Blades of Remnant

by Novice4129

With the first semester over and with their Blades. Team RWBY is ready to tackle Beacon, and possibly the world as Huntresses-in-training and as Drivers.

74. Chapter 73

AN: I just wrote this however long I liked. I knew how far I wanted this to go, but I still didn't expect to get over 14000 words. A personal record for me. One that I hope that I won't break again. Mostly because I'm not sure my dear readers appreciate this kind of length. Well, as long as you enjoy, that's all that matters.

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Rescue Pyra Complete the Mission

"Hragh!" Rex shouted as he slammed the deactivated Aegis Sword against the metal door that locked them into the circular stone cell. But the weapon bounced off of the barrier that was in front of it.

"Rex, stop it already," Ruby said with a sad look.

"Ruby is right," Azurda said from Rex's helmet, "You're just wasting your strength."

"But they're planning to destroy Pyra!" Rex protested as he tried again, but the result was still the same.

Weiss let out a sigh, "Wulfric and Dragunov couldn't break through, what makes you think you can?"

The two Blades in question were standing next to a wall, both frustrated at their inability to break out.

"The stone doesn't respond to my will either," Wulfric added in, as he took his hand off the surface.

"So much for Earth Mastery," Dragunov growled. The gang had been here long enough for Dragunov, Wulfric, Roc and Yang to regain consciousness.

"It's something about this-" "I wasn't complaining to you," Dragunov interrupted as he raised his palm. Sure enough, he still couldn't make a flame.

"The flow of ether seems to be completely cut off from this room," Dromarch said as he looked to the walls that had glowing green line circling this room, "And the walls and floor are built to withstand great force."

Rex looked towards Roc and Nox, "Can't you two use your Lockpicking to get us out of here?"

"On what lock?" Roc asked with a bird equivalent of a frown, "Do you see a lock on that door?" True to Roc's words, the door that kept them all here had no lock or any other kind of opening. Furthermore, when they were brought in, the thing slid down from the ceiling.

"And this room is indeed sturdy," Aizen said with a small frown, "I doubt our brutes could break us out easily even at their full power."

"…Hit me Dragunov," Yang then said.

"What?" Came out of most people. Mòrag, her Blades, Tora and Poppi were in the middle of their own conversation.

"If I get beat up enough, I should be able to bust us out of here." The blonde explained with a determined look.

"You want me to beat you up until you have the strength to break out of here?" Dragunov asked with a look of disbelief.

"Yeah, so get to it, I can take it," Yang said, bracing herself.

"Yang, no," Weiss said, "There's no guarantee that you can take enough hits to break us out before you get crippled."

"What other choice do we have?!" Yang complained with red eyes, "Dust doesn't work in this room for some reason, otherwise we would've probably heard Nora blasting out by now."

"And if Blade powers don't work, then I doubt she could get zapped," Qrow also added in.

"But there has to be something we can do," Ruby said, beginning to worry for JNPR and Oscar who were put into different cell, "I mean…who knows what's happening to the others."

"Look if we think about this calmly…grr." Nia began before turning to Tora, and Mòrag, "Hey you lot! Would you give us a bloody hand around here?"

"Your efforts are pointless," Mòrag said simply, earning gawking looks, "The way they built this place…It's essentially one giant stasis web."

"Stasis web…Like the nets you used in Torigoth." Nia exclaimed.

"And by Uraya," Dagas added in with a frown, "Besides, to lock Drivers with their Blades, and leave the Remnans with their weapons…They must be confident that we cannot escape."

"Indeed," Mòrag said to Dagas' deduction, "Perhaps we could break free given enough time. But by then it will be too late and the Aegis would be disposed of."

"That's all the more reason we should get out fast," Blake added in, getting a little frustrated at Mòrag sounding like she had given up.

"It's use-" "For Architect's sake," Aizen said, getting frustrated, which was a rare occurrence, "If we are in such a hurry then would you kindly get to the part where you put your escape plan into action?"

This earned a surprised look from Mòrag, before it turned into a smile, "How long did you know?"

"Since you wanted us to surrender," Aizen spoke up, "I found it strange that a high-ranking member of Ardainian military would simply give up without any kind of resistance."

Mòrag chuckled, "I see you are a man of frightening intellect. Very well. Tora, if you would."

"Muehhehhee," Tora chuckled almost like a mad scientist.

On a balcony of the palace overlooking Theosoir, Zeke was in deep thought.

"So, what now, my prince?" Pandoria asked.

"This pisses me right off," Zeke said after a moment of pause.

"Come again?"

"I said I'm pissed off," Zeke said with a scowl, " Doing it for the world my arse. How self-serving can you get?"

"How d'you mean?"

"This country is strangling itself to death with its own web of lies and excuses. But maybe…just maybe our chum could break it free."

"Rex could?" Pandoria dead-panned.

Zeke let out a melancholic chuckle, "No faith eh?"

"Hey, whatever. If you believe in him, my prince, then I'm with you all the way," Pandoria said reassuringly.

"That kid's heart is pure. Too pure for his own good sometimes. But isn't it our duty as adults to give him a hand with that?"

"Probably," Pandoria said before smiling, "You know, this is what I like about you."

Zeke smiled at his Blade before frowning a little, "This won't be easy."

"Oh quit with the drama. When is anything ever easy with you?" Pandoria said with a smirk.

Zeke let out a laugh, "Let's go."

With that, the two moved back inside.

Meanwhile, in the cell that JNPR and Oscar occupied, Nora was glaring at the door, willing it to open.

"Why is Nora glaring at the door like it has wronged her?" Penny asked innocently.

"Cause it has," Nora said, not taking her eyes off the door that wouldn't even get dented by Magnhild.

"For once I am disappointed that she cannot wreak havoc like she always does," Otohime said with a sigh.

"So, this room is completely devoid of ether?" Ren asked his Blade again.

"Indeed," Otohime replied, "The lack of ether is…unnerving."

"How did you cope in Remnant before ether started showing?" Ren then asked.

"…The presence of water Dust gave me some comfort," Otohime replied before turning to Talos, "So you cannot use your Earth Mastery here?"

"I'm not sure if it's that I can't or if the stone here doesn't respond to my will," Talos replied as he ran his hand across the stone wall.

"What concerns me is that Dust doesn't work here either," Ozpin said, having been granted control, "As I recall at the battle of Haven, the machine that sapped Ether wasn't working on Dust. So why is Tantalese technology affecting it?"

"Perhaps our ether supply is cut through different means," Joana theorized, "Either way, I fear that we cannot escape on our own."

"If we can't escape then Pyra will be…" Jaune said, clenching his hands into fists as he did, "No. We can't lose another friend."

"Yeah, but how are we getting through," Nora asked, deciding to give up her staring contest by turning to her team mates.

"According to my calculations, master's strength is insufficient to break out," Kos-Mos piped up.

"I just don't get why Mòrag would just give up without a fight like that," Electra said with a downcast look.

As a debate about why Mòrag gave up without a fight was springing up, Talos was staring at the door. Unlike this room of stone, that was made of metal. Then he looked at his palm that had red ether lines, which turned blue gradiently as they moved from his wrist to his arm. The metallic hand clenched into a fist. "Pyrrha…lend me your strength." Talos thought as he moved right in front of the door. Then he crouched down so that it would look like he was grabbing the door by the bottom to those behind him. Even if they were a little too busy in arguing to notice. Then he focused, and the red lines began glowing black and his eyes glow shifted to green. A glow that he could tell was now faintly on the door. And then he began lifting. From outside it would look like Talos was lifting the door with his hands, but instead he was simply doing the motion of lifting. Soon the noise of something being forcibly lifted drew the attention of the rest of the prisoners.

"Talos! How are you doing that?" Jaune asked, as the metal door was being forcibly lifted up to the ceiling.

"Who cares! We're getting out of here!" Nora cheered.

"Move! Quickly!" Talos shouted, and team JNPR and Oscar began running out. Although Oscar was in slight awe at Talos lifting the heavy door so he took a look at Talos' hands which allowed him to see that the normally red lines were black. Something that none of the others were able to since they were more focused on getting out.

In the RWBY cell, Tora was working on something with Poppi. The only thing they saw was Mòrag handing over one of Brighid's swords for Tora to fiddle with.

"Okay, that should do it," Mòrag said as she stood up from her spot on Poppi's left.

"Preparations complete," Tora also said.

"What's going on Tora?" Rex asked, still concerned about if they could save Pyra.

"Ohhohhoo. Both Drivers and Blades use ether energy to deploy Arts, yes?" Tora said mysteriously.

"You can skip the lecture Tora. Everyone knows that." Nia said, getting a little impatient herself.

"But right now, friends cannot, yes?" Tora then said

"Yeah, because this stupid room won't let us." Ruby said, glaring at the walls.

"Ohhohhoo. But Ruby and friends forgetting one very important thing." Tora had a smug smile on his face.

"Spit it out furball!" Yang shouted, startling Tora a bit.

"Umm…Could friends forgetting Poppi is Artificial Blade?" Tora said a little nervously.

"What does that have to do with this?" Dahlia asked, more curious than anything.

Then Rex got it, "Wait! I get it, her ether furnace!"

"Rex correct." Poppi said with a smile, "Thanks to friend Mòrag, Poppi now able to generate own supply of ether energy. Nothing barrier can do about."

"Tora transfer crystal from sword of Mòrag to Biter of Poppi." Tora explained, flapping his wings in excitement, "That crystal have enough ether supply for one use of Arts."

"And Poppi's Biter uses Earth element." Wulfric interjected.

"Correct! So, through the synergy with Fire Element of Mòrag, power of Arts is amplified." Tora finished with a grin.

"And we could blast through the door with that?" Dragunov asked.

"If we hit it straight on, then yes. I doubt that door would last," Mòrag replied easily.

"Wait a second," Nia interjected, "How did you store energy into that crystal with this barrier?"

"She didn't." Aizen said, earning several looks, "Not in this cell anyhow."

"Correct," Aegaeon said, "Lady Mòrag refrained from using Arts so that Lady Brighid's swords would retain energy.

"But if that worked, why not use any of our weapons?" Blake then asked.

Nox opened his scroll to speak, but soon found that the scroll came up blank, plunging him into depression.

"Darkness element not useful for the situation," Tora then said.

"And I got zapped." Dragunov added.

"Two Earth elements create less destruction," Wulfric also agreed.

"Wait a second, you said crystals within Blade weapons store ether energy, right?" Ruby then spoke up.

"Yes, why?" Brighid spoke up.

"But Roze's weapon doesn't have a crystal." Ruby pointed out, and now that everyone thought about it, Roze's scythe doesn't appear to have a crystal.

Roze unfolded his scythe without the blades and raised the tip where the blades and the gun barrel within the rose are. "What are you talking about?" Roze asked as a hidden slot opened right beneath the rose, revealing a cylindrical crystal within.

"You had that all along there?" Ruby asked with a slightly hurt look, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"…You never asked." Roze said like it was obvious.

Then Rex had a new thought, "Wait, Mòrag. Without the crystal in your sword, what will you fight with?"

"Oh, I can just create a new one from Brighid's core," Mòrag said simply, earning a surprised look from Rex. "…Don't tell me you didn't know about that." Now Mòrag was in disbelief.

"I didn't know that either." Ruby said with a curious look. In fact, every single Remnan in the room didn't know.

"Seriously?" Nia said in exasperation, "You don't even know how Blade weapons work? Ruby and the others I understand, but you Rex should know by now."

"How would I know something like that?" Rex said defensively, "I've never lost or broken my weapon."

"Yeah!" Ruby agreed passionately.

"I suppose we never did tell you." Dahlia said with a shake of her head.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Weiss asked, before giving a frosty look, "And don't you dare say we never asked."

"But no one did ask." Dahlia pointed out, earning a scowl from her Driver.

"I thought you already knew," Aizen said while looking away in amusement, "How disappointing."

Blake was about to order Nox to tell her why he never thought it was important for her to know, but then decided that he didn't have to go through the pain of using his voice.

Qrow looked like he had no idea what was going on. As a Driver, he might be the least knowledgeable about the whole subject, so this was going a bit over his head. "So basically, we can now bust out of here?" The veteran huntsman decided to get them back on track.

"Indeed," Mòrag said, "Everyone stand back."

With that, everyone got away from the door. "Alright Poppi. Go for it!" Tora then cheered.

"Poppi Power." Poppi acknowledged as she aimed her shield towards the door. "Jeeeet Biter!" And then the middle hatch on the shield opened, and a metal sphere with a maw-ful of sharp teeth jumped out like a jack-in-the-box and hit the door, causing an explosion strong enough to blast the door out to the hallway.

"We did it!" Tora cheered.

"We the best!" Poppi cheered too as the biter retracted into the shield.

"Yeah, and made a lot of noise too," Qrow said with a frown, "But at least we can get out of here now."

"It won't be long until the guards come to check," Azurda then said.

"Then let's go and save Pyra!" Rex said and already ran outside. Wulfric and Roc followed suit.

"I think I saw Pyra being taken below," Blake then said, remembering where the contraption was going towards vaguely.

"Mayhap somewhere beneath the palace?" Dromarch suggested.

"A reasonable assumption," Dagas said, "Assuming there is no offsite prison of some kind."

With that the gang moved out to see surprised JNPR and Oscar.

"Friends!" Penny cheered before dashing at them, earning a small scream from Ruby who looked to be the primary target. And then the little red reaper was tackled into a hug.

"Urgh…Why?" Ruby groaned from beneath the weight that was Penny.

"How did you guys get out?" Weiss asked, ignoring her team leader being crushed.

"Talos grabbed the door and lifted it for us," Nora replied immediately.

"How? These doors have no seam to wedge our fingers in for a grip," Dragunov asked with a skeptical look.

"Is this really the time to be asking this?" Joana interjected.

"Yeah, let's go!" Rex said and already ran off.

"Hey wait! how do you know that's the right way?" Yang called out as Rex already rounded around a corner with Roc and Wulfric in tow.

"Because that's not the way we came from," Nia shot back before running after Rex. Soon enough, everyone else followed suit. Including Ruby and Penny when the latter got off the former.

As they moved down the stairs that were behind the corner, and caught up to Rex they found themselves outside on a walkway that circled the outer area. The view of the lower levels was beautiful with the huge stone pillars that looked like towers so high that their peaks reached the walkway's level, but no one had time to admire that view.

Then they came across a lone guard doing a patrol. "What the-?! How did you escape?!" The guard demanded as he pointed his spear at the gang.

Qrow acted first, ready punch this guy's lights out now that there was no reason not to fight. But the guard side-stepped the attack and countered it with a swift slash to the veteran's face.

"What? Why weren't you hurt?!" The guard said, now nervous.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Qrow said with a grin before swinging harbinger against the guy. Surprisingly, the guard was either deflecting or dodging, but because of Qrow's fast attacking the guard couldn't find an opening to attack.

"You shall not-!" The guard's declaration was cut off when Kasandra managed to sneak behind him and knock him out with a good bonk of her hammer.

Qrow frowned a bit at his Blade's interference, but then took a look at the guard she knocked out, "This guy wasn't too shabby."

"It would be strange if they were," Mòrag said, "Speaking of which, Qrow why do you refuse to fight with your Blade's weapon."

"Look, I don't need it, okay." Qrow said in annoyance.

"Uncle Qrow," Ruby said with an annoyed look.

"Look Ruby, this affinity link thing shares emotions, right? Well I'm not comfortable with that." Qrow said with a sigh.

"Why not?" Kasandra asked with a dejected look.

"...I'm just not," Qrow said, "Look, can we talk about this later? We still got a damsel in distress to save." This earned a laugh from Ruby and Yang. "What?"

"You make it sound like we're rescuing a princess from an evil king," Ruby said with a grin. Now that Ruby said it, it kinda sounds like that.

"…Let's just go," Qrow said with a small smile.

Soon enough, they made it to a large room that had several guards coming in from the opposite direction.

"The prisoners have escaped!" One of them exclaimed as they all took positions in preparation for a fight, "You! Get reinforcements!"

"Yes!" Another guard said and turned to move out to do just that. Only an electric mark appeared on the ground beneath them all and zapped them all. Soon, all the guards fell down unconcious.

"Nice one, Electra," Nora cheered.

"Umm…That wasn't me." Electra said

Rex then looked past the knocked out guards to see Zeke brandishing Big Bang Edge with Pandoria in tow. "Zeke! Pandoria!"

"Oh what? We came all this way to bust you out. How inconsiderate!" Zeke complained

"You're the one who kept us waiting," Ruby shot back with a pouty look.

Then Weiss decided to interject, "Why are you helping us now? I mean…won't you get in trouble with your father for this?"

"Eh, I'm the prodigal son anyhow. Can't get any worse." Zeke shrugged, earning a surprised look from Weiss.

"Where's Pyra?" Rex then asked.

This time it was Pandoria who replied, "This way. Follow us."

With that, Zeke and Pandoria led the gang. Of course, they faced multitudes of Tantalese Knights, but most of the time the gang had superior numbers. And even then, the knights were outclassed, especially by the Remnan Drivers. Though it's not like it was easy.

"You know, these guys are almost like Huntsmen without mecha-shift weapons, " Qrow said as they took a flight of stairs inside the lower levels.

"And Aura," Ruby added in, feeling grateful that they were able to take them out without actually killing anyone. Although some of them might have to get casts on their limbs after what Dragunov and Wulfric did. Though in the bestial Blade's defense, he seemed to put more effort into restraining himself than Dragunov.

Speaking of which, "Drag, could you please hold back just a little more?" Yang had a serious expression.

"I am holding back," the dragonic Blade said in annoyance, "Anymore and I'm basically just slapping."

"Twisted limbs and a few broken bones say otherwise," Nia shot back, "If that's your idea of holding back, then I'm scared to see what you being serious is."

Then they reached the bottom of a staircase and were now walking through a long hallway as Dragunov was mumbling and grumbling.

"Ow, ow, ow." Rex suddenly winced as he was holding his side a little.

"What? What is it?" Ruby asked in concern.

"It's nothing, just a scratch," Rex said as he took his hand off, revealing a small cut which wasn't even bleeding.

"Seriously, chum. When are you not getting scratched up?" Zeke then asked.

"Ever since Pyra gave me half of her life force, things have been rough. But I'm also glad," Rex explained, remembering the times the two compared injuries. "They feel like a sign of our bond…Like something special we share as a Driver and Blade."

The reply made Zeke frown a bit.

Then it was Roze who spoke, "Maybe, but shouldn't you take better care of yourself? I mean, if you get hurt, Pyra gets hurt. I…wouldn't feel good about Ruby taking any of the injuries I might get."

"Agreed. I would rather take all my lady's injuries than her taking any of mine." Nox showed on his scroll.

"Nox, we've been over this. I don't like seeing anyone I care about getting hurt," Blake said, sounding more exasperated than anything.

"My apologies, my lady. I shall refrain from getting injured." Nox showed again. Strangely this made Nora look highly weirded out. Then again, she still hadn't forgotten the biting incident, plus on the ship she was convinced that Nox was giving her the same look that she had at a stack of pancakes.

"That so?" Yang said, sounding serious, "And who exactly do you care about?"

This caused Blake to look to her partner who was giving a dead stare. "I mean... I..." Blake stammered, until Yang couldn't hold back the smirk. Followed by a small laugh.

"Just kidding, you're great," Yang then joked.

"Thanks," Blake said in relief. And with that, the gang moved on to save Pyra.

In a large circular room, high above the floor, Pyra was stirring awake in her restraints. "Uhh…Where?"

"Stuck in some kind of restraint." Mythra said in Pyra's head, "Look ahead."

Pyra did just that and to her shock a huge machine was at the center of the room. It looked like a cannon with a split cylinder for a barrel with a blue center at the end of it. While the inside of the two halves of cylinders had red lights along it.

"An ether accelerator." Mythra said. "I've seen one like it before in old Torna. It really looks like they want us gone for good." Pyra looked a little worried. If Mythra believes that this thing is powerful enough to destroy them then she trusts her sister to know it. "So. If we cranked up the output and really focused on it, we could probably manage one strike."

However…"If the people here are really the descendants of the Tornans, then I have a message for them that I must pass on." Pyra said.

"In that case, I'll leave it to you," Mythra then said, though she sounded a little hesitant.

Pyra smiled, "Thank you, Mythra." Then the red-haired Aegis noticed movement from below.

It was Eulogimenos with many of his knights. "I apologize for this noble Aegis," The King of Tantal said with a look of remorse, "I have no personal grievances with you. However…For the sake of this world, you must be destroyed where you stand."

"Is that really what you want, your majesty?" Pyra asked with a stern look.

"…I believe you once desired the same thing. Isn't that why you disappeared from history?" Eulogimenos replied, causing Pyra to look down. "Begin."

And then one of the knights started the accelerator, bringing it to life. The accelerator charged itself, energy coursing between the points in the cylinders, which was pointed at Pyra.

"Pyra!" Came from the entrance to the room. It was Rex and the others bursting through.

"Rex! Everyone!" Pyra couldn't help it, she was so happy that everyone came.

"The ether accelerator!?" Zeke exclaimed at the sight of the weapon.

"The what now?" Nia said first in confusion.

"It's a weapon, from long ago. Designed to use Genbu's ether energy for destruction." Zeke explained, "I never dreamed they would fully restore it."

"So it's basically a huge energy cannon?" Ruby summarized. Normally she would be gushing about something this cool, but the thing's barrel was pointed at Pyra. And that was why she had a look of horror instead, "And they're gonna use that to wipe out Pyra?!"

"Yeah. No matter how strong she is, she's not gonna come out of that," Zeke confirmed.

"In that case, we can't let him use it," Rex said with a determined look as he brandished Roc's Dual Scythes.

"Stop them!" Eulogimenos commanded, and the multitude of Tantalese Knights prepared for battle.

"Let's go team!" Ruby said first before grabbing Roze's shoulder and they burst into action as a large flurry of rose petals.

"What the heck is that?!" One of the knights exclaimed in surprise.

"Crescent Spinner!" Was the only warning they got before Ruby came out of the flurry with her Art, mowing a couple knights in the front. The rest of the knights didn't have time to wonder more when the rest of team RWBY joined their leader.

"Team JNPR, charge!" Jaune said as he took the lead for his team and Penny.

And of course, Rex and the others joined the fight alongside Qrow and Oscar.

Yang was having some difficulties with the knights without Dragunov, but she just couldn't bring herself to use his power and risk an explosion.

Qrow was doing well. He used Harbinger to force a knight's spear away which allowed him to get a good punch against the abdomen, which he then followed up with a smash of the pommel on the head. Oscar had some difficulties, but he was able to keep them enough at bay for others to support him when they had the time.

With Nora and Electra... "Stormbreaker!" Nora was mowing down enemies with Electra's hammer in a pirouette of electrified smackdown.

Then another two knights tried to skewer the electric hammerer who replied by deploying the shield function. And when the attacks connected, the knights got zapped.

"That never gets old," Nora giggled at the sight of the spasming knights before smacking them away.

"Blossom Burst!" And a group of knights that were trying to get the two from behind were blasted away by Ren who found time to smile in satisfaction.

"Such a shame they are not Drivers." Otohime said with a small smile, "This would be much easier."

"But they're not," Ren pointed out before firing a Zen Barrage at more of the knights.

"Dagas!" Nia called out, switching Dromarch's Twin Rings for Dagas' Greataxe, "Rhino Assault!" And then she unleashed three devastating strikes which shattered a knight's weapon before the knight was downed. She still felt a little salty about that time she got smacked by one of them.

With Blake, she was using Nox's abilities to their fullest. Always attacking enemies that weren't focusing on her, hit and run so that Mòrag, Tora and Nora could gain their attention. Not to mention Nox's Shadow Eye ensured that the knights wouldn't be interested in her for too long.

"Dammit, there's too many of them," Rex let out as he used Wild Scythe against a knight he was facing.

Zeke had just finished blasting another group with Overload Thunderbeam before turning to Wulfric. "Wulfric, throw me to the barrel!" Zeke shouted as he ran to the beastly Blade.

Wulfric grunted in acknowledgement before grabbing the Tantalese prince and threw him with great accuracy straight for the cannon. It was difficult for Pandoria to maintain affinity link with the increased distance, but she managed just enough for Zeke to charge a Dynamic Spark Sword into the right barrel.

"It's not enough!" Zeke called out as the ether accelerator wasn't showing signs of stopping.

Jaune then got an idea," Talos can you get to the front and absorb the blast? Like you did with Penny's laser?"

"I'm not sure," Talos replied, "I don't know how powerful that blast is. If it's drawing power from the Titan then I daresay it's stronger than what Penny could fire, which means that my arm would explode and then we would both be destroyed."

Tora meanwhile had other ideas. "Poppi! Activate QT mode! Lift up from below!"

"Yes, Masterpon." Poppi acknowledged before entering QT mode and blasting her jets to get under the barrel and cranking her jets in an effort to lift the thing.

"Do it, Poppi!" Tora cheered as he blocked an attack from a knight.

"Stop that Blade!" Eulogimenos commanded, and several knights separated from the fight and ran towards Poppi.

Penny saw this, "Oh no, you don't. Kos-Mos!" The artificial Driver returned her Blade's Ether Cannon.

"Acknowledged." Kos-Mos said as she made a second Cannon appear to her left hand while holding the first one in the right, charging the two weapons. "Gatling Fire!" With that, Kos-Mos fired scattered lasershots in the way of the Tantalese Knights which forced them to back off. This is Kos-Mos' level 3 Special, F-G-Shot.

Meanwhile Poppi straightened her legs and body as the ether accelerator was just about ready to fire. Even as Talos broke out of the fight and managed to leap closer to Pyra, then he got between the weapon and the red-haired Aegis. "I have to try." Talos thought before jumping in front of the cannon's line of fire to hopefully absorb it with his shield arm.

"Heave…HO!" Poppi let out just when the cannon fired a big red laser.

Talos braced himself for the impact, but instead found himself falling back down. When everyone stopped to look, they saw that Poppi had actually managed to tilt the cannon upwards just enough to miss Talos and Pyra, making the beam go into the huge black lense behind. From there, it continued to an identical one outside, from where it was re-directed out of Genbu itself. Making it look like the Titan just fired a giant laser into the sky from its head.

"It missed." Nia said with a relieved look even as the weapon had used up its charge, which Poppi took as her cue to drop the thing. This caused Zeke to almost lose his balance on the barrel.

Meanwhile no one noticed a crow suddenly flying to Pyra's restraints. Only after it turned into Qrow who sliced Pyra's restraints did anyone realize what was going on. With the exception of Rex who ran towards the falling Aegis, and managed to catch her. "Pyra, are you okay?" Rex asked in concern.

"…Yes. I'm fine Rex, Pyra said with a warm smile as the rest of the gang pulled themselves together and ran to their side.

"For 500 years, we Tantalese have concealed the Omega Fetter. Do you know why?" Eulogimenos said, earning highly suspicious looks. When no reply came, the King of Tantal continued, "Our old homeland, Torna was destroyed in the Aegis War. Our hero Addam also failed to return. You must understand, old Torna as a country was united around the Hero. But our ancestors, less so."

This made Zeke think back on what he witnessed in the treasury.

"What're you saying? That we're really not of Addam's blood line?" Zeke had asked in fury.

"Precisely. In Torna, our family was just a cadet branch" Was Eulogimenos' solemn answer, "We only gained our position in the confusion of the war's aftermath.

"But then, we're just a bunch of usurpers!" Zeke wasn't happy to hear this. Especially when he fully understood how much his life was a lie.

"They were desperate times," Eulogimenos said with a look of determination, "We had no choice. The nation must continue at all costs."

"Even if it meant claiming Addam's name?" Were Zeke's words.

"With its guiding force gone, much blood was spilled in Torna. We did what had to be done to reunite it under the new banner of Tantal," Eulogimenos said.

And this was what Eulogimenos had also explained to the rest of the gang.

"…Legends of the hero who saved the world are deeply ingrained in people's hearts," Mòrag said, seeing why the ancestors of the royal family would go so far. But it didn't mean that she liked it, "And you used them for your own political agenda?"

"This sounds like something my father would do," Weiss said with a scowl.

"Your father sounds clever," Eulogimenos said.

"That wasn't a compliment," Weiss shot back, "With all due respect your majesty, I can see why Zeke doesn't like how this country is run."

"Weiss?" Dahlia sounded out, this sounded a little deeper than what the ice bunny's Driver said. Ruby also looked a little concerned.

"Even so, all was done for the sake of not letting the world burn once again."

"Don't you dare try to sugarcoat it," Zeke said, like he was insulted, "The short story is, they saw an opportunity to gain influence and they took it!"

"…That is the way of the world." Eulogimenos said with a resigned look.

"To hell with that!" Yang shouted, "Don't give me that crap! That's just an excuse for-" "That's enough Yang." Mòrag interrupted the blonde, much to everyone's shock.

"You can't be serious! They used-" "I know what they did was wrong. And I don't like it anymore than you, but Mor Ardain could have easily taken a similar path," Brighid also butted in.

"Yes…we are in no position to condemn them outright," Mòrag added in.

Yang looked like she was about to go off again. "Yang, please," Blake butted in, "She's right. Like he said, the old Torna was in state of confusion, they had to bring at least some semblance of order. I don't like it, but what would the alternative have been?"

"My lady is correct." Nox showed on his scroll, "And who knows, perhaps this country would never have existed if they had not done so."

"Besides…Zeke might have never existed if that hadn't happened," Ruby said with a small smile.

"…Yeah, and I might be with someone more boring," Pandoria added in, earning small laughs.

But Dragunov had more important things on his mind, "So Addam never returned?"

"Indeed," Eulogimenos said, "The records indicate he went missing immediately after sealing away the Aegis. It is likely that he simply perished on the way home."

"He didn't just go missing." said Pyra who earned everyone's attention.

"What did you say, Aegis?" Eulogimenos was the first to ask.

"Addam…He had foreseen everything." Pyra replied, "He knew what would happen to the people after the kingdom fell. But he chose not to return."

"Addam left his people of his own will?" Jaune asked in disbelief.

"But why? What would drive a hero such as him to abandon his people?" Joana couldn't comprehend it.

In response, Pyra took off one of her earrings with a green crystal and presented it forward. Then, a green holographic projection came out of it. It seemed to be a man in a hooded robe.

"Hear me, my scions. I am Addam Origo." Said the projection of what must be Addam himself. This earned several curious looks. "This day I seal the Aegis away from the world. But this seal is not for eternity. In anticipation of the day that humanity becomes worthy of the Aegis' power I entrust her to posterity. She is our hope. When mankind has matured and learned to live better lives, she will answer your call, and return to you. Trusting that day will come, I leave my wish to you."

With that, the message ended, and Pyra put the earring back on. "Addam saw much confusion and hardship in the world ahead. And when I seemed unsure, he told me something," Pyra explained, causing everyone to listen very intently, "This is a trial. A trial that humans must overcome themselves, otherwise they don't deserve to live alongside me."

"Live alongside you?" Qrow asked with a skeptical look.

"What does that mean?" Oscar asked, not knowing that he was also asking what Ozpin too wanted to ask. Eulogimenos too looked contemplative.

"To be honest, I still don't fully understand what he meant by that," Pyra admitted, "Whether he simply meant the coexistence of humans and Blades, or something more. But I think he made a difficult choice, for the sake of everyone's survival."

Unbeknownst to Pyra her words touched great many of those present. Jaune looked away with a downed look, as did Talos. Qrow let out a tired sigh, while Ozpin was remembering countless difficult choices he had to make. Some of which still haunt the former headmaster.

Ruby and the others were wondering if they could make such difficult choices if the time came.

Any further thought was stopped when the whole palace shook.

"What the-?!" Nora let out first, "Is the castle falling!"

"Your majesty!" A new knight who ran through the entrance called out.

"What is this?" Eulogimenos immediately asked.

"It's Genbu! It's broken free of our control and has begun diving into the clouds."

"What?! Are you certain?" That was not good news.

Then Pandoria collapsed, clutching her Core Crystal like she was in pain.

"Oi, Pandy!" Zeke instantly kneeled down to his Blade's level.

"What's happening to her?" Ren asked in worry that everyone was sharing.

"Could it be…that blast?" Zeke questioned with a dawning look.

"What the heck are you talking about?" Nia piped up, not liking what's going on. Much less not knowing what that was.

Zeke got back up before addressing everyone, "Tantal keeps Genbu under control using the Omega Fetter. But firing the ether accelerator could've created a counter-flow in Genbu's ether conduits, causing a critical overload."

"So Genbu is broken?" Rex summarized, causing several looks of worry to be etched on everyone's faces.

"No…My voice can't reach him anymore," Pandoria said in distress, "Genbu is just going to dive deeper and deeper until..."

"Dumb old git!" Zeke snapped at his father, "That's what happens when you use antiquated parts!"

"Excuse me, but what exactly is going to happen?" Weiss then asked, wanting to know the situation.

It was Rex who decided to answer, "The Cloud Sea has the similar density to water. As we dive, the pressure will keep building. By 500 peds, a human would be crushed completely."

"And all that force would weigh down on Genbu?" Dromarch asked, causing everyone to realize where this is going.

Zeke looked thoughtful, "What's our current depth?"

"Twenty-two hundred peds, sir." The knight replied, "We are diving at the rate of 120 peds per minute."

"And Genbu's depth limit?" Zeke continued.

"25000, give or take."

"Which leaves us... just little over three hours," Zeke said after doing the mental math.

"Whoa, Shellhead's good with maths," Nia said in surprise.

"Bite me." Then the place shook again. "This ain't good." Zeke summarized the whole situation before turning to Rex, "Hey, chum. There's a pressure resistant pod in the palace's southern tower. You and everyone else at least should be able to escape."

"What about you and everyone else?" Rex then asked.

"Don't worry about us." Zeke said simply.

"How can I not worry?" Rex argued.

"What he said," Ruby added in with a determined look, "We can't just abandon all these people."

"Isn't there another way?" Blake then asked, "Some way to save everyone?"

"Only Pandoria can tell Genbu what to do. If it won't budge for her, then it's no use," Zeke explained with a resigned look, "Apart from that, all we can do is evacuate as many people as we can. But with just three hours..."

No one needed Zeke to finish that to tell them that that wasn't going to be enough.

Then Pyra interjected, "I think you mentioned before, that you use the Omega Fetter to control Genbu, right?"

"Well, yeah, but-" "Where is it," Pyra interrupted after hearing the confirmation.

"Inside Genbu's head." Zeke revealed, "It's just south of the palace, through Genbu's spinal column."

"I'll go there," Pyra said, earning surprised looks.

"You'll go? What're you trying to pull?" Qrow let out.

"The Omega Fetter was originally Ophion's control core. And Ophion is my Artifice. I can't be 100% sure, but I should be able to fix it," Pyra explained.

"That's lucky!" Kasandra said, causing Qrow to go pale a little as he looked around frantically.

"Pyra being serious?" Tora piped up. "They try to kill Pyra one minute ago."

"That's a…totally separate issue. Isn't that what you would say Rex, Ruby?" Pyra then said, facing Rex and Ruby in turn.

"Wha-? Oh yeah, I guess it is," Rex said, being surprised to hear that.

"Besides, the townspeople don't deserve to die for what their king tried to do," Ruby added in.

"Agreed," Roze added in with a smile.

"Same here." Yang added with a confident grin.

Dragunov looked impassive, "If Yang wants to do it, then I'm coming to make sure she doesn't kill herself." This earned him a playful punch on the fleshy upper arm from his Driver

"If there's anything I can do to help, then I will," Blake also said.

"I shall accompany my lady." Nox showed on his scroll.

"We can't let these people die," Weiss said with a determined look.

"I'm glad you agree," Dahlia said with a warm smile.

Aizen let out a sigh, "Personally I would say we leave, but I will ensure the success of this mission. If only because my Driver's death would be troublesome for me." The nobleman Blade earned a series of scowls at saying that.

"Tora get it," Tora said also, "If that what Pyra think, then Tora and Poppi also lend a hand."

"We will help too, right guys?" Jaune said, turning to his team. Varying signs of agreement came from them all, especially from Nora, Electra and Penny.

Nia shook her head with a smile, "Looks like we're on too Dromarch."

"I would have it no other way, my lady." Dromarch said.

"It would be useful to have this nations king in our debt," Dagas said with a calculating look.

"Nice to hear," Nia said, totally ignoring Dagas, "So don't you dare get in our way old man."

Eulogimenos looked shocked, "You would all…risk your lives for this? For the sake of Tantal. Even though we tried to destroy the Aegis."

"It's not about Tantal," Rex said simply.

"Then why?"

"You're the king. I think you ought to figure it out," Rex said with a small smile.

"What he said," Ruby said with a smile.

"Rex…you…" The king of Tantal was lost for words.

The salvager smiled before turning to Zeke, "Zeke, where was the Omega Fetter again. Can you tell us?"

"I won't just tell ya. I'll take you there," Zeke said with a determined look.

"Zeke…you…" Eulogimenos said.

"Save it, old man. You better start evacuating the people. Though with us on the case, your efforts will just be wasted." Zeke said with a determined look. Which was shared by everyone.

"…I wonder…if all of us should go," Otohime then spoke up, earning a series of surprised looks, "While I do believe in our success, should some of us not stay here and help with the evacuation any way we can."

"…She's not wrong," Ren said before turning to everyone," Guys, I think some of us should stay here and help with the evacuation in any way we can."

"That's true." Jaune said with a thoughtful look, "Nora, Penny. What do you say we stay here and help?"

"Aw, but I wanted to see more of Tantal," Electra said with a slightly downed look.

"We can do that once we've ensured that no one is turned into pancakes," Nora said while patting her Blade's head.

"Okay, Nora." Was the surprisingly cheerful response.

"Oscar," Ozpin said in the farmboy's head, "I think we should stay behind too."

"What? But I want to help." Oscar said in protest, earning a series of confused looks.

"And you will. By helping team JNPR with the evacuation efforts. While I don't doubt team RWBY's or Rex and the other's capabilities we can't risk the lamp disappearing here." Ozpin explained, reminding the farmhand of the relic that was still dangling at his side.

"…I guess you're right," Oscar said with a sigh.

"I take it Ozpin wanted you to stay?" Qrow said with a serious look.

"Yes." Oscar didn't sound happy about it.

"It's okay, Oscar," Ruby said, earning a surprised look from the black-haired boy, "The relic should be kept safe just in case."

"But Ruby, what if-" "We won't fail," Ruby said with a determined look, "We'll fix the Omega Fetter, get Genbu to stop diving, and then we'll come back. But just in case, keep the relic safe." At the last part, Ruby placed a hand over Oscar's shoulder.

Oscar looked hesitant before getting a determined look, "…Okay, I will."

As this happened, Rex turned to Mòrag, "Mòrag?"

The Special Inquisitor closed her eyes for a moment with a small smile, "You leave me in a difficult position."

Rex took this as her being with them, with that Rex turned to Zeke with an expectant look.

"Pandy, are you good to go?" Zeke asked his Blade.

The said Blade stood up with a determined look, "I'm fine, let's go!"

With those words, Team RWBY, and the Alrest gang started moving out of the palace and towards the location of the Omega Fetter. Although Dragunov disappeared on everyone for a few moments. And when he came back, he was holding a Supernova Cake in his hand.

"For Provision." He called it…At least the heat it radiated was warming them all up in the cold.

Meanwhile, team JNPR and Oscar were helping Tantalese to prepare the evacuations. Although hopefully their efforts will be wasted.

Of course, Qrow and Talos joined the team going for the Omega Fetter. Qrow because there was no way in hell he was leaving either of his nieces in trouble. And Talos because Jaune asked him to.

The gang was now walking through what was known as the ruins of Theospiti Temple.

"What happened to this place?" Ruby asked as they were going down stairs. The place was a wreck, rubble, broken walls, portion of the floor missing and other stuff that was broken.

"According to pops, a long time ago a Blade went on a rampage and started destroying everything in sight." Zeke explained, "The Blade stopped when its Driver offed himself and caused it to revert back."

"…Why is everyone staring at me?" Dragunov said at the wary looks he was receiving from everyone.

"Nevermind." Yang said in a sing-song voice to mask a slight unease she felt. What if Dragunov exploding causes something like this? The mighty fire Blade looked unconvinced at his Driver's words, but shrugged it off.

Soon enough, the gang reached the Rear Gate, which led to a thin ledge that was stretching towards one of the pillars.

"How long will it take to reach Genbu's head?" Mòrag asked as she looked to the second path that led from the first pillar to another one.

"A bit over eight hours," Zeke said casually.

"What?!"

"You gotta be kidding me!" Qrow let out angrily.

"We'll never make it!" Ruby said in distress.

"That's why we're using the mining lift." Pandoria said as she pointed to a small station with a heavy-duty wire and a large cart with a winch for operating it. It seemed to be leading towards the base of the second pillar.

"Why is a mining lift here?" Weiss had to ask.

"Because there's a quarry not too far from Lumos Pedestal where this thing leads," Zeke then said before stepping in, "Now get in, we're going."

"…Are you sure that thing can hold all of our weight?" Weiss asked, looking pointedly at Dragunov, Wulfric and Talos.

"It's gonna be a tight fit, but we should be fine, now come on!" Zeke urged.

Team RWBY and Qrow shared a look.

"You guys can go without us." Ruby said after a silent conversation.

"But friends said they would help." Tora pointed out.

"We'll come down using our landing strategies." Blake said simply.

"Landing?" Rex said with a head tilt.

"Strategies?" Nia finished, copying the move.

"Like this." Ruby said before running to the edge and jumping down.

"RUBY!" Rex, Pyra, Nia, Zeke and their Blades let out in unison, except Dagas and Wulfric.

"I'll get her," Roc said as he rose on his wings and dove down after the free-falling girl.

"Urgh." Roze let out with a sigh before tying the corners of his cape to his ankles and followed his Driver.

Then Weiss remembered something, "Guys…did we check if our Dust is working?"

And then the remaining Remnan's faces fell.

Then a loud bang was heard, and everyone turned to Blake who had just fired Gambol's pistol into the air.

"Looks like it works," Blake said with a relief, just when they started hearing several bangs from below. Moving to the edge, everyone saw Ruby using Crescent Rose's recoil to slow her fall just enough for her to fall into the snow and not the ice-covered lake below. Roc meanwhile was coming back up, considering he wasn't needed, and Roze used his Wind Mastery to create a strong enough updraft for his cape to work as a makeshift parachute.

"…That's…impressive," Mòrag said, not sure what to feel about this.

"There, see." Yang piped up with a grin, "It's perfectly safe." Then she pulled out her aviators and jumped in.

Blake looked over the edge to see what she could use for landing strategy, and then she saw it, and jumped herself.

"Aizen, Dahlia, I think I have an idea on how to take you two with me," Weiss explained as Nox followed his Driver down.

"In that case, shall we?" Aizen asked cordially like he was in a ball asking a fair maiden for a dance.

"Let's shall." Dahlia said jokingly and with that, Weiss and her Blades jumped.

"You're all insane!" Nia called out just as Qrow turned to Zeke with a look of realization.

"I just realized, why don't I just turn into a bird and fly the Omega Fetter here?" Qrow then said, earning blanched looks from the Alrestians. Minus Zeke and Pandoria.

"Same reason we can't send Roc to get it," Zeke replied, getting over the shock of Remnans jumping just like that, "The thing is locked up tight." As this was happening Dragunov and Talos were talking about something.

Just then Roc flew back to them, "I can pick locks." Apparently, the Avian Blade had heard what they were talking about.

"Not this one," Pandoria said, "It won't open to anyone that isn't of Tantalese Royal Family, which is also why my prince and I are leading you there." As Pandoria explained, Talos crouched down and Dragunov wrapped his arms around the metallic Blade. The fire Blade had a mortified look of having to do this, but it beat the alternative, but Talos also looked highly uncomfortable to be in the close proximity of the overheating furnace that the fire Blade dares to call food. And then Talos made a long leap that would send them to the snow at the edge of the lake instead of the frozen lake itself.

"Of course it doesn't," Qrow muttered with a sigh before slouching towards the edge and leaning down until he fell. And then he turned into a crow and flew down to where the girls did.

"Qrow! Don't leave me!" Kasandra cried out, sounding a little hurt.

Roc let out a sigh, "I can help you down to him."

"Really? Thanks!" The self-proclaimed lucky Blade cheered with a smile that could light up the blackest night.

"Before you do that," Zeke interjected as he motioned Roc to the other end of the ledge. "See that structure? That's the Great Pillar Passage. That's what leads into Genbu's head. Tell them to meet us there."

Roc looked to where Zeke was pointing with his finger. Indeed, there was a structure that looks like a passage that leads below.

"Understood," Roc said as he offered his talon-like hand to Kasandra who took it before wrapping her arms around Roc's torso, avoiding his wings. "Now, just hold on." With that, Roc was off the ground and into the Lower Levels.

"…On the bright side, now we have more room," Rex pointed out with an awkward smile.

With that, the rest of the Alrestians got into the mining cart and Zeke started turning the winch to get them all down. The thing was designed for large shipments of ore so it was roomy enough for five Drivers and all of their Blades.

Although Poppi looked a little curious. "Masterpon, why not Poppi and Masterpon also use a landing strategy?"

"Mehmeh?! Why?" Tora asked with a worried look.

"Poppi can use jets to slow fall at the last second while carrying Masterpon." Poppi explained, giving everyone a mental image of Poppi gragging Tora from the sides, since her arms can't reach around him and fly him down.

"No! Tora and Poppi not do that!" Tora shot the idea down, flailing his wings frantically.

"Why not?" Poppi tilted her head.

"Because…" Tora trailed off, sweating bullets now. Then a light bulb went off, "Because Tora not sure a form can sustain such flight."

"Poppi can use QT mode." Poppi said, causing Tora to internally curse making Poppi that smart.

"…Can't he just tell her that he's afraid of flying?" Nia said discreetly.

"…I suppose he wants to maintain a certain image," Dromarch replied.

As the Alrestians were taking the safe way, Weiss used her glyphs to slow down her and her Blade's fall, before summoning Arma Gigas' sword arm and used it to slide herself safely to the ground. Dahlia and Aizen followed that example. Although when Dahlia landed, her breasts bounced quite a bit, while Aizen had to slide a few strands of his loose hair back over his head.

"How was that?" Weiss asked Aizen eagerly.

"…Good enough." Aizen replied impassively, much to Weiss' dismay. Although the nobleman Blade then looked away to hide a smile he had.

With Blake, she had switched a clip to gravity Dust and used it to propel herself towards a stone pillar directly under the city. After that, she used Gambol as a grappling hook on the upper part of the pillar that had energy going from it to the city. With it, she swung herself down to the ice with reduced momentum. She looked back up to see Nox having wrapped his bandages around his scythes and used a plan similar to hers.

"Nice entrance, Nox," Blake complimented her Blade.

"Thank you, my lady." The ninja Blade showed on his scroll while getting to a knee.

At this point, Blake just rolled her eyes at her Blade's show of fealty and started skating towards the shore where she saw the rest of her team.

Speaking of which, Yang was using the recoil of Ember Celica to slow her fall and altering her trajectory to a more vertical one. All the while having a blast doing so. Then she rolled down on the ground and right to her feet. "Nailed it!"

Yang didn't get to ride down her little thrill high for long when something heavy landed just a few meters away, plowing out snow with the impact.

Which was followed by Dragunov landing next to her. Still holding onto the Supernova Cake. Which was now melting the snow around them rapidly. And what had gotten on Yang and her hair.

"Drag…what was that?" Yang asked, as she felt the snow melting between her cleavage from the combination of the impossibly hot cake and her own body heat.

"…Revenge." Dragunov said smugly, before shouting louder into the crater that had formed, "For daring to say I'm not a real man!"

That was when Talos got out of the crater he had made when Dragunov literally jumped off of him. "That's what this was about?!" the metallic champion let out in disbelief, "That was days ago!"

"Which means days too many I didn't get to pay back." Dragunov shot back.

"Uhh…Am I missing something?" Yang asked, not sure what to make of this conversation.

"Nothing important Yangie," Dragunov replied before patting his Driver's head.

"…I think you're confusing me with Ruby, Draggie." Yang muttered as she took off her aviators, totally unamused, "Also, what're you gonna do about this?"

"About what?" Dragunov asked with a confused look.

"You know, this." Yang said again, pointing at herself.

"…What do you mean?"

"I got wet because of you." Yang said, patting her damp hair and clothes, "If I get hypothermia because of this, I'm blaming you."

"She's not wrong," said Talos who had now reached them, patting some rapidly melting snow off of himself, "If she gets sick, it's your fault."

"You're the one who caused that mini-avalanche." Dragunov said defensively.

"You kicked me down with all your might," Talos shot back, "Also, you were the one who wanted me to land near Yang."

"Grrr."

And that was enough for Yang, "So be a man and take responsibility."

"Urrghhh…fine." Dragunov accepted with a grumble before plucking the Supernova Cake to his mouth.

"Whoa!" Yang let out, taking a bit distance from what was gonna happen next.

Sure enough, mere moments after Dragunov plucked the treat into himself, he once again cackled like a maniac as he temporarily reached near his full power. And then it was over again. "Now come here." Dragunov said as he pulled his Driver into a hug.

"Hey! What the-?!" Yang exclaimed suddenly getting hugged by her Blade, which now that she thought of it was the first time.

"You wanted me to take responsibility for getting you wet. Then I'm keeping you right here until you've warmed up and dried." Dragunov said, sounding uncharacteristically happy. Yang was about to say something when Dragunov then spoke again, "Also, be quiet for now, I'm trying to imagine that it's Mythra in my arms."

Yang was about to get offended at the last part before feeling the warmth practically oozing from Dragunov's body. "...This feels nice." Yang couldn't help thinking as she felt nice and toasty. As Yang was relaxing into the living furnace that she called her Blade, Dragunov adjusted his grip so she was in bridal carry.

"…Do I even want to know?" asked Weiss who had just reached them, alongside Ruby and Blake. As well as their Blades.

"Yang got covered in snow, it melted and now Dragunov is warming and drying her up," Talos gave the short answer.

A quick look around the surrounding area with bare ground instead of snow seemed to be convincing enough for them all.

And then Qrow flew down. "...Should I give you the-" "Finish that sentence, and I will incinerate you," Dragunov threatened, never losing his wide smile or even his happy tone.

Qrow looked weirded out before turning to RWB, "Girls, what's going on?"

"Apparently Dragunov is warming/drying up Yang." Ruby explained, still finding it unnerving that Dragunov was able to sound happy while making threats. Even as Yang was cozying up in her new warm cradle.

And then, Roc came down while carrying Kasandra. As soon as the two landed, Kasandra stomped towards Qrow.

"Why did you leave me like that," Kasandra asked with a pouty look.

Qrow let out a groan at hearing that, "Sorry, but I can't exactly take you with me."

Kasandra crossed her arms with a very crossed look.

As this happened, Roc noticed Yang in Dragunov's arms.

"Drag's warming and drying Yang," Roze said before the avian Blade could open his beak.

"Alright," Roc seemed to accept that with a skeptical tone. "Anyway, do you guys see that structure over there?" Then he pointed to the distance where the Remnans barely saw the pillars.

"Yeah, why?" Ruby said, squinting her eyes a little to see better.

"That's where we're going. And the others should be with us shortly." Roc pointed out as he looked to the distance to see the lift had already landed to where it was supposed to.

"Okay. Let's go team!" Ruby said and already started walking to the direction they needed to go.

With that, everyone got moving, with Dragunov carrying Yang who seemed to be getting very comfortable in her current accommodations. Also, with every step Dragunov took, a small area of snow melted from around his foot, leaving patches of ground behind.

"So, Weiss." Blake then opened up a conversation with the heiress. "Why do you think Dust started working again?"

"I honestly have no clue," Weiss said as she looked at Myrtenaster, "I mean, it worked fine when ether was sapped in Haven."

"So what was different this time?" Blake then said with a thoughtful look.

"Didn't you say that Dust loses its power when it leaves Remnant's atmosphere?" Dahlia then piped up.

"Yeah that's why we haven't…" Weiss trailed off before a dawning look came to her face, "…We're not in Remnant's atmosphere."

"Huh?" Came out of everyone.

"What're you getting at?" Qrow asked.

"Dust had been working here in Alrest, without Remnant's atmosphere… What if ether is what allows Dust to work?" Weiss said with a thoughtful look.

Aizen looked skeptical, "To my knowledge, ether only recently appeared on Remnant, so what do you base this conclusion on."

"Maybe there is something in Remnant's atmosphere that Alrest's lacks, something non-vital to life. But without it, maybe ether is working as a substitute," Weiss said, now looking fascinated, "It would at least explain why Dust stopped working in an area in Alrest where ether was cut off, while it still worked in Remnant with similar conditions."

"Dust does feel similar to ether, but there is something different about it," Roze added in with a thoughtful look, "I just…can't even begin to describe it."

"…Perhaps it's because normally ether crystals don't appear in one specific element," Talos suiggested, "Maybe Remnant and Alrest have fewer fundamental differences than we think."

"What makes you say that?" Ruby asked with a curious look.

"Well…it's just…nevermind," Talos said with a shake of his head.

"Talos, if you know something then you need to tell us," Weiss said in a stern tone.

Talos looked away before finally replying, "I've been thinking…Doesn't a maiden's power seem like that of a Blade with…multiple elemental masteries."

"What do you mean?" Roze asked with an intrigued look. In fact, everyone was getting interested.

"Well, Cinder used fire, and wind. Elements that Blades of the same element can harness. And Raven used ice, which is also something that ice Blades like Dahlia can use," Talos explained.

"…Now that you mention it, Cinder did manage to cancel out Cyclone," Ruby pointed out, remembering the false maiden undoing the Blade combo in question.

"Yes, so I've been thinking, what if the so-called magic is just a form of elemental mastery similar to us Blades," Talos then said earning dawning looks.

"Wait, that doesn't explain how Ozpin granted Raven and Qrow the ability to turn into birds," Weiss then pointed out.

"And if Ozpin is to be believed, then the Maidens could potentially do something similar," Blake added in, "After all, he was the origin of these powers."

"What do you think Yang," Ruby then asked her sister. Yang?" Ruby called out again as the blonde brawler wasn't answering.

Ruby quickly moved next to Dragunov to see her sister letting out very light snores.

"You can't be serious," Weiss said in an exasperated tone as she too realized that their blonde oaf was asleep.

"Should I wake her up?" Dragunov asked with an evil grin.

"You're not dropping her," Qrow said in a warning tone, just as they reached their destination.

Now that they had a better look the place was made of beautifully carved stone pillars with a pathway that led further down to what they assume to be Genbu's head.

But right now they were focusing on Yang who had gotten comfortable enough in Dragunov's arms to fall asleep.

"Yang, wake up!" Ruby shouted, but her sister didn't react. Now the red reaper wished she had her whistle.

Then Qrow moved in and shook Yang, "Hey! Wake up, sleepyhead!" All that did was make Yang snuggle against Dragunov's warm body.

"I'll drop her if no one can think of anything better." the draconic Blade said, preparing to do just that.

Weiss then had an idea, "Hey Dahlia could you…Oh." The heiress had an evil smile when she noticed that Dahlia was making a big snowball.

"Hmmm…Too big," Dahlia commented on the sphere before breaking it in half and started molding the smaller piece into a ball. Once it was in the perfect sphere shape, Dahlia smiled, "Perfect. Now could someone be a dear and lift Yang's hair and open up her jacket a little?"

Ruby and Weiss had mischievous looks.

With the Alrest crew, they had reached the point where they were following Remnant crew's trail.

Although they had been questioning how a large area of snow had been cleared. But when they saw the bare patches of ground in the snow, that they assumed to be Dragunov's footprints they realized that he must have eaten the Cake.

Much to Mythra's horror. "Well…at least I wasn't near him this time," Mythra had said in Pyra's head. Though she wasn't looking forward to being a target of his affection again.

"Well, at least they've gone in the right direction," Zeke said with a small smile.

"I think I see them now," Rex said as he squinted his eyes to see better, because some kind of mist had begun appearing.

"Oh, crap," Zeke complained at the sight of the mist.

"What is it, Shellhead?" Nia asked.

"Ether Fog," Zeke said, "We need to hurry."

"Why what's-"

"EEEEEEEYYAAAAAAAAAAK!" Was the ear-piercing shriek that interrupted Pyra's worried question.

"Was that Yang?" Brighid let out in worry.

"Let's hurry!" Rex said and the Alrestians ran the rest of the way to see what kind of trouble the Remnans were in.

What they saw was not what they were expecting. Instead of Yang being on the verge of death, she was jumping around like a mad bunnit. All the while Ruby was laughing so hard she was holding her stomach. Weiss was also laughing at the blonde's antics alongside Dahlia. Even Qrow was chuckling at her niece's misfortune, while Aizen looked on with a highly amused look. In fact, everyone seemed to be laughing at whatever Yang was doing, although Blake looked a little guilty about it.

"Get it out! Get it out!" Yang cried out as she was reaching around her back in varying positions.

"…Should we even ask?" Brighid asked unsurely.

"I'm afraid the answer might just bring more questions," Dromarch commented.

Then, after lifting her entire top from the back, the accursed partially melted snowball finally fell out.

"Who did that?!" Yang shouted out accusingly with her eyes having turned red.

"Don't look at me, I was just carrying you," Dragunov said when the red pools of fury were facing him.

"Ruby?" Yang said, causing the red leader to stop laughing as she felt the fear of Yang's anger crawling up her spine.

"Not me!"

"I did it." Dahlia confessed.

"Why?" Yang cracked her knuckles threateningly.

"Because shaking and yelling weren't working," Dahlia said without a care in the world, "And if I hadn't dropped that snowball in, then Dragunov would've dropped you on the cold snowy ground. Which would you prefer?"

This caused Dragunov to be the center of Yang's attention again. "It's true, I would have dropped you." the fire Blade didn't even sound sorry.

"…Assholes," Yang grumbled but seemingly calming down enough to make her eyes bleed to lilac before glaring at her team. "And none of you thought of stopping either?"

"We all know that you won't wake up otherwise," Weiss defended her Blade and herself.

"Excuse me, but…why was Yang sleeping?" Mòrag finally gathered enough of her wits to ask.

"You guys saw the crater on your way here, right?" Talos piped up.

"Yeah, why?" Tora questioned.

"Yang got caked with snow which then rapidly melted in Dragunov's presence and then he had to warm and dry her, and she fell asleep in his arms." Talos summarized.

"Excuse me?" Nia said with a baffled look, "She was sleeping in Dragunov's arms?"

The way Nia said that made it sound like a scene from a wedding, which made Pyra's cheeks gain new color while Rex looked baffled.

Zeke's and Pandoria's jaws hit the ground, and Tora's beady eyes turned into saucers.

"Get your heads out of the gutter, dammit!" Yang shouted, realizing where everyone's thoughts were going. She just…wasn't in the mood.

Mòrag adjusted her cap while lightly shaking her head.

"…Maybe we should drop this?" Agate suggested carefully.

"I agree with Agate." Brighid joined in.

Rex seemed to get the hint and turned to Zeke, "So Zeke, is the Omega Fetter through here?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, but…now we got a small problem." The Tantalese prince said with a frown as he looked at the now denser fog.

"What's that?" Ruby asked, eager to get further away from her sister's wrath.

"Now that Ether Fog has descended…there are some real nasty monsters in our way." Zeke explained.

"How nasty are we talking about?" Qrow asked with a frown.

"The kind we shouldn't even try to fight," Pandoria said.

"We've fought monsters before," Yang pointed out.

"Yeah, but these ones are exceptionally strong, we'll have to try and avoid them," Zeke then explained with a serious look. Dead serious.

"And even if we had the combined strength to fight them, it might take some time," Mòrag agreed with Zeke's plan.

"Which we don't have," Blake finished Mòrag's train of thought. As if to punctuate her point, the land rumbled.

"Let's hurry," Pyra said with a determined look.

With that, the gang moved down the passage downwards. Then they came across a tunnel which led them down further to a long passageway with a set of ruins. Even through the fog they could see that this place wasn't in simple disrepair, it was completely wrecked.

"What happened here?" Blake was the first to ask.

"This was a battleground from the Aegis War," Azurda replied, "There were many things here, I remember.

Nia took a look around, "The walls and floors have melted…Must've been hell of a battle."

"I mean…Atlesian weaponry can destroy buildings, but I've never heard of this kind of damage," Weiss also said.

Pyra looked a little sad, "Ophion… isn't the only Artifice. You guys have already seen Siren, the one Mythra commands. During the War, there were countless Artifices, wielded by Malos."

"Yeah…you mentioned that before," Ruby said before looking thoughtful, "Wait, that blast back in Mor Ardain…that wasn't the best of what Siren can do, right?"

"No…far from it," Pyra admitted.

"Now hold on!" Nia interjected, "What are these Artifices anyhow, we've only actually met Ophion. We've never seen Siren, just that light thing it shoots down."

"…They are a power granted to the Aegises. Divine swords sleeping in Elysium, high above us." Pyra then explained.

"Hold up," Blake interjected, "Didn't you guys say that Elysium is a paradise?"

"Yeah, this sounds more like a scarily destructive weapons stash," Qrow added in.

"…I don't know," Pyra said with a shake of her head.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Weiss asked with a skeptical look.

"…The only thing I can remember of Elysium…is a beautiful townscape," Pyra explained before placing her hands over her chest, "I don't know why Father created me, or the Artifices. That's what I want to find out."

"…Pyra," Ruby said with a worried look.

"It's okay," Rex said cheerfully, "We'll find out once we get there."

Nia let out a sigh, "Rex, I don't think..."

"Open a chest, it might turn out great, until then it's just a crate," Rex recited before putting his hands on his hips with a proud look, "That's rule 4 of the Salvager's Code. Haha."

"Really, Rex," Yang said with a teasing look, "Comparing a mythical paradise to old junk?"

As Rex got roasted, Ruby noticed Roze had a deep frown. "Something up, Roze?"

"Hm? Oh no…it's…nothing," Roze said unsurely before looking up to the foggy sky… "Artifice…Why does that term feel…nostalgic," the reaper Blade thought.

"This all sounds fascinating, "Zeke then said, "But we still need to get past those."

At the mention of that, everyone looked further into the fog, and they saw something serpentine swimming in the air, circling the area in relatively low altitude.

"What are those?" Roc asked.

"Vogar Aspids," Zeke said, "Those things only come out during the fog and they're scary strong."

"Come on, we can take them, right Drag?" Yang asked with a confident grin. But when the blonde brawler turned to her Blade, he had a deep frown. "Drag?"

"Sorry Yang, but those things are too tough," Dragunov said, "It would be faster to sneak past them."

"If Dragunov says we need to sneak past them, then I trust him," Weiss said in almost relief, earning a questioning look from others. "What? If that brute isn't confident, then that's scary isn't it?"

Everyone who knew Dragunov for a long time conceded to the point.

"I'm glad he has at least some brain along with his brawn," Brighid couldn't help saying.

"Grrr." Dragunov didn't appreciate the comment.

As this happened, Nox tapped Blake's shoulder, earning her attention.

"Hm?" Blake sounded out before looking to where her Blade's clawed finger was pointing. It was the edge of the ruined area and one where the Aspids weren't flying too closely to. "Guys, I think Nox figured out a way past them."

"Excellent work." Mòrag commented after seeing what this way was.

"We should go-Whoa!" Blake was about to move out before Nox grabbed her by the back of her white coat and pulled her back.

"My lady, please allow me to take the lead here." The dark Blade showed on his scroll.

"Fine," Blake said in mild annoyance. With that, the gang started following Nox's lead. Making sure that they weren't too close to any of the Aspids that were flying around. And when they were, they had plenty of places to hide within the ruins until they passed them.

It was tense, but eventually they managed to make it past the monsters.

Once they had gotten through, Mòrag had a thoughtful look as they were now climbing up a long hallway that was leaning upwards.

"Lady Mòrag, you are making that face again." Brighid commented, earning a mildly confused look from the Special Inquisitor. "If you keep frowning like that, your face will get wrinkles."

Ruby and Yang couldn't help giggling at that.

Mòrag ignored the sisters and spoke her mind, "I just don't get it. Tantal had been founded by counter-Addamites. Then after the war they closed themselves off. But the way the King was acting, I can't help but feel that there was something more to it."

As the party kept walking the hallway, Nia turned a bit to the Special Inquisitor, "What though?"

"It was the Praetorium that sent us on this mission to begin with," Mòrag explained, "Why would he go to such lengths to reject it?"

"Now that you mentioned it," Weiss said with a thoughtful look, "The king did tear that message up quite furiously."

"Like he wanted to outright cut all ties." Blake added in.

Qrow frowned a bit, "Are you saying that Indol has something over them?"

"That would explain something, yes," Mòrag said before turning to Zeke, "Zeke, do you know something useful?"

The Tantalese Driver shook his head, "Nope, there's no records from back then."

"How about you?" Now Mòrag was facing Brighid.

"There's nothing in my diary from that period." Brighid admitted, "I may have been returned to my Core for some reason."

"Maybe Thauron's journal could shed some light?" Yang suggested, earning a light smack at the back of her head from Dragunov. "Ow."

"The last entry was from the day before setting out to fight Malos." Dragunov pointed out, "In other words, no it doesn't."

"You didn't have to hit me," Yang complained with a frown.

Rex meanwhile turned to as much as he could to Azurda, "Do you know anything from those days, gramps?"

"Hmm? No, I was somewhere else at the time. And matters of human kingdoms and so on didn't interest me much." Azurda replied.

Ruby frowned at this, "What's the point of keeping an old timer with us that doesn't know anything?"

The tiny Titan didn't look like he appreciated the comment.

"So you're saying that the King wasn't telling us everything?" Nia then summarized.

"That is a possibility," Mòrag said.

"Could it have something to do with Jin?" Dragunov then asked out of nowhere.

"Or perhaps something about them using the name of Torna?" Dromarch added in.

"…The last state," Rex then said, earning everyone's attention.

"What was that?" Aizen asked.

"When we fought Jin in Temperantia, he said something about the last state of humanity," Rex explained, "I thought he meant. like, an evolution in the future, you know? But maybe he meant the previous state of humanity."

"Previous state of humanity?" Qrow let out with a very confused look, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know," Rex said, "But maybe that's the key to why they're fighting."

Pyra looked down from hearing that. But before she could say anything more, they had reached the end of the hallway.

"There it is," Zeke said as he pointed towards a dome-like structure with a heavy stone door at the front.

"That looks older than anything else here." Nia commented on the structure.

"Yes, it seems untouched by the ravages of time." Dromarch added in.

"Let's get in there," Zeke said as he already started walking to the structure with Pandoria in tow.

As soon as they reached it, Pandoria tapped her Core Crystal and the door opened. With that, the gang got inside. Inside the dome was a pedestal with a golden sphere floating above it.

"Is that it?" Rex asked.

"Yes. There is is." Zeke confirmed as he walked to a panel and placed his hand on it. The crest on the panel glowed for a moment, before the sphere started spinning until it was a set of golden rings that then floated down. Revealing a red pulsing crystal beneath.

As soon as the crystal was revealed, Pyra was replaced by Mythra who immediately moved in and pointed her hand towards it.

After a few seconds of nothing happening, Rex decided to ask, "Well, can you fix it?"

"Shut up."

"Sorry." Rex apologised.

Soon the red crystal begun reforming itself from a red cluster of crystals to a glowing blue cube.

"Mythra?" Rex said when the blonde Aegis stumbled a little.

Mythra soon got her bearings and turned back around with a smile, "It's finished."

"And with that…" Zeke said as he turned to Pandoria.

The green haired electric Blade placed her hand on her Core Crystal. Soon the ground rumbled again before everyone felt a slight shift.

"Are we rising?" Mòrag asked as they couldn't tell for certain.

Soon, Pandoria had a wide smile, "My prince, I've told Genbu to circle the World Tree once he's finished rising."

"Nice! That means we made it after all." Zeke said with a smile.

"We did it!" Ruby cheered before hugging the closest person in the vicinity, which happened to be Weiss at this instance.

"Hey! Let go of me, you dolt!" Weiss said despite smiling a little.

Blake and Yang smiled at the exchange, not that they couldn't understand Ruby's feelings. They just saved a kingdom from destruction.

"Phew Tora was not look forward to becoming flat as Argentum Monkfish." Tora said in relief.

"A job well done, eh?" Nia commented with a smile.

"Rex," Pandoria then piped up, "You can remove that thing now."

Rex nodded before going to pick up the Omega Fetter. "…It kinda looks like a Core Crystal," Rex commented, before putting it in the pouch he was carrying at his side.

"It kinda does," Ruby commented in wonder.

All the while Roze was frowning at the thing. Something about it was disturbing him…But he couldn't tell what. "We should head back now," Roze then said, "Team JNPR and Oscar must be worried about us."

"Yeah…let's head back," Talos agreed as he crossed his arms. With that, the gang moved outside.

To a very unwelcome sight.

"So, it was hidden all the way out here!" Said Akhos, which earned a shocked look from Rex, "No wonder we couldn't find it. I'd just been wondering if it was time to make an exit. Thanks for saving me the trouble."

"Lovely to see that tedious woman isn't here to interfere this time." Said Patroka.

Care to join me? In a dance of death Nia?" Asked Mikhail who did a pirouette and winked.

"…I think I just threw up in my mouth," Nia replied dryly, earning a dismayed look from the blonde member of Torna.

"You mean, little girl." Mikhail said.

As for the Remnans, they were focused on something else.

"What're you doing here?!" Ruby demanded.

"How are you here?!" Weiss added in as she and the rest of Remnans took a combat stance, "I thought you were arrested!"

"And I left you frozen." Yang added in.

"The boss lady busted us out," Mercury said with his arms crossed.

"And brought us here," Emerald added in with a look of anger.

"Now, please hand over what our goddess demands." Said Tyrian with a pleasant smile, while Hazel looked at them impassively. "Otherwise, I'll sic my new pet at you." At that Tyrian motioned to a monstrous creature next to him. It was humanoid in shape, but it was covered in dark brown carapace. Its feet only had two claw-like toes with thin legs with a few glowing blue markings in the shape of arachnid legs along the thighs. Its arms were equally thin and had glowing blue markings along it. On its hands it was wearing some kind of heavy looking gauntlets shaped like scorpion claws, with the bases being dark brown in color with several energy spikes at the outer sides, while the claws that are made of ether energy came out of the front that covered its entire hands. Out of its back, a long thick scorpion tail was extending, except at the bulbous tip, there was no stinger, but a cannon. Its head was also covered in a carapace with a total of eight beady eyes. Two where a normal set of two was, another pair at the top of its forehead and two more at each side of its temples. Its mouth was just four fangs that made a clicking sound. Finally, at its chest was a Core Crystal in the shape of a needle.

"Everyone, meet Scorax," Tyrian said happily, introducing the monstrous Blade that made clicking noises before preparing its claws for battle. The said claws opening and closing in anticipation.

---

AN: Here we go! Pyra was rescued, the gang has made it to the Omega Fetter only to face the combined forces of Torna and and Salem's groupies. And Tyrian has become a Driver. I did say that Aizen would be the final OC Blade, but I changed my mind XD

Anyway, writing this was a doozy for me. A portion of the scenes practically writ themselves. The next chapter... I can't wait to get to work on that.

See you guys then.