Chapter 41
Year 7 Month 0 Day 0
After the costly charge the strike team made it through the temple. Most of the strike team got separated after the main stairway was destroyed, making them go through the Black Fang forces. Oscar and Ruby were the first ones to make it to the top. Hazel was the only thing keeping them from the portal to Salem's Realm.
"It's been a long time, Ozpin."
"Hazel." Oscar said. Karel, Bora, and Weiss made it to the top floor, then Hazel snapped his finger, and a dark presence came across the room. Karel looked back and saw one of his troops smacking a barrier before their head exploded, then being thrown off the staircase.
"Looks like this is it. We've got to beat him before we move on." Karel said.
"That's not going to be so easy boy." Hazel said. He looked at his opponents and waited. He was just there to slow them down. Punishment for not wanting the complete destruction of life on Remnant.
"Be careful!" Oscar said holding the Long Memory out. Karel pulled out his blue lightsaber and got ready for the fight.
"Salem's currently destroying the kingdoms. She also sent Cinder to take out the hidden Sith." Hazel said.
"Hidden Sith?" Ruby asked.
"She goes by Noire Fleur nowadays. We know all about her. It's all thanks to you boy." He pointed to Karel.
"What?"
"Your mind interested our lady. She seems to think of you an uncontrollable piece on the board. So, she's spied on you, right up until you started getting that damnable water." Hazel said.
"Why are you telling us all this?" Weiss asked.
"That is a good question." He said. He looked out at the five warriors.
"I guess we didn't get Ashla's chosen." He shrugged.
"Why aren't you attacking us?" Bora asked.
"Are you so eager to die?" Hazel said. Karel stepped forward.
"I'm here wasting time." Hazel finished.
Noire saw the face of a woman who shouldn't have been here. While Cindy was young when she left that universe behind, she was here. She got in a defensive stance.
"I'm a Darth Siren! I command you to leave!" She said, standing on the front steps of the museum.
"You have no place in this universe or any other." Cinder said.
They didn't say anything for a moment, then Cinder took out her black and red blades. She charged forward at an intense speed. Siren blocked the attack, and sent a massive force wave at her, throwing up the gardens outside. If anyone didn't have a force shield up, they would have been killed. But she knew better than that.
A second later, Cinder was continuing her mad dash towards her. She threw her black saber at Siren, but she blocked it, sending it to the side. Cinder landed behind Siren and tried to spin around, but Siren brought her lightsaber to her back, saving her. She spun around and sent out a burst of force lightning. Cinder gasped and jumped in the air. The stair she was blown to pieces, leaving debris. Cinder reached her hand out and sent the sharps of rock towards Siren. She lifted a force shield as the shards turned to dust.
"You can't rely on magic here." Cinder said, standing on the top of a flagpole. She reached her hand out and grabbed her black blade. She jumped off the flagpole, cutting it the whole way down, and sent the shards towards Siren. Siren sent a force push, knocking the metal pieces away from her. She barely had time to jump out of the way of Cinder. She put away her black lightsaber for a moment and pulled out a shard of poison dust. Her Grimm arm extended to get Siren. She jumped and tried to crush the dust before it got to her. Cinder's shield wasn't enough to keep the dust intact, breaking it over neither of them, but creating a poisonous gas. Siren took off the jacket she was wearing and put away her Saberstaff. She took out her backup lightsaber, the red blade came out of it.
"I cannot die so easily." Siren said.
"It's better when they fight." Cinder said. The two ladies of the Sith rushed at each other. Cinder was a master of Form V and VII, which normally was used to great effect, but Siren was on a different league from most of her opponents. If she let up for even a second, she was dead. Only two other fighters on Remnant were at this point a match for Siren.
Siren's defenses were as a great durasteel wall. Every strike she blocked was done with maximum efficiency. She never went a millimeter wider than she needed, but she was more than a wall. Her parries and counters were enough to make Cinder cautious.
After Cinder broke off a lock, she sent in two Ursa Grimm. Siren threw her lightsaber into the chest of the first Grimm, then jumped at it before it disappeared and used the body to launch to the second Grimm, taking it out in a flicker.
Cinder used the few seconds of her free time to take out massive shards of dust. She used the force to put them in the air, and activated them, throwing the specific dust type at Siren. She dodged the fire, jumped over the ice, and blocked the lightning. She got thrown in the air with earth dust, then slammed into the ground with air dust. Cinder rushed to her to take advantage of knocking her off balance but was rewarded with a blast of Sith lightning.
Cinder was flung back, and Siren put away her lightsaber, crouching low to the ground. She brought her hand up and two dark side tendrils came up from the ground.
"You said I couldn't rely on my magic, but you forgot one thing. I am a Dark Lady of the Sith." The tendrils rushed at Cinder. She had to jump out of the way, and when she landed, she felt something ponce on her back, and she saw a metallic animal. She used her lightsaber to cut off the head of the alchemic monstrosity, then turned back. The tendrils were still rushing to her. Cinder looked at the tendrils and jumped in the air. She didn't know that Siren was a Sith sorceress. Salem only taught her the very basics on how to defend against them. She landed on the arch of the door and tossed a knife made of dust towards her. She flicked her hand, sending the knife to the side, but she was knocked off balance from the explosion, making one of the tendrils disappear. She jumped on the ground and slashed at the other. She found that her lightsaber went through the tendril. It grabbed her arm.
Cinder sent out a blast of force lightning at Siren. She let the tendril go and blocked the force lightning. Cinder took a step back, kicking Siren's mask. She stomped on it, breaking it, then sent the chards of the clay mask at Siren. She jumped in the air and landed with a roll. Cinder jumped back and threw her lightsaber at Siren. Siren rolled to the side and rushed at Cinder. She Only had the red lightsaber to fight with. She blocked the first hit, but Siren spun around, taking out her Saberstaff, making her must block that a second later. She spun the Saberstaff, and Cinder blocked the third strike. A fourth strike came towards her from the lightsaber, which she barely blocked. After the four strikes she stood with the two blades in her hands.
"This is my home now." She said.
"I won't lose to the likes of you!" Cinder said. She took out four vials of dust and tossed them at Siren. She barely had time to put up a force shield before the vials blew up, sending Siren flying. She tried to catch herself, but another the ground rushed up, throwing her again in the air. She used the force to straighten herself out in the air. She immediately had to cast another force shield when the massive blasts of ice, electric, and fire came at her. She was tossed even further away, and she was sent rolling in the snow. She slammed the Saberstaff blade into the ground and got back to her feet. She got up and felt her blood falling down her face. She dug deep, and felt a fire burst from her hands, rushing at Cinder. She tossed her hand in the sky, and the fire washed around her. She grabbed her black lightsaber and turned it back on.
Siren didn't know and couldn't tell if she was getting tired, but she had to admit, she was. It was so long ago since she last had a fight of this intensity, the fight with Karel that brought her here all those years ago. She thought of the lessons of Kadabra and from that roaming Jedi master. She took a breath and took in the lesson she learned from that Jedi. She used the simple Jedi technique to calm herself and study her opponent. She also used force heal to heal the minor wounds.
Cinder rushed forward, but to Siren she might as well have been in slow motion. What was the most important thing she needed to take care of?
She was a regular woman except for that arm. The arm was able to extend itself, and she learned from Karel that is was a Grimm that could steal the maiden powers somehow. It was bringing the Grimm to her location, as she saw ten large Grimm coming towards her. Maybe if she took out the Grimm arm, she'll let her guard down enough that she could land her killing blow. A tendril was too taxing to make, seeing how she struggled to make the two she did. Siren saw her jump in the air slowly and knew her target. If she could just take out that arm, she would be near defenseless. Then she looked at Cinder's eyes. They were dark red Sith eyes. Her defense was strong, which made Siren go through every technique that she could think of to chop that arm off with. She had a calm feeling and let go of the breath.
Cinder came crashing at Siren, attacking with her strongest attacks. She brought down heavy hitting attacks, but Siren was keeping up. The Grimm landed, which made Siren step back and send out a force wave. Cinder used the force to bring up her shield. It almost broke, but she withstood the wave. She rushed forward twisting her hand and lightsaber. Siren looked up and brought her hand backwards. Cinder used the last of her energy to get to Siren before she could counterattack. She watched as the lightsaber entered Siren. She let out gasp and looked at the lightsaber that impaled her. Her face twisted in pain, and Cinder smirked.
"I told you that you had no place here." She said smugly.
"Cindy…" She said, touching Cinder's face. She saw all the flashes of her memories and shook her head. She saw all the pains she went through, having her sister die, having her child stole, having her husband abandon her for another woman and moving on, having to kill the other love of her life, and all the pains of betrayal. What brought her back was a searing pain. While she was distracted, Siren cut off her Grimm arm completely. Her aura was completely depleted. She stumbled back, taking her lightsaber out of Siren. She was gasping for air, as she brought her lightsaber to her face. One second later and she would have died, but she wasn't fast enough to avoid all damage. The lightsaber ran across her face, including her eye. She let out a scream and opened the portal. Siren was as good as dead. She didn't have to wait to see her falling on the ground.
Siren saw the image of Cinder leave. She got hit good. In many vital areas. She gritted her teeth and started walking back to the museum. She summoned all her willpower to continue. A Grimm came to her, but she killed it with a single swipe of her lightsaber. The swing took a lot out of her. She put her hand on the wound and felt blood coming. While the lightsaber mostly cauterized the wound, it must not have gotten all of it. She looked back and saw a trail of blood. She felt a massive pain in her side and pressed on. She had to return to the Museum.
Her vision started to blur. She couldn't see the Grimm that were coming after her as the protector of Atlas was quickly destroying them. She just needed to get back to the museum. She dropped to one knee, but she could see the museum. It was just so close. She didn't know if she could make it until a pair of hands pulled her up.
"Take me to the museum." Siren said.
"I would recommend a hospital Ms. Fleur." Penny said.
"I won't make it. Nothing will change that." She finally got to the stairs of the museum.
"The director's room." Siren said, not being able to feel much. She should have died already, but she wasn't going to just yet.
Penny opened the door to the director's room and placed her on her chair.
Siren let out a sigh.
She saw a vision. She saw Karel, though she didn't know which one, standing by her, smiling. She saw all her friends from her world, and she saw them all at her museum. She saw Kadabra walking with Cindy, hand in hand. She saw her sister, and Bill there. She saw everyone that ever mattered to her all there.
"You made it." Karel said. She felt younger than she had in decades. Few people knew it, but she was at least sixty-five years old. She no longer felt the pain in her joints, and no longer felt the lines on her face. She saw Kione waving towards her, with Dracon, Lancelot waiting for her.
"I did." She saw everyone looking at her, smiling. She walked towards them, them all clapping for her.
She let out one final breath, with a smile on her face. Her body disappeared, leaving behind only her clothes. Penny stood there astonished and recorded it in her memory banks. She thought it would be interesting to see for the jedi. She had to return to her duty. Her siblings weren't going to be able to cover her section for her this time.
Monstra may have been the only large Grimm left in the battlefield, but it was the most devastating. It was able to shoot a laser like beam out of its body. It hit one of the navy ships, sinking it, and hitting an alliance ship, bringing it down. The ship survived the crash, but it was being swarmed by the Grimm.
"Ironwood, that thing can take out any of these ships!" Sym said.
"I understand that, but we need to stay in formation. The Colossus is doing its job."
"You could have fooled me." The Admiral said. Another laser went out and cut a battleship in two. A dozen bombers went flying towards it, but the ships were met with resistance.
"It's firing small scales at us when we approach!" The leader of the bombing squad said.
"How heavily damaged are you?" The admiral asked.
"We can't take that attack for long. Our shields have already taken a hit." He responded back.
"We need to weaken that thing. It seems more concentrated on these ships, but we can't afford to keep losing entire ships to one attack."
It didn't help that smaller Grimm were flying off Monstra, flying towards the bombers. Each bomber fired at them, any hit that landed was a kill. Two bombers were hit and were falling. The pilots of both ships went towards the Grimm, crashing into the monster.
Harriet was getting tired of this thing. It seemed to not take any damage from the attacks. It opened its mouth and massive amounts of liquid Grimm came out. That stuff was deadly, being able to dissolve most metals, including those used to make the Colossus. And on top of that, Grimm formed from it. The Liquid Grimm landed in the ocean, making aquatic Grimm that rushed the ships.
Marrow grabs the mouth of Monstra with Elm and Harriet firing cannon fire into its mouth. After a moment, it stopped, and spat out a massive amount of liquid Grimm, started to melt the Colossus. The Grimm started to grow at the ends of the cannons. Soon the Grimm ate through the cannon arm of Colossus.
"Hold open its mouth just a little longer." Harriet said to Marrow.
"I can't hold out for much longer." He said.
"I don't need you to." She said, she got the Colossus up and running.
"What are you doing?" Elm asked.
"Just what Vine did." She said as she jumped, the Colossus going into the mouth of the monster. It shook its head, throwing Elm off, knocking him into the water. Some water got in, but besides that and a bruised cracked rip, he was fine. There was screaming on Harriet's end, as she was going into the belly of the beast, its acidic liquid melting her only protection.
They heard a massive bang, and all at once knew that Harriet was no more, and so the Second Colossus was destroyed, but Monstra's stomach started to glow. It let out a cry, and a dozen of the lasers fired out, destroying six more ships, then opening its mouth, a massive fireball coming out from it. It seemed heavily damaged.
"The bomb's not gone off yet." Harriet's voice came out. "But it will in a few seconds. Brace yourselves."
Then an even larger explosion ripped Monstra in two. Then explosions rang out throughout the monster, mini explosions destroying what remained of the large Grimm. The waters shook, the ships were being thrown back and forth. Cordovin had to hold on tight to a rail to keep from being thrown into the sea. The giant Grimm came crashing down on the land, crushing several Grimm.
"It's dead!" Cordovin shouted.
Ironwood let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, but he realized that the cost of killing the three large Grimm was great. Thousands were killed in only a few moments.
"Sir, we got new Grimm in the air, they've taken out the sensor array from the Oculus." It was an alliance ship based off the designs from the star destroyer.
"What are they?"
"We've got reports that Teryx have landed and are attacking the ship's vital equipment. It seems that some of them have ripped open the bay doors and have entered the ship. Oculus is requesting to land." One of the deck officers said.
"Permission given." Ironwood said. Soon another situation arose. He knew that there was a reason he was the highest ranked general in the Alliance. He was the only one who could have handled this situation. But even with help from his semblance, he was still struggling to keep up with the demand.
Karel took a step forward.
"Don't think I don't remember you boy. And don't think that just because you are a Jedi that you can kill me." Hazel said. He just stood there.
Karel listened to the hum of his blade. A bead of sweat fell down his face. Then he rushed forward.
Hazel pulled out a large handful of dust and slammed it in his arms. His body became electrified. Karel jumped in the air, trying to open the fight with an Ataru opening, but he pulled out a pair of metallic gloves. When the lightsaber slammed into the gloves, he felt it short out. Karel put away his lightsaber and pulled out Oblivion and swung it around him. He blocked it with the gloves and pushed Karel back.
"You Jedi all fight the same. You rely too much on lightsabers." Hazel said.
Ruby fired a shot at Hazel, who took it.
"That won't do much to me girl. I've survived so much worse." He said. He charged forward, but an arm came out of the ground, grabbing his leg. He looked down at the arm, then got thrown into the pedestal. He got back up and cracked his knuckles. He circled his arms around his back, cracking some joints.
"That feels better." He rushed forward, much faster this time. Bora threw a flash grenade at Hazel, but he grabbed it and threw it behind him. She pulled out a vibroblade and her pistol, firing at him. He punched the bolts out of the air, then punched at her. She rose her vibroblade, which was shattered in two. She was flung back a few meters, falling on the ground. He went to stomp on her, but she activated her jetpack and barely avoided the boot. Karel sent a force push at him.
"Don't touch her." Karel said.
"I will fight you if that's preferable." He was faster than he thought possible. He vanished and appeared in front of him, punching him in the stomach. Karel spat on him, then grabbed his fist. Karel went for a strike with Oblivion, but Hazel brought his arm back. He grabbed Karel's arm, and face. He slammed Karel into a wall, then took out a knife. He kicked Ruby back who rushed to help him. Hazel put the knife to Karel's hand and cut it. The blade started to glow red. He dropped Karel who gritted his teeth. He thanked the force for his semblance, because if he didn't have it, he'd be dead. Hazel was a lot faster than he looked. And a lot faster than he was when they last fought.
Oscar's eyes glowed and he charged. Hazel blocked the series of punches and kicks. Karel knew that Oscar could hit a lot harder than someone thought he could. He was trying to help train him in hand-to-hand combat, but Karel ended up with a broken hand. Only thanks to lots of Bacta that Pyrrha helped make. But Hazel took every hit.
"She's dead because of us." Hazel said.
"Us?" Oscar said.
Hazel tensed up for a moment, then punched at Oscar. Suddenly, the dark room became a little lighter. Weiss put up the silent sphere. Hazel didn't say anything when he saw it, but he did get a hit in on Oscar. Oscar flew backwards into Ruby's arms. She wiped away the blood coming down his head, then took out her lightsaber.
Hazel turned to her ignoring Bora who fired a wrist rocket at him. He stumbled forward, but he was still able to catch Ruby's hands.
He turned off the lightsaber and tossed Ruby over his shoulder. Weiss cringed at the sound, then created an orb. She fired it at him, then slammed Silence into the ground. Glyphs surrounded Hazel, all of them launching ice shards at him. He punched at some of them, destroying some of the shards, and let others hit him. He didn't seem fazed at that. He looked at Weiss then rushed towards her. But he was kicked in the face by Karel out of nowhere. Before Karel could land, he grabbed Karel's leg, and slammed him into the ground. Karel held his hand out, then a blast of fire hit Hazel. After the fire died down, Hazel looked at Karel. He kicked Karel at Weiss. Karel smashed against her, taking her out of the silent sphere. The sphere died down. Karel let out a groan.
Bora launched a poison dart at Hazel, and it hit, but he just took it out and tossed it.
"That won't work. The Grimm blood kills poisons." He said.
Oscar rushed forward, jumping in the air behind Hazel, he kicked Hazel in the back of his head, then smacked him with his staff. Hazel stumbled forward.
"I'm sorry. I never should have let her go. I was a fool who led to this." Oscar said.
"I was there too. We both died that day, but I let the anger in my heart cloud my judgement. I wanted revenge, not justice. And Salem used that. Now, I'm little more than a puppet. All of us are. She can control any of us at any time." Hazel said. He looked around and his eyes turned black. He rushed forward and grabbed Oscar by the throat. He was about to kill Oscar when his arm burst into flames. Weiss had fired four shards of fire dust into his arm. He dropped Oscar and slammed that arm into a wall. His body started to turn red and when he took a deep breath, some fire came out of his mouth.
He looked at Weiss and shook his head.
"That's a bad idea girl." Weiss glared at him, then fired a ball of blue sound energy. When everyone saw it, they covered their ears, except for Hazel. It was the sounds of all the guns outside firing all at once. And Hazel felt all the pressure from each attack. Karel took out an aura detection device and threw it on Hazel. Shockingly his aura was still ninety percent there. Even with his ability actively making his aura weaken, and all the attacks. He might even be able to shrug off a lightsaber attack. The thought made Karel uneasy.
Yang worked with her mother in taking out the black fang troops in the spire. It was all that they could do now. Somehow, the entrance to the portal room had been locked away. She cut down a man who tried to shoot her, then she punched at a sniper, killing him before he could have taken out one of their people.
"We're pin down here!" She heard from in front of her. She had stayed back when the troops were starting to come to get an injured man to a safe location. Raven used her sword to cut an enemy mace wielder down. She used the force to push one of the enemies out of the door. They were high up, so he had no hope of surviving the fall.
"We're not in a good spot here either!" Raven yelled.
"Mom, we need to get up there. Where's Pyrrha?" She asked.
"She's bringing up the rear. After that lightshow we need her to be ready to take out Salem." Raven said. She ducked behind some cover, picking up an assault rifle, and took out a black fang troop coming towards them. But quickly the gun ran out of ammo, so she threw it away.
"Never trust a gun you find on the floor." She said.
"Isn't that obvious?"
"Summer always said to never trust a gun." She said. Raven turned into a raven and flew forward, changing back in front of three of them, and slashed them all.
The sound of a whip rang out, and Yang looked at the woman walking towards the oncoming fight with no concerns. A force sensitive jumped out, lightsaber in hand. In her other hand came a light whip. Yang had only heard about those, never seen them.
"Keep your head in the fight!" Ama said. She shook her head and got out of the cover. She and Raven rushed forward and slashed against a black fang troop.
There was an explosion further up, and Arin jumped back.
"Yang, they've got exploding Grimm." He said as a wolf Grimm jumped in front of Arin. He brought his lightsaber up, then waved his hand to the right, flinging the wolf out. It exploded in the air.
"Every one of them you kill you got to toss them aside." Arin said. Four more jumped at him, but a slash from the light whip cut all of them. Out of the ground came four small spears. Ama lowered her hand, then tossed the Grimm away.
"There's more Grimm coming!" Arin said. He took out a grenade and threw it, blowing the doors off the further hallway, and leaving a mark. A large spider Grimm slammed its arm on the ground and crawled forward. The troops fired at it, but it opened its mouth, spitting out small Grimm, each of them took the bullets for the large spider Grimm.
"That's disgusting." Raven said.
She rose her hand and fire rushed forward, avoiding all the people, and slamming into the spider. It screamed and spat out a ball of Grimm Liquid. It was flying at Yang faster than anyone could stop it, but her earrings started to shake, and the light burst forward, making the liquid dissipate. She smiled and fired a few more rounds at the Spider. It rose a leg and went to strike Yang, but the light whip wrapped around its arm. Ama pulled, and the leg split into pieces. The chunks became dust, when it let out a roar. A bolt of lightning rushed passed them, slamming into the Spider. The third sister stood there with the legendary sword in her hand. She took out the Grimm.
"We need to keep moving."
Roman Torchwick was working with his gangsters in Mistral finishing a purchase. He sold a Kyber crystal to an interested party. Of course, Vox and Sym would get their cuts, but he loved this job. He took a puff out of his cigar.
He heard the familiar noise of the dark portal being opened. He sighed as he turned around. Mercury and Emerald walked out.
"Oh, it's just the runts. Whaddaya want, drugs, dust, cash?" Roman said. He was in his very large personal office, which once used to be a mansion. It was his personal base of operations, which he made very fine, and filled with very expensive things. Paintings that were one of a kind, or so he told guests because he would be damned if he lost his real one of a kinds, fine furniture, fine drink, and fine architecture. Only the best for this criminal king.
"Lady Salem has asked that you return to her realm." Emerald said. Roman took a deep drag of his cigar and put out the ashes in his tray.
"Well, we got a problem there. You see I'm very busy today, so I'm going to have to take a rain check on that. Take a bottle from the top shelf back to say sorry." He said with a smile.
"Let me rephrase that, Salem demands you come see her." Mercury said. Roman nodded his head and tapped his cane. He'd done it before in front of him whenever he was thinking, but this time it was a signal. He had a hundred of the greatest gangsters looking down at Emerald and Mercury. Neo was also just a moment away.
"You see, I'm a smart man, and I ran the numbers. If I follow you, I'm gonna die. If I stay here, I don't die, and I get to stay rich. So, I gotta say no." Roman said, puffing on his cigar again.
"She said you might try to rebel against her, and if you do, we were told to take care of you." Mercury said.
"Rebel? No, you're looking at this all wrong. I'm not rebelling, I'm just at a new job. One that had many benefits. So, if you two just go on and tell her that I'm under new management that would be great. Portal's that away, happy trails kiddos." He pointed to the portals with his cane.
Mercury put on his assassin's mask. Roman took out the cigar and stomped on it.
"Last chance to walk away from this." Roman said, in an insidious voice.
"We were going to say the same thing." Emerald said, pointing her guns at him.
Mercury was the first to move and kicked at Roman. Neo jumped in front of them, then the image shattered into glass shards. Roman brought his can around, and smacked Mercury in the mask. He stumbled back and shook his head. Emerald fired, but as soon as she did, the hundred gangsters came into view and started firing at them. They had to jump behind come of the expensive furniture. Ten black fang troops came out of the portal before it closed. They fired at the gangsters, making many of them duck and fire at them. Roman and Neo were behind on of the many pillars in his office space.
Neo gave him a look.
"What? I was polite." He said. She smirked and took out a pistol filled with poison dust bullets. The lights came on, revealing the massive space. Neo fired at two of the black fang troops. The first one was hit, and the second grabbed the first to take the second hit.
"We just need to take out those stupid kids." Roman said. Neo pointed at a couch that they were hiding behind, firing at the gangsters. He pulled out a second cigar, and a cigarette for Neo. He pulled out a shard of fire dust to light both, then he threw it. One of the black fang troops shot it as he threw it, activating the dust and a wall of fire came raining down of them. Two of the black fang got caught in the fire, but the others got out of the way. Roman knew he already lost a few of his men and chuckled.
"Worth every cent."
Emerald left cover and fired at two of the gangsters, watching them drop.
"You got a plan yet Merc?" She asked.
"Our back up's not doing to well. We already lost three of them." He ignored the question. He took out a sonic grenade and tossed it at the gangsters. He and Emerald covered their ears. The sonic grenade caused a large section of the gangsters to drop, holding their ears. The black fang rushed forward and took out those gangsters that were covering their ears. But two more of the black fang fell from the gangsters on the other sides.
"Looks like we got some of them." Mercury said.
Roman shook his head when he saw his men getting gunned down. A waste of money, every one of them. He fired at two of the five remaining black fang, killing them. The three rushed at the gangsters, jumping in crowds of them, exploding.
"Holy sh-" Before the gangster could finish the second black fang troop jumped on him and followed the first. Roman saw an arm come flying towards him.
"I really didn't think I'd see that today." He said. The third Black Fang exploded taking out more gangsters. Those who were still alive ran away.
"Finally, it's just us." Emerald said, getting up from her hiding spot.
"You know, we can just walk away from this. You just need to turn around and never see me again." Torchwick said.
"That's not going to happen." Mercury said.
"Don't say I didn't give you a chance to walk away."
He said leaving cover with Neo. He saw the brats who barged into his office and tore it apart. He brought his cane up and fired at Emerald. She fired at him while rolling to the side. He watched as the bullets harmlessly fell to the ground and he laughed.
"You ever heard about energy shields? Bet you haven't. It's a wonder what that galaxy next door can make. No bullet can get through this shield." He said. He didn't tell them where he was wearing the battery back, or how long it lasted.
Mercury ran forward, his kick caught by Neo's sword. She waved her finger at him, then pushed him forward. She spun under his leg and went to bring her sword up through him when Emerald fired at her. She opened the umbrella and blocked the bullets. She rushed forward, dodging all the slashes from her weapons with ease. Emerald overextended which let Neo grab her arm, then kicked Emerald, sending her back with a kick to the abdomen. Mercury kicked at Neo, but the illusion broke, and when he turned around, Neo was in front of him, and she fired a shot at him. It shattered the mask and sent him flying. His hand caught the floor, and he got in a position to get up when Roman started firing at him. The dust bullets made him dodge without giving him a second of reprieve. Mercury fired at Neo, while she was moving towards her. Neo rolled her eyes as she blocked the shots until she jumped over her. Neo went to slash at Emerald, but it was an illusion. Her eyes opened wide, and she turned around barely a second before Emerald shot her. Neo quickly rose her umbrella, making the shots miss then she punched Emerald. Her hit was harder than Emerald thought it was going to be, but she took it. Emerald brought down her weapon, slashing against Neo's shoulder. She twisted to the side and kicked Emerald knocking her back.
"Neo!" Roman said. She turned around and met Mercury's kick with her own, twisting her umbrella over to Mercury before either of them could put their legs down. She fired on him. She smirked when she stepped forward. Emerald shot her while she was turned around. Her aura became visible. Roman fired at Emerald, hitting her weapon away. She took out a throwing knife and tossed it at Roman. He took off his hat as the knife slammed into it. Emerald jumped and grabbed her weapon again. Roman took out the knife and threw it behind him.
"That's my favorite hat." He said, as he took out vials of dust. He tossed them and shot one of them. The explosion caused all the vials to explode towards Emerald. She couldn't dodge so she rose her aura. The wave of dust slammed into her, nearly breaking her aura, and she felt blood in her mouth. She emptied the magazines in her weapons and tossed two dust bullet cartridges in the air, slamming her weapons into them, and loading them in only a moment. She started firing the dust bullets at Roman. Each bullet that hit his shield made it weaker, and he felt the generator starting to get hot.
"That burns dammit!" He said as he got behind a pillar. He took off the shield pack and slid an unstable shard of ice dust at Emerald. He fired at her, making her go on the defensive. She rolled to the side to hide behind a couch before the unstable dust exploded. The giant ice shard made Neo and Mercury stop the attacks for a second. Neo took out the cigarette and tossed it.
"You got to get over here to get another." Roman said. Neo gave him a look and he sighed. He took out a cigarette and tossed it at her. She grabbed it and put it in her mouth, waiting her a bullet to fire to light it. Emerald saw the cigarette and got angry she fired at Neo, who put her cigarette in the air, letting the bullet hit it, lighting the cigarette. She tilted her hat at her and smirked. Emerald was breathing heavily, and she knew Mercury wasn't doing to much better.
"Can we go without killing them?" Emerald asked.
"I think she'd know." Mercury said.
"But we're not undead. Perhaps…"
"Are you asking for a job right now?" Roman said laughing.
"Merc?"
"Why are you asking me to figure this one out?" He said. He groaned then slammed a knife into the table he was next to.
"If worst comes to worst, we can steal a ship and leave the planet." Mercury said.
"I wasn't really expecting this, but hey, what harm is it to have these two?" He asked Neo. She gave him a look.
"You guys won't betray us?"
"The other option is dying, so no." Emerald said.
"Then you're hired! First thing's first, that battle's going on now, right?" Roman asked.
"Yes. They took out the big three Grimm." Emerald said.
"And that's why I refused to see that whore." Neo gave him a glare.
"I know, language."
Hazel kept the fight up, taking a lot of damage from the dust he slammed in his arms. He kept the fight going, throwing Karel into Bora, both slamming into the wall. The Schnee sent more sound blasts at him, doing more damage than the others. He brought his arms up and shrugged of the sound blasts with difficulty. He looked around trying to find the Rose girl, but she seemed to disappear. He turned around and after he did, he felt a burning sensation, seeing a lightsaber blade stabbing him. He grunted then backhanded the Rose girl. She flew a few meters away, and he looked down at the aura detection device, he lost more than half of his aura with in a second. It was in the red.
"You survived that?" Karel asked.
"I can't die so easily." He said. Bora sent four more wrist rockets at him. He took the hits, along with the sound blasts, and was backed up to the door. He heard the shattering of the device, but he knew it was only a matter of time at this point before he was dead. Karel got up and rushed forward. He tried to slash him with Oblivion, but he caught it. He couldn't stop the blue lightsaber as it slashed across him. Everyone heard his aura shatter. He kicked Karel back, but he wasn't done yet. Hazel took out the dust shards and threw them at the Schnee girl, making her fall back. His eyes turned to Ozpin when he saw the boy open his hands, and the siren sphere break, and all the trapped magical energy rushed him. He felt Salem try to make him move out of the way, but he fought it. He was tossed against the portal wall, and he fell to the ground. He felt a lot of pain, looking down to see a massive hole in him.
He coughed up blood, covering the floor with his blood. He saw Ozpin running to him. He could no longer feel his hands or legs. He dropped the glowing dagger and started to feel his body begin to disappear.
"We shared a vision, Salem and me. She told me all about how she wanted there to be no more kingdoms, no more huntsmen. It was all a lie. But by the time I found out I was already like this. She promised me I'd get revenge and see Gretchen again. Maybe I will. Take the dagger and place it in the pedestal. Karel there paid the price already." He coughed up more blood, then looked right in Ozpin's eyes.
"No more Gretchens boy. Go, do what she would have done." His body faded, leaving behind nothing. Oscar took a second and kissed the cross necklace that Ruby gave him.
"I swear to you. No more."
The troops started to rush up to the portal room.
"Oscar, now's the time." Karel said.
He nodded and got up. He went to the pedestal and put all fifty of the Siren Spheres in place slowly. He heard gun fires lessen.
"You have to tell her now." Karel said.
Yang slammed her lightsaber into the head of a Grimm, and realized they were at the top. They cleared out the entire spire, with heavy casualties. They lost about half of the forces they brought with them. Yang saw all Octavia Ember, Bolin Hori, Nolan Porfirio dead. She also saw many of the troops dead. She knew that there were others dead. She got to the final door and opened it, seeing a lever. She flipped it, and a massive walkway went to the stairs. When it got to the stairs, the walkway expanded and created another set of stairs going all the way up. Both sides lowered the levers all at once, both sides came together. They didn't look at the numbers they lost, and they went up the staircase.
"Everyone's here now." Oscar said. Everyone looked at the near ruined room, and the exhausted fighters.
"Oscar."
"I know Karel. Ruby there's something I have to tell you." Oscar said.
"What is it?"
"I'm… going to die." Oscar said, as he plunged the dagger into the pedestal. The portal started to shake, and the stone turned to darkness.
"What do you mean?" She asked concerned.
"Once I place my hand on this pedestal, it will absorb the last of the magic I stored up. I won't have any way to come back after today. I'm never going to come back." Oscar said. The siren spheres started to glow.
"What!?" Ruby asked. "You can't go!"
"That's right, we're not going to let you die here. Tell us how to save you!" Yang yelled.
"Once my hand touches this pedestal, it will absorb the remaining magic I have. Over these thousands of years, I've always come back. I've lived more lives than anyone like me deserves. My hands are covered in blood. I can' ever wash the blood off. I can never shed all the sins I've committed though all these years. Look at all I've done. I've lead to so many lives being destroyed because I couldn't stop Salem when I had the chance. So, I've lived this endless tormented life. I always came back because of my Magic. But after I open that portal, that's going to be gone. I can't come back." Oscar said. He couldn't look at Ruby. He closed his eyes.
"There has to be another way." Jaune said.
"Like what? Letting one of you touch the pedestal? If any of you do that, you'll open the portal, but you'll die." Oscar said. He looked out at his friends and saw his hand shaking. He grabbed it and put his head down.
"I'm just a coward." Oscar said. He felt the tears come. He slammed his fist against the ground.
"DAMN YOU ASHLA! DAMN YOU BOGAN! DAMN YOU BOTH!" He slammed the ground till he felt Ruby's hands on him. He felt all the sadness come out. All the sadness, rage, and fear from all his lives were coming out in front of everyone. He raged against death itself, cursing it.
"The coward shows himself. This is what the mighty Ozma has become. A weak sniveling boy cursing the Gods he works for. This is the true face of Ozma. Look at it." Salem said. Pyrrha stepped forward and rose her hand. In the shadows, the image of Salem appeared.
"I see the whore of Ashla is here. And she had a pathetic army behind her. Ozma can't help you now. He's become inconsolable. The poor boy." She said in a mocking tone.
"I command you to return to your realm." Pyrrha said, holding out her hand. Salem brought her hands up and vanished.
"Ozma?"
"It was the name of his first life." Ruby said, holding Oscar.
Everyone looked at Oscar letting out thousands of years of pent-up emotions. Neptune looked back at his life. He knew loss, but he had no idea about the kind of loss that Oscar knew. Oscar deserved to live. After everything he went through, and all his past lives to give the safe life they had now, he deserved to live. He had people who cared about him, who loved him.
He took off his goggles and looked at Weiss.
She looked back at him, then he handed her his goggles. She looked at them confused then he kissed her. She was shocked but continued it.
"I'm sorry. But he deserves better." Neptune said.
"What?" Weiss asked. He gave her a smile, then dropped his weapon. Sun looked at him when he tossed Sun his lucky emblem.
Neptune ran forward and placed his arm on the pedestal. Oscar looked up and saw him, stretching his arm out. Ruby held onto him, keeping him from reaching at the Pedestal. Sun was stopped by a stormtrooper. He struggled to keep Sun from running towards Neptune. Blake had to hold Sun back with the stormtrooper.
As Neptune placed his hand down on the pedestal, he felt his heart stop. But he was still alive. He felt pain rush through him as it seemed his very being was being ripped from him. He thought of the sacrifices made by everyone thought out this war. He felt all his organs shut off. He felt his nervous system turn off. He felt in the split second between touching the pedestal and his death everything.
"Neptune Vasilias." He heard the voice call out to him.
"Who is it?"
"I am Ashla." He turned and saw the visage of pure light. "My return is at hand. Your name will be remembered forever for your sacrifice."
Neptune's body fell to the ground, his arm was near charcoal. Oscar let out a scream, as did Sun. Weiss couldn't believe what just happened.
The portal made a noise, and all the stone was gone. The dark image became clear, and the dark realm was in view.
Oscar stood up and moved Neptune's body. He closed Neptune's eyes.
"I'm sorry. I was a coward." He took in a deep breath and wiped his eyes. Sun wrapped his arms around Neptune's head, holding onto him.
"Come back." He said, rocking him back and forth.
Oscar slammed his cane in the ground, releasing the magic hidden inside it. The magic surged to the portal door and circled it.
"I will need to put my hand on the pedestal to keep the portal open. I will lose all my magic, but I won't die after this. You all need to go in once I place my hand down. This is where the challenge truly begins." Oscar said, wiping away another tear. More troops were on their way up at that moment. Oscar put his hand on the pedestal and felt the shock. He saw everyone, including Sun after taking time to wipe away tears rush into the portal.
Karel stepped foot in the dark realm and saw the jewelry glowing. Pyrrha glowed brightly as she stepped into the dark realm.
"Be careful. We are in Salem's territory now. We are at the disadvantage here." Pyrrha said.
Oscar was in the portal room, holding the portal open.
"You lied to Hazel. So soon after his death and you lied to him. You let someone else die for you." Salem said. Oscar looked at Neptune.
"I was a coward. I've always been a coward, but this is the only way I can repent." Oscar said.
"By letting others die for you?" Salem asked.
"I will always be guilty of not stopping him. I will have to live the rest of my life knowing that he died because I was scared." Oscar said.
"You know none of this would have happened if you just stayed with me." Salem said.
"I loved you once. I let that love cloud me from seeing the monster you'd become. You enjoyed killing. You enjoyed waging war. You enjoyed every dark thing someone could do. You became a monster, but I could only see the woman I loved. And then you've stolen the bodies of so many women. You stole the body of that Jedi all those years ago. You killed almost all the Jedi. But because you didn't, they've come to your realm." Oscar said.
"And you brought them right where I want them. You were never good at chess. You always failed to play it correctly. Now you don't even see that you have been beaten. You've thrown away so many pieces that you've left yourself wide open." Salem said. Oscar smiled.
"You did always win, but what you have failed to see now is that I am not the one who's been left wide open." Oscar said, seeing the chessboard in his head.
"What do you mean?" Salem said.
"At the start of every school year I sent my students out to collect relics from the emerald forest. These relics were always chess pieces."
"Have you not listened to a thing I have said, I always won." Salem said fiercely.
"You may have won on the regular board, but what you've always failed to see is that this is no longer a regular board. And I don't play with pieces. You've never understood humanity. In the thousands of years that you've had to learn you passed every opportunity up. You never once learned why we cannot be beaten by you or your ilk. You never learned what all humanity has in common." Oscar said, sounding like Ozpin.
"Are you going to say that your minds will save you? Your power? Your craftiness?" Salem said. "None of these will be enough to stop me. No matter how many of you sacrifice yourselves to this pointless crusade against me, you will fail. You were never able to win, and honestly, it's getting to be sad watching the childish actions of this desperate coalition you brought against me. As soon as I kill that child of light, and take the other relics, the gods will come back and destroy this planet. You cannot win." Salem said.
"That is where you are wrong Salem. Like I was saying, humanity has one thing that will make this battle an assured victory for the forces of light. We have something that you have considered weakness but is our greatest strength. It is stronger than hope, stronger than any one person. What we have that you can never take away from us."
Oscar saw the chessboard in his head, and he saw himself sitting across from Salem. She had all but one piece taken. She laughed.
"What pathetic weapon do you have?" Salem asked.
"Will." Oscar said and waved his hand over the board. The board changed on his side, becoming larger, and parts of it were lifted in the air. The board filled up, each space with a white piece, hundreds of millions of white pieces appeared all around them. Salem gritted her teeth, and summoned all her black pieces, so many of them being pawns, and looked at Oscar.
"Then let's test out this Will of yours and see which is stronger, your will or my might!"
Author's Notes: And that's another chapter done. Siren's story has finally been closed. For those of you who don't know, Siren is from my crossover fanfic with SonicXBen called Heart of Death. A Harry Potter X Star Wars fanfic. Just look on my page to find it easily.
We've finally got the team into Salem's realm. And the final battles are happening so soon. Thanks for being here for so long.
Please Review
May the Force be With You
-DragonZlayerX12
