Chapter 50 – Battle of the Maidens
Lavinia
The sky flashed with lightning. Both red and blue streaks of energy forked through the swirling clouds. The wind increased in strength, blowing the black sand around them, and making their long hair blow as well. Lavinia opened her hand and formed a Greatsword forged from ice, and coursing with blue lightning. Salem smirked as she stared her down, eyes burning red and spinning her double ended sword through her fingers. Red lightning crackled across her body.
Salem suddenly erupted off the ground, creating a powerful explosion, and catching lightning in her hand, forming a huge spear of condensed energy. She howled with fury as she came crashing down, smashing the spear into the ground where Lavinia was standing, creating a devastating explosion. The red lightning shot across the terrain, burning all over Lavinia's body. She tumbled down the snow and swiftly spun around, slashing her sword at Salem, launching an arc of icy energy towards her.
Salem slammed into the ground and sprouted a pair of Nevermore Wings, which she expertly used to block the incoming energy. The feathers froze solid, but she shook her frigid wings off with the slight roll of her shoulders. A tremendous gust of snowy wind swirled around her, then she launched herself into the air and launched her sword towards Salem, but before it could reach her, she also slung a fireball into the sword, shattering it and sending the shards flying towards Salem.
The Dark Queen raised her hands and blasted fire from her palms, melting and evaporating the ice before it could even reach her. As Lavinia hovered above her, she clenched her hands into fists and brought down an entire tornado towards her. The swirling giant of destructive wind crashed into the ground, pulverising the rocks and throwing the shrapnel into Salem.
She grunted as a chunk of rock smashed against the side of her face, breaking a large amount of flesh away, only for it to be quickly regenerated. Salem formed her wings once again and flew into the air, riding the cyclone of wind towards Lavinia. She punched her in the face so hard that a shock wave exploded upon impact, and they both hovered over the battlefield.
Lavinia ducked as Salem extended a tail with a razor sharp bony tail and spun around, slashing towards her throat. Salem did the same attack again but extended the tail further, but this time Lavinia caught into the tail and yelled, yanking the Witch towards her and formed a huge hammer of ice, pummelling Salem down the top of her head with immense force. The impact collapsed her skull into itself and sent her crashing down.
Lavinia held out her hands, eyes glowing bright blue and flames burning bright. The sky lit up with lightning and she stared down at Salem, summoning hundreds of lightning bolts into her hands. She melted the light and twisted it into the shape of a gigantic bow, drawing it and firing a huge electrical arrow laced with ice towards Salem.
The arrow hit her directly, freezing her solid and blowing off one of her arms. The impact of the arrow was like a missile forged from electricity, and she stared down at Salem. To her shock, fire ignited from within and exploded, shattering the ice. Salem snarled, her arm quickly reconstructing itself, and she stared up at Lavinia.
"Your power… truly it is impressive… but even you cannot hope to best me, Winter Maiden." Salem snarled, slamming the blade of her sword into the ground, eyes glowing brighter. She swiftly tore the blade across the sand and stared up at her. Lavinia gritted her teeth and blasted a powerful beam of ice towards her, but Salem spun her sword so fast it was like a propellor blade, blocking the beam from even reaching her, and once Lavinia stopped, she twisted and flung the sword towards her.
Lavinia gasped and tried to duck, but it hit her immediately, knocking her out of the sky and back onto the ground. Salem suddenly roared like a feral animal and she sprinted across the dunes on all fours, and jumped, slamming her blade at Lavinia, only narrowly missing. The Winter Maiden slid across the sand and dragged her fingers across the grains, blasting ice shards upwards from beneath. One of them sliced across Salem's cheek, but it accomplished little in slowing her down.
Salem jumped into the air, catching another red lightning bolt and smashing it into the ground. The explosion tossed Lavinia across the floor, but as she rolled across the sand, she formed a pair of ice swords. She threw one towards Salem and it stabbed straight through her chest, and she immediately launched towards Salem's throat, driving the other sword directly into the side of her neck.
Black blood oozed from the wound, and Salem pushed her sword against the hilt of Lavinia's before smashing it apart, leaving the ice blade lodged in her jugular. She jumped and spiralled through the air, smashing her sword relentlessly at her, even slicing downwards across her chest, and then dragging her other hand, adorned with claws, through sand and melting the grains into glass, flinging them into Lavinia.
She grunted in pain before Salem sprouted her wings once again and launched Fatal Feathers into her chest. The impact caused Lavinia's aura to flicker blue, and she crashed through one of the dunes of black sand. Salem jumped high in the air, flying high above Lavinia, before she ignited the blade of her sword, and dove at her, smashing the sword into the floor so hard that the explosion left behind massive spikes of black glass all around her.
The arm which gripped the double-ended sword extended like it was the arm of the Nuckelavee, and she howled with fury, swinging it all around them, setting a blazing ring around them. The orange glow of the flames shone across Lavinia's face, and she stared with anger back at Salem, who rested her sword on her shoulder, whilst flames still burned in her other hand.
Lavinia stood tall and wiped the sweat from her brow. She opened her palm and felt the roots of nature grapple around her hand. She suddenly swung a huge whip of vines over her head and ignited it as it passed over her. Forked lightning came crashing down around the two of them, and then she zoomed forward, slashing her whip of burning vines across Salem's chest, before wrapping it around her throat and jumping over her head. She pulled as hard as she could, hoping to burn through her neck and behead her.
But Salem swiftly sliced through the vines, and she blasted flames at the Matriarch of the Vasillias Cartel. Lavinia immediately responded without hesitation, blasting the opposite element back at her. Fire and ice collided, interlocking them in a standoff. As they held each other back, Lavinia's eyes burned hotter and hotter, when suddenly more roots erupted behind Salem. One of them yanked the sword from her grasp and the other wrapped around the wrist which she was blasting flames from.
It pulled her away and allowed Lavinia to focus the ice into Salem's chest. The Dark Queen snarled in anger as the shards of frost tore her chest apart. Lavinia held out her hand, and golden lightning shot into her palm, forming into a spear, and she launched it into Salem's chest.
The impact created a fantastic explosion of forked electricity, blowing Salem's ribcage wide open and snapping her backwards. Salem laughed sinisterly, as Sulphur Fish poured out from her mouth and open wound. They all scuttled towards her, and Lavinia backed away, snapping her fingers like flint and steel, and blasted a powerful cloud of flames towards them. The beasts were burned to dust, but through the smoke, she nearly felt sick.
Salem had transformed herself into something utterly nightmarish, as limbs sprouted from her body in different places, her head dangling from her shoulder as a Nuckelavee skull emerged. The beast roared with fury, and sprinted on the five limbs that Salem had created, blasting fire from its jaws.
The sheer shock of this horror caused Lavinia to be hit directly by it. She rolled across the floor, and Salem dragged her hand across the floor, and the Nuckelavee head vomited poison across the sand towards her. Lavinia backed up, and she formed a massive axe of ice in her other hand. Salem sprinted towards her, and Lavinia swiftly drove the axe into the beastly neck, cutting the head clean off.
But as the mass of Grimm flesh tumbled past her, Salem burst free from it, coated in the black tar and she stretched her arm out and grabbed her sword, and swung it over her head, electrifying it with red lightning as she smashed it into the ground where Lavinia was standing with all her might. The dunes exploded from the devastating impact, and Lavinia tumbled across the sand, weakened from Salem's unpredictable onslaught.
Salem laughed sinisterly.
"You are trapped in your meagre human body… but I? I am capable of becoming whatever I desire…" Salem chuckled as she let the Grimm Tar flow back into her skin.
"Heh… and yet… you still keep your old body. Kinda ironic… you hate our kind so much, yet you continue to mould yourselves into our shape. Into the shape you once were." Lavinia stated.
Salem narrowed her eyes, red lightning still coursing through her body. "You should have stayed in hiding, Vasillias." Salem warned.
Lavinia chuckled, shaking her head.
She looked at her aura and already knew she was nearing the red. But she looked at her forces that Salem decimated and saw the few survivors retreating, surviving thanks to her intervention.
"No… I'm done hiding." Lavinia stated, standing tall, eyes burning bright blue.
The storm raged on around them, as did the battle.
Ruby
The torrential cyclone of Grave Dust swirled around him, and he levitated off the floor before he came crashing down, slamming three hammers into the sand, so hard that the shock wave collapsed the Sand Dunes. Ruby grunted, tossed through the air, but swiftly transforming into Rose Petal form to control her descent. She slid across the sand and immediately transformed Black Thorn into Pistol Mode, firing flaming bullets at the Disgraced Doctor.
Watts suddenly formed a massive Draconic Hand, with burning Fire Dust in the palm, and he swiped at Ruby, only narrowly missing as she dashed aside, her petals flowing around the hand. She immediately went for Watts, slashing across his chest and knocking him off his pedestal of ash. Watts crashed into the sand, but swiftly fired his Revolver at her, hitting Ruby in the chest with an explosive bullet, damaging her aura again, pushing her closer and closer into the red. She rolled across the floor when Penny flew overhead and fired multiple green bolts at him.
He held his arm up, blocking the incoming bolts of green energy with his hardlight dust. Penny dragged her other swords across the ground as she lunged at him, slashing up his chest, making his green aura shimmer with the hard strike. His body floated into the air, and she caught him by the heel, and threw him into the rocks. Watts barked in pain before he pointed at her, and sharpened multiple clouds of Grave Dust into spears, and he threw them all towards her.
Penny spiralled through the air, cutting two of them down, but still being hit in the chest by the third. She yelped in pain as she tumbled through the sand. Black grains fell from her fluffy orange hair, and she held her chest, staring ahead at him as he flew into the air with his Grave Dust. He clasped the dust in his hands, forging three knives and throwing them at Ruby, before launching high in the air and constructing another hammer, slamming it towards her.
Ruby dashed forward and swiftly hooked her scythe under his jaw and flung him over her shoulder. He crashed into the ground, and immediately formed a hand cannon on his arm, firing an explosive shell at her. But she rolled out of the way, firing the other Scythe in Volcanic Pistol form at him. He raised his Hardlight Shield bracer on his other arm, deflecting the incoming bullets.
He suddenly slammed his hand against the ground, allowing the Grave Dust to crash against the floor. She looked around and gasped as she saw the dust form into replicas of Weiss, Blake, and Yang.
"Have fun… oh and don't worry… I'll be watching from up here." He chuckled, floating above them with a constant field of dust protecting him. Penny flew towards him, but spikes burst out from the ball, nearly hitting her.
"I can't get close!" Penny called out, but Ruby closed her silver eyes, swallowing the feeling in her chest.
Not again…
She stared at Weiss, and flashes of that night came back.
Not again…
Penny suddenly grabbed Ruby, shaking her. "It's not them! Look." Ruby looked again, and the perfect details of their faces were gone, replaced by writhing black dust. They raised their weapons and Ruby exhaled, scowling at them. She spun Black Thorn through her fingers, whilst Watts watched from above.
Penny rotated her ten swords behind her back, staying close to Ruby's side. Suddenly, the Cemetary Huntresses sprinted towards them. Weiss jumped and slashed Myrtenaster at Ruby, only narrowly missing, and allowing Ruby to spin around and kick her across the face. She rolled away and fired her pistols at her, but the Grave Weiss deflected the incoming bullets easily, and suddenly thrusted towards her. Ruby reacted fast, stamping down on the false blade, slashing across her chest. The dust body broke apart but quickly reconstructed itself.
Behind her, Penny was having to face off against Blake and Yang at the same time, flying into the air, dodging the incoming shells fired from Ember Celica. She deflected them with her swords, until Blake threw Gambol Shroud towards her, wrapping it around her leg and yanking her downwards, and Yang jumped up, punching her in the face extremely hard. Penny crashed to the floor, and Yang swiftly jumped after her, slamming her fist into the ground where her head just was.
Penny blasted herself aside with the thrusters in her boots, then flipped back onto her feet, swinging all her swords around and slashing them across Yang's face. She stumbled away, but Blake vaulted over Yang's shoulder, kicking Penny in the face with both feet. She stumbled a few steps back, but quickly recovered, firing a bolt of green energy from one of her swords which tore Blake's Grave Dust arm clean off, then she spun through the air and kicked downwards, against the top of Blake's head.
She collapsed onto the floor, and then she raised her swords to deflect Yang, causing her to bounce away from her. Sparks flew from the sudden impact, then Penny stared at the two of them, then back at Watts, hearing him chuckle sinisterly.
"Are we having fun now, Child of Pietro?" Watts chuckled.
"You tell me!" Penny yelled back, swiftly firing a powerful beam with all her swords aiming at the two of them, blowing their ashen bodies to pieces, leaving nothing behind.
Ruby rolled aside as Weiss slashed across her legs, only narrowly missing. Ruby flipped backwards, throwing Black Thorn towards Weiss, cutting straight through Weiss' arm and breaking Myrtenaster apart. Ruby sprinted towards her, and immediately slashed straight through Weiss' body, cutting it clean in two. But the grave dust continued to fight back, so Ruby grabbed her other gun and loaded fresh explosive rounds into the chamber. She backflipped away, and fired them both at Weiss, destroying the shadow.
Ruby landed and Penny stood beside her, hearing Watts chuckle once again.
"Impressive, Miss Rose. To think that all those years ago you would become such a nuisance." Watts laughed, the ball of dust suddenly started pulsating, and then it shattered, blasting shards of hardened Grave Dust across the battlefield, slashing across the couple's bodies, throwing them across the dunes.
Watts slammed to the ground and struck the hammer of his revolver relentlessly, decimating the rocks in front of them with powerful explosive rounds before switching to ice bullets. The round shattered, sending spreading shards of ice towards them. Penny yelped, her hand being frozen against one of the rocks, and Ruby grunted as she was hit in the chest.
Watts jumped into the air and swirled a vast cloud of Grave Dust over his head and then sent it roaring towards the two of them. It shredded through their aura as they screamed, whittling them down to nothing, and their bodies crackled with embers of red and green aura, left with nothing left. Watts chuckled as he walked towards them, spinning his revolver through his fingers.
Penny ripped herself free, and she fired a powerful beam at him, but he deflected it with a huge hardlight shield, the beam carved through one of the crystals, sending it crashing into the ground. Black sand blew in the wind and he fired his gun, hitting Penny in the gut. She screamed in immense pain, but thanks to her mechanical body, it was nowhere near as fatal as it could have been if she were organic.
"Penny!" Ruby screamed, still afraid for her girlfriend's safety, sparks leaking from Penny's stomach.
"I'm… okay…" She winced, grabbing her stomach.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk…" Watts tutted as he approached them, loading fresh bullets into his revolver, but Ruby already noticed that he was running low, just by how light the pouch appeared as he walked.
How many does he have left?
Those could be the last ones…
And he hasn't got much aura left… he must be in the red now.
"Your skills are impressive, Miss Rose, Miss Polendina. It's a shame that you fought for the losing side. Imagine what we could have accomplished together?" Watts asked them, holding out his arms.
"Accomplished? All you've… accomplished… is ensuring that Remnant and everyone on it will die. You've enabled Salem to destroy everything… there will be nothing and nobody left to laud your efforts." Ruby reminded.
"Not if I kill Salem first." Watts reminded.
"You can't. You think she didn't already know? She admitted that to our faces. Do you really think you can stab her in the back again? After the stunt you just pulled?" Ruby questioned.
"The Relic of Choice will be all the power I need to destroy her. By commanding another to use the Relic of Destruction and slay her… I will take the feeble remains of this world and create something new." Watts stated, making Penny chuckle.
"You sound just like her." Penny said.
"Perhaps… but unlike her, my mind is not addled by visions of revenge." Watts stated.
"Oh really? What about the Unified Government of Remnant? Jacques Schnee? Your sister? Was that really the actions of a man who wasn't interested in revenge?" Ruby questioned. He glared down at her. "At least Salem knows who she is… and isn't constantly lying to herself."
Suddenly Grave Dust cables sprouted from the sand, coiling around their arms to restrain them. They both yelled in pain as he held them out, lifting them off the floor.
"It matters not what you think of me, child. Because neither of you will live to see the world I will create. That is the only certainty I require." Watts stated, pulling the hammer of his revolver back with his thumb, locking a fresh bullet in the chamber.
He pressed the barrel against her head, smirking.
"RUBY! NO!" Penny shrieked.
But Ruby showed no fear.
She just scowled back at Watts.
Ready.
Eryka
The mad howling laugh of Tyrian Callows echoed throughout the Ampitheater, jumping into the air, with purple energy trailing from his body. He slashed at Eryka first, only narrowly missing her as she rolled away, firing three arrows at him with great speed. He deflected the first one, then ducked under the next and was hit by the third. He recoiled back but his stinger swung towards her. But Eryka rolled backwards, transforming Constantine Damascus into Shotgun Form, firing a blast of shell fragments into his chest.
The impact launched him across the room, but he sprinted with great speed before he rushed at Eryka again, scraping his blade across the floor and flinging sparks into her face. She grunted in pain when suddenly his tail coiled around her throat, instantly breaking her aura as he threw her into the air. She plummeted towards the ground until Winter caught her whilst riding a Summoned Nevermore.
"Don't let the fucker touch you!" Eryka warned, groaning in pain as her blue aura was constantly flickering, trying to regenerate despite the effect of his semblance. Winter looked down as Tyrian watched them fly across the room, and he snarled viciously, eyes constantly glowing purple. Suddenly an icicle slammed into his foot, freezing his foot in place, and he turned to see a furious Weiss Schnee zooming towards him.
She jumped up and blasted an explosive glyph against his chest, blowing the ice apart and sending him tumbling backwards. Tyrian growled, like a feral animal, his tail arched over his head as he stared at Weiss, who elegantly pointed Myrtenaster at him. He smirked and darted towards her, so fast she gasped, but swiftly deflected the incoming blades. She skated across the glyphs she conjured, staying away from his reach, and constantly forming more of her glyphs, all of which were firing fireballs at him, which he was playfully dodging, giggling like a child at play.
"Would you like to know which one of them started crying first? Or the one who held out the longest?" Tyrian baited teeth gritted into a mad grin.
"SHUT UUUUP!" Weiss shrieked, jumping into the air and driving Myrtenaster into the ground, blasting huge spines of ice towards him. He slid across the floor, then sprung off his coiled tail, firing his machine guns at her. But as he flew through the air, Winter suddenly launched herself into his side. She smashed the side of his head into the floor with her boot, then rolled away from him, only narrowly avoiding his grip.
Eryka stayed back, waiting for Tyrian's semblance to stop affecting her aura, and fired arrow after arrow at him. That was easily the best way to beat him, to overcome him. Yet even then, he could still fight all three of them at the same time. He raised his blades, deflecting Winter's sword, and he slashed his hand towards her stomach, only narrowly missing. She suddenly detached her secondary blade and rammed it into the top of his hand, pinning him to the floor.
Tyrian screeched with agony, then laughed as he felt the pain, bringing him great pleasure. His laugh faded swiftly as she roundhouse kicked him in the mouth, her blade slicing straight between his fingers. He rolled across the floor, staring at the blood leaking from his wound, and running his tongue across it.
Weiss drove Myrtenaster into the floor, summoning the Arma Gigas once again, and the huge Knight sprinted towards Tyrian, jumping and spinning through the air, before bringing all that momentum down towards him. The ground exploded, and Tyrian bounced off the chunks that flew in the air, before lunging towards the Spectral Knight and stabbing his tail all the way through its eye socket, and hauled it towards the ground, killing it instantly.
Winter immediately attacked him, slashing across his purple aura and kicking him in the face, before igniting both her swords, hacking and slashing at him relentlessly. The second that he saw the flames, his eyes widened, and he screamed with fear, backing away from Winter. "Yeah, terrified of this aren't ya?" Winter yelled as she kept moving towards him, swinging relentlessly at him, but as she swung, he suddenly spun and smashed his metal tail across her face, and knocking one of the swords from her grasp. The blade clattered along the floor, and then he jumped at her and stamped against the side of her face, pinning her to the floor with gritted teeth.
Winter yelled in pain, before slamming her hand against the floor, and creating a black glyph, magnetising her body to the floor and blasting a powerful shock wave at him. Tyrian was thrown into the air, and shot by Eryka's bow. The arrow exploded against his chest, causing him to crash across the floor. Winter swiftly got back up, turning to see Eryka back by her side now that her aura had recovered from Tyrian's attack.
Weiss quickly ignited Myrtenaster with Fire Dust, cleverly taking a page from Winter earlier, and she sliced her sword across the ground, sending an arc of flames towards him and burning a straight like across the ground. He rolled out of the way and ran from the flames, showing his phobia clear as day, and thus a weakness. As he sprinted, he suddenly sprung off his tail, laughing maniacally once again as he fired his machine guns down at Weiss before coming crashing down, smashing his metal stinger into the ground. The explosive landing threw Weiss backwards, but she formed a glyph which rocketed her back at him.
She slashed across him, burning him and making him scream with both rage and pain. He turned to attack her, but Eryka jumped and stamped on his tail, before punching him in the side of the face. As he remained stuck, Winter also stabbed into his chest relentlessly with her sword, and Weiss thrusted forward, blasting a fiery explosion into him. Eryka leapt away just before she hit him, and the impact caused his purple aura to flicker.
He dragged the Queen's Servants across the ground, golden sparks dancing across the tiles. But he immediately returned the favour, firing his machine guns at them like a madman. Weiss deflected them and so did Winter, whilst Eryka just had to run to avoid them. She jumped off the wall, firing a trio of arrows at Tyrian, all of which he slid underneath. Eryka gasped as he caught her by the throat, breaking her aura instantly once again, but this time, he slashed across her stomach and threw her against the floor.
Eryka gasped in pain, feeling blood ooze from the open wound, and then he stabbed down at her. She yelled out, catching the blade with both hands, screaming in agony as the serrated edges of his pincer blades cut into her palms. He grinned wildly as he forced her towards the ground, stinger aiming at her head.
Winter didn't even hesitate to throw herself into Tyrian's side, knocking him across the floor, and driving her sword into the ground, blasting rocks from beneath the floor at him with Earth Dust. The rocks sliced across his body, but he still sprinted at her, swiping Winter off her feet with his tail and swiftly sending the stinger towards her throat. She caught it with one hand, only barely keeping it back.
The stinger pushed harder and harder, purple venom dripping from the tip of the barb. Weiss launched herself into the air, forming three glyphs above her head which all shot fireballs at him. He turned when he saw the familiar glow of orange and immediately left Winter. The Atlesian Specialist got back up, tending to Eryka at once.
Weiss landed and kept Myrtenaster aimed at him, and kicking Slice 'N Dice into her other hand, dual wielding them. She stared Tyrian down with gritted teeth.
Tyrian giggled as he stood tall, rolling his shoulder. "You've grown strong, Schnee… I'm impressed." Tyrian giggled. "No wonder the blue one fell for you… fat lot of good that did for him in the end, though." He chuckled with a mad grin.
Weiss gritted her teeth and went to lunge for him, but Winter grabbed her arm, stopping Weiss. "Weiss…"
She stopped, looking back at her sister, who was stopping Winter's bleeding. "Remember… emotions can grant you strength…"
Weiss closed her eyes and calmed her nerves. "… but you must never let them overpower you." She finished, turning her gaze back to Tyrian, still grinning at her. He raised his hands, gesturing her towards him.
"C'MON!" He yelled.
Weiss kept her sword aimed at him, slowly walking away from Winter and Eryka, but keeping her focus solely on the Scorpio.
Tyrian suddenly lunged towards her, slashing relentlessly, but with both the swords she blocked and deflected every single blow from his blades. She flipped backwards off one of her glyphs, thrusting her away and kicking him up the jaw. She pointed Myrtenaster at him and fired three bolts of electricity at him as he sprinted towards her. As he darted past each of them, she sprinted at him and slid underneath his blade, slashing across his chest with Eryka's shortsword. He grunted and tumbled across the floor before pushing her feet off the wall, slamming one of the Queen's Servants into the ground where she just was.
Weiss threw fire dust into the air, and just as it ignited in the air, she slashed the two swords through it, igniting their blades. And as the fireball passed, knowing Tyrian would not advance in its presence, she shot towards him, slashing with them both, only narrowly missing as he rolled away. She formed a glyph in front of her and thrusted both blades through it, blasting a focused beam of fire towards him, hitting him directly in the chest.
He rolled backwards, batting away the flames with his hand, but Weiss swiftly skated towards him, dragging her sword across the floor as she circled him, trapping them both in a ring of fire. His eyes widened, and he panicked, surrounded by nothing but flames. He stared at her and gritted his teeth.
"What's wrong? Scared?" She asked, and Tyrian grabbed at his head before hollering wildly, and he jumped at her, spinning through the air, smashing the bulb of his stinger into the floor where she just was, and spinning around, blasting out a jet of poisonous smoke from the cybernetic limb. Weiss ducked and held her breath, covering her nose. She rushed underneath it, then slashed across the back of his leg, but when she swung Eryka's sword towards his back, his tail came up and deflected it.
She swung his leg around towards her face in a roundhouse kick, but she ducked beneath it and blasted a powerful gust of air at him, throwing him towards the flames. He extended his metal tail and sprung himself off the floor, back at Weiss. She gasped, eyes widening, and she shot herself away just in time, through the flames.
It damaged her aura, but also caused him to throw himself into the flames. He screamed in terror as he felt the flames burn him, turning to see Weiss jump high in the air, and throwing a Summoned Sword from the Arma Gigas at him. He bent backwards, only narrowly avoiding it, before he swung his head forward into Weiss'.
She grunted, then crossed her swords together, blocking the Queen's Servants, locking each other together in a vicious stare.
Ren
Icarus bellowed with Blind Rage in his heart, eyes glowing blood red.
He jumped into the air, and his thrusters blasted him towards Ren and his Father, slashing Undying Hatred towards them both, spinning across the floor as he slid past. Ren deflected the incoming attack, firing Stormflower repeatedly at him, running across the tower they stood upon. Up above, the Shadow of Broken Promises battled against the fleet of White Fang and Vasillias Cartel Dreadnaughts. Every now and then a cannon would fire and rattle their bones.
Ren slid across the floor, firing up at Icarus, who slung grenades towards him, detonating them the second they hit the floor. Ren flipped through the air, firing his grappling hook into the tower to swing himself back onto the roof. Li rolled across the floor, firing his Bow up at Icarus and clipping one of his wings. He came crashing down, and snarled like a savage dog, before throwing one of the Khopeshes at him.
Li rolled across the floor, but just as he stood up, Icarus was suddenly on him, slamming his other Khopesh downwards on his cane. He effortlessly yanked the staff from his grip, then opened his hand, activating the Gravitational Link between them, catching it as it flew back to him. Icarus spun around, slashing his metal feathers across Li's chest, then blasting into the sky, before he came crashing down, firing grenades from his bracers, weakening the tower more and more with all the explosions.
"There will be nothing left for anyone to remember you by…" Icarus snarled, launching himself towards Li once again, kicking him in the side of the head, and pinning his throat to the floor with one of his wings. He turned as Ren sprinted towards him, firing Stormflower at him, but Icarus raised his other wing, blocking the incoming bullets with ease. But Ren jumped and fired a bullet directly into his eye.
Icarus bellowed in fury, grabbing the side of his head, staring at him with bright red eyes, and he suddenly lunged towards him. He swung his khopeshes so wildly that he was completely unpredictable in his attacks. Ren backed away constantly, swinging at his khopeshes as desperately as he could, sparks flying from every single contact made. Icarus recoiled back as Ren made a hard retaliation against his blade, and Ren kicked him in the face, then sliding underneath his legs. He jumped and drove Stormflower into the back of his mechanical wings, ripping into the cables and thrusters.
Just… need to ground him… then it will be an even fight!
Suddenly thruster fire erupted into Ren's face, and Icarus flew into the air, with him barely hanging on. Icarus kicked at him, and eventually ripped him away, and also caused a chunk of his Wingsuit to break apart. He yelled in anger as the thruster spluttered. He descended but could still fly, just having to focus more than before. He slammed to the ground and slashed his wing at Ren.
He ducked, then punched Icarus in the jaw. The Mercenary snarled wildly as one of his protein canisters broke, causing hissing air to burst out. He grabbed at his mechanical jaw in agony, yanking another canister off and replacing it to soothe his pain.
Icarus growled like a dog again, and suddenly clicked the triggers of Undying Hatred, causing flames to coat the curved blades as fire dust canisters erupted across them. His thrusters shot out, and he spun relentlessly, zooming towards Ren. He was like a mad dancer the way he span, his wings splayed out as well, slashing relentlessly as he rotated towards Ren and Li.
Li grunted, hit by both Khopesh and Wing, causing his aura to flicker and crashing him against one of the weakening pillars. Ren kept backing him, and Icarus finished his berserk spinning attack with a jump into the air, and slammed the two weapons into the floor so hard it created a fiery explosion.
He glared through the flames with rage in his red eyes, but Ren swiftly fired his grappling hook towards him and wrapped it around his throat, and yanked himself towards Icarus, dropkicking him in the head. Icarus fell backwards, and immediately threw his Khopesh towards him, but Ren deflected it away with Stormflower, firing his machine guns at him. Icarus raised his metal wing, deflecting the green bullets and slowly walking towards him, catching his Khopesh as it returned to his hand.
Icarus suddenly flipped forward, slashing down Ren's chest, and exploding the floor. Ren tumbled off the edge, only narrowly catching onto the edge. As he tried to climb back up, Icarus suddenly stamped on his fingers, staring down at him, snarling savagely. Suddenly, an arrow shot into his back from behind, landing directly in the thruster. Icarus turned, and his eyes widened.
Icarus roared in agony, his aura breaking instantly as the explosion of his thruster spread through the metal wings, burning them apart. He stumbled away from Ren, and he flipped himself over the edge, and aimed Stormflower at him.
But none of them were ready for what was headed for them.
Nora
Hazel jumped into the air, roaring as he electrified his metal leg and slashed it at her, only narrowly missing her as she rolled away and threw Magni into his face. He grunted, knocked back a few steps by the sudden blunt strike to his face. Then she spun Stormur Skeggox through her fingers, and slashed across his chest, cutting through his skin and the stone armour beneath it.
She jumped and smashed Magni down the top of his head, but he suddenly punched her directly in the chest, throwing her into the wall. She yelped in pain, and Oscar sprinted towards him, sliding and wrapping the chains of Thunderous Deception around his other leg, tripping him over and causing his head to smash against the floor. As Hazel turned, Oscar jumped towards him, smashing his hammer towards his head, only for Hazel to catch it and punch him in the face.
As Oscar crashed into the floor, Hazel ignited his hands and punched them into the floor, roaring as he created a massive explosion, flickering Oscar's aura and making him tumble across the Throne Room. Oscar's eyes flashed and Ozma took control of his body, suddenly blasting a beam of green electrical magic towards Hazel, burning away his flesh on one of his arms. Hazel snarled with hate, forcing himself forward despite the colossal power of his magic.
Hazel suddenly formed a mass of magma in his hard, hardened into obsidian, and he hurled it towards Ozma, only just missing as he blasted another bolt of magic into it, shattering it into dust before it could even reach. He stood before Hazel, spinning the Long Memory through his fingers. Hazel growled as magma leaked from his mouth, and then he jumped into the air, forming a lightning spear in his hand and smashing it into the ground. The explosion threw Ozma backwards, and he drove his cane into the floor to slow himself down. As he slid, he raised chunks of rubble off the floor with his magic and launched it back at Hazel.
He raised his arms, and the rock armour completely made the attack pointless, just shattering off his arms. Hazel suddenly grabbed onto one of the destroyed chairs and threw it towards Ozma, smashing him against the wall, and then he punched him in the head, so hard that it knocked him unconscious.
Hazel raised his fists above his head, until Nora suddenly smashed her fist into the side of his head, her scars and veins glowing pink.
He crashed across the room, then pushed himself back onto his feet, staring back at her, growling savagely. He wiped the magma and blood from his mouth, keeping his fists raised.
The battle raged on above, and she spun her axe through her fingers, stood in front of Oscar on the ground.
This was it…
… all she had to do…
… was aim for the head.
Author Note - Here we go... cannot wait for next chapter
Playing Dark Souls Trilogy, Bloodborne, Demon's Souls, Elden Ring and Sekiro really has helped me a lot when writing these kinds of fights, I find myself just thinking of some of my favourite bosses and implementing stuff into these and it makes them so much more entertaining to write I love it XD
I think my favourite fights in this chapter were Salem Vs Lavinia and Tyrian Vs Weiss, Winter and Eryka. Writing Salem fighting that savagely was really fun to imagine as well, just seeing her moving like a beast was so cool to imagine.
Next chapter... been waiting for this for a while
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Please review, follow and favourite!
Stay tuned for the next chapter - The Hanging
- Matt