Here are at Chapter 137. Only a few more chapters left before this story is over for the time being. The big battle is getting closer. I do not own RWBY or Tales of Berseria. They belong to their respective owners. I only own my OCs. Here's chapter 137. Enjoy.
Chapter 137: Worse than Bad Luck
The group move through the remainder of the mist, finally out of its creepy atmosphere. Reaching the bottom of the mountains, they begin the long climb up.
"We're almost there. The sooner we reach the top, the better," Eizen says.
"What about Neo? Is it okay that we're practically luring her to where Laphicet lives?" Ruby asks.
"We don't have much choice right now. Besides, Laphicet is a lot stronger than you'd think. When he became the Dragon of Light, he gained incredible power. Neo wouldn't stand a chance against him," Eizen replies.
"Yeah, think about it. You don't become the protector of the world who deals with malevolence and daemons by becoming some whip. The kid will be fine," Zaveid waves it off.
"Let's just focus on getting up and over the mountains first," Velvet notes as she offers a hand to Ruby, who happily takes it, and pulls her up.
The group start to move and climb up the mountain. At one point, Weiss' foot slips and she nearly falls, only for Yang to grab her hand and pull her up into her arms.
"Falling for me all over again, aren't ya? I don't know my own strength, or charm, I guess," Yang smirks, while the group groan at her bad puns again.
Weiss scoffs, "Forget this. Let's speed this up," Weiss draws her rapier and summons a Queen Lancer and a Manticore. "We'll fly over the mountain,"
"Why didn't I think of that earlier?" Yang notes.
"Because when it came to grades at Beacon, I always beat you by five miles," Weiss waves a hand through her ponytail, making Yang stick her tongue out at her.
The group take flight, with Weiss, Yang, Jaune, and Zaveid on the Queen Lancer, and Velvet, Ruby, Blake, and Eizen on the Manticore. They fly along the edge of the mountain, climbing higher and faster than before. Soon enough, they reach the top of the mountain and pass over it. A distance away, they see what appear to be a set of ancient ruins far ahead of them.
"Is that the place?" Blake asks.
"Sort of. It's a little further in though. We need to keep-," Eizen says until something suddenly flies by them.
The group look down to see a Garuda flying below them. Then, they look up to see several more daemons appear.
"Great, more distractions. Damn it," Velvet curses.
"We need to get low, now. Weiss!" Ruby looks to her partner.
Weiss nods and makes her summons fly down to the surface. The Garudas give chase, not wanting their prey to escape. Once close to the ground, the gang jump off their rides as Weiss recalls her summons. Landing on the ground, Yang makes the first move by firing her gauntlets off at the overgrown birds. The bird daemons scatter before flying down to attack with their beaks and claws. Ruby flies up with her semblance, swinging her scythe at one to clip its wings. The bird falls to the ground, followed by Ruby stabbing her scythe blade in its back. Off to the side, Weiss conjures a few glyphs and fires off some ice shards, skewering two more Garudas. As they fight, Velvet looks up when she hears a loud roar. In the sky, she spots a Horus high above them.
"Give me a break," Velvet groans.
The Horus flies down past its daemon allies and aiming for Blake and Jaune. The pair are too busy fighting three Garudas and don't see it coming. Velvet activates her claw and absorbs a fire Dust crystal to give it extra firepower (no pun intended). She fires off a large fireball, knocking the Horus off course before it can attack Blake and Jaune. The pair look up just as it flies by. Blake watches it fly by before using her semblance to dodge a strike from an approaching Garuda. She throws her chain-scythe, the blade stabbing into its back, and swings it into a second. The two fall to the ground, giving Jaune the chance to jump on top of them and kill them with a few strikes from his sword. Yang looks up at the Horus as it flies back around for another attack, as does Ruby.
"Yang, Weiss!" Ruby calls out to them.
Weiss nods and conjures a few glyphs in the air. The two sisters jump off the glyphs as the more dangerous daemon gets closer. It tries to clamp its beak down on Yang, but Ruby flies around its head and makes a pair of scythe swings that stun it. Yang then throws a right hook across its head, knocking it off course. Velvet jumps up and swings her burning claw in its face, causing the daemon to fall and hit the ground. The trio focus on the big problem while the rest handle the small fry. Eizen launches an arte at one Garuda while Zaveid fires off his gun, taking out a second. Meanwhile, Weiss summons her Queen Lancer again to fire off a stinger, stabbing through another Garuda. The summon pulls it in and rips it to shreds with its limbs. Jaune gives Blake a boost with his shield, sending her up into the air to swing her blades in a double slash against another lesser daemon. Blake lands back down and they notice that the daemons are mostly gone at this point. Back in the main fight, Velvet swings her claws to create a claw shield, blocking the Horus from attacking Yang. Ruby slides under its right wing, getting in close to deal a few strikes on its side. The daemon roars in pain before trying to grab Ruby in its talons. However, Yang jumps up, dealing a few quick punches to its head, leaving her timed charges behind. Jumping back, the shells explode, staggering the daemon. The Horus tries to get back into the air, but Velvet slams her claw on the back of its head, smashing it into the ground.
"Oh no, you're not going anywhere!" Velvet says.
She burns the back of the daemon's head. Ruby uses this chance to fly up and twirl her scythe around, slicing through one of the Horus' wings. Yang jumps up and hits more charges on the other wing. They explode, and while the wing is still there, it doesn't look flight worthy anymore.
"Velvet, get back!" Weiss yells.
Velvet gets back, just in time to see Weiss' Armas Gigas swing its massive sword down on the daemon's neck, separating it from its main body. The body slumps to the ground and the daemons begin to dissipate. Velvet looks around at seeing the battle over. More importantly, everyone is okay.
"Everyone okay?" Ruby checks everyone.
"We're all good, Ruby," Yang replies.
Eizen stares at where the daemon's bodies once where," I don't recall daemon's being this far in to this territory. I wonder if this has something to do with Laphicet," he flips his coin.
"What do you mean, Eizen?" Velvet asks.
"Laphicet's power makes this place basically an anti-daemon safety net. Too pure for the malevolence to get too close. Something must've changed for the daemons to get this far in," Eizen says.
"You don't think something happened to Laphicet, do you?" Weiss asks.
"If you're asking us if we think he fell to the malevolence, fat chance. I'd be more likely than that kid to turn. His power purifies the malevolence; the Silver Flames. It's not full proof, but it's enough. It's gotta be something else," Zaveid says.
"We can worry about that later. We need to keep moving. We got through the fog, but Neo is still out there," Jaune notes.
Ruby nods, "He's right. Let's go,"
The group continue on their way towards the ruins beyond. As they get closer, they come across a field of flowers of different colors.
"It's all so beautiful. Like a scene out of a book," Blake gazes in awe.
"Yep, Laphicet's made this place pretty fancy since he came to live here as the Empyrean Maotelus. I drop by for a visit every now and then. Whenever the winds fancy it," Zaveid says.
"I haven't been here in a long time, so I didn't know," Eizen adds.
They move further in, coming across some ancient ruins. They appear to be incredibly old, and yet they don't appear to be falling apart and missing sections like normal ruins would. The gang can only assume this is also due to Laphicet's presence here. However, the moment is short lived when a shadow flies over them. They look up to see several Gibbons falling down on top of them.
"Incoming!" Ruby takes everyone in her cloak and flies out of the way of their landing. Stopping a short distance away, they all regroup and draw their weapons. "More daemons! Is this Neo's doing?"
"I wouldn't be surprised. Come on, let's take them out and keep moving!" Velvet fires off a few shots from her gauntlet.
Ruby flies in with her semblance while Weiss slides across her glyphs. The pair focus on one Gibbon. Ruby flies over it, swinging her scythe at its back, while Weiss goes for its flank, dealing a few stabs and swings with her rapier. The daemon roars and turns to her, swinging its right arm around, but Ruby spins in the air with her scythe, slicing the limb off. Weiss uses this chance to conjure a glyph and send out a fire blast to its face, scorching it and sending the monster falling back to the ground. Meanwhile, Blake and Yang focus on another Gibbon. Yang deflects a swing from its arm before throwing a right uppercut into its jaw. Blake spins in the air with her blades, going for its face. The gibbon blocks with its left arm, but Blake moves around with her semblance and gets a swing in on its right eye. The daemon screams from the attack, but gets quickly shut up when Yang throws several hooks across its chest, smashing it to the ground. Blake drops in, stabbing her katana through its skull to finish it. The pair nod before heading off to the next fight. Jaune blocks a strike from one gibbon and pushes it back with his shield. He ducks as Zaveid aims and fires his gun, hitting the daemon dead center. The daemon staggers, giving Jaune the chance to race in and swing his sword and make a few slashes across its body. Zaveid jumps over him and ends it with a roundhouse kick to the face. Elsewhere, two gibbons focus on Eizen, but as soon as they get close, Eizen conjures an arte and a few rock spikes shoot up from the ground, skewering them.
Eizen grunts, "As if these things could give me a real fight," he shakes his head.
Velvet eyes the last three and charges at them. They meet the charge, but Velvet slides under the swing of one and activates her foot blades. She jumps up and spins all three blades around, slicing up one gibbon so much it looks like it went through a woodchipper. Landing, she swings her arm blade around to behead the second. She then changes her blade into its chain blade form. She swings the blade around, making the gibbon step back out of caution. Velvet doesn't give it the chance to escape. She jumps towards it, twirling around as her chain blade flies towards her prey. The gibbon finds its arms bound together, then sliced apart. Velvet finishes it off with a spinning roundhouse kick, the foot blade cutting off its head. As the last daemon falls, their bodies dissipate into particles.
"Everyone okay?" Velvet calls out.
"We're all good here," Blake replies.
"These things aren't that much different from grimm. Though less freaky in some ways," Jaune notes, sheathing his sword.
Yang glances at the disappearing bodies, "Yeah. This is definitely Neo," Yang growls.
"Which means she didn't have any issues going through the mist. That, or she simply waited for us to deal with the trouble within so she could get us afterwards," Velvet says.
"She's just going to keep following us, all the way to Laphicet. Guys... I think we should stay and wait for her to come to us and fight," Ruby suggests.
"Ruby, what do you mean?" Weiss asks, worried.
"Neo's after me. She'll never stop until she gets whatever she wants from me, and I'm pretty sure what she wants is revenge. We can't run from this, so we have to fight," Ruby says.
"Ruby... Alright then, but you're not facing this by yourself. We'll face it together. And then, we're all going home," Velvet says, taking Ruby's hand in her own.
"Alright, then we're with you. I've got some unfinished business with that mute anyway," Yang smashes her fists together.
The rest nod in agreement. They turn to the direction from where they came, waiting for their foe to reach them. They do not have to wait long as they see a figure approaching. Soon enough, they recognize it as Neopolitan. However, they also see dark energy flowing around her. It matches the hateful look upon her face as she glares at Ruby.
"What is that? What's happened to her?" Weiss asks.
"It's malevolence. She's got so much of it around her. At this rate, it won't be long before she turns into a daemon. If that happens, we might have a problem," Eizen says.
"Oh, I think that problem has already arrived, kiddies," a sudden voice pops out to their left and they look to find Roman Torchwick near them. "Been a while, huh, Red. How's the hero life treating ya?" Roman walks around them.
"Another one of Neo's tricks," Yang mutters.
"Man, who'd of thought that we'd all end up in another world; Velvet's old world of all places. The laws of physics and reality are getting weirder and weirder by the second aren't they. But then again, I'd never thought I'd end up dead back in Vale... but we all know how that ended up, don't we," Roman notes as he loses his smile and stands closer to Neo.
Ruby steps in front of the group, "I know you still blame me for what happened to Torchwick, but news flash: I didn't kill him. He was killed by a grimm. They are attracted o negativity and he was spewing it everywhere. You can blame me for that all you want, but it's not going to get you anywhere. Come on, look what happened to you because of it. You became Salem's puppet, only for Emerald to discard you when she didn't need you anymore. And then you ended up here, just like us. None of this will bring him back,"
"Oh, little red, this isn't about that. Well, maybe a litte bit. No, it's just I can't stand the fact that you still have everything while we have nothing. We had each other... but then you came into our lives... and then everything changed. And while Neo had to practically drag her feet around until she found a reason to fight again, you got to play hero with your little friends. Your little girlfriend there. Aren't you blessed. I wonder... what would happen to you if they were to suddenly kick the bucket right in front of you? Would you break? Would that make you understand that pain Neo's felt since the Fall of Beacon? I must say I'm quite curious to see for myself," Roman says.
Velvet stands with Ruby, "If you think you'll separate us from Ruby, then you have another thing coming. I'm not going to say I'm sorry about what happened to your friend, Neo. But, I will say this. Revenge is stupid. I would know. For all that time I spent in that cell that Artorius forced me into after ae killed my brother; that was all I thought about. Killing him and getting my revenge. I didn't care what I'd have to do, or who I'd have to sacrifice to get it. I would do anything, consequences be damned. But... along the way, I found friends that helped me realize that there were more important things at stake than my silly revenge. There are more important things to live for than revenge," she takes Ruby's hand into her own. "And if you don't have those things yet, then you simply need to find them first,"
The rest of the group stand with Ruby and Velvet as they eye Neo and the illusion of Roman, who remain silent.
"You know, that almost sounded like an inspiring speech... if it didn't make me sick," Roman fires off a shot from his cane. Velvet creates a claw shield and blocks the shot. The shield dissipates and everyone gets ready for a fight. "I'm going to enjoy watching you..." Roman stops when he notices Neo holding her head. "Hey, what's... what is this..." the illusion of Roman mutters before he dissipates.
"What's going on?" Blake asks, worried.
"Oh crap, looks like it's happening. Neo's accumulated too much malevolence. She's turning into a daemon," Eizen says.
Malevolence from around them rush towards Neo, consuming her body. Neo's mouth opens up, but nothing come out, like a silent scream. The malevolence forms a dark cloud around her and it starts getting bigger.
"That looks like it's going to be a... big daemon," Yang says as her head starts to look up.
The cloud of malevolence before them ends up bigger than a Megoliath. A pair of red eyes open up within the dark cloud. The cloud suddenly explodes forth, causing the group to cover their faces. When the cloud dissipates, they look and widen their eyes in shock.
"You've gotta be kidding me. I knew she had a lot of malevolence, but this is just ridiculous," Zaveid groans.
"Of all of the things she could've turned into... it had to be that," Velvet mutters.
Standing before them is Neo... transformed into a dragon. Dark flames flicker out of her jaws, her eyes burning with hatred. Neo glares down at them and roars.
And that's the chapter. Ruby, Velvet, and the gang get close to Laphicet's dwelling, but one final challenge stands in their way. Now, they must face off against Neo who has succumbed to the malevolence and transformed into a dragon. Will Velvet and her friends defeat Neo and get back home? Until then, please Read and review.
