Hero of Remnant: Veil of the Aether

by Aetherveil

Following after the events of the Volume 3 Arc, Dante, and his partner Inuba travel across Remnant to make their way to Haven, searching for clues that will lead them to the real mastermind behind the attack on Vale 6 months prior. They will meet allies, both old and new, and face challenging new enemies on their journey. Secrets will be revealed. Continuation of Hero of Remnant.

7. Chapter 7: Rendition of Reality

Ha! Told you all I'd do it!

Welcome one and all to the beginning of my collab with Xera Stark! For months now, we have been planning out an exciting and enticing story arc for all of you, our audience members, to love and enjoy. Remember folks, main story arc components for this arc is all thanks to Xera Stark, so do him a favor and check out his story XSRA's Flame! It's a really awesome story from start to finish. So then, lets begin!

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Chapter 7: Rendition of Reality

The shimmering gold of dawn took the land by beauty in the silence of the morning, casting shadows across the stone courtyards of Beacon. Pillars rose from the cold ground in organized segments across its outer most reaches, lifting archways into the sky in an architectural effort for excellence.

They circled the courtyard, following its edge closely before turning down the large pathway into Beacon Academy. Trees glistened in the subtle wind, blazing in the new light as mid-fall was drawing ever nearer, rendering the trees in colors of scattering enchantments of flame.

No students were there to witness nature's beauty, it was too early in the morning to venture out into the cool air of the day. Those that were up though, happened to be getting ready for their early classes.

So, it was in this light, and this knowledge, that it was safe to say no one truly saw what happened next.

A bright white flash illuminated the courtyard of stone, vibrating the air around it in a subtle crystalline hum.

Light breezes then whisked across the ground, swirling forward and away from the brief flash as stray leaves scraped across the hard surface.

It wasn't long before the light faded away and the unnatural wind ceased, revealing two figures stepping forward out of where it all originated from.

"Well, we're back. Sort of..." Dante said as he turned his gaze upward, catching the bright reflection of the tower's high windows against the morning sky.

"She was right. Time hasn't moved much, has it?" Inuba asked as she looked around Beacon's grounds.

"No…it hasn't." Dante's eyes fell for a moment, one hand clenching as the black sling encompassing his bandaged right arm shifted ever so slightly.

"Remember what she said. We can't tell them anything up about what happened in our Reality. At least not what happened six months ago."

"Of course." Replied Inuba.

Dante knew full well the possible consequences of such actions, consequences he simply didn't have time to deal with, nor the power necessary.

"I'll be good. Promise." He then said with a coy smile.

Inuba nodded once before turning and falling back in line with Dante as they moved toward the school.

"Why do you think Mr. Stark called us here?" asked the Kitsune.

"Not sure. He's usually pretty calm about everything and seems determined to face a lot of tasks on his own. That, and by himself, he's pretty powerful. I never thought he'd need help any time soon."

"Is there a chance of him just wanting to see us?" Inuba asked, bringing a small chuckle out of Dante.

"He's not a social butterfly either. So, I doubt that. But… I could be wrong. I mean, we are pretty friendly."

"Yes, friendly… Let's assume that is the case."

Dante cracked a smile and rubbed the back of his neck, "In all seriousness though, this could be a lot worse than what we're currently imagining. Soul-Slasher is out there, and I never got an accurate read on his Aura Signature."

"Worse?"

A new voice cut through the morning air, causing the two teens to come to a stop. Dante's gaze soon tilted upward to meet the eyes and ears of a familiar wolf faunus.

"I thought you were asleep up there. And don't you have class or something? This is a school you know...Destiny."

Black hair drifted in the wind as ebony wolf ears perked up a bit. She was a wolf faunus with long black hair that had a deep magenta ribbon roped through it. Her attire consisted of a white button down shirt and a black, long sleeved shirt underneath the white one. She also had faded purple shoulder covers and a skirt of the same color with white trim. On her back was a thin faded purple ribbon tied in a bow with the ends trailing down and hanging behind her thighs, while also wearing black leggings and black, short heels. To top it all off, she wore red rimmed glasses.

Fashionable as ever… thought the young immortal.

"I was… until Fate woke me up. She said her boy-toy's come to visit her." Destiny commented as she stood from her spot atop a nearby pillar and stepped off, landing with a small wince once she landed.

Her tournament injuries were still present.

His Aura Sensing has improved… Greatly might I add… Or was I being too obvious?

"E-Excuse me, b-but I'm sure you're mistaken." Inuba spoke up in the kindest voice she could muster, though it was laced with a couple shards of ice and a lingering sting of searing heat.

"Boy-toy?" Asked Inuba glaring at her Master.

"N-Nothing weird or anything like that... What she probably should have said is punching bag. Or if we're being more realistic, chew toy." He said earning a punch from the wolf Faunus in question.

Destiny quirked an eyebrow as Inuba took a step forward, still questioning the meaning behind their words.

"We just fought each other and had a few conversations. That's it. Although she's annoyingly grown accustomed to teasing me whenever she gets the chance." He said defended himself.

"Oh, and here I thought we were friends." Destiny retorted in time to see Inuba's eyes narrow… and then relax.

"W-Well, yeah. We are… You're just mean sometimes."

Dante looked to the side, letting out a quick breath. Only for it to be choked on after he heard what she said next.

"I haven't met your girlfriend before. She seems… nice."

Almost in sync, Dante's and Inuba's faces took on Ruby's name-sake as they both shook their head frantically.

"N-No, it's not like that!" Inuba quickly said, even though she had a moment to reconsider the idea and say otherwise.

"Yeah, we're just partners for life-"

Dante stopped himself before he said too much there. He only just realized what he said could have been easily taken out of context. When Inuba and he had first met, they enacted a special bond to remain partners for eternity. To fight side by side against all odds. It's why Inuba called him master, much to his insistence of using his actual name instead.

"M-Married huh? I never would have guessed you were that kind of guy to get married so early… I mean, congratulations?" said Destiny as she turned her own gaze away, her cheeks dusting red for a moment as she stopped her inner thoughts from venturing down too many rabbit holes.

Inuba had to stop her tail from instinctively swaying back and forth as she suddenly stood rigid, her own face burning all the hotter. She told herself she wouldn't squeal, it would just be off-putting and obvious. Of course though, that didn't stop her from squealing and dying within her own mind as she took a few moments to fantasize.

"Y-You know what, I'm not going to even bother this time. How about we just head inside?" Asked Dante, hoping to drop the subject at hand.

"You two can go on ahead, I've been waiting for something."

Her gaze drifted to the black sling his right arm was in, noticing his hand had been entirely bandaged.

"Woah… What happened to your arm?" She asked.

"Long story short, I got into a bit of a fight back in my own Reality over some graham crackers. It was just…one big mess."

Yeah, let's just go with that… thought the young immortal, hoping Destiny and Fate wouldn't look too far into it.

"You know, the pretty boy gave us a run for our money the last we met. He's more than just a little powerful. In fact, we've never fought anyone stronger…"

The voice of her twin sister Fate, whose soul was being shared with her body, echoed through her head, causing Destiny to tilt it subtly.

True, so what do you think was able to do so much damage to him?

Destiny's inquiry was met with silence. Neither her sister nor she had any true guesses as to what could've hurt Dante, which was quite the statement. They knew plenty of powerful entities throughout the worlds…

"Sounds like you were forced into a confrontation against something pretty powerful. Should I even ask or will you leave me to try and deduct it myself as usual?"

It was a neutral and calculated response, but it opened up the opportunity for him to give her a direct answer.

"You probably shouldn't."

Dante was taking every precaution and hating himself for it. Warning them about an imminent threat to Beacon would prove to be beneficial and prevent any casualties, or at least keep them to a minimum. In the past, he was warned before by the Keeper of Time to avoid doing so. But this was a different Reality. Would such a thing be okay?

He looked towards Destiny to see her nod after a moment, fixing her glasses soon after as she fixed her eyes onto Inuba.

"Is she going to be alright?"

Inuba had her tail wrapped tightly around her waist as she struggled to stand upright, blush still intense as it had been moments earlier. She was muttering something about a rite, some incoherent whimpers and claims of her mother being at fault.

"She'll…be fine. She'll snap out of it…eventually. But, I do have a question. What's going on here? Xera called us in, but we don't have an accurate idea of what's going on." Dante asked, walking over to Inuba and supporting one of her shoulders.

She was swaying a little too much.

Destiny let out a long sigh and moved back over to her pillar, using it as something to lean on as she addressed the two, or was it just the one now, in front of her.

"Xera filled me in, but as you probably found out yourself, he faked his death during the tournament."

"I found that out before I left, but I never asked why he did it."

"There's an organization, more of a syndicate actually once you discard their legal façade, that wants him and his race dead. It was the reason why Zerath was sent into the tournament. He's an assassin, and his mission was to eliminate Xera…his own brother."

"Brother against brother… How come Zerath went against his orders?"

"From what I know, they worked out a deal before the tournament. Xera wanted to see if he could convince that corporation that the hit was a success, and in doing so, he managed to get a third party to track back the source of a signal that was meant to execute Zerath. It seems Soul-Slasher wanted a bit of revenge for being used."

"In turn, that would lead him to where the organization is…" Dante concluded.

Destiny nodded her head before she turned her gaze to the horizon, beyond Beacon's airship docks.

"At least somewhere close, but that's the gist of it. As of yesterday morning, team XSRA and Professor Miralla flew out to the Krono Desert. I found out later from team RWBY as to why."

"To seek out where the signal led him, and to gather what he could."

I'm starting to think I should've stayed just another day… Time moves slower here as it is, so it wouldn't have made much of a difference.

Dante ran a hand through his hair as he thought everything over.

"From what I've seen, he can definitely take care of himself."

The wolf Faunus nodded to that comment.

"You said you were waiting for something?" Asked the young immortal.

"Yes, since it was a reconnaissance mission it's likely his team would return today. So I've been waiting around."

"You didn't leave after the tournament?"

"Nope. Ozpin invited me to join Beacon Academy." Destiny replied with a smile, "He hasn't worked out my team yet, so I don't have to attend classes at the moment. Thanks to that, I've had a lot of free time on my hands."

"I don't see why he shouldn't invited you. Your fight was pretty incredible. It was as obvious as night and day to bring you in."

Maybe it was the compliment, or just Dante's proximity, or maybe a little of both. In any case, Inuba suddenly flinched and shook her head, flicking her gaze around to see what was going on.

"S-Sorry, d-did I miss anything?"

Crimson eyes finally rested on the girl leaning against the pillar.

"Not much, actually. Good luck with your…thoughts. I'm sure if you try hard, you'll make a great waifu." Destiny teased as she whispered to Inuba before winking, earning yet another hard blush from the fox yōkai.

Their moment, however, was broken when Destiny's wolf-ears suddenly twitched. Velvety black appendages stood up on alert as she turned her head to the docks, eyes scanning the horizon. Despite Inuba's own distraction though, she managed to pick up the noise too.

It was familiar. No one in Vale could mistake the noise for anything else. The banking winds surrounding Beacon carried it all the clearer, ripping through the air like a pin dropping in a silent room. The increasing hum of engines cut through the horizon. And from the south-western side of the school, the speck of a bullhead shimmered into view alongside a large bird.

There was a trail of something following behind the airship.

"Is that…?"

"Smoke." Dante confirmed, following the two girls' lines of sight.

---

The three rounded the corner and saw the now landed airship, watching as a team of medics stepped inside.

"That's not good…" said Dante before he, Destiny and Inuba ran towards the airship.

"Hey! What happened? Is everything alright?" called out the young immortal.

His eyes quickly scanned the inside of the ship, staring at new faces he had never seen before, save for one. They had to be Xera's teammates. He never met them personally, but he remembered the names Xera's partner, Skyla, had once mentioned to him when he last visited.

The first one had to be Rex from the looks of it. He was laid out on a stretcher, but from a glance, Dante estimated him to be a little over 6 feet tall and about 18. He wore what remained of a torn silver trench coat with gold trim, a dark blue t-shirt underneath, black jeans, and silver boots, also with gold details and highlights. He also had short, silver hair with a few golden streaks, spiked straight up with gel. His eyes were open slightly, revealing he had dark blue eyes. He was seriously injured.

The next one, presumably Allix, was definitely shorter than Rex and had dark red hair. She looked to be about 5 and a half feet tall. Her hair was placed in a braid that fell down her left shoulder and appeared to be about 16, owning dark silver eyes. Her apparel consisted of black and red leggings, a dark red battle skirt with red fringes, a black long sleeve shirt, and black combat boots sporting crimson red dust designs on them. She wasn't as badly injured, evidenced by the fact that she was the only one able to stand.

The last member of Xera's team was someone he definitely recognized. How could Dante ever forget? This girl did blow up an ice cream store on accident once.

Skyla was a girl that had brown hair that went halfway down her back with purple highlights that ran through her hair with side bangs that were on the left side. He remember that her eye color was a deep dark purple, which sometimes changed to a light shade of purple before reverting back. Her clothing consisted of a purple battle skirt that went mid thigh with black swirls at the bottom, a light purple tank top with black/dark purple half sweatshirt that went mid waist, a dark purple choker necklace and wore black and purple converse shoes. She was about Ruby's height but slightly taller.

This was all that remained of Xera Stark's team, who was currently absent.

Allix, the teams archer took some solace in the warm hat atop her head, before she tipped it up slightly and saw the grimace on Dante's face.

"You… You're…from the tournament, right?" She asked.

His skyblue eyes drifted over her teammates once more slowly before looking back to her.

What in the world happened to them..?

"Yeah… I'm a friend of Xera's, Dante. I'd ask 'how do you do' but..."

"Dante…" Allix reiterated, "Skyla mentioned something about you." She concluded, more to convince herself of his words than anything else, "I can fill you in once we're inside."

The archer then turned to Inuba as she watched her eyes and blanket her white flames over to the other Kitsune present, who remained unconscious. She was smaller than Inuba, and seemingly younger given her near child-like, lithe appearance. Like Inuba, she had hair and a pair of fox ears as white as snow, along with three fox tails the exact same color. The only other difference was that her hair was longer than Inuba's reaching her waist.

"What's she doing?" asked Allix.

Dante gripped the red-head's shoulder softly before giving her a reassuring smile.

"She's just seeing if she can sense any injuries and heal them up for now."

A Kitsune here in another Reality… Could it be possible that she's from one of the Kitsune Clans in our Reality? If she is…how did she get here?

Dante pushed that thought off to the side for now. There were more important things at the moment.

"Alright… Get yourselves treated and let's talk later. If we're going to be able to help, we're going to need a lot of details of what exactly happened."

---

Allix told them as much as she could. Their mission went south, that much was for certain. But how far south was a question she didn't know the answer to.

She didn't know what the impact of what happened could cause, but she did know there was still one underlying variable that she just couldn't ignore.

"I need to find Ozpin. He needs to know that Xera's still out there." Allix said, quickly standing from her chair in the waiting room of the large infirmary. She was unexpectedly stopped in her tracks though when the sound of a hardened cane tapped through the dullness of the room.

"That, Miss Stowe, can be arranged."

He always manages to freak me out a little when he 'conveniently' appears out of nowhere… thought Dante.

"Y-You've been there the whole time?" Allix asked.

"We have." A second voice sounded through the doorway as Miss Goodwitch made her way in behind the headmaster, "We've already assembled a team to be prepped and sent out."

"In that case, I'd like to go as well." Dante said as he stood up from his own seat.

"Forgive me, but are you not injured yourself?" Glynda responded, eyeing his black sling warily.

"Not an issue. Besides, I can help track him down. So it'll speed up the process."

"I am able to go as well." Said Inuba.

As much as I would like that...

"I need you to stay and help out here, Inuba. Your Cleansing Flame is extremely useful in the case of rapid response healing. Frankly, should anything go wrong, you'd be the right person for the."

Ozpin quirked a brow at that little fact, but he tapped his cane once more before taking a sip from his coffee.

"And you? Miss Echols?"

Destiny crossed one leg over the other as she leaned back, saying "I thought it was obvious that I'll be tagging along. Soarix has some of the best eyesight you could ask for when on a recovery mission. Plus, I'm not going to leave behind a friend like that…"

The young wolf-faunus leaned forward to accentuate her claim, "No matter what, even if survival is nearly impossible. Besides, I care for Blake almost like a sister, so if there's bad news to be delivered… I'll be the one to do it."

Dante had almost forgotten the fact that the Blake of this Reality was in a relationship with Xera.

"Understandable." The headmaster nodded before turning to Inuba, "If you truly are a healer, then I have a bit of a task for you. Would you be willing to help?"

"Of course." Inuba replied.

"Then, you two gather everything you need. You are to meet with team CFVY out on Beacon's docks." Glynda informed, causing two of the three in front of her to start moving.

"You will also be accompanied by Tai Blackthorne on this rescue mission."

The headmaster had been wanting to evaluate that man's skills further than what was displayed in the tournament. Now wasn't exactly an ideal time for that to take place… However, Blackthorne showed interest in lending his assistance.

Two birds with one stone, or so they say. Ozpin preferred to brew coffee for two, then drink it all himself.

"Any chance of support from RWBY or JNPR?" Dante asked as he stopped to address the only other white-haired man in the room.

"That, Mysterious Guy, wouldn't be a possibility at the moment. After all, they have classes." Ozpin quipped with a subtle smirk.

Of course that's the case… And don't call me that…

To Dante's dismay, he heard Destiny and Inuba giggle behind his back, considering it was a rather amusing name he donned when he last visited and took part of the tournament here incognito.

With a silent growl but an emerging amused smile, Dante and Destiny jogged down the hall and headed for the docks again. Behind them, Ozpin silently took another sip from his coffee mug and watched them turn the next corner.

"Miss Stowe, you know it's rude to withhold information from friends." He commented knowingly, casting a glance back to the girl by her seat.

She seemed to shrink slightly under the momentary glance, making her eyes disappear behind the lip of a hat as she tilted her head down.

"Sir, what do you mean? She told us everything." Inuba asked, turning to the headmaster with an innocent but obedient look.

"Almost everything."

The man sighed, before nodding to Glynda.

"Gather a full report from Miss Stowe. As for you, miss…"

"Inuba Kitsukami, sir."

"Miss Kitsukami, I'd like you to walk with me. There's someplace I would like you to see."

A little put-off by the comment, Inuba cast a careful glance back to Allix. Despite her confusion though, the headmaster she knew of was only ever executing actions with good intentions.

"Where are we going?"

Ozpin stepped forward and started heading deeper into the infirmary wing's corridors.

"You'll see."

She stepped up in line with the man moments later, her eyes registering the subtle fact that the hallway seemed to be getting darker the further down they went.

That…and it was getting colder.

---

"You know...I'm starting to think he has the greatest emergency flare anyone can possibly hope for." Dante commented offhandedly as he stood by the opening of the bullhead.

The rushing winds tore through the chamber of teens, but his eyes were trained on the horizon, constantly scanning the desert scape for anything unordinary.

"What makes you say that?"

Perhaps the one with the longest hair of them all, Tai Blackthorne, asked as he leaned back in his seat lining the inner wall of the front side of the chamber.

"I keep sensing fluctuations of Aura coming somewhere from the west." Dante responded.

Coco tilted down her sunglasses for a moment, her current endeavor into loading her weapon with ammunition pausing.

"And how is it that a stranger like you can sense something like that?"

"Due to my Semblance, I developed a way to sense other people's Aura Signatures, or the presence of high concentrations of dense energy. If I know the exact nature of a person's Aura, I can practically track them down over extremely long distances."

"So basically, you're a talking scroll tower on legs…" Came Coco's response.

Dante glanced back at his temporary teammates and shrugged his shoulders.

"More or less."

It was actually less, but he didn't feel the need to correct her.

Fox and Yatsuhashi stood to the side by the other open door, holding onto the built in handles as they scanned the opposite horizon.

"I'd say he's more of an annoying sonar scanner." Destiny commented as she flew up to Dante's side. Her black hair tugged behind her by the rushing winds from her perch atop a giant eagle, Soarix.

"You're not wrong..." Dante shrugged, dismissing the rebuttal he thought about giving.

He wasn't one for snarky remarks towards friends anymore. But there were days he gave in to that side of himself simply to provide him with some sort of humor to relax himself.

"You see children," Dante started as he turned to his allies in the ship, "The wolf is most certainly considered hostile and possibly dangerous in some cases, but deep down beneath all that fluffiness and scariness is the desire to be lov-"

Before he could finish that sentence, he felt a gust of pressurized air hit him in the back of the head with enough force to rock it forward, the teen being able to only smile victoriously.

Ten points for me…

"Well, in any case…" Tai spoke up, his tall and slim figure stretching out as he grabbed the nearest handle and leaned slightly outside the aircraft. "Ace says he's picking some commotion up on his equipment."

"Oh, so our pilot has equipment better than Dante?"

"I highly doubt that." Dante corrected, "When it comes to Sensing, a person with the actual ability, in most cases, is better than any machine. Besides, I've been picking up a spike for a few miles now."

"Yeah, yeah." Tai responded with a dismissing glance over his shoulder, "We're heading there now. So get ready."

Soarix screeched into the air at that, "We've been ready. But thanks for the heads up." Destiny spoke over the rushing winds, continuing her relative flight beside the bullhead.

Tai leaned back inside the bullhead and turned back to Coco, eyeing her as she rotated the barrels of her gattling gun and fed it the start of her bullet chain.

"Like what you see?"

The taller teen held up his hands defensively, "Sorry, didn't mean to stare. That's quite the gun you have there."

"Nice save." Coco responded with an invisible role of the eyes.

"No, seriously. I was looking at the gun."

Lies.

Coco smirked though, as she lifted her heavy weapon up a bit and placed the heavy drum-magazine onto the floor.

"It's flashy, destructive, and currently in the meta for color and mechanisms. So, feel free to look at it all you want. Just don't pretend you're not staring at me."

"Coco, I really do think he was staring at the gun."

The accented voice of Velvet spoke up from her seat at the end. Throughout the ride, she'd been holding her rabbit ears down due to the constant pull of the rushing wind, but recently she finally grew used to the uncomfortable variable.

"Whatever, I was just messing with him. Anyway, it's nice to meet you, Tai." Coco said with a small smile, reaching across with a slimly gloved hand.

Tai took it with his own smirk.

"Nice to meet you too, Coco. And you, Velvet."

Introducing himself to the girls of the group last wasn't exactly his initial plan, but they were certainly the hardest to approach. He'd already introduced himself to the rest, at least.

"Listen, the reason why I was staring at your gun was because I might have something that can help. Especially in a situation like this." Tai said after letting Coco's hand go.

"Oh? And what makes you think I need help?"

"You don't. I know for certain that you don't need any, but this is just a fix to help with some accuracy differentiation. With how the bullhead moves, it'd be hard to stand up here and fire straight." He defended himself with ease as he crossed his arms.

Coco glanced out the side of the bullhead, and for a few moments, felt the harsh rocking of the entire ship due to turbulence in the desert winds.

"What did you have in mind?"

Tai nodded and extended his hand. The tails of his sleeveless black trench coat stilled in their fluttering for a moment as a disruption in the air in front of him tore open.

Out of his semblance rift fell a military grade highly modified M60D mounted machine gun. In short, it wasn't as big as Coco's own gun but it had the parts necessary for what he had in mind.

The heavy clunk of the weapon drew in the eyes of everyone else on the ship, but Tai paid them no mind. He knelt in front of his new arrival and disconnected the gun itself from its mount, then let that fall into a new portal he summoned at his side.

"Here we go, it'll take a few minutes but I can effectively modify this mount to be able to connect and support your own gattling gun. For now…"

He lifted the heavy stand and moved it over to the side Dante was on, he then held it close to the door's open frame and the floor.

With a push of a button, arms folded out from the stand and high powered magnets powered up. Then, with some satisfying but heavy thumps, he secured the mount to the door and floor and set up the swivel system.

"There we go, think you'd mind using this if we have to enter combat?"

Tai glanced back at Coco and her weapon, and she sent a shrug back.

"I guess, since you're already setting it up. I might as well."

"Way to be prepared there, Tai. From what I'm sensing, we'll definitely need the fire power." Dante said with a smile, glancing at the mount Coco was currently bringing her gattling gun to.

He watched for a few moments as they started tweaking the stand to become accustomed to Coco's larger weapon, then turned his attention back to the desert outside.

His entirely bandaged right arm and hand in the black sling began to twitch with a small burning pain, forcing a silent wince out of him, one that Destiny managed to catch a glimpse of.

"I'm seriously curious as to what caused that Destiny… Especially if he's still feeling it…" Fate's voice echoed through her sister's mind.

"Which is why it's weird Fate… He's immortal and his wounds regenerate at a near instant rate without the usage of Aura. What could have possibly caused him to damage his arm and still have it severely damaged? He can barely even move his own fingers…"

"No idea… Maybe he'll actually tell us the real reason if we ask again? He's always a sucker for the whole 'I actually care what happens to a friend' thing."

"That wouldn't be right… Morally at least. If that's the case, then I guess we'll ask him again when we get back. Maybe he'll say something then…"

---

Cold.

The dim lights of the hallway flickered momentarily, before they clicked back into their light again.

"You inquired as to what miss Stowe left out." Ozpin started, the dull click of his cane echoing off the silent white walls as he walked.

"Yes. What exactly has she left out?" Inuba responded, her poise straight and her fluffy tail resisting the urge to curl around herself.

She was disciplined. The cold would not deter her.

Until she actually was deterred when a cold shiver ran down her spine, forcing her to take solace in the fluffy warmth of her fox tail that had wrapped itself softly around her waist.

This chill… Why does it feel so familiar? So… Dark? It's not an ordinary sensation of cold…

"She left out, quite frankly, one of the more important factors of this predicament."

Ozpin sighed, and it wasn't until now that Inuba heard a glassy crunch beneath her feet.

Black Ice..? Wait a moment… Black Ice..!

"You see, it was the very reason why Xera is out in the desert. Why his team took a mission so far out of the territory of Vale itself."

His cane's tapping was becoming distant, for some reason, and was starting to get lost in the thick atmosphere lingering in the darkening hallway.

"Have you ever heard of the story about a man with two souls? Both fighting for control?"

Inuba merely nodded as her eyes drifted over the black ice webbing across the walls and ceiling, their clawing reaches even running in veins along the tiles of the floor.

"I know the story all too well…" She began as she recalled the previous memories of what occurred to her Master before their coming to Remnant.

"Sir...does this entire situation happen to involve a Dark Entity?"

"Unfortunately, I believe that is the case." Ozpin said, coming to a slow stop in front of the furthest door of the hallway.

A dark frost dusted its handle, and the glass peering into the infirmary room was nothing more than a thick sheet of icy obsidian.

"Was this what you wanted to show me?"

Ozpin nodded his head, and gestured toward the handle with the top of his cane.

"Do mind the cold. The metal is quite cool to the touch, and the ice makes every attempt to engulf anything it comes in contact with."

"Right."

This confirms my suspicions from earlier…when I felt that presence deep within the academy. I wonder if Master felt it as well…

Inuba quietly reached out with her pale hand, and covered it in a light sheen of white flame. She then hovered her hand over the handle, unsure whether or not to touch it yet, but taking in the fact that the black ice was refusing to melt.

So, she pushed more flame through her hand and opened the door with a quick push. She flinched lightly from the loud crunch of the door as it opened, but immediately turned her gaze onto what resided on the inside.

"Welcome to the infirmary room of Zerath Stark, miss Kitsukami. From what I have gathered, I believe that you may just be able to help him." Ozpin said passively, stepping into the room with a calm demeanor settling over his countenance. "I fear that, for now, you are all that we have to save his life. Or at the least, preserve it."

---

How long had it been since they were flying over the vast desert? An hour? Two? Dante last track of time as he stared out the open door side of the Bullhead he was riding in, focusing his Aura Sensing so that he could be able to detect Xera with ease. The Phoenix Faunus had a rather impressive amount of Aura. Detecting his Aura Signature wouldn't be difficult. As he thought this, he suddenly felt a strong spike towards the north-west, stronger than what he had been Sensing for the duration of their hunt.

"Found him." Dante muttered, sky blue eyes snapping open as he turned his gaze to the north-west.

In the distance was a bright shine of white and orange, almost blinding him the moment he looked at it.

"What's with the glare?" Coco asked, leaning outside the door and gazing through her sunglasses at the bright light in the distance. "Is it reflecting off of something?"

"I don't see how it could be. It's not likely that there's a giant mirror out there, right?" Tai asked, noticing the bright light shining into the open compartment of the bullhead.

He was making some final adjustments to Coco's temporary gattling gun door mount, so he only spared a glance outside the vessel's opening.

"Maybe it's scraps of metal from a bullhead or airship crash site?" Velvet offered, standing alongside Coco.

"Most crash sites get salvaged." Dante said, "There's a lot of valuable resources put into most airships, so whenever one crashes its scraps are cleaned up as soon as possible to be recycled into a new one."

Coco turned her eyes to the outwardly leaning Dante, then glanced back to the light.

"Then what do you think that is?"

Before any real answers could be figured out, the shadow of Soarix emerged from the blinding light as the large eagle flew around to the bullhead's side.

"It's glass!" Destiny called out, her hand holding her long raven hair behind her ear as she turned to the crew inside the bullhead's body.

"Glass?"

"Yeah, the ground's completely covered in it. That's what's reflecting the light." She further informed, though she didn't quite know what could've caused it.

"Fire..." Dante spoke up quickly, "It's how glass is made. If you expose sand to a high enough heat, you'll cause it to reach its melting point and then harden into an unpolished glass."

"Isn't it mostly filled with imperfections and colors at first?" Destiny asked.

"Not if you use a level of heat that far surpasses what's needed. That basically purifies it, creating a clean, lightly colored, and reflective surface." Dante responded.

"And how much heat is that, mister smart guy?" Coco asked.

Dante only smirked and turned back to the fashionista.

"At least more than 3,200 degrees Fahrenheit, Coco. But that's extremely hard to do in a non-focused area, let alone a few miles spanning across the desert region of Vacuo."

"Usually fire loses heat the further it's dispersed." Destiny added in.

"Which means, if that wasn't Xera, then we're up against something that has a huge aptitude for fire." Tai concluded, passively listening in as he finished up his fine-tuning on his setup.

"I have a summon that can help with that. He won't be able to do much damage, but he'll at least be able to shield us in case there's a large burst of fire." Destiny said as well, pulling a little on Soarix's feathers to keep her in a relative line to the bullhead.

"G-Good, we'll need everything we can get." Velvet was the one to respond, causing Destiny to send the bunny a quick flash of a sweet smile.

This is exactly why I've been keeping quiet! Velvet internally squealed.

She wasn't much for speaking up on her own, but when someone else cared enough to develop feelings for her? Then actually make the effort to get her to talk more openly with people? It was a little embarrassing…but she was glad Destiny wanted to help her social status as much as she did, and more.

She just wasn't sure yet about how she felt about the wolf-faunus.

"Alright kiddos, looks like we're nearing the edge of the glass. You ready?" Ace's voice clicked on over the speaker as the ship flew closer to the blinding light.

"It'll be over in no time…" Dante replied.

"Yeah, sure, says the guy with white hair." Coco laughed.

"Hey! White hair's not that bad."

"Just don't look directly at it when it's sunny out."

"Says the person with sunglasses on."

…

"Touché."

Dante smiled to himself as he let his hand fall to the handle of his blade. He needed to make quick work of this thing. If what he and possibly Inuba sensed was accurate, then they didn't have much time. And Xera was someone crucial they need to solve the issue waiting for them back at Beacon.

Xera was the greatest counter to what Soul-Slasher had. But above that, he's the only person out of everyone that could possibly navigate the depths of where they need to go.

"ETA forty seconds. Eyes up kids, we're going in." Ace's voice sounded out before the speaker system clicked off, and the bullhead tilted forward to gain a little extra speed. He then flicked a switch, and pressed a button. Starting the track to one of his favorite songs.

"Oh my god…" Said the white haired teen in disbelief.

"What?"

"He's playing the song! This man is brilliant!" He replied with enthusiasm, recognizing Ride of the Valkyries the second it started playing.

The blinding light had become overwhelming now, especially at the border of the glassy desert. But as the bullhead passed through the saturating wall of pure pale glows…it was as if they entered the realm of a frozen ocean. But beneath its surface…looked like rolling flames of hills and swirling lights.

That wasn't the most noticeable part.

Beneath the surface slithered a writhing mass of black. A massive body of darkness beneath the depths shot across the land beneath the glass, swirling in long, fluent movement, before coiling up in certain places and slamming out of the ground, shattering the glass there in sparkling clouds of shards.

"Somebody call for the cavalry?!" The pilot called out in a loud voice, before a storm of bullets rocketed out of her gun and slammed into the creature's head.

A Drakon Leviathan… Are you kidding me?! thought Dante.

The titanic, serpentine creature stood as tall as a massive office building in a city, layered with numerous black plates and spikes that armored entire body. It had numerous horns on its snake-like head, along with glowing red eyes that had slit pupils.

The stream of bullets continued in a countless line of destruction as the bullhead swung around the Leviathan's side, circling around it to keep Coco's sights on it as it approached the airspace over Xera.

"Take that you overgrown worm!"

The force of the high caliber bullets forced the Leviathan to dive back into the surface of the ground, fleeing from the continuous barrage of metal-plated non-explosive mini-missiles.

Xera then looked up in time to see three shadows fall from the sky, and turned behind him to watch as Dante, Velvet, and Tai land heavily onto the ground and stood up from varying forms of crouches.

"Hi, Xera." Velvet said with a small wave.

"You called?" Dante added with an amused smile.

"Yeah… But...you were supposed to help Zerath...not me..." The phoenix Faunus replied somewhat weakly as his black hair drifted in the desert breeze, his red irises glowing slightly.

"Yeah, well… I wasn't gonna let my friend get turned into KFC and leave me to take care of things. If anything, we're in this together." Came Dante's reply.

Tai gave them a smirk before he dragged a few fingers through the air and summoned another rift.

Out of it dropped a heavily armored octagonal box, painted completely black with dark purple highlights throughout its panels. Upon impact its corners made an unsealing pop before they expanded and jutted out about three feet before slamming down.

Then, the box rose as joint like knees in the middle of the appendages bent outward to support the heavy object. In the next few seconds, the entire body seemed to disassemble and shift as panels slid and overlapped to reveal two rising gattling barrels, each one pointed forward with red sensory lasers beaming to life to scan the surroundings.

"Impressive… Did you build this?" Xera asked, taking a moment to eye the impressive work of machinery.

"I did."

Dante stepped forward and scanned their surroundings quickly, before turning back to Tai.

"You showed me that in town a while back... Did you ever solve the targeting issue?"

Tai snapped his fingers and gave the white haired teen a thumbs up.

"You bet. It should work just fine now."

"Cool, so it should come in handy." Xera said, peering into some of the panels and checking out the internal wiring.

"It should, but we won't know for sure until it starts shooting."

Xera gave a small nod, then turned to the three of them.

"Well then, thanks for uh…coming. I guess. But, we need to kill this thing."

"Well, we can't exactly let it roam free…" Velvet added on.

Dante made his way over to Xera's side and pat him on the back.

"With all of us here, and air support from Coco, we should stand a pretty good chance against this thing."

"Yeah, well, just watch for any breath attacks. There's nothing you can do if you find yourself anywhere in front of this thing when that happens." Xera said.

"Will do."

Another shadow suddenly swooped over the surface, and a giant eagle swept just above the ground as Destiny leapt off its back.

"The Leviathan's swinging back around. Looks like it's coming back for us."

"Thanks for the heads up, and good to see you came along, Destiny. And Fate." Xera said, as he turned his own eyes to the new arrival.

"Good to see you too, but this grimm isn't going to wait for us to finish talking."

"It has so far." Xera offered.

"He has a point." Dante agreed.

"Guys…" Velvet muttered, her rabbit ears twitching slightly as she glanced around her.

"Yeah yeah, it's here." Tai commented, summoning out two heavy pistols.

One was a modified gleaming silver .357 calibrated pistol, and the other a twin ebony pistol of the same model. However, this one had a much larger barrel to it, and seemed to be fitted to fire .50 caliber rounds.

Both of which seemed to be modified to match a streamlined version of a desert eagle handgun.

The ground beneath them began to crack lightly, the sands beneath the glass starting to vibrate subtly as a shadow beneath the surface began approaching them from a distance.

"Guess we should get ready…" Xera sighed, then drew his black longsword.

"Coco's going to hate me for this…" Velvet's accented voice spoke out, as she reached behind her and detached her brown and gold box from her belt.

"Have you tested that yet?" Xera asked.

"A few times, but it's still in prototype form. So, no promises." She replied with a sheepish smile, before withdrawing a similarly designed camera from the box.

"Now, smile for the camera."

With that voice, it was hard not to.

She snagged pictures of almost everyone's weapons as they drew them, then she took one final photo of the mechanical sentry turret beside Tai.

"All set."

"Good, let's hope it works."

I've seen it in action, so I know it works. But…I wonder if her prototype will be as good as her finished version… Dante wondered as he glanced at her.

He was the only one who hadn't drawn his weapon yet, mainly due to its complexity.

Velvet simply didn't have the technology to actually copy his weapon. In fact, it's more likely that collecting the data would lead to her camera having a database overload and shutting down. Which would render her combat prowess as useless in this upcoming fight.

"Incinerate all pain and oppression, Kimura." Destiny spoke her usual words, and just as the ground began to superheat again and shatter in a small area to allow the reveal of her three headed Cerberus, the ground in front of them shattered and erupted in a much, much, larger fashion.

"You all keep your distance, and Dante, keep an eye out for its tail. Other than that, just keep dodging." Xera spoke quickly, then began sprinting forward.

Dante followed suit, drawing his frost white longsword as he ran and caught up to Xera's side.

Almost immediately afterward, they heard two concussive blasts shake the air, and as the two ran forward, Tai unloaded his hand cannon's into the creature's head as two separate streams of bullets impacted the Leviathan's neck.

One coming from the air, and the other coming from the dual gattling barrels hammered into the ground at Tai's side.

"Well, I guess it really does work." Tai commented with a small chuckle, reloading his pistols by dropping them both into their own respective rifts, then letting them fall back down through two new rifts above as he drew two clips from his belt.

Velvet stopped as she just started running forward, hands on her belt and near her box, as she turned her gaze back.

"Wait, you didn't actually know if it would work?"

"I had a vague idea, but never got the chance to test it."

…

"What if it didn't work?"

"Then I would've deactivated it."

…

"Right." Velvet nodded slowly, before shaking her head and taking off again.

Her run was followed by the clawed charge of a fiery three headed hound, and she let out a small yelp as Destiny reached down and pulled her up onto the back of her Cerberus.

"Sorry honey-buns, but you'll be riding with me. Hold on tight, yeah?" Destiny gave the girl a moment to settle in, then as soon as Velvet tentatively reached around her waist, she willed Kimura to surge forward again and catch up to the others.

---

"Considering you've been out here fighting this thing, you have to have some vague idea on how to kill it, right?" Dante asked Xera as the two up front cleared the distance between their starting point and the grimm.

His question was met with an awkward chuckle.

"Please tell me you have some sort of plan…"

"Hit it it until it dies? I guess..."

Dante laughed a bit at that.

"Come on man, seriously?!"

With a cheeky smile, Xera shrugged his shoulders and flexed his hand gripping his sword.

"I don't really have one for this thing, not yet anyway. But everyone needs to keep their distance whenever possible."

"Why's that?"

"This thing gives off heat like a forest fire. Get too close, and you'll burn. Get struck by this thing, and you'll get the same treatment. Just don't get hit, and don't get too close, and you'll be fine."

Xera turned his gaze to Dante for a moment before concluding something.

"Actually, you'll be fine. The others though…"

"They aren't exactly heat retardant like we are…"

"Yeah…which means they all have to keep some amount of distance."

"Alright, then you and I can just finish this thing off up close while they all stay back and bombard it."

"Easier said than done. This thing's hide is like a suit of scaly-armor. But if I can heat it up enough…"

"You might just be able to crack it."

"Exactly. Revealing some of its unprotected inner flesh. Once I do that."

"We can deal some serious damage."

"Yup." Xera nodded, then dug into the glass with the tip of his sword to quickly change direction.

"I guess that's the plan. Until I can figure out a way to generate that much heat, we'll just have to entertain it with bright lights and flashy maneuvers."

"Sounds easy enough!" Dante called back as he split the other way, dashing the opposite direction Xera went.

Xera ran off, digging his sneakers into the glass as he felt the surface closest to the Leviathan crack and shatter. This thing's tough, he knew that. But for only two people to engage it up close, while the rest are forced to keep their distance?

That brings down the damage per second by a large margin…

Despite those two being himself and Dante, it still might not be enough.

The colossal grimm soon let out a screeching wail, shaking the shards of glass all around it and across the land as twin streams of hyper-accelerated dust imbued bullets stormed through the air.

And the music that followed.

"Ha! Can't handle the cold?!" Coco called out with a snarky smirk, Ace taking her around the Leviathan's front as Tai's sentry gun did the same.

His own bullets shined a very similar blue hue.

Black masses started lashing and thrashing, eviscerating the immediate area in a burst of heat and fire from its throat. Its piercing red eyes glared through the quickly rising cloud of evaporating fog, snarling with a heated snout.

"Damn... Looks like frost isn't doing so much anymore…" Tai muttered, but he kept up his sentry gun's stream of bullets for now as he opened up a new portal.

His twin pistols dropped solidly into its ripple, before a larger one tore open above his hands.

"Time for a little power."

"Alright Velvs, stay close to Kimura. If this grimm lets out any bursts of fire, he'll be our shield." Destiny called out as she dismounted her Cerberus.

"What are you going to do? You heard Xera, we can't get close to this thing."

"Who said anything about getting close?" Destiny said, before pulling out Albus again and calling out for her next summon, "Wash away the taint and sins from the world, Nagga!"

A swirling vortex of water soon emerged and spread over the glass in front of her, echoing out screams of forgotten and lost souls as one- no, two- five serpent heads emerged, followed by a large dragon-like body to support them.

Sharp scaly fins swept through the air as the hydra glided up and out of its watery confinement, using the air as its new domain just above the ground.

"Let's see what water can do to this thing. Nagga." Destiny said, causing Nagga to screech into the air and glide forward.

Four of its heads reared back before surging forward with a twisting torrent of rushing water, all twirling beams of liquid merging before slamming into the Leviathan's hide.

Another screech swept out through the air as steam quickly filled the area. The veil of white was quickly whisked away as Dante charged through the cloud before him, making a leaping strike for the Leviathan's head.

He tore his sword through the air and lashed out, his massive leap giving him all the leverage he needed to put a deep gash through the creature's left eye before landing with a tumble.

"To think the Leviathan's hottest part of its body would be its head…" Dante said, clutching his left hand around his blade a little tighter and ignoring his smoldering bandages wrapping his right arm.

The unique metal in his blade shimmered in the light for a moment, that and his skin being the only things to withstand the Grimm's extra heat.

"I guess it can't swim through land without a hothead..."

A mass of black tried to slam into him from below, but he quickly leapt forward and slashed at the passing hide, slicing deeply into the scales.

If this thing melted the land first with its head, it made it easier for the rest of its body to swim as well once the initial resistance was gone.

"If this thing wasn't so large and annoying, that'd be really nice!" Dante said, before spinning around and holding the flat side of his longsword solidly at his front, right in time to block a line of rapidly surging spines from one of this thing's backs.

To his right, he saw another shadow dash through the thick steam caused by Nagga's continuous burst.

A black streak tore through the air, splitting the steam in a solid trail, before orange flames kicked up and raged upward around the form in the veil of white.

Black bangs lightly lifted into the air as red eyes streaked their very color inside of Xera's movements, then the fire swirling around him burst outward and sent the phoenix into the air. Flames trailed up tightly beneath him before dying off halfway as he reached his mark, and drove the edge of his longsword into the neck beneath the grimm's head.

The heated steel tore through the beast's hide and left a scorched fleshy gash right beneath the serpent's jaw.

The moment though was short lived, as the mass in front of the teen slammed forward and threw him down toward the ground.

"Gotcha!" Dante called out as he dashed and jumped again, throwing his sword into the air and reaching out his left hand.

Xera noticed the glimpse of white and reached out, catching the other teen's hand mid-air and causing the two of them to whip around from the sudden loss of momentum. Though, the glassy ground met the two of them much more softly than what Xera would've felt.

"Thanks. And lemme guess, two more seconds?" Xera asked, casting his gaze upward after finding his footing and balance.

"You know it." Dante said with a smirk.

Approximately two seconds passed before he reached out and snatched his falling blade by its handle.

"Do you always show off?"

"Only when necessary. Or if I feel like it."

"Thanks for the opening, Xera!"

Tai pulled the trigger, a sudden concussive blast following it from his prone position as he skidded back just a few inches. The sound from the sudden explosion rang through the air as smoke and bullet filled the space in front of him.

A twenty-nine inch barrel, forty pounds of Barrett M82, and a whole lot of force… Tai's anti-material sniper rifle kicked back as his .50 caliber BMG ammunition snapped through the distance between him and his target.

Sand and glass shards were pushed aside as the bullet sailed into the newly revealed flesh that Xera caused and straight into the Leviathan's throat, tearing into the soft material within.

The ripping of flesh was soon followed by a muffled explosion, rocketing black bits of flesh and metallically whining fragments of a bullet out of the beast's wound.

The rifle's recoil operated rotating bolt slammed backward, sending out a smoking golden shell before slamming in a new round.

"Nine shots left."

---

"Heads up, this thing's angry!" Xera called out.

"No?! Really?! I had no idea!" Dante replied.

Both teens dove off to the side together as the creature's head lashed around wildly, screeching in agony as it clenched down on the grievous wound inflicted by Tai's rifle.

"We need to keep it still, and keep marking new targets for Tai to hit!" Said Xera as he ran forward, Dante following suit and keeping to his side.

"Right, but we can't let this thing see where Tai's position is either!"

"Good point." Xera turned and caught a glimpse of Destiny and Velvet in the distance.

"Destiny! Nagga needs to keep up that steam cloud!"

Destiny's eyes seemed to switch over to lock with his for a moment, before she nodded and swiped her hand through the air. The land beneath Nagga suddenly swirled and bubbled, before boiling water churned beneath it.

Then the hydra started a lengthy barrage of columns and blasts of water, causing the area around them to kick up in steam once more.

Several more deep gashes had been inflicted into the hide of the Drakon Leviathan. Six more dug deeply into its battered neck, while the last three stung thoroughly right beneath the grimm's right eye and across its face.

The two swordsmen below circled around again for another combo attack, but it wouldn't have it.

Every portion of sand and glass around the Leviathan melted and swirled, black masses of spines and scales lashed dangerously around in a painful cluster of rage.

Dante blocked as much as he could as Xera dipped and dodged beneath each surging blur of darkness, before the Leviathan's tail slipped out of the ground and blindsided him.

Moments later, Dante was sent skidding backward by the Leviathan's neck. The creature swung around and threw its entire mass into him, knocking him back with Xera as the two teens tumbled across the rough ground.

They both then planted their shoes into the ground and grinded themselves to a stop, sliding to a halt just in front of Kimura and the two girls behind him.

"You good?" Dante asked.

Xera took his black sleeve and wiped it across his mouth, cleaning away a small trickle of blood streaming down the corner of it.

"Yeah, but we can't let this thing escape. We have to keep attacking it."

"Then we keep attacking it." Dante said, leaning forward before falling into a quick dash.

Xera took off as well, catching up to the running teen in front of him.

"We can't just keep attacking it blindly."

"We don't really have much of a choice right now. We're too far separated to make any plans, not unless the two of us think of something." Dante replied quickly.

"We'll have to, but right now, we can't get hit again either. Once this thing disengages from us, it'll go after the rest."

"They won't be able to survive being close to it…"

One thing the two of them noticed, that should have been obvious before, was the lack of oxygen. This creature burned so hot that it created a strong updraft of heated air, sucking away the majority of the oxygen in the area that's necessary for breathing.

It's the main reason why the two of them weren't able to keep up with this thing.

If the heat didn't bring down their friends…then the lack of breathable air definitely would…

Xera was used to high atmospheres and low oxygen levels, and Dante had his instant healing and superior bodily functions to survive on his own without the need to breath as well, but no one else could say the same as these two.

The two teens dashed in again, sliding and leaping over the first emerging arc of spines before regrouping and slashing through both sides of a towering body structure.

All around them, surges of more and more parts of the creature's body slammed outward and inward, trying to catch the teens with a heavy crushing blow.

But before any of them could make contact, Xera noticed something beneath the depths of glass at their feet. The Leviathan was corralling them into a tighter and tighter area… but…

Where was its head?

"Get out, now!" Xera shouted as whirled around.

He didn't care how immortal Dante was. He didn't care how quickly he was going to heal. Out of pure instinct alone, Xera slid himself low to the ground as his green sweatshirt tore slightly between his shoulder blades.

Before Dante could say a word, twin blurs of sleek black shot out from Xera's back. Two ebony wings rapidly unfolded at a blinding speed as the curled up structures shot straight for Dante's chest.

Without warning, the white-haired teen was sent skyward at an angle, straight over the spines of the encroaching walls, and just before the ground beneath Xera tore itself apart.

A fuming column of molten fire spewed upward in a combustive explosion, bursting out of the ground and straight into the air. Searing heat scorched the glass as it towered upward like a geyser of flames, and within it, Xera's form was sent hurtling into the air and straight through the clouds above.

"Xera!" Dante yelled, watching as Xera disappeared behind the dry wisps in the sky.

He didn't have time to watch any further, as the ground beneath him crushed his legs into a tumble, and was forced to grind to another halt off to the side from all the rest.

What was he thinking?! That fool..! Something like that wouldn't even be remotely close to being able to kill me! It might have tickled a bit, but he didn't have to do that..!

An ear-shattering wail shook the ground as the Drakon Leviathan's seething head emerged from the ground. Its left eye was slashed out, only leaving its right eye's angry red glow. Its form easily towered higher and higher into the sky as it moved backward…

Before its gaze snapped to Nagga and surged forward, taking the hydra into its maw before completely chomping down on the summon.

What is it..? Oh no…

A breath of hot air streamed out of its nostrils as it cleared out the blanket of steam in front of it, and then glared at what it saw behind the wall of white.

Dante had already started sprinting as the creature reared its entire head back. A snarling gargle escaping its throat before all blockage was cleared away in a long, loud, suspenseful intake of air.

A dull orange glow began to fester in the back of its throat as the cracks in its underbelly began to glow brightly as well.

Not good, not good, not good!

Dante managed to make it over to Kimura and leapt over the Cerberus as it planted its paws down to form a wall, landing behind it to the girls crouching on the ground.

"Get behind me!" he shouted.

I only managed that while in that form…

His mind reproduced images of that...grotesque form he took on when in the church that night with Jonathan Friede. Despite the nightmare given actual shape that night...he had actually learned something that he never knew he could do. It was time to see if it would work again.

Dante quickly positioned himself in front of them and focused a substantial amount of his white Aura outlined in black in front of himself to form a crystal-clear barrier of large, hexagonal shapes that were tightly compacted together to form a forward-barrier. The barrier was large enough to completely shield the front of the three, a few of the crystal-like clear hexagons floating around the edges of the forward-barrier, giving off tiny streams of Aura.

Right now, Dante had hoped for one thing.

Whatever Kimura didn't take, he'd have to deflect. Or take himself.

---

A massive jet of flame crashed into the Cerberus-like summon, completely disintegrating it within a few seconds as the burst of flame hit Dante's barrier, forcing the tightly compacted formation of crystalline hexagons to flex towards Dante.

Come on..! Keep it together..!

A crack began forming in the barrier as the burst of jet-like fire continued to crash against the barrier like a focused tsunami, the crack splitting off into numerous cracks as the fire continued.

He couldn't help but think for a moment one thing.

Where was Xera?

The fire pressed on, putting more cracks into Dante's crystalline barrier as the young immortal continued pouring his Aura into it, fending off the encroaching flames. It wouldn't hold much longer.

As if his plea had been heard, a cracking sound erupted through the air as a blur of black plummeted from the sky like an orbital bombardment, cracking and shattering the glass across the ground in a widely spanning rippling implosion of sand.

The wall of fire then crashed into what kneeled in the center of the crater, then completely blew upward as if it had crashed into an unbreakable wall. The massive torrent of flames shot outward and into the sky, before every whipping light began to swirl and bend inward.

Trails of yellow and orange wrapped around Xera's form, storming around him like a supernova gathering before combustion.

Dante watched behind the barrier as Xera split his weapon in two as the fires raged, quickly seeping into his body as he felt his energy rise. The broken legs from impact, the wounds, the bruises, the gashes and cuts that covered his body…

They all completely healed and vanished.

An even brighter shade of red glowed from his irises as his black wings fanned outward behind his crouching form.

The flames kept growing and feeding into him as the sea of fire began to slow and drain. An overwhelming amount of heat passed over everyone behind his silhouette within the flames, but nothing more was allowed to pass.

Annivia's Talons, Xera's weapon, shifted and folded as he held his twin blades out to his sides, the inferno before him crawling to a stop as the last of its power was fed straight into his Aura.

"I'll never make the same mistake again…" The phoenix muttered as the glow faded from his eyes.

He slowly stood up from his low position, his wings flexing with his movements as he stepped forward.

"I couldn't forgive myself it I let that happen." He continued to speak in a lightly echoing voice, walking a few steps closer to the Drakon Leviathan before him.

"Xera!"

His name was called, but all he did was cast a sideways gaze over his shoulder, his right wing dipping slightly to reveal the safety of his friends across the desert behind him.

One red eye then locked with a set of sky blue, and Dante knew what Xera was about to do. What he had to do.

This was their one chance.

Xera turned his gaze back to the colossal serpent in front of him and poured his aura into his blades.

"Confused?" He asked, looking up into the wide red eye of his adversary. "I would be too… if my most powerful attack did absolutely nothing…" Xera said with a slight smirk, before taking his ebony blades at his sides and bathing them in a golden fire.

"If only you could hope for the same."

Two blades were hurled out through the air, streaking in solid golden lights before embedding themselves behind the Leviathan's right and left flanks. Their bright glows shined beneath the rising sun as Xera took a deep, slow breath, causing the flames to glow a little brighter.

The black pupils of Xera's eyes suddenly sparked with golden flame, then those fires spread to emblazon his entire body as his energy, and those of his weapons, surged and flashed.

"Burn in hell..."

Blazing lines of gold caught fire and streaked out from Xera and the two embedded blades positioned in a large triangle surrounding the creature of grimm. Their golden shines burning brightly as they connected to each other and amplified the aura link between swordsman and his weapons.

And just like that, a shine as bright as the evening sun split the air in silence before the crystalline roar of a celestial column of fire erupted from deep beneath the Drakon Leviathan.

What followed was a blood curdling wail that screeched and screamed from within the golden light.

Xera's fire instantly chipped at the monster's hide, searing it completely as its entire body became engulfed by the surging tower of energy.

Every morsel of energy Xera pulled from the Leviathan's attack was poured right back into this counter move, and as Xera's aura decreased, the golden shine of his flames dimmed back into the burning color of orange.

The crystalline hum fell dully back into the roar of Xera's column of fire, then even that seemed to thin out and become smaller.

Before long, Xera collapsed back onto his knees. His wings pushed downward to curl up and press against the ground in an attempt to support him as he let out a shaky breath. The light in his eyes died as his flames dwindled then dispersed.

What was left behind was a severely scorched and cracked Drakon Leviathan. Once solid hide was now brittle and crumbling away, revealing more and more inner flesh as its entire body shook in bouts of pain.

Smoke tumbled from the spanning cracks across its entire form as it bent and arched its body in excruciation.

Dante's tightly compacted hexagonal barrier crumbled to pieces like glass, drifting in the air for but a few seconds before they dissolved.

Even now… It still isn't enough… What will it take to kill this thing?!

His mind produced images of the form he took on in the church two days prior. The layers of black bone-like armor plating. The grey muscles fibers covering his entire body from neck to toe that was covered by the same black bone-like plating. That maw of teeth that formed a sort of twisted smile on that black, skull-like head without eye sockets or a ethmoid. The long black horns on the side of the head that bent inwards before slightly curving outwards.

He knew why his mind was producing those images. It subconsciously told him that form was an answer, possibly his best answer. It was as if his own mind was tempting him to use it again. It was powerful...overwhelmingly so. He knew that. It allowed him to effortlessly tear apart those men before he proceeded to do the same to Jonathan Friede.

If he used it again...he'd be able to tear apart the beast before him.

No… I can't… I can't ever do that again… I was aware and fully conscious of what I was doing, not like the other time in Vale. What's to say I'll be conscious of what I'm doing if I use it again..? Is there...no other option..?

Everything around him went grey, as time seemingly came to halt. Something within him seemed to click off, then another seemed to click on, as if something switched inside of him.

He looked around him weakly, turning to look over his shoulder as he saw everyone and everything still and motionless. All matter and energy frozen in a timeless slumber.

Xera Stark was the only other person besides Dante that wasn't frozen in this...space. It was in that now frozen expanse of time, Xera saw Dante staring at the ground in front of him.

Something Dark soon faded into view.

Dante felt a clawed hand grasp his shoulder. His mind was flooding as it was, but he looked behind him to make sure it was who he thought it was.

In the time-warped space he suddenly found himself, he could see a figure that took on the form of his Shadow Skin, glowing white, perfectly round eyes and lines on the blackened body that was layered from neck to toe in vicious segmented armor, his ever demonic long horns present on his head that bent inwards before curving outwards.

His Proxy had shown itself once more, sporting his normal Shadow Skin, not that abomination in the church.

Then in a cold, chilling voice, the Proxy Dante spoke.

"What are you doing?"

Dante glanced back a moment at his specter-like Proxy that took on the form of his Shadow Skin, his gaze drifting to the clawed hand on the teens shoulder before looking forwards at the frozen Leviathan in the distance.

"What's it look like..? We're taking a beating and I... I don't know what to do..."

"Why are you taking a beating when you should be the one beating it?"

"Because...that thing's been a bit of a pest, that's why. If I don't mind everyone else around me…they could die…"

"You're afraid...aren't you? Afraid that you might take on that form again… It doesn't surprise me that that would be the reason why you have been reluctant to use your Shadow Skin to destroy this creature…"

Dante let out a frustrated sigh, closing his eyes to attempt to think more clearly. There had to be something. Anything.

"Use it." The Proxy suddenly said.

"Use what..?"

"Have you so easily forgotten it? It calls to you... It sings your name… Can you not feel it reaching out to you?"

"It…calls to me..."

"Call upon it! Unbury the technique you've forgotten! Bringit back! Take up your sword, and use it to strike down this pest before you! It's time, Dante…"

The Shadow Skinned Proxy placed both hands on Dante's shoulders, as if it were helping keeping the young immortal propped up.

"Reach out, Dante, and you will sense it... Call upon its name… Envision it, for it's the other that will carry you through annihilation and decimation…"

"The other…"

"Just like you and I, there are twins to everything under creation..."

"Twins..."

He felt a power welling up inside him, waiting to be released.

"Go… Call upon its power! Do it now, Dante! Bring back the power your past has left behind! Take it back into your hands, and deliver overwhelming destruction to your foes!"

Time had resumed flow, and Xera watched as the specter dissolved into black Aura and merged with Dante's white Aura outlined in black.

That same Aura suddenly blazed around Dante's body in obscene amounts, the young immortal soon opening his eyes to reveal the whites of his eyes had turned black and his irises a glowing white.

The Leviathan took note of Dante and immediately slithered backwards, as if it were expecting a force similar greater than the one it had just endured.

Xera recognized what was about to occur, and remembered back to the last time he had spoken to Dante. In the forge room. They had done something. Dante had shared his memories with him…and it was starting to become very clear as to what was about to happen.

What would happen should he and everyone else remain in the area would be devastating.

He could only chuckle quietly at that, saying "Looks like… he really doesn't want to be outdone…doesn't he…"

Out of the corner of his eye, he felt and saw a set of clawed and scorched claws skid to a stop beside him. And when he looked up, he quickly took notice of both Destiny and Velvet staring down at him.

"Xera?! What wa-"

"We...need to get out of here..." he said weakly.

"What..?"

"We have to…get out…as fast as we can…"

Xera suddenly blinked hard, and wondered why his vision was starting to become blurry. Blotches of white started to speckle his sight before it started to become harder and harder to keep them open and active.

"-era?"

Before he could collapse to the ground, Velvet hopped off Kimura's back and caught the phoenix.

"What do you think he-"

"No time!"

Taking heed of his warning, Destiny reached down and pulled both Velvet and Xera up onto her Cerberus's back, then turned the creature around to sprint the other way.

She too once had Dante's memories shared with her. And when she looked back momentarily, she too began to understand what was about to occur. Xera sat limply between them, but his wings seemed to still have a small sense of protection in them, seeing as they lightly curled forward and wove tightly into Kimura's fur for support.

The girls then did as asked, and bounded past Tai, Destiny sweeping a hand down and pulling him up onto her three headed wolf as well as they created as much distance as they could between them and the Leviathan.

In the distance, Dante removed his right arm from the sling he sported, the same right arm that was now covered in his Shadow Skin.

"Inuba's going to be upset about this…but…right now…there's no other choice..."

The teen soon moved his sword from his left hand to his right as the last of his wrappings fell in tattered remains on the ground, his extreme amount of Aura beginning to condense and gather around his blade, forming a massive torrent of continuous energy that tore through the sand behind him until he grasped his blade with both hands and raised it high over his head, the massive torrent of condensed Aura flowing wildly like fire high into the sky.

"Devouring…"

The creatures realized its fate, then made a rapid move in to try and finish off the teen before he could possibly unleash anything at all. It was about to make contact with him when everyone turned back and looked in worry, but not Xera, and certainly not Dante.

"LIGHT!"

As he swung down, Dante had discharged a massive, crescent shaped tidal wave of white Aura outlined in black as colossal as the titanic, lunging creature itself. The energy discharge roared like the crystalline hum of a thousand shards of glass breaking at once, vibrating through the air as the light itself seemed to engulf the entire area in front of Dante's now shadowed form.

The large, roaring wave of Aura crashed into the beast as it resulted in a blinding explosive blast of Aura, sending out powerful shockwaves for miles throughout the vast desert of glass. Violent quakes followed the devastation, forcing Kimura to nearly stumble as almost everyone shielded their eyes while the Leviathan let out its last screams.

As the explosive quakes came to a halt, they opened their eyes to see the remains of the massive Grimm dissolve into the desert air, black wisps dissipating into nothingness as it all drifted away into the faint breeze.

In the distance, Dante dropped his sword into the ground as it planted itself point first, allowing him to use his left hand to support himself to stand.

He was breathing heavily as he leaned on his planted sword, his right hand still in its Shadow Skin form, hanging limply as it now gave off a loud sizzling noise. Then, the Shadows surrounding his arm began to slowly dissolve away.

"Serves you right…you big mouthed moron…"

---

(Omake: "Counseling with an Immortal, Part 4", by OS Worldmakers)

Bone muttered to himself "Time to sculpt the flowers... add some decorations and frosting..."

The tower slowly built upwards. First, a large layer of milk bread/cake filled with black sesame filling and some cream. A light layer of sweet (not too sweet) vanilla and some more sesame filling acted as frosting.

"This just keeps getting better and better!" Ruby cheered on the sideline, somehow waving a flag with a dessert printed on it.

Then, green tea. He opted to frost it in a light green frosting made up of some herbs that went well with green tea. Sprigs of mint decorated the top as he placed it onto the pedestal above the first layer.

"Nice touch! I'm sure he'll like it!"

Another cake. This time, it was brown- graham cracker. Fumetsu had covered the top with crumbs of Dante's favorite snake and racked it into a tree trunk's pattern, taking care to make sure it fully complemented the chocolate filling and frosting.

"Last one..." Bone muttered.

"He definitely like both of them... I'm glad..."

The final one! He had crafted it with red bean, reminiscent of the forests of Forever Fall. Elegant lines of the paste drew out leaves that, when looked from another angle, became a rose. The cake was actually red velvet cake without the dieing stuff Fumetsu hated, instead recreated with the gentleness of milk bread and the sophistication of lava chocolate cake. It sure tasted like the luxurious stuff.

From there, a bit of the paste was on the side, as if dripping like the sap from Forever Falls. And on top... were two figurines. Ruby couldn't see them.

"What are those?" Ruby curiously asked, trying to look at them on her tippy-toes.

A smirk. "I'm glad you asked."

Fumetsu pulls Dante out from the hallways.

"You two, hold hands in front of the cake. Make it look lovey-dovey," he ordered.

"R-Ruby..?" asked Dante.

The immortal dropped the bomb. "It's a wedding cake."

Fumetsu pushed the two close before stepping back far enough and whipping out a scroll.

"W-W-W-What?!" Dante said.

"Just pose. I'll take off the figurine and you two can keep them." Fumetsu explained. "You can eat the cake with your teams and friends. Maybe Ozpin and Goodwitch will be here to give you their blessings."

"I-I can't believe this guy..." Dante muttered.

Time to sell it to the couple. "You don't have to. Besides, I'm giving you a chance! A memory! This cake ain't going to be back, you know! What if tomorrow you or Ruby die! Treat this moment like it's the last you'll ever have. It's embarrassing, sure, but it's giving you happiness. Better to go out smiling than crying depressed."

Defeat. "H-He's not wrong..."

"Ruby..."

Patiently, he waited, discreetly inviting JNPR and the rest of RWBY, along with SSSN and CFVY.

"J-Just take the picture already, White..."

A snap of the shutter, and viola. A perfect image. A perfect memory ready for the future.

"The only thing left now is to share it with everyone else..." Bone started, smirking-

Dante appeared behind White in a flash of white Aura outlined in black, quickly grabbing the scroll from his hands before vanishing next to Ruby's side in the next second. After bringing up his HoloScroll, he quickly downloaded the picture from White's scroll before deleting it and tossed it back to him.

"Not a chance," Dante ordered.

Bone smiled as he removed another scroll from his pocket, opening it up.

"I have backups~" the older immortal teaased.

That scroll soon crackled with electricity before giving off a small puff of smoke.

"I forgot to mention I'm a top notch hacker. Anything with your name and face, be it alias' as well, is going to be disabled and suffer a short in the system, automatically restoring you scroll to factory settings. I've dealt with plenty of people like you in the past. After all, I used to be a high schooler who had a few stalkers now and then," the white haired immortal warned sternly.

"Oh, you want to play like that?" Fumetsu replied. "Don't worry. I sent it to Ozpin. You don't want to hack the headmaster, eh? And even then, there's more backups. You're playing this game now. But don't worry. Even now I still have 'em. And if I wanted, I can just nudge your Scroll a bit, and done."

"You really don't understand how many lines I'm willing to cross, do you? I've only hacked Ozpin once and once only because of a top secret mission, and will do it again if he dares try to spread this photo. As for you...you shouldn't test me so willingly..." said the teen summoning an Aura Sword.

"Go ahead. Hack everything, then. And besides, you should realize one of the software makers for Scrolls is a fellow by the name of Bone Gray..."

"You bast- Ahem... I mean, you dirtbag! That was you?! I knew your name sounded familiar!"

"Um...what is-?" Ruby said.

A grin of success.

"I'm ending the omake here... author."

"WHO'S THIS AUTHOR YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT?! ALSO, HAND OVER THE PHOTOS! NOW!"

---

(Semblance Encyclopedia 3)

"Hmmmm... What outfit should she wear next..? School girl?"

"Ciel."

"Nah, too cliche... Maid outfit?"

"Ciel!"

"No, save that for another time... Oh! Miss Goodwitch's outfit! That's pretty sexy!"

"CIEL!" shouted Leo.

"What?! What do you want?! Can't you see I'm busy picking out another outfit for Inuba?!"

"I see that, but before you can do that, we have a job to do first, remember?"

"Wha..? Oh yeah... Ahem..." started the younger sibling as she cleared her throat, "Ladies and gentleman, welcome back to another episode of Semblance Encyclopedia! We're your hosts Ciel and Leo, and we're back another week to teach you a thing or two about currently known Semblances!"

"Our topic of discussion this week is Inuba Kitsukami's Semblance. It's quite an interesting one if I do say so myself."

"Right he is! First things first, her most commonly known ability, which is known as Cleansing Flame. Using the power of her FoxFire, Inuba uses Cleansing Flame to heal nearly all manners of injuries and cure almost any disease, poison or blight. The only thing it can't do is regenerate limbs, but, she can re-attach severed limbs and restore full functionality."

"If it weren't for our brother's extremely high resistance to all types of magic, Miss Kistukami would have healed his arm a long time ago. Other than healing, what else can she do, Ciel?"

"She's got some really nice offense/defense abilities that work real nice in almost any situation. For instance, any patches of fire she lays down, she can teleport to them to avoid attacks. But she's fast enough as is that she rarely uses that ability and uses it only to completely throw off an enemy."

"Miss Kitsukami can also absorb any source of flame in order to recharge or overcharge her Aura. What's nice about this ability is that she can absorb the flames that she produces in order to recharge her Aura."

"So basically she's like her own rechargeable battery by using her own fire to recharge her Aura, which actually gives back three times more Aura than what she originally expended."

"A fairly useful ability if I do say so myself. Another ability that's really useful is her flame shields that can block blades and projectiles of all varieties. Given that she has excellent control of how hot her fires burn, she make them burn hotter than the sun to melt weaponry. Or in the extreme case, people or enemies."

"When you've got something burning hotter than the sun coming after you, you'd best run if you can't fight or defend against it. Even then you'd have some trouble running. Offense wise, Inuba uses technically three special abilities that are derived from her Semblance. The first one is her longest reaching attack, FoxFire Burst. Inuba can shoot forth precise bolts of flame or widespread bursts that consume and obliterate targets."

"For upclose and personal attacks, Miss Kitsukami has two main attacks that she uses. The first attack is FoxFire Nova, where Inuba channels and condenses her destructive white flames around her sword to create a massive torrent of that same destructive white flame that's unleashes as an arcing wave of fire that burns through nearly any enemy."

"And how sweet of her to model this technique after own brothers signature attack, eh? Speaking of which, he can do energy wave attacks again! How freaking awesome is that?!"

"Very."

"Next up is Nine Tailed Inferno. It works almost exactly like FoxFire Nova, only instead of one massive torrent, it splits apart into nine smaller torrents of white flame. And what makes this attack even better is that each of those nine waves that were split apart have the same attack power as one! Its like getting hit by nine FoxFire Nova's at once! What makes this attack not only awesome, but really scary overall, is that its meant to cover an extremely wide radius to provide the enemy no chance of escape."

"Truly a fearsome technique... Ciel, you mentioned that Miss Kitsukami practically has three main offensive attacks, suggesting that she may have another. What would that be?"

"I'm glad you asked Leo. It's actually a combined attack she does with big brother."

"Ah, I remember now. Allow me then. Our last ability worth mentioning is Ashen Annihilation, an extremely destructive technique used by our brother and miss Kitsukami when they combine their powers into one. Originally, the attack was simply a combination of Howling Dark, our brothers previous energy wave attack, and Miss Kitsukami's FoxFire Nova. The force of the attack alone was enough to completely sink a large island after turning everything on said island to ash. I can only assume that should the area have been larger, the massive amounts of destruction would have had a wider spread."

"Woah... So you're saying...it's actually more destructive than what saw at first?"

"That's correct."

"The more you know... Think we'll ever see it again in the future now that brother has Devouring Light?"

"It's a possibility. Well then everyone, that's all that we have for you today."

"Yup, we'll see you all next time for Christmas! Happy holidays everyone!"

---

And done... Man was this semester rough. I can only hope I did well enough on my final to pass pre-calc. Really don't want to take that class again. If you all didn't know by now, I'm terrible at math. And pre-calc was like living in hell every single day. Pray for my success everyone. Pray for my success...

Well then, bet you all weren't expecting that were you? Dante has officially regained the ability to use energy wave attacks again. Howling Dark was the first, Devouring Light the second. Now that he's got the ability to unleash hell again in the form of Aura Waves, I wonder what fancy new things it can do. Besides utterly obliterate the enemy. Well...wait and see folks. There's more to come as we delve deeper into our collab. Speaking of which...

I highly recommend you all go check out the freaking amazing collab Xera Stark and I are currently working on concerning his story XSRA's Flame. His story overall is absolutely fantastic and is a must read, so I suggest you read from the very start. But, if you're just interested in the awesome collab our two minds put together have created, then mozy on down to chapter 53 of his story for the start. I've said it once and will say it again, you won't want to miss out on this story, and especially this exciting story arc we've created. Not only that, but check out his other awesome and highly entertaining story Rogue Huntsmen. It's just pure awesomeness bundled into one story. Trust me, you'll love it.

Questions? Ask them anytime. I will try to answer without spoiling.

Please remember to review, follow and favorite this story if you really enjoyed it and want to continue seeing more of it. And hey, even tell others about this story! Remember that your support is what helps make this story grow even larger and what helps improve it. With that, I bid you all an excellent week/weekend and hope to see you next time! Bye-bye now!