Summary: Arriving too late to save her friend, Ruby was unprepared to deal with the death of Pyrrha. It is fortunate then, that her other Uncle was visiting and was not pleased that Cinder caused his niece distress. Or Ruby's Uncle Dovahkiin roflstomps Cinder during the climax of Volume 3.

Ruby's eyes widened as she saw Cinder's arrow pierce the chest of Pyrrha. She cried out in distress as the false maiden sauntered over, malice radiating from every pour in her body. Tears staining her cheeks, Ruby moved, desperately trying to get between the two, though she knew she was too slow.

Fortunately, there was another person present.

TIID... QLO UL

Cinder Fall smirked. Finally, her plans would come to fruition, and Mistress Salem would give her all that she desired. A small part of her did feel a hint of sympathy for the foolish redhead but she dismissed it. The girl's life was a small price before the debt the world owed her. And so, she drew her bowstring back and fired.

The arrow pierced the girl just under her neck, precisely where Cinder had aimed. And now, she had her way. The click of her heels echoed as she sauntered towards her downed rival, "And with this," she thought, barely keeping the glee in check, "I win"

TIID... QLO UL

Cinder blinked, and then the pain hit her; countless bruises suddenly appearing on her as her Aura broke. Her lungs were forced to exhale all the air within them, her legs suddenly felt like lead and her arms went limp, her biceps almost assuredly turning an ugly purple from the vicious assault. When she finally managed to get air into her lungs, her body was already speeding toward the edge of the roof. A scream tore from her throat as the bruised and broken bones registered.

Before she fell far, Cinder managed to summon her maiden magic of flight, hovering around 10 floors down from the roof. Through sheer willpower, Cinder managed to summon some more aura. A groan of relief left her lips as she felt her battered body begin to repair itself, the blinding white hot pain slowly lessening. Allowing her to focus. "I'm healing slower than I should," she whispered, her eyes flared as she formed a casing of tempered glass around her limbs and body, an armor of dull black.

Flipping in the air, she took off like a rocket, flying up to the roof and slamming into the platform, the cloaked girl shrieked but the man who'd hurt her merely narrowed his gaze, unfazed by her sudden reappearance.

With her vision restored, Cinder was able to finally analyze her opponent. He was tall and powerfully built, his figure cutting an intimidating outline against the moon. Her eyes narrowed, as apart from his cobalt blue eyes, she could not make out anything else of his features, for his head was hidden by a hood and lower face mask. Both of which looked to be made of some kind of leather, given the scale-like markings on them.

Her eyes roamed lowers to see that he was clad in an armor of scales and darkness; a hide-like leather bodysuit topped with scales and fangs. A thrill shot through Cinder as she realized that this armor was made from the remains of Dragons. On his hips, he bore twin Tantos with a long sword on his back. On his wrists were mounted crossbows, and what seemed to be an under-blade.

All in all, she could feel the strength within him. A thoughtful hum left her lips, "A shame," she thought, "such a specimen would be fun to play with," but she mentally shrugged and settled into a fighting stance. He stood in her way now so he had to be dealt with. Flames ignited in her palms and shot towards the mysterious man, only for him to casually bat them away. He didn't dodge her follow-up arrows, which caused him to grunt and stumble back half a step. Though Cinder frowned as her arrows had broken upon his armor.

An arrow made of pure flame appeared in her hand, as she once more took up an archer's stance. With a deep breath, she drew her bowstring back once more, pulling it as taught she could before releasing it. The burning arrow shot forward, leaving a trail of fire and force in its wake. However, the man merely turned towards her and spoke.

IZ... SLEN NUS

Ice surged towards her, trapping her body in a shell of frost before she could counter it. "I'll deal with you in a moment," he growled, his voice low and rough, a baritone growl that resonated in the air. His gaze left her and found the dying redhead. Cinder growled, as no matter how hot a flame she summoned, the ice simply wasn't melting.

Pyrrha Nikos was not having a good time as she continued to gasp for breath, the stillness of the air making it hard for her to do so. Tears built in her eyes as she desperately tried to summon enough aura to save herself. A futile task as her mind was too jumbled, her body too broken, her spirit too diminished to support any aura.

Weakly, she struggled with the arrow below her throat as she felt someone approach her. "On three, kay Red?" the man didn't even get to one before he pulled the arrow out, causing her to gasp. However, a soft golden glow consumed her senses. She began to relax as her aching body slowly recovered, and with it, came the return of her aura. "Good, you're out of the danger zone now," her savior rumbled, his gaze rising from her wound to her face.

"You fought well Red, but, let me take it from here, kay?" Pyrrha coughed weakly and tried to look her savior in the eye. Idly she noted how much he looked like Ruby and Yang. She managed a nod, but stubbornly refused to close her eyes causing him to chuckle, "Shoulda been born a Nord," he muttered, raising her head to a vial he held "drink," he ordered, "it'll help you to rest."

She tried to protest but was cut off by her savior's voice "rest, I've already healed the worst of your injuries." The last thing the amazon heard before sleep claimed her was Ruby's excited shout of

"UNCLE DAI!"

That certainly helped Pyrrha finally take the drink, which tasted even worse than it smelled, but, she could feel her body becoming invigorated by it. Finally, she closed her eyes as she trusted anyone related to Ruby explicitly and felt that even if he did something weird, Ruby would run her to safety.

Ruby launched herself into her estranged uncle's arms, crying in relief as her friend's life was saved. Her uncle back-stepped, spinning her around to dissipate the momentum she'd built. "Hush little Rose-thorn," he whispered, "Drem, all is fine now," as he spoke, he rubbed her back, "all is fine now," his words settled over Ruby, seeping into her mind and soothing the fear and panic, allowing Ruby to start composing herself.

"Now," he said after Ruby had calmed down somewhat, "let me look at you, little Rose-thorn," he said, holding her away from him, looking her up and down. "You've grown strong, Rose-thorn, so very strong," she beamed at her uncle's praise, "Yes, the Nordic blood in you is finally making itself heard, soon you and your sister will show these milk-drinkers what real Huntresses look like!" Ruby's smile widened further.

"Does that mean I'll be gigantic like you and Dad?"

"Of course little Rose-thorn, you'll be a true Nordic woman; as tall as a mountain, as strong as ten hundred milk drinkers, and as beautiful as the northern lights," he said, bringing Ruby back into a warm hug. She would have continued to catch up with her uncle but the sound of creaking ice ruined the moment.

A deep sigh left his lips, "Looks like we'll have to put this off, Rose-thorn, still," he placed a kiss on her head, "I've missed you and your sister, now go; take your friend and get her the help she needs," the softness of his voice died away as he turned "I shall deal with her," his voice turned into a growl.

Ruby nodded, leaping from his arms and quickly grabbing Pyrrha, "Kick her butt, Uncle!" she yelled, getting a raised fist in response. Then, her semblance kicked in and she was gone, speeding toward one of the checkpoints for help.

"Kick her butt, Uncle!" his niece called, a smirk coming to his lips as he raised a fist in response to her words. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the red-clad woman's dragon Grimm turn towards his niece, its maw open and slowly filling with fire. Dai merely fired first.

YOL... TOOR SHUL

A pillar of flame leaped from his mouth and covered the beast, causing it to screech out in pain, Dai's eyes narrowed and the flames suddenly trapped the Grimm in a sphere. A sphere that shot into the sky and detonated, temporarily turning night into day. A growl rose in his throat as he was forced to up the intensity of his flames, the false dragon proving annoyingly resilient to fire.

After a few moments Dai felt two things happen at once; the first was the false dragon finally dying and the second was something tugging on his flames, a turn of his head showed him that the woman he'd imprisoned earlier had managed to take control of his flames and drawn them into her grasp. A second later, she broke free from her icy imprisonment.

"Impressive," the woman said, her voice a sensuous purr, "most impressive." She made no attempt to hide her flirtatious behavior, her armor tightening against her voluptuous body, showcasing her figure perfectly. Her head obviously moved, looking him up and down, eyes paying close attention to his muscular arms and legs. Humming in delight, she spoke once again "My mistress could use a man of your skills, Mr.?"

"Daiyang. Daiyang Xiao Long, and you mean Salem, right, Miss.?"

"Cinder. Cinder Fall," Cinder said, her voice a luxurious purr, "you've heard of my mistress?" A lesser man would have missed the way her hands ignited, bits of tempered glass slowly forming in them, but Dai was not a lessor man.

A snort left his lips "If you survive this, ask her about a place called Bruma," he'd barely finished speaking when his Tanto's were drawn, revealing their alternate mode to be a hand cannon. A loud thunderous sound reverberated throughout the area, as Dai aimed and fired his weapon in under a second.

Cinder barely dodged out of the bullet's path, and failed to dodge the slash from his long sword. She managed to guard herself with her gauntlets but said arm guards were shattered by the strike. Gracefully, she spun, a fire-infused foot speeding towards his face.

"Too slow!" Dai exclaimed, swinging Render, his long sword, and shattering the glass cuirass she wore. The attack threw Cinder back, allowing Dai to shoot her in the stomach. It would have been her chest, but she proved faster than he expected by managing to fly up just enough to avoid a fatal strike.

Her palm shot towards him, sending a screeching pellet of flames his way. A low growl left his throat as the pellet transformed into flames so intense they burned white as they surged towards him. Reaching out mentally, he tore control of the flames away from Cinder and extinguished them, tilting his head to dodge an arrow aimed at his face. His hand snapped up and caught another one as he tilted his head the other way to avoid the third.

He hated to give his enemy credit, but she knew how to fight - her three arrows had bought her enough time to create an orb of flames so intense it simply wasn't worth the effort it'd take to wrest control of them from her. "TURN TO ASHES!"

"che, how troublesome you maidens are," he grunted, stabbing Render into the ground and raising a ward. The flame hit his ward and surrounded him, "tch, I hate it when enemy pyromancers are actually good," he grunted, feeling the heat through his ward and armor. His ward, previously a blank blueish-white ripple transformed into a thick orange dome, cutting the heat off completely. "Next, we anchor it," he muttered, the ward's glow shifting from his right hand to a spot by his feet. "Can't see shit through all these flames, so,"

LAS

Dai's eyes changed from blue to gold, becoming reptilian as the world lit up; the arcane energies became visible to him. Barely a second later, he caught sight of Cinder's red and blue aura. "Huh, so the maidens are magical, interesting," he mumbled before refocusing on his task.

His gun, Storm, began to emit light as he infused a spell into it. Aiming Storm where her head was, he pulled the trigger, releasing a powerful Icy Spear spell. The projectile traveled through the flames, weakening and slowing the spell enough for Cinder to dodge the worst of it; she conjured a ball of fire and hurled it into the spear's path, intercepting the projectile.

Her flames weren't hot enough as a shard of the ice still found its way into her eye, knocking her head back and causing her to screech and fall to the tower, her flames ending.

Enraged, she summoned enough fire to melt the tower they stood on. "Kill you, I'm going to kill you!" she hissed, her flames burning hotter and brighter as her rage fueled them. A massive sphere of fire formed above her, growing bigger by the second. Dai felt sweat build on his brow, and frowed. To feel the heat from so far away was not a good sign. So, he narrowed his eyes and focused as Cinder cackled.

"I don't think so," Dai said, catching her attention as he inhaled deeply..

SOV... AG SLEN

A bolt of lightning leaped from his mouth and tore at Cinder's body, causing her to shriek and lose control of her attack. With nowhere to go, her flames dropped atop her, causing an explosion to ring out as fire and thunder mixed. The shockwave traveled across the destroyed city, causing a new wave of fear and panic to emerge.

As this was happening, Dai's eyes returned to normal. He turned away, muttering "gotta find the girls and make sure they're ok. Then, it's hunting time," his gaze going to the edge of the city. A sigh escaped his lips, "Thank the nine, Serena and the children haven't entered yet," a tension left him as he spoke. "Now, where are you Little Rose-thorn?" he asked, focusing on his niece's life-force. There was still work to be done, but now, the dawn was approaching.

Shouts:
Tiid Qlo Ul - Time Sand Eternity/Slow Time Shout
Iz Slen Nus - Ice Flesh Statute/Ice Form Shout
Yol Toor Shul - Fire Inferno Sun/Fire Breath Shout
Las - Life/First word of Aura Whisper Shout
Sov Ag Slen/Shock Burn Flesh - Storm Breath Shout from the Thoom Mod