Athena sat in her throne as the sun set and the remnants of its light began to disappear from the room, leaving her in a familiar darkness as nothing else provided light to the temple with the exception of the occasional torch that was lit atop every couple of pillars. She inhaled deeply, wondering if tonight would be the night that he would finally send in this new trainee to their death. She shook her head. She didn't enjoy killing them, she wanted one of them to succeed so that her plan could proceed more smoothly than ever, but it all came down to the reality that unless they possessed the same level of skill and strength that she had, they would be no match for her. In turn, they would die, their weakness would not be tolerated as it was seen as a risk to the safety of everyone in the village. Athena let out a sigh as she peered out. Perhaps she would be left with no choice but to train Crimson. It wasn't the worst case scenario, Crimson was strong and was one of the few people that Athena had ever allowed herself to be intimate with, but there was the issue that Crimson was truly a demon.
Athena had seen what the girl was capable of the day they met and maybe, just maybe, Athena should have killed her then for her own safety. However, she couldn't deny the girl's strength and that she would be a powerful player in her overall plan for revenge on Yang and Blake. They had killed her brother, and for that, they needed to be punished. Not by death, but by a redistribution of the pain that they had caused her. Then she would kill them. Not for killing her brother, but for…
"Good evening," a voice called out, piercing through Athena's thoughts. Her breath caught and she smiled as she exhaled, her hand lightly falling from her chin to her side, where she felt Wither's handle and caressed it gently. Surely this wasn't the girl that Joseph was sending, was it? The point of their last training mission was to kill the target they had been assigned by any means necessary, they were to show her no mercy. But this new student had just called out to her prey, ruining and eliminating the element of surprise. Athena found herself holding back an instant urge to call back in return, instill a fear in the girl that would escape her only moments before she died through her eyes, gasping for air as a sign that she acknowledged her weakness, and that would never have been worthy of protecting Athena. This girl was bold, but this flaw made her foolish. Athena was going to savor the moment, and the seconds that followed as Joseph would run in from his usual hiding spot.
He would scold her and this time, she would not hesitate to kill him. Crimson would be more than enough to carry out Athena's endgame, and she was tired of dragging Joseph along simply due to his loyalty. Granted, he was a powerhouse and was near invulnerable when he charged at people, but she found the ram Faunus to be more of a hindrance. She listened closely for the girl's movement but a long moment passed without an audible advance and Athena wondered if she had given up. Perhaps she had left, knowing just from the air in the room that it was a bad idea and that death was imminent. Athena smirked.
"Joseph has given me very little information about you," she said. Athena was beginning to wonder if this was some kind of joke. The girl sounded closer, but it wasn't possible, a shadow would have been cast from the poor lighting above, or Athena would have heard her approaching. What annoyed her more than either of those facts was the fact that the potential apprentice had just told her opponent that she was aware of being at a disadvantage. Why would anyone do such a thing unless they were well aware of the fact that they were stronger and were psyching their victim out, or they knew that they were, in fact, weaker, and wanted to boost the ego of their rival, hoping that pride would get the best of them. Athena was aware that it was the latter and still remained motionless, waiting for the girl to show herself before she would make her move.
"It would seem that he has set you up for failure, wouldn't you agree?" Athena asked smiling as she peered out across the room looking for any trace of the girl.
"As I'm sure that you are well aware of madam, my former teacher was Raven Branwen. In a clan such as hers, you are taught until it is instinct that failure is not an option. So you go about obtaining the information you need by any means necessary," she replied. Athena felt a fleeting moment of panic. This girl sounded close. She ruled out invisibility due to the fact that she hadn't been able to hear her, and it was impossible that a person could communicate while teleporting, let alone teleport that slow unless she was phase shifting. Even that left a person vulnerable if the fighter opposing her knew where and how to strike. Without warning a mass leapt out from the shadow of Athena's throne, as if it had been one with the shadow itself, and lunged in for a strike, giving her a split second to think about avoiding the attack. She swapped spots with Joseph and chuckled as she knew the girl would be shocked. She could picture her face now…
Athena became suddenly aware of what was around her as her mind slowly focused on her new environment and she smelt blood, looking at the ground below her to see Joseph's horns lying beside her feet. Athena was frozen with amusement as she glanced down the wall towards the entrance of her temple. She looked down again. She knew. The girl knew how she would try and evade because when Joseph had refused to give her the information she required she forced it out of him. He was dead before she had swapped spots with him. Athena's mind scrambled and she couldn't fully determine whether this proved that the student was strong or insane. She swapped spots with an anchor, a small wooden idol that she had hidden behind the throne for such an occasion and held her breath as she remained crouched behind it. She listened for a moment, hearing the girl breathing hard, the thought of killing Athena so easily had clearly worked her up.
Athena swapped places with another idol in the corner of the room that was the least lit and the furthest from the door.
"You should feel privileged. I'm going to ask you your name before I kill you," Athena replied as she unsheathed her sword. She watched as the girl looked around her slowly, trying in vain to spot her foe.
"Ebony. I'm still a bit disappointed that you aren't dead," Ebony replied. Athena shook her head as she prepared to swap places with Joseph's dead body and attack the girl as she was turned away from the throne.
"It'll take more than a few parlor tricks to get rid of me, child," Athena replied. Athena felt a sudden chill and quickly turned around, meeting Ebony's weapon with her own blade. It was a small dagger that was slightly curved, connected to an identical dagger at the bottom of the handle. Athena swapped places with the corpse, taking her throne back and glaring at Ebony in the corner. The one that had first attacked her collapsed into smoke and was absorbed back into the shadow on the ground. Athena glanced back up at Ebony who grinned as she stepped back into the middle of the carpet leading to Athena's seat. What was this sensation that was slowly sweeping over Athena's body? It was unnerving and Athena didn't welcome it, her grip becoming slightly tighter on Wither as she prepared herself. Had Joseph done it? Had he found her equal?
Nonsense.
Athena rushed forward and the girl threw the daggers, the projectile spinning violently through the air only to be batted down by Wither as she approached her target. Ebony flicked her left wrist, a flat triangular blade slid out over her knuckles from her black lace gloves that covered from her elbow down to her hand where it came to a point at her middle finger. Two identical blades sprung out to both sides from above and beneath the first, giving her three daggers that sat on the top of her hand and extended out four inches from the edge of her fist. With a quick movement as Athena came in for the attack, she ensnared the sword between her claws, throwing it away and disarming Athena.
Athena knocked the girl's bladed fist away, only for Ebony's daggers to strike against her arm and she teleported to the idol nearest to her blade, in shock that the girl had landed an attack. How was that possible, her blades had fallen to the floor? Athena grabbed her katana up off of the floor and charged in as the daggers arrived back at Ebony and she threw them again. It was then that Athena spotted the thin string of air Dust that was allowing her opponent to pull them back to herself. Athena dodged them, slicing through the string as she watched Ebony disappear into the shadows on the floor. She slid to a stop and quickly turned as she barely found the time to deflect the daggers again.
Ebony attempted her shadow ability again and Athena slid across the floor as she switched places with the daggers, running Ebony through as she reformed again. Athena grinned for a moment before the clone floated away in a black cloud and the daggers struck her again. She pulled it out of her arm and watched as her aura healed the wound. How was she this good? She had heard rumors of Raven Branwen, the woman had wiped out every small village in the Kingdom of Mistral, but she never anticipated that one of Raven's protégés would be as powerful as the legend itself. But even this girl had a weakness and Athena had managed to pick up on it slowly. She whipped the dagger up at one of the torches and watched as it landed in a pile of hay below. The hay had been kept in the temple much to Athena's disliking, but finally came in handy and she watched as the room was lit up entirely by the growing flame, leaving little to no shadows for Ebony to take advantage of.
The girl would be forced to retreat and without her daggers. Athena had celebrated too soon and watched as the daggers returned to their owner, Athena could only reason that during one of her instances throwing them she had reattached the string, most likely the final throw. She stared down the girl for a long moment and watched as she charged Athena. Athena was in slight disbelief, but she teleported back to the idol behind her throne and watched the fire blazing before her as Ebony found her again.
"Not so powerful without your shadows, are you?" Athena asked smugly. She knew that the girl would never stand a chance against her, and all that she needed to do now was play the girl into her hands and she would claim victory. The girl reached into her pocket on the tight-fitting black leather pants that she wore and threw what appeared to be a smoke bomb on the ground. It exploded, throwing a giant pillar of rock up behind her and she disappeared. Athena felt the rage that she had kept in check for years now start to boil up and try to escape. The girl had created another shadow using the earth Dust, and had gotten away! She reappeared in front of Athena, both of them grappling each other to prevent the other from attacking.
"Like I said before…" Ebony grunted. "I will do whatever I need to do to ensure my survival, failure is not an option." Athena head-butted the girl who rejoined the claws into a single stacked blade in the middle of her fist, desperately trying to jam it into Athena's neck. Athena growled at her opponent keeping her in place as long as she could before realizing that she needed to do something. Despite how light her sword was, there was no doubt that Ebony could strike faster with her daggers or claws. Athena teleported both of them to an anchor out in the woods and it disoriented Ebony enough that she was able to push her away and teleport again, switching places with a log she had spotted nearby.
Athena's breath was heavy as she gasped for air. Her own father rarely ever pushed her this hard, how was this girl matching her with ease? She looked up at the moon, realizing that it was playing devil's advocate, casting shadows everywhere with some assistance of the tree branches above and Athena sprinted for the path which was littered with lanterns. It would be bright enough to give Athena the leverage she needed to take control once again. She took off for the path, stopped short by Ebony as she attempted to stab Athena in the gut. Athena swapped places with the girl, the experience once again throwing her off. She blocked the attack with ease and mounted her own offensive, getting in two solid slices against the girl's arm before she retreated to the shadows, allowing Athena to proceed towards the path once more.
She reached the path and stopped for a moment as she heard screaming from the village, glancing back to notice that her entire temple had gone up in flames and it was slowly crawling towards the village. Confusion set in and Athena was lost for a moment. Perhaps she needed to concede. At this rate, their fight was going to destroy the entire village, which was something that Athena couldn't risk. At the same time, her pride was on the line, and no one had ever been able to defeat her at one on one combat with the exception of her father. She felt torn but was cut short of making a decision as Ebony arrived again and they exchanged glancing blows, teleporting and shifting through shadows around each other as members of the village ran into the woods with buckets of water.
Crimson slowly woke up to find that someone was banging on her door and she quickly dressed as she equipped her weapon, moving to the door and throwing it open. She knew that it wasn't Athena, as Athena would have simply let herself in instead of knocking like some kind of maniac, and she wasn't surprised to find the village elder outside. The fact that he had come to wake her up meant two things, and both of those things were extremely discomforting to Crimson. The first was the fact that there was an emergency. The second was the realization that it meant Athena wasn't at home or in the temple. Crimson quickly closed her door behind her.
"What is it, Steele?" She asked.
"Can't you hear it? Turn around!" He exclaimed. Her ears slowly adjusted and she found the noise that was in question as she gingerly spun to find that the temple was burning to the ground, or at least the parts of it that were constructed out of wood were. However, since the fire had started, it had grown out of control and was climbing down the slight incline towards the small markets nearest to the village gate. Faunus ran in a panic, trying to put it out with water and those with useful semblances putting them to good use and delaying the flames. "What do we do?"
"Keep doing what you're doing!" She exclaimed as she took off.
"What if it's not enough?!" He called back.
"It'll have to be!" Crimson replied. She took off out of the settlement and as she made her way up the path she spotted her beloved who seemed to be in a heated battle against a girl who was probably close to the same age as Crimson and was using a curved dagger to fight Athena. Crimson rushed in and swiped her mimicking rod against Wither, forming the blade in her own hand. Ebony leapt back and pulled apart her curved daggers, holding one in each hand. "Athena!"
"Crimson! This is my fight!" Athena shouted at her running in and blocking a barrage of swings from Ebony as Crimson watched on for a moment in confusion. What was happening? The only reason that Athena wouldn't want her to get involved was if… It hit her all at once. This was the new apprentice that Joseph had been training. Crimson gritted her teeth and tightly gripped her blade until her knuckles became white. This girl was giving Athena more trouble than any of the others ever had. Crimson tried to act quickly.
"I knew we shouldn't have let the Branwen clan in with us!" Crimson cried out. "Say the word Mistress and I will strike her down!" Athena grunted as she was knocked back and she teleported away as Ebony disappeared.
"Do you really think now is the best time to be questioning my decisions?" Athena yelled from the woods. Crimson watched as she dashed by through the treetops, Ebony's daggers occasionally flying past Athena as she kept the girl busy by teleporting and moving constantly. "Stay out of this Crimson. That's final!" Crimson stood in disbelief and defeat as her arms fell limp. This couldn't be happening… she couldn't let this happen! The apprentice was supposed to fail, that's the way that it was supposed to go! Crimson was powerless right now, however. She would destroy this girl, but she would have to wait as she could not disobey an order from her goddess.
"I will be back Mistress!" Crimson shouted and she ran up to the temple. She was going to wait to give it to her, but she knew that it couldn't wait any longer if Athena was going to win and she wanted to stay in her goddess's grace. Crimson fought the flames as she stormed into the temple and attempted to run up the stairs, only to have them collapse beneath her and land on her back in the flames that still licked away at the hay below. She was on fire and desperation set in as she rolled across the floor. The pain was too great and the flames had consumed the entirety of the main level. Perhaps this was it… perhaps she had failed her Mistress…
Open your eyes… Please open your eyes! You killed her didn't you, you monster! She's not responding to my voice!
Crimson slowly opened her eyes and rolled onto her side as she pain rolled through her body, finally able to find her hands and knees after a long moment, curious as to what had caused it in the first place. She looked around to find that she was in a large circle of people that she had never seen before, a fact that startled her enough, but it scared and startled her even more when she spotted her parents in a set of old-fashioned stocks, unable to move despite the fact that her father was thrashing against the wooden frame. It gave slightly, but the chains and locks were enough to eliminate any chance of escape. She lifted herself up to her feet, a loud commanding voice came from behind her, instructing her on what to do next.
"Who are you?!" It asked. She tried to look back but she felt cold metal against her neck and she shuddered as she shook uncontrollably, fear filling her body and spilling out at an alarming rate as she fell to her knees again and her chest heaved. What was this horrifying feeling? What was going on? Why were her parents locked up like that? Were they going to die? Was she going to die?! "Child, if you do not find your feet in the next couple of seconds I will make sure that you no longer have feet to find!" Crimson became rigid but she understood the importance of listening to this woman and she stood quickly, despite her constant trembling. Nausea filled her stomach and threatened to spill itself onto the earth before her, but she forced it back as she felt the blade against her neck again. She swallowed hard.
"Get away from her!" Her father shouted. She looked at him, she could see the fear in his eyes. Her mother's eyes filled with tears that continued to pour and refused to stop. Her eyes were so red. The person in charge laughed softly and removed the sword from her neck, allowing her to breathe slightly easier as she turned her attention from Crimson.
"Or what? What will you do if I don't get away from her?" She asked. She moved to the Crimson's ear and bit lightly on the corner of it, causing her to jerk away and the woman chuckled. "She's cute. I think I'll keep her."
"You're a monster!" Crimson's mother screamed. Crimson felt the blade against her neck again instantly and the woman clicked her tongue.
"Call me a monster one more time and we're going to find out if your daughter here has a scream that is as pretty as her face!" She yelled. Crimson lost her nerve and began to cry, trying to remain as still as possible as she began to sob.
"Why are you doing this?" Crimson asked weakly. "What did we do?!" Crimson sobbed, no longer caring what happened. She only wanted to be free of the terror that she felt, and the sword was removed once again.
"This isn't your fault child. This is simply an act of circumstance. Your parents wanted to give you the best life that they could, seeing how you are a Faunus and all, so they decided that they would hand you over to the White Fang for safe keeping. The only problem with that is the fact that they came across my village and asked if I would let you in, but this village is supposed to be secret and your parents are cowards," the woman explained. She walked around the girl, now standing in front of Crimson. Crimson could see that she was slightly taller than herself and had red hair. Her outfit was fit for a warrior with such authority, but also struck terror deep within. "They were going to drop off their beloved daughter and run. I have a very low tolerance for cowards…"
"What is she talking about?" Crimson asked. Her father glanced between the warrior and his daughter. "You said that we were heading to Vale to get clothes."
"Crimson, your mother and I thought that if a war broke out between the humans and Faunus that you would be safer if you were a member of the White Fang. The new general in Atlas is constantly wiping out the Fang in Northern Vale and we feared with tensions running this high that it was only a matter of time before Remnant was caught up in a war again," he explained, guilt dripping from his words.
"Why wouldn't you and mom stay and help fight?" Crimson asked. He averted his eyes and the woman glanced back at the girl.
"I'll tell you why Crimson," the woman spoke. "When I was younger my brother and my father recognized the fact that my power was far greater than any that Remnant had ever seen before. They locked me away because they wanted to protect me from the evil of the world, the people that would want me dead because of my power." She looked at Crimson. "Do you have a great power?"
"I don't know," Crimson said. She looked back at her father. "Do I?" He averted his eyes again and the warrior chuckled.
"Admission of guilt," she said. She walked over to Crimson's father and crouched so that her face was close to his. "Tell her." She grabbed his chin and forced him to look at Crimson. "Tell your daughter that you are afraid of her and that you're simply too weak to be okay with that fact! That's what my family did! They knew that they were weak, and they locked me away for years!" The warrior nailed Crimson's father in the jaw before standing back up and walking around the circle, watching as the man spit out blood. "We must be strong! I will ensure our survival by only allowing the strong to join us!"
"Please," Crimson begged. "Don't kill them." The woman looked down at her and slowly approached, handing Crimson the sword in her hand.
"I like you Crimson. I see a lot of myself in your eyes. I'm going to give you a chance to stay here with me. You will not die. You will be allowed to live. I only have two conditions," she stated. Crimson looked over at her.
"What are they?" Crimson asked.
"You may never leave," the warrior stated. Crimson slowly nodded. She could think of worse things that might be required of her. The woman moved to her ear and whispered the next part softly. "You must kill your parents." Crimson's eyes grew wide and she shook her head, stepping back from the redhead.
"No… Please, I can't do that!" Crimson shouted. The warrior reached her in a few short strides and grabbed her by the neck.
"Why not?! They were going to abandon you! What good are they?! What good are cowards?! If war comes, they will die! If it doesn't come, perhaps Grimm?! Remnant and its gods do not favor the weak and the scared, it favors the powerful and the determined. It favors us Crimson!" She told the girl. She frowned as she set Crimson down. "And if you do not kill them… All three of you shall die…"
"Athena…" came a voice from the crowd. Athena turned away to find the voice.
"Joseph, not now!" She shouted. Crimson charged at Athena who smiled and swapped places with her father, the blade driving deep into him. There was an audible gasp from the crowd and Crimson trembled as she realized what had happened.
"Dad…" She managed hoarsely. The blood trickled down the blade as she stood motionless, shock paralyzing her and keeping her in place. Athena swapped out of the stocks with Joseph and moved through the crowd, back to the middle of the assembly. "Dad… I…"
"I was trying to protect you Crimson," he grunted coughing up blood. "You don't remember…"
"Remember what?!" Crimson demanded. The blood poured over the hilt and streamed down to her hands.
"Let go of the weapon…" He gasped as he passed on. The moment the liquid met her fingers, her eyes grew
wide and her claws extended, her body convulsing with rage. She looked at her hands, the smell of his blood overpowering her. What was this?!
"This is the power that they were so afraid of!" Athena exclaimed. "This is the truth that they were hiding from you! They were afraid of the things you'd accomplish if you knew!" Crimson's body was on fire and all that she wanted was to eliminate this sudden pain and ecstasy that coursed through her. She ran to her father's body, planting the blade in further and ripping open his chest cavity with her hands, causing the audience to shriek. Athena laughed maniacally and turned back to her people. "Stay! Stay and witness the power of my newest disciple!"
Deep down Crimson wanted to stop what she was doing, but she was being drowned in the pleasure of the blood that drenched her body, her mind slowly twisting and bending permanently around what Athena had told her. They wanted her to be weak, but she would show them what her true strength was! Crimson moved to her mother and in a flash had torn her apart and thrown her on the ground as Athena calmly walked over to her father and pulled her sword out of the corpse. Athena was pleased and her people were scattering in fear now as Crimson looked out at them with wild and crazed eyes. Athena looked back at her pet, a smile still plastered on her face.
"I need more!" Crimson cried out in pain. Athena swung her sword through the air for show and took a step towards the girl.
"That was a beautiful display of power Crimson! I want you to stay with me, child! Imagine the things that we would be able to accomplish together!" Athena stated. Crimson attacked her and was swatted away with Wither, forcing the girl to scurry away, moving back to her mother and rubbing more of the blood all over herself.
"I want more!" She demanded. She rushed Athena who moved to block her again, but as Athena guarded Crimson slid past and her claws tore through Athena's cloak. Athena leapt back in shock, Crimson keeping pace and tearing through again, just missing Athena's body and drawing any blood. Could this girl go further? Could she push past limits that even Athena wouldn't be able to keep up with? Athena swapped placed with one of the stocks, Crimson's claws destroying the wood as she searched frantically for her target.
"More what child?" Athena asked her, watching as Crimson found her again and slowly moved towards her. "Is it the blood that is calling out to you, or is something more? The feeling of something more?" Crimson stopped a few feet from her, beside the other stock as Athena had slowly been backing away from the girl. "Is it the want of something more?!"
"I don't know!" Crimson screamed. She moved to charge at Athena but Athena swapped spots with the other stock, swinging around and batting her in the head with the sword's hilt. Crimson cringed and stumbled at the pain, allowing Athena to teleport back to the spot she had been at before and grapple Crimson, holding the blade to the girl's neck as she struggled and panicked. The bloodlust had left her eyes and she was filled only with fear as this murderous demon looked deep into her soul. She was going to die!
"Tell me Crimson. Tell me why I should allow you to live?!" She pulled the girl closer, the blade now pressing gently against her neck. Crimson began crying, gasping as fear sank in and quickly took hold of her body. Athena thought that she was pathetic and she found no use for the girl, despite her power. "Do you want power or not?" Crimson looked back into Athena's eyes and saw something that she hadn't earlier. The same thing that she had felt before she saw burning in Athena's soul. They wanted the same thing, and it wasn't the blood… It was power.
"Y- Y- Yes, Mistress," Crimson replied weakly. Athena's eyes soften slightly and she lowered the sword.
"What did you say?" Athena asked. Crimson nodded as she sniffed hard.
"Yes, Mistress. You're right. There is no room for weakness if we are going to survive…" Crimson thought her words over. "No, if we are going to rule this world." Crimson felt overwhelming relief and joy as Athena's mouth twisted into a grin.
"Mistress?" Athena asked. She slowly set Crimson on her feet and looked the girl over. She glanced past Crimson and placed her arm around her, leading her towards the temple. "I think I've found what I was looking for."
Crimson slowly came to as she rolled onto her back, palming her weapon on her hip as she noted that fact that she was still on fire and her aura was on the brink of breaking and leaving her vulnerable to being turned to ash. She was left with no choice at this point.
She removed her weapon and gripped it tight in her hands, the rod slowly sliding apart, a light blue orb of light forming in the middle of it and growing. She had only ever used the power inside of her weapon once and from what Athena and she knew about it, it was only to be used under the most extreme circumstances. Each time she used it, the energy inside taxed her body so hard that it took years off of her life, stealing her lifeforce from her in exchange for a power that both her and Athena were always in search of. She activated it, watching as the light exploded and filled the room with its impact, putting out the fire in an instant and turning Crimson into a hybrid ice demon. Half of her body now coated in ice but had actually become ice itself, and the weapon gave her the ability to do this with any Dust.
She seethed as an unbearable pain battered her body, but she stood regardless of the fact and made her way towards another set of stairs so that she could reach the object she desired on the second floor. Crimson retrieved the item from its hiding spot and unwrapped it from the black cloth that swaddled it.
The blade was one of the last things that Athena needed to complete her plan, and Crimson had taken the initiative and retrieved it an entire month early, along with its sheath. Wilt and Blush, the weapon set that had been in Athena's family for many generations, and with each Taurus it bestowed upon them a new ability, each more interesting than the previous. Much like the Muramasa blade of legend, when the sword had been wielded by Benjamin Taurus, it was said that each kill trapped the soul of the victim inside, only to be unleashed later to give strength to the wielder. Adam had the ability to slice clean through aura and armor with the blade, making him a most dangerous foe. However, the idea of what Athena claimed it allowed her to do almost seemed unfair.
Athena told Crimson that the blade had chosen her and in addition to her absurd power that her family had feared, it caused them to fear her even more. Whoever she killed with the blade would surrender their semblance to the weapon, allowing Athena to use it at will. Crimson gripped it tight and made quick work of the stairs as she landed on the main floor and paused for a moment before running out of the building. She sniffed hard at the air, noting that there was the stench of burning flesh, but also fresh blood. She scanned the room, finding Joseph and relishing in his death before gutting him and spilling more blood, accepting his apology and bathing as much of herself as she could in it. She felt alive, the pleasure of the blood counteracting the pain of the Dust controlling half of her body. She ran out to the forest, immediately covering her eyes as the area was now filled with smoke that stung her vision.
She held her rod in her hand, Wilt now sheathed inside of Blush at her side as she peered through in desperation to find her Mistress. The rod called out to her, whispering in her ear what she should do, but she was afraid of losing what control she had left over herself, and she feared that she might cause irreversible damage. She needed to make a decision quickly, the Dust reminding her that she would never be able to forgive herself if her Goddess died because she was too weak to do the right thing, to do what must be done. Crimson felt the energy become wind Dust and she cast it out, dampening the smoke and pushing the flames away from her, putting out the smaller ones and causing the villagers to scramble even more in their struggle with protecting their homes.
There it was! Crimson sprinted into the woods, further and further as she knew that she would soon be reaching the edge of the road that led through the countryside and continued to the City of Vale. The pungent odor that was filling her even more the closer she came to it was unsettling, as she recognized the smell of the blood, meaning that it had to belong to Athena and not her opponent. This was a feeling of panic, and it was one that she had only felt once before, long ago when Athena was threatening her own life. The roles were reversed. Crimson had to make it in time.
"Athena!" Crimson called out, hoping that her mistress had gotten over her need to display her superiority over the new student. Athena had never had to push it this far before, it was rare that she ever fought outside of the temple, a few moments were all that she normally needed to prove herself as all-powerful. Crimson came up short, spotting the two of them, Athena stumbling across the dirt road as Ebony shoved her out, the younger girl barely seemed winded. What had Raven trained this clan for, were they even human? And if they were, how had they learned to push themselves past natural physical limits, had the instinct to survive no matter the cost brought them to this level of skill? Had Crimson and Athena not fought as hard as this girl for their own survival?
Crimson tore out, sliding to a stop in front of her mistress as Ebony moved in for the kill, her daggers plunging deep into Crimson's arm which was now entirely made of ice, there was no skin or bone that could be made out and it caused Ebony a momentary pause. Athena seethed as she reached up, lightly gripping Wilt as she stood.
"I told you to stay out of this," Athena told Crimson.
"Was I supposed to let you die?!" Crimson asked. Athena grunted and quickly flicked her hand, activating Blush and firing the sword into the air. Athena switched places with the flying blade, throwing her own sword over Crimson as she was lifted high above them, it landed where Ebony had been, and the girl had sunk once again into the shadows on the ground.
"Lightning!" Athena yelled as she began falling to the earth. She swapped places with Wilt again as Crimson lit up Wither, the lightning crawling across the ground and forcing the darkness to spit up Ebony who fell onto her back writhing. Athena caught Wilt out of the air and swapped places with Wither, standing above Ebony for a long moment. Her chest heaved as she looked down at the girl who still showed no fear, only contempt as she forced herself to ignore the pain of the attack and stare into Athena's eyes.
"Kill me then!" Ebony demanded. "Isn't that what you do to everyone that fails you?!" Athena realized the girl had it wrong and she looked back at Crimson.
"I'll deal with you later," She told her handmaiden, pointing at her in disgust like a master scolding their pet. Crimson knelt as the bloodlust and Dust wore off, revealing that she indeed still had an arm, but the arm was covered in burns and the onset of pain was sudden. She gripped it hard and cringed. "As for you Ebony… You have heard wrong my child." Ebony tilted her head as Athena extended a hand and helped her to her feet.
"Joseph told me…" Ebony managed before Athena pulled her close and shoved herself against the girl's body.
"He was a fool! And he was weak! I do not kill failures, I kill weakness because when there is no weakness left, there will only be strength!" Athena shoved her away. She glanced down at Crimson before turning back to Ebony. "You have pleased me, Ebony. You will train at my side, and soon we will show this world the strength that it lacked all along…"
Where is she? Tell me where she is!
"… As soon as I have my revenge."
It appears that Athena has finally found an apprentice to assist her along her path. Next week, Chapter 25 - Fear and Disappointment!
A big thank you to Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. All of their artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.
Until next week, stay classy!