Here we are.


Beta: College Fool

Cover Art: Dishwasher1910

Book 8: Chapter 12


Raven watched us with those glowing eyes of hers, a disgustingly satisfied smile spreading across her bloodstained face. I'd wondered at the impact such a slaughter might have on a person, but it was clear it didn't bother her. She might even have relished it; lost solely within the pleasure of gaining more levels and more power. But for those at the bottom, taking the ships, the Mirage Isles was now a ghost island.

Except for us five.

Crocea Mors slid free of her scabbard but for once failed to comfort me. The blade wavered in the air, faced with the reality of Raven's colossal level disparity. There would be no cleverly working my way out of seventy or more levels, no weakness to exploit or last-minute rescue from Cinder, Qrow or anyone else high levelled enough to make a difference. We were abandoned here, trapped alone in a fortress with Raven Branwen and hundreds of dead bodies. That she made no move to attack didn't fill me with any confidence. She could afford to take her time.

"It's interesting," Raven said, pushing off the door. "How many have died now, I wonder? Five hundred? Six? With my Greycloaks among them and the prisoners I took before, it might even be closer to a thousand."

As she paced to the left, we shuffled to the right, huddled together with Yang, Pyrrha and I at the front and Ruby and Blake behind. Not that it would make a difference. Tanky or not, we would all die in a single blow.

"And yet she still hasn't manifested." Raven tutted. "It's close, so close, but not enough. Is she hiding from me? Is she afraid?" Her lips twisted into a wide smile. "I would be, in her place. She's right to try and avoid me."

"Salem doesn't play by our rules," I said. "You can't expect to summon and kill her." It was a long shot, all but impossible at this point, but if she could be turned away from this then we might yet live. "And what if you lose, Raven? Salem will destroy the entire world."

"What would I care? I wouldn't be alive to see it."

"Why are you doing this? Power? You're already the most powerful person on Remnant!"

"And yet it's not enough," she snapped. "All this power, all these levels, they can be snuffed out in an instant." She gripped her fist tight. "All it would take is one wish, one request from someone even as low a level as a baby, and Salem would erase my existence, just like that!" Her head swayed from side to side and her eyes, still burning, clenched shut. "I won't allow it. I won't be killed like that. As long as she exists, there is always one person who can kill me."

Her eyes snapped open.

"That will soon change."

"What," Yang hissed, "You're doing this out of fear? Because you're afraid of her? You damn coward!"

"Coward? I would face Salem – the greatest evil this world has ever seen – and I would slay her. I shall do what no Hero before me has been able to do. I'd do this, and you call me coward?"

I placed a hand on Yang's shoulder and pulled her back. Raven hissed through gritted teeth but made no move to attack us – something I didn't understand. We were helpless here and yet she was hesitant to cut us down. Why? I didn't believe for a second it was familial care for Yang or some outdated sense of duty toward Ruby, and she sure as hell didn't need me anymore.

Why stand there and talk? What was the point?

"You should know that I wasn't the first to have this plan, Yang." Raven's eyes slid past Yang to Ruby, at least until Yang stepped to the side and shielded her sister from view. "You may call me a coward, but it was Summer who planned all of this."

Ruby gasped.

"You lie," Yang hissed. "You killed Summer."

Ruby gasped again, looking to Yang with confusion.

"I may have struck the final blow," Raven said with a careless shrug. "But I didn't kill her. The Greycloaks were always her idea. You know how much she loved cloaks and capes. Though at the time, we were supposed to be the Silver Cloaks. Attacking the Mirage Isles was to be our debut, with the islands our future Guild. We would have become the de facto Heroes for all of Remnant. This was all Summer's plan. After all, she was our Guild Leader."

"N-No…" Ruby whispered.

"Once we slew our way past the filthy pirates here, we found our way to the manor's vault. Within which, an interesting tablet stolen from Vacuo. One that spoke of a ritual and a power, sealed deep within the Belladonna vault, away from prying eyes." Raven laughed. "I'm sure you can imagine what was on that tablet. Can't you?"

"Salem," I whispered.

"Oh yes. Salem. The Wishgiver. Convincing Summer to help in summoning her was difficult but we already had so many prisoners who were doomed to die. It was a simple task." Her eyes fell on Blake. "Especially when we brought your mother's head to her husband and told him we'd slain both her and you."

"You monster!" Blake screeched.

"Blake!" I held her back, Yang taking her other arm.

"Yes, he broke down after that. He died believing he had failed to protect you. How sad. So much pain, so much horror. Summer may not have approved but they were pirates and we were Heroes. What did it matter if they died? They were as bad as the Grimm. And when Salem was summoned and stood before us, offering us a wish to anything we might desire. Well, the results were obvious."

I tensed. "Summer made a wish?"

"No." Raven smiled. "Summer attacked her."

All of us recoiled. Ruby, who had been close to tears, froze, a rare flash of hope coming across her face.

"I don't know what else I expected. Summer, ever the perfect Hero, saw a monster before her and attacked without warning. To her, it was just another Grimm to be slain – and one that could think, talk and reason. Something too dangerous to let live." She shook her head. "She was struck down of course. Summer was level eighty-eight from what I recall. She was beaten down, broken and on the verge of death when Salem stopped to offer her a wish. A wish to heal her, to bring her back to full health, for a price."

Ruby whimpered. "She didn't pay it. Mom refused."

"Yes." Raven looked into Ruby's eyes. "I don't know if she realised you would be the price or if she just refused to take part in the games of a monster, but Summer smiled and said that Heroes would hunt Salem down and kill her. That an evil such as her would attract a Hero one day, and that this Hero would slay her. Heh. That old fool. She always had her head stuck in the story books. Of course, I couldn't let Salem kill her. Not and let all that Exp go to waste."

"You stabbed Summer in the back," I realised. "While she was injured and unable to defend herself, you killed her. Your best friend."

"What do you expect? Summer wanted to kill Salem and failed. I'll continue her work. She would have been proud to be a part of me – and she was dead already. There was no escape there. I cut her down and ordered one of my men to make a wish. He wished for power unimaginable and his mind burst from his skull as the levels overwhelmed him. Salem disappeared, I remained and the Greycloaks were formed. You call us criminals, but the truth is that we are Heroes! And that Summer was the first of us."

"Heroes!?" Ruby yelled at the top of her lungs. "You're not Heroes! Heroes don't kill other Heroes! They don't massacre people who can't fight back!"

"Sacrifice is necessary. Your mother realised this."

"No she didn't! That's why she refused to make a wish, because she knew the only way to be a real Hero was to face the bad guy head on! Killing all these people… Yang was right," she hissed. "You're no Hero. You're a coward! The only reason you dared fight everyone is because you knew they couldn't fight back. The only reason you're willing to face Salem is because you're afraid of her."

"Is it me who is afraid, or you? Summer never thought of you, you realise. Even at the end, all she cared about was being the Hero. She didn't have to attack Salem; she could have left her alone and come home to you, but you and Yang never even registered in her mind. Hero first, Greycloak second and mother somewhere far, far down the line."

Ruby shook with unshed tears.

"And let's not talk about your own situation. What must it feel like to stand beside someone who lost both her parents to one of yours? How she must hate you."

Ruby looked to Blake nervously. I still didn't understand why we were doing this, why we were wasting our time talking when Raven had us dead to rights. It would take such little effort for her to slay us, yet she was mocking and twisting our emotions. Driving us apart and delighting in the pain she caused. Why? What was the point?

"I don't hate you." Blake said without looking back. "I knew from the start. I never blamed you."

"Of course she would say that now. But what does she really think?"

"Blake, I…" Ruby swallowed. Her voice cracked. "I – I didn't know, I…"

The room darkened.

My eyes widened. "THE RITUAL!"

Ruby and Blake froze, as did Yang and Pyrrha. Raven's eyes narrowed, telling me I was on the right track.

"Salem hasn't been summoned. The ritual isn't working." I watched Raven, who made no move to attack. That was confirmation. "The pirates didn't give enough negativity to summon her, even with hundreds dying. It's just like on Atlas!"

"The quality of suffering, not the quantity," Pyrrha recalled. "Of course! Even if they cared for one another, the pirates were naturally self-serving at the end of the day. They'd all have stabbed one another in the back to escape."

"Pirates," Raven agreed. "So useless…"

"It's why she hasn't just killed us," I said. "If she does, then there's no one left on the Mirage Isles. It's why she's wasting time talking and dragging up the past." I looked to Ruby and Blake. "She's trying to use you two to finish the ritual."

"Turn us against one another," Blake realised. "Ruby, I knew from the start who you were, but I never blamed you. My parents were criminals and knew the risks of their work. Even if I might have hated your mother for being a part of it, that was never you."

"Blake…" Ruby's eyes watered. "I – I get it. I'm sorry my mom did that, but I couldn't have done anything to stop it. I was five at the time."

"There's nothing to forgive, Ruby."

I smiled as the two found peace, then looked back to Raven and smiled all the wider. She was annoyed – furious – but although her hand gripped her weapon tight, she hesitated on attacking us. She could kill us in an instant but what would that achieve? Alive, we were no threat to her. Dead, we might leave her with no one to start the ritual with.

"There's more than one way to generate the necessary suffering," Raven said. "I wonder how Yang will scream as I cut Ruby down one inch at a time. You swore to look after her when Summer died. Didn't you?"

My smile fell.

"You monster," Yang hissed, darting in front of Ruby. "Stay the hell away from her!"

"And you," she said, looking to me. "Your lover stands behind you, does she not? Would you like to see her impaled on the sword you forged? Dragged down the length of the blade as her blood stains it? If I stab her below the breastbone, you'll get to hold her for minutes as her lungs fill with blood. Or maybe you'll give her the ultimate mercy and slit her throat yourself."

I stepped back. Blake placed a hand on my back.

"You, I have nothing on," Raven said, smiling at Pyrrha. "So maybe I'll just kill you first and see what everyone has to say. The others can stay alive until I wring out enough pain to summon Salem and end this one and for all."

My legs felt weak. My heart beat faster and faster. Sweat dribbled down my forehead and obscured my vision and my breath was hoarse. I'd thought myself so clever, but we really were nothing to her. All of those threats, she could carry out. We didn't have the strength to stop her. I looked down at Crocea Mors, wondering for a bleak moment if it wouldn't be better for all of Remnant to turn that on myself.

And then Raven moved.

It was a blur of black and red and I tried to scream a warning. She was on me before I'd finished drawing breath. Her sword could have cut me down easily, but she pushed me instead – not even a backhand, for that might have broken my neck – but an almost gentle push that knocked me aside and onto my back without hurting me. Yang and Blake were bowled out of the way as well, while Pyrrha was bypassed entirely and trying to react, moving so slowly compared to Raven, who descended on Ruby with her sword slashing down.

Silver eyes widened.

"RUBY!" Yang and I screamed in unison.

Ruby ducked the swing.

It was a small thing but also not. Raven moved with well over one hundred and twenty levels of Dexterity – so fast that even Pyrrha couldn't react to her closing a distance of twenty feet. Yet Ruby, caught off guard, ducked under her swing on reaction speed alone.

Raven stepped after and into her guard, caught her swing and brought the sword back down. It missed Ruby by a hair's breadth as the Reaper stepped to the left, then back to escape another. A thrust sailed over her shoulder and Ruby deflected a hand that tried to grab her neck by snapping her own hand up into Raven's wrist. The final swing, designed to cleave Ruby in two, slammed down into the stone tiles and shattered them easily, all the while Ruby darted out of Raven's reach and sprinted twenty feet away, coming to a stop with a gasp.

It took place in the span of seconds and Pyrrha had only just completed her turn and chambered an attack. With negligent ease, Raven dragged her sword over her own shoulder to parry it, then swept Pyrrha's feet out from under her and knocked the Champion to the ground. My own attack hit nothing as Raven dashed in pursuit of Ruby. She didn't want to kill us because she intended for us to be alive to see Ruby cut down, and to blame ourselves for her death.

But Ruby didn't die.

Left, right, down and under – then speeding across the hall. Ruby swayed and dodged every attack as if she were fighting someone closer to our level. She never attacked back, but Raven didn't land a single blow on her. Important, since that single blow would have left Ruby a mist of red gore.

Ruby is too fast for her, I realised, awe mixing with disbelief. Even if Raven gained three Dexterity a level on average and was Level one hundred and fifty now, that would give her around four hundred and fifty Dexterity. An obscene amount. But Ruby wasn't a normal Class. Her Class was broken. She'd told me once that she could gain ten Agility in one level. If Ruby was close now to fifty, then she might have upward of five hundred Agility.

It was enough to keep her out of Raven's clutches and Ruby was a blur as she cut across the room, coming to rest atop a low wall, scythe held behind her and silver eyes narrowed on a woman who was just catching her breath, staring after her with burning eyes.

"I should have expected you'd be this much of a problem. Summer always was a pain to deal with…"

"I'm not going to get angry and do your work for you!" Ruby yelled back. "You won't trick me into summoning Salem."

Raven really had needed Vale to attack. While the Pirates hadn't provided enough negativity, the close-knit bonds of Soldiers and Heroes in the defence of their Kingdom would have. I had to wonder if Ozpin had realised that, but I doubted it. He'd made the only choice he could and hoped for a miracle. Against all odds, it looked like we might just receive it.

"RAVEN!"

And then Vernal arrived.

"Raven," she howled, skidding on the blood and still clutching the one blade I'd left her with. The fight came to a halt as she burst in. "Raven, the men – they're dead! They're all dead!"

"I know, Vernal." Raven's lips curled up. "Come here."

I knew her intent the second Vernal entered the room. I wasn't the only one. Pyrrha rushed forward to try and intercept Vernal, yelling, "No, she killed them! She's going to kill you!"

"Vernal, stop!" I screamed.

"Bastards." Vernal parried Pyrrha's thrust, kicked the Champion back and ducked under my swing. She kicked off and rushed over to Raven's side, heedless of the danger and all too trusting. "Boss," she said, nodding at the Knight. "What's the plan? All the cloaks – they're dead. It's just the two of us left."

"Raven killed them!" Yang yelled. "Get away from her!"

"Do you trust me, Vernal?" Raven asked.

"Always." Vernal said with a nod.

"Good."

Raven's sword tore up from Vernal's stomach, piercing through her back and out the front. Vernal stood still, shocked. The curved knife fell from her fingers as she looked down with wide eyes. Her lifeblood dripped out onto the floor. It looked like she couldn't believe what had happened, as if it made no sense to her whatsoever.

"Why?" she asked, voice so small and fragile. "R-Raven, why?"

Raven wrapped an arm around Vernal's neck and laid a hand on her cheek. "Because all the Exp I gave you and the other Greycloaks was only ever a loan. Now be a good girl and pay me back with interest."

Vernal cried out as the sword was wrenched back out of her. She fell to her knees, hands clutched over the wound which continued to spill blood out over the floor. She tried to hold it in, to stymie the bleeding. To live. Knowing she wouldn't, tears ran down her cheeks. Angry and bitter tears as everything she had known came crashing down on her.

A weight slammed down upon my shoulders. The others gasped and shuddered but to me it was a familiar, cloying presence that I was able to stand through. My heart sank into my stomach. The deed was done. Vernal had proven the catalyst. Fallen onto her side and sobbing, Vernal's dying moments, filled with such hurt and broken trust – even love – proved all the quality she needed. The torches in the room dimmed and winked out. Shadows twisted and roiled in on themselves and a thick black mist spread across the floor as she came.

"Finally," Raven whispered, stepping over Vernal's dying body. "Finally!" She laughed. "I thought it might not be enough, that it might fail. Thank you, Vernal. Thank you. You did everything I wanted you to, even at the end. You can go," she said, looking to us with a mocking smile. "With your power, you wouldn't grant me a single level. You're worthless to me now."

That, and she didn't want to run the risk I might break her sword, even if it was with my dying breath, the blade through my chest. I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Pyrrha, grab the barrels. Yang. We're leaving."

"What? Just-"

"No arguments!" I hissed. "Whoever wins here, we lose. Go."

"What about yo-" Yang looked to Ruby, still trapped on the other side of the hall, and nodded. Ruby was pinned down by Salem's aura, her Resilience as low as all her other Stats bar Agility. She couldn't move a muscle. Yang looked like she wanted to rush over there, but she knew my Resilience would aid Ruby more than her. "Right. Get her and get out of here. Blake, show us to that elevator. We're running out of time."

The Assassin nodded and grabbed some bags herself, the three of them scurrying off to the side and out of the door, even as the miasma formed into the shape of a humanoid figure. Raven's attention was focused on Salem's arrival, though I doubted that would let me sneak up on her. I tried to catch Ruby's attention instead, but she was equally enthralled by Salem. I felt eyes on me, a great overbearing presence whose attention seared into my spine.

"Well, well, well." Salem's voice was dry and mocking. "I'd say I'm surprised to see you again, but I think we both know that would be a lie. I've almost come to expect your presence."

Turning, I saw her for what felt like the hundredth time. Pale skin and red eyes, dark robes that seemed to sway with a wind I couldn't feel. Salem looked down on me with something. I wasn't sure what her thoughts were, but I knew they were bad. The only thing I wanted to see from her was indifference. Better me than Ruby, though.

"I'm not the one who summoned you."

"No. You would not be." Her attention swept across the hall, over Ruby and past her.

"I summoned you," Raven said, sweeping her sword before her. "We meet again, Salem."

"Do I… know you?"

"You-" Raven hissed through her teeth.

"Ah! I remember. You were the one who huddled in a corner and trembled as your companion sought to slay me." Salem chuckled. "Look at you now, standing before me. Though with no less fear in your eyes, I dare say."

"Monster. I'll slay you today."

"Oh my. Where was that vigour when your friend called for your help?" Salem laughed and spoke again, this time in a different voice, a lighter one. "Help me, Raven! Help me fight her! We can take her together!"

Raven trembled. Her eyes clenched shut.

"But you didn't help her. Did you? You watched and shook and stayed where you were. Ah, I can still remember what she felt as she realised her best friend would not aid her. The despair, the sorrow." Salem shuddered, as though she had just recalled some particularly thrilling memory. "She trusted you so much. Believed in you right until the end."

"Shut up!"

"And then, when you drove your sword through her back-"

"SHUT UP!"

"The look on her face." Salem laughed. "She couldn't quite believe it, even as she died!"

"Salem, I wish of you!" Raven roared, trembling with what I'd first thought was rage but which might have been terror. "I wish for you to be bound by the laws of our world! Become a part of our world, of our lives and our system."

"Raven, no!" I yelled, far, far too late.

"Live a life as one of us. Bleed as one of us. Die as one of us. That is my wish – for you to live and be bound by the laws of our world!"

Wind rushed inward. Salem's mouth opened but no words came forth and she staggered back a moment later as the shadows that had been dancing wildly across the floor all centred on her. They flashed back out again – returning to how they had been before, how they should be. The torches that had been tugging towards her flared to life and the oppressive presence, the aura that weighed us down, vanished in an instant. Ruby gasped and got up onto her hands and knees, looking around in confusion.

Salem stood a few steps back from where she had, one hand over her face and the other holding a piece of masonry beside her. For the first time, her feet stood upon the stone floor.

"You fool," she hissed. "You know not what you have done."

"I know," Raven said. "I've made you one of us. I've made you exist in our world. I've made you vulnerable."

Above Salem's head, where once there had been nothing, now stood two words. Her name; Salem, and beneath that, a Class.

Goddess.

I couldn't believe it. The wish had worked. Salem was a part of our world, manifested here and now. If she had a Class, then she had Stats. Levels. Exp. She could be killed. Had Raven really found the answer to her after all this time? Salem's hand on the wall trembled and her whole body followed suit. She drew a ragged breath, bowed and shaking. A wish aimed at her own body – granted reluctantly – looked to have taken it out of her.

"Vulnerable?" she wheezed. "Is that how you see it? Trapped now in this form of flesh and blood. So weak, so pathetic. And yet, also unlimited in potential. No, Raven, you have not made me vulnerable."

Her eyes blazed.

"You have made me angry."

Flames swept out from behind her, cutting across the floor to surround the room, cutting off all the exits and rising up to a wall several feet tall. I cursed and scrambled to Ruby's side, dragging her out the way and hiding both of us behind a pillar. A Class meant Stats, but it also meant Skills. Dangerous Skills. And Raven had wished for Salem to be bound by the laws of our world, which meant she might no longer by bound by the laws of hers. No need to grant wishes, no more summoning and nothing to hold her back from killing whoever she wished.

Something that Salem seemed keen to test as she strode towards Raven, standing taller than ever. Her hands opened and closed, fists clenching and muscles stretching across her arms. There was no doubting her fury, her absolute rage.

"You dare to drag me down to the level of you humans. I am beyond you. I am above you. You who crawl, cry and snivel in the dirt are not fit to stand in my presence. And you won't. If I am to be bound to this world, I will remake it. I will destroy it." Her eyes flashed. "I cannot be bound to a world that does not exist. All wishes have an escape clause, Raven. You people just never thought to look for it."

"I-It doesn't matter." Raven brought her blade before her. "I'll kill you now. I'm not the girl I used to be. I'm more powerful than ever. I'm a hundred times stronger than Summer ever was. There's no one on Remnant stronger than I am."

"Correction. There was no one on Remnant as strong as you."

Raven surged forward and thrust her blade toward Salem's chest. It was deflected with a wave of the hand – despite that Salem's didn't connect with the weapon. Raven spun and swung for her leg, only for Salem to point toward that as well and turn the Starmetal aside. Sweeping into her guard, Raven drove a shoulder into Salem's chest and knocked her back, then brought her sword up inside her guard, where it would be impossible to block.

Salem turned to mist and swept through Raven's body, forming on the other side. When Raven swung back around, the `Goddess` held out one hand. Raven's sword came to a stop an inch from her palm. The sword wavered as Raven's muscles bulged. It refused to move despite her best efforts.

"Impossible."

"Yes. But then, I am a God."

"You have a Class," Raven hissed. "You can still be killed!"

"Yes." Salem used her magic to push the sword away so hard that Raven was spun on the spot. She then placed a hand against Raven's back. "As can you."

Raven's stomach burst. A small hole about as big as a fist exploded outward, showering the floor in front of her with gore. It was so sudden and so loud that Ruby flinched and buried her face in my neck. I wished I had somewhere to hide as well. I could only watch around the corner of the pillar, eyes wide, as the sword I'd forged slipped from Raven's hand and clattered to the floor. Raven would have followed but Salem grasped her head with her other hand, holding her up by her temples and hair. Raven's feet dangled on the floor.

So quickly? That was it? We'd spent so long in fear of Raven and she was dispatched in a single strike? I gritted my teeth and clenched my eyes shut, trying desperately to keep from panicking more than I already was. How were we supposed to deal with Salem?

"Ah, there it is. That fear I saw the first time we met. How fitting that even after growing a hundred times as strong as your companion, you still cannot match her courage. But then, a coward will always be a coward. No?"

If Raven had a response, it was lost in her hoarse breathing. All her strength, all one hundred-plus levels, and it meant nothing. Was Salem invincible still? Even now? Shit. Ruby and I were still trapped, hemmed in by the flames. I tugged her toward one of them, intent on using my body to shield her.

"We have to go."

"J-Jaune, wait. Raven-"

"Is dead! And even if she wasn't, I wouldn't stop to save her."

"No, you don't understand." Ruby struggled as I dragged her along. "Salem's in our world now. Our rules."

"We can't beat her." I hissed, trying to be quiet. "If Raven couldn't, we don't have a chance."

"We'll have even less of one if she kills Raven and takes all her Exp!"

Fear slammed into me. I'd not considered it. Salem could gain levels now; she could grow, learn Skills and improve her Stats. And right now, she had the largest source of Exp in the entirety of Remnant dying in her grip. How strong would Salem be with all of that? The combined Exp of Raven, Summer, Qrow, Vernal and every Greycloak, Grimm and innocent that Raven had killed over the years?

Unstoppable. She'd be unstoppable.

"There's nothing we can do," I said. "Raven's on the verge of death and we're not strong enough to take on Salem. The only thing we can do is escape and warn the others. Warn Ozpin and Vale."

"No." Ruby's eyes hardened. "It isn't. She's low on health and my Passive…"

"What?"

"I'm sorry," she said. Crescent Rose came up between my arms and swept sideways, prying my grip open. Ruby fell to the floor but now that Salem's oppressive aura was gone, she could move freely. With her Agility, she was out of my reach before I could grasp her.

"Ruby, no!"

She didn't listen. The Reaper shot across the hall like an arrow, leaping from hiding and charging Salem and Raven just as the Goddess brought Raven's tearstained face towards hers to whisper some horrible truth. Raven was almost dead – as good as dead – but there was still some life there, still some tiny amount left to give.

Ruby brought Crescent Rose back behind her. Her eyes flashed. In a blur of silver and red she swept it around and toward her target – not Salem, but Raven. Whatever Skill drove her, whatever attack that had let Ruby carve through wounded Grimm in the past – even Ancient Grimm – came to the fore once more.

Raven's body fell to the floor with a wet thump. Ruby landed twenty feet beyond, blood coating the blade of her scythe. She straightened and looked back, and I saw the brief flash of silver in her eyes that indicated the Experience flowing into her.

And then the screaming began.


And so passes Raven, not with the fanfare she desired but with a frightened whimper.

I felt this fit in a way for her. I know a lot of people kept wondering if she would fit canon with her character, for while she definitely does prioritise strength in canon, it's not quite for world domination purposes. It wasn't that here though, either. It was fear. Raven was so afraid of the threat of Salem and her power, able to kill with a wish, that she dedicated her life to escaping it.

In a way, Raven became strong because she was too scared to let anyone be stronger than her. Cowardice leaning in a different direction to the `avoid all risk` kind of scenario. After all, it doesn't take a lot of bravery for someone who is level 125 plus, to fight against a horde of Level 30-40's.

That's also what I meant by "hundreds of times stronger than Summer", by the way. Summer was 88, and I obviously didn't mean it mathematically, or Raven would be Level 8800. I meant in terms of fighting. I.e. how in RPG's like WoW or anything, a level 70 isn't "twice" as strong as a level 35. They are twice their level, but it might take 50 or more people of Level 35 to actually bring down a Level 70. That's what Raven meant here, though "hundreds" was hyperbole.

Note: Obviously, Ruby wouldn't get all the Exp. Salem, now being a part of this world and its rules, would share in it.


Next Chapter: 13th May

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur