Chapter 65 - Charron the Equinox
Act VII - Memories
It was all on a thread of fate now. Charron was mere moments from obtaining his true power, it's strange as if after everything Albatross told them the situation, it was like Sky felt reality beginning to weigh down on him. That proverbial hourglass that hung in the air slowly trickling away. This wasn't just for Remnant but all realities across the endless reaches of the Multiverse.
As the otherworlders and Team MAZE readied themselves for their individual fights; With Sky overlooking Cognitum's many forms, making sure with Penny that every weakness or chink in their armour was patched, every probable outcome seen and sorted, all failsafes in-place. Yet, among them all, Tabus sat on a bench, overlooking them all with curiosity.
She has been around far longer than she'd like to admit, for years her skill was honed, all flaws given a purpose to enhance her own strengths, yet she knew when to retreat, to think of ways to flee unscathed. Humans were just like her, only naive, and careless. Their greed and selfish desires lead to chaos and death, so why, against all the odds, did these humans push to continue to see another day, of fighting? Why? Sky had his reasons and while Tabus remained neutral she had given thought to what he told her.
"I must be crazy..." Tabus shook her head but ultimately looked to Sky. "Yo, jackass?"
"You call?" Both Sky, Zorah, and Albatross responded in-kind. But she growled
"Kai. Over here. Now." Tabus demanded with a glare to rival Weiss, and within seconds, he stood before her. "Take these and be grateful."
Held out in her hands were two similarly styled chips to the one recovered from Mars' death, only one was black and the other white, representing their respective Horsemen colors. Then from her pocket, she procured a clear chip, startling Sky. "Morana's... but-"
"You killed him, I just snuck back in to retrieve it, Una gave me hers before she completely went AWOL, and as for mine, I tore it out myself," She chuffed nonchalantly, shoving them into his hands. "Add them to your arsenal and watch the magic happen, least that's what Mars would say."
Not wanting to agitate the conflicted human-Grimm hybrid anymore, Sky held out Cognitum for the black chip, seeing a second port reveal itself, alongside the red chip. Slowly, Sky plugged it in too, and his systems shimmered with a black light. Then two more unsealed themselves for Tabus' and Morana's.
"Okay... what now?" Sky questioned then on autopilot the whole of Cognitum shimmered the four tones of the microchips, a synthetic voice blaring through the speakers
[EC-1101 Rewrite in progress]
[Decryption Keys verified]
[Project Eclipse Prototype Activating]
[Progress - 2%]
"Again with the downloading, are you kidding me right now, Mars!" Sky growled, bashing his hand off the screen
~Project Eclipse: Prototype, a blueprint detailing finalization of all available data into one complete suit under EC-1101's user's command. As a result, all systems will be fundamentally purged once all objectives have been cleared~ When the explaining ended, the glow ceased, leaving everyone in surprise
"A prototype made using all existing data, so the result is never the same," Eros mumbled to himself, putting a hand to his chin in thought
"Have something?" Myst asked curiously. "Because all I got from that was nothing good."
"It basically means everything his weapon has gathered, suits, memory, everything will be reset back to square one, a hefty price for power," Zorah's explanation put a damper on Sky's mood, his eyes lingering on the device that had been with him since day one, could he really do it? Could he go through with wiping the systems?
"Every world has an Excalibur, this is Remnant's I suppose," Tabus summed up with a bemused expression. "You can use this, maybe take the Vex down alone, or you can save your highly advance suits, and have all of us burden the responsibility too."
"Why are you telling me this?" Sky asked in a near whisper, seeing Tabus point to her head
"I wanted to know if you were willing to sacrifice everything to win, if you are, you can use Cognitum in the way Mars wanted, to bring Remnant in the right direction again," She actually smiled though it was more toward humor. "Mars, for a Grimm, had some pretty human dreams."
He could do this, stop Charron, save everyone, but lose all of Cognitum's functions. Or he could keep what he has, and prevent Charron with a haphazard plan.
"I..."
~-Need your help...tross! Please we...hold out...Charon's spell...~ It only took Albatross a second to recreate a rift he used to enter this world, tossing the fragments of the coin to the ground
"Time's up, kid, hope you know what to do. I'll buy you as much time as I can, just be sure you're ready to join us," Albatross declared, giving everything a short wave before leaping through the lingering vortex
"So, that leads to another world, huh?" Zorah whistled, placing his hands on his hips while tilting to the left. "Looks like we have more of your world's problems too."
Following his head, everyone saw the sky bleed with black, gnarled, skeletal creatures rising from the ground as they rained across the main road toward Beacon, an alarm going off across the campus.
"He's insane. That Vex is pulling apart the seam between our worlds!" Echo's jaw dropped at the events unfolding, cracking her knuckles. "This is bad, we can't let them keep pouring in like this!"
"Great. Ruby's fighting for her life on one side and there's something coming on this end." Sky groaned, activating Cognitum's Iron Regalia again, and scanning the area with that moment. "Anything, Penny?"
"Yes, lots of Vex activity in the air... as Echo implied our two worlds are beginning to peel apart, this is a bad sign of that Universal Collapse I mentioned previously." That wasn't good. And to their surprise, cracks in the air began to split like scabs picked at by fingers, dozens of the thrall emerging in seconds.
Myst then clapped her hands, rubbing them together. "Alright-alright-alright, team, I want these ugly things off the sidewalk by nightfall, am I clear!?" From her belt, she withdrew twin cleavers
"Yes, ma'am!" Eros swung forth his greatsword with a crackle and pop of sparks
"Crystal." Zorah drew his sword beside the nocked arrows of Azure, the partners back-to-back. "Oi, Mr. Hero, if you got a plan best speak it now!"
Standing in the far back, Sky looked to Cognitum, watching the download creep along the screen. Whatever time Albatross could buy them wouldn't be wasted. "Come on, Tabus," Sky nudged her arm, channeling his semblance over his body, becoming a radiant being of amethyst. "Let's send them back to nothing."
"Tch, smartest thing you've ever said." She mused, drawing a new pair of knives while many other fights broke out around the school in an attempt to hold back the end
[The Argus]
"I try to give you a painless death, yet you keep getting in my way." Charron sighed, creating another force-field to block Iota's hail of ice, all easily bouncing off the hard-light, only to have Amber strike down on the shield with her smolder gun, the sunshots puncturing the translucent barrier, the shards blinding Charron a moment as her foot collided with a smaller barrier, the Vex grunting as she was tossed toward Iota.
Ruby followed close by, scratches on her face whilst her aura shimmered, Blake did the same, running the opposite direction as the two opened fire on Charron's form, his arms reflecting the shots with ease where he flew. His hands then glowed again, firing a purple beam of concentrated darkness at Blake, rupturing the ground around her, and throwing her body to the floor.
His right arm glowing gold with light, Charon raised his hand to Ruby, who felt the world around her grow heavy, almost like the earth was pulling her down.
"Darkness destroys. Light creates, so a beam to rupture, and the light to enforce gravity will suffice in crushing the brats at my feet." Charron replied to no-one, just as something struck his back, making his focus falter, shockwaves of slugs denting his hide, throwing the Vex flying towards the ground, noticing Yang's sneak attack. "You think I forgot about you, girl, I never forget."
Yang, now landing on Weiss' glyph, fired a continuous burst of slugs Charron's way, each avoided or redirected by his fingers. Both appendages hummed purple, slamming his fists together to create a large shockwave of purple-gold light toward Yang, whose eye's widened at the approaching ray of death.
"YANG!" Ruby and Summer screamed, yet something flashed between the death ray and Yang, dispersing the light into embers that rained around them both. To Yang's relief and smile of stupidity. Albatross stood before her, his hand raised before him as his crimson-hazel eyes stared back at Charron.
Flashing the blonde a grin he spoke, "Sorry for the wait, Sky's fine and won't be too far behind," Albatross replied, floating himself before Charron. "I'm surprised you'd risk what power you have here, you won't be able to call a do-over like this you know?"
"I do not expect an acolyte of Virtue to understand my goals. To me, this is what must be done to achieve a rightful balance of light and darkness, that does not need the interference of Gods to do so." Charron replied bitterly, yet Albatross crossed his arms
"Really now. Not even by me, oh right, my name, the real one, it's *^%£$ !# ?\£?" Albatross spoke his name and a deafening heartbeat all but wailed in Charron's head, his eyes slit as thin as knives.
"You... you're the one who ended that war... the fool of Loki's, you are Serafin's... I see..." Charron relaxed for a moment staring evenly before Albatross. "And what, may I inquire, does a man with only a soul to bear have against me?"
"Simple. You hurt my friends, you mess with me. And there's a kid somewhere that I'll have to repay tenfold for saving me, so, with all due respect," Albatross withdrew his black blade. "Just shut and fight."
Charron was startled as Albatross vanished like mist, striking with his boot to the right of Charron's neck, the blue flames scorching his skin as he adjusted his flight, landing on the marble floor. "Hmph, too easy."
Before them all, Albatross burned with a fierce, blue flame engulfing his form, his eyes gaining a shimmering tint of blue, each resonating beat of his heart rang across the hall itself with a powerful force. To the group of Huntsmen and Huntresses, it was embracing, and Ruby looked in joy to see her aura growing stronger, it replenished it like Jaune's semblance.
To Charron, who threw the chunks of marble off his body, it was staggering how far a mere human could climb in terms of power, whether it was Trinity's influence or the cyborg's own strength it did not matter. Like staring up at a beast, Charron acknowledges the depths of this warrior's power. "I see now, how you prevailed."
From his belt, Blaze raised a black and white handcannon. the round case was white, and atop the barrel was white too with two white stripes down the length of the barrel diagonally. Imprinted on the side of the receiver was a white symbol of an ace of spades.
*Blam-Blam-Blam-Blam-Blam-Blam-Blam-Blam-Blam-Blam-Blam-Blam*
Albatross unloaded every round into Charron's chest and ran at him at full force, the crack of thunder that rang from the handcannon reverberated off of Charon's skin. Once he reached him Albatross holstered his handcannon and gave him a brutal left hook. Then he hit him with a right. Next was a left uppercut, followed by a right knee to the jaw. While Charron was suspended in the air Albatross grabbed his hair and slammed his head into the ground and gave him a ruthless kick, causing him to fly through the air and crash into one of the columns. Charron hit the ground with a thud.
Quickly, Albatross sprinted toward him and grabbed his back and neck, spinning him around and shoving his head into the column. Then Albatross spun the opposite direction, driving the face of Charron into the ground with a flaming arm. Charron broke free, warping away from Albatross who merely smiled at the fear he saw in the Vex's eyes. Giving chase, Albatross brushed past the Vex's form, his feet planted firmly on a column to his left, cracking the surface.
Alba launched himself as Charron who released a burst of purple and gold blasts his way, only for Alba to spin and weave past them, clenching his fists together, and connecting them with the top of Charron's head after a front flip for added momentum. A loud bang and a massive explosion filled the sky. Everyone watched him plummet to the ground as he screamed in pain and anger.
Unfortunately, Charron survived.
Charron was beyond furious, it was full-fledged rage. His slow step turned into a run, then at full speed. Charron brought his fist around for an attack, charging it with ether again, only to have Alba knock it out of the way by his left leg. Charron stepped back, flying toward Alba, his left hand touching the ground with a purple light that materialized a series of spikes. The impalement failed, Alba managing to evade them carefully.
Meanwhile, Alba ceased his side-stepping and grabbed something hidden under his cloak, his hand grasping an item tightly as he moved towards Charron with the intent to strike.
They turned to face each other, Charron held his ground while Alba lunged, drawing a second sword. This one was technological, a gunmetal grey with black running up the blunt end of the blade, whilst it curved from the handle which was black with red leather, and a strand of red attached to the pommel. Alba then brought it down, hard. Charron blocked it with an arm in a flash of sparks and blue embers. Alba continued his assault, each strike bursting with a ring of fire.
With one final attack twirl and overhead slant, Charron moved to Alba's side, evading the slant. This allowed Charron to grab Alba by the neck and lift him high. He winced slightly, yet he continued to smile, only adding fuel to Charron's wrath. Now high in his grasp, Charron channeled his power into the arm, so when Alba struck down with both swords, the two forces clashed into a standpoint, splicing ether with sparks of electrical energy.
"Any last words, cyborg?" Charron dared Alba, seeing him grunt under the strain, even his cybernetic arm was exposed due to cuts in her clothing.
"Just a few... on a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?" He mused, drawing his second sword high. The grey edge suddenly flashed with a radiant, scarlet light, and with a flick of his wrist the blade folded back against the flat edge, revealing two prongs and a barrel jammed against Charron's forehead
*FWOOSH-BANG*
The hall's guests were blinded for a second by red light, the fizzle, and snap of a red flash cannon going off in Charron's face in a nanosecond. The beam pierced his skull, tearing through raw elements while smearing the Vex's form into the far wall.
Charron remained standing, the two kinds of matter spilling onto the floor, what remained in the air ceased its fall, floating as his spine bent him forward once more, completely nullifying the kinetic backlash. White ethereal energy dripped like a volcano from the hole in his head.
"Wait, something's wrong!" Blake pointed out. Alba readied himself, his body tensing as a familiar wave of dark energy crawled through the air. An onyx flame consumed Charron's form, purple and dark red embers flickering in the wave of dark energy, and a low chuckle rising from his non-existent lips.
His whole body began to warp and change, a distorted, cherry red outline surrounded his body, the energy merged and diluted into a sickly green with black smudges dotting his body that moved constantly. A pair of darker-toned wings without a membrane sprouted from his back, and his head became featureless, say for a thin, twisted smile of white light and a pair of featureless eyes that slit toward the mortified Huntsmen, contrails spurting from the corners of his eyes.
"The fear that wells up in cocky people like you is always a sight to behold," Charon spoke in echoes, looking to the group around him, before pointing a hand directly at Iota and Ruby, the two still trying to rise to their feet, unable to move under the expanding light in Charron's hand. "I cannot wait to see how your souls will taste, hahaha."
"Ruby... run... now." Iota seethed through his teeth, pushing her roughly away from him, but her hands reached back for him. "No! Go now!" Startled from his stupor, Alba couldn't react in time as Charron swung his arm down, unleashing a torrent of dark green light toward the pair
"Iota!" Amber cried out, yet two forces sprinted past her
When the blast came within inches of Iota, he didn't close his eyes, nor did he try to fail at running, he sat on his knees, prepared to stare down his own demise, it didn't take long for the blast to consume his sight. "I guess this is karma for the pain I caused when we arrived to this strange... wonderful world."
The beam struck, and both Ruby and Iota felt their body pry from the earth, a shockwave tearing apart the ground as they were removed from the blast, safely landing beside their teams. Oscar flopped to the ground, and Erika clutched her leg, having torn a muscle fiber or two.
"You guys!" Ruby gaped with surprise. Both holding up a pair of wary smiles
"We've always got your backs." "This comes from me as well, Miss Rose." Oscar/Ozpin replied with relief
"Man, that smarts!" Erika's electrified body dimmed down, clutching Infernal tightly to protect the pair. "Relax, we can back Albatross up while you guys move to safety."
"I... thank you," Iota sighed, Amber rushing over to help him up. "Sorry for worrying you."
"It's alright, I'm just glad you're both safe," Amber whispered, helping the personality stand as Ruby pulled herself up with Crescent Rose
"Huh? I missed?" Charron's confusion ended abruptly as an arrow wedged itself in his right eye, exploding on contact, the fire burning his face, yet his perfected state merely shrugged off the physical wound, the eye slowly reforming, down below, more arrows of multiple verities were shot forth
A yellow one electrified Charron, followed by two ice-tipped ones that froze his glowing arms. Charron shattered them, only to be blinded by a flash arrow, then struck with a napalm arrow, throwing him back slightly, then a flurry of arrows that multiplied upon close contact with Charron, all erupting into fire around him. Summer burst into roses as the round under her tore open with spikes.
Charron flew above the smoke, only for Alba to blast him with a concentrated fist of soul flames, the shockwave pushing him down as bullets of pistols, rifles, and gauntlets were thrown his way, nullifying any sense of direction the Vex had, each shot either cracking his body, or disorientating his vision, followed by a painful reminder of arrows piercing his hide. Then a large, ice sword tipped with frost crashed into his open palm, disintegrating at his touch.
From behind the stumbling knight, Iota brought his hands high, conjuring a larger hail of snow between his fingers. "Ice Dragons-" Blake's binder snagged his leg, tugging him from Charron's beam attack, leveling his hands with the Vex's chest. "-Brilliant Frost!" The massive nova froze mid-blast, tossing Iota back while Charron burst from the large glacier, frost melting off his form
Weiss' glyph caught him, propelling him away from an incoming attack while two more of her glyphs launched Ren and Nora, the former grabbing Nora by the legs before swinging her down and up with a massive, pink shockwave resonating from her hammer, breaking Charron's guard for Ruby and Qrow's scythes to cleave through the waist, propelling off the wall and back for a spiral slash, landing behind a rock wall conjured by Weiss.
"Oscar!" Jaune lowered to a knee, raising his shield for the boy who ran across the Argus, Ozpin quickly took control, sprinting up and over a large wall of spikes. Jaune heaved and threw him to meet Charron head-on, Erika bounding in from another of Weiss' glyphs, her right arm back with Infernal cast in flames.
"Smmash!" Her fist collided with Charron's, flames erupting from the buckler as he realized her plan too late, Ozpin lunging over, prodding forward with his cane in an almost inhuman speed, disorientating the Vex as a sharp pulse threw them down
Creaking his bone, Charron eyed the group and raised his left hand, manifesting dozens of Dust crystals of varying elements around him. With a flick, he cast them forward, many exploding once making contact with the ground. Yang and Blake stepped in, Yang firing off two full racks of ammo while Blake swung Gambol Shroud on its binding, swiping the many crystals from the air as the sky lit up in a constellation of colors.
Passing through the smoke that surrounded Charron, Albatross swung with his right, parrying a blow from Charron's hand while his left swiped through his waist, twirling round to thrust through between his shoulder blades and out his chest, spilling blackish-green blood that merely excited a crooked chuckle from the Vex as it leers back. Albatross' right eye twitched, several hairs grazed from his head as he flew back, evading the many thin lasers that tried to intercept him, all being sliced away on impact.
*Boosh!*
A stream of solar light struck through Charron's chest, white-hot metal fragmenting from his back as the wound bubbled and hissed. Amber switching from her semblance back to her rifle beside the two members of team STRQ. Unleashing a hellish cackle, the wound gradually healed itself, Charron never once losing his smile.
"It's far... from... over yet..."
[The Indomitable Universe]
The whole of Beacon was in a state of battle against the endless appearances of weak but countless thrall, the situation was under control but no method to close the vortexes was found, forcing all into a battle of endurance. Myst drove off the hordes with her kinetic outbursts, while Eros worked to thin the numbers with explosive strikes behind every swing of his greatsword, carving through the legion.
Azure kept up with her body electrified, converting to her spear to tear through the lesser thrall for the others, covering everyone's blind spots. As for Zorah and Echo, this was like a field day for them, carving through the masses that continued to bombard their frontline, between sonic blasts and a midnite sword swung along a chain any hope of gaining ground for Charron was hopeless.
[EC-1101 Rewrite Complete]
[Project Eclipse Prototype Ready to Engage]
[Progress - 100%]
"Ok then..." Sky looked back to Tabus with a smirk. "Ready to dish out some well-deserved justice?"
"If you're implying I get to peel his skin back with my bare hands... yeah, I think I am." A genuine smile on Tabus' face gave him all the creepy indication he needed
"Alright, we're ready to go, you in, Zorah!?" He waved his hand while Tabus paved a way to Albatross rift. From the other side of the road, Echo vanished into a shadow and Zorah carved his way through the thrall
"About damn time!" He scoffed, grabbing Azure as she flew by, causing her to gasp sharply. "Sorry, Azure, mind manning the vanguard 'till I get back?"
Upon hearing this she pulled away with a panicked expression. "'B-But what if you can't come back!? I-'" She fidgeted as his hands clasped her own, offering one of his few, eased smiles
"Like you can get rid of my hopeless ass that easily, trust me," She gave his words some thought, then her ears curled tightly, tail standing up straight when she nodded sternly, earning a pat to the head as she turned a little red. "Glad to hear it, here I come you near-immortal bastard~!" Without warning Zorah dove headfirst through the rift without Sky or Tabus
"Hey, guys!" Sky called out, with team MAZE turning to address him. "Thanks, for everything, you guys were amazing help."
"Us Huntsmen gotta stick out for one another, right, Bluey?" Myst clicked her tongue with a wink. "Bring Whitey back safe!" She then slapped an approaching Thrall with her gauntlet, which released a blast of kinetic energy
"Save our worlds, buddy!" Eros saluted, quickly turning to saw three Thrall in half
'And good luck to you both, it was nice meeting you' Azure bowed her head and returned to the fight also
Without hesitation, and his mind and heart on fire, Sky leapt in after Tabus, clasping his fists together with Iron Regalia manifesting in the colors of space-time. "This ends now, Vex."
To Be Continued in Act 2...
Albatross is kicking ass alongside the others, and Sky is coming in with reinforcements! Things are beginning to look up for our heroes, or are they? Hope you enjoyed, appreciate the support as always, and seeya in the next chapter!
Next Chapter: Memory Fragments Act 2 [Perfection of my Masters]
Sky, Tabus, alongside Zorah finally join the fight against Charron, but with the Vex's sheer indomitable willpower will their efforts be enough to save all of reality in time?