Let the Remnants burn.

Fighting Rose

Chapter 41

The End and the Death

"Disappointment. Failure. Disobedient child," The cackling whispers filled Weiss ears and echoed in her skull over and over, even as she pressed her hands to her ears and squeezed her tear-filled eyes shut. "Couldn't stop your leader from dying! Couldn't stop your companion from becoming a devil!"

"…eiss!"

"The Faunus girl is next! We'll flay her ears! Gnaw on her limbs! Devour her in front of you!"

"Weiss!"

"We'll make her scream just for you~!"

"WEISS!"

Blake's palms smacked Weiss hard in her cheeks, snapping out of the whispers' immediate influence. Blake was crying and terrified as well, her blade drawn as she frantically looked around.

"I need you with me Weiss! We have to make our way to Ruby and Yang!"

"O-okay," Weiss nodded jerkily, her shaking hand fumbling for her sword as she took in her surroundings and immediately wished she didn't. Students and other hunters, those who weren't going mad at least, were fighting back against the things that had once been innocent people but had now been changed into forms that were horrifying and confusing to look at. While most opted to carry their weapons on them as a matter of formality or habit, it still didn't help. She watched a senior hunter freeze in terror as a shambling corpse grabbed him by the neck far faster than its necrotic limbs should have allowed and opened its mouth, the cloud of fumes rapidly eating away at the hunter's aura before his face began to slop away in chunks of dead skin and sludgy blood, his screams turning to gurgles as flies exited his ruined mouth. A deformed Beowolf with three grotesquely muscular arms on its left side fell out of the sky onto a second-year student, breaking its fall by landing on his legs, shattering his weapon in its jaws and smashing its knuckles into him, the first two blows weakening his aura and the final one sending its fist straight through his chest in a fountain of red chunks. There were no civilians left.

"What's… going on?" Weiss whimpered.

"…I don't know," Blake said, her voice shaking, "W-we just need to get to Yang and Ruby, and it'll be okay."

They both watched as a woman with horribly stretched limbs turned to face them, her head shaking so violently that all they could see was her unnaturally wide grin and the darting pinpricks of maddening violet light that were her eyes. Their legs shook as the woman began to jerkily move towards them, her serpentine tongue lashing out of her mouth as her movements became faster and more erratic. Blake's legs collapsed out from under her while Weiss could barely stand, her mouth moving on its own as she prayed for the first time in years.

"Emperor of Man, overseer of all things right, whose powers none can resist, save and deliver us, we beseech, from the hands of our enemies-!" Weiss babbled as it sprinted at them now, mouth open and tongue slavering. She shrieked and squeezed her eyes shut, throwing up a dome of glyphs that shielded her and Blake as other changed things began to pile on, scraping away at her glyphs while howling, screaming and laughing.

"Smite, CLARENT!"

The things' howls turned into ones of pain as crimson lightning ripped through almost all them, the twitching woman managing to dart out of the way before the lightning struck her. It wasn't enough, as an armoured mass blasted into her side, an ornate red and silver greatsword ripping through the creature with an awful shriek, its body reduced to ash in moments. Mordred stood over Weiss, her glyphs gone as the armoured knight held out a hand to Blake.

"On your feet," She said, her voice a gruff echo through her horned greathelm, "Can't afford to freeze up now."

The words washed over Weiss and Blake, the fear still present but their training kicking in and forcing them into battle-readiness.

"Th-thank you," Blake nodded, her grasp on Gambol firmer as the three went back-to-back. "We need to get to Yang and Ruby, and there's too much fighting around parts of the edges."

"I'd be glad to help," Mordred nodded curtly, all trace of the rambunctious girl who was Jaune's sister seemingly gone, replaced by this almost brutish warrior. "Stick close and support my blindspots, but cover your own asses if you need to."

"You're being oddly calm about this." Weiss joked lamely, trying to lighten the mood.

"Calm?" Mordred deadpanned, though both Blake and Weiss could see how she gripped her sword so sightly that her gauntlet shook, her entire body tense and shaking, a savage edge to her voice as she finished, "I wouldn't say I'm feelin' calm right now."

They took off towards the arena, Mordred snarling and roaring with each attack as she brutalized a path forward. Something about this situation seemed oddly personal for personal for her, the monsters in front of her a personal insult as she punched one in the face so hard that its entire upper-body exploded in a shower of gore. They practically didn't have to do anything, Mordred guiding them to a free edge of the arena in under a minute.

"Are you gonna be alright?" Blake asked Mordred.

"I'll be fine," Mordred nodded, "Putting these things down feel… natural. Go take care of your family, my mom will cover you."

"Your m-?" Weiss started, only for a wave of soothing gold to wash over them. Altria Arc was walking briskly towards them, a brilliantly glowing sword in her hand as her clothes shone an ethereal blue before they morphed into regal silver and blue armour. Her expression seemed serene but her eyes were blazing with righteous fury at the horror happening around them, her ire aimed at the arena's centre.

"Steel your heart Mordred," The woman said calmly as she placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder, "You're not wrong to be appalled at this… atrocity, but do not let that fury consume you. Remember your first and foremost duty."

"Kick ass to save lives," Mordred said curtly, Altria smiling softly.

"Good. And take care of yourself."

Mordred nodded and blasted off into the horde, quickly tearing through the mutated people and ending their twisted existences with merciful quickness, saving and supporting whoever she could along the way.

"Stay close," Altria said, "I will cover for you, take little Rose and get out of here as soon as you can

The three jumped down together, Altria's presence keeping them calm as they walked towards a grinning Erebus calmly facing off against Yang and Broly. Their power was roaring around them, and they looked ready to pounce, but it was clear that, with their backs turned to Ruby, they were trying to stop him from approaching her. They both looked at the approaching trio, Weiss and Blake pausing for a moment before Sun and Yang turned to face Erebus again. Cinder, Mercury and Ozpin were nowhere to be found.

"Good to see you doing so well, King of Knights!" Erebus clapped. "That's a very good look on your face."

Weiss and Blake glanced at each other and looked at Jaune's mother, the truth falling rapidly into place. The aura, the title, the armour, that sword… Weiss' nose began to bleed as she looked for too long at that holy blade.

"Funny, coming from one who stole his," Artoria Pendragon sneered, pointing her blade at him. "You'll answer for your crimes against humanity today Erebus, that I promise you."

"Unoriginal," Erebus rolled his eyes as he summoned his spiked crozius-mace in a burst in sickly balefire, "We both know I won't. I'm too important to die, not while there's still work to be done. In the meantime…!"

Artoria seemed to know what was coming and was determined to stop it before it could happen, Sun and Yang acting alongside her.

"STRIKE AIR!"

Thrusting Excalibur forward, it went invisible for a split second before a spiralling torrent of air pressure blasted towards Erebus, Yang and Sun opening their mouths to scream a wave of aura alongside Artoria's attack. Erebus simply smiled wider, slammed the butt of his weapon into the floor and vanished under the wave of pure force that engulfed him. For a moment, it seemed as if he was reduced to atoms under the attack, until…

"LOOK OOOUUUT…!"

Their attacks were ripped apart as something else took Erebus' place, the hulking silhouette the the dust easily over ten feet tall with a voice like dying kingdoms and shattering minds. It threw out its grotesquely over-muscled arms and blew away the smoke to reveal a genuine demon, its skin blood-red, organic bone-armour haphazardly covering parts of its chest, arms and digitigrade legs, hooves cracking the stone beneath it. It cackled and bared its crooked teeth from a bull-like head, chewed up reality snorted from its nose.

"SAMUS IS HEEEERE!"

"TAKE ROSE AND RUN! GET HER TO AN INFIRMARY AT BEACON!" Artoria shouted as she, Sun and Yang launched themselves at Samus. Its fist met three of Yang's own flying right-crosses in a shockwave of flame, whining jets of fire from her other hands propelling her forwards for a few more moments before Samus' brute strength won out, his fist blasting her into the floor. A wave of green aura slammed into the daemon's side as Sun screamed at it, Samus merely cackling louder as it barrelled through and launched a massive uppercut that hit Sun everywhere above the waist. He was sent shooting towards Artoria who deftly side-stepped and closed in with the tip of Excalibur leading the charge. The smile fell away from Samus as Artoria moved in so quickly she outright disappeared, reappearing at Samus' back and slashing at his neck.

The daemon weaved out of the way with surprizing grace, pivoted on the spot far too quickly for something its size and fired its fist straight up at the vulnerable Artoria, only for the latter to sharply twist her body and parry with the flat of her blade, grunting as she sliced deep into its arm before kicking away as it tried to claw her out of the air. It hissed in pain at the wound, distracting it as Yang burst from the ground in a shower of molten stone smashed all six fists into its stomach, blowing Samus off its feet and onto its back. She screamed as her six fists began to blast into Samus' chest, each of her punches going off like rapid-fire explosives as they beat the daemon into the ground.

'I can't risk harming Xiao-Long and Wukong with Excalibur,' Artoria grimaced, 'I'll just have to work with them.'

"Not bad little devil!" Samus cackled as it raised a palm and slapped her to the side as if it was killing a fly, "But you do not have the same power I have, nor mastery over your soul the way I do!"

Sun flung a dozen crackling aura-blasts that Samus crashed into Samus, the daemon sprinting through it with its arms raised as it stomped its hoof right into Sun's chest, blood flying from the Saiyan's mouth as he was ground into the floor under the daemon's supernatural strength. Samus cackled until with was forced to block a crushing downward slash from Artoria, the latter's eyes burning with fury as she unleashed more of Excalibur's power and the blade sunk deeper into the daemon's flesh.

"I will run you through with your own cursed blade, dragon-child!" Samus sneered.

"And I'll send you screaming back to your gods before you get the chance!" Artoria roared, slashing through skin and muscle to carve into the bone of its arms in a burst of golden light, Samus screaming in pain before it balled a fist up and rocketed a punch that Artoria was forced to block, the force sending her crashing through a row of seats. Sun wasn't idle underneath Samus' foot, screaming a beam of aura from his mouth and tearing into Samus' chest from below, forcing the daemon off and leaving open.

Yang recovered faster than it expected, twisting in the air, landing on all fours and launching herself at Samus once more, the daemon raising an arm in reflexive defense as Yang shrieked and blasted a three-armed left hook into it. Samus' arm was thrown to the side, a scorched crater sizzling and smouldering where Yang's blow had impacted it and leaving it open as Sun sprinted in and leapt, smashing into its waist with a bellow and slamming the daemon into the nearby wall. Samus growled and moved to swat him away until a crackling orb of pure aura formed in Sun's hand, Sun screaming as he slammed it into Samus' chest. The arena erupted in a flash of green light as the orb exploded, reducing a chunk of the seats and the wall itself to rubble.

Samus emerged from the smoke, its skin flayed and bleeding yet healing rapidly as it snarled and chopped down with his taloned hand. Hissing blood spattered onto the stone as its claws carved through Sun's torso from collarbone to hip, Sun gasping in pain before gnashing bloody teeth together and roaring as he rocketed a right and left hook into Samus' face. The daemon's head snapped to the side in a spray of its own ichor, its own overhand strike hitting Sun full in the torso and face to hammer him into the floor, the ground cratering under the impact. Artoria dashed in and slashed away at its legs, the daemon stumbling and barking in pain as Excalibur bit deep into its flesh, the bark turning into a genuine roar of agony as Artoria leapt straight up and skewered it through the spine and chest, golden energies spreading through and ravaging the wound.

"YOU INSIGNIFICANT LITTLE-!" Samus screeched.

"XIAO-LONG, WUKONG, NOW!" Artoria shouted as she wrenched Excalibur free in a burst of golden light, Samus falling to a knee and clutching at the bubbling wound in his chest.

Yang dove at the vulnerable Samus with her fists drawn back as Sun burst from the ground, his mouth glowing as his jaw almost unhinged and he screamed. A beam of aura as big as Samus erupted from his glowing teeth and seemed to crash into Yang's back: Yang's spectral arms were flung back, palms open as it caught the blast and absorbed it directly into Yang's body, her blackflame hair seeming to grow longer and even more violent before she roared and slammed three right crosses into Samus' chest. For a split second, nothing happened. Then the air ripped open as a wall of black and gold flame exploded from the point of impact, Samus' entire body engulfed as it screamed and was blown clean through the arena wall, seats and all. They watched as it was blasted through and out the arena itself, its body plummeting the Beacon below.

"…Samus is not defeated," Artoria said after a moment, "Though it's good we were able to repel him, we need to find him and send him screaming back into the warp."

Artoria looked to her right to see Yang staring up at her from a hunched position, wide crimson pools of light regarding her with curiosity. Artoria raised a brow at the changed Yang.

"Can you understand what I'm saying?"

Yang didn't move for a moment before she slowly nodded, her eyes flashing to normal for a split second.

"Excellent," Artoria nodded, "Wukong, what about-?"

Artoria's arm instinctively came up as Sun barrelled into her, a fist with glowing knuckling crashing into the flat of her blade and carrying them almost to the closest wall. Sun screamed in her face as he unleashed a barrage of punches that threatened to cave her skull in, Artoria calmly ducking, weaving and parrying with the flat of her blade as to not seriously harm him. She didn't bother trying to talk him out of it, seeing just how far gone in his own madness he was before she stepped in and smashed the pommel of her blade hard across his jaw. He flinched very slightly and she took full advantage of the opening, leaping high and slamming the flat of her blade across his temple, ducking as he roared and swung a wild backhand that threatened to take her head off and lashed out with a kick at his knee.

He didn't seem to care, screaming and raising both fists to slam down on the prone Artoria, the latter's hand on her scabbard as she prepared to defend herself. There would be no need as it turned out, Yang stepping in and catching the overhead slam. The two inhuman visages snarled and gnashed at each other, Yang's six arms trembling as she struggled and failed to push back against Sun's monstrous brute strength. Yang screamed in frustration before she allowed her spectral arms to bear the full weight and sharply stepped in to uppercut Sun hard in the solar plexus, fire literally exploding from his back as he hacked up blood onto Yang's face and stumbled back. Yang immediately savaged him, her head weaving into a blurring infinity-motion before punches from every angle blasted into Sun wherever she could land, chest, ribs, stomach, cheek, chin, nose, every impact accentuated by gouts of fire.

Sun roared back and hammered his forehead straight down onto Yang, the deafening *CRACK* making Artoria wince as all of Yang's momentum was halted, leaving her open for a wild right cross that exploded into her face and sent her straight into the floor in a spray of burning blood and broken teeth. Artoria blitzed him an instant later, the flat of her blade cracking across his face and making him stumble again, Yang leaping from the ground into another flying uppercut that caught Sun full in the stomach. Sun vomited blood again and Artoria noticed just how dramatically his power dropped and spiked, green aura seeming to vent from the cracks in his skin as it surged forward in response to the damage done by Samus. Even then he didn't stop fighting, grabbing Yang by her arms and savagely biting down on her shoulder, the latter shrieking and throwing wild elbows and headbutts that eventually managed to pry him off.

'His aura's trying to heal and empower him,' Artoria realized, 'But it's too much for his damaged body! The more it tries to heal him, the more it overdoes it and damages him in a vicious cycle that will only end in his death. I refuse to let that happen!'

It was as if a switch flipped, the baying and screaming daemons falling silent as Artoria drew upon the power of Excalibur, her body outlined in a soft gold light before she sheathed it. She dashed in as Yang was backhanded so hard by Sun that the girl was sent flying into the seats, her flight and landfall turning some unfortunate daemons in her path to paste. Sun actually stepped back, fear twisting his blackened face as she placed the edge of the sheathed Excalibur on his chest.

"RELEASE ALL BURDENS," Artoria intoned, "AVALON!"

She cut straight down right through the same wound left by Samus without actually touching him. It was as if his transformation was ripped away from him by the edge of Avalon, the blackened skin and crackling mantle of power literally torn off of his body as Sun collapsed to his knees, eyes rolled into his head and his body covered in blood. She caught him before he could fall and gently pressed her scabbard on his skin, the properties of Avalon already beginning to heal his grievous injuries at a steady pace.

Her eyes darted up and around her, observing the mass of daemons and daemon-possessed. Their numbers were thinned out no thanks to some of the more adept hunters in the crowd, not to mention the likes of Pyrrha, Mordred and now Yang grinding their way through the abominations. With Mordred and Yang, they fought with almost animalistic fury, rage at seeing innocent people turned into pawns by forces they did not understand. Pyrrha however, and many like her who were still able to fight did so out of wild desperation, unable to ignore the fact that the possessed they slew were unquestionably once people yet driven by fear to cut down those who they had once swore to protect.

'This atrocity has gone on long enough,' Artoria scowled before she projected her voice, "ALL COMBATANTS, TO ME!"

Her voice, calm, confident and commanding, prompted everyone to listen and obey. It took a fair amount of time with people still engaged in combat, but they eventually made their way to her, the daemons and possessed eventually surrounding them en-masse in the middle of the arena. There were hundreds of them, laughing and shrieking with delight as they seemed to taste the fear radiating from the handful of survivors.

"What's… happening?" Pyrrha asked, her stare haunted and frightened. "What is this?"

"Evil," Artoria answered simply, unsheathing Excalibur and raising its glowing form high for all to see, "And though you are all too young to face such an evil, it does not change the reality that these daemons must be purged. So I ask you, lend me your hope… and duck."

For a moment, their fears were put to rest and a blanket of calm washed over them as motes of golden light shone around Artoria, the hundreds of daemons surrounding them growing agitated at the sight before they began to advance.

"May the hope of the people grant a promised victory…!" Artoria yelled, Excalibur crackling with shining energy as the daemons' advance turned into a full-on desperate sprint towards them, but it was far too late as Artoria stomped her foot, leapt high and swung in a full circle, proudly roaring:

"EXCALIBUR!"

The energies within the blade exploded outward, harmlessly washing over the heads of those surrounding Artoria but crashing into the daemonic hordes, the wave of golden light atomising them and silencing their shrieks almost instantly. Everyone save Mordred and Yang stared in awe at the devastation wrought by Artoria's hand, even the walls surrounding the arena and the very seats reduced to piles of burning rubble, the once-king standing proudly with her blade in hand.

"That should buy you all enough time to make your way to the docking areas," Artoria said, "Make your way to Beacon, be prepared to defend it with your lives, and rely on each other. Go now, stick together, and watch each other's backs."

Her tone and body-language gave heart to all who listened and they made their way to the exit as quickly as possible, all except Yang and Mordred. The latter watched her mother closely, quickly stepping in and grabbing her by the shoulder before she could fall to her knees.

"Mom…" Mordred said, her voice wavering as she saw just how exhausted Artoria was. She wanted to ask about that awesome power, ask why this situation felt so familiar, ask why her sword shared the same name with the weapon used by the King of Knights in the bedtime stories she was told. That would have to wait. "Are you gonna be okay?"

"…I will be fine," Artoria said after a few moments, straightening up and wiping the sweat from her brow, "Using that… always puts a strain on my aura. I will recover soon enough, so do not worry about me. And thank you for clearing out a good amount of them. If I had to draw further on Excalibur, I may well not be standing right now."

Artoria grinned in spite of the situation as Mordred looked down and kicked at a stray pebble, her expression hidden by her helmet but her body-language radiating bashful joy at the compliment. There was a crackling grunt, the mother and daughter turning to look at Yang pointing a thumb in the direction of the exit as her four auric arms easily carried Sun's unconscious body.

"Right," Artoria agreed, "We have a job to do."

}-{

Below the Amity arena, the Atlan Warship known as the Frigid Might, its guns, crew and smaller fighter-class craft engaged in combat with arial hostiles, suddenly shook as something large crashed onto its open deck. Everyone on board froze as they saw a hulking, snarling figure emerged from the smoke, its burnt and charred skin seeming to rapidly knit back together as it snorted.

"Little BRATS!" It roared, swiping at a nearby fighter-craft in fury and tearing it in half, "If only that blade's damned light wasn't there, I could've flayed them ALL!"

"OPEN FIRE ON THE DAEMON!"

Samus glared as red streaks of light stung at it from all directions, a scowl on its horrible face as the las-rounds shattered on its skin while barely singeing it. It didn't matter that these people were reacting to the situation with incredible discipline and deeply ingrained training, Samus would devour their flesh and gnaw on their bones all the same.

"Worthless little-!" It snarled, reaching to grab a solider who had hurt her ankle while falling but was still opening fire with her laspistol, roaring in defiance as she did so. Pain suddenly knifed into Samus' open palm before three thunderous explosions went off, the entire upper-half of the daemon's hand bursting apart in a shower of warp-blood and phantasmal bone. Before Samus even had time to react, a blur of blue shot between its legs before it felt the tendons in its ankle sliced apart, forcing it to a knee. Samus growled and spun, failing to backhand a figure that leapt clean over it while firing some kind of gun with explosive rounds –

'Bolter!' Samus realized as the figure landed in a casual stance, an abnormally tall man in a blue hoodie and a 'spear' which was really a large gun with a crackling blue, oversized bayonet at the end of a staff, a weapon that Samus knew.

"A loyal dog of the Anathema," Samus spat.

"And hello to you too, loyal dog of the false gods," Diodes greeted in kind, pointing at the gold-laced wound in Samus' chest, "I see you've had a run-in with my wife – technically she did the running through, but that's beside the point."

"The dragon's child is your… consort?" Samus grumbled in surprise.

"Bit of a crass way to put it innit?" Diodes said with a smirk.

He begun spinning his Guardian Spear in a flourish and crouching slightly deeper, the crackling power-blade parting air with a gentle hum before he sharply stopped and his body seemed to ignite. Azure warpfire engulfed him for a barely half-a-second, and when it faded to nothing, Diodes stood ready in resplendent golden armour, its massive, curved pauldrons baring symbols of laurel wreaths, breastplate adorned with the etchings of lightning, crimson waist-cape fluttering in the wind, the face of the red-plumed helmet fashioned after an eagle spreading its wings. The Atlesian soldiers around him fell to their knees, praising and even praying to him.

"You'd have found that Artoria would have given you a quicker death," Diodes said, ignoring the people around him, "My spear doesn't have the same power as Excalibur… but you'll find that I can inflict just as much pain as she can."

"I HAVE BATTLED ROGAL DORN!" Samus howled, slamming its fist into the ground to force itself onto its feet, "A MERE CUSTODIAN WILL NOT BEST ME, MUCH LESS WITHOUT HELP FROM THE WARP!"

"Dorn slew you," Diodes pointed out, grinning under his helmet, "And Cerberus, a 'mere Astartes' was capable of holding you off. Has your memory been altered by your fragile ego? Or is age finally getting to you, you C-list daemon?"

Samus shrieked in rage and threw himself at Diodes, the latter doing the same as the two mighty beings locked blade and talon in the skies above Beacon.

}-{

Even though the Amity's docks hadn't been exposed to the light of the Warp, it didn't make escaping that much easier. Creatures of all forms ripped through the thinned fabric of reality to attack the survivors, from familiar Grimm twisted but enhanced with metaphysical power, more lesser daemons, and possessed thralls spilling forward to attack all in sight, though thankfully in smaller numbers.

A gangrenous man with a rotting jaw that opened into his torso moaned as he grabbed onto Weiss' blade in an attempt to immobilize her before she shrieked and blasted him away with a glyph to his face while Blake defended her side by gunning down a warbling blue mass of flesh and tentacles on two stubby legs sprinting at them. Weiss had to split her concentration to constantly keep Ruby safe as she lay atop a glyph large enough to carry her while a dozen smaller, interlocked glyphs shielded her from harm. Sweat was pouring down Weiss' face as she fought off both the weight of her fear and the horrors that threatened to devour her soul. A thousand questions began to swarm in the back of her mind as she and Blake desperately fought off the encroaching horrors.

'Why do so many of these things match the descriptions of daemons in the stories of the Lectitio Aurum Semita? Why do the Grimm seem to be working with them? Why do the Grimm feel so similar to these monsters? Is Ruby going to die? Is Yang okay? Are we going to live? Why is this happening to us?'

All those thoughts halted as she saw a dozen airships still parked in the docking-bays, three of them still being defended by a handful Atlesian Guardsmen. Their defensive formation was tight and their shooting precise, taking down the closest threats with concentrated fire and moving on to the next.

"This is Squad Drei, spotting three survivors approaching at three o'clock!" One of them shouted, "I see one injured, and real bad too!"

"Clear the way for them!" Another barked, "Orders were to get as many survivors out of here and return students to academy grounds! FOR THE EMPEROR!"

Weiss squashed her emotions and ground her teeth as she pushed her auric circuits hard and activated her Trigger, Blake wordlessly doing the same. The opportunity to get Ruby to proper medical help was not going to slip through their fingers. They fought like hell as they made their way to the closest squad, Weiss loading Pyro-dust into Myrtenaster's exhaust port and blasting away with a wave of flame that seemed surprisingly effective. Blake did the same with Gambol, sheathing her sword and letting loose blindingly fast quickdraw slashes that unleashed lashing blades of fire that scorched through possessed and daemon alike.

'Fire and aura seem to work best,' Weiss realized as Blake sliced through the descending arm of a muscle-bloated Ursa with her flaming blade and pivoted away as its momentum carried it forward before slashing at its neck. There was a fleshy ripping sound as her blade got stuck in the thick muscle of its neck, trying to yank it free as it stood upright and carried her up with it. Weiss was about to move in and help before a rain of las-fire concentrated on the back of its head and middle of its spine pierced into and through the Grimm. Even then it continued to struggle, bellowing as it thrashed before Blake screamed back at it and tore Gambol free in a spray of ichor, Weiss diving from above to skewer it through the head right as dark purple lines of aura on its neck exploded in a shower of auric slashes. Its skull was torn to bloody shreds as Weiss disengaged and leapt away, panting as she watched its body crumple and dissolve, Weiss and Blake's Trigger fading.

"Thanks," Blake panted.

"Don't mention it," Weiss waved breathlessly before looking at her hand: she was shaking and her head was throbbing with a surprising amount of pain. Had she been injured? As far as she could tell, she hadn't suffered any head-trauma.

'Focus,' She snapped to herself, biting her lip hard and ensuring that Ruby was still safe. "Weiss Schnee, huntress in training. I have one injured who needs immediate medial attention, and last I saw there should still be around twenty to thirty other combatants left."

"Any civilians?" The leader of the squad she was speaking to asked, a grim look on his face as he feared the worst.

"…No civilians left." Weiss said after a moment, her voice wavering.

"…Damn," The soldier kissed his teeth, "Alright then. Everyone, stay frosty! No hostiles in sight, but that might change at any moment, so hold formation-!"

There was a terrible scraping sound as the air was forcibly ripped open, Weiss and Blake whipping around to see a red-skinned, black-taloned hand punch through the fabric of reality and forcibly pry it open. The face that peered through made Weiss want to scream, not in fear, but for some reason, in rage: with a facial structure twisted into a classical demonic visage on an elongated skull and two pairs of black horns, the first massive pair curving upward and the second curving down to frame its hideous face, it was enough of an invitation for everyone to immediately open fire. The eight-foot tall figure tore its way out to reveal a red-skinned body taut with sinewy musculature, its hooved feet shattering the stone tiles underneath as it sprinted at them with a sword raised.

The blade caught Weiss' eye and she froze as images assaulted her mind. Rivers of blood and endless deserts formed from smashed bones. A crimson tree decorated with impaled bodies, and next to it a looming forge made of eight rings. Demonic hands wielding black-iron hammers pounded away at a mass of metal and gore until it was fused together in the shape of a blade. A great citadel made of brass, and an endless pit filled with endless bloodshed, warriors and daemons of all kinds engaged in a never-ending bloodbath. A throne made of skulls, and sitting atop it was a towering and vengeful god encased in pitch-black and gore-soaked armour. The god looked down, looked at Weiss, and pointed at her. Weiss screamed.

The scream that Weiss let loose pierced through Blake's skull brought her and everyone else to their knees, but she couldn't take her eyes away from her as red glyphs appeared around Weiss' neck and shoulders before they moved up her head and down her arms. Summoned armour shone across her arms and a new helmet encased Weiss' head, though the armour was not the same as the Arma Gigas she'd beaten, but similar to…

"Astartes armour…!?" Blake muttered in shock as the flat-crested helmet of the World-Eater from the Vale Breach encased Weiss' head, her scream becoming even more guttural as one of the chainsaw-axes he'd wielded appeared in her free hand before she threw herself at the daemon with unbridled fury. It howled as it brought its blade down in a vicious chop, Weiss swinging up with the chainaxe to clash head on. A horrid squeal rang through the docks as the teeth of the axe raked against the supernatural brass of the Bloodletter's blade, though the daemon's strength was steadily winning out. Weiss howled like an animal as her arm wielding Myrtenaster shot out twice, piercing the kneecaps of the daemon and forcing it to stumble back as she went on a furious assault. Stab to the groin, upward slash with the chainaxe into a horizontal disembowelling cut, upward thrust to the chin with Myrtenaster and a downward chop with her chainaxe.

The Bloodletter parried and weaved the attacks with surprising grace before it planted its feet, the holes in its kneecaps sealing shut as it growled and met Weiss blow-for-blow with vicious but precise attacks, all of them lethal and some of them slipping through to cut clean through her flesh. A decapitating strike that Weiss barely ducked, a cut that would have cleaved Weiss from collarbone to hip that she parried at the last second and a punch that snapped her head back with a *CRACK* that made everyone jump. Weiss snarled and snapped her head back forward with the aid of a propulsion-glyph, cannoning a headbutt into the Bloodletter's face so hard that jagged teeth flew into the air and one of its smaller horns snapped off, its eyes closing from the shock while Weiss exploited the opening with a vengeance. She stabbed the daemon through the middle of its chest, a compact glyph at the end of Myrtenaster exploding inside of it and blowing out its back in a spray of gore, leaving the blade in what was left of its ruined torso to hammer her knuckles across its jaw in a savage right hook, tearing its sword-wielding arm off with her chainaxe and following up by pressing the screaming teeth of her axe into its neck. Hot blood fountained through the air for a second as its supernatural meat and bone was shredded away from its body until its head was lopped off.

Weiss crushed its head under her boot, threw her head to the sky and howled in fury and pain, everyone staring at her in awe and horror before the summoned Astartes armour and weapon shattered into motes of light. Weiss swayed silently for a few moments, almost falling before Blake caught her. Weiss was sobbing uncontrollably as she desperately clutched Blake, crying into the crook of her neck as Blake tried to comfort her friend, gritting her teeth as once again, she felt absolutely useless.

"I-I-I saw it," Weiss stammered, "I saw… I saw God… a-and it wanted me dead."

Blake held Weiss tightly rocking her back and forth as the rest of the survivors showed up, unable to shake the shame of her inability to help any of her friends.

...TWBY Continued...

Samus - Greater Daemon of Chaos Undivided, Prince of the Ruinstorm, the Daemon of the Whisperheads.

Daemon (Pronounced the same as 'demon') - The shard of a God of Chaos (or multiple Gods) coalesced into a tangible, sentient being. This includes the Gri[REDACTED].

Possessed - Mortal beings who have had their bodies hijacked by a creature (or in rare cases, multiple creatures) from beyond the veil of the material world. Their bodies will often exhibit unique traits and mutations that mirror a daemon's true appearance. Though what would happen if someone had strong enough willpower...?