From Ashes to Dust

by joecola00

Remnant is a world housed by the remains of a people constantly warring with soulless monsters that would see them extinct. Yet they aren't the only remnants on their planet. Remnant is far older than any of its denizens could imagine, older than even their Brother Gods. One of these relics of their past is not as dead as the rest, and its awakening will bring fate to its knees...

47. Yet Humanity Burns Brighter Still

Poll on my profile. Take a look if you can. Take note that I'm only going to go for the MHW xover option if an OVERWHELMING majority of you want that instead of the sequel for some reason.

Ch 46 - Yet Humanity Burns Brighter Still.

A/N: Well. Here we are. The grand finale of this whole debacle. The story certainly isn't over just yet, but by the end of the chapter, for all intents and purposes, this story will be at the end of Volume 3. Just to recap: Ruby's squaring off for a do-or-die against Adam, with both Blake's life and her own on the line, Penny's in pretty shitty shape, lying on the ground next to a half-puddle half-Banesaw corpse, having the worst birthday ever, Roman, Patches, Neo and co are holding the fort on the ground while the Atlesian fleet is fighting for the skies, Kevin just got a lobotomy via sunlight spear courtesy of Pyrrha, Weiss pulled off summoning a full Arma Gigas a volume ahead of schedule and helped out along with Yang, a bunch of other student hunstmen were relevant, any students who canonically died at Beacon haven't here, the adults finally showed up to the school after (half) the major problem was dealt with, and Vyliria just hit the second phase of her bossfight. But if you want her to have a boss theme, just go on youtube, and look up "Ludwig, the Holy Blade (Doom Version) [HQ] from Bloodborne: The Old Hunters". The channel is GeoffPlaysGuitar. I WISH this was out when I was writing this chapter. But I'm absolutely declaring that as Vyliria's canonical boss music for this phase of the fight.

Or, alternatively, you can look up: Dark Sun Gwyndolin [Dark Souls OST Metal Cover], by Utamaru, and skip to 2:28. Up until that DOOM-ified version of Ludwig's theme was put up, that was going to be my theme for this. I mean, if you prefer that one, feel free to have that as your Vyliria, the Darkmoon Blade boss theme. The Dark Souls Clause is a thing, after all. :-)

Just in case it hasn't been clear, not all of these perspectives are in chronological order. A good deal of the climax of the story is occurring at the same time as other perspectives.

Let's light this bonfire. We got a show to finish.

Review Response:

Skeletalrepublic: Vyliria is seeing some shit right noe, and I want in on it.

that fucking fight with the wyvern was something out of legends my dude. fucking awesome and is the epitome of an epic. It has all the things that make for a good final fight against a major threat, including utilizing the most powerful tool and/or spell to vanquish the beast, but also the teamwork of every member in the encounter.

And Ruby herself cursing, even if it feels OoC, it feels just right after Adam's monologue, especially since he dissed not only her ideals, and her friends, but her own mother as well. Ruby is fucking dangerous with her scythe and speed, so pissing her off is gonna push her limits.

Makes me wonder if Blake is gonna tell Yang about her swearing or if she was to busy to notice.

Either way, this has been the most hyped end game I'm witnessing right about now.

My response: Yeah, she's high AF on the Blood of the Dark Soul, and just started one HELL of a trip. Unfortunately, she has the only known stash left in existence. I spent eight hours writing that fight out, and probably spent another 3 hours over the next few months tweaking minor details here and there.

It might seem OOC, but you've seemed to have forgotten: Adam just called her dead mom a bitch. If ANYTHING is gonna make Ruby drop an f-bomb, that'll do it.

thefluffyone93: Hm. Yes. Nodders.

Seems like...maybe Vyliria bit it again? Lotta ink for a new painting. Or maybe that's a remnant of Greg? That's the big dragon's name by the fandom right? But hey new bonfire.

And an epic battle to end all battles...and no one witnessed it. Just like another certain boss battle in that certain DS3 DLC. Also Imma be blunt, I didn't think you were hiding that reveal at all. But that's just bias on my platinumed DS3 end, where I assume the Ashen One of any given story is THE badsass that scoffs at things like canon story and somehow saves everyone. Well, alright, maybe not that far but hey. If you can control time and space with the First Flame, why WOULDN'T you save people like Priscilla or even the Pyromancy Sisters?

Whattaya mean it sounds like a shitty harem fic?! How dare you! Don't blame me for wanting to save characters from their grim fate in Dark Souls games! The only ones worse off are those in a game from Yoko Taro!

Ahem.

Good Chapter.

The Nameless King is proud of Pyrrha and the lot of them kids.

My response: I guess you'll have to wait for the next chapter to find out. Though the soul by the bonfire is from the wyvern. And I could have sworn the fanon name for the wyvern is Kevin.

It didn't occur to me, but yeah, Vyliria VS Cinder is EXACTLY like the Gael fight in that sense. The most epic battle ever to decide the fate of a world, and no one even knows it happened.

I mean, prior to the last chapter, I only had 2 people figure it out, and that was only after I all but told them with hints. Even now, only like 5 people have finally pulled the wool from their eyes. I still don't get why so many people were convinced she had Lord of Cinder powers or absorbed the First Flame, after I went out of my way in the PROLOGUE to mention she went with the End of Fire. But yeah, she's got the Dark Soul (or at least, the piece Gael got). And yeah, that is your DS3 Plat inducing bias. Good on you for knowing your lore and figuring it all out though. Like, completely unironically, congratulations.

ScreamingStuka: Why is that every time I donate blood, an unparalleled chapter drops? Could probably make a Bloodborne or Warhammer40k joke from that.

Another awesome boss fight, and its only half Done! Blackfire Vyliria and Cinder was amazing to read, and the transition to Phase 3, The Dark Sun's Disciple (my idea for boss name) was just, (enthusiastic groaning noise).
Poor Kevin, getting the Ancient Wyvern treatment of a weapon through the back of the head, and if you don't have access to conveniently located architecture, semblances will do fine.
Ruby vs Adam. Now that was an awesome fight. The sheer difference in terms of their world views, and Adam hurling insults, only to press the one button NO ONE should ever press. And I can't wait to see him catch Lifehunt to his face for not only breaking Crescent Rose, but insulting Summer Rose. That's a death sentence right there.

Given that you have suggested to us a few fics, I thought it prudent to suggest one I found that I thoroughly enjoyed.
A Light Against the Darkness by nightbringer24
A WH40k/RWBY crossover featuring the remains of the fighting forces of Cadia just after it fell, head off to assist in Gullimans latest crusade only to get warp shunted to Remant.
Most fics that have Armed forces of the Imperium turn up on Remnant absolutely despise the Faunus, its nice to read a fic that doesn't immediately do that, given the Imperium has some leeway on the human subspecies, ie. Orgyns.

The story is almost done, and I can't wait to see what happens next!

My response: Why is it that I have the single worst RNG known to mankind when it comes to Paradox Interactive games? Some people just have Qrow levels of bad luck. I guess we're two of them...

I mean, I was gonna go for Vyliria, the Darkmoon Blade, but your's isn't bad.

Less of a weapon and more of a ten-foot stake of highly volatile, condensed sunlight, but the result is roughly the same.
Huntsmen: Improve, Adapt, Overcome. That was meant as a joke, I don't own that phrase, please don't sue me.

If this fic ever gets a TVTropes page (fingers crossed), that moment is definitely going under Berserk Button. I figured that if anything at all would get Ruby to drop an f-bomb, it would be calling her mom a bitch.

I've been keeping up with that fic, including checking out the partial chapter releases on Spacebattles, and it's awesome.

TheBigBrotherWTPD: When she killed Gael, all that humanity had to go somewhere. And she was the only living thing left to got TOO at that point. Especially if she dealt with Yorshka first. Even giving the Blood of the Dark Soul means nothing really, I should have picked it up sooner, but now that I think about it you dropped that shit a while ago huh?

As it stands, Valyria is technically the progenitor of all humanity at this point. The Humanity Sprite at the bonfire is the Dragons Soul, calling it now. I'm curious if you intend to touch on the Painting the little lady made after you give her the blood.

What Cold and Kind place did she make? And does perchance my boi Patches have a scrap of it. Rotted that it might be?

My response: Glad to see people FINALLY figuring it out. But you forget, Shira was there too. And she didn't kill Yorshka, her chime was freely given. I specified that.

Basically, I forgot where I found it in game, but unkindled are implied to be made of sterner stuff than the average undead. While they can still hollow if bereft of purpose (or sorta hollow via dark sigils), they don't need humanity, and as long as they're willing to push on, NO amount of deaths will stop them. Minor spoilers for ch 47, but what I basically reasoned out was this:

Gael in canon KNEW that even taking PART of the Dark Soul would ruin him. Undead simply aren't BUILT to handle absorbing a Lord Soul. No mortal is. Even in DS1, you only carry Lord Souls/their fragments to put them in the Lordvessel. But an unkindled is specifically a vessel for souls, tempered by their failure to Link the First Flame. In canon, Gael banks everything on the fact that your insatiable drive to explore every nook and cranny of Lothric (that's what got you to Friede in the first place, after all) would mean that you would eventually encounter him at the end of the world, and that you'd be able to kill him to get the Blood for the Painting Girl. But, by using the Dark Souls Clause, I decided to add an extra caveat: Since apparently the Pygmy Lords' blood was too dry to use for the pigment, Gael consumed them to get the Dark Soul. But it's also established that he wasn't able to handle being a vessel for even a FRAGMENT of a Lord Soul. And if he's not a suitable vessel, how can we trust that his blood will work as a pigment either. Hence, a little lie is given by the Red Hood in his dying moments: Only a living being can supply the Blood. And the only living being left who'd even have a chance of being able to handle a fragment of the Dark Soul of Man was one Vyliria Avalon. She used HER BLOOD as pigment for that Painting. The Black Blood provided from the Dark Soul that now courses through her veins. She isn't the Progenitor of Humanity, because she didn't create any of the iterations of man that has walked this world. But she did get the birthright of mankind passed down to her. She is the Inheritor of Man, by right of the same soul that let her outlast the Flame that had returned her after her first failure to Link it.

It's not a humanity sprite at the bon. It's just straight up the wyvern's soul. It just happens to be black because Grimm. I do have plans for several Grimm in the series to drop souls that can be transposed later on. As an example, let's just say that the Knuckelavee is gonna earn a spot on that list by being vastly more nightmare fuel than its canon counterpart.

Vyliria doesn't know what happened to the Painting. Patches doesn't have a fragment of it, and doesn't even know it was made. Vyliria only recalls telling seven people about the canvas bearing her blood, and Patches wasn't one of them.

Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Souls or RWBY. Dark Souls belongs to From Software and RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth. I only own my own OC.

(Ruby)

Ruby leapt into the air in a cloud of rose petals, lifehunt scythe miracle held overhead and swinging down. Adam attempted to raise his blade to block the strike, but the incorporeal weapon didn't care for such things as physical objects in its path. Wilt glowed slightly, evidently absorbing some amount of the energy from the strike, but the vast majority of the blow, along with the blade itself, carved straight through Adam, and he gasped in pain as his aura drained and grey energies were ripped from his body by the blade, which then swept towards and into Ruby. The red reaper felt the stolen vigor absorb into her and felt energy returning to her limbs already, but she didn't let up on her assault. Two more slashes hit Adam before he realized what was happening, and even as he leapt back, clearing a window and ending up outside the building, Ruby had spun to land a third hit. The stolen lifeforce came to her with each blow landed, and with a rush, she felt her aura ripple as it barely reformed itself into a protective shell around her. It wouldn't be able to take even a single hit as it was, but that just meant she needed to hit Adam more without getting struck herself.

She pursued the insane bull faunus outdoors, sliding as she struck, going past him and swinging the scythe through his legs, feeling her aura stabilize further before she flit away from a counter swing with another use of Petal Burst. Her combat boots skidded on the ground as she came to a stop, but she immediately ran back in, leaping overhead and flipping twice, scythe swinging as she did. Wilt got in the way, but once again her weapon passed through it, striking Adam twice more. She landed behind him, and swept her legs, using her semblance to speed up the maneuver, taking Adam off his feet. She got back onto her own feet, and raised the scythe overhead to swing down at him, but he rolled along the floor to dodge, before leveling Blush and firing at point blank range. The shaft of the ethereal scythe was positioned to block the bullet, and unlike when he attempted to block her, Ruby's weapon proved perfectly capable of intercepting physical weapons. Adam scrambled to his feet, and went on the offensive, and she blocked two swings from Wilt, before having the shaft of the blade intercept a two-handed strike Adam attempted to bring down from above. She jabbed out with the spiked bottom of the scythe, and Adam backstepped away from the strike, taking a moment to compose himself. Having a moment to collect her own thoughts, something about the weapon she was using caused her to give the miracle a slightly more thorough inspection. And she noticed that the bottom of the scythe, with its jagged, curved point, looked exactly like the dagger that had stabbed Vyliria in the back.

That realization, and its implications, nearly cost her, and her scythe barely moved to intercept a charge from her opponent, clashing with Wilt in a shower of sparks and ethereal snowflakes. She briefly considered the merits of a headbutt, but realized that not only was she at an aura disadvantage, and lacked any facial protection, but that her opponent literally had bull horns on his head, and that she was very lucky that he hadn't already attempted to headbutt her. Instead, she lifted a foot and used her shorter stature to her advantage, kicking him in the crotch. He yelled in pain, staggering back, and she punished the vulnerability of his male anatomy with two more hits. Blush fired twice, one shot bouncing off her aura and bringing it into dangerously low territory again, but the other was caught by the bottom of the scythe, and she sidestepped a running stab from Adam, before spinning in a cloud of rose petals and using the momentum to slash him as he went past her. Four more swings failed to be blocked by Wilt despite the fact that the blade was in the way of each of the strikes, but then he seemed to wizen up slightly, positioning his blocks in such a manner that she'd have to let her arms scrape along his blade if she wanted to land a strike with full force. Even so, being relegated to glancing blows didn't deter her, and with the ability to completely stop her attacks lost, and her own aura recovering with each successful blow, the battle was starting to turn in her favor.

Deciding to shift gears, she went all-in with her semblance, literally running circles faster and faster around him, to the point where a literal tornado picked up on his position, flinging him into the air, where he tried and failed to block another flurry of slashes as she bounded front the ground up to him in a burst of petals, before repeating the process to land and jump right back in. Adam fired Blush to use the recoil to get himself out of the tornado, and Ruby rolled out of the way of a plunging attack he aimed at her, before he followed up with five swings. She sidestepped the first, blocked the second and third, jumped over the fourth, and when the fifth was a downward slash that left him slightly overextended, she used the bottom of her scythe to pin his blade to the ground, before a foot lashed out to kick him in the face. His mask came off from the blow, clattering to the floor. One blue eye stared its hate at her, but the other was covered by a literal brand, two lines burnt into the skin above and below the grey iris and red sclera, with the letters SDC between them. Okay, I'm having a talk with Weiss the next time I see her, she thought.

A world-shaking boom occurred, both combatants stumbling as the ground unexpectedly rumbled, a beam of teal light lancing up into the sky from somewhere near the CCT tower, followed by a teal explosion which dissipated a few seconds later. The field of battle was silent for a few moments, and Ruby realized that the lighting had stopped, and the wind was dying down. Adam regained his composure (and his rage took the reins back from his surprise) first.

"This is what humanity has done to us!" He jerked a thumb at his face as he shouted. "What you have done to us, all while claiming to be paragons of virtue while saying that we're the savages!" Adam screamed at her.

Ruby burst forwards with her semblance, six swipes of the scythe spinning out at him from every direction, going through Wilt's block just like the others. "That doesn't give you the right to do the same!" she screamed back at him.

Adam's working pupil shrunk, and his glare did the impossible and intensified. "Then what does?! How much more do we have to suffer, do I have to suffer, before you all get what you deserve?! I'm done waiting! If the world won't give you retribution for your crimes, then I will!"

Her miracle intercepted three rapid strikes, and then the shaft caught Wilt, Adam putting all his strength into pushing down and trying to break her guard. Sparks flew, Wilt glowing brighter the longer they struggled. A struggle that Adam was slowly winning. Ruby grit her teeth, and with a scream, she pushed back. Not just with her arms, but with her own soul. And she pushed hard enough that some barrier she wasn't even aware of broke. She flashed into a cloud of rose petals, no longer a human body sped up by them, but a literal mobile blob of the stuff, which split in half and zipped around Adam, reforming into Ruby behind him, scythe raised above and behind her as she shouted and swiped down.

The sound of glass shattering echoed as Adam's aura broke, and he tumbled well over a dozen feet away before coming to a stop. Ruby breathed heavily as he stood back up. He clenched his teeth, fingers twitching as his grip tightened on his weapons. "You're out of aura," Ruby told him. "Give up."

Adam stared at her for a second, before he sheathed his blade into its scabbard. Ruby realized that it wasn't a gesture of surrender, but only a second after he did so. A second too late to react, as the world went red, and Moonslice lanced out towards her once more.

(Vyliria)

The Moonlight Greatsword was raised overhead with one arm, glowing brightly before Vyliria slammed the blade to the ground in front of her. A wave of teal moonlight streaked out, and Cinder dove to the side of the arcane force. In a burst of burning ash, her left hand held the repeating crossbow, firing a barrage of explosive bolts at Cinder as she closed the rest of the gap between them. The unkindled spun clockwise to bring some momentum behind her horizontal slash, but Cinder jumped back from the swing. Only to get caught by the aurora veil trailing the spin, hitting her in the face with far more force than it had any right to, even with black flames burning intermittently along its length. She took a two-handed grip, and thrust forwards with the blade, moonlight running along it. It battered straight through the Maiden's guard, and Cinder gave a cry of pain as she was battered by both blade and magic. She blocked a followup strike, and Vyliria replied with a bringing her left hand off the legendary greatsword and casting a torrential blast of black flame in her face. The Irithyllian swung her weapon one handed as if it weighed the same as a straight sword, and Cinder's curved swords barely intercepted her first two swings, before the unkindled dropped low and spun. Cinder jumped over the Moonlight Greatsword, but Vyliria angled the blade so that an attempted flaming stomp was blocked, moonlight blasting off the weapon in a wave of force and pushing the Maiden away. Vyliria backpedaled herself, repeating crossbow firing of a barrage of lightning bolts, but Cinder raised a hand and her own magic blocked them.

"How?!" Cinder cried at her, struggling to be heard over the wailing winds around them. "How do you have this power?!" Her eyes widened, and she shouted again. "You… you're a Maiden too! He had another one here, this whole time?"

"I am nothing like you," Vyliria spoke with steel in her voice, the sound somehow carrying over the howling gale around them without issue. "The power I bear is far more ancient than whatever you possess."

She raised the Moonlight Greatsword again, gripping it in both hands, and wound back, slashing twice and sending two waves of moonlight at her opponent, before raising the blade above a shoulder in a stance, thrusting forwards and sending a beam to follow them up. Cinder sidestepped the first one, broke the second with a blast of flames, but was caught outright by the beam. Vyliria leapt into the sky, reversing the grip on her weapon, and came down like a meteor, smashing the sword into the ground. Cinder fired twin jets of flame from her hands, propelling herself away from the impact and subsequent eruption of moonlight, but was caught unaware when Vyliria yanked the weapon out of the ground in her direction, a torrent of teal light racing towards the Maiden. She was swept off her feet by the impact, but landed on them and launched herself back at her opponent. In the span of half a second, two separate swings from her twin blades were intercepted by Vyliria, and when she went to strike with both blades simultaneously, Vyliria knocked one aside with her greatsword, and the other was intercepted by a parrying dagger that had nigh-instantly materialized in her left hand, and was recalled just as fast. The Irithyllian kicked Cinder back a few steps, and then unloaded with another black flame. She brought her still burning palm to the ground, and a pulse from her pyromancy flame sent a trio of black serpents at the Maiden. Cinder took to the air to dodge them, launching a trio of fireballs at Vyliria, who sliced them apart with minimal effort.

Vyliria called forth her staff, and Cinder was forced to play a game of dodge the crystal soul spear. She lost on the eighth, but managed a controlled descent to the ground. She landed against Vyliria, blades clashing, before Cinder gave a yell and blazed with a corona of power, detonating the flames and breaking the unkindled's guard. Two strikes hit the Irithyllian, then the Moonlight Greatsword intercepted two more, before Cinder stomped and a pillar of fire engulfed both of them. Vyliria grunted at the hit to her aura, and was caught unprepared when the Maiden followed up with a blast of fire from her palm, sending her flying. Her back skidded along the ground, before she flipped and planted her feet to the floor, while stabbing her sword into the ground to slow herself. She jumped right back at Cinder, slamming the blade of the Moonlight Greatsword into the space her opponent had occupied less than a second earlier, before transitioning into a flip that took her directly over her opponent. As she sailed above the Maiden, the repeating crossbow came to her left hand for a third time, firing a barrage of explosive bolts that finally struck their target. When she landed, Vyliria thrust her blade forwards, but Cinder sidestepped it. Undeterred, she spun counter-clockwise, and both the teal weapon and her veil struck her opponent full-force. Cinder recovered fast, however, and her twin blades lashed out, slashes carving into her aura, before Cinder flipped back and blasted forwards to land another hit. Her face nearly got an intimate introduction to the Izalith staff, but it wasn't to be, as her attack was intercepted by spellcraft; the Fall Maiden sent flying back as a dark bead blasted out like an arcane shotgun of humanity's pain. The Maiden landed roughly, and Vyliria capitalized on her opportunity by dismissing her staff and attempting a downward slash. Cinder rolled out of the way of the strike, but the unkindled just jumped and slammed the blade down on her, before gripping it with both hands and conducting a complete spin. Once more, the Moonlight Greatsword and the Dancer's Veil struck home. Vyliria leapt back, landing lightly on her feet over a dozen feet away, and she drew Yorshka's chime. She gave it a ring, and began speaking, calling forth her own hate at the circumstances around the tale she herself had partaken in creating, even as the words came to her mind like she had always known them, and they'd only chose to come to her lips here and now.

The Champion of Ash stood at the end of a world,

Around her the dark clouds roiled and swirled,

She faced down the Red Hood, to see through his last demand,

That a niece he'd left behind, could create an unburdened land,

And all throughout their battle, as the end of Flame drew near,

Crashing down all around them, were Dark Lightning Spears!

A bolt of blue lighting cracked to life from the chime, and Vyliria dashed at her opponent, slamming it down like a stake. Cinder rolled to the side of the attack, barely dodging the blast of lightning that ruptured out as the attack struck the floor. She thrust her palms out, falling back on twin streams of fire, but Vyliria merely raised the arm holding the chime again, and this time, she threw. The Maiden shot to the side, but the dark lightning spear betrayed its more human nature as it tracked her movement, striking her anyways. She landed on her feet, and sidestepped a dark edge cast from Vyliria's staff, the unkindled having swapped catalysts and closing range in mere seconds. Even as the abyssal sorcery dissipated, Vyliria spun, bringing her staff with her, and a soul greatsword carved a slice from Cinder's aura. In a wash of flames far older than what Cinder possessed, the staff was recalled to Vyliria's storage, and her pyromancy flame bloomed to life, black flames blasting towards her opponent. Cinder blocked the attack with a barrier of magic, and countered, landing four strikes with her twin blades before she found her left side wide open, a parrying dagger having caught the sword in that hand, and she twisted out of the way of a riposte from Vyliria's own weapon, and landed a slash against the Irithyllian with her unoccupied blade. The unkindled responded by yanking her parrying dagger out of the grip it had on one of Cinder's weapons, and punching her opponent in the face. Cinder intercepted two swipes of the parrying dagger at point blank range, and dodged one swipe of the Moonlight Greatsword before using both blades to bat aside a second, leaving Vyliria wide open. The unkindled's eyes widened as Cinder almost seemed to dance her way behind her, crossing her swords on her neck. Yet before she could pull the blades, Vyliria's right leg kicked up far enough that the toe of the boot slammed into the Maiden's face, staggering Cinder, which she capitalized upon in yet another burst of black flames.

"All that time rolling made my legs more flexible than I thought," she mused aloud, before deciding to put the musing to action as she rolled towards Cinder, digging the parrying dagger into the ground to give her slightly more leverage to slam down her greatsword, a burst of teal moonlight erupting from the impact.

Cinder dodged around the attack, slamming a burning palm into her back and blasting her away. "Fuck you!" she screamed, long past the point of smugness and now very deep into the territory of unbridled fury.

Vyliria recovered and placed her parrying dagger on her hip, gripping the Moonlight Greatsword in both hands. "I'm flattered, but psychopathic megalomaniacs don't particularly tickle my fancy."

Cinder screamed in blind range, her swords melting and condensing into twin fireballs that rapidly grew, and she charged at Vyliria. Vyliria merely grit her teeth, stomping on the ground and settling into a lower stance, readying her weapon for the last second. It dragged against the ground from the underhand sweep, but both the blade and a wave of teal moonlight slammed into Cinder before she could unleash her own attack. Despite just having sent her off like a greatarrow, Vyliria sprinted after the Maiden, left hand grabbing the parrying dagger once more and reversing the grip. Cinder attempted to blast a wave of flames at her, but the unkindled merely dropped to the floor. Digging the parrying dagger into the ground and using it as an anchor, her own momentum caused her to swing along the ground in a wide arc trailing moonlight as she went. Having staggered Cinder from the first blow, she flipped her body, now spinning in the other direction, landing a second strike before flipping into the air and bringing an overhead slam to finish the assault. Which was promptly parried by a curved sword, before her aura took a massive hit from Cinder's riposte. Gods-fucking-damnit, she thought, you'd think the amount of times I parried the Abyss Watchers and any invader using the Farron Greatsword when they did the same would make me not attempt it myself. Her blunder cost her two more blows to the torso, and her aura shattered, before she found herself getting stabbed through the heart for the third time in the past day.

Except this time, she wasn't dealing with lifehunt, nor was she nearly hollow. As such, Cinder's eyes widened when she barely flinched, and merely sent her parrying dagger back to her storage, before a hand burning with black flames grabbed her opponent by the throat and lifted her into the air. Cinder placed both her hands against the offending gauntlet, attempting to melt through the vice-like grip the unkindled had on her, but she may as well have been trying to freeze ice for all the Black Knight armor piece cared. Vyliria merely smiled, morbid humor manifesting as some air snorted from her nose in a parody of a light giggle. She bared her teeth, even as she coughed up blood. Black blood.

"You know," she said, flecks of the fluid coming up along with her wet-sounding voice, "Gael was right after all. It really is the blood of the Dark Soul."

She clenched her fist, and an explosion of black fire from both the hand and her body blasted Cinder back, her swords being yanked out as she went, and Vyliria doubled over as more black blood sprayed out. She grunted in pain as she felt the dark flames building both outside and within her, until they finally burst. With a scream, she stood straight, throwing her arms and head back as wisps of deep red masses of darkness, vaguely taking the likeness of human skulls, shot off her form in droves. They lazily turned and drifted towards Cinder, who picked herself up and rolled forwards, dodging them by moving to where some had already impacted, retrieving her weapons as she did so. Vyliria jumped, propelling herself up and to the right on a stream of dark fire, the aurora veil vaguely resembling demented wings, before she zipped down and towards Cinder. The Maiden was nearly unprepared for the strike, barely conjuring a wall of flames to take the hit, which shattered on impact. The unkindled kept her momentum, transitioning into an overhead flip, once more raining down explosive bolts from the repeating crossbow. Vyliria gave a complete spin upon landing, and her sword and veil battered Cinder yet again, before she thrust forwards with the Moonlight Greatsword, which the Maiden blocked and pushed to the side. Yet before she could begin a counter attack, a cascade of blue lightning crashed down atop and all around them, knocking Cinder to the floor as she screamed while the electricity arched through her.

Vyliria took a step back, and placed her greatsword upon a strap on her back, standing perpendicular to her opponent, calling forth the Crystal Sage's rapier, assuming a fencing stance before dashing forwards and battering the Maiden with a flurry of jabs the second she got up. Not giving Cinder any opportunity to recover, the second she was done, her rapier was gone in a burst of burning ash, Ledo's greathammer sweeping along the ground and battering her opponent, who unfortunately dodged the overhead slam and subsequent blast of rocks. Cinder rocketed backwards, melting the floor as she did, and with a stomp, shards of molten glass rose from the floor, shooting towards Vyliria. Undeterred, she charged forwards, swapping her greathammer for the frayed blade, a flurry of slashes trailing abyssal energy effortlessly slicing through the projectiles, and as she reached the Maiden, she sheathed the blade before whipping it out in an overhead strike that slammed into the ground. The wave of dark energy nearly tripped Cinder, and she couldn't recover before Vyliria dismissed the frayed blade and leapt into the air, though only a few feet this time. Even as she descended, the twin katanas, Onikiri and Ubadachi, slashed out horizontally, before she struck Cinder with both blades. She reversed her grip on the smaller Ubadachi and parried a counter attack before landing two more slashes with the longer Onikiri. The katanas also disappeared in a burst of embers, the twin demonic fists she had transposed from the soul of a greater demon adorning her fists as she span and battered the Maiden like a demented top, before punching the ground and knocking Cinder into the air with a pillar of fire. She recovered in midair with a scream and launched three fireballs at the unkindled, sending her flying like a ragdoll. When she came to a stop, she rose to her feet, singed, and with several more cracked and/or outright broken ribs than she had a few seconds prior, but no worse for wear. She looked up, and bit back a curse as her eyes widened, seeing Cinder charging a ridiculous amount of power, sending it forth in a beam of flames straight at her. They met the face of a Black Knight shield, and Vyliria grunted as the sheer force of the magical assault pushed her back, before digging her feet in and starting to trudge forwards through it. They continued to wash against the shield, which began to glow under the ludicrous heat that was melting the ground she was walking on, but her drakeblood boots held, tempered by wyvern fire, and her shield proved its ability to handle the flames of Izalith and the Kiln as it refused to yield. Her Silver Knight straight sword, crackling with electricity, came into her right hand in a stream of embers, and she put on a burst of speed in the final few feet to Cinder, bashing her with the shield and forcing her to stop the beam, even as her blade whipped out and scored two slices and a stab, before sword and shield were replaced by a smaller shield with a lion's face emblazoned upon it and a sword that bore a resemblance to the style of Miló. She thrust the shield out, and a wave of force accompanied by a lion's roar staggered Cinder, who cried out in pain as Vyliria went on an offensive, shield blocking counter attacks even as she threw out blows of her own, before Cinder burst with a corona of flame and sent the unkindled flying back instead. She landed on her feet, skidding across the ground and kicking up pebbles and dust, but immediately went back on the offensive, replacing Valorheart with the javelin of a Follower of Farron, throwing an arcane clone of the spear to strike her opponent. Even as the incorporeal projectile flew, Vyliria blasted forwards with a pulse of black flames, emptying her hands and drawing her chime.

Exiled and imprisoned alone in a hostile world of painted cold,

The Crossbreed Priscilla was visited by many warriors bold,

Yet to each one she offered their lives to be spared,

If only those same terms to her would be shared,

And though many sought to bring her mortal strife,

She cut them all down with her Lifehunt Scythe!

Two swipes from the miracle battered the Maiden, and Vyliria felt her ribs reknitting beneath her skin. She twirled around a swipe from Cinder's swords, winding back for a heavier swing and followed with a lighter one. She wasn't quite as well off as she was that morning (and still auraless to boot), but her injuries were certainly better than a few seconds prior. She backflipped away, loading and firing a barrage from the repeating crossbow at Cinder, who used a wave of flames to stop the lightning bolts cold. When she went on the attack with her curved swords, they met the shorter steel of a brigand's twin-daggers at every turn, before Vyliria lunged to the side and slid behind Cinder, before replacing them with the significantly larger paired ultra-greatswords wielded by a Ringed Knight who'd kicked the unkindled's arse back to the bonfire more times than she cared to admit. She charged forwards, stabbing with both blades, lifting the colossal slabs of abyssally forged metal with no effort, hitting Cinder, before spinning with both blades to land a second pair of strikes. She spun a second time, leaping into the air as she finished, before slamming the weapons down on the Maiden for a seventh and eighth hit. She dismissed them as well, and finally drew the Moonlight Greatsword again, slamming its tip into the floor, and causing an erupting of teal energy which sent Cinder tumbling end over end as she was flung away.

Her battered opponent staggered to her feet, and looked up at her. "What are you?!" she screamed.

"What am I?" Vyliria asked in a deceptively calm voice. She leapt forwards, and her greatsword clashed against Cinder's own blades, engaging in a brief struggle.

"I… am but a nameless, accursed undead, unfit even to burn as Cinders." Vyliria's weapon glowed brighter, before it erupted with moonlight and broke Cinder's guard, the greatsword continuing down and slashing against the Maiden's dwindling aura.

"And yet, I have rendered dragons and demons corpses beneath my boots," she continued. Cinder attempted to hit her with a burst of flames, but Vyliria countered with black fire of her own, and the Maiden was sent skidding back as she struggled to stay on her feet from the force of the push.

"I brought the Lords to heel, killed gods and took their very souls." Two sweeps from the Moonlight Greatsword sent just as many waves of teal energy at Vyliria's opponent, whose conjured shield shattered against the first, leaving her body to be struck by the second.

"I am the wrath of the Fire, the last student of the last god of Anor Londo, and the last bearer of his eternal mandate." Three fireballs from Cinder met three chaos bed vestiges of her own.

"I am the fear of the Night, the Inheritor of Man, whose Dark Soul courses through my veins." Cinder barely rolled to the side of one great soul dreg, and only blew apart the other with her own fire at the last possible second. The Izalith staff returned to the embers it was drawn from as fast as it came.

"I am a child of Irithyll, a survivor of Lothric, who has walked this world from the summit of Archdragon Peak to the depths of Lost Izalith, from a rotting, painted glacier to the Ringed City at the very ends of the earth." Her voice rang clear, not quite shouting, but certainly close. As she spoke, Cinder attempted to go on the offensive, but Vyliria only raised the Moonlight Greatsword above and behind her, which burst with a fresh wave of arcane teal fire, and slashed forwards. The blade met Cinder's own weapons, shattering them entirely and battering her into the air. Before Cinder could land, she whipped the weapon to her lower left, and swung up again, and then brought it to the right and swung again, and then to the left, swinging again. Cinder landed on the floor, beyond disoriented after being made a human golf ball, before Vyliria revered her grip and thrust down. An torrential pulse of teal energy erupted, blasting Cinder back.

She shakily got to her feet, and then looked up in mounting horror as a teal glow began to build. Vyliria had raised the Moonlight Greatsword overhead, and it seemed to literally absorb the shattered moon's rays, an inferno of teal fire that was almost too bright to look at raging along the blade. Not merely shouting, the next words were screamed. "I am Vyliria of Avalon, paladin of the Warriors of Sunlight and knightess of the Blades of the Darkmoon!"

The blade burst with a visible pulse and monstrously loud boom of uncaged lunar power, the flames doubling in size, and a beam of teal light descended from the heavens all around the unkindled. "And I am the last thing you will see!"

She slammed the legendary sword down in front of her, and a titanic wave of moonlight raced towards Cinder. It was all she could do to put her arms in front of her and cry out in rage as it hit.

The light died down, and the wind and lighting shortly followed. Cinder was on her knees, struggling to even stay that way, her aura completely gone. Vyliria dragged the Moonlight Greatsword behind her as she walked up to her downed opponent, before idly raising it and sheathing it upon her back. In her left hand, her pyromancy flame roared to life, though this time the flames were a normal red-orange instead of black. Cinder stared at her, terror evident in her eyes as the realization that Vyliria fully intended to kill her sunk in. She stopped right before the defeated Maiden, and reared her burning hand back, fingers poised in a facsimile of a claw.

"Cinder Fall, thou hast sinned against the gods and thy fellow man. Under the eternal mandate of the Dark Sun Gwyndolin, by my vows as a knightess of the Blades of the Darkmoon, I judge thee guilty, and sentence thee to death. May the sacred flame cleanse thy soul." She thrust her hand burning hand forwards, and it punched through Cinder's sternum like so much paper mache, as her burning fingers grasped her beating heart.

And Cinder screamed. She screamed as she burnt from the inside out. She screamed long after her lungs began to melt under the power of the forbidden pyromancy. She screamed as her vocal cords snapped from the heat. She screamed as her skin began to run like wax. She screamed as flames began to billow from her open mouth. She screamed as flames licked from her nostrils, and as her eyes clouded over and began to liquefy, before they burst and flames poured from the now vacant sockets. And then Vyliria clenched her fist.

Cinder Fall's body burst into pieces in a blast of fire, the pieces burning to ash, as an auburn light drifted about in a cloud around her killer, while the unkindled felt a soul sucked in by her darksign. Vyliria caught the head, severing an ear with her parrying dagger, before the head burnt away into ash in her palm as well. She held the severed ear before her Darkmoon amulet, which began to glow a bright blue before the ear started to warp and hiss, drying out, bleaching, and gaining a second layer. Proof of Concord Well Kept, to signify a particularly egregious sinner. Vyliria wasn't surprised in the least, and she merely scoffed as she pocketed the souvenir of reprisal. Vyliria would have gone on to observe the cloud of auburn light around her, but something interrupted her.

"Cindeeer!" came the agonized scream of Emerald Sustrai. Oh, right, Vyliria thought mildly annoyed at the intrusion of what should have been a few seconds of relaxation after all the bullshit from the past few hours, as she turned to watch the soul-crushed (for once, pun-intended) expression of the mint-haired girl and mute shock on Mercury's face next to her. I didn't stop to kill them. Well, at least they saved me the trouble of looking for them.

The cloud of auburn light around her suddenly shifted, before condensing into a stream that shot towards the illusionist. She screamed as it hit her, before losing consciousness for the second time that day. Mercury took a step back. "Fuuuuck me," he said.

Vyliria pulled out the Moonlight Greatsword once more, and started walking forwards. "Not even on top, and not even in your worst nightmares. Moving aside from the literal interpretation of that statement, though... I'll admit, I have no idea what the fuck just happened to her, but if you don't run, I'll at least make your death quick," she told the grey haired man. "Her, on the other hand… well, I take personal offense when someone attempts to use illusory magics against me…"

Mercury actually seemed to consider the offer, before sighing and slumping his shoulders. He didn't move from where he stood.

"I can respect pragmatism," Vyliria commented. "Would you prefer if your corpse had its head attached? Decapitation would be the quickest, but if you want an open-casket, I'll have to stab your heart. That will still be fast, but not instant."

Before Mercury could answer how he wanted to die, a screech interrupted them, as an elder nevermore swooped in and grabbed both him and the unconscious form of Emerald in its talons, actually taking care not to crush them in its grip as it began to flap off. Vyliria incredulously stared at the scene for a pair of seconds, before she dismissed her blade and drew forth the onislayer greatbow and nocked an onislayer greatarrow.

"No. Not happening," she said, as she lined up the shot and released the string. It sailed straight and true, only for another nevermore to dive in front of it and take the shot, before a flock of the avian Grimm imposed themselves between her and her target. The onislayer disappeared in a wash of embers, and Vyliria blankly stared as her foes escaped.

An explosive, highly aggravated sigh escaped from her lips. "I knew I should have gone with the dragonslayer greatbow," she muttered to herself. "The extra penetration would have shot them both down, but noooo, I had to go for the one with the better range. Gods fucking damnit."

She kicked a stray piece of rubble in her frustration, before she sighed and started searching for her broken weapon and mask. She found them in seconds, having possessed the gear long enough for them to resonate with her soul, allowing her to literally feel the direction they were in if she concentrated. After that, she picked a random direction and started sprinting off at full speed. However miffed she was at what had just occurred, she couldn't do anything about it anymore. So she'd just have to deal with not having murdered them outright with spells as soon as she saw them whenever it inevitably came back to bite her in the arse. In the meantime, there were probably a couple Grimm left somewhere around here, and she needed to vent.

(Blake)

Blake lay on the floor, tears in her eyes and still bleeding, as she heard Ruby fighting Adam outside, hating herself for being unable to help. Then teal light outshined the moon as a boom drowned out all other sounds, before fading, seemingly taking the wind and the lightning with it. She grit her teeth. Her pyromancy flame flared in her left hand. She looked down at the fire. She thought back to Adam's words. She moved her right hand off her wound, and grabbed a broken piece of a wooden table nearby, putting it in her mouth and biting down on it. She moved her left hand closer to the wound. She took in a breath.

I'm done running, she thought. She put her burning hand down.

And she screamed, biting down on the wood, sure that if it wasn't there, that she'd have bit her tongue off, as the flames seared into the wound, cauterizing the flesh to stop the bleeding. Tears streamed down her face as her lungs heaved and her side burned, but the bleeding stopped. She removed her hand, the smell of her own burnt skin wafting to her nose. She spat the wood out, and tried standing up. She fell from halfway to her feet with a cry of pain, but tried again anyways. With a hiss, she finally managed to get her feet under her, staggering over to Gambol Shroud and picking her weapon up. She staggered outside, in time to see Adam rising to his feet.

Ruby spoke to him. "You're out of aura. Give up."

Blake recognized what was coming, and was already dashing towards Ruby as fast as she could without falling over. The world turned red, and she put herself in front of Ruby, left palm thrust out, screaming as she put everything she had into a black flame in an attempt to shield her team leader. Moonslice met the impenetrable fires of humanity. The unstoppable force clashed with the immovable object. But the far more ancient magic ultimately cut through the pale shadow of arcane force this age's gods had left the world. Blake cracked her eyes open, looking at the scorched ground around her, except for a small wedge starting just in front of her, widening and placing both her and Ruby out of danger; a clear streak unharmed by Adam.

And Blake stood as dumbfounded as Adam for a well over a minute, neither of them, and not even Ruby, doing more than daring to breathe. She finally regained control of herself, shifted her kusarigama to its pistol form, aiming the barrel of Gambol Shroud straight at him. Her hands were shaking, and she noted Ruby moving around her right and standing next to her.

"It's over Adam," Blake said in a small voice, yet in the silence around them it may as well have been a gunshot.

"Over?" he said at an equal volume. "You think this is over?!" he screamed. "Even if I become a martyr, this revolution will never be over! As long as I breathe it won't be over. Until you pay, until all of humanity pays, it won't be over! And I will-"

His manic monologue was cut off, but not by either of the two girls in front of him. It was instead cut off by a lighting dragonslayer greatarrow taking the place of his heart. The electricity caused him to spastically twitch in place for a few seconds, before he looked down at the massive tip of the projectile spearing through him. He blinked once, and then his good eye rolled up and he fell forwards, landing on his face, the rest of the greatarrow sticking out of his back and into the air. A pool of blood began to spread beneath him.

Blake looked up past Adam's corpse, noting Ruby doing the same. Standing atop a pile of rubble that had fallen into the road between the cafeteria and lecture hall they were at, was Vyliria Avalon. She sent the second greatarrow she'd drawn back to her storage in a wash of embers. The greatbow that had killed the nevermore in their initiation shortly followed.

"Yep," she said, speaking aloud to herself, and popping the p. "Definitely should've gone with the dragonslayer."

()

A/N: A quick side note, it literally took me days to come up with titles for these three chapters. I kinda made it hard for myself because I wanted the titles to have a continuity to them. In the original draft, the titles were to reference sunset/flames fading, then moonlight/Gwyndolin, and finally the dawn/the tiny embers beyond the horizon that the Firekeeper speaks of in the End of Fire ending for DS3. In a spontaneous eureka moment for my muse, however, I got the idea that became the current titles.

Lifehunt Scythe steals health in DS3. So I figured I'd have it also be able to steal aura here.

I didn't originally intend to have Ruby knock Adam's mask off, but when I was writing this and had her kick him in the face, I realized that it'd be a pretty good point for that to occur, and would look kind of weird if it didn't.

Also Ruby's semblance evolved super early. Granted, she'll have to figure out how to repeat that outside of the heat of the moment, but it's on the table now.

The Moonlight Greatsword is my favorite weapon in the Soulsborne series, hands down. It's the legendary blade fashioned from the tail of the Paledrake Seath, and you can be sure that when I finally pulled it out that I'd make it a weapon worthy of being wielded by the likes of Ludwig the Holy Blade. I'm not limited by game mechanics, so when I whip out legendary spells and weapons, they kick ass. Hence why the likes of chaos firestorm, or soul stream, or sunlight spear pack such an insane wallop.

And yes, Vyliria just fought as the bastard child of Gael and the Abyss watchers. This fight was in my head since before I started writing. And yes, I also cracked a joke about the ability to just spam rolls in DS3. Having Vyliria use a series of weapons that resembled those of RWBY and JNPR (and then the RKPUGS) in a sequence was a bit of a spur of the moment choice, but rewatching Velvet use all of the main cast's weapons with her semblance while listening to "I May Fall," going off in the background made me imagine Vyliria doing something similar… and then I had to write it down, and so I did write it down, and then I wanted to put it in the story because I felt bad for relegating Velvet's cool scene to about a single sentence from Weiss' POV.

And then Vyliria did the Soul of Cinder's phase 2 wombo-combo, before literally doing Ludwig's most powerful attack as the finisher. While this might not be a Bloodborne crossover, Ludwig using the Moonlight Greatsword was too cool not to pay homage to, and even before I had come up with using his lines earlier, I had always planned for this fight to end with that move.

As a quick side note, the "What am I?" speech Vyliria gave was the very first scene I pre-wrote for this. None of what was happening during the speech, that was added later, just the speech itself, from the "What am I" to that final scream just before she launched her finisher. It came to me as I was listening to music, and as I typed it down I felt like I was in a trance. A huge part of the resolve for seeing this project through to the end was that I wanted to get to that speech, and it was a very big personal milestone when I finally copied the words from my plot notes doc, and then structured some combat around them. I wrote that down sometime before chapter five had been finished, and I only got to make those words part of a scene some 200k words, three and a half months, and forty-odd chapters later.

Also, I wonder if anyone picked up the foreshadowing/irony of Cinder thinking that someone was going to get burnt from the inside out a couple chapters back, only for it to happen to her. Now, some of you are probably saying, "Bro! You just killed Cinder, who's gonna be the main antagonist from now to when Salem shows up on her giant-ass whale Grimm?" To that I will reply: "I have a plan."

Vyliria not getting Maiden powers can be explained with two reasons. 1: She's an eons-old undead, which kinda violates the "be a young woman" rule for inheriting the power, even if you are the last thing on the former Maiden's thoughts as you violently kill them with fire. 2: She's an eons-old undead, and (minor spoiler [if you haven't already figured it out for whatever reason] for the next chapter or so) has a decent fragment of the Dark Soul inside her; making her any more OP at this point will turn her into a Mary Sue.

Yes, I pulled a Deus ex Machina so Mercury and Emerald (who is now the Fall Maiden) could live. Blame it on Salem sensing that Cinder was dead or something, but they're necessary for stuff in the sequels, and I had that sequence of events somewhat planned out since before I started writing.

And yes, Blake just used her pyromancy flame to cauterize her own wound. That's metal AF. And then she dove in front of Moonslice to try and save Ruby, only to black flame her way through it. If you think her POV here was short, don't worry, she's the first up next chapter. Also, Vyliria learned her lesson rather quickly, and skipped the theatrics and just went for the kill this time around.

You may also be wondering what's going to happen now that I've offed Adam. To which I will again respond: "I have a plan."

Lastly for what happened in the past three chapters in and of itself, the largest consequence of how this all played out is one that didn't occur to me until I actually finished the book: Ruby never used her silver eyes. And honestly? I can work with that. I already got a new, entirely origional scene planned for the sequel for the first time she'll use her secret sharingan (did I spell that right? I've never actually seen it spelled before). I've also already written the scene itself out, so all that's waiting on it is to get Of Embers and Aura to that point in the story, and then to copy/paste it in.

Finally, for reasons I can't comprehend, I was under the impression that vermilion was a light green color akin to the Moonlight Greatsword. Turns out it's red. Only found that out after I finished this story. Aelswith's eyes can stay that color, but now I need to go through the last 6 chapters of the story and replace every instance of vermilion with teal. And the final tally of words I had to replace from ch 45 to the epilogue stands at twenty-two instances of the word being replaced, and I'm still paranoid I missed it somewhere.

(remove any spaces and underscores, replace any (slash) a "/" or ".", because FFN is annoying like that)

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