AN: First of all, sorry for taking this long to update this, but I had several things blocking me. Bouts of writer's block coupled with anxieties of if I could do this any justice. And most recently, had to attend big sis' wedding. But now... I think this is the best I could do. Hopefully that's enough.
After Despair and Hope
"Malos!" Rex called out to the dark Aegis who was standing in front of the giant Artifice. Aion really did look like the strongest Artifice. The right side of its body was black with glowing red lines around it. The right side was white with glowing green lines.
Malos turned around to face the group, "Just in time for the final act, boy!" The dark Aegis actually sounded happy to see them, "I saved you the best seats in the house." Rex and the others glared at Malos who then chuckled, "Hah, I sounded just like Akhos there for a moment."
"Akhos is dead, you bastard." Nia said with a glare.
"So is Jin." Dragunov growled.
"And Patroka." Nia added in, "Mikhail too."
Malos seemed to smile at the news, "Figured as much."
"Is that all?" Nia almost demanded.
Malos scoffed at this, "What, you want me to weep and deliver a eulogy? What good would that do? They all desired for oblivion and now they've achieved it. Least I can do, is send them off with a smile."
"Malos, is this really what you want?" Rex then asked.
"Huh?"
"Is this what YOU want, Malos?!" Rex tried again.
"I don't understand the question." Malos said as he crossed his arms.
"You have to understand by now, that none of this is your own will." Rex said as Malos looked disinterested, "All of this came from Amalthus."
"Even if that's true, so what?" Malos said with a scowl, "And don't give me some weak-ass crap about how I should repent or whatever."
"Why don't you want to hear the truth?" Ruby asked.
"Here's the thing." Malos uncrossed his arms. "I don't give a rat's ass what you think, you brats!" Malos yelled with such anger that everyone went on guard, "So Blades become Titans...? And Titans give life to humans...? Honestly who even gives a damn? They can become whatever they want." Then Malos seemed to force himself to calm down, "But that man... He'd lost everything. He no longer wanted anything. He didn't even want to live anymore." Malos glared at the gang. "And despite that, his life was the only thing he hadn't lost." Malos then clenched a hand into a fist. "Because he couldn't!"
Everyone's thoughts drifted to the only thing Malos could have meant. Jin had Lora's heart, so he essentially had Lora's life. And he couldn't lose that.
"Words can be a curse. That curse is what kept him tied down here." Malos spoke with hatred, "A wretched tale, isn't it? This whole world is a wretched place!" Malos spread his arms for emphasis.
Azurda moved in Rex's helmet to be better seen, "Do not forget that you're also part of that world. If it were not for you, or Amalthus, both Jin and Lora's lives could have taken quite different paths."
"Exactly! That's exactly it." Malos said with a grin, "You've gotten smarter with age, huh? I'm a wretched being too! A hideous monster far beyond saving!"
This surprised the Remnans. Qrow had seen nutjobs that believed themselves to be doing good while being serial killers. He had also seen people who just didn't give a rat's ass about anyone and got defensive when someone called them out on anything. But Malos, he was openly admitting to being a monster. Almost like...
Oscar wiped tears that had started coming out, "Ozpin?"
"I'm sorry... this... I'll try to focus." the former headmaster said, despite Malos' words cutting deeper than anything he had heard in all his years of existence and that's saying something.
"So..." Malos then said, now having calmed, "Let's end this now." As he said that, Malos' Core Crystal shined with amethyst light.
(Play Xenoblade Chronicles 2 OST: After Despair and Hope)
"Don't you feel anything?!" Pneuma demanded, "Father's sadness? The world he longed for?!"
"How could I?" Malos replied with almost sad look, "That isn't...my role in this world."
"He looks so sad." Ruby muttered. And this was supposed to be a Creature of Grimm wearing a human skin.
Soon a harness that was keeping Aion upright was detached from the Artifice and it slumped forward, the large green cross in its chest glowing in response to Malos. The four extensions on its back shifting with retracted wings inside them. On its black side, a black tail with glowing red stripes and a large, barbed tip lifted itself. On its white side a white tail of similar design also lifted itself. During this, Malos was floating into the air towards the glowing cross on Aion.
"Come at me, kid!" Malos yelled to Rex, then turned to face Pneuma, "Come, my partner!" Rex and Pneuma looked determined at Malos. "Give me all you got." Malos said as he was floating closer and closer to the Cross while everyone else pulled out their weapons. "You better show me all of it! The extent of your will! Show me why you're here in this world!" As the last of Malos' words rang out, he spread his arms to form a cross just before he was drawn inside Aion through the glowing cross. With Malos inside it, Aion lifted its black and white arms as one, clenching them into fists as the halo that all Artifices had formed on top of it. The extensions releasing the wings inside them. Glowing red from the black side, and glowing green from the white side.
"Everyone, charge!" Rex called out as he drew the True Aegis Sword and showed an example.
"Yeah!" Ruby agreed before grabbing Roze's shoulder and turned to her team. "Weiss, can you use your summon to get to the air?"
"Yes, why?"
"Because I want you, Dahlia and Aizen on air support." Ruby said before turning to Blake and Yang, "Yang, I want you to deal some damage. Blake, do what you do best." With that, Ruby used her semblance to move herself and Roze as a large flurry of rose petals.
"Air support it is then." Weiss shook her head with a smile before summoning Queen Lancer and got on alongside Dahlia and Aizen. Then the Schnee Driver and her Blades got into the air.
"Nora, hit it very hard." Jaune instructed Nora.
"Got it." The carrot top had a very evil smile as she and Electra hugged each other.
Jaune then turned to Ren and Pyrrha, "Ren, ranged support. Pyrrha, you're with me and Joana."
"Understood." Pyrrha complied while Ren prepared Otohime's cannon.
Oscar looked thoughtfully as Weiss' summon was firing stingers at Aion, with Aizen and Dahlia adding their respective ranged attacks to the mix. "Herald, could you... fly while forming an affinity link with me?"
"Yes, but not very far away from you, if I want to maintain the link." Herald replied.
"Well... what if you were carrying me?" the farmboy asked hesitantly.
"...It's possible, but I can't do too complex maneuvers while focusing on maintaining the link." Herald looked interested.
"Okay, here's what we'll do." Oscar said and began explaining his idea.
Meanwhile, Qrow had turned into a crow and flew towards Aion's head. The transformed huntsman had what looked like an eye-shaped glowing blue mark on his back. The huntsman tested a theory he had with Kasandra. As soon as Qrow was above Aion, he transformed back with Kasandra's hammer poised to strike. Not only that, but Kasandra herself was right behind her Driver. Apparently physical contact with Kasandra while turning into a bird allows her to be turned with him. Qrow struck with all his might, but he couldn't even make a dent. The veteran huntsman quickly grabbed Kasandra and turned into bird again with the glowing eye mark on his back to get away from Aion's black hand trying to grab them.
While Weiss was getting a little annoyed that the spikes she had the Lancer Queen fire didn't seem to do anything, she did have to avoid a sword made of energy Aion swung with its white hand when Dahlia and Aizen unleashed their respective ranged attacks. Guess a Summoned Grimm can't do anything against the Ultimate Artifice. But her two Blades at least earned its attention.
Inside Aion's cockpit, Malos was looking through the screen that showed that white bug fly under the swing of the energy blade. He then looked to a separate screen that had silhouettes of all Remnans and Rex. The screen had the words "Analyzing" displayed as each silhouette had varying levels of percentage on them. Each of the numbers less than twenty percent but steadily rising. But in the meantime, Malos decided to test something even as he was bombarded by electricity from two directions and blue flames.
"Blizzard!" Malos called out as the black tail of Aion lunged at Rex, Yang and Mòrag who were close to each other.
"Scatter!" Rex quickly said and they all got out of the way. But they didn't get far as the tip of the tail hit the floor and sent a freezing blast around itself.
"Urgh!" Mòrag grunted as she felt like she would freeze right then and there. But thanks to Brighid surrounding them both in blue flame, they weren't. But even so, even the blue flames were struggling against this cold.
Rex, Pneuma, Yang and Dragunov weren't so lucky as they got nearly frozen. Dragunov actually got in front of Yang and he was coated in ice, while Yang herself made it mostly unscathed.
"Drag!" Yang called out to her frozen Blade in concern. But she soon saw golden glow inside the ice coating. Which was followed by steam. "Never mind." Yang felt embarrassed for an instant for worrying before the ice exploded from the heat Dragunov produced. As Dragunov fumed while still maintaining the link, Yang sent Heatblast at Aion.
The Artifice didn't seem to acknowledge the fiery attack and instead tried to catch Ruby who had fired a rosy shot at the green cross on its chest from point blank range thinking it was some kind of weak spot. It wasn't, and Ruby then got away in a large flurry of petals back to the ground. Right next to Rex who recovered thanks to Nia.
"It's tough." Ruby said as she noticed Blake and Nox on the Artifice's shoulder. The Faunus Driver sliced away at whatever she thought looked weak, but she couldn't do much damage either.
"Yeah. But that's not exactly a surprise." Rex said as he checked if Pneuma was alright.
"Aion is the ultimate Artifice." Pneuma pointed out as she let herself be helped up by Rex, "It would be strange if it can't handle this much."
Some ways away, Nora landed on her back with Electra ending up on the bottom. "Electra!" Nora quickly got back up, fearing that she had crushed her baby.
"I'm okay." The little girl sounded only winded from landing beneath her Driver. Still attached to Nora's back, the charged Driver had used Magnhild to launch them at Aion, but the white tail came out and smacked them away. Resulting in their current situation.
Nora glared at the machine that brought out its black hand to block Penny's Super Laser next. If the hand was even singed from the blast, they couldn't tell.
"X-Star!" Malos' voice rang out before the white tail's tip opened, releasing a barrage of energy shots that then homed in on Zeke.
"Dynamic Spark Sword!" Zeke countered, though he couldn't use his usual dramatics. He swiped some of them away, and the rest were blocked by Pandoria's barrier.
"Something's wrong." Roze said with a confused loo.
"Huh?" That earned Ruby's attention.
"Aion should be stronger and faster than this." Roze said, "And yet..." The Reaper Blade looked like he was trying to remember something but couldn't.
"Does that even matter?" Roc called out as he brought his Scythes together and threw them at the Artifice. The black tail swiped the attack away. "Maybe Malos isn't used to the controls yet or something."
As this happened, Weis decided to change tactics, since it seemed like the Queen Lancer wasn't doing any damage. "Aizen, Dahlia, get ready to jump."
Rather than question it, the two Blades got ready. Weiss then had her summon fly directly above Aion. "Jump!" Weiss said and the two Blades jumped off alongside their Driver. As they fell, Weiss quickly summoned Arma Gigas instead. As large as she possibly could. But it was still only about half of Aion itself. The Arma Gigas then plunged its sword towards Aion's neck, actually pushing the Artifice down. To Weiss' dismay as she landed on her summon's back, only the very tip sunk in.
Inside the Artifice, Malos gained a notice of the minor breach and he wasn't happy. Only to then smile as one of the silhouettes had numbers 100% on it. And the others weren't far behind. "Alright then." Malos smirked as he put the countermeasures in action.
Weiss and her Blades moved to Arma Gigas' shoulder as it landed its feet on Aion to pull its sword out. Suddenly Aion grabbed the sword with its white hand. Then it brought its black hand towards the summoned Grimm. The palm had an orange glow on it. The hand disintegrated right through Arma Gigas from its torso, all the way through its right shoulder. Weiss looked shocked to see her currently strongest Grimm being disintegrated so easily. So much that Dahlia had to grab her and jump back to the ground alongside Aizen.
As the last of the Arma Gigas disintegrated, Aion then pointed its glowing black palm to the remaining people on the ground. "Anthropos, fire!" Malos' voice rang out as the glow was unleashed as a large wave that washed over everyone.
Alrestians were unaffected, but with the Remnans, their Auras shattered. This was accompanied by several cries of pain and all Blades quickly holding their Drivers.
"Pyrrha!" Jaune especially panicked, remembering what happened when Amalthus did this.
"I'm okay." Pyrrha said, fully conscious.
"Rex!" Pneuma was holding Rex who wasn't protected this time for some reason.
"Healing Halo!" Nia unleashed her healing Art.
With that, the Remnans and Rex got back up. Remnans checked their Scrolls quickly to see their states. Everyone let out a sigh when they saw that their Auras had recovered somewhat, meaning it wasn't sealed this time.
"How did he do that?!" Zeke was the first to question as he glared at the Artifice.
"Oh, I just analyzed their Ether Barriers." Malos' voice rang out. "From there, just a little tweak and I have anti-Remnant weapon."
"A tweak?" Penny questioned, "But that would mean that you used an existing weapon for something else."
"I did." Malos said as he raised the palm of the black hand again, "But now use it for something else."
At that moment all Blades got in front of their Drivers and deployed their barriers. Then Malos fired Anthropos again, this time it was the Blades that were dropped, with the exception of Pneuma.
However, Oscar and Herald were in the air, and therefore out of the line of fire. Malos quickly followed it up with X-Star. The shots went after Jaune this time.
Jaune braced himself against his shield to take the shots. Despite his best efforts, the Arc Driver was blasted off his feet.
Pyrrha's shouts of concern were almost drowned by Joana's.
On the far left, Oscar was still flying in Herald's arms. Despite the slight awkwardness of the position, the farm boy was able to aim the cannon at Aion's side. Unleashing Thousand Years of Pain upon the Artifice.
As Aion was distracted, everyone focused on their Blades.
"Electra, my poor baby." Nora almost cried as she hugged the little girl.
"Nora, I'll be fine. I just need to catch my breath." Electra said, though she was slightly muffled as her head was being squished against her Driver's chest.
"That blast expelled a large amount of our Ether reserves." Otohime said as she got back up, though still on slightly shaky legs. "Though not enough to fully neutralize us."
"Are you sure you can stand?" Weiss asked Dahlia in concern.
"Weiss, I'm not just a pretty lady." Dahlia said with a smile.
"What she said." Pandoria agreed, "I can already feel my strength returning."
"Even so, don't get hit by that again." Dragunov added in, cracking his neck.
"But what're we gonna do?" Jaune questioned, "Everything we have thrown against Aion doesn't do anything."
"Except for Weiss' summon." Brighid pointed out as she prepared herself for a fight alongside Mòrag.
"And even that is most likely just a scratch." Mòrag added in.
"Plus that thing has countermeasures against it." Zeke added in.
Pneuma brightened up, "Rex, I have an idea."
"What is it?"
Pneuma leaned in to whisper her plan. Rex's eyes visibly widened at what he heard, "You can do that?"
"Yes, it's just a reverse of what I did in our fight against Salem." Pneuma said, causing everyone to look curious.
"Okay," Rex nodded before turning to everyone else, "Everyone, I need you all to keep Aion busy."
"What are you planning, kid?" Qrow asked.
"Just do it! I don't think Oscar can hold on much longer." Rex said.
At that, everyone turned to look and sure enough, Aion used its energy sword again. Herald barely backed away from its reach, but the wave that followed blasted her against the far wall.
"Everyone, attack!" Ruby and Jaune called out as one.
"Drag, can you go Sun Dragon?" Yang asked her Blade.
"...No. I'm not angry enough." Dragunov said, looking ashamed of it.
"It's fine. We'll make do somehow." Yang said, briefly realizing she said the same thing Rex said to Klaus. But she had to focus on the problem at hand.
Inside Aion, Malos felt a momentary brief of satisfaction at finally squashing the brat that was flying around, but then multiple warnings sounded out. Turning Aion, Malos saw that the others were back up and were using all their Arts. Not that it was doing much, but it was still annoying. He should have cranked up Anthropos more, but the two blasts he fired back-to-back already made him feel a tinge of pain. The more of Aion's functions he accessed, especially in succession, the more it starts to hurt him.
The white tail lunged at Oscar, but it was blasted aside by Tora firing Scattershot. The Nopon inventor followed it up with Pow Pow Cannon to the black tail to keep it at bay.
Ruby fired another Rosy Shot at the green cross on Aion, but judging by how little the shots did, it wasn't a weak spot. Aion brought the white hand down to swipe at Ruby, but Yang got underneath it and managed to redirect the attack slightly above Ruby with a well timed Rising Dragon.
Blake had switched to Perceval's Chroma Katana and swung at the redirected arm's wrist. Still no visible damage.
No one's attacks still seemed to do anything to Aion. At this point they weren't even sure if even Special Arts can harm it either.
Nora had a determined look as she thought of something, "Electra, get off."
"Huh?"
"Just do it." Nora said surprisingly firmly. Electra dropped herself from Nora's back and as soon as the little girl landed, Nora dropped Electra's hammer and took out Magnhild. She took one look at the grenade launcher's insides and saw that there was only one grenade missing from her attempt to get on Aion. Then she checked her ammo pouch, and sure enough it was empty. These will be her last shots. She had to make them count. She looked to Aion that fired another X-Star at Mòrag who was protected by Agate's and Aegaeon's barriers. Then Nora saw it, the small tear that Weiss caused. "It's all or nothing." Nora declared as she opened fire on the opening Weiss had made. Unfortunately, Malos noticed this and had Aion bring its black arm to block it.
Suddenly a disc charged with earth element impacted the rising arm, which was followed by a strong blast of electricity. Pyrrha and Pandoria had released their respective Special Arts. This pushed Aion's arm back enough for Nora's grenades to reach the opening and explode. Some of them around it, but a few made it inside.
"Gah!" Malos let out inside as a screen opened with Aion's frame showing on it. Several sections along the chest and the black arm flashed red, warning about the effects of the damage. "That damn brat!" Malos growled even as words, "Back-up Systems Engaged" appeared on the screen and the affected areas stopped flashing.
Outside, it looked like Aion's black arm went limp, but suddenly recovered.
"All that and it didn't even slow it down?" Qrow said in disbelief.
"No, I think Back-up Systems activated." Roze corrected.
(Song change: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 OST: Drifting Souls)
"I've had it with you, you crazy brat!" Malos' voice rang out before both tails rose up and opened, firing beams at Nora. Only for both Electra and Pyrrha to use their respective barriers to block it. The barrier was about to fail, but then Joana and Otohime joined them and added their own respective barriers.
At this moment, Mòrag and Brighid used Soul Fire, while Zeke fired Overloard Thunder Beam. Oscar and Penny too added their Arts to the mix.
Aion then shifted the beams to fire on everyone. All Blades used their barriers to protect their Drivers.
However, Pandoria's and Herald's barriers failed, blasting them and their Drivers away.
"You're not burning anyone today!" Nia said as she switched to her Blade form and quickly healed Zeke and restored some of Oscar's Aura.
"Thanks." Zeke said as he stood back up, fully recovered.
"Anomaly Detected!" Poppi suddenly said, pointing directly above Rex and Pneuma. Sure enough, a breach opened.
"Salem." Ruby gritted her teeth. But then a beam of light came through it, instead of Grimm or even Salem herself. The beam hit Rex's raised True Aegis Sword.
Then, with a yell, Rex swung the weapon and unleashed the trapped energy at Aion. Aion was pushed back and the hull had taken some damage. "Malos, can you still not see?!" Rex called out as he swung again, firing a second blast from the sword. This time, Aion raised its white arm to block it, but it did take damage from it. "Stop the Artifice!" Rex called out as he charged forward, as Aions tails tried to impale him, but Wulfric came and deflected one, while Roc redirected the other one by ramming against its side.
"See what, brat?!" Malos yelled from within. "The world is never gonna change, if that's all you got!"
In Mor Ardain, people were evacuating in as orderly fashion as they could, given that several Gargoyles were rampaging the capital. Most of the infantry was redirected to evacuating the citizens while the heavy artillery was focusing on keeping the Artifices at bay. The emperor himself was directing people to the ships that would get them out. One Gargoyle almost got to the evacuees, but its attention was caught when Pierce struck its leg with Praxis' Megalance. The sergeant had lost his helmet a while back and looked a little beat, but he wasn't going to let these things get to the people. Gyro then reached his brother and the two gave each other a nod as they prepared their respective weapons. Pierce, Praxis' Megalance, with the Blade herself grinning behind her Driver. Gyro prepared Theory's Chroma Katana, with the Blade in question having a calm look.
Similar things were happening in Tantal. Gargoyles walking on the streets, breaking buildings and the military doing their best to keep them away from the evacuating citizens. Eulogimenos himself directing the efforts.
In Uraya, a Gargoyle that blasted at the fortunately empty building was dropped from the sky by a well-aimed bitball at its thruster. The machine got back up as Mathra glared at the monstrous machine as more were attacking Uraya's airships. Voluq and Rhota were doing what they could to help against these monstrosities elsewhere, while Raqura herself was directing the evacuation.
Gormott was lucky that there were currently only two Gargoyles in Torgoth. One was being engaged by a single Ardainian ship and several fighters that were stationed there. The other one was distracted by what looked like a maid wearing Mech Arms. Upon closer inspection, you would realize that this black-haired woman was an Artificial Blade, Lila. Lila glanced towards the World Tree for an instant, worrying about her little sister before focusing on the enemy. After all, Professor Tatazo ordered her to protect the town.
Rex managed to get close to Aion which then slammed its black hand down on Rex. The Aegis Driver dodged it before using another charge from Siren's blast on the arm. The explosion caused smoke to cover the hand. But then the hand was coming out of the smoke in an attempt to swipe him. "It will change." Rex countered as he charged at the arm before leaping over it and slashing at it as he passed it. "I will change it!" Rex then charged the hand again as it then switched to try and back-hand him, "That's the reason we've come all this way!". Rex slashed at the arm as Nora and Yang moved to either side of Rex and struck too with their respective Blade weapons, both of them were covered in a golden glow. Rex then slid under the arm as Yang and Nora redirected it upwards.
Aion then tried to use the white arm to strike at Rex, but the salvager countered it with another shot of Siren's energy, pushing the arm back a little. But then it was fully repelled, when Nox's Black Mark, Otohime's Water Garden and Herald's Empyrean Salvo hit it.
"Why don't you just let it go?!" Malos yelled, "Who do you think you're doing this for?!" Aion then brought both tails at front and fired beams from them at Rex. But the beams were blocked by the combined efforts of Pneuma, Nia, Roze, Joana, Brighid and Pandoria.
"I'm doing it for myself." Rex replied, "And if that helps put a smile on people's faces. Helps them live their lives together, then that's my role in this world!" Rex then raised the True Aegis Sword to take another charge from Siren's cannon and swinging it at Aion. The blast that came out of the sword hit the Artifice, pushing it back. "Jin told me to take care of you in his place you know." Rex then said. "Jin never wanted to die. He just wanted to connect with you! He did it because you showed him a path!"
"And how many people died because of it!" Malos snapped, "You'd forgive him, just like that?!"
"Forgiving is never easy. But that's just the world we live in. We need to find a way to move forward within that world." Rex said as he raised the True Aegis Sword again, "Even you used to think like that once!" And then Rex swung again, sending another blast.
In Klaus' room, he and Galea were sitting side by side their hands intertwined. Suddenly a voice of a young man came from the breach that was attached to Klaus, "Today, we use our power to fell a god, and then seize our destiny!"
Galea looked to the breach, smiling as she recognized the voice, "Shulk..." But then her attention was shifted to Klaus whose grip tightened.
"Hurry, the time is nigh." Klaus said as Galea tightened her own grip.
"I will stay with you, Klaus. Until this is all over. Until all life has left you... Then, only then, will I let go." Galea swore in her mind as she used her unoccupied hand to try the right side of her face that was still Salem's. "That's all I can do for now."
(Song change: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 OST: After Despair and Hope)
"Fine then!" Malos yelled, "If you think that's your role in this world, but first try to withstand the thunder of justice!" At that moment, the black cap-like design above the serene lower face of Aion lifted itself for the machine to tap the golden center that replaced upper part of a face with two of its white fingers. Energy started charging within it. "Siren Buster!" Malos called out as Aion fired the same beam Siren fires from its cannon. Everyone moved out of the beam's path, but the impact still blasted all of them around.
"Lady Mòrag!" Brighid cried out in concern as she felt her Driver take heavy damage.
"It's nothing." Mòrag said even as she grunted in pain and clutched her side. Looking to the direction she saw Zeke last, Mòrag noticed that Pandoria looked to be panicking. He must have taken worse damage.
"And this will be more than enough to finish you off, War of Servants!" Malos then called out. Not long after, from beneath Aion four Artifice Colossi appeared.
"Hero's Soul!"
"Healing Circle!"
"Redemption!"
After the three sets of healing Arts, the gang was back on their feet.
"This makes no sense," Roze said in disbelief, "Why isn't Malos using Aion's full power?"
"Wait, wait, wait!" Ruby let out in disbelief, "You mean this isn't its full power?"
"Considering Aion is supposed to have enough firepower to destroy the civilization before Alrest, this is hardly sufficient for the task." Roze said with a glare at Aion.
"Hey!" Qrow smashed Kasandra's hammer against one of the Colossi, earning its attention.
Another one got distracted by Mòrag and Tora. A third one's attention was drawn to Aegaeon, Agate, Wulfric and Dagas.
And the last one was immediately smacked at by Nora.
With the four distracted, Penny, Oscar and JPR focused their attacks on the one attacking Nora.
RWBY got up against the one that the rest of the Blades engaged with Yang taking the charge.
The rest of the Alrest crew moved to help Mòrag and Tora.
As the Colossi engaged the Drivers and their Blades, Malos was clutching at his Core Crystal in pain. Although he was beginning to feel better with each passing second after pushing Aion to the back of the hangar and idle there. As much as he wanted to blast them all while they were busy with the Colossi, Malos had to make sure that he would be good to go against Alrest next. "Maybe Aion wasn't meant to be controlled by me alone." Malos thought as he ran system diagnostics at absolute minimum processing power. Aside from the back-up systems on the right arm, Aion was practically unscathed, despite Rex's attacks. If only he had more time to study Aion's systems before they caught up to him, he might have been better prepared. The Artifice did far more calculations for the use of the weapons than Malos had thought. For instance, Siren Buster had to calculate the required energy before firing, the kick back that came from firing it, and the required propulsion from thrusters at the back to counter it without complications. Hopefully the Colossi are enough to destroy the gang, or at the very least soften and stall them enough for him to finish them off.
Malos' thoughts were interrupted by an explosion of golden flames from under one of the Colossi. "Tch, of all the times." Malos complained.
In the battle, everyone's attention was drawn to Yang bursting out from under the Scrap Drill that was previously pinning her down, dazzling flames dancing in her hair. Which made everyone feel equal parts cheer and dread as their gazes shifted to Dragunov who had gone Sun Dragon.
The flaming Driver and Blade roared in unison before Yang dashed in with Fever Rush. Dragunov supported his Driver by blasting golden flames from his dragon heads. The Colossus shielded itself with its partially melted drill arm against the flames. But in doing that, it neglected to do anything to Yang who by now had managed to mangle one of its legs.
"Get slagged!" Yang roared in fury as she then used Rising Dragon to actually burst through its top with her gauntleted hand looking like a drill made of white flames. But the flames then dispersed back into their claw shape.
Yang's win motivated everyone else to destroy the remaining Colossi.
One of the remaining Colossi suddenly had a light come from its singular optic that was targeting Ren and Otohime.
Another one did the same for Nia and Dromarch.
"Those two's element is now water." Azurda informed everyone.
"Guess they think Yang and Dragunov are the greatest threat." Rex said as he looked to Pneuma.
The True Aegis frowned a little, "Rex, can we prove them wrong?"
The salvager grinned, "Of course." And he threw the True Aegis sword to Pneuma.
The two wings behind Pneuma combined and multitude of glowing green swords formed around it. "Genesis Saber!" Pneuma unleashed her level three upon the Artifices. The swords cutting gashes and stabbing holes into them as they flew around all three of the Artifices.
Jaune saw this and decided to target one of the remaining and now heavily damaged Artifices. "Nora, Oscar, go for a Blade Combo!"
"Got it!" Nora said first before letting Electra smash the Colossus with her level 1.
Electra's hits made the damaged Artifice reel back. The little Blade retreated right before Oscar threw his cannon to Herald. The mech-riding Blade pointed her cannon at the Colossus and fired her level 2 The Heavens Open. A single shot of electricity that exploded massively upon impact. "Blade Combo: 1 000 000 Volts." And the Artifice was blasted with that amount of electricity.
The Blade combo had barely finished before Otohime fired Imperial Tide to finish the level 3 combo, Electrolysis. Judging by how the Artifice stopped moving long before the combo finished, this was an overkill.
Around this time, Nox had just retrieved his scythes after having used Swirling Shadow. "Black Abyss." Nox said with sadistic glee as he finished the level 2 Combo started by Kasandra mere moments before. The dark energies ripped that Artifice apart.
Finally, Poppi had just finished Poppi Crushing Blow, which was swiftly followed by Blade Combo: Burnout, since Pneuma used fire element with her Special. The last Colossus collapsed as it had burned too badly to function.
"You really don't know when to give up." Malos' voice rang out from Aion before the Artifice in question returned to the attacking range. "Fine then, I'm ready to risk it all!" As soon as Malos said that, several glowing glyphs appeared in front of it. "If you can't survive this, then you deserve to die here!" The glyphs glowed red, green and brown for a moment before fading away.
"No! Not Flame Gear!" Roze shouted in panic.
"What does that do?!" Ruby asked quickly.
"Flame Gear overclocks Aion's systems." Roze explained.
"So its stronger now?" Zeke asked, not liking the sound of that.
"Among other things." Roze said, "We can't let this fight continue anymore. It has to end now!"
"Let's see you survive this." Malos then said before having Aion charge another Siren Buster.
"Drag!" Yang threw the golden talons to her Blade.
The Sun Dragon rooted himself in place again and charged the two heads, before firing straight into Aion's face.
Aion fired back just before Solar Flare reached it, and it was easily punching through the Special Art.
Dragunov quickly pulled his arms from the holes he created and moved out of the way. But the beam reached that point even as all the other Blades used their respective barriers despite not being in its path. And it was a good thing they did, because the area of impact exploded tossing everyone away, Blade barriers shattering from the sheer force. And since this wasn't a physical attack, the Sun Dragon's Burning Scales didn't activate.
Aion then raised its black arm and gathered more energy to fire another Anthropos.
Weiss saw this happening and despite taking a lot of damage to her Aura, decided to use a very desperate measure. Arma Gigas quickly jumped out of a summoning glyph Weiss created right under the black arm pushing it upward. And when it did, Anthropos was released way over them.
"Good job, Weiss!" Ruby cheered even as she winced at the damage she took from the shockwave, despite her Aura.
The joy didn't last long when Aion used its left arm to create the energy sword and stabbed the Arma Gigas with it. It was like punching through wet paper with how easily it punctured Arma Gigas' armor.
Blake grit her teeth when the artifice then prepared to swing the sword right at them. She barely took note of how her and Nox's affinity had reached maximum. And when it did, a familiar darkness was pouring out of the Dual Scythes. Nox must have unleashed the Abyss. This gave her an idea. "Nox, follow my lead!"
Not needing any kind of confirmation thanks to the affinity link, Blake ran to Wulfric who was picking himself up. "Wulfric, throw us to Aion's head!"
"What?" Wulfric asked.
"Do it!" Nox commanded as he and his Driver reached the beastly Blade. Wulfric then grunted and grabbed the dark duo and threw them at Aion's face.
"She's nuts!" Nora cried out at Blake's crazy stunt as a trail of darkness was left behind the two on their flight.
"Do it now!" Blake shouted to Nox as they were nearly at the face. Nox, who's eyepatch was gone, unleashing the Abyss, made a hand seal and the darkness seeping out of his eye came out, covering Aion's head, just before Nox and Blake landed on it.
Nia realized what was going on when Aion started clawing at the darkness covering its head as Blake and Nox were attacking it. "Its blinded!"
"Then let's hit it with everything we got before it sees again." Yang said, having now gained Dragunov's talons back.
"Wait!" Pneuma called out, "If you guys can make sure Aion doesn't retaliate, Rex and I can finish it with a single strike."
"Really? How?" Rex asked.
"...The same way we have been attacking Aion up until now, but... I need you to give all your Aura too." Pneuma then said.
"I trust you." Rex said without hesitation, "I think I know how to channel it a little."
"Good enough." Pneuma said as she and Rex took up their positions. Their affinity already at maximum.
"You heard them." Ruby said, "We make sure Aion doesn't do anything."
"Let's protect Rex and Pneuma." Jaune also said.
"I don't know what you two are doing, but you better do it fast." Zeke said as the darkness finally dissipated.
"Final Nightmare: Jaws of Terror!" And Blake and Nox finished the level 4. With the Abyss empowered Scythe each in hand, the two created an X-shaped gash across Aion's face. Hopefully damaging it enough to stop it from firing Siren Buster.
"So, it's come to this." Malos called out from within the Artifice. He was about to activate Aion's greatest weapon when he noticed Rex and Pneuma jumping high into the air. The True Aegis Sword having several prongs appearing along it. Then another breach opened above the two and another blast from Siren came down. But unlike the previous times, the two just kept absorbing the blast until the golden energy that formed it turned brilliant green as it formed a giant energy sword. Even without the calculations, Malos knew that that thing would come down on him faster than Aion could charge Prometheus, much less fire it. So he had no other choice, but to use the white hand's energy sword to try and interrupt them.
"Pandy!" Zeke threw the Big Bang Edge to the frizzy haired Blade.
Pandoria quickly took the handle off the blade and twirled it like a baton. In response, the sword's blade crackled with electricity as it floated in the air. Then with a swing, Pandoria sent the weapon at the white arm, "Thunder Doom!"
As this was happening, Yang had charged Dragunov's talons with her Aura and had thrown them to him. The Sun Dragon's two dragon heads were breathing white fire to them which was forming a dazzling ball of flames. "Sunburst!" Dragunov then threw the ball after charging it enough.
The level 1 and 3 Special Arts connected with Aion's wrist, causing an explosion of their respective elements. Which was enough to stop the arm.
By this time, Rex and Pneuma shared a glance with each other. "Let's get this done, so that we can move forward!" Rex said loudly.
"For the Future!" Pneuma affirmed, and the two brought down the giant sword of green energy down on Aion.
"Infinity Sword!"
As a last-ditch effort, Aion used its black arm to block the attack. It seemed like the ultimate attack of the Master Driver and the Master Blade would not get through. Until it actually cut through the arm, and into the chest where Malos was.
(End Song)
The entire Artifice twitched until the level 4 was used up, and the Master Driver and Blade landed back down.
Aion slumped forward, the cross in its chest glowing for moments before ejecting Malos. The dark Aegis landed on the platform face down.
In the Architect's room, the back wall opened, revealing the Conduit itself. A golden portal opened right above it, and the large monolith was moving towards it.
"It has begun." Galea said in fear, clutching Klaus' hand even tighter.
"...Galea, I'm going to need that hand for a moment." Klaus said calmly.
"But Klaus, I-" "Please, there is one last thing I must do." Klaus interrupted the woman's protests. Galea didn't answer, but she let go of Klaus' hand.
The Architect drew a glowing blue circle into the air, which then rose higher. Then a holographic image of Gormott, Uraya, Mor Ardain, Indol and Genbu appeared in a circle. Between the Titans, a holographic image of the World Tree appeared. "This is my final gift to you." Klaus said as he activated the final sequence. "The rest is up to you, my Children... And I wish you luck, Children of Grimm." Klaus found himself smiling.
Parts of Klaus' body began to glow as he embraced the end that was coming.
"I'm so sorry." Galea said, before grabbing Klaus' face and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.
"Galea?" The surprised man said in confusion.
"This isn't my body." Galea said as she embraced the man she loved.
"...I see." Klaus understood. "And I'm sorry, for leaving you with such a heavy burden. I wish I could've done more for you."
"You have done more than enough." Galea said, "Besides, I want to help Walter too."
"...As he is now, he may not want help." Klaus then embraced Galea back with his only arm.
"...I didn't let him refuse when I had him hang out with us, and I'm not letting him refuse me now." Galea said resolutely.
"Despite either of our protests." Klaus said fondly as she kissed Salem's side of the face, seeing as Galea's side wasn't facing him at that moment. "Galea... I... I still love you."
Galea faced Klaus, making sure it was her side of the face that was looking into Klaus' eye. "I love you too." Fresh tears came out of her eye, "I never stopped."
"...Goodbye." Klaus finally said as his body disintegrated away from Galea's embrace, the breach that connected him to Zanza now gone. Galea then glanced to the Conduit that had left this world.
"Goodbye, Klaus." Galea said with a sad smile as the ashen color was slowly bleeding back to the left side of her face. Now that Klaus was gone, it wouldn't be long until Salem would regain the control. "I hope you are wrong about the Conduit's destination. But should the worst happen, I will do everything in my power to stop its misuse." Galea said as the ashen color was creeping all the way to the left eye, the face morphing back to the shape of Salem's. "I wonder... how much of him have you adopted to yourself, Salem." Galea muttered as the sclera bled to black. Until the eye blinked, and the storm grey iris was replaced with blood red.
"What? Where did he go?!" Salem shouted as she looked around but didn't see the Architect anywhere.
In Mor Ardain, Gyro looked confused at the Gargoyle that had suddenly shut down. "What just happened?"
"...I think... someone saved our sorry butts." Pierce said as he looked around. All Gargoyles that had appeared in Alba Cavanich had stopped.
Similarly, in Fonsa Myma, Queen Raqura received reports that the invading mechanical monstrosities had stopped.
As in the other places, all Gargoyles in Tantal had also stopped.
(Play Xenoblade Chronicles 2 OST: Desolation)
Malos weakly turned to lie on his back, revealing his blinking Core Crystal that was now riddled with spider cracks. "It's been fun, kid." Malos said weakly, but in a satisfied tone. "If I had just a little more time, I could have ended this... But I guess it wasn't meant to be after all."
"Malos." Rex said as he looked down at the dying Aegis.
"If only I had met you sooner... Just think of the worlds I might have seen." Malos said with a weak laugh. "Maybe even the one they all came from." Malos then looked to Ruby who happened to be the closest of the Remnans.
"Malos, where is Salem?" Ruby asked, "We were told that you came alone."
"She ran away after I cut off her arm." Malos said with a weak chuckle. "Opened a breach and went through it."
"So she ran away after all." Qrow let out a disappointed sigh.
Rex then looked sad as Malos' Core Crystal blinked slower. "If I had been your Driver... None of this..."
Malos chuckled at this as parts of his body began disintegrating into amethyst particles, "Kids say the damnedest things... There was only one Driver for me. All in all... It wasn't so bad." Malos then closed his eyes and then his body fully disintegrated. His Core Crystal shattering into thousand pieces that then clattered to the floor.
"Malos." Pneuma said sadly.
"I don't get it." Ruby said, looking confused, "He seemed so...happy?"
"Looks like he found it." Mòrag said wistfully.
"Lady Mòrag?" Brighid sounded out as all attention was on the Special Inquisitor.
"A meaning to his life." Mòrag clarified.
"Indeed..." Brighid agreed.
"Frankly I'm a little jealous." Mòrag then said, "After all, most people go through their whole lives without finding theirs. I wonder if I'll find mine."
"You've got one already, haven't you?" Zeke piped up, putting Big Bang Edge on his back. "And if what you got isn't enough for you, well you can always leave things to the next generation."
"You've got a point." Mòrag said with a small smile as she looked to Rex and Pneuma. The two were busy looking at the fading particles that once formed Malos. "Surprisingly enough."
(End Song)
Suddenly everything shook violently.
Everyone had to steady themselves, some of them being saved by their Blades from falling.
"What's going on?" Rex was the first to ask.
Pneuma opened a holographic screen, typed a few things on it until a holographic sphere appeared on it with image of the tower coming out of it. There was also a ring around the tower that circled the sphere.
"Th-that's!" Pneuma said in alarm.
"What? What's happened?" Nia asked, in her Driver form.
"At this rate, all of Elysium will collapse." Pneuma replied, earning gasps of fright from everyone."
"But how can that be?!" Yang demanded, her hair not blazing as Dragunov had returned to normal.
The image of the planet with the tower became bigger for all to see. "Since the Conduit disappeared, the power holding Elysium together was cut off."
"What's gonna happen when it crumbles?" Nia asked in slight panic as the image showed what looked like an antenna detaching from the top of the tower and floating away.
"Everything beyond this point will either orbit the planet, or be flung to outer space by centrifugal force." Pneuma explained as the image then showed various parts of the tower, including the ring to shatter. "However, everything below this point- The World Tree itself will fall apart on top of Alrest." The rest of the tower in the image then did exactly what Pneuma explained.
"No, that can't-!" Mòrag yelled in horror, "The impact would destroy..."
A horror which was now being shared by everyone.
"There has to be a way to stop it!" Rex yelled out, not wanting to believe that they had come this far, just for everything to be destroyed. "Pneuma, please!"
The true Aegis looked completely hopeless. She then grit her teeth for a moment. "There is one way." Pneuma finally said. "Just one way to prevent it. Five stories down from here, there is a control room for the correction boosters. If we can fire the booster jets, and accelerate the whole World Tree beyond escape velocity..."
"Look I haven't got a clue about boosters or velocities, but I'm gathering that we gotta get there and fast." Zeke butted in.
Pneuma nodded with a sad look on her face, something that Roc grew a little suspicious about.
"Okay, five floors down! Let's hurry!" Rex said as everyone started running towards the entrance. All except Pneuma and Roc.
"Azurda, Poppi, wait!" Pneuma called out to the tiny Titan who was out of Rex's helmet and the Artificial Blade. The others were too much in a hurry to notice this. Pneuma quickly ran towards the two alongside Roc and leaned in to talk to them.
"What did you say?!" Azurda shouted out in disbelief while Poppi looked horrified.
"P-Poppi could not possibly." Poppi
"Are you sure there isn't another way?" Roc asked with narrowed eyes.
Pneuma gave an angry scowl to the avian Blade, "If there was I would take it, but there isn't!"
Roc softened his look and nodded solemnly.
Pneuma returned her attention to the other two, "Please, you're the only ones I can ask of this."
"But-!" "Poppi." Pneuma interrupted. "You promised, didn't you?"
"...That below belt." Poppi looked down, making sniffling sounds despite not being actually able to cry.
"Please." Pneuma pleaded again. Poppi sniffled, but nodded. Having Poppi's affirmation, Pneuma then moved to the fluttering Azurda and poked his tiny Core Crystal on his fuzzy chest. The Core glowed briefly upon contact.
"You're a real piece of work." Azurda said.
"You said it." said a voice that startled the four. Turning back, they all saw Roze who was still with them.
"R-Roze! How did you get there?!" Pneuma demanded as she was sure everyone else had already run.
"I never left." Roze said simply with a frown, "Just know, that I don't like your plan, but... I can't see another way out of this." The reaper Blade turned to look at the disabled Aion. "I just... I can't help but feel that we're making a horrible mistake."
"What are you talking about?" Roc asked in suspicion.
"...Who knows." Roze shrugged, "I'm not even sure myself what I'm feeling." Then he looked down to the floor where Malos' Core Crystal had shattered, but the pieces weren't there anymore.
"Let's go." Pneuma said, sounding sad.
"Yeah." Roze agreed, and the stragglers moved to catch up.
Five floors down, everyone ran down the stairs as fast as they could as small explosions sounded out throughout the station.
Yang considered them lucky that Dragunov didn't collapse when he reverted, but the dragon clearly was a little out of shape judging by how much he was panting.
"Move it, slowpoke!" Yang still called out to her Blade who was starting to lag behind again.
"Shut it, blondie!" It was amazing how that got him to pick up the pace, if only enough to not lag behind them.
Rex then looked towards a large chasm with a wide metal bridge that led to it. "Pneuma, is that where we need to go?" Rex asked Pneuma who was running down the stairs along with others.
"Yes. Past that bridge." Pneuma replied.
With that confirmation, everyone ran past the bridge and through the door.
"Wh-What is this?" Rex asked as he looked to the large room with a view to outside.
"This isn't a control room." Weiss was the first to point out as she looked in confusion.
"Is this a port?" Mòrag also asked as the front of the room had multitudes of large ships that looked to be easy to deploy.
"No." Roze said, earning everyone's attention, "This is the Escape Pod Bay."
"But why would-Rex!" Ruby called out when the salvager ran past her and back to the bridge. Pneuma was still on the other side.
"Pneuma, where's the control room?!" Rex asked frantically.
"...I'm sorry." Pneuma said before waving her hand. As if on command, parts of the bridge exploded, causing it to fall down into what looked like bottomless chasm.
"Pneuma!" Rex cried out.
"The only way to save Alrest is to use the last of Aion's power to obliterate the World Tree." Pneuma explained with a sad smile.
"The last of- What do you mean?" Rex didn't look to comprehend.
"You all have to use one of those escape vessels and get as far away from here as possible." Pneuma then said.
"It... It'll be fine right?" Rex said. "You'll deal with the World Tree and then come back, right?!" Pneuma's sad silence was all the confirmation Rex needed for the answer he didn't want to hear. "Just wait, I'll come with you!" Rex ran to the edge and fired the anchor to the other side. But the wire didn't reach all the way. "Damn! There's not enough wire." Rex reeled the anchor back and looked around himself. "I got it! Poppi, fly me to Pneuma." Rex then said and grabbed Poppi's hand. But the mechanical child pulled it back. "Poppi?"
"...It not okay." Poppi said, sounding like she was on the verge of tears, despite not physically being capable of that.
"Wh-what?" Rex was shocked to hear something like that.
"Poppi cannot." Poppi said, refusing to look Rex in the eye, "Pneuma say that Rex for sure will ask Poppi for help. Say not help Rex no matter what."
"Friend Poppi?" Penny said with an uncomputing look.
"What are you talking about! She's right there! Just fly me there!" Rex now grabbed Poppi's shoulders and started shaking her.
"Poppi promised." Poppi protested, now forced to look at the desperate boy.
"What kind of promise is that?! Forget it, and-" "Leave her alone, Rex!" Roc interrupted as he yanked the salvager off of the distressed Artificial Blade by his helmet. "You heard her, she promised not to help." Roc then said.
Rex first looked at Roc like he didn't understand what was going on, but then he brightened up, "That's right! Roc, you can help me across!"
"No!" Roc refused resolutely.
"Wh-What?"
"Pneuma said that there was no other way, so I will honor her wish and let her save us all." Roc explained before turning to look at Herald, "Herald, if you try to help Rex across, I will fight you."
"Wh-what?" Oscar let out, while Herald looked sad.
"If that is the only way, then so be it." Herald said as she floated further away from the edge.
"What is wrong with you all!?" Rex all but demanded, before turning to Weiss, "Weiss! You can summon that Lancer thing to get me there, right?!"
Weiss was about to open her mouth to answer, but then Aizen grabbed her shoulder. "Miss Schnee, if there was an option that allowed Pneuma to live through this, surely she would have picked that."
Weiss grit her teeth and clenched her hands into fists. She truly hated Aizen for making sense. Even so, "Pneuma, are you absolutely sure there's no other way?"
Pneuma shook her head, not giving a verbal answer.
"Damn it all." Weiss whispered as she let out tears herself, unable to face Rex, "I'm sorry, Rex."
"Weiss, why?!" Rex demanded.
"Rex." Azurda piped up, earning the boy's attention, "Sometimes a man must know when to let go." Azurda said firmly with his tiny hands on his hips.
"Why?" Rex said, "Why?!" As Rex fell on his knees in anguish, Roze clutched his head like he was in pain, which caused Ruby to look at him in concern. The Reaper Blade shook his head and gave his Driver a reassuring look.
"Chum, how long are you going to keep being a baby?" Zeke then asked while Poppi's attention was grabbed by Tora. The Artificial Blade kneeled down and hugged her creator while the said creator wrapped his wings around her and stroked her head in a consoling manner. "She's the girl you love. You've got to accept her decision. That's what being an adult means." Zeke finished with a sympathetic look.
"He's right, kid." Qrow let out a sigh, "The choice she made here is to save you."
"B-but, if Pneuma dies, then so does Rex!" Ruby cried out, "Wouldn't it be the same if Rex did go with her?!"
"No, Ruby." Pneuma said as she tapped her Core Crystal before making a waving motion towards them, "Only I will perish." And then the Crystal glowed alongside the piece on Rex's chest. As the glow faded, The Crystal on Rex's chest fell down, except instead of it being X shaped, it was the complete cross of an Aegis Core. At the same time, Rex's high-tech armor reverted to his normal blue salvaging suit.
"The Core Crystal." Rex said in horror as he picked up the inactive Core before looking to Pneuma. She no longer had her half of the Crystal.
"Rex." Mòrag said before placing a hand on the salvager's shoulder, "I'm glad I met all of you." Then Mòrag turned towards Pneuma, placed her hand on her chest and nodded to the True Aegis. Brighid followed that example, which was soon followed by Aegaeon and Agate.
"Pneuma." Dragunov called out with a somber look, "Goodbye."
Pneuma smiled at the Firestorm of Torna. "Goodbye."
"Rex... Let her go." Roze said, letting out a single tear from his left eye.
"Pneuma!" Rex cried out his heart as he clenched the inactive Core in his hand.
Pneuma smiled at this, "Rex!" Then another explosion sounded out, and debris came falling from the roof. After some large chunks briefly obscured everyone's view of Pneuma, the True Aegis had disappeared. No doubt she went back to Aion.
Rex turned to face everyone, tears in his eyes that he wiped away. He then gave everyone a nod. "Are you sure about this?" Nora asked with firm look.
"...I'm sure." Rex said. He didn't look okay, but he did seem to have accepted Pneuma's decision. "Let's go."
In Aion's Hangar, Pneuma looked up to the Ultimate Artifice with a small smile, "Hello, I hope you can help me."
Pneuma then entered Aion and typed in the one command that should be enough to destroy the World Tree. Soon a holographic screen showed a five-minute countdown for reactor overload. As the countdown went down, Pneuma opened a security surveillance footage of the Escape Pod Bay. From the footage, she saw Rex and the others frantically moving to pick one of the ships as even that place was falling apart. Mòrag and Zeke used their respective elemental attacks to repel a particularly large piece of debris falling on them.
Nia tried to tap at one of the control panels in front of one escape pod, but it wouldn't respond.
"Rex, I'm so glad to have met you." Pneuma said to no one in particular, "Our time together was short. A fraction of my long, long years.
The gang was running along the bay, trying to find a ship that would give them entry. On their way, Poppi fell down when another shake occurred. She was quickly helped back up by both Rex and Tora. The salvager was smiling at Poppi in reassurance, despite the Artificial Blade refusing to help him earlier.
Ren blasted another piece of debris that nearly fell on them while Nora watched the ceiling around everyone else, ready to smack away any debris that the others couldn't get to.
"You shined a light on my melancholy path, you showed me a way." Pneuma continued as she looked briefly to the countdown before returning her focus on the live feed.
They finally found an open ship that they all tried to get inside of, but there was not enough room for all of them. Roze then looked to the ship opposite of them and without anyone watching pressed his fingertips on the panel in front of it. The beads on each of his knuckles glowed blue before the ship door opened. Roze then gained everyone's attention and pointed them to the ship he opened. With that, they were able to split themselves among the ships. The Alrestians took one ship, with JNPR along with their Blades joining them.
Team RWBY, Qrow, Oscar and Penny took the other along with their Blades.
Rex and Tora then frantically worked the console inside, trying to figure out how to start the ship. But Pneuma pressed a button on the holographic screen inside Aion and the ship was starting by itself. Pneuma was about to do the same for the other ship, but Roze and Kos-Mos had both worked out how the ship worked, so they had started up on their own. Then a tunnel opened up in front of each of the escape pods, and their engines fired up before launching themselves through them and from there, the outside.
"Thank you for that Rex." Pneuma continued as the two ships were rapidly flying away from the station that was breaking apart and down to Alrest itself. "Thank you for that gift of light." Pneuma then smiled softly as the countdown reached zero. "I love you, Rex."
In the ship occupied by the Alrestians and JNPR, Rex looked back to the top of the World Tree that exploded. Obliterating it from the skies of Alrest for good.
"Pneuma!" Rex cried out one last time as the ship was flying down towards the Cloud Sea.
Unfortunately, the explosion also sent some huge pieces of debris after them.
Rex and Roze in their respective ships did their best to dodge the rain of debris, but they did take small hits here and there. Until finally...
"Gah!" Everyone in the Alrest ship cried out when the back suddenly was torn off of the rest of the ship. This caused the rest of the ship to finally be torn apart. Causing the Alrestians and JNPR to now end up in free fall.
"Pyrrha!" Jaune cried out as he reached out his hand to the red-haired Blade.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha reached back. The two managed catch each other's hand which in turn allowed them to pull them to each other and wrap their arms around each other.
Nora and Ren had managed to do the same. Except instead of embracing each other, Nora was trying to reach out to Electra with her other hand, while Ren was trying the same with Otohime.
Zeke and Pandoria managed to hold onto each other. Mòrag was being held by Brighid in one arm, while the Jewel of Mor Ardain had Aegaeon's hand in the other. The Common-like water Blade had his other hand in Agate's.
Roc was on his wings and was diving towards Rex and Wulfric. But the avian Blade knew that he can't even hope to carry everyone down. Only Rex.
The ship that the rest of the Remnans occupied also finally succumbed to the damage that the debris caused and shattered.
Kasandra was attached to Qrow's back who was looking towards Yang and Ruby with horror on his face. Roze managed to catch Ruby into his arms, but the little red reaper was trying to reach out to Yang who was torn between her sister and Blake.
Weiss contemplated on if she should try summoning the Queen Lancer, but not only was there no room for all of them, Weiss probably couldn't maintain it long enough for them to land safely.
Aizen and Dahlia managed to fall near their Driver, but Dragunov was a little ahead of them due to being heavier than the rest of them, and therefore less subjected to air resistance.
Blake had thrown Gambol Shroud towards Yang who then caught it. The blonde then in turn used one of her remaining shot-gun shells to propel herself, and by extension, Blake towards Ruby.
What Yang didn't immediately notice was that in her other hand, Blake had one of Nox's Scythes with his bandage attached to it. The other end of the bandage was of course attached to Nox himself. A similar trick was used for Perceval to grab onto.
Finally, Penny was more worried about her friends than herself. And now mentally berated herself for not being able to fly.
Oscar was the only one lucky as he was in Herald's arms and the mech riding Blade could choose to float any second.
"Rex!" Azurda, who had been flung out of Rex's helmet cried out towards his ward before he glowed brightly.
Soon, Rex found himself on top of grassy ground, surrounded by familiar shaped rock at the edges of it. Soon after, Nia, Dromarch and Dagas found themselves on the surface. Which was followed by Mòrag and her Blades landing, along with Zeke and Pandoria. Roc then flew in while dragging Nora, Ren, Electra and Otohime on each of his arms. Poppi also had used her jets to get herself and Tora onto the ground. Jaune and Pyrrha actually found out first-hand, that Joana's holographic wings can be used for gliding, which was how the three also got to land. Finally, the piece of land they were all on went after the rest of the Remnans after Wulfric was thrown to them from below. Ruby, Roze and Yang were the first to land, and then Yang quickly grabbed onto the ground before yanking on Gambol's ribbon to get Blake and her Blades to them. Qrow had turned into a bird with a glowing eye mark on his back and flew down before turning back into himself and Kasandra in a burst of feathers. Finally, Herald had grabbed Penny and Kos-Mos with her mech's arms and flew to their landing spot.
"Gramps." Rex was able to say to the trail of grass in the middle of the rocky plain. The "plain" lifted itself and turned towards them, revealing a stony dragonic head with a single horn of stone pointing forward.
"You know, I think this form does suit me the best." The dragon-like Titan, now revealed to be Azurda, said with a smile.
"Gramps!" Rex said happily as the Titan he once rode on during his career as a salvager flapped his large, purple-webbed wings on his sides.
"We're heading down to get Dragunov. Everyone hold onto something!" Azurda then warned before diving after Dragunov who had indeed fallen further down than the rest. Everyone of course, followed that advice and grabbed onto what they could. Whether it was the grass they were standing on, or whatever stone stuck out enough to grab onto. It wasn't too long until Azurda reached Dragunov who looked surprised to see Azurda's Titan form. But then the dragon Blade saw everyone on him. Then he created large jets of flame behind him from his hands to blast himself on too.
"I didn't know, you could fly!" Yang said loudly through the wind as she held onto the grass with her knuckles turning white.
"Because that wasn't flying, it was adjusting my trajectory!" Dragunov replied loudly as he grabbed onto a jutting rock.
"Whatever you say!" Yang let out as everyone looked down to the rapidly approaching Cloud Sea.
Rex looked at the tower that they left Pneuma to one last time before looking to the approaching Cloud Sea.
"Cloud Sea is..." Tora said in disbelief as he saw the Cloud Sea dispersing.
But Rex noticed something more alarming, "The Titans are...gone." Indeed, there wasn't a single Titan in sight. No big or small appeared through the disappearing Cloud Sea.
"I can't believe it." Nia let out.
"Did Malos manage to destroy them with the Sirens after all?" Ruby asked no one in particular, fearing the worst.
"But that would mean everyone died." Oscar said, now afraid himself.
"We were too late." Pandoria said as they now saw the Ruins of Morytha below them.
Zeke placed his hand over his eye and took a look at the ruined city, "So there's nothing left of the world now, but ruins?"
"But we defeated Malos!" Nora cried out in protest, "So why are we the ones who had to lose?!"
"Nora." Ren said with a sad look.
Before anyone else could panic about losing, Azurda let out a sound, "We're crossing that rift!"
Everyone turned their eyes forward and saw that they were now indeed crossing into the remaining Cloud Sea that even now was slowly dispersing.
And when everyone got through, their jaws dropped at what was on the other side. A normal ocean made of water. With land in the far distance. It didn't look like an island, but a huge continent.
Nia's ears then twitched before she turned to their right. "Look!" The Flesh Eater pointed towards the said direction.
In the distance, Urayan Titan was seemingly falling to the ocean belly first. When it landed into the water, it kept swimming forward towards the land.
"Prince, over there!" Pandoria cried out in happiness. Further beyond the Urayan Titan, Zeke just caught Genbu landing into the waters and swam towards the land ahead.
As Azurda was flying after Uraya and Genbu, they saw that the two Titans seemed to partially burrow themselves into the continent.
"The Titans." Dromarch said in astonishment.
"They're joining with the land." Mòrag finished the white tiger's train of thought.
"Mòrag, look!" Agate shouted, pointing behind them and left.
Mòrag and Brighid looked to that direction and relief washed over them. Mor Ardain was walking towards the land. It's legs long enough for it to keep its torso on the surface.
To the Ardainian Titan's left was Gormott, also approaching the land. Once the two reached land, Gormott laid down on its front legs, while Mor Ardain lowered itself on its knees and leaned against its arm for support.
"Hey, look at that!" Penny suddenly called out, pointing to the sky. Everyone looked up and saw what looked like a meteor shower high in the air.
"Are those shootings stars?" Nora asked excitedly.
"More likely debris from the World Tree." Roze said as he looked to multiple streaks crossing the sky.
"It's beautiful." Blake commented with a sigh, letting herself sit down.
"My lady, would you like to lean against me?" Nox showed on his scroll.
"Sure." Blake smiled at her Blade. Nox then took a seat behind Blake and pressed his back against hers. Now Blake had something to lean against as she gazed upon the skies.
Everyone else too had sat down and looked at the scenery, some leaning against Dromarch who laid himself down.
"Gramps... So Elysium was here all along." Rex said as he looked to the Titans that had now united with the land. He didn't see Leftheria, but the boy was certain that it was also somewhere, joining this new land.
Azurda smiled at Rex's conclusion, "You know, Rex. I think you're right."
Rex looked at the inactive Core Crystal of the Aegis in hand with a forlorn look, "We're finally here."
"I gotta take pictures!" Ruby exclaimed as she pulled out her scroll and started to hastily snap pictures of the skies with shooting stars along with glowing particles that were now raining down.
Nora and Electra tried to catch some of them, but as soon as they thought they caught one it disappeared.
Zeke had Pandoria holding one of his arms and leaning against him. Much to the prince's minor annoyance.
Mòrag smiled in amusement at the two's antics before returning her gaze to the skies at this once in a life-time experience.
Poppi was laying on Dromarch's back with Tora in her arms, both of them looking straight up in awe.
Everyone else too was looking in various states of awe at this. Even Ozpin expressed to Oscar about this scene being breathtaking.
Suddenly, Rex's hand started glowing. "Huh?" The salvager raised the hand holding the emerald Core in it. It was blinking between active and inactive. Until it suddenly started to glow brightly.
"What?" Was the universal reaction at the blinding green light coming from the Crystal. Rex had to cover his eyes when a pillar of emerald light shot out of the Core and into the sky.
Once the pillar faded away, Rex was able to open his eyes. And what he saw made him freeze in shock.
"What?!" Was also the more vocal reaction out of everyone at the impossible sight before them. Just a few steps away from Rex, who was near Azurda's neck, stood Pyra and Mythra. The Aegis sisters somehow had separate bodies from the same Crystal, and yet both of them had their complete Emerald Cross on each of their chest.
"But... But how?" Rex managed to ask, in shock, while Poppi ran past him and jumped to hug them.
"Nice to see you too, Poppi." Mythra said as she and Pyra hugged the Artificial Blade back.
Then the two lowered the girl down and looked to Rex. "We're back Rex." The Aegises said as one.
But Rex could barely comprehend it as he was still shocked to see the two again. Then he felt a push on his back. Turning to the culprit, Rex saw Nia who nudged her head into the Aegises' direction with a smirk. Rex then looked back to the rest of the gang. All of them were smiling. Nora was even doing a shooing motion at him with a huge grin on her face.
"You know you want to." Yang smirked as Dragunov looked away from everyone.
Ruby was giving an eager nod alongside Penny.
With that encouragement, Rex turned back to the Aegises and speedwalked to them. Then he pulled them both into a hug. One in each arm.
"Rex, we're sorry." Pyra then apologized as she hugged back.
"We did have a feeling that gifting our entire Core to you might let us be awakened with our memories intact, but... we didn't want to raise your hopes up in vain." Mythra added in as she also hugged their Driver.
"...Or ours." Pyra added in.
"Don't ever scare me like that again." Rex resisted a relieved sob as he hugged the two tighter.
"Ow!" Yang let out as she got a hard flick on the forehead for daring to accuse Dragunov of crying. The dragon Blade glared at his Driver briefly before looking to the Aegises and their Driver with tiniest of smiles.
This really felt like a victory for everyone. For Remnantians and most of all to the Alrestians.
In the Grimm Lands, back on Remnant, a breach opened in front of the largest Grimm Pool in the area. Though to call this one a pool is a slight understatement, it was more like a lake.
Through the breach, Salem stepped through, followed closely by Emerald, Mercury, Watts, Hazel, Tyrian and Scorax.
"A wasted trip." Mercury muttered in slight annoyance.
"Not completely." Watts said as he held a large black rectangular object in his hand. The scientist refused to return to Remnant empty handed, so he searched the office and managed to find a cleverly hidden compartment on the desk. Watts was sure it was some kind of data storage device, though what kind of data was inside of it was anyone's guess.
"If there is something valuable in there, then I suppose there was some merit to this trip." Salem said with a weary sigh.
Suddenly Scorax clicked its fangs.
"What's what?" Tyrian asked his Blade before looking to the direction the scorpion Blade pointed at. "What is that thing?" The madman questioned.
Everyone turned to look towards the Grimm Pool and beheld at the sight before them.
"What is that?" Mercury let out with an apprehensive look.
"I... have no idea." Watts said with an intrigued look.
Emerald's attention was drawn by a small chuckle from Salem who had a look of disbelief on her face. "S-Salem?" Emerald said in slight fear as one chuckle turned to many.
Then the chuckles turned into full on laughter. A laughter that shifted to down-right maniacal. Now everyone was staring at the Grimm Queen in worry for varying reasons. They also began to note that multitudes of Grimm were gathering around this particular pool, Beowolves and Ursi for the most part. All of them were howling or growling to the skies as Salem laughed like a madwoman. It actually felt like the monsters were celebrating something. Soon though, Salen's laughter ceased and the Grimm quieted down.
"Unbelievable." Salem then said with an amused look, "All that effort to get my hands on it, and it came to me instead." Salem smiled in satisfaction as she still could scarcely believe that the Conduit was now floating in the middle of the pool.
But inside Salem's head, Galea was horrified at Klaus' fears coming true. "Why did it choose the Dark One?"
AN: Malos is defeated. Alrest has been saved, and the Titans have united with the land. This really feels like a happy ending.
But Dun Dun DUUUUN! The Conduit is now in Remnant and it fell right into Salem's lap. The good news is that as some of you may have surmised, Salem has no idea what to do with it. And the bad news is that Salem has no idea what to do with it.