Chapter 22

And Thus I Pray

Ruby Rose kicked open the door of the escape pod and staggered out onto Beacon's grounds. She was extremely thankful that the directions to these things were labeled on the halls and that they were easy to activate. If she hadn't been able to use them, she didn't have much of an idea as to how she would have gotten back down.

Surveying the scene, Ruby felt her heart drop into the pit of her stomach. The entire place was a war zone. The ground was scarred up, torn, and burned; there were Atlas mechs littered everywhere; and the worst was all of the blood and the handful of corpses of defenders and civilians alike who hadn't been consumed whole by the Grimm. A thousand memories of the peaceful days she had spent on these grounds played in her mind's eye and she was forced to both fight back tears and choke down bile as she realized that those days would never be returning.

Taking a deep breath to gather herself, Ruby started to make her way to the bunker. The number of Grimm had definitely dropped drastically so there was a fair chance that her team would be there as guards by this point. She hoped that everyone was okay.

"Start evacuating the wounded to the port! Airships are waiting to transport them to medical facilities!" Ruby heard Dr. Bartholomew Ooblek order as she got near. The small entrance was abuzz with activity as the wounded were laid out and triaged while the various defenders were either forming a perimeter or otherwise gathering up wounded for escort.

"Ruby!" Ruby heard a blessedly familiar voice call out. She looked and saw her partner, Weiss Schnee, heading towards her.

"Weiss!" Ruby said as she rushed her best friend down and enveloped her in a quick but fierce hug. Looking her over, it was clear that Weiss was harrowed and exhausted but otherwise unhurt. "What's going on?"

"Ruby, it's…" Weiss looked down, pain and sorrow written across her face. Ruby could feel her dread slowly growing.

"Weiss? What is it?"

In lue of an answer, Weiss simply stepped aside and let Ruby see past her. What she saw caused her heart to freeze and break simultaneously. Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long were lying on the ground next to each other. Yang's arms and exposed torso were wrapped up with bloodied bandages and she was suspiciously missing Ember Celica. Most distressingly, however, was Blake. Her left arm from just above her elbow down was simply gone.

"Blake, I'm so sorry," Yang choked out between sobs as she reached out and grabbed her unconscious girlfriend's remaining hand with her own. "I'm such an idiot."

Ruby staggered forward, her left hand held out as her mind struggled to come up with something to do or say. She knew that they were meant to be Huntresses. She knew that things like this happened sometimes. But to know it and see it were two totally different things.

"They're going to be okay," Weiss said tenderly as she gently placed a hand on her leader's shoulder. "The soldiers will get them to a hospital and they'll be okay."

"Where's Shirou?" Ruby asked, her voice fragile. Weiss opened her mouth to answer but was cut off by another voice.

"He's missing and so are Jaune and Pyrrha." It was Nora Valkyrie who answered her question from where she sat beside Lie Ren. The two were an absolute disaster with their clothes torn in several places while Ren had a nasty bruise on the right side of his face. Nora tried to stand only to collapse back down with a groan as she held her side.

It was then that an unsettingle roar that reverberated through Ruby's bones brought everything to a stop as an instinctual fear washed over everyone. Ruby turned to where she heard it only to see the largest Grimm she had ever seen in her life making its way to Beacon. This winged monstrosity was larger than even the Goliaths had been and the feeling of dread steadily increased as it drew nearer. All Grimm were the natural enemy of Soulkin but that thing wasn't an enemy. That thing was an executioner.

"Evacuate everyone immediately!" Professor Peter Port shouted, getting most people to start moving again at a near frantic pace. "This bunker is no longer secure!"

"Oh gods… What place is secure from that… thing?" she heard someone ask as they fell to their knees in despair.

Since she was already looking in that direction, Ruby could just barely make out the sight of something being flung from the top floor of Beacon Tower. She reinforced her eyes to take a closer look only for them to widen as she saw a familiar mop of red hair bound off of an equally familiar shield.

"It's Shirou!" Ruby shouted. "He's at the top of the tower!"

"What's he doing up there?" Weiss asked. Before anyone could say anything else, the sound of Ren's Scroll ringing was heard.

"Pyrrha‽ What's going on‽ Where are you‽" Ren asked as he put her on speaker.

"Ren! You have to get someone to go save Jaune!" Pyrrha said, her voice a mixture of fear and panic.

"Where is he?"

"He went to the top of the tower to fight Cinder! Please! Someone has to save him!"

"It'll be okay. He's with Shirou. He'll keep him safe," Ren said in as reassuring of a voice as he could.

"Oh, thank the gods…"

As Ren and Pyrrha continued their conversation, Ruby turned to her partner and said, "C'mon, Weiss! We need to back them up!"

"Right!"

The two partners set off toward Beacon Tower as fast as they could, Weiss skating along using her glyphs while Ruby used prana bursts to conserve her still drained Aura. Despite the path being short, the trip was frustratingly long as they cut through the handful of Grimm that got in their way without pause.

As they slowed down upon reaching the tower and began to head toward the entrance, their eyes shot upward in shock as the top of the tower simply exploded when one of the Wyvern's wings crashed into it. The two stood frozen in shock for a moment, eyes wide and faces pale, before Ruby shook herself from her stupor and pushed down her building dread.

"Weiss! Can you get me up there?"

Weiss stared at Ruby for a moment before a look of grim determination settled over her features, "Of course! Who do you think I am?" With an upward swipe of Myrtenaster, a string of evenly spaced gravity glyphs appeared on the side of the tower and ran all the way to the top. "Go! You can do this!" she said in encouragement even as she grimaced from the strain.

Ruby nodded at her partner, taking one last moment to look at her, before turning her eyes back to her target. She leaped onto the side of the tower and then began running up it as fast as she could using prana burst, her steps blowing chunks out of the side of the building. She was nearly at the top when a sphere of blue fire suddenly erupted from it. Unable to stop or dodge, all Ruby could do was throw her arms up in front of her as she crashed headlong into it.

"RUBY!" Weiss screamed as she saw her best friend disappear into the blue fireball. Then the fire vanished and Ruby and the Wyvern were nowhere to be found.

OoOoOoO

(A/N: Play "EMIYA" from Fate/Extella found on my YouTube profile Zelenal)

"I am the bone of my sword.

"Steel is my body and fire is my blood.

"I have created over a thousand blades."

Cinder Fall stared in horror at this absolute monster before her. With each word, the aura of power around him grew and grew until it was at a level that reminded Cinder of none other than her master. This was impossible. There should be no way that someone with power comparable to her master existed in the school.

Then words that Emerald Sustrai had said once came to mind. The more lines a spell's incantation had, the more powerful it was. As she calmed down, she realized that, no, Emiya Shirou's power wasn't on the level of her master's. That being said, it was still far greater than anyone else's and something told her that the incantation wasn't complete. Whatever this spell he was casting was, she couldn't let him get it off.

Cinder shot her Grimm arm out at Shirou only for him to brush it aside with one hand and then batter it away with a palm strike from the other. His movements had somehow become sharper and even more precise.

"Unaware of purpose,

"Nor aware of futility."

Cinder quickly fired off a bolt of lightning using her other hand only for Shirou to casually sidestep it.

"Have withstood great pain to create countless weapons."

Changing tracks, Cinder shot a gout of flame at Jaune Arc's corpse. Shirou dove in front of it and kicked up Jaune's shield before crouching behind it. Cinder kept the flame up for a few seconds before dropping it.

"Yet all that I have worked for is for naught."

With a swing of the shield, the smoke cleared to reveal the unharmed Shirou. Even Jaune's body was untouched by the flame. As Shirou tossed the shield aside, Cinder remembered that she had her greatest weapon waiting in the wings.

"KILL HIM!" Cinder yelled with all of the panic and hate that existed in her heart. The Wyvern drew its great head back before unleashing a torrent of black fire that was overflowing with curses at the young man. Shirou stared at the fire impassively as it inched ever closer to him.

"My whole life is just Unlimited Blade Works."

Right before the Wyvern's cursed flames reached Shirou, blue fire shot out from his body. Cinder threw up her arms as it rapidly spread out in every direction to consume both her and the Wyvern. When nothing seemed to happen after a moment, Cinder opened her eyes only to witness the impossible.

They were no longer in the ruins of Ozpin's office. In fact, they weren't anywhere on Remnant. Stretching out before her in all directions all the way to the horizon was a lifeless, charred land with countless weapons sticking up out of the uncaring ground. Far off in the distance in the pitch black sky, she could make out giant chipped and cracked gears that steadily grinded away without stop. The entire place was so unbelievably cold as not a single trace of life could be found be it on the barren ground or in the black void of the sky. As it was, she had no idea how she could see anything.

"W-what is this‽ What did you do‽ Where are we‽" Cinder demanded as her panic rose even higher. She barely noticed that she was somehow farther from Shirou than she had been before and that the Wyvern was a ways away from both of them.

Shirou looked off to the side for a moment before answering. He had no idea how he had managed to snag Ruby in his Reality Marble but it didn't matter so he just placed her as far away from the fight as he could. Another friend wouldn't die on his watch.

"Welcome to my world. This hill of endless graves represents all that I ever was or ever will be." Shirou reached down and pulled Crocea Mors out from the ground from where Jaune's body had been not moments before and pointed it at Cinder. "Here I come, Cinder Fall. Let's add one more grave to the pile."

Shirou rushed at Cinder like a gale, Crocea Mors cutting a trail of white in this dark world. Cinder's instincts were sharp enough for her to resummon one of her Dust swords to parry it but she was caught completely off guard as another sword flew into Shirou's left hand before he used it to slash at her side. That left her open as Shirou brought both of his swords around and caught her in the chest with a double horizontal, the force of the blow sending her flying back.

Cinder caught herself before she could go too far using her wind magic when she spotted a curious blade next to her. If Shirou's swords were magic and he had just created an entire field of them then she would be a fool to not avail herself of one of them. She reached for it only to be shocked as it spun out of the ground and batted her hand away.

"Trying to use one of my own swords against me. You truly are a fool," Shirou said calmly as he was suddenly on her again. He lashed out with an intricate combo that left Cinder with no room to even breathe before ending it with a cross slash that sent her flying once more. When Cinder tried to catch herself again, she was forced to raise her arms in a crossguard and use wind and ice for protection as several weapons raised from the ground and shot at her like bullets.

Shirou watched Cinder go flying for half a moment before turning his attention to the true threat. The Wyvern was the reason for Shirou deploying Unlimited Blade Works as it was a threat that went beyond just about any he had faced before, even during the War. However, Shirou was singularly equipped to fight this monstrosity that not even Ozpin could kill.

Shirou had learned about the Wyvern when he had asked about the most dangerous Grimm that existed. The thing was about half the size of Beacon's main building and was a mass of curses greater than any other that Remnant had ever seen. Its cursed flames could reduce anything to ash even through Aura as the curses clung to the living and ate away at everything they were. With a flap of its wings, it could create a gale that would blow away all but the sturdiest of buildings. Its roar was so loud that it could easily deafen a person who didn't take specific precautions against it. Its talons were so sharp and limbs so powerful that none of the materials that had existed when Ozpin originally fought it could stand up to them. Perhaps worst of all was that it inspired such an instinctual fear in all beings who possessed a soul that even those with the strongest of wills would find themselves shaking in its presence.

To Emiya Shirou, however, none of these things mattered. He had encountered nearly all of these attributes in one form or another during the War and he had overcome each and every one of them. Even the instinctual fear didn't phase him. After all, he had already lived through his worst possible nightmare and had relived those moments countless times. Ever since that moment in the forest when Blake had saved him from that fall, Shirou had hardened his heart and his resolve. Never again would he be afraid of something as insignificant as death or even total annihilation on a spiritual level.

There were two aspects in particular of the Wyvern that had made it impossible for Ozpin to kill. The first was that its unique connection to its master gave it an infinite amount of energy. No matter the wound one inflicted on it, it would be healed in mere moments and that healing would never falter. The only way to destroy it normally would be to completely annihilate in one shot, something Ozpin had been unable to do even with access to infinite magical energy of his own. The second was its ability to endlessly produce more Grimm. Even if one could build up the firepower needed to annihilate the Wyvern in one shot, that army would ensure that you didn't have the time to do it.

However, both of these factors were nullified inside Shirou's Reality Marble. They weren't on Remnant anymore but rather in the world of Unlimited Blade Works where Shirou's will was law. With its connection to its master severed, Shirou could take it out just as he would any other opponent. And while an infinite army fell from it like rain, an endless number of swords rose up to decimate that army in an instant.

Shirou began to run, holding Crocea Mors behind him, and let out a battle cry. The Wyvern shifted its gaze to focus solely on the foolish boy who charged at it like a fearless knight charging a dreadful dragon and answered his roar with one of its own. The opposing sounds crashed into each other, intermingling, vying for dominance in this desolate world, neither willing to give ground.

More weapons began to rise into the air between Shirou and the Wyvern as he reinforced his body to its maximum, green lines appearing along his arms and legs, and began to leap from weapon to weapon, rising ever higher into the air to meet the Wyvern on its own level. Seeing as how they were actively inside his own soul, Shirou could no longer use his Aura to protect and strengthen him but that was fine. From the very start, his soul had never been meant to be used in such a fashion. He was a Sword, after all. A Sword that was forged in the fires of the Fourth and tempered in the blood of the Fifth. A Sword that is meant to protect all that he held dear was never supposed to be trapped in an armored scabbard.

A memory flashed in his mind: Victory sheathed not in a scabbard but rather in wind.

The correct course of action for Emiya Shirou had always been to clad a body of steel with the essence of a Sword.

As Shirou completed his journey above the Wyvern, he threw Crocea Mors at its head with everything he had after infusing it with enough prana to get it to the edge of breaking, the white sword streaking through the black sky like a bullet to impale itself squarely in the center of the Wyvern's forehead. As it roared in pain, a large chunk of stone roughly hewn into the shape of an ax came flying into Shirou's hand as the specter of Rho Aias appeared above him. Shirou twisted his body until he was upside down and pushed off of the Ultimate Shield while using his control over Berserker's ax-sword to pull him down even faster, turning himself into a veritable meteor. He swung his weapon with all of his enhanced might, the air growing hot under the sheer speed of the swing, to strike first the pommel of Crocea Mors and push it all the way in before finally connecting with the Wyvern's head. The instant Berserker's ax-sword had connected with Crocea Mors, Shirou fed prana through Berserker's weapon and into Jaune's to finish the process he had started moments ago.

Berserker's ax-sword shattered into a million pieces as the Wyvern's head was violently flung downward before exploding into an inferno of silver light. Shirou called another weapon to him and let it carry him away from the explosion before coming to a stop on a particularly wide broadsword that was floating in the sky. He barely had time to even blink before the headless Grimm flapped its wings to send a massive gust of wind his way, throwing him off his perch and sending countless weapons flying.

Shirou corrected his mad tumble through the air and was forced to bring out Rho Aias as he saw one of the Wyvern's gargantuan claws that were easily larger than Berserker come at him. The first two layers of the Ultimate Shield broke causing numerous wounds to appear all over Shirou's body before the attack was stopped by the third layer and Shirou was spiked into the hard ground. He bounced painfully off of it twice before he managed to get his feet back under him to start sliding to a stop.

When Shirou looked back up at the Wyvern, he was dismayed to see its head starting to reform but that was the least of his concerns as it sent another gust of wind his way with another flap of its mighty wings. Shirou held his arms up in front of his face as he called numerous weapons to him, the pommels digging into his back and the backs of his legs as he was sent sliding backward, the various weapons cutting gashes in the ground.

Once he came to a stop, Shirou sent several of the weapons behind him through the Wyvern's wings to prevent another usage of that attack for a moment. As he started to bound from weapon to weapon again to regain height, movement for the corner of his eye caused him to summon Kanshou to his hand as he turned around and held it up just in time for a bolt of lightning fired by Cinder to strike it. While the lightning was absorbed, the force of the impact sent Shirou flying off course as Cinder came charging at him, jets of flames shooting out of her feet to enable flight.

Shirou hurled the lightning infused Kanshou at Cinder but was surprised when Cinder used every last bit of Dust in her dress to summon a massive greatsword. She then infused her greatsword with lightning of her own and brought it down on Kanshou, the two swords sparking against each other for a moment before Kanshou was sent hurtling into the ground. Shirou called Gáe Bolg into his hand and another weapon beneath his feet just in time to bring the cursed spear up to block Cinder's wild swing. The force of the impact reverberated throughout the Unlimited Blade Works and rattled Shirou's teeth even as it caused his floating perch to be pushed back several feet but he held firm.

With a roar of effort, Shirou pushed Cinder's greatsword away and lashed out with a thrust of his spear, leaping off of his perch in the process. While Cinder managed to twist out of the way in time, another weapon was waiting for Shirou to bound off of and come at her again with a slash. That attack was parried and the two carried on their aerial duel, Shirou bounding from weapon to weapon while Cinder clumsily maneuvered using jets of flame and bursts of wind. While her control over her flight was poor, Cinder still had more freedom of movement than Shirou, who was only capable of moving in straight lines. This gave her the opening needed after dodging another thrust to catch Shirou in the back with a mighty overhead swing, cutting into his back and spiking him down to the ground once more.

Shirou quickly got back to his feet and ignored the stinging pain in his back as he commanded several weapons to fly at Cinder. Cinder met the weapons head on and generated a counterclockwise spiral of wind around her to repel the weapons and send them flying as she shot toward Shirou like a bolt of lightning, her greatsword held in front of her to run him through. Shirou held out his left hand and called Caladbolg II to it and met Cinder's diving thrust with a thrust of his own, giving the Fake Spiral Sword a clockwise twist in the process.

A mighty wind sprung from Caladbolg II that ripped at Shirou's clothes, tearing some pieces off, and the two opposing winds clashed, the blades just barely being kept from touching but inching ever closer. When the tips of the two swords finally touched, the wind exploded around them and the two blades were shattered into oblivion, the force of the explosion being great enough to send Shirou and Cinder both flying away from each other.

Shirou was the first to recover and he charged at Cinder with a roar, going in for a horizontal slash to take her head clean off. When Cinder recovered, she had just enough time to bring her Grimm arm up to catch the cursed spear but this was exactly what Shirou wanted. He held out his left hand just in time to catch Myrtenaster before quickly projecting ice Dust into its open chamber. He then yanked Gáe Bolg back, dragging Cinder along with it, before thrusting Weiss' weapon into the ground between her feet and activating all of the Dust at once. Shirou pulled his hand back just in time to stop it from being encased in ice alongside Cinder and, unfortunately, Gáe Bolg.

With Cinder out of the fight for the moment, Shirou turned his attention back to the Wyvern only for his eyes to widen in shock. While he had been busy fighting Cinder, it had been free to spawn a truly massive army of Grimm that were currently rushing toward him. He quickly grabbed a random weapon out of the ground and swung it to slice through the Berringal that had been about to reach him before discarding it and pulling out another to completely obliterate a King Taijitu.

Shirou battled on through the endless wave of Grimm, switching weapons constantly as he weighed his options. He needed to clear out this army of Grimm if he wanted to be able to focus down the Wyvern once more but there were simply too many targets and he couldn't waste the prana on an Anti-Army Noble Phantasm. That left him with one last trick up his sleeve, even if it was one he hated to pull out.

Using every last bit of hard earned control over his Od that he had gained over the years, green lines appeared on Shirou's face as he very carefully reinforced his brain. This was an exceedingly dangerous thing to do as it could very easily cause major harm at minimum if his control wavered for even a moment but the result was that his ability to think and analyze information increased drastically. While it didn't help him move faster or hit harder, it made every second seem like a minute and thus was absolutely perfect for a situation such as this. The downside was the inevitable blowback this caused. With each passing second he maintained this reinforcement, the resulting headache when he dropped it would only increase in intensity. The longest he had maintained this before in his old life had been thirty seconds and that had left him with a migraine so great that he had been incapacitated for the rest of that day.

Something told him that this battle was going to last longer than thirty seconds.

With his thought speed enhanced, Shirou was able to pick out each individual target and select the perfect weapon to fire at them. As the storm of steel began to rain down on the Grimm, Shirou charged the Wyvern once more when he noticed something now that he had some spare brainpower. His movements were faster, his reactions quicker, and his blows hit harder now. What's more, he realized that he was no longer pulling from his own prana reserves but rather from a source far greater than he could possibly imagine. It took a moment for Shirou to realize what was happening.

He was being empowered by the Counter Force. It seemed as though Nelka had decided to put her distrust of this familiar yet alien creature aside to aid him in stopping this calamity that threatened the Soulkin she protected.

With the planet itself now giving him backup, Shirou began to feed some of Nelka's mana into Avalon to begin healing his wounds and restoring his stamina as he approached the ultimate enemy of the Soulkin. Before he could take back off into the air, however, he saw the Wyvern rear its head back before unleashing a torrent of cursed flame at Shirou. While he couldn't dodge out of the way in time, he didn't need to as he called a shortsword with a pale blue blade to his hand and swung it at the flames. The magic in the sword was unleashed and the flames began to crystalize into ice before shattering as Shirou burst through it, the force of his jump leaving a crater in the ground.

Shirou discarded the shortsword as he climbed back into the air and called to his hands another greatsword, this one having a blade as black as night with a gold crossguard and a white gem in its pommel. With access to Nelka's nigh infinite mana, that meant that true name releases were on the table and Shirou was planning on taking full advantage of that. The holy sword erupted into a tower of blue light as motes of light began to twinkle around him. He quickly made his way around the Wyvern before bringing the sword high overhead and bringing it down in a mighty slash at its exposed side.

"Durandal!"

With the release of its true name, the blue light around the Unrivaled Sword of Renown expanded greatly to take a solid chunk out of the behemoth Grimm's side. In roared in pain, the sound deafening to Shirou's ears, but he ignored that as he discarded Durandal and called another sword to his hand as he saw one of the Wyvern's wings bearing down on him. This sword was another holy blade with a flared tip and short crossguard which was made entirely out of gold and melded seamlessly into the equally gold hilt. It began to radiate holy power as Shirou quickly brought it around to slash at the wing, the blade forming a cross of golden light.

"Ascalon!"

The cross of light exploded into an inferno, blowing the wing completely apart and sending Shirou and the Wyvern both crashing to the ground. As Shirou picked himself back up, he took stock of both himself and his opponent. His wounds were slowly but surely healing thanks to Avalon's power but the wounds Shirou had inflicted on the Wyvern were healing at a much faster rate. While it no longer had access to its master's infinite prana, it was still a mass of curses so great that it'd make even Angra Mainyu jealous. This fight would come down to a simple war of attrition: Would Shirou's body give out first or would he be able to unravel every single one of the Wyvern's curses first?

There was only one way to find out and only one outcome was acceptable.

Taking a deep breath to gather himself, Shirou traced a new copy of Caladbolg II alongside Archer's bow. Before he could notch it, however, the Wyvern whipped its head up and sent another torrent of cursed flames his way. Shirou dodge to the side but screamed out in pain as he had been just a hair too slow. His right arm was engulfed in cursed flames which clung to him and began to eat away at his flesh. His mind raced as he tried to think of some weapon or armament that could save his arm when his thoughts came to a screeching halt.

From deep within Shirou's core, he could feel a familiar pulse of divine energy. At the same time, far away in the distance, the horizon lit up like the sun was rising as a wave of golden energy washed over the Unlimited Blade Works. As this wave passed, for a brief moment, the scorched, barren ground was replaced by verdant fields and blooming flowers of every color as the sky turned a brilliant blue. When it passed over him, Shirou found the cursed flames instantly dispelled and his arm perfectly fine as all of his wounds were healed and his vitality was restored. The wave of Avalon's fae magic rushed out to the opposite horizon and, for a brief moment, the Unlimited Blade Works was a paradise. Then the magic faded and it was back to the barren landscape and starless sky from before.

Shirou smiled, his expression somewhere between fond and melancholic, as he shook his head and whispered, "Thanks, Saber." Then he turned his attention back to the Wyvern and his expression hardened once more as he ripped off what was left of his shirt. The Wyvern was already fully healed and back in the air. With a grunt of annoyance, Shirou discarded Archer's bow and gave chase.

Off in the distance, Ruby Rose was frozen in place as she watched the fight unfold in awe. She wanted to help her friend but she knew that she had no place in this fight. While she had known that Shirou was powerful, she was still struggling to process just how powerful Emiya Shirou actually was. This was far beyond their friendly spars, far beyond any of the fights they had been in, far beyond any of the fights she had ever seen or even heard of. Not even her uncle, Qrow Brawnwen, could compare to this. She wasn't watching a Huntsman fight or a magus fight or even a Soulkin fight.

Ruby Rose was watching a legend fight.

Shirou flipped over one of the Wyvern's claws as it took a swipe at him and lashed out with a flurry of slashes with Kanshou and Bakuya as he passed. He then bounded off of a weapon and landed one of its haunches, pausing just long enough to take a chunk out of it, before leaping off of it and onto its back. As it roared in defiance, Shirou fed Kanshou and Bakuya prana until they broke, their forms elongating and fracturing at the backs to form a series of overlapping steel scales that gave the swords the appearance of wings, before running down it, slashing gouges into it as he went. Just as he was about to reach its tail, it started to roll in an effort to shake him off but he had already leaped high into the air by that point. At the apex of his jump, Shirou hurled the Overedge forms of Kanshou and Bakuya at the Wyvern and watched as their explosions formed craters in its underside.

With the Wyvern now flying away from him again, Shirou traced Archer's black bow while calling a number of swords to his side and shaped them all into arrows. With expert aim, Shirou's right arm became a veritable blur as he plucked the sword-arrows out of the air and let them fly at an incredible rate. Each sword-arrow struck home and the Wyvern's body was littered with explosions powerful enough to knock down large buildings. While none of them held the power of a Broken Phantasm, they still left their marks.

Shirou's eyes narrowed in confusion for a moment as he wondered where the Wyvern was flying to before they widened again as he realized that it was heading straight for Ruby. It was probably looking to consume her to replenish its own dwindling energy reserves. With that realization, Shirou called forth a veritable cyclone of blades before hopping onto them and riding them through the air as fast as they could go. He needed to do something to regain its attention and he needed to do it fast.

All Grimm were nothing more than masses of curses; solidified chunks of All the Evils of the World. They fed on curses and were empowered by them. If the Wyvern wanted the curses that would result from Ruby's death then Shirou just had to tempt it with an even greater source of curses.

The first thing that Shirou did was let all of his walls drop, letting all of the pain and hatred he kept tightly bottled up inside burst to the surface. While this caused the Wyvern to slow down for a moment, it wasn't enough to get it to change targets. Clearly, it wasn't going to face down a serious threat at that moment no matter how tempting it was. With Plan A not working, Shirou switched to Plan B and held his hand out as another longsword flew into it from the storm he was riding. It had a long, thin blade with a slightly curved crossguard. The crossguard and hilt were both gold in color but were separated by a thin stripe of blue.

Shirou raised Gram over his head and poured prana into it, letting its power flare outward in an aura of red malice. The curses of the strongest demonic sword proved to be enough temptation for the Wyvern as it turned around with surprising alacrity and started flying back toward Shirou. With its purpose fulfilled, Shirou tossed the Dawn of Destruction aside. Using the curses of a demonic sword to attack a creature made of nothing but curses was a stupid idea and the original version of Gram that Shirou had didn't have the aspect of "Dragon Slayer."

As the two approached, the Wyvern opened its maw wide and let loose another torrent of cursed flame so Shirou quickly bailed off of his storm of swords. While most of the weapons were reduced to nothingness before the Wyvern's might, a handful of them slipped through to impale themselves into its thick hide.

Now back on the ground, Shirou took a step toward the Wyvern only to cry out in pain and clutch at the left side of his head as his vision in that eye went black. It seemed that his control had slipped for just a moment and he had accidentally overloaded a part of his brain. He didn't know how long he had been fighting but it had certainly been longer than thirty seconds. His skull felt like it was about to split open as he screwed his eyes shut and tried to ignore the warm feeling of blood that was trickling out of his left ear and left eye.

This was it. He had pushed himself far beyond his limits. His entire body felt like it was on fire and what was left of his brain felt like it was boiling as he struggled to get air. He had given it absolutely everything he had but, even with the backing of the World, it simply wasn't enough. This is where he was going to die. With his failure, that meant that Nelka was likely to call in a Counter Guardian to finish the Wyvern off which meant that everyone at Beacon, bare minimum, would be dead. Everyone Shirou knew and loved would die once again and, once again, it would be all his fault. At least he'd be dead first this time.

Then he felt an intimately familiar pair of arms wrap around him from behind; slender and gentle yet carrying the strength of steel. He felt a familiar warmth press against his back; soft and yielding yet possessing the toughness of a dragon's hide. He felt a familiar weight rest on his right shoulder; smaller than his head but every bit as thick. The familiar scent of golden wheat tickled his nose, overpowering the scent of blood. Just as quickly as the sensations were registered, however, they were gone, taking all of the pain along with it.

Shirou glanced down at his right hand, the vision in his left eye restored, and saw that Caliburn was now resting in it. He smiled again as he closed his eyes peacefully for a moment before reopening them and staring the Wyvern down with renewed determination. This was it. No more miracles. Saber's love had been able to reach across the endless expanse that separated the worlds to save him twice now but he could tell that the magic of that love had been spent. But that didn't matter. For this brief moment in time, Shirou's heart was once again whole as he felt his beloved Saber's spirit fighting alongside him.

It was time to end this.

Shirou held out his left hand and traced a new copy of Crocea Mors. With the weapons of the two people who loved him most by his side, Shirou began to charge at the Wyvern one last time. He poured prana into both swords as he let them drag across the ground, their light growing in intensity until Shirou was dragging along not two swords but two suns; one of silver and one of gold.

Once he was near his greatest opponent, Shirou took to the air once more, leaping from weapon to weapon to gain more height. The Wyvern let out another gout of cursed flames in front of him but Shirou simply brought his two suns up and sliced through the curses with ease. Now above the Wyvern, Shirou continued to climb higher and higher as the King of all Grimm gave chase. He needed this to be absolutely perfect. This was his one and only shot.

When he felt that he had gotten high enough up, Shirou jumped off the last weapon so that he was above the Wyvern's head and flipped upside down. It opened its great maw wide to devour him whole. Shirou started to spin, steadily gaining in speed, until he was transformed into a meteor, a double helix of gold and silver.

"Crocea Mors! Caliburn!"

Shirou disappeared into the Wyvern's maw just before it snapped shut and the light of the twin suns was snuffed out. One eternity passed and then another before the Wyvern roared in pain as a truly massive sphere of gold and silver energy erupted from within, consuming the fell beast whole and leaving not even a single curse left.

Shirou hit the ground hard, his body smoking from the heat of two Broken Phantasms going off so close to him. Though it took a great deal of effort, Shirou managed to drag himself back onto his feet. He looked at where the Wyvern had been and he couldn't help but smile in satisfaction. That was it. He had won.

An exhaustion the likes of which Shirou had never known before came over him as he very nearly collapsed. With the cataclysm vanquished, Nelka was no longer supporting Shirou meaning that he was now running on what very little he had left. He couldn't fall quite yet, though. There was still one more combatant. He was tempted to stop reinforcing his brain now that all of the lesser Grimm were vanquished but he decided against it. He wasn't sure exactly what the backlash would do to him but he was positive that he wouldn't be remaining conscious.

Shirou turned himself back toward where he had frozen Cinder and took off running as fast as he could. Shirou was positive that encasing her in ice hadn't killed her and, with her Maiden powers, he knew that it was only a matter of time before she thawed herself out. If he was lucky, he'd be able to get back to her before she was finished and would be able to easily kill her.

Shirou should have known that his luck didn't work that way.

Shirou got back just in time for Cinder to bust out of her ice prison and come charging at him. He pulled a random longsword out of the ground and blocked her strike before pushing her back. This was a problem. He was running on fumes now and it'd only be a matter of seconds until the Unlimited Blade Works collapsed. He simply didn't have the energy to kill her but he couldn't let her escape with the Fall Maiden's power and he highly doubted that Ruby would be capable of finishing her off even if she didn't try to protect him. That left him with one last plot, one last desperate plan that he had no way of knowing the outcome of.

Shirou exchanged blows with Cinder for a bit before he found his opening. When Cinder went in for an overhead slash, Shirou swung his sword at Cinder's as hard as he could, the two weapons shattering on impact. With Cinder momentarily stunned, Shirou held out his hand as his final trump card flew into it. It was a purple dagger with a jagged blade that was completely worthless as a weapon and yet just might be his only hope.

While calling out its true name wasn't necessary to use its power, Shirou couldn't stop the words from coming out of his mouth as he raised his left arm back. "Rule," he slammed Medea's dagger into Cinder's chest just as Unlimited Blade Works faded away, "Breaker!"

(A/N: End song)

Shirou, Ruby, and Cinder were left standing in the ruins of Ozpin's office. Cinder was staring down wide-eyed at the dagger in her chest. Shirou was gasping for breath as he struggled to remain conscious. Ruby was dazed from being ripped back onto Remnant as she was struggling to process everything that had just occurred.

Then Cinder threw her head back and screamed as power erupted from her, sending Shirou flying. Ruby snapped herself out of her daze and moved to catch the figure of legend that was her dear friend. When she grabbed his bare skin, she hissed in pain and had to stop herself from jerking away. It was as though his skin was made of molten metal.

Shirou heard Ruby shout his name but then heard no more as his hearing failed him. He saw her lips moving and the look of concern on her face before his vision tunneled in on Cinder. He couldn't feel any part of his body and couldn't even really form a coherent thought but he clamped down on his consciousness with all of his willpower. It wasn't over just yet.

Cinder screamed and screamed and screamed as orange light radiated from her. Eventually, her screaming stopped as the power completely left her body and seemed to vanish into the ether. The place was dead silent now, the only sounds being Shirou's ragged breathing and the faint howling of the wind as an eternity seemed to pass. Things finally came to an end as Cinder let out a breath and collapsed onto the ground. At that sight, Shirou smiled before finally letting himself sink into oblivion.

"Shirou!" Ruby cried out as her friend went limp in her arms. She gently laid him down and checked his pulse. His heart was still beating but it was racing at a mile a second. She needed to get him some help as fast as possible.

Ruby took off her cloak and carefully wrapped it around Shirou's back like a sling before hoisting him onto her back and tying her cloak around her front. She staggered under the cumbersome weight as Shirou was a fair bit taller than she was but she quickly adjusted. It was then that a thought occurred to her.

Where was Jaune?

Ruby's eyes scanned the room and, for a moment, she thought that Shirou had simply sent Jaune away at some point. Then her eyes fell on something that caused her heart to stop beating and drop into her stomach.

Laying on the ground, surrounded by scorch marks, was Crocea Mors.

Tears started to sting at Ruby's eyes as what this meant hit her like a truck but she squeezed her eyes shut to stop them from falling and shook her head. Shirou was in critical condition and needed her to be strong. There'd be time for tears later.

Ruby first tried the elevator but it seemed that any number of things had completely stopped it from functioning. With the easy option off the table, that left only one real option for Ruby to get them down and it was one she didn't quite like the idea of. She peered over the edge and gulped at the drop. If it was just her, this wouldn't be a problem but making that descent while carrying someone who was dead weight was going to be rather difficult. Not like she had any choice in the matter, though.

Swallowing her nerves, Ruby readied Crescent Rose in its scythe form and extended her Aura over Shirou before jumping off the edge. Once she was past the floor, she stabbed Crescent Rose into the wall and grit her teeth to stop them from chattering as she began to slide down. Crescent Rose's blade soon caught something, though, and was forced out of the wall, briefly sending the two of them into freefall before Ruby could drive it back in.

Ruby wasn't entirely sure how long their descent took but it felt like hours and she was breathing heavily, her skin pale and her hands shaking as she was covered in sweat, as she finally approached the bottom. What's more, her entire back was uncomfortably warm, as though she was getting sunburnt. That was when she heard a blessedly familiar voice call out.

"RUBY!" Weiss called up from the ground. She had been anxiously pacing back and forth, racking her brain for any ideas as to what she should do. She had checked the Aura reading app on her Scroll but the fact that it only said "ERROR" for Ruby and Shirou didn't help her nerves not one bit.

"Hey, Weiss!" Ruby replied, her voice strained. "Can you help me down?" A glyph appeared under Ruby's feet and she let out a sigh of relief before carefully making her way down the spiral staircase of glyphs that her best friend had made. Ruby wasn't entirely sure why Weiss had decided to stick around but, at this point, Ruby didn't care and was pretty sure that she could kiss her.

"Ruby! Oh, thank the gods!" Weiss said in relief as her partner made it back down to the ground. "Shirou‽ What happened to him?" Weiss asked as she placed a hand on her fifth teammate's back only to hiss and jerk her hand away from the heat.

"It's a long story and I'm not sure I can really explain it," Ruby said as she struggled for a moment with Shirou's weight. Then the weight was suddenly gone and she looked down to see a gravity glyph under her feet. Kissing Weiss was becoming really tempting.

"Where's Jaune?" Weiss asked. At Ruby's pained expression, Weiss covered her mouth with one of her hands as she started to tear up. "Oh no…"

"C'mon, Weiss," Ruby said, her voice thick with emotion. "We need to get Shirou some help." Weiss took a deep breath to compose herself before giving her leader a firm nod. With that, the two of them began a slow walk back to the bunker as the sun slowly rose over the horizon to banish the long night.

OoOoOoO

In the future, the Battle of Beacon or Siege of Vale, as it would eventually be called, was the topic of major study for students all over the world. Though none at the time knew it, it marked a turning point for all Soulkin, a change in the course of the history of the world. Many books would be written, many lectures would be held, and many furious debates would take place regarding various details of the event, especially the destruction of the Wyvern.

Of particular interest was the exploits of the legendary Team RWBYS on that long night. While people hadn't thought too terribly much of them at that time, that team and their friends would go on to save countless lives time and again before eventually bringing the eternal war with the Grimm to an end and save the world from an even greater threat. They were heroes beloved by all. Figures of legend whose tales would be passed down throughout all of time. Everyone who met them would tell stories of them and some of those stories would grow and become legends of their own.

In the great scheme of history, the Battle of Beacon would ultimately be seen as a moment of absolute triumph. It was when all Soulkin banded together for the first time to overcome impossible odds. While many lives were lost that day, their names would be forever immortalized on monument stones in Vale's city square. It was truly one of the greatest moments in history.

To the survivors of the battle, however, it was anything but. As the sun slowly crept over the horizon, there was no feeling of triumph. No satisfaction at a hard fought victory. No marveling over the unification on display. There was only sadness and pain and suffering as people tried to rebuild and sort out their dead. It would be seen as one of the greatest moments in history but the only thing anyone could feel at the time was numb.

This would not be the end of struggles for the people of Remnant. This was merely the starting gun, the opening act in a grand play that would span the entire globe and see the very foundations of the world irreversibly changed. This was only the start of Team RWBYS' struggles and hardships on their path to becoming legends and breaking the world free of the remnants of fate that bound it.

(A/N: Volume 3 ED: "Miracle" by Jeff Williams)

Volume 3
A Bloody Revolution
END


A/N: And there we have it. Volume 3 of Remnants of Fate is now finished. It has been a wild ride to get here and a very long one with the final word count (minus interludes) coming in at 124,189. As a reminder, the first two volumes combined (discounting interludes) are 149,684 words. This means that, discounting interludes, RoF is sitting at about 273,873 words. If you included the interludes, that brings the total word count up to 280,584. That's a bit over half the length of "The Lord of the Rings." Not bad, if I do say so myself.

I do so hope that you all enjoyed this chapter. I knew from the start that this fight needed to be my longest, most insane fight yet. Not only is it the climax of the Beacon Saga, it's also the finale of Volume 3 which had a large number of intense fights and it was the first time we see Shirou deploy Unlimited Blade Works. I spent countless hours planning out exactly how I wanted that fight to go down and the actual writing process took me over five hours. The fight itself is 6,178 words long making it arguably the longest fight in the series thus far (depending on how you want to count the Roman fight in V1). Definitely the longest fight in Volume 3. On a related note, I also hope that you enjoyed this Shirou's UBW aria. It's something that I made very early on into the story since having that aria means you understand the version of Shirou that you're writing.

Now, let's look at the major changes going into Volume 4, shall we? Mercury's dead, Cinder is no longer the Fall Maiden, Blake lost her arm instead of Yang, Jaune's dead instead of Pyrrha, Weiss is more sure of who she is, Team RWBY overall are stronger, and the Wyvern is fucking dead (as a reminder, in canon, Ruby simply petrified it using her Silver Eyes but it was still spawning more Grimm). And all of this is not counting the countless minor changes that have happened throughout that'll lead to even bigger changes. Volume 4 is where we start to go completely off the rails.

For a bit of explanation regarding the two miracles that saved Shirou's life, they actually came from two different sources. The first one was Avalon carrying out its master's last will. Saber sacrificed herself in order to save Shirou from being consumed by All the Evils of the World and so, when Shirou was about to be consumed by them here, it used the last of Saber's prana it had in order to save him. The second was Saber's love reaching out across the infinite space between dimensions in order to provide Avalon with some more of her prana in order to heal Shirou. Both of these miracles were one-time-only affairs, though. Also, both of these miracles could only have been activated inside UBW due to them being inside Shirou's soul rather than on Remnant. That distinction's pretty important.

Fun fact: The chapter title is a reference to the first time that Shirou (unknowingly) uses UBW to trace Caliburn in the VN provided you're reading in the original order. The scene is titled Day 11: VS Berserker/And thus I pray, Unlimited Blade Works. Not only does it work for obvious reasons, it also works thematically as you have multiple characters metaphorically praying for different things and those prayers coming into conflict with each other.

I actually don't have too much else to note about this chapter since it's pretty straightforward and I've voiced my opinion on Volume 3 as a whole as I went along with each chapter. Just to say again the Volume 3 is, by far, my favorite volume thus far and I think that the way I handled the Battle of Beacon was truly inspired.

The last thing I have to note is the title drop right at the end there. The title of this story wasn't just me being "clever," it actually refers to something very important within the story. What that something else is will be revealed much later.

Time for reviews! The last chapter was, by far, my most reviewed chapter of the story.

IHTP: Hey, you know how it is. You'll always live long enough to deliver your last words unless they're a part of a mystery.

DBoblivion: Shame that you feel that way but Shirou was making a point in that Adam's acts of mindless terrorism aren't justified, even if his feelings are understandable. Shirou was also doing this to purposefully enrage Adam to get him to commit to an all out attack that Shirou could then counter with Tsubame Gaeshi.

That ability is canon.

The dude's literally voiced by one of the original writers/creators of the show, he hogs a lot of the spotlight despite the fact that he should have been a secondary character, and he's honestly kind of the protagonist up until, like, Volume 6.

Retro2theSecond: I haven't watched that show and the wiki is singularly unhelpful so I don't know what you're talking about.

spartan-140: That's not the point Shirou was going for at all; it's why he never once brings himself up. His point was that Adam was not, in any way, unique and that his mindless terrorism is not justified. The source of his speech has less to do with his own trauma and more to do with what he learned from talking was Blake all the way back in V1C10 as well as what he witness firsthand with Velvet in V2C3.

Star: It wasn't meant to get him to change his ways, it was meant to enrage him to make him easier to handle. As for Tsubame Gaeshi, that technqiue is only situationally useful. Sure, it could have been useful against Cinder but Shirou would need to wear Cinder down first and then use prana burst like he did with Adam. Also, Ozpin's office is a more enclosed space making the absurd length of Monohoshizao more a hindrance. K&B are also stronger weapons than Monohoshizao so it'd require fewer hits from Shirou in order to take Cinder down. Between all that and a few other reasons, K&B were more or less the best choice since he was conserving prana to use against the Wyvern. You'll have to wait and see about the rest but I will say that the story does get a lot darker than in canon.

ZelretchObserva: Are you okay?

Pqminh: I'm pretty sure I don't need to up the M rating to talk about blood.

Guest 2: Jaune actually did activate his Semblance back in V3C17. It wouldn't have really helped him here, though. I also still have a couple of uses left for Cinder so I hope her losing the Fall Maiden powers is a good consolation prize.

Shade: You'll have to find out in Volume 4. All I'll say is that Pyrrha won't be melting it down since that'd be a waste of a perfectly good Noble Phantasm.

Since there won't be any more chapters where I'll be able to reply to reviews for a while, I'll reply to them via PMs. If you leave a question, be sure to make sure that you have a valid email address linked to your account and that you have notifications turned on. Just in case this site decides to stop sending email notifications again, it also wouldn't hurt to manually check your PM inbox every so often.

Well, that's all from me. As usual, I will be posting three bonus chapters alongside this one: the Volume 3 Interlude collection, the character sheets, and the updated timeline. After that, the story will once more be going on hiatus until I finish Volume 4. It hopefully won't take me nearly as long since Volume 4 should be closer to Volume 2 in length and I've already got a decent bit of it finished (not nearly as much as I would like, though). Until next time!