AN: I swear people. I wasn't planning to make this chapter so long. But it just... happened. There was just too much I wanted to happen at this single chapter. Oh well, I hope you still enjoy it.
Death Match with Torna
"You've come for the Fetter, haven't you?" Rex said with a stern look.
"Perceptive, kid." Mikhail said, tapping his head for emphasis.
"Condescending much?" Nia said, causing Mikhail's face to fall, "It's not like there's anything else in here."
"You are SO mean." Mikhail complained, earning an amused look from Emerald.
"You were right, he's terrible," Emerald said to Patroka.
"Hey!"
"And I have to deal with that on a daily basis." Patroka said, sounding glad that someone gets it.
"Why are all the women in our group so mean?" Mikhail asked with a downcast look.
"…Is anyone reminded of vomit boy?" Yang asked off-handedly.
"They both have terrible pick-up lines," Weiss agreed, causing Mikhail's jaw to drop.
"As I recall, our goddess hasn't been mean to you." Tyrian said in a comforting tone. Which was off-set by his maniacal grin.
This caused the Remnans to look surprised, especially Qrow.
"Salem is here?!" the veteran huntsman all but demanded.
"Oh, yes, she's most likely enjoying Malos' and Jin's company," Akhos commented. "Back to business, though. Hand over the Fetter nicely, would be a classic line, but no. I'm not letting you escape with your lives. For Jin's sake."
"Where are Jin and Malos anyway," Mythra asked, "There are a few things I want to ask them."
"Frankly I don't think they have much interest in anything you have to say," Akhos said with a smile.
"She's not the only one with questions," Dragunov piped up as he stepped forward.
"Ahh! Dragunov," Mikhail said with a pleasant smile, returning to his cheerful demeanor, "I'm not sure Jin has much to say to you either."
Dragunov frowned as he stared at Mikhail, "Have we met?"
"Oh, no. I'm flattered, but I only like women," Mikhail said, placing his hands over his chest melodramatically.
"Don't flatter yourself. I swear I have seen you somewhere before," Dragunov said with an unimpressed look.
"Oh? But that's not possible, you see." Mikhail said with a grin.
Then Zeke decided to interject, "Not interrupt the verbal sparring, but how do you plan on doing anything with only one Blade? We're no pushovers you know?" As Zeke moved in so his left shoulder was facing them, Pandoria mimicked the movement putting the two shoulder to shoulder.
"Oh, we're quite aware of that," Akhos said as he adjusted his glasses, "The three of us just don't need them, you see."
"And we didn't feel like risking blowing up," Mercury added in, "But this guy was curious." At the last part, the cocky teen pointed to Tyrian.
"And I'm very glad I did," Tyrian said with a giggle. Then the carapaced Blade named Scorax made clicking noises with its fangs. "Why, yes. I do find you pleasant to be around." Tyrian replied with a smile at his arachnoid Blade. Scorax's tail swished around wildly at hearing that.
"You understand that thing?" Qrow asked with a disbelieving look.
"How rude," Tyrian said sadly, "Scorax will get upset at being called a thing." As if to emphasize, Scorax made more angry sounding clicking noises. "Oh! What a wonderful idea," Tyrian said as he lifted his tail which was now replaced by a mechanical one with a metallic stinger that let out a tiny drop of purple venom. Then the maniac had a fitting grin, "We really should, tear him to shreds!"
However, Zeke was focused on what Akhos said, "Explain yourself."
In response, Akhos brought out a bloodstained Core Crystal which then formed a high-tech bow around it, earning a surprised look from everyone.
Patroka and Mikhail soon followed it up and brought out a Core Crystal each, making a weapon form around them. For Patroka, it was a polearm with a single edged energy Blade. Within it, was a metallic Blade with six different colored dots along the blade. As for Mikhail he was now wielding two gauntlets with energy blades in the shape of feathered fans coming out of them.
"They're Blades?" Yang asked in disbelief.
"Worse- Flesh Eaters." Mòrag corrected with a glare at their enemies. Indeed, all members of Torna revealed a previously hidden Core Crystal on their chest.
"Bravo!" Akhos congratulated, "We've had many interruptions in the past, but now…that seems less likely. So, let's go all out."
"You'll regret saying that," Ruby said confidently as she prepared Roze's scythe. The reaper Blade's confident expression mirroring that of his Driver.
"They took the words right out of my mouth," Nia commented, as she prepared Twin Rings.
"We'll see about that." Mercury said as he took a combat stance alongside the rest of Torna and Salem's group.
"Like I said…All out." Akhos said confidently.
(Play Xenoblade Chronicles 2 OST: Incoming!)
"Let's get them!" Ruby said with a determined look, and the two teams charged at each other.
Yang began by facing Mercury on her own.
"Not gonna use your Blade?" Mercury asked with a grin.
"Don't need him against you." Yang said simply before launching herself with Ember Celica. She didn't have too many shots left, but she only needed them for this little boost. Mercury avoided Yang's first strike before throwing a kick at the blonde's head, but Yang brought her arms up to block it before attacking him again.
With Hazel, he had already stuck several water Dust Crystals in his arms as he was facing Dragunov again. The draconic Blade cracked his knuckles that already had his talons while doing the same with his neck.
Hazel let out a roar as he charged one fist with water and threw it against Dragunov. But the fire Blade caught the fist with flames in his palms. This caused a burst of steam from the contact point. Back at Haven, Dragunov couldn't harness all of his power, but here in Alrest it was clear how much he was at the disadvantage back then. Because to Hazel's horror, Dragunov was now twisting the caught fist with little effort on his part, forcing the large human on his knees.
"You mortal fool." Dragunov said condescendingly, "You are no match for me." And then he delivered a strong punch into Hazel's head. Sending him a few feet away. Then Dragunov felt something hitting his back. Turning to look what it was, the fire Blade saw Emerald firing at him with an annoyed look. "Really?" Dragunov said before turning to walk almost casually towards Emerald until he smirked at something. "Nevermind." Dragunov then said before turning his attention back to recovering Hazel.
"Don't ignore me!" Emerald cried out as she prepared to fire again.
"Shadowspin." But was interrupted by something slicing at her back.
"Damn it!" Emerald cried out as lashed out at Blake who avoided the attack before getting a cut at the green haired thief's torso and then backing off.
And Emerald noticed why as she brought her Kamas at the front to block Weiss who was attacking with Aizen's Twin Swords. "For claiming to be the good guys, you sure like using dirty tricks." Emerald said as she barely kept up with Weiss practiced swings. Her training with Aizen was clearly paying off.
"From someone who used illusions to cause mass panic, that's rich," Aizen shot back. Of course, he had asked for details about the Battle for Beacon.
This gave Emerald an idea. If she used her semblance to make Weiss attack Blake then this should be easy. So, she took some distance and then focused on invading Weiss' head. Except she got startled by an inhuman screech directly behind her. This caused Emerald to wildly slice at whatever monstrosity was behind her. Only for her weapons to clang against Nox's armguards. "When did he get behind me?!" Emerald thought in panic.
"Shattered mirror!" But then she stumbled forward when she felt two stabs at her back. Emerald had completely forgotten Weiss. And then Nox followed it up with a kick to abdomen.
"Rex!" Came the voice of the former heiress.
"Zeke! Go!" Rex exclaimed before firing Anchor Shot around Emerald's leg and toppled her.
As this happened, Zeke was dashing at the falling thief. "Don't blame me, you asked for this. Stratospheric Thunder!" Zeke said before launching the thief up with his Art.
As Emerald was spinning in the air uncontrollably, Blake had jumped up too, "Black Maw!" And then used the Art to smash her down, creating a small crater.
"Nice one Blake!" Ruby called out as she unleashed Rosy Shot on Akhos who was firing electric ether arrows.
"Akhos, behind you!" Patroka called out just in time for Akhos to move away from Talos' Megalance. Unfortunately, this left him open for a shot from Ruby.
"Take that!" Ruby cheered at the hit she got in.
"Those guys were right," Akhos grumbled, "You really are an annoying little brat."
"Why don't you come over here and say it to my face." Ruby said as she brandished Roze's scythe with a grin.
"Don't mind if I do," Akhos said as his bow morphed into a scythe and he began charging Ruby. Talos would've joined in, but he was soon busy with Patroka.
"It's a scythe too?!" Ruby squealed in delight.
"Ruby!" Roze called out before grabbing his Driver and moving away from Akhos' slash. "Focus!"
"Sorry!" Ruby let out in embarrassment and then started reigning in her weapon nuttiness.
With Mikhail, he was facing Rex and Mòrag. As they noticed, Mikhail's little dance moves he showed weren't for show. They were incorporated into his fighting too. Meaning he was good at dodging attacks. But then again, so was Mòrag.
Evidenced how the Special Inquisitor was able to avoid Mikhail's Crow Beat.
"Double Spinning Edge!" Which was followed up by Rex's Art when he came down from the somersault.
"Argh!" And Mikhail's element was Darkness, meaning that Rex just scored a critical hit with Mythra being out. "Okay…this isn't what I was expecting." Mikhail said as he held his side before having to block attacks from Mòrag.
"What were you expecting?" Nia snarked as she came from the side with Twin Rings. But Mikhail got away from the attack.
"Good po-" Mikhail's words were cut off by another inhuman scream. "Okay, what the heck is that? It's freaking me out!"
"Bloody murder from the sound of it," Nia said while giving a scowl to Nox who had screamed again for whatever reason.
Back with Weiss and Blake, Dahlia had held her braid-like ears. "Maybe Nox's screaming isn't a good warning sign." the ice Bunny said.
"It's the only one I could think of," Blake shot back, despite wondering how her ears weren't ringing yet. Every time Emerald tried to use one of her illusions, Nox screamed. Breaking Emerald's concentration and warning what the thief was trying to do. Unfortunately, it wasn't just Emerald who got freaked out every time as Weiss was still not used to the fact that the dark Blade had such a creepy voice.
Except someone took delight in them.
"Well, that's a cute voice," Tyrian cackled as he was duking it out with Qrow. Qrow didn't say anything, just did his best to keep up with the homicidal maniac. Although the crazy scorpion faunus occasionally had to get away from Kasandra's hammer.
"Hold still you bastard!" Zeke complained at Scorax who was avoiding his attack quite well.
Until finally it struck with an open claw, but Pandoria put up a barrier to block it. Which was followed by Zeke swinging at it. Scorax responded by bringing its tail in front of the attack so that it was pushed back instead of getting sliced. Right next to Tyrian who again had get away from the combined attack of Qrow and Kasandra.
"Hey, Scorax, I was thinking, should we do what they do?" Tyrian then asked with a grin as he turned his yellow eyes to the beady eyes at Scorax's temple. Scorax turned its multi-eyed face towards Tyrian before making several clicking sounds. "But of course, I'm curious about how it works." Tyrian replied with a giggle. Scorax then flipped its arms and made its scissors come off, revealing four fingered carapace covered hands. As the weapons came down, Tyrian folded his wristblades and got the weapons on, and the affinity link was formed.
Tyrian gave a few test punches with the weapons before the claws opened and closed rapidly, giving a couple mental images of what could be between them. Which gave the scorpion Driver a gleeful look, "I could get used to this." With that, Tyrian was ready to fight as a Driver.
"This could be a problem," Zeke commented with a worried look as he brandished Big Bang Edge.
Meanwhile, Patroka was able to disengage from Talos before getting in front of Mikhail.
"Eight Spirits!" Patroka struck her spear into the ground. And right beneath Rex and Mòrag, a total of eight blades all in the shape of Patroka's weapon sprout, toppling the two Drivers.
Mikhail smirked at the chance Patroka just gave him. "Crow Feather!" the blonde member of Torna smacked Rex upwards from beneath, causing the salvager to yell in pain, which was followed by Mythra who shared his pain.
"And with that," Patroka added in, before making the pole shorten itself, making his spear into a sword. "Ephemeral Moon." And then brought the weapon down for a high strike, smashing Rex into the ground.
"Rex!" Ruby cried out at the sight of the salvager being smashed down.
"Healing Halo/Circle!" Came from two different sources and a healing wave washed over everyone. Nia and Weiss had used their healing Arts.
"Hmph," Akhos scoffed before putting himself into a position which had Ruby, Nia and Weiss in the line of fire. "Black Wave." And then he morphed his weapon into a shield this time before firing a red beam which hit, Ruby, Nia and Weiss in turn.
"Gah!" Roze cried out as he was now bound by purple chains.
"Roze!" Ruby cried out in concern, not feeling any different herself.
"Dammit!" Nia let out as Dromarch was shackled too. As was Dahlia.
"That should disarm some of you." Akhos said before morphing the weapon back into a bow.
"War Charge!" Talos came from behind in an attempt to ram into Akhos
But Akhos jumped over the metallic champion and aimed the bow at Nia, "Sacred Wyrm!" And then fired a powerful electrically charged arrow towards the Gormotti Driver.
"I won't let you!" Talos leaped into the arrows path and absorbed it into his shield arm.
"What?!" Akhos let out as he landed.
Azurda barely saw what happened with Talos, which gave him an idea, "Talos! Patroka's Element is Earth!"
"Understood." Talos replied before unleashing Revenge Strike at Patroka.
"ARGH!" Patroka cried out in pain as she was hit full force by Akhos' redirected attack.
"No way!" Mikhail let out.
"What are you staring at?" Mòrag let out an instant before unleashing Azure II: Hellfire.
This broke Mikhail's stance, which was followed by Rex using Anchor Shot again to topple him.
"Wulfric!" Rex then switched with Wulfric before changing his attention to still recovering Patroka.
Nia looked towards Ruby who had switched to Crescent Rose to attack Akhos, but without the boosts she had as a Driver, it was difficult. As for Nia, she noticed that only Dromarch was shackled. So perhaps… "Dagas." Nia switched with Dagas' axe, and sure enough the ability didn't extend to the royal Blade. "Guess Otohime got better sealing powers," Nia thought with a smirk before frowning as she wondered how much easier this would probably be if team JNPR was here too. Oh well, no use dwelling on it.
"Power Spike!" Rex unleashed the Art that would cause Patroka's stance to break.
"Brutal Blade!" Which was followed by Nia thrusting Dagas' Greataxe with tremendous force to topple the black-haired woman.
"Patroka, no!" Mikhail cried out as he was getting up, but by then, Rex had already passed the Megalance to Wulfric who already unleashed a series of powerful strikes with the lance that made up his level 1 Special, Brutal Lance.
As Patroka was getting a beatdown, Yang's and Mercury's bout was reaching the point where the gray-haired teen was low on Aura. To be fair, Yang would be in a similar position if she didn't get healed by Weiss and Nia too. But the kicker here is, Yang had yet to use her semblance. "What's wrong blondie, can't win without your Blades or your little friends?" Mercury asked Yang mockingly.
"What's that got to do with anything?" Yang asked with an angry look.
"The fact that you're so weak that you can't do anything without them," Mercury said condescendingly, "If it wasn't for that stupid healing I would've won by now."
"Yeah, yeah, keep whining asshole," Yang replied in more annoyance than anger.
This seemed to make Mercury angry, "Easy for you to say. You had an easy life."
"…What did you just say to me?" Now Yang was pissed.
"You heard me! You've never gone through any real hardship in your life. The worst of it is probably just how much you had to shake your boobs." Mercury said with a scowl.
"You know nothing about me!" Yang shouted out in fury.
"Oh, I know enough." Mercury said as he fired one of the guns of his cybernetic legs at Yang who blocked it with Ember Celica. "I know you're just a dumb-" That was as far as Mercury got before getting a large fireball in the face.
Courtesy of Dragunov who was running towards the teen and with cracks glowing orange. "I've had enough of your whining." Dragunov said before catching a kick Mercury sent at him before using the said appendage to slam Mercury around several times before tossing him straight into a wall, which broke the teens Aura. Then Dragunov turned towards his Driver, "Yang, come on. Let's finish the rest."
Yang scowled at her Blade, "I could've taken him."
"I know." Dragunov said like it was obvious, "I just wanted a crack at him myself. Now come on." The fire Blade then moved back to the rest of the fighting.
Yang let out a sigh. She just couldn't stay mad at him when he said it like that. So instead she followed suit. But she was also searching for Hazel who she knew Dragunov was fighting against. It didn't take long for her to spot the large man embedded into a wall with his head slightly deeper than the rest of his body. If Yang had to guess, she would say Dragunov slammed the man's head repeatedly into the wall after the rest of the body was in.
With Emerald, she was pushed back with her Aura finally breaking.
"What?" Emerald muttered as she stared at Weiss who landed that blow that did the thief's Aura in. The former heiress had a smug look, which was mirrored by Aizen. "But…you were there!" Emerald said as she pointed to a second Weiss who was in a combat stance with Aizen. Then the other Weiss and Aizen glowed blue before shattering, leaving behind the ones that attacked Emerald.
"You're not the only one who can cast illusions," Aizen said smugly.
"Dammit." Emerald cursed.
"Blade Combo: Volcano." Was heard in the distance, which was followed by a cry of pain from Patroka. Turning to the source, the thief, Weiss and Blake saw Dagas having finished a Blade Combo.
Which was soon followed up by Mòrag handing Agate back her Greataxe.
"You…can't beat us." Patroka said through gritted teeth, "You're just…humans with normal Blades."
"Don't underestimate us or our Drivers." Agate said defiantly before making clusters of pink crystals sprout around Patroka. Then Agate used her Greataxe to send powerful shockwaves that shattered the crystals before hitting Patroka, the shockwaves were followed by whatever crystal shards were caught up in the blast. This is Agate's level 3 Special, Rhodochrosite Might. Followed by, "Blade Combo: Mega Eruption!"
"No!" Mikhail cried out before dashing to Patroka and moving her away from the eruption that came from beneath her. Unfortunately for him, Mikhail wasn't fast enough and was caught up in the attack too. But they managed to get out of the ground zero of the attack so it could've been worse.
"Okay, that's it, White Wave!" Akhos said as he lifted the shield form of his weapon above his head and the namesake came out of it, washing over Torna and Salem's group.
When it was over, Patroka and Mikhail were in much better shape.
"Are you kidding me!" Rex complained at Akhos healing his team.
"You have two healers, so I don't think you have any room to complain," Akhos said, while adjusting his red trimmed glasses.
"Spiral Phalanx!" Unfortunately, this little flex left him open for Talos.
"Argh! Hey! That wasn't in the script!" Akhos yelled at the metallic champion.
"This isn't a play!" Talos shot back, "Speaking of which, I think we should take you out first."
"Well, I guess I'll just have to alter the script a little. Shooting star kitty!"
"What?" Talos let out.
"Huh?" Nia let out with a weirded out look. One that was shared with Blake.
"Aww, but I haven't had enough," Tyrian complained as he was in a power struggle with Qrow, although it looked like the veteran huntsman was struggling against the madman who was actually pushing back. "Oh, well. Another time." Tyrian then disengaged from Qrow just when Zeke was about to strike. "You heard him, Scorax." Tyrian said as he backflipped over his Blade while passing the Scissor Claws.
Scorax regained the weapons and started clicking a little erratically. And then it shifted its gaze upon Nia. Then the creepy arachnoid Blade dashed towards the Gormotti.
"He's going after Nia!" Zeke let out frantically.
"I got him," Ruby said, once again wielding Roze's scythe because whatever Akhos did was now undone. But Scorax dodged every single one of Ruby's shots.
"You won't get to her so easily!" Mòrag exclaimed as she prepared Aegaeon's Chroma Katana. Unfortunately, when the Special Inquisitor moved in to strike, Scorax jumped over her before weaving past both Brighid and Agate whose attacks missed the nimble arachnoid.
"My lady, stay behind me!" Dromarch said as he and Dagas tried to intercept the Blade. Then it wounded up its thin arms while the claws grew a little longer. Then it started spinning in a pirouette with the weapons, tail curling around its legs and still approaching fast.
Dagas and Dromarch both put up a barrier to stop it, but the arachnoid struck through with little effort, revealing the attack to be a Special Art. Then it used the attack to smack both Dromarch and Dagas away.
"Dammit!" Nia exclaimed as she tried to move away from the attack, but Scorax adjusted its trajectory to compensate, which caused Nia to be hit by the tornado of razor-sharp claws. Causing Nia to cry in pain at the hit she took.
"Dammit!" Rex shouted as he dashed in to strike the attacking Blade with Roc's Dual Scythes. "Cyclone Smash!"
Unfortunately, Scorax chose that moment to jump away before aiming its tail cannon at Nia, which had already been charging. Then it fired a single shot at Nia. Its aim was true, and Nia got blasted by an explosive shot of dark energy.
But it wasn't just Nia that got hit, Rex was also close enough to get caught up in it.
Right before Nia and Rex got hit, Mikhail dashed towards Nia and unleashed a stronger version of Crow Feather on Nia. "Blade Combo: Black Abyss." Mikhail said smugly and Nia was surrounded by dark matter that kept sapping her strength.
"They can use Blade Combos too?!" Ruby exclaimed in worry.
"Of course," Akhos said smugly, "Or did you think it was exclusive to you guys?"
"Shit to finish that combo they would need…" Zeke said before realizing the horror. From Black Abyss, you need either one more Dark element to hit the enemy, or… "I won't let you!" Zeke exclaimed as he was dashing to Patroka who according to Azurda was Earth Element, the second option.
"Roze, quickly!" Ruby said as she tossed Roze's scythe back to him.
"On it!" Roze said as he pulled his hood over his head before disappearing in a flurry of rose petals.
Patroka looked just about ready to go in and finish the combo, when Roze appeared in a burst of rose petals from behind Patroka. Then he landed the first strike. "Argh! Why you-" Patroka exclaimed as she lashed behind her, but the only thing she cut was a new cloud of rose petals. "What?!" Then another strike came from the side. Patroka tried to attack again, but Roze vanished again. This pattern continued with the black-haired Flesh Eater not being able to hit the reaper Blade. Just when Patroka was getting frustrated, Roze appeared next to Ruby with a smug grin under the hood and the ether lines that came from his eyes glowing brighter than usual.
"Ravaging Rose." And then rose petals burst out of every single spot Roze had struck. Effectively, interrupting their plan.
"You little brat, I'll kill you!" Patroka screamed at Ruby, before feeling a hand on her shoulder. "What?!" Patroka turned to the culprit to see Dragunov.
"Sorry, but my Driver wouldn't like that very much," Dragunov said before squeezing the shoulder hard. And then he actually lifted the female Flesh Eater and tossed her away. "She's all yours!"
Yang grinned before punching Patroka in the back to keep her going. "Hey, Weiss, show them why they call you the ice queen." Yang joked.
The Driver in question rolled her eyes after using another Healing Circle to get Nia back up, but she complied. Although it wouldn't be her who would put Patroka on ice. She almost casually tossed Dahlia's bitball back to her.
"Of course." Dahlia acknowledged before kissing the blizzard ball before doing a pirouette and released it straight towards where Patroka would land. And soon Patroka fell victim to the localized blizzard that was Snowblind. More importantly, "Blade Combo, Ice Wind." Then the said phenomenon happened to Patroka who was flung away by extra freezing wind.
Worst of all, Mikhail couldn't come to help, because Rex wouldn't let him. "We need to end this." Rex said with a determined look.
"Rex…let's use that." Mythra said with a look of determination.
"Are you sure?" Rex asked with a worried look.
"Yes, look." Mythra said while pointing up.
Up there, he saw translucent membrane. Through which the Cloud Sea was visible. "Okay, if you're sure." Rex said with a smile. With that, Rex switched to Mythra's Aegis Sword as their affinity reached maximum.
"Let's do it Rex."
"Yeah!"
The two lifted the Aegis sword high into the air together.
Roc and Wulfric saw this and started shouting to everyone. "Get away from your opponents!"
"What?" Ruby called out as she was taking aim at Akhos who was busy avoiding Talos. The metallic champion strangely didn't seem to have a scratch on him despite Akhos getting a few good hits.
"Just do it!" Wulfric practically roared.
With that, everyone took their distance just as Rex and Mythra fired a beam into the sky.
"Sacred Arrow!" The two called out in unison and then it started raining beams of light upon the enemies.
(Song End)
"No, not again!" Akhos shouted out just as one blast hit him, causing him to be blasted away. The same soon happened to Mikhail.
Tyrian tried, really he did, but it was like the beams knew where he was going as he too got peppered by the attacks. He had also gotten Scorax's weapons back, meaning that he took heavy damage like Mikhail did.
As for Emerald, her Aura was broken again and she was now on the ground, not even able to stand right now.
"Inconceivable," Akhos said as he struggled to get back up. "How could we have…"
"Those…rats!" Patroka gritted out as she was barely able to get on her knees, much less stand up.
"Warned ya didn't we." Zeke said as he walked towards the defeated Tornans.
"You shouldn't have messed with us." Ruby said with a smile and her hands on her hips.
"You were grossly outnumbered," Weiss decided to add insult to injury.
"Anyway, this has gone on long enough. Nighty night chaps." Zeke said as he brandished Big Bang Edge. "Very much looking forward to interrogating you all later."
Akhos grit his teeth. This wasn't how it was supposed to go.
"Here I go! Bringer of Ch-Argh!" Zeke's over the top act was interrupted by someone stabbing him in the back. Someone who the Alrestians recognized very well.
"Jin? Where did he come from!?" Rex exclaimed as the silver haired Blade just appeared out of thin air.
Jin looked down on Zeke who had dropped on a knee at the stab he got. "Seems they don't call you 'Thunderbolt' for nothing. That's the first time I've ever missed a vital point."
"Y-You bastard!" Zeke shouted as he got on his feet and moved in to slash at Jin, who disappeared from the spot and was now behind, right in front of Akhos and Mikhail.
"How did you do that?!" Talos demanded as he prepared himself.
"Prince!" Pandoria called out as she ran to support Zeke.
"Don't worry, it's just a scratch." Zeke said, despite holding the stab wound.
"Don't give us that, Shellhead," Nia said before using a Healing Halo for a quick heal.
"Jin, are you okay?" Akhos asked in concern.
"Relax, he's not made of glass." Said Malos who was leaning against the wall right next to the hallway.
"Malos." Mythra said at the sight of the dark Aegis.
"So that's Malos." Blake commented on the appearance of the dark Aegis, "Did anyone else expect him to look…scarier?"
"…A little." Weiss admitted, expecting a bloodthirsty monster like Nox.
"Don't mind me, I'm just a spectator. He on the other hand insisted on settling a score," Malos said simply.
"Jin!" Dragunov shouted at the sight of the Blade he called an ally in his previous life, "Why did you side with Malos?!"
Jin gave the draconic Blade a side glance, "…Because I realized that he had the right of what he was doing."
This made Dragunov's cracks glow with gold, "You're siding with the very man who destroyed Torna?! Our home?!"
As this happened, Hazel, Mercury and Emerald were slowly getting back up and watching what was going on with mildly confused looks. Tyrian was also curious about this event.
Malos then started laughing like someone told him a good joke.
"What's so funny?!" Dragunov demanded.
"…Didn't she tell you?" Jin asked with a frown, "It was Mythra who destroyed our home, not Malos."
"What?!" Yang let out as her Blade had a shocked look. "You're lying! Mythra would never do that!"
Jin gave Yang a short glance before returning his attention to Dragunov," Is that your current Driver? Have you dropped your standards?"
"What was that?!" Yang's eyes turned red at hearing that.
"You don't know Yang," Dragunov growled, "As for Mythra, I don't believe you either. She may be sulky and quick tempered, but she wouldn't destroy Torna."
Jin shook his head, "Is that what she told you? You really believe her based on what they have told you?" At the latter part Jin motioned to Rex and the others.
"No, I believe her based on my time with her and Thauron." Dragunov replied.
"Thauron, is dead." Jin said with a scowl, "Your presence with a new Driver proves this."
"We've got his journal," Yang said with a glare, "And the way you were described there is totally different from what I'm seeing." Unbeknownst to Yang, Mikhail looked surprised to hear that.
"Hey!" the blonde member of Torna called out, "That journal, did you find it in a metal box?"
"How did you know?" Dragunov asked, causing Mikhail to chuckle.
"So that's where it ended up." Mikhail said with a small laugh, "It's almost like fate."
"Mikhail, what are you talking about," Akhos asked with a confused look.
"Nothing you need to worry about," Mikhail said.
"Explain yourself now!" Dragunov said as he took a step forward.
"None of that matters," Jin said before turning back to Rex, "Hand over the Fetter and the Aegis."
"You just try and take them." Rex said with a determined look, "I know you're strong. But there's no way we're giving you Pyra or Mythra."
"Yeah!" Ruby added in. "Besides, there's so many of us, and we got Dragunov too. We can win this."
Jin shook his head a little before focusing again on Rex, "You may have power, boy. But words do little. If you know what you desire, you will have to show it, not with words, but with your own strength." After those words a blizzard covered Jin who's red Core Crystal shined with power.
(Play Xenoblade Chronicles 2 OST: The Power of Jin)
When the blizzard cleared, Jin's white combat gear was switched with what looked like super-high tech black and dark gray armor with ether lines here and there. The armor also exposed his back and chest which had a scar in the middle of it. There were also leathered wing-like extension coming from his hips in the vague resemblance of a cape.
"Is that…Jin's true form?" Rex couldn't help asking in awe.
"No…this wasn't in the journal," Dragunov said as he prepared himself for battle, actually looking worried.
"…Drag…Give me your talons," Yang said, feeling cold fear gripping at her heart. Without another word, Dragunov handed over his talons.
"What enormous energy." Dromarch commented on Jin's new form.
Poppi squinted her eyes at the new Jin, "There no change to ether energy of surroundings. That energy being emitted from the interior of body."
"Just like Pyra then?" Nia summarized, "Where do they even keep all that energy?"
"How about all the rage energy pent up inside him?" Said Zeke who had been healed by Weiss during this, despite the white-haired Driver being just as surprised.
"No…that's not it it's…" Rex couldn't finish that sentence as Jin took a few steps forward, twirling his long katana which caused a burst of cold wind.
"Watch out! Here he comes!" Mòrag let out as she and everyone prepared for battle.
"Aizen." Weiss said in worry.
"At your side, Miss Schnee." Aizen said with a glare directed at Jin.
"And so am I," Dahlia added in, earning a smile from Weiss.
"Nox." Blake said as her grip tightened on the Dual Scythes.
"Ready…my lady…" Nox forced out with his voice.
"Roze," Ruby said as she felt scared of this new foe, but they had to win.
"I'm with you." Was Roze's reassuring reply.
"Tora, Mòrag, let's go," Rex said and the three in question moved in first to fight Jin.
"Empty Moment." Jin said before disappearing and reappearing behind the trio, looking like he had just put his katana back on his back.
"Gah!" Was the universal reply from Rex, Mòrag, Tora and their Blades when they were sent flying by what appeared to be a late reaction to Jin's attack.
"What?" Came out of the rest of them, but Yang was already on Jin too.
"Taste my fist!" Yang shouted threateningly, but Jin barely acknowledged her as he avoided Yang's punches. "Hold still dammit!" Yang raged.
"…Very well," Jin replied coldly as he took a little distance one more time. "Ultraslash!" Then he thrusted his sword forward with great strength knocking Yang back with little effort.
"What?!" Dragunov let out in disbelief. He knew Jin was strong, but he shouldn't have been able to knock Yang away so easily.
"Skyward Slash." Jin then followed it up by turning around and using the said Art on Blake who tried to sneak up on him. He followed this by grabbing Harbinger when Qrow tried to charge him and blocking Ruby's slash with his sword at the same time. "…Is this supposed to be a joke?" Jin asked, sounding a little insulted. Then he pushed Ruby away before giving a powerful slash against Qrow's weapon, actually snapping it in half.
"No way!" Qrow let out at his weapon being destroyed after so many years of it working so well.
"Pow Pow Cannon!" Tora unleashed the shot from Poppi QT's Mech Arms. But Jin disappeared from within the attack's path a few ways away.
As the gang was fighting Jin, Emerald managed to get to the Tornans and she looked on in amazement. "…Are those guys actually that weak?" Emerald couldn't help asking.
"No, Jin is that strong," Malos said smugly before turning towards the thief, "Speaking of which, I'm starting to question if joining forces with any of you was worth anything."
"To be fair Malos," Akhos piped up, "Tyrian was actually helpful."
"Not helpful enough." Tyrian grumbled. Scorax made clicking noises. "Oh no, I'm not blaming you. We just weren't told about the Aegis' full abilities." At the last part, Tyrian was glaring at Malos.
"You didn't ask," Malos replied cheekily, "Besides, you didn't exactly fill us in on what those guys are capable of."
"I…didn't think he was that strong," Hazel said having taken the water Dust crystals out.
"Where you come from, you might be used to being the strongest, but here. That's just an above average Blade," Malos said as he turned his attention back to the fight just in time to see Talos, Roc, Wulfric and Dagas being sent flying. Jin had used his counter Art, Stunned Swallow. If you hit Jin during that, you're sent flying.
"This isn't working." Ruby said as she tried shooting at Jin, but the superpowered Blade just blocked the shots or dodged them.
Then he sidestepped Nia's attack before kicking her away.
"Is that all you can do?" Jin asked, sounding disappointed as he locked swords with Rex. Then Jin stumbled forward when he felt something hitting his back, turning to see what it was, Jin saw that Weiss had used Dahlia's bitball.
Jin then chose to forget Rex and dashed at Weiss who had a smirk for some reason. Then Jin was hit by something else, mid dash. Turning up to see what it was, it was Weiss' Queen Lancer that was firing spikes at the Tornan Blade.
"Hey!" Blake shouted as she dashed in with Gambol's pistol and only one Dual Scythe. Jin instantly slashed at Blake, who promptly turned to ice, trapping Jin's sword
"What?" Jin was confused, which made him a target for Ruby's Crescent Spinner. Causing him to stumbled forward from the attack, but then Yang came at the front before unleashing Fever Rush on him. Jin actually looked angry before managing to pull his sword free from the ice clone and slash at Yang who backed off quickly.
"Pyrrhic Rush Victory!" Came from Talos who unleashed his level 1 Special on Jin. Unfortunately, this time Jin vanished from the attack.
(End song)
"I've had enough." Jin said as the gang regrouped. Then, Jin disappeared again. After a moment he reappeared, and everyone was struck down by what felt like countless strikes on their bodies. Even the Blades. This also caused the Remnan's Auras to break.
"What? Guys!" Rex called out, being the only one still standing. Because Roc and Wulfric were also down for the count.
"Rex focus!" Mythra called out and Rex once again focused on Jin, soon enough, the salvager saw Jin's next move through the Foresight.
With that, Rex slashed at Jin who was approaching from the front, but Jin dodged the attack, much to Rex's shock. But then he saw Jin's next move, which was a slash to his neck. Thanks to that, Rex was able to barely lean away from the attack. But it was soon followed by countless new slashes that Rex just couldn't block fast enough.
Rex cried out in pain as he fell down backwards, which was followed by Mythra who shared those injuries.
"With wounds like that they're done for." Malos said from his spot, "It's their biggest weakness."
But Rex, despite great pain still refused to stay down. "Your struggle is pointless." Jin said as Rex was getting up with great effort, "My power grants me control over all elementary particles."
"Parti-what?" Rex asked, not knowing what Jin was talking about.
Jin let out a small laugh at Rex's ignorance, "This allows me to accelerate my body to the speed of light. No matter how far you can predict, your movements themselves are limited. You are no match for me."
Despite Jin's words, Rex and Mythra still got back up, as did the Remnans. Despite their Auras being broken, their bodies took barely any damage. But not if they took an attack like that again.
This thought made them all fearful.
"…Mythra!" Rex called out.
"I'm with you," Mythra replied. "Rex, we need to slow him down. Match light speed with light speed." Mythra stood back up as she finished those words with her Core Crystal shining with power.
"Okay." Rex said as their affinity reached maximum.
"Is he…serious." Weiss let out weakly, "He could die."
"So could we." Blake said, panting. "But…unlike us…Rex never had the safety of Aura."
And this made Weiss remember again that none of the Alrestians had Aura, which meant that each and every one of them were prepared for a battle without the safety of Aura.
Ruby realized it too, and now she felt like she was a coward. "Roze…can you stand?" Ruby asked her Blade.
"Yeah…I can…just give me a moment." the reaper Blade said as he glared at Jin.
"What friend Ruby planning?" Poppi asked, still in her QT mode.
"Rex is still fighting. I have to help." Ruby said as she used Roze's scythe to steady herself.
"Ruby are you crazy? you saw what that guy did." Qrow let out, still holding onto the broken Harbinger.
"NO!" Ruby cried out. "I can't let Rex fight alone!" Ruby cried out as a golden glow covered her.
"If that's how you feel, then I'm with you…till death do us part." Roze said as he was covered by the same glow.
But before the two could act on their resolve, Rex already dashed at Jin, sending a blast of light from the Aegis sword at Jin, while Mythra pointed her palm towards their enemy with both her Core Crystal and the gem in her tiara shining with power.
Then…from the night sky, which signaled that Genbu had resurfaced, Siren's blast came down on Jin.
But to their horror, Jin lifted his sword and was absorbing the blast.
"But…how!?" Rex let out.
"Didn't I tell you? I can manipulate elementary particles. And the Aegis' attacks are nothing more than a stream of particle energy. The particles that form it are too heavy to truly reach light speed." As Jin explained this, he swung his sword just when the firing stopped. "The result is obvious."
"…Mythra's…attack…" Rex was barely able to comprehend what just happened as he now took a step back in fear. If Mythra can't harm Jin…then what can?
"It's over, boy." Jin said as he took a combat stance. "Eat this!" Jin let out just before dashing in.
Mythra put up a barrier but it couldn't withstand Jin's attack. Then the silver haired Blade unleashed one more light speed attack, and this time when Rex was taken down, the Aegis Sword was destroyed, leaving only the hilt and the inactive Crystal on it. Mythra was also down and was replaced with Pyra.
"Rex! Pyra!" Nia let out as she tried dashing to help Rex, but then Akhos, Mikhail and Patroka got in the way. Akhos had healed his comrades to the best of his ability.
"Just stop it already!" Ruby then shouted with tears in her eyes, getting everyone's attention. "Why are you doing this?! Why do you have to destroy the world?! WHY?!"
Jin flinched at Ruby's last shout, but wasn't sure why, "…A human such as you could never understand. Besides, what do you hope to accomplish? You saw that the Aegis is no match for me, what makes you think you can do anything?"
"I don't care!" Ruby let out, surprising Jin, "This isn't about what I can or can't do. This is about me protecting my friend who can't protect himself right now. I will stop you!" With those words, Roze grabbed Ruby's shoulders before his rosepetal patterned cape shattered into petals and covered the two. Then the petals scattered and Ruby and Roze were gone.
Jin looked momentarily confused before feeling something slicing at his back. Turning around to slice whatever it was, Jin only hit a cloud of rose petals. "What?" Jin let out before feeling another hit on his side. He sliced at that spot again, but once again was only met with a cloud of rose petals.
From the outside perspective, Ruby and Roze were teleporting around by appearing in a burst of petals before disappearing in another burst the moment an attack hit Jin. It was like Ravaging Rose, except petals were coming out of Jin immediately after he was struck.
"What's going on?" Weiss wondered aloud.
Blake and Yang didn't know what was going on either, until Yang had a thought. "Is this…Roze's level 4?"
With Jin, he moved out of the spot he was at with speed of light, hoping to get out of the affected area. However, when he felt another strike, it was proven that Ruby's and Roze's attack wasn't restricted to a particular area. After one more strike, Jin was focusing on where the next attack could possibly come from.
"Jin, she's over there!" Emerald cried out, noticing that Ruby and Roze were back where they started. The two having lifted the scythe high in the air, with the red blade glowing with power. Then, all the petals that the two had left behind glowed with the same color.
Then the two brought the scythe down together, "Crimson Reaper!" With that united call, the petals started swirling around Jin in high speed, covering the silver haired Blade completely from view.
"Jin!" Akhos cried out in concern before glaring at Ruby," What are you doing to him?!"
It was Roze who chose to explain, "Those rose petals that swirl around him are now as sharp as my scythe. Anything within that storm is now being torn to shreds."
"No way!" Mikhail let out as he looked to the storm of razor-sharp petals. Soon enough, the storm ended and the petals were disintegrating from view.
"No." Roze let out quietly as the petals cleared, but no sign of Jin.
"Where is-" Ruby's question was cut off when Jin appeared right in front of her, ready to strike the red reaper down.
"Thorn-" But Roze was cut off when Jin switched his attack to him instead, knocking him far away from Ruby.
"Ro-""Heavenly Disrupt!" Ruby was cut off by Jin punching her in the gut before sweeping her legs from under her, then he used his sword to launch Ruby into the sky before jumping after her and then smashing her back down.
"Ruby!" Yang cried out in distress at the beating her sister took. Worse yet, when Ruby didn't get back up, Yang feared the worst. "…You MONSTER!" Yang screamed as her eyes turned red and she dashed at the monster that dared to hurt her baby sister.
"Gah!" Yang was then interrupted by something landing on top of her and pinning her down.
"Yang!" Dragunov let out as his cracks glowed gold and was planning to get whatever that thing was off of his Driver. But then he was attacked by four at once. "Get off me!" Dragunov roared as he shook one of them off before another four came down and finally brought him down.
It wasn't just Yang and Dragunov, Everyone that wasn't Rex, Pyra, Ruby or the now unconscious Roze were pinned down or otherwise restrained by mechanical monstrosities. They were thin, with golden armor on them and their mechanical fingers had claws on them. They all also had what looked like an orange Core Crystal on their chests.
"What the heck are these things!" Weiss exclaimed as one of them restrained her arms behind her back.
"These…are…" Mòrag was able to say as she was still struggling against one of them pinning her on her knees.
"A-artificial Blades," Tora finished from the ground one of them had pinned the Nopon inventor on. Even Poppi in her QT mode was restrained by four of them holding her arms at once.
"Dammit!" Qrow exclaimed from his spot where he was pinned down alongside Kasandra.
Zeke put up a good fight but he and Pandoria too were eventually pinned down.
Talos was no exception either. As his finally battered body was pinned too.
"Of course…" Mòrag said in anger, " This is why you were at Bana's factory… You won't win…so easily!" With that declaration, Mòrag was surrounded by blue flames before she broke free and tried attacking Jin. Only to be intercepted by Mikhail. Mòrag swung her Whipswords at the blonde Tornan. But with one fluid move, Mikhail managed to disarm Mòrag before dismissing one of the fans from his left hand and grab the Special Inquisitor by her throat.
"Whoa…You're quite a looker up close," Mikhail said as he held Mòrag, "It's a real shame to kill you."
"Let…go of me, you pig." Mòrag was able to say despite the grip she was in.
"Lady Mòrag!" Brighid cried out.
"Mórag!" Agate joined in.
"Unhand her!" Aegaeon shouted as well.
"S-stop it." Rex said weakly from the ground, until his head was pressed against it by Jin's foot.
"I'm surprised you're still breathing," Jin said as he pointed his sword towards Rex, "Relax. You'll be able to rest. Once I've pried that Core Crystal from your chest.
"I…won't die…here," Rex said defiantly. "I have to reach…Elysium. I have to find…the answers we're all looking for."
Rex's words seemed to give Mikhail a pause.
"What answers?" Jin asked, "There are no answers in this world boy." And then he stepped on Rex's head harder, earning a cry of pain from the boy.
"E-enough." Pyra said weakly as she was trying to get up, "I'm the one you want, isn't that right? Leave them…out of this…"
This earned everyone's attention. Mikhail then threw Mòrag away before turning to Pyra. "Aww, look. What a touching scene. Are you going to beg for their lives?" Mikhail did a pirouette as he said that while crossing his arms beneath the Core Crystal.
"Yeah," Mercury said as he held his head, still feeling the pounding Dragunov gave him, "You had such big words before."
"No mocking you two." Malos said from his spot with a serious expression, "This is serious business."
"Put the sword away Jin," Pyra said, barely standing, "If not…I will…annihilate myself."
"What?" Came out of Nia.
"What is she saying?" Blake added in, barely able to believe it herself.
"You need me alive…don't you, Malos?" Pyra said as she turned her face towards the dark Aegis.
Malos looked impassive before moving off his perch, "You worked that much out, didn't you? Well done. But how exactly are you going to make good on that threat? You don't have-"
"Are you so sure…about that?" Pyra asked as a red light came from the sky, covering her.
This gave Malos a pause, "…This is a shock."
"What's happening?" Tyrian asked, wondering what this was along with everyone else.
"She's controlling Mythra's Artifice by herself." Malos said, sounding impressed.
Outside Alrest's atmosphere, an angelic looking white mecha with green glowing wings was shooting down the red light down upon the world.
"And she's…not supposed to be able to do that normally?" Emerald asked, not sure what to think of it.
"No…she's not," Malos replied with a frown.
"Is she…controlling it with sheer willpower?" Akhos questioned in disbelief as well.
"Go ahead," Jin called Pyra's bluff, "I'll deflect it with my powers like before."
"You could do that…If I used the particle cannon itself," Pyra said, closing her eyes briefly, before looking more determined, "But this…is the targeting ray. It moves at the speed of light. And if I turn up the output just a little…That light alone has enough power to destroy a single Blade."
"She's bluffing." Mercury said dismissively, "She won't do that."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Tyrian said with a frown, "She's got that annoying look in her eyes. The look of someone willing to die." Tyrian knew has faced that look a few times in his life. It took all the fun out of killing whenever he ran into someone like that.
Jin heard that and he wasn't happy about it, "…You…"
"One signal from me…and my body will be scoured from this world. Faster than you can blink." Pyra finished her threat.
"How unexpected," Jin said, "That you, an Aegis, would say something like that. So, you'll do it? Open the gates to Elysium for us?"
"…If that is your wish." Pyra replied, "Just let them all go."
"Don't…Pyra." Rex said weakly, "They'll just-Agh!" Jin stepped on Rex's head harder.
"Jin." Pyra said sternly as the targeting ray's intensity increased, disintegrating parts of her outfit.
Jin looked towards Pyra…then to Malos. "…Very well," Jin said as he put his sword away and stepped away from Rex.
With Jin having backed off, Pyra shut down the targeting ray before walking towards Rex.
"Pyra…" Nia said with a sad look.
"Nia…please keep Rex safe for me," Pyra said with a sad smile as she reached Rex and took the Omega Fetter.
"No…No way! I don't agree to this!" Nia let out as she struggled against the Artificial Blade's grip.
Brighid was also looking, opening her eyes briefly.
"I'm really sorry Rex," Pyra said sadly as she got back up and moved to Jin with the Fetter.
"Pyra…But why?" Rex just couldn't understand.
The red-haired Aegis didn't answer as she walked to Jin slowly. Except then she collapsed, but Jin caught her into his arm.
"P-Pyra." Rex said as he was desperately trying to get back up. Still holding onto the broken Aegis Sword.
"…Look at the state of you," Jin said, sounding very displeased. Rex looked horrified as he caught onto what Jin meant. "You hadn't even noticed? Your own Blade has been wounded so deeply, and all you can think of is yourself." As Jin finished that he placed his sword on his back. All the while Rex couldn't say anything to that. "You awakened the Aegis. I thought you might've been different. But you're just…a fool." Those words made Rex grip at the broken Aegis Sword harder. "A pitiful…childish…fool."
As this was happening, Talos' eyes kept flashing between blue and green. Clenching his fists as he cursed his powerlessness.
"Okay, now can we kill them?" Tyrian asked gleefully.
"What're you talking about?" Malos said, "We're leaving."
"What? But they're right there?! At our mercy!" Mercury argued back.
"Yes and we promised to let them go," Akhos said, looking a little disgusted at the idea, "So what can you do?"
"You're not actually gonna keep your word are you?" Emerald asked in disbelief, "If we let them go, they'll just come back and screw everything up!"
"No…they won't," Malos said with a smirk at the beaten Rex, "And even if they did, it won't matter next time."
"How do you know?!" Emerald all but demanded.
"You just saw it yourself." Malos said as he motioned his head towards Jin, "And if they're stupid enough to come after us again, we'll just kill them then."
"Urgh…fine." Emerald relented after looking to Jin. She didn't want to risk getting killed by this guy…Still, "But can we take Ruby?"
At that, the hearts of WBY sank.
"What do you need her for?" Malos asked with a quirked eyebrow.
"I don't know, Salem wants her," Emerald answered.
"What do you say Jin?" Malos asked with a curious look.
"…The one in the red cape?" Jin said.
"Yes." Emerald said.
"Leave her." Jin said simply, "She is of no use to us."
"What? But our goddess demands her!" Tyrian said angrily.
"You heard the man," Malos said with a shrug, "We're leaving."
"I am not going back without that brat at least!" Emerald cried out. The lamp wasn't here, and who knows where the rest of those guys are. She had to bring Salem something.
"…If you think she's worth the trouble, pick her up yourself," Jin relented.
Yang looked horrified to hear that. "NO! You are not taking my sister!" Yang cried out as she struggled harder in the Artificial Blades' grip.
"Sister?" Mikhail asked with a quirked eyebrow, "You two don't look alike."
"Different mothers, so what?" Said Dragunov who was also struggling again, not noticing new cracks appearing on his stone body.
But Malos noticed a few extra flames briefly escaping Dragunov's new cracks and it made him frown. "Emerald, if Salem has a problem with us leaving the girl, she can take it up with me. We're leaving, and that's final."
"Screw you!" Emerald shouted out, "I'm not getting punished by Salem because of you!" Then Emerald had an evil smile as she turned towards the conscious members of team RWBY "By the way…we know where the Fall Maiden is."
"What?" Weiss let out in shock, "But…how!?"
No one was paying attention to confused looking Mercury and Tyrian. But then the scorpion faunus grinned as he caught on. "There is no place to hide from our goddess." Tyrian said gleefully.
"Once we're done here, we'll go and pick her up," Emerald said smugly before walking towards Ruby.
"No! Stay away!" Yang yelled, as she struggled all the more. With every struggle she made, new cracks were appearing in the stone of Dragunov's body.
And Malos noticed it. "Stop it you idiot! If you don't stop now, Dragunov will-" The dark Aegis was cut off by a burst of golden flames blasting the Artificial Blades holding Dragunov down. "-do that." Malos finished through gritted teeth as Dragunov stood up.
(Play Xenoblade Chronicles 2 OST: Counterattack)
"What?" Blake let out in amazement.
"What's- Is that Dragunov?" Weiss let out as she took in Dragunov's appearance.
The stone that covered large portions of Dragunov's body had shattered. Revealing scales that were glowing with gold and wisps of golden flames dancing around them. His legs, arms, even his horns were now glowing with golden heat. Even the stone that his hexagonal Core Crystal was laid into was shattered, revealing a golden frame. Even his tail and now awakened dragon heads were covered in these scales. The mighty fire Blade roared to the heavens alongside his dragon heads as the snow around him was melting from the heat that emanated from him now.
"Malos, is that-" "Yes." Malos said with a deep scowl, "That's Dragunov's true power…More specifically, his power as the Sun Dragon."
"Sun Dragon?" Emerald let out with a questioning look, "What does that mean?"
"It means without Jin here, we would be screwed," Malos said with a frown.
At that moment, Dragunov's glowing eyes fell upon Jin. Then he growled, before letting out another roar alongside the dragon heads before the two heads breathed white flames in the air.
Jin took note of how the remaining snow was melting in Dragunov's presence.
"Dragunov…Huh?" Yang muttered as she felt something in her hands. Dragunov's talons deactivated before the fingers on them curled over her fists. And then the weapons transformed. Now, they covered her entire hands up to half of her forearms and they had red and gold scaling going along the surface. Right down to the four different openings. Three in front of her fists, and one where a thumb would be. Then white energy claws came out of the openings, letting out wisps of white flames. Then her still red eyes gained a ferocious glint as the thought of what she could do to those who want to harm Ruby entered her mind. "Dammit, lemme go!" With that mighty yell, Yang broke free from the Artificial Blades holding her down.
"Hmpf. It doesn't matter," Jin said as he passed Pyra to Mercury along with the Omega Fetter. "I will finish this quickly."
"Jin wait!" Malos shouted, but was too late, Jin had already gone in the speed of light and slashed Dragunov's shinier body everywhere he could think of, trying to inflict wounds that would take long for him to heal. Dragunov roared in pain as he fell on his knees.
"That should keep you-ARGH!" Jin cried in pain as multiple small explosions of flame came out of his own body. Mirroring the areas where he cut Dragunov.
"Shit!" Malos exclaimed.
"What just happened?" Akhos let out in amazement.
"Those who dare to touch the Sun Dragon shall burn." Malos cited in response, "In other words, that's what happens if you use physical attacks against him now." But then to everyone's further amazement, Dragunov stood back up with a ferocious growl. "Not to mention that any damage he inflicts heals him."
"You gotta be kidding me," Mercury complained as he was balancing Pyra in his arms
Then they all saw Dragunov kicking Jin, who had fallen on his knees, away like an empty tin can.
"Jin!" The Tornan's let out in concern.
"Dammit!" Malos said with a furious look, "Akhos! Heal Jin, quickly! The rest of you, hold him back until Jin is back on his feet! You, guard her with your life, or else." That last one Malos gave to Mercury with a warning look.
Meanwhile the rest of the heroes could only look on as Dragunov made short work of Jin, with Yang soon joining her Blade.
"Did Dragunov seriously have this kind of power hidden in him?" Zeke let out in disbelief.
"Brighid." Mòrag who was nursing her throat turned to her Blade.
"…Nothing like this was mentioned in my diary." Was Brighid's reply.
"Yang, let us out, quickly!" Blake called out to Yang.
But Yang instead charged the enemy with her semblance active with dazzling flames in her glorious mane of hair.
"Yang!" Blake called out again as Yang engaged Patroka and Mikhail alongside Dragunov.
"Hey, Blake," Weiss then said in worry, "Was Yang's hair always that bright when her semblance was activated?"
Blake looked confused before taking another look. Now that Weiss mentioned it, the flames that signify Yang's activated semblance were far brighter than usual.
However, Emerald had a new idea, "Malos, we don't need to beat them, I'll just go and get the brat so we can use her as a hostage."
"That won't work now," Malos said through gritted teeth.
"What? Why?" Emerald couldn't get it.
"If her friends were free, you would-" Malos interrupted himself when he heard the sound of straining metal. "What is it this time?!" Malos was really getting tired of surprises.
"Mehmeh?" Tora let out as he heard the sound of straining metal right above him.
Then they heard a yell from Talos who clenched his black lined hands into fists and all the Artificial Blades were twisted to the point where they could no longer function. With that, everyone was able to get free.
"What just happened?" Qrow let out in amazement as he got out of the now lifeless bot's non-existent grip.
None of them realized to look to Talos who's eyes were green throughout all of this. "Your speed worked against you." Talos thought back on Jin's attack that crippled them. He didn't even get a chance to activate it, but that worked in his favor.
"It's alright." Akhos said as he finished using White Wave on Jin, "Now Jin can fight again." With that, Jin got back up, picking up his dropped sword.
"Not on my watch!" Talos called out as he used his left hand to do a pulling motion while charging the right one with red energy. As soon as the motion was finished, Jin was practically yanked through the air straight towards Talos. "Take this!" Talos let out as he struck the surprised silver haired Blade with a fist that was crackling with red energy. The fist made Jin's body flicker with a red glow for an instant before he was sent back to where he was pulled from.
"How did he do that?" Mikhail questioned on what happened to Jin before having to dodge Yang's furious fists.
"Jin, are you okay?" Malos asked in mild concern.
"I am." Jin said as he was getting back up, only to fall face first into the ground, much to Malos' worry.
"Jin, what is it? What's-huh?" the dark Aegis let out as he tried to lift Jin, but found that he couldn't. Malos tried again, but he just couldn't get the silver haired Blade to budge. He was just too... heavy. And that was when Malos turned to look at Talos.
The metallic champion had raised his left arm towards Jin. The red lines on the shield hand glowing brighter than the ones on the right hand.
"You did this!" Malos said to Talos.
"If I understood correctly, he can use his power to make himself light enough to reach light speed." Talos let out almost smugly as his blue eyes twinkled a little, "Then all I have to do is return that weight, with a little bit of interest." At the last part, the red lines glowed brighter and Jin sank a little to the ground.
Jin tried using his power to make himself lighter. But every time he pushed his ability, Talos just pushed back with his own.
"Rex." Nia called out as she now ran to Rex with Akhos, Mikhail and Patroka being busy with Yang and Dragunov, "Are you okay?"
"Pyra." Rex was able to say weakly as he tried to get back up.
"Just hold on, I'll heal you." Nia said and began healing the salvager.
"Rex, once you're on your feet, we can rescue Pyra." Roc said as he got in front of him alongside Wulfric.
"You guys," Rex said, looking a little teary eyed.
With Yang and Dragunov, Mikhail's fans were swatted aside before Yang unloaded a Heatblast right into his stomach.
"You, bitch!" Patroka shouted as she swung her weapon in its sword form at Yang's torso. The attack connected, but just like with Jin's attacks on Dragunov her body suffered an explosion at the same spot. "Dammit."
Then Yang got hit by a shot of blue energy, courtesy of Hazel who once again had water Dust crystals active in his arms. And his body didn't get explosions. "It seems that using Dust energy works."
Then a couple shots were fired, which came from Emerald's Kamas at Dragunov. "Guns work too." She said when there was no explosion on her.
Then, Weiss, Blake, and Tora joined into the fight. Weiss did a pirouette before combining Aizen's swords into a bow. "Piercing Farce!" Weiss fired several arrows of water ether on Emerald.
"Well, isn't this annoying," Tyrian said before dashing at Yang with Scorax's claws at the ready. But the blonde saw the madman coming. and prepared to give a good punch with the new talons. The mad faunus dodged it before giving a surprisingly heavy hit to Yang, which of course was returned with an explosion to the same area on Tyrian.
Yang roared at the attack before lashing out at the scorpion who backed off, proud of his accomplishment. If he kept this up, he could chip away at Yang's Aura until eventually he would see the girl bleeding. Then Tyrian's ears heard Scorax's frantic clicking, too frantic for him to understand. And then his world turned hot and glowing. When Tyrian backed off from Yang, Dragunov instantly moved in at the damage his Driver took and then one of the dragon heads chomped down on Tyrians head and was now waving the flailing scorpion around. Tyrian was trying to hit at Dragunov, but the Scissor Claws were only hitting the scales, making no visible damage. Tyrian even lashed out with his tail, but that too only managed to hit scaly parts, which did no real harm. And yet still caused small explosions all over the mirroring areas on Tyrian's body. Then the head tossed the madman towards Yang who jumped up with a look of pure rage on her face.
Then the blonde Driver charged the right talon with a sphere of white flames, "Nova...Crash!" And then she smashed the faunus down with the fireball still pushing him down, creating a crater as the madman's Aura failed and made a bad looking burn on his chest. And when Yang came back down, she stomped towards the downed faunus who looked a bit dazed.
But then Tyrian saw the bottom of Yang's boot closing in on his face. Fortunately, his quick reflexes allowed him to roll away from the stomp that cracked the snowless ground.
This made Blake look worried, Yang just went for a kill. No, more importantly, her semblance was still active after repeated use. She should be tired by now. "Yang, slow down. Cancel your semblance," Blake called out, but it seemed like Yang didn't hear her as she deflected an attack from Mikhail and Patroka. Now Blake was really worried, as she moved to Yang quickly who looked to be wounding up for another attack against Torna. "Yang, stop it!" Blake shouted as she put one Scythe away and grabbed Yang's arm, "You can't keep using your semblance like this." Yang turned a look of rage towards Blake. "…Yang?" Blake said now feeling a little scared. Suddenly Blake was grabbed by Nox and dragged away from Yang, and good thing he did, because Yang swiped at Blake with the unoccupied arm. Now Blake was really lost.
(song end)
Yang roared at Blake before trying to attack the faunus Driver.
"Yang! What the heck are you doing?!" Weiss almost screamed as Blake was now forced to avoid Yang's attacks.
This caught the attention of Malos who was now busy fending off Qrow who decided that since Harbinger was broken, Kasandra's hammer would have to do. "Her too, huh?" Malos said with a grin as Qrow looked at his niece attacking her team mate.
"Weiss!" Dahlia called out as she got in front of her Driver and put up a barrier to block a punch from Dragunov. "Dragunov, what're you doing?!" Dahlia called out to the Sun Dragon Blade.
Dragunov didn't answer, just kept pounding against Dahlia's barrier with a look of pure rage. An endeavor that made Dahlia strain as she put everything she had into blocking Dragunov's enormous strength.
Weiss acted quickly and made a glyph beneath herself and Dahlia to launch them out of Dragunov's way just when he managed to break through Dahlia's barrier.
"What's going on?" Zeke called out, "Have those two gone mad?!"
"Yang, stop! What's wrong with you?!" Blake cried out as Yang was still attacking her. But the blonde wasn't answering, just yelling in incoherent rage. Alongside Dragunov.
"Dammit, Yang, what're you thinking!?" Qrow also yelled out to his niece.
"That's the thing," Malos said with a chuckle, "She's not thinking anything anymore."
"What do you mean?" Kasandra asked, as she was supplying power to Qrow.
"That girl has become an extension of the Sun Dragon's rage." Malos said, "With the destructive power and the regeneration that comes with it, Dragunov and his Driver won't stop until she dies. As far as I know anyway." the dark Aegis shrugged at the last part.
Nia and Rex heard this and they couldn't believe it. But seeing Yang and Dragunov attacking their friends with such rage indicated that Malos was telling the truth.
Mikhail also heard that, and it gave him an idea. The blonde member of Torna moved a bit away from the fighting.
"What do you think you're doing?" Zeke said as he got in the blonde's way.
"Nothing much, just…" Mikhail said as he brought both fans atop each other and charged a small sphere of dark ether between them. Then he turned around and shot it at Dragunov earning the raging Blade's attention. "Over here, shiny!" Mikhail called mockingly.
Dragunov roared at Mikhail before both heads breathed what looked like Exhaust Nova at the Flesh Eater. This caused Mikhail to smirk as he moved away from the attack that sailed past him. Still he cut it a little close since his outfit got a little singed. Zeke also had to get away before he saw where the attack was continuing.
"Talos look out!"
"What?" Talos let out as he looked to the incoming flames approaching him. The metallic champion deployed the barrier with his unoccupied hand while still using his shield arm to keep Jin on the ground. "…Someone finish Jin off!" Talos let out as he was nearing his limit with this kind of multitasking.
Then Poppi looked towards the hallway that led here. "Anomaly detected!" Poppi said while pointing to it, just in time for everyone to see a breach opening.
"What the-?" Mercury let out in surprise. But then a stream of dark energy came out of the breach, straight at Talos, who noticed it coming. Just in time for him to raise his shield arm to absorb it.
"Oh no." Talos' blue eyes widened at the realization of what he had to do to absorb the attack, before shifting to green.
Jin quickly got back up to charge at the metallic champion and released a new wave of cuts against Talos before backing away for the attacks to take effect. Just when Dragunov stopped firing and started spewing fireballs from the two heads at Mikhail instead. Talos collapsed as his body flickered with red barrier for most of those strikes until it broke. During this, his eyes shifted to blue again before shutting down, signaling him being unconscious.
"Come!" Came a feminine voice from beyond the breach.
"Well that's nice of her." Malos commented with a smile, "Everyone, we're leaving!" With those words, Torna and Salem's cronies ran to the breach.
"No! Pyra!" Rex called out as he was trying to get up when Mercury dragged the unconscious Aegis through the breach.
"Get back here!" Mòrag called out before sending a blue flame with Brighid's swords just when Malos, who was the last to go got through, entered. Then the breach closed.
"Dammit!" Mòrag cried out in frustration.
"Lady Mòrag, we have bigger problems," said Aegaeon who was taking a combat stance.
It didn't take a genius to figure out what that was. Dragunov and Yang were still on a rampage. Now that Torna and Salem's cronies were gone, the golden Driver and Blade were attacking anyone who happened to get in their sights.
Inside the Monoceros, Malos was the last to arrive to the command bridge where Salem and Watts were waiting.
"Just out of curiosity, how did you know where exactly we were at?" Malos asked Salem who chuckled at the question.
"I had Doctor Watts get visual on your location with your equipment."
"I hope you don't mind," Watts said cordially.
"Considering the results, not really." Malos replied, equally cordial before looking to Salem with a frown. "You know, when you said you would lend us your subordinates, I expected a little more from them."
"Yeah, only the crazy one was actually useful," Patroka added in while pointing at miserable looking Tyrian who Scorax seemed to be trying to console.
"Is that so?" Salem let out while giving her other subordinates a cold look, "I believe this is the part where I should say, I told you so."
"…I underestimated the strength of a Blade, ma'am," Hazel admitted while looking down.
"At least we got the job done," Mercury said weakly as Akhos took Pyra from him while Mikhail was helping Jin who looked taxed.
"Which was why I told you all to try and resonate with a Core Crystal," Salem said with a frown, "Hazel, you have been very useful to me over the years, it would be shame to see that usefulness come to an end."
"I promise, ma'am, I will prove myself again when I get the chance." Hazel said with a shamed look.
"I certainly hope so," Salem said before then turning to Emerald and Mercury, "As for you two…I know there was a reason I still keep you around, but for the life of me…I cannot seem to remember." Salem was tapping her cheek, looking to be deep in thought.
"…Because I'm currently the only viable option for you know what," Emerald said while trembling a little. Of course, the knowledge of maidens and relics…anything from Remnant really wasn't shared with Torna.
"Oh yes," Salem said with a smile before frowning, "Although your most recent failure makes me wonder…"
"They wouldn't let me take the girl." Emerald blurted out.
"Oh, that? Don't worry about it," Salem said, "I am referring to your contribution in this mission. Did you at least learn anything useful?"
"Well…I said we found her, and they looked shocked to hear that." Emerald admitted with a downcast look.
"…So they have an idea of who she is?" Salem said with a thoughtful look, "Or perhaps they were just hopeful that we didn't know who she was either."
"What're you two talking about?" Malos asked with a quirked eyebrow.
"Nothing that concerns you or your operations," Salem replied, "I don't ask too many questions from you, you don't ask too many questions from me."
"Fair enough," Malos said with a shrug, "Akhos, give the Aegis to Patroka and escort our guests to their rooms. Then do a system check."
"Malos?" Akhos said with a questioning look.
"I don't trust him," Malos said while motioning to Watts who shook his head.
"I suppose I can't fault you for that." Watts said in understanding tone, "Now, is this the part where I return to my cell?"
"As a matter of fact, yes," Malos said with a smile.
Salem chuckled at this before addressing her subordinates, "Move along then. And be nice to our hosts." With those words Salem and her group were walking from the command bridge to their cells, with Akhos acting as the supervisor alongside Malos. As for Mikhail, he needed to take Jin to the pod.
(Play Xenoblade Chronicles 2 OST: Death Match with Torna)
With the heroes, they felt screwed. Despite getting healed again by Weiss and Nia, Yang and Dragunov seemed unbeatable. This wasn't like with Jin who's attacks they couldn't avoid. With Dragunov and Yang, they couldn't use physical attacks. With the exception of Weiss who found out that ranged attacks with bitball work and Aizen's arrows also work well enough. But even with that, whenever Yang or Dragunov managed to get a hit in, they recovered. Not to mention when Weiss tried to use Arma Gigas against Yang, the blonde destroyed it with one punch.
Also it was getting increasingly hot in the area from Dragunov spewing flames whenever he pleased and the heat he was generating. Worst of all, parts of the stone walls were melting when Dragunov's attacks hit them instead of his intended targets. Which was anything that wasn't Yang.
"Dammit this isn't working," Nia cried out as she was panting in exhaustion. She also glared at Qrow who wasn't helping. Then again, someone had to watch over Ruby. Fortunately, the girl was alive, but she was injured until Weiss and Nia worked their magic.
"There's nothing for it," Mòrag said, using Aegaeons Chroma Katana. "…We have to knock her out with everything we have."
"But…it could kill her," Blake said in worry. She and Weiss had been reluctant to attack Yang seriously despite the threat the blonde poses right now.
"And Rex isn't helping!" Weiss said loudly to Rex who still couldn't get up. It's not that he was injured. It was that he just had no will to fight anymore, not to mention he was still exhausted. As were everyone else.
"And if we don't take her out, she will kill us," Mòrag said with a hard look, "Aegaeon!"
With that, the water Blade accepted his weapon, charging it with water ether as he prepared for his Special. Then he unleashed Water Moon on Yang who was blown back by the strong stream of water ether.
Dragunov reacted to his Driver's predicament and fired more flames which Aegaeon thankfully avoided.
"Oh, screw it!" Nia finally snapped as she prepared to throw the Twin Rings.
"No! Let me do this one," Aizen piped up.
"Aizen!" Weiss protested.
"Miss Schnee, we don't have to kill her we only need to knock her out." Aizen argued back. The former heiress grit her teeth, but reluctantly handed over Aizen's weapons.
"Weiss you can't be serious!" Blake called out in distress.
"I'm sorry," Weiss said, feeling immense guilt for allowing this.
Aizen meanwhile combined his swords into a bow and fired several arrows into the air. "Illusory Rain." And then the arrows exploded into powerful bolts of water that rained down on Yang. "Blade Combo: Venom Water." As the name indicated, a pool of poisonous looking water surrounded Yang, before bursting at her from below.
Yang's Aura flickered but it still held strong. "Heatblast!" Yang unleashed the huge blast of white flames at her friends who barely avoided it.
"Overload Thunderbeam." Zeke countered the Art with his own. Unfortunately, it looked like the power Yang now possessed couldn't be stopped. "Dammit!" Zeke cursed as he moved away with Pandoria.
"Pow Pow Cannon!" Tora fired his Art at Yang, earning her attention.
"Dromarch…" Nia said with a reluctant look, "Finish it."
"Yes, my lady," the white tiger replied as Nia let go of the rings and they floated in front of him. "Wild…ROAR!" True to its name, Dromarch roared into the Rings which acted as a megaphone. Though instead of amplified sound, a powerful jet of water ether was fired from it.
Dragunov saw this and moved in to put a barrier in front of Yang. Fortunately, for all his increased power, Dragunov still couldn't block a level 3 Special Art which washed over him and by proxy, Yang.
"Blade Combo: Splash Hazard." And they were both hit by what looked like an explosion of water.
Yang still got up, but her semblance had deactivated, signaling her loss of Aura. But her eyes were still red and filled with rage. More importantly, it looked like Yang was in great pain, judging by how much effort she was putting into getting up.
"Dammit Yang, stop it already!" Blake practically screamed at Yang refusing to go down.
"Why won't she stop!" Weiss also looked to be on the verge of tears at seeing their normally so loveable blonde oaf clearly injured and still wanting to kill them all.
Qrow was equally frustrated, one of his nieces looked to be willing to fight until death while he was stuck taking care of the other one. That's when it hit him. Ruby…if anyone could stop Yang, it's her. "Ruby, wake up." Qrow called to the younger niece and shook her a bit, "Come on Ruby, Yang needs you." But it seemed like the red reaper was truly out cold. Desperate times, called for desperate measures. "Ruby, your cookies are getting cold."
"Whuh?! Where are my cookies!" Ruby cried out as she practically jumped awake before wincing a little. She might have been caught up in Weiss' and Nia's healing Arts but she wasn't at full health yet. And then Ruby took in the sounds of battle. "What? What's going on?! Why is everyone fighting Yang?"
"Ruby, long story short, Dragunov has gone into rampage and Yang is caught up in it. You need to snap Yang out of it." Qrow gave the quick explanation.
"What?" Ruby let out, confused silver eyes locking onto Dragunov who was being wrestled to the ground by Wulfric and Poppi QT. The golden scaled fire Blade didn't look like he wanted to go down without a fight.
"Ruby, you're Yang's sister. If there's one thing that she cares about in the world, it's you. If we can't stop her…Yang will keep fighting until she dies." Qrow said, looking down in remorse at the last part.
"…D-Dies?" Ruby said with an uncomprehending look. Then she turned back to see Yang roaring in mad rage at her team mates and Alrestians before raising her fists, panting in exhaustion. "No…NO!" Ruby cried out before disappearing from Qrow in a flurry of rose petals. "Yang! Stop!" Ruby cried out once she reached her sister, earning the raging blonde's attention. "Please, you have to stop…if you don't you're gonna-hurk!" Ruby was interrupted by Yang using the flaming claws to grab the silver eyed girl by the throat and lifting her up high in the air.
"No…" Blake let out in despair and tears forming in her eyes. If Yang won't stop even for Ruby then there was no way to save her.
"Dammit all!" Weiss cried out with tears in her own eyes as she prepared Aizen's bow to fire. Hands trembling as she was trying to aim for Yang's vitals.
"Yang.." Ruby said weakly despite the claws constricting her windpipe, "…please…I love you." As Ruby wheezed that last word out, a single tear fell from her right onto Yang's cheek. Then Ruby felt herself fall to the ground. Gasping for precious air, the red caped girl looked up to see Yang, still enraged. But there was something else mixed with it, confusion.
Then Yang's eyes fell on Ruby, looking down at the baby sister that she had done her best taking care of after Summer's death. Then Yang brought her talon covered hands to her head as she sounded like she was in pain.
"Y-Yang?" Ruby said weakly and with teary eyed hope.
As this happened, Dragunov finally managed to shake Poppi and Wulfric off of him before his eyes fell on Yang who was now backing away from Ruby. "Destroy it!" Dragunov shouted his first coherent sentence since he took this form. "It's in the way. Destroy it! DESTROY IT!"
"NO!" Yang screamed and at that moment, the flow of the affinity link reversed, pushing Dragunov back like he was hit by something.
(Song End)
After regaining his balance, the golden scaled fire Blade's eyes had stopped glowing, "…What? Was I…?" That was as far as Dragunov got before Yang was electrocuted by Zeke. Knocking the blonde out and with the feedback of the affinity link, so was Dragunov.
"Zeke!" Ruby screamed at the Tantalese Driver, "Why?! She already stopped!"
"I'm sorry," Zeke apologized with a look of remorse, "I couldn't take chances."
Ruby then screamed as she ran at Zeke and started punching him in the chest. The Tantalese Driver just stood there and took the punches with a sad look. Pandoria looked away from the scene sadly.
"Ruby. That's enough!" Said Qrow who grabbed Ruby and hugged her. Although he was glaring at the one-eyed Driver who just attacked Yang after she stopped.
"Let me go, Uncle Qrow! Let me go!" Ruby cried back until she just stopped and hugged her uncle back. Weiss soon joined into hugging her team leader while Blake made sure Yang was alright.
"She's alive." Blake announced in relief.
"Of course she's alive," Zeke said, looking very serious, "That's what I aimed for."
Meanwhile Dragunov's unconscious body started glowing.
"Look out!" Nia cried out in alarm, expecting a new fight. Only to then sag as the light faded, revealing that Dragunov's golden scales were once again covered in stone. And the dragon heads were once again sleeping against his chest.
It wasn't just Dragunov that was back to normal, his talons also regained their original form in Yang's hands. Although they were currently deactivated.
"What do we do now, Lady Mòrag?" Brighid asked now that the battle was over and the air was losing temperature now that Dragunov was out.
"I...I don't know." Mòrag summarized as she looked to Ruby who was still crying as she was hugged by Qrow and Weiss, Blake who was holding unconscious Yang. And then her gaze shifted to Rex who looked completely defeated and lost. The salvager boy never let go of the broken Aegis Sword that now seemed like a symbol of how powerless he is.
AN: I hope this is the last long chapter I'm writing for a while. Actually, I think I'll take a break from this fic for a day or two. It was pretty... draining for me to write parts of this. Yeah, out of all of Salem's cronies, only Tyrian was actually useful in this fight. But even the increased numbers weren't enough against Jin. Only when Dragunov's true power was awakened did the gang start standing a chance. Not to mention Talos temporarily sealing Jin's movements. I'm pretty sure some, if not all, have guessed at least some of his abilities since becoming a Flesh Eater.
