Chapter 66
Ice blue eyes remained open and wide as they stared at the charred remains of the umbrella. The place where she stood was marked with scorched earth. There was nothing left. The sound of ongoing fighting was all around her yet she remained frozen at the sight. Several gunshots fired towards Cinder as the bullets bounced off her aura and with the final one striking her in the temple. Her head titled as the aura once more took the brunt of the impact. Her eye shifted towards Blake who was on the ground; the entire left arm of the Faunus was burnt and the sleeve of her jacket was non-existent. She had barely avoided the flames as she continued to fire more bullets towards Neo's killer with a pained expression. With minimal effort Cinder held her palm up to each one; deflecting the shots with ease as she prepared to finish her off.
As the flames flickered in her hand she was abruptly forced to the ground as the Sire appeared from above, planting its talon against the back of her head and slamming her face into the floor before it leapt away from her. Its wings flapped against the air as it came towards Weiss who still stood frozen. Blake's eyes followed the Grimm and she cried out Weiss' name as it charged towards her. In what futile attempt she could manage; Blake raised Gambol Shroud and hurled it towards the Sire. But her throw was weak and barely had enough strength to catch the creature. She missed.
Weiss saw the fangs of the Sire as it opened its maw in preparation for attack. Suddenly its course was thrown off as an echoing blast of gunfire slammed into its body. Its grasping claw carved towards Weiss' face as she recoiled from the hit before the Grimm crashed into the ground and hurdled towards Tyrian and Mercury; slamming into the former who was about to deliver a final strike to the wounded assassin.
The Sire was quick to stand back to its feet as its keen eye searched for the gunman. It spotted something as a second shot fired and it took to the air. The bullet slammed into Tyrian who was attempting to recover from being knocked down. The impact behind the shot alone was enough to throw the man back several feet as Emerald arrived at Mercury's side. She attempted to drag him away from the carnage before she saw what the Sire had seen. Two men had appeared; one was wielding a large blade while the other wore two gauntlets.
The latter split off and towards Yang who was barely holding her own against Ruby. She had no desire to harm her sister and so held herself back willingly. Though, even if she could treat her like an enemy, her fighting spirit had been dampened when she witnessed Neo's demise. There was no fire in her dull eyes as she weakly raised her arms to block the blade of the scythe that pushed her to the ground. Before it could deliver the final blow she saw Taiyang's fist crash into the weapon as he dived into the fray. The impact from his gauntlet disarmed Ruby as Crescent Rose clattered upon the floor some distance away. The Geist controlling Ruby looked to its weapon as it prepared to use her semblance in pursuit of it. "Hold it right there!" Taiyang swiftly had his arms wrapped around Ruby; pinning her own in place as she kicked her feet in a struggle to free herself.
Cinder stood back up to feet as she growled. Blake had left her and fled towards Weiss in order to aid her; her face was bleeding. Cinder's right arm ignited into flame as she brought it back and made to hurl a jet of fire towards the two as she had done to Neo. The sound of running steps alerted her to Qrow's presence as she turned and made to avoid the arcing slice of his blade. It was too narrow a slice as it cut into her right arm deeply while her aura finally collapsed. She stumbled back in pain as a bullet fired from Qrow's weapon pierced her left shoulder.
As ever watchful of the battlefield, the Sire descended from above once more. It had seen the wounds inflicted to Cinder and flew down towards her. It's long slender tail wrapped around her as it took to the sky. Qrow glanced up as his foe quickly moved out of range. "Cinder!" called Emerald as she saw her abducted by the Sire. Several shots were fired from Qrow to the sky before the two moved away from his line of sight. Tyrian spotted that Ruby had been captured and that the Sire had abandoned him. His battle was lost as he begrudgingly fled down one of the many exits of the street.
"Qrow! Give me a hand here, we need to get it off her!" Taiyang called out as Qrow narrowed his eyes in the direction Cinder and the Sire had vanished to. He turned and saw Emerald and Mercury escaping around a corner. With an annoyed sigh that his targets had escaped he swiftly made his way towards Ruby. First he passed Weiss and Blake and he offered them an apologetic gaze as if he was too late to stop any serious harm from happening.
"Dad-" Yang's voice began as she looked up to her father as he restrained Ruby.
"Just give me a second to get this damn thing off Ruby!" Taiyang struggled to keep a hold on the writhing girl as Qrow reached them.
"Hold her still," Qrow dropped his weapon as he moved both his hands towards the Geist mask upon Ruby.
Blake looked over to the two as she stood besides Weiss. Her arm burned in agony but she didn't notice that Weiss had turned to stare up at the Sire. It was some distance away now as it carried Cinder towards the tall clock-tower. It seemed to fling Cinder straight into the face of it as she smashed through. The beast then quickly pursued her into the tower. Weiss had three deep cuts under her left eye; wounds that were inflicted upon her by the Sire as it missed its charge. The blood trailed down her face as her ice blue eyes narrowed with murderous intent. She harshly shoved Blake aside as she fell to the floor in pain.
The Faunus looked up at her in shock and confusion as she saw a large white glyph appear behind the woman as she crouched low in preparation. "Wait! Weiss don't!" Blake tried to reach out to her but it was too late. With a powerful impact the dirt on the ground was kicked up as the glyph activated and propelled Weiss straight towards the clock-tower like a silver bullet. "Weiss!"
Qrow, Taiyang and Yang all looked towards where Weiss was once stood. "No! Dad you have to get to her, they'll kill her!" Yang attempted to stand but the wound upon her leg only caused her to stumble. Qrow looked to Taiyang and they both shared a silent glance of consideration.
The Sire picked up Cinder and threw her up against the rafters, her body cracked the wood as she fell back to the ground a few feet away from the Grimm. The Sire stood before the opening in the face of the clock-tower. There was an orange glow raising from the burning village as it spread out its wings and stood tall before giving off a fearsome roar. It's voice was cut short as something white and swift slammed into its back. A slice and a pierce was made against the flesh of the Sire before it was pushed forward; turning and digging its nails into the floorboards in order to stop itself. The Sire's single burning eye saw Weiss already pressing on with the attack as her rapier came piercing towards it. With a flap of its wings it jumped up into the dark rafters above. With the Sire out of the way Myrtensaster continued its course towards Cinder who grit her teeth as she unleashed a swathe of flame with a swipe of her hand.
The flames lashed at Weiss as she stumbled with her momentum and crashed into the ground. She slammed into various crates at the back of the tower as they fell down upon her. Cinder quickly turned her single eye to the rafters above. She could neither see nor hear the Sire as it no doubt lurked within the shadows. She heard something fall to her left as she quickly looked to see that an old broomstick had fallen to the floor with a long tail quickly retracting back into the darkness. Her eyes widened as she felt something grasp around the back of her neck; the Sire having used its long tail to create a distraction.
The crates were pushed aside as Weiss stood up from behind them. She brought her right hand to Myrtenaster as she spun the dust revolver and aimed the blade forth. Her blade flashed yellow as a bolt of lightning fired from the tip of her rapier. The arcing and erratic pattern of the electricity missed its mark as it struck the Sire instead; causing it to drop Cinder to the ground as it was pushed away. The lightning caught one of the wood pillars and promptly sparked a fire.
With the yellow dust still loaded Weiss formed a glyph beneath her feet that glowed the same colour. Her eyes narrowed as her glyph of haste activated and she used a second white glyph to lunge herself towards Cinder at a blurred speed. The rapier pierced Cinder's already wounded shoulder as she let out a cry of pain. Before she could even react she saw another white glyph materialize and felt another stab in her side, and another from behind, and then again from her flank. She was riddled with several new stab wounds before she fell to the ground.
The Sire recovered from the bolt of lightning that had scorched the bone plating upon its body. With its keen eye it spotted Weiss amidst her consecutive attacks before lunging its tail towards her in a spear-like fashion. The predictive strike of the tail was too soon as it missed a direct impact with Weiss' legs. Though it did trip her up as she fell against the ground and slammed into another wall from her own abused and reckless momentum. The gaze of the Sire briefly drifted to Cinder and it deemed her as unable to threaten it any further. That left only Weiss to deal with as it looked to where she had crashed against the wall. But she was gone already. The sensitive ears of the Sire twitched as it heard her footsteps coming towards its flank. With a turn it whipped its tail out towards her and collided into her chest. The whip slammed her back against the floor before she rolled back onto her feet.
The fire was spreading around the clock-tower as it flickered up at the rafters above and slowly consumed one side of the room. The Sire stood tall and proud before its victim. It wanted to display to her that it was superior, that it was greater in all aspects. It wanted to break her. Weiss audibly growled as she gripped her weapon tightly. She had lost any semblance of her correct posture and stood panting. She ran into a charge as she screamed at the Sire in anger, she gripped her blade in both hands as she brought it back into a brutal and savage swing unlike anything she had performed before. The Sire took a single step back and avoided the slash before it whipped its tail around towards her. With swift reactions Weiss rolled beneath the tail as she stood quickly to her feet and lunged her rapier towards the Sire. The Grimm deftly avoided the stab before Weiss moved into another rage-induced slash. The Sire was all but ready to avoid the range of Myrtenaster, but somehow a larger almost ethereal blade had appeared alongside the rapier. This blade was far wider, far longer and far more powerful.
With a roar of pain the Sire was cut as it stumbled back. It glanced down to its chest to see that the bone plating had been slit and a black ooze seeped from the new opening. It's burning eye only grew more intense as it looked back up to Weiss and took on a more primal form as it lowered itself into an all-fours sprint towards her. Both the creature and once-heiress had tossed aside all notion of nobility and grace in one savage attempt to kill each other. The Sire dived at Weiss and caught her in its claws. It tumbled against the ground before standing up with her in its grasp. It swung her around and slammed her into a wooden pillar; the pillar itself was smashed through as wooden debris collapsed onto the Sire, which forced it to release Weiss as she fell to the ground.
The blunt impact had broken her aura but she still had the strength to fight as she used her rapier to stand back up to her feet. The wooden debris were scattered as the Sire burst forth from them once again. It's tail lunged forward and speared itself through Weiss' right shoulder. She let out a cry, but it was less of pain and more of rage as the adrenaline let her fight through the damage. She slashed her rapier down upon the tail and cut it in two. The Sire flailed the stump of its tail around wildly, it was now becoming nothing more than a monstrous and mindless foe as it carved at the air towards her with its razor claws whilst roaring fiercely with spit flying from its mouth. Weiss took a sharp cut to her left arm, and another to her right as she stumbled back from each hit. The Sire was defeating her, and with each cut it delivered, she felt herself grow weaker. Her blood stained her white clothes scarlet as the Grimm grasped her by her throat and in a final attack it threw her harshly into a wall.
Weiss fell to the floor and didn't stand back up. The Sire panted as its single eye watched her intently to ensure that she was dead. The fire consumed more of the tower and there was little left for it to take before everyone would burn. A section of the tower could be heard collapsing as the walls creaked and splintered while the Sire continued to watch the lifeless body of Weiss before it finally regained its posture. In one final display it spread its wings wide in victory, it had bested those who dared challenge its supremacy.
A blast of wind abruptly forced itself upon the open wings of the Sire as it suddenly attempted to dig its talons into the floorboards beneath it. It couldn't close its wings due to the constant wind and it was confused. It's eye turned to Weiss and it saw her as she aimed Myrtenaster straight at it. A continuous gush of wind was emitting from the end of the rapier. The clawed feet of the Sire dragged back against the wood and it could feel the heat growing closer from behind it. It was being pushed into the fire.
The Sire roared in anger as spit and phlegm emitted from its mouth, it cared nothing for appearances now as it felt itself drawing closer to the flames. It's shortened tail flailed and grabbed at anything within range as it tossed wooden planks and various objects at Weiss in an attempt to stop her. The objects struck at her but she endured the pain as she kept Myrtenaster aimed. The Sire continued to roar in desperate protest before the floorboards beneath its talons gave in and were pulled from their place. The beast screamed as it was pushed into the fire, and the second it was within the burning flames more debris collapsed upon it; trapping it in an inferno as its life was slowly taken from it while its screeching persisted.
It wasn't over though. There was something else she needed to do as she struggled back to her feet. She was bloodied and tired as she stumbled her way to Cinder who was sitting down against a wall in no condition to fight back. Her single eye watched as Weiss approached her and halted. No words were shared between the two as Weiss glared upon the woman and aimed Myrtenaster towards her. Cinder smirked as she welcomed the swift death. The cries of the Sire were slowly beginning to fade.
Weiss brought her hand to the dust revolver upon Myrtenaster and she spun it. Cinder narrowed her eye as she heard the clicks of the dust chambers switching before they halted. Weiss' eyes briefly glanced down to the selected dust; it wasn't the one she wanted. Steadily she brought her hand back to the revolver and spun it again. Cinder's expression was becoming concerned as she listened to the soft clicks of Myrtenaster. The revolver came to a halt as Weiss once more looked to it. Wrong again...
"Wh- What are you waiting for!? Do it already!" Cinder grit her teeth as Weiss remained silent. She spun the revolver for a third time. She heard something behind her break. It might have been the fire causing more damage, or it might have been someone else. She didn't care.
The revolver came to a halt as Weiss glanced down to it once more. Red. Her ice blue eyes looked back up to Cinder as she steadied her aim. The woman saw as the blade pointed towards her took on a red glow and her eye widened.
"No- Wait-!" Cinder began before a jet of flame was unleashed upon her. She screamed in agony as the fire engulfed her entirely; a constant stream of burning pain. Weiss watched silently and with intent. She watched as everything this person was in front of her became undone. She gave her the same fate that she forced upon Neo. The screams filled her ears and soon enough it was the only thing she could hear. The figure beneath the flames was hard to make out, there was a flailing arm here, a twitching leg there. She had to see it all though, she had to know that it was final. The smell of burnt flesh quickly filled her senses as the jet of flame continued. Soon the screaming stopped and all she could hear was the crackling of wood and the burning flames. But even then, she kept going as footsteps slowly approached her from behind.
Myrtenaster stopped emitting flame, but it wasn't of Weiss' own choice. She ran out of dust. It was then that she saw something glowing amidst the ashes and the fire that was left behind. Her eyes were blinded with light as she felt something surge throughout her body. For a brief moment it was painful but it quickly faded. Her vision returned to her and her body felt... Heavier. "Feel better now?" came a voice from behind her.
In silence Weiss turned to see Qrow looking back at her; he was stood before the smashed clock-face of the burning tower as he held out a hand towards her.