Here we are at Chapter 61. It's been so long since we've last seen them, let's get back to Ruby, Magilou, and Velvet. I do not own RWBY or Tales of Berseria. They belong to their respective owners. Here's chapter 61. Enjoy.


Chapter 61: Turning Point

Ruby and her group, along with Magilou, continue their journey to Haven as they walk through the forests of Anima. Well, Ruby and her group walk, Magilou would occasionally glide along the ground on one of her magic cards. Like she's doing right now.

"So…do you think I could catch a ride on that floating card thing of yours?" Nora asks.

"You could…but it wouldn't be for free," Magilou replies, earning a few looks from the others. "What? A girl's gotta make a living. Besides, if there's one thing I've learned in my travels, it's that if you're good at something, you should never do it for free. We gotta eat, you know," she says.

"I thought professional huntsmen and huntresses were more honorable than that?" Jaune notes.

"For the last time, I'm not a huntress, I'm a witch. I do whatever suits my fancy, and travelling with you guys happens to suit my fancy for the time being. Travelling alone can get so lonely sometimes," Magilou replies. "Though I do have Bienfu, but I can't show him to the others just yet."

"Come on guys, Magilou's been really helpful to us so far, and she's an old friend of Velvet's, so I think we can trust her…Probably," Ruby says, muttering the last part to herself.

"Now that you remind me, how did you exactly meet Velvet, Magilou?" Ren asks.

"Eh, long story," Magilou says as she hops off her card and it retreats to her hand. "But it sure was a good show when we did," she notes, remembering about the large prison riot Velvet started to escape that island prison that they were once locked up in.

"Well, we are going to be on a long journey. Care to tell us the story?" Jaune asks.

"I could, but…" Magilou says as she points to an unknown village ahead of them.

"Wait a minute, we're not supposed to meet another village for a while, right?" Ruby asks.

Jaune pulls out his map and takes a look, "Hmm…Y-Yeah, the next village isn't for another week of walking or so," he says.

Nora takes a closer look at the village, "Are those buildings…Damaged?" she asks.

"We should search for survivors!" Jaune says and the group races into the village.

When they enter, they see several buildings, though each one of them looks incomplete, showing their wooden support beams but nothing covering them. As if something stopped them from being finished. Nora jumps on top of the wall and then onto one of the taller buildings while the others remain on the ground for their search. Ruby picks up one large piece of wood, but finds nothing underneath. Meanwhile, Magilou flies over the village on one of her cards to get a bird's eye view for any survivors. While she didn't really care, it would upset Ruby a bit, and that may upset Velvet enough to kill her when she sees her again.

"Anything?" Ruby asks.

"Nothing over here," Nora replies while Ren kneels and looks at the stone ground.

"No one over here either," Jaune replies.

"It almost seems like…the town was abandoned," Ren notes as Nora runs by him with the others walking up near him.

Ruby looks up to Magilou, "Magilou, you see anything up their?!" she yells out.

Magilou flies around for a few more seconds before she descends and lands next to them, "Nope. I don't see anybody. This place is like a ghost town," she notes.

"Hey! I think I found something," Nora calls out. They all move to the center of the street, coming up to a small sign with some foliage growing on it. Nora moves the leaves out of the way to show the name of the village…Oniyuri. "Oniyuri. Hm, never heard of it," Nora says, hands on her hips.

"Me neither," Jaune adds.

Ren closes his eyes, "I have," he says and they look at him. Ren looks at them solemnly, "You might think of it as Anima's Mountain Glenn, had it never been completed. Years ago, the richest members of Mistral were unhappy with how the kingdom was being run. Frustrated with the council, they pulled their resources together to build their own city. With their own laws. They hoped that one day, it could maybe become its own kingdom. Many thought it would be the future…" Ren says as he turns and walks away from them a few feet. "…I know my parents did," he says, looking sad.

"What happened?" Ruby asks, worried about the answer.

Ren swipes away some dust on a stone, revealing claw marks in the rock, "What always happens…" he answers.

"…The Grimm," Jaune notes.

"…Not just anyone," Ren says, clenching his fists.

Ruby looks at Nora, then back to Ren, "…One?" she asks.

Just then, several birds fly out of the trees outside the village and pass over them.

"Come on, let's just get through here. This place gives me the creeps," Jaune says as he starts walking ahead.

The others soon follow, with Ruby looking back one more time before they head deeper into the village.

Meanwhile, somewhere in a forest south of Ruby's group, Velvet Crowe is running through the tree line, her pendant glowing red and pointing directly north.

"Come on, where are you Ruby? Oh, please be okay. Please, make it in time!" Velvet mutters to herself as she continues running to where her pendant points to.

Back in the village, Ruby's group walk through to the center of the village, but then feel an ominous breeze blow by, making Ren stop. The other stop and stare at him, while he closes his eyes. A moment later, he takes out his pistols, prompting the others to draw theirs out as well. They slowly look around, feeling something…twisted…heading straight for them. A few seconds later, they look back in time to see someone jump high into the air and then land in the village to their left. The individual is a pale man with gold eyes and a brown ponytail braided to resemble a scorpion's tail. He's wearing a white sleeveless jacket with leather belts strapped to it, along with white pants. His jacket is left open, exposing his bare chest, which is crisscrossed with prominent scars. His arms are covered with purple bandages and leather vambraces. He's also wearing leather boots covering his entire shin with knee guards. On each earlobe is a silver, ring-shaped earring, and near the top of his left ear is another matching earring. Finally, he has on a dark brown jacket opened up to reveal his chest. Tyrian Callows. Tyrian shows a wide smile and cocks his arms back, with a pair of pincer blades forming on his vambraces.

Tyrian runs at the group, but Magilou is the first to retaliate by conjuring up a wall of fire to block his advance. With him stopped, Ren and Nora go for a pincer attack on his sides. However, Tyrian is ready for them, and block both of their attacks with his blades. He then kicks Nora away and goes for Ren, swinging his right blades around and making Ren lean back, only to get a double drop kick to the face, sending him back. Tyrian jumps high over the flames and drops down towards Ruby. But before he can attack her, Magilou makes one of her cards grow in size and length and swings it wide, smacking him away. Tyrian lands back on the ground, only for Jaune to come in and swing his sword down at him. Tyrian smirks and easily steps out of the way from the swing and then spin kicks him in the face, staggering him. He then knocks him to the ground with a pair of strikes from his blades. Ruby tries to help, but Tyrian laughs and deflects her scythe away and then spins around with his blades out, with one of them striking Ruby's arm. He goes for another attack, but Magilou conjures up a large card to block the strike.

Tyrian growls and goes after her this time, but Magilou hops onto one of her cards and flies out of his way. She then pulls out three more cards and sends them flying at Tyrian. Tyrian slices through one, but it explodes in his face, making him stumble back with just enough time to regain himself and evade the other two. Magilou conjures another arte, a ball of fire it seems, and launches it at Tyrian. However, Tyrian rolls under it and charges at her. Magilou gets ready to defend herself, but then Jaune intervenes to stop him. Tyrian jumps up and clamps his body down on Jaune's shield, getting right in his face and smiling gleefully. Ruby comes in, swinging her scythe at him, but Tyrian jumps off to dodge her strike and then kicks her away. Nora and Ren get back into it, but as Nora swings her hammer at him, but Tyrian deflects the swing and slashes her side, followed by a spin kick at Ren. Luckily, Magilou gets the drop on him and throws one card close up that nails him. This pushes him back, but when she throws more cards at him, he jumps high into the air, crashing into one tall building and balancing himself on the wooden support beams inside.

"Listen pal, what's the big idea attacking us out of nowhere like this?!" Magilou yells.

"Who are you?" Ren asks.

Tyrian just smiles and falls to the ground, landing on his feet in front of them and stands up.

"Who I am matters not to you. Or you," he begins, pointing at Ren and Nora. "Or…Well, YOU do interest me," he says, pointing at Jaune, which makes him nervous. "And there is definitely something about you that is rather peculiar," Tyrian notes about Magilou.

"I'll take that as a compliment, but if not," Magilou says, floating one card on her left index finger for emphasis.

"No, no, I only matter…To YOU," Tyrian finishes, pointing straight at Ruby who stands behind everyone, making them look back at her.

"…Me?" Ruby asks, confused.

"Well, someone sure is popular," Magilou mutters.

Tyrian starts laughing crazily, "Hahahaha! You, you haven't the slightest clue, do you? Oh, how exciting this must be!" he laughs, holding his head in his left hand.

"…What do you want?" she asks.

Tyrian gasps dramatically, "The rose has thorns! My little flower, I'm here to wisk you away with me," he says dramatically.

"Well, what if she doesn't want to go with you?" Nora says as she stands defensively in front of Ruby.

Tyrian drops his left arm, "Well, I'll take her," he says.

Jaune steps in front of Ruby and Nora, "We're NOT going to let you do that," he says.

"Sorry, dude, but she's already taken. You'll just have to find someone else, that si if there's anyone in this world that would be interested in a crazy psychopath like you," Magilou notes.

Tyrian chuckles, "You want crazy…then you got it," Tyrian mutters, and then a second later, he's right behind Magilou.

"Magilou!" Ren yells out and fires his pistols at Jaune.

Jaune uses his shield to bounce the rounds off the shield and at Tyrian. Tyrian blocks the rounds with his blades, giving Magilou the chance to conjure up another arte, this time a large ball of dark energy at the ground in between them. It expands and surges at Tyrian, forcing him to jump back. Ruby comes in and swings her scythe at him, but Tyrian flips over the swing and kicks her away. Jaune tries to help her, but Tyrian jumps onto his shield and swings his blades at him, hitting Jaune twice and then pushes off of him, making Jaune stagger a bit. Behind the battle, Ruby readies her scythe and takes aim. Magilou goes for a little magic trick and creates a small flock of birds around Tyrian, their feathers flying all around his face. This gives Nora the chance to swing her mace at him, but he ducks under the swing just in time. He goes for a roundhouse kick that sends her flying back onto the ground and then decides to go finish her off. However, Ruby smiles as she aims her weapon, loaded with lightning Dust rounds and fires a shot that flies by Tyrian's head, hitting Nora instead. Nora falls to the ground in a cloud of dust, while Tyrian looks on in disbelief, lightly slapping his face with his right hand.

Tyrian explodes in laughter, but Ruby just smiles.

"Hahahaha! Well, if that isn't ironic," he says, not knowing what's really going on.

Everyone gets back on their feet, and Tyrian loses his smile, feeling something is wrong. Behind him, Nora stands up as lightning courses around her body thanks to her semblance, and she smiles. Swinging her hammer around, she shoots up to Tyrian's right side, and then swings it down on him hard, causing a large explosion of dust to cover them. Everyone else covers their eyes for a moment before looking ahead as the dust clears. What they see…is Tyrian blocking Nora's hammer…with a large scorpion tail protruding from his lower back through his jacket.

Tyrian giggles, "Surprise," he says.

Tyrian then uses his tail to push Nora's weapon back, spinning around to kick her twice, knocking her back. Tyrian then removes his jacket before back-flipping high into the air to land on top of one of the old buildings, snickering.

"He's…a Faunus," Ren says in surprise as he stands next to Jaune.

Ruby steps up, "What is this about?! The White Fang?! Roman Torchwick?!" Ruby shouts.

'Or are you just some kind of crazed pedophile for going after Ruby?!" Magilou asks, which makes Ruby give her a creeped-out expression. "Just asking," Magilou defends herself.

"Plastic soldiers and pawns. My heart and belong only to our goddess," he says, raising his arms in the air.

"Cinder…" Ruby mutters with hate.

Tyrian grunts in disgust, "Hmph. Only in her wildest dreams!' Tyrian retorts, before launching himself at them again.

Magilou creates another card wall to block him, forcing him to push off the wall and land in front of the group. After he lands, he activates his pincer blades again and charges at them. Ruby spins her scythe around a few times as he gets close, and swings it down at him, but Tyrian blocks the strike with his left pincer blades and moves it around to strike her with his right blades. Jaune comes in to push him back, but Tyrian ends up spinning atop his shield with his blades and then jumps off to kick Nora away when she tries to help him. Magilou holds three cards between the fingers on her right hand and extends them at Tyrian, making lean back to avoid them. He goes to strike them away, but Magilou retracts her cards, allowing Ren to jump in and swing the blades on his pistols at him. Tyrian jumps back, but then swings his tail around to deflect a strike from Jaune's sword, followed by a kick to his chest to knock him back. Tyrian goes after Ren, who fires his pistols at him, but Tyrian evades the bullets and swings his pincer blades at him a few times. Ren manages to dodge them, but then Tyrian continues the assault with a few jabs of his stinger at his head. Ren manages to barely avoid them, but can't avoid a swing of Tyrian's tail that sends him flying.

Outside the village, a lone crow flies in towards the entrance, and a short distance behind the crow, a second individual runs across the ground with a glowing pendant that glows brighter with every step.

Magilou conjures up another wall of flames to block Tyrian's advance, and then makes the flames turn into a fire tornado that spins towards him. Tyrian has to jump back and run around the area as the fire tornado follows him. However, he is eventually able to run around it to go after Magilou. Ruby and Nora block his path, but Tyrian slides under their weapons while striking at their legs, and then jumps after Magilou. Magilou jumps back, her fire tornado dissipating, and then creates a wall of water to block Tyrian's next attack. She then uses the water wall to push him back. Tyrian lands and actually grits his teeth in frustration at this. He charges at her again, and she creates another wall of water. However, Tyrian jumps and spins in the air like a drill with his blades out front, and he somehow manages to pierce through the wall of water. Magilou is a little surprised by this, but jumps back when he tries to take her down. Nora and Jaune come in to help, but Tyrian wraps his tail around Nora's hammer and swings her around to crash into Jaune. Ruby gets back into the fight, but Tyrian quickly overwhelms her with a few more strikes from his pincer blades.

In another part of the village, the crow from earlier runs past some buildings, only for Qrow Branwen to suddenly appear in its place, running towards the center of the village.

Ruby takes two more strikes from Tyrian's pincers, and then Tyrian swings his tail at her, sending her flying into the air while separating her from her scythe. Tyrian runs to meet her on the ground, but Magilou interrupts him by conjuring another arte and sending out some lightning bolts at him while simultaneously sending out a flying card to catch Ruby and bring her safely to the ground. Tyrian gets a little electrocuted by the arte, but he pushes through it and jumps into the air to swing his pincer blades at Magilou. Magilou does her best to avoid the attacks, but close range combat like this has never been her specialty. At one point, Tyrian manages to get around her defense and spin kicks her out of his way, and then goes right back at Ruby. Ruby manages to get back on her feet, but Tyrian jumps over her and lands in front of her. He then spins around and throws a hard kick into her abdomen that takes out the rest of her aura and sends her to the ground. Qrow jumps and lands on top of one nearby building and sees Ruby in deep trouble as Tyrian looms over her, while the others are hurt and unable to help. Just as he's about to intervene, he hears something behind him and looks to see a familiar face racing through the village towards the fight. Ruby struggles to get up and sees Tyrian standing over her, eyes turning purple and laughing with an evil grin. He sends his tail at her to finish her off, but then…suddenly a large demon claw comes out of nowhere and grabs his tail, stopping it in place. Tyrian looks shocked, but Ruby stares in surprise…before tears of joy start to fall from her eyes. Standing between her and Tyrian…is her girlfriend, Velvet Crowe.

Velvet smiles at Ruby, "Hey there…"


And that's the chapter. Velvet has finally found Ruby, and just managed to save her from Tyrian. Now Tyrian is in for a fight…because no one messes with Velvet's girl. We may also see how far Velvet's training with her piece of the Maiden's power has taken her. How will Velvet fair against Tyrian? Until then, please Read and Review.