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.

9. Chapter 9: Stryder

Heya folks! Back another week! Got a little sick over the past week, and I was in recovery for a bit after getting some procedures to fix the bad back injury I got when I was a kid. I mean really, it was bad. But luckily, it didn't affect me too much until as of late, so we finally decided to get the problem fixed now. Considering that and the fact I underwent 2 procedures in one week, I've been getting really really really tired, so it was hard to get to writing when you slept for the night, woke up the next morning, and still feel like you haven't slept enough. Not only that, but I have been hanging out with a lot of my friends from High School, which is always nice. But anyway, doing better and all that, so let's just dive right in! Enjoy!

---

Chapter 9: Stryder

Inuba stayed for a while now, keeping close watch over the small Kitsune resting in the infirmary. Of course, she did not simply stay there and watch. She brought a book along to read, but couldn't help staring at her small and lithe form now and then, something the littler one an air of adorableness that could not be ignored. This cuteness effect was only enhanced further when the young girl curled her bunched tails up a little more, legs wrapped into its fluffiness beneath the covers as she let out a slow and steady breath.

All was silent, save for the occasional shifting of bedsheets. But something was odd. She had noticed it earlier, but she swore she couldn't make out any vocal noises coming from the kitsune before her.

I see… That is why I sensed damage to her vocal cords… Smoke from the explosion within the facility? No… She would have to inhale vast amounts for damage that extensive…which can only mean…

Inuba winced slightly as she touched the front of her throat and grasped it slightly.

such a thing was done to her beforehand… How cruel...

Inuba soon heard a short breath and looked to the side to see eyes softly open, blinking a few times before shying away from the nearest light source. Bright reflective golden-orange irises shining and open gaze at the tails coiled beneath her legs, then looked up to meet Inuba's.

They were all subtle displays of emotion. Inuba nearly missed the slight details of her face scrunching up, almost looking like an emotionless soft stare. But she noticed the tiniest of motions, and that was enough to read into the feelings rushing through the girl before her.

"H-How are you feeling?" Inuba asked softly, hands clasped in her lap as she watched the girl before her sit back onto her heels.

Confliction crossed the younger girl's face for a moment, fox ears folding back atop her head, more confusion passing over her eyes.

"Please, say what you need to. You are in safe hands here. Everyone here, especially myself, will cater to your needs, whatever they may be."

With those words now in the air, two white fox ears perked up slightly before the girl started looking around. She took in her surroundings and layout of the room, noticing the white walls and the lone window, the few chairs that rested at the edges of the floor, before finally clutching at the blanket bundled around her knees and pulling it over her legs and tails.

She can't speak as is… How else can we communicate..?

Inuba quickly thought of something and reached out in front of herself slightly before bringing up both her hand and a glowing white square. When she tapped the square, it expanded into a large, white holographic rectangle. Her fingers quickly tapped on the holographic screen in order to open up a notetaking application, which she soon spun the screen around to the younger kitsune as another screen appeared in front of Inuba.

The smaller kitsune didn't touch it right away, but instead girl stared at it cautiously, a small twinge of fear running through her ears along with a look of distrust crossing her features.

"It is all right, this is just my HoloScroll. Holographic Scroll for short. It will allow us to communicate considerint you can't speak... Please, there really is no reason to feel afraid. I have no intention of hurting you." Inuba said pushing the screen further out towards the girl, giving her a kind smile.

A small nod dipped the girl's chin, who was now willing to reach out. Her pale hand was a stark contrast against the black suit she wore, cautiously accepting the holographic screen and pulling it back towards herself.

Her eyes stared at it for a few seconds, very likely confused as to how it opperated for a moment or two until her delicate fingers tapped slowly along the holographic keyboard, wording together something that Inuba couldn't see until the words appeared on her separate screen.

"Where am I? Who are you?"

"Right now, you are currently in the infirmary wing of Beacon Academy. My name is Inuba Kitsukami and I am here to help you as much as I can. Can you give me your name?"

The girl looked down, her cheeks dusting slightly in a red hue as she typed out an embarrassed, "I...don't know…"

Inuba gave a small sad smile before reaching forward and patting the girl's head, a strange urge to do so coming over her.

"If that is the case, do not worry then. You will remember in time. Memories are a tricky concept to understand, so do not feel embarrassed about not being able to remember at the moment. The question remain… How much do you remember?"

Her gaze only became more downcast.

"That's… That's a hard question to answer. I… I don't remember anything..."

Inuba's eyes widened for a moment, concluding something that only caused her to want to help the small girl even more so than she already did.

She must feel so lost and helpless right now…

"You may not be able to recall very much right now. But, you managed to recognize how to write on my screen. Which in turn means your memories have only been blocked, not erased. You will remember. It just might take a while until then."

She spoke those words with the best smile she could. She knew of one other like the young girl currently. It was always...painful to watch, for her moreso than him. But she kept her heart strong, hoping that one day soon...he would remember.

"How much time?" The girl asked, unsure of how to react or what to feel as she snapped Inuba out of her current train of thought.

"It is hard to say… Regaining one's memories is a fickle and...somewhat difficult matter at times. The safest way would be for you to let your memories return to you, rather than try and remember them yourself. That might only bring you pain."

"Pain?"

Inuba nodded solemnly before brushing that look away with a smile.

"It will return to you eventually. Some objects and actions might loosen a few memories from time to time, but the best advice I can give is to just be patient."

The girl nodded slowly, fingers loosely grasping at the screen before her hands as her mind grasped at something that just felt so out of reach… so far away…

Darkness swept into her vision as a dull ache throbbed in her head. The girl collapsed forward, the screen disappearing as Inuba reached out and caught her. She rested the small kitsune down softly atop her own fox tail as she stroked the girl's long frost white hair.

White flames danced around her fingertips as she did so, sending soothing warmth through the girl as she tried to heal away the pain.

"Rest..." Inuba spoke quietly, "You have all the time in the world to remember. Pushing yourself can only get you so far before your mind starts pushing back."

Inuba laid the girl to rest, tucking her into the bed once again before softly climbing off of it herself. The girl was going to be out for the rest of the day, so she decided to let her sleep.

With a silent step, Inuba slipped out of the room and closed the door behind her.

She had another task to attend to at the moment.

---

"Alright, so is this going to be more or less the same process?" Xera asked, eyeing the still unknown girl in the cloak then glancing to Zerath in his bed.

"In a way. But it'll be much more difficult for starters." Dante said as he brought his own chair over next to Xera.

"There will be some resistance upon entering his mind, which is why you must prepare yourselves for rather...difficult welcoming committee. The second you enter, he will know you are present."

"Well, that's comforting," Xera said, letting out a short sigh as he took a seat.

"Destiny..." the girl then said, ushering the girl over.

Destiny's eyes widened for a moment as if asking silently whether or not she was actually being addressed.

"Am I needed?"

"Yes. We are also in need of-" she explained, before glancing toward the door, "Has Inuba not returned yet?"

"Give her a second... And..."

Immediately after Dante said this, Inuba stepped through the icy door and entered the chilling room.

"I am sorry for making you all wait. Our patient woke up earlier than expected, so I was tending to her." She apologized with a bow.

"She's awake?" Xera asked.

"Was. Right now she is resting. She's still fairly exhausted." Inuba replied.

"Very well then... Now, Inuba, Destiny, please take hold of my hand." The girl requested, reaching a pale hand out of her cloak as she stood at Zerath's side.

"Does the connection need to be physical?" Destiny asked, doing as she was told and laying her hand atop the younger girl's as Inuba did the same, only from beneath.

"Physical contact is always stronger than a simple mental connection, especially in a situation like this. In short, it creates a bond with less disruption." the girl explained, "For this to work, we must make sure that the connection does not falter or is disrupted. Or we run the risk of losing all tethers to their minds and trapping you inside."

"That…wouldn't be good," Xera spoke up.

"If only you knew. I had that happen to me once a long time ago. Getting out wasn't fun." Dante added.

"Great..." The phoenix returned before his dark green eyes cast a serious gaze back to the girls standing before them.

"Inuba, Destiny, please rest your hands against the foreheads of Dante and Xera. And whatever you do, do not let go of either point of contact." The girl continued, glancing back to the four.

With two nods, the girls did as they were told. Inuba took Dante's side while Destiny tended to Xera's. Before anyone could see the light tinges of red in either of the two guys' faces, the girl reached forward with her free hand and rested it against Zerath's cold forehead.

A spark of white emitted from her hand before traveling through the body and souls of Inuba and Destiny, before running down their arms in a glimmer of fading white starlight.

That was the last thing Xera and Dante saw before the world went dark.

---

Ash filled the world before them now, swimming about in the air gently like powdery snow. Hard, jagged stone, spanned sharply beneath the flat reaches of scorched dust for miles on end, each step sounding like a foot crushing ancient bones underneath their feet.

The sky far above was simply a swirling vortex of agonizing red hues, and at the center of it, was a crimson sun that burned above them, its center nothing more than a wavering, black abyss.

Xera's eyes roamed over the sea of ash and stone, shining in the reflection of the encroaching red sky as they approached a door frame in the distance.

"This place… Was this was supposed to be his inner world? Like the city I saw in your mind?" Asked Xera.

"That place acts as an entrance and a space to roam about freely as you wish. There's ruins everywhere...so I'm asusimg that has to be the case.. " Dante replied, stepping forward through the layers of ash dusting the ground.

It reeked of death, an all too familiar smell to the young immortal. A vile stench lingered in the air, thick with soot and smoke and blood. The only places he's ever smelled such a horrible stench was in warzones, both human and non-human.

"Let's not sit around. Through there." Pointed Dante towards a door.

The two approached a door of shattered wood where it's frame was blackened and and dented with numerous jagged scratches and gashes that ran through it. The door, in a way, looked as though it were rotting away.

As Dante opened the door, it creaked open slowly, stopping until it hit the wall of a hallway in ruins.

Xera shared a glance with Dante before making his way inside, the door closing behind them after Dante followed.

"The Hall of Memories… What's left of it anyway..." Dante muttered.

Everything was crumbling away at a slow pace. Doors remained cracked and marred, pieces missing in shattered fragments on the floor. Some doors didn't remain standing, they simply lay flat and broken across the ash ridden hallway as the duo moved at a cautious but hurried pace.

"It's as if something wrecked this place entirely, clawing into each of Zerath's memories and devouring them." Xera spoke lowly, steps as careful and quiet as the dead of night as he walked onward.

"That's likely what's happened..." Dante said, "Soul-Slasher is a Dark Entity. He grows stronger as his presence overtakes the soul residing within until it's nothing but an empty husk."

Strangely enough...he's specifically gone after his memories… Dark Entities don't even need to bother with the Hall of Memories when possessing people, they just have to overtake the soul residing within. He was here. He was searching for something… But why?

"Zerath's memories and dreams… The more he loses the more he forgets himself… It's all...being erased..."

"Don't worry so much. Once Soul-Slasher is gone, it'll all build back within time"

"How do you know?" Xera asked, "Zerath's human. He's not like you."

"You don't have to be me to get away from something like this, Xera. Don't lose hope just yet. Even though he is a human, he's stayed longer than any average soul or human could possibly hope to. His resilience is what will allow him to survive and come back from this once we get this thing out of him. So again, don't worry so much."

Xera remained silent, ash sweeping beneath his feet as he walked through it.

A cold groaning wind swept through the open hallway, brushing waves through the surface of the ash as it sent shudders through the creaking doors all around them. An unnatural wind containing eerie whispers passed by with a chill as cold as death.

When the two slowed their pace, the gust of air stopped suddenly and let the drifting ash settle beneath their feet. What followed the groaning noise, though… was the guttural dripping growl of a creature drenched in the stench of blood.

The duo took a step back as this creature seemed to claw its way out of the ash a few feet in front of them, blackened and dry skin slipping out of the ground as the ash sifted over its matted fur.

"Is that...a Beowolf?" Xera asked.

"Nope. " Dante said, taking a step forward and summoning an Aura Longsword, "A Lykinak, minor Dark Entities resembling wolfmen, but in this case, Beowolves."

Black blood dripped form the creatures gnawing maw, teeth biting into the flesh of its lips. Tendons of stretched skin connected the very corner of its mouth, leaving openings and holes for its guttural breath to seep out of. Its form took the shape of what a lycanthrope might look like, a humanoid carnivorous wolf, only if it were starved for years and dipped in a vat of acidic blood. It left the flesh and fur on its body thin and stretched, torn and opened in several areas revealing black gunk and bone within. The lykinak's stature was crooked and hunched. As if half its body weighed more than the other. Its long arms were scrawny and bony, knuckles scraping into the ash below as its head snapped and cocked. Glowing red orbs took residence as its eyes, shining in a wide open gaze as it stared hungrily at the two teens before it.

"These things are pretty vicious, so watch yourself." Dante informed, brandishing his blade and lowering into an offensive stance.

"As much as I'm grateful for the warning," Xera flexed his hands as flames burst forth from his palms, burning brightly in melting orbs of light between his fingers, "It basically tells me nothing of what this thing can do."

Dante rolled his eyes slightly as the lykinak let out a distorted cackle as it stumbled forward, taking sudden and rapid steps as it staggered and brushed against the wall, its eyes remaining fixed on the two before it.

"Learn quickly then." Dante replied, raising his sword for a moment before he leaned forward and entered a dash.

Xera acted as well, hurling a blazing ball of flame that expanded into a burning vortex of swirling fire that crashed into the creature, melting its form as Dante swept by and cleaved through the creature's side.

His blade severed the lykinak's torso from its legs, its upper body falling in a scrawny heap to the ground. It's jagged claws sunk into the stones beneath the ash and crawled at an alarmingly fast speed like a legless zombie, trying its best to feast upon the two before it.

It dragged itself in a blur of speeding black, slamming into the opposite wall and digging its claws further into it, thenmade a biting leap for Dante, only for another impact of blazing fire crashing into it and sending it on its merry way down the hallway in a smoking heap of charred flesh and bone.

"Shoot… Forget that I should've taken its head rather than go for the body..."

Dante sighed as he lashed out at his side, the Aura Longsword shattering glass as it's fragments vanished into midair while Xera stepped up to his other side.

"It's been too long for me…"

"Is that the only way to kill it?" Xera asked, his gaze watching the creature growl and hack up blood.

But its eyes returned to them a moment later, dusty and cracked claws scraping the ground as it began crawling back to them.

"You could destroy the entire body. But taking its head would be much quicker." Dante stated.

"Too long, huh?" Xera questioned, his flames growing brighter as he stepped forward, "Mind if you give an example?"

Dante brought his sword across his body and lashed out, unleashing a small wave of white Aura outlined in black that took the head of the creature immediately upon contact.

"That quick enough for you?" Dante asked as his Aura Longsword shattered like glass, the pieces fading away.

"Yeah, pretty much." responded the Phoenix Faunus.

---

After a few minutes, the two came across a door that still stood. Its wood was dull, its frame was cracked, and its handle was crushed and rusted. But it remained closed. It was the only door that was closed in fact.

"Locked..." Dante stated as he twisted the handle, the door not opening for him. "Looks as though this was the only door Soul-Slasher couldn't break into…"

It's likely an important memory then… A very important memory if he couldn't get in. Even so, it wouldn't be this secure without… I see… It's not just the memory inside that's important. But 'what' else is inside. How do we get in then if Soul-Slasher couldn't?

Xera soon pressed his ear to the door, closing his eyes as he let his senses narrow in on his hearing. It was faint, almost impossible to pick up, but it was something he couldn't miss. Something too hard…not to hear. It was something even Dante could hear. It was the sound of a baby crying, muffled by thick wood and sullen ash; scorched wall and thick air, it was there.

"I think I know why..." Xera said as he reached down and took a hold of the handle, turning it with no resistance.

The door unlocked, allowing Xera to push forward and open it into a fading glow of diminishing white light. The pale light dwindled away in streaks of bleary color as the streets of Vale rendered in. The yellow sun was low, casting its gaze down into the busy sidewalks of Vale's market district. Xera walked in, followed by Dante, as the door shut and locked behind them. People phased through them, going about their business as they would've on this day of Zerath's past. The crying got louder.

I'm already uncomfortable being here... thought Dante.

A baby's shrill cry came muffled and piercing at the same time, echoing out of a dark alleyway as the people of Vale strolled by it. No one so much as glanced within, just going about their day with smiles on their faces and varying futures ahead of them. The baby's cry softened, and then got a little louder. A few people acknowledged it now, but none made a move to investigate it. Whether it was fear or lack of care, it was enough to leave the child to cry in the darkness of the stone alley.

It never surprises me how cruel people can be… It's always children in situations like this that suffer the most… If only more people were thoughtful and cared more...

Dante followed close by, letting the people pass through him as well as they made their way into the dark entrance of the alleyway. The two made their way further in, passing a couple pieces of debris and scattered broken crates, before walking up to a cluster of cloth and boxes. Nestled in one of those boxes was a small child, an infant. Wrapped in a white blanket, it lied there, eyes wide and bloodshot. Its sky blue irises stared aimlessly, still drying from the tears that must have stung them. It cried out again, a cry that had hoped that its mother might come back...but as he watched, even Dante sadly knew she would not return for the child.

The young immortal was a generally positive person, and did his best to remain positive and hopeful at all times. And for the most part, that's how people saw him mostly. Truthfully, what most people never knew was that secretly, he was a bit more bitter than positive with his thoughts and feelings at times, especially whenever he saw situations like this. And usually, the bitter thoughts got the best of him first before the positive ones set in.

It confounded him. How could humans be so courageous, so intelligent, so brilliant...and yet, when it came down to the most important things at times, so stupid? So ridiculous? So cruel? Even for one such as himself...it grew harder and harder to watch...

A silhouette of a woman soon settled upon the walls of the alleyway as the cries grew louder, no doubt sensing the presence of this woman. Dante watched closely, studying the woman as she looked off to the side, sifting her eyes through her surroundings and trying to pick out anyone who might be the parents of the child she heard. Nothing. The woman made her way inside, the light falling from her pale skin as she strolled through the shadows cast from above. A grocery bag lay clutched in her grasp, though, she abandoned it at one of the walls as she approached the noise carefully. The woman passing the two of them. Long black hair drifted slightly behind her in the stilled silence of the alley. Nestled atop the woman's head rested a black bullhide leather cowboy hat, a bit of wear was easily depicted in the material. As if it's been worn for years. She wore an open brown leather jacket, unclasped and revealing a white shirt beneath it. A pair of worn pale dark-gray jeans adorned her legs before leading into black combat boots to complete her ensemble.

So… That must be Leona Stark...

"Are you alone, little one?" The woman asked, voice light and soothing. Her eyes gleamed with a sky blue, but like Xera's eyes, they kept shifting colors.

The child's little voice hitched and his crying toned down completely, eyes opening again to gaze up into two shining blue irises that had settled back in. Its feet kicked as it pulled and grasped at its blanket, gnawing at the cloth with his small mouth as he, for a moment, smiled.

The woman chuckled softly, reaching her hands down and lifting the little baby up onto its feet.

"Are you hungry? You must've been crying here for quite a while."

She brushed his wet cheek with her thumb and supported his weight. A resounding giggle left the baby's lips as it reached out and pressed its fingers against the woman's cheeks.

"Hmm," The woman's eyes glistened for a moment, before flashing a noticeable shade of pink and gold, "I don't suppose you'd mind me taking you home?"

In a way, the baby responded with another laugh and a wide toothless smile. She stood, holding the child caringly in her arms now, and made her way out of the alley, her bag of groceries having been picked up on her way back into the streets of Vale. And for a moment...she looked back into the alleyway of shadows. And just like that...she was gone, vanishing from the duos sight.

"Well…" started Dante in a tone softer than usual, "I...think I know now why this place was locked up so tightly…"

"It was the first time Zerath smiled..." Xera said, his voice almost failing him, "It was the first moment he experienced happiness and…it was the first time he saw our mother… This was the moment when Zerath's life took a turn for the better. This was the moment he became who he will eventually be. This is his last memory of his true self. The starting point,"

Xera blinked, pausing before turning his gaze downward, "To think he'll lose everything he once held dear… All of it…"

A white light suddenly glowed at their side, shining like an ethereal crystal against the alleyway walls from the box Zerath was found in. The two turned to look toward the pale rays of light, only to watch it fade and disappear back into the crate. Xera and Dante stepped over and peered inside, only to stare in mild confusion at what now lied within its containing walls.

A sphere of light.

This is why he was desperately searching… This would be that which would force him out… His undoing… Now that I know what it is...it's time to pass it on.

The young immortal reached out and had his hand hover over the sphere of light, closing his eyes soon after as he began speaking.

"May this soul be given form and shape...so that strength may be granted upon one who would bring him back from ruination… O' soul that has been torn and rended endlessly...shine bright once more…"

The spehere of light eminated a brighter light that blinded the duo for a few moments until it died down. When it did, in place of the spehere was a shimmering, white longsword, its pommel and hilt were polished silver, shining like ivory in the setting sun. The blade had a handle wrapped in black cloth, tightly wound around a thin frame. The pommel resembled that of a crescent moon, carved thick and smoothly angular. Glowing white characters of text were engraved into its inner depressions. The hilt of the sword was an elegantly curved set of detailed wings, arcing in unfurled states to have their ends curving forward toward the tip of the blade. Lastly, was the blade itself. It was long, thin, almost simple in shape, yet elegantly pristine and sharp. A depression ran down its center, engraved with an expanse of ancient characters that not even Dante could recognize with a single glance. The material of the blade seemed to reflect the light around them, appearing white in both color and glow. It glistened, despite being in the shadow of the high walls around them.

Dante reached in and withdrew the sword, a streak of white light trailing softly in its wake as it hummed and lightly vibrated with energy in his grasp.

A Soul Weapon… The only other thing besides us that can force the Darkness out…

Dante turned around, bowing slightly as he handed Xera the newly formed sword, the Phoenix Faunus taking it within his grasp as he stared it.

"The last sliver of Zerath's fading soul..." Xera muttered, turning the longsword in his hands as a name was pushed into his mind.

The power suddenly felt familiar, it felt warm, inviting, and accepting. He felt it run through his arm and into his heart, rushing through the rest of his body from there. He knew its name.

"Aether."

"You can read that?" asked Dante.

"No, I just…felt its name." Xera admitted, letting the sword fall softly to his side as he held it firmly in his grasp.

"Hmm…"

It's resonating with him far better than I expected… Of course, they may not be blood related brothers...but they are brothers through bonds. And that is more than enough.

"That's good then. It means you're resonating with it to the point it'd work really with you." Dante as he made his way back toward the door that led them in here.

"We have what we need. Now...we take the fight to him…"

---

Two sets of shoes landed on hard ground, ice crushing beneath their feet as they stepped through the frame of the door. The Access Point slammed shut behind them, then crumbled into ash, leaving them in the middle of what seemed like the base of an icy realm.

"That door's been locked ever since I set foot in here five years ago."

A voice came from above, drifting down from the peak of some sort of mountainous structure before them as the icy pathway led forward and up, entering into a dark cavern that the two couldn't see into at the moment. All around them stood countless black pillars and spikes of ice, crashing out of the ground in a wide enclosing half circle that left them no room to turn back.

"Only a bond bound by blood or something just as strong could've opened that door… And yet, here you are. Neither of you his actual kin. And yet...you've entered into my realm and accessed the one place I couldn't reach."

"Show's over scumbag." Dante called out, "You have two options as of now. Stay in here and hide until we find you and kill you, or you can come out and face your death with what,little honor you have left."

A deep resounding chuckle flooded through the area before it came to a stop.

"Over you say..? Hmph… This is my realm now. I exist here, and nowhere else. I've grownattached to this soul. Its purposes suit my needs."

"Sadly, it doesn't belong to you. Besides, there are plenty of other ways for scum like you to get your original bodies back. Why go through such an effort?" Dante asked.

Again, the voice chuckled and rumbled the area.

"Fool, you're naïve. This soul is the only one who possesses the secret I stumbled across so long ago. It seems fate has given me a new weapon to play with. I will not be giving that weapon up to the likes of you."

"Then we'll stop you." Xera spoke up, "We'll end you before you get too far."

"Too far? Too far you say... Oh, how hopeless you've grown." The voice drawled in a condescending arrogance, "You have no idea just how powerful I've become. How powerful I will become."

"How about we put that to the test?" Dante said, summoning an Aura longsword of that shined in white outlined in black, pulsing with energy like glass containing a glowing beam of light, "Let's see if you're as tough as you say you are."

The entity chuckled, ice crumbling all around them before the icy spines receded back into the ground slightly.

"If you make it past the minions I've created and push your way to me… Then...I shall give you a fight. But if you fall prey to my creatures of darkness, then you truly were never a threat worthy of my attention."

"We'll see about that..." Xera muttered, brandishing his gleaming Aether in front of him, a bright ruby glow shined across its surface from the red sun above.

The vast structure in front of them shook as the entity laughed a thunderous cry of shrill guttural screeches tore out of the cavern's entrance before them, countless creatures roaring from within.

"Well Dante… Interested in slaying the king of this realm?"

Dante only smiled and walked forward alongside the phoenix, "You bet."

The red sun shined into the icy cavern before them, its crimson rays dancing in shimmering lights across the jagged surface of its walls, coloring the icy domain the color of blood.

---

"I'm certainly not going to hire him as my decorator anytime soon..." Dante commented, casting his gaze up to the high roof of the expansive cavern.

"Right? That Cerberus just a while back was pretty vicious..."

"It wasn't too bad… Besides, you and I make a pretty good team. Aura Manipulation plus a powerful Fire Affinity? I don't see us getting into too much trouble in the future."

"We do." Xera responded, "But if I didn't know any better, I'd say he's testing us..."

"He might very well be doing just that. In that the case, we're going to have to do this old school then and keep our special attacks saved for later. We wouldn't want to ruin the surprise for him."

"I already figured that much out. If he's able to see us from where he is in this realm, he'll be able to strategize for when we reach him. Which is why I wasn't showing off anything too strong or situationally strong." Xera replied as they treaded down the slope, now entering an angle as they rounded the rough edges of the cavern.

"Which is why we try to save our neat tricks for the main event. Again, surprise and all that."

"Because if we show our hand before, they'll know how to counter it." Xera finished. The two disappeared into a cave entrance above and continued onward.

Emerging from the end of it, they dashed through a smaller entrance that led into a dimly lit corridor. It jaggedly reached upward for quite a while, reaching toward a tall icy ceiling with the ominous presence only a dark ravine held. They couldn't make out the details above. A thick black shadow was cast over it, completely masking it from any light or gaze as the two kept walking.

"A creepy long hallway, a door at the other end of it… Looks like an equation for an ambush." Xera commented offhandedly, casting a gaze up into the dark abyss above.

His rushed steps lightly bouncing off the walls as he felt it reverberate into the dark space above.

"I'd be slightly surprised if that wasn't the case..." Dante replied.

They were just about to pass the halfway point when something dripped from the ceiling above, forcing Xera to come to a skidding halt and barely avoid getting hit by it.

"Black blood..." Xera noted, recognizing the stench of it as it crystallized on the icy ground.

More began to ooze out of the shadows, dripping down from the high reaches above as the two took a cautious step back.

Lines and showers of the staunch thick liquid collapsed on all sides of them, dripping and collecting between them and the walls as it pooled inward and covered the ground behind them. Dante followed in Xera's wake, minding the heat as he kept within the small bubble of fire that was created to stall the falling blood.

Xera's mini-inferno grew up to even larger extents as he sprinted forward and speared his sword forward, driving it into the slit of the double door as they slammed into the end of the hallway. He took his hand off the pommel as Dante's momentum carried him into a leaping kick, planting his sole into the embedded blade to fire a burst of heat into the reaches of the black entrance.

"Damn it!" Xera planted his foot into the door and yanked his sword out, brandishing it to the side as he turned around.

"It won't open until the enemies in the room are dealt with." Dante informed, narrowing his gaze as the two teens turned around.

"Then let's deal with them."

Accompanying the hail of blood came the cracking of spines and the twisting of bones. The tearing of flesh masking the sickening sound of dripping blood as the two looked up to see countless entities of similar appearance pulling themselves from the murky shadows above. They pulled and twisted their way out, skin taught against their hollow faces as they stretched their aching limbs. Lean humanoid figures with mouths gaping and jawless, their eyes were simply dark holes in their skulls as the rest of their forms seemed to be nearly skeletal and black. Skinny and dry fingers took up broken and chipped blades, running their hands across rust and black steel as they all turned their eyes to the two teens below. One by one, the creatures fell from the ceiling. Each one landing with a sickening crunch and pop of the bones as their seemingly fragile legs took the impact. Their thin bony frames were almost crushed from the drop, only to stand back up and cock their heads in silent stares, as if they didn't even feel the fall.

"Great… Skyn…"

"Good? Bad? Meh?"

"Meh for the most part. But they are among the nastier types of undead." Dante informed.

In that next instant, numerous Aura Longswords of Dante's white Aura outlined in black appeared before them in rows, hovering ominously in the air whilst aimed at these skeletal creatures.

"What makes them deadly?" Xera asked, needing at least a little information to go by as the Skyn creatures cackled and clicked.

The lack of a jaw and tongue only made it sound like gurgled breathing.

"See that blood on the ground?" Dante pointed downward, getting a nod from Xera, "All of that seeps out of their body before they attack. It's why they appear as if they have no blood running through their bodies right now."

"L-Lovely..." Xera muttered evenly, trying to piece together where this was going, "Is there a reason?"

"Every time you damage or kill one, it collapses into the blood and lets the liquid seep slowly back into them. Once that happens, they essentially heal and stand back up." Dante said as hundred of Aura Swords now hovered in the air.

"Essentially, the only way to end them is to kill them enough times until the blood eventually recedes entirely."

"We don't have time for that. Are there any weaknesses?" Xera asked as he tilted his head, kicking up the heat a few notches and blurring their surroundings with quickly rising air.

"Yeah, but we don't have access to any Empyrean metal right now. If I had Anvil with me, this would be much easier. Unfortunately, that's not the case within this realm. My Aura Sword should probably do the trick since they have Light infused in them."

The creatures around them seemed to have stopped falling now, the entire group of Skyn beasts leaning in awkward stances and twitching their heads. Their weapons almost appearing heavy in their grasps, pulling and weighing their frail arms down as they dragged the tips of their arsenal through the pool of blood at their feet.

They began to advance on the duo.

Dark, sticky, and cold squelches sounded out into the air as the guttural remains below clung to their bony feet. Each one made a move forward now as they closed in on the end of the hallway.

"Got plenty of room over there?" Dante asked.

"Plenty." Xera replied, a burning blaze settling over Aether as he brought it around to his left side, entering a low forward leaned stance, "But there's something else I've been wanting to try."

"Is now really the time to try new things?" Dante asked with a sigh,

"It'll make this a lot easier if I do."

Xera lowered his gaze now, shadowing it in the darkness of his black bangs.

Dante paused for a moment.

"Fine. Go for it."

"I'll let you know when I'm ready…but for now..."

Xera's eyes snapped to something to his right, and he quickly brought his sword up to parry the brutal slash of a Skyn that got too close, scorching its flesh in a burning slash, "Let's kill as many as possible until I can figure out how to access it."

"Then let's make this the beta test for what you will be trying to do." Dante replied, willing his blades in the air to surge outward and plunge into the skulls of twenty-six Skyn creatures, causing them to topple their heads backward and go limp.

The creatures that Dante shot down with his swords fell into the bloody bath beneath them, shaking and seizing up in throes of twitchy seizures. The blood around them slowly pulled over their skin, quietly slipping into openings in their flesh as their movements began to settle. Xera bashed another swing to the side as he stepped forward, cleaving his longsword through the spine of a Skyn creature then moving to block another, delivering a swift heated kick into its stomach to send it sliding over the blood-soaked ground, Dante following suit as he attacked with his sword in hand and continued shooting sword into encroaching enemies.

They were slow, approaching them in methodically creepy and sporadically twitching ways.

"Time to clear the area?" asked Dante.

Xera gave him a nod as Aether ignited in a stronger flame, blazing as it columned fire out of its hilt as he spun and made a wide sweeping slash through the air. An arc of fire shot from Aether, crashing into several Skyn creatures before them and throwing them in burning heaps into the bloody ground. Xera and Dante were more than able to fend them off, blocking and overpowering their weak swings as more and more Skyn creatures fell into the blood below. Little by little, with each and every kill, the blood began to recede more and more. It was only halfway gone when Dante unleashed another mass flurry of swords, having built them up over the past few minutes to skewer the heads of all the adversaries around them. Shining swords rattled in their foreheads as the mass of bodies twitched and began rejuvenating on the ground.

Only this time seemed different than the last several times.

"Now that I think about it, I may have forgotten to mention something..." Dante realized, the two standing at each other's side again.

"There's more to them?!"

Dante nodded his head slowly, drawing back his sword as more and more creatures began to writhe in painful ways, arching and breaking their bodies unnaturally as they gathered more blood.

"They enter a more frantic and ruthless state at a certain point in their stages. I think we just reached that point."

"A berserker mode?!" Xera asked.

"Something like that. Only, with more speed than strength."

The violent spasms around them finally drew to a slow close. Then, one by one, the Skyn creatures seemed to gravitate upward onto their heels and slump forward in thinly standing humanoid forms. They hunched over, long fingers dangling slightly into the blood as they grasped their weapons loosely.

"Here they come. Get ready."

Dante entered a low defensive stance, pulling his blade back to his side and angling it away from himself as he waited.

Xera did the same, only taking his own stance in comparison to Dante's. The Phoenix Faunus' sword gleamed white as his pupils blazed a brilliant orange, flames flicking from his irises as his sharply angled wings became engulfed in a sheen of lambent fire. The surface of the ice around them simmered and sizzled, melting and smoothing over as his flames grew brighter in tense anticipation. Then just like that, the creatures all seemed to simultaneously lean forward before they all dropped into rapid, fast paced, aggressive sprints as they drew up their own weapons.

Instinctively, Xera and Dante raised their blades and clashed with the first few that lunged toward them. Blurs of black and sickening gray ran into their defense, forcing them to switch targets after every block in order to prevent a new slash from making contact.

The two dashed in and out of each other's guard, seamlessly swiping into and out of enemy opposition as they fought in moderate cooperation to push back the initial wave of Skyn. Their swings were stronger now, each clang sending a reverberating pang through their arms as they started putting more and more strength into parrying the incoming strikes. Brittle pieces of black metal chipped to the ground as they fought. Xera's own gleaming white blade bit deeply into the harsh metal of their blades, shattering several swords as the battle pushed on. Dante's own sword moved swiftly, easily slicing apart the foes in front of them as Xera's flaming sword hacked through the masses and turned their bodies to ash.

Their enemies weren't dwindling. Two fell, two stood back up. Three fell, three lurched back to their feet. It was endless, there was too much blood at their feet and they were beginning to feel fatigue pull at the muscles in their arms.

"Set up a shield real quick!" Xera called out, putting a lot of effort into a blazing swing as he cleaved through a Skyn beast for the umpteenth time.

"Yup!"

Dante dipped back, slipping beneath one of Xera's wings as he jammed his sword into the ground. All around, a quickly spanning barrier of tightly knit, crystal-clear hexagons formed a dome-like barrier around them, protecting them from the waves of filth attempting to kill them. The creatures threw themselves into the barrier, their bodies distengrating upon contact before they took a step back and began lashing out at the barrier with their weapons. Some cracks were starting to form.

"You better hurry! The barrier won't hold forever!"

The Phoenix Faunus' blazing eyes shot open, pupils smoldering as a deep purple glowed in his irises. Their color matched those of Skyla Xerious perfectly, shining in the dim light of the ravine as his flames transitioned into a blaze of light purple. The color of his Aura shifted, his eye color transitioned, and the color of his flames changed to adapt to the new Semblance settling over his soul.

He was a shining beacon of Skyla's Aura.

He crouched down low and placed his fingertips against the blood soaked ground at his feet, feeling the air crackle and sputter as the blood evaporated away. Not due to his fire, but something else entirely that greatly intrigued Dante as he watched. Cracks exploded outward in every direction, rocketing up the walls of the icy hallway and breaking them apart. Shards of black ice plummeted from above, crumbling to the ground and against Dante's shield, the cracks spreading all the way to the door.

The cracks slammed into it and the far walls before the entire floor seemed to sink and crumble, every single piece of ice shook violently before exploding. The blood that riddled the ground flaked into the air, bubbled, and completely vanished in drifting trails of red steam.

And with that now gone, Xera took a deep breath and removed his hand off the ground, letting it out in a slow exhale as his wings flexed and purple fire sputtered from their feathers.

Dante forced his shield to surge outward as numerous pieces of the barrier shattered and crashed into the masses, shredding them like shrapnel tearing through flesh.

Afterwards, the duo dashed outwards, quickly closing the distance between the remaining targets as they cleaved their way through the remains of the Dark Entities. The now brittle ground gave them an edge in movement, sprinting faster than their adversaries as they swept through separate sections of the ravine. And before long, every Skyn creature lay in pieces on the floor as the two made their way to the door again.

Wasting no time, Dante sprinted forward, leapt up as he spun in the air, and sidekicked the door open midair before landing, opening it immediately to allow the duo to run up the icy slopes before them.

"I think I just confirmed what Skyla's semblance is able to accomplish..." Xera said, a small amount of realization crossing through his tone.

"What, really? Well...cool! She'll finally be able to start using it extensively." Dante replied with a pat of Xera's shoulder, keeping pace with him yet again.

"She's already been using it." Xera replied, continuing their ascent of the mountain from the inside without delay, "She just didn't know it exactly."

"How so?"

"You've seen it in action before. Ever gone to an ice cream parlor with her?"

"I always wondered why those ice cream parlors randomly blew up..."

"Yeah, but have you seen what actually happens?"

"Firsthand."

"Okay, well, you know how microwaves work, right?"

"Of course. I discovered it wasn't by magic one day, so I decided to figure out just what went on inside the machine." Dante replied rather sarcasticly.

"Right, well, it's kind of like that." Xera said.

"So in a sense, she's a walking microwave?"

A light amused smile crossed Xera's lips, only for a moment.

"Technically. But it's a lot more than that. Skyla can hyper-accelerate the movement of molecules."

"That actually explains a lot. And is pretty scary… How fast are we talking?"

"She can accelerate an object to its flash point, which is the moment where it catches fire, then push it past that threshold in mere fractions of a second." Xera concluded.

"With how soft ice cream is, it's no surprise that she was accidentally making it explode..." Dante commented.

"Yeah..." Xera muttered with a small chuckle, "It's almost too easy to melt ice cream. So, whenever she accidentally accelerated the molecules in its structure, it grew so unstable that it just reacted in a violent way."

"Impressive… How come it took a while to do that? With your Semblance swapping, you're usually much faster than that."

"That's…a hard question to answer. When I experience a Semblance I've never used before, it takes a lot of effort to try and activate it into what I'm currently able to use. Which is just three, and I've taken to calling it my 'Active' Semblances."

"Do the rest just go into storage? Or something akin to that?"

"Pretty much… I'm still getting used to it."

"True enough… I'm still getting used to my own. Aura Manipulation is a strange thing…"

---

No light was emitted from anywhere within the room they were in, not a single source or glow. All they had was the flames flickering over Xera's skin, having been reverted back to his previous bright orange color.

"I don't like where this is leading..." Dante commented.

"I don't either..."

Xera couldn't help but reply with that as a cold chill ran down theirs spines while their voices carried through the room like a pin dropping in a silent metal chamber.

That cold chill only worsened as a distant, almost quiet sound of metal grinding against hard ice slowly drew nearer. Two dull thuds sent shudders through the walls, accompanying the sound of grating steel as the two teens fixed their piercing vision toward the approaching noise.

Those thuds only got louder as they struck the ground one by one. As if a figure were walking toward them from within the veil of darkness.

"Two children have come to face me..? How foolish..."

A voice, deep, masculine, and filled with echoes collapsed over them. Its tone carried through the silent room with a presence of chilling absolution, burying them in its air of confidence and emptiness. Xera and Dante skidded to twin halts, swords ready at their sides as the voice grated at their nerves.

The footsteps grew louder now, and as the seconds drew longer, the two made out a figure approaching them from the central shadows of their path.

It wasn't a Dark Entity. It was a human more or less.

"An abomination of Light and Dark feebly posing as a human... And an Angel befallen to flame... You expect passage to the peak of this mountain, yet I stand before you." He spoke, voice echoing once again. It sounded muffled slightly, with a metallic clasp over its syllables.

It was as if he was speaking through a helmet.

"Leave this place, for neither of you are worthy to step foot into the realm above. And you will never be."

"Oh really?" Dante asked, lifting and resting the flat side of his Aura Sword against his shoulder.

Xera's flames grew brighter, shining forward to reveal a figure clad in black armor. Its shoulder guards were spikes, drawn outward as if to impale something in a heavy shoulder bash. His helmet was angular and sleek, shaping down into a smooth visor that undoubtedly hid a face of dying flesh.

His broad shoulders led down into a sharp chest, covered in segmented armor in layers of metal that overlapped as they went down. Almost like scales. His waist was fairly slim, leading down and outward slightly to form his hips, legs, and spiked, segmented greaves. The armor itself was a dark pristine black in color in its entirety, glimmering dully in front of Xera's flames as he stood before the two teens.

"I am Eostryder." The man spoke calmly, lifting a claymore into view and sinking its heavy tip into the ice in front of him.

It had a curve to it, rather than maintaining a straight nature. The curve traveled down its sharpened double edges, shaping inward slightly at the middle before curving outward, then sharpening into a point at the end. The hilt was the shape of a thick diamond, and his gauntleted fingers clasped a large handle in his grasp, a weighted jeweled pommel resting at its base.

"I think I'll just call you Eo." Xera muttered, getting an amused smirk from Dante.

"You may deem me whatever name you wish, but take heed young man..."

Eo lifted his blade out of the ground as if it were weightless, hefting its size with ease as he brought it around and held it at his side in a tight grasp. Its length ran parallel to the ground.

"I will be the greatest adversary either of you has ever fought."

"You're awfully confident in your abilities if you're going that far to say something like that… I've fought all kinds of creatures during my time. Creatures like the current invader festering in this body. Believe me...worse than you have tried stopping me..." Dante said.

"I am among the few Black Knights to ever survive for so long... I am the first Dremoha slayer and the last Omega hunter. I am Eostryder, first knight of the Requiem of Black Inquisition."

Eo brandished his blade, an orange gleam running down its slick surface as he brought it around then swung it outward, a piercing wave of pressure split the air in the quiet room, digging into the ice pillars in the distance beyond his swing. What was astonishing about it was the fact that it moved faster than it could be visually tracked. In a dark room like this, it could very easily result in a swift and brutal end.

Calm down… Just now, that was an air wave attack similar in nature to that birdbrain crow Tengu, Ayame. Luckily, I know exactly how to counter this, especially now since I can use Aura wave attacks again.

"Leave the history lessons for professor Oobleck."

Dante twirled his sword around four times rapidly, and on the fourth twirl, he lashed it out to his side as the Aura Sword...took a slightly different shape now.

It was now an Aura Greatsword, blade length five feet long with a handle length of a foot long. The width of the blade was six inches. The guard was simply two, three inch prongs, where underneath the guard were two, one inch blade-like prongs on each side that pointed upwards towards the underside of the guard.

In addition, there were the two, small triangular outcrops on the sharp side of the weapon in the middle of the blade. The most noticeable feature of the blade were the numerous black lines and wavy patterns etched into the base of the glowing white Aura Greatsword with the black outline.

His weapon had now been readied.

"I'll ask once and only once. Let us through."

"Something tells me he isn't up for a high five and a 'go get em'." Xera commented lowly, his orange fire blazing brighter as he placed the tips of his fingers to the icy floor.

"I am afraid I cannot do that. I serve him now. His will is my command."

---

The ice beneath Dante's shoes cracked as he surged forward, gliding past the knight before him and slashing his Aura Greatsword at his armored leg with a speed similar as to how he swung his Longsword usually.

Xera followed up, leaping into the space before Eo and digging the point of Aether into where his heart should be, super heating the blade to temperatures hot enough to melt steel in an instant.

But with all the force behind the strikes, neither Dante's weapon nor Xera's sword so much as scratched the non-budged knight in any minute way. His armor remained pristine and untouched, even as a surge of fire blasted over him.

Xera kicked away from the knight just in time to spin away from a retaliation slash, the knight's blade grazing his wing only slightly, tip scratching his feathers and severing small pieces of black softness to the floor. Dante's slide led him behind Eo after his own strike.

The two teens dashed in again and again, sweeping over the ice as they slashed at the knight's armor. Occasionally, the man would block their attack in full, but the rest slipped into his guard. It wasn't due to slowness or unpredictability. He could very well take all the damage they threw at him, even as the ice cracked beneath his boots and the pillars shook around him with every clang.

Xera and Dante soon skidded back to one another's sides at a slight distance, eyeing their target as they changed their strategy.

"See it yet?" Xera asked.

Dante nodded in response, "Yup, got it..."

The two disappeared in blurs of white outlined in black and a flurry of lime green lights, the light in the room quickly diminishing as it followed the two moving teens. Eo sunk the tip of his claymore into the ground, grasping it tightly with his armored hand as he tracked the two teens before him.

His eyes followed one while it crossed paths with the other, switching targets to that one before they did it again. He watched carefully as the two circled him in different intervals then dashed behind the pillars.

Dead eyes narrowed within his helmet as the light faded from the pillars on either side of him. Their presence left him, leaving him in the dark once again.

"Pitiful..." Eo muttered, seeing it as a sign of retreat as he took up his blade and turned around.

He took two steps back toward where he came from, only to sense the presence of the duo for a split second.

It was immediately followed by both teens dashing in from behind him and delivering simultaneous strikes to his unguarded back. An erupting wave of white Aura outlined in black and a sea of fire blew over his armor, scorching the room as the entire chamber became illuminated in a swirling colorful light.

His visor shook violently, his entire body suddenly becoming engulfed in the swirling energy waves as the ground quaked and shattered in a rupturing cone in front of him.

Xera and Dante stepped back, letting the blast settle as they tried to get a read on the damage they most likely inflicted.

"Your prowess and your confidence do little to sway me." Eo stated, diminishing the burning flames and the destructive wave of Aura with a soft and clean swipe of his blade, dispersing them entirely. His armor remained fully intact and undamaged, his sword still shined with an edge as sharp as before, and his stride never so much as faltered as he walked toward them.

"Tch… He must be wearing some type of enchanted armor..." Dante said.

"Either that, or it's something else that he's hiding," Xera responded.

The two backed off as Eo approached, blade extended at his side as he leaned forward.

"Prepare yourselves."

With those words spoken, he moved far faster than a man fully armored from the ground up should be capable of moving.

Xera's flaming wings curled in front of him as took the full brunt of a shoulder charge, crushing his tense feathers against his light frame before sending him careening across the room. Eo's charge quickly turned into a clean horizontal sweep of his sword, catching Dante's Greatsword that blocked his side in the moments of him dodging backward.

The blade nearly dug into his side with a small splatter of blood before Eo moved once again and caught Dante by the neck. In a quick and sudden surge of strength, he tightened his grasp and threw Dante across the room in the direction Xera went.

Darkness transitioned in a blur before Dante impacted the far wall, shattering the ice there as his he landed on his feet after bouncing off the wall. Xera's own form lay crumpled slightly in a heap, a deep indentation in the wall behind him as well as he pushed himself to his knees. Wings sprawled out at his sides.

Dante sighed as he grabbed hold of Xera's arm and lifted him up.

"Come on man, on your feet!"

"You know… I think…he may have been holding back a bit..."

"He was definitely holding back. He's underestimating us since we haven't pulled out the big guns yet. The question is...how do we beat him? Our attacks have just been bouncing off him..."

"The day man cuts through steel with a feather is the day I can give you an answer to that question..." Xera replied softly.

"I have done that before…"

Xera shot Dante a questionable glare, both how and why as to his decision to do this. But most importantly, how he managed such a feat.

"Hey, Angel Wing feathers count. Besides that, we need to figure out a plan of attack so we can take care of him."

"Do you have an attack that can deliver an incredible amount of piercing damage to a pinpoint location of a target?" Xera asked, stepping up to his friend's side and gazing out into the darkness of the room.

"Well...one of my more famous techniques included me stabbing my enemies and shooting a Howling Dark into them. I can most likely do the same with Devouring Light. I don't even have to stab him to make it a piercing shot. It'll be a bit tricky though since I'm out of practice."

"Well...I think I just came up with a good idea then…"

Eo stood at the center of the room, waiting for his adversaries to prepare themselves once again. He needn't pursue them nor end them in any particular fashion. He knew his time was long, and his servitude lonely.

A challenging battle was what he needed.

His cold eyes soon sensed a presence approaching him, and he turned his visor to see Xera approaching him from the distance. The teen had a dark purple, almost black, flame trailing from his skin and feathers. His pupils once again blazed in a similar color as before, dark purple flames in a sea of amber irises.

"Your persistence is admirable..." Eo spoke stoically, turning his sword in his grasp as he faced the incoming teen. "But persistence can only carry you so far."

The massive knight pushed back Xera as he spoke once more.

"Success is only succeeded by death. Nothing lies before nor after her touch, which leaves you with a futile effort in between that is nothing more than a vain struggle. Even so...I must ask… What is it that drives you to your own destruction so quickly?"

Xera stopped for a moment, eyes flashing a dark blue before returning to their golden amber.

"I fight for something you can no longer feel, so you wouldn't understand."

"You are not wrong in that regard. However..."

The Black Knight stepped forward, shattering the ice at his feet as he moved at an incredible speed once again. He appeared at Xera's side immediately and lashed out, "I feel far more than you will ever know."

His sword cleaved through Xera's flesh, bone, and torso, severing it completely from his body as the teen's form began to fall. Black aura covered the interior of his body until the entirety of the collapsing teen blurred and vanished.

"I doubt that."

A gleam of white traced Xera's blade as he slashed at Eo's throat, slamming his blade against armor there before the knight reached out and grabbed at Xera, only for another clone to take his place. Xera's sword soon slashed across his legs before dashing beneath him and sending a heavy cleave diagonally across his back.

A searing burn quickly roared into the room as the metal of Xera's blade transitioned into a bright orange, shining over its white core like a dense star as he dug the tip into a chink in the man's armor, carrying with it an inferno of heat and flame.

The searing tip slammed against the man's dead skin as the ground quaked beneath them, shattering and rupturing.

Xera pulled back when he realized his attack didn't work, slipping around a bash from Eo's shoulder as he skidded backward and came to a rapid halt.

I hope you're watching Dante and just noticed it after I became the guinea pig… He's probably noticed you're backing off for now, so he's most likely expecting you at any moment…

"You cannot win. Your brother's soul is unsalvageable. Let him be consumed by the Dark." Eo spoke, standing up straight again as he turned toward Xera.

"I won't let Soul-Slasher take him from this world!" Xera shouted.

"Soul-Slasher?" Eo asked with a confused laugh, dead humor chilling his voice, "Is that name you humans have given him..? How amusing..."

"So? What's the real name of your Master?"

Eo scoffed at that remark, soon saying, "Master is a derogatory term assigned to women of lower classes. The being I serve holds honor far above us all. He is a being of a completely different existence, and the only being in this world that I serve so long as I stand." Eostryder stated, his armored hands clinking as he tightened his hold on his blade.

"He... is Zeridûl, Devourer of Souls."

From within the Darkness Dante hid in, his eyes widened as he heard that name spoken. He once read a Registrar that contained the name of every known Dark Entity Lord and the Four Dark Entity Kings, each Lord and King accompanied with a profile of their own.

Zeridûl was a name that struck a chord within him. His was a name the young no immortal rembered, but did not know as to why.

I need to hurry up, Xera won't be able to keep him distracted for long.

"You seem to be forgetting one detail…"

"And pray tell what would that be?" Eo asked, bringing his sword around then dashing toward the teen, making a diagonal swing for his body to cleave right through him.

Xera glanced the strike off Aether's flat edge, delivering it into the icy clutches of the ground as he moved forward and entered Eo's guard, bringing them to a clash.

"My brother's life...dangles from a burning thread... You should remember the feelin...of losing 'the ones you love..!"

Xera pushed back enough to allow him to get close and have his had make contact with Eo's chest plate, the whole illuminating in a burning red light as the black armor glowed red hot almost instantly and was staring to warp to take different shapes. The very ground beneath the two combatants shook and fragmented, quaking continuously.

Eo brought up his claymore and tried to bring it down onto the teen before him, his vast Aura quickly draining as his semblance was pushing itself to its unforeseeable end.

Xera dropped his hand from the man's armor, causing the ground to stop shaking before taking hold of Aether in a two handed grip and heftily slashed upward, cleaving through Eo's softened armor and crashing into unbreakable skin.

But the breakable ground soon erupted in shattered fragments, completely shattering now as the columns and pillars spanning throughout the entire room crumbled to the floor.

Xera forced the man's sword and arm upward before dislodging his weapon from Eo's armor, plunging it deep into the shattered ground below immediately after.

"You should've killed us while you had the chance."

With that, his white Aether flashed and sunk into the realm's blackened ice, eyes dawning a glow of bright purple before the entire spanning ground vibrated and shattered

Eo's heavy form was sent into the air, disconnecting himself from his Semblance's catalyst as the very floor began to fall to ruins.

"Don't miss..." Xera muttered.

A blur of black immediately passed by Xera's side, heading straight for Eo. A stream of black Aura outlined in white moved towards the black knight in the sky, and out of it, emerged a Shadow Skinnned Dante, holding on to his Greatsword with both hands and lowered to his side until he grew closer.

When close enough, Dante let out a hollow, echoing roar that sounded through the plains as he clashed blades with Eo, the young immortal's distorted growls fighting to overtake Eo's.

The young immortal unleashed a small blast of his black Aura outlined in white, sending up the knight higher into the sky. As Eo flew, he looked to his left and saw Dante crouching on the side of a pillar of ice before pushing off it and dashing around the knight in an arcing circle. As he did so, Eo rapidly swung at the air in Dante's direction, unleashing numerous strong air waves to blast the young immortal.

He kept trying, but ultimately failed to knock him out of the sky as another wave of black Aura outlined in white crashed into him, completely obscuring his sight and completely unaware that Dante had appeared opposite of the side he unleashed the Aura Wave, blade stretched out to his side and ready to swing inwards. As soon as Eo could turn his head to regain sight of Dante, it was too late, even if he did raise what remained of his sword to defensively block.

As soon as Dante's Greatsword clashed with Eo's own sword, the Aura Greatsword was once again cloaked in his uniquely colored Aura, and with no resistance, Dante swung around the knight midair half a turn as he roared loudly in a distorted tone before discharging a massive Aura Wave. Eo had been consumed by the colossal wave of violent, black Aura outlined in white as it carried both him and his agony filled screams away into the distance. Dante's blackened Devouring Light made contact with a nearby mountain range, resulting in a massive explosion, wind rushing past Xera as the Shadow Skinned Dante landed beside his Phoenix Faunus friend. The young immortal took a few well earned deep breaths, soon touching the front of his face as his Shadow Skin became black Aura once more, and dispersed shortly after.

"Figuring out his Semblance...was not fun…" said the teen in between breaths.

"No kidding..." Xera breathed out as he let out a long sigh, glancing at the brilliant destruction ahead of the duo miles away.

"Thanks for being the Guinea pig." Dante commented as he patted Xera on the back.

"Oh, you know me… Always happy to bleed for a friend..." Xera replied with a hint of sarcasm in his tone. "Also... When I said hit a precise point…I didn't mean blowing him away to holy hell."

"It worked didn't it?" Dante shrugged his shoulders with an amused grin.

"Yeah, but a bit overkill. You always like getting up close and personal while discharging one of those Aura Waves?"

"It works really nicely as a ranged attack, but it works really well when using it up close like that. It's how I dealt with a lot enemies in the past when using Howling Dark. That way you swing and don't miss. Which I didn't." He finished by poking Xera in the shoulder.

"Fine, I'll give you that." Xera commented as he forged ahead, Dante following at his side.

The darkness ahead of them had begun to dissolve, revealing an empty room that had collapsed in numerous different sections due to its support structures being in shambles on the floor.

What was once the dark room was now a crimson field of crystals. Openings in the ceiling flooded the entire chamber in crimson and scarlet glows, shining down on their path as they saw a large staircase ahead of them at the end of the room

Just a bit further now… Don't worry Xera… We will get your brother back. Just one obstacle left...and we're home free...

When they reached the end of the path the room lead them, the duo looked up into the sky, seeing the burning red sun hang low upon a throne of black ice.

---

(Semblance Encyclopedia 4)

"Wahhhhhhh... I'm stuffed... Big brother and Inuba sure do know how to make a feast..." said Ciel patting her stomach.

"It was Christmas Eve. And all three of our birthdays. It was only natural that they'd prepare a large quantity of food for such a special occasion given our near...bottomless stomachs."

"Needless to say, plenty of food to go around. And tons of hot chocolate. I mean really, it was good. Whoever decided it was a good idea to put peppermint in hot chocolate, you sir or madam are a genius!"

"She's grown quite fond of it." Said Leonard.

"Right then, so, what's next on our agenda? Or rather, who's our unlucky vicitim today? Hehehehehhehe..." said Ciel in a rather evil manner as she rubbed her hands together.

"I do believe next on our list is..." started Leonard as he opened up his HoloScroll, "Xera Stark."

"OH YES!"

"Such excitement about a topic like this unusual for you..."

"I've been waiting to pluck the feathers off this turkey for a while now. So like the Autobots, let's roll!"

"O-Of course... Ahem... Today Ciel and I will be covering Xera Stark's Semblance with a brief overview on Affinities, a term I'm very sure all of you have seen already. I'll start us off with Affinities first. Now, to be clear, Affinities and Semblances aren't the same sort of thing, obviously. The difference lies in actuality. What they really are. As we know, Semblances are abilities we manifest through the power of our souls. Affinities however...are different. They're different in the sense that Affinities are powers that are more physical or elemental based. In Mr. Stark's case, his Affinity is fire, which allows him to freely manipulate, absorb, and use fire freely along with a near immunity to it. To add to that, there are counters to Affinities. For example, fire to ice, so forth and so on. In a way, a person with an Affinity, fire in this case, means that their elemental control can and would be more powerful and more potent than any other person wielding fire. Although this seems to be the case...I am still skeptical to believe his abilities inoving fire are greater than Ms. Kitsukami's..."

"Dude, Inuba's top through and through when it comes to anything and everything fire. Her whole family is. I don't really see him beating her anytime soon."

"Even if Ms. Kitsukami is on a bit of a lower plane when it comes to using fire against Mr. Stark, she still has a plethora of other skills, tactics and abilities to use against him. I'm confident in her ability to win in a fight against him. Even so, Mr. Stark should never be underestimated at any time. There was a reason he was selected to be brother's close ally. Now that we covered the basic idea behind Affinities, we should move on to Mr. Stark's Semblance. Ciel?"

"Sure sure. So, Xera has a pretty interesting Semblance considering his circumstances and because of this, Xera's Semblance is the ability to thoroughly examine another's Semblance and then use it for himself later on. As powerful as you're thinking this is, there is a drawback. Despite being able to copy and use another's Semblance, the actual power of the Semblance is only half of what the original is. Say Mr. Stark were to copy our big brother's Semblance, which is Aura Manipulation, and were to produce Aura Swords. In comparison to big brother, Xera's Aura Swords would only be half as powerful."

"There's also another limitation Mr. Stark has. Instead of just being able to swap between Semblances at the snap of his fingers, he can only have three set up at a time to swap through. The rest of the Semblances he's analyzed and copied are stored and can only be swapped into his three uses when out of combat. So an example would be him being able to use my Semblance, Ciel and brother's Semblance. When out of combat, he can swap out Semblances from storage so that he has Ms. Rose's Semblance, brother's Semblance, or Ms. Belladonna's Semblance."

"Even if the Semblances Xera collects are only half as good as the original, it still makes him a decently powerful individual and a rather dangerous combatant to fight against."

"And with that, we conclude our segment for today."

"We're done?! Yes! Now I can go get some more of that awesome hot chocolate!"

"You've become rather obessed with the beverage as of late..."

"How can you not? By the way, think we can set up a sparring match between them one day?"

"Between Mr. Stark and Ms. Kitsukami?"

"Yup. Not that it'd matter all too much since Inuba would totally kick his butt and roast him like a turkey."

"Perhaps. But I still wouldn't be so quick to eliminate Mr. Stark out of the equation so easily. He is a rather 'lucky' individual. Not all battles are determined through strength, skill, and all sorts of other abilities we may posses. The littlest of things may very well be your undoing, should not be careful at least."

"Yeah yeah, tell me something I don't know already... Later folks! Hope you all had a great New Year, and hey, we all hope you have an excellent year from all of us! PEACE!" Shouted Ciel a final time before stepping off stage.

---

("New Years Blast", by me)

"To the new year!" shouted the group of six around the campfire of white flame.

Each of them clinked their glasses together and consumed their drinks after their toast. Irene wanted some of what Raum was drinking, but said no since it was a "grown up drink". She was dissatisfied with his answer, as evidenced by her pout, but was soon very content when she was presented (for the first time ever) two drinkable apple sauce packs. To thank him, she made her usual gestures for him to closer so that she could give him a peck on the cheek before wagging her tail and going about her applesauce.

"No matter how many times I see that, it's always entertaining." said Dante as he started working on his bowl of cookies and cream ice cream.

"Got a problem with that?" asked the Dark Entity.

"Nope. Just letting you know I've got mounds of material I'm building up to tease you with later. Ciel's already got over one hundred things already, I've got like thirty eight."

"You little brats..."

"Don't poke fun at him, Master." said Inuba as she pulled the young immortals cheek.

"Shorry, Shorry... Ow! Can you lhet meh go?" he asked while she still pulled on his cheek.

Content with his apology, she smiled and let go before resuming to eat her vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips and chocolate and straw berry syrup.

"It's frankly a good thing she's here to keep the rest of you fools in check." said the girl cloaked in white as she sat on the other side of Dante, opposite of Inuba.

She was eating the same type of ice cream Dante was, compared to Leo who was enjoying mint chocolate chip ice cream, and Ciel, who was enjoying coffee chip ice cream.

"Hey! Who you calling fools, fool?!" piped up Ciel.

"I'm sorry, was I somehow mistaken?" asked the girl under her hood as she smiled coyly.

"You little..."

"Hey now, it's the New Years. Which means, no fighting. Yet." said Dante.

"Anyway, what's the plan for this evening? I don't think simply camping out and enjoying a feast would suffice." said Leonard.

"Well, we could always blow stuff up in the air." offered Raum.

"What? That's just stupid." said Ciel.

"No no, wait, I think I'm catching his drift. You mean fireworks?" asked Dante.

"Yeah, those boomsticks you people use to celebrate occasions."

"Boomsticks..." said Ciel as she chortled.

"What did you have in mind?" asked Inuba.

"Perhaps a competition to see who makes the best fireworks?" suggested the cloaked girl.

"Yeah, that's doable." said Dante. "Okay, I'm going up first."

The young immortal drew his sword from his sheath, taking a few steps ahead from the camp before quickly lashing his sword out in the air, unleashing numerous arcing waves of white Aura outlined black in rapid succession as they flew up high into the night sky. The explosions that followed were rather simple, but each had been timed so that the bursts happened in intervals, almost like how a firework show would occur.

"Not bad big brother... Alright Foxy, let's see what you got." said Ciel.

Inuba took a deep breath before having her hands glow with white flame as she shot up numerous orbs of white flame as quickly as her Master did with his Aura Waves. Seconds later, bursts of white flame filled the night sky, unleashing forth numerous symbols and patterns that moved in an almost psychedelic manner. Needless to say, it was a breathtaking sight to behold before the bursts ended with a heart of white flame that irradiated with the same white flame it was made of.

"Nice, nice. If I didn't know any better, me thinks you were being a bit too obvious there..." Ciel whispered to Inuba as the kitsune's face was now a light shade of red.

"Anyway, my turn. Leo! Fire away!" said Ciel clapping her hands together.

Leo did as instructed, whipping out his pistols as he shot numerous Aura beams of white outlined in black at Ciel, who twirled her scythe in front of her as a portal of black Aura opened in front of her to swallow up those shots. The young sibling then stopped twirling her weapon around, then spun around to quickly repeat the same motion as the beams exited from the newly made portal. The beams collided with one another high into the sky, creating not only an amazing display of pyrotechnics, but a miniature light show from the center.

"Top that suckers!" said Ciel as both she and Leo high-fived their team effort.

"Alright, step back hellions. It's my turn." said Raum as he interlocked his fingers and cracked them as he stepped up, Irene cheering him on with her cute giggles.

Like the emperor from Star Wars, Raum extended both hands towards the sky and shot forth numerous bolts of electric-like black Aura outlined in dark green that trailed up and intermingled together in the sky, forming a small cartoonish version of Irene performing numerous cute actions, such as rolling around and growling with her hands raised in the air, each action put into a loop sequence.

"Impressive work. But I'm afraid I'll be the one to win this competition." said the girl cloaked in white.

All it took her was a single wave of her hand, and the whole sky was littered with explosions of numerous colors before they all ended in streams of numerous lights that almost resembled the Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis.

"Damn... She might have won..." whispered Ciel.

"Not yet..." said Dante as he stepped forward with Inuba. "Ready?"

"Ready." responded Inuba as she extended her hand towards him, her fingertips facing the sky.

He pressed his hand against hers as their hands crackled with white flame and white Aura outlined in black. Dante slowly drew his only good arm back as now a spear lance of his Aura and Inuba's flames floated in between their hands. The young immortal then grabbed the spear lance of Aura and twirled it in between his fingers a few times before he took aim and tossed the flaming Aura lance into the sky. After a few seconds, numerous explosive bursts of his Aura and Inuba's flame littered the night sky, creating a rather beautiful sight before them. The explosions moved aside like a curtain, displaying a side-scrolling screen that fluidly displayed a mini animation of sorts that depicted a group of six moving along on their journey and performing numerous actions and deeds along the way before they all stopped to rest at their camp at the end of the day. And with that, scene of carefully manipulated explosions ended.

"Thank you! We win!" shouted Dante.

"Now you're just making it obvious." said Ciel as she approached Inuba, referring to two of the figures in the small sidescroll slideshow that had been holding hands together the entire journey.

All it took was a glare and her hand lighting ablaze to make Ciel rush ahead and remain silent. Inuba sighed and lowered her hand, removing from the pocket her skirt had the fox charm she had, similar to the one she gave the young immortal. She flipped it over and rubbed her fingers across the two kanji she etched into the backside, the kanji reading as "happiness" and 'love". She stared particularly at "love" and smiled, clutching the charm tightly before pocketing it into her skirt pocket once more.

Soon enough... Just a bit longer. Like how you asked me last time...I ask the same. Please...wait for me...

"Did you make a wish for the new year?"

Inuba jumped at the sound of Dante's voice as he walked besides her.

"N-Nothing in particular really... I-It's... It's honestly a fairly simple wish..."

"Is that so? Well, I guess it'll get granted then."

"Do you think so?"

"Of course. Unfortunately, you can't really say, otherwise I'd help and try to make it come true."

Inuba giggled to herself.

"It's such a simple wish, that even you'd be able to grant it without realizing it at first."

"Is that so..? Alright then. I'll do my best."

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you."

---

The big showdown with Soul-Slasher comes live next chapter! What? You didn't expect me to give you everything this time around, right? And hey, did you expect it to be over so soon? Not even. We still a bit of a ways to go until the end of this collaboration arc. So look forward to more next time! With that...

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 you have a happy holiday season! See you next time! Bye-bye now!