Back for another chapter I presume? Wonderful! I was hoping you'd think that. Or say that. Whichever of the two. So without further ado, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 17: Breaking of the Shields

The second level of Eryndûs was as empty as the first. Its black streets spanned across like pathways of absolute isolation, each stony turn depicting a charred reminder of a civilization that probably used to be.

Skewed, yes. But ironically...efficient.

Residential grounds spanned out across the lowest sector of the black mountain, twisting across the crescent base of this desolated land mass in a sea of distant stars. Flowing through the center of that district arose a staircase to the burning temple they just left behind. Beyond its crimson blaze lay a section of industrial evolution.

Tattered black banners hung behind torches of red and scarlet. Facilities of churning smoke ran at the hinges of this upper level, each silently crackling in the dullness of the still air of their twisted surroundings. Rooftops at their left and right spanned higher than those below, spiked into narrowly slanted slopes and broken to bend and turn in jagged merges with adjacent buildings. The citadel's industrial level, the working class, was packed full of buildings for metal production and factories for energy.

Each building lay stationary in a net of tight alleyways and corridors, tied together in a cluttered architectural marvel of black, harrowing designs. It was as if the buildings themselves were set up to be weaponized…

"You all did well considering what we were up against." Dante called to the back of the group, his shoes digging into the obsidian street below at the head of the party.

"These creatures don't seem too different from the nature of Grimm." Weiss returned, small glyphs clicking into existence with every tap of her heels.

Gold motifs faded into the ground behind her every step, each playing to increase her speed to keep up with the group of running teens.

"They're dark in nature, but their intelligence and anatomical differences set them apart from Grimm on several levels." Destiny interjected, her gaze switching to the heiress next to her as the two ran, "Though, I can't help but wonder if one was a byproduct of the other."

"Grimm have been around for a long time haven't they?" Ruby asked, keeping stride with the group at their furthest right, "Exactly how long have they been on Remnant?"

"As far as our history books are concerned, they've been here since the beginning." Xera replied, keeping up at the group's left end and closer to the front of the pack, "But we still don't have any concrete proof of their origin."

"We can't exactly run out there and find out for ourselves." Skyla spoke up, her lighter voice resonating from Xera's close right, "We can only really expand as far as our kingdom walls can go."

"Which raises questions nonetheless..." Xera replied, "The Grimm are an encroaching Darkness that doesn't seem keen on thinning out anytime soon. In fact, they're more abundant than scarce, especially in the wild."

"Remnant hasn't had the sustainability in expansions and additions of villages than it does in the kingdoms built up over all these centuries." Dante responded, "In addition, humanity here unfortunately lacks the manpower and cooperation to expand much further than small settlements outside each kingdom."

"Trade routes were still established despite that." Weiss said, a couple sets of eyes switching to her and her trailing white ponytail, "But that's always been limited to caravans and boats. Trains and air travel weren't developed until later."

"Cars are a whole other story." Destiny slipped in.

"They're for inter-kingdom travel and heavily limited if used between kingdoms." Weiss elaborated after Destiny's comment.

"Hence why air travel is always better." Destiny affirmed.

"I guess it's safe to assume none of you have gone on road trips before, have you?" Dante asked the group, throwing them a look of disbelief.

Their lighter conversation was put on a minor stall, though, as he slid around a corner and continued down the straight street beyond it.

The rest following.

"Not that road trips aren't cool or anything, but they're way too dangerous outside the kingdoms." Skyla countered, tracking Dante's eyes before he turned his gaze back to where they were headed.

Their path turned again in the distance.

"I mean, people die on road trips…" the girl continued, thinking into it a little more.

"She's not wrong." Xera added.

"Road trips aren't even too plausible outside the kingdoms." Weiss added, making a swift hand gesture out to her side, "Civilization hasn't bothered to lay down many roads due to Grimm activity. Any transits built were done underground."

"You simply haven't had a fun one yet. If ever the chance arises, you should go out on the road." Dante stated, giving the group of teens behind him a promising glance.

But that glance wasn't long lasted. He switched his gaze back forward, his brows furrowing as the whites of his eyes flashed black and his irises glowed white.

I don't understand… Earlier when I fought the Minotaur, my Shadow Skin activated of its own accord. Why is that exactly? Did the Minotaur do something to invoke it? Or is because-?

Dante's eyes transitioned down to his arms as he ran, holding his right hand in front of himself as his friends followed his lead. Pale skin was now layered in grayish muscle fibers and black, skeletal armor covering the entirety of his hand.

Calm down… If such a thing is happening, then it means that this is simply a reaction to this realm. It's very similar to the Dark World. In fact, there are too many similarities with the atmosphere and the energies within. For any human or faunus that enters into a realm such as this, it will be as if they are breathing poisonous air.

He then clenched his transformed right fist tightly, sharp black claws pressing into his hand before lowering it to his side, cautiously glancing back. When he was sure no one was watching him, he looked ahead once more.

Thanks to Xera, he had managed to eliminate the issue of the poisonous air for everyone else. As for anything other than human or Faunus…it would continue to attempt to draw out their true instincts. I've already taken note of the changes in my mood, and particularly my appearance. I'm far calmer than my usual norm and am acting more brutally efficient with my techniques. Almost as if… No. I'll manage to repress those instincts as long as I am not overly aggressive. And yet…I know full well that may not be possible…

The immortal's thoughts came to a turning halt when they banked the next corner, coming face to face with the next set of stairs. But they could only catch a glimpse of those very stairs leading to the peak of the mirrored mountain in the far, upper distance.

In their way was a towering, black castle.

Braziers burned at the gateway of the immense, gothic-inspired structure. Arches tore through its walls, bridging and twisting before narrowing and pointing into sharpened spires up every nook and cranny of the castle before them.

Pane-less windows opened into brimming crimson light from the building's interior, each opening paired with pillars rushing up the walls of the several merged towers making up the wall before them. High reaching roofs followed the same architecture, leaving the teens before it in a heavy silence.

"Well, the gate's open." Xera said quietly.

"Think it's too late to trick or treat them?" Skyla asked.

Dante was the first to step forward, the only one of the six unfazed by the dimension itself, "It is never too late for that, Sky."

"Sweeet~ Let's go ask for some candy!" the girl chirped, following after the immortal before the rest fell in line behind her.

And then they all entered. With the iron gate slamming down and closed behind them.

"Cover!"

Lightning tore down from the sky in nets of luminescent light, breaking into the shallow crust of the island of ice cracking under the throes of a bursting, boiling ocean.

Scarlet light faded as the shadow of a demon descended, wracking the landmass below in a billowing rupture of golden energy before carrying itself high into a sweeping arc back to the dreary clouds above.

The wind created from its wings split the waters below and cast aside loose shards riddling the island, scattering teens with a small hurricane and throwing them across the shaking landmass.

Cover was taken as soon as the Dremoha descended, minimizing casualties while the rest of the energy struck ice and makeshift metal rods. Those who thought quickly enough diverted the lightning to a weapon embedded in the ground. The rest suffered the scorching heat of molten plasma traveling through aura and flesh.

The beast itself writhed in its own energy. A maddened gaze bathed its slit eyes in a wild, vicious crimson glare. Its sharp, angular face cut back through spikes and fins to break away into a spine of bristling, energized spikes. Its scales were charred and scorched, blackened by the very storms it rode and churning with energy emanating from within its body. A cracked underbelly, enwreathed in golden light, burned with an intense, smoldering energy, a raging glow flooding out of the cracks in its hide as its wings fanned out like shadows in the night sky. Webbed vortexes of black smoke swept through the air as the creature spun and reached a peak in its momentum, fanning out boney, shadowed draconic wings before curling down and diving once again. Its sharp tail whipped in its wake through the sky in a brilliant, energized trail. The lightning surging from its black exoskeleton of bone plating and scales broke away from its body again before shooting down to the island below. Electrified energy slammed into ice and water as it dove by in another wind-forcing swoop.

"Another tendril's breaking free! Hold it down!" Jaune called out, running out from an overhang of thick ice before picking up his shield from where he dropped it.

He rushed forward as the rest of his team followed, sliding up to a writhing mass of black, molten rock pinned down by spikes scavenged from the ground.

"There's no feasible way we can hold it down," Ren quickly stated, leaping over the mass of stone to find the other side of it.

"And we don't have the time to break off more spikes to pin it down!" Pyrrha said, eyes relying on Jaune as he caught his breath.

"How about this one?!" Nora's voice called out, right before a loud crash broke across the air of the island from the swing of her silver hammer.

The other three members of JNPR turned their gaze to their energized ally to see the cracking, timbering fall of an immense spike jutting out from one of the outcrops.

"The bigger the better, right?!" she asked, leaping down from her perch and landing on the crushing structure as it crashed into the ground.

The pinks of her eyes sparked with electricity as she smiled, giving her electrified hammer a little twirl before saluting the crew before her.

"Right, this can work..." Jaune muttered, storing his shield away before looking around, "How are we going to use it though?"

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Nora asked in disbelief, giving Jaune a crazed tilt of the head, "This is my island now! As long as that thingy up there keeps juicing me up, I'm stronger than anyone here!"

"I would advise the rest of us to stand back…by several meters…" Ren slowly said, quickly backing away before rushing past Jaune and Pyrrha.

"Time to go, Jaune." Pyrrha ushered, taking Jaune's hand in his stunned stupor before pulling him away.

Nora then kicked the base of her weapon into the air and spun the tip of her hammer skyward, pointing the whole weapon to the Storm Drake diving from the dark heavens above.

"Hey! YEAH YOU!" she screamed, flailing her glinting hammer as she caught the creature's smoldering attention, "Your mother was a turkey!"

A furious hell immediately rained down from the sky as the drake passed by, over forty strands of energized light cracking and surging through the air before crashing into the area Nora stood upon.

Shards of black ice erupted from her standing position as the lightning struck every glistening surface around her, the blazing glow funneling into a focal point above her head just as the energy connected with the ground.

Most of it channeled straight through the length of her Magnhild, rushing through her veins before her aura siphoned every last drop of energy it was given and stored it in the capsule of her crackling body.

"Ohohoho~! This feels nice!" Nora grinned, threads of light tearing away from her skin as she took a step back and slammed her boot on the back end of the broken spike she stood upon.

The colossal javelin of ice tipped back from the concussive curb-stomp, sharp tip flipping skyward before Nora stepped off and caught the tipping spire by its bottom edge.

Two white boots impacted the ground in a crushing web of cracks as she landed, the full weight of the ten-meter-high spear pushing down on her one hand before she gave the whole structure a good toss into the air.

As weightless as flipping a coin, Nora's frozen stake to her hammer surged into the air and tipped forward, the cheekily smiling ginger following close behind as she leapt after it, waiting for the razor sharp end to turn downward before spinning and hurling the combustive end of her metal hammer deep into the central base of the giant spike of ice.

The whole island shuddered beneath the wind-ripping shockwave that broke away from the impact of her weapon. Nora's own lightning burst forward as the javelin broke through terminal velocity in an instant, bypassing the sound barrier before embedding itself deep into the island below, skewering the writhing tendril beneath her floating boots permanently into the surface of the island.

"And your father was a monkey!" Nora finished, calling up from her falling perch into the night sky as she plummeted back down.

"Hey! I take offense to that!" Sun's voice yelled out, his own team's efforts taking place nearby.

"She meant none by it!" Ren called out, rushing out from the outcrop of ice his team took refuge under before skidding to a stop beneath Nora.

The small frame of the girl soon leveled out as he caught the girl in his arms, her hammer's shaft embedding itself into the ground nearby.

"Aww, my hero~!" the girl swooned, kicking her feet up as she fainted her head back in her partner's embrace.

"Nora, we are still in the middle of a battlefield." Ren muttered, staring down at Nora's face as she leaned into him.

"Yup, so back to the battle we go. We'll deal with the Kraken first, then the big beasty up above." Jaune stated, stepping past the duo with Pyrrha in tow to join team SNAR with their own problematic tendril.

"Easier said than done." the easterner sighed.

The castle's gate led them into a hallway lit by scarlet candles. Flickering flames shone down on the red carpet below, casting shadows to dance and fade as the group of six passed through.

The place was devoid of furniture. Where tables, chairs, storage chests, or even bookshelves could've been was just empty space. Despite this, the empty corridor was lined with picture frames. But no pictures resided in any one. They were all just frames, nothing but the ebony wall on the other side of each embroidered decoration.

"Is anyone else creeped out right now?" Ruby asked quietly.

The group's steps were the only echoing noises in the castle, just a dull collection of falling footfalls as they moved their way forward.

"Yuuuuup..." Skyla replied, popping her 'p' with a nod of agreement.

"There are worse places to be." said Dante.

"Like?" Ruby asked.

"The real Dark World, or Hell as you commonly put it. Perhaps maybe the Rubicon, which leads to The Beyond… Ironically enough, I've never thought to make a comparison before now… Hmmm…"

"Please tell me the Rubicon's just a con for a bunch of Rubys." Skyla wondered, eyeing the red reaper with a stare of sudden excitement.

Ruby took that opportune moment to take a healthy step away from Xera's partner.

"Imagine a seemingly never-ending expanse of gray space filled with an also seemingly endless sea of souls. Although in my case when I was last present, it was a sea of Arbiter Knightguards."

"A-Are they nice?" Ruby's voice squeaked out, taking another step away after Skyla followed her.

"Hardly. Although skilled, they are no better than Dark Entities or Angels. Some would say Arbiters are stronger. Though, from personal experience, I highly disagree. They may be the masters and keepers of life and death, but they are not as powerful as legends have made them to be."

"So…?" Density prompted.

"A standstill at best for the moment. I'd need more time to make an accurate decision."

Their conversation soon drifted off to silence again as they made it further. But it didn't matter.

The candle lights lost their luster as the ceiling began to rise away. The hallway's walls were growing taller as they walked, the picture frames growing larger, as they slowly approached a large room at the end of the spanning corridor.

Inside, four red torches burned in the center of a massive circular room. Jutting out of the ground at the area's center was a jagged black spire, twisting in an expanse of rigid glassy stone and seemingly brittle spines.

The central column was large in width, but it reached up and connected with the roof of the immense room in a thinning, straight structure of unknown material. About three-quarters of the way up, the spire branched out in spanning bridges to connect with four points along the circular walls of the rounded room. Those points seemed to be doorways and balconies beneath the high rafters of the ceiling.

The branches themselves looked like rail-less walkways, but with no way up to them. They didn't look like they were for structural support either. Each expansion was too straight to be anything other than a bridge. But their true purpose soon grew forgotten as everyone's gazes shifted to the sound of shifting metal at the base of the spire before them.

Across the carpet of tattered, red cloth, and over a sea of blackened stone spanning within the floor of the entire empty room kneeled a hulking black suit of thick, bulky armor. Its legs, knees, arms, and shoulders were thick. Scratched, dull metal pushed and pressed against worn joints as the armored entity slowly stood. An impossibly heavy knee pulled itself from its position against the ground, falling in line with the entity's other leg as it stood to face the opponents that just wandered inside its chamber. The lit torches at its sides could only flicker as its shadowed visor turned to regard the six who just entered. Nothing lay within the darkness of its helmet or its V-shaped mask, its leveled gaze was devoid of any kind of emotion or distinguishable features at all.

Before anything else happened though, the sound of thudding footsteps cracked in from above. The circular platform engulfing the spire jutting into the ceiling of the room shook slightly, vibrating beneath a hefty weight moving from somewhere around the other side of the rounded vantage point. A second figure came into view.

Its armor was as identical as the figure who stood before them, but its entire silhouette was several times sleeker and two times lighter. Its arms and legs, shoulders and helmet, it was all more angular in comparison to the broad, cornered features of the dark figure at the spire's base. In its armored hand, it clutched the thick handle and trigger of a condensed, dark ballista. Its other supported the impossible weight of the weapon beneath the shaft at the front of the contraption, string already drawn back with a thick, black arrow set in place. Countless more arrows could be glimpsed just over the armored figure's shoulder, nestled within a quiver at the armored opponent's back.

It was in a place impossible to reach by normal means, which made getting to it all the harder. But the realization of dodging arrows volleyed from the rafters disappeared entirely when the sound of scurrying, scraping footsteps began to flood into the room from the several small doorways along the room's circular walls.

Gangly, humanoid creatures quickly began filtering into the room in small intervals of individual numbers. Their skin was pale, gray in color, and pulled tight against muscle and bone as small legions of these faceless creatures began to move toward the raiding party of teens. Their heads were almost completely smooth in appearance, appearing only slightly bigger than the human skull but lacking any distinguishable traits that'd depict the usual facial traits of a person or creature. Each head was simply just a dull, boney black visage of shadow. And each faceless gaze soon leveled on the ones in the room with any color to their names.

"I don't suppose we can talk this out?" Skyla asked with an awkward chuckle, her voice sifting through the slightly crowded room as the figure in armor before them took a step forward.

It brought its arms up before flicking them out, the unnaturally thick panels of its gauntlets unfolding and rotating down to encase the exterior of its forearms. The panels then pulled back to align themselves with the rest of its armor, tapering down into dull, pointed ends that looked like the thick bases of shields.

Only, these shields were unforgivably thick. They spanned across the majority of each of this creature's arms, displaying sharpened edges with jagged teeth along the grinding sides of each shape, and already had every intention to be used against them as the armored entity leaned forward and began to charge.

"Destiny?" Xera quickly asked, flicking his gaze to the girl next to him.

"Yeah?"

"We need Fate. Now."

The girl's raven locks melted away as soon as she nodded, burning into a bright, crimson red as she pocketed the red-rimmed glasses she wore for Destiny's persona.

"Whatcha need, Xera?" Fate asked, scarlet irises taking residence where lilac orbs once resided. The entirety of her attire flashed into the punk rock outfit of Destiny's counterpart.

"Block."

Fate's gaze turned forward before a smile cracked its way across her lips, "With pleasure."

She immediately took a step forward and slipped between Skyla and Dante on the frontlines, cracking her knuckles and neck before planting her feet into the ground and leaning forward.

The black floor beneath her shook with every heavy step the charging suit of armor took, but as soon as it reached them, she tore her fist back through the confinement of the air around her and hunkered down. A charge of Aura built itself up through the fibers of her tensing muscles before she slammed her fist forward, drilling it against the chest plate of their arriving enemy and carrying that momentum through. The armor didn't dent, but the whole creature buckled forward before skidding back on its heavy grieves, grinding to a halt a few meters away.

"Were you expecting to finish him off in one attack, Fate?" asked Dante.

"And if I were?"

"That would be uncharacteristically naive of you. I'm almost surprised."

Destiny cast her glance back at Dante, red hair following her movements, "You gonna stand there and talk? Or are you actually going to start attacking this guy?"

"Would you prefer that I move further ahead and leave this to you all?"

"Tch… You little-"

"You and I will face this one. As for the rest of you… Xera and Ruby, considering the both of you currently have the greatest mobility, you'll take the one above. Weiss and Skyla, you two have the capabilities to control these masses of smaller enemies. Once they are cleared, Weiss, you will join Ruby and Xera. Skyla, you will remain below with us."

"Wouldn't it be better if I-?"

"On the contrary, it wouldn't." interrupted the young immortal, "His shields may very well be reinforced against magic and Aura-based attacks. The other one above is seemingly more mobile and prone to changing positions in order to attack given his ranged weapon. Your abilities are more suited for him rather than this one."

"If you say so…" Weiss quietly conceded, taking a moment to give Skyla a nod.

The two spread out slightly from the group, keeping their distance until the others broke off.

Xera gave Dante a quick glance, "You good?"

"Any cause for concern is unnecessary." replied Dante, his hand reaching up before he removed his sheath from the right side of his back and placed it on the left side of his waist.

He then sheathed his longsword as both sheath and weapon shifted form, taking on the appearance of a white and black katana and katana scabbard. The katana's handle and guard were of a pure white color while the blade itself a pitch black.

Instead of a normal katana-guard, the guard was a crossguard, similar to that of his longsword, only now the prongs were two inches long instead of five. As Dante drew his katana, the sheath remained invisibly attached to the left side of his hip. He lashed his sword outwards to his right and lowered it slowly.

"You have your task. I have mine. Now…go and perform your task."

Dante's form disappeared as he dashed forward through the crowd of creatures, striking at the suit of armor that wielded twin shields with enough force to send it skidding on its grieves once again.

Xera only watched for a moment before Fate and the immortal pushed the first armored entity back further.

That was the first time he took total control… Something's not right with Dante…

"Guess we're taking the high road..." Xera sighed, glancing back to Ruby.

Her silver eyes were still on the three combatants at the base of the black spire.

"Is he alright?" she asked.

"Probably, but given how toxic this place is, it could be affecting him differently than us." Xera supplied, offering the girl next to him his hand.

She took it after attaching her scythe to the back of her waist, compacting it down before letting Xera pull her over and pick her up. Her small frame fell into a quick bridal carry as he crouched down, slipping his wings back out of the slits of his sweatshirt before leaping toward the bridges above.

He only made it halfway before the armored entity above fired a ballista bolt straight through his flight path, forcing him to take a sudden dodge to the right.

But the window of opportunity during a crossbow's usual reload speed was nonexistent here. A second bolt was jammed into place as fast as an archer could draw an arrow from a quiver, the string itself seemingly priming itself back on its own as the creature took aim again.

"Hold on Ruby!" Xera muttered, flexing his wings for a moment as he pulled back.

Another bolt was fired, splitting the air as it sped down toward his central mass. The phoenix quickly surged his wings downward in that moment and shifted their center of gravity forward, clutching Ruby to his chest before flipping into the bolt.

With only a fraction of a second to react, he planted his sneakers into the shaft of the passing projectile and pushed off. The phoenix threw himself and Ruby into a speedy incline after a powerful flap of his wings while the entity above reloaded.

But again, it fired off another shot before they could scale too far up into the room.

"I can shoot at him, but I'd have to reach for my gun!" Ruby quickly offered, the two losing altitude after being thrown into a sudden twist to avoid another bolt, "But I don't think it'll do much against its armor!"

"If we have a moment, you can try. But we're kinda-" Xera banked beneath the nearest bridge, barely dodging another projectile before disappearing from sight of the entity, "in the open out there!"

Before Ruby could get to Crescent Rose, however, the frail frame of a body from down below suddenly slammed into the underside of the bridge next to them.

The audible crunch of its bones and rattling skeleton cut into their hearing before the dead creature fell limply back down, having suffered a brutal death at the hands of a bridge of stone. They didn't bother to follow its descent with their eyes until another one came up and suffered the same fate.

Xera and Ruby glanced down to see Skyla loading up another body into her ribbons before she realized she finally got her partner's attention. With a quick swipe of her hand, she gestured over to Weiss, the heiress centralized in a field of glyphs as she cast her icy gaze up at them beneath the bridge.

Ruby gave her own partner a small wave as Xera nodded, then the two dashed through the air and back into the target zone of the archer above once again. He immediately dodged around the first volley of crossbow bolts, catching his balance in the air before surging upward.

As soon as he did, a flurry of icy blue streams rushed past him and crashed into the chest of the ballista-wielder above, forcing it back a few steps and causing its next shot to strike the far wall. The stun bought them the moment they needed to climb into the upper limits of the room and make it onto the bridge, landing just in time to see the armored creature recover.

"We'll have to thank them later." Xera said, dropping Ruby to her feet as he drew his blade.

"Oh yeah, but first..." Ruby whipped out her own scythe, jamming it forward in a flourished embedding of the tip of her blade before quickly pulling her trigger, firing a high caliber bullet into a rapidly approaching projectile from their adversary, "Let's deal with mister tall, campy, and pointy up here."

On the ground-floor, Dante was unrelenting with his sword strikes as he constantly swung at his opponent's shielded armor with enhanced speed and strength, giving it almost no chance to counterattack.

The young immortal had a previous history with a rather annoying enemy that used two shields as weapons, so he knew exactly how to face this armored giant. By constantly attacking both shields with the speed he was doing so, he would ensure his opponent would continue blocking.

But it was time to give pause.

The young immortal ducked down as Fate delivered a diving kick to the giant armor's head, staggering it backward. Dante quickly shifted his body left and flipped away, delivering his own swift and powerful kick underneath his opponent's chin to further disorient him. The duo took the opportunity to push their attack, Fate with her punches and kicks and Dante with his one-handed sword strikes.

The shield-wielding armor was finally able to conjoin both shields, allowing him to charge forward in an attempt to push his attackers away. It only resulted with the two blocking his advance, the entity only managing to push them back slightly and force them to cease their endless onslaught.

He soon drew back and raised his conjoined shield to try and crush the duo. The hefty weapon smashed downward over and over again, but the two teens swiftly moved in between his frantic shield attacks, dodging them with ease.

Dante and Fate dashed back after an opening unveiled itself, moving away from each other to prepare a cross attack. Considering Fate enjoyed high kicks, Dante moved under her kick and slashed outwards across the right shield while Fate delivered a powerful rounding kick across the left shield.

The crossing forces left the armored entity open to a central attack on its body, something the duo took full advantage of as they each delivered crushing blows and sent the armor reeling back.

"You're going under my attacks a bit much…" Fate cocked a coy smile, slipping a comment into the fray as she landed back at Dante's side.

"I'm required to do so in order to avoid being a victim of your kicks." Dante replied calmly with an emotionless expression.

"Sure you're not just trying to look up my skirt?" the wolf faunus asked teasingly, expecting a reaction from him.

"Why would I have need to do such a thing?" he retaliated, shifting his gaze to her, "Besides, there is nothing to look at either way."

That response was… entirely unexpected.

"W-What?! Why you-!"

Without moving his eyes away from her, the young immortal stabbed at the air to his side in order to destroy a large chunk of debris heading their way, completely shattering the object to pieces.

"I need you to perform a surprise aerial attack. Is it within your capabilities?"

"Who do you think I am?"

"Would you like me to give you a-?"

"Just shut it. If you keep him busy, I'll manage it."

"Very well then. Proceed."

Fate blurred out of sight, leaving Dante to face the shield-using suit of armor as it rose from the rubble and let out a loud, low-toned growl. It then began to relentlessly bash its shield into the ground in a furious rampage, reverberating loud clangs throughout the entire room.

The immortal stood emotionless and uncaring.

"Am I supposed to feel intimidated because you can make loud noises? Nice try."

The giant armor then raised its shield high above its head as it glowed with black energy. Its dark visor soon flashed as it smashed its shield into the ground one last time and unleashed a devastating blast that tore up the floor in front of it, sending a rupturing wave of stone towards Dante.

He continued standing where he was and simply held his blade in front of him. The wave of black stone crashed into the immortal's sword and harmlessly passed him by in two separate streams, his body and sword completely unmoving.

Halfway through the encroaching wave, the kicked up dust at Dante's right side suddenly melted away and the figure of his enemy crashed through. The armored entity charged with a shoulder bash at Dante's blindside, but as soon as it did, without looking to his side, Dante brought his left hand across his body and under his right arm, pointing both his left index and middle finger at the suit of armor.

The Dark Entity had no time to react as four streams of pitch black Aura formed at the immortals pointed fingertips before rapidly coalescing into a small sphere. As fast as it was condensed, the Aura discharged into an eerily screeching, massive beam of black Aura that consumed the giant armor entirely.

As the wave of stone finally dwindled away, Dante was able to lower his sword and turn to the giant armor staggering back, its armored body charred, fragmented, and cracked across its entire hardened shell.

Large portions of its conjoined shields were heavily damaged, small chunks chipping away now and clattering to the floor as the entity recovered.

"That attack was unexpected, but quickly manageable once one understands the situation. When you sent that wave of earth towards me, you intended to use it as more of a blinding mechanism rather than to directly harm me given that your physical attacks are more powerful. Seeing that I took such a possibility into account, this half-baked strategy of yours was bound to fail from the start."

The giant armor seemingly didn't like what it heard as it used its shield to bash another chunk of debris at Dante, who easily decimated the mass with a single sword strike. The shield armor quickly made its advance, raising its shield in front of it to block any attacks from Dante. However, the young immortal made no movements. He stood as still and motionless as a stone.

Fate dove in from above and delivered a powerful punch directly into the entities armored visor, sending it flying backward into the ground.

"That time you deliberately showed them to me."

"W-What?! So you were trying to sneak a peek!"

"Not at all. I was simply looking ahead. I did not move my eyes whatsoever."

This is a complete role reversal… I'm the one who usually messes with him! Now he's the one messing with me?!

"Do not get distracted. We may have the upper hand, but he could just as easily attack and defeat you when you aren't focused. The fact he attempted a sneak attack on me is proof enough of that."

"Clever how you left yourself out of that note…" Fate grumbled.

What's going on with him? He's so calm. And a heck of a lot more serious than he usually is. But at the same time, he's disregarding of anyone else. He's become kind of a dick…

"Did his entire personality take a shift, Fate?"

Yeah… It's...abnormal… Even when he does get serious, he's not like this…

Fate trained her focus on the fight as Destiny sifted deep into the memories Dante shared with them, recalling a time when he was acting exactly as he was now. The internal sister quickly fed the memory into the front of Fate's mind.

No way…you don't think-?

"It's exactly what I think…"

Is it what Xera said earlier? Is it the air and energy in this dimension affecting him?

Dante looked upward in the distance, carefully watching the battle on the bridge.

"It would appear as though the two of them are just about done."

His comment prompted Fate to look up as well, but she quickly looked back down to him.

"Hey, didn't you just tell me to-?"

"You can watch above so long as you also pay attention below. Calm down. The shield wielder won't be rising back up for some time."

"Wouldn't that just be giving him time to try to strategize on how to beat us?"

"It wouldn't matter one bit. It is a fact that he won't be surviving this battle. He can formulate as many strategies as he wishes, but it will be utterly useless. The one thing most Dark Entities lack at times is the common sense to know when they are beaten. These armored giants are such cases."

Fate only looked on with concern.

Why do I get the chilling feeling he's just playing with the shield armor like a toy?

"All set?" asked Xera.

"Yup, I got it. Ready when you are!" Ruby declared, pulling her trigger once more to ward off another bolt.

Xera gave his ally a nod before falling into a dash down the length of the bridge before him. His eyes stayed trained on the armored creature at the end of it, watching as it jammed in a new bolt and took aim.

His grip on his longsword tightened as he prepared to glance the bolt away, holding his breath as he pushed forward. But his trust in the sniper he chose wasn't misplaced.

As soon as the bolt was released, the concussive blast of Ruby's rifle rattled out from behind him and knocked the encroaching bolt off course, allowing him to pass by and continue his beeline toward the other side of the elevated structure.

Their advantage would only last up until the halfway point… Anywhere past that, Ruby would need to start predicting shots more than leading them.

That wasn't going to work.

"Xera! I need to move up!"

"Then do it!" he shouted behind him.

Ruby dashed forward with intense speed as Xera took up his sword and kicked off the ground, throwing himself to the side before dragging his sword horizontally through the air next to him, cleaving through the central shaft of a passing bolt.

The two halves split and arced away as he continued running. Three more bolts fired his way before he heard the sound of Ruby catching up behind him, deflecting each one into the walls of the room behind him before she finally made it to his side.

Something suddenly felt off, though…

It was faint, almost not even there, but he felt a screeching disruption coming from behind the two of them as they ran. The feeling struck the same chord he felt during his training with Blake in the darkness of Beacon's training room.

Shit!

Xera ground his sneakers into the stones beneath him and slipped behind Ruby, pushing her forward as he jumped and turned mid-air. All the bolts previously embedded in the walls behind them were surging back toward them, splitting the air just a few feet away before he dragged his blade around and enwreathed it in flame.

The burning blaze blew through the projectiles careening toward their backs and incinerated them before he fell back to the bridge, tumbling harshly to his feet to keep his momentum going.

"Close call..." Xera exhaled, the flames of his eyes trailing with light now as Ruby lashed out with her scythe.

"How did you know?!" she asked, slamming an incoming bolt aside as she threw a silver gaze over her shoulder.

"Just a feeling."

"A feeling?"

"Ruby, focus."

"Right!"

Ruby's speed tripled as she tapped into her Semblance and blurred forward, Xera following close behind as he tapped into the reaper's semblance as well. Crimson rose petals and streaking wisps of lime green light slipped across the bridge to the conjoining juncture of all four branches of the spire.

The reaper's scythe moved in first, cleaving through the air to cut the string of the armor's crossbow. But her blade was only met with the harsh clang of metal wire.

Metal?! Really?!

Her eyes quickly scanned the bowstring as she flipped overhead and realized the string itself was a construct of metallic fibers twined together, meaning it wasn't going to be cut easily.

The creature made to smack away Ruby with its fist, but Xera's blade caught it halfway with the flat of his sword. He ground the strike just out of reach of Ruby before pushing off and delivering a blazing strike at its left leg, allowing the reaper to move away while the giant fell to its knee.

Ruby and Xera dashed back for a moment before crossing back in, cleaving through the legs of the entity as it made a move to stand. Its guarded knees shook but withstood the assault, and at the next passing of the teens around it the entity shifted its whole body and threw itself into Xera as he passed.

The phoenix slammed into its shoulder and was sent rolling down the bridge behind Ruby as she dashed in, firing a shot into the ground to flip up and catch the entity's visor with the sharp end of her scythe.

But the move met the hardened bow-arm of the archer's crossbow, catching Ruby's curve of her scythe in a biting clash as it tore Ruby out of the air and threw her downward.

The small girl crashed into the floor and arched her back from the impact, her scythe still lodged in the crossbow's arm above her as the creature withdrew one of its massive bolts from over its shoulder. Its armored glove gripped the shaft of the black arrow like a spear and thrust it downward.

Nothing but sliced wood jabbed Ruby's stomach as the iron tip to the stabbing bolt broke away. The hurled edge of Xera's spinning boomerang slipped by and clattered over the edge of the platform, its sharp edge cutting through the hardened wood of the crossbow bolt before Xera charged back in.

"Hang on Ruby!" the phoenix called out, kicking up into the guard of the entity before him and flipping overhead.

He caught its neck with the crook of his second blade and yanked it down with the added strength of Fate's semblance. Two hands gripped down on the angled spines of his sword as he bent the armor over his back, unable to lift it but just strong enough to bend its spine away from Ruby's body.

Blinding golden glows shone out of his sleeves in the same moment as Ruby kicked away, dislodging her weapon's blade from their adversary's clutches just in time to see Xera's first boomerang return in a burning haze of orange fire. The heated metal dropped down from its upward swoop around the spire and crashed into their enemy's chest plate, sinking its tip deeply into the armored chest. Annivia's Talon melted straight through skin and bone before he let go and dodged out of the writhing creature's proximity, prying both blades free and returning to Ruby's side.

"You alright?"

Ruby's frame stumbled for a moment, but her aura was fine, "Peachy."

Silver eyes narrowed toward the molten hole in the creature's armor as she fired a newly loaded combustive round into its chest cavity, piercing skin and fragmenting the explosive bullet inside to deal internal damage.

The armor before them screeched and stumbled forward, black blood seeping out of the chinks of its legs and chest as it swung forward blindly with its crossbow.

Immediately, Ruby kicked her scythe up and spun it around her waist, squeezing the trigger of her weapon to snap her scythe's blade into position. Then she fired it again. The sharp tip of Ruby's scythe surged into the spire's structure at their right, catching the ballista's string and bow-arm before sinking both into the wall of stone beside them. Its armored hand and ballista were now pinned in place.

"Glad to hear." Xera commented as he slammed his twin blades back together and moved forward.

A veil of fire ignited around the blade of his longsword before his eyes melted into a dark, vibrant purple. The shine of his flames immediately bathed themselves in a violet hue before burning white, the external heat of his weapon escalating beyond feasible temperatures as he used Skyla's semblance to hyper-accelerate the particles in his sword's heat. Then with a vertical slash up from his side, Xera cleaved through the entity's arm and let its severed gauntlet and ballista remain impaled to the wall.

Disarmed, stumbling, and dripping black blood from where its arm used to be, the creature attempted to turn around and retreat, but Xera gave it no chance to do so. The phoenix drew out his wings and appeared on the bridge in front of it, stopping its hasty exit halfway across the walkway.

Behind it, Ruby yanked her scythe free and let the creature's arm and weapon fall limply to the ground. She walked over and stood her ground at the other end of the bridge, trapping the creature between the two of them to keep the one-armed entity from turning back around.

All the creature could do was draw a single bolt from over its shoulder. Its efforts were severed as quickly as it drew on a new weapon, though.

Ruby dashed in from behind, catching the shaft of the bolt with her scythe and slicing through it, her advance mirrored by Xera taking the high ground, flipping overhead and cleaving through the creature's shoulder blade with his blazing sword. The duo then landed and began dashing back and forth between one another, slashing the defenseless armor with enough strikes to weaken it just enough to bring it to its knees. As soon as it went down, Ruby and Xera skidded back together to reposition themselves.

"Think you can do it?"

"Just stick your landing and you'll be fine." Ruby replied, cocking her bolt back before slamming it forward.

Xera nodded before taking several steps back. After a sizable distance was created, he lowered down and fanned his wings out, placing his fingertips lightly against the floor before surging forward.

The phoenix moved past Ruby, leaping to use her rapidly swinging scythe's surface as a stepping stone just as she fired her weapon into a rocketing recoiled spin. She used the kick to push the pole of her scythe against Xera's sneakers and sent him hurtling toward the creature at the center of the bridge.

Xera's sword once again glowed with purple flame, crackling energy blazing white in the next moment as his entire weapon screeched in its waking heat.

In a fading streak of white light, he used his blinding ebony blade to cut through the armor's neck and remove its head.

As soon as he passed, Xera landed on his feet and skid himself to a halt. The light of his eyes and blade settled down as he turned around and watched the armored entity slowly lean forward, then topple over the bridge's edge.

Its lifeless body fell heavily through the air before crashing into the ground below, crushing itself through a horde of creatures and cratering the ground it made contact with. Several pieces of its armor now scattered across the floor of the battlefield below.

"We did it!" Ruby cheered, spinning her scythe around to jam its pointed shaft into the ground.

"Yeah, we did."

"Do you think the others are done?" Ruby asked.

The reaper cast her gaze over the edge of their raised platform, looking down from the bridge at Xera's side.

They saw Weiss and Skyla stampeding through what was left of the remaining small creatures on the ground-floor. Weiss's blade trailed with the frost of her ice Dust, and Skyla's own katanas crashed into and powerfully slung frozen bodies with her ribbons into their surrounding walls.

It looked like they've been fine the whole battle.

Xera shifted his gaze to Dante and Fate, noticing that they were keeping their own eyes focused elsewhere.

"Let's see what's up with them." Xera said, giving Ruby a short glance as he flexed his wings.

Dante remained where he stood, carefully watching the pile of debris and smoke. He could practically hear Fate's impatience behind him.

"Win yet?" Xera asked, his sneakers touching base with the ground behind them as he lowered Ruby to her own boots.

"Not yet. Einstein here decided to give that thing time to think of a strategy." the wolf faunus growled, nodding her head in Dante's direction.

"Not dead yet then?"

"No, not quite," replied the young immortal nonchalantly.

His whole countenance changed ever since we started this battle. What's going on with him?

Xera's eyes watched the immortal cautiously, only exchanging a few minor glances to the girls at his side.

"Very well. I suppose it is time to end this then..." Dante stated as he placed his katana back into the sheath still invisibly attached to the left side of his waist.

All of them heard an ear piercing roar as the debris pile exploded, the giant shielded in armor dashing towards Dante from its crumbling confinement. Its whole right arm reared back before it sent its disconnected right shield spiraling toward the calmly approaching Dante.

The teen simply raised his left hand and effortlessly backhanded the oncoming shield out of his way, surprising everyone that stood behind as it careened into the base of the spire at their left.

The armor remained undeterred and continued its dash toward the young immortal, raising its remaining shield up to strike him as soon as the entity entered the immortal's vicinity.

Its armored gauntlet rattled and crushed downward, making contact with Dante and forcing up a large cloud of dust. The impact emitted a passing shockwave of sound and pressure that surged through the five members standing aside, Skyla and Weiss having just walked over.

Eventually, the air before them began to still as the dust settled, only for everyone to take a step back from what they saw. Dante stood in his place, completely unharmed and unmoved. The armored giant's shield was struggling against his motionless arm, the blunt edge of the strike caught with the immortal's bare hand. A hardened, cold gaze stared at the armor's visor as it struggled to pull away.

"It's just as I expected…" the immortal spoke lowly, voice descending into a chilling tone, "You are after all merely a pawn..."

Dante then pushed the shield aside and delivered a swift kick to the armor's left knee, bending it inwards with a harsh crack as it fell to the ground. It looked up only to see a roundhouse kick collide with its face, sending it scraping and tumbling on its back until it crashed into a wall nearby. Before it had time to recover and retaliate, the immortal had appeared before the creature in a streak of pure black Aura.

Dante brought his leg down and severed its left arm that still held its remaining shield. But it wasn't over. The immortal then placed his foot down on the now discarded shield and tipped it against the ground, shifting his leg just beneath it to force the heavy object upward. The shield slammed deafeningly into Dante's palm before he spun around and tossed it into the creature's other arm, severing it too.

"It's over, pawn…"

Dante leaned down and reared his left arm back, thrusting his hand into the armor's chest plate with his fingertips first like a spear. His hand ripped into its armored body with a splatter of black blood, the full body of armor soon lifting as the immortal raised up his buried hand. The wall at the entity's back was all that was keeping its body steady as Dante held it on its feet and spoke his final words to the broken, armored giant.

"Your life now comes to an end."

Without a second to spare, Dante thrusted his right hand straight through the visor of the armor's helmet, bloodied hand emerging from the other side of its head and breaking the wall behind it. The armor suddenly collapsed into pieces at Dante's feet, the helmet the only piece remaining aloft from Dante's impaling arm for only a moment.

The immortal tore his hand out of the black stone before him and swiped his arm to the side, sliding the helmet free and sending it bouncing across the floor beside him.

A thought had occurred to him in that moment, making him unbutton his white coat and look inside. It was as he expected. His entire abdominal region was now layered with gray muscle fibers, which were covered by different segments of black, skeletal-like armor.

It's no surprise that fighting has made it progress more. Regardless of intent, it's progressed even further.

Dante looked toward the open pathway ahead of him, his cold gaze focusing on the doors in the distance.

I see. No more trivial enemies placed in our way then. You are the last one remaining.

Dante re-buttoned his coat as he continued to keep his gaze focused on their objective.

If we manage to hurry, we may very well end this without any incident. Although…the chances of reaching Zeridûl without completely transforming are about fifty-fifty right now. I've taken note of something else however… Although I am transforming, my state of consciousness hasn't been fading in the slightest. In fact, I am sharper, more aware. Compared to when I took on the form I did in that church, my thoughts then were clouded and simple-minded. Any sense of remorse or mercy was completely absent. Right now… I only feel that same absence of morality. My thoughts are still my own and coherent.

He then looked back slightly with the corner of his eye at Xera and the four next to him.

I don't believe I'll be a danger to the others. At least not currently. Although my state of mind hasn't declined in the slightest, it could still occur at a later time. I must continue with caution and not allow myself to get carried away.

"Are you all ready to depart?" he asked, grabbing their attention, "Our final obstacle lies directly ahead. With the progress we've made so far with only the six of us, I must admit that I am rather impressed with you all. You've gone above and beyond my expectations."

"Umm… Thanks?" Ruby replied meekly, the young girl keeping her gaze low and avoiding his own.

Her response matched the thoughts of most of the party beside her, something he easily took note of.

I see...

"I suggest we take our leave. The quicker we end Zeridûl, the quicker we may all go home."

Dante started for the door, and after his lead, it was the first time the group hesitated before following the immortal's stride.

(Semblance Encyclopedia 7)

"Really? This is it?" asked Ciel.

"This is it." said Leo.

"Are you sure? I mean...its just so...simple..."

"I know, but it's all that we were given this week. In my opinion, this is good. Besides, aren't you usually the one who wishes to wrap the segments up quickly?"

"Yeah but...its so simple it almost seems like a trick. Is there a pie coming at me?! A giant hand?! I'M READY FOR YOU STUDIO EXECS!"

"Ciel."

"COME AT ME BEASTS! I AM UNARMED!"

"Ciel! I don't think this is a prank. It really think this is just what they want us to do this week. Easy week and all that. Might as well take it."

"Ugh... Fine... So, this week's Semblance is a pretty nice and easy one. Either way, this person's weapon will be a fun one for big brother and Rose Petals."

"Today we will be discussing about Caza Miralla's Semblance. As most, if not all of you know, Caza Miralla is a Beacon Academy teacher in Xera Stark's Reality that teaches battle tactics as well as survival. While appealing to the eye, some would take her granted and assume her to be weak. If anything, this is a horribly miscalculated assumption."

"This chick is anything but weak if you look at her skills, Aura, and experience. Heck, she even pulled us away from that collapsing side of the cliff a few seconds beforehand, which, I admit, wasn't necessary, but cool nonetheless."

"That was actually a direct result of her Semblance." said Leo.

"It was?"

"Indeed. The reason why Ciel was so befuddled with its simplicity is because its fairly, short, sweet, and to the point."

"Yep. So basically, her Semblance is the ability to predict with 99% accuracy what her opponent will do within the next 3 seconds, which allows her to adapt to her enemies moves and counter. This is also applicable to environmental hazards, like what was about to happen to us."

"As far as either of us know, there's no extension of time she can push past, such as being able to see six seconds ahead of time. It's as we said. Short. Sweet. Simple. Effective."

"You're a real stickler for that phrase today huh?"

"I've found it appealing for the time being."

"Right then, that's it for this week ladies and gentleman! Tune in next time for Weapons Illustrated! Bye bye now!"

Yeah, no omake this week. Sorry about that. Did manage a thing for Semblance Encyclopedia though (Caza belongs to Xera Stark if you didn't notice). Again guys, if you got an omake in mind focused upon the characters from my story and such, or simply an idea, send it my way. I'm always accepting new ideas.

That aside, we kinda got a bit brutal this time huh? I kinda prefer the calm and collected, ruthlessly efficient Darker side. Much more to work with in my opinion. And a bit more fun.

That aside, heck of well done fight. Double boss fight this time around? That's something new! You can thank Xera Stark for the idea of the double boss battle. The rest we hashed out as we went. As for the kraken outside, it may be on it's last legs, but don't forget the winged menace of the skies so soon. It'll make its decent when ready.

Really, nothing else much to say for now.

So with that, I highly recommend you all go check out the freaking amazing collab Xera Stark and I are currently working on concerning his story XSRA's Flame. His story overall is absolutely fantastic and is a must read, so I suggest you read from the very start. But, if you're just interested in the awesome collab our two minds put together have created, then mozy on down to chapter 53 of his story for the start. I've said it once and will say it again, you won't want to miss out on this story, and especially this exciting story arc we've created. Not only that, but check out his other awesome and highly entertaining story Rogue Huntsmen as I mentioned above. It's just pure awesomeness bundled into one story. Trust me, you'll love it. And hey! Go check out HydraFLow's new story Lost in Binary! It's equally as awesome and entertaining, definitely worth spending the time reading and enjoying.

Questions? Ask them anytime. I will try to answer without spoiling.

Please remember to review, follow and favorite this story if you really enjoyed it and want to continue seeing more of it. And hey, even tell others about this story! Remember that your support is what helps make this story grow even larger and what helps improve it. With that, I bid you all an excellent week/weekend!

Bye-bye now!