Sadness and sorrow. G2 lost in the finals of Worlds. Argh, it's depressing, but they still had a fantastic year and I'm pleased with how far they got. I was super bummed last night though, just sat there with a pathetic look on my face. Poo.


Beta: College Fool

Cover Art: Dishwasher1910

Book 9: Chapter 21


Great vines ten feet thick crashed out of the mountainside and around the dragon, some even through it. Like some horrible beast emerging from the rock, the Ironwood tore the beast apart and spread like spiderwebs along the rock, digging deep. I gasped at the centre, finally able to breathe now that the Grimm had been removed. With my eyes glowing, I leaned back, encased and entangled in Ironwood vines that caressed me lovingly.

There was so much of it. So much Ironwood.

With his last breath, the Archmage of the same name had given me as much to work with as he could. I had no idea if that was intentional; if somewhere deep inside he'd planned for this, for me to work so much with his unique ability that I'd gain control of it myself. If, in his last breaths, he'd banked everything on that and poured his life into the tree, leaving it behind as a weapon for Beacon to use. If so, he was more a hero than I'd ever realised. His sacrifice wouldn't go to waste.

I was one with the tree.

The tree's roots spread all throughout Vale.

Therefore, I was one with Vale.

Without even thinking, I could feel my roots throughout the Guild Village and beyond, tingling with power, moving slowly – ever so slowly, enough so that to the naked eye they seemed still. I fed heat into them, Stoking the Forge while also using Ironwood Creation to speed up the process. Where before, the Ironwood had reacted quickly, it now jumped forward explosively. A silver root burst from the rocky floor behind Salem. It reared up and over, lunging down for her like a snake.

Salem cocked her head back, grimaced and gripped a Hero by the neck, crushing his windpipe and killing him instantly. She turned, jumped and landed on the side of my vine in a fraction of a second, putting her Agility to good use and riding it down as it completed its attack.

Tch. Still too fast. I cursed from my throne at the base of the tree.

Even with the Grimm dragon gone, Salem tore a path through our forces – reminding us that she'd bested Raven, a woman who could singlehandedly match an army. With one arm a bloody stump and one foot a mass of black tentacles, she danced through the Heroes, lashing out left and right, each blow tearing open a throat or crushing a ribcage. Every hit was fatal – except those who managed to use magic to defend, and even they were sent hurtling back unconscious.

Another of Glynda's chains snagged her good foot but Salem simply whipped it back and dragged Glynda off her feet. A raised foot and a stomp shattered the chain while a kick sent it snapping back like a wild animal, narrowly avoiding bisecting Ozpin. Buying herself some space, she planted her one good hand down and aimed it at the largest mass of Heroes. Black light sparked in her palm.

A wall of solid Ironwood sprung up between her and the Heroes, emblazoned with a `Seal` Rune. Black light washed and splashed over it, dissipating in every direction. After it was over, the wall stood strong, glowing faintly.

Yet I felt sick.

Her taint was a cancer. It was cloying now that I could feel it deep inside. Even as Salem ripped forth and tore down the wall with her bare hands, cutting through with consummate ease, I cast Purify Object, breathing a sigh of relief as the warmth washed through me – through the Ironwood that felt like an extension of me – and cleared my roots once more. My veins. Not roots.

"Yang!"

My attention snapped to Nora's warning shout in time to see Salem barrel down on her. It wasn't intentional so much as Salem attacking the largest concentration of people she could. With one swipe, she tore several students apart and then came through for Yang and the rest. Yang, knowing she couldn't run, took up a defensive stance.

No. Not like this. Go. Push!

The Ironwood reacted, exploding from the ground to Salem's left and slamming into her body while she was mid-flight and unable to dodge. I had her! I actually had her! Not wanting to waste the opportunity, I dragged the Ironwood down, making it arch and slam Salem into the cobblestones, then push deeper and deeper, either to bury her or puncture through her body entirely.

Fingers dug into my root. I gasped in pain.

The sensation of it being ripped out of me was agonising. I was a part of the Ironwood and it was a part of me, so it felt like what I imagined having your arm torn off would be like. I screamed and tossed my head back, shaking in my throne as Salem emerged from the ground, a severed root of Ironwood several metres thick and at least fifty times her weight in hand. She sent it careening away with a contemptuous flick of her hand, forcing people to scatter and smashing through two guild lodges as it landed.

"Vermin! Do you realise now how hopeless this is? It does not matter if I have an army or am on my own. I am more than any of you can hope to become." She paused to bat away a spell with a backhanded slap, step forward and thrust that same hand through Oobleck's chest. The Alchemist gasped and gripped onto her arm as he died. "You are all of you nothing."

Snapping her hand to the side, she sent his body hurtling away.

"Bart!" Cavalier Port roared, charging in with a lance. He stabbed for her stomach, chambered the attack when she dodged and swept it around for her neck. "Die, you fiend!"

Rather than dodge, Salem let it hit.

The powerful lance snapped on her shoulder blade.

"My army was entertainment."

Salem gripped Port's wrist and squeezed. His armour exploded, as did his arm, bone and blood splashing in every direction. He fell howling and was caught by one of Glynda's chains, dragged away before Salem could finish him. Not that she tried. She strode toward the mass of Heroes, eyes glowing red.

"I sent my legions against you not because I feared to face you." Her foot stamped down and the flagstones shattered. A channel was cut toward the Heroes, forcing them to scatter. "But because I thought it might be dull not to give you some small chance of fighting back. However, my patience has reached its limit."

She swept her hand to the side.

Every building to her left collapsed.

She repeated the same on her right, clearing the guild lodges away and creating a wide-open space. The fire that had burned around us ever since the battle began was snuffed out, or at least the fire close to us. It burned on in the distance, wrapping around the base of Beacon but for the pocket she'd created.

Salem buckled suddenly; her one good hand wrapped around her stomach as she bent over. Her back bulged and stretched, the very fabric of her black robes ballooning out behind her. They tore with a loud rip, one huge black mass sprouting from her skin. A second followed, throwing blood out in every direction. They spread, unfurled, and wings with pure black feathers, slick with blood, spanned out to the left and right of her.

"Ah. Better out than in. That's what I always say."

"Don't let her escape!" Ozpin ordered. "Cut her wings!"

"Escape? Oh, perish the thought."

If she'd been quick before, Salem with wings was almost too fast. The extra dimension of movement had her whirling between spells and closing the distance with Ozpin and Glynda in a fraction of a second. Glynda was able to get between Ozpin before the attack hit, but not to deflect it herself. The Warlock's spell shattered when Salem slashed at it with one hand. Twisting in the air, the monster planted one foot on Glynda's chest and kicked, launching her into Ozpin and both through a building.

The reversal of momentum carried her back the other way. She flew over the head of Pyrrha and Nora, who tried futilely to swat her out the air, and into four older Heroes. Blood and bones flew as she tore into and through them, landing on the other side. Her wings snapped out with a fwap, striking and launching anyone in the way back. She then tucked them in and pivoted on one heel, deflecting a fireball sent her way and returning a black lance in turn, piercing through and pinning the unlucky Atlas Mage to the ground with a black spike through her stomach.

Ironwood burst from the ground to trap her, but Salem laughed and hopped into the air, dodging easily and then weaving away from the vines that chased her. I clenched my teeth and concentrated on chasing her, weaving silver vines thicker than tree trunks through the air.

Salem continued to laugh, wheeling and turning, pulling quick changes in direction and momentum to make my Ironwood smash through buildings instead. She flew until I'd knotted the vines in the air and suddenly couldn't grow them any further, then landed atop one and cut through its base with a slashing spell. I cried out as the Ironwood fell, several tonnes crashing down with enough force to send people flying.

Too fast. I couldn't catch her on foot but now she's even harder! It was the added dimension she could move in of course, combined with the freedom it gave her. I couldn't pin her down and I sure as hell couldn't build a birdcage to trap her in when she could rip through the bars with brute strength alone.

"Jaune." Weiss hopped up into my throne – or what I called it. In truth, it was little more than a seat I sat in where I'd been tossed into the rockface. "We need you to make more scythes for Ruby, and to give her a way into the air. A ramp."

I looked past vines criss-crossing over my face. It must have looked like I was being eaten alive by the Ironwood, but Weiss didn't panic. Probably too tired for it. I nodded back as best I could and concentrated on finishing the scythe I'd been halfway through before. It was quicker now with Ironwood Creation, so quick I surprised myself by finishing it in seconds! I Engraved `Seal` onto it and bid the vines push it toward Weiss.

"Here. How will you get it to her?"

"Portal," Weiss said quickly. "Just give her a ramp – something she can't miss."

It was the work of a moment to make a fresh root burst up and angle toward Salem, not coming close enough for her to worry or pay attention to it but aimed in the right direction. Weiss concentrated and began to murmur. A flickering portal blurred into being before her, a similar one appearing on the ramp itself.

In the distance, something red blurred and changed course, taking in the battlefield at such speeds that she could see even that small portal, react and head to it before anyone else noticed. The blur struck a building and went up, touched the bottom of my ramp and surged forward.

"The wings!" Weiss yelled, tossing the scythe through the portal. "Get the wings!"

Ruby's face appeared for a brief instant on the other side. A flash of silver eyes, a snap as the scythe was ripped out of the air, and then she was gone. The portal closed and Ruby hurled off the ramp, streaming through the air toward Salem and her large, powerful wings.

"Not this time!"

Salem turned and flapped both at Ruby, creating a loud clap of air that sent the Reaper hurtling away. The scythe went flying, struck a wall and shattered. Ruby flew into Nora, who leapt up to catch her and soften what would otherwise have been a fatal impact.

"She's so fast!" Weiss hissed. "Her Stats are insane. We're losing this. With Ozpin, Glynda and every Hero in Vale, Vacuo and Atlas, we're still somehow losing this…"

"Ruby can hit her."

"Ruby has hit her," the Mage corrected, "But Salem isn't an idiot and she'd figured that out! The second she sees Ruby coming, she drops everything to stop her. No one else is a threat enough to distract her."

I'd distracted her the last time but that was because of how much she hated me. She'd let anger overcome attention and granted Ruby that one good hit on her hand. Since then, she'd lost a foot, but Salem obviously wasn't willing to lose more. She swept after Ruby, intent on finishing her off, but Ozpin leapt in front of her and erected a wall of solid green energy. He knew Ruby was our only hope.

Ruby sprinted back toward us, panting as she came to a stop. "Scy-"

I had the Ironwood push a new one into her hand, then a second. It was faster than ever now, the Ironwood moving exactly how I wanted it to. While I doubted she could dual wield so unwieldy a weapon, she could put the spare somewhere she could easily reach it.

"Thanks."

Weiss gripped her shoulder before she could go. "Sit still a second. You're about to pass out."

"Weiss, I can't. Everyone else is fighting."

"And you're our only hope right now. It won't do for your heart to explode in your chest."

"Have you seen Blake?" I asked her, more to keep her still than anything.

"Alive. I saw her somewhere out there – she's trying to sneak up on Salem, but it's hard with her flying about. Whenever she gets into position, Salem just flies into another bunch of Heroes and starts killing them."

Blake must have been frustrated at that. The Assassin's slow approach would be no use here and she knew better than to lose patience and charge into what would be certain death. As far as I could see, the others were alive. For now. Salem was picking her targets well and going for those that poste the biggest threats, of which a bunch of students ranked low on the scale. That wouldn't last, of course. Heroes were dropping like flies and we'd be next sooner or later.

Most of them were just getting between Salem and me, likely on Ozpin's orders.

They're dying to buy me time. Guess I'd better use it. More concentration formed several more scythes for Ruby's convenience, arrayed on the side of my throne for her to come and take as she wished. Ruby looked excited and nervous at the same time.

Ozpin's shield shattered like glass.

Salem broke through, finally tired of being denied. Ozpin snarled at her and pushed both hands forward, sending bolts of green light piercing into her wings, stabbing through and earning a howl of pain from her. Her hand stabbed through his chest, penetrating through and out his back.

"Ozpin!" Glynda screamed.

"Oh my God," Weiss whispered, letting go of Ruby.

The Reaper took her chance and vanished.

I couldn't believe it myself. Ozpin. Dead. There was no doubting it – not when Salem tore her hand free and then aimed it at his body, incinerating it in a ball of black light. Absolute terror gripped me. If Ozpin was dead, then who else could stand against her? My eyes flickered and glowed blue, but such was the shock that not even my Resilience could fully block out the despair.

"Heroes of Vale stand tall!" a powerful voice boomed. It was familiar and yet not, loud and deep and causing reverberations through my very body. All eyes turned in the direction of it, to King Galan, King of Vale, who stood surrounded by his Royal Guard.

What the hell is he doing here? He can't fight.

He knew it too. Even from such a distance I could see his fear. And also something more resigned.

"You shall feel no fear! You shall fight! You shall not give in to despair this day. Not until the monster that stands before you is slain once and for all! Until then, you are immovable. Fight now! Fight for Vale and for all of Remnant. Fight!"

Ragged cheers echoed him. I was surprised to find Weiss' being one of them, the Mage snapping out of her panic so quickly she caught whiplash. Heroes who had all but been routed suddenly stood tall and roared their defiance.

The King was using his Charisma to bolster the forces. I could feel it as a dull hum, but my Resilience was too high to be affected. For everyone else, however, it was as good as mind control. Much like it had when the King of Mistral commanded Cinder to kill me, everyone here found sudden bounds of confidence within them, morale snapping back into place like an iron lock.

"Troublesome," Salem said, "But not a problem."

The Royal Guard closed ranks before the King, who closed his eyes and accepted his fate.

They didn't stand a chance as Salem crashed into them. Armour was torn asunder, and bodies shared the same fate. Salem closed in on the King and raised him up by his throat. The regal man stared back at her, unfaltering and unyielding.

"You will die, monster. Vale shall be your tomb for all eternity. Our people shall see it done."

He died with those words on his tongue, burning up as Salem ignited his body and threw his corpse away. Even so, his sacrifice buoyed the Heroes and students alike. Those who had been all but fleeing moments before now stared Salem down with solemn determination, ready to sell their lives to make the King's last wish a reality.

I hated what Charisma did – I always had – but in that moment I was grateful for it.

Fresh from their victory and emboldened even in the face of the King's death, the Heroes surged forward. Arrows, spells and attacks flew Salem's way, each batted away with a sweep of her wings. That didn't stop the people closing in, however, and in the crazed melee that ensued, more than a few struck blows on her.

Of course, they all died for it.

A horn blew from close by. The stampede of feet and battle cries that heralded the Mistral contingent's victory in the city proper, and their reinforcement of the Guild Village. Pennants and flags flew as they charged forward, led by a figure I recognised – Mercury Black, one of Cinder's companions. There were Soldier Caste as well as Hero, making the army a solid few thousand strong.

Salem saw it too and clicked her tongue, tossing Vale's defenders back and taking to the air once more. An absolute hail of arrows and spells from the ranks of the Mistral army hurtled toward her, and though she was able to deflect the spells, she had no recourse but to use her wings to block the arrows, curling them over her body.

The thud, thud, thud of arrows impacting and sticking into Salem's wings was music to my ears, even if they didn't seem to do much more than piss her off. With her vision blocked by her own wings, a few Atlas Mages took the chance to cast their own spells. Fireballs, ice and lightning crackled over her body, shaking her in the air and leaving her wreathed in smoke.

When Salem snapped her wings open, tossing the arrows out her body, she was snarling.

"ENOUGH!"

Salem flapped her wings and shot higher up into the sky, out of reach of any but the Archers, who she lazily dodged in the air. There was no retreat, however. Salem hovered fifty feet or so up, her good hand held above her head and black light coruscating around it.

"You are insects without number, and I shall treat you as such. Let's see how many of you stand after this!"

Instead of a single attack, numerous orbs of power appeared around her, spinning lazily in the air. Each crackled with untold power, shimmering and burning the very air around it. They continued to grow as well, bulging dangerously as she fed more and more power into it.

There was no doubting the force behind those spells. If she was strong enough to destroy buildings and kill people with but half a second of casting time, how powerful would this spell that she had to prepare for be?

"She's going to kill us all!" Ren yelled. "We can't survive that blast!"

"Jaune, make another shield!" Pyrrha said.

"I can't!" I stared up in horror. "She's using multiple attacks. I can only Seal one away before the rest hit." Even as I said that I was building a dome of Ironwood around us, not that I expected it to do a thing.

Salem knew how the Seals worked of course and had planned her final blow accordingly. The first would be blocked, the second would destroy whatever shield I made and the ten or so more would incinerate all of us. And if they didn't, well, she could keep casting over and over from her position high above.

"This is the end!" Salem said, laughing wildly. "I shall say I'd miss you all but that would be a lie. Die knowing your best was and never would be enough!" She brought her hand up above her head, black energy in the form of ten orbs spinning wildly around it. "Goodbye!"

"No!"

I slammed my will forward, trying to build an Ironwood shield despite how useless I knew it would be. The silver metal had just begun to form into the shape of a dome when I saw it – the brief flicker and tear behind Salem, opening into a jagged and hazy portal.

And the red blur that tore through the air on a collision course with her.

Ruby struck Salem while she was in the process of bringing her hands down to kill them all. Her scythe swung down into the first of the spinning orbs, sealing and removing it – granting her a direct path in toward Salem. Her scythe swung, slicing into a wing and shattering on impact.

"Arghhh!"

Still moving at high speed and with Salem having no ability to steady herself, Ruby crashed into her. Her wings swept back, and she was sent hurtling back from the impact, with Ruby still attached to her. The two of them fell through the portal.

"Close it!" Ruby screamed. "Close it now, Weiss!"

The portal winked out, taking Salem and Ruby with it.

"Where did you send her!?" I yelled at Weiss. "Where did that go!"

The Mage panted and collapsed to all fours, sweat dripping from her body. "Outside," she panted. "Outside the walls. It was… as far as I could… ah… manage."

In the distance, in the torn and ravaged plains where the Grimm had besieged the walls, a huge explosion rocked the city and threw them all from their feet. The black light reached up in a tall pillar, so bright in its darkness that it blocked out the sun. When it dissipated, all that remained was a loud ringing in their ears.

And Ruby and Salem, now outside the walls.

Ruby no longer had a scythe.

/-/

Ruby hit the ground and bounced, rolling away to bleed off the momentum before coming to a stop. Dust and dirt scattered over her from the blast which had struck the ground before she did. The aftershocks continued to force her back, even if the main attack had missed her, trapped in the air as she'd been after her collision.

The ringing in her ears slowly subsided and she planted both hands down to push up onto one knee.

It worked. The attack missed the city.

But now they were outside it, outside the ring of Heroes keeping Salem trapped.

"Portals," Salem spat. "One aspect I never mastered. Never needed to master." The monster landed softly and wiped her arm down. "Hmph. Do they expect this to make a difference? I will simply summon another army."

Ruby tried to stand. A rock under her foot crunched.

"Oh? You're still alive." Salem turned and fixed her crimson eyes on Ruby, freezing her to the spot. "A miracle, especially with your Constitution. Then again, I suppose you and I were together when the spell struck, and I wasn't harmed either." Salem planted her good hand on her hip. "Well, what are you waiting for? Scurry back to your city and await my return. You have the speed to dodge any attack I might throw from this distance. I won't waste the effort."

Salem's hand waved dismissively at Ruby.

She didn't have a weapon. If she did, this might have been her chance. Shaking, Ruby stood up, one arm holding her other flat against her side. The city was all but cleared of Grimm now, but it would take time for those inside to get out, time enough for Salem to fly away.

"Will you come back and attack us again?"

"Of course. I have business with you all now. You who took my hand, your sister whose blood took my divinity, and with your stupid Blacksmith who has eluded me so many times." Salem swept her hand to the side. Black inky shapes began to rise, the Grimm repopulating themselves so quickly.

Only twenty or so – and none that were huge – but the number kept growing and the fact it could happen at all was enough to have Ruby's legs shaking so hard she collapsed to her knees. It was hopeless. Salem could just summon more and more. Even now, in less than thirty seconds, the number had risen to forty Grimm. Within a day she would probably have thousands. In a week, tens of thousands.

How grand an army would she have if she took six months or a year to gather her forces? Tens of millions? Hundreds? Vale was already down more than half its Heroes, most of its Soldier Caste and a huge swathe of the Labour Caste. They couldn't survive another assault like the last, let alone one five times its size. Despair came crashing down on Ruby, dragging bitter tears from her eyes.

We never stood a chance, did we? It was all just a game to her…

"Damn it." Ruby punched the dirt. "Damn it. Damn it. Damn it!"

Something floated past her eyes. Something silver. It wafted down to touch the ground between her hands, already damp from the tears falling from her eyes. The small silvery leaf twitched as a teardrop landed on it. More floated down, swept away on the breeze and rushing toward her. Silver leaves of metal so thin it was as fragile as paper. The leaves from the Ironwood tree in Beacon fluttered down around her.

Except, there was no breeze. The air was still.

"Jaune…?"

It couldn't be, and yet she couldn't accept it as anything else. Ruby stood shakily, first rising to one knee, then pushing down on that to force herself up. Her entire body wavered, almost falling to the side but for her planting one foot out to steady herself. Exhaustion ripped through her, but she managed to stare down Salem and the Grimm, now at least a hundred strong. The leaves fluttered toward Salem, whistling her way before falling to the ground inert. Lifeless.

It was as good a sign as any to her.

Taking a deep breath and letting it go, she stepped forward.

"Oh? Don't tell me you've lost your mind already." Salem almost bent over with laughter as she watched the unarmed Reaper approach. "You've no weapon to your name, girl. But I suppose if madness has gripped you, I can do you the mercy of removing you from this world." Salem raised a hand toward her and commanded the Grimm. "Kill her."

The monsters surged forward, snapping and roaring. Without a weapon, even one of them could tear her in two. And yet Ruby kept moving, slowly picking up speed as leaves fluttered down all around her, coating the floor like an autumn morning of purest silver.

I trust you. And if you trust me to do this… Her eyes hardened. I'll do it. I'll end this.

Her feet kicked down, pushing her to a fast jog - a dead spring for anyone else. Ruby closed in on the Grimm, unarmed and defenceless, trusting that she wouldn't crash into their front lines and find certain death. He'd not let her down so far. It wouldn't happen now. "Help me, Jaune. Help me and I'll finish this once and for all."

The ground beneath her feet rumbled.


Next chapter will be a unique one as it'll be written mostly from Ruby's PoV. I was thinking of making it third person, but I think I'll first person it and show (I hope) some differing writing style for her first-person moments to help show how much her personality is different from Jaune's.


Next Chapter: 18th November

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur