Hey everyone! Here I am with a brand new chapter for you guys to read and hopefully enjoy. Please leave a review if you have the time and if you want, thanks for reading my story peps. That's all, have a great read everyone, until next time, bye.

A Shattered Life

Chapter 39: Lifeless Silver

Ruby clashed violently against the strange woman in white. During the brief time she has been fighting her the red warrior had to increase her speed to just keep up with her opponent's movements, but for now it seems they are evenly matched. Each time their weapons met it caused a shockwave to appear around them. The small girl grit her teeth as she spun her scythe around, slashing at the mysterious woman which unfortunately didn't hit has she managed to avoid the attack completely.

Then Ruby used her Semblance to instantly move close to her from the side, she aimed Crescent Rose's barrel at her figure and a red Aura began to grow into a small orb. "Crescent Shot!" She yelled out. The blast of red shoot out straight towards her opponent and without having enough time to dodge the woman was overcame by the large blast. "Finally a clear hit! That must have at least scratched her." Ruby narrowed her eyes lightly as she waited for the warrior to make her move.

When the wave of dust that was created by the attack dissipated, Ruby's silver eyes widened as she saw a dark reddish beam coming at her with great speed. With quick thinking she jumped to the right but not before the Aura based technique burned part of her red cape. "Too close, that was too close." She whispered to herself as she noticed the burn marks on her cape. "W-What?! There isn't a single wound on her." Ruby was quite baffled to learn this.

"Hmm, that technique was not bad young one, I actually felt something when it strike me but you need to concentrate more power into your attacks." Said the hooded figure while spinning her weapon. "And there's no reason for you to be so surprised, the body I was given by my master was highly improved with many cybernetics but I still can't access my full potential as I am new to this." She closed and reopened her hand. "Being inside a body is weird in a way."

"I don't care what or who you are." Replied Ruby with a serious tone. "Since you are with that freak with the mask that means you are threat to me and those I love, because of that I need to defeat you here and now." The red warrior charged at her while firing multiple rounds that went straight towards the woman's position, but every bullet was simply blocked by using her scythe. Then their weapons met and they began exchanging blows with one another, their attacks were fast and precise but none of them managed to cause significant damage to each other. Ruby swung Crescent Rose at the enemy who just dodged it by disappearing from sight.

"You are fast but your moves are predictable." Said Ruby as she turned around. The hooded woman was coming at her, so Ruby spin her weapon and aimed it at the incoming enemy. The warrior jumped backwards as the bladed top of the scythe passed right in front of her figure. "I got you now!" With a quick spin she delivered a fierce kick into her opponent's chest that almost caused her to lose balance, then Ruby swung her weapon and slashed the woman's left shoulder.

Blood came out from the wound but it seemed she wasn't in much pain. "Interesting." She ran her hand on the injurie and looked at the blood that was on her fingers. "I have never felt anything like this before, this sharp and intense sting spreading across my body. I believe this is what you call pain isn't it?"

"It is and for what's worth I'm sorry for doing this lady but you have left me no choice." Ruby answered.

"I may be a parasite but I still have a name you know, it's Hacelen and I would appreciate it if you addressed me as such!" She activated her Semblance, disappearing from sight as she left a trail of white petals behind. Needless to say that the red warrior did the same and within seconds they clashed violently, their moves couldn't be seen by a normal person because of how fast they were going. Both Ruby and Hacelen appeared for a brief moment as their weapons clashed once again before disappearing one more time.

Hacelen raised her scythe as Ruby launched straight at her, she quickly blocked the attack. The hooded warrior then kicked her enemy in the stomach, causing some spit to fly from her mouth. "Speed isn't everything!" She said while punching Ruby in the face, followed with another kick to her ribs. "You must have a strategy to defeat your opponent and those weak strikes you call attacks must be more powerful! Every blow you deliver to your enemies must be so strong that it could kill them where they stand!" Hacelen then aimed her scythe's barrel at Ruby. "Light Bullet!" She yelled.

A bullet surrounded with light slashed Ruby's shoulder as she tried to dodged it, but then the projectile turned back and the amount of Aura placed in it grew even more and when it slammed against Ruby, a large explosion erupted. The young girl screamed out in pain as blood flew from her wounds, but as she was about to fall to the ground she managed to swung Crescent Rose. "Crescent Wave!"

"What the?!" Hacelen's eyes widened as she saw a large wave of Aura coming at her with the shape of a big scythe. "S-So much Au..." She was enveloped within the attack. The explosion was massive creating a hole in the airship and throwing Ruby to the ground.

"...I want to see you get up from that." She raised herself while some blood was dripping from her forehead. Ruby was in pain but she used a little of her Aura to heal some of her more serious wounds so she could continue to fight without much trouble. "Maybe I should go and meet up Geo, he might need my help."

"Not so fast!" Shouted Hacelen as she kicked a piece of metal out of her way. Her outfit was torn in many places and now her face could seen since her hood was no more. "I don't understand, from what I gathered your level of Aura shouldn't be this high and yet..." She was confused and angry. "It seems my calculations were wrong, I guess taking care of you will be harder than expected."

Ruby was lost for words, it had been years since she had seen that face. "...M-Mom?" Her hands were shaking, she had no idea what was going on. Ruby took several steps backwards while Hacelen continued to make her way towards the red girl. "T-This c-can't be!? Y-You are dead." The confusion inside her was growing by the passing moment. "W-What have they done?"

"In a way you are correct." She replied. "Your mother, Summer Rose is dead but I'm using her body for my own gain." Hacelen's cold lifeless silver eyes stared at Ruby. "Although I can't use her powers, I can at least use mine." A smile spread across her lips. "Also, I seem to have gained a few memories of Summer, like Taiyang and your sister Yang. He was a good man wasn't he? A good father to you and your sibling?"

"No."

"Hmm, strange, she remembers him as a kind man." She replied with her usual tone. "No matter, lets simply finish our battle you can answer my question later." Her Aura began to rise and soon her weapon's blade was surrounded with light. "Flare of Heaven!" Hacelen yelled, a bright flash of light caught Ruby off guard and caused her to close her eyes. "Idiot child! Ember Wave!" She unleashed her blast of Aura but her opponent decided to stand her ground and block the incoming attack. "Impressive, but lets see if you can handle another one!" With that said, she sent a second wave of Aura against Ruby.

Sweat and blood streamed down her forehead as she continued to hold her position with Crescent Rose. "Ahhh! T-That body doesn't belong to you! How dare you steal my mom's body you monster!" Ruby's silver eyes were glowing while she tried to push back the two waves of Aura. "I won't forgive for this, I will never forgive you!" With that shout she threw the waves in another direction. "Her grave...you and that man will pay for destroying my mom's resting place."

Hacelen's body was trembling with fear. "W-What's this?" She asked herself. "W-Why am I shaking like a scared little girl? T-That Silver Eyes is nothing but a bug that needs to be squashed." Hacelen prepared to move against Ruby but for some unknown reason her body refused to move. "T-This is my flesh now so why it isn't doing what I want?!" Her panic was rising.

A silver light enveloped Ruby's figure while her power continued to rise. Red petals were dancing around her almost forming a tornado, then she sent all of them towards Hacelen. "Petals of Crimson!"

Blood flew out of the numerous wounds that appeared upon her body as her eyes widened in shock. She didn't even noticed the injuries that she had received from the multiple strikes of the petals. "S-So fast..." Hacelen said as she fell forward upon the ground. "I-I couldn't even s-see their movements at all." She coughed more blood. "T-This girl has a great amount of power, s-she might even be stronger than H-Hydrox."

"It's over Hacelen, give up."

"A-Alright, it seems that I can't beat you after all." Her hand moved slowly towards her weapon and in an instant she grabbed it, then she swung it with all her remaining strength. "Everyone will kneel before my master!" Hacelen was determined to defeat the red warrior. Unfortunately, her scythe broke into thousand pieced when Ruby blocked the attack with her weapon, leaving Hacelen speechless.

Ruby pointed the barrel of Crescent Rose at her. "I gave you a chance and yet you were too stubborn to take it. I'm not sorry for doing this Hacelen but I am sorry I had to do it, that body isn't yours and you will leave it one way or the other! Crescent Shot!" A beam of Aura came out and it overtook the woman, the beam was so strong that forced Hacelen to go through the wall and slam her back against the wall of the other room. "Forgive me mom." She whispered to herself.

With the battle over Ruby's Aura dropped and the silver light around her disappeared, she let out a sigh and then took a deep breath. She was a bit tired from the fight but she still had more work to do. "With her out of the way I can find Geo and help him even if he doesn't want me to." Ruby activated her Semblance and dashed throughout the large hallway in search of her boyfriend. "I know he can take care of himself but he was really hurt and Hydrox is not the type of person to fight with honor, I should know." She said with her sweet tone. "I swear that pride of his will get him into a lot of trouble if not worse, so I better hurry before my cute Casterwill does something dimwit."