"Fifteen minutes... Eidolon search?" Weiss muttered to herself as she set her Myrtenaster down on the wall opposite to the one with the projection. "Phantom? ...What a weird choice of words..."
"Maybe it's like a ghost sighting, you briefly see something you shouldn't have." Blake mused as she crouched near the projector, analysing it attentively. "Or maybe I'm just looking too deep into it."
"Maybe the guy that created this thing just liked the word." Yang said as she walked up to Blake, looking down at the small machine, then attempting to kick it weakly, only for her feet to phase through the device. "What the fuck-"
Blake waved her hand through the machine, marvelling at how the object offered no resistance, almost as if it was an illusion. "Huh, interesting..."
"What are you two doi-" Weiss interrupted herself when she saw Blake's hand go through the projector. Her eyes widened with both surprise and confusion. "What... is happening?"
"Oh, that?" Ruby looked at her friends with with a curious look on her face. She was still laying down, but her head was now dangling from the edge of the bed. "Remember when I shrieked earlier?"
"...I do, why?"
"I screamed because that thing slipped right through my hand." Ruby explained as she made some vague hand gestures. "And it's been sitting there since."
"Ugh... this is giving me a headache." Yang groaned as she sat on her bed again. "It's too much trouble trying to figure this thing out..."
Just then, a knock sounded from the door to their room, accompanied by a distinctively male voice. "Anyone home?"
"Jaune? Why's he here?" Ruby wondered out loud, her head still hanging down from the edge of the bed. "Oh yeah! We promised we'd practice together since today's a day off!"
"I'll go get the door!" She said as she practically jumped off her bed and made her way to the door.
Yang muttered a sure while the other two just nodded as Weiss went back to her thoughts and Blake and Yang went back to their beds and pulled out their scrolls.
"Hey guys, good morning!" Ruby greeted as she opened the door and saw team JNPR standing there.
"Sup." Yang greeted the group with a brief peace sign, looking up at them for a moment before returning her gaze to her scroll.
Blake only gave them a curt nod while Weiss was too focused on her thoughts to even notice the JNPR four.
"Good morning!" Nora greeted the RWBY team leader with a cheerful grin as she rode on Ren's shoulders. "We came to pick you up, since we're gonna train together!"
"Good morning." Ren greeted, stoic as ever, but a faint smile could be seen as Nora patted his head just because.
"Good morning, Ruby." Pyrrha spoke with a soft, yet confident smile as she waved her hand briefly.
"Hi, good morning." Jaune said in a warm tone as he rested his dominant hand on Crocea Mors. "I hope we didn't catch you at a bad time."
"Sorry guys, I know we promise to do some joint training today, but..." Ruby trailed off as she glanced back at the pitch black wall with a stark white counter on it. "Something came up last minute..."
Before she could explain further, however, a mechanical voice sounded from the middle of the room.
Additional life signals detected.
Analysing. . .
Analysis complete.
Life signals compatible.
Eidolon search time reduced.
[12:39]
[8:12]
[8:11]
"That. That came up." Ruby sighed and pointed at the projector that sat undisturbed in the middle of the room.
The others from team RWBY turned their heads to look at the count down before turning to face Jaune's team, then going back to the screen.
"This thing just keeps getting add-ons." Yang muttered in a mix of annoyance, resignation and curiosity before sighing and pocketing her scroll. "I wish we had an user manual for it."
Team JNPR looked at the device with varying expressions. Jaune furrowed his brows in utter beffudlement. Pyrrha looked at it with an expression akin to innocent curiosity. Ren just corked an eyebrow, and Nora expressed child-like wonder and interest.
"Ooh, what's that?" Nora asked as she climbed down Ren's shoulder and approached the door frame to peek inside the room.
"We're... not really sure." Ruby explained as she took a few steps back while gesturing for them to come in. "It looks like a projector, but it doesn't work like one, at all..."
"Any idea where it came from?" Jaune asked as he entered after everyone else had, his head turned to his fellow team leader as he closed the door behind him.
"I had ordered some new parts for Crescent Rose, and that thing arrived instead." Ruby told him as she sat down on her bed again. "Aside from that, we know the bare mininum."
The blonde boy just hummed in understanding as he turned to look at the count down and saw that the timer was ending. Everyone else seemed to notice it too as most of them settled down, with each team sitting on one of the beds opposite to the screen, i.e. Blake's and Ruby's beds.
[00:03]
[00:02]
[00:01]
[00:00]
Eidolon found.
Now displaying:
Star-crossed travelers: The Silver Moon and the Golden Sun
"Great, we're continuing from where we left off!" Ruby cheered happily as she pumped her fists "Let's go!"
"Huh, so it's like we," Pyrrha looked at Team RWBY as she gestured to her own group, who were sitting on Blake's bed, with an inquisitive expression. "Are watching a movie blindly, but we missed the first half?"
"Basically, yeah." Yang nodded as she chuckled softly "Though we also started off missing at least two prequels."
"That is... unfortunate."
"It is, yeah..."
"Let's get this over with, Adam!" Rose's shout pierced through the room as the screen faded into the image of her running at the Shouki no Kami, electricity crackling around her body.
"I'll make you bow before me, worm!" Adam laughed maniacally as The Prodigal stomped its feet on the ground, causing overlapping areas of frost and brimstone, causing steam to rise up and block Rose's view.
An holographic vine shot from amidst the fog, latching onto the artificial deity's arm and pushing it down while Ruby rocketed out of the mist towards Adam.
"Woo! I don't know who that is, but go kick his ass, Ruby!" Nora cheered Rose on, pumping her fists into the air as she did so.
"Straigth into the action, huh?" Jaune mused with an amused smile. "Did we miss the talking or was it all hands the entire time?"
"The former" Ruby clarified as she leaned forward slightly, her eyes not leaving the screen. "But there was a bit of fighting near the end."
Jaune quietly hummed in understanding while Ren kept Nora's mouth busy with a few light snacks.
"Surprise!" She laughed as she flew through the air and struck right at the construct's front arm joint, causing it to creak slightly, but otherwise, stay intact.
In answer to her attack, The Shouki no Kami threw her into the air once more before sending a cutting edge of wind at her with a movement of its arm.
Rose conjured a large sphere of compressed air in front of her to meet the cutting wind. Both elemental powers clashed, and the resulting tailwind was enough to keep her afloat.
"What happened to your bravado?" Adam mocked as he ran towards her and sent her flying to the wall with a devastating right hook. The impact almost caused the wall to crumble in on itself as a large dust cloud hid Rose's body.
The electricity that surrounded her body faded as she hacked and coughed, blood coming out of her mouth. With some effort, she stood up again with unsteady feet and looked at the artifical god, leaning on her weapon for support.
"Damn!" Yang and Jaune exclaimed at the same time, the former wincing at the blow Rose received, while the latter brought his fist to his mouth and inhaled sharply.
"That was a nasty punch, fucking god..." The blonde girl commented hushedly as she massaged her knuckles subconsciously.
"Ruby, no!" Nora called out is panic, her hands gripping onto Ren's shoulders tightly and almost painfully as she looked at the screen from behind the stoic man.
"Ow..." Ruby muttered as she shrunk in on herself and massaged her arms. "I felt that in me..."
"Farewell, Traveler." Adam spoke condescendingly as a swirl of wind, fire and thunder formed in the Shouki no Kami's hands. "I won't remember you."
Just when he was about to launch his attack, Penny rushed into the battlefield, standing in front of Rose and drawing Adam's attention to her instead.
"Oh, what do we have here?" The elements in The Prodigal's hands vanished as it reached out to grab the God of Wisdom, who didn't even try to react and just kept staring at the machine with an impassive gaze.
"This was supposed to be a battle between gods,"The protective plates on the construct opened with a hiss, revealing Adam once more, he had a serious expression on his face as he spoke. "Yet you chose to hide behind a mortal..."
"And now," A mocking smile formed on his face as he glared at the helpless goddess dangling in front of him. "You're acting like you'd sacrifice yourself for a human."
"Are you having fun proving a false sense of heroism to yourself, Buer?" Adam asked as he drove a lighting coated fist into her chest, piercing it. "I'll be having your Gnosis."
"Is that someone you know?" She asked Ruby and her team as she took in and commited it to memory.
"That's Penny, we met her a few weeks ago." Ruby told JNPR about how they befriended the excitable girl. "She's not small like a child in our world, though."
"I see..." The redhead hummed in understanding, a small smile gracing her lips. "She seems like a nice girl."
"She is!" Ruby nodded in agreement, smiling widely. "She even helped us when we first met!"
Ren quietly let Nora, who at some point sat herself on the ground in front of the black-haired boy, hold onto his arms as they watched the screen, one with a blank face, and one with that was anything but that.
"No..." Ruby muttered as she tried to take a step forward, only to fall to the ground powerlessly, her Crescent Rose accompanying her with a loud 'clang'.
"The data collection is almost complete." Penny spoke calmly as she raised her hand and placed it on Adam's arm, her demeanor was serene, as if she didn't have a hand going through her chest.
"Do you even know..." The young goddess spoke, her eyes glowing with power as the very air around them fractured into glass-like shards. "How many times you tried to take my Gnosis from me?"
Various moments of Adam's interactions with the traveler and Buer flashed on the shards that formed the reality they were in, converging in a flash back to the moment they began to talk before their fight.
Then, the world shattered around them, and Adam found himself staring down at Buer and Rose, who was uninjured, just as she had been before their confrontation.
"This concludes the 168th loop." Penny said as she looked at Rose, who looked confused for a brief moment, but quickly melted into understanding as she nodded and looked back at Adam.
"Did you know that, in the effort to create you," The God of Wisdom asked as she stepped forward, bringing one hand to her chest as she looked at him in the eyes. "The people of Sumeru were forced to live the same number of Sabzerus Festivals and Samsara cycles?"
"Ooh, a time loop," Yang smirked as she leaned against the wall, her finger twitched, craving the presence of something to snack on. "Now that's a plot twist I didn't see coming."
"168 times... Wait." Ruby's eyes widened in realization and her body perked up the moment she processed what Penny said. "There was more than one time loop there?!"
"So there were at least two separate loops that happened at different times..." Weiss pondered, one hand crossing her torso as the other moved to her chin. "And if we consider that 'Sabzerus Festival' to be one day long, then..."
"...It means the people of that nation were stuck in a loop for at least 168 days." Blake completed the heiress' line of reasoning, a flash of disgust and disbelief passing through her otherwise blank face. "Which is just under half a year at the very least."
"On top of that, considering that Penny had said the Shouki no Kami wasn't fully complete," The white haired girl sighed, looking slightly troubled, but with a quick shake of her head, she returned to her usual self. "Had Ruby and Penny not interfered, the number of days would've been much higher..."
"...Fuck that guy!" Nora shouted suddenly after a moment of tense silence, her hands curled into fists, the only reason they weren't flailing around was because Ren was holding her wrists in place. "Ruby kick his ass!"
"The power of dreams...?" Adam muttered to himself in confusion. "When did you use it on me...?"
Then, a single moment came to his mind, when both Buer and the traveler first came face to face with the Shouki no Kami, Buer had used her power to reach out to him.
"Was it then...?" He mused quietly to himself as he devolved into arrogant laughter.
"You can't even defeat me in a dream." He smirked as looked down upon them, confident in his newfound divinity. "What do you hope to achieve with this little trick?"
"Come, Traveler, just like before" Penny didn't bother to respond to his taunt as she turned to face Rose, a golden glow forming on her hand as she extended it towards the scythe wielder. "Allow me to awaken the memories in your dreams."
The golden light concentrated into a solid crystal of the same color, which Rose didn't hesitate to put her hand over. Once she did, knowledge flowed into her mind like a river, the experience of her countless battles against The Prodigal were acclimated into her body and mind.
"It's more than just battle experience." the Lesser Deity explained as her eyes shone with a soft green glow. "'Compile everyone's knowledge in the name of the Archon'"
"Nice going, Penny!" Ruby smiled. "I knew I could count on you!"
"That's basically a training montage in..." Yang trailed off, her amused smirk turning into a unsure frown. "...Liquid form?"
That drew a chuckle from the more outgoing people in the room, as well as a faint, amused smile from both Ren and Blake.
"Compile knowledge..." Weiss muttered quietly to herself, not even paying attention to her teammate's antics, but instead, on something else. "Like a library sanctioned by her...?"
The image transitioned to show a marketplace full of people that, despite being busy selling, buying and bartering just moments ago, were now all with their eyes closed and their hands touching the green device that sat on their right ears.
"That is the original function of the Akasha."
A young man with black hair with green highlights was shown, sitting inside what seemed to be an enclosed garden. On his head sat two long fox-like ears, and behind him, a bushy tail swished.
"I've sent everything that happened just now-"
Next, a young adult resembling an older Lie Ren was shown, his hair was a dull grey, but the rest of his features were undeniably that of Nora's long-time partner. He was wandering through an desertic area with lots of withered vegetation.
"Look, Ren!" Nora chirped excitedly, her eyes shining as she pointed at the figure onscreen. "It's you on screen!"
"Looking good, dude." Jaune said, half-jokingly as he gave the black-haired boy's shoulder.
"Grey hair does look good on you." Pyrrha complimented Ren with a small nod.
"-To the people of Sumeru in the form of knowledge."
Soon after, Velvet was shown, looking much more confident in herself. Not much was shown of where she was, all that was known is that it had plenty of vegetation and that she seemed to be inside a marble structure.
"Ooh, Velvet looks so pretty in that outfit!" Ruby admired the outfit the rabbit faunus was wearing, and how it contrasted with her dark hair.
"Gotta say, Velvet's much more attractive when she's confident in herself." Yang opined with a low chuckle. "Maybe I should help her with that."
"I've asked them... to help you find a way to defeat the false god."
Lastly, a mature woman with jet-black hair and blood-red eyes was shown sitting on the edge of a building's roof as she released a crow onto the air. In the sky behind her, a flock of ravens flew into the distance.
"Now, all of Sumeru's knowledge is at your disposal."
Finally, the image returned to Penny's visage, who looked deeply into Rose's own as the golden crystal in her hand faded away, completely absorbed into the traveler's psyche.
"So the Akasha is a collective of all the nation's wisdom..." Weiss hummed in understanding. "...It's a huge database that anyone can access."
"Maybe those sages Penny mentioned took control of it and controlled the what the populace was allowed to know?" Blake suggested as she glanced at Weiss.
"ugh..." Pyrrha groaned, her mind flashing back to all the scummy politicians she had the displeasure to meet. "Corrupt management..."
"Meaningless tricks won't work on me!" Adam shouted as the plates on the Shouki no Kami closed shut around him. Electricity surged from the artifical God, striking the ground with such force that it collapsed upon impact.
Rose, with a level of finesse she didn't have before, used the debris to jump down to the lower floor safely and without injury.
"Are you finished with your little acrobatics show?" He asked in both arrogance and contempt as the Shouki no Kami completed itself. "Can I finally take this as a real battle between gods?
"Mhm, I'll leave the rest to you." Penny nodded as she floated a safe distance away from the false god, her entire body glowing with green energy as holographic flowers bloomed around her.
"The First Sage of Buer."
Rose nodded confidently as she stepped forward and summoned Crescent Rose in her right hand, the weight of her weapon feeling both familiar and alien at the same time. While she was adept with the scythe before, now, it felt like she could use to its fullest potential.
"Ooh, Ruby looks so cool like that!" Nora said excitedly, her energy showing in the large grin she was wearing on her face.
"Yeah, Nora's right, you look badass there, Rubes." Yang nodded in agreement to her friend's statement.
"Stop, you're making me blush..." Ruby muttered as she blushed softly, a shy and fond smile appearing on her face.
So, she smirked and swung Crescent Rose to her side as she walked towards the false god. Yellow scale-like crystals formed on her arms and under her eyes as rose vines grew around her wrists and forehead, before blooming beutifully with blood-red roses.
"For real this time," She announced as she rushed in the direction of The Prodigal, rose petals and sparks following her trail. "Let's get this over with!"
"I will be the one to prevail!" The Artificial Deity slammed its fist into the ground, causing a surge of water to spread across the entire entire floor as it froze at an rapid pace, ice spikes sprouting from the frozen areas.
Rose skillfully dodged the spikes as she made her way to the gigantic machine, using the ice itself to maneuver around it and cutting down anything she couldn't dodge.
The ice behind her turned to snow and followed her as she moved forward, creating an avalanche that slowly increased in size and speed as time went on.
The Shouki no Kami raised its other hand and launched a volley of sharpened stone arrowheads at her.
Rose didn't slow down as she deflected as many of the projectiles as she could. However, even with her current battle ability, many of the arrowheads passed through her defenses, leaving numerous shallow cuts all over her body.
"Damn it, too slow." She muttered to herself as the snow engulfed her just as she was about to strike The Prodigal's arm. The cold powder hit her body with the force of a freight-train, dragging her away from the machine forcefully.
Adam laughs maniacally as the artificial deity's hands rose over its head, and a swirl of fire rose from the shifting pile of snow, melting it instantly and revealing Rose once more.
She was lifted into the air as the fire tornado grew in intensity as the skin that wasn't covered by scales burned and blistered as whatever trace amounts of cloth and fabric in her outfit burned away into cinders.
Wind gathered around her scythe's blade as it began to glow a soft teal, and, with difficulty, she swung Crescent Rose, releasing a powerful gale that pierces through the flames, dissipating them and displacing the suffocating heat, allowing the air to cool down slowly.
A green glow enveloped her wounds as she fell, her blisters bubbled and sizzled before disappearing in steam, leaving behind unblemished skin that was still pink and sensitive to the touch.
The holographic flowers on her wrists wilted and burst into green light after her injuries were healed, leaving only dried out brambles on her arms.
The scythe wielder landed gracefully on her feet as The Prodigal launched a flurry of ice shards in her direction.
She dashed to the side, lightning coating her body as she practically became a blur on the ground. She zapped around the battlefield, zig-zaging around the projectiles and leaving a stream of electricity in her wake.
The machine god moved with surprising agility for something its size, and approached Rose's moving figure in the matter of seconds.
"Caught you, vermin." Adam said as it swung its leg at her, its leg connecting with her scythe as she brought it up in front of her, sending her flying to the ceiling of the building.
Moments before she crashed onto stone, she summoned a gust of wind behind her to slow herself down and let her fall down to the ground again.
While still in freefall, she let the gales running up her body to coalesce around her feet before exploding, stopping her momentum completely.
Before she began to fall once more, she repeated the process, and moved towards the false god, essentially walking on thin air.
Once she was close enough, she raised Crescent Rose, its edge covered with bright violet crystals, and, with sonic speeds, cut through its frontal right shoulder joint, not quite deeply enough to sever it, but still enough to inutilize the limb.
Her trajectory didn't stop, however, and she, much like her last attempt at a similar move, crashed into the ground, kicking up a sizeable cloud of dust.
"Nice, it worked this time." Rose muttered to herself as she hopped out of the crater she made with her body, the orange scale-like crystals cracking and falling down, exposing her unharmed skin underneath.
Adam gritted his teeth as he conjured electric energy through the Shouki no Kami's functional frontal arm and unleashed it onto the air above the both of them.
"Life is a continuous cycle that often repeats itself." He spoke as the elements above them coalesced together, slowly taking shape. The culmination of the divine knowledge obtained by him. "Destruction is but transient, after all."
"Setsuna Shoumetsu..." (Ephemeral Extinction) The very air shattered, revealing a starry night sky, tinged purple with electricity, while six stars, arranged into an hexagon, shone brighter than any other. "Initiated."
"Woah, he had that in his sleeves all along?!" Yang moved to the edge of the bed and leaned on her knees, her eyes wide with surprise.
"Ugh..." Blake frowned as her body shivered slightly, all the hairs on her body standing on end, as if suddenly hit with static. "I can practically feel the electricity coming from that..."
Yang gently patted the faunus' back, helping the girl relax as Blake nuzzled closer to her, purring softly against her shoulder.
"That's a terrifying sight..." Jauned murmured as he looked at the screen in both awe and fear.
"You were..." A crater on the ground formed under the sky fragment as Rose grunted and struggled to keep herself standing under the intense pressure it imposed onto her and the surrounding area. "...Hiding that all along?"
The sound of a bell rung through the room as a thin line connected the two topmost stars together, causing the floor to further cave unto itself.
"Elemental Synergy," Rose exhaled softly as she let her own power run loose, lessening the external strain on her body.
She let go of Crescent Rose, letting it fade away in a shower of golden light as her hand glowed a warm Amber color. A semi-translucent pommel formed inside her grip, quickly building itself outwards before ending in a curved blade, a war scythe.
Thunder then flowed into the scythe, turning its handle into a deep purple, while its blade became a striking violet. "Crysanthemum."
"That looks so cool!" Ruby gushed over the scythe her counterpart was handling, her eyes shining with curiosity. "I wish I had that scythe too..."
"...It's a war scythe, Ruby." Weiss spoke calmly as she glanced over at the excited girl. "You can make one too, you know?"
"Really!?" Team RWBY's leader almost squealed at the heiress' words as she leaned in closer to Weiss.
"Yes, Ruby, really." The white haired girl couldn't help but smile faintly at her leader's joy, a small, almost imperceptible crack on the mask of superiority she had put on. "I can send you some different designs later."
"Thank you, Weiss!" Ruby smiled wide and warmly as she tried to hug the girl, only for Weiss to keep Ruby at an arm's length. "You're the best!"
She swung the weapon to her side before bursting forward in a blur of motion, leaving a shallow cut on the Shouki no Kami's left leg before Adam could react.
As she slowed down into a walk behind the machine god, she gasped for air as her entire body felt like it was being pierced by countless needles a thousand times over. She could barely stop herself from doubling down in pain as she stumbled forward, her grip on her weapon almost slipping.
"Damn it..." Rose chuckled painedly as she started to run again, albeit at an slower pace than before. "My body can't handle that just yet..."
A bell rung once more, and small pebbles began to float a few inches above the ground, while electricity began to arc in thin lines between it and the sky fragment above.
Pillars of stone and ice sprouted from the ground, surrounding the Shouki no Kami and preventing the scythe wielder from approaching it.
Sliding to a stop, Rose swung Crysanthemum, scratching the ground and sending a large root towards the spires, creating a bridge for her to use.
When she reached the top, she was met with a strong gust that threatened to send her flying had her not sunk her weapon into the stone to keep herself grounded. Her victory was short-lived, however, as fire and ice converged around The Prodigal, causing steam to explode outwards, blocking her sight and pushing her away.
The bell rung a third time as a wave of frost-laden wind passed through Rose, dissiapating the cloud that obstructed her vision while also causing her body to drop in temperature drastically.
'What the-?!' Her muscles and nerves locked up as they cooled, leaving her unable to move her body at all, her hand painfully grasping at her scythe as she fell to the ground, her body being unable to support its weight in the position its in. 'Thermal shock?'
For the fourth time, the bell rung, and Rose tried to make her respond to her commands, to no avail. Pain coursed through every corner of her body as she continued to struggle.
"Keep struggling, mortal." Adam mocked as he turned his attention away from her and onto the celestial fragment above them. "Your death will be insignificant either way."
"Not... yet..." She spoke through forcibly gritted teeth as she forced electricity to flow through her figure once more, this time, without trying to control it. She felt her insides heat up and burn as the constant string of shocks coursed through it, liberating the cold-locked muscles and forcibly contracting them instead.
As soon as she let loose, she contained the thunder once more, now able to move again. She readied Crysanthemum, its blade shining brighter than ever as she crouched down.
"Everything led up to this one moment..." The last bell rung and the constellation was completed. The Prodigal's hand curled into a fist as it slammed it to the ground. The sky followed suit, crashing down onto everyone that stood under it. "With this... my new 'self' will be complete!"
Rose crouched, her legs straining with electricity as she readied her weapon for one last strike. Crysanthemum's blade shone with a multicolor light, teal, purple and amber blending together yet remaining distinct at the same time.
"One last shot..." She spoke as she burst towards the Shouki no Kami in a shower of sparks. "Gotta make it count."
Her skin charred and her hair singed as the skyfall grew closer to her. Breathing became difficult, just as moving her limbs did. Blood dripped down her nose and eyes as she swung her scythe, cutting open the false god's torso. "Fall already, Adam!
Soon after, she was sucked into the Setsuna Shoumetsu for a brief moment, barely even a second long before The Prodigal's power began to fade. As the fake sky disappeared into crystalline shards of amethyst, Rose fell to the ground like a skipping stone, bouncing off of the floor several times before stopping once she crashed onto the wall.
"You did well, Ruby." Penny spoke in a gentle and soothing tone as she hovered one of her hands over the Traveller's burned figure. Flowers bloomed in the area surrounding the both of them as Rose's injuries slowly began to heal. "Rest for now, I'll take care of the rest."
"Humans..." Adam seethed as he failed to make his mechanical body respond to his commands. It instead slumped to its knees, its energy flow so damaged it could no longer keep itself standing. "Filthy humans..."
"Wow, got his shit rocked and he's still talking smack?" Yang held back a laugh as she smirked. "That guy doesn't when to give up."
"Kinda reminds me of how Cardin tends to act." Jaune added with an amused smile. "Pushing the blame onto others and all."
"I can see it now," Pyrrha chuckled softly as she gazed fondly at her leader. Quietly, she moved closer to him, enjoying the proximity between them.
The God of Wisdom calmly floated up to the torso of the Shouki no Kami, one hand outstretched as a flow of green energy reached deep into the machine's core, grasping the Gnosis within.
"No!" He shouted as he felt the foreign energy start to intertwine with the divine energy contained within the Shouki no Kami. He reached out to Penny, struggling against the wires that bound him to the false god as he did so. "Wait!"
"Please!" He pleaded as the wires began to tear, yet he continued to push himself forward, desperation fueling his actions. "Anything but the Gnosis!"
"That's mine!" His pleas however, went unanswered by the Lesser Lord as she continued to extract the object from the construct's core. "Don't even try!"
"I wonder why he's so obsessed over the Gnosis..." Weiss mumbled as she crossed one of her arms under her chest.
"I'd wager he has a personal connection to it." Blake chirps in. "I think he may be related to the God that first owned it."
"Maybe his creator is the woman we saw playing with that doll of him" The white haired girl theorized.
"Maybe, but I don't think we'll get the confirmation here." The faunus girl sighed, feeling bummed out that she was forced to wait to even have the chance to discover anything related to the scene on the screen.
Despite her current closeness, Penny felt to him as if she was an insurmountable distance away, that no matter how much he tried, he'd still be unable to ever reach her. But even then, he didn't stop his attempts to close the gap between them. Because, no matter how futile his attempts may be, he can't simply give up the gnosis after he had finally obtained it, not after he had finally attained the method to discard his ugly, small, and imperfect self.
"I'll never..." The wires on his back are snapping one by one, but he doesn't care about them right now, he wants, needs to reach Penny, he needs to stop her from taking the one thing that can make him whole. "I'll never go back!"
Adam pushed further, he was so close, he couldn't lose everything now, he couldn't-
The tubes connecting him to the Shouki no Kami snapped, and he began to fall to the ground. He didn't do anything but close his eyes as he fell, feeling a sense of futility in his actions. Nothing would change no matter what he did, he had lost, and the gnosis was taken from him. There was nothing he could do to change that outcome, and that fact filled him with an emptiness that enveloped his entire being.
And so, he crashed onto the ground unceremoniously as the screen turned black once more.
'Stubborn until the end...' Blake thought, reminiscing about her past for a quick second before shaking her head.
"Is this it?" Nora asked, tilting her head slightly. "Did it end?"
"I think so." Jaune said as he stood up and stretched his body, groaning softly as he did so.
"The timer didn't appear again, though..." Ruby frowned slightly as she looked at the black screen. "Maybe-"
"Oh?" A male voice pierced through the room, its tone amused, yet with a cold edge that sent shivers up everyone's spine.
"It seems my most recent... 'experiment', failed." The voice chuckled. "Not that it matters, really. I already got what I wanted."
"...And he was already reaching his expiration date anyways." With that, the timer appeared on the screen once more.
[14:59]
"Yep, there it is." Ruby then smiled, gesturing one hand at the timer. "Now we're finished."
"Did anyone here recognize that voice, by the way?" Yang asked as she looked at her friends. "Because I sure didn't."
Her question was met with a chorus of denials, causing her to hum softly as she stood up.
"Imma go drink some water." The blonde girl said non-chalantly as she walked to the kitchen. Ozpin had added them recently to every dorm, saying that future hunters and huntresses should be able to at least cook for themselves, which was bullshit if you asked her. "Anyone want something?"
"Oh, pancakes!" Nora requested cheerfully, her mouth already starting to water at the thought of the sugary treat.
"Nora. no." Ren immediately shot her proposal down as he cast a disapproving glance in her direction, causing her to quiet down, pouting dejectedly. "You already ate pancakes today."
Jaune and Pyrrha laughed at their teammates' antics, and the redhead blushed softly as she slowly inches her hand towards Jaune's, her heart beating wildly inside her chest.
"When do you think those two will become an item?" Ruby asked hushedly as she leaned close to Blake, a knowing smile forming on her face.
"Somewhere along this year, I bet." Blake answered in an equally quiet tone, her ears twiching ever so slightly under her bow as she opened her book again.
"Well, since it's our first day of summer break," Jaune turned to face his friends as he pointed to the projector. "Should we just keep watching whatever that thing comes up with?"
"If Ruby and her team let us, of course." He adds as he glances at the weapon nut herself.
"The more the merrier!" Ruby nodded as she smiled brightly.
"What Rubes said!" Yang exclaimed as she returned from the kitchen with a glass of water in her hand.
"...fine by me." Blake spoke without even looking up from her book. She had curled up in her usual spot again and focused on her reading.
"I don't see why not." Weiss said as she pulled out her scroll and began searching through some files. She was sure there were some entries about different types of scythes in the Schnee's library, she just had to find it.
"Yay, movie day!" Nora cheered and giggled as Ren tried to hold her body still, to not much success, only managing to keep her in place.
"Settle down, would you?" He asked as he pat the the excitable girl's head, causing her to snuggle up closer to him.
"They're together." Jaune muttered to Pyrrha as he side eyed the red-head.
"Definitely together." Pyrrha agreed, blushing softly and feeling somewhat jealous that Nora was bold enough to be so intimate with someone else around other people.
While nobody paid attention to the clock, it continue to tick down silently, second by second.
[11:32]
[11:31]