After what seemed like an eternity Ruby tore herself out of her sister's grasp, rushing to hug her mother with painful desperation. When she passed through Summer's form like it was mist the heartbreak on her face was indescribable. "Wha…?"
"I'm not fully here, Ruby." Summer said with a sad smile. "I'm literally a ghost. So as much as I want to hold you tight, that's not really an option."
Ruby straightened up and wiped at her wet cheeks as Yang stepped up to her mother, her own eyes moist, though she was obviously struggling to hold it together. "What happened?" She asked, voice trembling. "Why didn't you come back?"
Summer sighed. "I was hunted down." She said simply. "Those of us with silver eyes are a threat to the Grimm and, by extension, those allied against humanity. We've been chased and executed whenever we're found for centuries. Now only a very few of us remain. Ruby is the only one in all of Sanus, I think."
"Who did it?" Yang growled, eyes red and fists clenched.
"The people Harry and his team are currently going after." Summer said. "Which reminds me, even though I understand why you did it, you shouldn't have come, girls. You're in danger. These people are heading into the heart of enemy territory. If it wasn't for the plan Harry came up with, I'd say even they wouldn't last long there."
Ruby ducked her head from beside Yang, having moved back beside her sister while Summer was speaking, the blonde's arm reaching up to wrap around her sister's shoulders. "But…"
Summer sighed, but any further words were interrupted when the Sea Feilong slammed its head into the glass of the bridge. The students flinched. "How has that thing not broken through?" Weiss asked incredulously.
Beast Boy glanced at the window, which had several small Grimm attacking it, trying to get in to attack the humans on the ship. "We haven't reached our destination yet, so Harry isn't letting it."
That just confused the teens further, their gazes turning to said person. Harry's lips quirked up at their looks. "I'm constantly feeding power into the ship to reinforce it against attack. I could have used a one and done burst, but under the amount of attacks we're weathering the energy would have run out already, so I have to use a continuous stream. I'll stop once we reach our destination and we use the ship to deal with the enemy defences."
"Where are we going?" Nora asked enthusiastically.
"We are going to the northwestern continent to deal with the source of the Grimm." Lara stated firmly. "You are going straight back to Beacon."
A chorus of "Where?" "We can help!" and "Wait, what?" met her statement, prompting Alice to speak up to support her friend.
"It does not matter what we're doing or where we're going." She stated just as firmly as Lara. "You can ask Ozpin about the details." She said, quite effectively passing the buck. "What does matter is that you're not coming. It is far too dangerous. We're only doing this because we've got a guaranteed escape route if things go bad. We can't risk you all as well."
"In that case, we can help. There's no reason we can't all use your escape route if we need to." Ruby said firmly, staring at Harry in the eye, doing her best to ignore Summer's presence for the moment in order to make her point. "If this is that dangerous then you need all the help you can get. We can stick close to you so you can get us out if you have to."
Ruby didn't remove her gaze from Harry's, who she could see was considering her seriously, though she couldn't tell which way his thoughts were leaning. Her attention was drawn away by Lara speaking again. "This isn't a game!" The archeologist snapped.
"We know!" Ruby said heatedly. "We didn't go after Torchwick and the White Fang for fun! We did it because it was the right thing to do, because that's what we've dedicated our lives to! Because no one else was going to..."
"You're children…" Summer said mournfully.
Ruby looked at her mother in the eye, silver meeting silver. Her heart ached at the pain she saw she was causing the woman she'd just sort of gotten back, but she refused to back down. "So we're just supposed to ignore people who need our help till we graduate?"
Harry let his gaze wander from Ruby to the other Beacon students. None of them had said anything since Ruby began speaking, but he could see that all of them, even Penny and Zwei, were in agreement with the young reaper. If he wanted to force them back to Beacon, it'd have to be by force.
Harry glanced at Beast Boy, who gazed back seriously, his opinion shown in his gaze. Beast Boy was only barely Ruby's age, but he'd fought and killed and suffered and triumphed.
His eyes shifted to the Chief, who had remained silent, watching. He knew from conversations with him and Cortana that the Chief had been even younger when he'd first gone to work as Black Ops for the UNSC, genetic and cybernetic treatments notwithstanding. The helmeted head turned to the leader of the motley little crew of dimension hoppers and nodded slightly.
Harry turned his gaze back to Ruby, who was arguing with Lara and Alice. He already knew what his decision was. Hadn't he, after all, done absurdly dangerous things that should have been ostensibly left to the adults at a young age because it was the right thing? Because nobody else was going to act? Because he refused to turn his gaze?
"Alright, you can come." He said as Alice was taking a breath to continue her argument.
Alice and Lara turned to him with surprise. "What?" Lara asked.
"I'm not going to be a hypocrite, girls. I'm younger than most of them, but you don't seem to mind me and BB leading the charge."
"I… uh…" Lara floundered obviously not being able to think of a counter argument. To be honest, Harry was so reliable, not to mention powerful and experienced, that it was easy to forget his actual age. Beast Boy not so much, considering the way he tended to act, but even then he had moments where he showed the depth of his hard won experience as a hero.
"Besides, this is their story that we're intruding on." He said simply, a small smile on his face. "They have a right to see this through."
The two girls glanced at each other, neither able to refute his point. Summer, on the other hand, turned a disappointed gaze to him, clearly unhappy that her daughters were going to be in more danger. Harry met her gaze evenly.
"I'll protect them with my life." He said softly. "I swear it."
Summer closed her eyes before letting out a sigh and nodding.
The bridge was silent for several long seconds before Cortana made the sound of clearing her throat. "Well, now that that's settled, we should reach our destination in a couple of hours if we keep up this pace, so maybe some preparation would be good."
Nora raised her arms and cheered exuberantly. "Alright! Super awesome combat mission, here we go!"
"You all brought your weapons?" Chief asked, finally speaking up. When they all nodded, some of them showing their weapons to him, he turned to Harry. "I suggest everyone get a good meal while they can. They'll need the energy."
Harry nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, I agree. I had Ironwood remove most of the supplies on board, but he left us enough to last us the trip, along with some ammunition."
Beast Boy stood up, stretching luxuriously after putting his game system away. "Sounds good. Which way to the mess? I need a veggie burger, stat."
As their friends followed the green changeling to eat, Lara and Alice doing so with disgruntled looks on their faces while Nora loudly asked about the possibility of pancakes, Ruby and Yang turned to their mother's shade, who looked at them with a smile. "Um, will there be a problem if you stay long enough for us to talk?" The younger girl asked tentatively.
Summer glanced at Harry, who shrugged. "Being on this side of the veil of death is painful for souls because they don't belong here." He cautioned the girls. "That's why I use the ability sparingly, if at all. The dead deserve their rest."
The girls' faces fell, so Summer let out a slightly amused sigh. "I don't mind dealing with some discomfort to talk to my girls for a time." She said, making them brighten. "But this will be the only time we do this, girls. Harry is right. The dead should remain in their place."
Both girls nodded in reluctant understanding, knowing they had to take advantage of the time they had. They quickly headed to the mess to join their friends and talk to their mother over food.
An hour and a half later, after a filling meal and use of the facilities, the group was gathered back on the bridge as they approached their destination. Cortana had finally managed to kill the Sea Feilong when it made the mistake of getting in range of the ship's main gun, but she might as well not have bothered, as the sky was thick with flying Grimm of all types trying to bring the ship down.
"So… What exactly are we doing?" Jaune finally decided to be the one to ask. He would have done so sooner, but Ruby and Yang had been engrossed in their conversation with Summer and he hadn't wanted to interrupt that with his, admittedly necessary, request for information.
Lara crossed her arms as she took over explaining things to the newcomers. "Somewhere down below is the woman that commands the Grimm."
"Wait, what?" Blake asked. She wasn't the only one confused, all the other students looking surprised and baffled. "Someone can control the Grimm?"
Lara nodded. "Yes. She's been controlling the Grimm for a long time, and is the reason they're so prolific and such a danger. Not that they wouldn't be without her, but she definitely makes them an exponentially greater threat." She said. "The mission we've undertaken is to find her and, if not kill her, then at least incapacitate her so she is no longer a threat. That will make it easier for the Kingdoms to fight back against the Grimm, and might even allow them to expand a bit."
"We're going to have to fight our way through a lot of Grimm to get to her." Alice said seriously. "And these will be very old, very powerful Grimm. So you will stay close to us, and follow our orders the instant they're given. Am I understood?"
The teens nodded quickly, intimidated by the older girl, along with still reeling over what they'd been told.
"Alright, make any last minute preparations you need and grab some extra ammo." Harry ordered, motioning to where Chief was loading several weapons, including the SAW hammer he'd acquired not that long ago, a large crate full of various types of Dust ammo at his side, Nearby he also had some boxes of Dust powder and crystals in case they were needed, which were halfway empty, small bags indicating the location of their contents to the members of the dimensionally jumping crew.
"Penny, are you good on charge?" Cortana asked the android, who stood next to the screen showing the AI's face, looking at the Grimm covered window.
Penny turned to Cortana with a smile. "Yes, Miss Cortana. I should be good for another twelve hours of operation. Eight in extensive combat."
Cortana nodded, relieved. "Good. Because this is going to be intense, and if you slow down for a second you're likely to get ripped apart for real this time." She didn't notice Pyrrha flinch at her words from where she was grabbing extra ammunition.
"That leads into another thing." Beast Boy said seriously, looking at the teens. "Do not hold back. You use every single ability and skill you have with impunity. This is going to be a tough fight, and there's no playing around if you want to survive."
All the teens nodded as they prepared themselves. "Where are we landing?" Ren asked as he tucked Stormflower back up his sleeves.
Beast Boy's serious look turned into one of amusement. "Landing?"
The students looked at him funny. "Yes... " Weiss said slowly. "Landing."
"Cortana, have you begun overloading the engines?" Harry asked with a smirk, making Alice roll her eyes at his attempts to freak the kids out.
"Engines are nearing the red zone. We'll need to bail out in the next ten minutes." Cortana stated calmly, a smirk on her own face displaying her amusement.
"What!?" Jaune yelped, eyes wide with shock.
"Landing was never the plan." Chief said, slamming one last clip in a handgun which he strapped to his hip. "We're going to crash this ship, then blow it up to make a beachhead."
Jaune wasn't the only one to pale at the news. "How are we getting off, then? The bullhead we came in won't survive the sheer amount of Grimm."
"We should be able to deal with that..." Lara said absently as she looked out the window. "Cortana, am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?"
Cortana brought up a camera feed on the main display, letting everybody see the two enormous shapes winging their way towards the ship. "If you think you're seeing a couple of wyverns, then yeah, you are."
"And that's our queue." Harry said as he began walking out. "Let's go, people. We've been graciously been given a bullhead to use. Be a shame to waste it."
As the group made their way back to the hangar Lara moved beside Ren. "Would you be willing to use your semblance to hide the bullhead once again?" At his nod she patted him on the back. "Thank you."
When they reached the hangar Summer stopped beside her daughters. "I need to go for a bit."
The two looked at her sadly even as the ship shook from the impact against one of the wyverns. "Really?" Ruby asked.
"Only for a short time. I am part of the plan, so I'm going to be summoned again soon." She smiled. "Don't worry, we'll get a chance to say goodbye. Now go."
The girls nodded hesitantly before doing as told, quickly making their way to the bullhead. They didn't notice Summer's form waver and disappear.
When they boarded the aircraft they found Chief in the pilot's seat, Lara taking the place of copilot as it powered up. The group was a bit cramped, having reached almost mass occupancy of the bullhead. Ren had enough space to hide the ship as stated, however, Jaune's hand on his shoulder, both glowing softly. Harry also placed his hand on a wall, reinforcing the vehicle in case Ren's semblance wasn't enough.
They took off as the hangar doors opened the Grimm once again ignoring them as they streamed into the ship, hunting for someone to kill.
Chief quickly led the bullhead away from the warship as it rammed into one of the wyverns before beginning to sink to the earth under Cortana's remote direction.
"We should be far enough away." The super soldier stated as the bullhead continued rushing away from coming explosion.
"Igniting the ship's engines in three… two… one…" Right on queue with Cortana's countdown everybody saw the Atlesian ship go up in a massive explosion after hitting the ground, what vegetation there was in the desolate landscape they could all now see was blown away and turned to ash along with any Grimm that had been in the area.
The bullhead shook as it was buffeted by the airwave caused by the explosion, but none of the passengers panicked thanks to Ren's semblance muting their emotions. Once the smoke and dust cleared they could all see the shallow crater that had been made, free of any vegetation and, more importantly, any Grimm. They proceeded to quickly land on the side of the cleared area and disembarked once Ren let go of his Semblance.
They all looked around as they readied their weapons, able to hear the approach of thousands of Grimm, all eager to rip the humans in their midst to pieces.
"What's the plan?" Pyrrha asked, holding Miló in rifle form at the ready, doing her best to calm her nerves.
"Yeah, that would be good to know, seeing as we're about to be swarmed." Jaune said with a slight tremor in his voice even as he held his sword in a vice like grip. "You have an army in your pocket or something?"
Harry smirked as Chief held his weapon in SAW form at his side, aiming at the approaching mass of darkness. "Or something." He closed his eyes briefly before reaching down and taking hold of his ring, once again turning it three times.
Ruby, spotting what he did, looked around, expecting to see her mother again. Instead she stopped and stared as she saw what filled the crater she stood in.
Summer Rose hadn't been the only one to be summoned. Behind her stood what could only be Huntsmen and Huntresses, if the colorful ways they were dressed and the weapons they all had on their person were any indication. There had to be at least a hundred of them.
The other teens noticed as well, stopping and staring. "Oh… I guess he did…" Jaune said slowly.
"But I thought they were ghosts. What good are they going to be?" Blake asked, confused.
"I don't know, but they have to have a purpose." Weiss said before hey eyes locked on one of the figures standing closest to her, a wide grin on his bearded face as he watched her. "Wha… Grandfather!?"
Nicholas Schnee gave a laugh, his cutlass blade sheathed at his side. "It's good to meet you, Weiss."
Weiss, in a rare moment of complete stupefaction, gaped like a fish, eyes wide and bugged out. "I… Ah… Oh…" She didn't seem to be able to think of what to say.
Still chuckling, Nicholas took a step forward, Blake politely moving away to give them space. "We don't have much time before the fighting starts, Weiss, so I want to say something while I have the chance."
Weiss couldn't help but look downward and brace herself, expecting something scathing about how the company had been morally driven into the ground since his death. Instead her head snapped up to let her stare into his eyes at his next words. "I'm proud of you, Weiss. Both you and your sister. You're doing your best to make up for sins that aren't yours. I believe you will lead my company to the greatness Jaques has ignored in his pursuit of profits."
Weiss felt tears come to her eyes at the validation of the founder of her company, the flame of her determination to reform the Schnee Dust Company burning even brighter now. She couldn't think of anything to say, the words stuck in her throat, so instead she simply nodded resolutely.
She wasn't the only one having a ghostly encounter, however, as Jaune stood with his team by his side, staring at an older man who had Crocea Mors strapped to his waist.
"Well now, this is interesting…" Jaune's great-grandfather said as he looked at his descendant.
"...Hi?" Jaune squeaked out as he stared nervously at one of his personal heroes, fully expecting to be told that he was a disappointment and a shame on the family for being as weak as he was.
Raymond Arc took his great-grandson in before smiling. "You're doing good, kid." He said, showing that he was a man of few words. "Keep up the good work and you'll do us proud."
It wasn't much, but it made Jaune stand up straighter, saluting with his sword, which looked a bit more tarnished than its ghostly counterpart. "I will, sir."
Raymond nodded, pleased. "I'm sure."
"They're about to reach us." Chief cut in. "If you're going to do it, do it now."
Harry nodded before lifting his arm, pointing it at the mass of spirits.
Summer looked at her daughters. "Goodbye, girls. Whatever happens next, don't be afraid. And don't forget that I love you."
"Mom?" Yang asked hesitantly.
That's when Harry launched a bolt of dark energy which slammed into Summer before jumping from her to another spirit, and then to another, till it eventually had reached every single apparition.
Ruby and Yang stumbled back as Summer doubled over in apparent pain, black marks like Harry's appearing on her skin as her eyes went wide with rage, a snarl escaping her lips.
She wasn't the only one affected. Every ghost summoned went through the same transformation, acting like barely restrained, rabid beasts.
That's when the Grimm showed up.
When the first beowulf leapt over the rim of the crater, intent on ripping into the humans there, Summer launched herself at it, a howl of fury leaving her as twin daggers appeared in her hands and stabbed into the Grimm's eyes. She ripped them out before snapping up with a knee strike that hit the monster in the chin, exposing its neck to the daggers which immediately cut deep, almost severing its head.
She wasn't the only one to react that way. Every single spirit, now corporeal, attacked any Grimm that showed itself with berserk fury, striking with a cruel savagery that put the monsters they were fighting to shame.
The students stared in shock at what they were seeing as the Grimm fell in droves. None had expected the spirits to attack the way they were, and it was frankly terrifying. They were snapped out of it when Alice yelled at them from where she was smashing Grimm aside with her Hobby Horse, protecting Harry, who knelt behind her, looking exhausted and weak after what he'd done, barely able to keep from faceplanting on the ground. "What are you waiting for!?" She slammed her heavy weapon down on an ursa's skull, pulping it. "Don't just stand there. Fight!" A beowulf pounced at her from the side, only to be intercepted by Cheshire appearing from out of thin air to attack, slicing through it with ease before disappearing again, grinning unnervingly as always..
Penny was the first to react, quickly deploying her blades and turning into a whirling dervish of bladed death. Zwei followed suit, quickly jumping at a beowulf and headbutting it, making it stumble back in pain. After that the rest of the Remnant natives joined the fight.
"Advance!" Harry said, beginning to force his way forward through the horde once he'd recovered enough, his rifle making any advancing monster regret their choice of target. At his side Chief made his way forward, firing his massive gun with discipline and control, bringing down Grimm after Grimm with ease.
"How far are we from Salem's base!?" Lara asked as she slammed her climbing axes into the sides of a boarbatusk's head while a massive green bear batted Grimm aside with contemptuous ease.
"Five clicks." Cortana responded from the speakers in Chief's armor. "I would have gotten us closer, but even with Harry's barrier we wouldn't have made it past the wyverns before they forced the ship to the ground."
"We'll make do." Harry said simply as he used one of his preferred tricks, making a mass of spikes shoot up from the ground and run his enemies through.
For hours from that point on there was a minimum of speaking as the group focused on advancing while fighting off the non-stop waves of Grimm. Thankfully they were periodically able to reload thanks to the copious amounts of ammo that Chief was carrying in various small bags and pouches. The students got over the oddity of the bags' infinite capacity quickly enough, focusing on the immediate task of killing everything in sight.
As they made their way through the hordes the students took in their location, scarcely able to imagine a more desolate landscape. They were in a barren wasteland of rocky terrain, enormous purple crystals that they all assumed to be some form of dust sprouting from the ground. The black sky was stained a dark red, contrasting with the silvery broken moon.
After she punched a beringel away, Yang stepped back and let out a few deep breaths. "Where the hell are they all coming from?"
Lara spoke from beside her after firing another arrow pulled from her quiver, which, much like many other things of theirs, Harry had enchanted to hold far more than it should be able to. "This is their land, Yang. They were created here."
"There has to be some sort of limit, though." Blake pitched in as she launched Gambol Shroud's kusarigama blade into a creep's neck, pulling hard and ripping a huge gash in it, the damage too much for it and making it drop, beginning to fade.
Beast Boy, who was at the top of the hill up front in the form of an elephant and had just beaten down and stomped a goliath's head in, shifted to human form briefly. "We're almost there. See for yourselves, girls."
When everybody reached the top of the hill they paused to take in the sight that met them. In front of them lay a valley full of pools of dark liquid from which Grimm constantly emerged, the vast majority moving to rush the invaders, being met by the summoned spirits and cut down. At the opposite side of the valley, on another, bigger hill, stood an ominous castle that looked like it belonged in a horror movie about vampires or demonic cults.
"Whoa…" Jaune breathed out, giving voice to most of the team's reaction at the vista in front of them.
"Finally…" Harry said with a huff. "Now I can stop restraining myself." As the summoned spirits continued to hold the tide of Grimm back he knelt on the dark ground and rested his palm against it. He closed his eyes before a pulse of dark energy left him, heading into the valley. An instant later the ground began to rumble, followed by columns of earth shooting into the air before falling over.
As everyone watched the valley floor looked like it was getting turned over by giant hand, the pools of darkness disappearing under mounds of dirt, Grimm being crushed as they were caught in the violent upheaval. Eventually the turbulence ended and the rumbling of the ground stopped, the dirt having settled, the pools of darkness no longer visible.
Harry was breathing heavily, obviously still not having recovered from whatever he'd done to the spirits before. Alice moved over to him and held him up, keeping him on his feet.
"That… was AWESOME!" Nora cheered after seeing the display of power that had eliminated the immediate threat.
"We need to get to the castle now." Lara said as the spirits killed the remaining Grimm. "We need to take advantage that less are spawning now before the Grimm that are still further out reach us."
"What will we find in there?" Pyrrha asked as she reloaded her weapon.
"If we're right, some of the human conspirators, along with the queen bitch herself." Beast Boy said seriously, his clawed gauntlets on his hands.
"Can you walk?" Alice asked Harry worriedly as the few Grimm that continued to attack were dealt with without any of the living members of the group needing to do anything.
Harry nodded and took a slightly shaky step forwards, then another, becoming steadier with each one. Soon he was walking without assistance, Alice keeping close to him and watching him carefully.
Grimm continued to rush the group, though not in the numbers they had been. There were obviously still spawning pools, elsewhere, but not close enough that the Grimm could launch a massed attack like they had been.
Soon enough the group reached the gates to the castle. The spirits stayed outside as guards, holding any Grimm back from interfering. Ruby and Yang gave their mother, who still looked wild and wrathful, one last look before following the rest of the group into the imposing structure.
Oddly enough, they met no resistance upon entering the castle, and they began making their way through it, heading down hallways lined with closed doors and windows that looked out into the desolate landscape they'd just trudged through. Eventually they reached a large set of double doors, simple in design, but heavy looking. Chief stepped forward and pushed them open with ease, allowing them all to walk into a large throne room which was dominated by a stone throne upon a series of steps. The only other feature in it was a large, square painting of a small village along a wall. However, what drew the attention of the invaders was the four individuals gathered in the room.
One was a pale, slim man with long hair in a braided ponytail, a brown longcoat that was belted close to his body hiding most of his form. He had a narrow face, with cruel eyes and a manic grin, his gaze darting from person to person feverishly. He had wrist blades equipped, and seemed eager to use them.
Another was a slightly tanned middle aged man with a thick mustache and short black hair with grey at the temples. Her wore a charcoal suit with yellow lining and a similarly yellow shirt under a wine colored vest. He did not have any obvious weapon, but he looked at them all with an arrogantly condescending look on his face.
The last man there was towering and powerfully built. He had short brown hair, a beard, and hazel eyes. He wore a two-tone olive green coat over a black three-quarter sleeve shirt, with a large belt holding it shut. He looked at them all seriously and calmly, though his eyes flickered with barely contained rage.
Last, but certainly in no way least, was the only woman, who sat upon the throne, looking down at the group that had invaded her home. She was deathly pale, to the point that even a corpse would likely have more color to it. Her hair was also pale white, done into a large bun with six offshoots wrapped together adorned with obsidian colored only color on her body were dark purple veins that crept along her face and arms, and her eyes, which contained red irises in black sclera. She wore a very long, short-sleeved black robe that dragged along the ground, obscuring her lower body, and a long shawl emblazoned with her personal symbol, three interconnected, maroon-colored vertical elliptic sigils which looked like eyes above diamond emblems.
The students did not know who she was, only able to tell that there was something fundamentally wrong with her, but the dimensional travellers knew exactly who now stood in front of them.
Salem, Queen of the Grimm.
"Well then… It seems we have guests…" She said, he voice soft and menacing, though everybody there noticed that she sounded oddly similar to Cortana. "Has Ozpin decided to stop being passive and launch an attack? That's very unlike him…"
Harry stepped forward as everybody else kept their weapons trained on the enemy. "Ozpin may have given us some information on you, but this was all our idea. He was quite willing to help, though, after we stopped your attack on Vale."
"So you were the reason that failed." Salem murmured, the only indication of the rage she felt being the look in her eyes. "And what of Cinder?"
"They're still cleaning her brains off the walls of the vault, last I heard." Harry said with a vicious grin.
Salem's eyes narrowed. "Pity, but if she could not do as she was commanded, she was of no use to me anyway."
Harry saw the Beacon students shifting out of the corner of his eye even as he remained focused on his opponents.
"And what, exactly, do you hope to accomplish here?" Salem asked silkily, continuing to observe.
"We're here to kill you." Harry said pleasantly as his friends shifted, preparing an attack.
Salem looked amused. "Ozpin obviously didn't tell you much if you think you can accomplish such a feat."
"Oh, he told us everything after we forced it out of him." Harry said. "But let's just say that we have a few tricks up our sleeves…"
"Mistress…" The crazy looking man said with a small giggle in his voice. "Please, let me kill them for disrespecting you…"
Salem glanced at him. "I do believe this conversation is over…" Salem said to Harry, her voice cold now. "Tyrian, Arthur, Hazel, eliminate them."
Tyrian Callows burst out into mad laughter and shrugged off his coat before he rushed the group as the big man, Hazel Reinart, removed his coat as well while he advanced, showing off a large amount of scars on his upper arms. The source of the scars was revealed when he pulled lightning and fire elemental dust crystals out of the pouch pockets in his pants and jabbed them into his arms without even a grunt of pain, beginning to generate elemental energy as he advanced on the group.
The last member of the villainous group, Arthur Watts, stepped back rather than attack, pulling out a scroll and typing in some commands. Immediately a large group of robots began to emerge from two doors on either side of the throne room, as well as back from the way the team had arrived, weapons at the ready. They were different yet similar to Atlesian models that were used to supplement living troops. As they began to fire on the group they displayed better combat capabilities than the government models, making them that much more dangerous.
"You take care of the mechs!" Beast Boy snapped out to the students. "Leave the leaders to us!" Then he changed into a bear, roaring as he rushed at Watts in order to deactivate the robots.
"You heard him!" Ruby said as she launched herself at the nearest robot, slashing at it with her scythe and being surprised when she didn't cut it in half. She was forced to dodge away as it lifted its rifle at her head and fired. "They're tougher than usual! Be careful!"
"Go! Down! Damn! You!" Yang grunted as she punched one of the robots over and over, denting it even as it continued firing on her. Behind her Blake had ensnared one of the larger mechs with the ribbon of her weapon, allowing Weiss to stab it with a blade infused with lightning dust.
Jaune and Pyrrha fought back to back, the redhead using her ferrokinetic semblance to devastating effect as the blonde watched her back, slashing at anything that came near with surprising ferocity considering his normal disposition. Not far away Nora was firing her grenades into a group of mechs while laughing maniacally, Ren at her side, shaking his head at her antics even as he shot any mechs that got by her.
Zwei was not idle, the corgi launching himself at robots and headbutting them in the center mass with immense force, making them stagger, which Penny took advantage of, slicing through them with her many blades.
Alice and Lara moved to fight of Tyrian, he giggled to himself as he got into a ready stance. "I wonder…" He said, still giggling. "I wonder which of you I'll kill first for my Goddess."
"I vote for neither." Lara said as she brandished her axes, eyes narrowed. When she rushed Tyrian he fought back with odd, erratic grace, contorting himself and striking out unexpectedly. Lara managed to keep up, holding him off with her dual climbing axes and parrying many of his blows, though some did get through her defense, being stopped by her brown aura.
While Lara kept Tyrian's attention focused on her Alice moved behind him, Vorpal Blade in hand. She launched herself at him when his back was fully turned and he had his wrist blades locked on Lara's weapons, but unfortunately the scorpion stinger tail that was attached to his lower back lashed out, almost impaling and poisoning her had she not dodged. The faunus turned to look at her with wide, mad eyes. "Naughty, naughty. Wait your turn…"
Watts was desperately doing his best to avoid the attacking changeling, showing that he wasn't much of a physical fighter. He had a gun in his hand he was firing at his green attacker, which went mostly ignored due to Beast Boy changing into a hippo, nature's tank.
Still, Watts new that he just had to hold the animal off till some of his robots could get to his side to protect him. Even if Beast Boy could deal with them on his own, they should give him the opportunity to get away to somewhere safer.
Unfortunately for him that didn't happen before Beast Boy reached him, shifting from hippo to gorilla in order to punch Watts in the face. Watts reeled back, hitting the wall and seeing stars as his feeble aura shattered, weakly holding up his arms, trying to protect himself from the no doubt deadly blow that would follow.
Just as Beast Boy was going to bring down a hammer blow to pulp Watts' head he staggered as a larger than average mech, specially made to protect its creator, sucker punched him in the side of the head. Beast Boy snarled as he turned to face the new threat, roaring in rage as he began to fight it, his target forgotten for the moment, much to the man's relief.
Hazel was intercepted by the Master Chief, who began to fire his SAW at him. Hazel roared and rushed him, not reacting to the shots thanks to his semblance, which kept him from feeling any pain. Seeing that he wasn't going to be able to take his enemy down with dust rounds before he reached him, Chief shifted his weapon into its war hammer form and swung. Hazel blocked the hit with his heavily muscled arm, electricity covering it and travelling along the weapon in an attempt to shock the super soldier, who didn't react thanks to his armor.
"Another of Ozpin's pawns that he's sent out to die." Hazel snarled. "You're going to regret ever following his orders."
Chief looked at his opponent cooly as he drew his weapon back. "I don't follow Ozpin's orders. And even if I did, I'm not going to listen to a man who works with his sister's killer."
"Ozpin killed my sister!" Hazel roared, abandoning reason in his rage and lashing out, just as Chief had expected. Using his enhanced strength the armored warrior swung his massive weapon with a single hand, keeping Hazel's attention from his offhand, which was drawing his UNSC sidearm. Then he shot his opponent in the thigh, which went unnoticed, followed by another shot to the gut, then another to the other leg.
Hazel continued fighting without reacting to the shots for several long minutes, simply doing his best to tear the Chief's head off with fire and lightning infused attacks. He was thus surprised when his legs went out from under him and he dropped to the floor. "Wha-?"
Chief stepped back and slung his warhammer over his shoulder before aiming his pistol at Hazel's head. Said man didn't notice, staring in shock at his lower body which was covered in blood streaming from the gunshot wounds. He obviously didn't have long to live if only due to blood loss. He looked up at the Chief, eyes full of confusion. "How? My aura...?"
"Piercing spell imbued in the bullets." Chief said simply before pulling the trigger, the shot blowing the back of Hazel's head out in a burst of gore. He then turned and joined the battle against the robots which just kept coming even as his opponent's body fell. As he did so he could hear the ghosts outside continuing to fight the Grimm as well.
As all of this was going on Harry made his way up the stairs to Salem, who watched him approach without a hint of worry. Which made sense to him, seeing as she was an immortal who had likely experienced every way there was to die and yet was still around.
He stopped in front of her, ignoring the sounds of combat. "I'm going to keep you from troubling this world any longer, Salem, one way or the other."
The monstrous woman raised an eyebrow as she slowly stood up. "I've heard that before…" With the speed of a striking serpent she launched a bolt of magical energy at him, intending to blow his chest open. She was surprised when Harry lifted his hand and a shield of dark energy appeared in front of him to block the shop.
Harry smiled at the look on her face. "You're not the only mage around, Salem." A ball of dark flame appeared in his upheld hand. "Now, do you want to get serious, or are you going to make this easy for me?"
Salem's eyes narrowed before she went on the attack.
What followed was a display of magical combat that would have awed most of the others in the room if they had been able to spare any attention to watch. Harry moved and dodged as he launched elemental attacks and transfigured the inevitable debris born of their clash into things that would attack his enemy.
Meanwhile, Salem stayed in place, barely moving as she shielded to block attacks and retaliated with elemental strikes of her own, as well as strikes of piercing energy at the things Harry'd animated to attack. Her magic was not as versatile as Harry's, but she obviously didn't lack in the power department.
Finally, seeing that he wasn't getting anywhere with his current approach, Harry rushed at Salem, right arm cocked back. His opponent launched an arrow of energy before she made a shield to block his path, but Harry reached out with a left hand glowing blue and curled into a claw, ripping through the shield with an application of pure power even as the arrow was stopped by his coat as it struck his shoulder, making Salem take a step back, eyes wide with surprise at the display. Her eyes went wider when his right hand reached up and grabbed her neck.
Harry grit his teeth as he met unexpected resistance to what he wanted to do, godly magic interfering with his first attempt, but finally he managed to pull his arm back, Salem's soul in his grip, her body dropping bonelessly to the ground.
"Mistress!" Tyrian screamed, eyes wide and horrified as he turned to see the woman he worshipped fall. He was so distracted that he didn't notice Lara slam one of her axes down on his head from behind, breaking through aura weakened by combat to bury itself in his brain even as Alice buried her own blade into his heart. He died instantly, his goddess' limp body the last thing he saw.
Watts's attention was also drawn to Salem upon hearing Tyrian's cry, so he didn't see the punch Beast Boy, who had just sent the robot he was fighting flying, launched at his head. His neck snapped from the impact even as his skull shattered when it hit the wall with massive force.
Beast Boy didn't bother looking to see what had gotten his opponent's attention just yet. Instead he shifted to human form and reached into Watts' pocket and pulled out his scroll, quickly opening it and turning on the network capabilities before tapping it with his own scroll, allowing Cortana access which she immediately used to shut down all the robots.
When the fighting stopped everybody caught their breaths before turning to see what was happening with Salem. What they saw brought several up short.
Unlike the previous times that Harry'd had a soul in his grasp, Salem's soul looked humanlike. The only indication that she wasn't a real person was her lack of any color and the fact that she was partly see through. She reached up to grab at the arm of the hand that held her ghostly neck in a tight grip. Hey eyes were wide with shock, and she was staring at Harry with fear that almost buried the glimmer of hope in her eyes.
"W-what?" Ren stuttered, his normal calm gone.
To those that didn't know he was able to do it, Harry's ability to remove a person's soul was disturbing in the extreme, and the Remnant natives all felt a chill go down their spines as they realized how horrifyingly dangerous the normally amiable young man was.
Harry gazed at the soul in his hand, studying her. "It's over, Salem. It's time for you to go onto your next great adventure."
Salem's eyes flared with hope at that, but then she looked resigned, like she didn't believe it would happen. Harry could understand why, because even as he held her he could feel the pull of her soul being drawn to its body, which was breathing softly, crimson and black eyes staring blankly at the ceiling.
Knowing that he wouldn't be able to send Salem's soul on without assistance he spoke softly. "Teleute, I need your help."
He knew his plea had been heard when several indrawn breaths were heard, along with the sounds of people shifting their weapons to aim at the newcomer that proceeded to speak from behind him. "Didn't I say we should avoid any heavy or sensitive topics the next time you summoned me?" Teleute said with mild amusement as she approached him.
"Harry, who is that?" Alice asked seriously as she watched but didn't approach. After all, this didn't seem to be one of the hunters that he'd arranged to summon before. Even Zwei looked tense as he stood by Ruby's side.
Harry glanced at his friends even as he continued holding Salem's soul. "This is my patron goddess, Alice. Her name is Teleute." He said simply.
The name meant nothing to most of the group, but Lara drew a sharp breath and gazed at the goth girl in shock, prompting a smile from her.
Cortana didn't hold her opinion back. "According to my archive, Teleute is an ancient Greek word for death."
Harry blinked. "Really? I didn't know that."
"Uh…" The Beacon teens glanced at each other uncertainly. "I don't know what's going on, but shouldn't we be more concerned that he says his patron is a goddess of death?" Weiss asked uncertainly.
"Don't worry, Miss Schnee, I'm not going to take your souls just because you're here. I only help the souls of those that die on to their next destination when it's their time."
Everybody there relaxed slightly at her words, relieved that they weren't all going to die right then and there. Chief spoke next, lowering the barrel of his SAW slightly so it wasn't aiming at Teleute. "I'm guessing she's here to help you deal with Salem?"
"Right." Seeing the confusion on the teens' faces Harry explained briefly. "It's a long story, but basically, Salem was cursed with immortality a long time ago. I can't make her truly die on my own because she's tied to her body with divine magic."
Teleute had been studying both Salem's soul and her body intently as Harry explained. "Hmm… Crude, but serviceable work… Harry, draw the Elder Wand then do as I say."
Harry summoned the wand as everyone watched, the audience not really following what was going on as Harry swiped and jabbed with the darkly glowing wand on Teleute's instruction.
Finally, whatever Harry and Teleute were doing finished, and Harry released Salem's ghostly throat. The spirit hung in the air for a moment, looking shocked, before it smiled as it vanished, eventually fading completely.
The throne room was silent for several long moments before Penny spoke. "Is it over?"
Teleute smiled at the girl. "Yes, Penny. Salem's soul is no longer on this plane of existence. You don't have to worry about her anymore."
The team slowly began to smile at each other, exhaustedly congratulating each other on the success of the operation.
Teleute turned to Harry as everybody relaxed and caught their breath, her eyes glinting. "I mean it, buster. Next time you summon me, it better be for some relaxation."
Harry gulped at the look in her eyes. "Yes ma'am."
The goth smiled, pleased, before disappearing from sight as if she'd never been there, prompting Harry to let out a tired sigh. "Alright people, catch your breaths for a moment, then we're leaving.
Everybody did as told, sitting down on the steps or leaning against the walls, relaxing for the first time after hours of non-stop combat. Nora outright flopped onto the marble tiled ground, her head in Ren's lap as she asked for pancakes.
All of them avoided looking at the corpses of their enemies.
Ruby moved away from where she and Yang sat petting Zwei to study the painting set against a wall, finding it odd that it was the only aesthetic touch in the otherwise bare room.
Getting closer she saw that it was a very realistic painting, looking more like a large photograph the more she studied it. It displayed what seemed to be an idyllic little country village at night, the full moon shining down on it and giving it an otherworldly quality. It was serene and beautiful, and Ruby imagined that she could see the leaves on the trees sway in the wind…
The young reaper's eyes narrowed. Now that she looked closer, she could see the leaves swaying in the wind as the breeze grew stronger. But this wasn't a screen, she could tell. The surface was more like that of a mirror. Entranced she reached out and touched the… whatever it was, only for her finger to pass through, letting her feel the cool night air of wherever it was that this thing led. She pulled her finger back with a gasp, staring in wonder. Taking a moment she caught her breath, rationalizing things to herself. She'd already accepted many other things since she'd left Beacon to chase Harry, such as ghosts and gods and immortal witches. Why was a mirror that led to someplace far away any more fantastical?
Satisfied with her reasoning she was about to turn and draw the others' attention to the mirror when movement in it caught her attention. Her mouth dropped in horror when she saw a large group of Grimm begin to approach the little village. Before she could react she saw a beowulf burst down a door and drag out a woman she could tell was screaming, even though no sound came through.
"Grimm are attacking that town!" Ruby yelled to the others as she hefted her weapon and dove through the mirror without a second thought, intent on saving the people being attacked.
"Ruby!?" Yang asked, her head having snapped to her sister upon hearing her call. Her jaw dropped when she saw the reaper dive through what she'd assumed was a painting and rush a group of Grimm. "Hey!" She yelped as Zwei launched himself out of her arms, the corgi chasing after his mistress, eager to help. "Wait for me!" She cried, getting up and chasing after them.
Seeing what was happening the other Remnant teens quickly got to their feet, chasing after the sisters.
"Wha-wait!" Beast Boy called, only to be ignored as one after the other the teens dove through the mirror in order to defend the town. "Goddammit…" Beast Boy growled before glancing at Harry, who nodded.
"We can't let them go wherever that is on their own." Harry sighed. "C'mon, let's hurry and drag them back to Beacon."
No more needed to be said, each member of the interdimensional travellers diving through the mirror. Harry, bringing up the rear, turned around once he'd gone through, utterly unsurprised that all there was on that end was a large stone. Hearing the sounds of screams and gunfire (though less than he expected) he put it out of his mind for now, rushing to follow the others and save as many people as possible.
I AM HERE!
I meant to have this up over a month ago, but several issues, including an illness and a freaking cancer scare, made writing rather difficult. However, we have finally made it to the end of the RWBY arc, and are ready to begin the next one.
Fore those confused by the mirror that led to the town there at the end, I teased that back when the team first arrived on Remnant. So I did not just (completely) pull it out of my ass.
I'd actually intended to have a confrontation with Remnant's gods over letting Salem finally die, but I reconsidered it when I couldn't think of a good way for it to go. I went with Teleute helping Harry deal with the 'amateurish' immortality instead.
Onto other things…
I'm guessing that, considering the strong reaction I got to the last chapter, you people want me to add Mister Wick to the team? That should be doable. Won't be till this world is done, though, since I already had the plans for this one set in stone. After that, though…
Since I continue to get questions about this, I already have a love interest lined up for Harry. She won't show up for a while, though. We have a couple of worlds left before we reach hers. Will she be his only love interest? I haven't decided, yet. It depends on how things develop. As for who she is? I'll give you a hint. One hundred and one.
One last thing to talk about. As I've reminded you all many times, I have a Pat A Ron. It's dotcom /athanmortis. If you donate then you get an amount of votes equal to the size of your donation that you can use to vote on what you want me to update next.
However, I'm doing something special this month. Since It's my one year anniversary on Pat A Ron, I'm doing two polls. One is the regular update poll, but the other is a poll for what new story out of the ideas I have rattling around my head you want me to post a first chapter for. You will get the same amount of votes for this poll as you do for the other one, so don't feel like you need to vote for one or the other.
The poll closes on August 5th, so feel free to let your voice known.
I do believe that's all I need to talk about. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Till next time, please review. Bye!