Recording #309
November, 22981 AEA
"It's been a week, and I've decided to end my research here. While my understanding of the Veil—and the Void behind it— has increased significantly, I'm afraid this is where it ends. Likewise, these recordings should stop once I wrap things up here. Starting tomorrow, I'll be looking for another subject to research, likely one that's less dangerous than this one. I definitely won't be continuing this project in secret, no sirree!"
Amity Colosseum
September, 79 AGW
"So how do you think it'll go?" Weiss asked.
"I told Pyrrha that she could just force Penny out with her Semblance for an easy win, but I don't think she was listening." Ruby replied.
"Yeah, is it just me, or has she seemed distracted recently?" Blake mused.
Ruby made a face. "It is a bit worrying. Couldn't Ozpin have waited just a bit longer?"
"Waited for what?" Weiss said.
"Nothing!" She said a bit too quickly. Weiss eyed her suspiciously, and as a result the two of them didn't notice the fight below taking a turn for the worse.
"Something's happening!" Blake all but shouted, directing their attention to the arena.
The arena setup for the one-on-one matches was a simple affair: a floating, octagonal arena utterly devoid of the gimmicks that had plagued the preceding rounds. For some reason, Pyrrha had been pushed to the edge, and disarmed by the Atlesian android. Noticing her uncharacteristic behavior, Ruby leaned forward and casted a far-sight spell, hoping to get a better idea of what was going on.
As Penny brought out her Floating Array, Ruby could easily see the tiny wires connecting them to her body. And here she was, thinking about praising the android's weaponry—the lasers especially—but it seemed the rest of her design was woefully lacking. Well, it wasn't that big of a deal. All Pyrrha had to do was force the swords away with her Semblance. Except…
The Eternal took another look at her partner's face, which was wracked with an unnatural amount of fear and panic. Pushing her far-sight to its limits, she saw dilated pupils and shallow, rapid breaths from Pyrrha. Her hands and knees were shaking, and Ruby saw the beginnings of a massive buildup of Aura.
"Stop the fight!" She screamed, launching herself out of her seat.
If she could get close enough, she'd be able to put up a barrier between the two before—
The forcefield! Ruby cursed to herself as she remembered that the cumbersome measure in place for protecting live spectators was still active. She'd just have to break through it!
Out came her gravity hammer—probably the best piece of weaponry she could build without her supplies—which Ruby immediately swung once she saw the shimmering barrier come into focus. The forcefield shattered with a thunderous crash, and she tumbled into the gutter below the arena. She stashed her hammer back in her cloak as quickly as possible, and used a simple burst of wind to launch herself up.
She was too late.
Wires and blades were scattered about the arena, along with dismembered pieces of Penny—the android utterly destroyed by Pyrrha's final attack. Her partner was frozen in shock as screams of horror rang out from the audience. With no time to lose, Ruby rushed to Pyrrha's side. A message began playing from the stadium speakers, but the Eternal ignored it.
"Pyrrha?" She gripped her partner's shoulders, but Pyrrha remained frozen. "Pyrrha. Listen to me. It wasn't your fault. You didn't kill her."
"But… I…"
By the Void, she needed something else to work with.
"Do you trust me, Pyrrha?"
Words failed her partner, who just barely nodded in response, eyes still trained on Penny's remains.
"Then trust me when I say that you didn't kill her. Penny's an android: she can be rebuilt." Ruby continued, feeling renewed hope as Pyrrha's eyes widened in reaction. "Now—"
The arena shook, and an alarm blared throughout the colosseum. A second explosion echoed in the distance.
"Alert. Incoming Grimm attack. Threat level: Nine. Please seek shelter in a calm and orderly manner."
…Oh dear. Ruby had been so caught up with consoling Pyrrha that she completely missed the ensuing chaos around them. Above her, a giant Nevermore screeched, and dive-bombed through the arena completely uninhibited thanks to her efforts.
Ruby felt her temper spike at the sheer chaos of it all. She raised her hand, ready to bring down the accursed Grimm with a bolt of lightning…
But something beat her to it. Many, rocket-locker-shaped things.
She allowed her anger to fizzle out as students from all four academies systematically destroyed the Nevermore with their newly summoned weapons. Before she knew it, a small crowd of Hunters-in-training had gathered in the stadium.
"Most of the civilians have begun evacuating." Weiss came running up to them. "We need to get out of here too. There are reports of Grimm attacking all over Vale."
Murmurs of discontent and confusion broke out among the group, but Weiss silenced them all.
"Look, I don't know how it happened, either. But it's absolute chaos out there."
"Penny…" Pyrrha whispered.
"If we leave, the Grimm will follow us. We don't have time to ferry her to a safe location. We need to get moving!" Her leader urged, leading the group towards the exit.
Ruby's grip on Pyrrha tightened ever so slightly, and she gave her partner a single reassuring nod. Doubt still lingered in Pyrrha's eyes, but it was enough to make her turn away from the scene as the group moved towards the exit.
General Ironwood was waiting for them outside, surrounded by dissolving Grimm corpses, ushering a group of civilians into a Bullhead. Ruby ran up to him.
"What's going on here, James?" She called out.
"The White Fang have breached the city walls, somehow, and are attacking both Vale and Beacon. To make matters worse, they've seized my ship. Until we regain command, the skies are out of our control." He said gruffly. "I'm going to assume you had no hand in this, judging by your reaction, so how about this: the goods you requested are being handled by Atlas. Help me take back my fleet, and they're yours."
"Lead the way." Ruby said without hesitation.
"Right." He nodded, before turning to the rest of the students that had followed her over. Weiss shared a look of determination with her, Pyrrha still seemed shocked but was at least cognizant of the danger, and Blake… Blake was white as a sheet, for some reason.
"You have two choices. Defend your Kingdom and your school... or save yourselves. No one will fault you if you leave. Let's move out!"
Ruby mouthed 'stay safe' to her teammates before following the General onto a nearby dropship. She briefly saw Jaune and Weiss take charge of what was left of their group before taking off into the skies.
General Ironwood stood at the helm, piloting the dropship past Griffons and Nevermores as though it were second nature. Looking to the skies, she could see that his fleet was behaving oddly; the largest battleship was flailing about and firing off shots seemingly at random. It was a wonder it hadn't crashed into the ground yet.
"So… about Penny…" Ruby began.
"I have men back in Atlas who can rebuild her." The General's voice came out strained. "Penny had measures against Polarity built into her systems, but it seems Miss Nikos overloaded them in her final attack. Naturally I… I had no idea she was capable of doing that."
"You pushed her too far." Ruby accused. "You and Ozpin—"
A faint whirring sound started up behind them. Ruby turned around to see a squadron of Atlesian Knights approach, red eyes glowing ominously.
"No!" James shouted from behind her as the dropship lurched forwards.
Ruby quickly lost her footing as the floor shifted. Slamming into the control panel, she fumbled around for the emergency ejection switch, and slammed it as hard as she could. But nothing happened.
Too late, Ruby realized the same attack that had disrupted the ship's piloting systems disabled all functionally across the vehicle. Shots from the Atlesian Knights glanced off of her as the ground rose up to meet them.
The dropship hurtled into the ground with a mighty crash, throwing Ruby's senses for a loop. Shards of glass and twisted metal buffeted her as she tumbled through the shattered window and out onto the pavement, the sounds of the explosion behind her drowning out any attempts at communication with General Ironwood.
She rolled to her feet, dusting herself off. They had landed somewhere in the abandoned streets of Vale proper, the sky just barely darkening as day turned to night. The howls of the Grimm surrounded her, but where was James? She hurried over to the smouldering wreck of the airship, which had buried itself in a nearby building.
A fleshy arm was poking out from the rubble, and Ruby carefully lifted the debris aside telekinetically. The General, it seemed, was made of sterner stuff than most mortals as his freed body was relatively unharmed, save for his torn uniform. It made sense, given that half of his torso was cybernetic.
"Thanks." He clambered to his feet, coughing up some dust.
"What now, Chief?" Ruby asked semi-mockingly. "Unless the plan was to crash us in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by Grimm on all sides?"
"Someone's done the impossible and gained control of my machines." Ironwood growled, drawing his revolver on a rogue Atlesian Knight. "The plan remains the same: I still need to take back my ship. We'll make our way to the nearest airport and work from there."
Right. She'd had enough of this tomfoolery.
"Of course, of course." Ruby snarked. "Find another airship that somehow isn't under the enemy's control and fly it up there without getting shot down. Or—and this is just a thought—how about I fly up there right now and deal with the intruders myself?"
James sent her a withering glare, and opened his mouth to speak when another out-of-control airship spiraled over their heads before smashing into the ground a few blocks ahead. Reluctantly, he forced himself to nod.
"Fine. There's an escape hatch on top of the ship that'll lead you into the brig. The bridge's control room is on the opposite end. Once you get in, there should be an emergency shutdown switch on the main console. I'll come restart the system once the ship's landed. Now go!" The General barked out.
With a smirk, Ruby launched herself into the air with her magic. She was rather unused to the act of manipulating the winds in her favor in rapid succession, having no need to practice flying before, and the constant barrage of flying Grimm didn't help either as she clumsily made her way across Vale's airspace. Recognizing that it would be irresponsible to drop burning or frozen chunks of Grimm onto the ground below, she resorted to evasive maneuvers and the blunt force from her hammer to deal with the monsters that attempted to knock her out of the sky.
Landing gracefully on top of the flagship, she made her way over to the escape hatch. Initial attempts to open it failed: the hatch was locked tight from the inside.
"Why can't things be easy for once…" She grumbled before taking out an energy sword.
Ruby sliced the hatch open and dropped into the ship's interior just as a massive Griffon dive-bombed her, causing the entire airship to shake violently. True to Ironwood's word, the Eternal found herself facing a collection of oddly shaped cells. Turning away from a dead end, she ran up to the only set of doors in the room, which were outlined in glowing red lights. Locked again.
It was a simple enough matter to bust down the first door with her hammer, and the next one after that, before reaching what was obviously the control room. She didn't even need to be familiar with Atlesian tech to know this; the presence of a suspiciously dressed mortal standing in front of the console was proof enough.
"How the hell?" The man exclaimed, turning towards her.
He was dressed in a fancy white suit and black pants, a small grey scarf wrapped around his neck. A black bowler hat covered his long orange hair, which in turn covered up his right eye. Ruby couldn't spot any weapons on him, but an odd looking cane was propped up against the terminal to his right.
"Who are you? Why are you doing this?" Ruby demanded in what was hopefully her most threatening voice.
She was livid. They really had the gall to launch an attack against a school, a school, all for some infinitesimal amount of magical power? There were much better ways of doing this!
The flamboyant man gawked at her in response. "You really don't know who I am? Vale's most notorious gentleman thief?"
There was a brief pause as he cocked his head and looked at her expectantly.
"Uhhh…"
"Roman Torchwick, the most wanted man in Vale? I've been stealing Dust from you idiots for literally months… Seriously? Nothing?"
"Doesn't ring a bell—" Something swept her legs out from under her, and she fell forwards.
A heel slammed into her back and forced her flat against the ground, as the sharp tip of a metal blade pressed against her neck. Ruby twisted her head to the side to just barely see another finely dressed mortal leveling a cane-like sword against her. She groaned and banged her head against the floor in frustration. Of course he had backup…
"That wasn't even that good of a distraction!" Roman cackled wildly, as his partner increased the pressure on her. "What on Remnant are they teaching you kids at Beacon?"
Ignoring the insult, the Eternal began formulating a plan.
'James probably wants the ship intact when it touches down.' Ruby surmised. 'So let's do… yeah, that should work.'
"Give me control of the ship, and I'll let you escape from this mess scot-free." She demanded, while discreetly sliding her left arm just under her cloak.
Roman laughed again. "Did you hear that, Neo? Little Red thinks she's in a position to negotiate!"
For a fraction of a second, Ruby felt Neo's posture shift slightly as the henchwoman silently reacted to Roman's banter. The magic was cast; her left arm polymorphed into a glossy black tentacle with a satisfying snap. Darting out from under her cloak, her newly transformed arm wrapped around her assailant's waist and tightened, before flinging the assassin straight through the ceiling with a loud crash.
"What the—?!" Roman shouted, snatching his cane from its resting place to the side of the terminal. "You're gonna pay for that you little brat!"
Undoing the spell on her arm, she darted to her feet and threw up a barrier as the thief opened fire from the tip of his cane, redirecting the explosion to the floor in front of them. As the smoke cleared, Ruby could clearly see the damage to the floor had exposed thick bundles of cables and wiring beneath them. She needed to end this quickly. Reckless use of explosions was not something she'd expected out of her enemy.
While her mind was racing to find the least destructive path forward, Neo dropped through the hole in the ceiling, evidently having recovered from the initial surprise attack. Ruby took a moment to size up the duo in front of her once again.
Neo was glaring at her, lips curled up into a furious snarl. She'd somehow kept ahold of her umbrella after Ruby's surprise attack and had it fully drawn at this point. Roman was eyeing her warily, evidently trying to create space with his cane. The two of them didn't exactly cut an imposing figure, standing like that.
Suddenly, they shattered like glass. An illusion?!
Roman's cane appeared from her right, hooking her by her waist. A fist socked her in the jaw as she drew close, causing her to flip headfirst over the end of the cane. As she attempted to catch her fall with a somersault, Neo stepped in and kicked her hands out from under her with a low sweep. The pink assassin lunged forwards, and plunged her blade directly into Ruby's stomach, as Roman's cane came down overhead…
Or they would have, if the Eternal hadn't righted herself midair. She deflected Neo's parasol with a kick, before taking out her plasma sword and using its unique shape to catch the cane, twisting it out of the thief's grip. The weapon landed a few feet away behind her with a clack.
Another instance of shattering glass, and the duo disappeared from her view, but Ruby was ready this time. Casting off her cloak, the surface of her 'skin' began glowing a light shade of indigo. As Neo's sword pierced her backside, electricity arced across the blade back to its wielder.
The room lit up in a flash of sparks and the smell of burnt flesh filled the air as Neo fell to the floor twitching.
"Neo!" Roman screamed, dropping his cane and rushing to his partner's side.
"Surrender." Ruby said, leveling her weapon at them.
"Okay! Okay. You win." The thief held up a hand in surrender. "Look—there are emergency escape pods in the room behind us. We'll just take one of those and you'll never see us again, promise!"
She placed her free hand on her hip and glared. "Really?"
"Thief's honor! I'd rather take my chances in hiding than try and survive this death trap!" Roman pleaded shakily, before picking up Neo in a bridal carry and inching towards where the busted door where Ruby had first appeared. "See? I'm just the middleman here. You should really be focused on Beacon, that's where the Flame Bi—I mean, where the boss is!"
Ruby didn't take her eyes off of the man for a second as he made his way out of the room. Then, whipping up a continuous gust of wind to ensure no stationary illusion could trick her, she turned her attention to the console. A large black chess piece was flashing over the monitor, though she supposed the display would be reset once she activated the emergency shutdown protocol.
After a bit of fumbling over an Atlesian designed terminal, which was a bit different from Vale's technology, she found the switch and shut the airship down.
"Shutdown initiated. Activating landing Autopilot."
An announcement rang over the ship's speakers. Ruby felt a shift in altitude as the airship descended slowly from the skies. And on the display, the black chess piece was no more.
She landed with a jolt, and after one final sweep to make sure the ship was well and truly shut down, she made her way back to the escape hatch.
As she popped up and stood on top of the docked airship, she saw a handful of Nevermores and Griffons fly by. The battle was still raging around her, it seemed, but at least now Atlas had less of a chance of screwing up everything.
"Well, that wasn't too bad—"
Her voice caught as she saw a truly massive Grimm creature fly by. It's crimson bat-like wings and stark white bone plating stood out against the darkening sky, and with each beat of its wings a handful of newly formed Grimm seemingly materialized from droplets falling from the monster's body.
Ruby's eyes widened as she traced the Wyvern's flight path.
"It's headed for the CCT…"
This was all her fault.
Pyrrha recalled how Ruby had mentioned that Penny was an android before the match, and she could be pushed out of the arena with enough force from her Semblance, but she was in too much of a daze to process those words at the time. And now because of her negligence, what should have been a friendly match ended with her opponent torn to shreds and abandoned on the floor of the arena.
So when she saw Headmaster Ozpin waiting for her at the base of the tower, she just had to go with him. She had to make things right.
Ignoring the shouts of her teammates and classmates alike, she followed the Headmaster into the elevator. All was quiet as they descended down the shaft, and Pyrrha silently steeled herself. She could do this.
The doors opened, and the two of them dashed towards the end of the vault.
"Quickly now, Pyrrha." Ozpin urged. "To the pods."
"Are we really going to do this? Purge her?" Pyrrha voiced her last-second doubts, latching on to the terminology Ruby had supplied the other day.
Headmaster Ozpin tapped the control panel, and the second, empty pod opened with a hiss. "That is entirely up to you, Miss Nikos."
Pyrrha took another look at Amber, who lay unmoving in her own pod. She looked almost peaceful, as if she were in a deep slumber, instead of fighting for her life, her very soul. Was it really okay for her to do this to Amber? To herself?
Yes. This was the only way to make up for her mistakes. If she'd taken on the power earlier, the attack could have been diverted. If she'd paid attention to Penny, none of this would have happened in the first place. If she wasn't so useless…
She stepped into the pod, ignoring the feeling of claustrophobia.
"Are you ready?"
A nod.
"I… I need to hear you say it." Ozpin said.
"…Yes."
No turning back now. Pyrrha glanced to her right to see Amber's pod rise up as the machinery around them whirred to life. A soft orange glow clouded her vision.
Her world exploded in a flash of pain. Pyrrha felt as if something was invading the very fiber of her being, as though her sense of self was being forced into a box to make room for something else. A million tiny pinpricks ran under her skin, across her eyes, and through her veins as she screamed out in pain. She was vaguely aware of Ozpin saying something as the orange glow of Amber's Aura continued to assault her senses.
And then, just like that, it was all gone. Pyrrha opened her eyes to see an unfamiliar black haired woman dressed in red standing behind Ozpin, bow in hand. To her right, an arrow was sticking out of Amber's chest. Her eyes widened in shock as the Aura was ripped out of her. Feeling a semblance of control return to her, she tried to force the pod door open, but it was too late.
The orange glow flowed out of Amber's body and into the stranger, whose eyes began glowing ominously. Feeling discontent well up within her, Pyrrha forced the pod open with her Polarity just in time to see Ozpin deflect a large fireball with his own Semblance. Or was it magic?
"Get out of here! Find Glynda! Ironwood! Qrow!" The Headmaster shouted. "Bring them here right away! The tower cannot fall!"
"But I can help!" Pyrrha protested, half-reaching for her weapons.
Ozpin stared at her disapprovingly. "You'll only get in the way."
'Useless. If only I weren't so… so…'
Forcing back tears, she made a break for the elevator shaft. The stranger didn't even spare her a passing glance as she ran by, instead choosing to focus on Ozpin.
Leaving the entrance of the CCT, Pyrrha took out her Scroll and parsed through her list of contacts for Professor Goodwitch, Qrow, and the General. Wasn't Ruby with the General, too?
An explosion behind her nearly knocks her off her feet. Pyrrha whipped around to see Amber's assailant flying up the elevator shaft with a jet of fire.
Her breath caught in her throat. Did that mean…?
Acting fast, she selected Goodwitch, Qrow, Ironwood, and even Ruby's contacts and activated her Scroll's emergency distress signal before running back into the tower.
Ozpin told her to stay out of the fight, but he was gone now. There was no one else left.
This was her responsibility, now. Her destiny.
Landing on Beacon's docks, Ruby could see a small contingent of students, soldiers, and the last straggling evacuees surrounding what few airships remained. Spotting a head of white hair, Ruby made her way over to her leader.
"Weiss!"
The heiress turned around in surprise, her expression a mix of panic and relief. "Ruby! There you are!"
"What's going on?" Ruby asked, glancing over the rest of the crowd in hopes of seeing another familiar face.
Weiss was distraught. "Pyrrha ran off with Headmaster Ozpin, and I got separated from Blake a while ago. I can't get in contact with either of them!"
What?
"When was this? Where did Pyrrha run off to?" Naturally Ruby was also worried about Blake, but if her assumptions were correct…
"I don't know!" Weiss cried. "Ozpin was just standing there at the base of the tower—"
Ruby gritted her teeth and bit back a scream. "I'm going after them!"
"Ruby wait—"
The Eternal broke off into a sprint away from the docks, knocking back a pursuing Weiss with a gust of wind that launched her into the air.
"I'm headed for the tower!" Ruby shouted behind her. "Wait for me in the safe zone!"
Flying closer to campus, Ruby's night vision caught the Wyvern perched on the side of the tower. She could also see a faint flickering of light coming from the top of the tower. As she drew closer, the light turned into a dance of various flames jetting out in multiple directions. Someone was fighting with fire…
One hundred and fifty feet out from the tower, the familiar golden gleam of Pyrrha's armor shone through the windows, reflecting the light of the flames that danced around the room. Ruby poured on the magic to increase her speed.
One hundred feet out from the tower, she saw the Wyvern take off from its perch, flying a ways away before looping back to the tower at alarming speeds. Ruby pushed even hard as gale force winds whipped around her.
Fifty feet out from the tower, and it wasn't much of a tower anymore. The Wyvern crashed into Ozpin's office with such force that the entire tip of the CCT was blown off, landing on the ground below. The office was now exposed to the open air, and Ruby could see Pyrrha valiantly fighting against someone with all her might. She saw her partner get thrown against the wall, and saw the telltale sign of someone's Aura break.
Zero feet out from the tower, and Ruby crashed into the office floor with all the grace and elegance of a rock skipped across a pond, having thrown caution out of the window in favor of speed. Recovering quickly, she took in the situation.
Her partner had something lodged in her ankle, and was bleeding out from it, unable to move. The Wyvern was unusually calm, and seemed to be waiting patiently, unlike most Grimm. Perhaps it was due to the orange glow around its eyes, which was mirrored by Pyrrha's assailant.
"So," Ruby began, placing herself between Pyrrha and the woman. "I take it you're the Maiden now?"
"Foolish girl. The power was always mine to begin with." She replies with a smirk. "And soon, your power will be mine, too, Ruby Rose."
Ruby tilted her head to the side, while shifting into a defensive stance. "I beg your pardon?"
"Don't play dumb." The Fall Maiden growled. "Ozpin loved keeping his secrets, but it seemed he was especially bad at this one. Did you really think your 'special treatment' would go unnoticed?"
Ah. So that's what it was about.
"Ruby." Pyrrha gasped from behind her. "Get out of here. Please."
"I'll be fine, Pyrrha. I promise." She said softly, before placing a protective barrier over her fallen partner.
Pyrrha blinked in surprise as a golden dome formed over her. It looked like Ruby was to go without her 'Aura' for this fight. Not that she intended for it to be much of a fight in the first place. This Maiden had ostensibly killed Ozpin, after all. There wasn't any need to hold back.
She cracked her neck and readied herself for the eventual pain that would come. Ruby had already used a decent amount of magic in the past hours, and now she'd likely have to use multiple spells in tandem along with the barrier protecting Pyrrha. And there was still that Grimm Wyvern to deal with, too…
"You know, I was rather frustrated when I realized my allies had made… let's say… erroneous assumptions about me." Ruby stepped forwards, chuckling. "But it is pretty funny to see my enemies make the same mistake."
Fall frowned and narrowed her eyes. "Enough talk. Your power belongs to me!"
A fireball came flying at her, which she quickly countered with a blast of ice. Fall was already upon her, launching jets of flame out of her palms in close quarters. Ruby dodged to the side, hoping her dome of protection hadn't taken any stray hits.
She flicked an open palm upwards, and a black mass coalesced under Fall. Stone spikes sprang up from under her, which the Maiden dodged by taking to the air using her flames. The spikes receded, leaving a tar-like substance spread out over the floor of the office.
Streaks of flame flew at her once again with pinpoint accuracy, which Ruby carefully deflected with a whirlwind. Really? Was fire all she knew how to use? Though, it would work against any mortal, Ruby supposed.
Stomping her foot into the ground, a large sphere of earth formed in the air in front of her. She launched it at the still airborne Fall, who dodged it with ease, and the projectile curved back into the floor before breaking into pieces, releasing another deluge of tar on Fall's side of the office.
The stage was set.
Thick, worm-like tendrils burst out from around Ruby, ten in total, before snaking towards the flying Maiden in sequence. The amber eyed woman launched a few fireballs towards the worms, to no avail, forcing her to dodge rather erratically. Much like Ruby, she was no expert at flying, and a wrong turn after the seventh tendril forced her between the remaining ones, which wrapped around the Maiden before dragging her back down to Ruby's level.
Fall slammed into the floor of the tower, right at the center of all the tar Ruby had created before. She attempted to lift herself up, but found the black substance stretching and sticking to her in strands. When she finally stood, various dark strands of tar were attached to her left arm, and one was even blocking her left eye.
"Fire, fire, and more fire." Ruby taunted, making sure her back was to one of the few remaining walls. "Predictably one-note for a backwater savage like yourself. Do you not have anything better to do?"
"Shut up!" Fall spat, breathing heavily. "Why won't you just die already?!"
In a fit of rage, Maiden ignited a flame in the palm of her right hand, but the sparks that flew off of it were enough.
A violent explosion rocked the entire tower as the tar caught fire instantly, engulfing Fall in a massive inferno. Ruby threw another layer over the barrier covering Pyrrha as the air around them rapidly expanded, throwing her into the wall. For a good five minutes the fire raged, consuming all of the tar-like substance Ruby had prepared in their fight, before burning down to a cinder. Magical fires were fickle like that.
Ruby peeled herself off the wall and surveyed the ashen remains of the office. The Fall Maiden was nowhere to be found, as was the Wyvern. So what was this strange feeling of trepidation in her chest? Ruby looked to the skies, which were clouded from all the smoke. Wait—
From out of the smokescreen, the Grimm Wyvern, its eyes now blazing red, came barreling at her, letting out an unearthly screech. It grabbed her by the claw on its tail before flying high up into the sky.
Before Ruby could act, it curled its tail up and forced her into the claws on its legs, trapping her in a tight cage of bone.
And then, it dived back towards the tower, feet first.
Ruby braced herself as they plunged into the tower, the floor breaking under the immense weight of the Wyvern. She could barely hear Pyrrha let out a yelp as she fell with them, still trapped inside the barrier. They continued to crash through floor after floor after floor, until finally Ruby slammed into what was presumably the ground headfirst. The sudden stoppage of all momentum loosened the Grimm's grip on her, and she shook herself free as the tower collapsed around them.
"Ȑ̵̤u̵̜̇b̸̞͐y̵͚̽!̶̋"
The Wyvern spoke.
"T̶͉͠r̷̯͛ą̶̏ỉ̵̹t̶̳̽o̸̞̿r̴̭͛!̸̖͘"
"Not this again…" Ruby growled as she stood face to face with the Grimm. "You can keep calling me that all you like, but it means nothing to me! Nothing at all!"
"Y̸̥̽o̷̜̍u̶͓̇ ̷̥͆l̴͈̀e̴̩͗f̴̞͝t̷͉̔ ̸̭͠u̴͗͜s̸̲̒s̴͙̃s̴̛̩s̷̠̄.̴̞̎" It hissed. "B̷̟͛è̵̳t̶͍̾r̴͇̐ä̷́ͅÿ̴̥́ḙ̷̓r̷͙͆!̷͈̇ ̷͕͝Ḧ̸͈́ÿ̵͚́p̶̹͐ô̵̫c̴̔͜r̷͋͜i̶͍͆t̶̡̅e̵̠͝!̷̞̍ ̷͎̄Ḽ̷̿ĭ̶͖a̵̘͗ř̶͔!̸͇̅"
"I am none of those things!" She shouted back, unnerved. "It's time for you to die!"
Summoning a much larger sphere of earth, she superheated it to a volcanic degree, before firing it straight at the monster. The rock exploded in midair like a bomb, scattering fiery chunks of earth all over the Wyvern, who was unable to avoid it due to its size. Ruby looked up in grim satisfaction as the molten earth burned holes in its wings.
Planting her feet squarely, she leaned forwards and slammed her palms into the ground in front of her. Shockwaves ran through the ground, causing it to shake and shatter as energy cascaded towards the Wyvern, who was unable to take flight. The earth around it rumbled and collapsed into the vault below, sending the Wyvern down with it, along with a few streams of lava that hadn't struck it before. It roared in rage as it tumbled through the sinkhole, Grimm liquid spurting from its various wounds.
A deafening crash shook the earth, and as the dust settled, the screeches faded. The Grimm Wyvern was well and truly buried under the ruins of the CCT, its body melted by Ruby's final spells.
Ignoring the pounding in her skull as the blowback from using such powerful magic assailed her, she stood up and looked around the base of the tower.
There was one last spell that was still active, wasn't it? Ruby searched for the signature golden gleam of her dome of protection, and found it, and Pyrrha on a patch of grass near the foundation of the tower, close enough to witness the entire display.
She was frozen in place as Ruby approached, looking at her in fear. Ruby frowned, and dropped the barrier after confirming that no other Grimm were around.
"Are you alright, Pyrrha?" She asked softly.
Her partner began shaking like a leaf, and it only intensified as she drew closer. Shockingly, Pyrrha's face twisted into an expression of abject horror as they finally reunited, face to face.
She raised a singular, quivering finger and pointed at Ruby's face.
"W-What are y-you?" She murmured, before collapsing in a dead faint.
Ruby looked down at herself, something she hadn't done while she was focusing on the towering Wyvern, and immediately saw the issue. Instead of the pale skin of her comfortable disguise, a set of bony fingers greeted her. Her hands flew up to her face, feeling her intricately carved skull in lieu of skin and hair. It seemed in the wake of the Grimm Wyvern's final assault…
She had lost her mask.
? ? ?
January, 80 AGW
It was a bright winter night, one made all the brighter by the moonlight reflecting off the pure white snow that dotted the landscape. Along a well-trodden path, a single figure moved at a steady pace. They were of average build, but if one were to look closer, they would see the individual wearing a Grimm mask that covered their entire face. Their arms and legs were wrapped completely in a grey cloth, while gloves and combat boots covered their hands and feet. Over all of that was a familiar red cloak, closed off at the front of course, which swayed gracefully in the wind.
With nothing but their thoughts to occupy them, they began to sing a tune as they traveled down this road leading to some far off destination. It was an old folk song, one from before their people had ascended to greatness.
"Dark of night and full of snow, pure and white and deadly…"
A Beowolf leaped out from a nearby brush, and was cut down in an instant, leaving nothing but a dissolving corpse behind.
"My father took me by the hand and asked me, 'Are you ready?'"
A/N: And scene! Fall's done! Time for the plot to derail. Sorta. Long Author's Note incoming.
While I'm not explicitly dividing my story into multiple books, I will say that this marks the end of the first 'part', so to speak. How many parts are there after? Maybe one or two, depending on how things go. If it is one, it will be longer than thirteen chapters, obviously.
Looking back at what I have so far, though, it's clear that my biggest issue is consistency. As some of you clearly noticed and pointed out, my writing of Ozpin and co. was... less than intelligent (much like he was in those chapters). I can only hope to redeem him/rectify this in future chapters as we keep moving forward.
Roman and Neo are fun characters, but they don't really fit the scope of the story, so this will be their last appearance. Come to think of it, Neo doesn't really have much stake in the canon plot either, outside of her revenge subplot, but that's none of my business.
Ruby used a lot of magic in this one, so I figure I ought to specify what she can and cannot do. Elemental magic is simple enough. She favors this type of magic and uses it predominantly. Dome of Protection can be shaped to mimic Aura, Telekinesis only affects inanimate objects, Far-sight enhances her senses, and she has an array of other miscellaneous spells at her disposal as well. She showed some of them off here (polymorphing her arm into a tentacle), but I'm also saving some for later.
Please note that all of these spells are based on, or adapted in some capacity from, the game.
Hopefully the fight scenes were serviceable. It's my personal opinion that fight scenes in written media are inherently less exciting than in other media, but maybe that's just me being bad at writing.
As a final note, the song at the end was just a fun reference to the vocal version of Divine's Lament, which I have been enjoying in the past few days. Don't read into it to much, it doesn't really have much bearing on the plot.
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Thanks for reading!