The screen began to bubble and boil as the familiar silver door rose from it's depths, the thick purple chains corroding and breaking apart as the door opened up and bathed everything in dark purple.
From the tainted light, came a single red eye that glared at the screen before the door slammed shut and everything became static, a crumbling rose symbol appearing every so often as the title began to form.
The Ruinverse: Chapter Sixty Two, Broken Dragon.
Xxxxxxx
-Remnant, Anima, Mistral, The Happenstance Hotel-
Within the deep red hotel room, the black carpet lining the contrasting room, a single fan swirled around and around in an endless loop on the ceiling, constantly 'buzzing' like a fly as the misty evening sky outside seemed inviting to some and mysterious to the more…artistic types.
Yet, as the dull yellow light flickered on and off, a figure sat on the pink coated queen sized bed, playing around with a black Scroll as the screen's bright light illuminated their single working iris.
Click.
Click.
This figure, slightly visible from the combination of Scroll and ceiling fan, was a tall fair skinned woman with short ashen-black hair that covers her left eye, bright amber eyes, degraded tissue near her nose and left ear, a semi 'X' shaped scar over the nose, a black glass-like mask that covered her left eye and bridge of her nose, a E cup chest and wide ass, wearing a long dark red dress sporting a long wide sleeve that hid her entire left arm, golden lining near the edges of the collar, right sleeve, left sleeve and upper chest areas, a long gray right glove topped with a golden metallic ring with branching curved extensions that went up her arm like roots, a black ring shaped earring above a gold hoop earring with a black gem on her right ear, a exposed opening on the right side of the dress' right hip that sported two gold-colored interwoven rope straps that connected the front half of her thigh to the back half, a golden framed black rhombus shaped gem with several blue feathers attached to the bottom on her right hip, black pantyhose and dark glass-like high-heeled shoes, who seemed….out of it, tired from staying up in the wee hours of the night and tired from…other matters.
This is Cinder Fall, the mastermind of the Fall of Beacon, the killer of Pyrrha Nikos and usurper of the Fall Maiden.
And she was now…in a crummy second hand hotel in the middle of Mistral's capital city. Strange, given her tastes, but there are some reasons for her madness.
One, she hates high class hotels given her life prior to becoming a criminal and the trauma it gave her every time she entered a hotel with 'clean' floors.
Two, she was waiting for the opportune moment to strike, hoping to use this hotel as a temporary base of operations in hunting the Spring Maiden and possibly getting rid of her allies Arthur Watts and Tyrian Callows in the chaos, due to her utter hatred for them.
Three, she actually enjoyed the food here, given she was by heart a Mistral beauty, one that only dined on the best of Mistrali foods, including the occasional scorpion ramen special in the Happenstance Hotel's buffet.
Four, she needed time away from her 'queen', given that she did fail to get the Relic of Choice and in some tiny way….she kinda blew it. Yes she did get the Dust and the White Fang's assistance, but she was unable to do it fast enough, unable to really make it 'better', all she did was just light a damp powder keg instead of the explosive end that Vale should've gotten.
And five, which is the most important out of the bunch….she was in hiding.
Yes, the killer of Ozpin and bringer of doom to all Valian society….was hiding. A small shock to some but not without good reason, for a few weeks after the Fall, something has been attacking and killing all of her associates.
Her entire team slaughtered.
The members of the White Fang that were in league with her, massacred.
Several Atlasian scientists that created the Atlasian Knight series, murdered in their homes.
It was strange, bizzare, and, according to eyewitnesses, possibly a rabid Grimm.
However, what Grimm would dare attack her? Salem makes sure none of the Grimm disobey here without reason and, for all the Maiden knew, she wasn't on that very large 'black list' of potential prey.
So…what was going on!?
"Just what is attacking all of those poor hapless individuals?" she muttered to herself, her throat still sore from being blasted into near nothingness by a Silver Eyed blast of energy to the literal face. "What is the connection?" 'Possibly nothing, given half of these victims had nothing to do with the Fall, or me for that matter.'
Click.
Click.
Click.
Looking upon the numerous news websites, Cinder felt a little remorse, very little, at seeing the gruesome and half eaten bodies of hundreds of mass murders across the eastern half of Remnant, from Vale all the way to Menagerie before…..wait.
The woman's lone eye widened as she finally realized something that she overlooked during her 'escape' to Mistral.
The attacks and their subsequent deaths were….heading right towards the Anima continent, and that included Mistral itself.
"...shit." she muttered out loud before hearing a loud 'crash' outside the window, making her flinch as she quickly moved towards it and opened the window, letting in the fog enter the rather warm room.
BOOOOOM!
CRASH!
BAM!
"What the?" she muttered before seeing massive explosions in the distance, several buildings erupting into flames as it moved closer and closer to her direction. "Wait…oh shit!"
BOOOM!
BOOOM!
BOOOOM!
KABOOOM!
CRASH!
Quickly backing away from the window, Cinder saw glass shattering and the entire stone wall being ripped apart by an unknown force, causing her to quickly form an obsidian bow from her clothes, ready to defend herself from this 'rabid Grimm', regardless of Salem's opinion on the matter or her eventual punishment.
"Grrrrrrr."
Cinder's body froze as she felt the malicious growl of the entity, her body freezing up like ice as her heart momentarily stopped beating.
Crack.
Crack.
As glass shards cracked under the figure's weight, the dust began to settle and revealed a….shocking sight.
That being a tall semi tanned muscular man with short dull blond hair that has two small strands sticking out from the top, black blotches on the arms, legs, and lower neck, blue eyes with thick red veins going down the sides and towards his extended jawline, curved serrated teeth that crisscrossed the jawline and went down towards the base of his neck, a blond soul patch and small stubble along his jawline, a black heart shaped tattoo on his right arm, long white clawed fingers that seemed to have black translucent membrane in between each finger, thick jagged white armor covering the upper ribs and shoulders, long white bone-like spines going from the back of the head to the legs, curved white horns jutting from the sides of the forehead, massive dark red bat-like wings with white bone shards on the joints and tips, a long black lizard-like tail that jutted from the hips and wrapped around the body like a snake as several white dorsal spines dotted it, wearing a completely ripped sleeveless brown leather vest that exposed his entire upper body and torso, a dark brown belt, torn black cargo shorts and ripped black shoes that revealed sharp white claw-like talons, who was sniffing the air and seemed to be glaring at the Fall Maiden with hate.
'W-What the!? Is this one of Salem's experiments!? No, it doesn't have any Silver Eyes….just what is this thing!?'
"Grrrrrrrrr!" it growled while moving towards Cinder, using its wings to keep the woman from fleeing in its direction, tail swinging back and forth like a cat.
Shing!
"RRRROOOAAAHHHH!" it cried out as an obsidian arrow hit its right eye, black blood oozing out of the socket as Cinder fired another one, right on the right shoulder before the wings quickly covered the body as the creature charged towards Cinder with pure rage in its single human-like eye.
Shing!
Klank!
Klank!
'Shit.' Cinder thought as the arrows seemed to bounce off the Grimm's hide, only for her to get tackled through the walls, wood and stone breaking apart from the collision as her own aura tried to heal from the 'attack'. "AH!"
CRASH!
CRASH!
BOOOM!
"RRRROOOOAAAARRRRRR!"
"AH! AH! AAAAHH!" the Fall Maiden cried out before her eyes glowed orange and she fired a blast of flames at the Grimm's face. "ENOUGH!"
WWWWOOOOSSSHHH!
As the Grimm roared in pain as it kept on charging through the hotel's walls before making it to the other side, forcing it to fall towards the ground as Cinder noticed something off about the Grimm's face.
It was….rapidly healing on the spot, gaining thick bone plates around the destroyed right eye.
"Interesting, but I will not be killed tonight." She frowned before sending a bolt of lightning at the Grimm, burning its wings into ash as she used her powers to protect herself with a blanket of wind currents. "And you will not have your prey!"
CRASH!
Cinder grinned while seeing the Grimm falling to the earth, dust flying into the air as she felt unafraid of this simple mindless Grimm. "Ah…ah….hahahahaha! Is this the best you can do? Pathetic! A weak Grimm that has no place in this world, and below the Fall Maiden herself! Such utter-"
"RRRRROOOOAAAAAR!"
"Wh-" She got out before seeing the Grimm jumping towards her direction, a pair of new wings erupting from the burnt stumps as the right arm reached out and grabbed her face.
CRASH!
BOOOOOM!
Stone shattered upon impact as Cinder's aura shattered to pieces, causing her body to suffer broken bones and shattered muscle fibers, the Grimm standing over her as she tried to reactivate the power of the Fall Maiden, but screamed when the Grimm started adding pressure to her skull.
"Grrrrrrrr….y….o…u….."
Her eye widened in shock as the Grimm…actually spoke to her, something impossible for any Grimm, naturally occurring or not, as blood began to ooze out of her eyes and mouth. 'W-WHAT!?'
"Y…ou….kill….ed…" it growled as it's jaw opened up, the neck dislocating to reveal massive serrated teeth within the throat itself.
SWWISH!
CRUNCH!
"AAAAAHHHH!" Cinder screamed as her entire left hand, one infused with the Shadow Arm Grimm species, was bitten and subsequently ripped out by the larger 'monster', destroying it as the ash dispersed into the misty air.
"You….killed…MY….." it roared before squeezing tighter and tighter, loud cracking emanating from the woman's head. "DAUGHTERS!"
CRACK!
Blood and bone shot from the Grimm's fingers like miniature cannonballs, splattering the gooey paste all over the now destroyed parking lot as the sound of sirens rang in the air.
"RRRRRRROOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!" it howled in pure rage, the mist becoming thicker with every second as several Mistrali policemen appeared from their looming airships and began circling the Grimm with the intent to kill.
"Open fire men! Don't let that Grimm escape!"
BAM!
BAM!
BAM!
BAM!
Bullets shot out of their pistols and Anti-Grimm artillery guns as the humanoid Grimm's hide broke from the rapid firing of well placed shots, only for the armor to 'regrow', erupting from the skin itself and covering its body like a protective cocoon as the draconic Grimm began to take flight.
"RRRRROOOOAAAARRRRRRR!"
"Shit! Incoming-"
BOOOOOM!
Metal and fire rained down towards the city streets as the Grimm began to ram itself against the metal ships, breaking them like tinfoil as the screen became engulfed in red, blood oozing down the sides as the sounds of anguished screams rang in the background.
"DDDDDDDIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
BOOOM!
BOOOM!
CRASH!
The screen shattered into pieces as a metallic fragment, a broken piece of a cockpit window, lodged itself into the 'glass'-like screen, causing everything to fade to black in the process.
Xxxxxxx
Name/Designation Title: Taiyang Xiao Long/Huǐmiè Zhī Lóng (Broken Dragon Taiyang Xiao Long- BDTXLRWBY)
Age: 30~40?
Affiliation: Ultimate Evil
Dimension: - 003457111- 88 BDTXLRWBY
Abilities: Enhanced strength, speed, durability, endurance, agility and longevity (via semblance), Huntsmen skills and knowledge, unarmed combat skills and knowledge, hand to hand combat skills and knowledge, sharp fangs and claws (via semblance), thick bone-like armor (via semblance), extreme bodily mutation (via semblance), flight (via semblance), extreme self regeneration (via semblance), heightened aggression (via semblance), decreased mental faculties (via semblance), aura detection (via semblance).
Semblance(s): Dragon's Maw (a very rare and potentially harmful physical based semblance that allows the user to exceed the limits of humanity and gain the traits of the dreaded Wyvern Grimm. However, along with the ability to fly and unnatural regeneration, the user's rage increases, causing the body to mutate over time with certain draconic traits. If overused, the user's mental faculties will be compromised and unable to revert back, potentially turning the user into a rage filled beast.)
Bio: In this timeline, the Fall of Vale occured as normal and the life of Taiyang Xiao Long would have been a slightly happy one, had not Qrow Branwen appeared to him and, to his horror, placed Ruby's red hood and Yang's left gauntlet on the table, explaining that they died during the aforementioned Fall, trying to stop the invasion but died to more experienced foes. Falling into a mental breakdown, Taiyang chose to find the people that killed his children and caused the Fall and end them, to hunt them down like animals. For this, he activated his long dormant yet dangerous semblance called Dragon's Maw, which had the ability to grant its user Wyvern Grimm-like abilities and traits at the cost of their own sanity, and barreled through Remnant with reckless abandonment, killing off Huntsmen, armies and even other Grimm in his pursuit for 'justice'. Over time, his mind would be in a constant state of rage, never stopping or able to recall why he was even killing in the first place, even after killing Cinder Fall and Adam Taurus, only able to recall that he hated everything and that everyone should die. By the end of the twentieth year of his rampage, the planet becomes nearly uninhabitable as Salem herself, seeing the carnage in Taiyang's wake, walled herself into her own castle as the Huǐmiè Zhī Lóng continued his rampage, more beast than man at this point. Love sometimes brings out the best in a person, but in this case, it just brought out the worst traits and then some.