It was no later than 0530 when they arrived in Ozpin's office, with the sun not even breaching the horizon quite yet and the morning dew still persistent on the grass along the path. Just as expected, the General, alongside Ozpin and Glynda were waiting for them at least fifteen minutes in advance, with coffee and donuts awaiting their presence. Although it was bizarre to them, as normally something like this these three would've been furious over, yet all of their reactions seemed to reflect what they could only feel was a sort of smugness pouring off the trio, almost as if they'd expected this.
"Ah, Team RWBY, please, come in. Have a drink, grab a donut, after all, you're all up early and we have much to discuss." Ozpin greeted them as they exited the elevator, nodding in satisfaction at their arrival. "I've read through your report, Ruby, and operators in the field have looked into your theory, but that is a matter best discussed in private among appropriate company. Onto other aspects of this, however, we have reason to believe you're correct in your other theory, that this Cinder Fall you four expertly slayed last night was in fact the Ringleader of this organization we're facing in the White Fang and Roman Torchwick."
"Wait, what?" Yang blurted out, unintentionally interrupting Ozpin's train of thought and drawing all eyes to herself. Scratching the back of her head nervously and rolling her head, she awkwardly continued. "I uh... don't mean to interrupt, but that woman who we killed last night, she was the one leading them?"
"We believe so, yes." Glynda spoke, her tone more casual than any of WBY had any recollection of ever hearing. "Without leadership, their alliance will surely crumble. Likewise, we were correct in our theory that Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black were accomplices of Miss Fall and apprehended them as appropriate."
"Then that's it? Our mission complete?" Weiss piped up, not flinching as attention was now diverted to herself. "We've been pursuing this organization since that incident at the docks, but... I suppose that's mission accomplished, then?"
"Not quite. They aren't aware that their leader is dead yet, nor that we've been onto their operations within Mount Glenn as far back as our last clash with Torchwick. This presents unique opportunities I intend to exploit." Ruby answered her question, forming a fist at her chest. "But you needn't concern yourself with that. Such information is of a need-to-know basis for you three."
"I wouldn't put it so brusquely, but she is correct. Ruby, we've reviewed everything you mentioned in your report, and if you are truly certain that this is a viable course of action, then you are GO to proceed, and you may begin your interrogation of Miss Fall's subordinates at your leisure." Glynda returned, before shaking her head and looking back to Ozpin. "In any case, I doubt that even if they knew their leader was dead, they'd drop the plans they've been developing. Clearly, if she managed to get both Roman and the White Fang to work together, they must've had something to gain from these plans, so that must be addressed... on that note, Ruby, should your efforts fall flat, ensure that neither the Fang nor Torchwick leave Mount Glenn alive. Other than that, you're free to go now, Ruby."
A simple nod was all Ruby gave to answer the Vice Headmistress, before making an about face, drawing the Divisor and slashing through the fabric of space, opening up a portal to the detention bloc on Ironwood's flagship. Silently, she stepped through the portal, allowing it to shut behind her with an almost ethereal hiss, leaving just her team behind to face the three adults in the room.
"Now, about you three... your ambush was executed well, and good work is to be commended, but your involvement in this was something we were hoping to avoid. Miss Rose has already proven herself well-suited to this line of work, but you three have not, and that... complicates things." Ozpin began, folding his fingers in between each other and leveling his gaze upon the three girls whom their blue leader lead. His gaze was intense, as if attempting to scrutinize them and pick out any weaknesses, any chinks in their armor, and they couldn't help but feel slightly nervous under this more aggressive scrutiny than he usually displayed. "We cannot confirm whether or not you will or will not speak, but the events of last night, and the things you've heard this morning are to be kept under lock and key. If you fail to keep these secrets than we will have no choice but to deal with both you and those whom you've told severely, am I understood?"
"We understand, but could we at least get a sliver of understanding here? It's obvious you're keeping us in the dark here, and we can understand why someone of your station would keep secrets, but we at least wanna know why." Blake pleaded, crossing her arms as she shook her head and looked over towards the General's flagship with an uncertain expression. "Trust is a two way street, headmaster, and I think we've earned a few more answers than you've led on."
"It's not a matter of earning these answers, it's a matter of how you'll handle them and whether or not I can trust you three to keep the secret... of which currently only Miss Xiao Long is currently under evaluation." Ozpin's tone was serious above all else, and his gaze felt like a ray of heat bearing down upon them. He shook his head as he turned around in his chair to stare out the clock's clear face, down upon the front of his academy. A single hand raised up from the arm of his chair, a dismissive wave.
Knowing they'd already discussed everything they'd needed to, and that they wouldn't be getting any more answers today, the three of them stepped off back into the elevator, and took their leave. Ozpin, however, could only lose himself further in thought, most specifically around Yang.
"Yang Xiao Long... Ruby has yet to awaken her demonic blood, and I initially hadn't thought any such blood ran in you... but there's something off about her..." he idly mused, scratching his chin in deep thought. Ever since Ruby had stabbed her with the Divisor, there's been something new in her sister's aura, something familiar, but different from Ruby's own, something he couldn't quite pin down... something he was determined to set straight. "Glynda, run down to the archives and pull up the encyclopedia of the Demon World. I wanna see if I can't figure out just what she is..."
"Mercury Black, assassin, son of the Master Assassin Marcus Black, presumed killer, known terrorist. Emerald Sustrai, thief, street rat, known terrorist. An assassin and a thief, a power couple as old as civilization itself." Ruby listed, tapping the back of her fingers against the clip board holding their profiles. Both sneered at her from behind the plexiglass wall that separated them from each other. "I already know how both of you came to work for Cinder Fall, and I already know you're both slated for execution, pending a trial that we both know will find you two guilty."
"So what? You here to gloat or something, little miss goody-two-shoes?" The darker skinned female scoffed, glaring daggers at the redhead behind the glass. However, this only drew some low chuckles from the girl, who just shook her head without turning back to them.
"Believe me, that description is hardly a fitting one any longer, but no. No, I'm not here to gloat... but I can have you two pardoned, if you play your cards right." Her words seemed to perplex the duo, who leaned forward in their seats as it seemed she'd finally captured their attention in full.
"You? You can have us pardoned? Forgive me if I find that hard to believe."
"Oh but I can. After all, you'd both be working under me, and therefore under Ozpin. He already greenlit my plan, and that plan involves both of your skills... as well as alternatives, should you opt for execution instead." Ruby's eyes turned back to the duo, before sitting back down upon a chair of her own, setting herself in a wide, comfortable posture. "I take it you've both heard the legend of the Amulet of Apocrypha?"
"Yeah, some amulet out of myth that was split in two, right?" Mercury answered, drawing a short nod from Ruby as she looked into the digital archives on her scroll for images of the true amulet. Time had an odd way of warping the perceived appearances of things, and the modern belief on what the amulets looked like were somewhat outlandish, and varied greatly from piece to piece. However, drawn depictions from the time the amulet had supposedly existed had been preserved in Spec Ops' archives, and she intended to find the true halves of the Amulet.
"Correct. There have been many artistic liberties that people have taken, many fakes of different designs... but there's only two true halves. This is what it looked like as a whole amulet." The image she showed revealed a 2-faced amulet in a sort of elongated star, with one side bearing a bright blue gem, and the other blood red, both set down upon beautifully engraved silver. Strangely enough, the very design of the amulet seemed to suggest it was designed to be able to be split in two, with two silver chains attached to either side as opposed to a singular chain holding it together from the center.
"If I were to wager a guess, you want us to find you that amulet, don't you?" Emerald tested the waters a bit, drawing a confirmatory nod from the younger girl. "That's ridiculous. The amulet never actually existed, it's just an old legend made up by crazy treasure hunters."
"And yet Maidens are real, and that I'm already aware you know." Ruby narrowed her eyes at Emerald, shaking her head before continuing. "I already know it was you three that assaulted the Fall Maiden. Cinder is dead, and that power returned to her despite the inevitability of her death, but that's quite frankly none of my concern. All I'm concerned with is retrieving the Amulet. After all, if maidens are real, then what's to say the Amulet isn't?"
"To what end? What would you even do with that Amulet, huh?" Mercury snickered, crossing his arms and kicking back in his chair. Ruby, however, showed no change in her expression or vocal tone.
"What I do with the Amulet is none of your concern. Consider your position carefully, and consider that your only two options here are to find the amulet, or find your necks under the headsman's axe." She stated her ultimatum plainly, laying the cards on the table, even if only partially, and leaving them with their decision.
"Well, it's not like you're giving us much of an option here. We'll find your stupid amulet, but how do we know you won't betray us?" Mercury answered for the both of them, earning a sharp glare from his own partner that she didn't miss.
"Simple: don't give me a reason to do so. I trust you can do your own research?" Ruby answered plainly, before tapping a button on the wall and opening their cells. With but a flick of her wrist, she pulled their weapons from her spacial storage, in Mercury's case she returned the firing mechanism and ammunition for his boots to him, then pulled the divisor and slashed open a portal for the both of them. "This portal will take you back to your dorm room. I want weekly updates on your progress, and immediate updates on major developments. Should I find your progress insufficient, I will be most displeased."
They didn't need to say anything to acknowledge the discrete threat she'd delivered to them, merely arming themselves properly and stepping through the portal. As soon as it shut, Ruby delivered her update back to Ozpin and the General, and opened one more portal, this one back to her room to prepare for their upcoming mission...
"General has greenlit our mission at Mt. Glenn, but we aren't gonna be operating alone. Several Special Forces teams deployed several days ago and have sent up an updated map. We know where the White Fang and Torchwick are, now we just gotta act." Ruby briefed her team, laying out the updated map she'd described before pointing out each important item. Highlighted were areas dense with Grimm, the White Fang base, their insertion point, as well as several key points of terrain and safe houses established in the area of operation. As she pointed everything out her team knelt down around the map and honed in their attention, intent on not missing any mission-relevant information. "The teams that established the safe houses have remained in place to ensure site security. We'll be linking up with the team at Alpha safe house for any updates on the immediate situation. Any questions?"
"What do we know about the strength of the White Fang presence? Last thing we wanna do is go in without knowing what we're up against." Yang questioned, drawing an approving nod from the blue lead.
"As of right now, they're confirmed to have sixteen Paladin Mech Suits, and two battalions worth of foot soldiers. Roman Torchwick and Neopolitan are confirmed to be on site, as well as four teams of the White Fang's elite, their Predator Squads." She informed, making Blake perk up slightly as the Predator Squads were mentioned.
"Predator Squads are made up of Hunters, some of them Veterans. If we engage them, we'll need additional support. Will these SF teams be able to lend us support?"
"If we're battling them in close proximity to one of the Safe Houses, yes. Otherwise, myself and four other S Class Hunters will be present on this mission, among them, Glynda Goodwitch. She'll be acting lead of this operation once we've touched down, but the other three are already waiting for us at Alpha." The inclusion of other S Ranked Hunters surprised them, but Weiss almost immediately caught onto something.
"These Hunters we're working with wouldn't happen to be some of the same we met at the Altyn, would they?" She took initiative with the question, drawing Ruby's attention and gaze over to herself.
"Some of them, yes. All I can say is that we're all fellow members of a sort of honor society. Beyond that, it's beyond my authority to say. Now, if there aren't any more questions, make your final prep-" Ruby attempted to tie up the conversation, but was cut off by a blaring alarm that filled the room with a blood red light. It was an emergency alarm only reserved for the most dire of situations, and they're always told at least a week in advance when it's just a drill. Normally, the severity of the situation was depicted in the color of the light. Yellow was indicative of an incoming attack, orange of an immediate attack, and red...
"Red light... a catastrophe class threat is upon us!" Weiss called out, taking up her weapons like everyone else in the room. Ruby however didn't show any signs of concern over her features, merely drawing the Divisor and cutting open a portal to Ozpin's office, from which the man himself seemed to be beckoning them to come through.
"Head through the portal, now! Whatever the situation is, it's NOT a drill!" Ruby ordered, sending all of RWBY racing through the portal with weapons locked and loaded, ready for action. Ruby followed behind them at a slightly slower pace, allowing the portal to shut just behind her as she entered Ozpin's office. The alarm wasn't as prominent within this place, as it could only be activated from here in any event. A shattered mug and the spilled coffee that accompanied it was a clear indication that this was no situation which they could take lightly, so all of WBY stepped up, arms brandished confidently as they ensured themselves ready... not that Ozpin was looking to them. No, his eyes were glued solely on Ruby.
"Ruby, open a portal to Patch immediately! A Grimm Lord has been reported, and only because it's currently making its move!" The announcement of yet another Grimm Lord took all occupants of the room off guard, especially since Ruby had only just recently slain one within the past couple of weeks. Normally, it was one Grimm Lord every thousand or so years, but the presence of one so soon after the last was deeply alarming, visibly shaking even Ruby, who'd they'd thought was utterly unflinching as of late. "The rest of you, Ruby will go to engage the Grimm Lord directly, but only because she's already an S Class Huntress. You three will gather in the auditorium, and depart to the scene in chalks to deal with the horde that'll follow and evacuate civilians. Now, move! Time is not our ally today!"
Though WBY wanted to protest, Ruby hadn't wasted any time in cutting open another portal back to the island, and immediately shutting it behind herself before any of them could follow. They swore under their breaths at their abysmal reaction speed, before complying with orders and rushing into the elevator. Come what may, all they could do now was trust their leader to defeat this one as she had the last, and hope they could make it on time to prove their worths to her in true battle...
She could only make portals to places she'd been to before, or those within close proximity of places she'd been. As such, her portal lead her directly back to her home, although not too far from the booming roar of battle. With a determined glint in her eye, Ruby began rushing towards the battlefield, observing the raw amount of carnage and destruction the Lord and its horde left in their wake within such short time. The forest was ablaze, bathing the sky in a menacing orange glow as fire licked out into the skies from the canopy. Toppled and trampled foliage, ash, cinder and embers bled from the raging wildfires she raced through, eventually leading her out of the tree line and into what was once a thriving and lovely town, now leveled with rubble, debris and charred bodies left to tell its tale.
"This was Moriah... it was close to being large enough to be a city last I'd seen it, and there was even a boy here I was sweet with for a time back when I attended Signal." She spoke to herself as she continued to sprint through the flaming ruins, scanning the area with her eyes for any and all potential or incoming threats. Curiously enough, all the Grimm that attacked were not native to the region, nor were they of any species that she was familiar with in the Grimm Bestiaries.
It wasn't unexpected, however. The Grimm that followed a Grimm Lord were always those spawned from it, and took after them in some ways or another. These ones in particular seemed to have a thing for fire, as each of them donned a collar of flames that reached down their chest in a sort of V shape. Furthermore, most were humanoid in some manner or another, and wielded weapons of many varieties cloaked in flames. Those that weren't humanoid or at least human-like took the form of bats, lions, massive bugs and so far one dinosaur-looking one with four arms, each brandishing a flaming sword while the beast itself stood at at least ten meters tall.
Though the four armed beast took more than a few heavy strikes to slay, the horde was ultimately not enough to stand in Ruby's wake as she tore through them, combining both the Divisor and Urizen in her advance. Eventually, she reached the edge of the town, finally coming face-to-face with the Grimm Lord who'd left the town in ruins and led the horde that had left a trail of a thousand brutalized and dismembered bodies in their wake.
It was a towering beast, standing at what she surmised must've been at the minimum 20 meters in height. It was almost humanoid, but a crown of horns adorned its head, and it lacked any cheeks upon its face, simply showing a wide maw with outside teeth in place of flesh or lips. A dozen baleful blue eyes turned to face her, two of them where a human's eyes would normally be, and another on each of the 10 horns that made up the front of its crown, chilling her to the bone as her hand began to wander closer to the Divisor. Despite the raging inferno around her, this beast made her feel cold, as if she'd suddenly been sunk in a frozen lake. Bright blue flames adorned its shoulders like epaulettes, and an 8-pointed star was emblazoned upon its barreled chest in a more condensed flame of lighter blue coloration. It's skin was black as coal, and a pair of demon-like wings stemmed from its back, held close behind itself and folded up. It seemed to be wearing armor in the form of pauldrons, gauntlets and greaves, although a closer look revealed to her that while used as a sort of armor, these black pieces seemed to be just another part of this beast. All the bone plate that adorned this beast from head to toe looked to be of stone, and a low blue light bled through the barbed lines running down the outside of its limbs, of which there were four arms, and two, almost goat-like legs that ended in split hooves.
She recognized this to be the Grimm Lord, so steeled her resolve and began marching towards the abomination as it turned to her, with only the top two hands holding blades as the other two remained unoccupied, crossed across his chest. It glared down at her, the flames adorning it's body flaring up as it's eyes narrowed and a large, reptilian tail revealed itself with blue inferno burning down a straight line from the small of its back to the tip of its tail.
"I've slain one Grimm Lord already, and I will slay another if need be. What is your name, hellspawn?" Ruby spoke without falter, drawing a muted chuckle from the massive behemoth as it turned its blades over, burying the tips into the ground and sending forth a ring of fire that surrounded both of them, boxing them in for a one-on-one confrontation.
"I am without name. I am Freedom... Absolute." Its voice was dark, deep and gravelly, with flames belching forth from its throat every time its jaw elevated or lowered. However, its gaze remained upon her, narrowed and on guard. She supposed it must've felt there was something different about her compared to all the rest, especially since it had visibly just slaughtered several dozen hunters, some of them even Veterans. "And who are you, Descendant of Devils?"
"I am Ruby Rose. Although I am surprised that you know of my heritage, it will not save you from meeting the same end as the las lord I slew." Ruby returned with a sharp glare, maintaining a steady advance towards the Grimm Lord as the beast huffed, unfurled the arms crossed over it's chest, drew forth the blades buried in the earth, and began to match the action, seemingly taking her far more seriously than those previous warriors slain. With a determined glint in her eye, Ruby halted and lowered into a more aggressive stance, grasping the hilt of the Divisor and launching the usual barrage of dimension slashes towards the beast's head.
Yet, with a simple bat of one of it's blades, the creature seemingly deflected the barrage, not that there was any recoil to be felt. Steeling her resolve, Ruby recognized that this wasn't a foe she could simply slash to pieces from a distance, much like the previous Lord she'd slain. With that in mind, and knowledge that she could not afford to waste any time with an enemy such as this one, she rushed in, warping up above and behind the behemoth with Urizen drawn forth and using her manipulation of gravity to launch herself down heel-first like a meteor. However, before she could connect with her foe's back, the beast slashed back with one of it's twin blades in a powerful uppercut, deflecting her attack without much issue and leaving her lingering in midair.
Seizing the opportunity, the Grimm Lord attempted to grab her with one of it's free hands, snarling slightly as just before it could grab her, she warped straight down to the floor and dashed behind him through his legs, slashing them up yet not necessarily doing much damage with the Divisor until she dragged her blade along it's tail, cutting through as she passed and successfully irritating the Lord. With a booming roar, the beast flicked it's tail, just narrowly missing Ruby as she warped back another meter just out of it's reach before flourishing and sheathing her blade before launching another barrage of dimension slashes at it's back, leaving a handful of visible, yet far from debilitating cuts between it's shoulder blades before just narrowly blocking a sweep of a separate leg. Digging her feet into the ground as she absorbed the strike, Ruby dragged across the earth on the balls of her feet while the point the hoof connected with on her blade glowed white hot for a moment before returning to normal.
As she was still skidding to a stop, the Grimm Lord lunged after her, the flames across it's body and within it's blades exploding in intensity as it launched itself at her with a deafening roar. Forcing herself to not panic with the behemoth barreling towards her, Ruby warped around just behind the Lord but instantly found her mistake as a massive blast of flames erupted from the ground when her foe stabbed its blades into the earth, launching her back and rolling over her shoulder before skidding to a halt by the edge of the ring.
Just as she was picking herself back up, Ruby warped off a few meters to the side as the Grimm Lord seemingly did a sort of instant dash towards her, slashing with both blades diagonally and launching out a pair of dense waves of bright blue flames in the area Ruby used to be standing. Seizing the opening, she swapped over to Urizen and warped up just above and in front of it's face, slamming her heel down upon it's forehead with a massive surge of gravity to amplify it, before bouncing off from there, forcing it to stagger back, before launching herself right back down, with more distance, momentum and power than before, striking it square in the face and knocking it down to it's hands and knees as it fell to the side, allowing Ruby's attack to be carried past and strike into the earth, splintering it beneath her feet in a sort of spiderweb of cascading cracks.
However, just as she was trying to come back around and roundhouse kick it's head, it let out a mighty roar, blowing her away with a massive surge of hot air although not necessarily doing much more than that as she managed to recover midair and land on her feet. Growling in annoyance as she wasn't given any window to further exploit it's exposed state, the beast rose back up to it's feet, and plunged it's blades into the earth. Now having some semblance of an idea as to what he could do by doing such an action, Ruby began a sprint around the edges of the arena. Her intuition served her, as pillars of fire erupted from the earth beneath her feet behind her, just barely nipping at her heels about half a dozen times before the Grimm Lord withdrew it's blades from the earth.
Exhaling slowly and maintaining both even breaths and a strong posture, Ruby stowed away Urizen and drew forth the Divisor once more, lowering back into her aggressive stance, accelerating time for herself as much as sustainable so her opponent would appear slower then they actually were and herself faster than she was, and preparing herself to continue this dance of death, having already taken something of a pounding to her aura from the beast's two connecting attacks...
The time between getting to the Auditorium and being pushed onto Bullhead Transports on their way to Patch was practically instantaneous as far as their perception was worth, as WBY now found themselves sitting just opposite of teams CFVY and JNPR, CRDL seated right beside themselves. Some of those present regarded the empty space Ruby should've occupied with curious glares, but nobody was really too keen on saying anything. JNPR knew well that Ruby was neither a peer nor a fellow classmate any longer, and CFVY, while seeming at the very least curious, didn't seem like they noticed or cared too much about the absence. However, themselves, CFVY and their sister team JNPR were hardly the only ones in the transport...
"Tch. Figures the little kid would chicken out when an actual battle came our way. Doesn't matter, she'd just slow us down, anyways!" Cardin laughed, resting his mace against the vacant seat that Ruby would've held if she hadn't already deployed.
"Idiot." Yang scoffed, drawing a sharp glare from the boy as he turned his gaze onto her, sitting just aside the empty seat opposite to Cardin. "She's the youngest fully certified Huntress in history, holds S Class ranking, and is the only living person in our generation to have ever slain a Grimm Lord. Why don't you show a little respect?"
"Hah! If she's such a big deal, then why isn't she here with us right now? That story of her killing the Grimm Lord is all fabricated anyways, everyone knows she's just sucking Ozpin off or something." He guffawed in response, drawing sharp glares from the rest of the girl's team, JNPR included. While they did have their own reservations about the whole matter, and had questions left unanswered about Ruby slaying a Grimm Lord, they couldn't deny her power or skill. She still at times during scheduled matches reverted back to her more tactical equipment, still managing to make a mockery of her one-time peers both with that loadout and her new, more huntress-like attire. Pyrrha once thought during a matchup Ruby had scheduled before the dance that she'd have the edge facing off against Ruby if she didn't use any gear or dirty tricks like she had the previous time, and was left woefully mistaken when she couldn't manipulate either her katana nor her gauntlets and greaves.
"Simple. She went ahead of everyone, and is currently engaged in combat with the Grimm Lord. We'd only slow her down, so we're joining the force assigned to deal with the horde, although I'm unsure what good sending cannon fodder like you trash will do." Weiss answered in a fairly plain manner, before snickering slightly and scoffing at Cardin's mace and the angry glares they sent her way.
"You wanna say that again, Ice Bitch? You think you'll be able to do any better than us?" Dove Bronzewing interjected as he balled his hand up into a fist and leaned over Cardin a slight bit almost as if to square up with her. Blake, however, had no intention of letting anyone waste any further energy on this conversation.
"Even the weakest monster in the hordes descendant from a Grimm Lord put most elder Grimm to shame. If you four couldn't even handle a single Ursa Major not so long ago, you'd best hope you're much stronger now, if you wanna live to see another day." Blake didn't even bother regarding them with a single look in their general direction as she spoke, merely shaking her head and mentally preparing herself for the battle.
"Ruby trained us hard, and she did it well. I'm confident myself, Weiss and Blake will be fine on the battlefield... but I'm not so sure about everyone else. No matter. This'll be a real battlefield, can't focus on other teams if we ourselves don't wanna get wiped off the census." The thought, dark as it was, crossed Yang's mind as she sat in silence, preparing for the battle ahead. She couldn't ensure the survival of everyone, she just had to hold the line, and watch her teammates' backs as they watched hers. The other teams would have to look out for themselves first and foremost, and if that didn't prove to be enough to survive the battlefield, then they had no one to blame but themselves.
"Thirty seconds to drop, get ready!" Jaune called out, cutting off any of team CRDL before they could interject again. Before they'd drop, the doors opened, at least giving them a hint of what they were getting into. They could only describe the sight as hell on earth, as what was once a beautiful, budding city surrounded by forests was now smoldering ruins surrounded by an unstoppable inferno consuming the woods around it. Smoke blotted out the sun in it's density, darkening the sundered ground, the fissures left by the awakening and onslaught of the Lord weeping magma onto the surface, and from out of it climbed creatures of bone and flame beyond the comprehension of any but the most seasoned of warriors. Blackened and dismembered bodies lay strewn across the streets and buried within the rubble like toys in a child's sandbox, and a massive ring of blue flames contrasted with the orange and red of the flames everywhere else upon the scene, within which they could only faintly observe the shadowy silhouettes of Ruby and the Grimm Lord duking it out.
Though they so desperately wanted to lend their aid, none save one of them could really make out what was happening in the battle. The battle was a blur, like watching a fight between bullets racing to and fro across the earth, chasing each other in a dramatic clash upon every connection, the clash of steel flashing out brightly every time blades met blade or gauntlets. And yet, despite everyone knowing from the sight of Ruby holding her own at all against a monster like the shadows promised that her power was far from exaggerated, there remained one who knew that she couldn't just stand-by and watch.
As her hair burned hotter and brighter with every second, the world gradually began to slow, as her eyes began to track the battle between Ruby and the Grimm Lord better and better, she held a fist to her heart, shut her eyes only momentarily, before steeling her resolve and embracing the growing power in her. The flash of crimson eyes and sharpening of pupils filled the space, before in an instant, she drew her blade and launched herself out from the door. Despite the world appearing to move far slower to her now, if felt as if she herself hadn't slowed in the slightest, renewing her confidence for the battle ahead as she drove forth, blade first as a column of flames burst forth in her wake.
Stabbing straight through, the barrier was parted only momentarily as her thrust pushed her through the flames, crashing down feet-first between her little sister and the Grimm Lord's clash, her stabbing thrust not losing any of it's momentum as it deflected the Lord's slash away and gave her little sister an opening to kick off upwards in a violent spiral of slashes, before firmly planting her feet against it's crown and launching herself backwards. Almost instinctively, Yang leapt back, rolling over her shoulder and to her feet to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with her little sister. Though she so desperately wanted to hug her and comfort her as she looked upon the scores of injuries Ruby had sustained, she knew that it was both not the time for that, and that she'd likely be stabbed for trying.
However, as their eyes locked, for just a fraction of a second, they both had their understanding in this fight. No need for words, the two redirected their attention towards the Grimm Lord, readying their weapons and preparing to fell this beast as one. A closer examination of their shared opponent revealed it to be just as thrashed as Ruby was, if not maybe just a bit more, revealing to Yang that while Ruby might've been able to take him alone, it was really just a coin toss to see who'd ultimately be victorious... however, with the two of them fighting together now, and herself being able to keep pace with Ruby, at least until her semblance burned out, Yang could only smirk as she knew they'd have this fight in the bag.
"A second descendant of Demon Blood?! No matter, you're not even half-breeds, not even awakened! You could never defeat a pure Demon, a True Grimm Lord! I am Freedom, Absolute! I will not be defeated by a pair of sub-demon harlots!" The abomination roared at the two girls, piquing their curiosity but doing nothing to phase their resolve, nor slow their approach. If anything, they could only perceive cockiness and desperation in equal measure within it's voice despite the earth rumbling with every step it made forward to match their stride.
"Hey sis? I think this "Freedom Absolute" guy needs to learn the hard way." Yang pointed her blade towards the Grimm Lord, turning her gaze over her shoulder to look Ruby in the eye as they approached. A single, shared nod as their eyes met, and with the clash of steel as Ruby drew the Divisor, the two sisters sprung into action, Ruby on the right side, Yang on the left.
Veering off away from each other to get on either side of the behemoth, Yang side-flipped over a sweeping tail and launched herself forward, blade first as she stabbed into the side of the beast's leg while it's attention was drawn in to deflecting the barrages of dimension slashes Ruby chained together from the opposite side. Instead of ripping the blade out, Yang twisted the blade and mustered all her force to cut upwards, bathing part of herself in demon blood before being kicked away. Before she could hit the ring of flames, Yang dug her blade into the ground, cutting deep into it as it slowed and eventually completely halted the recoil from her strike, facing frontally to the beast that had somewhat turned to face her, preparing to charge as it redirected it's attention to her.
While it was distracted with kicking Yang away and it's temporary break in attention from herself, Ruby warped up above and behind it's head, dropping down with the assistance of Urizen's gravity manipulation and leaving a clean vertical slash down it's back from head to heel. As soon as she hit the ground, she warped back to the edge of the ring, as a massive eruption of flames exploded from the ground beneath the Grimm Lord, learned from her previous mistake of maintaining the offensive for too long. As soon as the eruption of flames began to die down, the beast launched up into the air, it's expanded wings allowing it to hover in the air somewhat as it's two unoccupied hands each summoned an orb of deep purple flames.
With a deafening roar, the beast flung each orb towards the sisters, with Ruby deftly evading with a simple 2-meter warp to the side while Yang lunged and rolled over her shoulder to her left, coming up to a knee just in time to see the next orb coming her way, prompting her to dodge once again while Ruby made another short range warp to evade again. The process repeated for about five more shots at each of them, before the lord curled it's wings inwards and launched a barrage of hundreds of smaller projectiles that lanced towards them like bullets from behind it's back.
Warping up to her sister as she knew this barrage would be a little too dense for her to evade all of, Ruby grasped her by the arm with Urizen drawn so she could more reliably drag her around, before warping back and forth, forwards and backwards, up and back down all to evade the barrage of shots. Yang for her part still held her own, swapping the hand she held her sword with and batting away any projectiles that came close to striking them, and as soon as Ruby let go of her, she lunged away, rolling over her shoulder and returning her sword to her right hand. A mighty roar escaped the beast's throat, as with both blades ablaze, it descended back down upon the earth like a missile, splitting and opening fissures in the earth from which magma blasted through like high-pressure water from a hose when one held their thumb over the opening.
Keeping their aura sense active to track the falling magma so they wouldn't get scorched, Ruby and Yang charged back in, each of them clashing their blades against the swords on each side before pushing through and knocking the blades aside as the sisters trades sides, hopping upon the blades buried partway into the earth and making a lightning-fast dash up the blades, over the arms, and in a final blitz, bounded up from the bicep, and slashed the eyes, passing through as they spun down and each severing a wing with a heavy downward slash. Striking the ground and bounding away, Yang's breath caught in her throat as a massive hand wrapped around her and began crushing her as it lifted her overhead, but before it could, Ruby warped up and slashed the arm off at the elbow, forcing the hand to go limp as it fell to the earth, releasing Yang and allowing her to vault herself onto the dismembered limb and kick off of it, backflipping over the incoming fist meant to exploit Ruby's exposed state as she hung in midair and slashing wildly around herself, cutting the oncoming fist and forearm to bits as she passed over it and landed in a crouch, head whipping back up to face the monstrosity again as Ruby warped over beside her.
As it roared out in pain, the blue-clad sister lowered down into a more aggressive stance, pushing her powers to their absolute limit as the beast continued to recoil in agony from it's lost limbs. Exploiting the temporary drop in all defenses, Ruby created her 20-meter time halt as she dashed in towards the Grimm Lord, herself accelerated to be practically invisible to even the outside as she cut up the monstrosity in a final gambit to end the fight, before halting just outside the radius on the opposite side of the foe to Yang. A flourish of the blade to flick the blood, mud and dust off while switching to an underhand grip, Ruby rested the back of her blade against the top of the saya, drew forward and slid in smoothly as it dipped inside, ending the act and revealing tens of thousands of slashes to materialize from thin air upon the beast, deflecting the blades away and shattering them before they could ever hope to be used again.
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Ruby turned around, stunned at the beast's survival even as the shards shattered of reality sunk down and disappeared into the earth, watching it collapse down onto it's hands and knees, it's sides facing the sisters as they prepared to finish the fight. Warping in as quickly as possible to match Yang's stabbing thrust, the sisters buried their blades deep within the Grimm Lord's rocky sides, before trying to pull them out and finding the two blades stuck, and a moment later them both feeling the beast slap them away as it spun, falling back onto it's hands and knees as the two girls recovered just meters away. Without even needing to look to each other to acknowledge, the sisters dashed back in, Yang kicking the pommel of her sword to launch it further in while Ruby struck the kashira at the bottom of The Divisor, effectively mirroring the action as the blades clashed against each other as they passed inside the beast, piercing straight out the other side for each girl to catch.
As Ruby caught Yang's longsword, she couldn't help but flourish the blade wildly a few times as she felt the nature of the maker who'd imprinted upon it make it's mark on her soul while she held it, before holding it in a ready stance just ahead of herself. However, much to her surprise, it almost didn't seem like Yang had any strain wielding the Divisor, as she made a few clean flourishes with the blade, before holding it out in front of herself in an underhand grip. Shaking the astonishment from her head, the sisters launched forth, bounding up with incredible speed as Ruby thrusted forth with the longsword in much the same manner as Yang usually did through it's chest, while her sister mirrored the action in approach, slashing horizontally through it's lower abdomen. Planting her feet firmly below the beast's pecs, Ruby ripped the blade out and leapt back, landing firmly right beside Yang as the beast finally collapsed onto a knee, all fight left from it's body.
"This... cannot... be..." The Grim Lord almost whimpered as it roared, just barely able to lift it's head up to stare at the two warriors who'd felled it. With a simple spin and flick of the blades, the sisters tossed their swords up into the air, each of them catching their respective weapon with little difficulty. Yang simply cracked a smirk as she shifted to an underhand grip, her blade glowing gold like her semblance as it was enveloped in flames, her aura pouring into it in waves, the last of her strength. She knew they needed one last push to finish off the Grimm Lord before it could recover, and she could feel Ruby had exhausted herself with her ultimate move, so now it was all on her.
Dropping into an athletic stance, the buxom blonde let out a powerful roar as slashed diagonally with her blade, instantly following it up with a second slash as she lowered and slashed again, forming an X that lanced out and smashed into the Grimm Lord. The attack proved itself to be the final nail in the abomination's coffin, as with it's armor now completely sundered, the attacks cut right through, rending the once mighty Grimm Lord into several pieces as it collapsed to the ground in finality.
As it's body rapidly disintegrated, the sisters couldn't help but stare in awe as a bright red light rose up from the smoke and dust created in the fell of a Grimm Lord. Like a phoenix rising from the ash and dark, the orb of light ascended over the body of the fallen lord, the last vestiges of it's power leaving it's host to find a new, worthier bearer. With but a humming buzz, the orb descended upon the blade of it's slayer, making the blade glow bright red as it shifted shape in her hands. After a few short seconds, it shifted into what was still recognizably a longsword, but with a heavy double-edged blade, notched on both sides near the tip. The pommel a single spike, the grip plain but with an almost skeleton-like guard, with a skull-design on each side leading to the rib cage from which the blade emerges; on one side of the blade, the skull is that of a human, while the other uses a horned demon skull, and the crossguard, once wide and protective, was now folded against the ribs.
"A Demon Arm... you had no strain wielding the Divisor, and now you've none bearing this new armament..." Yang turned her head to face Ruby as she mused about this, the girl's silver pools narrowed but also quite notably holding ample curiosity within them as she regarded Yang. In response, the older sister merely raised the blade upright again, observing the new weapon in her hands and noting that her connection with it felt far more... personal, now. It felt like her own soul thrummed within the blade, something she'd similarly felt when she momentarily held the Divisor, except while her own was warm like the embrace of an old friend and empowering, filling her soul with a sense of freedom as she held it, but Ruby's Divisor was... cold, ambitious, solitary, ruthless and power-hungry. Nothing like the girl she'd known for so long, but then again she supposed that she must've never really known her sister, if this was what her own soul reflected. Maybe it was just the leftover remnants of the Grimm Lord's soul within Ruby's blade like there seemingly was within her own. However, that was a thought and theory to humor another time, she supposed.
"I see... well, perhaps you can give me some answers now?" Yang questioned as her attention turned back to her sister, a single brow raised despite the heavy breathing and flowing blood passing down both parties. "It said "A second descendant of Demon Blood..." what did it mean by that?"
Ruby seemingly closed up a little, looking away from her sister with a clearly mixed expression. However, Yang was anything if not persistent, and as she rested her blade on her shoulder, she set a hand on Ruby's own, giving her a soft, warm smile as the girl turned back to her. A deep sigh escaped her lips, as she turned away, silent as she stepped a few meters aside, gaze cast to the ground as her fists balled up momentarily, before releasing as the girl seemingly relaxed somewhat.
"They meant to say that neither of us is human, Yang. Not completely." She couldn't stop her eyes from widening as she spoke those words, not fully understanding what she meant by saying such a thing but getting enough to be unable to suppress a look of shock. Silently, Ruby drew forth the Divisor again, and slashed open a portal, but revealing a location she'd never seen before, almost like a library but not in the sense of all the secure cases the contents were held in, nearly collapsing from doing so, before looking back to her sister and jerking her head towards the portal. "Come, sister... we're in no shape to fight the rest of the horde now, and I'd say your blood gives you the right to the same answers I received... the answers I received when I too learned I was both human and Demon."
A/N: Sorry about the long Hiatus. Haven't been able to make something I'm happy with in a long while and I can't even really say I'm satisfied with this one, either... just hit the bar of "good enough" for me, I guess.