The young man couldn't save his teacher.
Even as he struggled to collect the pieces of Iadoa's shattered mind, the march of chaos could not be stopped. The fall of the chronomancer's sanity echoed, heard by a beast from the abyss of the deep sea.
Even as he defeated the primordial monster, the young man knew that some things really just can't lay down and die.
When his hand was forced to slay his own teacher, he knew, that with sacrifice, loyalty, and good friends, destiny can be changed.
He dearly hoped he would have the strength in the future to not let it get to that point. No one shouls sacrifice themselves for him again.
]|[
When the wave cleared, rain began to pour from the once clear skies.
The people on the boat looked from where they took shelter, only to be greeted by a darkened horizon. Cold, sea winds blew harder than usual. The smell of the sea was replaced by something…off. Something rotting and empty. It was nauseating, and the harsher waves that rocked their vessel did nothing to alleviate that.
The migraine lancing through Glynda's head forced her to drop her purple shield. She nearly dropped Ella's body when she placed her fingers over her temples, trying to ease the pain. The downed huntress herself groaned, somehow still conscious after the wave. Victorika was instantly on Ella's side, checking her descendant over.
Qrow sighed, placing a hand on his knee, unsheathing the Harbinger from his back. "That's useless missy." He said, placing a hand on the side of his head. It felt like a vessel was about to burst in his brain, as if he just woke up after a bad night of drinking. "The gal is done for. Reinforcements are still minutes away, and she'll bleed out before she gets any actual help."
He glared at the rogue huntress, who glared back weakly. He twirled the broadsword in his hands. Something within him wanted to plunge it into her chest. End her pain now, than prolong her suffering. Whispers echoed in his mind. Kill her. She's a criminal. The Grimm will swarm you with her here. Throw her overboard if you don't want to do it yourself. Let the Grimm pool claim her.
"What the hell is this…?" He whispered, horrified. Glynda breathed hard, massaging her temples, trying to relax herself. Qrow turned to look at Torchwick and Neo, who seemed like normal as before.
"What's gotten into you now?" The thief asked with a raised eyebrow. "Seems way too late for the alcohol you drank all night to be kicking in." Neo chuckled beside him.
"No. No its…" Qrow shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. Something whispered to stab the criminal for insulting him, and he swallowed it down, forcing himself to focus on the situation at hand.
"Something is affecting our heads." Glynda said, forcing herself to talk. "I have no idea what is doing this. I'm…hearing things."
"Why aren't we affected then?" Torchwick answered back. He received nothing but groans from the two. "Whatever. Just get over it before we all get eaten by Grimm." Shrugging, he fixed his bowler hat on his head. "This stupid rain isn't helping either. Wasn't the sky clear earlier?" The thief whined. Suddenly he felt a tug at his sleeve.
"What is it Neo?" He asked. His partner pointed at the sky with a shaky finger. Wiping rain out of his eyes, Torchwick followed where his partner was pointing at and saw…
"Johnny…" Torchwick said faintly, a hint of worry in his voice. He didn't know what to feel now that their leash holder is back. Seeing him now, tearing apart hordes of Grimm with casual ease, made him be scared a little. It seemed like dark clouds spread from underneath his wings, and flames of black and blue fell from the skies, devouring the Grimm that dared to get close.
The two allies of Ozpin's heads throbbed with pain, and unbeknownst to them, to the beat of Johnny's black wings, and the light of the day began to disappear.
Victorika looked at the man flying on dark wings. She looked back at her suffering descendant, and made up her mind. With another flash of light, she disappeared.
]|[
Ozpin watched the storm of darkness atop the writhing serpent.
Dark flames tore apart the Grimm as they arose from the deep. Great gales of accursed wind and fog devoured the beasts of darkness, devoured by a darkness deeper than the one that created them.
Was this what Johnny described? The powers worse than even the God of Darkness' own abyss?
The Wicked Purgatory of flames, the Atramentous Shade of darkness. They were fueled by darkness within. The essence that ruled over the undeath of the Undead Legion. The collection of the twisted darkness of mortal creatures.
What was the darkness of the "pure" divinity compared to the darkness of a sinful mortal's soul?
Ozpin watched the inky black wings that spread from Johnny's back as he rained destruction on the hordes of Grimm. There was an inkling of doubt in his heart. Johnny, even after all his actions to save them, was an unknown. He declared himself to be an ally of 'good'. He helped ease Amber's own suffering. He even thwarted Salem's plot of the destruction of the city. But he had doubts still. Was it really worth it to trust someone who proudly wielded dark magics? Did he really do this without intending to cash-in a favor he might be unable to pay later?
Ozpin was old. He was really getting tired of being burned, time and time again. Even with allies at his side, he found it difficult to trust them with his deepest secrets. Secrets that he shared with Salem herself.
The old wizard shook his head. He had to end it, one way or another. Himself and Salem. He steeled himself as Johnny began descending to the body of the serpent, right in front of him.
]|[
"What's up?" Johnny greeted Ozpin casually, letting his wings disappear in a small flash of black feathers. "Seems you guys managed to get the snake." The adventurer said, surveying the crater that was the serpent's mouth. "I wanted to get that gem on that underground city, but I guess this thing already buried it in rock and seawater."
"No. No, this beast isn't dead." Ozpin said with a grimace. "Even with my magic, the Valean Serpent operates on legends as old as Remnant. Until the time comes for Remnant's destruction, it was said that the serpent would come as prophesied to devour the lands for itself and become the new earth. We cannot actually kill it." Even when he was a boy, he had heard of tales of the titans that roamed the world; the monsters that had shaped this planet. He had no idea why the brothers would make such beasts and not get rid of them after the creation of mankind, but he had to file those thoughts away for now.
"But there must be something, right?" Johnny argued. "This thing can't be allowed to enter the city!" He looked at the shores worriedly. As soon as a beast of this size entered the city, it would be a disaster greater than the wyvern invasion. More so because of the recent terrorist attack. Vale would be ruined.
"I know." Ozpin said, trying to keep himself calm. "Trust me Johnny, I know. It's a good thing you are here now, however."
"Me? Man, all I do is kill things. If you told me this thing can't be killed, I don't know what we're supposed to do." Johnny said, scratching his head. The adventurer sighed and closed his eyes. "Okay, I know it's not the place for this, but what do we know about this snake?"
Ozpin raised his eyebrows, seems like Johnny wanted to find a way regardless. "It's immortal. Somehow, it's spawning Grimm with its blood. That was not part of the legends."
Johnny nodded. "Right. It can also somehow raise the dead with necromantic abilities." Here, Ozpin looked at him in shock. Johnny had to wince, some of the bad news he was about to tell was partially his fault. "Yeah, so there's another problem. It has been raising the dead of that necropolis down below. We might have an undead invasion at our hands." Johnny pointed at something behind Ozpin's shoulder.
]|[
Gustina was sinking.
The inky black waters and Grimm blood pushed down against her into the abyss. Her vision of the sky of this new age was rapidly fading, and slowly being replaced by the encroaching darkness. Where once she had hoped to restore her own kingdom's honor, her thoughts were now preoccupied by the snarls and roars of the beasts around her. It was a horrible echo of noises that heralded their rage for being born.
Gustina felt the same way. Everytime she blinked, she could remember Victorika choosing to save not her.
Rage filled her. Maybe less because of how her kingdom has fallen. The betrayal stung. She knew Victorika had enough skill to save both her and her opponent. She knew Victorika would save the claymore wielder. How they looked the same, with those same disgusting silver eyes of theirs, she figured Ella must be a descendant of Victorika's somehow. She can't fault her old friend for saving family.
But wasn't she family too? Once upon a time…
The darkness around her resonated with her own rage. She felt herself being filled with the essence of the Grimm being born.
Soon, the rage of the abandoned undead of the old kingdom followed.
A single fist clenched around a spear in the dark.
]|[
Thousands upon thousands of hands crawled along the steaming corpse of the serpent. Stained black by inky black Grimm blood, the once citizens of the old Kingdom of Vale crawled out from the ocean abyss and into the light once more.
The necromantic force of the old witch-queen powered them, with the single minded rage of being forgotten fueling them, combined by another will…
Krak-Boom! Something exploded from the ocean. A black jetstream of water launched from down below, soaring high into the air. It launched itself skyward with such force that it produced shockwaves that exploded across the sea and the air, blowing the waters and clouds apart. The cloud cover that the Murakumo had gathered scattered into the winds, and the storm of the Evolved Shaman were blown away.
"Whoa!" Roman put a hand on the side of the ship, steadying himself as a wave of stained black seawater crashed over the vessel. "Someone do something! We're going to be seafood if we capsize with this much Grimm around!"
Glynda, still weakened by the act of using her Semblance repeatedly, tried to put up a violet shield around the ship. It held some of the waves back, but she could feel her will slipping away.
Neo steadied herself as she held on, gripping Roman's wrist as tight as she could while stabbing her weapon to the deck. She gritted her teeth. What was their boss doing now? She had the idea that Johnny was involved somehow with that thing that launched from the sea. Who else could do outlandish thing but him?
She looked on beyond the crashing waves rocking their ship, out to the sea. The Serpent's steaming carcass was slowly tilting forwards into the water, dripping with black sludge, contaminating the sea with its blood.
Slowly, the ship was surrounded by violent, black waves. But it was not the worst thing that could come out from the death of the Serpent. Neo's eyes widened when she heard a faint clacking noise to her side.
A bony hand reached into the side of the ship, pulling itself up. Followed by another, then another, then another. A faint chorus of low groans and growls pierced through the crashing of the waves, a sound that sent shivers down the spines of those stranded in the middle of the darkness.
"What the hell…?" Qrow muttered out. His hand clenched tightly on Harbinger. Shocked by the scene unfolding before her, Glynda's focus shattered, and the faint purple hue of the shield surrounding them fully disappeared.
Red eyes, glowing hatefully, peered through empty, dark sockets. Skulls chattered with curses, growled out in a fell tone. Shambling unsteadily on a rocking ship, they ambled forward unsteadily. Their bones were in view, covered by the shadowy darkness that served as their flesh, a form familiar to the huntsmen amongst the passengers of the ship.
"Grimm? Are those things Grimm?" Roman managed to croak out in a shaky tone. "Maybe like a Geist? A really fucked up, mutated Imp? But those are from Anima…"
Ella gnashed her teeth in frustration. It seemed that she wouldn't be able to get a bit of rest. "Those aren't Grimm…" She coughed up, raising her head from Glyda's arms to look at the horrific sight before them. "Those are corpses. People."
They continued ever onward, faces frozen in a rictus of rage, black blood spilling from the cracks of their bones and shadowed flesh into the deck. They reached forward, attracted by the warmth of life in front of them. They held their clawed, skeletal hands forward, as if to hold something in their fingers.
As if to strangle the life out of them, Qrow thought as he crouched to a ready position, steeling himself for the inevitable fight for their lives.
"Ah-Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaghhhhhhhhhhh!" A frightened scream from one of the crewmembers broke the air, and the corpses, zombies, lunged at the people on the ship.
A/n: Sorry it took so long. This chapter definitely isn't my best work. Hospital work was (and is still) kicking my ass. I'm a doctor now (hooray!)
I would also like to mention that updates would continue to be irregular (shocking, I know) as I would be on the hospital more and more from now on. But I'm not finished with this fic, not by a long shot.
How did you guys like the revival of RWBY? Are you guys playing the new story updates for AQW? I love the new story chapters myself.