The lance fell.
Into the snow beside Jet.
He hadn't struck Flux's soul at all.
"What are you doing?!" Ruby called over the snow storm. "End it already!"
By the reddish glow of Flux, Ruby saw Jet stretch out a hand towards the orb. What was he doing?
"By my power." Jet said, slowly. "Cursed fates bring to all, darkness incarnate shall fall, long purge of the light, into the shadowy night." He plunged his fist into Flux's light, and his flames flared again, though this time, they were a whole new hue. Pure blackness flickered next to prominent crimsons, his eyes shimmering an unfettered red through the midst.
"Chaos reborn shall I be known, become the evil beyond feasible. Gone is he who has been known, as has his fates been sown." Jet chanted, his voice deepening and rising in volume. "I am he who is corruption, he who is undefeatable, the Avatar of Annihilation!"
Ruby felt her stomach drop as he held his hands out in front of him, Flux's light gone. He then crossed his arms across his chest, and bowed his head. The flames, billowed, roaring outwards, creating flames many times bigger than he, and a darkness Ruby's eyes couldn't pierce. Storm clouds, black as charcoal, were gathering above her and her team.
"Did he just-" Weiss tried to say, but a whirring noise interrupted her, followed by a very loud crunching sound.
"He absorbed it." Ruby said, not turning to her teammates, still in shock. "He didn't… kill her." She didn't even bother to ask how they'd been unlocked. All she was doing was watching Jet.
The flames slowly receded. As they did so, Ruby heard Jet's laughter. It was maniacal, out of control. Clanks could be heard from where he was. Wings extended from behind the figure. Then, just as suddenly as they had flared up, the flames stopped, revealing Jet in his last, fully corrupted form.
Jet's skin was glimmering, dark, shimmering purple lines running across his flesh, glowing eerily. His whole body was covered in them. Even his face now bore their mark across his cheeks and forehead. His eyes shone a deep, sinister red, the glow covering any detail. Red rings hovered around his wrists and ankles, another hovering above his head in a parody of an angel's halo. The feathers of his wings were now a pure white, though they were tinged with red from his halo.
"Ah, my transformation is finally complete." Jet said with a grin, his red flames reappearing. He looked at his mismatched arms, then turned his gaze back to Ruby. "Thank you for helping me defeat Flux."
"What have you done?!" Weiss yelled, getting in front of Ruby. "The whole point of this was so you could destroy her, not join with her!"
"Destroy her?" Jet asked, flashing an evil smile. "Why would I do that? The power of one Angel is nice, yes, but two angels? My friends, we have all the power needed to rule the world. First, we crush humanity, lead the Grimm in, and we can become lords and ladies of Remnant."
"Never!" Ruby yelled at him, now incensed. The Jet she knew would never talk like this, act this way. She had to get him back, no matter what.
"Yeah!" Yang roared. "Jet, you of all people should know there's no way we'd do that!"
Ruby raised Crescent Rose, hearing the clicking and whirring of her team's weapons behind her. They were ready.
"So you defy a living god?" Jet asked, grinning insanely. "This is your last chance to change your mind. The power of Deus flows through my veins, and the seer has already proclaimed my victory. You stand no chance against me. Do you still fight?"
"We do." Ruby said quietly. "We will get you back." She levelled her scythe, in a direct challenge to Jet, the boy whom she'd loved. Who she STILL loved.
"So be it." Jet replied. The purple lines etched into his skin glowed brightly as he raised his arms.
A dreadful roar echoed from behind him. Jet leapt up into the air, reaching the height of a small apartment block, and a massive Grimm flew from out of nowhere underneath him. Black scales and leathery wings told them it was the dragon from before! Jet landed on its back, and roared, the dragon adding to his call. Howls could be heard behind them, and Ruby whirled around as hundreds of beowolves and ursa surged behind them.
"BY MY ORDER, AS THE CHAMPION OF DARKNESS, ATTACK!" Jet boomed. As one, the Grimm howled and roared, before sprinting towards them, a black wave of claws, teeth, and hateful red eyes. Ruby charged into this new foe, not bothering to wait for her teammates. They were on her in a flash.
Nicks and gashes.
Slicing and slashing.
Ruby was a whirlwind of blade and blood, never stopping.
Decapitating a Grimm on the left.
Being slashed in the knee from the right.
Feeling a claw on her back, swirling around and slicing three Grimm on the way.
Killing that one, but another was scratching her.
Spinning around, cutting the aggressor down.
Dodging a massive foot and killing more.
Ruby reached the other side of the crowd not many more moments after. She felt blood soaking her skin, her clothes matted with crimson, her beloved scythe dripping inchor. She spun around, droplets splashing everywhere to see yet more frenzied Grimm advancing on her atop red-stained snow, and Jet, atop his dragon, a single arm raised up to the sky.
Ruby heard thunder crackling above her, and dived away from the spot she was on as a bolt of red lightning came flashing down where she had been, incinerating some of the Grimm that were too close. Getting up, she heard it again, and dodged another bolt before running back into the Grimm in front of her, knowing Jet wouldn't attack if too many of his allies were threatened.
She looked up after killing a pair of beowolves to see Jet getting hit by a flurry of fiery bullets, and the source was revealed to be Yang. Ruby rushed over to her sister as she fired more shots before another Grimm latched onto her back. Ruby sliced as hard as she could, cutting her target in twain and showering them both in blood.
"Thanks." Yang said as she punched a beowolf in the jaw, causing it to howl in pain. Ruby glanced up at Jet to see him raising his arm again, the crackle of lighting above them meaning one thing.
"Yang, up above!" Ruby yelled, diving to the side and hitting something furry.
"What?" Yang asked, looking up. Ruby's heart stopped as the red lightning hit her sister with a bang, before she was sent flying backwards from the blast. She landed flat on her back, and tried to get back up, but fell still. Ruby immediately dashed to her sister's side, ignoring the Grimm around her.
She had her eyes closed, her breathing heavy. Ruby immediately flew into a rage, hacking, slashing, killing all the Grimm that got close. The furious girl span in a flurry of rose petals and dead Grimm, not stopping, determined to keep them away from her downed sister.
A screech told her Weiss was in pain too, though where she was Ruby didn't know. The Grimm seemed to be getting thinner in number, and after stopping her fifth killing blow, found that most of them were lying dead in the blood slickened snow. The only survivors were loping away, injured.
She turned her gaze to Weiss, who was limping over to her, dragging an incapacitated Blake behind her by the arm.
"Look after them." Ruby ordered, turning her eyes to Jet, who still hovered in place atop his mount.
"Go get him." Weiss encouraged behind her. Ruby didn't need telling twice; she shot forward, closing the gap between her and her love, knocking aside bodies in her haste.
The dragon opened its maw wide, and expelled a great gout of pure black flames. Ruby dashed to the side to avoid it, only to hear Jet's lightning about to strike, forcing her to the side once again to avoid it. Getting up, Ruby found herself eye to eye with the dragon, which opened its mouth wide.
She didn't hesitate. Ruby whirled around to the side and brought her scythe downwards upon the dragon's neck. It bit deep into the beast's neck, and it shrieked as she withdrew her scythe, allowing its brackish blood to flow.
"How rude." Jet commented, before he raised his arm, a red ball of energy forming, before he flung it at Ruby. She was just barely able to dodge the fast-moving projectile, and she swung again at the beleaguered dragon before it had a chance to move its head. This time, the scythe cut clean through, severing the head from the body, and the body attempted to raise its neck before it fell, a tide of blood gushing from the neck, causing Jet to topple off it.
Ruby ran around the fallen beast, circling around it to see him getting to his feet from a crouch. Slowly, he rose up, until he was fully standing. His eyes were full of hatred, the red glow shimmering with barely controlled, fiery emotion.
"So you survived the Grimm I call to my aid." Jet growled, more to himself than to Ruby. "I guess all the important jobs, you have to do yourself." He stretched out his arms, allowing his lance and shield to form, and they looked far different than before. The four spikes had grown, the ruby on the tip sharp and pointed. The metal looked more black than silver now. Blue aura flowed around the spirals on the lance and shield.
"Well, this is it." Jet said. "Ruby Rose, today, we fight for the fate of your world. Our final fight."
Both fighters crouched. Ruby and Jet locked eyes. Crescent Rose and Doomsayer pointed at their owner's targets. Lighting flashed all around them, and Jet's new, blue aura grew even brighter than before.