Hello everyone! How are you doing? I hope you are all doing fine!

Chapter 122 is here and as always I hope you enjoy it.

Thank you for the umpteenth time for following/ favoring/ reading the story. You are all awesome and I hope I can hold up to your awesomeness!

See you all next week in chapter 123. Until then, be well and have fun!

Honestly speaking, I have no excuse for my actions. Blake sat there, cheek burning from Weiss' slap as the world around her dissolved into darkness. The fact she didn't react to the waves of shadow didn't worry her at all.

I have no idea when it started. I grew up in a caring, kind family and was provided everything a child would want to. Even discrimination was a far, distant story I first heard from dad's adventures, Adam and Sienna.

Blessed with extreme talent, a powerful semblance and the will to use both for good, I never had any problems in my life except for the ones I went after myself. I was never unlucky, or as others would put, wronged.

Even after I decided to turn a new leaf and attend Beacon, even while I was fighting in the war, I was always surrounded by wonderful friends and a loving boyfriend. I saw injustice, and it angered me, but it I rarely was its target. If anyone would look at me, they would say I have been blessed.

She dropped her head. When and why did I start feeling so miserable? For what reason do I feel so powerless and insignificant? This feeling, like I am being consumed by darkness that only I can see; how can I get over it?

She let out a bitter laugh. What a joke. As if I can even ask that; I have one after another, failed everyone. She touched her cheek. How mad must I have made Weiss to force her hit me? Weiss, who hates physical violence?

I- she clutched her chest. I truly have no idea what to do anymore. "Why don't you give up then?" the haughty, emotionless voice answered, as the weird clone formed in front of her, partially engulfed in shadows.

"What do you want? I don't have time for you right now." The form, as haughty and eerie as ever, appeared beside her. "I am here to lend you a hand- as I did down there" it replied, licking its lips in anticipation.

"I- I am not giving you control of my body again" the cat girl trembled. A weird sensation, like someone was pouring cold water on her, spread on her skin. "Even if it means they die?" it opened its palms, mocking her.

Blake's heart throbbed. She stared around, but saw only darkness. Black and blue reflections of her own form faded into nothingness, dozens of pulsing purple eyes staring at her, accusing her of her cowardice.

"They don't need you; and they definitely don't need me" she blurted. "Weiss is smart and capable enough to lead them. They don't need help from a monster like you" the images flickered and the figure exhaled.

"Between me and you who is the monster?" it suddenly vanished and grabbed her from behind. Blake felt goosebumps all over her body. Its haunting, sickly sweet breath tingled her sensitive ears as it spoke.

"From the very beginning, you wanted to bail out" it whispered. She let her own breath leave her lips, trying to ease her pulsing chest. "Isn't that true? Am I not right?" it kept asking "weren't you waiting for this?"

"NO!" she tried to escape, but its grip was too strong. "I am doing this for them! I am doing this because I am only a weakling that gets in their way! Do you think I don't want to fight by their side?" she protested.

"Oh Blake…" it giggled. Its tingling lips caressed her fur, chilling her soul down to her core "I don't think you are trying to avoid this; I know you do" it emphasized its answer, tightening its grip on her body.

"You- you are wrong!" she protested even more. Her yellow feral eyes opened wide; as she saw the bluish images emerge from the dark. They all slowly donned her form, each holding a copy of the same item- a strange knife with a mirror-like sharp blade shining with a purple hue.

"You still don't understand that I can read your mind, do you?" Laughter filled her ears. She felt her heart beating faster than a dog's. A dreadful feeling filled her mind; this thing- why did it hate her so much?

The clones moved slowly yet steadily towards her. Their eyes, clouded and cold, reflected the shine from their weapons. "You aren't thinking of your friends right now- you are just afraid of standing next to them."

"That's not true! I want to help them! I want to!" One of the blurry images stopped in front of her. The shining blade highlighted its features and cast alienating shadows on its face as it raised it to strike.

Blake had never realized that seeing her face look at her could be so utterly terrifying. "You are acting mature and cool, but deep inside" it slowly traced her trembling chest "you are still the same pathetic and cowardly creature that only knows to fly away when things get tough."

"No…" the creature smiled. Its form now felt more gaseous than before. To her, it resembled a specter rather than a clone right now; a wraith that haunted her soul, eager to end the worthless existence she was.

"No…" the images swarmed her. A sea of faces akin to her own filled her vision. The closest one flipped the dagger- and plunged it into her chest.

"YES!" she screamed with all her might. Her eyes filled in tears and her lips barely managed to form coherent words, as all the adrenaline, the pain and sorrow she had been holding back, finally burst through.

"YES! I ADMIT IT! I AM A COWARD! I AM AFRAID TO STAND BY THEIR SIDE! I AM AFRAID OF NOT BEING WORTHY TO STAND BY THEM!" The cold-faced image stopped its strike just barely before it landed on her heart.

But Blake was so overcome with grief and regret, that she didn't even realize that. She only kept screaming out all the regressed thoughts she had been holding back for one whole year since the end of the war.

"They are all magnificent! AND I AM NOT LIKE THEM! I am not as strong as Ruby! I am not as determined as Weiss! I am not as brave as Yang! I am not as kind as Sun! I am a weak girl who lets the ones she loves down when they need her most! I almost killed my fiancé with my bare hands!"

The images slowly stood up, giving her some space. "And this is exactly what I did! I am afraid to lose them! I am afraid to show them that I am not able to keep up with them anymore!" her tears dripped down.

They passed through the creature's ethereal hands and splattered down on the ground. "I- I don't want to be left behind…" she whimpered. "I love them so much… and now I… I led them to their deaths… how… how am I ever going to forgive MYSELF?" She broke down, crying out loudly.

"Then why not let me fight in your place?" the voice had turned slightly more formal. It still held Blake in its tight grip, but its might had been significantly lessened. "Because I- I can't trust you with their lives."

She sniffed and raised her red, puffed eyes- and saw only the same darkness spreading around her. The creature's form had truly turned ethereal, a ghastly outline engulfing the cat faunus' trembling body.

"You are lying again; you can't just bear seeing that I can help them in a much better way than you would" the mist whispered at her. She took a deep breath, tightened her fists- and suddenly realized something.

Her hands were not empty as she thought; she was holding the handle of a weapon. More specifically, the purple curved dagger she had found in the tomb below Grand Mother's prison in Cornfield.

Instinctively, she raised the blade and saw her own eyes reflected on its shining surface. The shadow held still, as if expecting her to act, when a pulse of energy passed across the blade, dying the reflection of her eyes a deep purple.

"How many Grimm can I kill with this blade" These were the first words she had said, according to Yang, when she had touched the blade. It had been only a few days ago, but it felt as if it had happened in another-

"What are you?" she suddenly said, her voice clear despite the tremble in her chest. "Are you a ghost? Or are you a Grimm? Because" she let a finger run across the sharp weapon's tip "for the first time, I do believe that you are not a creation of my failing mind" she firmly exclaimed.

"I was created eons ago" it replied. "My creator forged me in a sacred oasis from the unholy obsidian of the Forbidden Desert and the blood of countless humans. I bring forth their sorrow, their fear and their wishes."

"You- you are the weapon" she blinked, trying her best to comprehend what she had just implied. "I am a specter bound inside a magic blade. I am the mirror that reflects the wielder's soul strength- and its weaknesses."

"Strength… and weakness… of one's soul" Blake mumbled. "You don't hate me" she realized all of a sudden. "You simply reflected what I was thinking about myself!" she gasped in shock.

"I believe you are a weak, selfish being who can't do anything on their own" it stated. "The very same thing I believe for myself" Blake nodded.

She stared at the blade, eyes open wide in shock. She had almost killed herself! She had almost literally hated herself to death! "Just how damn pathetic can you be?" she heard the clone say. She agreed with it.

She held the place where Weiss had slapped her. It felt warmer than before. She could almost feel her friend's sorrow in it. Anger rose from the depths of her soul, as she clutched it hard enough to feel pain.

What the fuck am I doing, for the love of all faunus?

She raised her eyes and fixed them at the specter. "You can't do this on your own" it read her thoughts. "I know. And this is why I need your help" she said. "Please help me save the ones that I love" she pleaded at it.

"Are you willing to sign a contract with me?" it asked. Its voice was now a flat, emotionless sound. "Yes" she tried to hold back all the worries and the reservations she had about this "what is your name, specter?"

"I have no name to call my own" it stated. "But my creator named me Eidolon; the blade of a dozen fears, reflecting a hundred hopes to slay a thousand Grimm. Should you desire to, you can call me that" it replied.

"Eidolon" she said. "I am an amateurish, foolish and cowardly girl. I am always hiding my emotions and trying to erect walls even around those who love me" she admitted. "But if you promise to help me…"

She tilted her head in respect "if you stand by my side and cover up for my weaknesses, I swear on my name as Blake Belladonna, I will give it my all to become a bearer worthy of your legacy and power. I will give all my strength to face the fears, embrace the hopes and bear the sorrows."

The purple hue vanished. A pair of feline purple eyes that resembled the cat girl's in any manner except for their color, formed on it. The fog was swapped for a battle leather outfit with armor and padded leggings and the dagger it held became a wavy sword shining with purple energy.

Darkness washed away and the Eidolon grabbed Blake's hand, dissolving into the girl's shadows as the sounds of combat reached the faunus' ears. "I consider out contract signed. From now on, we are one and the same."

She still felt the pangs of worthlessness and guilt scratching her mind. She stood up and took Nightfall out. Even if I am worthless, I can't allow them to suffer because of it. Let's go, Eidolon. "Yes; let's go, my Master."

-o-

A powerful graviton blast shook the bridge. Yang punched it with her left arm, glad to see that mysterious green pulse devour the girl's semblance.

Weiss conjured two black glyphs to hold her and Velvet in place. Much to her dismay, the fox girl fixed her eyes on the runic arrays. Like before they instantly vanished, forcing her to somersault backwards to avoid being hit.

A gasp of pain from her left, however, made her realize that Velvet wasn't as lucky as her. Without Weiss' support, the bunny girl had been thrown back and slammed on the rails. She clicked her tongue in anger.

"This is ridiculous!" having seen her gravity glyphs being dispelled as soon as she tried to use them, Weiss carefully skated next to the bunny faunus and helped her up. They both had no wounds, but their aura was shaken.

"Is it me or is she getting stronger by the minute?" the brunette asked out loudly. "She is" the pale girl replied "and she seems to have the ability to negate my glyphs on top of that; as if she wasn't strong enough already."

"A very keen observation Ms. Schnee." Standing in the middle of the road surrounded by them, Cherry whirled Mandragora. The magic power that engulfed her body had risen so much Yang swore she could smell it.

"I would say that Yang's newfound ability and mine have a few things in common; especially their origin" hearing that, the blonde's hair stood on edge. "What do you mean by that?" she asked in anxiety.

"I will tell you if you defeat me" Cherry stopped spinning her naginata and her eyes glowed again, this time with a bright red hue. The magical power she emanated became thicker and a vile, corrupt feeling surged from her.

"Bow before Mother" just like before, a sickening and nauseating feeling assaulted the huntresses. Velvet gasped and panted, her eyes bleeding as she tried to keep observing their enemy-

In Cherry's place, however, she could only see a hulking, cyclopean Grimm with long horns and an abyssal belly supported by a pure white ribcage. In the maelstrom swirling beneath, wicked eyes glared hungrily at her.

"Ah...aaaHHHHH!" she stumbled and averted her gaze. Her head, heavy and spinning, felt like it could fall off her shoulders any minute. Unfazed from the malicious attack, Yang jumped between the two faunus.

"This is the same thing Grand Mother did back in Cornfield" she stared at the fox maiden, eyes trailing at Weiss behind her. The white girl seemed in a better shape than the brunette, but Yang could see her struggle as well.

"Bone plating is not the only gift Mother bestows upon her chosen ones" the feral-looking woman replied "but I think you have experienced such a gift for yourself, haven't you?" she gave the blonde a predatory grin.

Far above them in the sky, the Moroas let a choir of cacophonous shrieks. "It would seem they don't like seeing two invokers of an enemy Elder in the middle of their God's territory" the faunus commented in regret.

Lilac orbs trembled in anger and- she didn't even know what that feeling was at this point. She was afraid from the very beginning that the wicked eye in her palm was Grimm business, but didn't expect an Elder one.

Her eyes darted between Velvet conjuring a rifle, Weiss, whose lithe body had taken offensive stance, and- "How do I remove this?" she narrowed her brows. "Why would you want to do that?" the confused reply came.

"I have to say, your luck of common sense is worrisome" suddenly, a chain wrapped around Mandragora. Yang grinned, Weiss smiled and Velvet let out a sigh of relief as Blake's red falcon blade tugged around the silver tip.

Shit! They tricked me again! A rapid cast from Weiss' part accelerated the other two girls. Cherry activated her magic again, but this time Velvet was ready and jumped behind Yang who punched the graviton pulse away.

Damn! No other way out, Cherry used her semblance on herself and took a long jump behind, leaving her prized weapon behind. Blake retracted Nightfall and Mandragora clanked down as the cat girl walked towards it.

Once more, BLWS stood opposing the faunus cultist. Her feral green eyes, slightly marred by the magic lines running across her face and the dried blood dripping from her head, glared at them in a mix of anger and awe.

Blake returned the glare with a determined one. "Welcome back, captain" Weiss carefully stood beside her. "We missed you" Yang winked at her and jabbed her arm Velvet just kept her focus on their enemy, slightly smiling.

"Yes" yellow orbs exchanged a quick stare with a pair of purple disks that observed the team from Blake's shadow "Let's go defeat her. We have to get her to explain what is happening here after all" she explained at them.

The cat girl stared across the battlefield to the fox maiden. Cherry's arms were raised, channeling energy in anticipation of their next attack. She is still rearing to go; I could take a few lessons about spirit from her.

Blake pondered for a couple seconds. Spirit alone will not be enough, on the other hand. We have to take advantage of our numbers and her lack of weaponry. She smiled when she felt Eidolon's approval of her thoughts.

"We are doing a variation of hammer formation" she announced. "Weiss; I want you to be the middle. Focus only on supporting us and countering her semblance. If she dispels your runes, be alert to recast them at once."

"Got it." "Velvet; you take the rear. Use a firearm of your choice and keep taking advantage of all the openings we create" the bunny girl nodded and created a long-range rifle with a thin barrel while moving backwards.

The transformed cultist narrowed her eyes. She didn't like giving them the time they needed to prepare, but she could barely afford to blindly charge at them right now. Blake looked at her partner. "You and I are-"

"Going to be the hammer's heads; got it" Yang cracked her metal fingers. Somehow, even with the wicked eye still staring at her from the top of her palm, she felt lighter now. She pumped her fists- and charged forward.

The execution was as perfect as Blake expected it to be. Weiss assumed her position behind them almost naturally, while Velvet's observation skills let her quickly find a good vantage point as the yellow and black pair ran at the monster woman in front of them. Why did I ever doubt them?

Cherry punched forward, creating a graviton blast at them to distract the blonde. Yang ignored it and let the large black glyphs that formed beneath her do the work. Too far to use her dispelling gaze at them, Cherry sighed.

A couple shots from Velvet's rifle covered the bumblebee duo as they ran. Their enemy was only a minute away- until she decided to come at them instead of waiting. "Dodge her!" the cat faunus screamed at her partner.

Cherry landed between them. The moment she entered their range, both girls felt the overwhelming aura assaulting their senses and dulling their instincts. They recognized it as Grand Mother's presence at once.

But, incredible as it was, Cherry's assault lacked the Elder's power. Yang spun and punched the girl in the face, while Blake lowered her agile body in order to perform a horizontal slice in their enemy's thighs.

All happened very fast. Reacting to their attacks, the shrine maiden tried to push them away with her semblance. Weiss anticipated that and flicked her right wrist to hold them in place with a couple small black glyphs.

Mere fragments of a second later, the pink-colored woman's eyes shone in a hollow light that ate the petite girl's arrays away. And less than half a second after that Weiss shot forward with her left hand, reforming them.

Fuck! Cherry barely managed to grab her talisman and channel a magical barrier around her vitals. The punch she got in her face and the slice that took off a large chunk of the barrier away hurt like hell, but she was unh-

A large-caliber gravity propelled shot from Velvet slammed the cultist in her chest. Bone splinters from her Grimm armor scattered around, as her half-transformed body flew away, skidding on the asphalt-covered road.

At once, she used her ability to halt her fall and jump back to her feet. It was just in time for her to get up, as Yang and Blake flanked her again in perfect harmony. They are pushing me back, damn it!

"Damn, you are tough!" Yang elbowed her face and she used her horns to block the strike. Blake thrust at her abdomen- Cherry adjusted the ribs to absorb the attack and amassed energy to counter-strike the cat faunus.

She saw it a moment too late, even if she did manage to see it. Yang saw it as well, lilac orbs opening wide in astonishment at the scene that played in front of her very eyes. And it wasn't Blake's smile that shocked her.

One second, Nightfall skidded on the hard bone plating, failing to even try and cut through the magic armor. But the next moment, a thin dark blade formed from the katana's shade, held by a similarly thin black shadow hand.

This second thrust passed by the rib plating like it didn't even exist there, cutting off a humongous chunk of Cherry's channeled aura. No hesitation at all, Blake sliced diagonally and Cherry's cry of pain filled their ears.

The fox woman fell on her left knee, but there was no time for that. Once more she tried to push them away and once more Weiss stopped her with three sets of runes that the woman couldn't dispel quickly enough. Velvet took aim and shot her, taking off the rest of her aura with a large bullet.

Blake held her breath. Nightfall's tip was dripping with blood that mixed in with her sweat. From how hard Weiss was panting and how heavily Yang's chest moved up and down, she figured they were exhausted too.

The only one who didn't breathe heavily was Velvet, but the bunny girl had always been good at controlling her breathing. Blake blinked a couple times and pointed the tip of her blade towards their enemy.

"It's our win, Cherry" she announced "time for you to pay for all of your actions." Yang nodded in approval- and then felt her left palm itch like it had suddenly caught fire, the alien eye rapidly staring around in frenzy.

Like it had happened so many times, that weird new instinct of hers made her aware of the Moroas' screams from above much quicker than anyone else. It also let her see the sudden spike in the fox faunus' magical energy and the impossibly sinister aura that engulfed the cherry-haired woman.

"Death is merely life's shadow" a massive eldritch gleam of the blackest, foulest miasma oozed out of Cherry's holy marks and engulfed her body. A cacophonous, mad choir erupted from the Moroas above as she stood up.

She still has fight left inside her? Yellow feline eyes opened wide in shock and awe at the tenacious woman who was standing before her, duty and determination fueling her power to admirable yet dangerous ends.

"Embrace Mother's touch" the shadow-clad cultist ran towards Blake. Weiss skated towards Velvet and formed an ice glyph in front of the girl's barrel. Velvet shot and a high-powered frost projectile launched at Cherry.

It slammed on the rampaging woman and melt at the very same moment. Undeterred, she ran at Blake and shot forward with her left hand, clad in a black miasma that filled the cat woman's mind with terrifying thoughts.

Blake activated her semblance. A single clone dressed in a set of leather armor quite different than her normal clothes, formed out of her shadow and took the hit. Unlike normally, though, it parried the woman's attack with its long thin purple blade, standing firm between the two faunus.

"Enough" and then, Yang punched Cherry in the face with her left arm. A pulsing green light engulfed the blonde's fist and, like before, took the black miasma away, the two eldritch energies cancelling each other out.

Completely out of resources and exhausted far past her breaking point, the fox maiden collapsed. Yang quickly jumped at her side and grabbed her body, tenderly and carefully letting her on the ground.

"Now, it truly is our win" she turned around just in time to see a tired and beat up Velvet smile before her. A couple meters away, Weiss squeezed Blake in her arms, both apologizing so intently to each other that the tall blonde couldn't hold back a chuckle at their antics.

"I really have amazing friends" she murmured and then stared at the pink-haired woman lying in front of her. She knelt and put a towel beneath her head "you included, you crazy psycho."