fitting payback for what he did to her, if she did say so herself. Sure, she'd definitely get chewed on for doing brutal stuff like that, but that was the price she was willing to pay a thousand times over if she could do this a thousand times more.
"Your FACE!"
However, the potentially lethal confrontation ended not even a moment after it was started - as soon as both parties moved towards each other, some object flew out of nowhere and landed with a slam between Yang and Adam, causing a minor shockwave in the process which resulted in both of them recoiling back out of pure reflex.
When the shockwave dissipated, it was clearer to see what the thrown object was - an lengthy sword with two sharp protrusions near it's red handle which was diagonally embed in the ground. By the looks of it, the sword was thrown with such force that it looked like half of the blade was buried.
"Now, now..."
A man's voice that had a somewhat strange accent spoke in a playful manner, which was immediately followed by loud, obnoxious straw slurping.
"You kno' what they say - make love, not war."
Suddenly, a figure of a man jumped seemingly out of nowhere and landed on the on the hilt of the sword. The perfect landing was then followed by the man having awkward balancing issues as he tried to both put his other foot next to the other and not spilling the content of the plastic cup in his hand.
After a few seconds of that the man finally managed to get a hold of his posture and continued slurping from the straw jutting out of the cup.
The person in question that everyone was starring was somewhat burly and was dressed quite plain - a simple combo of jeans, black t-shirt and a pair of white sneakers with no distinguishable features. What actually stood out was a bronze mask that was portraying a bearded man wearing a shocked expression, which was held up by strings that were attached to the black cloth that completely surrounded the back of his head..
He was quite an absurd sight for most of the cast - a stranger (almost) gracefully standing on the hilt of a buried great sword while slurping (which could be described as annoyingly loud by Weiss) through a straw that was inside the mouthpiece of the mask he wore.
On the other side of the spectrum, both Adam and Yang sat down in their respective seats, but not before giving each other a silent, threatening glare:
'This is far from over.' both Yang and Adam thought.
"Uh, I'm sorry - who are you? Can you tell us where are we?" Blake asked, unsure of what to make of the whole situation.
The strange man simply extended a palm with an index finger out, signaling her to wait a bit as he continued slurping the drink. Some of the occupants either rolled their eyes or glared at the man with impatience and annoyance as he pulled out the straw and let exhaled.
"Well, yer in a theater, obviously - not yer everyday theater sure, but a theater nonetheless. As for who I am..." he paused as he came down from the sword. He pulled it out, showing that the sword was as long as he is tall (awing Ruby in the process) and somehow attached it to his back.
"Name's Bob. Noice to meetcha!" he said, extending his hand to Neo out of all people. The mute girl happily shook his hand in return. Some were surprised by the man's name, as it wasn't following their own tradition of color-coded names.
'Which means it's either a fake name or...no, I'll see where this goes.' James thought as he decided to see how the situation is going to unfold and proceed with agreeable measures.
"Heh, quite a fancy name you got there." Qrow snarked. Bob was quick with his rebuttal:
"I know, roight? Simple, write it backwards and ye end up with the same result. Yours tho - Qrow... with a Q. Seems to me yer parents were trying real hard to make ye special or whatnot."
Ruby jumped from her seat and pointed an accusing finger at Bob:
"Hey, it's a cool name for a very cool uncle! Unlike...well, unlike Bob! What kind of a name is that, huh?!"
Bob lightly chuckled at the girl's attempt to defend her uncle's coolness and decided to have some fun:
"Ya got me there little lass, m' name ain nothing special, sure. Unlike Ruby, which, if I might say, is a great stripper stage name."
"W-W-What?" Ruby stuttered, a creeping blush appearing on her cheeks.
"Gotta give it to ya, Tai, you and, what'sername, Summer do have a great sense of humor."
Most eyes now fell on Taiyang Xiao-Long. The man had a faint smile on his face, which slightly concerned his younger daughter a bit.
"Dad, this isn't true, is it?"
The blonde man, after suppressing a chuckle, said:
"I'm neither confirming nor denying that."
Ruby now felt like her world is going to fall apart, as she was left a stuttering mess after that response.
It wasn't really a secret between the Beacon staff and Ozpin's inner circle that Summer was a type 2 drinker - the type that drinks rarely, but when they drink - they DRINK. In one of those rare moments, Summer decided to form a stripper union after meeting a few girls in the profession, purely out of a misguided belief that strippers were being underpaid and oppressed by their employers and customers alike.
Since that practically wasn't possible in the long run due to her obligations as a Huntress (and the fact that every stripper she met thought of it as the joke of the century), she settled for the next best thing.
After Qrow shortly explained what was the deal with Ruby's name, Roman Torchwick couldn't help himself but to laugh his ass off on his nemesis' strange misfortune.
"My whole existence was a lie..." Ruby meekly spoke.
"Hey, cheer up Rubes - it was for the, uh, greater good? I guess?" Yang pat her on the back. She looked at the smiling faces of both her uncle and her dad as she tried to stifle her own laughter.
"A LIE!"
The lighthearted comedy was cut short as reality knocked on the door in the form of a question coming from General Ironwood himself:
"I don't mean to offend...Bob", James showed a tinge of skepticism behind the name, but continued onward, "but your answers barely gave us insight on our situation."
"Ah, well, when ye put it like that.." Bob walked right in the middle of the room, reason being so that everyone can see him clearly, and crossed his legs as he sat on the floor.
"I'm...well, a traveler of sort. I visit worlds an' their alternate timelines, mostly fo' exploration and fun through a passageway that I like to call... The World Betwixt. That's where we currently are - more precisely, we're in a room located there, made by yours truly. Yes, Nora?" Bob noticed a hand among the younger audience.
"What does 'betwixt' mean?"
"It's an archaic form of the word 'between'. I picked cuz it sounds cool. Anyway, y'all might be wondering why yer here to begin with..."
Bob got up and produced a black, ordinary television remote control out of some form of white mist in his hands. He pointed the remote in the direction of the giant screen, but just before the button was pressed, Bob added:
"It's because I've pulled ye out from this."
The expressions on most of the audience betrayed shock, distress and downright horror as they watched the capital of Mistral, as well as it's Huntsman Academy Haven, in flames and tinder. The city looked like someone put it through a faulty cremation chamber while the tower of the Haven Academy looked like an over-sized burning torch. The clouds were ashen black as smoke and embers rose up to the sky.
What was even more appalling to the older audience members and the Schnees was that they could see the silhouette of the formerly floating city of Atlas, now crashed into the ground, looking like nothing but a massive pile of rubble now. It looked like someone picked it up from the sky and tossed it on the ground like crumbled paper.
"Pretty much all of Remnant is reduced to a burnin' pile o' rubble." Bob indifferently noted.
"What-What happened? Where are the others?! Are they...no..." Jaune murmured, tears beginning to form in his eyes as he thought of what happened to his family.
"Sorry lad - the only ones that made it out alive are in this room."
"N-No! You're making this up!" Weiss retorted, but didn't expect Bob's next course of action.
He materialized the longsword in his hand and with a quick, vertical slice he opened what looked like an entryway or a portal that glowed light blue.
"Then step right up - yer free to leave any time you want, if you don't believe me. I ain't gonna stop ya." Bob leaned the blade of the sword on his shoulder as he added:
"The portal leads to a short hallway, and at the end is the portal to yer world - I'd normally say that you don't have ta worry about your Aura and yer weapons, since they'll be automatically given to you when ye step out in the hallway, but...heh, it ain't gonna help ya for what's waiting on the other side."
Weiss was...surprised at how Bob simply gave them a way out just like that. Surprised, suspicious and a bit confused - Bob claimed that he saved them all from whoever or whatever caused total havoc in Haven (and to what Bob is implying - all of Remnant too), but is now completely willing to let them all go like that?
'Is he doing this to prove a point or something?' she thought as she saw almost everyone second-guessing themselves, looking at each other as to find the answer in the other.
"Bah, hogwash!"
The only non-insecure person spoke up as he got up from his chair.
"Peter..." Glynda whispered, almost motioning her colleague and friend to stop whatever he's planning to do. Then she remembered this was Peter Port she was talking to.
"Since clearly no one's willing to perform reconnaissance, I might as well do - I'm still a Huntsman, you know!" The confident voice of the former Beacon professor boomed through the room. It was a kind of honest fearlessness that his former students kind of admired - perhaps all those prolonged stories about killing Grimm with his bare hands while smelling like cabbage weren't tall tales after all.
"Peter, you don't have to do this." Ozpin calmly spoke, to which Glynda added in her stern tone that betrayed worry:
"For the love of...Peter, you have no idea what awaits you on the other side! What if the air itself is un-breathable? What-"
"Relax, teach..." Bob interrupted, "A - the air is totally fine, so ol' Porty can breathe easy. And B - if things go south, I'll bail 'im out - don't ya worry."
Port smiled, which was indicated by his mustache going upwards, as he confidently soldiered towards the portal.
The former Beacon professor ended jumping out of the portal, almost a bit too eager to see if Bob's claims were true. The second he exited Peter was hit by a familiar, heavy stench of burned wood with a dry, heated wind carrying it for miles and miles unending. The Haven tower was in front of him, extreme heat coming out of it due to the lingering flames inside it - even for Peter it would be absolutely impossible to enter the academy and inquire.
He could see the crashed form of the Atlas city not too far away, with more smoke than fire coming out of it - implying that Atlas was destroyed before Haven became a fiery mess that it is now.
What also unnerved him were the hundreds of charred corpses that were littered throughout the Huntsman Academy. What was disheartening was the fact that the bodies were burned so much that any individual traits a person could have so they could be identified were non-existent. In short, all bodies pretty much looked the same, with height being the only difference among them.
"Hello! Is anybody there?!" Peter yelled, silently hoping that Bob might be wrong and that there were some survivors.
Not a moment later Peter got his response...in a form of a elongated black arm that came crashing from the Haven tower. The arm itself was covered in mismatched bone armor, suggesting it might be some new kind of Grimm, but when it opened its hand to crush Peter it showed a single, cruel-looking pupil-less eye that glowed bright-orange.
Peter side-stepped the attack with ease and retaliated with a charged shot of his blunderbuss. However, what should've been a shot that can take a big chunk out of even the most toughest of Alphas, it only merely scratched the bony-white armor.
The hand dug itself up and looked straight to Port with a hateful gaze.
"Have I angered you, beast? Wouldn't be my first time irritating a creature your size...and certainly won't be the last!"
The hand swiped horizontally at him, but the chubby professor effortlessly jumped over it, showing that ,when it comes to Huntsmen, age and weight can never overshadow skill and experience.
Instead of turning to see where the Huntsman is, the hand blindly swiped back, potentially to catch him off guard and break every bone in his body. Peter, however, anticipated it and performed a backward jump. Whilst airborne, Port carefully aimed and shot at the exposed eye in the palm as it was performing its swipe attack.
A monstrous screech came from the arm as it squeezed itself into a fist. Glowing, orange liquid dripped from its fingers, which only confirmed to Port that its eye was actually its weak spot. A tricky to hit weak spot, but doable with a degree of skill.
What Port found surprising was the hand opening its palm again, revealing its bleeding eye that was now shinning bright. Port quickly aimed his weapon at the exposed eye again, expecting some kind of range attack coming from it as a last ditch effort to kill him. Unfortunately, he was proven wrong as he felt his whole body being restrained by an invisible force, probably coming directly from the shining eye. Both his arms and legs were spread wide open, making the Huntsman unable to perform any action whatsoever as he started to levitate towards the eye.
While Port began to worry a bit, his fearlessness remained still as he was preparing himself to take whatever punishment the hand had in store for him. A strange ringing noise began becoming louder and louder as Port tried to grit his teeth through the pain as he felt like his brain is going to explode.
Luckily, the ringing stopped soon, and so did the pain as whatever force held Peter dissipated, with the man ungracefully dropping to the ground.
'Ah, I think I'm going to feel that in the morning...' Peter thought as he tried to power through a sudden surge of weakness that was plaguing his body. Whatever the hand did to him almost managed to completely incapacitate the professor.
However, Peter Port was still determined to kill the best, even with the unexplained fatigue that was he was sure it was caused by the hand. He held his weapon proudly but struggled to hold his aim at the hand's eye.
Then four more hand beasts appeared behind the first one, and it was at this moment Peter realized he might've bitten just a little bit more than he could chew.
He heard a familiar sound behind him as he felt a hand grabbing his shoulder and pulling him back.
Bob thought it would've been a good idea to show everyone on the big screen what Port is going through, mostly so that his students and friends can see how their teach fares in a ruined Remnant.
To Bob's slight surprise, Peter proved to be a lot more agile than he expected. The crowd of students cheered for the professor whenever he pulled a perfect dodge and especially when he scored a critical hit.
And then he got hit with a Mark of Calamity.
'Welp, time to bail Porty I guess.' he thought as he sliced open a portal, shutting down the pleading cries from Port's students to help him as he shoved his hand through the opening, pulled out the chubby professor and quickly threw him at his colleagues. The Huntsman wasn't the only thing that came out of the portal, as a single dark hand managed to squeeze through the shrinking rift.
Roman always thought that bravery is for gambling addicts and suicidal idiots (like that Nikos girl) and he, after grabbing Neo, immediately ran behind Raven and Adam. He noticed the stupid kids in the white seats being frozen stiff - perfectly fine for him, since it means that they'll be the first on the menu.
But the expected massacre of the children was averted as Bob, in a blink of an eye, morphed his bronze mask into an ancient Mistrali (if the criminal assumed correctly) red demon mask with a spiky white moustache and a black bandana over it's forehead. For some reason there was a lit cigar in the mouth of the mask, but the more obvious change was that Bob swapped his overly-sized longsword for a slick and shiny katana that he used to pin the beast on the floor.
Bob then took the cigar and pushed the burning tip on the side of the blade, igniting it instantaneously and setting the creature on fire. The strange Grimm screeched in pain as it tried to thrash towards Bob with no success since he was out of its reach. After what was the most horrifying 10 seconds in Oscar's life, the beast fell on the floor and evaporated, just like a Grimm would upon death.
"The hell was THAT?!" Neptune asked, still sat on the chair with legs shaking in fear.
"It's one of the many things that destroyed yer world, all unleashed by a twat I was fightin'." Bob responded as he picked up the cup he dropped.
Ignoring the vulgarity, Glynda stepped up and demanded:
"What exactly happened, Mr. Bob? What did the person you were fighting do to our world?!"
Sheathing the katana, Bob dusted himself off and responded:
"Got in what it looked like just another fight with a, well, let's say a rival of mine that should've ended with me as the winnar, per usual. Unfortunately for ye, he turned out to be quite a sore loser and decided to vent his frustrations on you lot. Safe to say, y'all didn't stand a chance and, well, died. Heh." Bob morbidly chuckled as he took a sip from his drink.
"D-Died?!" Jaune stuttered. Weiss jumped from her seat and added:
"Then...then how come we don't remember anything you've said?! I'm not saying those creatures aren't there, but we should have recollections of our own...deaths." the former heiress shuddered a bit at the notion.
Bob scratched the bottom of his chin...well, the mask's chin, and responded:
"Y' see, loss of recent memory is one of the things that happens when ye try to form a body with only a soul as your only resource. It's not as costly in materials as a full-on resurrection like with Pyrrha and Roman here, but it leaves a few more side effects."
"Full-on...resurrection? Can you explain this process a bit more?" Ozpin asked curiously, which earned him a glare from Glynda who thought he wasn't keeping his priorities straight...again. Nothing she could do about it now, she supposed.
"Resurrection, ta put it simply, can only be done on peeps whose souls still cling to ta physical worl' - usually in a form of a personal thingy that had quite a significance to them." Bob said in a bit more happier tone as he saw Roman smiling at Neo who was holding his hat in her hands while Pyrrha, upon closer examination, noticed both the golden tints on his armor as well as a red cloth dangling on his belt.
"Then what type of...resurrection did you use on us?" Salem asked, the hint of skepticism hasn't gone unnoticed by Bob, whose response was:
"No real term for what I did - though I like to call it Reconstruction since I literally reconstructed yer solid bodies from just yer souls. It's not really a skill that ya can learn - it's a result of using different combinations of rare artifacts I've, heh, collected throughout my travels."
Jaune ignored the dubious nature of Bob's acquisition of the same relics that revived them all and asked a lot more important question:
"Did...did you manage to save anyone else?"
It definitely piqued the interest and worry of a lot of people in the audience. Their newly found fears, however, came true:
"Hadn't had a chance kiddo - if I did, yer souls would've fallen apart and my scavenge hunt for 'em would've been all fer nothing.
See, souls themselves - unbound and free, are very unstable and could fall apart at any moment. Of course, a soul's tenacity varies from person ta person - , howevah, since I didn't have the prop'r equipment to bind them to objects like Pyrrha's and Roman's were, I was fighting against the clock to get all of ye that were either closest to me - like you lot," Bob pointed both the students and the majority of occupants in the Black seats, mainly Cinder and her group at Haven,"or the ones I definitely knew where they'd be.", now he looked towards the Beacon staff and Taiyang.
"Dude, if you managed to get me, then where are Scarlet and Sage? They should be here too...right?" Neptune spoke with a hint of uncertainty, until it hit him a second later and realized what might've happened to his teammates.
"As I said, unbound souls are unstable and fragile. Sorry kiddo, they didn't make it."
Seeing how Sun was slowly sinking into depression and Neptune was having a mild panic attack. Jaune and Pyrrha already had tears in their eyes, knowing that their families are most likely dead.
Penny felt...odd. An ache appeared in her chest, in the same place where the human heart was, as she pondered on what happened to her creator. She couldn't utter a single word, and instead let out an involuntary sob whenever she tried to do so.
'Is this...Is this grief that I'm feeling? I...I see.'
Seeing how he set the current atmosphere to dishearteningly depressing, Bob decided to quickly step in and break the ice:
"Not all is lost though. Given time, you'll see your teammates and families again, safe and sound - like nothing ever happened."
At the end of his sentence, Bob opened the palm of his hand, with particles of light floating above it as they morphed into an object. The object in question looked like a small wooden hourglass with a microscopically small neck. The bulbs were round and had an identical line each - the difference being the color, with one of them, which was white, filled to the brim with sand while the other, that had a black line, was completely empty. The amount of sand that was passing through was so small that the only way it could be noticed is if one would hold directly to their face.
"Tell me, do yer scrolls come with a factory reset option?"
The question caught some off guard for a bit, with students looking at each other and wondering what the hell was he talking about. Arthur, being the only competent scientist with technical knowledge (at least in the room) spoke:
"Yes, they do. I presume that hourglass has a similar function with a different purpose in mind?"
"Could say like that - this lil' trinket has the power to rev'rse time and space of an area that it covers, the current area being yer world of Remnant. Once the black bulb is completely filled, everything will be back where it belonged and everyone will be there alive and well - like nothin' ever happen'd. And that's when ye can go home. But until then..." The hourglass disappeared in the same way as it appeared.
"Yer stuck here with yours truly." Bob added, obnoxiously slurping the content of his cup.
Hope was back in the hearts of many, and he was glad for it. Some were still skeptical, which was completely understandable to Bob - after all, arriving in some God-knows where place and hearing you've died and your whole world looks like a pyromaniacs dream really wasn't an everyday occurrence for a normal person.
For Bob, it was a Sunday Special.
He noticed a slightly raised hand that belonged to one Mercury Black as he gave him the go to speak up:
"That's cool and all, but what are we supposed to do while that does its thing? That bulb doesn't look like it's gonna fill up any time soon."
"Well, lad..."
Bob extended an arm and waved it around, as if he's showing the room for all of them.
"This is a theater that I made for meself - I use it mostly to re-live and reminisce of my experiences in all the world I've visited so far, as well as simply watch what's happenin' in other worlds. So yeah - we'll gonna be watching some stuff, y'all and me!"
The jovial delivery was met with awkward silence as everyone stared at Bob. Crickets, while physically not present in the room, could've been heard chirping - perhaps for a more comical effect?
"Did you take food, water and toilet into consideration?" Winter sternly asked, looking at him with a skeptical look. Bob figured out he probably didn't make somewhat of an impression to the elder Schnee as a responsible, thoughtful and organized individual.
Which he totally is.
At least in his mind.
"No need fer that - took liberties and hijacked yer metabolisms. Your restored bodies are completely self-sufficient and devoid of any need for nutrients."
"So we can't eat stuff? Like pancakes?" Nora enthusiastically asked.
"I said you don't need to per se..."
"But we can still eat pancakes, right?" she asked with even more enthusiasm.
"Only if ye behave."
Nora could've swore that Bob had a very smug grin beneath that cool demon mask of his. The only thing she could do is cross her arms and pout at him.
"So, besides the theater here this place also has a room called the Adaptive Combat Training Area - ACTA for short. There's also a music sound room and several dozen nap rooms - specially made for ye all. It's a literal pain in the arse to sit on those chairs all the time, no matter how comfy they are. By the way..."
Bob took another slurp as he added:
"We got some unwanted company."
Before anyone could react, with a flick of the wrist Bob threw a small metal piece that started hovering just inches in front Roman and Neo's seat. From the metal piece, which showed to be in a shape of a spider with pointy legs, came a mysterious low pitched sound as a burst a multitude of red web that somewhat acted like a barricade between the area where the occupants are and the front where Bob was. The web slowly disappeared from sight, but the spider piece was still floating.
"What's happening?" Weiss asked worryingly.
"Relax, yer safe behind this wall." Bob flicked a finger at the invisible wall, which reacted by briefly revealing the red spider webs at the point of impact:
"Just sit back and enj-"
With only two sounds, one of stabbing flesh and the other of liquid splashing on the ground - Bob never got to finish that sentence.
"BOB!" Ruby jumped from her seat, and banged her hands on the invisible barrier of the spider amulet.
Bob's whole body was now bloody from his wounds, golden circular blades either stuck or jutting out from every major part of his body. The circular blades were, in fact, part of a golden halberd that were wielded by, what looked like, white angelic creatures with beak-shaped red-colored faceless heads, shiny white wings and royal-looking red clothes adorning them. Soon the entirety of the other side of the room was brimming with the creatures, who entered from some invisible portals that shimmered the air around them. And by the looks of how armed they were and how battle-ready they seemed to be, it was clear that they all came for the singular purpose of killing their host, which they successfully achieved.
Or so they thought.
"Ma juice..."
By the sound of his voice Bob was completely fine. She couldn't help but to feel glad that the person who saved their lives somehow survived becoming a bloody human pincushion.
"Words cannot express...the unyielding rage inside of me."
And indeed they could not, as Bob delivered that line in the most monotonous way possible. The delivery could've gotten out a few chuckles if not for the fact that almost everyone was in shock and awe of the present scene.
"But before I start the massacre, first - music!"
What followed after was something that either made people hold their laughs or question themselves whether they are on drugs - Bob walked towards a wall on his left, while the white creatures that were currently impaling him were either latched onto his back or were trying to stop him by anchoring their feet on the ground...which ended up them being dragged by the soles of their feet. The whole scene looked so absurd that it even made some members of the black seats giggle.
The rest of the angelic creatures looked at each other in confusion to what's happening. Some of them gazed on the guests, but only for a mere few seconds - all their attention was on their target who was nonchalantly dragging their brethren as he was about to do something.
To the audience however, they saw Bob pulling out what looked like a music player. He stuck it firmly on the wall...
'Eh screw it, the brat has a better theme now - tho it doesn't mean this one ain't good.'
And pressed the play button.
'Showtime.'
SHALL NEVER SURRENDER (Battle Remix)
from Devil May Cry 4
music by Tetsuya Shibata
lyrics & vocals by Jason "Shyboy" Arnold
Bob nodded his head at the beat of the song's tonal buildup to get into the rhythm, but one of the angels behind him decided enough was enough and lunged at him with an overhead attack.
"Bob, look out!" Ruby yelled. Her reaction soon turned into one of awe as Bob simply grabbed the blade of the scepter with his bare hand. In response, Bob's only statement was:
"I got it."
And right on cue, the song reached its crescendo and Bob flailed the angel whose halberd he just caught and threw it on the other side of the room. He then began simultaneously removing the excess weight off him, which were the staves and the circular blades lodged in his body and used them as temporary weapons against his adversaries. He would pull out a weapon out of him and then either impaled a nearby angel with it or threw on another one, skewering it in the process - the shower of gore and blood of the creatures being the added bonus.
Besides being surprisingly fond of Bob's choice of music, Qrow noticed how Bob wasn't really taking this fight too seriously - he'd go on a limb and say that Bob was actually trying to style on his enemies. His assumption proved to be correct as when Bob removed the last weapon out of him, he tossed it straight in the air and threw an angel over his shoulder. He then turned his back on the angel and blew a kiss to Glynda, something the angel behind him would've taken advantage off if he didn't get impaled by the airborne halberd above it.
And while Glynda didn't look impressed at all, Qrow gave an approving thumbs up - he always respected of a fellow fighter who prioritized styling on the battlefield.
More angelic creatures appeared literally out of thin air, slowly approaching towards Bob with murderous intent.
"Giant Father!" Bob yelled out, extending his arms horizontally as a mocking gesture.
With an energetic sound and a spark of black energy accompanying his exclamation Bob's mask shifted into the first one he had. He had his over-sized sword back, among other new things such as a concentrated ball of fire in his left hand and a decorated green shield on his back.
The time has come
and so have I
The music toned down when the lyrics are introduced, and it showed on the fight as the angels were carefully walking towards the masked swordsman. He, on the other hand, rested the blade on his shoulder and was lightly tapping it in anticipation, all while not breaking sight of his enemies.
I'll laugh last
cause you came to die
'Damn that's a badass line!' Yang thought, an excited smirk on her lips as she watched the weird angel things and Bob sizing each other up.
The damage done, the pain subsides
And I can see the fear clear when I look in your eye
The moment the instrumental began blasting again, Bob quickly dashed with a forward stab of his Zweihander, which was barely blocked by the creature as it clumsily staggered back. The stab transitioned into a horizontal slash to the left that turned into a spin slash. Anything he managed to hit was carried by his blade and spun around before being thrown to the wall.
Bob then rolled out of an attack that came from his left side and retaliated with an upwards slash that launched the attacker airborne. Bob hastily jumped and performed a simple 3-hit combo in the air that ended with a downwards slash that brought both Bob and his enemy to the ground way faster than it was physically possible, cleaving the angelic creature in half.
When it comes to killing your enemies in the coolest ways possible, gravity somehow stops becoming a hindrance. What a convenience!
Not counting the whole gory aspect, Weiss was quite impressed with Bob's combat ability, considering the size of his sword. Although she never quite understood the need to perform unnecessary stunts to look "stylish". Sure, one does have to keep in mind to look prim and proper in a fight when possible, but the things Bob does now (which do remind her of what Ruby's uncle did when he publicly sparred with her sister) are ridiculous and completely over the top!
Although she would be lying to herself if she didn't admit to find his fighting style entertaining to watch.
Jaune on the other hand felt a bit...inadequate, watching how Bob wielded his great sword with ease. When he upgraded Crocea Mors to have a great sword form, he didn't really get to practice with it much - and that almost got him killed at Haven. But instead of wallowing in self-pity like the classic Jaune would, he's now carefully analyzing what moves Bob is using at what situation.
Unbeknownst to him, Pyrrha was watching him while he concentrated on Bob's fight, and she couldn't have been more proud of him now.
It seemed like for every angel-like being Bob killed two more would take its place. That was the routine for the past few seconds until a something new emerged - looks wise it was pretty much the same as others besides the color of the robes being swapped from red to blue. The novelty was that the new addition was double the size of a regular angel.
I'll never kneel and I'll never rest
(Never rest...)
You can tear the heart from my chest
(My chest...)
The big sized angel swung down its enormous weapon at Bob, who in response pointed two finger guns at the angel and exclaimed:
"Sniper Blade!"
His bronze mask, in a flash of blue light, morphed into one of an angry white wolf with black eyes and actual fur. The 'mask' looked more like Bob was carrying an embalmed wolf head on him.
The Zweihander on the other hand morphed into a scoped large sniper rifle with a bowie knife attached on the barrel of the gun, which he used to parry the incoming attack, recoiling both his and his adversaries weapon. Ruby let out an excited 'oh' sound when she saw that Bob was also a fellow sniper rifle user.
I'll make you see when I do best
The angel went down with another vertical slice. Instead of parrying again, Bob rolled between its legs. When he found himself directly behind it, he aimed...
I'll succeed as you breathe your very last breath!
And a shot rang out from the rifle, killing the angel on the spot and sending its chunks of meat and blood flying through the room. The invisible barrier Bob put between the battleground and his guests also worked as sort of a windshield - wouldn't be good if the cast was completely covered in angel blood and body parts right? After all, his washing machine has it's limits.
Now I know how the angel fell
(Just kneel...)
Bob rested the rifle on his shoulder and pulled the trigger, hitting an angel that was just about to lunge at him from behind.
I know the tale and I know it too well
(Just bow...)
He held the rifle with both hands and squatted, with one leg jutting out for stability and quickly shot the two incoming lesser angels. He dodged an slash that came from his left and retaliated with his own attack - he started spinning the rifle upwards with a single hand. The multi-hit attack connected, sending the angel airborne and finishing it with a single shot that made it explode into tiny bloody pieces.
"Nice." Mercury commented, to which both Emerald and Cinder beside him looking at him a bit questionably. Well, it was more Cinder doing that and Emerald mimicking what was Cinder doing.
"So...much...blood...YAY!" Nora enthusiastically cheered (as she was more open to her bloodlust than Mercury), and was a little pumped up herself. Screw the reason behind their attack, she just wanted to get in and kick some weird bird-like ass with Bob.
I'll make you wish you had a soul to sell
(Soul to sell...)
When I strike you down and send you straight to hell!
Bob kept killing and the angel's kept coming. This time more of the larger elite angels spawned, seemingly to give Bob as little breathing room as possible. However, Bob yet had to show any signs of tiredness, as Bob's mask flashed orange light, changing into the familiar moustache demon with a cigar in its mouth. He had one hand on the cigar while the other resting on the now morphed katana on his hip and exclaimed:
"Cigar Edge!"
My army comes from deep within
He parried both attacks with a quickdraw of his blade and dashed forwards, removing their torsos from the legs. The cuts were so clean and quick that it took a good second before blood started violently spraying from the stumps.
Beneath my soul, beneath my skin
Taiyang noticed that whenever Bob performed whatever move that required extreme speed there was a trail of orange light which was coming from the tip of the burning cigar in Bob's mask...mouth. While he had absolutely no clue if the cigar serves any other practical purpose beside lighting the blade on fire, he had to admit that it did look pretty cool.
As you're ending, I'm about to begin
My strength is pain and I'll never give in!
Adam on the other hand wasn't that impressed. Sure, Bob's speed was astounding and, in combat terms, outclassed his own, but his skill with the sword was pretty basic to his standards. Though he did remain open to the idea that Bob might be intentionally holding back - the shameful defeat at Haven had taught him to never underestimate his enemies, no matter how weak they might initially appear to be.
I'll tell you now I'm the one to survive
Bob dashed straight into a group of lesser angels and executed several rapid swings around him, cutting the angels into pieces while maintaining a striking pose on one knee.
You'll never break my faith or my stride
He then chucked the blade into a group of enemies, and somehow managed to decapitate every single lesser angel it hit before being stuck in the gut of an elite angel. While the blue-robed angel was writhing in pain, several more of his kin emerged behind Bob. To him, they looked fresh and ripe to enter his little blender, so he slided like a rockstar towards the angel that had his blade and removed it by partially bisecting it.
Instead of dashing like before, Bob stood in his place and has taken a stance, first by sheathing his katana.
Salem was, almost with anticipation, waiting to see what will Bob do next. It was quite natural for her since, besides the antics and bickering between her servants that happened when they thought she wasn't watching them, the Grimmlands were a very boring place with a very limited source of entertainment. That is if you can call the constant fights between her Grimm 'entertainment'.
Watching an oddly dressed man fighting odd creatures in an unnecessary flamboyant fashion with music in the background that has a catchy tune and lyrics that oozed bravado proved to be very...amusing.
I'll have you choke on your own demise
And then she noticed a gleam in his eye just moments before he disappeared from sight...
I make the Angels scream...
Multiple orange lines zig-zagged through the group of angels appeared as soon as Bob vanished...
And the Devil CRY!
The second Bob reappeared in the same spot, with the katana now unsheathed, was the moment the orange trail lines disappeared...and the moment when all angels fell down, with blood spraying from every cut Bob inflicted on them.
And boy were there a lot of cuts.
What went unnoticed until now was the fact that the room, while completely covered in blood, wasn't chockful of corpses. The reason being that, as soon as the angel beings died, they dispersed by breaking down into golden dust that shortly disappears into nothingness.
"WOOOOOO! YEAH!"
Bob turned around to see Nora pumping her fist in the air, and judging by the faces of other younger folk - they all liked this little pseudo set-up he had. But before anything could be said and done...
"What's happening now?!" Jaune asked out loud, as the entire light of the room suddenly turned light blue. While the barrier between them and Bob was still there, both the students and teachers couldn't help but be concerned about what will happen next. The only thing they could hear was a young man's voice diligently saying:
"Sensei, onegaishimasu!"
Then out of nowhere a door appeared on the other side from where Bob is. Golden, metal frame surrounded the door, which had a Mistrali style painting of two dragons, one white and the other black, circling around each other.
The door slid open, from which came Bob's next opponent.
"Watch yer step, ol'man." Bob said, pointing a finger at him.
The 'old man' in question was clothed in, what Ren noticed, a very traditional swordsman garb - a kimono of sorts (that had white lotus flowers on his chest for some reason). Besides the kimono, the man had a pair of Kotes and Kogakes, both being pieces of traditional Mistrali swordsmen. A straight katana was sheathed on his right hip and seemingly had no other weapons present on himself.
He also sported graying short spiky hair, thick eyebrows and an impressive beard - and judging by his expression, he wasn't very amused by Bob's comment.
"Hmph! Don't get cocky just because your master defeated my master."
"Whatever ye say, oh Great Sensei."
Sensei smiled at his opponents response, as he gracefully pulled out his blade and responded:
"Prepare to face my new secret technique."
Safe to say, everyone on the other side of the room had no idea what just happened.
PLEASE MR. SENSEI
from God Hand
music by Masafumi Takada
And now something akin to a very stereotypical traditional Mistrali song(though Lie Ren could swear it was supposed to be a borderline parody of it) started playing as Sensei slashed at the air and taunted Bob with:
"Peaceful as the Forest! Strong as the Mountain!"
...
And while everyone who was well read in ancient Mistralian philosophy and/or was of Mistrali birth could actually recognize the origins of Sensei's words, the rest of the cast couldn't for the life of them figure out what the hell did the old man mean with that quip.
Bob in return put up his hands in a snake-like fashion. His weapon was completely gone and his mask turned from a ruthless demon with a moustache and a cigar to a more jovial look - a bearded golden-skinned man with a ponytail and slits for eyes sporting an 'O' expression.
"Drunken Master!"
If Penny was judging by appearances, this new combat form is most likely leaning towards hand-to-hand encounters. But since his opponent is clearly armed, why would Bob trade his own katana for bare fists?
'Perhaps the answer to that will be revealed if I gathered more data!' Penny thought as she watched the fight unfold.
And unfold it did, as Sensei made the first move by crouch leaning towards Bob as he rapidly thrust his sword at him. Instead of blocking or even running away, Bob stood in place as he dodged all of his attacks by using a combination of crouching and torso twitching in various directions.
Sensei immediately followed with two horizontal slashes that ended up with a vertical slash. Bob dodged the last attack by dodging sideways and instantly countering with an uppercut that sent the old man in the air. He then performed a scissor kick, which juggled Sensei in the air and then finished with a powerful roundhouse kick that launched the samurai on the other side of the room.
"Ah, nicely done!" Sensei spoke as he got up, looking no worse for wear. He then slowly spin his sword in front of him to the left, which made his sword glow bright orange.
'Clones? Nah, he said NEW secret technique, so-'
Bob's train of thought was halted as, with each strike of his sword, Sensei was throwing orange crescent waves of energy at him. Surprised, but not caught off guard, Bob rapidly dodged in the opposite direction of the angle of the blades.
To not give him time to repeat the new secret technique or try to perform the dreaded old technique, Bob rushed with a flying kick that made Sensei stumble backwards, which was followed by a series of unorthodox punches that required to sway his body left and right, which only made him look like he was completely drunk.
Hence the name of the style.
While Yang thought that Bob looked utterly ridiculous with his over-the-top moveset, her dad was very familiar of the technique he was using. He remembered how much of a pain in the ass was to fight someone who mastered the 'drunk' moves, mostly because the user of the style was both very flexible against almost anything and it made the user completely unpredictable in a fight.
Sensei raised his sword to parry Bob's next attack and then retaliated with a jumping slice, which Bob simply sidestepped and took advantage of the samurai's vulnerability to juggle him in the air with somersault kick. Instead of the jumping roundhouse, Bob performed a high side kick that had the same launching effect, albeit not as powerful as the former.
The old swordsman recovered quickly and began spinning his glowing sword to the right. Upon finishing the spin, Sensei conjured four identical clones of him, all ready to slice Bob into pieces. But the masked man was unfazed and said:
"Bring it on!"
As both sides rushed into combat, Blake couldn't help but notice a peculiar thing with all of the Sensei's - only one of them cast a shadow on the ground. And when Bob delivered a few punches at a shadowless version, it turned black before bursting into red particles, suggesting that the real Sensei is the one with a shadow.
Usually, she'd immediately point out something like that, but considering how Bob fared so far (with him not taking a single hit from Sensei), she assumed he probably knew about that already.
Ruby had a different opinion though.
"Bob, all the clones don't have a shadow!"
The music stopped and all both Bob and Sensei were frozen stiff in place at the exact moment Ruby finished her sentence. Both combatants (and the clones) turned their heads towards Ruby and literally shushed her.
"Uh, sorry?" Ruby scratched her head, feeling a bit awkward now.
After full five seconds, Bob was first to speak to his adversary:
"The mood is ruined, ain't it?"
"I must agree on that."
With a flick of his sword, Sensei dissipated the rest of his clones and dusted himself off.
"Shall we resume some other time?"
"Yeah, ya know where ta find me."
Both men took a step away from each other and respectfully bowed to one another. The golden door appeared once again out of thin air and disappeared in the same way once Sensei left through it. Now with Sensei gone, the barrier between the audience and Bob was lifted as the spider amulet floated back into Bob's hand and dissipated.
"And here I was beginning to enjoy the 'How to beat old people 101' course before Red here had to ruin everything like a party crasher she is." Roman sighed in faux disappointment.
"No, you're a party crasher Torchwick!"
"Legendary comeback there Red."
As Ruby and Roman were having a little pout, Bob took the time to open a hidden closet in a side wall and pull out a sweeper and a bucket that was already full of water.
"Cut it out, both of you! I want to know what in the hell just happened?!" Weiss yelled out.
"Well...",Bob started as he began scrubbing the blood of the floor, "The old man I just fought was a student of someone that my teach beat a long time ago. Funniest part is that his teach actually wanted to beat mine so he can restore his students honor or something - didn't go very well for him, as you might've guessed..."
"Yeah, I think everybody figured that one out pretty easily. What's the deal with those angel things that almost turned you into Valean cheese?"
'Valean, huh? Interesting...' Bob thought before responding:
"Those were Affinities an' Applauds of the Third Sphere, which is a lower-ranking caste among the Angels of Paradiso. "
"Paradiso?" Ruby asked.
"Dunno what's the deal with yer religion, but I'm pretty sure you have concepts like Hell and Heaven? Well, Paradiso is Heaven."
"Uh, what?" Sun uttered as he scratched his head in confusion.
"Those were Angels - actual Angels of Heaven trying to kill you?" James questioned, clearly showing suspicion on the honesty and benevolence of their 'savior'.
"A price to pay fo' being a good pal to one of the coolest, most badass woman to ever exist. The Angels kinda wanted to kill her at first due to being their polar opposite in the whole "light-and-dark" balance of their world, but now they REALLY want her off because she punted the physical manifestation of their God into the frigin' Sun."
While some of the older members remained skeptical, the students looked amazed and impressed by what Bob just said.
"Will we get to meet her? Will we? Will we?!" Nora excitedly jumped around, which made Ren put a hand on her shoulder.
"Maybe, maybe not. Who knows?" Bob coyly responded as he continued cleaning all the blood in the room.
"I presume that the Paradiso God is quite different from the Brother Gods, correct?" Ozpin asked, which drew Salem's attention. The answer came out quickly:
"Yeah, kinda - doesn't matter tho, she can eat both of them for breakfast. Literally." Bob broke out a short laugh as he dried the sweeper in the bucket.
"Literally?"
"Yep - she can summ'n Demons that are bound by a contract. Most of them are always hungry and/or bloodthirsty and will happily tear, smash, chomp, swallow and even peck to death anything of divine origin. Or anything in their path really - it's pretty awesome when you get to see them in action. Anyway..."
With a splash of water that came from putting the sweeper in the bucket, Bob wiped the metaphorical sweat from his brow as the entire room looked squeaky clean. The only thing he needs to do now was to patch the crack on the floor that he caused with the throw of his sword.
'Eh, another time.'
"Will something like this happen again in the foreseeable future?" Glynda asked, eyeing her host as a part of the wall slid open, revealing a small closet space that he used to store the bucket and the sweeper.
"Can't guarantee anythin' my dear Glyn."
"Please don't call me that."
"Whateva ya say Glyn." Bob retorted with a small chuckle, fully aware of being the receiver of Glynda's scrutinizing glare(trademarked).
"But y'all don't havta worry cuz' yer under my protection now. Besides, I saw some of ye enjoyed the little party that went here, eh?"
"Those bouts wouldn't be an issue if we had our abilities back." Cinder spoke politely, in a way that subtly demands something of the listener.
"You'd like that, wouldn'cha? Ain't gonna happen lass, end of story." Bob responded, completely ignoring the ex-Fall Maiden's mildly annoyed expression. He pretty much knew that the only thing Cinder would want right now is to either kill Rose or kill Ozpin again - maybe even both. And to top all that, she didn't even thank him for the beauty work he did on her. Something definitely has to be done about that...
"Alright, I guess it's time. Let's get started, shall we?"
With two claps the lights dimmed and the screen began glowing bright as the cast eagerly awaited what will unveil in front of them.
I've opened a Subscribestar if ya think I'm worth simping for 1$ a month. The link is in my FFnet profile, but if you want to manually find me, just type my FFnet name - it's the same as my Subscribestar account. Thanks, bye.
