Chapter 24: Hardy
Disclaimer: I do not in any way or form own Gate: Thus the JSDF Fought There or RWBY. They belong to their respective owners, Takumi Yanai and RoosterTeeth Animations respectively.
"This is awesome!" Yang cheered. The Ground below rushed past in a blur as the dragon soared through the air. None dared to challenge the ruler of the skies, and the dragon made good time. Each flap of its wings sent air rushing back and its muscles rippling.
"No, it is not!" Weiss screamed from somewhere behind her. As a living being, the dragon's flight was far less smooth than that of a Bullhead, and it did not have any walls, seats, or even handles. Yang and Giselle seemed to be the only ones enjoying the up and down motion that came with the flapping of wings, and the wind buffeting them.
Doctor Oobleck seemed more interested in finding out more about the Apostles from Giselle than the dragon itself, and she was more than willing to answer.
As for Lelei, she knew that something was happening with Rory and that the Apostle did not want to talk about it. However, the mage was more interested in figuring out what was going on. Strange magic was constantly swirling around her, so strong and volatile that anyone with magical training could see it. Those from Remnant could not, but she was sure that Giselle had, but was simply ignoring it. Lelei had to ask.
"Rory. You are 961 years old, correct?"
"It is rude to ask a lady her age," Rory replied, jokingly yet without her usual cheer. "But yes."
"An Apostle will ascend at a millennium. There should be plenty of time before that happens to you," Lelei noted, "But that magic that surrounds you is not of this world."
"No. My ascension is being accelerated. By what, I don't know."
"So why do you seem unwilling? Most people would love to become a god."
"Because a goddess cannot feel. They cannot enjoy life like humans or apostles," Rory complained, "I want to live. I thought I had forty more years to find someone I love and just spend my last years with him. Now I can't!" Enraged now, Rory slammed her halberd downward, having temporarily forgotten her location. The dragon grumbled beneath her as her halberd struck its armored scales.
"Is that why you convinced Winter to send you to Hardy?"
"Leave me alone, mage," Rory said, ignoring the question. Sulking, she turned to look down at the landscape rushing past below.
Lelei quietly watched the apostle, wondering what could possibly accelerate an ascension process so ancient and fixed.
Very soon, the power of the dragon brought them to their destination. It flew over the temple city of Belnago, its very presence sending the people beneath into a panicked frenzy. Ignoring them, Giselle guided it around the city for a while before realizing, "Huh, I can't land in here."
"We could jump," Yang suggested, adrenaline still racing from the flight.
"At this height? Rory and I will be fine, but you'll kill yourselves," the Apostle scoffed.
With their ride hovering over the city, Tai looked down. The largest building was in the center of the bustling city, stretching out over an impressive area. "Is that the shrine?" he asked, pointing.
"Yes, but -"
Before she could finish her sentence, Giselle heard a whoop from behind her, followed shortly by a scream. Turning, she saw that Yang had already jumped off the dragon, pulling Weiss with her. Ruby followed them happily, in front of both Giselle and Tai's astonished eyes. Sighing, Blake moved to follow them.
"I'll try to get them to stay still," she promised, "Don't take too long." With that, she too jumped off.
A moment of silence passed before Giselle exclaimed, "What the heck? They just- what?"
"I assure you that they will not be harmed, Ms. Giselle. We have placed them in more challenging circumstances before," Doctor Oobleck told her. "Shall we follow them?"
Giselle laughed, "Sure, why not? Everybody off!"
One by one, they jumped down, aiming for a clearing near the shrine. The moment Giselle, the last to leave, jumped off, the flame dragon roared and, with a mighty flap of its wings, flew off to do whatever it wanted.
Taiyang landed first, followed by Oobleck, Rory, Lelei, and finally Giselle. All but the mage, who used magic to slow her descent, slammed down hard onto the stone floor, cracking the ground.
Giselle looked around as Tai wrangled team RWBY back alongside them. "Huh, usually one of the priestesses would meet me when I come over," she mulled, "Wonder where she went this time."
Tai gave Giselle an incredulous look that went completely over her head like the dragon. She shrugged, "Oh, well. Follow me."
Why did you make a deal with the devil? This creature is unnatural and evil. It's master even more so.
It had to be done.
Had to? What about the 'Men in White'? Could you not convince them?
They rejected me! They had all the power and wealth they needed. I could not offer them anything they wanted. They left me, left the clan to die! I had no choice...
To save the clan... You would do anything.
Yes. My life does not matter, so long as the clan lives on. If Salem, this witch, extracts a price, I will pay it. The clan must survive.
...
Yao gasped as she woke up. The dream - or was it a memory - still fresh in her mind. A strange fear held her in its grip. She looked around, hand on her sword, and prepared for combat.
She relaxed - only a little - when she saw the Seer floating nearby.
"Greetings, elf. Follow the Seer," Salem ordered. Without waiting for a response, it began floating away.
Hurriedly gathering her items, Yao ran after it, asking, "Where are you bringing me?"
"I have prepared a vessel and a team. Come now, elf. Let us slay this dragon," Salem told her.
For the first time in weeks, hope entered Yao's heart. Surely Salem's army, no matter how quickly it had been raised, would be capable of destroying the flame dragon that had plagued her clan. Yao soon arrived at the clearing, slightly behind the Seer, where a single Bullhead was waiting. Its doors were open, waiting. The Seer floated straight in, while Yao seemed to freeze.
"Is there a problem, elf?"
"Is... Is this all you have? How can just one... vessel... kill such a dangerous creature?" Yao was hesitant to ask.
Salem seemed to chuckle, though that did not translate well through the Seer. "Come now, elf. Let me show you power that the mortals of this world can only dream of."
Not that she had a choice, Yao boarded the vehicle. The only other powers she knew that could challenge the flame dragon were the 'Men in White' and the gods themselves. The former was too selfish to help. The latter had not responded to weeks of desperate prayer. As much as she hated working with such an evil entity, Salem was her only choice.
"An actual elf? Didn't think I'd see the day. Hey, she's hot," a male voice drew Yao out of her contemplations. It belonged to a teenaged guy dressed in grey shamelessly checking her out.
His companion, a shorter woman in green, punched him in the arm. "Is that all you can think of, Mercury?"
With a rumble, the vehicle burst into motion, almost knocking Yao over as it ascended rapidly. She held on to one of the supports, noting the power of the metal machine as it ascended into the sky.
"Silence, you two," Salem said, and they immediately quieted. Turning to Yao, the Seer told her, "These are Emerald and Mercury. They are my champion's disciples. The driver of this Bullhead is Cinder herself... The one who shall destroy the dragon."
"A single woman can kill the dragon?" Yao gasped, at a loss. She went to see for herself, stumbling from the unfamiliar motion of the Bullhead as she entered the cabin. She immediately felt the power that Cinder wielded, making her gasp. She wielded both the shadowy power of Salem, yet there was also a calmer, more natural feel of magic.
Cinder smirked, "Sit down, elf. Let me handle this pest of yours."
Did she just call the legendary flame dragon, capable of destroying armies without a second thought, a pest?
Cinder must have sensed her disbelief. She smiled evilly, her one visible eye glowing with magical fire. "Sit down."
Yao could feel the power that she wielded. She hesitantly got into the co-pilot seat, marveling at the landscape rushing past beneath them. At their current speed, it surely would not take long for them to arrive.
They saw the smoke before the dragon itself.
"No..." Yao muttered, staring out of the window of the Bullhead. Her heart froze at the sight of the burning forest. The ancestral home of the dark elves was almost completely burnt to ashes. So much fire. So much smoke. So much destruction. "Why... Why would it burn everything down? My clan!" the distressed elf wailed.
Cinder kept the Bullhead going, unafraid of the creature that caused such massive destruction. Said creature soon came into view, massive leathery wings propelling it through the smoke. It roared at the bullhead, revealing razor-sharp teeth each as large as a man, and the starting flicker of flames within its throat.
Mercury took one look at the gigantic form of the Flame Dragon charging right at them and cursed. "You expect us to kill that thing? It's huge!" he complained.
"And injured," Emerald pointed out. Looking at I'm the terrifying visage of the approaching dragon, it was clear to Yao that something had struck its face, hard enough to crack nigh-indescribable scale. No wonder it seemed so enraged, intent on sowing destruction.
"Let's give it a proper greeting. Get ready to jump," Cinder ordered. Instead of trying to avoid the incoming wall of scales and fang, she accelerated the Bullhead in a direct collision course. As she did, she pressed a button, causing the side doors to open and wind to rush in, howling.
"We're jumping out at this speed?" Yao gasped. She did not know exactly how fast they were going, but by the wind blasting her face, it was very fast. She doubted that she could survive. She doubted that any of them could survive.
Emerald and Mercury did not question it, however. Their previous joking attitude gone, they stood by the exit and glanced at the land rushing past beneath them.
"Go!" At Cinder's command, Emerald and Mercury leaped off. Yao could only peer nervously out, hand the handhold tightly. Cinder approached her. While Yao's eyes widened as she realized that no one was driving, Cinder smirked at her, "If you don't want to follow this Bullhead into the dragon's mouth, I suggest you leave now."
With that, she was gone, calmly stepping forward and out. Yao glanced at her falling form, flickered her gaze to the dragon swiftly taking over her vision, and decided to jump. Throwing herself from the doomed vehicle, Yao twisted so that she could see the fallout of the suicide rush.
Ignoring the passengers who had left the Bullhead, the dragon kept its collision course with the vehicle. It opened its maw, roaring, and Yao watched as though in slow motion as the jaws clamped down on the Bullhead.
The ensuring eruption of fire and heat forced her to shield her eyes. Even through that, Yao could feel the heat wash over her, and hear the roar of both the explosion and the pained dragon.
As she continued to fall, the light faded, and Yao opened her eyes to see Cinder floating by, defying gravity as she went to confront the dragon. Her left eye was covered by her dark hair, but her right burned with magical fire. Unnatural winds began to swirl around the area as she unleashed her power, commanding the forces to nature to her will. Wielding fire in her hands, Cinder used the wind to blast herself at the dragon, leaving streaks of blazing light in her wake.
Yao was still falling. She instinctively tried to summon her magic like what Cinder had done, to call on the winds to slow her descent. Too late, she had forgotten that Salem had taken it from her. The spirits did not respond to her call for aid, and the elf kept falling to her doom.
Cinder smashed into the dragon even as it was attempting to recover from the Bullhead explosion in its mouth. Like a comet, she struck, arms blazing. The blow physically threw the dragon back, roaring in pain and rage.
Cinder continued to fly into the air, stopping only once she was above the dragon. She raised her hands and deadly sharp spikes of glass formed around her.
Yao gasped as something caught her. The impact was far less than if she had fallen straight into the ground, yet it still knocked the breath out of her. In a blur of motion, she was lowered to the ground.
Emerald looked at the elf, lying prone on her back as she retracted her kusarigamas. "You okay there?"
"I'm... Fine..." Yao muttered, looking back at the battle above.
With a wave of her hand, Cinder sent a hail of shards at the dragon's face. It turned its head aside, causing them to shatter harmlessly against near-invulnerable scales.
Yao noticed that it had turned to its right, revealing that its left eye was blinded by an arrow. Someone before had the courage and sheer luck to injure the dragon. Now, the dragon was half-blind and Cinder was definitely taking advantage.
Then the dragon gave a deafening roar of pain and began to fall. Never before had Yao heard something so loud, and she instinctively squeezed her hands to her ears in an effort to block out the noise.
With an earth-shattering impact, the dragon collapsed in front of her, its head resting dangerously close to her. Yao backpedaled frantically, unable to believe her eyes. Even downed, the dragon was a terrifying sight, but she soon found the reason for its pain.
The Grimm Seer, having ridden the Bullhead straight into the dragon's face, had survived the explosion. Not only that, it had managed to climb up to the dragon's eye and stabbed it with its numerous barbed tentacles. Cinder landed gently nearby, grinning. Yao could not believe her eye. The dragon had been subdued within minutes, and Cinder now stood poised to end it. Yet, she didn't, merely watching.
Watching as dark tendrils spread from the seer to the flame dragon.
With Giselle herself leading the way, the party soon got to the shrine unimpeded. The beautiful building was just a holding area; the shrine itself was a vast underground cave comparable to an inverted pyramid. There were large stone pillars everywhere with support beams between them, supporting a gigantic ceiling that covered the pit. Even deeper than this shrine, however, was the true altar to Hardy. Down in the deepest reaches of the hole, where the goddess would descend into this world.
The presence of Hardy's own Apostle granted them immediate entry. Priestesses clad in white goth outfits stood in a line before the altar, dispensing blessings upon the worshippers in the form of words. With one look at the leading Apostle, the priestesses led them even further within. Before them, a narrow set of stairs extended deep into the earth. The seemingly endless steps faded into darkness and nothing could be seen further in. This would lead to the true altar; the entrance to the Underworld.
As they neared the small tunnel, Rory suddenly grabbed onto Tai's arm, causing him to jerk away reflexively. Her grip, however, was surprisingly strong, and her grip could not be broken. Slightly worried, he asked, "Is something wrong, Rory?"
With a small whimper, she muttered, "I do not like underground spaces. Hardy rules here."
"I see. Do you want to sit out?" Tai asked.
For a moment, Rory looked to be considering it, but then she shook her head. "No... I must do this. Once and for all," she said, still looking unsure. She was definitely bothered by even the notion of entering Hardy's shrine.
"Alright, but if you need to leave, just say the word."
Walking briskly, they soon arrived at a large underground cavern, its roof far overhead held up by countless pillars. Before they entered, Tai turned to team RWBY, "All of you, let me do the talking. Follow my lead, and don't try anything, alright?"
They nodded. With that, the visitors from another world entered Hardy's shrine. Around them, priestesses began to gather.
Still uneasy, but determined, Rory whispered to the others, "When Hardy descends, follow my lead. She will talk to me first, as we Apostles are the only ones who can hear her. I will introduce you. Whatever she does, try not to move too much. She won't hurt you... probably."
Before anyone could reply, the ceremony began. "You visitors. The goddess Hardy makes her advent. Pay your homage unto her," one of the priestesses intoned as a ray of divine light tore through the dim room and illuminated the altar.
As one, the priestesses genuflected before it. Rory sank the spiked head of her halberd into the ground and went down to one knee. Giselle did the same, except with her scythe. A moment later, the visitors from Remnant followed their example.
The unnatural light seemed to condense and take form. It solidified into that of a woman in her twenties, with silver hair reaching down to her waist. Her expression was serene, like an exquisitely-carved piece of glass, while her figure would doubtlessly make any human envious.
As ordered by Rory, Tai remained silent, waiting for Hardy to speak. She ignored her visitors and went in front of Rory.
"Ah, my dear Rory Mercury. Have you finally agreed to take my hand in marriage?" she asked, running a hand over the apostle's jaw. As an incorporeal spirit, only Rory and Giselle, the Apostles, could hear her.
Rory glared at her, "I've told you before, no! I will never be your wife! Get it through your head!"
Hardy laughed, unfazed by the rejection that she had likely heard so many times before. "Have you come all this way just to reject me once more, Rory? You break my heart," she said, placing a hand on her chest. Her false sorrow was lost the moment she saw her visitors. The goddess floated around them, as though examining them from every angle before she turned back to Rory.
"Who are these people, Rory? They're actually kind of cute. Why have you brought them to me?" Hardy asked.
"They come from the other side of the Gate, a world called Remnant. They want to talk to you."
"Oh, is that so? Very well, then I'll need a host. Who should I choose..." Hardy wondered, looking over her priestesses. They seemed enthusiastic, moving as though offering themselves up. She began drawing power as she inspected those within the chamber.
"Actually, that's not necessary," Rory said.
At her proclamation, Hardy turned to the Apostle, curious. She sensed it immediately. "What's this?" the goddess asked.
"It's what they call my Semblance. Conduit. You can talk through me."
With a surge of energy, Hardy's spirit-like form rushed into Rory. A moment later, it reappeared, much like Emroy's previous appearance - a spirit floating behind Rory, bound to her.
"Oh, this is interesting. So, strangers, what brings you to my shrine?" Hardy asked, now audible to everyone nearby, instead of just the Apostles. The priestesses seemed disappointed but remained silent, returning to their positions.
Tai stepped up. "My name is Taiyang Xiao Long. I am a representative of the people of Remnant, which exists on the other side of the Gate. The Gate has collapsed and our people are trapped in this world. I have been told that you were the one who had initially opened the Gate, so now I stand before you to request that you reopen it so that my people can return home."
"Reopen the Gate? Now, why would I do that?" Hardy asked, leaning in towards Tai, "After all that trouble I went through to shut it down."