It had all happened to fast for anyone to react. Everyone could only watch as Orion was swallowed whole and the Tunneler turned its attention to rest. No one knew what a Tunneler was or even how to kill it. It's bone armor looked to thick to even pierce with bullets or their weapons.
" Run ! " Yang called out and they all turned to escape but they stopped as the Tunneler opened its maw and roared in what sounded like pain. Yang and the others turned to see its mouth emitting smoke, as if on fire.
" Is it on fire ? " Jaune questioned curiously as the Tunneler whipped itself left and right, and Yang couldn't help but chuckle because of what it looked like. It's mouth opened as a pillar of jet-black shot out from its mouth, causing it screech in pain.
Everyone lowered their weapons as they watched black flames shot out from its mouth several more times until Orion was forcing its mouth open, covered in slime and bile but no less enraged.
" YOU MOTHERFUCKING WORM ! GIVE ME BACK MY BLADE ! "
Orion was in a complete rage to the point where he dived back into the Tunneler's mouth, causing it increased pain as black flames shot out of its mouth several times until Orion re-appeared, Muramasa in his teeth. He tossed it the ground and returned his attention to the Tunneler. He used one hand to keep the upper half of the Tunneler's mouth open while holding is other hand up.
Black flames swarmed up his arm before forming a fireball that resembled a burning black sun that quickly grew massive in size.
" CHOKE ON IT YOU FUCKING WORM ! "
Orion forced himself out of the worm's mouth before hurling the fireball at the Tunneler, obliterating it completely as the fireball pushed it against the ground and exploded in a raging inferno of black flames.
Everyone would have been incinerated caught and incinerated by the flames if Orion hadn't directed every last ember to incinerating the Tunneler.
When the flames had settled, Orion was standing in large crater, his aura flaring in a black fury before it began to recede. Everyone nervously peered over the edge of the crater that Orion, who was angrily walking out of it, had created.
" When could he do that ?! " Weiss whispered hurriedly to Blake who simply shrugged in nervousness. Orion may have destroyed the Tunneler, but it looked like he was dealing with the loss of energy that came with what he did.
That was until he turned to Pyrrha. " You, Nikos, don't move."
He pulled a familiar red necklace from his pocket and everyone quickly aimed their weapons at him. Orion simply ignored them as he walked over to Pyrrha and held the necklace up to her. Everyone watched as black flames exited her earlier battle scars and transferred to Orion necklace.
Orion was more shocked than anyone, as he looked at his necklace and smirked. " Well that's handy to know."
Pyrrha had dropped her weapons and was feeling her wounds, and was amazed to see that they weren't in pain anymore. " W-How ? "
" I didn't think that would work. Did anyone get injured because that thing has poisonous teeth so if so much as a shard hits you, you're..." Orion stopped as he watched Ruby hid her hand behind her back and look away in fear.
" Nice try Red, give me your hand." Orion said, catching everyone off guard as they all turned to Ruby, who whistled all too nervously.
" What ? I'm fine.."
Ruby was always a bad liar. Orion closed the distance between them and grabbed her wrist to show a small cut wound on her hand. It looked all too fresh.
" If you want to die in agony, be my guest. No need for dead weight, literally."
Ruby took a frightened breath as Weiss hurried over to her team-mate and separated her from Orion.
" What are you doing ?! You're not helping ! "
Orion sarcastically put his hands up and turned away. " Ok, I'm sure you know how to treat a Tunneler's venom."
Five minutes later, Ruby was sitting across from Orion who had just finished bandaging Ruby's injury. " Anything else ? "
Ruby shook her head which was enough for Orion to leave it as it was. A quick look around left him find Muramasa in the sands and he wasted no time retrieving his precious sword and cleaning it quickly.
" Hey how come you're not bothered ? You were inside it's stomach so you should have been poisoned too." Ruby said accusingly to Orion who brushed her comment off.
" I'm immune to poisons and anything similar. I've lived here most of my life and I trained myself against those types of tricks. No poison that I know of can bother me anymore."
" Oh...Well thank you, for saving me I guess." Ruby said gratefully to Orion who was ignoring her as he sheathed Muramasa.
" So how much farther ? " Yang asked, causing Pyrrha to open her scroll and pull up a map of Vacuo.
" It says we're here...Strange."
Orion looked around before looking down at the crater he had caused. There wasn't anything that looked out of the ordinary but a closer look showed that the sand wasn't filling the crater completely.
" I think I know where to go."
I loved being right, I really really did. After a few minutes of searching, it turns out that the Tunneler was more or a less a guard for a secret passageway.
We found an extremely well hidden stairwell that led us deeper underground to the point where Yang and I had become moving torches. After several more minutes of walking, we came across what was essentially a massive underground cave.
A few more feet led us to a massive open area resembling a king's throne. As we entered, a familiar pair of black wings descended to the ground, carrying their trademark bow. In all its glory it was elegant and demonic, fitting for a human like Grimm.
Uriel.
" My my my, which one of you killed my favorite pet ? " Uriel questioned as she touched the ground. From behind her mask, I could tell she was looking at me. I clenched my fist in anger as hellfire ignited in my fist. The others drew their weapons quickly but I didn't.
" Oh it's the boy from before. Here for revenge hmm, wanting to kill the being that killed your...what was your relation to that woman anyway ? Oh and the woman who Sauriel injured, the green haired one, what of her ? "
A pool of shadows gathered as the same being that fought Emerald rose from the shadows, wielding a mace and shield, both equally horrifying as the wielder but each commanded respect.
" Alright we've found the master's...Oh it appears we have an infestation."
My hellfire created a wall between me and the others, leaving just me, Uriel and Sauriel. I ignored the calls of the others as I slowly drew Muramasa, feeling my blood boil as the worse.
" For Cinder and Emerald, I will destroy you both..."
" Is he insane !? " Weiss yelled as her and the others backed away from the hellfire. Orion had created a barrier and no one was willing to try to get through.
From their view, they could barely see through the thick mass of flames but they saw enough to realize that Orion was on the losing end of the battle.
" We have to help him ! " Ruby yelled, looking for a way to get past the flames until they all stopped. The hellfire wall was redirected to Sauriel who was wielding it's shield up, taking the brunt of the flames head on until they ended.
Realizing the barrier between them was gone, everyone wasted no time assisting Orion. Team JNPR went after Sauriel while Team RWBY went to aid Orion with fighting Uriel.
" STAY OUTTA THIS ! " was Orion's response as he set up a wall of flames again, creating a personal arena for Uriel and himself. Ruby used her speed semblance and barely cleared the flames, burning only a small piece of her cape as she entered the battle along Orion.
" Ruby ! " Yang called out to her sister as the flames separated them again.
" We can't help them, but we can help JNPR. Yang Snap Out Of It ! " Blake yelled as she shook Yang urgently before joining the Weiss in helping Team JNPR.
Yang gave one last look back before joining as well.
Ruby entering my makeshift arena was the last thing I had expected but since she was here, I decided to let her help.
Uriel's let her float down gracefully as she cut the bullets that Ruby fired at her, out of the air.
" WHY ARE YOU IN HERE ?! " I yelled at Ruby who lurched back in shock before changing her mood completely.
" I'M TRYING TO HELP YOU ! "
" I DIDN'T ASK FOR YOUR HELP ! "
" My my my, what cute scene. Almost as if you two were connected by the red ribbon of fate."
Despite this being a life or death battle, Ruby took the time to blush at Uriel's comment so I smacked the back of her head to get her to focus.
" What was that for ?! "
I ignored her as I flurried Muramasa before staring down Uriel. "You and me pigeon, right here right now."
I must have hit a nerve as Uriel slowly removed her mask and tossed it aside, revealing a youthful women with black tattoos that lined up on her face. Her wings extended to their full length and then she was gone. My mind was acting on instinct as I moved to block the blow that came at Ruby.
Uriel had used her wings to increase her speed, and because I blocked the blow for Ruby, Uriel had nearly kicked me out of the hellfire arena I had made and nearly shattered my left arm.
Ruby fired off several quick shots to distance between us and Uriel who smugly hovered in the air.
Outside the arena, Sauriel was having no trouble battling against the remaining teams to the point where he was toying with them, mainly Jaune. In a mad rage Yang charged again at Sauriel who side-stepped her enraged fist and swing at her with his mace, batting her aside easily.
Yang crashed into the side wall as Sauriel planted his mace in the ground and he walked across the broken teams. They had hardly posed a threat to him and he made the fact known by hardly taking any damage.
Sauriel was now looming over Jaune with his mace, ready to deliver the last blow before a red blur sent him crashing into the ground.
" If any one is going to kill him, it'll be me..."
It was Orion who's left arm was hanging limply at his side as Ruby, using her speed semblance, was keeping Uriel pre-occupied for the time being. Sauriel got up, showing he was more annoyed than injured.
Orion's aura began to rage wildly before Ruby landed next to Orion in a defeated heap. Uriel landed next to Sauriel, now wearing her mask again.
" I'm sorry, that one got away from me." Uriel said sarcastically as both her and Sauriel stared down Orion, who was actually laughing as weakly as Teams JNPR and RWBY forced themselves to get up.
" Leave."
The words were from Orion, directed to the teams who looked at him in shock as he threw Muramasa to Ruby who caught it in shock.
" W-What are you gonna do ? "
" This is my fight, not yours. There is no point in you all dying here, beside they couldn't chase after you if they wanted."
" And why is that ? " Uriel questioned, crossing her arms along with Sauriel. Orion stared at them and smirked as a black aura emitted from Orion, causing both Team RWBY and JNPR as they felt the utter feeling of intense fear.
Uriel and Sauriel had different reactions. Uriel took of her mask quickly and took a deep breath before shivering. Not in fear but enjoyment instead as she stared at Orion.
" Grimm are drawn to feelings of negativity. Fear, sadness, rage, and malice are included and I have all those deep inside me. Even half-Grimm hybrids, they feel it to. Get to Beacon and tell Ozpin what happened here, NOW ! "
Orion gave Team's RWBY and JNPR one last death glare, with that and the aura of rage he was giving off it was more than enough to force them all to leave quickly, Ruby clutching Muramasa tightly before looking back.
Uriel was fast enough to leave to move past Orion and he hand was inches away from Ruby's throat but she stopped as she felt Orion's dread aura. He was right, she couldn't give chase when such a feeling with far too intoxicating to her. Ruby's eyes met Uriel's mask before Yang delivered a punch that sent her flying back. She grabbed Ruby and they all escaped.
Now that left just Orion against Uriel and Sauriel, but Uriel let another side of herself show instead of her composed self. From inside her robes, she pulled a black book with a red hand-print on it.
Sauriel quickly grabbed her wrist, " Have you lost your sense ?! The master entrusted us to recover it. Would you risk his anger for such a trivial matter ?! "
Uriel looked back at Sauriel and then the book before using her wings to shove him away. " I'll risk it, because is worth it ! "
Orion cackled madly as his dark aura expanded even more, before using his one good arm to create a massive fireball like he done against the Tunneler. " These are the flames of hell, that reduce everything to ashes."
The fireball grew larger and larger as Orion poured all the extra aura he could into it. " COME ON THEN DEVIANT ANGEL ! " Orion yelled while smiling as the fireball grew into a massive flaming black sun .
Uriel opened the black book in her hands and the pages seemingly flipped by themselves. " DO NOT DISAPPOINT ME ! "
Orion and Uriel charged at each other as Sauriel raised his shield and dropped to one knee. " This is like a dance of devils ! "
Then the area filled with flames and paper.
Teams RWBY and JNPR could all see the literal light at the end of the tunnel. A few more feet and they were free until they all stopped and heard the sounds of an explosion and Orion's dark aura seeped through the stairs.
It didn't take them long realize what was happening as they doubled their running speeds as hellfire exploded through the stairwell.
They all leaped through the exit except Jaune who turned around at the choke-point and raised his shield to hold back the flames as they all continued to escape until they touched the sands.
" JAUNE ! " Pyrrha yelled as she tackled Jaune into the ground as the flew raged overhead before dying down. Jaune pushed Pyrrha off him for her sake because some of the flames came back to the ground and caught onto Jaune's arm and set it ablaze as he yelled in pain.
No one knew what to do until Ruby stepped forward, holding Orion's sword high as the flames left Jaune and entered the blade itself, like returning to a part of their home.
" How did you..." Weiss stopped as she noticed that Ruby was holding Muramasa, which had Orion's necklace wrapped around the sheath.
" Why did he leave you those ? " Jaune asked he felt his arm in relief as Pyrrha hugged him tightly.
" He knew...He knew that something like that might have happened. We can't let it all be for nothing, we have get back to Beacon and tell Ozpin what happened."
Bloody, broken and beaten was Orion as he sailed through an area that was dark, cold and quiet.
The embodiment of emptiness. He saw nothing, he felt nothing, smelt nothing but heard something.
" What brings you too my domain ? I sense a great rage within you, tempered by loss and regret. What do you seek, power, love, forgiveness, death ? What lies in the reaches of your heart ? "
Despite trying to resist he was in no condition to fight back, so Orion simply let himself be dragged deeper into nothing.
What...do I want...?
" Tell me how you came here ? Were you seeking strength, or you here because of his doing ? "