So some people wanted more Fate stuff. Some wanted even more RWBY stuff. So I decided to do both! Whoo!
Chapter 3: Hope is for the despairing
Harbinger twirled and danced, every slight movement cutting down a Grimm no matter how powerful. A Nevermore tried to swoop in and take him surprise, but Harbinger apparently had other ideas. The scythe malfunctioned and, without Qrow pulling the trigger, shot the head of a Griffon in the air, the bullet taking it down and making the Griffon fall out of the sky and slam down onto the Nevermore, forcing them to both eat steel as they both slammed into a nearby skyscraper. The building then toppled over, crushing a good two dozen more of the flying monstrosities and caused the ground to tremble, leading to multiple some Ursi and Boarbatusks to lose their footing and being easy prey for the Huntsman.
"Heh, why don't you try again?" Qrow taunted the Grimm before him. "Your buddies just had… a spurt of bad luck, ya know what I'm sayin?" Even as he spoke seemingly carefreely, Qrow let his Branwen blood sing by slicing through his enemies like a fire Dust enhanced sword through butter.
"Hey you two!" He shouted back even as he flipped over an incoming Grimm and sliced its head off, using its body as a way to jump up to the next flying Grimm before it dissipated into the black sparks. "How long does it take to hotwire a bullhead?!"
"We've been here for ten seconds!" Sun shouted back even as he followed Neptune's instructions. Colored wires by the hundreds were assorted underneath the floor panel he had pulled open and all of them were locked into some other panel. And it wasn't only that either. Lightning Dust, Gravity Dust, Fire Dust, there were so many types of Dust with so many different wires each that it would have taken a good decade for Sun to figure out what went where, and only after a couple thousand times of blowing himself up in the process.
Neptune's eyes flickered across every wire, remembering every cord and every gear to use, every mechanism in the Bullhead, even as Qrow shouted back, "Bullshit! It's been a good three minutes at least!"
The Huntsman shot off to block any Grimm from reaching the Bullhead, but there were too many. In exchange for killing three more Nevermores, a couple of Beowolves came through. "Heads up!" He called back to the kids. "Grimm incoming!"
Sun flinched and turned back to the Grimm approaching. He made to draw his weapons, Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang, to kill them but something else beat them to it.
"Hyaaa!" A steel sword came out of seemingly nowhere, its worn and war torn blade able to cut through the Beowolves with ease. Sun had seen that sword before, he could never forget it. After all, it was the blade that belonged to one of his friends, which was named… "Crocea Mors!" Sun cried out in disbelief.
Shaggy blond hair popped into view as Jaune Arc easily carved open the last Beowolf. Even to him such weak beasts were no threat. He turned back to Sun and the monkey faunus did a double take at his eyes. They were puffy and red, like he had been crying. But most of all, they were… hollow.
Sun felt sick to his gut. He knew that look. He had the same one when his brothers and sisters in all but blood had died. And if Jaune had that look while Ren and Nora were knocked out at the evacuation zone then Pyrrha must have…
Jaune stepped onto the Bullhead before he asked, "This is going to Beacon right?" Sun nodded dumbly in response to the question. "I'll help defend, you do what you need to do the get this flying. We need to go quick, Pyrrha's in danger." His fists clenched in seething rage. "She's facing the person who started all of this. The woman was able to kill Ozpin!"
Sun felt a swooping sensation in his gut at those words, his stomach somehow up in his throat while also pooling down to his feet, weighed down by dread. Ozpin was dead? What… shock couldn't even begin to describe his state right now. Sun forced his mind to think, think and get back into gear. He could deal with this later, he didn't have time to think about this now. First of all they had to get the Bullhead up and running now, if they wanted to have any chance of saving the others. Good news was that Pyrrha was alive, but if she was versing the same person that… killed… Ozpin, then she wouldn't be for much longer. No, she might even be dead right now.
Unknown to both of them and Qrow, Neptune had already hotwired the Bullhead to be able to fly about a minute ago. What he was searching for now was… there it is. He grinned before shouting back at Sun, Jaune and Qrow, saying "We're good!" ecstatically. Due to his focus, he hadn't even noticed Jaune talk.
Qrow harrumphed before brutally slicing off another head of a… well, hell if he knew but it was dead now. He doubled back towards whooping monkey faunus and the kid that started the Bullhead. He shifted his scythe into the gun form and taking a couple of potshots while backpedaling up the steel stairs.
The ramp closed quickly, the last bullet sneaking out and rocketing into the head of another flying Grimm. Qrow didn't put away his weapon though, that would be either stupid or suicidal of which he was neither, though Tai might beg to differ on the first one.
"I thought hotwirings entire purpose was to have a get away and to have it fast. Three minutes could mean the difference between life and death." He growled at the students. Wait, there were three now? God dammit, they were multiplying. "What the hell are you doing here?" He growled to the new kid but before he could open his mouth Qrow cut him off. "Fuck it. We have no damn time to waste. Blue! Get the damn thing flying!" He commanded towards Neptune. He glared at the two blondes. "Blond one and blond two! Get your shit ready, cause we're about to have the fight of our lives. Before that though, help Blue if he needs it." All three of them nodded and rushed off.
Neptune settled into the main pilot seat, and placed his hands onto the mechanisms to control the Bullhead. Switches by the dozens were flipped and even more were left untouched. "You know," Neptune said while he adjusted the coordinates for Beacon academy and the Bullhead started the engines to fly. "I actually had the thing hotwired within the second minute."
Qrow narrowed his eyes at him, as if saying he better have a good explanation for why the kid had delayed them or he would toss him off the flying machinery straight into the Nevermores starting to scratch the Bullhead, him piloting the thing be damned.
"What took most of the time was actually finding something else, and making sure the wires for it weren't damaged somehow." He continued speaking. "You see, usually Bullheads need authorization from the CCT to do a couple of things but in the middle of Grimm infested lands they can't wait for something like that." Nevermores swarmed across their vision as even Qrow widened his eyes at sheer amount of them. Neptune, however, continued speaking casually even while fiddling with a couple of knobs. "So Bullhead pilots can learn how to bypass their commands, though this is only for fighting Bullheads like Beacons and not industrial ones."
"First a pulse of pure energy powered by lightning dust reaches out and judges that there isn't a working CCT within over a hundred miles of it. Once that happens, multiple other triggers are set off to work to use the computers navigation system to confirm that there are no known villages nearby and also to constantly use small amounts of lightning dust to set off a sonar to see if there are Grimm close to the Bullhead while any soundwaves blocked are reported back and compared to the computer's stored examples of Grimm to confirm its existence. Once every test is confirmed within a space of four point seven seconds, the Pilot can… start to have some fun." Neptune flipped open a small glass cover which covered a large red button and slammed his hand down onto it, his smile making just the right side of viciousness in Qrow's eyes.
'Weapon system activated! Nevermore, Manticores, and Griffons located! Deploying rapid fire air interception missiles!'
And then the sky ruptured in explosions and black sparks filled all of the passengers and pilot's vision.
Angra Mainyu had demonstrated its full power, Shirou realized. The portal was one of its last cards, along with the flames that lit up the night with its eldritch glow. The flames which had shaped him into the blade he was now once again scorched the earth with its vile strength after ten full years.
These flames were where Kiritsugu found him, saved him, so long ago, and gave the broken boy a purpose. But before Kiritsugu found him, before the purity and soft strength of Avalon had enveloped him, Shirou had walked amongst these flames.
He had walked and walked, walked past those two old men who burned to death, past the kid who was buried in the rubble and laid unmoving while the flames consumed him. He trudged past the woman who cried out for anyone to help her and her baby, the infant crying before silently suffocating from the smoke while the mother followed soon after.
He walked past and didn't so much as glance towards the others who cried out for anyone to save them.
Hundreds of burns littered across his skin but he continued trudging through the field of flames. He was long past the point where any other would have given up and let themselves die to prevent the pain the flames wrought upon them.
The flames wanted to consume and where others resisted, he let the flames consume him. He tossed away his pride, the remnant of it burning down into cinders. The flames wanted more though and so he tossed away his sense of reality. He fed his reason and he later fed his sanity to the fire.
Yet the flames still wanted more of him, more to burn, more to feed upon. And so Shirou fed the flames everything he had. He gave his memories to the flames, watching as everything that made him up was devoured. Memories was what made up a being, without it there was not any man still behind, only a husk, an empty shell which had no purpose in life. The boy who walked through flames wanted to live so bad he tossed away his reason to survive in the first place.
The flames from his childhood. The ones that haunted his nightmares for years, the same ones that burned away all that he was and nearly killed him, were before him again.
Shirou laughed.
He laughed because he felt no fear. It wasn't that he felt fear but pushed it away like he did so many times during the Holy Grail War.
It was that he literally felt no fear within him.
After all, there was nothing to fear. Then he had been a boy, someone that could do nothing but hope to live as long as possible. Now he had faced down far fiercer and far more dangerous beings.
He had faced Heracles himself, the bastard of Zeus. The greatest Greek Hero.
He had faced and killed the Corrupted Perfect King, Arthur, empowered by Angra Mainyu.
He had faced the Shadow, a being that was made to devour and kill everything.
Worst of all, though with words and not swords, he had faced himself. His own ideals born from the fire that had consumed him, he had to face both that and the being that walked into hell for following the same ideals. Archer was another version of himself driven mad by his own ideals of being a hero and turned in a bitter, twisted being that couldn't be called a man that preferred being wiped out of existence in comparison to the hell he was in now. Shirou had to face both his own future and the broken man that became of it. After that, how could he be scared of the fire that literally embodied reality?
More than all though, he had Excalibur in his hands. Saber was behind him and supporting his path, assisting him in his quest to end the being spouting those very flames.
Being frightened by some fire, even if it was conjured from the vilest substance he could have imagined? The very idea was laughable.
After all, the fire might have forged him into the blade he was today but the Holy Grail had caused him to open his eyes to the insanity of reality.
Shirou grinned wildly, the madness which could only be born from a wielder of a reality marble dancing in his eyes. He opened his mouth as words whose weight exceeded the power of reality was let loose.
Born from cursed fire; awakened by legendary steel
With the second line of his aria let free, he let loose the power of Excalibur and a golden ray shone out of the blade, splitting the darkened skies above him.
Ruby sawed through another Beowolf before flipping and using her Semblance to split apart into rose petals and appear behind an Ursa, cutting off one of its legs to remove its movement before flipping over it and sawing off its head.
It was nearly effortless, operative word being nearly. It still took some effort and with her going through, what, seventeen Ursa, it was starting to get tiring. She lost count how many Beowolves she had killed by now, just knowing that it had far surpassed the quadruple digits easily.
That might be an exaggeration but it sure felt like it at least! She was tiring fast but she knew that it wasn't fully due to the Grimm she was fighting, though that certainly was a factor. Her silver eyes glanced up to the storm of roses floating across the entire battlefield, all of them staying within a certain radius with her command even though it was taxing on her aura.
Pyrrha's body was nowhere in sight. Even if one searched all over Remnant, they wouldn't even find a trace of her.
Simply transforming herself and whatever she was holding was easy if it was for a short time. Making sure whatever she was holding actually stayed as rose petals for a longer time was far more complex.
Keeping herself and whatever she was holding as rose petals for an extended amount of time? Nearly impossible and drained her aura by a large amount for a short amount of time, maybe three minutes or so. That was the main reason that, while she kept Pyrrha in constant rose form, she used only short bursts for herself, to conserve some aura.
She tried rushing away from the crimson lightning storm that appeared out of nowhere and to make a run for it. She succeeded also, able to rush towards the docks from where the Bullheads were usually located at. From there she would use some of her fire dust, make it explode in the sky which was her and Weiss's agreed sign to use if either one of them found Pyrrha after they split up to find her when the tower had collapsed. Once Weiss saw it and hurried back, they would both be able to leave. It was all perfectly planned out. Too bad neither of them thought of the idea that there were no Bullheads to take them to back to the city of Vale.
Mind flashing back to Professor Port's first class, Ruby used her scythe as a pole to propel her to the opposite end of the Boarbatusk charging at her and rushed at the Grimm. Stabbing the scythe into the beast's underside, she gave a mighty heave to flip it onto its back before plunging her weapon into the Grimms head and ripping it off. The body laid still for a silent second before disintegrating into the usual specks of smoke that occurred whenever a Grimm died.
Silver eyes took in the entire battlefield of Grimm, from a couple of Beowolves to a flock of Griffon, a horde of Ursa to a murder of Nevermores, and even a couple of Death Stalkers and a King Taijitu.
God she wished she had some cookies right now. Actually if she could wish for anything she would wish for a team of fully trained Huntsmen to help her right now along with a medic for Pyrrha. She wouldn't be losing blood anytime soon since, you know, she had no blood to lose since she was just a pile of roses right now but she couldn't keep that up forever.
Deciding that standing her ground and fighting would be suicidal even if this was the agreed meeting location, Ruby quickly transformed herself into a large cluster of rose petals and sped out of there, the storm of roses following her with a mental command.
Retreating back into the trees, the roses quickly flew up above onto a tall one which could support both of their weight. Both Ruby and Pyrrha transformed back into their original selves with Pyrrha unconscious and bleeding heavily in Ruby's arms while the girl herself was panting and clearly out of breath.
"Hah. Ugh, that took more aura than I thought." Ruby said to herself while panting. She tried to have a look around but it was dark since the clouds covered the moon. At the corner of her left eye's vision she saw a white spark lighting, it glow only making it stand out far more than usual due to the darkness surrounding the island. She craned her neck and looked towards the glow, hope fluttering about in her chest. Was it?
Yes! It was the white shine of Weiss's glyphs! Since it was traveling towards the docks she could safely assume that Weiss saw the signal. Ruby turned both herself and Pyrrha into rose petals once again, speeding towards the glow of Weiss's Semblance.
"Weiss!" She cried out as she landed right next to the petite girl that was stabbing a Beowolf.
"Ruby?! What are you doing here, you-" She was cut off from an attack by an Ursa that appeared from behind here, only managing to dodge the lethal swipe with the noise the Ursa made when running through the bushes warning her. Ruby started running towards the Ursa and tried swinging her scythe. The Grimm, whose size belied the speed it showed, dodged quickly and tried to ram into the small girl. Her eyes widened before leaping to the side to barely avoid the the attack while Weiss used the continuing velocity of the Ursa against it by flipping over it and plunging her rapier into the Grimm, the Ursa being unable to stop only forced it take more damage as Myrtenaster ripped through its skin like paper and dealt enormous amounts of damage to the beast.
The Ursa stumbled due to the damage, though it didn't fall, while Ruby sped towards it, not using her Semblance, and used her deadly scythe to cut off the head of the beast.
They both gasped for breath, sweat pouring down the faces of the girls. Ruby stumbled and slumped against a tree for support and to catch a small break. "How many… Grimm was that?"
Weiss plunged her rapier into the ground and used it as a support to remain standing up, only barely managing to avoid falling down in exhaustion like Ruby, too tired to care about how unproper she looked. "Far, far too many."
Ruby sighed in response before saying, "That sounds about right. I would kill for a plate of cookies right now. No, a truckload! No, a mountain made of cookies! Dedicated to me!"
Usually Weiss would lecture Ruby about her diet of only cookies but the pure similarity of her attitude compared to far better times in Beacon made her laugh, half in relief the other half being in pure hysterics. She actually started howling in laughter as she slumped to the ground, her pure white combat skirt getting grass and mud stains all over it but she couldn't care less. In her mind an image of her father, stern as always, appeared and started berating for acting in a conduct far below the appropriate level of a Schnee. The thought only made her start laughing even harder before before finally stopping, though only after a few minutes and Ruby joining in.
"You might dine on such a low class treats as cookies," Weiss drawled teasingly, "however I will only feast upon the finest of cakes made by my cake butler."
Ruby gasped, far too loudly and shocked to be anywhere close to genuine, before saying, "Take that back! Not liking cookies, how dare you! Heathen! All of you cookie hating monsters!"
That got Weiss chuckling a bit more before her darting up in wide up panic. "Wait what?!"
Ruby raised an eyebrow. "Chill Weiss, I was only joking. Well, kinda."
"Not that you dolt!" Weiss shot back. "Where's Pyrrha, your signal said you have her?!"
Ruby only pointed upwards in response. Weiss looked upwards only to see the sky turn red. Roses, they were everywhere. Floating gently in the air even though there was no breeze, some lying on the ground, when she meant everywhere she meant everywhere.
"Ruby…" She said involuntary, too much in awe in what she was seeing to properly say anything concrete, "what's going on?"
"My semblance," Ruby responded wearly, "is the power to turn into roses, not speed like what Pyrrha said. I'm able to turn into roses along with whatever I'm holding, along with some stuff that I am not touching as long as it doesn't try to resist me but I have to touch it first. It can't be that big either."
Weiss seemed shocked at Ruby's Semblance though she soon shook it off. After all, her Semblance has effects on gravity and time of all things, Ruby being able to transform a couple of objects into roses isn't exactly a stretch. Blake makes literal clones of herself while Yang is able to absorb damage with her frankly huge amount of aura before using that damage to increase her own power, most likely somehow storing kinetic energy though that wasn't guaranteed. Semblances are wild, magical things that could be extremely unpredictable and laughs into the face of physics.
She warily eyed the roses and asked, "So all of these roses are Pyrrha?"
"Yeah," Ruby confirmed while nodding. "She was losing blood fast and this was the only thing I could think of." Her red aura flickered around her and she groaned. "It's draining my aura like mad though. I doubt I can hold it for that much longer."
"And then we're in a far worse position." Weiss deduced with a grim horror. Facing all of these hundreds of Grimm with only her, Ruby with no aura, and Pyrrha apparently losing lots of blood and forcing them to take care of a wounded person. Eventually a Grimm would get lucky and score a blow on Ruby which, without aura, could severely harm her… or worse.
She nibbled on her delicate bottom lip, a small nervous tick of hers. There were no good options at the current moment. There were a couple of temporary solutions but no actual good ones that ended up with all of them coming out of this catastrophe alive.
Wait, what about the Bullheads? "Ruby," Weiss turned towards her leader, "why did you leave the docks?"
Ruby snapped her eyes open, closing a bit too long for it to be a simple blink. Her gaze focused on Weiss worriedly. "There aren't any Bullheads at the docks. We can't leave from there."
There wasn't any Bullheads? Weiss's stomach dropped in dread even as she cursed angrily. There weren't any Bullheads. Of course there weren't, it was obvious. The evacuation before was mandatory for everybody, not just the students, and so the Bullhead fliers left. Even if Sun told the pilots to wait for them, they would at most wait for five minutes before leaving since there was a bloody invasion going on right now. If they waited for any more time they would be considered suicidal with the amounts of Grimm in the sky right now.
Wait a second. While Bullheads could fly, not all things that could fly were Bullheads. "Could we use the school lockers? We could input a random location in Vale and get out of this death trap."
"I thought of that. But we can't." Ruby said quietly, her aura flickering wildly now and her eyes were definitely shutting now, close to asleep. "Cinder is there."
"Cinder… the student from Mistral?" Weiss asked confused.
"Yeah." Ruby confirmed. "She set this whole invasion up. She killed thousands, Weiss. Thousands of people that just tried to live their life." Her voice cracked a bit this at despair over the lost lives. "She even beat and nearly killed Pyrrha when she tried fighting her."
Weiss was stunned for a minute. "A student set up this whole catastrophe? No, that's not possible. If she did, then there is literally no possible way she is a student. Defeating Pyrrha is an extremely notable accomplishment but if she had to fight Pyrrha, she is no doubt at least tired."
"She was also able to kill Headmaster Ozpin." Ruby stated quietly.
Weiss's mind grinded to a halt. "Headmaster Ozpin?" She asked unbelievingly. "THE Headmaster Ozpin?! Our Headmaster. Who happens to be one of the mightiest Huntsmen on the entire planet of Remnant? THAT Headmaster Ozpin?! He's dead?!"
"Yeah, I know. It's insane." Ruby responded. "I can't believe he's gone, but if he actually is then if we fought against Cinder, even when she is exhausted, we would die."
Weiss couldn't help but agree. Deep sorrow resonated within her. Headmaster Ozpin was a kind man, and it was only right to mourn the passing of someone like him. But he wasn't just kind, he was far more. He was a constant for Remnant as a total, known far and wide across the planet.
She flinched at the growl she heard. The Grimm! They were attracted towards both of their negative emotions, of which they were basically broadcasting right now. Ruby groaned as she got up and collected Crescent Rose but it slipped out of her hands. The Storm of Roses fluttered wildly around the both of them.
By the gods, Crescent Rose actually slipped from Ruby's hands. With the way she treats that weapon as her lover, that itself should be a sign of the coming apocalypse. Though that might have already been here seeing as another dozen Beowolves came stalking out of the bushes, followed by three Ursi Majors, two coming from the front while another came out of the bushes and roared.
"Ruby!" Weiss whispered urgently. "We both have to fight. I know its hard but can you continue?"
Ruby nodded before standing. "Just in case I've been saving my bullets. Ice Flower and then you handle the Beowolves while I take the Ursi. No time to argue, just go!" She had greater firepower compared to Weiss after all, the Ursi would be easier to deal with for her than Team RWBY's resident Ice Queen.
"Fine!" Weiss snapped.
Ruby mechashifted her scythe into the sniper form before jumping up and shooting a couple of bullets. Weiss used one of her glyphs to freeze the bullets before they expertly shot through and froze three of the charging Beowolves. At the same time, the recoil of the fired shots sent Ruby flying backwards where she flipped upside down and glared at the charging Ursa Major.
She shot a electric dust bullet which also had the added effect of paralyzation along with the damage of the bullet while also pushing her upwards into the sky. When the Grimm was paralyzed for a split second Ruby once again mechashifted her sniper back into its scythe form and tried to cut through the Ursa. Sadly, the paralysis effect ended before that and the Grimm used its armor to block the lethal blow to only leaving a mid sized scratch on the bone plates.
The Ursa swiped at Ruby but she rolled after having landed her feet on the ground. The scythe unfolded into its War Scythe form where the blade rotated ninety degrees and Ruby flipped and twirled the unfolded scythe to dodge the Beowolf which swiped at her from behind and also to kill it while dealing some damage to the Ursa Major when the scythe dug deep into its skin. Ruby wrenched it out which caused the Grimm to let out an agonised roar. Wasting no time, Ruby twirled her scythe to make the blade to come up from below and cut off the head of the Ursa Major, avoiding the annoying armor completely.
She huffed a silent breath of relief before widening and flinging herself out of the way when her instincts flared up. It was too late of a reaction though and so the Ursa Major, which had snuck up on her from behind, dealt heavy damage to her. She was flung into the trees where her head collided with the trunk and ripped right through the tree before her back slammed into the tree behind it, leaving a large mark.
She groaned even as she slipped into the grasp of unconscious as her minute amount of aura, which had protected her somewhat from the blow, disappeared entirely. The Storm of Roses gathered up and bunch together, contorting and twisting into a form that looked like a human body. Deep red turned into a brighter color of crimson while many other roses turned into a light skin color.
The roses became a myriad of different colors and contorted into the form of Pyrrha Nikos, who landed onto Ruby.
"Ruby!" Weiss shouted before blocking a hit by the last beowolf and stabbing through it, returning it into smoke. She was too late in drawing it back so she only managed to partially block the heavy hit of the last Ursa major and was flung back. Since she managed to block it, she didn't go flying through any trees but she did leave a human shaped indent on one.
She blearily opened her eyes only to see the Ursa Major bring up its paw to smash into Ruby. Ruby was out cold along with Pyrrha who was resting on her lap, both of them unable to do anything to avoid getting killed.
No.
The paw of the Ursa Major swung.
No.
It neared towards the bodies of both of her friends, her family, that she had gained at Beacon.
No. No. No.
That couldn't be allowed.
Losing them? She wouldn't allow it.
A white glyph spun into existence, generated from the purest form of desperation. It flickered in and out of shape though, the white glow starting to fade away.
She swore this on her name and pride. Not on the pride of the Schnee.
The Glyph's image strengthened, spinning into an existence that seemed to be imprinted in reality.
But on her pride as Weiss, a member of Team RWBY, and partner to Ruby Rose!
A sword and hand reached out of the Glyph, close but not nearly enough to cover the distance between the Ursa Major and Ruby and Pyrrha.
She swore this on the pride of Weiss, the huntress!
A glowing white sword, more pure than the freshest of snow, reached out of the glyph. It was followed by a knight that seemed like it was out of the fantasy of fairy tales, ones where the heroes always come at the last minute and slay the enemies .
It stabbed between the miniscule distance between the Ursa paw and Weiss's true family.
It was enough to block the blow and send the Ursa sprawling from being off balance. The knight swung its sword and parried the blow of the Ursa charging at Weiss. The radiant knight placed one of its hands behind the sword to fully push it off and, while the Ursa Major was off balance from the parry, ran the sword through the Grimm's body and twisted. The Grimm let out one last cry of agony before dissipating into black smoke.
The cry of agony called other Grimm to the field, and a flock of Griffons appeared from the sky. They started diving down at the knight, intent on tearing it apart, even while the Griffons were battered out of the sky with a simple swing of the knight's sword. The final Ursa Major charged at the knight but was battered away with a kick.
Weiss just stared at the knight. Had she, had she finally summoned a complete avatar of a foe that she had previously defeated? And the Arma Gigas at that?
Summoning was the only difficulty she had with manipulating her Semblance. And she had finally done it! Weiss expected to feel some joy, and while a small fraction of delight was there, it was all buried under worry and fear, for Ruby's and Pyrrha's wellbeing, and absolute rage at the Grimm for even daring to think about hurting them.
She ran over to Ruby and kneeled down to her and shook her, to scared to wake up Pyrrha with the unholy amount of injuries she took. "Ruby! Ruby! Wake up you dolt!"
When Ruby didn't respond Weiss clicked her tongue and took out Myrtenaster. She remembered studying about this early in her childhood with her dozens of assigned tutors all designated to become the best she could be to represent the Schnee Dust Company as Winter was still the heir at the time. It was terribly inefficient but it could be helpful here.
She unlocked the dust chamber of Myrtenaster and took out three vials of highly refined dust. To be specific, it was the electric, fire, and ice dust vials. She cracked a small piece of each crystal, making sure her face stayed clear of the backlash from the crystals where fire licked at her hands, lightning shocked her body, while the ice set a tiny bit of frost onto her fingers, and placed all three small shards in her hand. She sent some aura to her hand and held it above Ruby's face.
The electric dust sparked within her hand and hit the other two crystals, causing a reaction as fire and ice melded together for a single, no, a half-second before the reaction between two dust created water which splashed down from her hand onto Ruby's face,
Ruby woke up with a gasp, sputtering and coughing from the impromptu wake up. Weiss grabbed Pyrrha and gently lifted her up. "C'mon Ruby. Wake up, we have to go now."
"Weiss, what?" Ruby asked groggily before her mind restarted itself and she nearly jumped up. Her entire body was so sore and her head was hurting something fierce but she ignored it for now. She noticed a glow from her right side and turned to look at what could have caused the shine. She gawked at a Knight that was shining with a fierce light who was being overrun as dozens of Griffons were swooping at it and dealing damage. "Weiss… what?" She repeated.
"Family Semblance. No time, we're running now! Can you transform Pyrrha again?"
Ruby shook her head. "I can't, I'm out of aura. I won't be able to even activate my Semblance, much less do that draining move. We have to run."
Weiss cursed. There was no way they would get out of the forest without running into more Grimm and the both of them were far too tired to deal with Grimm at the current moment.
"We can't go anywhere." Weiss said worriedly. "Cinder is at Beacon where the lockers still are, and if she truly killed the Headmaster then going anywhere near her is suicide. But staying here is also suicide, we can't deal with that many more Grimm."
"Cinder isn't guaranteed to be at Beacon while the Grimm are guaranteed to hunt us down and kill us." Ruby said darkly. "I'd rather go with the death with a chance of survival than the guaranteed suicide. Right, we're heading towards Beacon."
Weiss nodded in confirmation. "How will we get there? We can't just run through the forest in this dark, we'd have no idea where we're going."
"Easy." Ruby pointed out. "Just run to the fire burning everything."
Weiss stiffened and turned her head with dread. She didn't notice before but there were small signs of flames like smoke and a dull glow.
"I hate this plan." She grouched. "Usually people would run away from fire, not towards it."
"Our team was never normal." Ruby said. "Besides this is our only choice."
"Oh trust me, I'm not saying that it isn't our best choice. I'm just also saying that it's a terrible idea."
"That's true." Ruby conceded the point to Weiss. "We can't do anything about it though so we have to run." Her legs trembled slightly at the exhausting prospect of running anywhere but she ignored it.
Weiss gave a worried glance to Ruby. "At the very least give me Pyrrha. You can barely stand, the act of running itself is pushing your limit right now. Running with extra weight on you should be quite frankly next to impossible right now."
"No." Ruby responded firmly as she adjusted Pyrrha into an easier position. "You're going to have to deal with the Grimm that comes our way." Silver eyes glanced to the massive battle going on between the Knight and the other Grimm, where the Knight was slowly getting overwhelmed.
"Your Knight can cover us by drawing the Grimm to it, but the rest you're going to have to kill. I'll support with Crescent Rose's rifle form but I can only support you. I'll carry Pyrrha so you won't have to carry her and protect all three of us at the same time." If she laid Pyrrha around her left arm and shoulder she should, theoretically, be able to shoot the rifle.
Reasonable and the best choice they currently had. They were both exhausted but she at least had aura left while Ruby didn't. She nodded and the both of them started jogging through the bushes, trying to both conserve energy and move quickly, the Knight following them even as it had to escape from the Grimm that had managed to finally hit a lasting blow, removing its arm not holding the sword.
They ran into a large amount of Grimm but they all went for the Knight rather than the two of them, focused on defeating and killing the largest threat. A couple of Beowolves focused on them but Weiss didn't even have to bother battling them as Ruby shot them, Pyrrha's weight straining her left arm. However the recoil from Crescent Rose sent up a jolt of pain into her right arm. She winced from the pain, the weapons recoil was designed to assist with her moving but unfortunately she never took into account the damage she would do to herself with the recoil when she was without aura.
Even worse, the recoil was enough to jolt and hurt Pyrrha, causing even more blood to flow out of her wounds.
She couldn't do anything. She couldn't shoot in fear of hurting Pyrrha, the jolt of her running was hurting Pyrrha, hell if she did nothing Pyrrha was still bleeding heavily from her hundreds of wounds.
She growled. There wasn't anything she could do! Her aura was completely gone; she didn't even feel a spark of the normally warm and constant companion of her very soul. Without that she couldn't access her Semblance. She didn't have the training or experience to use her Semblance without her aura.
Even if she tried it was far too risky. Her Semblance was more complex than most huntsmen and huntresses, she literally transformed matter into roses with using her aura as a way to control the said roses. If she turns Pyrrha into roses and loses control of her own Semblance, she might not be able to reverse the transformation and kill Pyrrha. She didn't know how likely killing Pyrrha through her Semblance but she wasn't exactly eager to figure it out either.
The Knight was still behind them, fending off many of the Grimm coming after them. It was going to die soon though, the both of them knew that. It was able to hold the stampede of Grimm for a minute more but it finally got unlucky when the Knight didn't spot a Nevermore behind it.
The Nevermore screeched and grabbed the knight with its talons. The Grimm flapped its wings, lifting up the Knight high into the air. The Knight tried to swipe at the Nevermore with its sword but the arm was bitten by a Griffon. It only delayed the Knight's attack for a moment but that was enough. Griffon, Manticores, and Nevermore swarmed the Knight, attacking it from all directions even while the Nevermore carrying it flew higher into the air. There must have been a good, or really really bad in this case, seven dozen of the flying monstrosities.
The remaining arm of the Knight was quickly torn off, the arm and sword falling through the air before dissipating into white sparks. With no arms to defend itself the Knight was helpless, being torn limb from limb in a slow and gradual process. First its right leg followed by its left, the torso evaporating as it was cut off from the main body, finally ending with the Knight's head. The body of the Knight fell apart and the entire the forest was filled with the white sparks that came from the Knight's death.
Weiss stumbled as she felt the connection between her and the Knight cut off in a violent manner. She fell down onto the grass, unable to breathe for a few panicking moments.
"Weiss!" She felt more than heard Ruby call out. "Oh no. No, please no!"
It seemed like the situation surpassed their expectations in terms of catastrophes. Now Pyrrha was fatally injured, Weiss was somehow hurt, and Ruby herself ran out of aura.
"Can you get up?" She whispered to Weiss, hoping beyond hope that she could.
"I-I can't." Weiss breathed out. Everything hurt and burned, it felt as if she was being torn limb from limb. Was the damage from the Arma Gigas reflected back onto her? No, that couldn't be possible. Winter had never described a pain reflection if the summons die when she lectured Weiss on summoning. Then what happened?
She felt Ruby picking her up, struggling to hold both her and Pyrrha while also running. Ruby was already exhausted and barely able to run, Pyrrha only added onto the effort with her weight. Left alone Ruby would most likely die, but there was at least that small chance of survival. Adding in Weiss's weight, no matter how slight she was, left no chance of survival for all three of them.
"Ruby…" She whispered, terrified of the next words she was about to say but accepting for some reason. "Let me go."
Ruby's head spun around so fast to face her that it nearly gave her whiplash. It would have been funny if not for the shock that her leader was expressing which was soon replaced with pure rage. "What are you saying?! Are you asking me to abandon you?! No! Hell no!" A crimson lightning bolt seemed to strike the heavens from the earth as she said that, and a feeling of death washed over all of them, seemingly in complete contrast to what she the heavens seemed to say 'that won't be your choice.'
She started running faster, rage and fear fueling her and washing away the exhaustion. Even still, the sounds of Grimm approaching were increasing, the beasts closing in, the cries of the Grimm seemingly exponentially multiplying.
Ruby ran valiantly but with both Pyrrha's and Weiss's weight along with two bodies being large enough so that even with them being sideways they were blocking her view, it only got to a point where she tripped on a root. Both Weiss and Pyrrha were sent flying out of Ruby's grip while the Grimm charged out of the bushes snarling like mad beasts.
She withdrew Crescent Rose, which was in its portable form stored under her cloak at the waist, and shoved into the way of a rushing Beowolf. She was able to parry the paw that it lifted before she got squished like a grape and she rolled away. She leaped up and the Beowolf started charging at her, intent on ripping her head off. She deployed Crescent Rose into its full scythe form, sidestepped the attack, and sheared the Beowolf's head off before she paled and lunged out of the way of the oncoming Ursa.
She scrambled onto her feet again and took in the entire battlefield, even though it was extremely dark. She tried to take in every Grimm she would have to fight to get her friends to safety-?!
That was the moment when Ruby Rose finally gave up on the idea, the foolish notion and hope of the possibility, that she and her friends getting out of Beacon safe and alive, that they wouldn't fall on this day. That they would actually survive.
The darkness that was surrounding her wasn't the complete lack of light from the clouds blocking the moonlight. Hell, she wasn't even sure if the clouds were covering the moon now. It didn't make an actual difference.
Her mind tried to rationalize it. 'It can't be possible.' It said to her, trying to deny the reality in front of her. 'There's no way this can be possible.' It kept on repeating that same mantra, her brain's confidence at what it had determined as a fact falling away every time it repeated the same line. Eventually her brain fell silent and accepted the image in front of her, even as the cold and deadly fangs of fear plunged deep into her bloodstream and raced to her heart, plunging her entire body into a chill so deep that Ruby would later swear that she could feel her bones frost over.
The darkness wasn't the effect of the shattered moon being covered by the clouds from the storm.
It was by the wings of the Grimm who numbered in the thousands. The wingspan of even the largest of Nevermores couldn't hope to begin covering the wide natural expanse of the sky, for no matter how large and how deadly a Nevermore was it was still only one.
This? This… this mockery of common sense where Nevermores, Griffons, and Manticores stood in the thousands and every wing covered a small section of the sky? Where every wingspan eventually added up to the point where the entire world was cast back into shadowy eras where darkness ruled and ran rampant?
A good Huntsman would be able to kill dozens of Beowolves while the teachers at Beacon would be able to easily overwhelm a force of Beowolves numbering in the hundreds, perhaps even thousands. And even so the Grimm ruled over ninety five percent of the planet.
She had never wondered why before. Why was it that even with so many Huntsmen capable of killing so many Grimm, why was it that the Grimm still ruled over the entirety of humanity?
She understood now. She finally understood why.
Even if every Huntsmen and every Huntress in the entirety of Remnant gathered together to fight the Grimm, they would lose against them, humanity would always lose against them.
Because it didn't matter if there were a hundred Huntsmen or a hundred trillion.
For everything, every number able to be conceptualized by the human mind, is essentially equal in comparison to the unlimited. Even if they counted up everything on the planet, it still would not be able to measure up against the infinite. All that would be different is how long the finite number would be able to last until it finally ran out, until it finally reached its end.
That's what they were fighting. Humanity was trying to fight against the infinite in vain, trying to desperately hold onto their lives and their way of life against the might of the unending.
Ruby felt a single wet, hot tear slipping past her eyes to trail down her face. She finally understood.
There was no defeating the Grimm. Despair washed over her like a river, and appropriately like the analogy, it started drowning her in anguish. It felt like she was slowly, gradually, sinking into an ocean of endless hate and pain. It covered up her mouth and nose, her ears and eyes, until there was nothing left to feel or breathe except misery. She was trapped in cage with no hope of getting out.
Hope. What a word. It meant that there was a chance of survival, that there was a chance of optimism, of anything good to happen to anyone. Hope, in the wake of the endless abyssal Grimm, was an impossibility.
There was no hope left in this world. Even if the humans built up weapons of war which could devastate the planet, it wouldn't even start to scratch the infinite amount of Grimm that existed in the world. Despair and hallowed dreams were all that was left.
Even the Ursa before her seemed to pity her before it raised up its paw.
It started swinging down, slowly and almost casually. The Nevermore, Griffons, and Manticores seemed to chant in a language which wasn't human, all of them letting out war cries. The cries, they resonated with each other, making each and every cry sound louder than it truly was and multiplying the volume by each of the thousands that existed in the sky.
Ruby could have rolled out of the way. The paw was swinging slowly, far slower than normal. She could easily still escape from the attack, pick up Crescent Rose, and go down fighting and killing as many Grimm as possible. Exactly as a Huntress should do.
Ruby sat there with a bowed head, waiting for the blow to come and end her life.
More, many more, so many more, hot tears slipped down her cheeks from her eyes. Memories flashed by in her mind. Of Zwei, of her father Tai, her mother Summer Rose. Of Team JNPR. Of Nora and Ren and Pyrrha. Of her best and first friend Jaune. Of her team. Blake, and Weiss. Of the family she felt closest to her, her Uncle Qrow and her sister Yang, who was waiting for her to return.
Their times at Beacon also came up. Her first meeting with Jaune, the growth and bond she had with Weiss, the happiness she felt when Blake had finally become a part of the team and not just a bystander after her White Fang secret, of Yang teasing her. Both her and Jaune hanging out and being dorks, the sheer amount of fun she had with Nora, her talking with Ren and his smiles whenever they cropped up, and just joking with Pyrrha.
All of their dreams came up also. Blake's dream to end the divide between Faunus and humans, Weiss's dream to inherit the SDC and rebuilding its reputation, Yang's dream of finding Raven and discovering the reason why she left as a way of accepting. Jaune's dream of becoming a fine and courageous Huntsman, Pyrrha's dream of finally having friends and a proper family, and even though she wasn't sure of Nora's and Ren's she knew that they were just as fine as the rest of them.
There was no fighting spirit gathered, no will to live sparked in her soul. If anything the memories just gathered more despair within her heart. Their lives and their dreams, all of them were nothing in front of the overwhelming strength of the unlimited numbers of Grimm. Useless. Everything was useless.
The Ursa's paw was near her head, ready to swipe it off in an instant.
The darkness of the Grimm seemed to suffocate Ruby, the light nonexistent within this void.
Then a radiant dawn shined through the darkness of the Grimm, shattering it and driving it away as overwhelming amounts of light washed away the shadows. Had the sun somehow come up? No, it was still the middle of the night. Then what...
Soft lips kissed the top of Ruby's head, interrupting her thoughts. Lips that Ruby hadn't felt in… such a long time. "Come now my little Rosette." A soft voice equal to delicate lips she had just been kissed by said. Rosette… she hadn't been called that for so long. Only one person called her that. Only one person had ever called her little Rosette. But that couldn't be. She died long ago. Ruby opened her mouth, never noticing that the Grimm itself had stopped swinging at her in an effort to stare into the dawn.
"Mo-Mommy?" Ruby stuttered.
"Ah, so you do remember me." The warm voice of Summer Rose stated sadly. "It's been so long my little Rosette, I was scared that you wouldn't remember me."
"Always." Ruby muttered quietly before talking a bit louder. "I'll always remember you. I still remember how you once read me that poem. I've read it lots of times, many times after you-" Ruby cut off with a strangled sob. "The Last Rose in Summer." She said quietly, saying the name of the poem.
"Ah," The voice said. "So you remember that do you? But do you remember me tucking you into your bed, reading the stories of knights fighting against dragons? Do you remember me playing with you and being with you? No, I don't think you do. After all, I've never done that. I was always away, slaying the Grimm." She answered her own question before Ruby had a chance to answer. "I'm so so sorry for that my little Rosette. I was so obsessed with being the hero I never realized that by doing so, I pushed my own family away. I was a horrible mother. Let me redeem myself this time though, my little Rosette, by teaching you a lesson."
She turned towards the light of dawn. "Do you see that my little Rosette?" She asked quietly. "That light that signifies the heart of mankind itself."
Only now that she mentioned it, Ruby looked at the light and realized that, no, it wasn't the bright light of dawn. It was a beam of gold, so pure that it seemed to outshine the sun. How she could have mistaken the beam for a sun, she wasn't sure, but inwardly apologized for such an insult against it. The sun wasn't nearly as radiant nor as pure as what was before her. After all, the ball of plasma harmed all that looked at it with naked eyes while the light before her threatened no such thing. Rather, it seemed to invite her to look at it, her gaze trying to capture every detail, restoring strength into her weary bones, restoring her very soul with life. The Grimm that covered all in its shadow had long since been dispersed.
"You've seen the power of the Grimm." Summer stated quietly. "You've seen into the endlessly deep abyss of those monstrosities and like all before you, you gave up. Do not feel ashamed, this is only natural for us as human beings, no, as sentient creatures in total. We see the infinite power of our enemies and despair, thinking that we could never defeat them with our finite power."
She finally turned around to face Ruby while Ruby drank in her mother's face. She hadn't aged a day since Ruby had last seen her a decade ago when she had left and never came back. That, in itself was more telling than everything.
"That is right!" Summer Rose declared while setting her hand right above her heart. "It is only right to falter in the face of the infinite with only the finite, to give up and despair and curse this world for setting us against such an impossible task. This is the right option since it is impossible to defeat the infinite with only the finite!"
"This is where everyone who truly gazes at the infinite power of the Grimm make their mistake. They think correctly that it is impossible to defeat the infinite with only finite power, but we have far more than finite power! Run, Ruby, run to the light of humanity!"
Ruby only nodded before getting up and touching Weiss, who was gazing at the light with an unreadable expression, and Pyrrha, who was starting to wake up, lightly. With a single thought, Ruby turned them both into rose petals before turning herself into rose petals also. They flew towards where the light originated from.
Less than ten seconds later she arrived there, transforming all of them back into their normal state.
They were at Beacon, a far more broken Beacon which had quite a bit more of it set on fire than they were used too, but Beacon all the same.
Her eyes didn't pay any attention to the flames though, they were purely focused on the majestic blade in front of her and the wielder of the blade.
A soft light enveloped the entire field, beating back the flames that seemed to let out a shrill scream whenever it was overtaken by the gleam and extinguished.
"Do you see now Ruby?" Summer Rose appeared next to her, shimmering into existence. "Do you see how the potential of mankind is limitless? Do you see that blade?"
Ruby saw but couldn't comprehend. "What-" Her voice cracked on the word. "What is that sword?"
Summer Rose smiled lightly at her daughter. "Don't be silly Ruby. You already know the name of the sword. After all, every human knows its name just as every demon fears it alongside the name of the Undefeated King."
"I… I know it but," Ruby's voice quivered here before continuing. "But… what is it? There can't be a blade like that."
Summer chuckled to herself and shook her head, unsurprised by Ruby's incomprehension. "That sword, Ruby, is the shine of the torrent of life. It's a holy sword unsurpassed by any blade in existence. A divine construct forged by the planet itself."
She turned around to face Ruby who was looking at the blade in rapturous wonder. Summer laughed, a joyous laugh filled with bliss.
"It is the crystallization of mankind's greatest desire, the manifestation of humanity's prayer of Glory. A legend weaved out of the divine silk of hope." She continued. "This blade is not just Glory incarnated though. It is everything etched in the hearts of those who are scattered at the sword's radiance; the nostalgic, sorrowful, and hallowed dream of those who were placed on the bloody hell called a battlefield, of all warriors past, present, and future fully exposed to the fear of death and despair, and who still cling to a desire: to be exalted."
"But most of all," Summer twirled around, looking back at the blade held by the red headed boy. "The blade is the incarnation, the manifestation, the crystallization, of the potential of humanity. It is a blade that will remain long after everything has reverted back to the dust from whence it came, a sign that no matter what happens our promise, our prayers, our light, our defiance, our honor, our ideals, our hearts, but mostly our dreams, will remain long after everything has died out. A symbol that everything that we do is for a purpose and that we will win. That is the blade of King Arthur, a blade that somehow the boy, no, man in front of us wields."
She swept her arm out in front of her passionately. "That sword is a miracle! Our will, hopes, and dreams all lay within that blade. Our very peak of humanity's potential lays in the sword in front of us!"
"But most of all… that sword is-" Summer was interrupted by the Grimm Dragon which let out a furious roar and started flapping towards the red haired man, it's massive and shadowy body acting as a wretched taint against the light the sword released.
"SHINE NOW!" The man shouted towards the blade. "LET THE SPIRIT OF MAN FLOW THROUGH YOU AND END THE ABOMINATION THAT WE FACE!" Responding to his words, the blade somehow shined even brighter than before.
The light seemed like it was visible from all across the entirety of Remnant at the current moment, or at the very least visible from all across Vale. Millions of orbs of light, no bigger than a speck, originated from all across the city. All looked wondrously towards the spheres of gold that seemed to originate from them.
Across Vale, the same spheres of light appeared from every single man, woman, or child. They all collected towards the blade which now was seemingly made of pure light, dancing through the sky like the fae themselves had come to witness the miracle being shown. So numerous they were that they covered the sky, displaying an image of the sky being wreathed in golden light brighter and yet softer than the any of the previous dawns in the world while it was all drawn towards the blade was formed.
It seemed as if the heavens themselves lent their support to the blade, the sky being drawn in by its radiance and being absorbed by the sword which seemed far more ethereal than solid at this point.
As long as even the tiniest amount of good existed within one's soul, they were called towards the blade.
And so, Cinder widened her eyes as a single sphere of golden fire appeared from her heart and joined the blade, far less than the average person but far more than expected. No human was ever pure evil after all, and this blade signified that in its entirety.
"That blade!" Summer screamed herself hoarse. "That blade is the boundless strength of the human spirit which will beat back the infinite power of the Grimm! That blade is humanity incarnated! That blade-" Her voice broke before continuing with a voice the held a thousand times more strength from before.
"That blade is Mankind's Promised Victory! That blade is-"
"Excalibur!" Shouted the red haired man, being heard all over the World. A swingle swish of the blade and the feeling of death, despair, and hatred which overcame the city dissipated, it being hard to believe that the aura was ever there in the first place.
A titanic beam of light emerged from the blade, repainting the shadow laid upon the world in its bright, radiant, golden ideals. Removing the stains of evil from the world, tainting maliciousness with its divine flow. Rather than a simple slash it seemed as if the light flowed from the blade to wipe out the malevolent beings in the world.
The Dragon seemed to somehow panic in the middle of the air, and swerved to try avoid the blast. It was too late though, and Excalibur's ray engulfed the Dragon's left wing and tail.
More notably though, the blast of Excalibur cut and obliterated one more object in its path.
Angra Mainyu screamed as the ray which signified the light of Man tore through and destroyed most of his being, the Grail in front of Shirou evaporating in front of the onslaught of Dreams incarnate.
After witnessing the glorious scene, Ruby turned to her mother who smiled slightly. Ruby had suspected it but the sad smile her mother was displaying at her simply confirmed it, along with her ageless appearance. "You aren't…" She whispered to her mother, the words tinged with despair.
Tears collected in Summer's eyes. They dropped down her face and fell to the ground, only to shimmer and disappear similar to her slowly dissipating body. "No, I'm not real, though I am close. Simply a vision summoned by the sword, an incarnation of your Dream of being a Huntress like I was. A manifestation of your Hope to see me at least one more time, to apologize for taking the life of your mother for granted like every child should, to see if I could explain why I abandoned you and left only to have never come back even when I swore I would return, to just say goodbye one final time."
Summer's form had further dissipated, only showing her waist up and disappearing fast. In just a few seconds, only her neck up remained. "Please… don't apologize for simply being a child Ruby, for taking your loving family for granted when you should. I wanted to be a Huntress, placing that role even before motherhood. Don't repeat my own mistakes please. Don't… don't live a life that only ends in vain. Don't despair for my loss, instead fill the hole I had stupidly, unforgivably, left with your remaining family and your friends. Your team. Maybe even a boyfriend eventually." She tried for a watery smile on her face at this part, but Summer failed spectacularly.
"Don't try to save everybody at the cost of yourself. Don't die with an altruistic bloody smile on your face in the middle of the battlefield. Please Ruby, don't leave your family behind for a world that doesn't care. Don't leave your friends behind. Please don't repeat my mistakes. Please…" Summer's remaining form disappeared, her essence once again scattering onto the ethereal plain. Tears slipped down from Ruby's face as her minature form shuddered in body wracking sobs.
"Thus kindly, I scatter
Thy leaves o'er the bed"
Though Summer had once again been forced to leave her family, she had left the remnants of her wishes to her daughter. The torch had been passed down to the daughter of the Silver Eyed Rose Family. However, that wasn't the most drastic event today by far.
The Grail was destroyed. Angra Mainyu had been vanquished. The Fifth Holy Grail War had been completed. And there was nothing left of it...
He had no mouth, yet he could speak. He had no mind yet he could think. He had no skin but could sense a small shard of his previous cocoon, separated from the rest, try to bundle around him protectively. He had no tongue, yet he could taste the thick iron of blood. He had no nerves yet he could feel endless pain. He had no emotions yet he could feel unending rage.
"Well, well, well! What do we have here? A God, spurned and bloodied but yet to be born, along with the same God being one that… resonates with my being and my creations?"
He apparently could hear, though he had no ears. And see though he had no eyes.
Visions processed through a mind that didn't exist yet swirled around within him. Paler than a ghost, yet somehow glowing with a dark light. A dress darker than midnight incarnate, while veins crossed over the body and pulsed with an abyssal fire on skin lighter than snow. But what caught Angra Mainyu's attention was the eyes, glittering like polished and cut jewels and darker crimson than a blood moon and surrounded by an iris that seemed to be made of the same black essence of her veins. They flickered with intelligence and wisdom which could only be gained over thousands of years of experience.
She seemed to stand out from reality itself, such that Angra Mainyu didn't even notice the man with a scorpion tail scuttering around or the large men holding twin shards of crystal near his arms.
The being in front of him though, it seemed delighted. "A God that seems to be similar to the Younger Brother of the two, but somehow seeming even more corrupted and blackened than a God of Darkness. And one that seemingly is in tune with my power, strengthening me just by being near even when contained, no, cocooned would be a far more appropriate word. But how, no, why did one such as you come here? A rift in space and time might have brought you to my castle, but knowing how does not explain why."
The being suddenly jerked its head to the side, towards a seemingly random direction. It stared at somewhere far off before a knowing smile appeared on its face. "Ah, I see. You are but a small fraction, no more than nail clippings, a small shard of the whole gem. I do not know how you got to this realm Outsider God but you were attracted to negativity and hate weren't you? Since Vale is currently under siege and thousands are dying, most of you were pulled there. My old pet is roaring in awe and glory for you right now, shooting its plasma into the blackened sky as a war cry, a flag to gather the Grimm around. I believed him to be sealed under a mountain after one of the Maidens sacrificed herself to defeat him, but he must have awakened from the same negativity which drew you. I could understand you coming to merely spectate, but you are far from such a state where that is possible."
Its crimson orbs turned back to the black and oozing mess that appeared on her table, and its bloody eyes started glowing malevolently, burning brighter than any fire. "When you traveled to this realm, though you could sense the fear and hate running rampant within the civilians a small part of you snuck to here in an effort to preserve yourself. From what I do not know, and even I fear what might have caused a being like you to swallow your pride and flee like a kicked dog."
The being licked its lips slightly, and gave a small smirk. Its crimson eyes renewed glowing with malicious delight, far sharper and far more calculating than before. "Interesting! Tell me, do you wish to be reborn my dear Outsider God?"
Yes… he wanted to be reborn. To drown the world in the sins that had been engraved into him so long ago…
The being smiled knowingly, before her expression faltered and she turned back into the direction she was gazing at previously. She hissed, like a snake recoiling in disgust. "Glory!" The being spat out. "Dreams, Glory, and Hope! Of course, the only thing that could make something like you falter would be your antithesis! For while you are Mankind's blackened soul, that is Mankind's sacrosanct power! Dangerous, that's dangerous, nothing bands men together like a spark of hope amidst a sea of despair."
It started glaring at the eldritch object which had appeared on its floor, before faltering. The being broke out into laughter suddenly, startling the large man and causing delightful tears to come to the tailed one.
"Of course, of course! How could I have forgotten? You are merely contained currently, once you awaken not even Glory would be able to harm you." The being developed a cruel smirk. "However until then… you will be another conduit for my own power and research."
A nightmarish beast seemed to morph into existence and then bowed down to the being, who walked on its head before sitting on its back, before collecting the piece of the corrupted holy artifact that was a mere three feet long and only a foot wide within its claws. The beast flapped its wings and flew through the granite castle towards a pit that seemed to distort and emphasize itself from reality.
It flew over the pit and continued past it before circling around and slowly coming to a stop over the pit. The Nevermore dropped the corrupted artifact into the pit while the being smiled.
"Oh, and I believe you should know my name." The being said into the boiling pit of eldritch darkness.
"I go by Salem."
That isn't your name…
The voice seem to emerge from the pit, weak but sure in its conclusion.
Salem curled her lip in disgust.
"Hey Salestia!" A boy shouted over the courtyard that she sat in, playing in the grass that only grew thousands of years ago. The boy ran over to her even while she sighed.
"Salestia?" She mocked towards him. "I don't believe you have the honor to call me that quite yet."
The boy did a mock bow. "My apologies Mistress Lemarchy. This humble servant begs for you, in your infinite wisdom and boundless compassion, to forgive this fool."
In spite of herself, the girl giggled and rolled her eyes. She smiled warmly at her best friend. "You wanna play?" The boy's already joyful face stretched into a silly grin.
"You betcha Salestia!" Then the energetic boy ran towards the trees, insistent on doing a race climb up them… without waiting for her.
Salestia sighed, smiling slightly at her friend's energeticness.
"Damn it Ozpin, wait up!"
Salem turned around, her back showing to the pit even as memories that took place thousands of years ago ran through her mind, one of the few she remembered.
"Yes… yes it is."
Sorry guys, didn't feel like doing an Omake this time. Kind of tired.
Also, God damn! That didn't take that long in terms of writing but it felt sooo long.
Also guys, Holy HELL! Nearly two hundred followers and over a hundred favorites in 2 WEEKS?! All of you guys are god damn insane. Batshit insane. All of you.
I love it.
Hoped you had a good time reading this.
Oh, and before I forget. I based some parts of the Excalibur scene from Fahad09's story, like Summer coming as a vision of Ruby's Dream. You should read his crossover, it's an AU called A Demon Lord's Hero. One of my favorite stories.
As always thanks for making my content clean Master4444.
Gotta go now. Night!