A/N: Soooo it was a little longer than 5-7 days, apologize for that, been really really busy and just couldn't get back around to work on this. But it's here now!
Review Responses
General Esdeath: If I had the free time I would love to take a crack at a crossover story. However, as it is now I barely have the time to get this one finished up. So I'm unable to fulfill this request, I'm sorry :(.
Silvereagle2121: Glad I got your interest, hopefully when it concludes it will have been enjoyable for you.
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Weiss stood poised in front of the pillar, ready to deliver the final blow that would shatter the Sirensong and bring this latest adventure to a close. Ruby stood behind her along with the rest of her team, waiting with slight impatience as Richter tried to find the force field generator hidden in the floorboards near the pillar. They still had a good ten minutes, but Ruby would feel better if Richter found the damn thing already, it was nerve-wracking.
Suddenly, Ruby found herself on her right side, as an invisible weight slammed into her from her left. The rest of the group was floored in a similar fashion. Ruby recognized the force, an invisible push of aura, and it had come from where Darion's corpse was. The red-huntress' face paled, surely Darion couldn't be…
"No…." Richter whispered in disbelief, eyes wide in shock as he looked in that direction. Ruby followed his gaze to see Darion shakily on his feet.
The transformed psychopath was smoking heavily from the mortal blow Richter had given him across the chest. His black scaly flesh was charred and he was bracing himself against the western wall with his left hand. The stump where his right hand used to be also had its own pillar of dark smoke. Darion's breathing was labored, he looked like he was in no condition to fight.
And yet he was smiling like he had just won.
"….You won't stop me from my destiny…." Darion croaked out, smirking weakly. "….Richter. Did Cinder ever tell you there are many species of grimm still undocumented?..." A coughing fit doubled the psychopath over, and Ruby spotted a few drops of dark blood escaping from his lips. "….Grimm of huge size and power…the power to shatter kingdoms…."
Darion pulled a vial from his pocket. The vial was different than any Ruby had ever seen. Its bottom part was diamond-shaped and its contents contained an ebony fluid that matched the psychopath's current complexion. It was small enough to fit in the palm of his hand.
Darion smiled as he pulled the top off the vial. "….This contains the pure essence of such a grimm…." The psychopath quickly downed the contents before any of them could react.
"Shit…!" Ruby heard Richter exclaim and then they were all on their feet, unloading all the bullets from their respective weapons into Darion. Ruby saw the psychopath's body jerk around as it was riddled with dozens upon dozens of bullets. They had to annihilate Darion before that grimm essence took effect.
Another pulse of aura knocked Ruby clean off her feet and she was forced to dig Crescent Rose into the floor in scythe form to keep from being thrown away. She looked around and saw Richter and the rest of her team following suit, all but Yang who was able to somehow weather the blast on her feet. The pulse finally expired and Ruby landed softly, careful not to put excess weight on her injured leg. Her silver eyes locked onto Darion's form and she felt a cold shiver of dread run down her spine.
Bone-colored armor plates covered the psychopath's pectorals and abdominal muscles. The top half of his face was covered in the plating as well, two holes in the "Mask." Allowed Ruby and the rest to see Darion's jade-green eyes, which no longer had any pupils. The wings on his back were gone, replaced with more bony plating on his shoulders and neck and what appeared to be chains were wrapped around his hands and forearms.
"Should you really all be standing there gawking?" Darion asked, his voice as distorted as ever. "After all, this isn't quite godhood, not yet at least." He took a step forward, and Ruby noticed her teammates take an involuntary step backwards. "If I were you, I'd seriously consider praying to whatever deity you believe in…." He extended his left hand, palm facing the group. "….Because you'll meet them very soon."
A roar to Ruby's right drew her attention and she looked to see Richter peeling his face off, going into his altered state once more. He shifted Dyrnwyn into pistol-form and charged up a massive ball of aura, one that easily took up a third of the room. Ruby and the rest scrambled to get behind him, not wanting to be caught in the big blast that was to come.
"This time I'll destroy every bit of you Darion! Down to the last molecule!" Richter declared, he planted his feet and pulled the trigger.
The ground shook as the blast from Richter's pistol shot forth towards the monstrosity that was Darion Shiver. Ruby watched as the cylinder-shaped blast completely engulfed the transformed psychopath's body, washing over him and crashing into the western wall beyond. Several human-sized boulders were jarred loose from the impact and fell from the ceiling, thankfully none of them fell near Ruby or her team.
"Geez! Overkill much Richter?" Yang asked sardonically, lowering her left hand, which was shielding her face from any stray debris.
Richter's breath came in gasps. "I had to be sure."
Ruby was about to say something when she saw an outline in the smoke at Darion's position. The dust clouds dissipated, revealing the psychopath, barely a scratch on him. The red-cloaked huntress shook her head in disbelief, there was no way….Richter's blast nearly caved in the mountain…and his left hand was barely damaged….
What the hell kind of grimm essence was that?
"My, my." Darion spoke, waving his left hand as if he had just accidentally put it on a hot stove. "That one packed quite a kick Richter. It's like pins and needles on my hand."
"No way…." Richter breathed in utter disbelief. "….I put everything I had into that…."
Darion stopped fussing over his left hand to look at him. "Oh so you're done now? That's a real fucking disappointment. I thought you more capable than that." He raised his right hand, pointing it right at Ruby, who's silver eyes widened. "What a pity…."
Darion's biceps bulged and the air distorted in front of his palm. Ruby tried to raise Crescent Rose up to recoil shot away, but she knew she wouldn't make it in time. What sounded like an atlesian military cannon being fired was heard emanating from Darion's hand. Ruby held Crescent Rose in front of her and braced for impact as best as she could, but if Darion was strong enough now to take Richter's best attack in his altered form, she held little hope of surviving this hit. If only her damn leg wasn't injured….
A black blur suddenly materialized a few meters in front of the red-cloaked huntress. Ruby found herself looking into the orange glowing eyes of Richter. He was facing her, arms spread wide, his face set in determination. They locked eyes and for one single solitary second, time stood still.
Then the blood spewed between Richter's clenched teeth as the invisible blast of aura nailed him in his back. Ruby watched in horror as her childhood friend collapsed to his knees, a great deal of dark smoke billowing forth from his back. He would have fell onto his face if Ruby hadn't of caught him, wrapping her arms around his waist and holding him in a crouching position.
"Richter!" She screamed, voice full of concern. She felt the weight of his chin on her right shoulder and heard the hiss of pain that escaped his lips. "Richter hang in there!"
There wasn't any more time to check on her childhood friend's condition as Darion bent his knees and leapt high into the air, cratering the floor where he had leapt from. As he reached the height of his jump, Ruby realized with horror where he was intending to land. Right on top of her.
Tightening her grip on Richter's waist with her left arm, Ruby swiftly pointed Crescent Rose in front of her and fired a recoil shot, just barely escaping Darion's impact point as he landed. The shockwave from the landing sent the red-cloaked huntress spiraling out of control in the air and she landed hard on her right shoulder against the eastern wall, Richter in tow.
Ignoring the pain she was in, Ruby crouched down next to Richter's prone form. A large hole where his left shoulder blade should be was on his back. Black smoke was emanating from it. Ruby stared at the wound helplessly, she didn't know how much Richter's body changed in his altered form. Should she bandage it? Would he heal if given enough time?
"Richter." She said, trying to keep her voice calm, his eyes, which were clenched shut, popped open to look at her. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"….Not really…." He wheezed out.
Ruby shook her head, "There has to be something I can…."
"Ruby." He interrupted her, strength in his voice. "You and your team need to get out of here."
"No!" Ruby protested adamantly.
"He's right though." Darion spoke, interjecting into their conversation as he began walking towards them like a lion stalking its prey. "You really should be running."
A blast of Dust suddenly hit the psychopath on the right side of his face. Darion shrugged the shot off, turning to face the person responsible for the shot.
Yang reared her right fist back, the sound of Ember Celica reloading filling the room. "You leave them alone." She growled menacingly. Darion smiled in response.
The blonde huntress brought her right fist forward, firing another blast of Dust from her gauntlet. Darion swatted it away like a beachball with his left hand, turning to face Yang.
Blake rushed in on the psychopath's right flank, attempting a vertical slash with her sword. A corner of Darion's lip curled in disgust as he blocked the attack with the chains wrapped around his right forearm. He then immediately counterattacked by slamming the tip of his left foot into the faunus huntress' right temple. Fortunately for Blake, she made a clone to take the hit, flipping over Darion and landing at his back. She swung Gambol Shroud in a left-right horizontal arc, seeking to slice her enemy in half at the waist. However, with amazing quickness, Darion leapt over the swing, twisted around to face her, landed, and then buried his left fist into Blake's sternum, all in about one second. The force of the blow sent Blake rocketing away.
Yang immediately leapt in to take over, attacking Darion with a flurry of blows. Ruby frowned as she watched her sister and the psychopath fight. Yang was fighting with a fervor she hadn't seen before, Darion should be backpedaling, desperately trying to deflect her attacks, but he was completely calm, not moving an inch from his current spot. Ruby's gut instinct was sending alarm bells to her brain. Darion was reminding her of a coiled snake, and it was about to uncoil and strike.
The red-cloaked huntress continued to stay near Richter as she watched her sister and Darion continue to battle. Yang came forward with a left-right combo that the psychopath easily deflected by slapping the outside of her wrists. Her sister then lunged forward with a strong right hand and Ruby saw Darion's eyes flicker in surprise before blocking the punch with his forearms. Still, Yang's blow was powerful enough to knock him back a meter, it wasn't much, but it was something.
Yang followed through with a strike from her left fist, aimed at Darion's face. Almost casually, the transformed psychopath reached up and palmed her extended fist with his left hand. A shockwave shot through the entire room, but the two combatants were unmoved by it. However, Ruby noticed the look of complete astonishment on her sister's face. She hadn't expected Darion to block that, and so easily too.
Darion smiled, closed his left hand around Yang's left fist and yanked Ruby's sister forward and off-balance. He then readjusted his left hand's grip, latching on to her wrist, and with his right hand, he slammed his fist into Yang's left elbow.
Yang screamed in agony as the sound of her arm being broken resounded through the room. Ruby watched in horror as her sister's left arm limply fell to her side, bent at an awkward angle. Before anyone could properly react, Darion planted his left foot into her elder sister's sternum, sending her into the western wall.
"Yang!" Ruby screamed. Instinctively she tried to plant her feet in preparation to leap, but her right leg immediately shot pain through her in protest. She collapsed back down to her knees.
"Ruby…listen to me…" Richter pleaded. "….You have to run."
She was about to tell him that she couldn't leave them behind when she spotted Darion turn his sights on Weiss, who was still recovering from the shock of seeing Yang get brutalized. The psychopath bent his knees and then rushed toward the heiress, his heavy steps sending vibrations through the floor.
"Weiss! Look out!" Ruby shouted. The pale-haired huntress shook herself out of her shock. Seeing Darion barreling down towards her, she extended her right hand, a glyph appearing before it, and sent a barrage of blasts towards the transformed psychopath. All of the blasts hit, but Darion didn't seem to care, he shrugged them off like they were flies. Unfortunately for Darion, he had lost sight of the heiress for a couple of seconds when the blasts collided with him.
And that was all the time Weiss needed.
She came in fast from behind and above Darion, Myrtenaster reared back and ready to pierce through the back of his neck. Weiss thrust her sword forward, her aim was true, the tip of her sword hit the back of her opponent's neck….
….And abruptly broke in half.
Ruby could see her own disbelief reflected in Weiss' eyes. The flesh on her face suddenly rippled as Darion delivered a nasty right hook to the left side of her face. The heiress was sent flying into the southwestern wall with a sickening thud, when the smoke cleared, she lay motionless on the floor.
"You have to go…if you don't run now…you'll be killed as well!" Richter informed her, pulling himself up enough to lean against the eastern wall.
"I can't just leave you all here!" Ruby argued, tears forming in the corner of her silver eyes.
The sound of light footsteps drew her attention and she looked back towards Darion to see Blake dashing towards him. The look on the faunus huntress' face disturbed Ruby, it was the look of someone resigned to defeat, but determined not to go down without a fight. She didn't like that look, there had to be some way to beat Darion, but how? If she didn't figure it out soon, he would kill all of her friends.
The transformed psychopath snorted as he saw Blake running towards him. He decided to meet Blake halfway, racing towards her with his right arm held out to his side. He tried to clothesline the faunus huntress when he got to melee range, but Blake managed to block it with her sword, the blade depressingly unable to cut through his skin. Still, even though Blake blocked the attack, Darion had come forward with such force that it knocked her from her feet, sending her spine-first into the eastern wall, just to the left of Ruby and Richter.
Blake bounced off the wall, and suddenly Darion was above her, punching her between her shoulder blades with his left fist and knocking her face-first into the floor. Blake once again bounced off the surface, hanging a meter in the air with her body parallel to the ground. Darion swiftly landed to her left and delivered a savage punt to her left hip with his right foot. The faunus huntress was sent sailing to her right, flying past Ruby and Richter.
Amazingly, Ruby saw Blake trying to right herself in mid-air, even after all those punishing blows she was still trying to fight. For what must have been the hundredth time, Ruby cursed her injured right leg. If only she could join in fully.
Darion sprinted after Blake's sailing form, passing by Ruby and Richter as well. The red-cloaked huntress noticed that his right hand's fingers were curled and that his fingertips looked very sharp, like claws. He lashed out at Blake with his right hand, slashing at her face.
And his hand came back bloody.
Ruby winced hard as Blake's scream of agony filled the entire room. She looked towards her faunus teammate and covered her mouth with her hands in horror. Blake was curled up on her right side, hands covering her right eye. Large amounts of blood was flowing from it, dripping between her fingers and down her face. Darion had destroyed her right eye.
Horror turned to anger as Ruby grabbed Crescent Rose and fired at Darion's back. The special ammunition she had loaded earlier actually staggered the psychopath, who had to take a step forward to rebalance himself. Darion looked back at her, a smirk played upon his lips as he leapt high into the air and came down with both feet on Blake's abdomen, blood shot out from her mouth as he cratered the faunus huntress into the floor. She lay motionless as Darion turned back to look at Ruby, grinning widely, his feet still on Blake's abdomen.
"Get off of her!" Ruby shouted at him.
Darion's grin widened. "Make me."
Ruby was going to respond by shooting the bastard when a flash of blonde hair and fire appeared on his right. Darion turned in that direction just in time to receive an uppercut to his chin, the blow knocked him into the eastern wall, embedding him there. Ruby fixed her gaze on the person responsible for the sudden attack.
Yang stood tall, her eyes flaring red and her hair glowing a pale gold. Her right hand was clenched tight into a fist and although her left hand hung limply at her side, she looked like she could take on an army of grimm. Ruby's eyes lit up as she remembered Yang's semblance, she got stronger with each hit and with the hits Darion had already given her, it might make her strong enough to beat him. Hope surged through the petite girl, they could still win this.
With a battlecry, Yang leapt up to Darion, proceeding to punch him multiple times in the face, with her right hand. Each hit embedded him further into the wall. Yang punched the psychopath one last time, using everything she had. The crater Darion was embedded in widened exponentially from the final hit, the whole mountain felt like it shook as more debris collapsed from the ceiling. Ruby did her best to shield Richter with her body, as he was doing all he could to stay conscious at that point.
Yang back-flipped a safe distance away, landing near the center of the room.
"Ow…" Darion's voice sounded from his buried spot in the wall. "…You've got spirit kid, I admire that." He leapt out from the wall, landing in front of the pillar which housed the Sirensong. "But spirit alone won't be enough."
The two combatants charged each other, exchanging blows. Ruby was surprised to see that Yang was compensating quite well for having her left arm out of commission. If this had been a normal opponent she would have been fine, but Darion was not normal. Even with her semblance, he was still taking her strikes well, on the flip side Yang was actually withstanding Darion's attacks. And if Darion was unable to land a finishing blow, then Ruby's sister could theoretically become strong enough to overpower him.
Both Yang and Darion reared their right hands back for a big strike. They thrust their fists forward simultaneously, their knuckles colliding. Another shockwave resounded through the room and for a brief moment, Ruby thought they had reached a stalemate.
And then Yang's right gauntlet shattered into countless pieces.
Ruby watched helplessly as her sister was launched backwards, making a hole through the southern wall on her impromptu exit. Her brain was trying to process what she had just seen. The red-cloaked huntress had never seen her big sister get beat when she used her semblance, never. And now here this monstrous bastard stood, having not only decimated her sister, but her entire team as well.
Silver eyes scanned the room, looking at the motionless forms of her teammates, they finally came to rest on Richter, who was taking it in with a solemn expression, lips peeled back in a snarl. He growled in helpless frustration.
She shared in it, Darion was picking off her friends one by one and there was nothing she could do about it. She cursed her helplessness, not just from her injured leg, even if it was in good condition, she didn't know what more she could do that her friends haven't done. She racked her mind for a solution, but could find none. A cry of frustration escaped the red-cloaked girl's lips as she slammed her fists into the floor.
Everyone was going to die and there was nothing she could do about it.
Everyone.
And that's when Ruby felt it, an invisible force that surged through her body. Her vision erupted in white, and then there was nothing.
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Richter shielded his eyes with his left forearm. The blinding light was digging painfully into his altered eyes, actually it was digging into his everything. It was as if his whole body was burning, what was with that light?
Mercifully, it dimmed and Richter lowered his forearm to be greeted by the sight of Ruby, standing on both legs, injured and uninjured. The next thing he noticed was that what looked like white steam was rolling off of her. As the short ex-huntsmen looked closer at his childhood friend he noticed the biggest change in Ruby of all.
Her usual silver eyes were glowing bright white. Excess aura was venting from two lazy trails from the corner of her eyes, her face was calm, a slight frown on her lips. She was staring directly at Darion, who was no longer smiling.
"What….the fuck…?" The transformed psychopath said. Ruby didn't answer, instead she took a step forward and suddenly in an eyeblink she was right in front of Darion, her right leg tucked in preparation of a kick. Darion slowly looked down at the petite girl, eyes wide in surprise.
And then Ruby extended her right leg.
It was as if Darion was launched by a catapult, he flew into the western wall, bouncing off of it and landing on his knees. Richter blinked again and this time Ruby was hanging in mid-air, her weapon shifted into gun-form and aimed at the transformed psychopath. Richter watched as white glowing aura transferred from her small body to Crescent Rose. Darion was barely registering that a girl that weighed about a hundred pounds just sent him across the room like he was a soccer ball when Ruby pulled the trigger. A spherical blast of aura about three meters in diameter spat from the petite girl's gun, slamming into Darion's chest with the force of a bullet train. An explosion of white fire ripped through the room's western wall and the transformed psychopath leapt from it, tiny white flames littered his entire body and dark smoke was steadily emanating from his charred form.
"Okay seriously, what the ….fuck!" Darion shouted in a pained voice, doing his best to pat out the white flames on his arms. Richter's eyes narrowed as he observed what was happening. Ruby's white fire was wrecking havoc on Darion, it was as if it was designed specifically for him. Or at least, the grimm side of him.
Coming up with a theory, Richter reverted to his human form, the skin regenerating on his body. Almost immediately the burning sensation he had felt on his entire body vanished. He was right, whatever Ruby's new power was, it was especially lethal to grimm, or beings similar. That meant she had Darion on the ropes.
Using a recoil shot, Ruby flew towards the battered Darion, who snarled at her. Richter blinked and Darion was taking a step back as dark smoke exploded from a slash wound at the base of his neck, located on the left side. Ruby was in a crouched position at his back, facing away from him in a finished motion for one of her scythe attacks. Darion covered the wound on his neck with his right hand and turned to face her. Richter blinked again, this time dark smoke burst forth from a deep slash wound in his right flank. Darion grunted in pain and frustration as he covered the new wound with his left hand. Richter couldn't help, but think that the psychopath looked like he was comically hugging himself.
If his childhood friend was finding joy in this she wasn't showing it. Her face had remained its neutral expression and it concerned him. It was almost as if she was possessed, her movements were completely different from before. Where did this power come from?
"I've had it with you Ruby Rose." Darion hissed, "I was going to play around a little while longer, torture your friends a bit, maybe hack off a limb or two, but not anymore! Your shitty little scythe and your stupid glowing eyes have pissed me off." He dropped into a fighting stance. "Now I'm just going to rip you to pieces!"
Darion rushed forward, swinging at Ruby with his claws in rapid succession. The same moves he had used to take out Ruby's team were ineffective against Ruby herself. To Richter, she almost seemed to be casually dodging them. Ruby kept her hands lowered, taking a step back now and then when Darion managed to get close to a clean hit.
"Damn you!" Darion roared in extreme annoyance. "Are you going to fight me or just keep dodging like a bitch!"
Richter blinked again, this time Ruby's right hand was stretched out and open. The short ex-huntsman switched his gaze to Darion, who's face was one of shock, he soon saw why. Buried into his left pectoral was Crescent Rose, the tip of the blade protruding out of his back. Richter couldn't believe what he was seeing, Ruby had always been fast, but this kind of speed was unheard of. What the hell was she?
Ruby closed the distance between herself and Darion at a normal walking pace. The transformed psychopath could only make pained choking sounds as he weakly tried to pull the scythe out of his chest. Ruby gripped the handle of her weapon and uttered one word with an eerie calm.
"Vanish."
Her grip then tightened on Crescent Rose and Darion found himself sliced in half from his left shoulder to his right hip.
Dark smoke went everywhere as both pieces of the transformed psychopath fell to the floor. Ruby then turned to look at Richter and the short ex-huntsman found he couldn't resist tensing up. Was this still the Ruby he knew? Could she sense the grimm part of him somehow? If she wasn't the same Ruby anymore then there was little he could do to defend himself. He would die.
She began walking towards him and Richter sighed and forced himself to relax. If he was going to die then at least it was by Ruby's hands, better than some stranger. Ruby blinked once and her glowing eyes suddenly became their normal silver again. Richter raised an eyebrow in confusion until he saw her eyes roll into the back of her head and she began to fall forward.
"Ruby!" He shouted her name, springing forward. He caught her before she could land unceremoniously on her face. The short ex-huntsman set her down on her back gently, cradling the back of her head with his right hand. Her breathing was shallow, but it was steady, good, the glowing eyes thing must have taken a lot out of her.
A sharp thought pierced through Richter's brain, one that demanded his attention. He set Ruby down and stood to his full height, wincing as pain shot through him from his back. His altered form had taken too much damage, using it any more would be dangerous. But if he was right, he wouldn't need it. Walking gingerly, Richter began heading towards Darion's body.
Dark smoke was everywhere from the two severed halves of the psychopath and Richter coughed harshly to try and keep it out of his lungs. A quick scan revealed what he was looking for, the top half of Darion's body. The psychopath wore a pained facial expression, with a little exhaustion mixed in. He looked like he was nearing death's door.
"….I can't believe it. Lost to a bunch of stupid kids, how fucking absurd….." Darion said softly, his usual intensity dampened.
"It's over Darion. No little concoction is going to save you this time." Richter declared.
Darion looked at him and laughed, which was soon followed up with a coughing fit, he took a deep breath before replying. "Over? This is just the beginning." His jade-green eyes narrowed. "There will be others Richter."
Richter scowled at the psychopath, in just a few short words he had let him know what was coming. Both he and Darion had been experiments of Cinder's and judging by what Darion had done here, the experiment was a success. Cinder would alter more people unless she was stopped and if they ever got as strong as Darion, well, they would have a serious problem on their hands. It was not a pleasant thought. Still, he wasn't about to give this bastard the pleasure of seeing him sweat.
"Maybe." Richter replied, moving to stand next to Darion's head. He shifted Dyrnwyn into sword-form, aiming the tip of the blade at Darion's left eye. "But at least you won't be one of them."
Richter plunged the sword through Darion's left eye. The psychopath made one last gurgled gasp before lying quiet, moments later his form dissolved, leaving no trace of him left. Richter took a deep breath and wiped his forehead. They had won, but as he looked around the room and saw the brutalized forms of Ruby and her team, he couldn't help, but feel the victory ring hollow.
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A/N: There is one more big scene I want to write, then the epilogue and the story will finally be finished. Hopefully I won't make you all wait too long before it's done.
Thanks for reading!
