Hi everyone. Hope you're all feeling well today. Just wanted to say thanks for the feedback. Glad to hear that you're enjoying it, and you're suggestions are well appreciated.
Before we begin, I just wanted to say sorry that it took so long for me to upliad the chapter, as I had to study for my exams. Sadly, they are a necessary thing when you've got the ol' college going on, but now that they're finished, I've got more time for writing.
Anywho, that's enough from me. Let's get this show on the road.
Ethan ran through the burning, smoke-filled hallways as quickly as possible. Whatever it was, the creature scared the life out of the now crying boy, who wanted, more than anything, to leave this place and go home.
As he ran, the shrieks became quieter and quieter, leaving the crackling sound of fire to travel through the air. Ethan kept running, not paying attention to his surroundings. This lead to him tripping over a piece of debris and falling onto his front.
He cried out in pain as he felt his hand press up against something unbearably hot. Ethan pulled away and clutched his hand, which was still sizzling from the heat. He looked and saw that it was a piece of burning wood. He tried to stand up, but the shock left his legs flimsy, resulting in him falling back onto the ground.
The traumatized boy looked around, hoping to find some means of escape. Sadly, there was no such luck, as the flames were now catching up with him. Seeing that there was no hope, Ethan clutched his damaged fist and pressed his forehead against the ground.
As he waited for the flames to consume him, the boy cried out in both pain and fear, fear of the pain, fear of being alone… fear of losing everyone…
…
Ethan shot up from the ground, awakening after having suffered another nightmare. He panted heavily and felt the sweat dripping from his brow. He did his best to try and get his breathing under control, managing to get it to a steady rate within ten seconds. When he had finally calmed down, he wiped his face clean and gritted his teeth.
"That dream again." Ethan said.
The nightmare he had was a continuation of the time he was in the hotel. He was a little surprised that he didn't see the creature this time, if he had to be honest. As he was now aware of what kind of creature it was, he had seen a large bird with golden feathers. However, the scene proved more disturbing as he saw blood dripping from both its feathers and eyes, making for a much more grotesque sight.
Ethan shivered as he thought back on the image. While he was no stranger to seeing injuries, the image of the Phoenix lying on the ground like that… he couldn't describe it. All he knew was that he felt sympathy… no, empathy for the creature.
Ethan remembered how he had been practically left for dead in that hotel. Having to suffer burns and injuries as he tried to escape, he felt helpless. Alone. Certain that he was going to die. As such, his surprise rescue, which he only found out about after waking in a hospital bed.
Even though Ethan had made many enemies, not just in the academy, but in the human world during his youth… he wouldn't wish that kind of suffering on anything or anyone.
The pyromancer decided to get up and have a walk at the beach to clear his head, when he heard some sort of commotion going on outside the tent. He heard the panicked voices of the rest of the club, as if they were looking for something. Quickly pulling on his summer gear again, he lept out of the tent to see the group running around the camp.
"What the feck is going on here?" he asked.
Moka turned to him and rushed over, grabbing his hands as she looked at him. "It's Yukari! She's missing!"
"We've been searching for her all over the camp, but we didn't find her." Mizore said, her head pooping up from behind Moka's shoulder.
Ethan didn't respond right away. Of course, he was worried about Yukari, but he wasn't about to let himself be thrown into a fit of panic. Instead, he thought about all the possible places she could've gone off to. There didn't seem to be any traces of anyone on the beach, and she probably couldn't have gotten far given that she didn't know the location well. So that left-
The ground shook, causing all present to stumble and grab onto the nearest support. Ethan hung onto a table that they had left out, while Moka, Kurumu and Mizore all instinctively wrapped themselves around Tsukune, who was now feeling like he was being trapped by a boa constrictor snake.
Ethan looked around, wondering what could cause this kind of earthquake. Suddenly his eyes caught the sight of a stream of pink energy emerging from the peak of the cliff. More specifically, Witches Hill.
Moka came to the same assumption as Ethan that she was there, and was suddenly panicking over the fact that Yukari may be in danger. "YUKARI!" she screamed.
Kurumu looked at the sight, causing her to freeze and for her insides to feel like they were being knotted up. Remembering the harsh words she had told the girl that was supposed to be her friend. "No… no… what have I done." She said, feeling responsible for her being in danger.
Ethan clapped his hands together, snapping everyone out of their respective dazes. They all turned towards Ethan, who wore a deadpan expression on his face.
"Don't worry, Yukari's fine." He said in a similar tone.
"How can you be so sure?" Tsukune asked.
Before Ethan could answer, the ground shook again, this time a stronger, more volatile wave of black energy began to overtake the pink. Ethan let out a small sigh as he answered "Because I know the bat-shit looney who's helping her."
….
Mathias and Ruby lashed their weapons out at each other like they were swords, clashing with each other in the middle. As they did so, strong levels of energy emerged from Ruby and Mathias' bodies, pink and black respectively. Ruby wore a look of pure fury and hate as she stated at her opponent, while Mathias only showed a small grin.
"Wow. You're tougher than you look." Mathias blurted out. He then tilted his head to one side. "Ruby, was it?"
"You have no right to speak my name." the witch roared as he pushed harder, not planning on surrendering any time soon. As she did, the aura became larger and more volatile, prompting a smile from the reaper.
"Not bad. Not bad at all." He said to her. "But…" he tightened his grip on his scythe and, without warning, stopped pushing and took a step back. With the amount of force Ruby was using, she was sent flying forward. As she fell, Mathias spun around and lifted his weapon into the air.
Yukari, who was watching the battle, gasped as she saw the Death God raise his weapon like that. She was sure that he was going to end her life right then. She may not have agreed with her and her master's wishes to eliminate the humans, but she couldn't just sit by and allow this person to kill a fellow witch. She lifted her wand to help, but instead watched as he brought the bottom of the handle onto her back, forcing her onto the ground.
He turned his head towards Yukari after he was sure that Ruby was out of commission for the fight. "Don't worry. I don't really plan on slicing up any witches today." He said to her.
Unknown to him, Ruby managed to push herself up slightly. After hearing what he said, her glare intensified. "More fool you." She muttered under her breath.
With that, Ruby leapt from the ground, aiming to strike the reaper from behind. Yukari saw Ruby zoom towards him, and would've gasped in surprise at it had something else not caught her attention.
Before Ruby could get close enough to the reaper, she felt something wrap around her ankle. She looked behind her to see a boy with silver hair and ember eyes grinning grimly at her. Before she could do anything else, then boy pulled her back and allowed her to fly far behind him. As she flew, Ruby thought if another plan of action. Channeling her power through her staff, she formed six crow-like wings on her back and flew forward.
Yukari's eyes widened at this. "ETHAN!" she roared.
The pyromancer looked behind him to see the apprentice witch fly towards him. She thrusted her staff at him, hoping to catch him off guard. Instead, however, he vanished just as she was about to strike. He reappeared behind Yukari, held onto her by her arm and used his speed to put some distance between the tow and the enemy witches. Mathias looked at Ethan with surprise.
"Damn, you're fast, pyro." The reaper said.
"And you're an ass. Shinigami." Ethan said back.
"Wait. You two know each other?" Yukari asked in surprise.
The elder witch was now gritting her teeth. Not only had they hurt her precious apprentice, but they had also taken Yukari. She would not stand for this. The tome in her hand glowed, and as it did, more plant-like monsters emerged from the ground. In seconds they were making their way towards the three.
Mathias was the first to see them coming, and did not waste any time in rushing towards them. He twirled his weapon around at surprising speed, dicing the monsters one by one as they came towards him. The elder witch was surprised to see how well the reaper danced with the deadly weapon.
This boy was a prime example of the power the Gods of Death held.
"Yukari!"
Ethan and Yukari turned their heads to find the rest of the newspaper club coming their way. The first to make it to the two was Kurumu, who immediately wrapped her arms around the young witch. Yukari's eyes rolled towards the Succubus in surprise. Kurumu released her grip and looked at Yukari with a worried expression.
"Don't you know how worried we were?" she asked, allowing the tears to roll down her cheek. This actually surprised Yukari, as the two always got into some sort of argument. There was never any room for any meaningful conversations. This prompted Yukari to smile at Kurumu in thanks. Kurumu pulled her back into another hug. "Never do anything like that again."
Needless to say, the enemy witches were not pleased.
The elder witch commanded the plant monsters to ignore the reaper and focus their attention on the people around Yukari. They obeyed the order without hesitation. When he saw that the monsters were no longer aimed at him, Mathias rested the scythe on his shoulder and grinned.
"Bad move, 'Grandma'." He said in a mocking tone.
Kurumu saw the monsters coming. In an instant, her wings shot out from her back and her nails elongated. She gently pushed Yukari to her left and charged for the monsters. Mizore followed suit, forming her ice claws and firing a volley of ice kunai in their direction. Moka and Tsukune weren't sure about how to fight back, but they felt that they couldn't just sit back and let their friends get hurt.
Ethan saw their discomfort and held the staff up to them horizontally, catching their attention. "You two may not be able to fight, but you've got more important things to worry about. Get Yukari to safety, she's the one they're after." He said sternly.
"NOOO!"
Ethan looked behind him to see Ruby flying towards him. Grinning, he charged his free hand with flames and thrusted it towards the winged witched. As he did, he the flames shot out from his hand and sailed towards her, forming the shape of a spear as it flew.
Ruby was able to see the projectile coming, though, and quickly evaded it. When she was close enough to the pyromancer, she swung her staff at him wildly, hoping to land a hit. She was angered when he managed to easily block the attack. Ethan clutched Ruby's weapon just below the crescent moon, grinning at his opponent's face of fury. He spun around in a circle and went to send the girl with him as he spun. However, this time he formed a flame gauntlet and punched her in the center of her stomach as he was no longer on her feet.
While he wasn't sure, he think he may have heard something inside of her break.
Ruby was sent flying onto her back, falling unconscious from the pain. The pyromancer, now sure that one enemy was out for the count, turned his attention to the girl's master, who glared at Ethan to the point that it would've felt like she was burrowing into the soul to anyone else.
Key words, 'anybody else'.
"What?" he asked casually while twirling Ruby's staff in his hand in a similar manner to Mathias' scythe.
The elder witch was about to attack when she heard something coming from a distance. Instinctively, she looked up, only to see a barrage of tarot cards flying her way. Het tome glowed again before she suddenly became transparent; as the cards hit her, instead of doing any damage they passed right through, embedding themselves into the ground. The witch returned to normal and looked towards the source of the card attack.
It was Yukari, pointing her weapon at the elder like a sword.
"Y-Yukari?" Tsukune asked, surprised to see her on the offensive.
Yukari lowered her wand and levelled her gaze with the elder witch. "I know that you're trying to save your home. I also understand how you can hate the humans… but I can't let you kill them all like that. It isn't right." She tightened her grip on her wand before continuing. "Also… anyone who is wanting to hurt those dear to me… are my enemies." She said.
Tsukune and Moka looked at her with a look of concern. They could tell that it was difficult for her to say that. Even more so since she was basically declaring war against someone from her own kind.
The elder witch was not pleased by this. In fact, she was so infuriated that she opted to end the 'traitor' as soon as possible. Emitting another powerful aura from her tome, she called forth another plant monster, only this one was well behind Yukari, Moka and Tsukune. Carrying out its master's orders, it launched towards them, another vine with a sharp point emerging from its side.
Tsukune's ears perked up and turned his head around, seeing the monster heading his way. Without thinking, he pushed Moka and Yukari out of the monster's path. He alone faced the brunt of the attack, the sharped vine penetrating the left side of his chest and sliced up towards Tsukune's shoulder blades, cutting right through.
Tsukune went still for a moment, the sudden pain rendering him immobile. When the vine slashed out of Tsukune's shoulder blade, there was nothing to stop him from collapsing to the ground. As he fell, time seemed to slow as she saw Moka and Yukari turning towards him. He also saw how their faces morphed into looks of shock, horror, fear…
Pain.
Tsukune collapsed to the ground. Yukari and Moka couldn't take their eyes off their friend, practically frozen as they couldn't process what they were seeing. Upon coming out of their trances, Yukari's lips trembled and her eyes slowly letting loan tears fall, she collapsed onto her knees and cried in silence. The pain was too much for her to even make a sound.
"Ts… Tsukune…" she softly wept.
Moka, on the other hand, couldn't tear her gaze away from the sight of her friend. Tears were streaming from her face, her irises shrinking as she felt various emotions flow through her. Sadness… fear… pain… but most strongly…
Rage.
The gem in her rosary suddenly began to glow. Within seconds, it had created an aura that covered the gentle vampiress, becoming stronger by the second. With all the energy building up inside of her, she lifted her head towards the sky and screamed at the top of her lungs-
"TSUKUUUUNEEEEEEE!"
With that, the energy building up within was released, unleashing a much more volatile version of the aura, streams travelling in all directions, slicing or obliterating anything that came across them. Many of the plant monsters had fallen victim to the force.
Ethan heard the screams and saw the light coming from the burst of energy. When he directed his eyes towards the source of the great power, his eyes widened with great surprise. His eyes were widened even more when he saw what the cause of it was.
"Damn it!" Ethan cursed as he saw Tsukune on the ground, bleeding out. He ignored the elder witch and made his way over to his friend. Unforunately, he was hit by a lone stream of energy from Moka's aura.
Mathias saw Moka and looked at the release of power with slight awe. He had seen many things in his life, but he most certainly hadn't seen anything that powerful since… A smile formed on his face as he then made the connection.
"Well I'll be damned, Bloodriver." Mathias said with a dark grin.
A second later, the aura, if at all possible, began to expand and glow more brightly. Mathias held an arm over his eyes as the light grew more intense. Yukari fell onto her backside and pulled her hat over her eyes to try and block out the light. Ruby managed to pull herself up and saw the power radiating off of the grief-stricken vampiress.
"What… what is this?" she asked out loud.
She didn't get an answer, as instead her vision was blocked by the light, followed by an intense pain flowing through her body. After that, all went black.
…..
Ruby felt a searing pain going throughout her body. She found it difficult to move at first, barely able to move her pinky finger. After a few more seconds, however, she was able to get some feeling back into her body and gently sat up. Her eyes still closed, she placed a hand on her head as she tried to remember what had happened.
"Oh, are you awake?"
Ruby opened her eyes widely to see the newspaper club sitting right before her. Tsukune was without a shirt, instead wearing a number of bandages around his torso, but still smiling nonetheless. Moka, Kurumu, Mizore and Yukari also looked eager in front of the woman. The only one who didn't seem happy was Ethan, who sat farther away from the group and looked at Ruby with a hateful stare.
"How are you feeling?" Yukari asked. She was holding out a can of lemonade to the older witch.
Ruby looked at the can with suspicion. "Is this supposed to bribe me?" she asked.
"It's supposed to be a peace offering. Seems like a waste of time to me." Ethan answered with a venomous tone.
Tsukune looked back at the fire user with a nervous look and laugh. "Hey, come on, Ethan, she's a guest."
Ethan said nothing, instead looking away from them and emitting a low growl.
Moka ignored him and looked back at Ruby with a sympathetic expression. "Hey, Ruby. Listen… I know that you had it rough. Yukari told us about what you and your master are fighting for." Moka placed a hand over one of Ruby's. "But the way you're going about it isn't going to help. It'll only make things worse."
Ruby pulled back her hand. "This is the only way to do it. The humans care nothing about life so long as they get what they want. They are nothing but selfish scum that deserve to be wiped from the planet!" Ruby exclaimed.
"Still, killing them is not going to help you." Mizore pointed out.
"If there are no humans, then there won't be anything to destroy our home!"
Ethan was starting to get a headache from what Ruby was saying. Before anyone else could say anything, he stood up, walked over to the witch and glared at her, causing said witch to feel a slight shiver travelling down her spine.
"You know, I've had enough of people like you. People who think that they can just go around and destroy anything they see fit so long as it makes life more comfortable for themselves. Also known as the 'Cowardly method'." Ethan started. "Why is it that people like you try to make things worse instead of trying to put in the effort for a more peaceful solution? Or is it too much for you're brain to comprehend?"
That comment seemed to hurt Yukari more than Ruby. True, she didn't like the route that Ruby was going down, but she didn't like how hard Ethan was being on her. Normally, he was the kind of person to get all the facts before making a decision about something.
"You don't understand. The humans deserve to die." Ruby said back, meeting his glare with one of her own.
"And why is that?"
"BECAUSE THEY WERE THE ONES THAT KILLED MY PARENTS!"
At this, Ethan's eyes widened with surprise. He was now getting somewhere with this girl. "I see… this isn't really about following your master's wishes or saving the hill. It's vengeance."
"It's… it's justice." Ruby said more weakly. "They were… run over by a car. They pushed me out of the way… so I wouldn't get hit." A lone tear rolled down her face. "They didn't deserve to die like that."
Ethan sat back down on the ground. "Tell me something." He said more softly than before. "Losing the people you cared about. Is that something that you would wish on anyone else?"
Ruby looked shocked after hearing that. "What? No! that kind of pain-"
"Is exactly the kind of thing that you are going to inflict on people who have done nothing wrong to you." Ethan interrupted. "I know what it's like to lose the ones you love. Almost all of my family were killed in a fire when I was smaller. Afterwards, I was broken, hateful and would do anything to distract myself from the pain. It's actually one of the reasons I know how to fight so well, since I got into a lot of them."
Kurumu, Mizore and Yukari all looked in horror after hearing this. They heard from Tsukune that Ethan had a rough past, but… this was too much to handle. They couldn't believe that someone went through that much pain and is still standing.
"Surprisingly, though, while I still want to find the one responsible… I'm not sure that I could hurt that person. What would the point be if all you're going to get out of it is dealing the same kind of pain that destroyed you? What comes after? A hollow shell of what you used to be."
Ruby was at a loss for words after hearing this. For a long time now, all she wanted was justice for her parents, but instead she was going to make other feel the same kind of pain that she felt. In that instant, she finally realized what she was doing was the wrong thing.
"But… what should I do?" she asked.
Tsukune placed a hand on Ethan's shoulder and nodded to him, signalling him to take over. After Ethan nodded in response, Tsukune spoke on. "Do what you're parents would've wanted you to do. Be the best kind of person you can be. Live life to the full and learn to appreciate everything you do have in life. That way, you'll be making them proud."
Ruby was on the verge of breaking down into tears from all the emotion. Sighing, Ethan stood back up and made his way out of the tent. "I'm going to scout the area. I'll be back in a bit." He said as he passed through the exit. As he left, Yukari placed a comforting hand on Ruby's shoulder. Ruby looked at Yukari, who had a similarly cocky grin to Ethan.
"He sure is something, huh?"
…
Ethan had walked quite the distance away from the tent, hoping it would help him to clear his head. Sadly, or rather annoyingly, he felt an unusual presence. Sighing, as he felt the same sort of energy flowing through the air. He looked to his side and found Mathias lying on the ground, staring up at the stars. Mathias had heard Ethan's footsteps and tilted his head so that he could see him.
"Hi, pyro. How's the girl? I'd imagine that she's a little shaken up." The reaper said.
In response, Ethan dashed towards Mathias with an active flame gauntlet, stopping it just inches away from the Shinigami's face. "Why were you following Yukari?" he asked with a venomous tone.
"Ooooh, touchy, touchy." Mathias said at first, which only succeeded in making Ethan's eyes narrow. "but to answer your question, I was actually tracking that witch with tree-bark skin. Yukari just happened to be there at the time."
"Why don't I believe you?" Ethan asked.
"Probably because you hate me." Mathias said humorously. "To be fair, tracking that woman, or more specifically, the source of the problems on the hill was the mission I was asked to do." He gave Ethan a blade-like smile. "I'd imagine since, we have a common enemy, we can put aside our little squabble and focus on the real threat."
"Not on your life." Ethan said. He extinguished the gauntlet and pulled back his fist. "But I don't like the idea of that old crone walking around, causing damage."
"There you go." Mathias said. He flipped back onto his feet and scratched the side of his head. "Now, if I'm right, she's going to come after Ruby, since she's the only ally that the elder has."
"That might not be true anymore." Ethan stated.
At this, Mathias looked at Ethan in confusion. "Why not?"
"Gave her the sternest discussion I've ever given, making her see past her lust for vengeance." Ethan answered.
Mathias was silent for a moment before he burst into a fit of maniacal laughter. "OH WOW! SHE IS NOT GONNA LIKE THIS!" he yelled.
As if to respond, large roots shot up from the ground, the tips forming into Venus fly trap heads. The two teens looked at the threats, Mathias quickly recovering from his laughing fit, and readied themselves for another fight.
"Is what you say true?"
The pyromancer and Shinigami looked past the roots to see the old witch, tome in hand and fury in her eyes.
"Has Ruby turned against me?"
Mathias pointed towards Ethan. "Yep. This guy is a real smooth talker, helped her to see that your way of thinking is as useless as a Swiss army knife without the knife."
Ethan glared at the witch. "You will not have her kill any more people." He said, preparing a flame grenade in each hand.
More roots shot up from the ground right beside the elder witch, her eyes shrinking with anger. "I will NOT let you corrupt her!" she exclaimed.
"That's the pot calling the kettle black." Mathias commented as he summoned his scythe, spinning it like an accelerated windmill. He rested the weapon on his shoulder and smirked. "Bring it on!"
With that, more monsters grew out from the ground, taking on humanoid form with plant-like heads. They charged towards the reaper and pyromancer, who had made the decision not to hold back.
…
The rest of the newspaper club were all busy with trying to help Ruby. Ethan's words had certainly left their mark, as well as Tsukune's input, abd she was currently lost in thought. She held on the the lemonade can that she was offered earlier, her mind going back and forth between her master's teachings and the words of the fire user.
Yukari looked at the fellow witch with an expression of worry. She could tell that the conflict was practically eating at her. She wanted to help, but she didn't know what to do.
Kurumu went up to the troubled witch and offered her some cookies that she made earlier for the trip. As Ruby looked at them, Yukari suddenly widened her eyes and dashed in between them.
"WAAAAIT!" she yelled, starling them both. Yukari pulled out her wand and waved it over the baked goods, a low light emitting from the heart. After a few seconds, Yukari lowered the wand and breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank god. I thought those were the coookies you spiked with that love potion for Tsukune."
At this, Moka twitched an eye and looked back at the two in question, a look of disbelief on her face. "YOU DID WHAT!?"
Yukari and Kurumu both pointed at each other. "She did it!" they both said.
Before anyone else could say anything else, they heard a loud noise, like something bursting prom the ground. It was followed by the sound of flames igniting and a blade cutting the air. All were startled by the sound, and Tsukune tried to quickly make his way outside, only to feel the pain in his shoulder come back with a vengeance of its own. He collapsed onto one knee and grunted in pain.
"Tsukune!" Moka exclaimed in alarm. She knelt beside him and held him close. Kurumu and Mizore were envious of the sight, but they put it at the back of their minds as they made their way outside.
"We'll be right back." Kurumu said seriously.
"Try not to have too much fun, you two." Mizore stated with a smile, making the human and vampiress blush.
…
On the outside, Mathias and Ethan were going head to head against a whole army of plant based creatures.
Ethan was focusing on using his flame grenades to defeat as many enemies as he could, as well as using the long range aspect and value of the ability as he didn't want to risk getting damaged ina close quarters fight. If an enemy did get too close, then he would summon his flame guantlets and greaves to quickly strike and set them alight. One benefit of them being plant monsters is that they can catch fire more easily, making his pyrokenisis all the more valuable in this fight.
Meanwhile, Mathias chose to forgo caution in this fight and make full use of close quarters combat. He twirled his scythe expertly as he used the speed and momentum to help him slice his opponents more easily. However, while he endulged in his dance of death, he wasn't afraid to use his fists when needed. If too many opponents were surrounding him, he stuck the bottom of the scythe handle in the ground and spun around the weapon, using the spinning motion to tear through them.
As the two fought, the elder witch couldn't help but look in slight awe at how easily they were tearing through her loyal monsters. Nover before had there been amyone who could slice through them.
"Those two… they cannot be allowed to live." She said out loud.
The gem in her tome illuminating, the witch summoned more monsters. However this time, instead of going straight towards the two males, they faced the ground and released some seeds into the ground. Within seconds, ten times the number of monsters were appearing.
Ethan took notice of this and growled. "You've got to be kidding me."
As the new creatures, they suddenly stopped as they saw something zooming towards them. Before they could react again, they were immediately sliced by the incoming projectile. As it flew past them, they were all cut down into smaller pieces.
The projectile stopped, revealing to have a familiar pair of purple wings. Kurumu looked behind her and gave Ethan and Mathias a cheeky grin. "Miss me, boys?"
Before either could respond, a number of ice pikes shot out from the ground, impaling many of the monsters at once. They heard a faint whistle, making them turn their heads towards the source of the sound, only to find Mizore with her arms folded. "We thought you could use some help."
Three more viper-like vines shot from the ground, lunging towards the group. Mathias was the first, spinning around before throwing his weapon with great force. As he did, the scythe spun and curved like a boomerang as it sliced through the plant monsters. The weapon flew back towards him, to which he caught effortlessly.
He looked back towards the girls and winked. "Like what you see?"
The girls scoffed at him, but allowed him a smile each.
"Master! Please stop!" came a familiar voice.
All looked towards where they heard the voice, only to see Ruby running over to the group. Upon seeing her, the elder witch glared at her.
"Ruby… tell me. Did they really turn you against me?" she asked.
"They showed me that what we are doing is wrong. It isn't worth defending our home if all we're going to do is make the same mistakes as the humans." She said. she placed her hands over her chest as she continued. "Please, master. You were always so kind, understanding, and you always cared about life, no matter what form it took. I beg of you, please look into your heart and find it in you to stop this conflict. It's gone on for too long."
Ethan looked at the young witch with widened eyes. He was impressed that she was already standing up to her master. He was also proud that she was able to see past her hatred and pain, now free to make her own decisions.
"…" the elder witch was silent for a moment. Unmoving, like a perfect statue.
All were unsure of what to make of this, thinking that she may be contemplating what her apprentice said. However, Ethan felt another presence among the group. He looked back and saw a smaller plant monster sneaking up behind Ruby. Using his speed, he dashed towards her, pushed out of the way and tried to strike creature himself.
The small monster shot out a tongue that was as like a length of rope, reaching out and piercing Ethan in the leg. He grunted in pain at first, then grabbing the tongue, pulling the creature up to him and incinerating it. He looked back at Ruby, about to ask if she was okay, but he didn't get the chance as he felt a sharp, paralyzing pain shoot all over his body. Unable to handle it, he collapsed to the ground.
The girls paled at the sight and widened their eyes in shock, while Mathias was expressionless at first before a dark glare formed on his face.
"ETHAN!" the girls roared.
"Damn it!" Mathias cursed.
With the group distracted, the elder witch activated her tome again, summoning a much thinner vine. It shot towards Ruby and binded her, followed by the vine pulling her back beside her master. The rest of the group saw being pulled back and were about to attack when the vine wrapped around Ruby's neck.
"One more move, and I'll snap her neck." The elder witch exclaimed.
Ruby's eyes widened, mainly out of the betrayal she suddenly felt. She found it painful to hear that her master would kill her.
The rest of the group went still after hearing that. After a few seconds of weighing their options, they deactivated their respective weapons, gritting their teeth at the fact that they couldn't help her.
"Now… if you value our lives… you will leave, and allow me to complete my mission." She said. "However…" more monsters began flying out of the ground, bearing their teeth and claws at the club and the reaper. "Just to be sure."
With that, Ruby and her master faded from view, leaving Mizore, Kurumu, Mathias and an ailing Ethan to fend for themselves.
Kurumu brought out her claws again, bit was still incredibly nervous and afraid. "I… I don't think we can handle this many."
Mizore narrowed her gaze. "Guess we'll have to take down as many as we can with us." She said as she summoned her ice claws.
Mathias regarded the two for a moment before rolling his eyes and shaking his head. "Amateurs."
Mathias generated as much aura as he possibly could, imbuing it into the scythe. Holding it like and axe, he swung it deep into the ground and embedded the blade as far into the ground as he could. The aura travelled from the scythe into the ground, soon spreading rapidly through the soil and causing the ground to emit a black, foul-smelling smoke. The ground then began to dry and crumble, all life being drained from it. in the process, the monsters were affected, resulting in them becoming dried up and shrivelled, fading into nothing but ash in a matter of seconds.
Mathias pulled his weapon from the ground and looked at the piles of ash with a blank expression. "It's as I thought. The bitch of a witch enchanted the ground. Without that, they have no power."
He was pulled out of his thoughts as he looked back at Ethan, who was doing his best to pull himself off of the ground. Ethan's eyes were filled with so much hate that they glowed ember. "Ru… Ruby… forgive… me." He said before falling back onto the ground. Mathias took a step forward out of instinct, but controlled himself and stood where he was. Mizore and Kurumu went to his side, both carrying him up.
"We need to get back to the camp. Yukari might know what happened." Mizore said.
Kurumu nodded and proceeded to help the snow woman carry Ethan back to the tent. Mathias, on the other hand, looked to where the elder witch stood. At the moment, his main concern wasn't about Ethan's health, or Ruby's predicament, not even the level of Torment that Yukari was feeling like about this.
What mattered to him… the fact that someone caught him out. No one caught him out and got away with it.
Mathias' eyes slowly changed color, the irises, whites, the whole lot became pure, soulless black.
"Wrong move, you sorry excuse for a witch." He said with a venomous tone that rivaled Ethan's.
Alright, we're going to leave it at that for the time being. Before I head off there are a couple of thing I want to talk about briefly, and I thought that you would like to know.
1: I recently published a new Fairy Tail/RWBY crossover called 'Sky Havoc in Remnant' that I would recommend either if you are a fan of one or both, or if you want to try something different. If at all possible, I wouldn't mind getting your opinions on them.
2: If there are any readers of 'Fairy Tail: Dark Void', I got a lot of feedback that made me think a lot about how I was writing the story, and I considered taking it down altogether, but instead I'm planning on publishing a reboot, that way, if you liked the original, it's still there to read, and there's another one for you to try out as well.
3: I recently saw something on the television that really had me thinking. It was a show about life for people working in ambulances and what they see on their shifts. The episode I saw was about people who were basically living in isolation, not having anyone to talk to or look out for them, and it lead to a lot of problems. It got me to thinking how people can be affected by loneliness.
Granted you might not always see it, but there might be someone who doesn't have anyone in their lives they can talk to. So, if you think that someone seems a bit lonely or troubled, talk to them, show them that they aren't alone. Also, if you are also feeling a bit lonely, don't be afraid to step out and meet people. I know it sounds scary, and it is, but if you try, and you keep trying, it will become easier, and you will find someone you can rely on.
Right, that's all from me. Hope you're all having a nice day, and I'll see you later.