Ruined Courtyard (Night)

After getting rid of Ozpin, Cinder left the Vault. She needed to find Pyrrha as soon as possible, or everything she worked to achieve would be for nothing. As she blasted open the doors, she could see Dominic standing several meters away from her.

"I take it Ozpin's dead." the blonde said, hands in his pockets.

"Right alongside that partner of yours." Cinder replied. "Don't feel bad, though. He put up a decent fight."

Trying to mask his fury, Dominic closed his eyes and took a deep exhale. "If it's not too difficult, would you mind answering a question of mine?" he asked. "Do you think that the worst person in the world can be redeemed? That anyone, no matter how reprehensible, can be a good person if they just tried to be?"

"If this is some sort of attempt at making me feel bad for what I've done, it isn't working." Cinder said, readying her magic.

"Actually, it's the furthest thing from it." the blonde said, looking up at the Moon. Sighing, he lowered his head to face his opponent. "That expression you're wearing. You're really kind of a freak, huh?"

It was at that point that all Hell broke loose.

Using his pyromancy, Dominic forced Cinder to the ground as he brought up a dozen stone spikes. While her Aura took the worst of it, the False Maiden still took a considerable amount of damage from that attack. No empathy anywhere in his body, Dominic tore Cinder out of the spikes and threw her body into a stone wall he conjured, breaking at least 3 of her ribs and fracturing her arm. His eye glowing crimson, the Knight unleashed Sword Beam after Sword Beam, cutting through the very stone on which he tread. "Let's get this over with." Dominic said as he stood opposite Cinder, the Maiden coughing up blood.

Cinder rushed toward Dominic, blade in hand. The boy's eye flashed red, and fireballs as big as him appeared in the air. He brought his arm down, causing the flames to descend upon her. Placing small flames beneath her feet, Cinder jumped over Dominic's fireballs just as they struck the ground and exploded. She shot forth three arrows infused with Dust, only for the blonde to defend himself with a stone pillar that rose from the ground.

Smirking, Dominic took control of the shrapnel created by his last attack's detonation, throwing shards of stone at Cinder's back. Hearing the projectiles flying through the air, she turned around and parried the attacks with her sword. As she countered the last blade, a part that broke off shot through her shoulder, causing pain not only from the puncture, but also from the intense heat the stone gave off.

Seeing red, Cinder stampeded toward Dominic. The boy narrowed his eye and brought his palm up, releasing a beam of energy that the Maiden was only able to dodge through pure instinct. Seeing her evade his strongest attack, Dominic tried a different approach. He spawned a fireball to her right, forcing her to face it in order to block it. While she wasn't facing him, he shot her again with the beam, this time landing. The ensuing explosion left her with burns that covered her arm, which she used to protect herself. Not wanting to lose, Cinder kept running toward Dominic.

Once again, the blonde took hold of the flames within the Maiden's body, throwing her into a stone slab above him. Seeing cracks in the stone, Cinder pushed away from it just as spikes emerged from the slab. This process repeated for a while with slabs to her right, left, and even the ground below her. Eventually, though, she was too slow. Spikes tore through her flesh, breaking through her Aura like paper. The spikes then vanished, causing Cinder's body to fall to the ground. Despite her current state, she was still alive. And Dominic knew it.

The blonde summoned hundreds of fireballs that spawned behind him, then launched them at Cinder all at once. Her eyes started to glow orange, and her body began to move on its own. She ran faster than she'd ever run before, perfectly weaving through the flames. As she kept approaching, Dominic continued to fire beams of energy. But since Cinder was able to avoid them, the only thing the beams did was tear through the ground. The Maiden was a meter away from her target now, ready to drive her blade through Dominic.

The blonde's eye burned like the Sun as he executed Time Break, sidestepping out of the way. Time resumed soon after, and Cinder fell forward onto the floor. "Okay. It's clear to me that you won't give up. Even though there's no benefit whatsoever." Dominic said, watching as blood kept pouring out of his opponent's body. "Tell you what. Survive this, and I'll show you something incredible."

If Cinder's nerves felt like they were on fire before, describing how she felt during this attack would be impossible. Dominic once again grabbed her internal flames, then tossed her around the arena like a ragdoll, slamming her limp form across every surface he could find, as well as spiked surfaces he made using terramancy. Cinder's bones may as well have been turned to dust by the time this attack ended.

"Honestly, I cannot believe you're still alive. Anybody else, magic or not, would've been long dead by now." Dominic said, genuinely impressed by Cinder's durability.

"Sh-Shut up." the Maiden said, struggling to get off the ground. She no longer wanted to kill Dominic out of necessity. This was personal now. But as long as he could just use magic to throw her around, what could she do? Wait. That's it. She looked at the weapon in her opponent's hand. She cleared her mind, focusing on her objective.

Suddenly, Scarlet Showstopper flew out of Dominic's grip before rocketing back toward him blade-first. Caught off-guard, Dominic used Time Break to halt the sword. However, since the blade was linked to him, it was able to continue moving even during Time Break. With no other choice, Dominic raised his hand to defend himself, only for his weapon to tear his arm apart and shred the right side of his upper torso. Unable to sustain his magic anymore, Time Break ended, allowing Cinder to see the results of the gamble she took.

"So, that's it, then." Dominic said, holding onto his arm as it gushed magma. Since Scarlet Showstopper was an extension of his own soul, it was the only weapon that could feasibly kill him.

"All that power, wasted on someone like you." Cinder taunted, walking away from her opponent's body.

Dominic, unable to move, stared up at the sky. The stars and Moon looked so beautiful. 'So, this is the end of my second chance. It's weird, but I don't regret anything. Despite that...' Closing his eyes, the blonde pinpointed Cinder's location as she slowly walked away. 'I'm not letting you leave alive. You may have killed me, but that was the worst mistake you'll ever make. For ten long years, I've been keeping it under control. Now, there's nothing stopping it from annihilating you.' Dominic's eyes closed after that, and his body exploded in a massive ball of crimson light.

And as the blonde's corpse was reduced to flames, something awakened.

Black slime was expelled from the fire, and the fluid came together to form a humanoid figure with deep red eyes and pitch-black skin that retained a liquid state of being. It watched Cinder as she walked away, and in one single motion, launched itself at her.

HATE

Age: Unknown

Gender: N/A

Species: Magic

Semblance: N/A

Element: Dark

Battle Class: N/A