AN: Chapter ten is here. This was sorta hard to write at some points. Once Ihit a stride though? Easy chapter. Moving on, however, Enjoy the chapter guys. Probably one you've all been waiting for.
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Queen of the Damned
A hammer of glowing red energy devastated the ground, cratering the rocky terrain of the land of darkness before the stone and dirt beneath and around it shuddered under its force and exploded into the air. Sasuke dodged those projectiles just as he deflected another weapon with Kusanagi. He clicked his tongue and spun around, Delivering a vicious kick into Kinshiki's guard. The wind pressure from the impact spread out, sweeping over the land, carrying a wave of dust with it.
The dust was parted, a Rasenshuriken's grinding whistle sounding across the battlefield as it tore through the dispersing cloud. The sheer force of the attack scarred the earth, and yet Momoshiki had to merely lift his hand and absorb it. Momoshiki smirked. Naruto scowled back from across the battlefield. Momoshiki's chakra swelled.
Of course he can just absorb our jutsu. Why am I not surprised?
We should have predicted that. Kurama growled.
To be fair, we hadn't noticed the Rinnegan in his hands yet. His hands of all places! Naruto groaned internally. Kurama was about to reply, but the inner dialogue ceased as Momoshiki vanished. Naruto's left hand jerked up, blocking a kick to his neck from the right. Gripping Momoshiki's leg, he swung him away and gave chase, spiderwebbing the ground with his take off. Yelling, Naruto flung his fist forward and caught Momoshiki in the jaw, sending him skidding across the ground, digging a furrow into the earth.
This time, however, Naruto did not give chase. Momoshiki had traded his punch for a knee to the chest and Naruto was sent backflipping through the air as he tried to right himself. His eyes darted around the battlefield. He didn't see Sasuke anywhere, so he assumed he was behind him. Flipping around midair, he saw Sasuke trading blows with Kinshiki, swaying around blade strikes and blunt weapons.
He's weaker.
He is… let's capitalize on it! Plan set, Naruto charged a mini Rasenshuriken in his hand just as Kinshiki caught Sasuke in the chin and flung him into the air. Kinshiki jumped after him.
"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted. Sasuke's eyes flicked to his and in the next moment they'd swapped places. Kinshiki was still on his approach, his guard lowered since he thought he'd had the advantage. Naruto flicked his hand out. The Rasenshuriken caught him in the chest, cutting and expanding. Kinshiki yelled out, his blood flying into the air around him.
"Vermin!" screamed Momoshiki, leaping up behind Sasuke as a gout of flames exploded out of his hands. Sasuke turned about and rose his own hand, absorbing the chakra of the attack. He jumped, then with his right leg he caught Momoshiki in the neck, twisted his body, and brought the Otsutsuki to the dirt.
The ground shattered.
"So… what does that make you?" Sasuke taunted.
Weiss opened her eyes with a groan, her stomach flipping. Her fingernails dug into the coarse dirt as she lifted herself off the ground. Once she was in a sitting position, her hands flew up to her mouth as she held herself back from throwing up. She'd never like this from any sort of travel before. Weiss blinked and suddenly the world was awash with blinding rainbow light.
"You would betray me, Cinder? My my… how foolish of you." Salem spoke. Weiss's eyes adjusted and so she witnessed Cinder holding off a multi-colored beam of magic from Salem with a shield of ice. Cinder's teeth were gnashed as she was pushed back continuously. Weiss looked around to see the rest of her friends and Cinder's team getting to their feet. Meanwhile, the adults were rushing toward Salem.
Cinder's ice shield broke down and she threw herself to the side, dodging the shot of magic as a black tornado swirled up beneath Salem's feet, lifting her into the air. Red magic circles appeared on the ground, grim arms rising rapidly from them. They grabbed at Qrow and Taiyang, but were dodged. Qrow's body shifted into that of a crow and he swiftly gained altitude before transforming back. Sword in hand, he used gravity to bring the blade down upon Salem with force. Her head split open, but her eyes merely twitched over to him as her hand shot up, stretching and cracking him across the face.
Qrow plummeted. Winter used her glyphs to speed across the ground, dodging grimm arms. Just moments before Qrow hit the ground, Winter used her glyphs to slow his momentum. He took the chance and landed on his feet.
"Weiss! Come on, get up! We need to help." Yang yelled, running over to her and punching grimm arms away. Weiss got to her feet and looked up at Salem as her head oozed black liquid. The goop reached out from the split sides of her head, connecting to each other like wet webs. Weiss wanted to gag as Salem's head reconnected, black-red liquid sputtering and seeping from the freshly reconnected skin until she was fully whole.
"What are we supposed to do about a… a creature like that?' Weiss asked. She could not reconcile Salem having ever been human. No. It was impossible. This… thing, was not something she could really comprehend.
"Hold her off until Naruto and Sasuke get here." Yang sighed.
"…Joy." Huffed Weiss, brandishing Myrtenaster and striking down more arms that came their way. IN the next moment, she made a trail of glyphs across the ground that led her and Yang toward Salem at blazing speed. Salem herself batted an attack from Taiyang away as she saw them coming. Her eyes slid over to them almost lazily, a gaze like a bloody wound met their own.
A sphere of black energy burst to life in her right hand. Salem never got to throw it. A bullet from Crescent Rose plunged into her spine. Black-red liquid spiked out from her chest and remained there, almost rigidly, as Salem dropped from the sky. Weiss and Yang picked up speed, meeting Salem right before she hit the ground. In a flash of movement, a dozen thrusts from Weiss's Myrtenaster plunged into Salem.
Yang slid out from behind Weiss and flanked Salem's right. Three blows slammed into Salem's head, more black slime spattering out of it. Yang heard a snap on the last blow, Salem's head whipped around like an owl's. Salem caught her fist before the next blow landed. Disgustingly slowly, the liquid seeped back into Salem's face. Her head snapped back around, neck cracking. Her eyes and nose resurfaced from the slime and Salem looked upon Yang and Weiss.
Salem's face was expressionless, her gaze blank as her chest and stomach reformed and left her without a mark upon her.
"The adults were talking, children." Salem spun around, dragging Yang with her before raising a hand to her abdomen and firing off a blast of lighting that launched her into her father. Without looking, Salem ducked a thrust from Weiss. Reaching her hand around her back, rainbow light flooded from her hand and washed over Weiss, flinging her into a rock.
Three more bullets flew her way, but Salem merely allowed the black hands of the grimm to rise from her magic circles and block the shots. Her eyes twitched over to Ruby and then they narrowed.
"You have silver eyes." Salem moved. Ruby shot again. She missed. Salem grabbed her up by the neck and squeezed. A fireball slammed into her and flung Salem away. She grunted as she bounced across the dirt. After taking a moment to orient herself, she got back to her feet and met a flying Cinder's blazing sword with her own flame magic. The explosion tossed them away and at that moment Ozpin brought his cane across Salem's face.
"This has to end, Salem…" Ozpin sighed, staring down at her sadly.
"Yes… and it will. As soon as you all die." Salem spat back. Lightning arced off her body and slammed into Ozpin. He managed to block with his staff as he slid back before rushing her and delivering a kick to her stomach. Salem slid back, but just walked toward Ozpin as the cracking of her resetting bones rang out. With a wave of her hand a hail of ice shot at him, only to impale an afterimage. Ozpin blurred into view from her right and swung. Salem batted the blow to the side, forcing him to miss and breaking her hand in the process.
Salem's left hand flew up, catching Ozpin with a sphere of black energy. Another afterimage fell to her attack, the true Ozpin now behind her. He buried his cane into her back. Her arm bent unnaturally, grasping his arm in an iron grip even as she grunted from the pain.
Squeezing his arm until he was forced to let go, Salem flung Ozpin away and then pulled his cane from her body.
"I powdered my cockatiel for the ribcage slaughter!" Salem blinked. She raised a brow. The first positive show of emotion she'd made thus far.
"…what?" Salem looked up.
A hammer slammed into her head.
"Ha! Come back from that, creepy grimm lady!" grinned Nora. Ren ran up to her as Ozpin got his legs under him a few feet away. He favored his injured arm as he stepped over to them, yelling.
"Get away, Miss Valkyrie!"
"I grow tired of you children interrupting my dance with my dear, loving, husband." Spoke Salem, her voice sounding muffled from being planted like a seed in the dirt.
The ground shattered.
Naruto ducked under a swing from Kinshiki, before blocking a weapon from behind, jumping over another and catching Kinshiki's fist with a gudodama. A chakra arm leapt from Naruto's back and reached over his body, bearing down on Kinshiki and cracking him in the head. He face planted, but not without another one of his weapons slamming into Naruto's back and sending him careening into Sasuke who was in the middle of absorbing another Jutsu from Momoshiki.
"Damn it, Naruto!"
"Shut up! He hit me with a giant spiked club!" Naruto shouted back. Flames, lightning, and water washed over them a moment later. Kinshiki floated over to Momoshiki a moment later. The both of them were a little worse for wear Their once immaculate robes were left in tatters. Cuts and bruises littered their skin. Kinshiki's chest wound from Naruto still remained.
The two of them looked upon the destruction Momoshiki had just wrought on their enemies and waited.
"You should… sacrifice me… Momoshiki-sama. They are more… powerful than we had expected… and I am… of little use now." Kinshiki panted out. Was he capable of fighting on? Yes. Yes he was, but he knew better. Why struggle on? Giving Momoshiki easy access to his power now was smarter than waiting until it may be too late.
"Yes… you're right." Momoshiki replied, his eyes flicking over to Kinshiki as he rose his arm.
A spear of crackling lightning Shot out of the still roaring blaze and speared through Momoshiki's shoulder.
"No!" Growled Kinshiki as he leapt toward the blaze. He never made it close. A Bijudama burst from the fire, dispersing it and exploding against Kinshiki. Smoke billowed from the point of impact, obscuring Naruto and Sasuke's view.
"How long have we been trading blows like this…?" Naruto wondered as they jumped out of a near flooded crater, clothes wet and nearly gone. "They're destroying my jacket… I'd just gotten this fixed from our fight!"
"Shut up, Naruto. Focus." Sasuke was missing his own shirt but chose not to say anything as he made some slow steps over to his teammate.
"You good?"
"He caught me in the leg a little earlier." Sasuke grumbled back. Nodding, Naruto placed a hand on him and a moment later, Sasuke stretched out his leg and gave a single nod.
"They're taking too many hits. This is nothing like Kaguya. Either they're weaker than her or they aren't taking us seriously." Naruto said.
"Both, I think." Sasuke replied. Naruto hated to admit it, but that was probably right. His only wonder was how much harder the fight would get if they got serious. Sure, they were weaker than Kaguya—significantly even—but that still made them at least powerful enough to go toe to toe with a juubi jinchuriki Obito or Madara.
They have similar power… but not as much skill. Obito and Madara fell in the end… and so shall they. Kurama snarled. Naruto smirked, inhaled, and exhaled a gust of wind that blew the smoke away—just in time to see a pale horn slip through a Yomotsu Hirasaka.
"The others, Naruto!" Sasuke shouted. Naruto cursed and the two homed in on where they'd felt their friends fighting and sped off. They'd been careless and now? Now they might have to pay for it.
Yang coughed and struggled back to her feet. Ears ringing, she took a step and felt every part of her body scream out. She felt like her head was filled with cotton. Stumbling around in a daze, her eyes traveled over the dust obscured scenery listlessly. She coughed, expelling crimson.
That's when the pain came. Yang winced and dropped to her knees, clutching at her abdomen with her right hand. A right hand that was missing along.
Yang screamed.
Weiss and Ruby's eyes shot open, Yang's agonized scream waking them and immediately throwing them into a panic. Quickly, they got to their feet and searched her out from the sound of her voice, stumbling over uneven ground as they rushed. Ruby could hardly contain herself from petalizing herself and using her speed to reach Yang faster but leaving Weiss would have done neither of them any good.
What had Salem done? What kind of magic had destroyed everything around them like this? The once flat earth around them had been upturned, creating jagged, uneven hills of broken rock and dirt. Just maneuvering was near impossible. Ruby's hands trembled, rattling crescent rose in her hands as she took faster, clumsier steps forward. She shook her head.
It'll be okay… it will! Yang is fine…
She and Weiss squeezed themselves through a small crevice between two rocky hills and tripped out on the other side, almost falling flat on their faces. That's when they saw her. Yang was on the ground surrounded by Cinder, Jean, and Taiyang. And there was just so much blood. Too much blood. Ruby's heart clenched as a strangled gasp passed Weiss lips.
Then Yang wailed as Cinder laid a hand on one of her arms, smoke puffing up from the contact.
"Y-Yang! Yang!? Get away from her! Dad, what's wrong with—what can I do to help? Who can I get? Should I try to find Naruto!? He can heal her! He… he—" Ruby rambled as she and Weiss ran to them, Taiyang stood up, away from Yang and grabbed his youngest by her shoulders, attempting to keep her from doing anything rash.
"Ruby, you don't know where that boy is and if he's in battle like I expect him to be, he can't help her. But it's alright, okay? Everything will be alright. Cinder's just cauterized the wound and Jaune's semblance has awakened. He's using it to heal Yang… it'll be slow going, but she will recover… just… be with your sister, okay?"
"Oh? She will recover, will she? Such a shame…" Taiyang and Cinder whipped around, focusing on the dust cloud. From out of it stepped Salem. Taiyang's grip on his sword tightened as his eyes, narrowed. Cinder's hands trembled. Weiss's hands flew up to her mouth, eyes widening and brows shooting past her bangs. Jaune and Ruby could do little more than stare.
In Salem's left hand was Ozpin's severed head. Blood dripped from his neck as his lightless eyes gazed at them all, his mouth slightly agape from what was probably his last gasping breath.
"She would have suffered less." Salem delivered. Ozpin's head dropped to the dirt and she was gone. Taiyang moved, blocking her strike at the trembling Cinder. Difficult as it was, he was just barely able to keep up with her. Cinder recoiled at the sudden assault. Seeing Ozpin dead filled Cinder with dread for two different reasons. As Amber, a man she'd respected and admired—a friend and a mentor—was now dead. And what was still left of the old Cinder?
She knew she was next. And there was nothing anyone could do to save her.
Salem glanced down at Taiyang, looking upon him as filth. With but a swish of her hand she shattered his aura and pushed him back. He grunted, skidding across the dirt. Salem lowered her hand and steepled them across her stomach as she let her eyes roam over them all.
"Why?" Salem asked.
"Why…? Why what…?" Taiyang asked. Salem rolled her eyes. The pitiful man before her knew exactly what she meant.
"Why do you fight? Struggle? Why did you even come here? You could have lived just that little bit longer." Salem replied.
"And let you win?" Taiyang laughed as he stood tall and retook his stance. Cinder gazed at him, wide-eyed and astonished.
"I was always going to win… how long it takes? Irrelevant. You are all slaves to father time… but I am eternal." Salem responded. Taiyang laughed harder. "There is something amusing to you? You are about to die."
"Probably am." Taiyang chucked. "But your defeat is inevitable. You just don't realize it yet."
Salem shook her head, sighing. "Delusion is very unattractive. That's why Ozma and I… severed our ties." She smirked.
"No delusion here… you will fall in the end."
"Well… I see you will retain your foolishness. I will give you this small modicum of respect, however… to laugh in the face of death? I applaud you… you are a very brave man… foolish, but brave. I will make your death swift… and send your daughters to you soon." Taiyang tensed. Salem stepped forward, her hands coming undone as two black spheres of magic materialized in her palms, glowing softly against her pale skin. Taiyang lunged forward just as Salem took another step.
And then Taiyang Xiao Long knew no more.
Ruby's scream was deafening.
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That's the chapter. I wanted to end it here because the next one shouldn't be at the end of all this. I don't feel like there's anything else I could have realistically put after the deaths of Ozpin and Taiyang. Speaking of which… Taiyang and Ozpin are dead. Sure that came out of nowhere. Sorry, not sorry…? I like the guys, but I needed their lives for my plot purposes. At least Pyrrha still lives? As far as you know anyway… Salem is right before their eyes, Yang is just barely alive, and the Otsutsuki's are on their way. Nothing looking too good for the RWBY cast.
On the point of the Otsutsuki's, let me make something clear. They likely seem even weaker here than they were in the Boruto movie. And that is true for a reason. Now… will they stay that way? Hmm… suppose we'll have to find out. Moving on, I'm not sure these were the best fight scenes. Idk, can't say I felt it completely. But the show must go on. Anyway… I hope the chapter's to everyone's liking. If there are any questions you all have, feel free to leave a review. If you want some sort of more in depth discussion, then go ahead join the discord. Peace out.