Heya everyone. Sorry for not posting this on Saturday or Sunday. Was super busy throughout the previous two weeks, and honestly, I only finished this this morning after I did my accounting homework at around 4 am. I don't sleep. Not always anyway. So yeah, very sorry, will try to avoid this again in the future. Here it is everyone. Chapter 13. Enjoy.

Chapter 13: Touchdown

The Bullhead ships were undergoing a final check before lift off. Everything needed to go semi-smoothly to ensure maximum success. There was going to be an outside team taking care of any hostilities outside the rift. Given Inuba, Ciel and Leo were going to be part of the outside force, the invading force of six would have an easier state of mind inside the rift and would be able to complete their task.

"Everything ready to go?" Dante asked one of the plots.

"Pretty much. I was actually just about ready to make an announcement to the departing teams to come here to hanger and get ready for takeoff."

"Good. The sooner we leave, the quicker we can get this done."

The young immortal had been the only one to move to the hangars early, doing what he could to help the pilots finish their preparations quickly. Now that task was over, he sat down on one of the open doors of a stationary Bullhead and let out a sigh, resting his chin in his left hand as he closed his eyes for a few moments. He opened them and then looked to his bandaged right arm in the black sling and kept his focus there for some time.

Six months and only halfway through… To think it'd take this long… I was right. My Aura does have extreme debilitating effects when used directly for offensive purposes. I only made this assumption in the first place because my other powers from before now were exactly like that. But to think they'd have an adverse effect on me… It was either the strong concentration of Aura or something else at the time. Now that I think about it...my Aura turned grey for a few seconds. Now what could that be a sign of?

Dante's head moved upwards slightly as he felt a small Aura Signature enter within the area. He could only wonder why she was here right now. She should be resting. A smile crept up on the young immortals face as he blurred out of sight in a streak of white and black Aura, moving towards his intended location.

Kitsuki had peeked her head over one of the boxes, searching for the young immortal she wished to speak to you, but seeing him nowhere in sight. She could have sworn he was just here…

"Hello there Kitsuki." He said as he leaned out from one of the boxes near Kitsuki.

She very likely would have screamed were it not for her condition. All that Dante did see was that she jolted upwards and was shivering slightly while her bundle of three fox tails straightened out as her fox ears folded against her head. The small kitsune then slowly turned around to face him, slightly tearing up from the small shock she had just suffered. Needless to say, Dante had felt some small remorse for his childish act.

"I'm so sorry…" he said as he was on his knees bowing apologetically.

"W-Why did you do that..?" Kitsuki signed out with her hands.

"I have some childish tendencies time to time. All for the sake of fun really. Very sorry." He said as he took a seat on one of the boxes.

"So then, why has the great and mighty Kitsuki come far and wide in search of me?"

"I'm not great… Or mighty…"

"Relax, just go with it. Either way, you're here. No doubt looking for me. So, what's on your mind?"

"I… I want to make a request of you."

"A request you say? Okay, what is it that you want me to do?"

"I… I want to come with you all."

"Hmmm?"

"I want to go wherever it is all of you are going."

"Kitsuki-"

"I don't want to stay here while everyone else leaves…"

Dante's eyes widened temporarily before they relaxed.

I see… She doesn't want to stay here by herself with people she doesn't know. She'd rather be in thick of danger and be with people she's comfortable with. But does she know where we're going is dangerous?

"Kitsuki, here's the deal. Right now, we're heading off to somewhere dangerous. Somewhere you shouldn't be."

"I know but-"

"Then there's also the fact you're still recovering."

"I don't want to fight, I just…want to be there with you all."

Dante let out a sigh, realizing he wouldn't be able to convince Kitsuki. But he did think of at least telling her the dangers.

"Kitsuki… Where we're going now is very dangerous. There could be dangerous Grimm, and inside the rift, a potential god in the making due to special circumstances. And you want to come with us because you'd rather be with people you know?"

Kitsuki gave the young immortal a nod twice. Given his gaze, she wasn't expecting much now, except a firm no.

"Alright then. You can come with us."

She was shocked beyond words. Not that she could speak them, but she had trouble signing them out with her hands for a moment.

"W-What are you saying?!"

"I'm saying you can come with us." replied the immortal.

"But you just-"

"I know, I know. But I can't just completely disregard your feelings on the matter. That'd be insensitive of me. Besides, if you go, you'll have to stay in Inuba's more than capable hands the entire time. Agreed?"

"Of course!" She signed out as her tails whipped about.

Before Dante could stand back up he felt Kitsuki's small hands grab his left hand and brought it closer to her, touching the top of her head between her fox ears. She was allowing him to rub her head.

"Inuba said your head rubs felt heavenly. Plus, she said if wanted something from you, I should try asking for a head rub."

She's completely right! She could've bribed me with just this from the start! Wah… So fluffy…

"Attention departing teams, please make your to hangar at this time. All preparations have been completed and we are ready to depart."

"Hey hey hey…" said Dante looking to Kitsuki, "They're singing our song."

"Song? But...that wasn't a song…"

"Figure of speech. Here, we're in this Bullhead, so let's get you settled in. The others should be arriving shortly."

"Is everything going to be okay?"

"Of course. It's us we're talking about, remember?"

(Dante POV)

And so we were on our way to whatever awaited us. My cloaked colleague was able to get an accurate read of the area where the rift resided in and managed to point us out in the right direction. Currently, RWBY, JNPR, CFVY, Xera, Skyla, Kitsuki, my siblings, my cloaked colleague, Inuba and I were traveling to our destination in Bullheads as the wind rushed by the transport ships, fluctuating between strong and weak wind currents. Needless to say, turbulence was on and off for us.

In our bullhead currently, it was just myself, Inuba, Xera, Skyla, Kitsuki, and Blake. The others went into four other Bullheads and traveled alongside us through the dark skies.

Xera and Blake were busy having a conversation. Given his stupidly red face at the moment, she was pressing the offensive slightly. It was unusual to see Xera like this, so I couldn't help but smile a bit. To my right sat Inuba, her left hand resting upon my shoulder and her right holding my hand as her white flames coated my arm, attempting to continue repairing the long term damage I suffered and was still suffering from.

At this time, my white coat was folded up next to me, leaving me in my sleeveless, collared black shirt. Instead of having buttons, it had a stainless steel zipper that could be zipped down to the center of my chest, a zipper that I was currently preoccupied with as I was moving it up and down constantly, like a child with a toy.

What? You have to try to find ways to amuse yourself with things around you. Or on you. For me, it was the zipper currently.

It was fun.

"It never ceases to amuse me seeing you act like a child at times." said Inuba as she looked up at me.

I turned my head to her, noticing Kitsuki was watching my partner heal my arm with her Cleansing Flames. It looked as though she had questions.

"Impressive, no?" I retorted.

"Yes, very." She said giggling.

I looked to Kitsuki again as she signed at me.

"Why does Inuba have to constantly heal your right arm?"

"I damaged it a while back by being a stupid biscuit. And now I'm still suffering the consequences."

"But you said you're immortal and that you heal virtually in an instant. So why-?"

"Because it was my own power that hurt me. My powers, especially my old ones, are ultimate when it comes to destruction. The magnitude and extreme damage I can unleash is virtually unparalleled. And since one specialty is destruction, it's extremely effective with lingering effects as well. Considering I discharged all that destructive power through my arm, it was inevitable that I'd wreck it."

"You said it's been six months since it happened… Shouldn't it have healed by now?"

"Therein lies another problem. My body grants me virtually near immunity to all types of magic. I say near because my resistance is incredibly high to the point magic used against me does only minimal damage. Unfortunately, my immunity gets in the way of healing magic as well. Despite Inuba's Cleansing Flames being the best healing magic available, it's still only managing to heal little by little. But it's been getting better. Soon enough it'll be all healed up with nothing to worry about."

"You sure your arm isn't going to get in the way?" Xera asked me, as he looked my way, "When we went up against the Leviathan, you Shadow-Skinned your arm in order to use that flashy technique of yours. Even so, it wasn't exactly for an extended period of time."

"Flashy, but extremely effective. Besides, I can use my Shadow Skin as long as I have Aura. The cost of manifesting a complete Shadow Skin is minimal at best, and in the case of an arm, trivial. Thankfully after forming it it doesn't draw from my Aura unless I have to rectify damaged areas. The only small problem is that I'll be using more Aura with my Aura based attacks, like Devouring Light. Also not much of a problem given my massive reserve of Aura."

"And the downside?"

"My Shadow Skin has extremely high defense overall, but in the event of injuries being sustained, it can slowly heal as well. The only drawback now is that when I use it for my right arm, it stops my arm's recovery."

"But you're still halting the healing process for the extent of time it's Shadow Skinned."

"I have advised him against the idea as well Mr. Stark," Inuba said continuing with my arm, "But as always, he doesn't seem to quite listen." said Inuba as she gazed at me to silently scold me.

I wasn't sure if everyone one else noticed, but it was something that turned out to be rather effective.

"But...we wish to do our part as well. You called upon us, and because of that, we will give you our very best. Though the process may be halted for the duration he uses Shadow Skin on his right arm, it will allow him to fight at full capacity."

"We can't just let you guys do all the work." I said.

"All of us will contribute as much as possible." Inuba added.

"Yeppers!" Skyla chimed in as she played on her scroll.

Given the noise and roaring of engines, it was a game involving cars. Oddly enough, there was a soccer ball being bonked in between the cars, as well as rockets on said cars to boost their speed even further. She was definitely having fun demolishing other cars.

"We'll be helping as much as possible as well. While you're all in there, we can expect an eventual onslaught of grimm closing in on the rift. We'll keep them at bay while you eliminate the source." Blake spoke up beside Xera, lifting her head from his shoulder.

"I'm thankful, but this isn't something so easily said. You're all risking your lives as it is, so it's a larger deal than you're leading it on to be." Xera responded, eyeing each us.

"Isn't that what Huntsmen and Huntresses do?" Kitsuki signed out after we turned our heads to her.

"Well, we train to fight Grimm and other threats, but we're also trained to survive. Some measures of war are better retreated from than rushing to our own demise. In some cases, it's just better to back away and rethink a strategy than to take it head on." Xera responded.

Kitsuki's golden-orange eyes didn't change from their calm demeanor or silent resolve.

"Huntsmen and Huntresses do what they can to let civilization continue to survive. From what I read, isn't that the ideal thought process?" she asked, leaning her own head away from Inuba's shoulder as she pulled out her scroll.

"Ideal? Not even close… If anything, foolish would be the better term."

Now all eyes were on me at the moment. They seemed...shocked slightly. As if they would never expect a response like that from me. Inuba was the only one who didn't act surprised. She knew what I spoke of.

Foolish ideals are what start wars and struggles for power and force survival amongst people, especially in times when they all face a common enemy. It becomes a challenge of "Who's idea is the best? Oh, this one might be bad, but we'll use it anyway because we want to and it's what we like best." The worst, in my knowledge and experience, is when political authority manages to drill in their ideals amongst the masses. And eventually, they aren't fighting for their own ideals and goals anymore. They're fighting for someone else to advance their personal agenda.

"You ever really need to ask one question… How far are you willing to go to 'do what you can'? What are you prepared to sacrifice? Victory comes with costs, most of the time anyway. Almost every time, you give a little more. Sometimes…moreso than you ever really need or want to give…"

I saw Inuba's fox ears fold against her head from the corner of my eye, an action that also caught Kitsuki's attention. Amusingly enough, the smaller kitsune stared up at Inuba's ears in confusion before she reached up and softly pulled Inuba's ears back up into standing positions, something that made both of them smile.

"The world doesn't exactly work like that, Dante." Xera replied.

Then that shows how little you know, Xera. And for the most part, the way the majority of the world works. You might have not had an easy life, I'll admit that much, but you've yet to learn the true harshness of Reality. In all honesty, I hope you never have to learn.

"The Worlds give as much as they take, and in all regards, this is the same for everyone that lives in them. The more we give, the more that can be taken away. The harder we try, the greater the downfall. It isn't about putting forth the effort to pursue a risk, it's about putting forth a risk to enforce the effort you need to turn that risk into a certainty." He continued adding to his counter.

"For the extent of time I've known Xera, I've found he's a firm believer in few things, and this is one of them." Blake added, "Risk isn't anything more than a means to an end. And that end, in most regards, is fear and reluctance. Risk is only there to make you consider what would happen should something fail, but it never pushes what would happen if you succeed."

"There are no risks in anything I do." Xera continued, giving Blake's linked arm a small squeeze with his own, "It's either a 100% certainty that I can do it, or not at all. Anything in between isn't something I tend to consider."

Then you must not do much at all then. You expect to gain with such a ludicrous way of thinking? How naive… It's no wonder I had to come here and basically do everyhting for y-

Stop it. Don't be that way. It's not his fault. Not entirely.

I don't know why exactly...but my thoughts of late have been...darker. Am I slipping into my old self again?

"While I respect that idea to some varying degree, I have to tell you that you won't always have the luxury of a 100% certainty. There will be times in your life where you will have to risk more or all, especially in this line of work. You always have to try and be prepared for such instances. Otherwise-"

"I'm more prepared than you probably think I am." Xera muttered.

"We're all a little stronger than what we think we are." Skyla chimed in a she finished one match and soon proceeded into the next, "But that doesn't mean we have to see the world in such a way to leave it as nothing more than the good and the bad. There's a lot more to it than that."

"There are several pieces of all the Worlds that don't make sense to us. Maybe it will in the future, but not now. Besides, I get pretty lucky a lot. I've tried gambling and ended up bleeding the place dry without cheating. So, in that regard, I'd consider myself an excellent gambler."

So have I on numerous occasions, but putting faith behind the idea of luck the majority of the time is unwise at best.

"How optimistic of all of you… Again, I admire that. If anything, you are right Skyla. There is more to it than good and evil. I know that much. To be more honest, I've 'seen' what you mean. But Xera, you can't always rely on luck. Sometimes all you'll have is yourself."

I then took a deep breath as I felt a soothing tingling sensation in my right arm as Inuba continued healing my arm.

"Thankfully though, we have this thing called friends to help us along our way. They help guide us as we guide them. They fight for us as we fight for them. They stand by you as you stand by them. And because of that, we can be a little more at ease."

The lesson I just dished out was something my hardheaded person couldn't, or rather, refused to learn on multiple occasions. Almost everything is better with friends.

"I know the feeling." Xera responded as he reached into his pocket and pulling out a deck of cards, "Which is why I'm glad that you're all willing to help. But in the meantime, can you play Hearts with just one hand?"

"Hearts? Tch… That's a game I never played really…"

That was a complete lie. I have played Hearts before, I just really hate the damn game. It's too annoying.

"Well, it's easy enough to learn. Skyla learned just for the sake of slamming the Queen of Spades down on people and laughing triumphantly." Xera commented, giving the cards a swift bridge-shuffle after taking them out of their black and gold box.

"Oh! Are we playing Hearts?!" Skyla asked as she suddenly snapped her scroll closed mid-game and turned to stare at the cards in Xera's hand.

"This spells doom on many levels for me..." I muttered, getting a small laugh out of Inuba at my side as she continued administering her healing.

"We've played this game before, I think." Blake said, leaning forward to watch Xera mix up the cards in a flourish, "Doesn't the Queen of Spades dish out a ton of-"

Xera cut off Blake with a shush as he started dealing the cards out onto the floor.

"He'll find out soon enough."

And I'll probably curse you forever soon enough.

Strong turbulence began hitting the airships within a couple miles of the target area. It wasn't until very strong winds began shaking the ships that Dante realized they were now over the ocean. He didn't try to force on his Shadow Eyes to look out the window to confirm this. He could hear rain pattering against the walls of the Bullhead like shards of glass.

"You see that storm out there?" Ace spoke loudly over his shoulder from the cockpit to Dante and Xera.

"It's dark, but there's definitely got to be a landmass out there..."

"Unless your associate was wrong." said Xera.

"She's never been wrong once, so if she says there's an island out there, there's an island out there." Dante reassured.

"Well, if it's there, we'll be flying through that storm, and it's not just one. We're flying through a storm equivalent to four storms kids." Ace informed, taking us lower to just above sea level, "Don't expect this to be a smooth ride."

"So treat it like a roller coaster. Got it." Replied Dante, "I'll stay up here with you and help out with how much I can. With my eyes, I can give us both a read on what's going on out there."

"If you say so, but listen up," Ace responded, taking us into a sharp bank as we swung around a rising crest of crashing water, "Those up there? Those are tornadoes."

"Your point being?" Retorted Dante, earning a chuckle from their pilot Ace.

"We'll be flying through those. And considering they're surrounding the entire island, I hope you both have some iron grips in those hands of yours."

As soon as they cleared the mountain of ocean water, dark gray vortexes began tearing into the sea from all sides of the island before us. Dante knew counting them would be pointless. What mattered most was getting through.

There weren't any wide openings, and as for the openings that were slightly managing, they opened and closed in mere seconds as the tornadoes fluctuated and swirled seamlessly inside and through one another in a wide perimeter.

"I'm glad we didn't take a boat..." Xera commented, leaning down to glance at the sky.

It was pitch black, dark clouds illuminating constantly from red lightning streaking across the skies above. It was nearly impossible to hear the thunder with how much wind and water ripped at our hulls. Thankfully because of that, Dante was shivering less between lighting strikes

"Don't worry kid, these engines were designed to be put through the worst. Unfortunately, they weren't designed to survive being torn to shreds by strong enough winds." Ace said.

"Believe me, that's not why I'm a bit antsy…" said Dante.

"You two better hold on tight then, because we're going in hard, fast, and with all the momentum we can muster."

"Do what you need to, we'll be fine."

Dante held on to one of the handles tightly as the tornadoes drew nearer. He didn't hold it too tightly, for he would have crushed it.

"I just hope the others will be fine..." Xera muttered, planting his feet into the ground of the ship as the ship flew over a rising tsunami.

"Relax, they're in safe hands. We're pilots of Beacon Academy. We're as good as they get."

A small army was being brought to deal with Zeridûl. Something that reminded the young immortal of Leónidas and his 300 Spartans. The odds currently stood that less than half of us would make it through to the other side. But if Ace's words held any meaning, those odds were sure to go up.

The composition of teams was as such. CFVY, SNAR, JNPR, RWBY, Skyla and Xera. As for Dante, he brought along Inuba, Leo, Ciel. Since they weren't entering the rift, they would definitely keep things under control outside and help everyone else that needed it. Destiny and Kitsuki were the singular additions, leaving the final group to come along be Ozpin, Glynda, and Caza, one of the other professors.

Virtually the hope of everyone at this point was that all five Bullheads carrying all those people would make it safely.

Ace banked his ship around the next wave and reached up, flicking off all interior lights before locking the stabilizers in each wing, then flicked on the communication between ships.

"Delta, Faux, you're on me. Take to my wings and divert only when necessary. Ike and Brado tag up and keep close behind. I see a series of openings, so eyes up and follow my lead."

He brought his hand back to the stick and yanked it back, forcing the ship to climb in altitude to barely slip over a suddenly cresting wave.

"Keep a tight formation and rely on your own judgment calls. And whatever you do,"

Ace had flicked one more switch as they approached the ferociously swirling wall of tearing winds. The Bullhead's thrusters suddenly cut out, leaving the ship in suspended air for a few moments.

"Don't die."

The whole bullhead lurched forward as the thrusters roared with a new hum, shaking the ship in a tense, rising growl as they burned to life, accelerating at high speeds. A digital display suddenly overlaid the bullhead's cockpit windows, rendering in the majority of the storm before it as numbers and lines came to life across the glass separating us from the outside.

A sweeping wave of light suddenly slipped across the screen as four triangular, lime-green blips appeared on screen with names depicting the four pilots he addressed earlier. Suddenly, Ace took a hard dive to build even more momentum on the returning arc.

This entire thing seemed like a series of seemingly impossible obstacles, but Ace took the ship in a determined dive around the lower base of a massive vortex of air.

The fact a human pilot was able to maneuver so fluidly and skillfully through such a maelstrom was something that impressed Dante greatly.

Somehow Ace managed to tear through the tornadoes that seemed berry likely to damage the hull, and slipped around others to weave through clashing winds as he rode all directional currents with trained dexterity.

This was beyond impressive. It was actually a bit scary.

The four blips in formation behind us were wavering, taking different routes to account for wind differentiations and slipstreams as they sailed through the eyes of several tornadoes and rode the winds.

"Ike, Brado, you're diverting course. Something throw you off?" Ace asked, tapping into the intercom as he brought us around the next bend.

"We don't know! Something black rose out of the water between us and struck our hulls, we're definitely off course now!" a male voice responded over the mic, loud and clear for Dante and Xera to hear.

"A Grimm..?" Dante wondered.

"Got it, I'm adjusting my course to pick you up. Don't go against the winds."

Ace tore the stick to the side and steered the ship in the direction of the blip at the furthest right of the didigtal monitor.

"Whatever it was, let's hope the thing's not fast enough in a storm like this to catch our tails." Ace growled.

He took the ship through the next few tornadoes and banked around several more, riding an upward gale of wind to take the Bullhead to the level of the one that strayed from the original course.

"Brado, adjust altitude to reduce your depth by thirty feet, we're at your six. We'll be passing overhead. Take up the rear and follow once we do." Ace ordered, flying in close as the ship shook and rattled before dipping slightly in elevation and lowering.

Ace immediately flared thrusters and took the ship over Brado's bullhead, taking the lead once again as he made an immediate bank around the nearest vortex and changed direction.

"Ike, you're next." Ace called out, heading in the direction of the green blip nearly a thousand feet away due to straying off course.

"Negative, Ace. We're stuck in a series of merging tornadoes. There aren't any openings to get through, we're gonna have to wait it out." Ike responded, another male voice, maintaining a respectable amount of confidence.

"Waiting this storm out will only make the situation worse." a female voice spoke up this time over the mic, crackling from the tearing winds around them with minor interference.

"Delta, there is no getting out of this one. Keep back, all of you. I'll figure something out." Ike replied, before a sudden shudder broke through the mic and Ike's blip on-screen suddenly got thrown into a tailspin.

"Shit, Ike!" the male voice we heard earlier yelled out.

"Give me a damn minute Brado!" Ike growled back, straining his voice as Dante and Xera watched the blip's whip around in an uncontrollable spin.

They noticed Ace's glove tighten on his stick as they entered another dive, his jaw tensing as the blip continued to spin out of control. It was a pilot's nightmare. It was a miracle to pull an aircraft out of a spin like that, let alone do so before crashing into the ground.

The four of the bullheads were narrowing in now as the fifth blip, Ike's bullhead, began to slow in its perpetual spin.

"Stabilizing..!" Ike's voice rang out through the mic, and we watched his bullhead slowly come to a gradual stop, "We're good. But whatever that was…it was big...and it was scaly..."

"Did you see it?" the last voice spoke up a new voice.

It was feminine and monotonous, but had an air of calculation to it that Brado and Ike didn't.

"Yeah Faux, I got a full tailfull of it as it slammed into my right wing. I think we're up against a Storm Drake..." Ike informed, the sounds of his sputtering Dust engines sounding through his mic as we narrowed in on his location.

A Storm Drake?! You've got to be kidding me… thought Dante.

"Those things ride and chase storms. Keep an eye on your radar Ike."

Ace took his ship around the next tornado and revealed an incredible wall of wind beyond it, accompanied by several turning vortexes of violently bending winds acting as a shield around it.

"I was paying attention to it. This thing slipped through my sweep." Ike replied, causing Ace's grip to tighten further on his controls.

"We're going dark." Ace declared, "We'll get to you and find our way out of the vortex. Until then, stay put and away from the water."

"Easier said than done."

"Ike-" Ace growled.

"I got it." Ike replied, his voice crackling over the mic, "Just don't blame me if we're all stuck in this mess."

And then he went silent. Everything went silent.

Ace took his ship into a climb before reaching up and hovering his hand over several switchs across the controls above him, waiting for something as he approached the nearest wall of wind.

"The rest of you..." he spoke, clearly and with authority, getting three affirmatives from the other side, "don't reactivate your engines until you've stabilized, or you'll rip your wings from your hull."

With that, the mic was cut out as he slammed the switches beneath his hand into the off position, cutting power to engines one and two, and making three and four go dark as well. The entire ship was now suspended by nothing more than metal wings in the air.

"Hold on tight you two, we're letting the storm carry us in." Ace muttered, causing both Dante and Xera to tighten their grip on their supporting handles as they began to drift.

"And they always ask me why I hate flying on aircraft…" Dante muttered, earning a chuckle form Xera.

The whole ship slowly began to turn, the direction of forward slowly pulling more and more to the left as the bullhead's nose rotated to the right. The horizontal axis was shifting slightly, following the pitch by taking a minor turn as well.

Two bullheads to the right were doing something similar, each one with windows as black as night and engines cold and devoid of light. They were entering spins as well as the wind around them all tore against the water-ridden walls.

The world shuddered around the ships as the wind and the rain slammed into the metal hull even harder, a wailing wind ripping into their hard surfaces as their spins intensified threefold. I felt as though the tail had yanked them around, throwing them into a faster spin as they passed through the tornadoes and followed their mixed currents.

An immense gray wall was all that could be seen, no sense of depth nor direction. Ace's hand hover d back over the engine switches, waiting for something to tick as he trained his eyes on his compass. Everything was shuddering and shaking violently.

But then, like clockwork, the world suddenly grew tense and silent as Ace's fingers twitched. A dull ticking sounded out, muffled by the winds yet apparent in every way. Its noise was quiet and constant. Time seemed to move agonizingly slow for Dante as he watched Ace's fingers twitch while the compass spun out of control.

Time resumed flow as the pilot suddenly slammed the switches back into upward positions and yanked the bullhead's control wheel. The engines sputtered to life instantly, firing glowing blue bursts of light into the wall of gray wind around the ship as it surged forward.

The ship crashed through the veil of wind and corrected pitch, moving from the sudden plummet toward the crashing waves below as the Bullhead climbed back up toward the center of the tornado's epicenter. The digital array suddenly filled the screen again, flicking on to show our singular blip and Ike's just ahead. The rest remained dark still.

Ace waited, turning the ship on its axis to see the wall before it.

"Do you think they-?" Dante trailed off, but his question, despite unfinished, was loud and clear.

"They'll make it." Ace replied, gloves tight on the controls.

Ten seconds felt like an eternity. Twenty felt three times that, and thirty was just unbearable. Everything felt quiet all of a sudden, despite the howling winds coming from every direction. The tension rose, lingering in the air for several seconds longer before one Bullhead suddenly crashed out of the wall of wind before them. Behind it, two more blazed behind the veil of gray, shining in blue hazes of light as they burst through as well.

Everyone had made it through.

"Congratulations... Now, how do you want to lead us out of here, Ace?" Ike asked over the mic, his blip falling back into formation on screen as they all hovered at the center of the surrounding tornado.

"We build momentum along the interior wall." Ace replied, eyeing the massive, thick, gray vortex around us, "Once we build enough, we'll throw our ships into a hard bank and break through the encapsulated tornadoes. We'll be able to build enough speed to carry us the rest of the way to the island if we time it right."

"'If' we time it right." Delta's feminine voice spoke, something of a lighter, sweeter tone, "How do you plan to time this one, Ace?"

"Sorry to break it to you man, but build too much speed and we lose our rudders. Build too little, and we get thrown into an irreversible course that'll send us straight into the water." Brado informed as well.

"Not necessarily. We also run a high chance of getting thrown into one another and igniting our engines in volatile combustions." Faux added.

"Not helping Faux..." Delta spoke out.

"Ace knows what he's going guys." Ike's voice sounded out now, cutting through in a static strain as he quieted the rest down, "But he's the only one who can time this. I trust in him, so you should do the same."

"We've always trusted him with our lives." Delta affirmed, voice going soft, "And we'll gladly keep doing that for as long as we can."

"You have our backs Ace." Brado added, "And we have yours."

"I can attest to that." Faux chipped in as well.

Ace was running calculations. His timing for a human was very impressive, his judgment moreso in such situations. If he was going to do this, his execution needed to be flawless.

"Form a line." Ace ordered, hands suddenly moving again as he checked his dials, "Everyone nose to tail, hover just short of contact. We need to stay linked as close as possible to get this right."

The ships at the right and left suddenly dipped back, and the blips onscreen fell in line behind one another before pushing forward to form a line of glowing green arrows, nearly connecting together through contact.

"I'll call out every move I take. You all do the same. And, at the end of this, remind me to buy you all drinks."

The pilot took the wheel and tensed the muscles in his arm, a small smirk forming on his face in the reflection of the glass. The chuckling over the mic was evidence as to why.

"All units, accelerate to ten knots over five seconds on my count," Ace continued, brushing his thumb over the control stick beside him, "Three… two… one… accelerate."

He slowly pushed the lever forward, timing the buildup of acceleration over five seconds to move approximately 11.5 mph. The rest did the same, none of them disconnecting whatsoever from the line that was formed.

"Take it up to 35 knots over ten seconds and adjust longitude by a negative roll of 15 degrees on my mark." Ace continued before counting down from three once more and banking the vessel slightly while increasing to just over 40 mph.

They were approaching the wide wall of the tornado now, its pulling winds becoming more apparent, shaking the hull of our ship again as we got close.

"Take it to 30 degrees now on my mark."

They were soon banking even more as we got closer.

"45 degrees on my mark."

They were at the wall now, it's gripping wind tugging at the vessel as the tip of the right wing just barely sliced into its stirring surface.

"The winds carried us into a new velocity. Take it up and accelerate to 400 knots over the next ten seconds, we'll continue from there at a gradual rate of 15 knots per second. Accelerate on my mark." Ace ordered out, all five vessels of ours remaining in a tight chain of blips on the radar as we rode as close to the wall as we could get.

The wind helped accelerate the ships even faster, adding more and more miles per hour into their gages while the knots passively went up on their own.

"Accelerate."

Ace pushed the lever forward, the Bullhead pulling into a higher acceleration that kept climbing, taking them to the 400 knots mark and beyond as they continued to climb. Ace's vessel stayed at the wall of the hurricane, all roll changes being declared before performed as he built up speed.

The ships were quickly approaching 700 knots, about 805 mph. The numbers were slowing in their climb, but they kept rising as the ships rode the winds of the innermost wall of this tornado.

The noise of the rudders shaking tore in from outside, the shaking of the wings suddenly becoming more apparent as well with each 15 knots they accelerated.

Everything was beginning to violently shake with the speeds they were achieving. The hull wouldn't take too much more of it.

"At 861 knots stop accelerating, we take a hard bank right on my mark and carry through the wall at a positive 10 degrees, then level out once through."

Ace tapped the dial of his compass and paid it special attention, keeping an eye on the cardinal directions as they approached the velocity cap he declared.

The shuddering in the wings was getting worse, and as soon as they reached 861 knots, Ace stopped accelerating and fell into a sudden focus again. The dull ticking second hand on his watch could seemingly be heard again. It was softly tapping through the tense air as the world slowed down, entering a slow crawl as the ship grazed the vortex wall with the edge of their wing.

That was when Dante watched Ace's finger twitch, tapping the edge of his wheel to the exact tick of his watch, waiting as the wind was reduced to the feeling of a gentle winter breeze.

"Mark."

The world suddenly resumed as Ace banked into the veil of wind, moving back into the currents of the tornado as he crashed into its wall and pushed right through it. He merged with the strong confines of the tornado as he leveled out before banking slightly further, countering its inward pull as he and all the other ships slipped through its outer reaches with ease.

It was then the whole bullhead violently shuddered, each wing threatening to bend and snap as we crashed through every tornado along the way. Each swirling vortex of air was split in two as they passed through, leveling out moments later as they kept pushing onward. A red glow illuminated the air above and shook the storm in a sudden thunderous roar, something that couldn't be heard in the midst of the storm before.

The island was within reach.

The ship's radar was going haywire, flicking on and off as the digital display faded and nearly disappeared. The vessel shook, shaking beneath everyone's feet as the rest of the bullhead rocked from the throws of crashing wind.

The whipping wisps of gray across the glass before the, suddenly grew thin, and before they knew it, they had crashed their way through the final layer of tornadoes and entered a stabilizing cruise just beyond the innermost layers of the entire manifestation of storms.

They had made it.

As the digital display flicked back on, four blips on the radar flew closely behind Ace's leading vessel, and before long, each one was flaring as the mics were starting to overload with calls and cheers.

Ace stayed silent, letting everything slowly simmer down as Dante noticed a significant drop in his Aura. Whatever he had done, it used a portion of his Aura to do it. But however he did it didn't matter. He got all ofthem through, that was all that mattered in the end.

No questions needed to be asked.

"Ace, we're turning the deal around, we'll be the ones to buy you the first drink tonight." Ike commented over the mic, clear relief in his voice as he laughed.

The others did as well.

"Only the first one?" Ace questioned, reducing the speed to a safe cruising velocity to get us the rest of the way to the island.

"All of them." Delta responded, getting a soft chuckle out of Ace.

"Sounds like a fun time." he replied, before flicking off engines three and four and saving their fuel for later.

"Hey, uh, sorry to break the mood here," Brado spoke up, the pitch in his voice getting abnormally high and a little shaky, "but, what the hell is that?"

"I was just about to point that out too." Ike commented.

"I need to get my eyes checked..." Faux muttered.

Before them all was a floating tear in the fabric of reality.

Above the center of the island was a Rift filled with a dark, pitch-black void of stars. The black void was full of white and blue glints of light, reaching a depth none could even conceive as everyone stared into its broken abyss. It was a jagged, vertical slit that opened through the air above the island, remaining there in a stationary silence. It ominously fluctuated ever so slightly along its gaping borders, the length of it absolutely enormous as the bottom tip of it just barely hovered over the surface of an island of spikes. The other end reached into the dark clouds above, and from it leaked a crimson energy that sparked and crackled, surging into the night sky and into the storm clouds around it.

That was the cause of the storms.

"Look as though Zeridûl's set himself up for an extended period of time. It doesn't look like he's planning to leave his dimension any time soon." Dante spoke up at Xera's side, letting go of the handle as he leaned forward toward the glass.

"If he's looking to build an army, he probably plans to stay awhile." Xera replied, "He probably doesn't expect anyone to be able to get through the storms encompassing his island."

"Well, considering we just did, he's in for a little surprise," Dante replied with a smile.

"Whatever the case," Ace cut in, lowering the altitude, "I'll be setting us down on the western shore of the island to start running repairs. That's the flattest region I can see."

"Sure thing, do what you need to." Xera responded, letting him take them down.

It was made of black ice, hardened beyond compare and seemingly unbreakable in a dark and lethally dangerous way. Spikes, spines, and spires littered its surface in every reach of its structure. Its walls were raised into icy outcrops on all sides, batting away the intense surges of water from each direction.

"The island's pitch-black... Didn't you say Zeridûl's ice was only born from Zerath's affinity, not his own power?" Dante questioned, giving me a confused glance.

"That's what I thought…" Xera replied, keeping his eyes forward as the island grew nearer.

The waves were noticeably calmer inside the storm, but they were still harsh and volatile. The air was calmer as well, considering wind wasn't tearing at the hull anymore. The only light to illuminate the island was from the crimson glow at the top of Zeridûl's rift, basking the ocean and the black reaches of the island below in the very same glow Xera and Dante remembered seeing from his red sun. The same sun that corrupted Xera's brother's mind beyond recognition and shredded every sense of his being down to the last shard of his memories.

It was back. And this time, it was real.

They descended to the far side of the island with the other bullheads following close behind, sweeping around the incredibly large landmass beneath us as Ace rotated the thrusters and touched base with the icy ground below. A few moments later, he cut the engines and opened the bullhead doors.

"If I were you, I'd take this as quickly and cautiously as possible." Ace advised, flicking off several more switches as he finished landing procedures, "We don't want to be here for long."

"Understood." Xera replied, turning to leave the cockpit with Dante.

"Alright everyone, roller coaster ride is over. Come back never." said Dante motioning everyone out of the Bullhead.

He saw Inuba staggering forward and muttering in a dazed state, almost tripping forward out of the Bullhead if Dante had not caught her.

"Woah there! You alright?" he asked.

"I'll be fine… In a few moments at least…" Inuba replied still dazed, "I think I now share your dislike for flying on aircraft…"

Dante chuckled at her statement as he steadily helped Inuba out of the aircraft and onto the island of black ice.

"Looks like you had a decent time getting through. So, do we just go through the rift?" asked Dante as he turned his head behind him towards the girl cloaked in white.

"Yes. Although I will take some extra precautions. Before you enter, I will mark you all with tethers to help guide you back through. Once Zeridûl is defeated, there is a high chance the dimension will start collapsing in on itself immediately after he has been defeated. Be careful. You will be enetering his World now. He will have full control inside compared to when in Zerath's mind."

"Yeah yeah, I got it already…"

Dante finally let go of Inuba once he was sure she could stand on her own feet again.

"Now then...lets clean up this mess."

(Omake: Counseling With an Immortal, Part 4 - by OS Worldmakers)

"Alright then... Now that you're here… Fire! Don't use it here ever again." said Bone White, the immortal counselor as he looked at the ashes of his coffee table, annoyed that in her stress, Inuba burnt it into nothing.

"I get you're under a lot of pressure, especially about Dante... But please, don't take it out on my-"

The flooring between the table disappears in a burst of white foxfire as Inuba looked at him with empty eyes.

"I'm very sorry about the furniture..." she replied in a deadpan tone.

"Sorry about the furniture my a-"

He sniffed, his face shifting into horror as he realized the rug also caught the white FoxFire. Desperately, Bone took off his shirt and tried to beat the fire out.

"I'm so sorry!" said Inuba.

She clenched her hand and the flames immediately extinguished themselves.

"Okay, your mind is on Dante, huh? First of all, let me get this out into the open. Do you realize that even his body knows you two should be together?"

His shirt went back on. But he soon realized that he didn't have a shirt anymore.

Dammit..!

"I mean, he takes a few lethal blows for you. Okay, more than a few. Like all of them. He cooks when you don't, and he pets you. So, argue why you didn't confess again?"

"Well…"

"For heaven's sake, you do realize there's something called 'polygamy', right?!"

"N-No! He mustn't! I...I want to be his one and only..!"

Bone scratched his black hair.

"And have him break the heart of his current girlfriend? Inuba...that's a bit selfish..."

"It might be to you...but...you don't understand the situation."

"And what do I not understand?" he asked looked at her, regarding her carefully.

Beautiful, yes. But she faded into the background like anyone else.

"That you also like being just a servant to Dante, because that's the closest you'd ever be? Try me."

She leaned in closely and whispered to him the current situation.

"No, no, no! I'm not talking about when you nearly went into heat when you saw Dante looking hot in swim shorts!"

"No! Not that!"

She leaned and whispered again. He listened again, frowning.

"What? Run that by me again. After seeing the original Hero of Remnant and reading chapters of Veil of Aether, I still don't know."

Yet again she leaned in and whispered to him, which was far more complex than she made it out to be at first

"Okay... Though I think you have issues if you can't explain to the reader. Eh, your choice. You'll pay for it."

He went into the kitchen, boiling some water before he turned back towards Inuba.

"Coffee or tea?"

"Tea, please."

"Green or herbal? Peppermint is nice at this time."

"Peppermint would be nice for once, thank you."

He took out a peppermint plant from the counter and picked a few choice leaves before placing them carefully in the cup and pouring hot water into them.

"No sugar or cream?"

"No thank you."

He then placed a coaster underneath the cup and slid it across the varnished table along with a napkin.

"You can enjoy the tea as I embarrass you to assess how heads over heels you are over Dante."

"Isn't your purpose to help rather than embarrass?" asked Inuba.

"This is my Omake. I do what I want with it. Not to mention doing so helps you realize a bit more about yourself. Friede may've been real deep in weird sex stuff, but he knew a bit. So...which of Dante's clothing do you like the most?"

"Do you mean what he has in general or what he usually wears?"

"Doesn't matter. Go ahead, fantasize."

"If I have to say, I do like his shirts... Back on Primoridal, whenever he was at home or anywhere in public, he wore these very humorous shirts that had puns or jokes or displayed something artistically humorous. That...and...well..."

"Still not better than no shirt at all, eh?"

"There have been occasions where I haven't seen him without a shirt..." she as her face reddened.

"And no pants, either... It's called a hot spring." he said continuing without a care in the world as he picked up a gallon of water.

"That's..! Well... I-I haven't seen anything below the waist..."

"I have no doubts in my mind whatsoever that this has happened, but if you're fantasizing about becoming one with Dante, virginity doesn't exist. Not to mention in all the times Dante has walked in on you, you haven't thought once to accidentally do the same to him? Not even peeking over the wall of the high spring to look at him, which is perfectly acceptable somehow?"

"I-I haven't! I haven't seen him once! Even if...I did try once...or five times..." she finished a bit softly as her fox ears folded against her head in embarrassment.

"You'd probably go into heat and pounce on him then, huh?"

"N-No! I would never do such a shameless thing unless..! Unless...he and I were already…"

Bone white let out a sigh as he stood up and approached one of the windows.

"In that case..."

He then opened the window and judged the distance of his target in Vale, comparing it to his own mental map.

"I'll send you to the nearest natural spring then and MAKE THIS HAPPEN PERSONALLY."

"Wait, what do you mean..?"

"Hold onto your robes, child. You'll be flying. I'll be THROWING you there. Oh, and don't worry. Dante will be there too. Unless that's not what you want...?"

"I wouldn't mind that..." she said moving her hands to her already blushing face, "Wait a moment… D-Did you say throw..?"

Bone White grabbed Inuba by the shoulders and spun once, tossing her into the air at a speed around 100 mph. He then whipped out his Scroll and sent a text to Dante

"Dark Entity at the hot springs perving on some chicks. Go get 'em."

He then saw numerous responses from the other young immortal, but ignored them.

"I should walk there to see if she properly landed in the right section of the Hot Springs…"

(Semblance Encyclopedia 5)

"Yo yo yo! It's your favorite hostess in all of Creation, Ciel! And her not as cool brother Leo!"

"H-Hey..!" said Leo.

"Relax. I was kidding. You're cool too Leo. But I...am the coolest!" said Ciel leaning into a forward lung with her right hand pointed towards the sky.

"Can you please proceed to the segment?"

"Aw, what's wrong Leo? Not feeling up to it today?"

"No, it's just that we're pressed for time. We have that certain 'thing of a thing' to do as you called it?"

"Oh yeah! That! Alright! So then, what about we talk about the Semblance of my bestest buddy in the whole of Creation Skyla?"

"Ah yes, Ms. Xerious' Semblance. A curious one might I add…"

"So here's the basic run down of it… If you've been paying attention at times whenever she's used it, it'd almost hit you like a truck! If not, I shall reveal to you her secret! Her Semblance-!"

"Is Hyper-Acceleration of particles." interrupted Leonard.

"Hey!"

"Science specific words haven't always been your forte, Ciel."

"Yes they have!"

"Really then? Can you say Hippopotoimonstrosequipeddaliophobia?" spoke the brother rapidly without botching a single word.

"Uh…"

"I figured as much. Now, you may be wondering what hyper-acceleration of particles is in ms. Xerious' case. It's actually fairly straightforward. Through touch, or through channeling through her weapon, Skyla Xerious is able to hyper-accelerate particles of her choosing to produce...explosive results."

"Ever wonder why ice cream shops blew up when my big brother went to Xera Stark's Reality last?" added Ciel.

"The answer is simple. Ice. Her ability to hyper-accelerate particles is noticibly faster when used on ice and water. It also produces bigger explosions in that regard."

"In other words, she can give you an atomic high five if your hand is wet. Or if her hands wet. Either or."

"Her control over her Semblance isn't exactly what either of us would call perfect. Hence why so many ice cream parlors have suffered explosive demises whenever she's entered the premises."

"You can say she's got an...explosive personality!"

"That was dreadful. Truly."

"Shut it. Now, you may be thinking, 'Oh, what a sweet and simple Semblance!'. It's anything but that. We're only telling you what we currently know at the moment. In fact, Leo here managed to estimate her capabilities in the future."

"I will be the first to say that ms. Xerious' Semblance is a lot more complex than it seems at the moment. And more versatile as Xera Stark has proven and will continue to prove with the copy he created of her Semblance. Of course, ms. Xerious will be the prime producer of results that we will record whenever she uses her Semblance. Whether she has issues with control or has momentary slip ups is unknown at the moment. But heed our warning carefully ladies and gentlemen… No matter how cute, cuddly, and innocent she may seem...she is very capable of destroying your entire being with only the usage of her thumb. Do not underestimate her."

"That, and she's a totally cool best friend! And an awesome pillow fort maker!"

"Ah yes, you two had a sleepover of sorts a few days ago."

"Yep. And we ruled as queens of the domain! Hahaha!"

"Yes… Well, I'm afraid that's all we have time for today. We look forward to seeing you all next time!"

"Bye bye now!"

Well well, it seems as though everyone made it to the island in once piece. But will they all be leaving in one piece? Time will tell. The true battle...begins next chapter. Don't think Xera and I left the outside all nice and toasty while the six inside the rift will be having all the fun. Oh no, the outside team will be making an effort as well. As to what that is...find out in the chapters to come.

Really, that's all I have to say, so with that...

Don't forget to check out my other new story Knights of White and Black, which is being written in conjunction with Xera Stark's story Rogue Huntsmen. It's totally awesome and definitely a new and fresh way of wrting for me. So yeah, please go check it out!

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! Bye-bye now!