"I expected more out of you, boy."
Trudging up the steps, Virulet flung the battered body of his opponent in front of him. The crumpled form of Mercury Black hit the wall like a wet rag, both of his prosthetic legs severed from the knee and a scar over his right eye. The assassin had put up a decent fight; perhaps if he had been able to make use of his Semblance Virulet may have had a bit more difficulty defeating him. Still, the human body was no match for his perfection. This boy called himself a Golden God, but Virulet knew exactly what a false prophet looked like.
"Where are you Ruby Rose?" Virulet called out as he stomped into the lounge, cutting the T.V in two with his tail. He could detect five lifeforms in the house; their exact identities he could not decipher from just their heat signatures. However, he wouldn't need to wonder much longer about one of them. "Why hello there, Yang Xiao Long!"
The blonde stood on the staircase above him, holding a hunk of brick in her hand. "Man, you are one ugly hunk of tin."
"Insult accepted. Now, kindly tell me where your sibling is so that I may rip both of you limb from limb!"
"Like I'd ever let you near Ruby!" Yang shouted at the top of her lungs. She could feel her rage building up within her, a hot burning sensation within her being held back by the stupid barrier. If only she could just…!
"Then I will go right through you, blondie!" Virulet laughed, charging up the steps as Yang's irises began to change from their usual purple color.
In the beginning, Ozpin knew that science could only work so hard to restrain something like a Semblance that was not always governed by the laws of nature. There was a few individuals he believed may be able to surpass the barrier under certain conditions. There was Ruby, whose full potential he could not determine. Cinder was another, being Salem's (now former) top pawn; he knew not her entire arsenal of power, but she wasn't the witch's favorite for no reason.
The last one… was Yang Xiao Long and her temper.
"JUST YOU TRY IT!" Letting out a yell of pure rage, Yang's hair burst into golden flames, breaking her limits and chucking the brick at the incoming monster. Virulet was taken aback for a moment upon seeing a Semblance in person, but didn't have much time to think about it as the piece of stone smashed right through his mandibles. Flying shreds of shrapnel pierced the walls as he stumbled backward, clutching his face.
"Grahgh!" the A.I snarled, looking up just as Yang's foot collided with his cranium. The blonde drove him into the floor, stomping down on his face before ripping at his face with her bare hands.
"I'LL END YOU!" Yang didn't care about how she had been able to break through the barrier, nor did she care about how much her hands were bleeding from tearing into his metal form. The only thing on her mind was protecting her baby sister at all costs!
Even with half of his face gone, Virulet's remaining eye still glowed a deep purple; the last thing he was worried about was physical injuries. There was only one thing that could keep him down. He grabbed hold of Yang's waist, digging his talons into her back and belly as a surge of violet electricity rushed to his hands.
"No, you won't."
There was a bright light, before the purple energy now enveloping Yang turned a bright white and exploded in a thunderous burst. As the smoke cleared, the golden fire of Xiao Long faded out and the blonde slumped the ground. Virulet kicked her down the steps once he was back on his feet. Hearing a gasp at the top of the steps, he caught the faintest glimpse of a red cape rush behind a corner.
"There you are…" Virulet chortled, rushing up the steps. He saw his target running down the hall and raised his hand. Extending his pointer finger, he fired a bolt of energy straight at the girl, who barely managed to duck out if the way. It passed through the far window, glass shattering as the energy continued far outside into the woods. "Damn you, Ruby Rose! I will massacre you so viciously, your remains shall be microscopic!"
He pursued her, retracting the spikes in his tail so he could better maneuver through the narrow halls. Virulet continued to blast energy at the girl, doing much more damage to the house's interior than to her. The pipsqueak was much more nimble than he wished she was!
For some reason, just as he turned the corner leading into the dining room, Virulet saw her standing still in front of the door to the kitchen. If he was able to grin right now, he would. "Good girl… Now stay still so I can eviscerate you!"
Virulet sprinted forward, charging right through the dinner table as he flung one of his bladed fingers at the girl. She grinned underneath her hood as she ducked out of the way, sidestepping as the metal monstrosity barged into the kitchen. He skidded to a halt in front of the stove, which was glowing a bright orange inside.
"Oh, bloody hell!" Virulet spat in fear at the heat, before feeling a large body tackled him from behind.
"I got him!" the Lieutenant yelled out as another person pinned Virulet's neck down with a huge pan.
"As do I!" Adam followed, digging the cooking tray into Virulet in an attempt to decapitate him. The A.I tried to gore them with his tail, but it too was now being restrained by Lie Ren.
"You stupid idiots!" Virulet thrashed on the floor, his captors struggling to hold him down, "This will only prolong your suffering!"
"If you say so~!"
The A.I saw Ruby Rose walk into the kitchen, a big cheery grin on her face as she brandished two sledgehammers at her side. But upon seeing her remove her hood and her bright orange hair, he discovered that these flesh bags were much smarter than he had thought. "You're not Ruby Rose!"
"Bingo, buddy!" Nora Valkyrie smiled, twirling her hammers as she approached the stove, "Ruby's long gone by now!" She swung the tools at Virulet's head, knocking off even more chunks out of him, and then drove both heads through his shoulders.
"AGH!" Though this kind of damage wouldn't kill him, Virulet was not appreciating the damage to the body he had spent so much time working on. The heat from the stove wasn't doing much good for him either, only making him more anxious of what they were planning to do to him. When he saw Adam pull a lighter from his pant pocket, Virulet began to struggle even harder to escape what was about to occur. "No, NO!"
"Are you two sure about this?" Ren asked Adam and the Lieutenant, who nodded solemnly.
"Sometime, an individual must risk everything to protect the things they care for," Taurus replied, "Isn't that right, my Lieutenant?"
"You said it, boss."
"Thank you," Ren closed his eyes before rolling off Virulet's tail, dashing out the door with Nora at his side. Valkyrie gave one last look back at them, saluting the two members of the White Fang who were about to put their lives on the line for everybody.
"Fools! You are killing yourselves!" Virulet snarled, trying to lash at them with his tail until the Lieutenant pinned it down with his boot. Adam gave his Lieutenant the best parting gift he could think of: a genuine smile and a hand on the shoulder as he flicked the lighter on to spark the gas emitting from the stove's burners.
"It has been an honor, my Lieutenant… my friend."
"Thank you, Adam. And… it's Gray. Gray J. Sawyer."
Parrying a strike from the Deathstalker's stinger, Qrow tried to catch his breath for a moment. He had fought many Grimm before, and this one was easily in the top 5 hardest he'd ever squared off against. Even with Taiyang's help, they could barely put a dent in the monster's hide!
"Fall back!" Qrow called to Tai. The men rolled out of the way of its pinchers, splitting up into the woods so they could buy some time. Running past the van, Qrow caught a glimpse of Ozpin and his opponent. "Huh. Guess that squirrel was evil after all."
"Help me, Qrow!" Oz shouted, holding the squirrel's jaws back by lodging it in between its buck teeth. Rolling his eyes, Qrow put his scythe at the ready for a clean decapitation, but tripped over a small black shape.
"What the hell?!" Branwen looked back at what he had stumbled over, and the little Goliath trumpeted happily at him. "Don't tell me your cute little ass is here to kill us too!"
Mr. Tibbs cocked his head, not really sure what Qrow meant. Before Qrow could decide whether or not to put the tiny Grimm down, an enormous sound broke out in the distance. Recognizing it as an explosion, he, Taiyang, and Ozpin looked through the trees to the penthouse, where a bright orange inferno was billowing from where the dining room was located.
"Oh, no…" Taiyang breathed, fearing the worst for his girls. He made a break to the house, but was too slow to dodge the Deathstalker's pincher flying towards him. The blunt end struck him in the ribs, knocking him through several trees.
"Tai!" Qrow shouted, "I'm… coming…?"
Hearing a strange gurgling at his feet, Qrow looked down at Mr. Tibbs, the pachyderm shaking and emitting a shadowy mist from his body. The elephant had just made contact with a catastrophically high amount of fear aura coming all the way from the burning penthouse, and was about to go through the quickest stage of puberty the world had ever witnessed.
"Shit!" Qrow took cover behind some bushes as Mr. Tibbs began to rapidly grow in size, the top of his head reaching the forest canopy after only five whole seconds. The Deathstalker and the Grimm Squirrel paused to gaze up at their gigantic fellow beast, who had just absorbed every ounce of fear and leaving none for them to grow off of. None too happy about him refusing to share with them, the two smaller monsters abandoned their human targets to exact their vengeance on him.
It was the last mistake they would ever make.
Mr. Tibbs felt two minor irritations at his feet, poking at his giant toes in an attempt to 'hurt' him. Not really in the mood for their bothering, he lifted both his front feet slowly and gently pressed down on the nuisances. After a few seconds of shrieking and hissing, Mr. Tibbs' feet felt just fine and dandy.
"Brutal…" Qrow said, staring at the half of the Deathstalker not trapped under the Goliath's body, its tail falling limp to the ground. With no trace of the Grimm squirrel remaining, Ozpin cautiously exited the van with Glynda hoisted over his shoulder. "She okay, Oz?"
"Just fine, Mr. Branwen," the Headmaster nodded as a bruised Taiyang limped over to them. The worried father didn't stop to check on them as he continued towards the penthouse. "Mr. Xiao Long, please wait. You are quite hurt."
"My girls… I gotta help them!"
"He's right, Oz," Qrow agreed, resting his scythe on his shoulder, "We aren't done yet. Just keep Glynda safe while we deal with this."
"Very well then," Ozpin laid Glynda on the ground as his former students rushed towards the fire. Sensing distress in the old man, Mr. Tibbs brought his trunk down and touched Ozpin on the head to comfort him. "Thank you, strange beast. You are the best rodent repellent I could have ever asked for."
"PHWAAAAANNKKKK!"
"Indeed."
It burns.
It burns.
IT BURNS.
But death would not take him. Not yet. He couldn't die yet.
The mission.
That girl.
That damned girl!
Pushing himself off the kitchen floor, Virulet didn't care that many parts of his body had been melted and scorched by the explosion that engulfed him and the two Faunus that had been holding him down. He didn't care whether their bodies in the far corner were still breathing or not; they weren't his mission anymore. These flesh bags had fooled him, and he had let Ruby Rose escape. Such incompetency was intolerable! He was Lord Sir Virulent the 13th! A perfect being! And he was going to show all of them his power!
Sending all of his energy into his legs, he burst up through the ceiling into the night sky, spying the group of idiots gathered at the top of the driveway. Ha! They thought they could escape him! NEVER! He would never allow it! He would rip away all hope from them now!
After a brief jolt in his systems (finally, that system repair was kicking in!), he descended down to the earth, ready to slice them all to pieces.
Victory would be his.
The first thing Ren and Nora did upon reaching their friends on the hill was run to Pyrrha and Jaune, hugging them tightly and checking the girl's injuries. Arc had brought Pyrrha and Penny to the edge of the highway, where they would be able to board their escape vehicle fastest. Ruby, Blake, and Velvet ran to them, begging for answers to the fates of those still inside the burning house.
"Ren!" Ruby looked at Ren as she hugged Penny, "Where is Yang?! Where's my sister?!"
"What about Mercury?" Velvet followed, "Is he okay?!"
"Weren't Adam and the Lieutenant with you two?" Blake questioned, not even bothered that she was worried about the fate of her ex-stalker, "Did they make it out?"
"I… I don't know," Ren's voice cracked, looking down at his feet, "Nora and I had to get out before-
"Guys…!" Weiss interrupted from afar with fear in her voice, pointing up at the metal monster falling down like a meteor towards them all, "He's not dead!"
"Mwah-ha-ha!" Virulet cackled, watching his victims scatter. He landed with a crater impact, the force of it shaking the ground and knocking Weiss and Emerald off their feet. "There's no escape! Accept your fate!"
Shakily wielding Melodic Cudgel, Roman tried to fire a blast in the A.I's face, but was backhanded into a tree before he had a chance. Virulet swung his tail at a sneaking Neo, battering her legs and sending her flying into Roman.
"Bastard!" Sun roared, jumping on Virulet's back and yanking his tendril hair out. He gave the monkey a strong jolt, and let him slide to the ground as he stomped up the hill towards Ruby Rose.
"I've waited so long…" Virulet hissed, violently extending his talons and running them through the dirt, "I have put up with all of you day after day, after day, after every fucking day just for this moment! Every second I lied in wait inside of Penny Polendina, I dreamed of killing you and ripping the skin from your bones!"
Blake and Velvet charged at the A.I, but were shocked by his energy before they could even get close to try and hurt him. "You people sicken me! You disgust me! No one should be as loving, as caring, and as overwhelmingly happy as all of you turned out to be! Fairy tale endings do not exist! There are no happy endings!"
Suddenly, Virulet felt a body leap on him once again. He reached back and flung them in front of him, laughing as Emerald began to crawl backwards away from him.
"I spared you earlier, girl," Virulet glared, raising his talons for the killing blow, "I will not grant you that mercy again!"
"Emerald!" Ruby screamed, dashing down the hill in desperation, "NOOO!"
It happened so fast.
The first thing Emerald felt was the splatter of blood on her face, even before she saw Virulet's blade protruding from Ruby's upper back. There was a whimper from the impaled girl, her hand reaching up to grasp the A.I's metallic limb.
Nobody cried out. Nobody screamed. Nobody could.
Only the dripping of tears on the barren earth could show their heartbreak.
"Mwah-ha-ha!" Virulet cackled with dark satisfaction, watching Ruby grip his thin wrist in death, "Salem wanted you alive! But frankly… I just don't give a flying fuck anymore about what she wants!"
"So… Is that what Salem wanted all along?"
Wait.
That… That wasn't right.
Virulet was looking at Ruby Rose right now, hanging from his blade, bleeding from the mouth and dying. There was no other person it could be! Then why...
Why was her voice that of Cinder Fall's?!
He felt that pain again, the one he had assumed was his repair system at work. But now… Now it was much more intense, like the source of it was right in front of him.
Virulet looked down at Emerald Sustrai, her tearful eyes glowing just slightly as her illusion she had projected on him began to fade out. The A.I soon realized what had happened the moment he gazed up at the hill, where Ruby Rose was still standing unharmed.
This was wrong! All wrong! When had he exited the perimeter of the barrier? Just how long had Emerald had him under her hypnosis?! And who the hell had he just-
Virulet gazed with fear upon the individual holding his wrist, Cinder's eyes glowing with amber flame as her true form emerged from the fading static of Sustrai's illusion. Virulet felt a tiny heat emerge from where Fall had taken hold of him, which then shot through his body in one painful, excruciating motion.
"…Oh, fuck me."
"You made my Emerald cry," Cinder hissed weakly, transmitting every ounce of her fire into Virulet's form, "So I'll going to burn you alive."
"NO! NO-
A flash of orange, then… warmth.
It was fading away. His energy, his body, his mind; all of it vanishing by the second as the fire of Cinder Fall scorched him to the very molecule. He made not a sound, not even a wince of agony, as the heat reached his central database and burned it to nothing.
The last thing Lord Sir Virulet the 13th saw as his artificial life faded from this world, his metal body now ashes blowing away in the wind, was the cold, emotionless face of the woman whom had killed him with fear.
Feeling the blade evaporate from within her chest, Cinder felt her feet touch the ground. She stood wavering back and forth, turning her head to smile at Emerald and Ruby up on the hill. Her friends, her family, saved because of her selflessness.
This felt right.
Oh, what a way to go.
"Thank… you…" Cinder mustered out, feeling herself start to fall. She heard Emerald shriek her name, catching her before everything around her began turning a bright white. The faces of those rushing to her aid were being bleached by the blissful paleness taking over her vision, the taste of blood in her mouth vanishing as all of it, the burdens of her past, her joy, her Emerald, was washed away.
Just washed away…