Disclaimer: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum, not me. This is merely a fanwork meant for entertainment purposes only. Cover image courtesy of Jan Chrt (jeni-cek on deviantART). All rights reserved.
Specks of grey and brown whooshed past as Ruby zoomed through the tunnels, slowly making a mental map of the network as more and more dead ends were eliminated. True, this was taking quite a toll on her aura, but with Weiss' situation becoming more and more nebulous by the second, time was most definitely of the essence.
Finally, Ruby came across a chamber that seemed different from the others. Its harshly-defined diamond shape gave it an artificial feel, reinforced by a set of steel doors which seemed to emanate a rather ominous feeling. Meanwhile, a rust-ridden cage swung mournfully on the ceiling, its prisoner stripped to his undergarments and left to helplessly bash at the bars, a pained expression on his face.
"Cardin? Is that you?"
Cardin's eyes lit up as he noticed Ruby below, but while he tried to respond, no sound seemed to escape his lips. Instead, he simply nodded, making a slicing motion towards the bars.
"Okay, but you'll need to stand back. This little rose wasn't made for small cuts, y'know?"
Hoping for a running start, Ruby jogged back to the cavern's entrance and, with her usual flair, made to chop the bars to pieces as Cardin stayed far back at the other end.
CRASH. A figure descended from the ceiling, blocking her strike with a long, pale sword.
"Master Winchester is currently in time out. Please do not disturb him."
Ruby yelled as she was sent flying back, using the wall as a bounce pad to return to a more defensible position. Looking up, she saw that the new adversary was clad in expensive silver armour, dented in several places and complemented by a tattered blood-red cloak. Her helmet, too, was in disrepair, and the cold amber eyes staring through it were somehow hollow, as if they had seen far, far too much.
With a heave, the woman leapt from atop the cage, crashing down upon the stone floor but, oddly, making no sound to accompany it.
"The exit remains clear; use it now, or be struck down where you stand."
"Why is Cardin in the cage?"
"Master Winchester disobeyed a direct order; his prison is merely a place where he must think on the essence of his wrongdoings."
"Was one of them 'helping Weiss'?"
The woman stiffened.
"…she's through the doors, isn't she?" Ruby accused.
The woman straightened out her cape, pointing her sword forward threateningly.
"I ask one last time; leave this place, or remain forever, six feet under."
Ruby readied her scythe.
"…then so be it."
Striking like a viper, the woman lunged forward, missing Ruby by centimetres as she used her semblance to dodge out of the way, zipping around her opponent and coming in for a slash from behind. Unfortunately, while the attack was successful, the woman's armour seemed to take the brunt of the blow and, in a fluid motion, she turned, gripping Crescent Rose with her free hand and using it as leverage to smash Ruby into the floor.
Snarling, Ruby yanked her weapon back, rolling over to one of the corners to unleash a torrent of bullets upon her opponent. The woman responded in kind, switching her sword to a ranged type and sending icicles zooming through the air and, while Ruby managed to dodge most of the spikes, one managed to get through, pinning her cloak to the cave wall. The woman, her armour now peppered with bullet impacts, now moved more slowly towards Ruby, giving her just enough time to detach her cloak before the woman's sword made a rather pronounced hole through her head.
The two fighters looked across from one another, each showing signs of fatigue.
"You fight well for someone so young." the woman muttered between breaths, "But it will take more than a mere huntress to stop Master Beaufort's vision."
"Hm…you might be right."
The woman blinked.
"You surrender, then?"
"Nope!"
In a flash, Ruby bounced off of the opposing wall, slicing clean the supports that kept Cardin's cage aloft and letting it drop to the floor. The woman tried to stop it, but saddled as she was with the armour and her wounds, she was too slow, and by the time she reacted, Ruby's plan had already come into fruition.
Cardin Winchester had joined the fight.
"Master Winchester…no!" the woman yelled, a note of genuine fear creeping into her voice, "This isn't what your father would want!"
With a flick of his right hand, Cardin sent a pillar of earth rising from the floor, sending the woman flying into the roof before coming back down, hard, knocking her out cold.
"My father died ten years ago." Cardin announced, letting the earth settle to its original position, "Beaufort's just a fool in a crown."
He turned to Ruby, gesturing her to follow.
"Let's go. We've got a Weiss to save."
Beaufort growled at Weiss' newly gained speech and, with hatred in his eyes, delivered a sharp, quick kick to her stomach.
"Watch your tongue, Schnee wench! Just because I want you alive, doesn't mean I want you unharmed, so unless you want to lose any of your precious limbs, I'd recommend keeping your ominous predictions to yourself!"
However, Beaufort's kick may have been a little too strong as, with a worrying creak, the chair Weiss had been bound in tipped over backwards and, with only a little encouragement from its occupant, proceeded to break rather spectacularly, giving Weiss precious control of her somewhat clumsy legs.
"I won't bow...to someone like you!" she spat out, wriggling her way out of the remaining ropes. Meanwhile, at the same time, Cardin and Ruby burst through the door, and while Beaufort didn't seem particularly surprised by the latter, the former caught him entirely off-guard.
"Cardin?! Hm, I suppose you defeated Karyan, then…what a pleasant surprise. Come to join my side and witness the end together, my son?"
Cardin rolled his shoulders, ignoring Weiss' surprised stare.
"I've thought on what you said before…about the strong ruling the weak. About how anyone who bows to another only bows out of fear and weakness. About how might makes right."
Cardin clicked his fingers, equipping armour and mace of earth as he stared straight at Beaufort.
"You're wrong…and if you still believe that last one, you're about to find out why."
Shouting out a fierce battle cry, Cardin launched his mace towards the pyramid but, before it could reach its destination, Beaufort jumped in front of it, neatly bisecting it with a pair of ugly curved daggers and watching with satisfaction as the pieces fell harmlessly to one side.
"Arrogance and ignorance? It seems you still have much to learn, boy."
Cardin and Beaufort soon descended into a flurry of action peppered with earth and daggers and, taking the opportunity, Ruby zoomed over to the hobbling form of Weiss and unequipped her scythe, picking Weiss up bridal style and heading towards the entrance.
"Oh no you don't!"
Sending Cardin crashing into the wall, Beaufort shot a hand towards Ruby and, in an instant, his arm morphed into something resembling a serpent, extending to knock Ruby off-balance. With Cardin still stunned, Beaufort swiftly followed up, grabbing Ruby with his extended arm and drawing her towards him before throwing her backwards into the rear wall. Finally, Beaufort primed his daggers to throw, but before he could execute the move, a rocket-propelled spear flew through the open doors, slamming into his back and sending him sprawling to the floor. The triumphant form of Yang promptly followed, slamming her gauntlets together.
"Did someone order some hot death, or did I get the wrong address?"
Beaufort struggled to his feet as RBY and JNPR piled into the chamber, all armed to the teeth, fresh from fatigue and ready for combat. At the same time, Cardin had managed to shake off the concussion and, with Blake now passing over Myrtenaster to Weiss, and Ruby zooming over to re-equip Crescent Rose, it was looking like Beaufort was more than a little outnumbered. Nevertheless, the man showed no fear, merely laughing at the enemies surrounding him.
"Are these your servants, Schnee? Because if so, perhaps you should have considered recruiting more than a few rag-tag students, first years no less! Honestly, I'm offended."
"They aren't my servants, they're my friends; a concept that you obviously don't understand. Oh, and speaking of your stupidity, I would recommend surrendering at this point; that is, unless, you feel as if your body would be greatly improved by being full of bullets."
Beaufort grinned.
"I don't think you quite understand what you're dealing with here. No doubt you've fought many Grimm in your time and, from what I've heard, a few of you have even had encounters with the White Fang…but I? I am no man, no Grimm, no Faunus. I am a god!"
Cardin lunged forward, making another break for the pyramid, but before he could make it, Beaufort had already grabbed both Ater Mors and Zinnia and, with a blinding flash of light, brought them together into one, singular spot. By the time everyone's vision had cleared, the old Beaufort had disappeared, now replaced by a figure clad in shining gold armour, a humming blue greatsword resting in its hands.
"AND TODAY…YOU. WILL. BOW!"
It all happened so fast. The support fighters had gathered at the backline, using their semblances to help here and there, while the frontline ones charged forward, hoping to find some purchase in Beaufort's armour. However, as they struck, Beaufort brought his sword up to the ceiling and, with a roar of triumph, sent pulses of blue energy surging through the chamber. Jaune managed to bring his shields up just in time, but he could only shield so many, leaving only himself, Weiss and Pyrrha left standing as the pulses robbed everyone else of their strength, leaving them easy pickings as Beaufort swept them aside with his greatsword before proceeding to rest from the attack. Cardin, too, just managed to avoid the onslaught, having buried himself beneath the earth and only now coming back up to join Jaune's side.
"Bianca's been put with the black sword, and now it can steal the aura of others." Cardin whispered, hefting his weapon, "It's why I was trying to destroy the pyramid…not that it matters now."
Jaune gulped.
"So, uh…what do we do?"
"Destroy the sword." Cardin answered bluntly, "Won't be easy, though. You'll probably have to do it, since you have the same kind of weapon."
"A Grimm Slayer?" Weiss asked.
"Something like that. Only question is how we're gonna do it."
Pyrrha glanced between Beaufort and the survivors, estimating distances all the while.
"Jaune?"
"Huh?"
"We need to do what we practiced. As in, right now."
Jaune narrowed his eyes as he looked towards Beaufort, nodding.
"Alright, let's do it. Cardin, Weiss, you're on distraction duty. I'll keep you shielded while you try and cause some trouble for him. Try not to use too much dust, since I'll need a speed glyph when I give the signal. Got it?"
"…and you're sure this will work?"
"Trust me, Weiss. It will."
The shield whined as Beaufort's sword smashed into it.
"Okay, team meeting over, time to go!"
Cardin made his move first, confronting Beaufort head on with his improvised mace, going for a swing to his helmet. Beaufort cackled at the attempt, sending a wave of dark spikes to fill Cardin full of holes, but Weiss got there first, using a launch glyph to send Cardin careening to the right, narrowly avoiding the attack. Next, she imbued her sword with a repulsion glyph and brought it up to meet Beaufort's strike and, while the hit still sent her tumbling backwards, the force rebounded against Beaufort himself, knocking him off-balance and setting him up for a solid hit from Cardin's mace.
"GRAH…WHAT PITIFUL TACTICS. LET ME SHOW YOU TRUE POWER!"
Bringing his sword up to the roof once again, Beaufort sent out dark tendrils which proceeded to grab the outer edges of Weiss and Cardin's shields, picking them up like they were in a hamster ball and flinging them towards the walls. Thankfully, while it did cause an irritating whining, Cardin's shield managed to stay up.
Weiss, meanwhile, was not so lucky.
Seizing the advantage, Beaufort surrounded his sword with a dark aura and, with a mighty swing, sent it flying towards Weiss. Thankfully, however, she managed to recover just in time, sidestepping the strike and using a repulsion glyph to hurl herself into the air, just about avoiding the wasteland-like effect the aura had produced on the cavern floor. Unfortunately, Cardin found that the wasteland didn't want to stay still for long, and soon enough, it had made its way over to him, eroding away his shield and almost trapping him quicksand-style if he hadn't knocked himself away with a pillar of earth.
"NO MORE SHIELDS…TIME TO FEAST!"
Beaufort seemed absolutely implacable as he assumed the same pose he had begun the battle with, seemingly preparing to launch more of the blue waves that had so incapacitated them before.
"Weiss, now!"
Taking her eyes off of Beaufort, Weiss looked around for Jaune, seeing that, from the looks of things, Pyrrha had transferred much of her own aura into his sword, transforming it into the same golden state it had assumed in the manor. Not wanting to waste any more time, she applied the glpyh, hoping beyond hope that Jaune's plan would work.
Beaufort turned, pausing his attack.
"HA! DO YOU REALLY THINK A SINGLE GRIMM SLAYER WILL BE ENOUGH TO STOP ME? ATER MORS HAS REACHED PERFECTION! IT IS INVINCIBLE! I AM INVINCIBLE!"
As if in response to Beaufort's boasting, Crocea Eversor began to shine like a star and, at the same time, Beaufort felt the grip on his own sword weakening.
"WHAT…WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
In desperation, Beaufort sent a huge beam of blue energy firing out of his sword and, while it managed to pierce through Jaune's shield, it stopped when it hit Crocea Eversor.
In fact, the light almost seemed attracted to it.
"NO...NO!"
Jaune grinned as the sword was yanked from Beaufort's hand and dutifully floated towards his own. Then, as Beaufort lunged forward to grab the sword, Jaune used the speed glyph to launch a flurry of blows, splitting it into as many pieces as he could manage.
Beaufort wasn't quite sure how long it took for him to wake up…all he knew was that, when he did, the armour was gone, only the handle remained of the sword, and Jaune, Pyrrha, Weiss and Cardin were standing over him.
"Y-you…" Beaufort spluttered out, extending a weak hand towards Jaune, "How…?"
"Pyrrha?" Jaune prompted.
"Well, as a friend of mine might say…"
"Magnets, bitch?"
-and that was the time I put a billion fight scenes in a single chapter. Oh, hi there! Soul here, happy to tell you that this is the final chapter of None Of Your Business, woop woop! Okay, okay, there's the epilogue, too, but it at least sounds better this way.
In any case, I hope you stick around for said epilogue, since that's when I'll be tying up some of those pesky loose ends...and hey, maybe even some relationship resolutions. Who knows?
In any case, I'll see you all next week, and if you could leave a review to tell me what you think, that'd be grand ^^ .
See ya when I see ya, readers!