Author's Notes:
-Hello my dear readers. Wow, we've made it to the 100th chapter of EL. (RWBY hasn't even made it to their hundredth episode yet. Then again, I just have to write and do descriptions well...) Anywho, I know this was going to be published closer to Christmas, but guess who got done with this chapter early? I guess this chapter is your early Christmas present. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!
-As is customary, I shall give to thee a Christmas parody RWBY style. (breathes in)
Oh... Jingle Bells
Adam smells
Athena laid an egg
Blacksun's Hot
Tauradonna's Not
Volume 4 All the Way, Hey!
(sees glares from Adam and Athena) Don't even think about breaking the fourth wall, I'm still fixing it from Cinder's fire damage! Besides, you have things to do this chapter, both of you! Now go on! (shoos them away and fixes fourth wall crack)
-Omake and Christmas carol parodies aside, we've come a pretty long way from where this fanfic began. One arc is about to come to an end, but volume 4, as well as the fanfic itself, is far from done. Thank you all for your wonderful support. It means a lot to me.
Now then... Let's see who wins the game.
As the game was about to end, Ghira and Kali were walking through the streets of Wind Path. Negra was held by her collar in Ghira's left hand as the dog-tailed spy lead them. The spy had red hair and pale skin. She wore the traditional White Fang uniform and around her neck was a fang necklace charm. The spy breathed in, trying to silently reassure herself.
Eventually they reached Athena's tower, standing about a hundred feet from it.
"So this is the place where the leader of the Revolutionists chose to hide?" Ghira asked.
"Yep, that's it." The spy glared at the strongman with a mixture of anger and fear. "Now could you let my follower Messenger of the Lady go?"
Ghira let Negra down, and she said to her coworker, "You didn't have to do this, Addie."
Addie dismissed her statement. "Negra, you're my best friend. I'm not going to lose another one." The dog-tailed spy glared at Ghira. "And you... You have a lot of nerve poking around in matters that don't concern you."
The former High Leader frowned. "The death of Maura Celandine is our business."
"But why would that be?" Addie quipped. "You're not Loyalists, or Revolutionists."
Negra raised an eyebrow. "Addie, do you think it might be possible that these two," she said pointing to Kali and Ghira, "are or once were members of the White Fang?"
"I guess we'll have to see what the Winged Lady knows." She whipped out a camera and took a picture of the suspects which printed itself immediately. "She may not know who are you yet, but she will. You will regret crossing the Revolutionists." Addie warned them.
Negra threw a smoke bomb and the messengers vanished.
Kali gave her husband a concerned look. "Do you think Athena will recognize us?"
"Not likely, but I don't what to find out." Ghira answered. "Hopefully we can find her before she finds us."
And so, the Belladonna parents entered the tower.
Back at the stairway to the twenty-fifth floor, Adam and Sienna had made it to the top, seeing the glass walls and how far up they were.
"Let's finish this." Sienna said.
Sienna kicked down the door to the library room and they found Athena Bruna herself standing there all alone.
The 'war goddess' greeted them with a smile. "Well, it's about time you showed up." She looked to Adam. "I see you brought your army."
"You took our friends, attacked Sanctum, framed Maura and have evaded punishment for far too long." The tigress scowled. "I'm giving you one last chance; surrender, release our friends and maybe I'll spare you."
Athena simply laughed at her command. "That is never going to happen."
"Looks like you leave me no choice-" Sienna unfurled her whip from her wrist. "I have to finish you myself!"
Sienna made the first move, but Athena backflipped and dodged it effortlessly, springing herself up with her wings. The winged faunus then got out a sword of fire and ice dust and swung out, releasing a combined dust wave. Sienna dodged to the side, only for the glass panel to redirect the attack back to her. She was engulfed in an explosion of fire and ice dust. Had it not been for her aura, she would have been finished.
Adam, pretending to be on Sienna's side, charged and attempt to grab Athena by the ankle, only for her to curl her legs up to get out of his reach.
The High Leader, however, wasn't having it, and quickly dragged her down to the floor. Athena screamed as Sienna threw her into the table, crushing and collapsing under the sudden pressure. Sienna leapt forth and tried to strike, only for Athena to jump back and fire a red and dust wave upwards. The dust hit the upper part of the glass wall and went over Sienna's head as she ducked down.
"Attacks reflect off the glass." Sienna observed.
Athena smirked. "Precisely."
"Isn't that a dangerous move?" Adam asked.
"It's a calculated risk."
She charged forth at Sienna, attempting to aim at her chest, but the tigress kicked her at the wrist, knocking the sword out of her hands. Athena threw an electric dust knife at the High Leader, forcing her to evade it and giving herself time to retrieve her weapon. She was soon met with Adam's sword, and the two were locked in a brief battle of strength. Athena looked at him, her eyes blinking. Adam nodded. He thrust his sword forward with enough force to knock her down.
Athena swiftly got up, but she knocked down again, this time by Sienna. The winged faunus stood up, but Sienna swiftly used her whip to wrap around Athena's right arm.
The tiger eared faunus felt a cold chill up her spine as Adam closed in on her. She released her hold on Athena's arm and spun herself away as Adam attempted, and failed, to stab her in the back.
"I knew it! I knew you couldn't be trusted!" Sienna scowled. "You liar!"
The bull horned faunus scowled. "Looks like the facade didn't truly work. I should have known it wouldn't be this easy."
"I knew all along." Sienna spoke half-truthfully. "I just didn't want to be right." Sienna cracked her whip and threw it towards Adam, only for him to dodge. "Why did you lie to me?!" She continued her whip attack, trying to wear him down. "Why did you lead me here?!"
"Oh Sienna." Athena began. "You don't get it, do you?" She temporarily stopped her attack. "You stand in the way of both my agenda and his. We agreed to help each other out to prevent anyone from intervening."
She raised her eyebrows before glaring at them. "This was all a setup?!"
Athena smirked. "Afraid so, Sienna."
The tigress glared at Adam and Athena. "You traitors! You attack combat schools, keep your subordinates in the dark! You two are way too similar for my liking!"
Adam smirked. "Why thank you, High Leader."
This only made Sienna even more frustrated. Adam jumped back to dodge Sienna's whip, sheathed Wilt and got out Blush, starting to fire at Sienna from a distance. The energy gunshots reflected back on the glass, only to hit Athena and not Sienna.
Hmm... The glass reflects attacks... but in which direction? Adam asked himself silently.
Before he could figure out a new plan, he jumped out of an incoming wave of electric dust.
The Valeian leader glared at Athena from behind his mask. "I thought we were on the same side!"
Athena smirked. "Sorry Adam, but that badge is mine!"
"No, I'm the one who will rise!" he claimed.
"Oh, Adam. The advantage isn't on your side." Her smirk shifted to a mad grin. "It's on mine."
She flew up a few feet and swung her sword downward, the dust wave bouncing off the lower glass panels, then the upper glass until they hit Adam and sent him flying right into Sienna. From there she flew forward and tried to strike Sienna in the head, only for Adam to jump up and grab her by the ankle, pulling her down.
"You know, you made a bad decision having the fight in such a small room." Adam taunted.
The bird faunus internally cursed. Fuck, he's right. I thought it would be a good idea to use the glass to ensnare Sienna's attacks and strike her down at the right angle. Perhaps I didn't... She shook her head and realized Adam's ploy. He's trying to distract me, but it's not going to work!
Upon getting up, she swung her sword in a horizontal line twice, releasing two combined dust waves. They bounced off a panel, then another before the combined wave split into two and bounced all around the room. Sienna ducked down as Adam dashed behind the grey couch. Two seconds later, the dust landed on the couch, causing part of the silver trim to bit fly off and hit his face. His mask was knocked off and he held his face with his hands trying to lessen his pain. Adam looked around and crawled, trying to get to his mask without the ladies seeing his face.
The new Mistralian leader stepped forth, trying to behead Sienna. Sienna used her whip to disarm Athena, only for her to try and punch her in the face. Sienna ducked down to dodge the first few forward punches, but was not fast enough to dodge the last one, sent sent her flying into the couch. Her back was arched over before she fell down to the floor. She got up, but was pierced by one of Athena's electric knives.
She screamed in agony as she stood in the middle of the room. She was shot in the back, her aura just beginning to break. She dashed a few steps back until she found herself against one of the glass panels.
Athena and Adam, who had just retrieved and put on his mask, charged towards her.
Meanwhile, Blake and Sun were shown in a hallway several floors below, fighting against the 'war god', the latter flying over Blake as he was tossed into a wall. Ares took his sword from the ground and attempted to slash Blake, only to see that he had hit a shadow clone instead. She made a few clones, most of them being pure shadows, until he hit the last one, made of fire. He was blasted into the wall, unable to hold on to his sword as he went flying. Upon impact, he growled and punched Sun, who tried to get him in the face.
"Enough illusions!" Ares growled. Sun went at him with his staff, only for the 'war god' to swiftly retrieve his weapon and block. "Face your death like a real warrior!" Ares swung his sword around, making slash marks on the grey walls as he missed his targets. "Are all humans cowards?!"
Under different circumstances, Blake might have laughed, but fighting against Ares was no laughing matter. "We gotta do something!" she exclaimed, dodging a low downward swing followed by one upwards. "At this rate," She dodged another swing, this time upward. "we'll run out of aura before we even find Adam!"
"Got any plans, Princess?" Sun asked, barely avoiding getting his nose chopped off by the overly large sword Ares wielded.
Blake saw his sword and how fast he swung. She noticed that his backside was left open every time he swung his sword forward.
"Just one. Keep him busy!"
He looked at her in horror and shock. "What?!"
"Trust me!"
Sun knew he could trust her, but deep down, he was terrified. He jumped up, ducked down, and continued to evade his advances. Blake made a retreat to Sun's left, and Ares went for it, only to find a clone of ice dust instead. The ice shattered into pieces as Ares growled and failed to notice the real Blake behind him. She kicked him down and pressed her boot to his back.
"Why you little...!" Ares complained, only to be cut short.
"Sun, now!"
The monkey tailed faunus made a swipe for the ram horned faunus's weapon, only for Ares to grab him by the heel and send him tumbling down. Laying on his left side, Sun kept his grip on the Zweihander as he fell. Crawling up, Ares attempted to wrestle his weapon out of his grasp. Blake used the ribbon part of Gambol Shroud to try and stop Ares from retrieving his weapon, but it was not enough. His bare strength not only allowed him to escape, but tore off part of the ribbon.
"Aw crud." Blake muttered.
Ares kicked both of them down, with Sun's staff and Blake's variant ballistic chain scythe knocked away from them.
"Is that all you got?" Ares taunted as he got up. "I was expecting a real challenge!"
"That's your problem, Ares!" Blake retaliated as she got up and turned to face him. "You're always so full of yourself!
At this Ares became confused. "Huh? How do you...?"
Blake kicked him in the shin before he could finish his question, knocking him against a closed door. She then took one of the chains she had and enchained his left arm the doorknob of said door. He tried to break free, without much luck.
"Nice work, Belle." Sun complimented, retrieving their weapons.
She giggled. "Why thank you." He handed her back her weapon. "And thank you."
"Wait a second." Ares began. "You look familiar..." He gasped. "No, it can't be!" He looked at the bow, squinting at in before widening his eyes in shock. "Blake Belladonna?"
She smirked. "About time you recognized me!"
"But, but you went missing over a year ago! At the Forever Fall forest! You should be dead!"
"Well, I'm alive. Sur-prise!"
Ares smirked. "You may be alive now, but if you interfere in Adam and Athena's game, you might not be. Go forth if you dare!"
Without saying anything else, Blake and Sun quickly fled the area, leaving a chained Ares behind.
Back in the library, the battle royale continued. Athena's fire and ice dust sword was on the ground while she was a few feet off from it. She used the electric dust daggers in her hands and fired two dust waves, one up and one to her left. The dust waves bounced off each other and sent her foes running as she took the opportunity to retrieve her weapon. She then noticed Adam being hit with one of the dust waves.
From above the ground, Athena looked at Adam in a mixture of anger and confusion. "How is your aura not broken or breaking by now?!"
"I'm afraid it's more difficult then you think, Lieutenant Bruna."
"That's Lady Bruna to you!"
She threw the knife in her right hand at him, only for him to deflect it back to her. She quickly landed as the blade bounced off the glass and onto the exit door, engulfing it in lightning and smoke.
Hmm... She doesn't go by her former title of Lieutenant... Adam silently observed.
When the dust cleared, the door was now charred.
"How clever!" Athena smirked. "But not clever enough!"
This time she used the dagger in her left hand and the sword in her right to release a dust wave of electric, fire and ice power. As the red, light blue and yellow dust bounced off the walls, she flew towards Sienna attempted to strike her in the neck. The High Leader retaliated by kicking her in the stomach and swiftly using her left leg to send Athena to the ground. Not a second later, Sienna was shoved into the wall by Adam.
Sienna found her head spinning and Adam attempted to stab her, only for a flash of black and white to bust through the doors and stop him in the nick of time. The tigress blinked and saw Blake, wearing a white bow in her black hair, intercepting the attack with the katana of Gambol Shroud. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a monkey tailed faunus not wearing a White Fang mask, but she paid little mind to him.
The black beauty pushed Adam back and smiled at her. "Need a hand?"
Sienna smiled and nodded before turning to face Adam and Athena. "Finally, it's nice to see a loyal ally."
Adam was pushed back by Blake's sword, then started laughing manically.
"What's so funny?" Blake angrily asked.
"Why are you laughing?" Sienna interrogated her rebellious subordinate.
Even Athena glared at him. "Seriously, why are you laughing?"
After moment, his laughter died down. "You don't get it, do you?" Adam addressed the tigress. "You accuse me and Athena of being traitors, but the real traitor is right in front of you." He pointed to Blake. "Blake Belladonna left the White Fang over a year and a half ago and ran away to try and become a huntress at Beacon Academy."
Sienna gasped.
Oh dear... Sun thought.
The High Leader turned to face her long-lost 'friend'. "Blake... Is this true?!"
Athena raised an eyebrow, perplexed by the situation. She looked over at Sun briefly before turning back to Blake.
The good traitor stuttered. "I..."
"Wait a second!" Sienna called out, pointing to Adam. "You said Blake was captured on the Forever Fall Dust Raid! That happened over a year ago! You...!" Her voice became angrier and more cracked. "You've been lying to me this whole time!" She tried to grab him with her whip several times, but failed as he jumped aside. "Is everyone around me... a traitor?!"
"No! Sienna...!" Blake began.
"Enough!" Sienna pushed Blake to the ground. "It seems everyone I know and don't know are traitors!" She cracked her whip and swung at Adam before attempting an attack on everyone else. "AND TRAITORS... MUST... DIE!"
With this, she released the final dust blade- the electric one- from her whip, and it landed on the glass. Instead of bouncing off the walls however, the blade shattered into pieces, causing Athena to be caught in the explosion. She screamed in pain as she was electrocuted, with yellow lightning bolts dancing across her.
As Athena was engulfed in electric energy and soon fell down, Sienna lashed her whip towards Blake. She ducked down, trying to avoid each strike, only to be struck in the upper part of her right arm. She held the area with her left hand to try and ease the pain, ducking under the whip again.
"Sienna! We don't need to fight!" Blake protested.
The tigress didn't respond to Blake's plead and struck her other arm. She bit her tongue to prevent a scream from escaping her lips as she evaded Sienna's barrage of attacks.
Meanwhile, Athena emerged from the ground, with some of her wing feathers falling off. She groaned in pain and it shifted to a soft growl.
As she took a moment to catch her breath and recover, Sun ran towards Adam and attempted to strike him down with the staff Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang, but Adam was ready. Taking Wilt, he raised it above his head to stop the blow. Then he gave the monkey tailed faunus a kick to the chest. Sun was sent flying into one of the glass panels. Athena took him by the arm and tossed him aside back-first into another panel.
"You know, you look pretty strong." She walked towards him. "You should join the Revolutionists."
Sun scowled. "Not happening, crazy lady! You White Fang are nothing but a bunch of creeps!"
Athena growled at his comment and unleashed a yellow dust wave at him, only for him to spin his staff around and deflect it to a glass panel, which bounced off three more panels before hitting the light fixture on the ceiling. Some of the lights above them began to flicker. Sparks from above were seen as Athena threw another electric dust knife at Sun. He sidestepped and the blade exploded on contact with the glass, causing him to fall forward. He rolled himself backwards as if he were a ball just as the owl struck her sword down.
The winged lady took a step back and briefly glanced at her opponents; Sienna was fighting against Blake, and Adam was shooting at Sienna with Blush. With the headless Cerberus Whip in her left hand, and an aura shield held by her right, she held onto Blake's arm as Adam's gunshots landed on the ground. Seeing as gunshots weren't working, he switched to his sword and struck against the aura shield. Sienna's aura began cracking in a flash of red, but she stood her ground. Taking her left arm, she conjured her fleeting strength to toss Blake aside.
Athena came towards her and slashed repeatedly as Sienna used aura from both of her arms to hold her shield.
Blake got up and advanced on Adam, coming in from the right as Sun came from the left, but Adam dashed back and both combatants skidded to a stop to avoiding hitting each other. As they came towards Adam, he noticed Athena striking Sienna in the upper part of her right arm, paying attention to Sienna's flickering aura.
She's almost there... And now.
Adam swung his sword, releasing the stored energy to power his semblance Moonslice. In flashes of red, Sienna's shield and aura broke under pressure, sending her flying and causing her to bleed from her stomach. She hit the glass panel and fell down.
Before he could advance to kill the High Leader, Blake and Sun ran towards Adam, only to be pushed aside. They got up and Blake switched to her gun of Gambol Shroud, firing at Adam as Sun came towards him.
All the while, Athena attempted to behead Sienna with her sword, but the tigress took the blade with her palm, screaming as she was severely cut.
Conjuring strength, she threw Athena's sword aside into the glass wall...
"No!" Athena cried out.
And shattered it to pieces as dust exploded everywhere, knocking Sun and Blake down, with Adam spinning his sword to deflect the dust away from him.
The tigress breathed in, seething with rage, the deep cuts shown for all to see. In a flash, she shoved Athena into the wall and tied her up her right arm with the whip. She then attempted choke her with her bloodied hand. Athena tried to shove Sienna away from her with her left arm.
Dizzy, Blake and Sun stood up, trying to recover, and the former gasped as a blade was heard being drawn. She ran forward, but it was too late.
A feminine scream of pain was heard and Sienna was revealed to have been stabbed, a blade piercing through her left lung.
Behind her, the camera turned to show Adam behind her, his blade stabbing her. Blake and Sun stood there in shock, paralyzed in fear as he withdrew his sword. Sienna gasped for air, finding it hard to breathe. Adam then stabbed her in the back again, puncturing her right lung, and she bled all over.
The scene zoomed out to show Salem viewing the scene in a crystal ball.
"And so the day ends, and a new night begins. Sienna has served her purpose well, and it appears that the new leader is even more violent than she was." Salem smirked. "This is even better. What little power High Leader Khan had will return to me. Too bad she could never learn to properly use it."
The Grimm Witch laughed as the scene faded in a blur.
Back in the library, Sienna was dying. Her torso throbbed in pain as she continued to bleed. Her head hurt as she lost air in her lungs. Her insides were on fire and her fingers were numb. The power she had was leaving her. A cold chill crept across her neck as she saw one last vision flash in her mind. In the dark of night, with the shattered moon above them, she saw Adam, Athena and Ares standing in the moonlight before Salem herself. Salem smirked upon seeing them.
The vision ended as quickly as it began. "Stop them..." Sienna choked out. "Stop Salem."
Sienna took her last breath and fell to the ground.
Blake's shock turned to sorrow and then anger within mere seconds. "How could you?! She did nothing to you and you just killed her! You monster!"
The beauty charged towards him as the beast stepped aside and kicked her down.
"Blake!" Sun was kicked into the door by Athena, and then she handcuffed him by the right wrist to the doorknob. He tried to break free, without luck.
Athena smirked at her prey and looked at Adam, an angered look on her face as he took the Badge of Leadership and pinned it to the left side of his chest. He then wiped off the blood from his sword with a red cloth.
"Well I'll admit, you're smarter than I thought." Athena acknowledged him. "I did not expect you to be able to win this game we played. I set this up so that I would have the advantage. The scales were in my favor, but yet you have succeeded where I have failed twice. You have shown a level of flexibility and adaptability that I do not have. Congratulations on winning, High Leader Taurus."
Adam sheathed his cleaned weapon and smirked as Blake softly gasped. Before she could get up, he quickly grabbed some chains and bound Blake in them, causing her to scream as she had her arms restricted. The new High Leader then took her in his arms.
Blake tried to get out of the chains, without luck. "Let me go!"
Sun continued to try and break the handcuff with his bare strength.
Athena rolled her eyes at the monkey faunus before turning back to Adam. "So what are your orders, High Leader?"
"Release my allies from the dungeon, and get rid of Sienna's corpse. We will claim that Sienna was killed by a human huntsmen on the rooftop and that her body was eaten by a Grimm thereafter. And once you're done with that, get rid of the monkeyman."
Blake widened her eyes in terror.
The owl faunus examined Adam's prisoner. "What about the human girl?"
"As for Blake, she's mine. Also, don't let the bow fool you; underneath it she hides cat ears."
The 'war goddess' smiled. "Is that so? I had Tawny do the same to fool the guards at Argus Harbor. Great minds think alike." The Revolutionist leader then frowned as she realized something. "Wait a second." She raised an eyebrow. "If Sienna said this girl deserted the White Fang, then, wouldn't she be a traitor and thus receive the death penalty?"
"She may be a traitor, but she doesn't deserve death. She deserves much worse."
"You'll never get away with this!" Blake claimed.
The 'bull king' smirked. "Oh my darling, I already have."
"Let her go, Adam!" Sun ordered. "She doesn't have anything you want!"
Athena smirked as she raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think you're in a position to say such things?" Not even a second later, a growling was heard in the distance and the owl faunus grinned. "Oh ho ho! Ares is coming this way, and he is mad!" She turned to Adam. "Looks it's time for us to vacate the scene. Ares will finish this intruder."
She grabbed Sienna's corpse and they rushed out the doors, with Athena flying over him.
"Let me go!" Blake ordered, only to be ignored.
"Blake!" Sun tried to move his hand, only to remember that he was handcuffed to the door knob by his right hand. "Aw crap." He lamented his bad luck. "Wouldn't it be nice to have Pyrrha's semblance right now..."
He found the door violently shake as Ares tried to force it open on the other side. "Open up!"
I got to get out of here and save Blake, but how can I even save myself? Sun asked himself in fearful silence.