The Wyvern flew past the hijacked Atlesian Airship, as Ruby and Bayonetta looks on, with the surrounding Griffons roaming the skies. A pair of Griffons landed on the airship, but Ruby easily cut the first one down with Crescent Rose, while Bayonetta stabbed the second one in the neck with one of Rakshasa and using the other one in shotgun form to repeatedly blast the Griffon in the chest, killing it causing them to disintegrate into black particles.
But suddenly, the two of them heard the doors to the ship open and watched as Terumi stepped out, glaring at the two of them. "Oh, you can not be serious! A guy just can't have any fun around here!" Terumi snapped as he now faced the two sisters.
"You." Bayonetta said.
"You know him?" Ruby asked.
"Not personally, but he fought Dante and Ryu at the docks the night we stopped the dust robbery at docks." Bayonetta explained.
"Yeah! And you bitches cost us Torchwick! He was supposed to be the one to take over the ship here once his girlfriend broke him out, but she broke him out early and they went AWOL! Who knows what they're doing now." Terumi snapped.
Meanwhile, in the city of Vale, Torchwick and Neo had robbed a bank and were loading up Celty's getaway car as the older mute fended off the Grimm. After slicing an Ursa in half, Celty clenched her fist and glared back at Neo, quickly typing up a message on her Scroll. [NEO! You said you two were done with crime!] Her angry message read.
Neo shrugged, pulling out her own Scroll and typing up a message. [I said we'd take it easy for a while.] Her message read as Neo tilted her head to the side and stuck her tongue out a bit.
"Hey, ladies! Maybe a little less arguing, a little more looting!" Roman reminded them, putting a few more bags of Lien in the car.
Celty facepalmed at this. [I swear, you do NOT deserve my sister.] She typed and showed her message, Neo pouting and Torchwick growling.
"Oh, come on! No need to lose your head over this!" Roman snapped before the elder mute knocked him out with the back end of her scythe, throwing him into the back with the Lien and Neo into the passengers seat, before Celty herself got in the car and sped off.
But what they didn't know was that they were being watched from a nearby rooftop by Izaya as he observed the chaos all around the city. "My, my. What a show, indeed. They certainly kept their promise..." He said with a smirk, flinging a knife into a Beowulf's head as it tried to climb the building and reach him.
Back on the ship, the sisters and Terumi were alerted when Juri stepped out of the ship as well. "But luckily we still made it work. And it's gonna keep working, no matter what you heroes do." She taunted.
"Why don't we test that theory?" Bayonetta said, her and Ruby drawing their weapons as Terumi and Juri readied themselves, Terumi activating his aura-draining barrier and Juri's eye flashing.
Right outside of Beacon's dining hall, Blake backed away from the shattered window, staring in horror at her old partner.
"Running away again? Is that what you've become, Blake? A coward?" Adam demanded.
"Why are you doing this?" Blake asked.
"You and I were going to change the world, remember? We were destined to light the fires of revolution!" He ranted, before he drew his sword and prepared to stab an Atlas student in the chest. "Consider this... a spark." He said.
Blake charged into the dining hall, drawing her sword in a flash. Her blade clashed with his as she pushed him away from the student and they stood with their blades locked. "I'm... not... running." She said determinedly.
"You... will." Adam said ominously. He kicked her away, knocking her onto the floor. A nearby Creep ran toward her, only to be shot by Adam. "But not before you suffer for your betrayal." He promised as he smiled and began walking toward her.
Back outside the Beacon grounds, Velvet groaned as she struggled to get up, only to get knocked back down when Coco bumped into her after getting knocked away from a Paladin off-screen. The camera panned with Neon and Reese as they dodged and weaved between groups of students fighting against the infected Atlesian Knights and Paladins. Yatsuhashi was seen fighting a Griffon while Flynt used his trumpet to hold back a Paladin. Ryu was surrounded by knights, but used the Art of Ice Storm Ninpo to launch them into the air, getting ripped apart by freezing winds and dozens of razor-sharp ice chunks.
Penny rushed through a crowd of Knights, swinging her swords back and forth, cleaving them in twain. Genos was incinerating a Paladin. Dante played an amazing rift of Nevan, sending bolts of electricity shooting out and shot circuiting more Knights. Kratos flung his spear through a line of Knights. Nu launched her swords into a Paladin's head, pulling them back and using them to cut the Paladin's feet out from under it. Weiss then arrived on the battlefield, but got knocked back another Paladin.
"Weiss!" Neptune called, reaching his hand out.
"Sis!" Dante shouted, running to her side. "Come on, you gotta get up. We need you out here." He said, slowly getting her back to her feet.
Yatsuhashi tried to hold back a Paladin's fist with his sword, but he got knocked back. The Paladin then turned to and started approaching a distracted Lie Ren.
"Look out!" Nora cried as she pushed Ren out of the way of the Paladin's incoming strike, taking the hit instead.
"Nora! No!" Ren yelled as he reached out to her, but got knocked back by the Paladin too.
Ryu watched in horror as his childhood friends were hit by the massive robots. "Nora... Ren... I cannot allow this!" He shouted, rushing in with Dabilahro, slashing horizontally back and forth, taking the first paladin's legs out from under it, before a downward slash hacked it in half. The next one came at him, but an upward swing took off the mech's right arm and leg, the massive sword pulling Ryu into the air, allowing him to aim it down and drive it into the cockpit. More Paladins were still advancing, however and before Ryu could attack them, a blue of black and gold suddenly slammed into him, vanishing with him into the tree line.
"Ryu!" Dante shouted.
"No!" Kratos shouted, hurrying after Ryu.
Dante was about to follow as well, before looking back to his friends and sister, then to the paladins, trying to decide what he should do.
Fortunately, the decision was made for him as Weiss put a hand on his back. "Go. We'll hold them off here!" She said.
"You sure?" He asked.
She nodded and smiled determinedly. "We'll be fine." She told him.
"Alright. Stay safe. All of you." Dante said, before running after his teammate.
The figure that had slammed into Ryu came to a stop, Ryu dropping to the ground and rolling a few times, before glaring up at his attacker, his eyes widening in shock and disbelief. "Thought you'd seen the last of me, did you, Hayabusa!" The figure demanded.
"Dio..." Ryu seethed as he got up, looking at the monster he thought he killed on the train. It was indeed, Dio Brando. Or rather, his head, attached to what looked like the body of a Beringel. "How?" He asked.
"Salem's powers are truly incredible. While it doesn't please me to have my beautiful self attached to the body of this monstrosity, it is a far cry from the pits of hell. And, let us not forget you are the reason for the state I now find myself in! So now you will pay for it!" Dio shouted.
"You've already dodged the pits of hell once. I won't allow you to do so again!" Ryu shouted, rushing in and using the Flying Swallow technique in an attempt to decapitate Dio, but The World appeared and blocked the blade.
"Pathetic! You're nothing but prey to me! Time to be devoured!" Dio shouted, The World pulling its fist back, slamming it into Ryu, who managed to block it, but was still sent skidding back several feet, panting decently. (Perfect. It's as the broker told us.) Dio smirked.
Flashback...
"These revived are becoming a problem. They are at the very least our equals. If we can't figure out their weaknesses, they may very well be able to stop us, perhaps even prevent the Fall of Beacon." Azula said.
"The plan cannot be allowed to fail. The Revived cannot be allowed to stop it. We must find out their weaknesses." Medusa agreed.
Dio approached them with his new Beringel body. "And when we find out how to defeat them, I, Dio, shall crush them all under heel like the ants they are!" He roared.
"You're in luck. I found a guy who knows just about everything about just about everyone." Terumi said, placing his Scroll on the table, the villains gathering around.
"Hello?" Izaya's voice came over the other line.
"And who are you supposed to be? Some master assassin who knows how defeat everyone?" Azula asked.
Izaya chuckled. "Oh, no. Nothing like that. I'm just a simple information broker." He explained.
"I see. Still, information is power, so what information do you have on Team SCRN of Beacon. Any weaknesses in particular?" Medusa demanded.
"Ah, yes. One of my favorite teams. They're all quite powerful. You could spend days looking and be hard pressed to find a weakness for any one of them. However, if you look close enough, you'll still find it." Izaya said ominously.
"Oh, really? Then what have you found?" Dio demanded.
"Ryu Hayabusa. Easily the fastest and most skilled of the four. Unfortunately, he seems to have the lowest stamina of them all. Drag out a fight for two long and he won't be able to do much more than defend himself. Dante Schnee. He and Bayonetta, or Cereza Xiao Long, are easily tied for being the most unpredictable members of the team. However, his arrogance may often come back to bite him with how often he drops his guard. As for Bayonetta, impressive as she is with that semblance of hers, she tends to over-rely on it. If you had someone who could possibly negate semblances, I'd say she'd be in for a bad time." Izaya explained.
"Interesting..." Terumi said.
"And lastly, my favorite. The champion of Mistral along with his sister, Kratos Nikos. With strength that can almost surpass any Grimm, but this strength is a double-edged sword, as this extra strength costs him speed and accuracy and when blinded by rage, he gains a one track mind and may be the most predictable fighter you've ever seen. And as long as you can stay out of the way of his attacks, you've basically won." The broker finished.
"Really? Well, this has all been very fascinating, but tell me, if you're such big fans of them, why tell us and betray them. Even risk their deaths?" Azula asked.
"To see how they'll react. You see, I love humans. Seeing them put in all different kinds of situations is so fascinating. And whatever situation you have planned is sure to be exhilarating. And I can't wait to see what you all do." Izaya explained.
Dio grew a wide, menacing smirk at this. "Then prepare for a show." He told the broker.
End Flashback...
"You've reached your limit, Hayabusa! Now, your head will be my trophy!" Dio roared, The World attacking Ryu, who did his best to dodge or counter, but he found himself able to do little more than that.
With the last bit of his strength, Ryu forced The World back and put all of his energy into one last burst, an upward slash cutting deeply into The World and launching it into the air, Ryu flying into the air along with it, before vanishing, reappearing to the side of the Stand and flying past, slicing the construct as he did so, before repeating the action eight more times and reappearing above the golden monster and hacking his sword down on it, slamming it into the ground and cutting it deeply.
The World vanished back to its master and all of the cuts appeared on Dio's body, blood spraying from them and causing Dio to cough up a large amount of blood as well, causing him to growl, before smirking. "One last-ditch effort to attempt to defeat me? Impressive. Your tenacity truly must be admired. But this is the end! I am still alive and you can no longer even stand!" Dio taunted as Ryu was completely out of energy, down on one knee and supporting himself with the Dragon Sword, panting heavily.
"Damn you... Dio..." Ryu cursed.
"This battle is mine!" Dio shouted, sending The World out once again, the golden beast throwing a massive haymaker at Ryu, slamming into his face and sending him flying back, a black ripple over his body indicating his aura was now gone. He skidded back a few feet, coming to a stop, before The World appeared above him and slammed its fist into his stomach, causing him to cough up blood as well. "You truly were an admirable opponent, Ryu Hayabusa. To show my respect, I will not grant you a painless death!" He said, preparing to finish Ryu, before sensing something behind him. "The World!" He announced.
Time froze and Dio turned just in time to see the Blades of Chaos less than an inch from his head. And not too far behind them, Dante was rushing forward with Rebellion. "Well, that could've been a nasty shave. Though, how convenient, you've come to me. Now I no longer have to hunt you-" Dio started, before a glyph suddenly appeared beneath Dante and the Schnee boy began to move again, sliding forward and slamming into Dio. The monster slid back, glaring at Dante. "Damn you! I forgot your glyphs can now even counter The World's power!" He snapped.
"That's right. No time resumes." Dante said.
Time did indeed restart and Kratos charged up beside Dante. "Dio! You've become even more of a monster! Regardless, you shall pay for what you did to Ryu!" He snapped.
Dio growled at this. (Damn. The ninja was able to considerably damage The World. And against these two, my remaining aura surely won't last. I've gotten my revenge for now. That will have to be sufficient.) He thought. "You have more pressing matter to worry about than me! I shall retreat for now, but you will never stop the fall of Beacon!" He declared, flying away with The World.
"Coward!" Kratos snapped.
"He's right, though. We'll worry about him later. You get Ryu back to the others. I'll look for anyone else who needs help." Dante said, hurrying ahead as Kratos collected Ryu and carried him back to the others.
Bayonetta rushed forward, activating Witch Time. She was going to hit Juri with a flying kick, but she passed through Terumi's barrier, draining her aura and deactivating her semblance, allowing Juri to have time to react and counter the kick, knocking Bayonetta back to Ruby. "Sis!" She shouted, before glaring at them, firing at them with Crescent Rose, but the two dodged the shots as they rushed in, Terumi closing the distance and using his knives to deflect the sniper scythe and allowing Juri to hit Ruby with an energy wave from her leg, knocking her back.
"What are you doing!? Without these ships, the Grimm will destroy everything!" Ruby shouted.
"That's the plan!" Terumi smirked.
Ruby charged, striking at them with Crescent Rose, but both of them masterfully dodged or blocked each attack. Terumi prepared to attack, but Bayonetta came back in and forced him back with her claws, slamming against his butterfly knives and creating a huge ball of electricity that launched him back. Juri started fighting back now, easily pushing Ruby back with her skills, an axe kick pinning Crescent Rose to the ground, allowing Juri to hit Ruby with a jumping kick to the face that nearly sent her careening off the hull of the airship.
Fortunately, Bayonetta wrapped one of her whips around Ruby's leg, catching her younger sister and swinging her around with a wide angle, allowing her to kick Juri in the head and smash Terumi in the face with the back of Crescent Rose. "Dammit! You're gonna regret taking us on! We're gonna take you down and Vale's gonna run red with blood! And we're gonna soak in all that amazing chaos!" Juri said.
"Exactly. And then you can bet we're taking this to every other kingdom on Remnant! And when it's all said and done, we're gonna piss on their corpses!" Terumi laughed.
"I don't care what you say! We will stop them and I will stop you! BET ON THAT!" Ruby screamed in anger and determination.
"The White Fang may be the ones with animal parts, but you two are the real rabid animals. And rabid beasts need to be put down." Bayonetta said.
They rushed in again and Ruby clashed with Terumi, her longer weapon allowing her to stay out of his barrier and out of the range of his knives while she still landed several decent hits against him. Juri and Bayonetta found themselves in the middle of a kicking war, their legs little more than blurs as they repeatedly flew back and forth, high and low, slamming into each other repeated, before Bayonetta dodged Juri's next attack, using Witch Time and sent her back to the edge of the ship.
"Damn you!" Juri snapped, her eye flashing as she spun in circles over and over, sending an onslaught of pink energy waves at Bayonetta, who turned into her panther form, rushing towards Juri and expertly maneuvering around the energy waves and pouncing at Juri, using the Bat swarm to dodge around the last one and behind Juri, returning to her human form and grabbing Juri by the back of her neck and seat of her pants, lifting her up and over her head and throwing her off the side of the airship.
"You thought far too highly of yourself. It was about time someone brought you back down to Earth." Bayonetta told her, but before she could turn back and help Ruby, Juri pulled out her long belt and lashed it out at Bayonetta, wrapping it around her neck. "What?!" She asked, before she fell with Juri.
"Bayonetta!" Ruby screamed, before Terumi's Ouroboros launched out and grabbed her, yanking her in towards the mad man and slamming her on the ground, allowing her to stomp on it.
"You huntsmen and Huntresses! You all deny reality! You deny the truth! You deny the Grimm! They're the bringers of truth in this world! The only real truth in this world! The truth of despair!" He snapped as he stomped on Ruby. "But now, the world can open its eyes and see the truth! And now they can accept the real world! The world of despair!" He shouted.
Just as Terumi prepared his finishing strike, an Alpha Griffon suddenly appeared from the sky and swallowed him whole, attracted by the negativity of his rant. The roar sent Ruby back a few feet, before the two charged at each other. Ruby prevailed when she kicked the beast in the head, sending it through the hull and causing it to crash. And then, she grabbed Crescent Rose, leapt off the falling airship, and propelled herself in the air, shooting at the ground as if her weapon was a pogo-stick, before landing safely on the rooftops of Vale.
As all this was happening, Bayonetta and Juri had locked in mid-air, grabbing each other by the shoulders and kicking each other in the side or punching them in the chest or face. Finally, Juri's eye flashed one more time and Bayonetta charged an electricity ball into her Durga gauntlet, slamming it into Juri's face as she slammed her energy-covered leg into Bayonetta's side, the two separating and their aura's depleting. However, Azula flew in from nowhere and snatched Juri out of the air, the two landing safely on a nearby building. "So long, witch bitch!" Juri laughed evilly.
Bayonetta, however, changed into her bird form, much to the shock of the two villains and even herself, before she managed to fly back to Beacon. She returned to her human form, landing on her hands and knees, before looking to see the airship coming down and Ruby also landing somewhere else on Beacon. "Great job, Ruby. I always knew you could do it, sis." She praised her sister, getting up slowly. "Ugh... I've done all I can. I need to find the others and get out of here." She said, tiredly jogging away.
Back in the city, Glynda used her riding crop to knock back a few Creeps, while Qrow sliced and blasted at a few infected Knights with his sword. Cardin giddily knocked back an Ursa with his mace, but then got held at gunpoint by a few infected Knights. Suddenly, their heads were shot off, surprising Cardin. As the smoke cleared, it was revealed that General Ironwood miraculously survived his crash, his damaged uniform exposing the right half of his body to be cybernetic. Without hesitation, he shot down all of the infected Knights with his revolver.
"This area's secure! We need to-" Ironwood started. Suddenly, Qrow's expression changed into what appeared to be anger. He transformed his sword into a scythe and charged toward Ironwood. "Qrow! This isn't my doing!" Ironwood said fearfully.
Qrow continued charging, despite Ironwood's words. The general flipped his gun in his hand and got into a battle stance, preparing for the perceived attack. However, Qrow leapt past Ironwood, who turned around just in time to see a large Griffon lunging at him. With one swing of Qrow's scythe, the Griffon was sliced in two. Upon landing, Qrow turned around to address Ironwood.
"You idiot. I know you didn't do this." Qrow scoffed.
Ironwood relaxed and sighed, lowering his head and putting his hand to his forehead, while Glynda placed her hand on his shoulder.
"So what now, General?" Qrow asked.
"Someone's done the impossible and gained control of my machines. And that enormous Grimm seems to be fixated on the school. Glynda, form up the local Huntsmen and establish a safe zone here in Vale. We need to evacuate Beacon. Qrow, I'm leaving that to you and my men. I still need to get to my ship." Ironwood explained.
The three heard a loud noise and turned to see its source: Ironwood's ship slowly nosediving into the ground. "Well, it won't be much of a walk." Qrow joked. The Atlesian Knights that were still functioning attempted one last time to harm the Huntsmen, before powering down.
In the Beacon courtyard, the students stood prepared to fight the Atlesian Paladin that was charging toward them. However, electricity arced across it and it suddenly powered down, collapsing and sliding to a stop in front of them.
"Hm. That went better than expected." Sun said.
"It seems we've been given a stroke of luck." Kratos said as he carried Ryu back to the others, setting him down with Nora and Ren.
"Ryu!" Nora cried worriedly, holding him close.
"You'll be alright, my friend. Rest for now." Ren told Ryu, placing a hand on his chest.
Weiss doubled over, exhausted, leaning on Myrtenaster to keep herself standing. She then looked to Kratos. "Where's Dante. He was with you." She asked.
"He is looking for any others in need of help." He explained.
"Weiss!" Yang called as she ran to Weiss. "You're okay! Have you heard from Ruby? Or what about Bayonetta?" She asked, but Weiss shook her head. "What about Blake?" She asked.
"She went after an Alpha..." She explained and pointed in the direction that Blake ran. "And some members of the White Fang." She added.
"You look for Ruby and Bayonetta. I'll meet up with Blake." Yang instructed as she hurried off in the direction that Weiss pointed, while the heiress gave a thumbs up.
In the Beacon vault, an elevator opened up to reveal Ozpin, Jaune, and Pyrrha. The three immediately sprinted out of the elevator and down the corridor.
"What is this place?" Jaune asked.
"It's... a type of vault." Pyrrha explained.
"You've... been here before?" Jaune asked, but Pyrrha looked away from him. "What would this school need to... hide?" He asked again. Finally seeing the Aura transfer machine, Jaune stopped in his tracks, gazing wide-eyed at the strange contraption and the comatose girl inside. "What? Who?" He started.
"Jaune..." Pyrrha started.
"Pyrrha! Get to the pods!" Ozpin ordered. Pyrrha looked at Jaune, then walked closer to Ozpin
"Mister Arc, if you'd like to help, you can stand guard here." Ozpin instructed.
Jaune looked at the two with uncertainty, then turned around and got into a guarding stance. Pyrrha walked up beside Ozpin, looking down sadly, before looking back at the teacher determinedly. "Professor Ozpin, I'm sorry, but I can't go through with this. I can't risk no longer being the person I am now." She explained.
Ozpin sighed, but nodded. "Very well. I set up an emergency escape system. But it will take a few moments. Assist Jaune in guarding this room until then." He instructed.
Pyrrha nodded and took her spot beside Jaune, smiling.
"This could've been our day! Can't you see that!?" Adam snapped as he fought against Blake.
"I never wanted this! I wanted equality! I wanted peace!" Blake countered as she raised her sword, its blade folding into sickle mode and shot at Adam, who blocked both bullets with his sword.
"What you want is impossible!" He snapped as he sheathed his sword and backhanded Blake across her face, knocking her over. "But I understand because all I want is you, Blake. At least, at one point I did. But now I have to thank you, because when you hurt me, I knew love was simply just another useless thing that can hurt you. Just like humans." He said. She began to raise her sickle again, only for him to kick it out of her hand, knocking her over once again. "So now I can focus on the most important thing: making the humans pay for everything they've done to us. But if you try to stop me from delivering the justice mankind so greatly deserves, I will make it my mission to destroy everything you love." He warned.
"Blake!" Yang's voice drew their attention to one of the broken windows. Yang herself soon came into view and shot a White Fang member, before looking around for her teammate. "Blake! Where are you!?" She called out.
Adam looked at Blake to see her terrified expression, then returned his gaze to Yang. "Starting with her." He said.
As they stood facing the entrance, Jaune looked to Pyrrha. "So... Exactly how long have you known about this?" He asked.
"Not long. A day at most." She explained.
"Why wouldn't you tell us about something like this? Does Kratos even know?" He asked.
Pyrrha sighed at this. "Kratos is a whole different story. For now, I'll just say it was a secret the world isn't ready for. I wasn't ready for it." She said. Suddenly, the elevator came down and a smirking Cinder stepped out of it. "Professor!" Pyrrha cried.
"Try to hold her off! I'm almost finished!" Ozpin instructed.
Pyrrha and Jaune both rushed in, Cinder separating her bow into swords and deflecting their attacks, managing to kick Jaune away with relative ease, putting more pressure on Pyrrha, before finally managing to knock her away as well. She then reconnected her blades into her bow, drawing an arrow and firing it. Pyrrha tried to destroy the arrow with her shield, but the arrow unbelievably split itself into thousands of tiny shards, going around the shield and reforming behind it, flying forward without losing any momentum.
The arrow pierced the glass of Amber's pod, striking her in the chest. Amber gasped and her eyes opened, then began to close again, while the machine began beeping an alarm. Ozpin and turned and glared furiously at Cinder. She lowered the bow, a tiny smirk creeping across her face.
Adam drew his sword and stabbed it into Blake's abdomen near her left hip, causing her to shriek in pain. The cry caught Yang's attention. "Huh?" She acknowledged the sound as Adam stands upright, pulling his sword from Blake's flesh and turning to face Yang. "Get away from her!" Yang demanded.
"No... please..." Blake pleaded quietly, reaching out helplessly.
Adam sheathed his sword, smiling. Yang screamed, her eyes turning red and a burst of flame erupting from her. She leapt at Adam, drawing her fist back with tears in her eyes. Adam swiftly drew his sword, swinging it through the air at Yang as his Semblance activated. As Yang flew through the air, the lower half of her right arm separated from her. Yang flew through the air, beginning to lose consciousness, with glowing yellow Aura splattering out from her wound. She landed on the floor and laid there on her side, completely still.
Adam slowly walked toward Yang's unconscious body and swung his sword out to the side, casting blood from its blade. Before he could reach her, Blake threw herself between them, giving him a determined stare.
"Why must you hurt me, Blake?" Adam asked, frowning. He raised his sword to try and decapitate his former lover, but suddenly gunshots rang out and Adam turned to block the bullets with his sword, looking over the blade to see Dante aiming Ebony and Ivory at him.
"Dante!" Blake called out.
"A Schnee..." Adam said in a low, seething tone, trembling with rage.
"Blake, get Yang out of here. I'll take care of this guy." Dante said walking forward as Adam approached him as well.
"Dante, no! He's too dangerous!" Blake cried out.
"Yang's in more danger right now. She needs help, so go. I won't be too far behind." Dante told her. Blake looked between them worriedly, before complying and half-dragging Yang away. "So, you're Adam. Blake's told us a good bit about you. You're quite the piece of work." Dante said.
Adam scoffed. "How rich, coming from a Schnee, one of the biggest reasons Faunus are suffering in this world." He countered.
Dante shrugged at this. "Not gonna lie, my old man's kind of a dick. He only has money on his mind, not the people. If me or Weiss take over the company, we're gonna change things." He said.
"No matter what you do, the Schnee name will only mean subjugation and cruelty to the Faunus." Adam said.
"Coming from the guy who just tried to kill a Faunus, but was stopped by a Schnee? That's rich." Dante said.
Adam rushed in and the two locked blades. "You don't know anything! All you do is use our people for cheap labor and constantly risk their lives in your Dust mines! And you support groups that discriminate against the Faunus! You are the reason humans and faunus will always be enemies!" He shouted.
"Our father is the one who treats the Faunus like animals! But you're proving his point by acting like nothing but animals! And you're here destroying one of the places that proves you wrong! Humans AND faunus both attended this school! They lived together, worked together, ate together! They were friends! Proof faunus and humans could be more than enemies! And you've ruined all that!" Dante countered.
The two lashed out with their blades, countering each other blow for blow. Adam was fierce, but Dante was so used to fighting Vergil in his last life, this was like fighting a pale imitation. Dante deflected Adam's next attack, hitting him with several attacks of his own, and launching him back with Stinger. Adam brought himself to a stop with his sword, but then realized his mask was cracked, which quickly spread throughout the entire mask, before it shattered, revealing his face... And the brand across his left eye, reading three letters that left Dante shocked to the core: SDC. Schnee. Dust. Company.
"Jacques... What have you done?!" Dante growled quietly to himself, unable to even call the business man his father.
"So now you see. The real evil that has been committed in your name. And the reason your lineage must die for Faunus to ever be safe." Adam said.
"I told you. My father's the reason that happened to you. He's the monster, but one day he won't be calling the shots anymore. But if you keep this up, you'll be the monster and he'll have countless reasons to justify his actions. The reason the faunus treatment is getting worse is because of you." Dante told the bull faunus.
"Shut up!" He shouted, rushing towards Dante, his rage completely blinding him as Dante created a glyph underneath him and swung his sword, sending a wave of energy that Adam had no time to react to, slamming into the terrorist and flinging him back. He tried to get up, but found Dante above him with his sword at his throat.
"If I was as bad as you make me out to be, I'd kill you right here. But I'm not. The Schnee name definitely has a lot to answer for. And in time, we will. And we'll make things right. But you and the faunus have to do your part, too. How will people ever see you as more than animals if all you ever do is bare your fangs at them?" He asked, before taking off, leaving Adam questioning everything.
Amber struggled to breathe, her eyes wide, the machine's alarm still playing. Finally, all breath left her. Her eyes drifted closed and her head leaned to the side, her whole body going limp. The green flames that lit the torches throughout the vault suddenly snuffed out.
An orange glow then surrounded Amber, before bursting out of her, shattering the glass in its way and entering Cinder. The murderer glowed, began floating and gained long trails of flame around her eyes, with orange energy swirling around her. All this time, Pyrrha could only stand their, shocked. Jaune, however, raised his sword and charged toward Cinder.
"Stay back!" Ozpin ordered, but to no avail. Cinder casted a large fireball toward Jaune, who blocked it with his shield and was blasted backwards, landing on his back.
"JAUNE!" Pyrrha screamed, before using her Semblance to rip the pod's door off its hinges, throwing it at Cinder, who knocked it away like it's nothing. As Cinder began to descend to the floor, Pyrrha the charged at the murderer, calling her weapon and shield to her with her Semblance. However, Ozpin put his arm out, stopping her.
"Take Jaune and get out of here! Find Glynda! Ironwood! Qrow! Bring them here right away! The tower cannot fall!" Ozpin ordered.
"But I can help." Pyrrha offered.
Ozpin slowly turned his head to stare Pyrrha in the eyes. "You'll only get in the way." He told her.
Pyrrha hesitated for a moment but obeyed Ozpin, scooping up Jaune and running away. While she did so, Cinder descended to the floor and watched them leave, with the glow, the swirling energy and the flames around her eyes all disappearing. Cinder turned her attention back to Ozpin, her eyes still glowing for a moment.
"This whole time... right beneath our feet. She was right about you." Cinder spoke as Ozpin turned his cane in his grip, staring hard at Cinder.
"Such arrogance." She taunted, shaking her head slightly.
The camera zoomed in with a close up on their faces before panning upwards to a bird's eye view of the standoff, before everything went black.
A/N: And another chapter done. We're coming to the climax real fast now! I hope you all enjoyed this. I did have more for the fights between Team SCRN and the villains, but sadly, I forgot the original ideas I had and the new stuff would've made the chapter far too long, but still, I think it came out well. Terumi may have went out in a disappointing way, the same as Torchwick, but really that's all he was meant to be, a more evil Torchwick that was more with Salem's plan than self-preservation. Just another psycho wanting to destroy the world, really.
But let me know what you think and get ready for the dramatic conclusion of Volume 3.
