The Aegis, The Paragon And The Witch
The last thing Ozpin remembered was Oscar grabbing the Core Crystal. What he didn't expect when he woke up was that he had been unconscious for many days. Much less that apparently Oscar had become a Driver. More shockingly Pyrrha had somehow taken over Talos. Once he regained enough strength to speak for himself, he would need to apologize to her. But it seems like he will never have that chance now.
Because when they finally reached Jin, Salem was also there. And that made Ozpin pray that this was a nightmare, but the former headmaster knew he wasn't that lucky. If Ozpin had his way then they would've never faced Salem herself. But now…several more lives will be weighing on his conscience in the next life.
(Play Xenoblade Chronicles 2 OST: The Power of Jin)
As for the battle, Rex charged in first, followed by everyone else.
"Allow me." Salem said as she stepped forward, charging her magic in her right hand.
"By all means." Malos said with a grin.
The witch took that as her que to launch a wave of dark magic upon everyone. Their Blades responded by putting up their respective barriers, weathering the attack.
"Was that really the best you can do?" Malos asked condescendingly.
"Hardly." Salem smiled, not even phased by Malos' insult.
"You just stand back and let us handle this." Malos said before turning to Jin. "Let's go Jin."
Jin nodded and with that, the silver haired Flesh Eater and the dark Aegis charged, leaving Salem to roll her eyes.
Rex instantly intercepted a slash from Malos while Jin engaged Mòrag and Zeke.
Salem just stood back and looked at the Remnans, although she soon saw a flurry of rose petals coming to her.
Ruby let out a battlecry as she came out of the petals alongside Roze, slashing at Salem. But the witch stepped back, or actually floated backwards.
"You are not the first silver eyed warrior to face me. And you won't be the last." Salem said as she evaded Ruby's attacks. Up until Roze used Thorny Bloom which allowed Ruby to make a deep gash on Salem's face. Which was then followed up with a shot to the abdomen, causing the wicked witch to stumble back. "…I don't understand why you think that would work." Salem said as the gash and the hole glowed with golden light before closing.
"Then I guess we'll just have to hit you harder." Ruby said with a grin.
Salem quirked an eyebrow at this.
"Piercing Farce!" until she felt two stabs of Weiss' Art hitting her in the back, actually stabbing through.
"Champion Bash!" Which was followed by Jaune charging in and toppling the wicked witch. But she didn't reach the ground when she was hit by Yang's Rising Dragon.
Which Blake then finished with Black Maw, smashing the evil witch to the ground.
"Crushing Luck!" And then Qrow came in to smash the wicked witch some more, the impact creating a shockwave of dark ether.
"So much for there's no beating you." Yang mocked the witch who coughed blood as her ribcage was most likely crushed. As were several other limbs.
But then, to everyone's shock, Salem started getting back up. Broken limbs visibly fixing themselves, her crushed ribcage forming to proper shape and the witch just smiled through it all.
"You…can't you feel pain?" Aizen demanded from the witch who just smiled.
"Pain is an old friend." Salem said with a pitying look, "You should have accepted my offer."
"What?" Weiss looked to Aizen with a shocked look.
"…She told me to get the relic for her in exchange for 'everything I desire'. I declined." Aizen said simply, looking like he was already done with this conversation.
"And yet you still brought them here, knowing that I would be here." Salem said with a pleased look.
"Your presence here was a possibility." Aizen said as the Remnans were beginning to stare at him. "What? We all knew this."
"Weiss, forget it." Dahlia said quickly, "Salem is just trying to make us turn on Aizen."
"Hasn't he already turned on you?" Salem asked, "After all, he must have known you would all want to-" The wicked witch didn't get to finish before she had to avoid a stab from Prostateva.
"Shut up! We all know your plan is to divide us, so we won't believe anything you say!" Jaune declared as he swung the spear again.
Jaune's shout seemed to reassure everyone.
"Guys! We need to rip her to pieces." Blake declared, as much as the idea disgusted her, "If we do that, whatever healing power she has shouldn't work."
"A good idea, but as if I would let you do that." Salem said before rising to the air, out of everyone's reach. Then the red lines along her arms and face glowed before a red circle with three eyes in it appeared beneath her attackers. Then Grimm arms sprouted from them, grabbing at the Remnans and their Blades.
Ruby was able to get away with Roze in a flurry of rose petals. Blake made a clone which the arms grabbed while she got away. Nox managed to weave around the arms. Pyrrha quickly grabbed Jaune and leapt away from the arms' reach. Weiss used a glyph to launch herself away while the one arm that actually caught her was destroyed by Dahlia who threw her bitball as Aizen got away from the arms that grabbed at her.
Only Yang and Dragunov got actually caught and they struggled against the arms that tried to pull them down.
"Yang!" Ruby cried out before dashing in and cutting the arms holding her sister. Then she turned to face Dragunov who's began to glow gold.
Then the draconic Blade yanked his arms that were being restrained hard enough to rip the shadowy limbs. Which he followed up by unleashing a gout of flame from both hands on the bases of the arms still holding him, burning them off.
"Never mind." Ruby said in mild embarrassment of thinking Dragunov needed saving, then she turned to see Weiss using Aizen's swords to cut the frozen arms holding Dahlia. The ice bunny must have frozen them.
Salem didn't get to watch this for long before she had to evade Penny's, Ren's and Oscar's light, water and electric shots.
As this happened, Mòrag was using Aegaeon's Chroma Katana to fight off Jin. The Special Inquisitor knew that the Flesh Eater was probably holding back since he wasn't using his insane speed he used back in Tantal. Or perhaps he was unable to right now.
"Eclipes Blade!" Mòrag unleashed her Art which Jin evaded before raising his sword to block Brighid's Whipswords from his right.
"Scattershot!" Jin heard, turning his attention to Tora who was wielding Mech Arms. But the Nopon wasn't firing at the Flesh Eater, or even Malos.
"Salem!" Jin warned the airborne witch, just in time for her to launch a sphere of dark magic on the approaching missiles, which then exploded, along with the missiles.
"Thank you." Salem said curtly as she then tried to avoid several shots from Penny. Although she soon realized that Penny used Tech Blaster, which can't be dodged.
The witch reeled in the air as she took the hits, but once again, the spots hit glowed gold before being healed. Even the damage to her black robe was fixed. "Not bad." Salem complimented before making a large sphere of dark magic appear above her. And then she tossed it down upon the cannoneers.
"I got it!" Nora called out as she got in front of the cannoneers with Electra's hammer's shield function active. And it wasn't just her, Qrow also ran next to the carrot top and activated Kasandra's hammer's shield function. The two defensive fighters took the large sphere of magic together, which promptly exploded on impact.
"Nora!" Jaune called out.
"Friend Penny!" Poppi added in.
"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby feared the worst.
"…We're okay." Qrow said as he got back up alongside Nora. It seemed like the explosion tossed them back, but otherwise they were fine.
Salem looked mildly impressed, "Not bad, I was almost serious with that one." Then she got hit by a shot from Ruby in her thigh.
"Get down from there right now!" Ruby demanded as she kept firing. Salem put up her palm and blocked the shots. Then Salem moved a little backwards before suddenly falling. All the way over the edge she had flown past.
"Huh?" Yang let out in confusion at the witch just falling off like that.
Then as Tora had switched his attention to Malos, Poppi suddenly looked around, "Anomalies detected!"
"What?" Tora let out just as several large breaches opened all around them. From one of the breaches, several Beowolf Alphas appeared. From another, multiple Ursa Majors came out. And from one in the air, a giant Nevermore flew through. And from the one at the start of the walkway, was a giant Death Stalker.
"You gotta be kidding me." Oscar said at the sight of the Grimm.
"I did wonder if I could do that." Salem said as she floated back up from the edge she just fell to moments ago. "Malos, Jin, my pets will not attack you so just ignore them and let them kill our enemies."
"Dammit! So it really was you that tried to kidnap Pyra and Mythra." Yang accused the witch.
"Of course, but as you can all attest to, that plan failed." Salem said as she crossed her arms while the giant Nevermores unleashed a volley of their Fatal Feathers. The Blades quickly created barriers to block the feathers, but some of them landed harmlessly away from their Drivers.
Meanwhile, the Alpha Beowolves charged at the cannoneers. But seeing as Ether Cannons are more effective than Huntsman guns, and more importantly Kos-Mos is light element, the Grimm were quite literally cannon fodder.
"Mach Breaker!" Penny unleashed the high-powered blast that went through several Ursa Majors. Meanwhile Jaune, Pyrrha and Joana were running to the Death Stalker that was approaching them. It was the same size as the one they faced back in the initiation.
"Joana." Jaune called out as he tossed Pyrrha's weapons back to her.
"Understood." Joana quickly tossed her Catalyst Scimitar straight to Jaune's hand.
Rex glanced at the Grimm that were attacking, "Wulfric, Roc, help them!"
"But Rex-" "Just do it, I'll be fine until you're done." Rex interrupted Roc's protests.
Wulfric got away from Malos before turning to Nia, "Take care of Rex." And then ran off to help fight against the Grimm.
"You think, I will let you." Salem said, as she fired several blasts of dark magic at the beastly Blade's back. Only for them to be intercepted by Team RWBY.
Salem looked annoyed at the team stopping her.
With Jin and Malos, Malos had just finished kicking Tora away before getting a slash on Rex's chest. One that was eating away at his Aura. Only for it to be healed away by Nia.
"Have I mentioned how annoying that ability is?" Malos said as he turned a hateful look towards Nia.
"You have, yes." Nia said uncaringly.
And then Nia suddenly began feeling cold. "What's this? Ice?" And then she figured out the problem, "Jin! You're doing this!"
"Zero Field." Jin said simply, "My true power."
Malos then let out a small laugh, "You may have incredible regenerative powers, but all that becomes moot once you hit absolute zero."
"A-absolute zero." Mòrag muttered as even she felt the cold, despite having switched to Brighid's weapons. It wasn't just Mòrag either. Everyone was slowed down with the sudden bout of cold. Even Brighid and Dragunov who are fire Blades.
"You think this will slow me down, "Dragunov growled as his cracks were still glowing gold despite the cold he felt. "Burning Spirit!" Dragunov activated his ability and everyone was covered in a flaming aura. And everyone found themselves now only mildly cool.
Jin frowned at Dragunov negating the numbing effects of his ability, "You always were too stubborn to stay down."
"Yeah, we got that in common." Yang said as she felt extremely grateful for the boost Dragunov gave.
"It wasn't a compliment." Jin said with a look of mild annoyance before preparing to attack Yang.
"Poppi!" Tora called out before throwing the shield to Poppi who then pointed it at Jin, "Eat this!" And then she fired Jet Biter.
But Jin quickly sliced the projectile in half, "Piece of trash!" And then Jin made a lightspeed attack on Tora and Poppi.
"Tora! Poppi!" Rex called out in concern even as Yang and Dragunov were charging at Jin.
*Crack*
Only for the two to stop as Yang looked in horror to her Blade. The stone around Dragunov's right shoulder had cracked, releasing golden flames.
"No. Nononononono!" Dragunov panicked as he covered the area in a vain attempt to block it. Unfortunately, despite his panic, his now increased anger didn't subside, and a new set of cracks began appearing all over his body. "I- It's not stopping!" Dragunov roared, now sounding distressed as his rage wanted to peak. The dragon heads were also slowly opening their eyes.
Jin gave the fire Blade a look of pity before taking a combat stance, "Goodbye... old friend." Jin was then covered in a golden aura as he prepared to stab through Dragunov's Core Crystal. Only for him to be suddenly yanked away.
"What the-?!" Malos exclaimed as Jin practically flew past him.
Straight towards Pyrrha who was allowing Wulfric to deal with the Death Stalker per the beast's wishes, "Nora, smash him!"
"You got it!" Nora saluted as she prepared Electra's hammer. Pyrrha meanwhile kept yanking on different parts of the metallic portion of Jin's body so that the Flesh Eater couldn't correct himself.
"Nora Smash!" And then Nora smashed the former Paragon of Torna to the ground. Nora lifted the hammer to smash again, but Jin rolled out of the way.
"You! That was the same ability Talos used against me. Why can you use it?" Jin demanded from Pyrrha.
"Because it was mine to begin with." Pyrrha replied before using her semblance again to restrain Jin in midair. "Finish him quickly!" Pyrrha cried out to her friends. With that, Jaune, Ren, Oscar, Penny, Nora and Qrow charged the now restrained Flesh Eater.
Only for all of them to pause as a huge lightning came from the sky and hit Pyrrha. Then another two, which broke her Aura, and by extension her hold on Jin who landed on his feet.
Oscar looked surprised about something before turning towards Salem. The wicked witch had an arm outstretched towards them with a small smirk.
"Dammit! Brave-" Jaune didn't get to finish as Jin immediately dashed to Pyrrha in lightspeed and gave myriad of cuts across her armored body. Pyrrha was flung back with parts of her armor being destroyed, which were also followed by severe cuts appearing all over her. "-Soul!" Jaune finished the healing Art, restoring Pyrrha. Or that's what was supposed to happen, but the Art didn't seem to do anything to… anyone.
"…It seems Dragunov was only able to restore your movement." Jin said as he turned to the others who looked shocked at him getting past them so easily.
As this was happening, no one was sure if Dragunov going Sun Dragon was more dangerous than Salem, Malos and Jin right now.
"Hey, Jin. While they're still weakened, let's finish them." Malos said before unleashing another Monado Cyclone that sent, Rex, Mòrag, Zeke, Tora and Ruby flying.
"It can't end like this." Rex said as his Aura still held on. The salvager charged at Malos, only to be intercepted by Jin. Rex barely deflected an attack from Jin, but was then kicked away.
"Rex!" Nia cried out before having to avoid an attack from Malos.
"My lady!" Dromarch sent his Twin Rings to his Driver so she could defend herself. Nia was able to block a few attacks before getting pushed back by a particularly strong one. Then the dark Aegis tried to take advantage of it, but luckily, Mòrag was able to intercept it with Whipswords.
"This is getting us nowhere." Zeke complained as he jumped up in an attempt to bring Big Bang Edge on Malos. But the Aegis put up a barrier to block the attack.
To top it all off, Salem seemed to be taking things seriously now. Evidence by the fact that she was trying to attack Ruby with ice. Weiss with fire or wind, depending on which of her Blades she was linked to. In other words, she was now trying to take advantage of Blade weaknesses, just like she did with Pyrrha.
That's not even counting that there were still Grimm to hold the rest of Team JNPR, Qrow and Oscar off.
Rex tried attacking Jin, but the Flesh Eater nimbly avoided the slashes of Nia's Catalyst Scimitar. As Jin avoided Rex's strikes he took a glance at Dragunov who now had more new cracks all over the stone of his body.
"You're in my way." Jin unleashed Ultraslash which knocked Rex back a little. But the salvager would not stay down long enough for Jin to stop Dragunov. Even as Yang was trying her best to get the dragon to calm down.
"Enough! Just stop already Rex." Rex heard Pyra's voice in his head. "Forget about us already."
"Rex… This is what we wanted." Now it was Mythra. "Our power has done nothing but bring you pain. It would be better if such a power didn't exist."
"We told you we wanted to go to Elysium. But the reason we wanted that, was to beg our father to let us die."
"So Rex… for the sake of the world, and yourself. Please forget about us." Mythra begged.
"Forget you?" Rex questioned aloud. "As if I could do that!" Even as Rex was trying to fight off Jin he still found it in himself to answer. "When you're injured, I can feel your pain. When you feel pain, I can feel the sorrow in your heart."
"What the hell?" Malos said at Rex seemingly talking to himself, "Has he finally cracked?" Then he had to deflect an attack from Zeke.
"Rex, this is no time to talk to yourself!" Ruby said as she avoided another barrage of icicles from Salem. The wicked witch then fired a strong gust of wind to deflect Weiss' bitball without even looking at its direction.
"Do you really think I can just stand around and watch someone I care about suffer?" Rex then said as he was still clashing with Jin.
"Rex, please. You can make it to Elysium one day even without us, so please." Pyra begged.
"What would be the point of that?" Rex replied, "I promised to take you both to Elysium. That's a promise I'm gonna keep no matter what."
"Rex." Pyra sounded like she was about to cry.
"I'm going to Elysium for you. I'm doing all this for your sake." Rex said as he blocked an overhead slash from Jin before actually pushing the Flesh Eater back. "So let's go! And find out together! We'll find out why you were born. And where our future leads us! So believe me. I will not let the world burn a second time. So give your all to me!" Rex yelled out as Jin charged enough power to go for a single powerful slash at Rex's neck. At the last part, Jin's sword was about to reach Rex's neck, with the salvager not even trying to stop it.
Except suddenly, Rex wasn't facing Jin. He seemed to be in some kind of large metallic room. In front of him were both Pyra and Mythra standing as separate beings. But behind them was a giant mech. On its right side, the mech was black with red glowing parts and energy wings. On its left side it was white with green glowing parts and energy wings. In the middle of its chest was a giant version Pyra's and Mythra's complete Core Crystal.
"Rex… This is our everything." Pyra said with a somber look, "This is the power granted to us at birth."
"So Rex… Are you sure you still want this." Mythra then asked.
Rex looked at the giant in front of him with awe for a moment before smiling at the Aegis sisters. "Hey… Do you two love this world?"
Pyra smiled back, "…Yes. Nia, Tora, Azurda… and you Rex. I love this world, because you are in it." Mythra was also smiling.
Rex looked happy to hear that answer, "Let's go then." And then he offered his hands for the girls. They both took them, all three holding on tight.
In the real world. Jin's sword stopped. It was stopped by what looked like the Emerald Core Crystal of Aegis that was floating in front of Rex, but it was upside down.
"What? How?" Jin exclaimed at the sight of the brightly glowing Core Crystal.
(Play Xenoblade Chronicles 2 OST: Counterattack)
Then a sword formed around the floating Crystal which Rex immediately grabbed. As if in response, the new sword glowed more brightly, pushing Jin back somehow. Then the glow dissipated somewhat, revealing that Rex was wielding the third Aegis sword. Except it was now glowing with Emerald energy.
"What? A new sword?" Malos said with an uncomprehending look.
Then Pyra's body began floating. Her Core Crystal shining with power as Emerald particles danced around her. Until her body glowed brilliant green. Once the light faded, Pyra was replaced, not by Mythra but an entirely different form. This new girl had an Emerald green hair in a high thigh-length ponytail. She was clad in high-tech white blue and green plate armor with black undersuit. Parts of the armor had neongreen crystal like ornamentations.
The new form of the Aegis opened her eyes which were also green. Then winglike detached parts with green energy feathers shut down, folded and attached to the new Aegis' sides.
"Pyra! Mythra!" Rex said as he moved in front of the new Aegis.
"Apologies Rex." Pyra/Mythra(?) said with a small smile, "It's alright now. I am no longer lost." Then she raised her palm toward Rex whose salvager outfit glowed with green light. Transforming the armor into a high-tech version of it, similar to Pyra's and Mythra's new form.
"What's this?" Rex asked as he took a look at himself.
"That looks better, don't you think." Pyra/Mythra said with a smile.
"Thanks." Rex said with an eager smile, "I could get used to this." Then Rex addressed everyone, "Everyone! Let's go!"
"Yeah!" Zeke agreed.
"Payback time!" Nia joined in.
"Let's get them, everyone!" Yang also cheered, because when Pyra transformed, even Dragunov was so in awe that his rising rage subsided. Sealing all the extra cracks on him.
Salem shook her head. While she was intrigued about this new transformation, it can't be a threat to her. Still… Salem spread her arms wide to open a new set of breaches to bring more reinforcements. Although it was a little taxing to open them, she decided to bring out some of her more powerful Grimm to the fold. Except all the breaches suddenly closed. "What?!" The witch screeched at her Breaches closing without her command.
Salem looked down in anger to see that Pyra/Mythra had her arm in a motion like she had just waved it.
"I won't let you open anymore breaches as you please." Pyra/Mythra said with a determined look.
Salem looked absolutely furious, "How dare you!" And then she charged powerful magic in to her left hand. "Who do you think you are, denying me my freedom!"
"What is she talking about?" Ruby questioned in confusion of Salem's outburst.
"Ruby, this isn't the time to be questioning that." Weiss said as she prepared an ether arrow with Aizen's bow. She was not going to wait for Salem to finish whatever she was planning. The former heiress fired the ether arrow at Salem, but the witch put her charging sphere of magic in the front, completely nullifying the attack. "What?"
Then Salem waved her right arm, making a red glyph appear in front of her, "You will learn what it means to oppose me!" Salem shouted before her left eye turned storm grey and she launched the magic... In her own face.
(End Song)
"What the heck is she doing?" Malos questioned as Salem fell from her spot in the air, all the way down to the edge of the walkway that faced the World Tree.
"What the heck was that?" Ruby questioned as Salem now had lost the entire right side of her head.
"Hurry." Salem said in a strange tone as the edge where the right side of her face was supposed to be began glowing with golden light, "Push me over the edge." It looked like the now gray eyed witch was struggling with something. Actually, it looked like the entire right side of her body had gone limp. With only the left side keeping her upright somehow.
"What?!" Yang let out loudly.
"Just do it already! She's coming back!" Salem screamed as the golden glow started expanding on the missing portion of her head.
"Fine then." Dragunov said before charging at Salem and smacking her over the edge, causing the wicked witch to fall into the darkness of the Great Void.
"What the heck was that?" Blake questioned on Salem apparently losing her mind.
With Oscar he also heard and saw what happened when he ran out of Grimm to shoot. Only one of the Giant Nevermores in the sky remained. Roc had managed to kill one of them.
"Ozpin what was that? Why did Salem act like that?" Oscar asked the headmaster loudly.
"I...I don't know." Ozpin said, sounding just as confused as the farmboy.
"Great, now she cracked." Malos groaned at what happened with Salem.
Jin frowned at this before using lightspeed to attack Rex. Only to be surprised to see that the salvager deflected it. "What?" Jin tried again. This time trying to go behind. Only for Rex and Pyra/Mythra to follow him at same speed. "How? How can you match my speed?!" Jin demanded before having to block an attack from Rex, but the strike actually sent him flying against the high cliffside.
From the outside perspective, there were sudden clashes in seemingly random areas.
"What's going on?" Weiss questioned as she couldn't keep up any more than anyone else.
"I don't know." Ruby said before grinning, "But I think Rex is kicking Jin's butt."
Indeed, after being struck against the mountain side, Jin then had to move across it, but Rex and Pyra/Mythra weren't far behind.
"How are you doing this?" Jin demanded from the salvager.
"I don't know." Rex said with a grin, "But I'm not complaining."
Back on the ground, Nia was also looking in awe, "Whoa…so this is Pyra's and Mythra's true power."
Jin then brought his sword to block a thrust that Rex and Pyra/Mythra were making together. With Pyra/Mythra having unfolded her detached wings.
The impact point caused a green beam being blasted back on the walkway with a small explosion, causing everyone to cover a bit.
It took a moment for the dust to settle, but it was soon revealed that Jin had hit the ground panting in exhaustion. Then he seemed to hack on his own breathing.
Turning to look above, everyone saw Rex and Pyra/Mythra were pointing the third sword at the Flesh Eater like a pair of divine beings ready to bring their judgement upon their enemy. The two landed on the ground, with Pyra/Mythra letting go of the sword while Rex prepared himself.
"You want some more?" Rex said as he expected Jin to still put up a fight. But to his surprise, Jin didn't look angry as he met Rex's gaze. He just looked…sad. Jin then slowly got back up.
"Do it." Jin said, "End me now, or you'll live to regret it." Jin pointed his sword at the two, but to Rex…it sounded like Jin was begging to be killed.
"…No." Rex lowered the sword, "I don't want to fight you. I just want to get to Elysium. That's all. I won't let you stop me."
"That's not going to happen." Said Malos who slowly walked towards the edge Salem was moments ago pushed off of. Even as Roc was now playing cat and mouse with the remaining Nevermore. Apparently, its comrade getting killed convinced it that it couldn't take the avian Blade head on. "We have goals of our own."
"What goals?" Rex asked.
"Our only purpose." Jin said, "Destroy humanity. Destroy then world. Then…"
"…Destroy the Architect." Malos finished. This declaration surprised everyone. "I am an Aegis." Malos said. "Created by the Architect to erase existence. The ultimate weapon. The Endbringer!"
"Endbringer?" Rex said.
"Yes. My only purpose is to destroy. I am the Endbringer." Malos reaffirmed, "That is why I must go to Elysium. And awaken the ultimate Artifice, Aion."
"…Aion." Roze muttered with a frown.
"You can't be serious." Rex said to Malos.
"I'm nothing but serious, boy." Malos said with a smile, "This is the sacred duty entrusted to the Artifices by the Architect."
"You're wrong." Ruby said with a determined look, "There's no way that's why Pyra or Mythra exists. How do you even know that's true for you either?"
Malos scowled at Ruby.
"Ruby's right." Pyra/Mythra agreed with the silver eyed Driver. "Father doesn't want that! You're deeply mistaken."
"Enough." Malos now sounded annoyed, "I know I'm right!" And at that moment, Ophion rose from the depths of the Great Void, startling everyone.
"What is that?!" Nora cried out.
"Ophion." Pyra/Mythra said to no one in particular.
"It's a machine." Weiss said with a look of surprise.
"Indeed!" Malos shouted with glee. "It ends here!" Then Ophion opened its main maw and charged energy inside it. But suddenly a golden beam of light shot from the heavens, blasting Ophion down. "Another guest at the party!?" Malos looked to the sky to see white angelic mech with green energy wings and a large golden halo above it slowly descending.
"Is that…Siren?" Rex asked first.
Siren held two white double-edged looking blades as its red eyes glowed.
Malos glared at Mythra's Artifice. "Bring it on!" And then a purple beam shot from somewhere towards the opposing Artifice. Ophion was still very much active.
Siren dodged the beam before Ophion adjusted its aim, forcing it to bring its double-edged blades at the front, deploying a barrier. Similar to the one Blades use.
Ophion stopped firing and flew up towards the white Artifice which avoided the serpentine machine's head before deploying green energy Blades. It used the left one to slice at Ophion's body as it flew downwards along it. Then the Giant Nevermore that was trying to avoid Roc noticed the new adversary and chose to attack it. Only for it to be sliced in to by the other blade. It quite frankly looked like Siren just swat a fly away. But then Ophion's head turned towards the angelic Artifice and charged again. Siren quickly turned around and deployed its barrier while Ophion deployed a blue version. Siren was pushed against the cliff next to the walkway despite its thruster trying to go full force in an attempt to create an opposing force. The clashing Artifices created a powerful storm which tried to blow everyone away.
"Pyra!" Rex said in concern as he covered her on instinct.
"I'm fine." Pyra/Mythra said as she held her ground. The others were also holding on to varying degrees. Blake and Weiss used their Blade's weapons to anchor themselves while Dahlia was close enough to hold onto her Driver. Aizen and Nox were smart enough to stay low. Dragunov did the same while holding onto Yang so she wouldn't get blown away. Ruby followed her friends' example and used Roze's scythe while her Blade held onto it too.
"I've had it with you. Pyra! Mythra!" Malos yelled over the clash in anger before Ophion took some distance from Siren and opened fire from the main cannon that was its maw. Siren's barrier held on against the huge beam.
"Oh no, the cliff!" Zeke cried out as the same couldn't be said for the cliff that was cracking a lot from the close proximity.
It didn't take long until the whole portion of the cliff along with the walkway collapsed causing everyone to fall into the Great Void with various screams.
Sometime later, Mythra was stirring. She could feel her head resting against something firm, but comfy.
"You awake?" Mythra heard Rex's voice.
"…Rex?" The blonde Aegis muttered as she opened her eyes.
"All in one piece?" Rex then asked, looking into her eyes from the above. Then the salvager looked a little sheepish. "I guess if you were injured, I'd be too."
"Huh? Yes I'm okay." Mythra said as she turned sleepily on her comfy pillow. And then she realized that Rex was looking at her from above, and aside from her head, she felt she was resting on something hard. Which meant… Mythra quickly scampered off of Rex's lap before hastily retreating in a sitting position away from her Driver frantically. "W-was I in your lap? This whole time?" Mythra stammered out in embarrassment. The salvager was still in the new armor that Pyra/Mythra made for him.
Rex chuckled at this. "Mmh. It's like the opposite of when we met. By the way, I can see you're back to your old self." At the last part Rex smiled.
Mythra seemed to be cringing. "I mean… Thank you." the blonde Aegis said instead. "I…didn't say anything strange did I? Talking in my sleep, or grinding my teeth, or snoring or… I'm a terrible sleeper."
"You snore and grind your teeth?" Rex asked in amusement, finding it hard imagining that.
"W-well not always! I mean… It's just a figure of speech!" Mythra said defensively before facing away from Rex and hugging her knees.
Rex chuckled before seemingly remembering something, "You might want to keep it down. You might wake up Ruby."
"Huh?" Mythra turned a questioning gaze to Rex who pointed past her. Turning to her right, Mythra saw that the red reaper was indeed laid on her back. Sleeping, and with her cloak put over her as a makeshift blanket. There was also a rose patterned cloak folded under her head as a makeshift pillow. "…Is Roze here?" Mythra asked as she looked around. Only now noticing they were in some kind of ruins. The floor that they were on seemed to be made of some kind of metal. in semi-regular segments. And out of the immediate area, she could see very tall buildings.
"Yeah. He said he was gonna look around. Told me to look after Ruby in the meantime." Rex said as he looked out towards the dreary landscape.
"I see." Mythra muttered before realizing something. "Where are we? Where is everyone else?"
Rex looked to the dark sky that seemed to flash with lightning on occasion, but the sound was pretty low so it was probably very far away. "We're under the Cloud Sea." Rex said. "This must be what us salvagers call…the Land of Morytha. I don't know what happened to everyone else, but we fell right over there." Rex said as he got up and pointed just a few ways away from them.
Mythra also got up and looked to the dark sky. "All the way from up there?" It sounded like she had a hard time believing in it.
"There's a strong updraft that seems to come from below that saved us. I'm sure it did the same for the others." Rex said before looking to Ruby. "Shortly after Roze laid Ruby there, he moved out to look around. But he hasn't come back yet."
"Yes I have." Was the voice that caused the two to jump before turning around to see Roze standing there without his cloak. Though he was still wearing his rose embroidered leather jacket, black pants and boots.
"Roze when did you get back here?!" Mythra demanded.
"Just now." Roze said as he brought his fists on his hips. One of them holding the Relic of Knowledge.
"Where did you get that?" Rex asked at the sight of the lamp.
"I found it lying around in some rubble." Roze replied, "Oscar must have dropped it when we fell." Then he turned towards his Driver, "By the way, how is Ruby?"
"She isn't injured, and she's been sleeping peacefully from what I can tell." Rex replied.
"Good." Roze smiled, "Once she wakes up, we should try and look for everyone else."
"Sounds like a plan." Rex said with a smile before remembering something. The salvager quickly turned to Mythra, "Hey. How is Pyra."
"Hm? Oh, she's sleeping." Mythra replied, "Shall I call her out?"
"Nah, she's been through a lot. Let her sleep." Rex replied.
This earned him a smile from the blonde Aegis, "You're too kind."
Rex placed his hands over his hips proudly. "Rule Five of the Salvager Code is-"
"I don't think we need to hear it." Mythra interrupted before walking towards the still sleeping Ruby.
"Hey! At least let me finish, spoilsport." Rex whined.
Roze let out a small laugh before looking at the relic in his hand in worry. "What the heck was that." Roze thought on when he found the lamp in that rubble.
Roze picked up the lamp from among the rubble he noticed it in. As soon as his hand grasped it, the centerpiece glowed a little brighter. "Huh?" Roze muttered before his Core Crystal glowed in response. And then he felt a sharp pain in his head.
(? Unlocked)
As soon as the pain had subsided, this ruined city started to give the reaper Blade a sense of deja vu. Like he had been here before. "I wonder how the others are doing." Roze muttered as he followed the Aegis and her Driver to his still sleeping Driver.
With Yang, she was stirring awake. Groggily she rose up to a sitting position and stretched her arms.
"You're awake." Said Dragunov from the opposite of her.
"Morning Drag." Yang said blearily before taking a good look at where she was. It looked like a ruined city. A partially bombed one. "Where are we?" Then she looked a little to her right and saw what looked like sandfield. The sand seemed to be pure white, which was strange, given how dreary the lighting is. Then there were patches of dried grass with stones on them.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Dragunov said as he got up and looked towards the ruined and partially blown up buildings.
"Well… try me." Yang said as she too looked at the buildings that looked like something you would find in Mistral.
"This looks to be Sachsum Garden." Dragunov then said as he looked to the white sand field with some rubble fallen from the buildings.
"Sachsum Gard-! Wait. Wasn't that in..." Yang said in disbelief as she had red about this in Thauron's journal.
"Looks that way." Dragunov said before giving a serious look to his Driver, "We are on the ruins of Auresco, the capital of Torna… My home."
Yang's jaw dropped at this revelation.
On top of one of the skyscrapers, Qrow was looking around the city. "Dammit, where is everyone?" The veteran huntsman complained before jumping off the building and flying back down. He would make a flying sweep of the city, but he didn't want to risk leaving Kasandra alone so instead he would fly down where he left her for the moment.
As for Blake… she was in trouble. The cat faunus was running away from gray humanoid creatures that had glowing blue parts on their malformed bodies. Lucky for her, they didn't seem to be able to move fast so she just had to run as fast as her legs could. Shooting them didn't seem to hurt them. But the worst part was… Nox wasn't with her. She came to without her Blade in sight, and Blake knew that if Nox knew where she was, he would never leave her side until she was awake. Which meant that the only reason he hadn't come to her aid yet was because he was too far away, or… he was unable to come for some reason. The only thing that could stop him was if he was pinned down under a piece of rubble he can't move on his own. Blake turned around a corner to see more of those shambling creatures and they instantly turned to face her. And then they started approaching.
"No." Blake whimpered as she turned the other direction. Hoping to finally lose these monsters that bullets can't kill. Not to mention these things drained her Aura dry earlier. Drained, as in pointed their tentacled arms at her and her Aura visibly left her body and into their arms.
Blake quickly found a building with an open door and moved inside to hopefully hide and rest for the moment. Judging by the shelves that had different stuff on them, this used to a store of some kind. Blake's hiding spot was behind one such shelf that faced away from the door she cat Faunus was now more afraid than back in the Battle for Beacon, and that's saying something. "What the heck are those things." Blake muttered as she desperately tried to even her breathing. Sometimes it felt like those things are everywhere, hence why she had to run for her life for… she wasn't even sure for how long. And then she remembered, her Scroll. Maybe she could try calling.
She quickly fished out her Scroll before opening up her contacts, only to notice one tiny detail at the upper right corner of her device. No signal. Scrolls should have a short-range communicator, but without local comms it's pretty short. So the fact that there's no signal practically means that either someone is jamming it, or this place is somehow messing with it. Either one is bad.
Blake almost jumped out of her skin when she heard the door being slammed open. Those things had just forced their way into the building. Blake tried to get up, but her legs refused to obey. Now that she had finally sat down and her adrenaline had momentarily subsided, her body remembered that it was completely exhausted.
"No." Blake whimpered as she realized that she no longer had the strength to even stand. Meaning that there was no longer any way to escape. Her ears then perked up. "No… There is a way out." Blake said lowly as she put her hand into the pouch at her side and fished out Perceval's Core Crystal. But the thing wasn't responding to her touch. "Come on. Wake up! Why won't you wake up!?" Blake almost cried as the Crystal wasn't resonating with her. "…Why?" Blake said as tears threatened to well out, before remembering something Nia said about the time she and her friends awakened their Blades.
"Huh? That's not supposed to happen. Normally you have to reach out to the Crystal with your mind as you grasp it."
With that in mind, Blake tried to shut away the moans of the shambling creatures that were approaching the exhausted Faunus' location. Then she tried to do what Nia said, reached out to the Crystal with her mind as she grasped it to her chest.
Soon enough, the Core Crystal resonated with Blake. Then it flashed, causing the monsters to back away a little from the light. When Blake was able to open her eyes, Perceval was in front of her. Drinking from a gourd in his hand before lowering it to dangle at his side. Then he raised his left hand and summoned his Chroma Katana in its sheath.
"Please… help me." Blake pleaded, part of her fearing the Blade that used to be Adam's. Even though the Blade in question ultimately turned on the mad bull.
Perceval looked down to Blake as he took an iaido stance. "My name is Perceval." Perceval said as his war banners unfolded from his back and the back of his helmet spewed flames. Then the assassin Blade turned to his side where two of the monsters were about to get to their visual range. "None can stand against me." Perceval declared as he brandished his purple bladed Chroma Katana while standing in front of Blake protectively.
As Blake felt relieved that Perceval was planning to protect her, the assassin Blade proceeded to attack the monsters, weaving past them while cutting them down as he did. But to Blake's horror the ones that Perceval cut down were getting back up and turning towards the katana wielding Blade. "Perceval, behind you!" Blake cried out, and a good thing she did, because Perceval quickly dashed back in before cutting off one's head and stabbing the other in the glowing part on their chest.
Perceval then got in front of Blake, turned his back to her and then lowered himself to a knee before folding his war banners and his helmet stopped spewing flames. "Get on." Perceval said in an almost commanding tone.
"What?" Blake said in confusion.
"These things don't stay down, and you're clearly in no condition to fight." Perceval said even as he took note of the one who's glowing part he stabbed. That one wasn't getting back up.
Understanding what Perceval was saying Blake forced herself on the assassin's back and wrapped her arms around his neck and legs around his waist. Then Perceval stood up.
"Whatever happens, don't let go." Perceval said before dashing at the monsters that were between him and their exit.
Outside the building, several of the monsters that were trying to get inside the building were sent flying before Perceval dashed outside and jumped right over several others before continuing his dash away from the creatures that tried to shamble after them despite having no hope of keeping up. All the while Blake was holding on to Perceval's back for dear life.
AN: And there we go. Salem refused to go down. And when she finally got serious, someone decided to throw a wrench into her plans. The gang has officially ended up on the Land of the Dead, Morytha. Roze had a weird reaction to the lamp, Yang is in the ruins of Torna and Blake was finally forced to awaken Perceval.