UNKNOWN:
"Telka".
"Yes?"
"I shall take the rebuilt Atlesian Paladin and end this".
"So that's how it is? The last battle in this city of dead?"
"In a war, the only result is loss. That and the illusion of victory..."
RWBY: Against All Odds
Blake felt it: danger, bloodlust, fear and power.
Her enemy seemed to barely stand, but he was harder to fight than before.
BANG!
Bullets in all directions
SWISH!
Slashes precise and deadly
VOOSH!
A piercing blade that wanted blood.
"Is that all?! Are you mocking me?!"
And an infuriated opponent that wasn't satisfied with that battle.
CLANG!
Sword and spear
Sword and triple bar
Sword and bullets
The girl fought continuously and never took a hit.
On the other hand, he opponent's attacks were getting stronger and stronger.
"You ARE making fun of me!"
Vladimir Tepes released his wrath without stopping.
Blake needed to stay calm and analyze the situation. She didn't have the luxury to relax nor to talk.
Right now, the first opening meant defeat.
Her opponent seemed to have forgotten that.
They clashed blades and the Impaler Vampire seemed each step closer to insanity.
"So, you won't speak" his blood red eyes shone. "Fine, I will prove my abilities! You said I wouldn't go all-out? You said I wouldn't be able to beat you? You said it wouldn't be worth the result? THAT is something for ME to decide! Carve upon your eyes this!"
'What is this?' Blake was surprised, she felt his aura shrinking.
It wasn't as if he was wasting it, but concentrating it.
'This is bad' she thought.
Between attacking now and risking the danger, she decided to interrupt him.
She advanced. Tepes seemed in trance, but he neverthless clashed blades with her. He was serious and Blake wouldn't be able to stop him.
She slashed him pushing him away, but...
'He didn't stop!' Blake ran away and gained distance.
Only a fool would stand at such close proximity to someone in that state.
Shifting Gambol Shroud's mode, she shot multiple times as a last ditch effort to stop him.
'It's useless!' Realised the girl.
So, she readied herself.
.
.
.
.
It was as if an explosion had happened.
The air around her enemy was dyed with a blood-red aura.
The spear had tribal black and red markings.
Without smiling, the Impaler Vampire took stance and Blake felt as if her heart was being aimed at.
'Th-this...'
The Impaler Vampire finally shouted the same words of the night he defeated Pyrrha, as if announcing a checkmate:
"PIERCE HER, MY SPEAR!"
His arm moved at an impossible speed!
However, a projectile was always bound by the original trajectory. So, she evaded.
'Wh-what?!' But that didn't work.
Tha blood-red field of aura seemed to stop her capacity to teleport.
She tried to jump in one direction, but that demonic spear shifted its course and came after her.
'This guy!' Blake shifted Gambol Shroud.
All of that was happening in less than a few seconds, but seemed like minutes as the adrenaline made her faster.
She couldn't teleport nor evade fast enougb.
All that was left was to directly interfere, block or take the hit.
"Hyaaaaahh!"
Blake swung her sword at the cursed weapon.
CLASH!
Arc 1 - Disillusioned Vampire
Chapter: An Unexpected Ally
In Beacon...
Weiss walked to the Creature of Stein.
The boy was shoved through a wall and fell all the way down to the ground outside of the school a few floors bellow.
Her enemy still released green sparks here and there, but was defeated.
"Ah... ah... ah..." Weiss herself was tired from that battle.
However, she was still standing and her opponent was lying on the ground.
Now it was just a matter of-
"What do you think you are doing, Schnee girl?" An unknown voice stopped her.
Weiss turned around. A girl with orange eyes and silver hair covered by a blue-hood smiled at her.
"The Silver-Clad Werewolf..."
"You can call me Luna" the girl pointed at the fallen enemy. "Was it fun beating him up and throwing him off the building?"
'This is bad' thought Weiss. 'That guy was hard enough to beat, but if I fight again right now with these wounds...'
Weiss looked around. A corridor was destroyed. People were bound to appear but none at all did.
"Help won't come, little girl" said her opponent.
"What did you do? What are you..."
Weiss wanted to continue, but her voice stopped.
The Silver-Clad Werewolf then spoke:
"That. I did that. By the way, since an entire area silenced wouldn't cut it, instead of erasing the sounds, I transferred them somewhere else. So your precious little training team isn't coming here".
"..." Weiss still couldn't speak.
Now that she remembered, that opponent stood at the top of Jammer's first year students and Weiss finally knew why.
It was her semblance.
Someone who could control the very sound and she pleased would be the best assassin possible.
Luna Lycaon, the girl with only one loss in all of her battles. Someone who could strike the senses of her opponents and erase their cry for help.
And Weiss felt just like any other prey. Too much wounded to put any resistance, with her voice sealed and the perfect reason to be mercilessly attacked: for defeating the friend of that dangerous girl.
But...
'I can't simply stay down here' she remembered her team, her friends and lastly that blonde idiot that never gave up and always gave his all to everything.
"Oh!" Luna noticed the rapier being pointed at her. "Hahaha! I love how you people get into useless things due to your own prides. I would run away if I were you, y'know? No, like, I really would, because..."
"Pride can just be tossed away for people like you" said an unknown male voice. "Isn't that right, miss Lycaon?"
"This voice..." Luna turned around surprised. "You!"
Weiss forced herself and looked beyong the destruction. A man wearing glasses with green hair while drinking coffe was standing there.
"Professor Oobleck!" She spoke without realizing she could do so.
"Doctor Oobleck" spoke Luna upon recognizing that man.
"I believe you have a few explanations to do" said Oobleck.
"I refuse" said the girl.
"Then you are fighting me?"
"That... I also refuse..." Luna looked at the boy defeated on the ground.
Oobleck looked at him and back to Luna.
"That's why I really dislike your trust issues, miss Lycaon. If you want to do so, we can speak in particular while I treat mister Stein. I believe we can come to an agreement, am I right?"
Weiss couldn't believe at what was happening.
"Professor, what are you doing? They are invaders! They sent Pyrrha to the hospital and I saw them attacking a student!"
The girl of the blue hood looked at Weiss, then back at Oobleck and smirked:
"See, Doctor? Do you still want to talk after that?"
"Yes".
Now Weiss couldn't believe it.
"Professor!"
But her opponent looked at her own hand and back to him.
"You are just so unfair... fine, but I will need to comunicate with my team if you want me to do anything beyond what I was told."
"Very well, then".
SCHWAAAAAAAARRRRR!
The cursed spear was deflected.
Drops of blood were falling from Blake's left arm.
She somehow could deflect it, but that spear still slashed her flesh and only stopped after piercing the wall of a nearby building.
BANG!
CLANK!
Such peace was short-lived. Her opponent had drawn a pair of guns and aimed at her with a smile.
"You..." Blake couldn't move her right arm as she pleased.
"Did you really think people like us would have only one weapon?" Vladimir spun his guns in his hands and aimed a Blake again with both. "I wonder... are you capable of dodging them all?"
Blake felt her heart accelerate, but forced it to calm down.
"That thing... it was poisoned!"
The Impaler Vampire smiled.
"Yes... ideed it was. And now you are too. How is it? Do you feel dizzy? Does your body betray you? Can you really trust your senses now? They say cats have nine lives, I wonder if you haven't lost one or two already?"
"Why do you say such things?" That angered her. "You are also a-"
"I already said that only the White Fang shares that kinship of blood" he interrupted her without smiling. "And do not be mistaken, pure-blood. We are not alike".
'Pure-blood?' Blake was taken by wonder, but then said:
"I'm not a member of the White Fang!"
Her answer was a penetrating gaze.
"You say that and yet... your skills in combat are quite remarkable. You move in a way so natural. And... your eyes tell me something else. Are you truly not a part of it?"
"No, I'm not! I am not... anymore..."
Those red eyes pierced her further, but...
"I see, if you say so, then I guess it's true. Come to think of it, you have quite the trust at that blonde human teammate of yours".
Blake was surprised by that acceptance.
"Tepes, then you..."
"But don't think I am stopping here! This battle... I will be savoring it to the very end!"
'There he goes again' thought Blake.
Once again, her enemy started saying things that didn't match his actions.
A mercenary, an assassin, a bounty hunter. And yet, he was only focused in that battle.
With her poisoned, it would be easy for him to escape and finish what he had to do, but yet... he stood there in front of her.
" The glory in combat-"
"I give up!" Shouted Blake.
The Impaler Vampire stood there, aiming at her wide-eyed.
"You... you what?"
"I give up" said Blake again.
"You... do not mock me! You can still battle! Come at me, fight!"
"I won't".
"You..." Tepes was glaring at her with full force. "And if I shoot at you right now? What are you going to do?"
"Do it if you want. I don't see a reason to continue this anymore. You are fighting me for pure fun, do you think I haven't noticed?"
"You..."
Blake held her wound as she felt the pain and dizziness spreading.
"I want answers now".
"And if I refuse?"
"Then I guess there is nothing more to do" she turned around and looked back at him. "I don't have any reason to fight with you anymore. I thought I were stopping you from your objective, but it looks like all you wanted was to play this game".
The Impaler Vampire seemed to get desperate.
"You- fight me! Come after me! Use your full power! If you subdue me, I will give as much answers as you want!" He stepped forward. "I will even concede you the cure of the poison if you manage to do so!"
"You are trembling, Tepes".
"Guh..."
His hands, his legs and his body was trembling already. His wings seemed to be dead at that moment. Blake knew he was already at his limit.
Going all-out meant that. Being unable to even hold a gun.
Right now, if the battle continued, Blake was confident enough to strike the finishing blow before succumbing to the poison.
But if she were to fight, it would spread faster. Perhaps that was what Vladimir truly wanted, have Blake dodge and block bullets while he avoided her until the poison finished her off.
"What is wrong with you?" Shouted Blake. "Do you think this is all a game? I saw Pyrrha back there... and look at me now! Are you really just playing around and fighting people for fun?"
"You peasant... it's far from being mere fun!"
"Oh yeah?" Blake forced a taunting smile. "What happened to whatever you had to do before? I know you have been going to Vale constantly just like today. That today you needed to finish whatever you started fast. That you separated me from Yang to scatter us and stop us from interfering further... but I'm not sure anymore. Look, you can just walk away right now while I succumb to the poison. And yet, you are here" she stopped smiling. "Playing a hunting game".
"Grr... you dare mock me to the very end..." Vladimir started to smile. "Fine, you don't want to fight?" He dropped one of his guns and put his hand in his pocket.
Blake was really disinterested now. If a child was her opponent, she didn't really need to take that serious. And that was what he was right now.
What if he fought with Pyrrha not due to her interference, but for fun?
And what about Blake right now?
However, her thoughts stopped.
Tepes took out from his pocket his scroll.
It then showed an image of a beautiful girl with golden hair fainted on the dirty asphalt.
"Yang!" Blake shouted upon seeing that image. Her heart started to beat fast due to the fear.
"Hahaha..." Vladimir laughed. "You say that you don't want to fight, but look: my friend already defeated yours. By the looks of it, it was by the highway".
"That's dirty and you kno-"
"Oh, but I am not threatening anyone" he smiled at her again. "It's simple, while you stay near me, my scroll will continue jamming yours. There are only two options: escape or defeat me. If you don't, you will be leaving her to the fate of who?"
Blake glared at him and he continued:
"A young beautiful human in the streets of the night. Who will find her? An ambulance? Ha! That would be too good to be true, don't you think?"
He felt that glare.
The pure determination of one to save a precious person.
And he, for the first time, felt fear of his opponent.
But, he also smiled.
Not to taunt, but by the thrill of that battle.
"Yes... yes... that is perfect! Come at me or run! Either way, I can't simply let you go until I confirm Newton's safety. You will have to fight me... no. We WILL have to fight one another wanting or not!"
But his words met no answer.
Blake glared at him and readied her sword, but just as she stepped forward...
THUD.
She fell.
"NO!" Shouted her enemy. "Are you telling me that the poison already took full effect? Stop joking!"
"Guh... ah..." Blake couldn't lift herself from the ground.
In front of her very eyes and against the light of the moon those red eyes contained anger.
"Such a waste... if you didn't stop in the middle, we could have ended this as true warriors!" The glare intensified. "Now this battle WAS really pointless! If not for your pedestrian pause, tha wouldn't. Have. Happened!"
"... you... are just fooling yourself..."
Tepes opened his eyes wide. Blake forced her next words:
"If you... really truly wanted... to be a warrior so much... you would have never resorted to such low measures..."
"You..."
"Wake up, Impaler... no, Vladimir... this isn't a game... and you playing around will have serious... consequences... whatever you planned or wanted... fails today..."
"Grr..."
"Whatever you wanted to do will... lead you to ruin... right now, you are no warrior... just a beast..."
Finally, he took out a syringe from his pocked.
"You will faint either way soon enough".
"What... you... argh!"
The needle pierced Blake's arm.
"It's a serum" stated Vladimir as he took off the needle. "You were never a target for assassination, foolish girl. But..." he looked at her defenseless body. "I suppose I will have to take you with me. How annoying..."
His pale hand aproached her, but just before he got close enough...
BOOM!
An explosion erupted from the ground and was coming at his direction.
The Impaler Vampire dodged backwards and readied his gun, but before he could aim precisely, the being that came through the flames ran away in the darkness.
And Blake was gone with him.
'Who was that?' Thought the boy in wonder.
"Well, doesn't matter anymore... now there aren't any interferences left".
Yes, that annoying girl wouldn't be able to contact anyone.
His allies should have already ended what they had to do.
And if they failed...
"Tracy" he took out his scroll. "I already dealt with my opponent. What's the situation?"
Jaune and Ren arrived in Vale and nodded to each other.
They already knew where they should go: the same place Pyrrha was found days ago.
Jaune said:
"We will find him".
Ren felt like he wasn't saying that to him, but to confirm for himself that they would finally catch the Impaler Vampire.
"Newton lost the target and I have no information regarding Luna so far. So..."
"Got it" he took out his spear from the building. "Then she will go to the same place I fought with Nikos".
Whatever you wanted or planned fails today.
He shook his head. 'It's impossible'.
Yes. Team RWBY was scattered. Team JNPR was gone.
And even if they finally appeared.
'It's not as if I won't get what I want'.
Meanwhile...
On the dark alleys...
Blake was carried in the arms of her savior, but could barely see anymore.
However, just as she recognized HIM, she felt like she went out of the frying pan right into the fire.
"You!" Even with her strength gone, she still shouted.
Him carrying her wasn't much better than being left on the ground there.
Her savior spoke in a quick and concerned voice:
"You can shout at me as much as you want later, girl" he looked around at the streets and continued running. "You have no idea of how many bullets you dodged if I didn't appear there".
"What if I think that I wanted to have taken them instead of relying on you?"
"Now is not the time to argue. And you have no idea of how big the situation is when you fought with that guy".
"Oh, so you know?" Blake taunted hom weakly. "You never seemed like the type that thinks before acting, Cardin".
Yes...
Her 'savior' was none other than the one that bullied Jaune in the past.
None other than one of the most problematic first year students and leader of Beacon's third best first year team.
Cardin Winchester.
"Release... me..." said Blake weakly.
"Shut up, girl" Cardin crossed the shadows and carefully made sure to not leave marks behind. "If he finds us, it's all gone. Check your scroll, see if you can contact your team".
Blake glared at Cardin, but he raised a point. Contacting team RWBY was more important to fighting with him right now.
Her fingers were trembling. Even if she received the serum, that didn't meant that it already worked nor it meant that she would be cured from her outside and inside wounds.
Weiss' signal was still gone, but that was it.
"I have to... call Yang..."
"Wow, what?" Cardin was surprised. "No no no no! You are calling everyone and telling them to stop fighting team VLNT right now!"
"What's... wrong with you... my friends are in danger!"
"Listen, girl. I know we aren't on best terms with one another, but if you don't stop messing around with those guys, you can end up starting a WAR!"
Blake opened her eyes wide.
"Wh-what?"
Cardin clenched his teeth. And his in an alley.
"Fine, sorry, call Yang. If she can be contacted, it means she must have already lost".
"What are you-"
"Not the time!"
"Ugh..."
Cardin let Blake sit on the ground with her back against the wall and started checking the streets.
Blake started calling Yang, but no one answered.
"... this is bad..."
"No, it's good. If she was defeated, the biggest problem was averted".
"Ugh! For the love of the! What's going on, Cardin?"
"I will tell you, just don't shout!" Cardin looked at her from above, sighed and said: "believe it or not, I came here to help you people".
"You?" Blake was skeptical.
"Yes, me. The big bad buy Cardin that doesn't help anyone. Sue me if I'm no the hero you wanted. Doesn't matter" he sat down in the wall opposite of Blake. "When I heard the rumor of Pyrrha being beaten by the Impaler Vampire, I knew Jaune and you people would jump into action, but that is something that should never happen".
Blake opened her mouth, but Cardin said:
"Fine, I will explain! I..." Cardin muttered something inaudible.
"What?"
"I... ted... logize..."
"I can't-"
"I wanted to apologize!" He finally shouted it. "I... was saved by Jaune on that day on the Forever Fall and wanted to thank him and apologize... so, I researched about Jammer once I knew he started training hard to help his team with the info".
Blake didn't say anything, but continued o stare at him.
Cardin averted his gaze, but continued:
"I learned of team VLNT, that was their top first year team, so I researched about them. And the background was too suspectful".
"... What do you mean?" Blake finally spoke to him.
"They entered and didn't have normal transcripts... I searched over and over and discovered the four members had recommendation letters. They had a background of being outside the four kingdoms, but the letters were a big deal".
"I am... falling to... understand..."
Blake had too much going on on her head. The constant battle, being saved by Cardin, Cardin stopping being a buy and Cardin actually working diligently seemed to consume her more than the poison.
Cardin finally said:
"The letters came from Chimaera".
"Chimaera?"
Jaune and Ren crossed the streets over and over and found themselves in a park.
"Where to?" Asked Jaune.
"Over there" Ren pointed at stairs and they ran.
Blake remembered Oobleck's class from days ago.
Chimaera was...
"Wait... isn't it..."
"The village where faunus and humans exist together in harmony, but no peace" Cardin completed he phrase. "A place so dangerous that their ancestors gave up fighting against one another to team up against the harsh enviroment. Each and every single person of that place has mixed blood".
'So that's why' Blake remembered her battle with Tepes. The reason he still looked down on her even both being faunus, as if she was inferior.
"And that is very bad" said Cardin.
"What? Why?" Blake couldn't understand that.
"Don't you think that vampire guy acted too weird and mighty?"
"He... may consider himself superior... in this kingdom, humans and faunus are on constant disputes... his people actually achieved equality".
"Okay, girl, let's stop right there with this stuff and think about the bigger question".
"That would be?"
"Why would four teenagers from such place come to this kigdom? Why does Vladimir Tepes seem so arrogant? Why would they start battles out of nowhere?"
"Why...?"
Blake started thinking and her conclusion...
"You can't mean..." wasn't good.
"Yes" Cardin nodded. "Vladimir Tepes looks like, speaks like and acts like some someone from nobility. He battles as if he has something to prove. He may have been sent here to prove his worth as a warrior from them".
"Then..."
"Then provoking him can lead to consequences we do NOT want. If he falls before the tournament, he is a noble taken down by dirty people. If he is the person that picks fights just for his ego and has some sort of political power, he may be able to mobilize an army".
Blake couldn't keep up to that. If what Cardin was saying was true, team RWBY may have been...
"You people have been risking Vale to start a war against an army with a place where every single person can fight and kill monsters at least just like Tepes, if not stronger, since nobles wouldn't be battle-focused. Now, let's go to scenario 2".
"Scenario 2?"
"The alternative that team VLNT is actually composed of invaders from another kingdom. Scouts sent before a war starts. And Vale is still recovering from that Grimm incident after that trainwreck. Either way, our city and kingdom aren't ready for a war. And if he is a sore loser, you people are risking to f#cking start one!"
Blake didn't wait Cardin to finish speaking when she took out her scroll.
But Ren's and Jaune's signals were already gone...
"Oh no..."
The Impaler Vampire walked through the dark streets of Vale.
- I tire of this! I want to fight!
Words were echoing in his head.
- Don't you see? Someone of your stature should never...
He shook his head. 'Ignore it... ignore it! They are all wrong!'
- You will be going to a city built over the corpses of warriors and villains.
'Silence... just...'
- They are primitive and that was a result. Look at it: their peace is merely a silent struggle. They built their home over the dead and are dead themselves. What will you gain?
'I... I will gain glory! I... already did! I...'
Vladimir Tepes was at the spot he fought with Pyrrha. Some destruction was still left from their clash.
- You are just a beast.
'That girl...' Blake's words still affected him.
That was the place they fought before. The place he triumphed where no one would believe.
'But they will never let me be beating just her...' he thought. 'I need more achievements... I need more victories... I need more battles!'
But he stopped as he felt something wrong.
So, he turned around and saw HIM.
A blonde warrior running in his direction. He was Jaune Arc, the leader of the powerful team JNPR.
Someone of the stature that could be used once beaten.
Someone with a reason to fight to the fullest if manipulated well enough.
Someone that...
'He will do...'
Jaune stopped upon noticing him.
The clouds blocked the moonlight at that spot, where the shadows bathed him.
However, through the darkness, two red eyes were shining ominously.
And a smile could be seen appearing slowly.
However...
"You are Tepes, right?" Jaune stepped forward with courage. "The one who defeated Pyrrha".
"Indeed I am. And what shall you do about it? Fight me?"
Their long waited fated encounter had happened.
The Impaler Vampire and the White Knight felt that a battle would ensue soon enough.
No matter what happened, one wouldn't be able to leave tthe other do as he pleased.
On one end, the faunus that had to prove his worth and manipulated and tricked others for his own ends.
On the other, the boy that dreamed of being a hero, that couldn't leave such a person be while he defeated his friends a potentially planned a murder.
Jaune wanted and would speak, but he wasn't knaïve against such determined eyes; a battle would end up happening.
And that red-eyed boy in front of him, even weakened from recent battles would be his biggest danger ever faced.
The inevitable showdown of the White Knight and the Impaler Vampire
Heretic Notes:
Da ba dee da ba da.
I'm blue da ba dee da ba da!
Da ba dee! Da ba da! Da ba dee da ba da!
Completely and utterly out of context! Waaaaaah!
I actually really thought about it after the last suggestion I received and decided to stop changing the description of the fic every chapter. I thought it would be super cool like tv episode synopsis, but the guy was right, it was spoilerish.
And now, we will finally advance to the grand climaz in the next chapter!
Hahahaha. I have planned this thoroughly, well I actually changed a few things, but now it's done!
Next chapter will be their fated battle! Vladimir Tepes against Jaune Arc!
The two opposites and contrasts.
The finale of the Disillusioned Vampire arc.
Will Jaune be able to win? Will Tepes finally be stopped?
Who knows? Learn it in the next chapter:
The White Knight VS The Impaler Vampire