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Fighting Rose

Chapter 43

Black Sabbath

Yang shrieked as her claws clashed against the spear-wielding superhuman's own taloned gauntlet, Weiss's stab at a gap in his torso-armour deflected by the spear. He was wickedly fast and incredibly agile despite the torso-sized turbines strapped to his back, gunning them the moment he was about to take a direct hit and flipping on the spot to avoid it while lashing out with his talons. The spear he used was somehow even worse to deal with. Every near-miss and every clash with the spear made Weiss's lungs freeze up and weakened her knees, though not just from the sheer strength of the wielder.

Fear. Something about the spear brought out the stifling sensation of fear from her soul, causing her to hesitate and second-guess her every move. She knew that if she wanted to, she could use her Semblance and extract everything there was to know about the weapon in a heartbeat, but after her experience with the Bloodletter's Hellblade, she wasn't keen on making that mistake again. That, and she found that the fear the spear induced was both unnatural and temporary. The moment a clash ended, the artificial fear that it induced vanished and left her momentarily confused, vulnerable to the spearman's talons as they raked across the hasty Glyph she threw up to shield herself.

'I just need to overpower my fear with something else,' She realized, gritting her teeth as she saw how Yang was seemingly unaffected by the spear. She felt that demonic blade thirsting for blood within her inner world, and she knew that it would have to be drawn. She was knocked back by a stomp that would have caved her chest in if it hadn't been for another Glyph she placed in front of her, her feet skidding across the stone as the Astartes pushed the advantage and dove at the opening. Weiss seemed to stumble and spin in an attempt to regain her balance, and the Astartes cackled in triumph as he stabbed at her exposed back.

"Hack and slash, stab and rend," She snarled, "Off with their heads, HELLBLADE!"

She spun faster than the Astartes was expecting, his spear clashing against a jagged-edged brass straight-sword with an ear-piercing shriek of steel on steel. He bore down on her with a flurry of thrusts with his spear, Weiss charging forward while swinging both the Hellblade and Myrtenaster to parry the most lethal strikes, gladly allowing the spearhead to cut across her cheek, forehead, shoulder and thigh in order to close the gap and slash up at his arm. He immediately disengaged as he dodged, the tip of the Hellblade still scoring a deep gash through the inside of his armoured forearm and taking to the air as Yang's triple-fisted overhand right smashed the ground he'd occupied a moment ago.

"How fascinating…" He mused, his voice grating against Weiss's ears and prompting her to outright pelt the blade at him like a spear. Even as he easily dodged, a Glyph from behind sent the blade bouncing back towards him, forcing him to dodge at the last moment as the edge of the Hellblade slashed through his gauntlet and drew a tiny spray of blood.

"Even better!" He laughed as Weiss caught the sword with ease, the fury clouding her mind kept in check by her caution of him. He looked as if he was ready to dive back in, only to stop as his gaze shifted very slightly to the side, his focus pulled away from them for a moment.

"A shame," He sighed, "But my Lord requires me elsewhere. Don't get too comfortable though, I'd be happy to toy with you later!"

His backpack roared and he rocketed off towards the direction of Vale, Weiss and others nearby who weren't occupied in combat trying and failing to shoot him down.

"FUCK!" She roared, glancing around and pelting the Hellblade into the throat of an over-muscled Beowolf. The blade shattered into embers a moment later, the rage clouding her mind vanishing and her muscles left whining for rest from the exertion. She looked back at Yang, ignoring her own pains as she saw the state her teammate was in. Where Yang's skin once shone like the many colours of flame, now she was charred black, the red demonic runes lining her skin seeming to sear her flesh. The four auric arms sprouting from her shoulder-blades had vanished as well, Yang on her knees as she gasped for air through her fanged, lipless maw.

"Yang!"

The vibrant red glow of her eyes was dim for a moment until Yang slammed her fist into her own chest, right where her heart was, and the fiery glow returned to her skin as she stood.

"…Yang, this transformation is killing you," Weiss said, "Just… turn back to normal!"

Yang gave her a look and shook her head.

"C-C-Can't…" She struggled to form words, her voice like crackling firewood. "…Nee-eed to… h-help… Ru…by."

"Damnit," Weiss kissed her teeth, "Fine. If you die, then I'm definitely killing you."

"Hah," Yang's teeth were pulled up into something of a smile, Weiss grinning back as they sprinted to catch up with the rest of the group.

}-{

Blake fired off a dozen rounds into the mutated and emaciated Ursa's chest, only for the aura-exploding bullets to do next to nothing as they burst against its exposed, rotting organs. Its bellow turned into a gurgle as it spewed greenish black sludge from its mouth in a concentrated beam, Blake barely dodging out of the way with her Semblance as the beam pierced through the concrete statue in the middle of the fountain. Stone crumbled and turned black before rotting away into fetid sludge.

Pyrrha already had to discard her shield as a single swipe from the Ursa had immediately caused it to rust and crumple away, forcing her to rely on her rifle alongside Blake to try and whittle away at it. Even a burst of rounds from Coco's minigun didn't seem to do much, splattering more of its corrosive blood onto the ground.

"God!" Coco spat, her voice just barely trembling, "What does it take to kill this thing!?"

It replied by roaring and swiping wildly with its claws, each swing of its gangly arms tearing through the floor and any other obstacle in its way, the bile coating its claws letting it fling more of the foul liquid while further enhancing its destructive power. Sun desperately wanted t join in on the fight, but with Ruby in his arms and his already weakened body he couldn't do much more than fire off the occasional blast of aura from his mouth to deter anything from getting too close.

Holding Ruby tightly, he vaulted over the swipe of a mantis-like Grimm with a blood-swollen abdomen, lashing out with a heel-kick that made a portion of its head explode. Still it fought on, stumbling and shrieking at him with a face that was a horrifying mix of insect and human before skittering forward and wildly stabbing with its blade-like arms. Sun grunted as he sharply kicked one of the stabbing appendages away right as it came down at his head, throwing the creature off target and leaving it open for a straight stomp into its spindly chest. Its upper-half exploded in a shower of black and red gore, Sun unable to appreciate his efforts as a Beowolf with multiple arms protruding from its chest appeared seemingly out of nowhere, swiping away with its dozen claws. Above each hand hovered an orb of kaleidoscopic flames, every swipe of its arms flinging waves of the strobing fire randomly. Sometimes stone turned to magma at the barest brush, while other times it froze so rapidly that it shattered, Sun swearing that a chunk of the fountain's statue turned into something that smelled suspiciously like orange juice.

Stumbling on a piece of loose stone, Sun quickly stamped his heel down hard, throwing dozens of broken slabs into the air and rapidly kicking them at the mutated Beowolf as it tried to fling more fire at him. Each slab promptly turned into different materials the moment they touched the flames, though it didn't stop their momentum. First the Grimm was pelted with water, then shards of ice, an entire pizza flying into its open mouth and making it gag, completely vulnerable as it was drenched in gasoline before the final slab turned into molten rock. It went up like a bonfire the moment it touched its gas-soaked fur, unleashing a howl that sounded both bestial and too human as it tried patting out the flames with its hands. That proved to be its undoing as it tore itself apart with its own mutagenic fire, its thigh turning to glass, ribcage liquifying, and its head exploding into a powder that smelled like cinnamon.

Ignoring his exhaustion, Sun quickly checked on Ruby and felt his heart drop. She was having another seizure, eyes rolling up into her head and saliva foaming from her mouth. He felt his throat tighten up and his eyes sting as he gently rolled her onto her side in his arms, taking a knee and trying to keep her as stable as possible. An overgrown Creep easily the size of an Ursa saw the opportunity and took it, leaping through the air with slavering jaws opening wide. Sun's eyes snapped up and his face twisted with fury, hair flashing gold as he opened his mouth and blasted aura into its open maw as Yang's fist exploded across its eye, its head splattering across the floor.

"Thanks for the save," Sun said with a tired grin, Yang snorting and nodding back before locking eyes with the rotting Ursa. She roared and threw herself at it, the Grimm reacting surprisingly quickly and blasting her with its beam of putrid bile. Yang roared even louder and the flames roiling from her body grew wilder, immolating her entire body and burning the bile to smoke before it could even touch her. In the blink of an eye, she rammed her fist down its open throat and pounded away with her free hand, each blow creating an explosion of sound and fire that shook the stone walkway. It tried to fling her off, biting down on her arm, swiping at her with powerful claws and thrashing so hard that it slammed her into the floor over and over again, but Yang didn't stop punching. It was the opposite: with every slam, every swipe and every bite, her skin seemed to glow brighter, her flames growing more violent and even her blackflame hair appearing to lengthen and grow wilder. Four auric arms suddenly exploded from her back, and the single blows turned into a downpour of punches that caved the Grimm's skull in near-instantly. Yang didn't stop punching, each of her own punches seeming to fuel her Semblance as bone crunched and flesh was sundered, the Grimm reduced to a bloody, steaming pile of dissolving meat a moment later. Yang threw her head back and roared triumphantly, every fire in the vicinity being drawn towards and absorbed into her flesh, her body glowing brighter and bright with each passing second.

"YANG!" Weiss and Blake cried out.

Their voices seemed to get through to her, Yang's body sagging and the searing light of her aura fading as she panted for breath. She staggered and almost fell to her knees had Blake and Weiss not caught her by her shoulders, grimacing as they felt the scorching heat of her skin even through their auras. Yang nodded gratefully and stood under her own power, the three of them quickly running over to check on Ruby.

"She's not doing good," Sun said tightly, "It feels like her aura's trying to fight back, but there isn't enough of it to break through."

"Then we've got to hurry," Pyrrha said firmly, everyone agreeing and quickly making their way towards the library, which was connected to Sun's dormitory building. Weiss grimaced at the way people who were supposed to be on their side either scrabbled away from them or aimed their shaky weapons at Sun and Yang, blocking them off.

"She's another demon!" One of them yelled, "And the faunus guy isn't any different!"

"WEAPONS DOWN!" Weiss roared, everyone except her dropping their weapons. They all blinked, staring at their own hands as Weiss's brow furrowed. "Get out of our way. NOW."

The students blocking their path immediately moved away, the rest of the group picking up their weapons and giving Weiss an odd look.

"How did you…?" Blake started.

"Don't know, and frankly I don't care," Weiss sighed. "Where are Jaune, Ren and Nora?"

"Five minutes away roughly," Pyrrha said after quickly checking her scroll, "Maybe a bit longer…"

Everyone looked up as they heard the familiar drone of bullheads overhead, dozens of them appearing a moment later.

"Reinforcements from Ironwood?" Sun wondered, "Thought they were occupied dealing with anything popping out of the-!"

Sun, Blake and Yang came to a screeching halt, everyone stopping along with them.

"What's wrong!?" Weiss asked, immediately knowing that something bad was about to happen.

"Oh god…" Blake croaked, "…They're coming from Forever Fall."

The symbol of the White Fang had been further defaced, the snarling head of a predator now encircled within the centre of an eight-pointed star. The doors opened, and what dropped out to land all over Beacon weren't just any Faunus, but those who had been twisted and changed, animalistic features not only exaggerated but crafted in a way that was undeniably demonic. Worse yet, a raging aura pouring from their transfigured bodies in a manner all too similar to that of Yang's.

White Fang

Devil Trigger Shock-Troops

Something crashed in the middle of the group like a meteor, stone and dirt blasted into the air as they were knocked onto their backs, Sun barely able to hold onto Ruby as he skid across the dirt. A monstrously-muscled boar Faunus with pitch-black skin, tusks as big as his arms and a wild mane of brown hair snarled and smashed his bone-plated fists together, giving the unconscious Ruby a single look and bellowing as he charged at her.

Yang's right uppercut smashed into his chin with all three fists, teeth and black blood flying into the air before he hammered his forehead down onto hers with a deafening *CRACK*, one of her fangs chipping as she stumbled back. It devolved into a savage brawl an instant later, both of them standing their ground and whaling away at each other. Each blow sent shockwaves through the air, but it was Yang who was steadily winning each exchange as each blow she took pushed her strength to even greater heights. The boar Faunus however wasn't making it easy. Even as her strikes broke bone and burnt flesh, it was healing the damage in a heartbeat, and they all knew it would take precious time to put him down.

"G-GO!" Yang roared before she took an overhand right that sent her to a knee before she leapt back up into a gazelle-punch that shattered one of his tusks. "CATCH UP L-LATER! SAVE HER!"

They didn't need any more encouragement as Ruby flew into another thrashing seizure. The library was mercifully close, and thankfully defended on by a handful of students and Atlan Guard at the main entrance, though they were occupied by the nightmarish figure of a transformed bat-Faunus, his wings three times as large, his limbs painfully stretched yet as hard as steel as he deflected the slash from a student and thrusting at their chest with his needle-thin claws. Weiss stepped up for this one, rocketing off a Glyph and deflecting his claws right before they could pierce the student's heart and blasting him at wall with another gravity Glyph. It somehow slipped away from the gravity well, closing the distance even faster than they expected and shoulder-slamming Weiss into a pillar, the latter getting a pair of glyphs up between her, the pillar and devil before she got squished.

"Keep going!" She cried out, "I can handle this!"

Blake's throat tightened up. It felt like everything was falling apart, but it didn't change the fact that the path was open to help Ruby, so she, Pyrrha and Sun sprinted past the ragged defensive line and into the Library. The inside was relatively safe, some people taking refuge, trying to rest, mend any wounds and restock ammunition, all of them a mix of civilian, student and Atlan personnel.

"There's a connection to my wing on the third floor," Sun said, his breathing ragged.

"Okay, the stairs aren't far from-!" Pyrrha started, only to be cut off as the sound of a bullhead roared directly outside of the library. Barely a heartbeat later, there was a terrible crash as a red meteor shot through the roof, reducing an innocent bystander to paste underneath their boots. Blake wanted to throw up. Even under that cloak, she knew that aura all too well, no matter how wrong it had become. He stood to his full height, standing almost a head taller than she remembered, the bullets and projectiles that rained down on him not phasing him even slightly. Something under his cloak twitched, and the rapid *TING-TING-TING-TING-TING* of metal crashing against something followed, every single attack sent his way shooting right back towards their users, the explosive properties of a few of them literally exploding back in their face and anyone unfortunate enough to be too close to them, civilians included. The lucky ones were sent flying back, unconscious or dead on the spot. The unlucky ones had limbs blown off, portions of their face charred, their abdominal walls compromised. They all screamed very loudly.

One girl, either brave, foolish or full of irrational terror tried to charge at him directly, screaming as she swung both of her blades at his neck from behind. He killed her with the blunt tip of his sheathed blade, punching a hole clean through her heart in the blink of an eye, not even bothering to turn around as she slumped to the floor like a pupped with its strings cut and the towering bookcase behind her crashed to the floor. His stride was slow but easy, eyes shrouded by a hood he didn't at all seem blinded by, and he froze as he faced Blake. Her heart ached as she saw the familiar glimpse of his boyish grin before it beat wildly as he steadily made his way towards her, her hand going to Gambol's hilt.

"…Go," She said weakly, Pyrrha and Sun giving her baffled looks.

"Blake, if you think-!" Sun started before she walked forward, her legs shaking and sweat pouring down her face.

"I can handle him," She said with a confidence she most certainly didn't feel. "Go."

After much hesitation, Pyrrha and Sun ran past, the cloaked man not paying any attention to them at all.

"…Handle me?" He chuckled, his stance casual as he and Blake stood across from each other. She could practically feel the way he raised a single eyebrow; he wasn't very good at it, and his other brow would always curl up. "I hope that's a subjective statement."

"What happened to you?" She asked, her voice shaking.

"That's a bit of a cold greeting, even for you Blake," He sighed, "But to answer your question…"

The cloak fell from his body, and Blake took a step back, a mix of fear and awe almost sending her to her knees. There was no comparison to his previously sorry state; he was equal parts magnificent and horrifying to behold, his bone-white skin rippling with both taut, powerful musculature and beautiful bony scales the colour of midnight. The bony armour on his forearms were thicker and spiked, plating the top of his hands and fingers like clawed gauntlets. Across his body and arms, exactly where Blake remembered he was impaled, his skin pulsed with blood-red light like the smouldering embers of a flame. His face was painfully handsome and largely untouched, save for his pure-red irises, the bone-plating lining his law and creeping onto his cheekbones, but most stunning of all were his horns. Where they had been smaller, now they were proud, outward-curving things ringed with red light, their shape too similar to the visage of the Hero of the Faunus, the Dark Knight Sparda.

Adam Ann Taurus

The Saviour (Chaos-Corrupted Devil Trigger)

"The Word Bearers showed me things Blake," he said, his voice rapturous, "They showed me that we Faunus don't have to suffer this treatment as abominations, they showed me that we have the potential to become so much more! That every Faunus on this planet can rise above our indignity and reclaim the title that our ancestors once held!"

Her hand gripped Gambol tighter, tears spilling from her eyes.

"And what title was that?" She asked.

He spread his arms wide, his smile so genuine, so excited, so horrifyingly wrong.

"GODS."

Blake unsheathed Gambol in a flash of violet light, slashing with full force and using her Semblance to launch herself forward. Adam didn't even bother to unsheathe his blade, easily blocking with the scabbard as his excited expression remained unchanged.

"I don't blame you for not being convinced," he said before he simply pushed back. Blake was launched backwards by the action, feet scraping across the floor and arms shaking. "That's okay. As the grandson of Sparda, it's my duty to show all Faunus the path to freedom."

He strode forward, his smile still on his face as a halo of an eight-pointed star shone behind his head.

"Let me show you what we're capable of."

}-Vale-{

"Keep em' coming!" Qrow growled, smashing a reptilian daemon into the floor with his spectral wings before decapitating it, weaving under the claw-swipe of another while transforming Harbinger from a greatsword into its scythe form, cutting up and bisecting it from hip to shoulder.

"Preferably not," Glynda said between clenched teeth as she caught a sphere of shifting ice with her Semblance and flung it right back at the daemon who launched it at her, a floating goat-like thing that blocked the returned projectile with a babbling whisper. She growled in frustration and picked up the debris of a collapsed building, resorting the throwing everything at it and trapping it in a vortex of stone and glass, the daemon shrieking before it was reduced to strips of shredded meat. The explosion of its unstable magics turned the debris into ice, Glynda using them as even more projectiles to launch at any threat and freeze them in an instant.

Both were breathing hard, trying to recover from the non-stop fighting whenever they got the chance. As far as they could give a rough estimate, over half the population of Vale was possessed near-instantly, and that wasn't even counting the actual daemons and Grimm that burst forward from the smaller warp-rifts erratically popping up, nor the sudden inclusion of White Fang operatives having been mutated into devils.

Qrow was starting to wish he was able to access the same power his sister could so casually wield, but now wasn't the time to cry over spilled milk.

"Blood of Modeus! Soul of Sparda!" A pink blob with stubby legs, arms, too many eyes and hair made out of tentacles squealed, "Your soul belongs to the Changer of Ways!"

It launched a bolt of lightning right at his face, Qrow deflecting it with his spectral wings before he shot forward and cut it clean in half down the middle. Its severed halves seemed to stare in shock before they both grinned, vaulting away and turning into blue blobs of flesh identical to how it looked before it was sliced in half. Four fireballs were flung at him but he didn't need to dodge as Glynda nullified them with frozen debris, Qrow funnelling aura into his sword and grunting as he unleashed a blade of aura that tore the blobs to pieces.

"Alright, this street's clear for now," He said, breathing heavily as he wiped the sweat from his face and eyed the two dozen survivors he and Glynda had managed to find, "The Evacuation Zone is only a quarter-mile out to the south. If we double-time it, we can be there in five m…"

Something in his blood coiled and roared at him that something big was coming, even Glynda able to sense the sudden crackling tension in the atmosphere. The answer came a moment later as a massive shadow burst from the largest rift in the sky from the west, its very presence warping the air around it. It was a warship, easily many times the size of its Atlan counterpart though far more brutish in appearance, with an armoured arrowhead-shaped prow, its sides, underside and top bristling with massive weaponry easily the size of entire buildings on their own, the entire ship painted black with a single red eye glaring from the curve of its prow. The whole thing was easily over five kilometers long, and what was even less comforting were the tear-shaped metal pods dropping from the ship's underside.

"Oh gods," Qrow muttered, new sweat beading on his brow, "If that thing is here, then…"

He squinted as he saw a dark shape leap from the top, the sound-barrier breaking as it launched itself towards him.

"Oh SHIT, GLYNDA GET THE SURVIVORS OUTTA HERE-!"

The thing that crashed down in front of them was equal parts monstrous and magnificent. Easily twelve feet tall, its master-crafted armour made in the shape of an ornate suit of Astartes warplate, dyed a deep arterial red and inscribed with symbols that seemed to twist and shift in the shadows. The figure wearing it was glorious and demonic, perfectly tanned skin tattooed with gold markings, wicked talons protruding from perfectly shaped hands, each step of his hoofed feet leaving the ground unblemished, his all-too-human face mirroring the handsomeness of a kingly portrait but marred by the eight horns curving up from around his head. Four large horns framed the front, sides and back of his head, the four smaller ones resting in between the largest one-by-one, all giving it the appearance of a twisted crown.

Daemon Primarch of the Word Bearers

Archpreist of Chaos, Lorgar Aurelian

"Hello there, blood of Modeus," He said, his voice gentle and soothing, "I don't believe we've ever met before, but I know of you and your ancestry."

"And hey to you too, kid-fiddling choir-boy," Qrow spat, hefting Harbinger up into a ready stance.

"A shame you're not as polite as he was," Lorgar said, though the little grin on his expression spoke of bemusement at Qrow's insult rather than offence. "And please, don't bother trying to swing that lump of steel at me, we both know that you won't be able to do anything significant to me even with the blood of a demon running through you."

Qrow didn't waste another word as he blasted towards the Daemon Primarch, roaring as he channelled every ounce of his aura he could spare into Harbinger before slashing down at Lorgar's neck. The edge of his greatsword exploded across an invisible wall as unyielding as steel, the ground beneath them and the building surrounding them cracking, threatening to shatter under the weight of the two powers colliding. As Qrow struggled to make it past the psychic shield, Lorgar casually leaned forward and peered at Qrow's spectral wings, seemingly analysing and even appreciating them.

"I wonder," He said aloud, "Are those wings of yours crow-like because of Modeus's influence? Or is it thanks to the meddling of your Headmaster?"

Lorgar waved a hand and Qrow suddenly felt as if he was hit point-blank by a speeding train, flying into the wall of a building that imploded under the force of his impact. He barely managed to fling himself out before it collapsed on top of him, coughing as the pain of the impact, the exhaustion and the dust in the air washed over him. He snarled and forcibly shook it off, shakily raising his sword and preparing to fling himself right at Lorgar. He was glad that Glynda had managed to get the civilians away, at least for now.

"Again, please don't bother," Lorgar sighed, "Besides, I'm not here to fight."

"Don't care if you ain't here to fight," Qrow growled, "A monster like you needs to die."

"You would think that, wouldn't you?" Lorgar said dryly, "Did you not listen to me? I am not here to fight, but I am here to oversee an incredibly important ceremony. You will not stop us, you cannot stop us, because this has been an unavoidable reality that was bound to occur."

"So I'll stop you before you can pull off whatever sick shit you've got planned!" Qrow roared.

Lorgar scoffed and rolled his eyes, a shockingly human gesture on such a demonic figure as he unclipped the massive spiked mace hanging from his waist, slamming it onto the floor as inky-black shadow poured from the weapon, seeping across the streets behind him as he clasped his hands together and began to pray. Qrow fired off wave after wave of auric slashes, all of them shattering against the immovable shield of Lorgar's mind as he closed his eyes.

"We are gathered here today to celebrate the death of a kingdom, and the new life that shall spring forth."

Hundreds of daemons and Grimm alike clawed their way out of the shadows, though instead of their usual shrieking and baying, they were completely silent and in perfect formation. Red-skinned bloodletters lined the outer rim, Hellblades held up in silent solidarity. Plaguebearers threw the rotting leaves of the pustule-trees found in their sickening realm into the air as a twisted confetti. The robed, multi-armed forms of Tzeenchian Flamers held their burning hands aloft as if to imitate candles. Purple-skinned daemonettes danced in unison, their sickeningly captivating forms undulating as their beautiful voices sung a funeral dirge.

"Let the truth behind the veil of this physical reality finally take hold."

Four figures as large as Lorgar emerged from the shadows next: a green-skinned, horribly bloated daemon with gnarled wood-like horns, the very ground under it putrefying into toxic sludge. He wasn't even touching the floor, resting upon a rotting wooden palanquin held up by dozens of miniscule versions of the daemon itself. Next was a figure of skinless red might, the very air around its muscled body trembling with the rage it barely kept in check. Clad in black brass armour, its hands tightly gripped its weapon of choice, a jagged bronze greataxe that looked as if it could cleave clean through a tank and a barbed whip twice as long as he was tall. The third was a two-headed avian creature, the feathers of its massive wings shifting from pure azure to mesmerising midnight-blue. His gnarled hands clutching a staff which held a book at its end, its pages turning unendingly. Finally, a lithe, lilac-skinned creature with both gorgeous feminine and masculine traits along with an equine head silently undulated their hips in time with the dancing daemonettes, two humanoid hands holding beautiful silver scimitars while its two crab-like appendages draped its shoulders like pauldrons.

"Let us prepare the way for the coming of the Inevitable City, her great kingdom!"

A final figure rose from the centre of the four, the mark of an eight-pointed star glowing with maddening light on its grey-skinned chest, and resting upon its shoulder was a stone box that looked like it could fit a human with it, Qrow realizing that it was a coffin.

"Let us ensure her chosen vessel shall reach the place of her holy birth, and with it, give rise to the one who will devour the blasphemies of our world!"

A simple flick from Lorgar's wrist swat Qrow through a building and into the air, his mind swimming with pain as he tumbled limply and fell into unconsciousness from the force of the psychic blow, though not before he heard Lorgar's final words as clearly as if he was still standing in front of the Daemon Primarch.

"Let us begin our pilgrimage. In the name of Salem, Mother of Chaos... amen."

...TWBY Continued...