Here we are at Chapter 83. We're getting closer to the climax of the battle for Haven and the end of volume 5 for this story. Let's see how this plays out. I do not own RWBY or Tales of Berseria. They belong to their respective owners. Here's chapter 83. Enjoy.
Chapter 83: Duel of the Seasons
Up top, Ruby and Yang launch themselves at Emerald and Mercury. Emerald jumps back while Yang gives chase, while Ruby deals with Mercury. She swings her scythe at him, but he jumps over the swing and swings his left leg down, knocking it out of her hands.
"Looks like Vale all over again," Mercury notes.
He throws a punch at Ruby, but she ducks under in and raises her head into his chin, followed by a right punch to the face and then a kick to the chest. Mercury gets knocked to the ground and rolls back onto his feet as he grits his teeth at Ruby, who picks her weapon back up.
"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Ruby retorts.
Meanwhile, Eizen punches the ground in front of him, sending up some earth pillars to block an attack from the dark figure. Eleanor and Zaveid run out from the sides of the pillars, each twirling their weapons around. The figure watches them move, but then notices Magilou up in the air on one of her cards. She pulls out another and makes it grow bigger and longer before she slams it down on him. The figure swings his sword up to knock it back, and then fires off a couple blasts of dark energy at Eleanor and Zaveid when they get close, forcing them to jump back and evade them. However, Eizen throws a hard left punch at his pillars, sending rock debris flying at the figure. The figure creates a barrier in front of him to block them, but leaves his rear exposed for Eleanor to swing her spear upwards at him. The figure flies up into the air, followed by Zaveid grabbing him with one of his pendulums and slamming him into the ground. The figure gets back up and flies back to avoid a strike from Eizen.
"You can't keep this up forever, Mr. Spooky. Even you've got to be running on empty by now!" Zaveid notes.
The figure dusts himself off, "Don't think it'll be that easy to defeat me. I'm no simple malak," the figure says before conjuring up an arte around his sword, encasing it in dark flames.
He swings his sword, sending out a wave of flames at them. Eizen uses an arte to create more earth pillars to block the attack.
"This guy isn't going down easy," Eizen notes.
Off to the side, Nora watches the others fight while guarding Jaune and Weiss.
"How are you doing, guys?" Nora asks.
"I think we're okay. She's coming to, but I really wish this would go faster," Jaune notes.
"Just stop complaining and be thankful that your semblance activated when it did," Nora replies.
"My semblance?" Jaune asks, confused.
"How else would you be healing her, silly," Nora replies.
Jaune looks at Weiss and thinks for a moment, "...No, I don't think I'm healing her. Our auras heal our bodies. It... it feels more like I'm using my aura to augment hers, making it stronger," Jaune theorizes.
"Wait, aren't you worried about running out?" Nora gets worried for a moment.
"Heh, Pyrrha once told me that I have a lot of aura. I still believe her," Jaune says.
Nora looks back to the fighting, and sees Ren going after Hazel. He runs around him as he swings his left fist at him, but then Hazel nails him with a right hook, sending him flying into a wall. Hazel then fires off a shot of electricity, shocking Ren until he passes out.
"Ren!" Nora yells.
"Go, I've got Weiss taken care of," Jaune tells her, and Nora runs off to help.
At this point, Weiss starts to come to, "Ugh... Jaune," she mutters.
"Hey, Weiss, you're going to be okay. You took a heavy hit, but you'll be fine. Just stay with me while the others fight," Jaune says.
Weiss groans a bit more, "Ugh... That's... annoying," she notes.
"Heh, good to have you back Weiss," Jaune says.
Back in the fighting, Qrow gets sent flying into the railing on the second floor before falling onto the ground next to Ren. Ozpin jumps back, deflecting a few fire rocks from Lionheart, but then gets punched into a nearby pillar by Hazel. Ozpin gets onto one knee as Hazel approaches him.
"Hiding behind the face of a child? A monster like you must be stopped!" Hazel yells. Nora runs up behind him and jumps into the air with her hammer reeled back. Hazel notices this and grabs her in mid-air, slamming her onto the ground and then grabbing her head, and shocking her with his electricity. "How many more children must die for you?!" he growls at Ozpin.
However, suddenly, Hazle gets blasted off of Nora by a ball of energy. He gets up to see Magilou helping Nora up.
"You okay?" Magilou asks.
"I'm better than okay," Nora says, grabbing her hammer as electrical energy flows around her muscles. "I'm ready to bring the hurt," she says.
"His semblance," Ozpin calls to them. "He can block out pain. It's how he's able to inject so much Dust into his body," he explains.
"We don't need him to hurt," Nora says.
"We just need him to get smashed," Magiloud adds.
Hazel charges at them, but Magilou creates an arte that blows a small cyclone under his feet, sending him over them, and giving Nora the chance to swing her hammer, launching Hazel straight through the front of the building and into the courtyard outside. Outside, Adam Taurus and the White Fang look on in mild shock and confusion.
"What's going on in there?" one White Fang member asks Adam.
"None of your concern," Hazel says as he gets back up.
He reaches into his pouches and pulls out a few fire Dust crystals, and stabs them into his arms. The added energy makes Hazel roar into the skies, refueled and ready to keep fighting. Ruby looks on with worry and then turns back to the others. Aside from Velvet's friends, who continue to fight the dark figure, the rest of the group are reaching their limits, either hurt, injured, or just tired from the constant fighting. Back outside, Adam turns his focus back to the task at hand.
"Stay focused. Our friends are almost done here," Adam says as they walk back.
"ADAM!" they hear and look up to see Blake standing on the roof of a nearby building.
"Blake?" Adam mutters, surprised to see her at Haven.
"Now what?" Hazel mutters.
"Stand down!" Blake orders them.
The White Fang members get ready to shoot her, but Adam stays their attack, "Wait... Hahahaha, to think that I went through so much trouble to find you, only for you to bring yourself to me willingly," Adam says.
"This isn't what's right for the Faunus. Stop what you're doing and we can end this peacefully," Blake asks.
"You're wrong Blake. This is what's right for our kind, and you can't do anything to stop us," Adam retorts.
"No, I can't... not by myself anyway," Blake says.
"That's why we're here," they hear and look to the side to see Rokurou and Sun, along with some of the Faunus of Menagerie backing them up, approach the courtyard.
"What? Who?" Adam stutters, shocked, but then turns around as he hears more noise.
On the other side, Ghira leads the rest of the Faunus to block them off.
"It's time to end this. Your brothers and sisters are here to show you the error of your ways," Ghira says.
The White Fang members mumble amongst themselves as their situation gets worse, but Adam remains resolute.
"Make no mistake, brothers; these are our enemies, and we will NOT let them ruin-," Adam begins, only for spotlights to appear in the night sky.
They look up to see the airships of the Mistral police force above them, circling the courtyard.
"Adam Taurus, this is the Mistral Police Force. Lower your weapon and surrender, peacefully," the police captain says, Kali right by her side.
Inside the building, Ruby and the others notice the lights coming through the windows, and wonder what's going on. While Jaune looks up, Weiss sits up, having regained more of her strength.
"What's going on?" Weiss asks.
"I don't know. How are you feeling?" Jaune asks.
"I'm feeling better... Much better. Don't stop just yet, got it," Weiss asks as she conjures a small glyph in her hands.
Outside, Adam faces Blake as she lands on the ground in front of him, "How?! How did you do this?!" he yells.
Rokurou steps up, "It's over, Adam Taurus. You can't win this battle," he says.
Adam looks around and, seeing the situation growing grim for him, pulls out the trigger for the bombs on the CCT tower.
"Then no one will win this battle," Adam declares and presses the button.
"Wait!" the White Fang members yell as they brace for the explosion... that never occurs.
"What?" Adam mutters, hitting the button several times without anything happening.
"Are you trying to kill all of us with them?!" one member asks him.
Adam grabs his shirt, "I am making humanity pay for WHAT THEY'VE DONE!" Adam shouts.
"We sent someone over to confirm your explosives. And after we did, she disarmed them," Blake explains.
Ilia then appears from the shadows, holding some wires in her hands, having already disarmed the bombs.
"Oooh, doesn't it suck when things don't go according to plan?" Rokurou mocks him.
Adam looks back to Hazel, "What do we do?" he asks.
Hazel dusts himself off, "This is your business, not mine. Fix it," Hazel tells him, mimicking the words Adam once said to him.
"It's like Rokurou said, Adam," Blake begins, getting his attention. "It's over," she says.
Adam growls and runs at her, ready to draw his sword. However, just as he draws it to swing at her, Rokurou gets in the way, unsheathing his right sword to block the attack.
"Oooh, nice blade. Let's see what it can do," Rokurou says before he pushes Adam back and draws his second sword.
Ada, grits his teeth and glances to his forces, "KILL THEM!" he orders them.
The White Fang members begin firing at the Faunus of Menagerie and the Mistral police force and a new battle ensues. Sun and Ilia join in the battle, with Ilia swinging her whip around at one White Fang member while Sun twirls his staff around and then smacking away another member. Around them, the Faunus of Menagerie fight against the White Fang. Meanwhile, Adam goes at it with Rokurou. Adam fires off his sheathe gun, but Rokurou deflects the bullets with his blades. They get close and Adam swings his sword at Rokurou's side, but it gets blocked by his right sword. Rokurou then swings his left sword at Adam, who ducks under the swing and then blocks an upward swing from Rokurou's right blade. He then pulls both of his blades back as he runs at Adam, who sheathes his sword and readies to meet his attack. The two swing their blades, with all three weapons clashing.
"You won't stop this!" Adam yells.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Rokurou taunts him, the wind blowing to reveal the demon half of his face.
Adam's eyes widen behind his mask, "What are you?" he mutters.
"I'm the guy who's going to become the greatest swordsman that's ever lived. The name's Rokurou," Rokurou replies before he kicks Adam away and then goes back at it.
Off to the side, Hazel watches the battle take place, only to gasp in pain and look down to see a stinger impaled through his lower abdomen. The stinger suddenly pulls him back into the building he was in earlier, past some of the others that are fighting. He looks up to see Weiss, standing with a Queen Lancer summon at her back, ready to fight again. Weiss glares at him before looking to the destroyed entrance, and then gasps in surprise. Ruby and Yang look back as well, only to widen their eyes in shock when they see Blake approach them. Yang is the most surprised to see Blake, and the feeling is mutual when Blake stares right back at her.
"Yang?" Blake mutters.
Ruby then looks back, "Yang, go!" she says, pointing to the entrance to the vault.
Yang then makes a break for it, with Emerald and Mercury trying to stop her. Emerald misses her, but Mercury grabs her right arm. However, Yang ejects her prosthetic arm off and continues on; jumping down the path to the vault. Emerald and Mercury go after her, but a wall of flames erupts in front of them and blocks their path. They look back to see Magilou, twirling a card on her index finger.
"Oh no, you're not going anywhere," Magilou says as Weiss joins her. "Ready for another round?" she asks.
"You have no idea," Weiss replies.
Meanwhile, the dark figure tries to blast them away, only for Zaveid to use his wind artes to blow him back, getting his attention back on him.
"Come on now, don't forget about us. That just hurts my feelings," Zaveid says.
The figure growls before he goes back at them, but Magilou then throws some cards that hit his back, making him look back at her in anger.
"Oh my, that looked like it hurt. Running on empty, are we," Magilou playfully asks.
Back down in the vault, Velvet confronts Raven.
"You lured your own daughter and brother into a trap just so you could get the Relic. I admit, I've done some pretty dark things back home, but even I've never done something as low as that. How can you live with yourself, betraying your family like that?" Velvet argues.
"I did what I had to do to survive. I gave Yang every opportunity to join me, to be a family again, but she never listened. She made her choice, and I made mine. And as for Qrow, I don't think we were ever family to begin with. My family is my tribe, and I will do whatever I have to do to protect it," Raven retorts.
"Your tribe? Don't insult me. You're only doing this for yourself, because you're scared of Salem. That's why you ran away all those years ago. You're not strong, or a survivor. You're nothing but a coward and a hypocrite," Velvet argues back.
Raven grits her teeth in anger, "Well, if you think I'm so week, then let's see you prove it," Raven says as she draws her blade.
"I wouldn't have it any other way. Besides, I still have to make you pay for putting Ruby in danger," Velvet says, readying her arm blade.
The two women stand idle for a moment before they both launch themselves at one another. The two parry the first strikes from each other, but then Velvet swings her arm blade around at Raven's face, Raven blocks with her blade and counters with a downward swing of her sword. Velvet blocks with her arm blade and activates her demon claw again, swinging it at Raven. Raven jumps back and creates a small wall of ice behind her, propelling off of it back at Velvet. Velvet swings her claw at Raven, who meets the attack with her sword, the two attacks clashing. Velvet manages to push Raven away and then fires off a fire arte from her claw at her. Raven uses her power to fire out a bolt of ice, freezing the fire arte in mid-air. Velvet uses her own power and coats her blade in flames before charging back at Raven. Raven meets her attack and swings her sword. The two blades clash, but then Velvet leans back, bringing up one of her foot blades, also encased in fire, and breaks through Raven's blade. Raven jumps back and pulls out another blade. Velvet uses her Maiden power in conjunction with her demon claw, encasing it in lightning, and fires off some lightning bolts at Raven. Raven uses her power to create a wall of ice in front of her to block the attacks, but Velvet then jumps over the wall to attack Raven with her foot blades. Raven blocks with her sword and then pushes her back as Velvet lands several feet from her.
"Huh, combining your semblance with your Maiden powers. I'm almost impressed. But, I've had my power for years. You've had a piece of it for some months, and the rest of it for only a few minutes. You can't expect to beat me that easily," Raven taunts her.
"I wouldn't be too sure about that. I've had some help with practicing on how to use this power, even if only a piece of it," Velvet retorts as she deactivates her demon claw.
Raven narrows her eyes before she rushes at Velvet who responds in kind. The pair clash their blades, and then Velvet ducks low, swinging her foot blades around at Raven's legs. Raven backflips away to evade them, and then Velvet fires off her gauntlet a few times at her. Raven swings her blade around to block the shots and then goes back after Velvet. Velvet coats her arm blade in ice this time and meets Raven's charge. Their blades clash in slow motion, but then Velvet's blade suddenly erupts with flames, destroying Raven's blade again. Raven pulls out another one and the pair make a series of strikes and slashes at each other. Each time they do, Velvet would use the same trick to break through Raven's blades. The two zip around the pathway as they fight. At one point, Velvet manages to kick Raven into the air, but then Raven starts floating in mid-air, something Velvet hasn't learned how to do just yet. Raven focuses her energy and creates a large odachi blade made of ice in her hands. Velvet activates her demon claw again, coating it in flames. Raven flies at her, and Velvet jumps into the air to meet her. Raven swings her sword down, while Velvet catches with her demon claw. The two techniques send out a shockwave that can be felt all the way up on the surface.
The two push against one another, only to look up and see a large stalactite falling down towards them. They separate as the falling rock crashes down onto the pathway into pieces. Raven looks around through the dust and sees Velvet lunging at her with her claw. Raven jumps over her, soaring high into the air and landing on top of another large falling stalactite. Velvet grits her teeth and uses her power to create a cyclone under her claw, propelling her into the air at towards Raven. Raven readies her blade and meets Velvet's attack as she lands behind her. The pair swing their blades, with Velvet breaking another one of Raven's blade. Another rock crashes onto theirs, throwing off their balance and giving Raven the chance to jump away while drawing another blade to fight. Velvet jumps into the air to give chase. The two clash in mid-air before separating and landing on different falling rocks. They jump off and meet again, parrying one another's strikes as they fly by. Velvet fires off a fire blast that destroys the rock Raven's is on. Raven jumps away in time and lands on another falling rock and starts running, with Velvet giving chase. Raven turns around and fires off a blast of ice at Velvet, who blocks the attack with her claw, still engulfed in flames. She then switches over to ice herself and smashes her fist onto the rock, sending out a surge of ice at Raven. Raven uses her power to send out a blast of lightning to destroy the ice and the two face off again. However, their fight gets interrupted when the stalactite they're standing on suddenly crashes onto the pathway, dealing heavy damage to both of them. However, the two stand back up, ready to fight again.
"You can't honestly think you'll win, do you?" Raven taunts her.
"I'm not letting you claim the Relic," Velvet retorts.
"So, what, you'll absorb my power as well. Absorb the power of all the Maidens?" Raven asks.
"No, I never wanted this power. I only took it to keep it out of Cinder's and Salem's hands. I'll just make you open the gate after I'm done beating the crap out of you," Velvet says.
"Ha-ha, like that's ever going to happen," Raven replies.
The two get ready to fight again, but then they hear some noise behind Velvet and they look back to see Yang land behind her, standing up and glaring at her mother.
"...Yang," Velvet mutters.
And that's the chapter. The next one is the volume 5 finale for this story. The battle for Haven continues on, but now things are starting to look up for the good guys as Blake and Rokurou join the battle. Meanwhile, Velvet fights Raven to a standstill, but now Yang has entered the scene. Who knows what will happen next? Until then, please Read and Review.