Chapter-48
Ruby, Maria, Shirou
Ruby could not believe what she was seeing.
Only moments before, she'd been so, so happy, standing on the stage as headmaster Ozpin had come up to hand over the Vytal Trophy to them. Happy that their efforts to improve their skills and teamwork over the days had managed to come through, that her sister managed to make history by beating Pyrrha Nikos.
Only moments before had Ruby and her team been sticking with JNPR, who were comforting a crying Pyrrha. Despite her victory, Ruby did feel bad for Pyrrha because of how much Yang's victory was going to affect her.
But then, she'd seen a sight that would be carved into her mind for the rest of her life.
Amity Arena crashed into Beacon Tower, the stadium completely tearing through the structure as a cloud of debris exploded forwards.
Students screamed as Ruby covered her face with her hood, wincing as the dust cloud passed over her.
What? What? What? What is going on, What is going on?! Ruby thought. Why had Amity arena suddenly crashed on top of Beacon.
"What just happened? Where's Headmaster…" Weiss' eyes widened as Ruby realized what she was thinking.
The Headmaster had gone back to his office after the occasion…
The office that was located on top of…
No… Ruby thought before she noticed someone jump down from a pillar.
"Headmaster!" Ruby exclaimed as Ozpin got up with his cane, his hair dirty with dust along with his suit.
Team RWBY ran up to him, all of them breathing a sigh of relief.
"Are you alright?!" Yang asked as Ozpin nodded.
"I am. Thankfully, I got a warning in advance, so I was able to escape before Amity Arena collided with my office." Ozpin spoke.
"Warning? W-What's going on?" Blake asked.
Ozpin frowned, before they heard the sounds of sirens.
"THE SIRENS ARE GOING OFF!" One of the huntsmen yelled as most of the huntsmen around the students immediately brought out their weapons.
Ruby and Yang's eyes immediately widened. Growing up in Patch, they were well aware of the sirens that went off whenever a grimm horde was coming to assault the town.
These sirens sounded exactly like those ones.
"Headmaster, those sirens…they're for the grimm, aren't they?" Ruby asked, a cold uneasy feeling washing over her as Ozpin picked up his scroll.
"James, give me a visual of the area around Beacon."
"Ozpin! There's a 5000 strong army of grimm heading straight for Beacon! They just appeared out of nowhere!"
"What?! We don't have the numbers to hold off such an invasion!" Ozpin spoke as Team RWBY's jaws nearly fell open.
F-Five thousand?! Ruby thought in panic. That was five times the population of the grimm on patch. Heck, even mount Glenn did not have an army of grimm as large as the numbers being described here.
"How close are they?"
"They're pretty much here! The sentries on Beacon's walls are already preparing to shoot at them!"
Ozpin furiously typed on his scroll.
"All huntsmen in Beacon Academy! A Grimm horde of 5000 is attacking the school! Get ready to engage!" He spoke.
"James, contact Clover Airfield and tell them to bring in our Airships!" Ozpin snapped.
"Understood!"
Ozpin gave out a few more orders before looking at the multitude of students.
"STUDENTS!" Ozpin yelled as his voice vent across the open grounds of Beacon.
"BEACON IS UNDER ATTACK BY THE GRIMM!"
"What?!"
"The Grimm?!"
"When did the grimm come all of a sudden!"
"What are we going to do?!"
"CALM YOURSELVES!" Ozpin's voice cut through the panicking voices of the students.
"OUR AIRSHIPS ARE COMING FOR EVACUATING! UNTIL THEN, FOLLOW ME!" Ozpin spoke, as he went off towards the docking bay, with Team RWBY and many other students following him and some other huntsmen.
On the way, Ruby could hear the howls of the grimm as well as the sounds of bullets as the huntsmen had begun engaging the grimm.
Ozpin soon stopped at the docking bay, where Ruby noticed Achilles standing there.
"Achilles! You're here!" Jaune exclaimed as Achilles nodded.
"Hey, Arc. Gotta talk to your headmaster." He spoke before looking at Ozpin.
"I heard Mordred was here on the campus." She spoke as Ruby froze up at the mention of Mordred.
"She is, but right now we cannot concern ourselves with her."
"Right, the grimm."
"You stay here with the huntsmen and the students. I'll go find anybody who's been left behind." Ozpin spoke running off.
Soon after Ruby could see the grimm coming up.
"The grimm are coming!" She spoke as students looked to see Grimm climbing over the walls from their right, heading towards the docking bay.
"ALRIGHT, LISTEN UP!" Achilles spoke.
"WE JUST NEED TO SURVIVE UNTIL THE AIRSHIPS ARRIVE! LET OZPIN AND THE OTHERS KEEP THE MAJORITY OF THE GRIMM OFF US!"
"WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T LET THE GRIMM CUT OFF OUR ESCAPE ROUTE! HOLD THE LINE!
The students nodded as many brought out their weapons, before spreading out to hold the line for the docking bay.
Team RWBY immediately shifted their weapons to gun form as they noticed the beowolves come up first.
The volley of bullets tore through the grimm, but more and more beowolves came up to replace the fallen ones as they started making progress.
Ruby yelped as suddenly a Boarbatusk short forward from the mask of beowolves, unhindered by the bullets hitting its armor and nearly bowling over Ruby.
"Yang!" Ruby called as Yang immediately sent her fist into the Boarbatusk's side, breaking it out of its role before Blake finished it off with a bullet through its exposed underbelly.
Ruby turned her attention back to the beowolves, which had gotten too close for shooting, and now engaged in melee.
"Ice trap!" Ruby called out as Weiss sent a wave of ice to freeze the beowolves' legs, allowing Ruby to shoot forward and cut them down with Crescent Rose.
Ruby suddenly hopped back as an Ursa's paw slammed down where she was.
"Chess board!" Ruby spoke as Weiss now placed glyphs around the Ursa, while Blake came up and jumped from the glyphs, cutting down the Ursa's legs before stabbing Gambol Shroud's blade into its throat.
Yang came forward and blasted back three beowolves with Ember Celica, before barely dodging a swipe from another. Ruby noticed her sister was moving slower than she usually does.
Yang's just come out of her fight with Pyrrha. She's not at full condition yet. Ruby thought as she to help Yang, dashing past the beowolf with Crescent Rose to cut off its hind legs, and send the grimm stumbling into Yang's fist.
Ruby and Yang moved onto an Ursa Major, which shot spikes at the two sisters. Ruby and Yang split off as Ruby cut off the Ursa's paw with her weapon.
As the Ursa stumbled back, Ruby and Yang alternated, Ruby using Crescent Rose's longer reach to land strikes and stun the grimm while Yang exploited the opportunities to get close and bring them down.
On the other hand, Weiss brought down large numbers of grimm by shooting ice spikes from her glyphs, while Blake swung around Gambol shroud from its cord, firing off bullets to take down the grimm.
Ruby noticed JNPR fighting to her left, with Nora and Ren mostly doing the fighting while Jaune held off grimm to allow Pyrrha to recuperate.
Right. She didn't get the time to fully let her loss sink in before all of this happened. Ruby thought in pity.
Ruby gasped as a beowolf's claw hit Crescent Rose, knocking Ruby away as the Beowolf charged at her.
Yang quickly rushed to her sister's aid and tackled the Beowolf away, but as Ruby went to get up, a boarbatusk barrelled towards her.
Before Ruby dashed away, someone else intercepted the Boarbatusk's charge. Ruby's eyes widened as Achilles not only met the Boarbatusk head on, something that Professor Port had told was not usually a good idea, but managed to overcome it.
Achilles' spear hit the boarbatusk so hard that it shattered its armor and pierced its head.
Achilles tossed the boarbatusk at an Ursa, impaling it with the boarbatusk's tusks, before looking at Ruby.
"No time to gawk, kid!" Achilles spoke as he helped Ruby up before dashing away to assist other students, impaling three more beowolves on his way as he did so.
Ruby soon joined back with her teammates and they continued to hold off the grimm. So far, there hadn't been any major difficulties yet. All of the grimm they'd fought were rather easy to bring down now…
A griffon suddenly swooped in, landing near Ruby.
"Everyone, focus on the Griffon!" Ruby called as Team RWBY turned their attention towards the grimm.
The Griffon lunged forward, slamming its claw down on where RWBY was, forcing the girls to dodge.
The Griffon then went after Ruby, snapping and slashing as the girl dodged the Griffon's attacks with her semblance, before Gambol Shroud wrapped around the Griffon's neck as Blake handed the end to Yang, who pulled.
The Griffon reared back, and attempted to fly up, only for Weiss' glyphs to appear and send fireballs that forced it back down.
Ruby pointed Crescent Rose back and fired, launching up as she prepared to cut the Griffon's head off with one strike.
R̴̘̞̖̿ͅu̵̡͖̝̦̣̪͉̻̰͈̦̦̠͖̇ͅb̷͙̮̒̐́͝ÿ̸̡̨̢̱̗̜͖͇̝͉̺͎̗́̈́̇̔ͅ
Suddenly, something sent a pulse throughout her body.
"Ugh!" Ruby grunted as the pulse broke her focus.
Ruby sailed past the Griffon before she finally realized what had happened and flew back down with her semblance.
"Ruby! What happened?!" Weiss asked before the Griffon tried to rise up, with Yang gritting her teeth as she struggled to hold it down.
The Griffon then finally managed to fly up, taking Yang along with her.
"No!" Ruby spoke.
L̶̥͚͛̍ͅe̸̯̘̋t̷̢͉̒̆͘͝ ̵̜̥͍̽̇̍̔u̶̘̽́s̸̭̼̤̒ ̴̧̮̽̑o̶͍̭͍͠ȕ̸̢̞̀͆͜t̸͓͔̘̃̅̏̔ͅ
"Agh!" Ruby grunted as another pulse sent to her knees.
"Ruby!" Weiss spoke helping her up.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing…Get me some glyphs!" Ruby grit out as Weiss quickly made some glyphs to act as platforms. Ruby jumped on those Glyphs to get to the Griffon before dashing forward with her semblance and cutting off one of its wings.
The Griffon shrieked and started falling down.
Ruby fired crescent rose to shoot down and cut the Griffon's head off on her way.
Gravity glyphs formed to catch Ruby and Yang before gently lowering them to the floor.
"Thanks, Weiss!" Yang spoke with a smile as Weiss nodded.
"Ruby…"
"We'll see later! Just focus on the grimm!" Ruby spoke before turning back to confront the grimm.
Despite beating up the grimm, Ruby felt a sense of despair wash over her.
She'd been at beacon for less than a year, and even after that, she felt her heart twist in pain seeing the buildings she would go to now be overrun by the grimm.
Ruby could already see the sad and sorrowful expressions on her teammates' faces as they fought.
Weiss, Blake and Yang - All had grieving expressions on their faces as they fought
They, too, like her, were feeling despair over the plight of their school.
I just hope this ends soon. Ruby thought.
"Amity Arena…it's fallen!" Port exclaimed in shock as he and Maria looked at the arena crash on top of the tower in the distance.
"My goodness…" Oobleck spoke in horror.
"The Students!" Glynda exclaimed in panic as Maria's eyes widened.
Shit, the kids! She thought as Ozpin's voice came on the scrolls of all the huntsmen, telling them to prepare to engage.
"Oz! What about the students?!" Maria asked on her scroll.
"Don't worry, Maria! Me and some other huntsmen are leading them to the docking bay! Just keep the grimm off the walls for now!'
However, they were too late, as the grimm had already climbed over the walls and driven back the sentries.
"No…" Maria spoke.
I can't believe this is happening. She thought. The Grimm had actually managed to take Beacon by surprise.
Maria didn't imagine something like this could ever happen, but the grimm charging at them and other huntsmen threatened to argue otherwise.
"This is probably their doing…" Maria grumbled as she brought out Life. No time for gawking and panicking. She'd had to deal with grimm back in her Beacon days when Grimm attacks on Beacon were a lot more common.
This is just a bigger version of those. No biggie. Maria thought calmly.
"Alright, Portie…you heard Oz." Maria spoke as Port looked down at her in surprise.
"Are you…fighting?"
"What, of course I am?! I may be old, but not old enough for combat to really affect my health!" Maria replied.
"Besides, don't you remember what all Thane did at my age during the Faunus Revolution?"
"...Fair Point." Port spoke before raising Blowhard.
"Then I guess this is like the old days, Mary." He spoke as Maria grinned.
"Sure is, Portie." She spoke.
"Alright then. They decided to attack our home, they'll pay for it." He spoke coldly before they engaged the grimm.
Port shot down two beowolves with Blowhard immediately, before holding back an Ursa with his axe, allowing Maria to jump up and slit the Ursa's neck open with Life.
Maria sensed a beowolf about to lunge at her, and grinned as she jumped up to dodge the Beowolf's swipe, landing on its head and tapping it with Life's rear end.
"Hey there, sport. Dinner time?" Maria asked as the beowolf roared and attempted to shake her off.
"Sorry, I'm not dying…"
Maria jumped off as Port split the Beowolf's head in half with his axe.
"Portie…"
"Mary, enough with the taunting. It's truly a bad habit you picked up from Thane." Port spoke, shaking his head as Maria grunted.
"Ah, shit…Let's continue then." Maria spoke with a frown as the two of them continued fighting off the grimm.
Maria at this point, noticed the other staff of Beacon engaging in combat as well. Glynda impaled Grimm with sharp pieces of concrete…
Oobleck was darting around the grounds, firing off fireballs as well as twirling his flamethrower at much faster speeds than most huntsmen to land hit strong enough to destroy the Grimm…
Peach was firing off her weird dust grenades…
And so many more huntsmen fought as Maria could see them pushing back the grimm horde. Even when taken off-guard, it wasn't being too much of a trouble for the huntsmen to handle the grimm.
Not to mention the atlesian soldiers were being a real help in shooting down the grimm along with the huntsmen, some of the few armored cars rolling up to fire highly explosive rounds and scatter the grimm.
But then again, those grimm are the easy, weak ones. Maria thought. She knew many of these huntsmen, despite being professionals, were still youngsters who had never gone beyond the mountains that protected Vale.
Gods help us if those grimm somehow manage to appear… Maria thought as she casually dodged a boarbatusk going past her, which barreled straight into Port's waiting axe.
The odd part was, she couldn't see Oz. Although, he could be rushing to the vault to get Amber out, or just trying to look for any students who were caught near Beacon tower.
"COME AND GET SOME!" Port bellowed as he basically waded through corpses of grimm, relentlessly swinging blowhard as every grimm, regardless of their size, fell to his axe blade.
Portie's still got his strength. Wish I still had my speed. Maria thought as she protected Port's back, jumping around to decapitate any grimm while using her small size to make it harder for them to hit her.
But as time went on, Maria started noticing that the huntsmen were getting pushed back. They could see they were slowly getting pushed back, and despite the efforts of many of the huntsmen, they grimm were backing them towards Beacon tower.
Despite her frustration at the battle turning against them, Maria could sadly understand why.
Beacon was built to be a near impregnable fortress, because of its heavy fortifications personal army of huntsmen and its tower being able to quickly call in reinforcements. While the other academies had the advantage of being smack dab in the middle of their respective kingdoms, Beacon didn't have that luxury. Hence, it compensated with fortifications.
But the problem is, they'd been caught off-guard. The Breach had diverted a significant chunk of huntsmen to Vale, the Atlesian army had to also go to Vale in order to respect the sanctity of the Vytal Tournament, and no one was expecting this to happen.
If they had time to prepare, to mobilize their full forces, and fortify themselves, then even 5000 grimm wouldn't be a significant challenge. But since that didn't happen…
We won't be able to hold them off for long. Maria thought. There must have already been casualties by now, and those would only increase over time.
Maria lost her cockiness at the realization and fought in a more subdued manner.
"All huntsmen! Retreat! The Airships are about to reach the docking bay! I repeat, retreat to the docking bay and get on the Airships!" Ozpin's voice suddenly came on the scrolls.
"What…?" Port spoke as Maria looked away in sadness.
"Portie…You heard Oz." Maria spoke somberly. "We need to go."
"Go? Mary, we can't just leave!" Port exclaimed as he looked at the ruins of Beacon Tower.
"It's…It's…"
"Portie, you should realize Beacon stopped being our home a long time ago, once we graduated."
"N-No! Not that…" Port spoke as Maria noticed his expression turn bitter with despair.
What's wrong? Portie's not so sentimental about these things. What's gotten into him all of a sudden. Maria thought
"This school is more than just our home…Remember our talk on the last day of our fourth year?"
"...Oh."
That night, they'd snuck out on curfew to simply…take in their last night in Beacon before they graduated.
While looking at Beacon Tower, they had a quite enlightening discussion on what Beacon meant to not only them, but to Thane.
"Beacon is not just the home of future huntresses, it's the symbol of Thane's hopes and dreams." Maria spoke softly.
Thane had grown up in a Remnant which was gripped with fear. A Remnant where the Grimm were seen as abominations that people could not understand, and which could not be stopped without a large army. It was a Remnant where those who used aura were petty mercenaries.
In that Remnant, a young Thane entered into the scene after running away from Sylfirheim. As a mercenary, he'd seen how much the people feared the grimm, even more so than they do today. Thane had seen all this and had decided to remove this fear by teaching people how to study the behaviour of the grimm like the Silver-eyed warriors did in the past.
As a result of that, Beacon Academy was built to propagate Thane's teachings. It was the place where people could let go of their fear of the grimm and realize that they are not the mysterious monsters they believed, but simply beasts with their own set of behaviour that can be used to defeat them.
It was at Beacon that Thane dreamed of a Remnant which no longer feared the grimm…
…And that very same Beacon was crumbling right in front of their eyes.
Suddenly, Maria could understand Port's resistance to abandoning Beacon.
"Portie." Maria spoke as Port looked at her, as they both continued killing grimm.
"Thane hoped for a better Remnant through teaching people to conquer their fear of the grimm. But the thing is, it wasn't Beacon Academy itself that Thane believed in, but it was what the people LEARNT at Beacon that was important…"
"Beacon's just a building. It was built one day, and it is falling one day. But it's just concrete that can be rebuilt when we get the chance…"
"What would be permanently lost would be the people. Thane's dream lives on in the generation of the future huntsmen and huntresses, as we pass down the torch to them like Thane passed the torch to us."
"So, if Thane were here, he wouldn't be concerned about the academy being destroyed. He would be concerned about making sure everyone left in one piece, Portie. That's what is important." Maria spoke before punching Port's leg.
"Now, come on! Don't make all the time I wasted giving you a damn inspirational speech go to waste! PICK ME UP AND RUN!" Maria yelled as Port nodded.
"...Right, thank you for that, Mary." Port spoke as he placed Maria and his shoulders and began running alongside the other huntsmen towards the docking bay.
Over there, they noticed the airships having landed, with Ozpin directing the students to go. Along with that, she also noticed injured huntsmen being carried upon stretchers
"Grandma!" Maria heard Ruby exclaim as she noticed Ruby come up, with her clothes slightly messy from all the fighting.
"We're actually evacuating?!" She spoke as maria frowned.
"What? Why did you think Oz led you here for the evacuation?!"
"I-I thought he just wanted to get us away from the worst parts of the fight…Are we really…?"
"Yes, we are, Rosebud." Maria spoke.
"O-Oh…" Ruby spoke dejected as she looked at Beacon. Maria frowned sadly as Ruby's expression turned devastated at the thought of leaving Beacon.
Maria felt bad for Ruby. Unlike her, Ruby had a lot more sentimental attachment to Beacon. It would definitely hurt for having to abandon a place you called home.
"GRIMM!" Another huntsmen called as a rather large group of grimm suddenly appeared, heading straight for the airships.
Maria and the other huntsmen tensed, ready to defend the students.
Suddenly, vines wrapped around the grimm as a number of white beowolves tore into the beowolves.
Wait a minute… Maria spoke before smiling as she noticed Winter Schnee come in, with arrows coming out of nowhere to shoot down grimm around her.
"Winter!" Weiss exclaimed as the air shimmered to reveal a man in a green cloak beside Winter.
"A servant?" Maria asked as the man nodded.
"Robin Hood, at your service." The man replied as he went to Ozpin while shooting down grimm.
"I see the evacuation process is underway."
"Winter's timely warning was welcome. It allowed me to alert the huntsmen in Vale to the attack."
"Good. Sigurd and the others have still yet to come."
"You were separated?"
"Yes. I came here with Shirou and Winter. The other servants are coming."
"What happened to the attack?"
"It went terribly wrong. Prometheus completely fooled us and managed to Hijack Winter's ship, which is headed for Mount Glenn."
Ozpin's eyes widened. "With the Atlas Bomb?"
Robin nodded.
"But that means…" Ozpin's eyes widened as Maria noticed abject terror in his eyes before realization struck her.
"He's not going to…"
"He is. Oh no, no, no…That means the real battle hasn't come yet." He turned back.
"How much longer, Glynda?!"
"We still need some more time, Headmaster!"
Ozpin sighed in annoyance before looking at Robin.
"Where's Shirou?'
D-Damn it, How the hell did I manage to lose? Mordred thought as she walked through the grounds, with the grimm ignoring her as they killed any huntsmen who'd been unable to make it to the docking bay.
She'd idiotically assumed Tristan was down for the count after she slammed his around the Vault, and had tried to finish him off with a stomp. But then, that blind bastard managed to stab her leg and cut her face open.
And made me run away like a coward. Mordred thought, her burning shame drowning out the pain she felt on her face.
What was supposed to be an easy mission had turned into a complete humiliation. She'd failed to kill Amber, She'd lost to Tristan, and now Prometheus had lost interest in her.
Damn metal scumbag. Mordred thought bitterly. Apparently, there was a stymphalian bird waiting near Beacon that would take her away from Vale, after which it would be decided where her role would be.
Because as bad as she screwed up, The Will or whatever thinks she can still be of use.
At that moment, Mordred noticed the airships at the docking bay.
They're evacuating… Mordred thought before she smiled. If she could stop that by damaging the engines of the airships, she could definitely prevent reinforcements to the enemy in Vale.
Mordred's helmet snapped back on as she lifted up Clarent. She was injured, but she could at least do…
Mordred jumped back, cursing in the process as a black key landed where she was as moments later, she found herself blocking a Katana, held by…
"Shirou?!" Mordred screamed in surprise as Shirou stared at her with a frown.
Mordred pushed him back. "You're supposed to be with Prometheus! And what the hell are you doing, attacking me?!"
Shirou's expression did not change. "Why don't you figure it out?"
"Figure it…you're on their side!" Mordred spoke.
"Since I came to this world, I found myself wondering where I wanted to be. Even after joining Prometheus, I still could not find answers. But…after some reflection, I have finally found what where I want to be fighting." Shirou spoke.
"What happened to your whole desire of humanity's salvation?! You drove me insane with your rattling about that!'
"That is true, but I was going against everything I stood for to achieve it. What joy would I get from salvation when I know I tore down the lives of innocents in order to achieve it?" Shirou asked.
"They could be better! You yourself wanted to change Japan to be more accepting of the Christians and give Christianity a better future!"
"...And that's where you're wrong. I took up the blade not just for my faith, but also for the people who practiced that faith. What would have been the point of all my actions when the people for whom I was fighting couldn't be alive to see the fruits of my labour?" Shirou shot back.
"The people of Remnant deserve a better future that they could experience themselves, not die for that future so that others who have never even known the suffering they have can live."
Mordred clenched her jaw. "So there's not convincing you, huh? Alright then, I guess I'll have to…"
"Where do you think you're going?" A voice spoke as Mordred screamed from more vacuum arrows piercing her.
"What the…you're still walking?!" Mordred spoke as a bloodstained Tristan stood with Failnaught in hand.
"A knight has a duty to protect. And he shall uphold that duty even if it means pushing his body to their limits."
"Grr!" Mordred spoke as Shirou smiled to Tristan.
At that moment, a bunch of grimm attempted to attack them and the two were distracted.
Damn it, they'll catch up to me if I go further. Mordred thought before sighing in frustration.
I can't take on the both of them. She thought before using her Mana burst to dash away from the two, heading for the Stymphalian bird.
The entire night may have been a success for their side, so far, but for Mordred, it had been nothing short of a disaster.
Shirou led Tristan back to the docking bay. Ozpin immediately had Tristan put on a stretcher and loaded onto the ship. The evacuation process was almost complete.
But this wasn't the end. Shirou thought. There was an even bigger battle coming, one that would be very, very difficult to overcome…
And all of it could have been prevented had Shirou made his decision sooner.
Despite the liberating feeling of realizing his purpose, Shirou could not stop the regret piling up. Regret for helping Prometheus destroy what was the home of many huntsmen and huntresses.
Even coming in, Shirou had seen both haunted and devastating expressions on the students as they went in. Even Team RWBY were all trying to keep their grief from taking over them.
Soon, most of the huntsmen and students had already left, with him, Ozpin and a few others remaining.
Prometheus has probably reached Mount Glenn by now. We need to go. Shirou thought before hearing roars.
He spotted Danu coming in, flying in the air.
That's…that's enough Danu to spawn a huge amount of grimm. Shirou thought. Those Danu had been sent to prevent the airships from escaping.
The Danu weren't meant to come over to Beacon. They were supposed to be a part of the other horde that was for Vale.
Salem must have sent them. Shirou thought. There was no way they could move fast enough before the Danu caught up. And if they did, everyone inside would be forced to fight in even worse conditions.
Nononononono! Shirou thought frantically. How were they going to stop the Danu?
Shirou heard the screams of rebels at Hara castle. All those memories of his failure started rushing back at the worst possible moment.
No…I cannot let what happened at Hara Castle happen again! Shirou thought desperately before looking down at his cross.
Shirou clutched it and closed his eyes, trying to calm his senses.
How do I stop them? Shirou thought before remembering something. Something he'd learnt as a part of his training.
I need a lot of Mana for that. However, Ozpin can provide that. Shirou thought before he realized something.
He had his plan, but if he went through with this…
"Shirou, we need to go!" Ozpin spoke as Shirou looked back at him. In the background, Shirou noticed Ruby looking at him from one of the window of one of the airships.
"Ozpin, give me a lot of mana." He spoke as Ozpin blinked.
"What? What do you…"
"We don't have time…" Shirou spoke pointing at the Danu.
"We can still hold off the Danu, Shirou." Ozpin spoke as Shirou shook his head.
"No, those Danu are too much for you. Especially when they're carrying phantasmals. The Airships will be overrun if the Danu reach them."
"..."
"Ozpin, I can buy time for you and hold off the grimm, just provide me with Mana." Shirou spoke as Ozpin's eyes softened in realization at what Shirou was about to do.
"Shirou…are you sure?"
Shirou was silent before giving Ozpin a determined look.
"I've considered everything else. This is the only way…" Shirou spoke.
"I have done you all a great wrong…" He confessed. "...And because of that, innocent children have had their lives scarred by this night." He spoke.
"Shirou…what are you…"
"Sigurd knows. I've already become a sinner, he who has committed the sin of Sloth. And I must make up for all that I've done."
Shirou then slowly reached for his neck, where his cross was. With one tug, he pulled it off.
"...Give this to Ruby." He spoke.
"What is…?"
"This cross is a gift from my parents before I left them to become a monk. Throughout my life, it has come to my aid whenever I was on the verge of being consumed by the demons living in my mind…"
"It has been my guiding light. And now, I pass it onto Ruby."
Ozpin raised his eyebrows.
"...Ruby Rose is a sweet child with a kind heart that defies this cold, dark world. She will face hardships and will no doubt be haunted by the same demons that haunted me. And I pray that when that does happen, then she is able to find her own peace and become the hero that saves humanity from the dark path laid out by Salem and her allies."
"..."
Ozpin took Shirou's cross in his hand, before he quickly transferred the mana to Shirou. Shirou let out a soft gasp.
This is more than enough.
"...Goodbye, Shirou."
"...Goodbye, Ozpin. Tell Ruby I am sorry for not being able to make it, and to keep moving forward with her life." Shirou spoke as Ozpin rushed onto the airship.
"Quick! Get it flying!" Ozpin spoke into his scroll.
"Wait! Shirou's still there!" Ruby spoke as Ozpin looked at her.
"...Ruby, Shirou's not coming…"
"W-What?! Why isn't he coming?! We're right here!" Ruby spoke.
By now, Ozpin had grown used to this. Breaking the news to someone that their friend was not coming…
…Yet it still hurt whenever he had to do it.
"Ms. Rose." Ozpin spoke sternly. "Shirou is buying time for us."
Ruby's eyes widened. "B-But, that m-means he's going to…going to…"
"..."
Ruby immediately rushed to the door.
"OPEN THE DOOR!" She screamed, not realizing the pilot couldn't hear her voice.
Outside, Shirou exhaled as he looked at the approaching horde of Grimm, before tossing aside his Katana's sheath and beginning to cut them down, looking up at the sky where the Lord dwelled.
Among the miracles of the church, there was one particular one that was difficult to pull of because of the mana consumption.
But thanks to Ozpin, that wasn't a problem. All he had to do, was begin his Final prayer.
"Heavenly and Almighty God, I come before you humbled and sorrowful, aware of my sin, and ready to repent…"
Shirou kept looking up at the sky, not noticing the wounds that opened up on his body as the grimm managed to get in some slashes.
Shirou kept looking up with a smile.
"Ruby, stop!" Ozpin spoke but Ruby tried to force the door open.
"No, no! I'm not letting Shirou do this!" Ruby spoke in desperation as Ozpin raised his hand and forced Ruby back with his magic.
"Let me go! LET ME GO!"
"Lord, forgive me for I have sinned before you. Wash away my sin, purify me, and help me to turn from this sin..."
A beowolf managed to bite off Shirou's left arm. Shirou spat out blood, but continued his chant.
"Please, let me go, please!" Ruby spoke as her face completely broke its calm facade as tears started falling down her face.
"Ms. Xiao-Long…" Ozpin spoke as Yang went up to Ruby.
"R-Ruby, it's alright!"
"No it's not!"
"..."
"...I'm not letting it happen again!"
"Lead me to walk in your way instead, leaving behind my old life and starting a new life in you. Lord, you who are loving and just, show compassion upon me, shower me with your mercy."
Shirou finished his chant, as light started shining from the ground.
Shirou then collapsed from his wounds and fell on his back to the ground, his katana tumbling out of his hand.
He'd done it. However small, he'd given them a small chance to get through this.
There, this sinner ends his tale here. Shirou thought. At least he'd…
"!" Shirou suddenly gasped as he heard something in his ears…
Something he had not heard since he was young.
"I-It's not possible…" Shirou whispered, moving in shocked silence…
Before he started laughing.
"I-I can hear the Lord!" Shirou spoke as tears started falling down his face, with the former monk laughing his joy.
"Oh lord…" Shirou spoke as he looked up at the Heavens.
"...You finally graced me with your voice once more." Shirou spoke, as the grimm came closer to finish him off.
"NO!" Ruby screamed, as the airship finally lifted off.
She dashed over to the window and pounded on it.
"Shirou!" She screamed as she looked at Shirou's smiling face looking up at the sky.
Ruby kept pounding on the window in desperation, not being able to form any sort of coherent thought as all her mind could think of was the kind man who'd become her dear friend ever since he saved Blake.
"Shirou..."
"SHIROOOOOUUUU!"
Shirou felt all his doubts and regrets disappear at that moment, as he heard the voice he'd cherished throughout his life. The voice that he thought had abandoned him, had decided to come one last time in answer to his prayers.
Shirou then noticed a light shine from the sky.
Goodbye, Ruby. Shirou thought before smiling and continuing to stare at the blissful light.
As the grimm tore into him, the light finally came down, blinding all those in the airships as it vaporized the grimm around Beacon. All the Danus that had been set to pursue the airships were wiped out, and the airships were free to escape to Vale.
In his last moments, Amakusa Shirou Tokisada's heart was beating with only one emotion -
Happiness.
A/N: And the Fall of Beacon starts and ends in this chapter. In case you're all wondering, this isn't the end. It's just the end of the Second segment of the Final Battle, and that is the Fall of Beacon.
With that, we come to the true Final battle- The Siege of Vale. Only a few chapters remaining before I close the Vale Arc.
Now, talking about the chapter, It felt strange, because this is the first time I've written a major character being killed off.
And I loved it, even though I could have fleshed out Shirou's and Ruby's friendship a bit more. Struggles of writing a crossover between two fandoms that have a bajillion characters each.
Plus, I decided Kyrie Eleison wasn't the best chant for Shirou's sacrifice, so I pulled up a different Christian prayer.
I already expressed my earlier decision to write Shirou the way I imagined him to be in this fanfic, and I felt a great sense of satisfaction ending his character with the 'Voice of God' part.
I was earlier planning to include my new grimm in this chapter, but that would honestly ruin their appearance in the oncoming battle.
Also, now that Volume-9's done and dusted, I'll just share my thoughts.
Hope you guys enjoyed and constructive criticism is appreciated!
My thoughts on RWBY Volume - 9:
Storyline: People have called this volume a 'Filler Volume'. But in all honesty, I think a filler volume was the best place for Ruby to catch a breath and reevaluate how she goes about things before she can grow as a heroic character. If they tried to make Ruby's character arc within the whole rush to stop Salem, there would be a high chance that it would have been brushed away.
Anyways, Ruby was the clear star of this volume. RT finally decided to make Ruby crack under the weight of all the failures she's experienced, even going to the point of committing suicide (And in the end, Ruby decided not to sacrifice her sense of identity and remain Ruby Rose, accepting the trauma and taking the first steps towards doing a better job. Execution could have been better, but I loved what we got.
The rest though...Weiss' reaction to the Fall of Atlas was brushed aside, Blake and Yang have already lost their individuality and it's at least good that Rooster teeth didn't waste time trying to think of taking their character arcs further (Because as forced as Bumblebee is, I don't particularly dislike it, and am just happy it keeps Blake and Yang from being completely bland characters. Jaune's trauma could have been explored...but again, I'm happy it wasn't because Jaune Arc is not the main character, and he just makes it difficult for the writers to create space for the Protagonists, Team RWBY.
The overall tone was also a big issue. There were abrupt changes in tones which really broke the light-hearted comedy of some scenes and the heavy emotional weight of others. It's always the best to slowly remove the happy aura with a bit of a calm phase before slowly introducing the angst.
The Ever After: Cool Concept, I was partially right in my theory that it was the original home of the Brother gods, but I'm just not interested in the Fantasy nonsense genre which Alice in Wonderland comes under. So, I wasn't too engaged with the ever after. The Ever After is anyways not going to appear in this story, because frankly, I want to stick to fleshing out my vision of the world of Remnant.
Fight scenes: While fight scenes aren't really the thing that got me into RWBY, I think Volume - 9 had the best Post-Monty fight scenes in RWBY. They had the team working together again, although like this fanfic, Weiss is still a bit reliant on glyphs rather than using Myrtenaster a bit more. But the finale...now that was something a lot of RWBY fans were dreaming of. Amazing fight scenes in the well-polished animation of Volume - 9 was just a treat.
General thoughts: Honestly, Volume - 9 is my favourite volume out of all of RWBY (Yes, even more than the Beacon arc). The reason for that is simple - It is a good story that is set with a dark tone.
The RWBY I fell in love with was the Nobledark world where people lived dystopian lives under fear from the grimm, something which came with Volume - 4. I did not fall in love with the goofy show about girls fighting people with cool weapons, and I always kept the Beacon arc disconnected from other volumes to be able to enjoy it.
Volume-3, despite all its tragic deaths, still felt like the same goofy cool action scene of the girls fighting. The feeling of dread and despair that I imagined a world like RWBY would have never surfaced once.
But in Volume - 9, hoo boy. That atmosphere of despair weighed on me more than most other pieces of fiction. Heck, the only other piece of fiction I've seen that manages to create a tragic world with a sense of dystopian helplessness even more than RWBY is fucking PJO (Gods, I cannot forget the chills I felt reading about the cruel fates of demigods in the PJO world).
Despite all its flaws, I still love RWBY, and It feels nice to get an actually decent volume.
Now, I wait for Volume - 10. Volume - 9 has shown that RWBY still has hope, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Volume - 10 turns out better than Volume - 9.
Reponse to Reviews:
Zoukuyuujinchou: Yeah, my Fall of Beacon will be quite different from canon.
