The Arrival of Calamity

Flight

"The annals of history are stained with evil people like you. You spread havoc and destruction, all to satisfy your own ends, a dark font of malevolence. You're a daemon lord, the irredeemable embodiment of sin! And it is the exorcists' duty to destroy you."

Two weeks ago

When Magilanica Lou Mayvin, more commonly known as Magilou, had attached herself to Velvet's merry band of misfits and rogues, she had expected that things wouldn't be boring. Yet even her considerable imagination had not anticipated how much excitement would result from her association with the vengeful daemon lady. Take this day alone, for instance. In the last twenty-four hours, she had uncovered a traitor in their midst (who turned out to be none other than her oldest companion / accomplice / servant), taken a prison by storm (the one that kept her locked up for three years, at that), fought her way through an army of sanctimonious zealots (who kept throwing their lives away by using a technique that they knew full well would be the end of them), faced down a bona fide god (who turned out to be their fearless leader's dead brother) and was reunited with her not-so beloved mentor (who subjected her to a good hour of mental and physical torture). There truly wasn't a dull moment with the present company.

It made losing that bet almost acceptable.

Even now that things had calmed down a bit, she could enjoy the rare sight of an artificially created pocket dimension. The whole thing had an eery air about it, floating platforms above a sea of clouds, with a blue and gold sky illuminated by a perpetual sunrise. The flying islands were linked to each others by elegant stone stairs, each step carefully engraved with intricate motives, their group passing through archways that served no purpose beside impressing the eventual visitor. The platforms themselves were covered by lush green fields and white flowers; the work of her former mentor and his love for nature, no doubt. How much power was put in the creation of this closed world, she wondered? How much enslaved malakhim had been used to open the portals and shape this void into this vibrant display of the Abbey's will? Well, the witch supposed a lot became possible with a god's power to help. This place was in a lot of ways their incarnated ideal: an orderly, beautiful and peaceful world.

Magilou wanted nothing more than to set this false garden of hypocrisy on fire.

A far more pleasant sight, she decided, was that of their battered, exhausted fellowship. Each of them sported traces of the physical hardships of the day. The ever-fierce Velvet Crowe was covered in scars, with dried blood giving her long black hair a red hue and her tattered clothes looking even more like rags than usual. The young malak Laphicet seemed to have had one of his arms mauled, the torn sleeve of his white robe showing raw wounds that even his healing artes hadn't closed entirely. Eizen was in no better shape, the pirate's black coat missing a sleeve due to a fire arte, while the arm inside now showed a slightly charred appearance. Beside him, Rokurou Rangetsu had fared little better, his traditional hakama sporting a large gash on the front, showing how close he had been to be bisected in two when Innominat cleaved through his supposedly indestructible sword like a hot knife through butter. And finally, the ever-so-virtuous Eleanor Hume seemed relatively uninjured, but the use of her spear as a walking stick betrayed how gruelling today's challenges had been for the former exorcist. Magilou herself had no visible injuries to display, but those endless minutes of magical torture had left her legs still shaky, and it was taking most of her concentration not to trip and fall off into the bottomless chasm of this plane. Really, the only one looking absolutely fine in their merry group was Bienfu, the cat spirit looking no worse from wear, mainly by virtue of not doing much while everyone else had been fighting the fight of their lives.

That would call for a punishment later, Magilou decided; him avoiding any sort of harm while her mistress had to suffer indignity after indignity would simply not do.

Yet despite the sorry sight offered by their band of reprobates, they had never seemed so strong, mentally if not physically. And no-one showed that more clearly than Velvet Crowe. Before they got separated by the overwhelming power of Innominat, the daemon girl had been on the brink of total collapse, her spirit barely holding together as the Empyrean tore through her resolve and desire for revenge. And yet whatever challenge the raven-haired daemon went through while they got separated, it seemed to have tempered her spirit. She was still as brutal as ever, as her smashing old Melchior into the ground had proved (to Magilou's intense satisfaction), but the girl's anger no longer seemed to control her, but instead sharpened her resolve. For the first time since Magilou met her, Velvet seemed at peace with herself, something that the witch never thought she'd see one day.

She couldn't help but to shake her head. That girl truly knows how to vex me.

"Doing okay, Magilou? You're being awfully quiet."

Her introspective moment was interrupted by the second daemon of the group. Despite his wounds, Rokurou seemed just as easygoing as ever. You'd think that having this new supersword of his reduced to scrap metal five minutes after he got it would have weighted him down, but apparently he just wasn't the type to brood. Must be nice to be able to move on that quickly.

Magilou scoffed. "Oh, so now you're worried. Where was that concern during our tearful reunion, I wonder."

That got a chuckle out of the swordsman. "Never mind, you seem to be doing just fine."

"I'm glad," Laphicet interjected. "It'd feel wrong to not have Magilou to liven things up."

The witch responded to the earnest comment with a dramatic gasp. "Is that all I am to you people? A mere entertainer for you to laugh at? The nerve! At the very least, you ought to be paying me for that! My shows aren't cheap, I'll have you know."

Her outburst was rewarded by the young malak's innocent laugh. Come to think of it, he too seemed to have changed a bit during their brief time apart. The spirit-child looked like he had gained in assurance, as if he finally answered one of those numerous existential questions that had plagued him since Velvet rescued him from a life of slavery. Seriously, this was beyond frustrating. The only reason she was travelling with them was to see this story to the end, and now they were all having character development behind her back? This was utterly unfair!

"Hey, I think I see the exit!"

And then there was that guy. In addition to the members of her very own Magilou's Menagerie, they were currently joined by Zaveid, the wind spirit having showed up at the last minute to help. He was currently walking hand in hand with the newly minted Silva, a young malak who had been rescued from Melchior's clutches mere minutes ago, in the very same way Velvet had 'stolen' Laphicet several weeks ago. For now, the spirit formerly-known-as-number-one was mostly unresponsive, his personality still largely suppressed by the Abbey's conditioning. With time, his sense of self might emerge once more, one could hope. Not that Magilou really cared either way. On the other hand, Zaveid pointing out at the portal that would lead them back to the real world? That she cared very much for. A glowing disk of orange energy was shimmering on the lowest platform, promising them freedom at long last.

"Let's hurry," Eizen answered in his usual gruff tone. "The sooner we leave this place, the better."

"Agreed," Velvet nodded. "It has been a long day for everyone."

As if to answer, a radiant golden light bathed the entire area, seemingly coming from the upper levels of this plane. And with that glow came a sense of power that was becoming alarmingly familiar to their group. Bienfu was the first to say aloud what they were probably all thinking.

"Bieeeen! This is bad bad!"

Eleanor gasped. "Innominat?!"

"And probably not alone," Eizen answered. "Run!"

There was no need to tell that twice. Malakhim, daemons and humans alike began to rush through the stairs as if a vengeful god was after them. Which, you know, was exactly the case. The first obstacle in their flight didn't turn out to be the Empyrean however, but an ice barrier glittering into existence, freezing solid their escape path. So Melchior was back too, it seemed, his magic artes as annoying as ever.

It barely slowed them down. With a roar, Velvet's left arm transformed in its demonic form, burning hotter than any fire Magilou could conjure. The icy wall was literally clawed through, only to reveal the second obstacle: Melchior's pet daemon, the black humanoid creature letting out an inarticulate roar as it charged them.

Its fist met Eizen's, neither giving an inch to the other. The stalemate was broken by Rokurou, a slash of his daggers forcing the other daemon to sidestep, opening up the way once more. By the time the creature regained its balance, the group had already broken through, the portal growing closer and closer.

"You're not getting away."

Innominat's voice echoed through the pocket dimension, and came with a rain of light-shaped lances, soon joined by shards of ice, the joint magical assault threatening to skewer them all. Magilou called forth her own artes, her water shields soon joined by Zaveid's gusts of wind and Laphicet's paper guardians to ward them all from the brunt of the magical cataclysm. Still, every delay were costing them greatly. Melchior's daemon was already on the offence, with Eleanor fighting a rear-guard battle to keep it at bay, and Magilou could see two white-clad silhouettes rushing through the upper stairs , swords drawn, signalling the coming of Artorius and Shigure. In the sky, a shining dot was growing closer and closer, Innominat soaring through the air toward them at alarming speed.

Despite the urgency, she still managed a reproachful glance toward the earth malak in their ranks. "Is this your stupid Reaper's Curse at work again, Eizen?"

The pirate shrugged, before blasting away a chunk of ice that had managed to go through Zaveid's tornado. "Maybe?"

The Shepherd, his pet Empyrean, two Legates and an unknown daemon. Each of these opponents would have been challenging on their own. Facing them all together was suicide, especially given their degree of exhaustion, newfound resolve or not. Magilou was at least pleasantly surprised to see that neither Velvet nor Rokurou turned away in a misguided attempt to face their respective nemeses, having apparently enough sense to just bolt for once. They grew up so fast.

"Into the portal, now!"

Zaveid was the first to reach it, almost dragging Silva along with him. The two malakhim dived into the luminous disk, disappearing from view. Rokurou moved to follow, only to bounce back on a shimmering blue barrier cutting them all from their exit.

"Um, it's stuck."

Above them, Innominat had extended a hand glowing in a similar color, maintaining the forcefield he just created, his youthful face contorted into a cruel sneer.

"I said you're not going anywhere!"

To the group's growing horror, the portal began to shrink, as the Empyrean asserted his power upon it. Magilou was too busy deflecting another volley of Melchior's bombardment to do anything about that.

"Bienfu, keep the rift open!"

"Bieeeen! I can't!"

Her spirit servant was doing his best, but his powers were no match for Innominat. She supposed it might have been unfair of her to expect the normin to challenge the power of a god. Not that it'd prevent her from blaming him if this ended up getting herself killed.

Laphicet was the first to react, thrusting his palms toward the portal as his powers clashed with the Empyrean; and like what happened at the Temple, the attempt was met with some success, his strange connexion to the god allowing him to prevent him from closing their escape route altogether, at least for a moment. The effort was clearly taking a lot out of him, but he was valiantly holding on. That kid really was full of surprises, Magilou smiled to herself.

Yet even with the path still open, Innominat's barrier still prevented any crossing. That problem was neatly solved by Velvet, her daemon claw ramming into the energy field, literally devouring its magic away.

"Now!"

With the way finally open, they all dived into the portal, only for Magilou to realize they weren't out of the woods yet. Instead of instantly crossing the border separating the artificial dimension from the real world, Innominat's interference was wreaking havoc with the energies stabilizing the teleportation arte. As his power kept clashing with Laphicet, Magilou could feel space and time being torn asunder under his assault. And though she prided herself in being well-versed in all matters of magic, she had to admit she had no idea what that could mean when attempting a dimensional travel. Worst case scenario, they were probably about to all get erased from existence. What a lackluster end that would turn out to be.

At this point, the inside of the portal was a maelstrom of magical power, scattering their little band away in a whirlwind of power. She heard Laphicet crying out Velvet's name, but there was little anyone could do. In a few seconds, they were either all about to die, or... or things were about to become interesting.

This was the witch's last thought before the world around them was consumed by blinding light.

When Magilou regained consciousness, the first thing she felt was the coarse texture of sand against her skin. Her first thought was that she had landed on a beach, but as soon as she opened her eyes, she had to reassess that conclusion. The landscape before her was a sea of sand and rocks bathed in moonlight, something she recognized from books as being a 'desert'. Of course, since the Holy Midgand Empire was an archipelago, with none of its islands large enough to feature such a thing, that meant she was quite a long way from home right now. Did that portal transport her across the ocean to the Lost Continent? Talk about a Reaper's luck.

Well, at least she was alive, so you know, there was that.

A quick glance confirmed that she seemed to be alone. Well, she wasn't too worried about the others. If she managed to make it, they probably did too. None of them were smart enough to die when they were supposed to. She just hoped they hadn't landed too far away. Being separated from Bienfu once had been annoying enough, she really didn't want to have to put up with that a second time.

Well, for now she should probably move. Looking around, the only point of interest seemed to be a small oasis in the distance. It seemed like a start, at least. Then her eye caught a sight that made her heart skip a beat, and put her assumption of simply being on another continent into question. No, she realized as an irrepressible urge to laugh rose inside her, the situation was a lot more absurd.

Illuminating the night sky was a broken moon.

For the next minutes, the witch's hysterical cackle was the only thing that could be heard in the small corner of this new world.

Notes: since I didn't do it for the prologue, might as well do it now. Welcome everyone to this new project of mine! This Berseria x RWBY crossover has been a long-time project of mine, but I only recently got the push to really start writing it. I felt like there were interesting parrallels to make between the two verses, though I won't say too much about that for now. As for 'why Berseria and not Zestiria?', I simply like the characters better, although Zestiria characters might manage to find their way to this story (spoiler alert, this isn't the last time you see Zaveid, for one). I won't say much more for now, except that like my other running story, expect a lot of switching PoV, because I'm apparently unable to stick to a single perspective.

I hope you'll have as much fun in reading this than me in writing it, and see you soon!