Here we are at Chapter 138. First, I know that in the game, only Malakhim can turn into dragons, but I'm using the basic rule that the rules of Velvet's world don't apply to those from Remnant. If that was the case, then Team RWBY and Jaune wouldn't be able to see or talk to Eizen or Zaveid. Anyway, the final battle begins as the gang must face off against a dragon Neo. I do not own RWBY or Tales of Berseria. They belong to their respective owners. I only own my OCs. Here's chapter 138. Enjoy.
Chapter 138: A Vengeful Existence
The group look on as the dragon Neo roars at them, consumed by the malevolence.
"I thought you said humans couldn't become dragons!" Yang looks at Velvet.
"Yeah, but I also said that they couldn't see malakhim anymore, but that rule doesn't apply to you. Why not the other rule too?!" Velvet retorts.
They look up as Neo rears back her head, corrupted pink flames emitting between her jaws.
"Move!" Weiss shouts.
Neo launches a breath attack of dark, corrupted pink flames at them. The group scatter just before the flames hit, burning everything away to ash. They look up as they get ready to counterattack, but Neo breathes more flames, this time aimed at Ruby. Ruby flies out of the way with her semblance.
"Even after turning into a dragon, it seems Neo's grudge against Ruby remains alive and well. She's fixated on her!" Eizen says.
"Then we take her down before she kills Ruby. That mute little bitch is mine!" Yang says.
Yang fires off her gauntlets behind her to send her flying at Neo. Neo swipes a claw at her, but Weiss creates a glyph for Yang to jump off of to dodge it. Weiss creates another glyph, and Yang bounces off it to shoot over and through a left hook across Neo's jaw. Zaveid swings one of his pendulums around at Eizen, who grabs it and the wind malak swings him around and launches him at her head. Eizen lands a punch of his own before landing and jumping away from her claws. Blake and Ruby attack her sides with their blades, the pair going fo her ribs. While the strikes hit true, they don't cut that deeply given how hard her new dragon scales are. Velvet fires a few shots at her face, keeping her attention away from Weiss so she can perform her summon. She calls forth her Armas Gigas for support. The armor draws its massive sword and charges at Neo. Neo sees it coming and roars as it swings its sword. However, she blocks the strike and knocks the Armas Gigas away with a swing of her tail, sending it flying.
"This... is going to be a lot more difficult than we thought," Weiss mutters before conjuring a few glyphs to fire some ice shards.
All around, the group make their attacks across Neo's body, whittling down her strength. Velvet comes in on her flank, activating her demon claw and absorbing a lightning Dust crystal. She jumps into the air and slams her claw on Neo's back, sending out an electric shock to her systems. Neo roars before bucking Velvet off and then spreads her wings. She flies up into the air, flying around them. The group get ready as she flies in for a swoop at them. Eizen creates some rock pillars to block her, but she crashes right through them and the group scatters again. Neo flies back up into the air and turns around to glare down at them. They all fire their weapons at her, but she burns through all the attacks with another breath attack. Velvet creates a claw shield big enough to block it, but they can all feel the heat of the attack as her shield just barely holds on long enough for the flames to dissipate. Neo flies back down, intent on crushing them. They jump back as she crashes into the ground, roaring at Ruby. Ruby fires her scythe behind her, propelling her forth. Neo attempts to crush her with her claws, but Ruby fires her scythe a few times to move around her claws and up onto her ack. Once there, Ruby stabs her blade into Neo's back, just enough to keep her in place while she fires off a few shots at the back of her neck. Neo roars, swinging her tail around at Ruby, knocking her off her back.
"Ruby!" Velvet yells before firing off an electric blast at Neo to take her eyes off her girlfriend.
It works as Neo turns her aggression back onto her. Weiss and Blake run forth, the former's summon having come back into the fight. It swings its large sword at Neo, knocking her head aside while the pair run along her right side. Weiss and Blake jump off her glyphs and then go for Neo's right wing. They swing their blades at her membrane, making real cuts this time as they attempt to ground her. Neo feels their strikes and quickly folds up her wings. She swings her head around to burn them to death, but the Armas Gigas tackles her and then swings its sword again. Jaune jumps off of the summon's back, dealing an additional slash across the side of her neck as he falls and rolls onto his feet. Neo tries to crush him underfoot, but he jumps ouf of the way. The Armas Gigas makes another swing at her head, but Neo actually catches it in her jaws and swings the summon around and into the dirt. She then finishes it off by smashing her foot down on its back. But, Yang uses this chance to fly up and deal an uppercut under her jaw, knocking her head up towards a waiting Ruby and Velvet. The pair swing their scythe and claw down, knocking Neo's head into the ground.
"How much damage can this thing take?" Yang asks.
"Unfortunately, dragons can take a lot of damage. Why do you think they're known as walking natural disasters around her. Their very presence is a threat!" Zaveid replies, firing off a shot from his gun.
"We just have to keep fighting. She's gotta be getting weaker with all this damage we're giving her!" Ruby adds.
Neo gets back up and then her eyes start glowing. This makes the group feel nervous before they suddenly find themselves confronted by Neo and two clones of her dragon form.
"Oh, come on! She can still use her semblance even as a dragon?! This is beyond cheating!" Yang cries.
The three dragons roar and launch breath attacks at the group, forcing them back.
"Split up! We'll have to take out the clones first, then focus on Neo!" Ruby says.
They scatter as the three Neo dragons charge at them. Jaune, Eizen, and Zaveid take on one of the clones, Weiss, Blake, and Yang deal with the second, and that leaves Ruby and Velvet to keep the real Neo busy. Velvet activates her Maiden powers to level the playing field a bit more and sends out several fire balls at Neo. Neo fires another breath attack, but Ruby and Velvet dodge it. Meanwhile, Eizen creates a few rock pillars under a Neo clone, hitting it in the stomach. Jaune moves his shield up for Zaveid to jump off of, firing his gun at the back of the clone's neck, while Jaune makes a cross slash on its left front leg. The clone swings said leg, and Jaune nearly gets knocked aside as he ducks under it. Elsewhere, Yang grabs Weiss and throws her into the air. Weiss summons her Nevermore wings and fires off several feathers down on the clone's back. The clone looks up and prepares to breathe fire on her, but Blake throws her chain-scythe and wraps it around its jaws, closing it shut. The clone swings its head around, taking Blake for a ride. Yang jumps up and throws a haymaker at its chest, causing the dragon to stop swinging around. Blake nearly crashes into the dirt, but uses a shadow clone to avoid that outcome before pulling back her chain-scythe.
Weiss lands next to her, "What was a dragon's weakness again? Blake, read any books on that?!"
"No! How would I know what a dragon's weakness is?! Maybe one bet is its wings," Blake says, but then the clone takes off into the sky. "Oh, crap,"
Yang fires off several shots at the flying clone as it comes around. It tries to crash into them, but Yang jumps into its jaws and holds them open just like she did the Nevermore during Beacon initiation.
"Just. Go. Down. Already!" Yang growls while firing off a few shots into its mouth.
However, the dragon tries to burn her with another breath attack, forcing Yang to jump out at the last second. As she watches this, Weiss gets an idea.
"Blake, Yang, I have an idea. Yang, can you get into its jaws again?" Weiss asks.
Yang looks at her like she's got two heads, "Are you nuts?! You want me to feed myself to that thing?!"
"Just do it, trust me!" Weiss retorts before they all jump back from a tail swing from the clone.
Back with Ruby and Velvet, Neo keeps her focus on Ruby as she tries to crush her underfoot. Ruby flies around her legs and under her body, ending up behind her. She takes a few shots with her sniper-scythe, then jumps back to avoid Neo's tail. Velvet flies over Neo with her powers and smashes her claw against Neo's back, giving her another electric shock. Neo roars before taking flight into the air to try and get Velvet off. Velvet holds on with her claw, firing off a blast of ice with her powers at Neo's head. The ice hits, but it doesn't freeze her. Neo starts bucking around and twirling in circles to get rid of Velvet.
"Will you just knock it off already!" Velvet fires another blast of ice, this time at Neo's left wing.
She keeps going until the wing freezes enough to not work properly. This causes Neo to start falling back to the surface. At this point, Velvet lets go and watches her fall. Neo hits the ground on her back and Velvet safely lands on the ground with a little wind as an assist. Ruby links back up with her and they see Neo rise from the smoke. If anything, that fall just seemed to make her even madder.
"Velvet, how hard was it to take down dragons back with your friends before?" Ruby asks, concerned.
"Ones as big and strong as her... very hard," Velvet replies.
She remembers the first dragon she killed when she escaped Titania. That one was relatively weak compared to the few dragons she would face after it. And she was much stronger in those fights and had help. This is just like those later fights.
Back with Jaune's group, Zaveid fires off another shot at the clone, hitting it in the side of the head. To the left flank, Eizen creates another rock pillar, right underneath Jaune's shield. The arte sends Jaune flying up, giving him the chance to hit the clone's head on its other side with his hard-light shield. The attack stuns the clone for a moment, giving Eizen the chance to jump up and throw an uppercut under its jaw. Zaveid appears above it, swinging his pendulums around the clone's neck. He comes down with Eizen, bringing the clone's head down with it. Eizen wraps the neck in chains to keep it down, while Zavied aims at the top of its head.
"Just die already!" Zaveid fires off a few shots at the same point. "Jaune, now!"
Jaune jumps up with his sword reeled back. He falls and just manages to shove his sword through the weakened dragon scale armor, straight into its head. The clone suddenly dissipates, and the men breathe a sigh of relief before moving to help the others. In the fight with the last clone, Blake jumps onto the dragon's back, making a series of slashes across its spine with her blades as she nears the neck. However, the clone surprisingly tips over to crush her, forcing her to jump off. As the clone rights itself, Yang flies in with a right hook across its jaw. Weiss then fires more ice shards at its wings, leaving a few holes in them. Blake adds to this by leaping up and making two downward slashes across the left wing, leaving it practically useless. With the clone grounded, Weiss and Yang nod to each other. Time to enact the main part of their plan. Yang runs straight at the clone, which tries to eat her. Yang ends up right back in its jaws, keeping them open. Weiss conjures up a few black glyphs to hold the clone's head in place and then creates a summoning glyph, summoning the right arm and sword of her Armas Gigas. The Dragon gets ready to breathe fire in Yang's face, but a well-placed shot from Blake into its eyes stuns it long enough.
"Yang, now!" Weiss yells as she has her summon throw the sword like a javelin.
Yang jumps out of the way just as the sword is about to impale her and instead flies right down the clone's throat. The sword ends up coming out the back of the dragon like a bullet and the clone dissipates.
Yang wipes sweat from her brow, "Next time, I'm coming up with the death-defying plan,"
"Not with your grades, you're not," Blake notes.
"Again with the class grades! We're not at Beacon, so give me a break!" Yang complains.
With the second clone dealt with, they turn to help Ruby and Velvet against the real Neo. Ruby fires her scythe to the side, propelling her away from Neo's open mouth as she tries to eat her. Velvet comes in and smacks her claws against the side of her face, followed by raising her hand in the air as a storm builds above. Lightning rains down on Neo, making her roar in pain. Several shots fly in and hit her on her sides. Velvet and Ruby look to see their friends rejoining them.
"You two okay?" Yang asks.
"Yeah, we just need to keep this up and then she'll be down for the count," Velvet says.
Neo roars and launches another breath attack at them. Velvet creates another claw shield to block it and the group scatter around. Velvet creates several ice shards with her powers and fires them at Neo. The shards shatter against her scales, but they still do some damage. Zaveid runs towards the back, sliding under a tail swing from Neo. He casts a few wind artes at her back and then finishes it up with another shot from his gun. Weiss summons a Queen Lancer, taking flight around Neo while sending out a few more fire balls. Neo looks up at her, only for Yang and Eizen to go for her exposed neck and deal a few punches together. Blake and Jaune focus on her legs, dealing slashes in between dodging her limbs when they try to crush them. Ruby flies in with her semblance, making a slash strike across her face just under her left eye. The group continue to launch their attacks all around Neo as the dragon tries to crush or burn them. Eventually, Neo stumbles and falls onto the ground after Velvet and Ruby make a combo strike with their weapons. With that settled, the group come back together.
"Is she... dead?" Blake asks tentatively.
"Don't think so, but she's out. We gave her a lot of damage in that fight. We might be in the clear now," Eizen says.
Weiss sighs, "Thank god. I thought she was never going to reach her... limit..." she trails off as they notice Neo's body glowing. "Is that supposed to happen?"
"No, it's not," Velvet mutters as they back away slowly.
Neo's body glows a bit more before her eyes open up and she roars while releasing a massive wave of fire and energy. The surprise attack sends the whole group flying back towards the temple. They end up landing before the stairs leading up to the top.
"Okay, guess she got her second wind," Yang groans as they get back up.
Neo lands before them, corrupted pink flames exuding around her body. She flaps her wings, sending out the flames towards them. Weiss stab her rapier into the ground to create an ice wall to block the flames, but the ice breaks and melts apart. Eizen creates some rock pillars to help keep the flames back.
"What do we do now?" Jaune asks.
"We need to put out her fire. If she's going like this, she must be getting desperate. Keep moving and attacking from multiple angles. Weiss, Velvet, put out those flames as best as you can. Keep moving around; don't give her an easy target," Ruby says, and the group all nod.
Velvet absorbs an ice Dust crystal into her claw. Eizen creates several rock pillars to create walls for the group to run around. Neo looks to see the group scatter, but focuses her eyes on Ruby once more. She goes to burn Ruby, but Velvet fires off a blast of ice from her claw, cooling her down. Jaune bounces Yang off his shield, pushing the blonde into the air. She propels herself over the flames and throws a haymaker at Neo's long neck. Meanwhile, Blake throws her chain-scythe at Neo, the blade imbedding itself into her neck. She pulls on her ribbon to get her closer and makes a spinning slash across the back of her neck with her blades. Velvet fires off another blast of ice at Neo to freeze more of her flames while Weiss stabs her rapier into the ground again, coating the ground and any flames in front of her in ice as well. As Ruby flies in for another attack, Neo knocks her aside with her head, sending Ruby just in front of the steps at the temple. When her feet touch the ground, markings on the ground start glowing white. Ruby doesn't notice as she gets back into the fight. The white glow moves along the marking until they meet in a circular center and form a white dome the size of a vehicle. Ruby stops and looks back at the glowing white dome.
"What the-," Ruby mutters.
"Ruby, look out!" Yang yells.
Ruby looks back just in time to get smacked away by Neo's tail, sending her straight into the white dome.
"Ruby!" Velvet shouts. Velvet runs straight into the white dome. However, she suddenly ends up right back outside. "Huh?" she looks around and tries to go again, only to end up with the same result. "What the Hell is going on?!"
"Velvet, could use some help here!" Zaveid says while evading Neo's flames.
"But-," Velvet looks between them and the white dome.
"We'll save Ruby, but we need to deal with Neo first!" Eizen says.
Velvet grits her teeth, but ultimately chooses to believe in her girlfriend and goes to help the others. In the white dome, Ruby opens her eyes and finds herself in a white void, with no apparent exit.
"What the-what is this place? Velvet! Yang! Anyone!" Ruby calls out, but gets no answer.
She gets worried about her friends, but then hears footsteps behind her and looks back to find a figure concealed in a white cloak. The figure removes the hood, revealing a head with black hair with red tips, and Silver Eyes.
"Hello Ruby," the woman greets her with an affectionate smile.
Ruby gasps, "...Mom,"
And that's the chapter. The gang fight against the new Dragon Neo, but she won't go down so easily. What's more, Ruby ends up separated from the group, only to encounter her mother, Summer Rose. The next chapter is the volume 9 finale for the story. Why has Summer appeared now? Will Velvet and her friends defeat Neo? Until then, please Read and Review.
