Here we are at Chapter 136. You know when there's creepy mists around in games or movies, usually that's never a good sign. I do not own RWBY or Tales of Berseria. They belong to their respective owners. I only own my OCs. Here's chapter 136. Enjoy.


Chapter 136: Mists of Horror

Ruby and Velvet's group race through the mysterious mists, trying to get as much distance between them and Neo as possible. The problem is it's hard to run when you have no idea where you're going.

"Do we have any idea where we're going?" Weiss asks.

The group slow down to a stop, "Sadly, no. But, we knew we'd have to get through this mist if we're to find Laphicet. The only question now is..." Velvet notes as they look around.

"How DO we get out of this mist and end up where we need to be?" Yang asks the important question.

"Jaune, did anything seem off or like a clue in this mist when you were looking through it?" Ruby asks.

Jaune shakes his head, "Sorry, but no. I wish I could be of more help,"

"Then we'll just have to stick together until we get a better understanding of this place. Let's try and keep moving for now. And stay together," Blake suggests.

Nodding in agreement, the group move forward (or at least what they believe to be forward) through the mist. Yang takes Weiss' hand into her own, as does Velvet with Ruby, and Blake and Jaune stay close together. The mist only seems to get thicker as they move on, but so far nothing has come out to attack them yet. That doesn't mean they feel at ease. If anything, the eerie quiet only makes them more tense.

"Ru...by... Ruby... Ruby..." Ruby hears a faint voice in the mist, making her stop

"Wait, do you guys hear that?" Ruby asks.

"I didn't hear anything? Blake?" Velvet looks to their cat-eared friend.

Blake's cat ears twitch, "I don't hear anything either."

"I could've sworn..." Ruby mutters.

"Ruby... Ruby..." the voice comes again.

"Wait, there it is again. Did you guys..." Ruby turns, only to find herself alone, her friends missing. "Um... guys?"

Within the mist, Velvet looks around for the others, "Ruby! Ruby!" she calls out to no avail. "Where the Hell did everyone go?"

She looks around, but still sees nothing. With no other choice, she moves ahead to find the others. Meanwhile, in another part of the mist, Yang looks around for the others.

"Weiss! Ruby! Anyone!" Yang shouts.

"Yang... Yang...," a voice calls out to her.

"Weiss? Ruby? Come on, this better not be some twisted joke," Yang says as she walks towards where she thinks the voice came from.

Venturing deeper into the mist, shadowy forms appear, but Yang can't make out who or what they are. Cocking her gauntlets Yang tries to get closer, but the forms always seem to remain out of her reach. She thought about firing off a shot, but decided against it in case one of those shadows turned out to be one of her friends.

"I thought we had enough of this crap when we met Jinn. At least she gave us a show to watch. What do I need to do to find the others? Maybe think about them or something?" Yang wonders, finding the shadowy figures in the mist gone.

Deciding to give it a shot, Yang closes her eyes thinks about her team, her friends. Her thoughts drift to Ruby, then to Weiss, and how their relationship slowly changed from enemies, to teammates, to friends, and to something more. However, her thoughts then suddenly drifted to the Fall of Beacon when she lost her arm. Then to the battle for Haven where Weiss almost died. She groans as these thoughts feel... off. As if they weren't coming naturally to her... But rather, like something was forcing them to. Yang's eyes shoot open and she looks around, finding herself alone again. However, she hears footsteps and looks back to see Weiss on the ground, reaching out for her, and Raven standing above her with her sword drawn.

"NO!" Yang runs towards Weiss, but Raven makes a quick swing before she gets to her girlfriend. "WEISS!" Yang throws a punch at Raven, only for her mother to vanish into thin air. "Huh?!" she looks back at Weiss, only she's gone too. "But, that was..." she holds her head and falls onto her knees.

Elsewhere, Jaune looks around, looking for his friends, "You know, I'm getting really tired of this horror show. I've had enough mists to last three lifetimes, thank you very much,"

A light appears out of the corner of his eye. Running to it, he sees a shadow figure that eventually takes form. One he was not expecting.

"It can't... no, no. Pyrrha!" Jaune races to Pyrrha Nikos, who is on her knees. He then sees Cinder Fall aim an arrow at her and fire. "NO!" Jaune reaches out to no avail as Pyrrha is pierced by the arrow. He falls through Pyrrha, who vanishes into the mist as does Cinder. Jaune freaks out as he looks around. All the times he had gone through the mist, and that has never happened before. Not even once. "...Pyrrha," tears fall from his eyes as he clenches his fists on the ground.

Meanwhile, Ruby races though the mist, occasionally using her semblance to see it she can fly over the mist to get a birds eye view. But, no matter how high she goes, she can't escape it.

Landing back on the ground, Ruby sighs, "This is getting really weird," she mutters.

"Ruby... Ruby..." she hears that voice again and spins around.

"Where are you? Who are you?" Ruby calls out, but gets no answer this time.

A large shadow figure appears behind her. Feeling something approaching, she spins around, her scythe at the ready. She gets scared when she sees the figure of the Hound slowly creep out of the mist. Just as she's about to attack, the uppe half of the grimm's head pulls back, revealing what's underneath. To Ruby's horror, it's not th Faunus with the Silver Eyes that she saw before. Rather, it's a deformed version of the head of her mother, Summer Rose.

"Ruby... Ruby..." Summer mutters again and again.

"M-M-Mom?!" Ruby freaks out as she steps back from the nightmare before her.

"Ruby... Come to Mommy," the Summer grimm nightmare before her looms ever loser, its claws reaching out to Ruby.

"N-No, you're not real... I know you're not real," Ruby mutters, terrified.

She's seen her mother before, at the Battle for Haven. She didn't look anything like this. There's no way this is real. But, Ruby's body does not connect with her minds as her hands are shaking while holding her weapon. But as the monster gets closer, Ruby stares into its eyes. It's Silver Eyes. It is then that Ruby remembers the last time she fought the Hound. Her eyes reacted and it hurt the grimm.

"Focus... Focus like I did before..." Ruby closes her eyes, focusing her mind on thoughts of her friends, on those she wants to protect.

Those memories calm her heart. When she opens her eyes however, her power does not react to the grimm before her. But, that's precisely what Ruby hoped for. If this grimm was real, her power would react to it, but since it didn't, that means it's not. The thoughts of her loved ones, the revelation of the fake before her. The knowing of what her mother really looks like. It all helps calm Ruby down.

"You're not real..." Ruby mutters and swings her scythe through the illusion, causing it to vanish. Ruby falls onto her knees and takes a few breaths. "I really... hate this place."

With Weiss, the ex-heiress looks around for her friends and loved ones. But, the mist makes that rather difficult. Her rapier at the ready, she slowly moves through the mist. As she looks around, she too hears a voice in the distance.

"Weiss... Weiss... where are you?" a voice echoes.

Weiss' head swivels around, "Who's there?"

"Weiss... please, where are you?" the voice echoes again.

Weiss moves in the direction of where she thinks the voice is coming from. After a few moments of walking, three figures appear on the ground before her, cloaked in shadow.

"Hey, who's there?!" Weiss runs to the shadowy figures, only to stop and gasp.

Before her lies Yang, missing her right arm, and Winter, her blades broken; the two lying on the ground. Standing over them is Emerald Sustrai, her pistols aimed at the back of their heads.

"Weiss... help!" Yang pleads, reaching out with her remaining hand.

"Sister... save us!" Winter pleads.

Weiss quickly conjures an ice wall in between them as a shield, but Emerald fires bullet after bullet, breaking through the ice and eventually reaching her targets.

"NO!" Weiss screams as she fires off a few fireballs at Emerald, who vanishes with the flames.

Weiss looks at the bodies of her loved ones, just to see them vanish as well. Weiss drops her rapier and falls onto her knees. Tears drop from her eyes. Even if it was just an illusion, to see two people that she loves so much die right in front of her eyes is still too much to bear.

"It's not real... It's not real... It's not real," Weiss mutters over and over like a mantra.

Elsewhere in the mist, Blake also tries to find her friends, only to find her own nightmare before her. She sees her teammates lying dead at her fight. Standing over them is Adam Taurus, his blade slick with blood.

"Now it's just you and me, as it always should've been," Adam notes, showing his sick smirk.

"No, you're dead. I know you died. This isn't real!" Blake aims her katana at him.

"But Blake, if this isn't real... then why is their blood on your blade?" Adam asks mockingly.

Blake takes a second look at her sword and finds it painted red, the color of blood. She looks between that and her dead teammates and starts to freak out.

"N-No, I... I didn't... couldn't...!" Blake drops her weapons and holds her head in her hands.

"Of course you could. You killed me after all, so why not kill the disgusting humans as well. We really are alike, aren't we," Adam mocks her again.

"No! No, no, no, NO!" Blake screams.

Velvet moves through the mist. Strangely to her, this feels somewhat... familiar. Like she's been here before.

"This reminds me of... that time with the illusion of home," Velvet grasps her pendant. "Please, you haven't failed me yet. Please, show me the way," she holds her pendant close and focuses on her loved ones. "Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Jaune... Ruby. Where are you?" she closes her eyes and feels the pendant start to move around and glow. She waits, she feels the pendant glow brighter until it finally stops in front of her. "There you are," she activates her Maiden powers.

Activating her demon claw, she raises it up as wind starts to flow around her claw. The winds pick up and start to squeeze into a small ball of concentrated wind in the palm of her claw. Once she's gathered enough energy, she slams her claw down on the ground, sending out enough wind to fill a raging thunderstorm. The mist gets blown away, and all the illusions that come with it. She finds her friends all around, but closer to each other than originally expected. Ruby is the first to look up and smiles when she sees her girlfriend. Weiss is next, only to get wrapped up in the arms of Yang a second later, eagerly returning the embrace. Jaune kneels next to Blake and helps her up as she recollects herself and then grabs her weapons, finding no blood on them at all. Ruby runs over and hugs Velvet. Though the mist remains, Velvet pushed it far enough away to give them a large area to walk around in without being separated. As the others become free from the mist, they recollect themselves.

"Velvet, what's going on?" Ruby asks as she releases her.

"We're being toyed with," Velvet looks ahead of them. "And now the little puppet master has come out to play,"

They all look to see a ghoulish figure descend from up high. It has a skull for a head, long claws on its hands, and its body is covered in a tatter cloak emitting a dark aura. Behind the creature, two walking suits of armor appear, each carrying an axe, and both missing their heads.

"Are those... daemons?" Blake asks.

"The one up front must be responsible for this mess," Weiss thinks.

Yang cocks her gauntlets, "Good. I've got a bone to pick with this creep. Its little games have really pissed me off,"

"A Phantom and a pair of Ancient Armors. I might as well be taking a stroll down memory lane," Velvet mutters as she deactivates her claw and engages her arm blade.

"Did you guys see anything freaky while in that mist?" Eizen asks as he appears behind them with Zaveid.

"Something like that. Talk later, fight now!" Yang replies.

The two armors charge first, one heading towards Yang as she fires her gauntlets behind her to send her flying. She cocks her right fist back, nailing it in the chest to stagger it, though it remains standing. The second goes after Ruby and Blake.

"Ladybug!" Ruby calls out their combo.

Ruby fires her scythe behind her, sending her flying past the armor. Just as it turns to face her, Blake comes in from the rear. The two start making passes at the armor together, striking it with each pass. Weiss conjures a few glyphs and sends out some fire balls at the armor fighting Yang. It hits its back, causing it to turn, but this gives Yang the chance to throw an uppercut into its chest, followed by a left hook and then and right jab. The armor swings its axe, but Yang jumps away to dodge it. Meanwhile, Velvet, Eizen, Jaune, and Zaveid focus on the Phantom. The Phantom flies in and swings its claws at Velvet, who slides under the attack. Zaveid jumps to the side and fires off a shot from his gun, but the phantom ducks under the shot. However, it can't avoid a left cross from Eizen, followed spinning blade strike from Velvet at its rear. The Phantom goes for a strike on her, but Jaune slides in and blocks with his shield before pushing its back with a hard-light pulse. The Phantom swings its arms in, trying to bring in more mist to screw with them like it did before. Velvet uses her Maiden powers to keep the mist back.

"It's trying to use its illusions on us again!" Eizen yells.

"I can keep the mist back with my powers, but we need to kill this thing, now!" Velvet replies.

Back with the others, Ruby flies around the armor with her semblance, lifting it up into the air. Blake throws her chain-scythe, the blade stabbing into the armor. She pulls hard, swinging the armor into the ground. Ruby comes in and swings her scythe down as it stands, slicing off its left arm. Blake comes in on its right flank, but the armor swings its axe at her. Blake dodges with her semblance, appearing just above the armor and spins as she swings her two blades at the armor. Ruby twirls her scythe around, catching the armor's right arm in the blade. She fires a shot and severs the limb. With their opponent defenseless, Ruby and Blake jump into the air, spinning their blades around as they make a cross slash strike at the armor, leaving it in pieces. Ruby smiles and gives Blake a thumbs up before looking to the others. Yang ducks under a swing from the armor's axe and then catches it in her hands. She fires off a shot to make it stumble. From the side, Weiss summons her Armas Gigas for aid. The armor charges in with its sword at the ready. The two armors clash their weapons, but Yang slides under their legs while hitting the armor in the back of its right knee, throwing it off balance. This allows the Armas Gigas to force it onto one knee and then knock it back with a left kick. Yang jumps in and hits it several times in the chest, leaving timed charges on it. The Armas Gigas swings its sword up, knocking the daemon into the air before it explodes, leaving it in the same sorry state as the first armor.

Back in the main fight, Jaune makes a few sword swings at the Phantom, who parries the strikes with its claws. Velvet brings out her claw and focuses her Maiden powers through it. She fires off some ice at the daemon, freezing its left arm to its body. This gives Eizen and Zaveid an opening for a combo between the former's fists and the latter's pendulums. The Phanom falls onto the ground and tries to bring in the mist again, but Velvet blows it away with her powers.

"I'm sick and tired of people constantly messing with my head through illusions. Enough already!" Velvet shouts.

As the daemon gets up, Jaune tackles it with his shield, pushing it towards Velvet. Velvet catches it in her claws and starts freezing it with her powers. The daemon slowly freezes from the inside out until it's turned into a makeshift daemon-cicle. Once frozen solid, Zaveid takes the final shot with his gun and shatters the Phantom. Once the final daemon falls, the mist starts to dissipate.

"Everyone alright?" Ruby asks around.

"We're all good here," Yang replies.

Jaune looks at the mist, "The mist is still here, but I can see the way now. You think that daemon caused it?"

"I remember one of the malakhim that Melchior had could create strong illusions. I told you guys about that before. Maybe... that daemon was that malak and had succumbed to the malevolence," Velvet theorizes.

"It's possible. Plenty of my kind have fallen to the malevolence," Eizen notes.

"Its illusions were... really messed up. I knew they had to be fake, but it was like my mind was connecting to the rest of my body," Yang notes, taking hold of Weiss' hand. "I didn't like it,"

"Me neither," Weiss nods.

"I was so out of it, despite knowing the truth. I guess those illusions do more than just give you something freaky to see. I just... it felt like a nightmare come to life," Blake says.

"None of it was real, and we're all still okay. That's the most important thing," Jaune places a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I saw some stuff I'd rather not talk about. I'm sure it's the same for you guys," Zaveid notes.

"Jaune, did this ever happen when you were trying to go through the mists alone?" Ruby asks.

Jaune shakes his head, "No, it never happened when it was just me. Maybe... maybe it simply waited for more people to arrive? Or maybe, the more people that show up, the stronger the illusions?"

"It doesn't matter anymore. We won and the illusions are gone. The mist is still here, but it's faint. This might be more natural. At least we should be able to move on now," Ruby says.

"She's right. Let's get going. Eizen, lead the way," Velvet says. The group move in the direction of the mountains, but as they do, Velvet takes Ruby's hand in her own. "Are you okay? Did its illusions... freak you out?"

Ruby sighs, "They did... It was really scary. But, I knew what was real and what wasn't and just went from there. I'll be alright. Thank you, Velvet," Ruby squeezes her hand.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Velvet mutters as the group continues on their journey.


And that's the chapter. Velvet and the gang managed to break through the mist while keeping their sanity, even if barely. But, will things be so easy for them as they get closer to Laphicet? Until then, please Read and Review.