Up the World Tree
Within Marsanes, that the Torna crew left behind not too far away earlier, Jin was inside of a pod, surrounded by green particles. Resting, recovering.
However, the particles soon dispersed and the pod opened allowing Jin to exit.
"You can die when we're done." Said Malos who was watching over his partner in crime.
"We made it this far. I don't plan on giving up." Jin replied reassuringly.
"Damn." Malos then sighed, "If Judicium hadn't gone down, we might've been able to get you some better treatment."
"When human cells are woven into the body of a Blade, they awaken strange abilities." Jin looked down sadly. "That's good enough for me. This'll do fine."
Malos had a small frown as he crossed his arms, "Even if she'd hate you for it, right?"
Jin's hands clenched into fists. "I know Lora wouldn't have wanted any of this. Even so, I've got to keep my promise." At the last part, Jin turned to face Malos.
The corners of Malos' lips quirked upwards ever so slightly, "Alright, I'm with you…all the way."
Jin smiled before turning to face the center of the circular room.
"Hey, Jin. You better not get all sentimental on me." Malos said almost playfully.
"…I saw the ruins of Torna. Down in Morytha." Jin then said.
"Oh?"
"I saw half rotted Blades, couldn't grow into Titans." Jin said looking down to the floor.
"…They must've lived quite a long while there." Malos said simply.
Jin then looked to a block of ice at that held the body of Lora in the center of the room. "A man once said, 'Live together with the humans.'. Really, we were just living for the humans. That was what the Architect ordained for us. And look what we became." Jin couldn't help thinking back on all the poor souls that would have become Titans, and for what.
"I'm looking forward to nurturing life myself, instead of reducing it to cinders."
"Dragunov was a fool to think that way." Jin then muttered, earning a quirked eyebrow from Malos.
"You're still sure of what you want, right?" The dark Aegis asked instead. "That thing…"
It didn't take much for Jin to realize what Malos meant. "It's a reminder. Of what a fool I was for ever having faith for the Architect." The silver haired Blade glared at the ice block.
Then a feminine chuckle came from the entrance, earning the two's attention. "I see I'm not the only one the gods have hurt." Salem said as she walked in with an amused smile. Smile that soon faded, "Though unlike you, the only reminder I need of my foolishness for having faith in those monsters is just a single glance at a mirror."
"Oh really?" Malos said with a small smirk, "Let me guess, you lost someone you cared about too?"
"Yes." Salem admitted, earning surprised looks from the two, "Someone who didn't deserve to die. And when I asked for that one single thing, they punished me for it. As if this wasn't enough for them." Salem pointed to her ashen face with red lines, "They also turned my love into a cruel joke." Salem's expression reflected more anger as she clenched her hand into a fist. Then the witch let out a calming breath. "So now, all I really have is my own life. And I can't even lose that."
Jin looked surprised to hear that. This woman…this was someone who was speaking from experience.
"Touching." Malos said without a hint of sympathy, "But tell me, how are you any different from any humans."
"How?" Salem asked before chuckling humorlessly, "The truth is, I'm not sure I have been a human for a long time now. I'm just something that seeks to undo everything those so-called gods have made. Even using one of their own creations against them." Salem now chuckled more maliciously at the last part. "Honestly, the better question I find myself asking is, are you two really different from humans? Or even from myself."
Malos chuckled at this, while Jin looked even more surprised.
"We have more in common than I thought." Jin found himself saying. While he wouldn't say he trusted Salem, he now felt like he understood her more.
"Indeed." Salem said, looking sincere for the first time since she joined forces with Malos and Jin. "…I should probably tell my subordinates to prepare themselves." Salem then changed the subject.
"Do as you please." Malos shrugged. With that, Salem left the two alone.
She didn't get far though as Watts looked to be waiting for her. "Doctor Watts, is there something you wish to talk about?"
"Yes, ma'am. It may not be my place to question, but as Emerald pointed out earlier, they were right there. Why not destroy them and take the Relic when it was practically on a silver platter?" Watts asked the same thing Emerald had asked after they picked up Jin. Well, more like yelled at them to open fire. Malos would have probably killed the girl if Salem hadn't scolded Emerald on her "rude" behavior.
Salem contemplated for a moment on whether to answer or not. And then she made her choice. "Personally, I can't understand why Jin told them not to attack, but I was not going to start an argument over such a small matter. Besides, where do you think they will go to from where they are?"
"…They will follow us to the top of the World Tree." Watts replied after a moment of thought.
"Which means…?" Salem led on.
"…The Relic will come with them." Watts concluded with a look of realization. "Ahh! So that's why you didn't feel the need for them to be destroyed yet."
"Indeed. That Relic isn't going anywhere. Unless Ozpin warns them, they will bring it directly to me. Though I do doubt he would, given how Lionheart didn't know when I paid him a personal visit." Salem chuckled at the last part. "Everything will end in my favor, because no other possibility exists. Never has."
"And if our hosts get in the way of our current goal?" Watts then asked.
"I do hope they don't. Because I'm beginning to enjoy their company." Salem admitted with a small smile before frowning, "But, should they become a problem, you know what to do. On to other matters, would you be so kind as to inform the others to prepare themselves."
"Understood, ma'am." Watts bowed before moving off.
When Watts moved out, Salem frowned a little at what she felt at the possibility of having to destroy Torna. Or at least Jin specifically. "Why do I care if I have to remove them from the board?... I never thought I could connect with anyone since…No! I cannot afford to go soft now. I must make those lizards pay for what they did to me. But maybe… Urgh, I can't believe I'm even considering this." The Grimm Queen let out a weary sigh at the conflicting emotions.
With Rex and everyone else, they had walked the root to an opening within the tree itself.
"Whoa!" Ruby let out in slight awe at the interior.
"Is this…the inside of the World Tree?" Rex said, being in awe himself, "I could've never imagined…"
"It appears to be an artificial tower, enveloped by gargantuan plant life." Dromarch commented. Indeed, the place they entered was a huge tower with a pillar in the middle.
"But why would someone make a tower this big?" Weiss wondered aloud. "Could it be Alrest's version of the CCT?"
"No." Roze replied, earning everyone's attention. "This is…" Roze trailed off before clutching his head, seemingly straining.
"Roze?" Ruby said in worry.
"I…can't…" Roze let out a sigh as he gave up on whatever he was trying. "I feel like I should know this, but it just doesn't come to me."
"But why would you know anything about the World Tree?" Mòrag quirked an eyebrow.
Oscar then let Ozpin have control, "As interesting as that is, shouldn't we try to figure out how to get up?" Herald visibly tensed up when Ozpin came out. But when the former headmaster gave the control back to Oscar, the mech-riding Blade relaxed. The boy then briefly looked to the Relic of Knowledge at his side. Roze had given it back before they moved out of Torna, although the reaper Blade seemed a little hesitant to do that.
"Ozpin has a point." Blake agreed. "We should go." Blake had barely finished that sentence when Pyra walked towards a panel with a holographic console.
The red headed Aegis then turned into Pneuma before pressing something on the console. This opened the front of the pillar in the center, revealing a circular room with another console in the middle. After that, Pneuma reverted to Pyra.
"It seems we can use this to travel up." Pyra then said.
"So, it's an elevator?" Roc piped up. The Avian Blade had rejoined them moments before they entered the tree itself. Apparently, he was ready to attack Monoceros' cannons when they pointed at the gang, but then the ship left.
"A high-speed elevator." Roze clarified, "Used on very tall buildings. But how did you open it without it asking for a pass-code?"
This earned Roze more strange looks.
"Did he hit his head somehow?" Nora whispered to Ren.
"…I don't think that was it." was Ren's quiet reply.
"Honestly, I'm not sure." Pyra then replied to Roze, "It's like my body is remembering stuff all by itself. It must be another power granted to the Master Blade by Father."
"Ah. Makes sense." Roze shrugged. Although Ruby was getting a little worried about her Blade saying weird stuff.
"Yes, but we must hurry now." Pyra then said, "Because this was hardwired into my brain, so Malos should have it too."
"Then let's get a move on people." Zeke said, with Nora giving a cheer of agreement. Everyone quickly entered the elevator with Pyra pressing the holographic screen inside the elevator, the door closed, and the elevator took off with surprising amount of force. Guess it makes sense for a tower as high as they saw to have an elevator this fast.
The trip didn't take too long, before the door on their front opened, revealing a hallway.
"Wait, this is as far as it goes?" Nora complained.
"Looks that way." Weiss said, looking at the walls with fascination, "I just can't figure out what the walls are made of. It doesn't look like metal, and I doubt it's stone either."
"It's a composite material that is used to build tall buildings to ensure they don't tilt." Kos-Mos commented, earning strange looks.
"How do you know that Kos-Mos?" Penny asked her Blade. More out of curiosity than anything else.
"…I'm not sure, Master. The knowledge came from…what was the phrase…out of nowhere." the android Blade replied, almost apologetically.
"How do you make something like that?" Agate asked, looking very curious herself.
"I'm afraid I cannot answer that." Kos-Mos said in her usual monotone
Ruby then turned to Roze with an expectant look. "Ruby, why are you staring at me?" But the reaper Blade didn't get it.
"Do you know how it's made?" Ruby then blurted out.
Roze looked confused, "Why would I know that?"
"Guys, let's go." Rex interrupted the interrogation and moved out.
"Hey, wait for us!" Ruby cried out before running to catch up to the Aegis Driver.
Qrow shook his head at his niece. Though it's not like he wasn't marveling at the sights himself. This looked more-high tech than Atlas, and that's saying something. Rex and the others took a left turn at a fork in the hallway, moving through that hallway.
"Guys, look!" Jaune shouted out, noticing a portion of the wall opening. Then out walked a human sized robot. But it looked like a box with two legs.
"A walking box." Qrow muttered, "Well, that's a new one."
" Identify yourselves." an automated message rang out of the box-like robot.
Blake let out a weary sigh, and decided to pull out Gambol and shoot it.
"Blake!" Ruby cried out.
"What? It's not like telling our names helps." Blake retorted before looking surprised. Turning to the source, everyone saw that the robot was still standing. Blake's shot not doing anything to it. The machine walked to the nearest member of their group, who just happened to be Jaune who had his shield ready just in case he can't talk his way out of this.
"Listen, the name's Jaune Arc, and-" "Identification received." The machine replied, interrupting the Arc Driver. "Searching through the database… Search complete. Jaune Arc: Not recognized. Intruder Alert!" The machine then raised its leg and kicked Jaune who had his shield up-front. But the Arc boy was sent flying from the surprising force behind it. Everyone quickly getting out of the boy's flight path to the wall behind them.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha was the first to let out in concern.
"I'm okay." Was the quick reply.
"Okay, this thing is scrapped." Nora said with an eager grin before taking out Magnhild and smashing at the machine. But the thing moved out of the way, surprising the carrot top. "What the-?!" Was as far as Nora got before ducking under another kick. Then the machine was blasted by both Ren and Penny with their respective Ether Cannons. The machine was blasted against the wall, its body having taken damage, but it was still very much active.
"Steady Drill!" Tora activated the drill of his shield and was able to drill through the damaged parts. The machine went limp.
"…Okay, for a machine that looks so ridiculous it packs quite a punch." Weiss commented on their mechanical opponent.
"Don't you mean, kick." Dragunov grinned, earning several groans.
"Hey! I wanted to say that!" And a complaint from Yang.
"This is not the time, you two!" Nia snapped at the wannabe comedians.
"Well if we all had jumped it at once, we could've taken it out easily." Yang said with an uncaring tone, "But yeah, that's probably not even the best thing here."
"Agreed." Came out of Mòrag, "I wonder what kind of technology was used to have something like this."
"Who knows, but we should get going." Pandoria said, "I mean, who knows how many more of these automatons we would face."
"Sovereigns." Roze said, earning everyone's attention, "They're called Sovereigns. Automated defense system, designed to apprehend intruders that are unable to give proper identification. But will use lethal force when deemed necessary." Roze sounded like he was reading from a textbook.
At that moment, Mythra replaced Pyra," Okay, how do you know that? I didn't know that there was security like this here, and then you go and almost casually drop that little tidbit."
Roze opened his mouth like he was about to answer, only to then frown.
"Don't you dare say you don't know." Mythra warned.
"…But I don't." Roze said weakly.
"Okay, this is-" "Mythra, it doesn't matter right now." Rex butted in.
"What? But Rex-" "We can think about what Roze knows or doesn't know later. Right now, we need to catch up to Jin and Malos." The salvager interrupted.
"And Salem." Ruby added in.
"Right." Rex scratched the back of his head.
Mythra looked like she wanted to say something, but decided against it.
With that, everyone moved forward.
Although, as they found the next elevator, Brighid leaned to Mòrag's ear, "Lady Mòrag, I wouldn't want to make any assumptions, but now that Mythra has mentioned it, Roze has been saying things that don't make sense. If it was Pyra and Mythra I would understand, but Roze is a normal Blade."
"You raise a good point." Mòrag said discreetly, "But I'm not sure we should address that yet. Although." The Special Inquisitor moved closer to Roze as they entered the elevator. "Roze. You wouldn't happen to know if there are multiple types of these Sovereigns?"
"Huh?" Roze looked surprised at the question, "I mean… there are, but… I feel like it's something I should know but can't recall."
"Mòrag, what're you trying to ask him?" Zeke then asked out of curiosity.
Mòrag ignored the question, "If we were to see a new one, would you know what it would be capable of?"
Roze looked hesitant, "...I'm not sure. I guess… I mean, I knew what that Phoebus was going to do to Jaune, but… I couldn't react to it fast enough."
"Phoebus?" Aizen piped up, "Is that what that particular Sovereign was?"
"Yes." Roze said.
"Interesting." Dagas commented with his arms crossed. "Tell me, what were your Field Skills again?"
"What?" Roze let out.
"Perhaps what you know is rooted to one of them." Dagas theorized.
"Really?" Ruby got a little excited to hear that before giving a starry-eyed look, "Roze, has your third skill activated? You said that your third one was locked."
"I did… And…it still is." Roze said with an unsure look.
"Could you elaborate?" Otohime was getting curious too of the mystery that is Roze's knowledge.
"I still only have Wind Mastery and Keen Eye active." Roze explained with a frown, "My third one still isn't active."
"Shame. That would have explained things." Otohime lamented.
Although Mythra looked like she wasn't buying it. But any further conversation was interrupted by the elevator opening up and letting them out.
"Whoaaa." Ruby and Nora let out together at what was behind as the two dashed out. Outside the elevator was a walkway that hugged the wall it was attached to with a railing, and beyond it was a vast circular space that you couldn't see the bottom of, with multiple large metallic looking pillars stretching from beneath the bottomless looking pit to the above where you couldn't even see the top.
"This…is…AWESOME!" Ruby practically screamed, which then echoed a little.
This is the part where Weiss would scold Ruby for being hyperactive, but she was also in awe of the vastness of this area.
As did everyone else.
"The inside of the World Tree make Tora's head all swirly wirly." Tora said as he looked around the engineering marvel.
"You know it's serious when Tora says it." Zeke agreed.
"Right, you were the most tech savvy here." Dragunov commented on the Nopon inventor.
Tora puffed his chest with pride at hearing that.
"Masterpon not need a big head." Poppi chided lightly, earning chuckles from everyone.
But Yang had other ideas, "Once this is all done, I think I'll take Bumblebee for a proper ride."
Dragunov had a massive grin at the thought. "And maybe turn a couple monsters into roadkill."
Qrow rolled his eyes at Yang's and Dragunov's plans, "Let's just get on with it."
Everyone agreed with that, and moved on through the walkway that led to a new elevator.
"Why do we have to go through so many different elevators?" Nora questioned, "Wouldn't it be easier to have a single one?"
"It's part of the security measure." Roze replied, "If someone somehow managed to invade here, all elevators could be locked down from the top."
"This place must have been important, if such measures were taken." Dahlia muttered.
Mythra looked more irritated at Roze once again spilling knowledge that he shouldn't have in the first place. "I am getting to the bottom of this later." Mythra thought.
"Is it really that bad that he knows all this?" Pyra asked her sister inside her head.
"I just want to know why. It's just, and don't you dare make comments on it, what if whatever is going on with him becomes a problem? A problem that might harm Rex." Mythra actually looked worried for an instant, before steeling herself so that no one would notice.
"Well… if you really want to know, we could become Pneuma and do a check on his Core to see if there are irregularities within him." As much as Pyra felt that this was small emotional manipulation from Mythra, she couldn't deny that tiny voice of worry at the back of her head. "But I think we should wait a while longer."
"Fine." Mythra resisted a defeated sigh.
The elevator they had taken this time opened, revealing a new walkway. Though this time it led to some kind of facility, one that had a very large opening. It kind of reminded them of an empty pool.
And when Roze didn't offer any explanation, the gang moved up a staircase into a new hallway. There, they came upon some interesting Sovereigns.
Which cuts to Yang who got knocked out of the air by one of them doing a high-speed wheelie on her.
"Okay. I'm not sure if that was embarrassing or badass." Yang said, feeling conflicted about getting knocked away by a robot on a motorcycle. Well, more like a motorcycle with a robot torso attached to it. Roze called this a Familion Sovereign. A high-speed sentry that can arrive at the scene very fast.
And it wasn't just Yang who had a problem with this. Qrow used Kasandra's hammer in an attempt to smash the Familion he was facing, but it put itself on reverse and backed away. "Okay, these things are definitely better than Atlesian drones." Qrow wasn't sure if he felt annoyed, or like recording this on his scroll so he can rub it into Ironwood's face someday.
The annoying part is that even if you do knock these things down, their torsos quickly turn them upright again. This was proven when one of them tried to pull a wheelie on Tora, but the Nopon countered with Big Boost, toppling the thing.
On the other hand… "Everybody, down!" Roze cried out as he tackled Ruby to the floor. The opponent these two and Weiss were facing was a quadrupedal Sovereign with a wide circular top that had four red points evenly spaced around the side. The red points each fired a laser before the top spun, making it a spinning laser top.
Some of the Blades put up barriers to protect themselves and their Drivers. Nora used the shield function of her hammer to cover herself and Electra from harm.
Except with Oscar who was in the air in Herald's arms. Part of Oscar felt highly embarrassed, but a bigger part of him focused on what he needed to do, which was blast his Ether Cannon for all it was worth on the Kustal Sovereign. It did stop it from spinning, allowing Nia to slash one of its legs with Dromarch's rings. Which was followed by Nora smashing it flat with Electra's hammer after the Blade in question gave her Driver a Power Hug.
Except Nora was unable to smash it completely and it just scrunched up a little. But it was still very much functional. Until it was finally blasted by Zeke's Overload Thunderbeam.
"Okay, taking a hit from Nora. These things are seriously tough." Zeke commented as Mòrag was able to destroy a Familion Sovereign.
"They, should be." Roze commented, having gotten off of Ruby while the said girl fired a Rosy Shot. Right through another Familion Sovereign's head. "These things represent the best of…"
"…Best of what?" Ruby asked after waiting for Roze to continue.
"…It ends there." Roze said with a confused look.
Ruby shook her head before deciding to focus on a few more Familion Sovereigns that seemed to have come out of nowhere.
It took some effort, but the gang did destroy the patrol they had been facing.
"No drone of Atlas is this strong." Weiss said with a slight frown. Even with Dahlia's bitball or Aizen's swords, these things can take a hit from her.
"Is that jealousy I hear, Weiss?" Dahlia asked with a devious smile.
Weiss looked at her Blade in annoyance, before sighing, "Yes. It's just… Atlas is technologically the most advanced nation in Remnant. But these things put Atlesian Knights to shame."
"It seems you haven't completely shrugged off the arrogance." Aizen commented, earning several looks. "Or do you deny that Atlasesians are a little too convinced about their kingdom being invincible?"
Weiss looked like she was about to protest, but thought better of it, "…No."
"Nothing is absolute." Aizen then said, "Remember that, Miss Schnee."
"Should I be impressed that something is better than Atlas technology?" Mòrag then asked.
"Yeah. You should be." Qrow replied with a frown, before he then grinned, "And I can't wait until I get to rub this in Jimmy's face."
Mórag shook her head at Qrow. While she has no real knowledge or experience on Atlas military, she can understand why some people dislike military in general. Especially when they have to bring bad news.
The group decided to move on. But something was bothering Mórag. "Rex, do you truly believe that Elysium exists?"
"You need to ask?" Rex said with a smile, "Of course I do."
"Don't you Mòrag?" Zeke piped up, "I don't understand why you'd even be here then."
"No… That's not what I mean. I just wanted to clarify how everyone truly feels. After all, don't most people only know about Elysium from fairy tales?" Mórag then said.
"Well, I guess so but…"
"Everyone on Remnant only knew about the Maidens and Brothers from fairy tales too." Ruby pointed out, "And we know both are real."
"Ruby, we haven't actually seen the Brothers. Just heard what Ozpin has said about them." Ren pointed out.
"Yeah, but we have a Fall Maiden right here." Nora then pointed to Pyrrha who gave an awkward wave.
"Well that's true on Remnant I suppose." Mòrag agreed, "But this is Alrest. And the same things don't necessarily apply here."
"Yeah, but our chum here has seen the real deal in his dreams or whatever." Zeke then added in.
"There were wide green fields and a warm breeze, and a beautiful city like nothing I've ever seen…" Rex started describing. "Pyra was standing on top of a hill overlooking all of it. I'm sure it must have been Elysium. There's no other place like it in Alrest."
Roze looked thoughtful at the last part.
"The place you saw in your dream." Mòrag then said with a skeptical look, "Is it prudent to believe in Elysium based on that information alone, I wonder?"
"Don't you trust me and Pyra, Mòrag?"
"Oh no, I trust you both. But just because a place exists in your dreams doesn't mean it exists in reality." Mòrag then explained her reasoning.
Qrow nodded in agreement, "She's got a point." Qrow then turned to Zeke, "I mean, this Elysium sounds a little too good to be true. Haven't you ever doubted if such a magical place like that actually existed?"
"Well…I guess I have wondered from time to time." Zeke admitted, "At the end of the day, the only way to be truly sure is to go there, right?"
"True enough." Mòrag agreed. As did Qrow and Weiss and Blake.
"As for now, Rex believes it's real, and that's enough for me." Zeke said confidently.
"Aww, Zeke." Rex got a little flustered.
"I mean, sure it'd be best for everyone if it does exist. But even if it doesn't, does that really change anything? Our chum's on a mission to help Pyra reach her dreams."
"Umm… I'm right here." the Aegis in question said, feeling like the Tantalese Driver was forgetting that.
"Whatever the outcome, I want to see that through the end." But Zeke didn't seem to acknowledge that.
"A mission?" And neither did Mòrag right now.
"So what if there's no proof? Chasing after dreams is what real men are born to do!" Zeke finished passionately. Though it seemed that none of the men in the team shared his thoughts. With the exception of Jaune who looked at their one-eyed prince with new admiration.
"Milord." Joana said with an unusually worried tone.
"Very well." Mòrag conceded with a small smile, "I appreciate your passion. Though I'm not quite sure I understand your notion of a 'real man'."
Zeke waved his hand dismissively, "Hey, no worries. You'll figure it out eventually. I mean, you're basically the manliest one here."
"Ohhohhoo." Came out of Dragunov, Roc and Nora.
Weiss and Blake scowled at the idiot prince.
"No, you didn't." Nora grinned evilly as she now looked forward to the fireworks.
"…Zeke, there are things in this world that you don't joke about. Even my temper has its limits." Mòrag said evenly, with the tiniest hints of an edge. Then she drew out the Whipswords, "Would you like me to teach you a lesson you won't ever forget?"
Rex quickly got away from Mòrag's line of sight. As Zeke began sweating bullets, "Um… Mòrag, you're scaring me a little. Hold it! Hold it! I was just joking around!" Mòrag's only response was a mildly eerie chuckle. "L-listen, nobody needs to die here, Ok? OK?!" Now Zeke was pleading for his life. Fortunately, Mòrag put her swords away with a satisfied smile.
"See to it that you don't do that again." Mórag said smugly.
"…Y-yes ma'am." Zeke stuttered, earning a nod of satisfaction.
Though Mòrag wasn't the only one who looked satisfied. Weiss also looked highly satisfied at Zeke knowing the terror of Mòrag. As did Nia to lesser extent. Others like Yang, looked highly amused.
But Roze seemed to be in deep thought. "Hey Rex… That hill that overlooked the town, did it have a large tree at the top?"
Rex, and Pyra looked surprised to hear that. Then Pyra was replaced by Mythra. "Okay, how do you know that?" The blonde Aegis demanded.
"Because… Ungh!" Roze suddenly clutched his head in pain with his Core Crystal blinking.
"Roze!" Ruby shouted out in concern, "What's happening to you?!"
"I…can't…not…allowed…must…" Roze said before his Crystal stopped bkinking and the pain in his head stopped.
"Okay, what is going on with you." Yang then asked in a tone that demanded an explanation.
"…I don't know." Roze said, looking a little unsteady, "It just started hurting when I tried to-URGH!" Roze screamed in pain as his Core Crystal flickered more.
Mythra furrowed her brows before looking to Ruby, "Ruby. I can turn into Pneuma and see if I can help him."
"You can?" Ruby asked, sounding hopeful.
"Of course. I've been curious about what's going on with him." Mythra replied.
"Do it." Ruby said before taking a step back from her Blade.
"No." Roze said firmly, earning surprised looks, "You aren't doing anything."
"Roze, you're not fine. Let Mythra-" NO!" Roze shouted into Ruby's face. "They're not allowed!
"R-Roze… What's wrong?" Ruby asked, now even more confused and just a little scared of her Blade being mad at her.
"Stop asking!" Roze said before clutching his head again. During this, Yang had nudged Dragunov's side and motioned to the reaper Blade. Dragunov nodded before pointing to a random direction.
"What's that?!" Everyone turned to the direction Dragunov pointed at. And saw nothing.
"Hey! Put me down!" But that distraction was enough for the dragon to wrap his arms around Roze, locking his arms in place.
"Whatever you're planning to do, do it now." Dragunov said as he held the struggling wind Blade in his arms.
Mythra nodded before turning into Pneuma. And started approaching Roze.
"NO! STAY AWAY!" Roze screamed at the top of his lungs as he used his still free legs to kick at the True Aegis. You'd think Pneuma was trying to kill him with how hard he was struggling. Yang quickly moved in and grabbed Roze's legs.
"Fix him, now." Yang said as she was a little surprised how difficult it was to restrain the struggling reaper Blade's legs.
Joana meanwhile used Medical Scan on the struggling reaper. "My scan is not showing any anomalies on him." the knightess commented in astonishment, "How can that be?"
Roze saw Pneuma getting closer and reaching for his Core Crystal. "NO! YOU CAN'T DO THIS! NOOO!" Roze somehow screamed harder when Pneuma placed her hand against the Core Crystal that started glowing in response.
"Huh?" Pneuma sounded out before frowning.
"Why the heck is he acting like this?" Yang complained as she almost lost her grip on Roze's legs a couple times. Wulfric moved in and helped Yang properly pin the struggling Blade's legs.
"Th-that's not possible!" Pneuma exclaimed as she now looked determined while Roze's Core Crystal glowed brighter by the second.
"Pneuma, what's going on?!" Ruby demanded.
"He's resisting me." Pneuma grounded out as she put more effort. Until finally, Roze's Crystal flashed brightly which was accompanied by him screaming in pain. As soon as everyone's eyes adjusted, they saw that Roze had gone limp.
"Roze. Roze!" Ruby looked very scared now.
"It's going to be alright now." Pneuma said reassuringly, "I'm going to see what is wrong with him and fix it." With that, Pneuma kept her hand on Roze's Crystal and went through the data within. Some time later as everyone waited with varying levels of worry, Pneuma looked surprised. "What?"
"What is it?" Rex asked.
Pneuma took her hand off of Roze's Crystal before reverting to Mythra. "There was some junk data within his Core that was causing his mind to go haywire. I managed to purge it, so he should be okay when he wakes up."
"Are you sure? How was he resisting what you were doing?" Ruby interrogated while looking to Roze who Yang and Wulfric released as Dragunov then slung him over his shoulder like a potato sack.
Mythra frowned at Roze before answering, "The junk data was also messing with my ability to scan him. But once I broke through, I was able to purge it out."
"So…basically you patched him up?" Nia dumbed it down.
"…It's a lot more complicated than that, but essentially yes." Mythra sighed out.
"But how long has Roze had this junk data." Blake then asked the important question.
"I'm not sure." Mythra admitted before turning to Oscar, "Hey Ozpin, before Ruby awakened him, did you or anyone you knew…do anything to his Crystal?"
"No. Oobleck showed the Crystal in one class and warned the students to not touch one directly." Ozpin answered after gaining control, "Until it was used in the attempted murder that then made Ruby his Driver. Why do you ask?"
Mythra looked unconvinced, "Are you sure? Couldn't someone from Atlas have tried to do something with him?"
"Impossible, because no one from Atlas was even on Beacon grounds while Roze was dormant. At least, anyone who could even try to do anything." Ozpin explained.
"What's with all the questions?" Jaune asked unsurely.
Mythra gave up the staring contest with a sigh, "Roze's.. condition was so strange that… Never mind, I guess I'm just feeling a little paranoid."
"Are you sure? Did this junk data really mess with his mind that much?" Aizen asked, looking mildly suspicious.
"Yes, I'm sure." Mythra said in annoyance, "Let's get moving, we can't wait for him to wake up."
As much as everyone was worried about Roze, they did acknowledge that they needed to keep moving. So Dragunov ended up carrying him.
"Mythra, are you sure we shouldn't tell them?" Pyra asked in Mythra's head.
"And make everyone more worried?" Mythra thought back, "We can deal with him later. Right now, Jin, Malos and Salem take priority."
"Well that's true… Maybe we should have tried cracking the code."
"We don't know why it's there. Or what might happen if we did. Just breaking that makeshift firewall knocked him out. We'll have to make do with erasing those conflicting sets of directives."
It didn't take long for the gang to move up to the next building, but now they had to divert their forces to watching Roze. And Ruby had to take a backseat, since these things could easily withstand attacks from Huntsman weapons. The girl wasn't happy about it, but she was also a little reluctant to leave Roze's side.
"What's with this pool?" Electra asked at the sight of a large pool that they were staring at the moment they entered the room.
"…This is the Nuclear Dump Facility." Mythra replied. "And for us to continue, we need to empty this pool to get into the maintenance ladder, which would lead us to the elevator we saw outside." Everyone followed Mythra's finger as she pointed to the large cylinder that came out of the water which had a ladder leading into it from a walkway that hugged the wall. The said walkway led to the door that was practically right next to them, but much higher.
"Can't we just have Roc and Herald fly us there?" Yang asked, feeling like it was easier to have their fliers lift them there.
"That's one way." Mythra shrugged before giving a meaningful look to Roc, "Or…" The Avian Blade understood and moved to the blonde Aegis. "Watch the talons, Roc." Mythra said in a threatening tone.
The bird rolled his eyes at the threat, "Yes, yes." Then he wrapped his arms around Mythra and flew her to the walkway. After being deposited Mythra moved to a console near the wall before pressing a holographic button. A platform extended from the edge of the floor the rest of the gang was on and onto the walkway, Mythra was on. Now they had a bridge.
"Well that makes things easier." Qrow commented, glad that things were going their way at least.
The gang moved up the bridge and through the door to a see-through elevator.
"…Dragunov, why am I over your shoulder?" asked Roze all of a sudden.
"Roze!" Ruby cried out happily before instantly moving in and hugging her Blade's head. "You're awake!"
"Uhh… Yes… When did I fall asleep?" That caused Ruby to let go and stare at her Blade with a confused look.
"Roze… don't you remember?"
The response Ruby got was a blank stare, "Remember what?"
Mythra scowled at this, "What's the last thing you remember?"
"Huh?"
"Just answer the question."
Roze looked thoughtful for a moment, "We were having a conversation of Elysium, then Mòrag wanted to murder Zeke and… Suddenly I was slung over Dragunov's shoulder."
Dragunov chose that moment pull the reaper off his shoulder before dropping him on his feet. "You seriously don't remember going crazy?" The dragon quirked an eyebrow at the fellow Blade.
"What are you talking about?" Roze looked more confused.
Mythra sighed. "You were acting strangely. I did a little check on you and found some junk data that was messing with your head. Maybe removing it caused a bit of short-term memory loss."
"Really?" Roze tilted his head with a confused look.
"That's my guess." Mythra said before giving a strange look, "Roze, what is your third Field Skill again?"
Roze frowned, "I don't know, it's locked."
"Why are you asking about that?" Pyrrha asked with a curious look. A look that many of the others shared.
"I was curious if my little sweep accidentally activated it." Mythra said simply, just when the elevator opened up.
"That was fast." Weiss muttered before moving to the next walkway. Then she peered over the railing. "We didn't get very far." Indeed, the walkway below them wasn't far down.
"But that way is another elevator." Nora pointed out to a crossroad that had three different directions. One of them leading to the walkway they were on. On another side was what looked like a very high tower. On the third one was a large building that was probably the higher floor of the one they used to get to this one.
The gang moved onto the crossroad and took a right to the tower. But they had a small problem.
"Why isn't the door opening?" Electra asked after waiting for a few seconds of Mythra pressing the button on the left of the door.
Roze meanwhile was inspecting a terminal that was on the other side of the door. "I think, we need a keycode."
Mythra scowled at the reaper Blade before inspecting the terminal in question. "…He's not wrong." It sounded like the blonde Aegis hated to admit that, "We have to get to the Data Processing Center to get it."
"And where is that?" Zeke asked.
Instead of answering, Mythra pointed at the building in the remaining path.
"Well, that's convenient." Qrow said with a small smile.
"Then let's go get it." Nora said with a grin. "This'll be easy." With that, the gang moved onto the building.
After getting at the building's entrance...
"Who said this would be easy?!" Weiss complained as she moved away from an energy shot before firing Dahlia's bitball at their current enemy that appeared from the entrance to the building they were going to.
A bipedal robot the size of an Atlesian Paladin. Its body had white armor plating with glowing neon green parts. There were also black parts that had neon green lines. Its legs were hooked. Its right arm was a blaster that doubles as a sword. On its left arm it had a hand with three digits and was equipped with a small high-tech buckler shield. Roze called it, Gerolf Sovereign. And it wasn't just that. There were also multiple Phoebus Sovereigns supporting it. Which was why they had to divide and conquer.
Rex quickly sliced at the machine's leg, but only left a scratch on it. Before he had to get away from a swipe the machine made with the blaster.
Penny and Ren fired their respective long ranged Arts, but the large Sovereign was able to block them with its buckler shield.
Even Blake who was getting some good hits didn't seem to do too much damage against it.
Then the machine caught sight of Yang who was getting closer with Dragunov's talons at the ready. It raised its blaster which then had green energy blades sprout from along the rectangular barrel, making it a large sword. The Sovereign swung the weapon at Yang who moved to the side before unleashing a Fever Rush on the machine's leg. She only managed to make a dent or two, before getting kicked away.
The machine didn't notice that a red eyed crow with an eye-shaped metal plate on it's chest flew to its head before it turned into Qrow wielding Kasandra's hammer. Somehow the hammer transforms into the metal plate when Qrow carries it while turning into a crow. Then again, the veteran huntsman wasn't going to question the convenient gift as he smashed the machine's head. The thing stumbled forward, but didn't seem to take real damage.
"Okay, this thing can really take a hit." Qrow said before having to jump off to avoid the arm that was reaching for him. As this happened, Ruby used Crescent Spinner on the machine's back.
"That's it!" Nora roared out before tossing her hammer back to Electra. "Smash that thing, Electra!"
"Okay!" Electra dashed to the giant robot before striking, "Bang! Bang! Bound!" This time, the leg took some heavy damage.
Jaune noticed this, having finished a Phoebus Sovereign with Prostateva. He remembered that one of the elements that can follow that is Earth. Which meant it was Pyrrha's time to shine again.
"Pyrrha!" Jaune tossed the weapons to his partner.
"Got it." Pyrrha said before charging Thiarko with Earth ether and prepared to throw it.
In response, the Gerolf Sovereign lifted its shield to block the possible attack. Then a barrier sprung out of it, giving the mech a 360-degree protection.
Roze saw this and turned to Pyrrha in alarm, "Pyrrha, wait!"
"Elemental Discus!" But it was too late, Pyrrha threw the charged shield against the barrier. To everyone's surprise, the barrier actually held against the attack. "What?" Pyrrha let out as she used her semblance to get the shield for another strike, before spinning it against the barrier in hopes of the elemental charge breaking through. But the barrier, held all the way until the charge was used up and Pyrrha had no choice but to pull it back.
And it wasn't like everyone else wasn't attacking it during this. Yang had unloaded Heatblast into the barrier, Ruby used Rosy Shot on the back, Rex used Nia's Catalyst Scimitar to slash at the thing.
During all of this, Roze practically screamed at everyone, "Stop attacking! Stop attacking! STOP IT I SAID!"
Only after Pyrrha withdrew her weapon did everyone finally hear the wind Blade.
"What's the big deal, Roze?" Ruby thought her Blade was overreacting again.
But Roze wasn't looking to Ruby. He was more focused on Gerolf Sovereign dropping the barrier before aiming its blaster at Pyrrha and Jaune. "Jaune! Pyrrha! Get away from there!"
"I got it!" Nora shouted out before getting in front of the two and deployed the shield of Electra's hammer.
"No! You can't block that!" Roze practically screamed right before the machine fired a huge beam. To everyone's horror, the beam tore straight through the Shield hammer's barrier as it blasted Nora, Electra, Jaune, Pyrrha and Joana who was close to them off their feet.
"Nora!" Ren shouted out in concern.
"I'm okay!" Nora's voice rang out as she got back up almost comically. But that changed, when she saw Electra was hurt. "No! Electra!" Nora cried out as she moved to cradle her unresponsive Blade into her arms.
"Urgh… I'm okay." Nora didn't believe that for a second as she hugged her poor Blade to comfort the little girl.
"No! Milord! Milady!" It was Joana's panicked cry that allowed Nora to look to Jaune and Pyrrha. The back of Pyrrha's armor was destroyed and her back looked badly burned. She must have jumped in front of Jaune to take the brunt of the attack.
"Pyrrha!" Jaune cried out as he too noticed the damage their friend turned Blade had taken. But then he winced as he was hurt too, despite his Aura taking the worst of it.
"J-Jaune, are you okay?" Pyrrha managed to ask through her pain. She didn't expect that attack to destroy her Aura in one shot.
"Am I okay?! Pyrrha, your back is…" Jaune couldn't even say that Pyrrha's exposed back was charcoal black.
"Redemption!" A wave of healing energy washed over them when Rex used the Healing Art.
Jaune felt his Aura, and whatever injury he may have sustained despite Pyrrha protecting him healing. As well as his Aura being restored. But with Pyrrha, her back only turned from charcoal black to third degree burns.
Weiss also used her Healing Art to further bolster Pyrrha's healing.
Jaune noticed that the healing was working, which meant, "Joana." Jaune called out to his Blade who had already recovered from the worst of it. Joana instantly handed her Catalyst Scimitar to Jaune who also used Brave Soul. With that, Pyrrha's back was healed.
As this was happening, Nora had taken out Magnhild with an angry look. "That's it!" Nora screamed as she charged the Gerolf Sovereign that once again prepared its blaster to fire at Nora. Only for it to receive notification of damage to its leg.
"Your opponent is Poppi!" Poppi declared as Tora stopped drilling the leg.
"Master, aim for the leg Tora and Poppi just attacked." Kos-Mos adviced Penny. The Artificial Driver nodded before firing Mach Breaker on the leg. This caused the Gerolf to stumble.
Something that Rex immediately capitalized on. "Anchor Shot!" Then he yanked on the wire that was now wrapped around its damaged leg with all his might to bring the machine down. It took some effort, but Rex was able to shift the leg just enough to make it fall down.
Just when it did, Nora reached the toppled Sovereign's blaster. "This is for my friends!" Nora screamed out before smashing Magnhild on arm with all her might resulting in its arm being severed off. Nora then jumped on the things chest before now aiming her trusted hammer on its head, "And this is for my baby!" And then she smashed the head, practically obliterating it. For a moment, it looked like the machine wouldn't be taken out by that, but then it ceased functioning. "That's what you get for hurting my team, you bucket of rusted bolts." Nora panted before turning to see Electra. The little girl was back on her feet, waving at Nora.
Then Nora's eyes fell on Jaune and Pyrrha. The Champion and the Knight were once again on their feet, but it looked like Jaune was scolding Pyrrha about something. The champion looked down in shame before being hugged by Jaune. Pyrrha hesitantly hugged back.
"Something wrong, here?" asked Zeke who could swear he heard Pyrrha let out a small sob.
"It's… nothing." Pyrrha said hesitantly. Zeke then turned his eye to Jaune.
"It's… personal." Jaune added in, as Joana looked on sadly. The Tantalese frowned at this, but decided to let go.
"Okay, how did that thing have the power to blast through Electra's Shieldhammer." Ren then let out. Electra's shield can take hits from Dragunov's fists, so this wasn't exactly a small feat.
"Simple, you guys made it that strong." Roze butted in with an annoyed look.
"What are you talking about?" Mòrag was the first to ask.
"That barrier it used, it didn't block attacks, it absorbed them." Roze clarified.
"Wait, so when Pyrrha attacked it, her attack was absorbed?" Pandoria let out in alarm.
"Along with everyone else's attacks." Roze added in, "And then it unleashed it all with that one blast."
"But that doesn't explain how it did that much damage to Pyrrha, while Nora was practically unharmed." Jaune then said, having now let go of Pyrrha.
At that moment, Azurda piped up from Rex's helmet, "…Perhaps the attack of this Sovereign was of Electric element."
This caused everyone to look surprised, remembering Nora's semblance.
"Come to think of it…" The carrot top then looked thoughtful, "I did feel stronger after getting hit."
"Are you okay now, Milady?" Joana then asked from Pyrrha.
"Yes… I'm not hurting anymore." Pyrrha said as she had already reformed the back of her armor.
"Milady, I do appreciate that you value Milord's life, but yours is of equal value." Joana then said before looking apologetically to Jaune.
"You're not wrong." Jaune said, knowing why he was getting that look.
"Now we know what to watch out for next time." Dagas said without a care in his tone. While the tone earned the royal Blade some glares they did agree with his assessment.
"…So next time Roze tells us to stop attacking a robot, we listen." Electra summarized the lesson.
"If you want to live it seems." Perceval commented for the first time since they left Torna.
"The Data Processing center is up there." Mythra then said, pointing to two pillars that had sturdy looking mesh wire on them that led to twin walkways up above.
"Is that the only way up there?" Aizen had to ask. He didn't look forward to climbing.
"No, but it's the only one we can use right now." Mythra said before moving to one of the pillars. "Start climbing, and if anyone tries to climb beneath me, I will end them." With that threat out of the way, everyone climbed. Fortunately, there were two pillars so guys got to climbing one, while the girls got to climb the other. Once at the top, they entered through the door at the end of the twin walkways and entered a large room with multiple rows of data clusters evenly spaced. It was like a library with data streaming in the clusters.
"You guys wait here, Rex and I will go and find the Keycode." Mythra then said before already leading Rex away by the arm. "You too, Roc and Wulfric." That last part was added when the bird and the beast moved to go with them.
"What? Why?" Wulfric questioned.
"I only need, Rex for this, we'll be really quick." Mythra said before picking up speed while dragging Rex with her.
Roc on the other hand chuckled as the two left, "There could be a better time and place for this, but if they're quick about it, then fine." This earned the avian Blade disapproving looks from Mòrag, Brighid, Weiss, Otohime and Joana.
Yang snickered a little before looking to Nia, "Are you okay with this?"
"What?" The Flesh Eater who was once again in her Driver form let out.
"I mean… Mythra and Rex having alone time." Yang clarified.
"Well… yeah." Nia said, looking like she didn't see the problem.
"You do know, you'll miss any chance you might have-" "We are not having this discussion." Nia interrupted in annoyance.
"But-" "Yang." Pandoria butted in, "I think it's best if we leave it at that."
"…My lady." Dromarch moved to his Driver's side.
"Look, Dromarch, I don't want to talk about it. Not now." Nia said simply.
"…As you wish." the white tiger relented.
"Still…" Zeke muttered with a hand on his chin, "The two picked an odd time to get lovey-dovey."
Mòrag rolled her eyes at this, "I'm sure it's nothing like that."
"Well, teenagers are said to be hormonal." Qrow said, not even sure himself if he was joking or not. This earned several looks from all the younger members of the team.
"Please stop this." Weiss said as she covered her ears. She didn't need deviant mental images in her head right now.
With Mythra and Rex, Mythra had dragged Rex around the corner between data clusters that were marked "Cluster 10" and "Cluster 12"
"Mythra, what do you need my help for? You seem to know where to look from." Rex said as Mythra moved to the farthest part of Cluster 12.
"I didn't get you here for this." Mythra said as she placed her hand on a particular spot on the Cluster before her Core Crystal shined briefly. "I got you here, because Pyra and I need to tell you something."
"Tell me what?" Rex was now interested.
At that moment, Pyra took over before replying. "…It's about Roze. And what we saw in his Core."
"I thought you said you erased all the junk data." Rex said now looking worried.
"We did, but… it wasn't really 'junk'." Pyra said with a worried look, "It was… a series of commands that were messing with his mind. Some of them active, others inactive and some of them were conflicting."
"What?" Rex looked surprised to hear that, "Why would he have something like that?"
"Mythra has a theory, but…there's more. Roze said that his third Field Skill hasn't activated yet. Well, it was active, but the name was encrypted." Pyra then said.
"Encrypted? What does that mean?" Rex asked, unfamiliar with the term.
Pyra looked down unsurely before replying, "It means that the name was hidden, and Mythra and I couldn't see what it was."
"But then… why did Roze lie?" Now Rex was getting worried.
When Pyra looked more worried, Mythra took over. And she had a small scowl, "That leads to my theory. Roze doesn't know." Rex's eyes visibly widened at hearing that. "The thing that stopped us from accessing him at first, was a makeshift firewall, something that isn't normal for a Blade. Not to mention that the pattern in those commands... It was like someone was trying to make new rules but gave up halfway."
"What're you saying?" Rex was now getting really concerned.
"…I'm saying that someone tampered with Roze's Crystal. Probably before Ruby awakened him."
"But… who could do such a thing?" Rex now looked worried.
Mythra shook her head, "I don't know… But if Ozpin is to be believed, no one at Beacon did anything. He could be lying for some reason. But if he isn't, then there's also the possibility that someone on Alrest was tampering with it until the Breach stole him from there and brought him to Remnant."
"But… Even so, who on Alrest could tamper with a Core Crystal?" Rex said, "I mean… I didn't think such a thing was possible until…" The salvager cut himself off as a thought crossed his mind, "Could Indol have done something?"
"…After what we learned of Amalthus, I wouldn't be surprised." Mythra said before frowning, "But that doesn't explain how Roze knows about Elysium… or about the World Tree and the Sovereigns."
"…Well… could you maybe check again?" Rex then asked, "I mean, maybe figuring out what that Field Skill is called might help."
"We thought about it, but just breaking through that makeshift firewall knocked him out. I'm not sure what happens if I try to tamper with the encryption." Mythra shot the idea down.
"We need to tell the others about this."
Mythra put her hands on her hips, "And tell them what? That someone might have tampered with Roze which caused him to go crazy? Besides, with the way Roze has been acting, I don't think he's physically capable of acknowledging it. He will probably think we're the crazy ones."
"But we need to tell Ruby at least. I mean… she is his Driver." Rex argued back.
Mythra let out a sigh before being replaced by Pyra, "Rex… I understand. I want to tell Ruby too, but I'm afraid that would make everyone worry. For now, we need to focus on Malos. Maybe when we figure out how Indol was able to modify Roze, we might find out how to help him… If it was Indol." Pyra had to add that last part mostly on the benefit of the doubt. "In the meantime, we got the Keycode, so we should go for now."
"…Alright. But after all is done, we are telling her." Rex said firmly. With that, the two returned, however Rex couldn't get his mind off of the problem that is Roze's situation. Nor about the possibility that Indol might have done something to Roze's Core Crystal prior to him being taken to Remnant. It sounds absurd, but then again Judicium created Flesh Eaters, and Indol created Blade Eaters... Who's to say they haven't figured out other means of tampering with a Core Crystal. Neither of them remembered that Azurda never left Rex's helmet during all of this.
AN: There we go. Jin and Salem had a small heart to heart. The gang has found out what the inside of the World Tree is... And Roze's Core Crystal had been tampered with.
Now to answer AnimeEmperor: Honestly, no. I just started doing this because it felt like fun. Then I saw how much people like it and it pushed me to try to do better. Or at least I hope I have done better since chapter 1. Well, I guess the rising number of followers speaks for itself.