A/N: Here it is, the start of the finale. This one is going to be multiple chapters long. Hope you enjoy it.
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Richter raced forward, anger fueling his veins as he closed the distance between himself and Novus. The big mohawked man mirrored his action, putting the two combatants on a collision course. The short ex-huntsman knew he might be at a disadvantage without Dyrnwyn, but he had two things going for him. One was that his father had taught him enough about weaponless combat to hold his own. And the other….
He didn't get to finish as he reached melee range with Novus, who immediately tried to land a right cross to his jaw. Richter ducked under the punch and executed a vicious uppercut that connected with Novus' square chin. The force of the blow pulled the big man off his feet.
Richter smirked, the other thing he had was that he was stronger than he looked, the only good thing to come out of all of Cinder's experiments on him.
The short ex-huntsman leapt a short distance into the air, performing a roundhouse kick that nailed Novus just below his sternum. The big man was sent backwards where he somehow landed on his feet, momentum still carried him backwards at a rapid pace and he eventually fell face-first and ate the dirt. Richter moved as fast as he could towards his opponent, he wanted to keep Novus as off-balance as much as possible. The distance between the short ex-huntsman and the hunter-killer disappeared and Richter tried to land a punch to Novus' left temple with his right hand. The big man blocked the attack with his left forearm and then lunged forward with his forehead, slamming it hard into his own.
Richter's vision doubled from the force of the headbutt. He saw two blurry right hands grab the front of his shirt, pick him up, and slam him hard on the back of his head and shoulders. The short ex-huntsman immediately battled up to his hands and knees, not wanting to be grounded for even a second. However, he felt something grab the back collar of his grey cloak and he was airborne once more. He felt his spine slam into something very solid and pain shot through his entire body. The sound of something cracking reached his ears and he suddenly felt himself falling again. This time, Richter landed face-down on the ground, the broken trunk of a tree landing a few meters at his right. So that was what broke.
Even though he was stronger than an average person, even though he could fight without a weapon, in a straight out fist fight with Novus Procter, he would lose. He had to outsmart and outmaneuver his large opponent and he had a plan to do just that. But he couldn't afford to make any mistakes, one misstep and it would be over.
"That all you got Richter!?" He heard Novus roar ahead of him.
"No." Richter replied, he saw Novus was standing right where he needed him to be and grinned. Using his semblance, the short ex-huntsman activated a land mine he had planted under his opponent's feet after he had thrown him the first time.
The detonation threw Novus up into the air and Richter leapt up to match his altitude. The short ex-huntsman hit him with a half-dozen rapid series of punches before finishing with a fierce kick to Novus' throat. Blood spewed from the big man's mouth as he was propelled into a tree, shattering its trunk. The hunter-killer pinballed between two more trees before finally falling limply to the ground below.
Richter landed easily on his feet and walked slowly towards the downed Novus, who was currently lying on his left side. His eyes were bloodshot and he was holding his throat, gurgles of pain escaped his lips, but no words.
There was no compassion in Richter's eyes as he stood before his downed opponent. "I guess I lied Novus." He informed the big man. "I said I'd rip out your vocal chords, but I crushed them instead." He shrugged. "Oh well, I didn't say I was perfect." Richter slammed his right fist into Novus face, his hand came back bloody, but he didn't care. There was no way he was leaving things to chance with this guy, not after what he planned to do to Ruby. He turned his back on Novus' unmoving form and walked away, not giving the big man another thought.
After some searching he found Dyrnwyn and regrouped with Ruby just as she and her team were finishing off the last of the grimm. She buried the tip of Crescent Rose into the head of a creep as she looked around, accounting for him and all of her team members.
"Everyone okay?" She asked, she received a collection of affirmatives from the group.
The very loud sound of what appeared to be machinery powering up filled their ears. Ruby and her group looked around in confusion and one by one they turned to look at Richter. The short ex-huntsman's teeth were tightly clenched as he stared grimly at the hole in the mountain that marked Darion's hideout's entrance.
"That isn't what I think it is, is it?" Weiss asked.
"It is." Richter confirmed their worst fears. "Darion has activated the Sirensong."
"Uh oh." Yang said, looking around the forest in expectation of being swarmed by grimm.
"We need to hurry." Blake said, looking at Ruby.
The red-cloaked girl nodded in response. "Agreed, let's go."
Richter followed Ruby and her team into the hideout. The short ex-huntsman was racking his brain furiously for whatever information he had on the Sirensong. It would take twenty minutes for it to fully activate. So they still had time to take Darion down and deactivate it. But if he did that he would never get his chance to end the hunger. A frustrated growl escaped his throat. He'd worry about that later, one problem at a time.
They reached the circular room filled with tech. Eerie blue lights glowed throughout the large dark room and at the center stood a thick pillar of metal. The pillar had several lines of the eerie blue light coursing throughout its surface and in the center of the pillar was the small barrel-shaped object that Richter knew was the Sirensong. Standing before the pillar, with his back turned to the group was Darion Shiver. He was back in his human form, a new green military dress uniform on. He did not acknowledge Richter or Ruby's team's presence in the slightest as they entered.
Ruby took point, slamming the bottom of her scythe to the ground. "Sorry, but you're grimm party is canceled Darion."
Darion turned his head to glance at the red-cloaked girl, a smirk on his lips. "Oh damn, and I've already sent out the party invitations to the guests." He returned his gaze to the pillar before him. "You're about to witness a momentous occasion in Remnant's history, the day humans and faunus stopped their petty squabbles and united under a true god."
Ruby narrowed her silver eyes at Darion. "The four kingdoms will never follow you."
This time Darion did turn to face them. "Ah, but that's the beauty of it Ruby Rose. They won't have a choice in the matter. The kingdoms will either serve me…." The smirk on his lips was replaced with a deep frown. "….Or I'll crush them under my heel."
Weiss stepped to Ruby's right side, her rapier pointed at Darion. "Step away from the Sirensong."
Darion snorted, "Or what? You'll put me down? Because you did a real good job of that the last time we fought."
Richter decided to chime in. "The same goes for you Darion, you couldn't take us out either."
Darion leveled his madness-filled gaze at him. "The impromptu save from your little girlfriend threw me off. This time I'm prepared and I'll make examples out of you." His right hand went to cover his left eye. "The world will look upon your broken bodies and see what it means to defy their new god."
The sound of flesh ripping filled the chamber as Darion ripped his face off, the group watched as the psychopath transformed into his altered state, sprouting his bat-like wings from his shoulders and ebony-colored scales appeared over his skin. Jade green glowing eyes glared at the group with bloodlust.
"Now then!" Darion said in his now distorted voice. "Let's get this fucking party started!"
Yang took a running step forward. "Couldn't have said it any better!"
The blonde huntress sprang into action, making the first move, aiming her right fist at Darion's face. The transformed psychopath answered by producing his sword and pointing the tip at the floor. He blocked Yang's punch with the flat of his blade, but before he could counterattack, Blake blurred into place behind him, sword ready to pierce his back.
Reacting quickly, Darion delivers a swift mule kick that nailed Blake in the jaw, staggering her backwards. Seeing an opportunity, Yang tried to hit the psychopath in the head with her left fist. Darion ducked under the blow and retaliated by hitting the blonde huntress in her left side with his left elbow. The attack sent Yang flying to her right. The transformed psychopath immediately executed a horizontal slash behind him, forcing Blake to parry the slash, the force of the swing sliding the faunus huntress back a few meters.
Facing forward again, Darion swings his sword in a downward arc, barely pinning Weiss' rapier to the ground before it could reach his throat. The psychopath followed up with a backhand to Weiss' left cheek, the blow sending her back the way she had come.
Richter saw his opening, without thinking twice, the short ex-huntsman dashed in, sword ready. When he was in melee range of Darion he planted his left foot, bringing Dyrnwyn up in a fierce upward swing aimed at his enemy's chest. He was surprised when he sensed Ruby just to his right, mirroring his action. It was a little scary how in sync they were.
Unfortunately, Darion dodged their simultaneous slashes by flapping his wings and taking flight. Switching Dyrnwyn to pistol-form, Richter charged up a basketball-sized sphere of aura and fired. Ruby joined in with shots from her sniper rifle. Darion snorted at the display and reared his sword back, bringing it forward in a diagonal slash that not only destroyed Richter's aura sphere and Ruby's sniper rounds, but also created a wave of black-green aura that sped towards the pair. Ruby and Richter were forced to roll in opposite directions to avoid getting hit by the aura wave.
"Why do you fail to understand that this world needs an immortal deity to watch over it?!" Darion demanded.
"And you're that deity? I find that hard to believe." Ruby responded.
Darion growled, pointing the tip of his sword at the red-cloaked girl and firing. Ruby narrowly dodged the shot with her semblance. "Have you seen the alternative?" Darion asked, Richter tried to close the distance between himself and the psychopath, but he was noticed. Darion sent a shot his way and he was forced to abandon his charge and leap to his left. "Look at the progress humans and faunus have made since their conception." Darion kept firing at Ruby and Richter with his sword, keeping them on the evasive. The psychopath held up four fingers with his left hand. "Four kingdoms! Only four kingdoms after all these centuries!" His jade-green glowing eyes narrowed, "Want to know why their progress is so stymied?"
Darion was interrupted from a sniper shot by Ruby, although he blocked it with his sword, it interrupted his train of thought. He retaliated by firing multiple rounds in quick succession at the red-cloaked huntress. Ruby ran along the chamber's eastern wall, using her semblance to stay just ahead of Darion's barrage. Seeing she was in trouble, Richter leapt at Darion's back, weapon in pistol-form. The short ex-huntsman knew that the psychopath probably detected his presence, but he was ready for that.
Sure enough, as Richter approached Darion's melee range, the transformed psychopath hastily turned around to face him, bringing his sword around in a horizontal slash to cleave him in half at the waist. The short ex-huntsman fired at the ground with his pistol, using the recoil to rise just above Darion's swing, he performed a quick flip, shifting his weapon into sword-form in the process. As he completed the flip, Richter gripped his sword with both hands above his head, before he could bring it down on Darion's skull however, he was knocked back by a sidekick delivered to the top of his sternum by Darion. Richter snarled in frustration, executing a backflip to slow his descent, he landed on his feet, switched Dyrnwyn to pistol-form, and fired an aura blast at Darion's winged form. The psychopath answered his blast with one of his own and the two aura blasts clashed between them, black-white against black-green. The two blasts eventually expired, sending out a shockwave that forced the two combatants to brace themselves against it.
Darion continued with his conversation. "The four kingdoms' progress has stagnated, because the strong try to protect the weak when they should just let them die." He turned to see Ruby aiming her sniper rifle at him. It didn't seem to faze him in the slightest. "Remnant is a harsh world, if you're soft it'll chew you up and spit you out. This is the ultimate fucking rule of life." He aimed his sword at the red-cloaked huntress. "One humanity seems to have FORGOTTEN!" He roared the last word, firing at Ruby. She rolled to her right to avoid the shot and then offered up two shots from her sniper rifle in reprisal. Darion flew to his right to avoid the shots.
Ruby reloaded her weapon and one by one, her teammates regrouped with her. "You're the one who has forgotten Darion." She replied, "It is because of people's love and compassion that four kingdoms still stand. No matter how hard the grimm try, they have never succeeded in destroying them." Her silver eyes narrowed as her voice lowered to a dangerous tone. "That is what survival of the fittest will get you, a miserable existence banging your head against an impenetrable wall."
Richter rejoined Ruby and her team, landing at her left side. He looked up to see Darion's scowling face. "You're all naïve kids. You have no idea how the world works."
Richter dropped into a fighting stance along with Ruby and her team. He was waiting for the right time to go into his altered form. By his rough estimates they had about fifteen minutes before the Sirensong became active. If he went all out with his altered form he could maintain it maybe four minutes, five max. However if he went that long, he would be next to useless as he reverted back to his human form. Best to use it sparingly, and bring it out when he had a clear opening to finish Darion.
The short ex-huntsman blinked, and Darion went from hovering in mid-air in front of him to standing between Ruby and himself. Richter could only watch helplessly as she barely got her scythe's handle up in time to block the psychopath's lunge at her heart with his sword. The force of the impact sent Ruby sailing backwards.
Richter quickly took aim with his pistol, looking to shoot Darion in the head, but as fast as he was, Darion was faster. The transformed psychopath nailed him with a diagonal slash on his right flank. Even with his aura, the slash still cut into his side a little, not to mention the power behind the attack sent him face-first into the unforgiving eastern wall. Richter felt his face bounce off the metal surface of the wall before falling to the ground in a supine position.
He could only watch as the rest of Ruby's team went to counter-attack. Weiss was charging headfirst at Darion, sliding across the ground as if it was made of ice. Darion reared his right hand back in preparation to cut the heiress down, when Blake wrapped the ribbon of her weapon in sickle-form around his right forearm. The faunus huntress held the ribbon tight, preventing Darion from moving his weapon-arm. Weiss lunged forward with her rapier, seeking to pierce the psychopath's left eye. Richter watched with anticipation, Darion couldn't defend himself with his sword, the heiress' strike was going to be successful!
And then Darion stopped the rapier just centimeters from his eye by grabbing the blade with his left hand. Richter's eyes widened in shock at the same time as Weiss'
"You're wasting your time." Darion told the heiress.
Yang dashed forward, her right hand cocked back, ready to cave Darion's face in. The psychopath readjusted his grip on Weiss' rapier and threw her into the blonde huntress' right flank just before she could punch him. The two huntress' fell away in a tangle of limbs. Blake continued to keep Darion's right arm tied down, holding onto her ribbon with a white-knuckled grip.
"Get it through your thick skulls." Darion said, exerting himself, he pulled his right arm forward, pulling a surprised Blake into the air. In the next second, he gripped the ribbon of her weapon in his right hand and whipped the faunus huntress right on top of her friends. The ground cratered under them. "I am stronger than you all!"
Several bullets suddenly made contact with Darion's chest, arms and legs. They staggered him a bit. Richter struggled to his hands and knees, stars danced in his vision as he caught sight of Ruby standing near the southern wall where they had originally entered. Her weapon was in gun-form as she continued firing consecutive rounds at Darion. The psychopath roared in fury, spreading his wings wide, he took flight towards the red-cloaked girl, body parallel to the floor and only a meter off the ground. With some effort, Richter struggled to his knees, he had to do something.
Firing his pistol behind him multiple times to build speed. Richter ran after Darion, when he felt he was close enough, he switched Dyrnwyn to sword-form and leapt into the air. The short ex-huntsman struck his blade out in a horizontal slash to the back of the psychopath's head. At the last possible moment, Darion flapped his wings and suddenly reversed his direction. Richter's attack hit nothing but air as the transformed psychopath maneuvered himself behind and above him with surprising swiftness.
Richter turned around to face Darion once more and was greeted by the sight of the crazy man curled into a ball and rotating very rapidly. The psychopath suddenly extended his right leg and Richter suddenly felt like a plane was dropped on the back of his head. He knew nothing more after that.
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Ruby witnessed Darion slam the heel of his right boot into the back of Richter's skull. Her childhood friend's head made a sickly thud as it made contact with the floor, cracks spidered across the ground where he impacted. Richter's body went limp, no doubt the blow had knocked him out cold.
The red-cloaked huntress sprang into action, slashing at Darion's upper torso and forcing him away from Richter's downed form. She continued to execute a series of horizontal and diagonal slashes, aiming for the psychopath's head and chest area. Darion was just too nimble though, dodging all of her attacks.
Ruby tried a diagonal upswing aimed at the psychopath's left temple, but Darion blocked it in mid-swing with his left palm, barehanded. The red-cloaked huntress snarled in frustration, but her facial expression soon changed to that of surprise and pain as Darion kicked her hard in the stomach with his right foot. The boot sent her sailing backwards where she hit the floor with her shoulders, tumbling backwards with a few uncontrolled rolls before stopping. She grimaced from her supine position on the floor, man did he hit hard.
She struggled to her feet, just in time to see Darion examining his left palm. At first Ruby was wondering what he was doing and then she saw it, a single drop of blood fell from his palm. So, Crescent Rose was able to pierce his skin, good, if she could make him bleed, she could destroy him.
Darion stopped examining his left palm to look at her. "Hmm, that's a sharp weapon you have there."
Ruby managed a half-smile, half-grimace as she was still hurting from his last attack. "That's right, and I'm going to use it to chop you into cold cuts."
Darion raised a jade-green eyebrow, "Oh?"
He took off towards her, wings keeping him afloat just above the floor. Ruby hastily took aim with her sniper rifle and fired, but with impossible speed, Darion flapped his wings and dodged to his left. The bullet whizzed by the space he had occupied a quarter of a second ago and the psychopath continued on to fly directly behind Ruby before she could think of getting a second shot off. Ruby gasped in surprise, when did he get so fast?
"Please try, I could use the amusement." He said from behind her.
Ruby immediately used her semblance, blurring away to her left as she saw Darion bring his blade down to cleave her in half vertically a moment later. The red-cloaked huntress borrowed a page from his strategy book, circling around to get to his back. Rose petals exploded around her as she stopped. The look of shock on Darion's altered face was priceless.
"You're not the only one who's fast." She said with a smirk.
Darion tried to turn around and block her next attack, but he was too slow. Ruby activated her semblance again, becoming a red cloaked blur that drilled into the psychopath's midsection. Amazingly, Darion managed to halt her forward momentum for one single second and then he gave and they were rocketing towards the western wall at breakneck speeds.
They crashed into the wall with the force of a meteor, and Darion imprinted himself on it. Ruby kept him pinned there, she had managed to embed her scythe into the right side of Darion's abdomen. The psychopath's sword was also trapped against his chest, thanks to Crescent Rose's handle. Ruby's eyes lit up as she saw victory was close at hand.
Darion saw the same thing and his eyes became wide with rage, and a little fear. "You little bitch!" He shouted.
"Eat this!" Ruby screamed, pulling the trigger on Crescent Rose and using the recoil to execute a vicious diagonal slash that tore through Darion's abdomen. Blood poured from the psychopath's grievous wound as Ruby landed smoothly from her recoil shot a dozen meters away, her back facing her opponent.
She glanced back at Darion to see him collapsed to his knees, his left arm desperately covering the large wound in his abdomen. Blood was beginning to pool underneath him. The transformed psychopath looked at her with bloodshot eyes and tried to rise up, but his body gave out and he collapsed into a prone position on the floor.
Ruby flicked the excess blood off of Crescent Rose, redirecting her gaze to her fallen team members, it was over. They had won. Now she had to make sure her friends were okay and then destroy the Sirensong. Things would go back to normal after that.
The red-cloaked huntress began walking towards her team, who were starting to untangle themselves from the pile Darion had put them in. Ruby felt relief wash over her as she saw them move, everyone made it out of the battle okay. She glanced at Richter's unconscious form, he would probably need medical attention and then they had to figure out how to cure him of his transformation. There had to be a way.
So absorbed Ruby was in her thoughts that she didn't notice the wetness that sprayed across her left cheek, nor the sudden weakness in her limbs. The scent of blood was what finally drew her from her thoughts and it was close. Looking down, the red-cloaked huntress noticed a hole in her left shoulder area, just above her left breast. A hole that was smoking. With this realization came a wave of pain and Ruby's legs gave out. She collapsed to her knees, the pain so intense she couldn't even cry out.
"You are too naïve, Ruby Rose." Darion's strained voice said from behind her. She weakly looked behind her to see the transformed psychopath walking towards her, left arm covering the wound on his abdomen. "The blow you dealt me was indeed a killing blow. If I was still human."
Darion suddenly lunged forward with his left foot, planting it squarely between her shoulder blades. Ruby was propelled forward, she bounced once belly-first off the floor before sliding to a stop in a prone position. She tried to rise up, but her body didn't want to respond.
"Still, I have to admit, you had me dead to rights. You should have followed up when you had the chance." Darion said, he walked over to Ruby's prone form and she could only glare at him. "Unfortunately, your inexperience as a huntress has led to your downfall." The psychopath raised his sword in his right hand, hovering the tip of the blade over Ruby, her silver eyes widened. "I'll make you the first example of what happens when you mess with a god."
Darion smirked as he brought the blade down and Ruby screamed in agony.
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A/N: I'm thinking another two chapters and maybe an epilogue and this story will be finished. It's been fun to write, but I'm not sure if it's been as fun to read.
See you all next chapter!
