A/N: Thanks to my brother Sai Kunai Blade for the script and making the video "Massacre of Mountains" Shara Ishvalda Lore. And thanks to qazse for help with reactions. Remember to subscribe to Sai's YouTube channel, Sai Blade.
A tan seasoned man in armor with a scar on his face stood with his arms crossed. "Sai! You've gone too far this time!" He declared angrily.
Sai was then seen on all fours, apparently begging for forgiveness or mercy. "Please, commander! I'm so sorry! It's not my fault! The Dodo moved in front of me!" Sai explained, as a clip was shown from the Dodogama video of Sai striking a Dodogama as he fought against an Uragaan. "It didn't even get hurt that badly!" He plead his case.
A lot, especially Ruby and Winter, were aghast when they saw Sai striking Dodo. "How could you, Sai!? You said you were there to protect Dodo and you betrayed him!" Ruby yelled accusingly.
"Exactly! Execution is well-warranted! I'll perform it myself!" Winter declared.
"Now, now, you two. It was clearly an accident. He was striking the Uragaan and that Dodo clearly walked into the line of fire." Summer said, trying to calm them both, Ruby quickly calming at her mother's words and Winter's intensity lessening, but certainly not disappearing.
"I knew you were right about it not being self-aware, but that's taking it to a new level." Adam said to Hazel, who nodded.
The commander, however, wasn't having it. "No excuse! You know better than anyone the punishment for bringing harm to a Dodogama. You shall be executed at high noon." The Commander told him.
Sai was understandably desperate at this news. "Please! I've served the commission well! Surely, there's something I can do in order to make up for this one mistake!" He pleaded.
Thankfully, the Commander decided to show some leniency. "Very well. Our information on Shara Ishvalda is rather lacking and you are one of the few hunters capable of handling such a daunting task. Give us a report on the Old Everwyrm and your transgressions shall be forgiven." The commander declared.
A record scratching could be heard as Sai was now standing, before the sound of crickets accompanied a long pause. "Is it too late to go back to the execution?" He asked.
The adults became quite concerned at this. "It can't be. Surely, he's joking, right?" Glynda asked, but the three demon hosts just shook their heads. "He's seriously rather die than fight it!? Just what kind of creature is this?" Glynda asked in disbelief.
"I suppose we'll find out. Although, I'm not sure if we want to. Sai's clearly an experiences hunter. For him to choose death over fighting it... Best case scenario, it's difficult and irritating to fight. But I can't think of any creature that it would truly be worth dying to avoid. Likely, it's power is on a world-destroying level. That's the only reason one would likely have their life ended instead of throwing it away in a likely painful manner on a folly of a mission." Ozpin said. Once or twice, he had actually ended his life himself in hopes it would end his cycle of reincarnation and he would no longer be forced to do the impossible of stopping Salem.
"It's an Elder Dragon, I'm guessing?" Weiss asked.
"Yep. Probably up in the top ten strongest." Razara confirmed.
"Oh, yeah. That'll do it." Jaune said nervously.
"Am I crazy, or did I see his armor change? It looked like he was wearing some kind of armor fit for a king when those sound effects were playing." Hazel noticed. [1]
The Commander was clearly annoyed at this. "Yes." He told his subordinate.
Sai then began stomping on the ground in frustrations. "Fuuuuuuuuuuu-" He drew out the obvious curse.
An image of floral tiles with bubbles all around and some text was then shown. "72 Hours Later..." A narrator read the dialogue.
Sai was back on all fours, still weakly drawing out his curse. "-Uuuuuuuuck!" He swore, panting heavily from going so long expelling air without taking any in.
A lot will laugh at Sai requesting execution. "That has to be the first time I've ever seen someone choose execution over following orders." Ironwood said, a bit shocked.
"But how quick he chose that after the Commander told him to do it was funny. He basically just pulled a 'nope'!" Ilia giggled.
"But either this is a really devastating monster, or Sai just hates it for whatever reason. I can't think of any other reason to choose death over making an info video." Blake said.
"Hey, at least he bought himself some extra time before he had to do it. You would not believe how hard it was to procrastinate on all the jobs Cinder gave me." Roman said, earning a glare from the Half-Maiden.
And then they burst out laughing at his drawn out curse. "Holy crap that was a long swear! That's gotta be some kind of record!" Yang laughed.
"Yeah. For someone cursing, he's pretty blessed with a lot of breath." Neo declared.
"Dang. And we thought Akantor had a set of lungs to make that beam." Qrow said, impressed.
"Gotta respect someone who puts that much effort into swearing." Coco agreed.
"I was almost wondering if it would ever end." Emerald added.
"Well, Sai's a fire demon. He needs a good strong set of lungs to breathe fire that would rival Teostra and Lunastra." Katana explained, surprising everyone else once again.
The Commander simply stood watching, unimpressed. "Are you done?" He asked.
Sai stood back up. "Do I still have do the report?" He asked.
"Yes." The Commander confirmed.
"Crap." Sai cursed again.
"Poor Sai. It wasn't his fault, now he has to fight a monster that he either hates or that hates him." Velvet said sympathetically.
"Eh, so what? I hate Grimm, but I fight them all the time! You don't see me complaining about it!" Nora declared proudly.
"But the Grimm don't have world-ending power like an Elder Dragon." Ren pointed out.
"Oh, yeah... My bad." Nora said, deflating a bit.
Sai and his handler were then seen on a cliffside, observing a familiar flock of Legiana. "Shara Ishvalda. An elusive Elder Dragon we only discovered to even exist recently. One would only be aware of its presence by catching the whispers of its song on the breeze. But when you hear that song, know the very Earth you walk upon is likely in imminent danger." He explained as his handler observed the flock with her enhancement goggles, but going silent as she listened out, a song almost akin to the whistling of the wind faintly being heard.
Everyone was instantly shocked and unnerved by that. "What could that mean? Surely a simple song couldn't be deadly, could it?" Weiss asked.
"The very Earth you walk upon... I believe he might be saying this creature actually effects the ground, creating earthquakes or landslides." Penny theorized.
"Wow. If it can do that with its singing, you may be out of a job if it take over, Weiss." Ilia teased.
"Quiet, you. And who would want to hear singing from something that causes earthquakes?" Weiss demanded with a huff.
He and his handler were then seen in a wintery location along with a woman, equally as seasoned as the Commander, who looked over a piece of parchment. "Upon further investigation, we realized this song had a connection to monsters behaving unusually the appearances of monsters formerly unseen in the new world appearing in different locales, such as Tigrex in the Rotten Vale, as well as never before seen Subspecies of other prominent New World monsters, such as Viper Tobi-Kodachi." Sai explained as he was seen following a Tigrex through the Rotten Vale, then a strange, autumn-colored creature that seemed like some insane mix of a snake and a squirrel.
Pyrrha was quite intrigued at the Autumn-colored monster. "It's beautiful. It looks so much like a snake, but it also has similarities to a squirrel. It has scales and fur. The coloring is beautiful as well. I may have found my second monster partner." She said, resisting the urge to gush over the creature.
"Oh, yeah. I almost forgot you like the weird, creepy animals most girls don't like." Nora remembered.
"Animals only tend to move to new locations when their own habitat has been destabilized by something, be it the appearance of other monsters, climate change or the destruction of their habitat by an outside force, like humans, or in the monster world, Deviljho. So for these creature to appear, whatever Shara Ishvalda is, it must have seriously changed the game and how things were working in your world." Emerald said.
"Earthquakes and landslides would certainly fit that bill. The question is, how does it do it and can it be prevented." Ozpin stated.
An emergency meeting was then shown, a young hunter with a greatsword explaining how they've been tracking Shara Ishvalda's movements. "Through careful investigation, we learned that something had been following a trail of Bio-Energy. Starting off in the Everstream, the birth place and once-thought to be final resting place of Xeno 'Jiiva, an Elder Dragon literally born from the energy of dying Elder Dragons. It then proceeded to follow a trail throughout the new world, coming to places that were hot-spots of Elder Dragon activity, the godly beasts being am overwhelming source of this energy. It appeared that this new entity was attempting to either gain or disrupt any large sources of Bio-Energy in order to rid itself of possible threats. The note from the frozen ship spoke of this creature, granting it the title of the 'Old Everwyrm', which many believed to be capable of tearing the world asunder." Sai declared as the hunter spoke of the changes this 'Old Everwyrm' had on the environment potentially becoming irreversible and ruin the land. [2]
Learning about Xeno 'Jiiva and what it's born from blew their minds. "A creature MADE out of Bio-Energy? From multiple Elder Dragons?! I don't even think all of the Maiden powers together could match that level of power." Cinder said in shock.
"Traveling underground for ease of travel and to avoid detection. Quite clever. Also, these monsters must have some natural way to sense the Bio-Energy of other creatures if it was able to follow it in such a way as Sai described. That could mean they may be able to hone in on aura as well." Winter theorized.
"You think they may try to hone in on settlements to try and gain aura like Bio-Energy?" Adam asked.
"Anything is possible. Until we learn more about the creature, we can't remove it from the realm of possibility." Ironwood said.
"Careful not to go overboard with preparations, general. That doomed you once already." Summer reminded him.
Sai was then seen walking around in what looked like a massive crater in a mountain. "After following the beast's trail of destruction, we encountered... A Ruiner Nergigante..." Sai explained, hyping up the prize at the end of the tunnel, before sounding disappointed at the creature being a Nergigante Variant. "And then we countered the destroyer of mountains, the Old Everwyrm itself: Shara Ishvalda." He explained, now excited again as a massive creature or stone rose from the ground beside him, staring him down as it towered over him.
Finally seeing the creature's first form, the group was shocked by its massive size. "Holy crap! It's massive!" Yang cried out.
"Right? We thought Gravios was as big as they got, but with this thing around, that's like comparing a boulder to a mountain." Qrow said.
"I don't like the way its eyes are glowing like that. They remind me too much of Ukanlos: beady and full of hate." Ruby squeaked.
"Oh, you sweet Summer child, you haven't seen anything yet." Razara said quietly, knowing the next set of eyes would be ten times worse.
"I think I'd be a little less worried about the eyes and a bit more worried about how much those wings look like hands, ready to swat someone like a bug." Jaune pointed out.
Sai was then seen evading the creature's slow, but incredibly powerful attacks as he spoke. "As previously stated, Shara Ishvalda is known as the Old Everwyrm, but such a name doesn't really fit the beast's classification." Sai explained, the word "Wyrm" appearing on the screen, "A Wyrm classifies as a serpentine creature with no limbs what to speak of, which clearly does NOT define Shara Ishvalda, who has four legs and two wings." Sai explained, running to a safe distance.
A picture was then shown of a giant black serpent with dark blue flames on its back was shown, text below reading "THIS is a Wyrm".
Once Sai explained what a Wyrm actually is, the intellectuals soon followed his line of reasoning. "When he puts it like that, it doesn't make much sense. Why would you call a monster a Wyrm when it has not only four legs, but also wings, none of which a Wyrm actually has?" Ren wondered.
"Well, it is a monster that apparently spends most of its time underground. Maybe they didn't know what it looked like." Blake suggested.
"I'm wondering why they called them Wyrms in the first place. They look like snakes! Why not just call them that?" Nora asked.
"Classifications aren't always easy, Nora. There needs to be a distinction between simple snakes and snake-like dragons. Mislabeling a Wyrm as a snake could get someone killed if they encounter one expecting a normal snake and find out it's a fire-breathing serpent." Glynda explained.
Sai was then seen fighting with the rock monster once again. "But, back on track, Shara Ishvalda is kind of an enigma. If Dodogama is still a mystery after being discovered three years ago, then surely an Elder Dragon, which we CANNOT capture for research purposes, that was discovered less than two full years ago, is even more of a conundrum. As such, very little is known about it. What we can say for certain, it doesn't appear to simply wish to destroy the world like some other Elder Dragons. It does not destroy mountains and causing enormous landslides and avalanches simply for the sake of destroying all life around him. He is merely an expert on social distancing and wishes to keep anything else that is alive a minimum of six feet away from him." Sai declared, before apparently realizing what he said. "Oh, wait, did I say six feet? I'm sorry, I meant six MILES. And thus, it destroys the land around it for a few miles to drive away anything that breathes." Sai explained as the falling mountains and landslides he described were shown.
"That... seems a little extreme just for social distancing?" Hazel said, confused by the logic of the creature on-screen.
"Yeah, not all Elder Dragons are the best thinkers out there." Razara admitted.
The group was shocked at this. "He causes landslides, destroys mountains and destroys habitats and ecosystems... Just so it can have some privacy!?" Coco yelled.
"That's so mean. It probably destroyed the homes and families of so many other monsters and animals just so it could be left alone. That's unbelievably selfish." Velvet said, giving a rare glare to the beast.
"Indeed. A roughly square mile are would be more than enough space for the creature to be on its own, away from other creatures. Especially when you consider that they're on a large mountain range many animals would struggle to climb it. In conclusion, it doesn't need nearly as much territory as it destroys to be left in solitude." Penny noted.
"True, but also remember, many animals in nature often have dozens of miles of territory despite how much smaller than the range they've chosen is. It would be like if our dorms were half their size. There would still be enough room, but you'd be cramped and uncomfortable. So while I agree it's methods are terrible, they are somewhat understandable.
Sai continued his fight against the beast, seeming to be chipping away at its chest and head. "Unfortunately, hunters and The Guild really prefer it when the Elder Dragons DON'T mess with our home and screw with the very laws of nature and physics. So we had to confront the beast with a very important message." He explained.
Suddenly, a very angry-looking man was seen holding a phone far from his face. "STOP BREAKING THE LAW, ASSHOLE!" The man shouted furiously.
Ruby stood up at this and pointed at Roman. "You see! That's how I felt every time I fought you." She declared.
Roman gasped at this. "Red, you think I'm an asshole?! I'm hurt! I thought you were supposed to be the sweet, innocent one, yet you think of me in that kind of manner? What other dark, cruel feelings are you hiding from us?" Roman asked.
"W-what?! No! I didn't mean it like that! I just wanted you to stop breaking the law!" Ruby explained.
"He's messing with you, Ruby. He was trying to get a rise out of you and you TOTALLY fell for it!" Neo giggled while Ruby glared at the former mute.
Sai now simply stood in front of the beast. "And it took exception to that." He stated, before the creature reared back one of its wings as a and slamming it down on him.
Everyone winced at this. "Well, note to self, don't make giant rock dragons mad." Yang said.
"So its wings are dexterous enough to be molded into giant fists!? That's insane!" Winter declared in shock.
"That's one monster you'd hate to get a fist bump from." Qrow said.
Sai continued to fight the stone behemoth of an Elder Dragon. "So, if it wasn't obvious by exactly how much this thing towers over me, this guy is MASSIVE. Dodogama is thicc, but this guy is Dummy Thicc and EASILY knocks best boy down to silver in terms of chunkiness, which is one more reason to hate him. Anyway, he uses this gargantuan bulk to dominate any that get too close to it. Although, it is still somewhat calm and placid in this state. It is really only trying to drive away its attackers, not destroy them. Because smashing and plowing through things with giant stone fist and jumping into the air to send its massive body crashing down on its enemies like a meteor is TOTALLY non-lethal. Are you kidding me? Anyone could survive that!" Sai laughed while sounding both sarcastic and nervous as the beast continued to unleash its fury on him with many of the techniques he had mentioned.
A lot laughed at Sai's sarcasm. "Yep. That's non-lethal, alright." Jaune said.
I think I'd actually rather take my chances in a meteor shower." Cinder stated.
"With all that weight and strength behind it, no one's aura could withstand something like that." Ironwood said.
"Maybe with help from an aura amplifier like Jaune, but even then, it would still cost both people their aura." Pyrrha noted.
"But even then, if anyone was caught under Shara when it jumps in the air, they'd be a pancake. I don't care how high they can amp their aura, something that massive and heavy is too much all at once." Summer said worriedly.
The creature had apparently sank under the ground, now made up largely of sand as Sai struck at the exposed bits of its back. "Now, you may be wondering how exactly this creature has been bringing down mountains and causing massive landslides. Well, at first we believed the creature was simply an Earthbender, capable of controlling the properties of the very ground and rock itself. A theory that seemed to hold weight, as it could do THIS!" Sai declared, before the massive monster let out a mighty roar that caused a giant ring of jagged stone and Earth to rise up, making the arena the two fought in that much smaller, Sai now having far less room to keep a safe distance from the beast.
Everyone was shocked at this. "Please tell me I'm just seeing things, or I'm looking at this wrong. Please tell me it didn't do what I think it did." Velvet pleaded.
"It just raised a rock wall to make the arena smaller." Hazel said, trying to hide his surprise, while Velvet and some others groaned, hoping that like the bunny girl pleaded, no one would say it.
"Oh, great. I thought I giant monster was already enough, but no, now you have to fight a giant monster that can make the arena smaller so you can barely move without running into it." Emerald said sarcastically.
"It does seem a bit like overkill, but you can't deny, it's effective. And all animals try to end their fights or hunts as quickly and efficiently as possible, so it has the right idea." Ilia admitted.
"That has to be the ultimate 'I'm not trapped in here with you, you're trapped in here with me!' moment." Nora said.
Back to Sai fighting the monster. "But no. As it turns out, this creature is a master of vibrations. The song on the breeze that seemed to terrify the ecosystem and cause species never before seen in the new world to invade new lands... turned out to be nothing more than the simple vibrations of the creature's wings, capable of causing rocks and even the very Earth around it to be reduced to grains of sand. This allows it to shape the land around itself as it sees fit, which usually involves sinking into the ground it has reduced to a small pond of sand, attacking it its wings, which are similar to massive four-fingered hands." Sai explained as he fought the beast as it went mostly underground again, attacking with its wings.
The ability to reduce rocks and the very ground to sand impressed some, others were terrified. "Incredible! A Megapascal is 100.000 kg per square meter or 145 pounds per square inch. So, to crush one cubic meter of hard stone, you need to apply a force of 16,700 tons to a cube with faces of one square meter, or around 37 million pounds on a square foot. So imagine how much force it's applying to pulverize that much stone into sand!" Penny said in amazement.
"Yeah, but if it can do that to rock... what would it do to us?" Adam pointed out.
"So the vibrations make a song by grinding bones together to make noise. It's almost like a tuning fork. Those vibrations have to carry on for miles." Blake pointed out.
"And they'd be really annoying and even painful to some monsters. No wonder some of them left their ecosystems. They had to get away from the sound before they went crazy." Velvet added, the thought making them clutch their ears in fear.
Sai was now on the beast's face and managed to send it running into a wall, where it crashed and caused part of a mountain to come down upon itself, knocking it down and greatly damaging its rocky carapace. "However, it also has unforeseen consequences. As the vibrations travel through the ground and breaks the land into rocks and rocks into into sand, whatever was on top of that land became greatly destabilized. The weight of huge mountains and large landmasses cannot be supported by mere sand, thus the mountains crumbling and massive landslides." Sai warned as the mountain going down and landslide were shown again.
"Well, that's certainly not putting me at ease." Ironwood said.
"For once, I have to agree with you, James." Glynda admitted.
"So, we're all in agreement these things aren't coming to Remnant, right? The last thing we need is something constantly causing landslides and earthquakes." Roman asked, to which everyone else nodded.
"I was thinking it, but I wasn't certain, so thank you for doing it for all of us." Ren said gratefully to the former crime lord.
At this point, Sai must have gained the upper hand, as the creature was noticeably slowing down and struggling to fight the hunter. "You may be wondering why this creature does what it does? Why would it need to reshape the Earth and break down rocks just to get other creatures away from it? Surely, such a hulking beast has nothing to fear, right? Well, you would be correct in thinking that, but the only problem is, that hulking form... Well, it is NOT the beast's true form." Sai explained as the creature began to rear up on its hind legs and began shedding its rocky exterior.
A bearded man on his couch was then shown, looking on in disbelief. "Excuse me, uh- the fuck did you just say?!" The man asked.
"I'm with that guy, WHAT?!" Ruby cried out.
"It's another two-stage monster? Like Gore Magala to Shagaru Magala?" Emerald asked in concern.
"And if it is anything like Shagaru, whatever this transformation is no doubt stronger than the first one." Cinder voiced her concern.
"One thing about that? He said true form, not final form. So I'm not sure it's a transformation so much as this form is like some form of shell." Coco theorized.
Sai was shown running around the rocky titan once again. "Yes, that is correct, my friends, what you see before you is little more than a rocky shell. The skin of this mighty monster secretes a sticky substance, similar to glue, but it is powerful and long-lasting enough to hold sand and rocks, never letting them detach from the body unless an opponent willing to face the creature can hit its vulnerable head and neck hard enough to break and pull away its rocky armor or, when truly threatened and aware that its armor is slowing it down and limiting its full potential, the monster sheds its carapace to do battle unhampered by the weight of it shell and without any limitations, able to show the full potential of a TRUE Shara Ishvalda." He declared as the creature reared up once again and shed its rocky armor, creating a massive cloud of dust.
After a few moments, the dust settled and a creature was shown in all its glory, looking like it was made out of some form of petrified wood. "~Ooh, it was stuffy in there! Now despair! Behold my power laid bare~ You dare affront upon my lair~ I am the Earth, the very rock, I have unlocked this entire land~ At my command mountains fall, I stand above all the moving ground, moving all around~ You've made quite the blunder, but oh the joy I'll take as I bury you six feet under~" The beast laid down a sick rap as it was freed from its carapace.
"Whoa! It looks like some kind of tree demon!" Nora cried out.
"Kill it with fire!" Weiss cried out, holding onto Penny tightly.
"Well, it's a lot smaller, at least. And a lot thinner and more brittle looking. So it's probably not bulldozing everything anymore, right?" Summer asked.
"Yeah, but without massive rocks weighing it down, no doubt it's way faster. And if it's shedding the armor itself, it must be just as, if not more capable outside it. It must have some new kind of tricks up its sleeves." Qrow said.
"It's a nice balance of cool and creepy, but that rap is ALL epic!" Yang declared as she and Neo jammed to the music.
"Got that right. I honestly wouldn't mind that being the last song I hear if I go out to fight something like this." The former mute agreed.
Sai now attempted to fight the beast's new form. "Now free of its heavy rocky outer layer, the beast is far larger and more maneuverable. It is more vulnerable without its shell of rock, but it is aware of this and now seeks to absolutely destroy the ones who forced it to shed it shell and become vulnerable. That being said, it is still quite sturdy even without its rock armor, its new lithe and athletic body apparently made of an incredibly strong wood, possibly even petrified wood- which is basically just another kind of rock, so the rock armor becomes a little redundant at that point- but there's nothing wrong with doubling up. Another reason it may have done this was to make itself bigger, bulkier and like more of a challenge. Although, I'd say it was already big enough, I mean, who's crazy enough to go after-" Sai began, before a Ruiner Nergigante was seen attacking and brutalizing the clearly weakened beast. "Oh..." He said simply.
"Not surprising. If Nergigante seeks out the biggest source of Bio-Energy, Shara's level of energy has to be absolutely massive." Winter stated.
"Is it weird I'm actually rooting for the Extinction Dragon?" Weiss asked.
"I think it'd be weird if you WEREN'T rooting for it." Hazel said.
"Heck, I'd probably jump in and help make sure it stays down." Neo added.
Sai managed to grapple to the beast's face and send it crashing into a wall. "No longer hampered by the weight of the rocks, the creature is now able to viciously attack with almost any part of its body, employing clawing swipes with its front legs or surprisingly devastating bites from its mouth filled with equally surprising near human-like teeth. And somehow, it is able to pinpoint exactly where you are, even with its eyes closed." Sai explained as he fought the beast and, indeed, its eyes were still clearly shut.
"It's other senses must be incredible." Ren stated.
"I wonder why it keeps its eyes closed, though?" Jaune wondered.
"Well, it's been encased in rock for who knows how long, it probably needs to give its eyes a moment to readjust to the light. Or perhaps the glue-like substance they secrete may have glued them temporarily shut." Ozpin theorized.
"I don't know why, but I have a feeling we really don't want to see what happens when those eyes do open." Yang said.
Sai was seen attacking the beast's hindlegs, appearing to be trying very hard to avoid the creature's head. "But you'll soon be wishing its eyes never open, as once those burning golden spheres cast their gaze upon you, it will almost feel like their trying to steal your very soul." He explained as the creature finally turned to face him and indeed, the creature's eyes were wide open and absolutely terrifying. And it seemed like they weren't even looking at Sai himself, but at the screen, as if it knew it was being watched and sought to haunt the nightmares of whoever was watching it.
Everyone jumped at the sight of those haunting eyes. "Eep!" Ruby and Summer cried out, hugging each other tightly.
"Oh, dear gods!" Pyrrha squealed, leaping into Jaune's lap for once instead of the other way around. "The eyes with that mouth are terrifying. And I don't think they've blinked this entire time we've seen it's face." She said in fear.
"Blink, motherfucker!" Neo yelled.
"The red in there eyes is like they're burning. They have more evil intent behind them than I EVER did." Cinder said fearfully.
"He's not kidding. It really feels like they'll steal my soul if I look for too long." Ilia said, equally disturbed as the half-Maiden.
Sai now evaded clawing attacks from its wings. "But no matter what form it takes, one constant remains, the fact that, by far, its arm-like wings are its deadliest weapons. Infinitely more flexible without the rock armor to hamper its movements, it can easily sweep these claw-like wings in front of it, or claw through the very ground beneath it to knock away any nearby hunters. And these are the emission points of its vibrations, no longer suppressed by multiple layers of stone. This, combined with its wings newfound flexibility allows it to fire the vibrations from its wings into powerful jets of pressurized air that make the air pressure from a Brute Tigrex's roar seem like a cheap fan in comparison. Pairing this with the different ways its wings can maneuver, the creature can create a deadly laser grid of hair beams you would have to carefully navigate or risk the removal of a limb. It can also spray the air around in wildly winding paths of destruction nigh impossible to dodge or bring both wings together to charge a devastating beam of pressurized air that could likely bring down mountain ranges on its own." Sai warned of the beast's improved air abilities as it fired off several different blasts of air like he spoke of.
Everyone's mind was blown by this. "All this with just air. You've got to be kidding me." Adam said, not wanting to believe his eyes, but having to.
"The level of precision it requires to fire its beams in every direction in such a manner requires unbelievable levels of calculation. I think you greatly underestimated it with your earlier assumption of its intelligence, Razara." Glynda noted.
"Not to mention being able to fire beams so close to its face to knock away a hunter but leave itself unscathed... That's a level of marksmanship even some of the greatest Huntsmen and Huntresses can't reach." Ironwood added.
"Oh, come on! I could believe that jets of water could cut through stone, but even air beams?! This is impossible!" Jaune said, barely able to process it, most of the others of the less mature minds failing to process it and just looking dazed and stunned.
"Never underestimate air pressure, Jaune. Some pressurized air can even cut through metal." Penny told him, causing him to join his fellow immature minds in their mind-blown states.
Sai continued to fight the monster. "And if all this wasn't enough, this creature has another dastardly little surprise. Like it had done before, the creature can turn the ground to sand, only this time, in addition to be able to sink into the ground and appear wherever it wants on the battlefield, it turns most, if not all of the battlefield into a waist-deep pool of sand, making it far more difficult to move and maneuver around without the use of the mirewalker skill. However, even with that, this STILL isn't enough for the massive beast, as it has SOMEHOW left pockets of air in the sand that inexplicably sense when you or your allies is in the sand and makes its way towards you, acting like a depth charge and exploding beneath you, doing massive damage and launching you into the air, ruining your attacks, plus you will most likely land back in the sand and will be set upon by another air pocket. For this reason, I would recommend only fighting the monster with an insect glaive, ranged weapon, or if you can fly." He told the audience as many of the things he described happened.
"Giant sand traps, huh? Talk about a golfers worst nightmare." Qrow said.
"That would prevent the majority of us from being able to get in close and fight. We'd have to rely solely on our ranged weaponry." Pyrrha said.
"But some of us don't even have ranged weaponry." Jaune complained, pointing to himself, Neo and Ozpin.
"That's got to throw you off so bad, standing on solid rock that turns to sand. Then get blasted into the air by a pocket of air. I think I'd lose my mind." Roman said.
"Or what's left of it." Cinder said, earning a glare from the former criminal.
"Still, for most of us, it would be almost impossible to fight such a creature when it removes our main range of attack." Ironwood said.
Ruby gained a smirk at this. "Well, my semblance lets me fly, so I would be able to fight him, no problem!" She boasted.
"Ruby, sweetie, no one likes a show-off." Summer told her.
Nora looked at the deep sand, before grinning. "Not gonna lie, I really want to play in that sand." She said eagerly.
"Oh my gosh! Now I do too. It looks like you could swim in it." Ruby said, starry-eyed.
"And suffocate after sinking into it." Blake pointed out, bursting the bubble of the playful girls.
"Blaaaake, don't pull a Weiss on us." Ruby whined.
"You are NOT making that a thing!" Weiss snapped.
The fight continued as Sai tried to avoid both the monster itself and the large sand pools around him. "You probably thought that all of this was more than enough, didn't you? Well, Shara didn't and so it has one final move to crush whatever little bit of hope you may have had during this encounter. Once he has successfully turned the arena into a massive pool of sand, it sinks into the sand, appearing at one of the edges of the arena and creating a massive sphere of compressed air, which it throws into the center of the arena with the intent of completely obliterating you and the party you might be hunting with from existence. There is no blocking this attack and you cannot avoid it with a mere couple of rolls or even a Superman dodge. Your only hope is to channel your inner Nezuko and rely on the most ancient and sacred technique of the Joestar family. Find where the monster is, do an about face and..." Sai began as the creature prepared this ultimate attack he spoke of.
Suddenly, an attractive and VERY muscular young man was seen desperately sprinting away from another tall, muscular man in very little exotic clothing. "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" The young man screamed.
The adults and most of the teens were shocked at this display of power. "That was a massive explosion area. The ball was barely half the size of the actual explosion. That can only mean it was an absolutely insane amount of air condensed and compressed together to yield an explosion with that much force." Winter noted.
"Sai was lucky that the arena is large enough for him to be able to escape that area. If the arena were any smaller, it would be unavoidable." Hazel said.
"It doesn't seem quite as devastating as Shara leaping and dropping on someone, but it would definitely hurt. And it would likely take out the aura of those with lower levels in one shot. And even those with high levels of aura would only withstand one or two." Pyrrha added.
"That was so awesome! Did you guys see that! He blasted away all the sand like nothing!" Ruby cried out.
"That is exactly why we should worry, friend Ruby. Sand weighs about 100 pounds per cubic foot. So to displace that much sand, that attack would likely be able to send Goliaths and Megaliaths flying. I believe that young man was correct in suggesting to run for your life." Penny told her.
"I would've been running right there with him. He wouldn't have to tell me." Neo said.
Sai was fighting with the beast yet again. "Sadly, once again, this small amount of information is all we know. If we knew little about Dodogama because of how recent its discovery was, we know next to nothing about this creature, discovered less than two years ago now. Factor in the fact that it's an Elder Dragon, an already elusive breed of creature that cannot be captured for further study and the fact that we only ever found one-" Sai began, before the clip of the Ruiner Nergigante appearing and attacking the beast was shown, "-Which I was forced to kill, all on my own, with absolutely no help from anyone, there's sadly nothing left to learn of this beast unless we can manage to find another one. But the question for that is... do we WANT to?" He asked as the beast was finally brought down. "No. No we don't." He said adamantly as he carved the beast.
A few people chuckled at this. "Oh, yes. TOTALLY on your own." Weiss scoffed.
"To be fair, he had already beaten it and knocked it unconscious, nearly dead already. At that point, Nergigante just stole the kill. It's like when your team fights a boss in a game and someone hangs back until the very end, then running in when everyone else is backed off to heal." Tekko explained. Some glares fell upon Neo, Emerald and Weiss at this, as those three had been known to employ such tactics when they teams played games.
"Still, it was rather lucky Nergigante was there to help end the fight." Penny said.
"Oh, yeah. A lot of hunters are actually starting to think of Nergigante as a hero, since it mostly appears to bring down other Elder Dragons, especially if they're causing huge catastrophes, like Shara Ishvalda, Zorah Magdaros or Oltura." Razara explained.
"Really? Wow. I've got a lot more respect for it now." Yang said. Ruby was even picturing herself riding on Crimzon's back while a Nergigante stood beside them as they charged towards an army of Grimm.
"Thoughts?" Katana asked.
"Well, both forms LOOK super cool, but what they can do is terrifying." Yang said.
"Exactly. And it's entire reason for doing what it does is ridiculous." Blake added.
"Right? If your covered in a giant shell of rocks, you're safe enough. No need to create landslides and mountains for miles." Coco agreed.
"And I never want to have to look into those eyes again." Pyrrha said, trembling at the thought of them.
"Or be on the wrong end of that giant air beam." Neo added.
"I believe all sides of that beam are the wrong one." Penny pointed out.
"So, that is the only Shara Ishvalda they ever discovered?" Glynda asked.
"Well, there are some like Sai that refuse to believe this, since they never found the bodies of these creatures, but there were other Shara Ishvalda discovered that had power over fire. And devastating power over it, at that." Katana said as they showed the beast's version of the air beam attack, a massive, multicolored flame shooting out of it was seen.
Everyone was shocked and intimidated by the fire spouted by the Subspecies, even Ironwood and Ozpin. "Oh, great. Fire. Like vibrations weren't enough." Jaune complained.
"Even I found that a bit intimidating." Cinder admitted.
"It even turned some of the ground to lava!" Ruby cried out in fear.
"If vibrations were already dangerous enough, then fighting this fire version must be suicide." Ironwood said.
"So, I take it that no version of Shara Ishvalda will be appearing on Remnant?" Ozpin asked.
"Oh, yeah. Don't worry, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy." Katana assured them.
"Thank the brothers. I was about to consider drinking again." Qrow said.
"So, what's next?" Emerald asked.
"Oh, that would be one of Tekko's favorites." Katana said, tickling her younger daughter a bit.
"Mooom!" The youngest demon whined.
Katana smiled and released her daughter, before becoming serious. "It's another champion of the volcanic region. Cinder, you're gonna hate this, but it's another monster that swims through lava like water. And it has one of the deadliest weapons in all of monster hunter. The leviathan of flames... Agnaktor!" The hostess declared.
[1] Sai wanted to wear his Blackveil armor, but then thought it would be weird to wear armor when you're about to be executed, so he switched to Dante's clothes to look casual and/or off-duty.
[2] According to Sai, he wanted to use the scene with the spiral map showing Shara's trail, but that isn't available in the gallery.