Chapter-25
Ruby
Immediately, Ruby's surroundings darkened as they entered.
"Ms. Belladonna, Tristan, now you will be our eyes." Professor Port spoke as Blake and Tristan nodded. "Alert us if you see anything.
Professor Port then pulled out the hard-light projector, a metallic plate with a glowing blue light at the center. He activated the hard-light projector, cloaking them in a bubble invisible to eyes outside.
"Did it work?" Yang asked.
Professor Port smiled. "Well…"
"I see those 'knockers' Tristan was talking about." Blake spoke in a low voice. "Coming from our right."
"Well, this is a perfect opportunity to test it out." Professor Port spoke. The knockers scurried about, not reacting to them.
"Woah…" Ruby spoke. Immediately her mind went to ways in which she could incorporate that onto crescent rose. It'll make her stealth outfit even better!
"It's working." Tristan spoke. "Knockers can see in the dark, so normally they should have spotted us."
"Excellent. Then let's move." Professor Port spoke as Tristan raised his bow. Ruby's eyes widened as she remembered how Failnaught worked.
"Wait!" She spoke in a whisper. "Wouldn't your bow make a musical sound?"
"…Correct. I should have realized that." Tristan spoke lowering Failnaught. "Then we'll have to slip past them.
Yang stuck her tongue out at a knocker before they ventured deeper into the forest.
"So, how did it go?" Ruby asked her teammates as they trailed behind Tristan and Professor Port.
"Sh!" Before the four girls could speak, they heard Professor Port, who put a finger to his lips.
"We'll talk later." Ruby whispered before they all fell silent.
Going deeper, they now saw shadow servants on patrols. They were a bit easier to manage than the knockers, since they followed a specific path unlike the knockers who went about in a scattered formation.
Soon, Ruby started feeling her fingers twitching. She noticed her shoulders were unnaturally tense. She also saw that Weiss and Yang were in the same condition. Only Blake was bit more relaxed.
Maybe it's the silence… Ruby thought. This was the first time they were going on a stealth mission. The silence really weighed down on them.
Tristan and Port stopped before they gestured to move to the side. Ruby noticed a group of shadow servants walking towards them.
They walked to the side, slowly letting the shadow servants pass before resuming their path.
So far so good. Ruby thought before her boot stepped on a twig.
The crack broke through the silence and the shadow servants whirled around.
Professor Port's eyes widened.
"The rock!" He hissed as the group went behind a big rock. Professor Port picked up a pebble and threw it away from them.
Hearing the sound of the pebble hitting the ground, some shadow servants broke off from the group, however two still remained. Once was hunched over holding two knives in their hands while the other held a sword.
A bead of sweat went down Ruby's forehead as she tried to keep herself calm.
Weiss gulped and looked at Professor Port with fearful eyes.
Professor Port put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head.
Yang raised Ember celica, gesturing to engage.
Everybody shook their heads.
They then heard a thumping sound on the rock and noticed the hunched over shadow servant looking at them.
Ruby put her hand over her mouth, the world melting away from her as she only stared into the faceless head of the shadow servant.
The shadow servant bent down and looked directly at Ruby's silver eyes.
Has he found us? Ruby thought slowly moving her hand to crescent rose's trigger.
They stared at each other for what felt like a long time before the shadow servant looked to the right and noticed rabbit scurrying away.
The shadow servant let out a grunt before bending back and jumping off the rock, landing in front of the group before running back towards his group.
Ruby relaxed, letting out a silent breath of relief.
That was very stressful… She thought.
Professor Port slowly got up and peeked out from their hiding spot.
"Clear." He spoke before the group stood up
Weiss rubbed her forehead before shooting Ruby a glare. Ruby flinched and raised her hands in apology.
After that close encounter, the group fell into another period of silence. Shadow servants and knockers passed by along with grimm, during which the group had to turn off their aura to avoid detection.
Soon, they spotted light coming from fires in the distance.
"Is that…?" Weiss spoke as Professor Port nodded. "Yes. We're here."
Ruby felt like she was in one of those spy movies where the spy is infiltrating a secret camp in the jungle. The camp itself had wooden walls lined with torches. Knockers roamed around the wall with Shadow servants guarding the main gates.
"There's too many to sneak past." Blake spoke.
"We could do a diversion." Weiss suggested.
"But not by sending someone pretending to attack. That could lead to unintended consequences. We'll have to create a diversion but at the same time not alert them." Tristan replied. "Thankfully, I have the perfect solution to that." He spoke before reaching to a bag hanging from his hip and pulling out some bread. "Knockers love food, so even small pieces can attract a huge horde." Tristan spoke before quickly throwing away the bread.
Immediately, they heard the knockers perk up and chatter excitedly before running towards the bread, the shadow servants looked towards the commotion, but paid no heed to it.
The group quietly sipped in through the gates and RWBY almost gasped inside.
So many shadow servants roamed about, with sounds of grimm snarling coming from a pit in the middle of the camp.
"They're preparing for a massive attack." Blake observed as Tristan nodded.
"Then its paramount we beat Caster here. Otherwise, with an army of this size, Cysgod won't be able to hold up."
Professor Port beckoned them to stick to the periphery, although Ruby continued to stare in concern at the sheer amount of enemies passing by them.
"I see Perseus." Tristan whispered and Ruby could make out Perseus standing with Mercury and Emerald.
They headed towards the three and stood in a remote corner away from the shadow servants to listen in on their conversation.
But as they got closer, Ruby's eyes widened. Perseus was looking at a cage in concern, the cage's metal bars were close to each other so Ruby couldn't make out what exactly was inside, but she could see that it was massive. A series of hissing could be heard
What is that? Ruby thought has uncertainty and fear washed over her.
"I still don't think this is necessary." Perseus spoke. "We can finish this in a less messy manner."
Mercury shrugged. "Hey, the lady's saying that it's for the servant. Once we sic it, Cysgod's going to be destroyed"
Tristan immediately scowled.
Perseus sighed. "That woman and her control-freak personality. I know that it can destroy Cysgod once it is released. But she had this thing shipped over even when the Carrier said its not made to obey us. It would become a problem for us later on."
"But you know how to deal with it, right?" Emerald asked.
"Thankfully, yes. I am related to the person who killed one of its kind after all. I pray to the gods that this does not go wrong."
RWBY looked at Professor Port and Tristan, whose faces were set in a serious frown. If this thing was mean
"Do you see Caster?" Professor Port whispered as Tristan shook his head. "I can sense her close by, but there are a lot of enemies around her. Too risky to attempt an ambush."
"Well, let's go visit Assassin." Mercury spoke before they walked off as Ruby blinked.
Wait…huh? She thought as Tristan's eyebrows furrowed. "Assassin? But they behaved like a caster?"
"Whatever it is, we should see what is inside this cage. If what Perseus said is true, we cannot let this monster out." Professor Port spoke as they walked up to the cage.
Ruby then got a better look of it and then jolted. It had a large body with green scales, like a giant snake, but at its neck was where the similarities ended. It's neck branched off into nine different necks, all ending off at heads with a serpentine and draconic look and red eyes. Sharp fangs dotted its mouth.
Weiss almost screamed as the monster hissed and snarled suddenly thrashing.
Yang stared at it with wide eyes. "Wha…?"
"A Lernaean Hydra." Tristan spoke.
"What's that?" Yang asked.
"It's a nine-headed monster that usually lives in swamps. Huh, So that's what Perseus was saying about being related to its killer."
"Huh?"
"Its…complicated." He spoke before they noticed a bunch of shadow servants surround them.
"They've found us." Professor Port spoke. The hard-light projector was still working, but the servants knew something was there.
"What do we do?" Weiss spoke as Ruby looked back at the cage and an idea formed in her head.
Sorry… She thought before shooting the lock that held the door locked with an explosive round, blowing it off.
The sound startled the others and they looked at Ruby.
"Ms. Rose…" Professor Port grumbled before shaking his head. "Just like Thane." He spoke with a sigh.
The Hydra banged its head against the door, blowing it open and emerging out. The shadow servants looked up at the Hydra as the group scrambled away. The Hydra's heads lashed out, biting some of the servants in half.
"RUBY!" Weiss yelled at Ruby in frustration. "What was that?!"
"Well, if this thing can cause a lot of havoc, then why not release it on the bad guys?" Ruby spoke with a nervous smiled before gulping at Weiss' stormy expression.
"Sorry." She squeaked out.
"As reckless as that was, Ms. Rose's reasoning is correct. Only problem is…" Professor Port spoke before the Hydra let out a roar.
"…We'll have to kill it here."
Perseus stood in assassin's tent as she sipped from a glass of wine. "Hm. Quite the commotion." Assassin spoke as Perseus looked out. "What…" A familiar roar sounded as Perseus' eyes widened.
"That damn thing escaped?" He hissed before turning back towards Assassin. "See? This is why I didn't want the Hydra here. Now, we're going to lose a lot before we kill it." He spoke as a lancer came in.
"Sir. The hydra's…"
"I know its escaped!" Perseus snapped. "And how did that happen?"
"Tristan and the huntsmen have infiltrated the camp."
Perseus sighed. "Oh, of course they infiltrated the camp. Take the torches and…"
"Wait." Assassin spoke. "Are they fighting the Hydra?"
The shadow servant nodded.
"Excellent. Let them kill each other. If the Hydra kills them, we'll then deploy our countermeasures. And if they kill the Hydra, well, we still outnumber them."
"As you say." The shadow servant spoke before leaving.
"Relax, Perseus. Those fools walked right into our territory. We have the advantage here." Assassin spoke with a smile.
The hydra's heads immediately darted forward, snapping at Ruby, who yelped and dashed away.
"Split up!" She yelled as the group scattered to bring the nine heads out of their bunched position. Three Hydra heads went for Weiss, Blake and Yang, two went for professor Port, two went for Tristan and two went for her.
Two of the Hydra's heads pursued her as the Hydra slithered forward, its tail swatting away shadow servants while another head bit a shadow servant in half.
Ruby shuddered. If she got bitten, she did not know whether her aura would be able to protect her.
Best I keep my distance and shoot… Ruby thought before pointing Crescent Rose.
Ruby shot at the Hydra heads, her bullet sinking into one of the heads and causing a spray of blood, before the wound closed up.
"Healing?!" Ruby exclaimed before a Hydra head slammed onto Crescent Rose's barrel, its force sending Ruby staggering back.
It heals… Ruby thought. That was bad. She shot at the other one to check again, but this time, the bullet just bounced off.
"What?!" Ruby exclaimed. Why did the Hydra's heads have different results when getting shot? She didn't have much time to ponder as the same invincible hydra head almost got her.
The Hydra heads moved in an alternating pattern, one snapping at Ruby before the other came up to snap at her. Ruby used her semblance to dodge the bites.
"SOMEONE FREEZE THEM!" She yelled before a wave of ice froze the two hydra heads. She noticed, Weiss who was engaging another group of Hydra heads with Professor Port, nod to her. Weiss and Blake froze a few more heads.
Ruby smiled and went for its neck, as did the others.
"Wait, no!" Tristan yelled but Crescent Rose cut through the Hydra head that healed and unfortunately bounced off the invincible one.
"That's one!" Ruby announced as the Hydra now had 6 missing heads. She then looked at Tristan, having heard his warning.
"What?" Ruby asked before noticing the stumps bulge out and quickly grow into two more Hydra heads.
Ruby's eyes widened as the Hydra's shadow loomed over them, now having 15 heads.
"…Oh." Ruby spoke. "RUN!" She yelled as the others moved away.
As they got farther, Ruby grit her teeth.
"Just what does this thing have?!" She exclaimed. "Its heads that can heal from gunshot wounds, one of its heads is invincible, and when decapitated, it grows two more heads?! How do we kill it!" She spoke as the group ran circles around the Hydra, desperately trying not to get hit.
Eventually, one of heads slammed into Yang, sending her tumbling onto Ruby.
Yang groaned in pain as Ruby shook her sister. "Yang, are you alright?!"
"…Damn snake…" She grit her teeth trying to get up. Ruby noticed another open its mouth.
"No!" She heard someone yell before she and Yang where pushed out of the way by Tristan, who was blasted with purple fumes. Tristan stumbled, coughing violently.
"Tristan!" Ruby exclaimed.
"Poison…" Tristan rasped out. "I'll…live…You…wouldn't have…"
Ruby's eyes widened. The Hydra's breath was poisonous. If Tristan hadn't pushed her and Yang out of the way, they would have died.
But Tristan…
He didn't have to do it. Ruby tried to tell herself. But as much as she denied it, she realized there was no way she would have got out of the situation and hung her head in shame.
"Fire…" Tristan spoke again
Fire? What does he mean by fire? Ruby thought before her eyes widened.
Another head shot forward towards the sisters.
Professor Port immediately ran forward, clenched his fist and uppercuted one of the hydra heads before raising blowhard and blowing off the head.
Fire burned on the stump and Ruby winced.
"Professor Port…" She spoke as he shook his head. "It was either two more heads or I lose two of my students. You can assume what I am going to pick…" Ruby's eyes widened when she noticed that the now cauterized stump wasn't growing anymore.
Fire… She thought. "It's fire!" She exclaimed. "It's weakness is fire!" She spoke pointing at the cauterized stump.
"Fire…?" They heard Yang speak before her hair ignited and her eyes turned crimson. "I can do fire." She spoke.
"Great. Clear us a path." Ruby ordered as Tristan nodded, plucking Failnaught's strings as the Hydra found itself strung up. Ruby then shot at the heads before her bullet bounced off the invincible one. The Hydra then broke free of its bonds and roared again.
"Weiss, freeze the tail! Blake, Professor Port! Hold down the one I last shot!" Ruby exclaimed as Weiss swung Myrtenaster to create another wave of ice, freezing the Hydra. Blake threw Gambol Shroud to wrap around the invincible head's neck before Professor Port took hold and held down the head.
"It's all you two!" Blake spoke as Weiss enhanced Ruby's and Yang's speed with a time dilation glyph. Ruby looked at Yang.
"Ready, Yang?"
Yang smirked. "Ready, Rubes." She spoke before the two sisters charged at the Hydra. Ruby and Yang both fired their weapons to propel themselves into the air, Ruby cutting through two heads as she flew up While Yang swung her flaming fists to cauterize the stumps. 5 heads shot up to bite the two sisters but Ruby fired up her semblance and carried herself and Yang away from the heads, before falling down towards another head, slicing it off and have it cauterized.
Ruby and Yang jumped and dodged through the mess of the remaining 10 heads, Weiss' time dilation glyph really helping them to survive and destroy the heads.
Ruby and Yang both smiled at each other as they continued zipping around, cutting and cauterizing heads before only three remained.
Ruby and Yang stood on a stump before Ruby had an idea.
"Yang…" Ruby spoke before making a spinning motion with her finger as Yang's eyes widened before she broke into a grin.
"Oh, heck yeah. I want to see you try that. Ready when you are, Rubes."
Let's try that move uncle Qrow does. She thought before pointing Crescent Rose's barrel back.
"Here we go!" Ruby exclaimed before firing, launching herself towards the three heads and spinning crescent rose, allowing herself to be carried by the momentum of Crescent Rose's spin and firing its barrel to keep it going. Ruby spun wildly as she cut through the necks of all three heads in one swoop and landed tumbling. Yang cauterize the stumps and the two sisters landed with 14 stumps and one head remaining.
Ruby's world was spinning from that move.
"How…was it?" She asked as Yang grinned, "Its great, although Uncle Qrow's version still has more style to it."
In her dizzied state, Ruby pouted before giggling and shakily fist-bumping her sister.
"Leaving your recklessness aside, what about the last one." Weiss spoke as the last Hydra head snapped and thrashed about.
Ruby shook her head and frowned.
Right how do we get rid of that?
"No need." An unfamiliar voice spoke before Perseus appeared out of nowhere, cutting off the invincible head at the base. Black and purple chains wrapped around the last head.
The group noticed a pale woman with shining yellow eyes with slit pupils just like Perseus', wearing a black dress with gold embroidery and a fur cloak draped around her shoulders. Her ears were long and pointy, her hands had large gold piercings and her lips were twisted in a smile.
"Welcome to our camp." Assassin spoke looking at a coughing Tristan in glee. "Good thing Tristan is weak to poison, otherwise this little mess would have taken a lot longer than expected."
A/N: So, my last exam was supposed to take place today. But then it rained really hard and the governments ordered all schools and colleges in our areas to be closed. The exam's now on Monday, but still, its a small one and I don't want to continue this Hiatus any longer. Hence, I'm back! The Hiatus for this story is over!
During the hiatus, I got into Genshin Impact and right now I'm in the Liyue portion. So, expect some genshin fics in the future because I've fallen in love with its world and characters. My FGO luck has also improved, since I managed to get an SSR and an SR in one pull in the Gilgamesh rate up after so much time of getting hit with 3-star after 3-star.
Moving on, regarding Fall of Heaven, I've got good news and bad news. Bad news first:
So, during the hiatus, I planned out a lot of Fall of Heaven and I was excited to get started on it. But, I then realized that Fall of Heaven's going to be a really big story, so big it dwarfs Soulless Plains, which I estimate will take around 150 chapters to finish. The time and energy to write Fall of Heaven required me to devote more free time, which I sadly cannot do with Soulless Plains and school work going on. Hence, for ensuring I don't put myself in too much stress, I'll not be starting Fall of Heaven now. Sorry, but it will be some time before it happens.
But the good news is that there's still going to be a PJO/RWBY crossover. Now that I'm beginning to branch out and go for more stories, I have a basic idea of my approach. There will be a 'primary story', by which I mean a super long story with lots of characters and a crazy plot and a 'secondary story', which will either be a short story or a long story with less characters and less of a crazy plot. This PJO/RWBY crossover will be the first of those secondary stories and will be replacing Fall of Heaven. I'll talk about it a bit more in the AN of its prologue, which I plan to post after Soulless Plains' volume - 2 is done.
Lastly, I've been pretty spooked about this website. From 13th to 15th September, I couldn't access new stories updating on the pages. Since I don't follow any story except for that one PJO/FZ fanfic that looks like its been abandoned, I don't know when some of the stories I like are updated. Even after the issue got fixed, I'm unable to see the views. I know people can still see the story because I am getting alerts of new followers, but I'm a bit worried. Then I was browsing genshin fics when someone posted an author's note that they won't be continuing on because rumors that its dying. If something worse happens, I might have to actually leave this site and migrate to AO3.
Hope that doesn't happen and eventually this gets fixed. Hope you guys enjoyed and constructive criticism is appreciated!
Response to Reviews:
Gojosin: What's happening to Ruby will remain a mystery for some time. As for Tulip, I'll just say it before others get the idea. No. Tulip's not going to be Penny. That just feels pointless in my opinion.