Arc III - Light At The End

Chapter 24: Watch Me Burst With Color

[Ruby's POV]

~You know, you could have avoided nearly blowing us all sky high, destroying those vats~ Mars nagged to us as we took down the last robot in the area, as the strange, blue liquid spilled onto the floor behind us

"Ugh! Do you ever shut up..." I moaned in annoyance at his and Merlot's constant commentary. I mean, if they wanted to stop us, they could have not opened the door to let us in. Then again, we would have been left to fight Sky... I hope he's okay, and Yang too, I know she's strong and stuff but I don't like seeing them fight

~Sadly, I've got nothing better to do, and besides, Merlot just finished a test phase of the serum, and from what he's laughing about, he's very pleased from the results~ He chuckled, then we watched as the massive runway lit up for us, leading down to a massive tunnel of pipelines and machinery

"Who are you, really?" Weiss asked while he hummed for a moment, then he answered

~As I said, I am Mars, The Horseman of War, while the details of my being aren't required, my master, Salem, is the puppetmaster of this entire world, to simply put, it Huntsmen like you are the Ultimate Good, then I guess in your eyes it makes her the Ultimate Evil~ He finally gave us an answer, as we stopped at the end of the runway, only to see a massive room ahead of us

It was sandy with metal hexagons dotting the ground, and mounds of sand in the corners of the room. And on each wall near the ceiling were massive monitors. It was like a battleground or a testing stage of some kind, like the one's Beacon uses.

"Salem? You've said that before, who is she?" I curiously hinted for him to answer, yet he cleared his throat and added

~You'll find out, either by those that lie to you or by the real world's harsh lesson~ That was cryptic, but soon the line went to static again and we were left to wonder about the pit below

"So, what is this place then?" Blake inquired, yet all we got as a response was the lights flickering on, with the sight of Erika slowly rubbing her head gingerly as she seemed to have woken up from the lights. "It's clearly a trap, but she is also endangered; Any ideas Ruby?"

"Ok, we need to grab her, and then meet up with Yang, hopefully, she managed to help Sky out of that creepy armor," I muttered, and so, we jumped into the pit, running over to Erika as Blake and Weiss defended me so I could see if she was ok, all while not a single alert occurred, say for the static again on the screen above. "Right now, I don't have a plan, but I can't wait for her, Yang or Sky to be hurt."

~Welcome to the testing grounds, students. Why don't we get this final examination started, after all, I hate to let you leave without seeing the fruits of my labor~ Merlot grinned on the screen above, as his crimson eyes glowed menacingly at us, then he clicked his fingers. ~I guess I do have no choice anymore...~

~You won't escape me again, Little Red, goodbye~ Mars offered a final time as I felt Erika tug at my sleeve, seeing her dazed, charcoal eyes look at me dumbfoundedly

"Huh? What...who are you?" She asked me, as I felt something familiar wash over me, but it never lasted, as her eyes went wide for a moment, looking around us as I slowly helped her to rest against my side, even if she was taller, seriously, one day I'll be the taller person. "Ack, t-thanks."

"It's ok, we're going to get you out of here, Erika," I stated firmly, but her eyes quickly darted around the room. Then she stopped and looked at me with suspicion so I gave her a comforting smile. "We're friends with your brother, Kai Amadeus, right?"

Suddenly, her eyes broadened with a hopeful smile across her lips as her grip on my shoulder tightened.

"My brother is here!? Really!?" She squealed but winced at her bruises and cuts. "I-I'm glad he's okay...where is he though, I honestly expect him to either run from me once I berate him for traveling between worlds! Or he'd be my 'Knight in Shining Armor'?"

I winced at that. "He...he's having some problems with my sister, but they'll be fine, I promise!" I know he'll be fine! She looked more relaxed at that once I put her against a small overhang to rest

"I'm glad...he's okay, and has good people again," She then pointed to the ground where Blake and Weiss were. "I'm sorry, but...that Mars guy used me to bait you here, now it's coming."

"Wait, what gets here?" Weiss asked over my shoulder. Before Erika could answer though, the ground shook beneath us, as we watched the sand begin to push up from the center of the ground. "Oh no..."

In a burst of rock and sand, we all covered our eyes until the sand cleared from the air, and when we looked, I felt my eyes widen at the Grimm before us. It's white shell now sported jagged, green crystals, as they ran up its tail, and to its massive, glowing stinger which turned from gold to green. Its pincers even had some green on it now with green fangs sticking out irregularly from its maw. A Mutant Deathstalker!

"I think we know what it is now." Blake warily stepped back with her gun raised to the Grimm, all while Merlot grinned like a demon

~Don't be shy students! You can learn alot from this enhanced specimen! This won't teach you a thing like this back at Beacon!~ Merlot happily taunted, pressing a key on the console before him as something behind his form watched with its arms crossed. ~Nature never made a beast this deadly, so I did~

The moment he stopped talking the Deathstalker turned to us, raising its stinger, releasing a flurry of green crystals, I was suddenly grabbed by the force of Weiss' glyph as she threw the three of us away and up the ditch. The Grimm suddenly dived underground, quickly burrowing in front of us as the ground burst with a cloud of dust, the emerald tail sweeping the dust away with a scream.

"Ruby! How can we beat this, it's far stronger than the one back from the trail?" Weiss asked over the screaming, while her glyphs kept the pincers at bay, but with each strike another broke, and in turn, made Weiss wince at the strain on her semblance. "I'm out of options here."

I gave the Deathstalker a once-over, noting the more cracked armor, possibly from mutation, it was the same with the others too, there was also the tail, maybe its still as weak as it was before, a Deathstalker can't armor the joint between the tail and stinger because that would reduce the flexibility. Maybe that would work?

"Blake, when I give the signal, you and Weiss use Checkmate, then focus on attacking the stinger and other cracks along the armor, mostly around the spine, got it?" I asked, seeing them return a nod in agreement, with a quick motion, Weiss moved away and allowed the glyphs to fall, releasing the pincers

[Nobodies POV]

As the Deathstalker surfaced, it lashed its tail towards Ruby, hitting nothing but rose petals left behind. Ruby flew above the head, appearing as a cyclone of crimson, her scythe striking down atop the Deathstalker's head, leaving a trail of fire as she propelled herself back with a multitude of incendiary rounds to the left pincer, redirecting it into a wall of ice by Weiss. The Grimm screamed again as a sudden burst of lime green crystals shot forth from its stinger, shattering the wall of ice and freeing its pincer.

Ruby narrowly escaped the explosions, landing near the tunnel entrance again. Lining her sights again, she shot two of its eyes out, missing a third shot as it burrowed again, the shifting sands motioned towards Blake, who summoned a shadow clone and used it to throw herself over the surfacing Deathstalker, slicing along its back with electrical jolts to the Grimm's spine before ziplining to the other side of the arena. Seeing an opening, Weiss and Blake used 'Checkmate' to undercut the legs, yet they only winced at the rebound kinetic energy from how thick the chitin was. Again, the scorpion burrowed.

"Ruby, look out!" Weiss called out, jolt Ruby into realizing the sand under was shifting. All she could do was brace as the sand burst, a large pincer striking her abdomen, throwing her into a tumble, her aura crackling slightly, other than that she shook her hair of the sand, rising to point Crescent Rose back at the Deathstalker. With a large jump, she avoided the charging Grimm that ran straight into the wall, giving her an opening again, despite the ground under shaking from the indomitable force the Deathstalker gave out

"Ladybug!" Ruby and Blake ran next to each other, slicing back-and-forth between the legs again, this time cracking the armor with green lines of blood leaking from the diagonal lacerations, its chitin armor was touch, but the joints had exposed spots for it to move as fast as it did. With a cry, the Deathstalker turned to the regrouping girls, charging straight towards them with the pincer out wide. One rapier raised high, A high-caliber-sniper-scythe planted into the ground, and a pistol raised with them. "Black-Ice-Flower!"

Weiss' glyphs appeared before the barrel of the scythe, and from the symbol shot forth a burst of purple and crimson rounds, with wisps of ice rotating around the rounds to form concussive blasts of ice, fire, and lightning, freezing the legs of the Deathstalker in place, while forcing the wounds to burn and the joints to spasm. The collective elemental strike forced the Deathstalker to slow down, dazed and confused from the multitude of different attacks blinding and numbing its senses.

"Blake, Weiss, separate and distant yourselves, we don't know when it could use that stinger again!" Ruby ordered, seeing them run to the far ends of the arena to continue their assault. Ruby ran up the bank, noticing the rain of green crystals homing in on Weiss, yet they ruptured in the air, Blake clearly noticing the threat and unloading a magazine through each crystal, shattering their unstable forms.

*BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM*

The air turned into a hue of green from the blasts, before the Deathstalker raised its pincers, the green sections beginning to glow a sickly green.

Ruby stood strong as she lifted herself off the sand with Crescent Rose again by her side in preparation to cancel out the attack, yet something to her left caught the light in her eyes. Turning slightly, she saw a small Atlas machine standing by with red eyes, immediately she rose her rifle to point it at the machine, its hand raised in surrender.

"Still quick to kill me? It wouldn't do much given it's another proxy, that, and I never did have a chance to speak with you face-to-face, sort of." Mars spoke clearly through the machine, lowering his arms as Ruby did the same, still scowling at him as Weiss and Blake continued the fight. "See? Now we can chat."

"Not interested." Ruby replied bitterly, turning back around to aim the sights on the eyes of the Deathstalker

"Always so eager to fight again, not once worrying of the details...just like Summer," The very name rolled off his tongue as Ruby felt her aim faltered, her eyes widening a little with the name of her mother spoken with such spite. "Always hated that look in her eyes, how she fought with such purity in her soul."

"How do you-" Ruby was cut off immediately

"-She was the reason these last nine years of peace have reigned, her own blood offered this world time it never should have been given, Salem saw through to her demise, but I still am foggy on the details myself," Mars answered honestly, even now he grinned from beyond the machine as Blake and Weiss struggled to fight, their leader completely distracted by Mars' words. "But it was because of one thing, want to know what?"

"..." Ruby couldn't answer, but she wanted to know why, why her mom never came home, why people, this 'Salem' would want to kill so many innocent people like her mom, who only ever cared and loved everyone around her, the 'Why' she could comprehend

Mars lifted a finger and pointed to his eyes. "Her silver eyes," Ruby looked at him directly with fear lingering in her heart as confusion filled her thoughts. "A person of silver eyes is extremely rare now, time and us Horsemen saw to that, but if not for those glistening orbs, she would have probably lived longer. Yet to my dumbfoundedness, a person we never realized had them, and who looks so much like her mother that it even gives me chills. Are you sure you aren't a reincarnation, you look really convincing?"

"W-why...why my mom's eyes? M-My eyes?" Ruby sputtered out, seeing the machine cross his arms in thought

"'Why' indeed, I know the answer but I don't think you deserve to know, after all, you can ask your mother when you see her again," Mars hummed, seeing the spark of hope in Ruby's eyes only made his grin widen. "The afterlife is such a sanctuary for souls, like yours."

Only then did Ruby gasp in fear, only now hearing Weiss scream out for her to move, yet Ruby was caught by the left pincer striking her side, throwing her past Mars and back towards Erika. Coughing, Ruby lifted herself up with Crescent Rose, only to have a tail sweep her legs out and strike her with another pincer, smashing her into the wall with a pained yell, her aura shattering completely.

"Ugh..." Ruby couldn't really see straight, she only looked up towards the black shadow that loomed above her, its massive, crystal stinger high above her form, her legs attempted to prop her up, yet it did little to move her away, only slopping Ruby onto her side with a groan. "P-please...move!"

~You fought well, but this ends here little girl, time to face the reality of this world, you've lost~ Mars whispered so coldly down her ear, even as Ruby's hand shook to raise her back to rest on her knees. ~When you see Summer, tell her I said 'Hey'~

Before Ruby could even move, she felt her legs give out beneath her, all her strength vanished, as she looked up at the Deathstalker, her silver eyes widening at the green spear that came crashing down upon her, scaring off the silver in her eyes for a sickening emerald, she couldn't even look away.

"NO!"

"RUBY!"

~Hehehe~

*CRACK-SMASH-THUD*

"You dare...lay a finger on her...and I'll kill you!" At the menacing voice, Ruby's eyes stared up at the shadow above her, and in an instant, she felt her body jump back in surprise at the warm radiating in shades of red, blue, white and purple

"S-Sky!" At his name, Sky felt his legs give out, as the ground slowly grew with cracks from the pain he was in, as his arms held the massive stinger above them both, yet he was wearing no armor at all, only his blue jacket that stuck to his torn clothing. Ruby couldn't believe it, he had unlocked his semblance, it somehow allowed him to hold against the weight of the Deathstalker. "You have to move!"

"I-I'll be dammed if I let you die here after everything you've done for me! So stop talking like some cliche hero...just let me make up for being such a dumbass earlier, alright!?" He panted, as his arms shook with agony, yet he resisted the screams of his own muscles with all he had, pushing back to his feet again. Yet Ruby stared up at him, feeling her heart bounce once more with her red cheeks

[Sky's POV]

With a twist of my palms, I threw back the Deathstalker, giving my arms the needed release they begged for. Sighing loudly, I cracked my knuckles with a confident smile. "Damn, that armor sure adds a few pounds, even with three times the aura multiplier we make up."

"Seems we do need to wait a while longer then, very well, let us sever the tail." I agree, Iota! Wiping my nose, I slowly started to step towards the Deathstalker, my heart racing a mile a minute and my mind on fire with thoughts and recollections that would make me sick if I wasn't fighting right now

~Strange...you survived that 'Frenzy' form of yours and have a new shade of eye color, clearly, someone has been holding back?~ I heard Mars hum in thought, so I just shrugged with a smug smile

"Mate, I'm on a whole new level right now, nothing like kicking both your logic and Merlot's work into the ground won't ease!" My reply was met with my afterimage fist striking the pincer of the Deathstalker away from me like swatting a fly. "Let's call this semblance..." The three spectral copies of my fist rattled through the pincer, the chitin cracking even more-so than before. "'Aftershock'"

The Mutant Deathstalker spun itself around completely, attempting to swipe me down with its tail, yet I had already leapt into the air, my body shimmering with mine, Iota and Eric's auras. "Okay then, Ante Up."

I came crashing down atop the section attaching the tail to the spine, my hands pressed down to throw me forwards and back onto my feet, which stomped the head into the ground. I came down to the ground myself, swinging a right cross into the mandible through to the left, followed by an axe-kick to pin the head down, the chitin all but shattered from a single blow.

I raised my arms to guard my face from the right pincer, my feet drove into the sand, while the left rose high to the Deathstalker's form, shadowing my body, so I jumped back, the wind rushing past me. I then jumped atop the pincer, running along the arm and back onto the shoulder where I raised my arm, seeing the black armor materialize Yin/Yang, the blade gleaming in the light, the blade sunk clean into the shoulder, rendering the arm useless as the muscles were torn and sliced apart.

The Deathstalker threw me off and into the air though, the stinger aglow once more to fire a bombardment of those crystals I saw it use on Ruby, I braced, suddenly feeling my feet touch a cold platform midair, I looked down and saw Weiss holding a glyph in-place beneath my feet, just as the crystal blasts rained towards me.

"Yin/Yang!" I commanded without pressing a key, the black armor beginning to materialize across my body as I jumped over a crystal, landing on the one behind it, followed by another along the way, using all the volatile crystals as stepping-stones towards my target, by this point my armor had nearly formed, say for my head, my once blue highlights now had specs of purple intertwined within the color. "You ready, Eric!?"

"Ooooh, yes!" Eric chuckled giddily as I raised my right blade behind me. "All together now!"

While I lunged down on the bobbing stinger, I saw the shadow of my arm extend.

"Single Stroke - Decapitation Mode!"

"Single Stroke - Decapitation Mode!"

Our infused cry came with the now four-meter long blade, the arctic breeze trailing behind the massive, horizontal stroke I curved with my entire body's weight. The blade sliced cleanly through the stinger, spraying a mixture of green fluid and black mist as the tail thrashed around behind me, the stinger falling limp to the ground, even as I stumbled forward. Slowly, my larger blade retreated back to its normal size, my large, bug-eyes wide with awe.

"Didn't think that would work," I muttered, dusting my hands clean to see the pincer snatch itself around my abdomen. "Ack, crap."

The pressure against my body and aura was starting to sink in as the Deathstalker raised me off the ground, tightening its pincers around me as sparks from my armor spat at the chitin. Even under this strain I still managed to push my arms against the sides of the pincers in an attempt to pry myself out, if not for the two slugs of fire to break the chitin across the arm, freeing me as the golden locks of hair fell into view.

Yang grinned down at me, holding out a hand as I was pulled to my feet. "What's with you and falling down all the time?"

"Hey, I bought you time, right?" I motioned with a hand towards the enraged Grimm, the two of us bumping our gauntlets against each other. "You armed and ready?"

"Let's do it!" Yang agreed

As the monster readied to attack us again. I brought my arms up to my sides, hearing the new fire cells click in place. Yang had already propelled herself forward, with my own semblance reacting to accelerate my sprinting speed to keep up.

"Blue Embers!" Our new combo was in play, the pincer both swooped in from the sides, so the two of us leapt over the limbs, I grabbed Yang's arm, spinning once to gain enough force to catapult her down atop the Deathstalker's back, the reaction was a mass of blue flames erupting across its chitin, my hands lingering with particles of fire. It was strange, I could utilize fire dust strangely, its how I was still in one piece after my fight with Yang, strange as it is, I like it

I followed with the rest of 'Blue Embers', my arms coated themselves in the same potent blue-fire dust blue like Yang's, as I landed on the back of its head, flipping backward to raise my arms to its head, firing to strong cones of fire across the gnarled, mutant face. The pained scream was all we heard as the arms moved to cover its face, Yang herself looping back around to me.

"Raiden!" Yang called the ninja's name, so with a little momentum, she and I fired a concussive blast to the defended face, stunning the Grimm for us to run around to the back of the creature where we fired multiple chained attacks, causing the whole body to convulse from the onslaught of blasts. But its tails still knock us back as it spun to put distance between us.

We dusted ourselves off, yet resting between us was something that caused my heart to skip a beat with an inkling of fear. A single, golden strand of hair sat on the metal plate beneath us, and I quickly looked to Yang, seeing her eyes dilate considerably.

"Oooooh, you are so screwed now," I stated with a nervous chuckle, the girl before me now on fire, her eyes a deep red of hatred and rage that would make Deviljho tremble. With a crack of my neck, I turned to rest shoulder-to-flaming-shoulder with Yang. "Double Tap."

We broke into a zig-zag motion, causing the Deathstalker to just smash its pincers in front of it, big mistake. We then brought our fists down atop its head, before we spun, and gave it a shotgun-fire-fist upper-cut, followed by a spin and another knuckle gauntlet to the dome. Then we spun around, locking my right and her left hand together to create a massive shockwave of orange and blue fire. The resulting shockwave pushing the Grimm back slightly.

Then Yang locked her hands for my foot to step on, with a blast I had been thrown towards the ceiling, my feet pressed against the metal grates, almost bending the metal when I bent at the knees, pushing back down with my left arm covered in ice and my right in fire. A nova of fire and ice erupted across its spine again, forcing the Deathstalker to the ground, the pressure keeping it from moving, while the large vacuum of air kept me high above the nova.

"Die, monster!" Yang screamed in pure rage, as she locked her hands into a fist, raising them high over the head of the Grimm, with a scream she smashed her gauntlets atop the Deathstalker's head. Its head met an unstoppable force, the sickening crunch of flesh and bone turned the very head into a mesh of green paste and black mist beneath Yang, while I fell to the ground beside her, my dust cells completely depleted

In the end, the body finally went limp, turning to a greenish-black smog in seconds as I shakily stood beside Yang, the two of us fist-bumping once at our achieved victory. Or for the next few seconds atleast.

~Nooo! my one of a kind specimen! This is inconceivable!~ Merlot cried out in anger, as his red eye glared at me and Yang spitefully. ~You children have no idea what you've done!~

~It's all over Merlot. You've got nothing left~ Ozpin spoke calmly, but I could imagine he was quite relieved. However, Merlot glared furiously at us, before smiling like a maniac, oh no...don't do the thing

~I believe there's something I can do! Lets end this with a bang!~ He then pressed something in front of himself, and within a few seconds we all nearly fell over from the shaking of the complex, as we heard the eruptions in the distance, while metal grate fell from above. ~If I'm to lose today, I won't go empty-handed! Goodbye, students!~

"He-He can't be serious!?" I gaped at the state of the entire facility

~Team; Merlot is going to destroy the lab and anyone else with it, you need to get the relay point, now!~ Ozpin hurried urgently, as we watched the door ahead of us open, as red light blared around us. Just through the door and flying next to a balcony was the ship!

"Hurry up, we need to leave!" Weiss hurried us over the alarms

"Weiss, help me with Sky's sister," Ruby asked, as they rested Erika's arms over their shoulders. I went to follow after them, but my legs suddenly gave out and I watched my armor vanish from my fatigue, yet I didn't it the ground, seeing Blake's eyes trained on me

"Hey, come on, we need to go." Blake commented with a comforting expression as she wrapped her arm around my waist and helped me to my feet, myself chuckling

"Heh, used a little too much aura that time." I humored, Yang copying Blake as the two helped me through the door

~This isn't over, you must realize this?~ I quickly put my foot down, stopping the two girls as my head looked past mine and Blake's shoulder, seeing the construct standing there in the smoking, destroyed doorway. ~Salem will take all you hold dear, maybe not today or tomorrow, but she will, this is a fight you cannot win~

"Yeah?" Yang boasted. "Watch us." With that we turned to catch up with the others, leaving behind the crazy events of today as we boarded the ship and made our escape from Merlot's Island, putting an end to both his experimental Grimm and Mars' plan with myself and Cognitum

I can finally rest.

To Be Continued...

And like that, we draw closer to the end of this small arc, the next chapter being the end before Vol 3 Arc 4, I hope you liked the fight with the Deathstalker and all the droplets of information regarding Mars and Sky. Seeya in the next chapter!

Next Chapter: Blue Rose

With their final mission completed, yet Sky is left with a bitter taste, the mystery of his sister's appearance and the new Form he has obtained, Frenzy. But as he said to Yang, he has one final hurdle ahead of him, a matter dreads to face.