Everything was dark before several quick flashes of a monster that looked like a monster made from a volcano thrashing around were shown, accompanied by epic music. Finally, the scene was finally shown in full as a massive, terrifying beast was shown, roaring as some parts of it released a discharge of fire that came raining down like meteors from a sky that was full of smoke, the landscape was red as far as the eye could see. "Some legends consider this great dragon to be the devil fated to destroy the world, while others claim it is the giant who birthed creation. Is there any way for mere humans to quell its unending rage?" Rage questioned ominously as the creature rose from the ocean, making its way to the shore.
The group was left awestruck by the opening. "That music... It's like they're singing about the end times!" Ilia said with a shiver.
"And those flashes don't give us enough time to truly get a good glimpse of the monster, which gives a sense of dread and anticipation." Coco added.
"Yeah. It's really creepy. And fire coming from the sky really doesn't help." Velvet agreed.
"It certainly all makes for a powerful experience. And it gives you the feel that this dragon is not to be trifled with." Glynda pointed out as well.
"This spectacle would be something I'd expect from Salem when she wants to... flex her powers, as I believe you children say." Ozpin shuddered at the memory of his ex.
However, this ominous mood was quickly ruined as a close-up of the monsters head bobbing back and forth was shown with goofy laughter playing over it as if the dragon itself was laughing at the idea of people beating it. "Dire Miralis, please! Professionalism! A hunter could, in theory, beat you." Rage reprimanded the beast, only to have it laugh at his statement once again. "Honestly." He sighed as Dire Miralis continued its way towards shore as its meteors crashed into the ground ahead of it.
A lot groaned at Rage ruining the epic moment. None more so then Ruby, Yang, Jaune and Nora. "Nooo! That was so awesome! But now it's so stupid!" Nora cried out.
"Come on, Rage! How can you make jokes about a world-destroying monster!" Jaune complained.
"...He ruined it. It was totally badass opening, and he ruined it." Yang said angrily.
"I hate him..." Ruby muttered.
A group of hunters was then seen preparing to face off against the beast. "Then again, a black dragon that opens the fight with- you know... THE APPOCALYPSE." Rage began as a hunter was blasted away by one of the following meteors, everything quickly going black. The dragon was shown roaring again as it dropped meteors into the water. "-Is to be feared, but above all... respected. The final of the trio and the largest, Dire Miralis, unlike his brethren does not take to the skies. No... No, his kingdom is a watery one." Rage explained as the hunters dove into the water to continue their advance against Dire Miralis. "Known as the Smelting Black Dragon, he's not so much adapted for an aquatic lifestyle so much as he simply prefers being submerged. For the smelting is no exaggeration... he is a living furnace: his veins aflame, his blood, magma... he has internal organs consistently, irrevocably churning out intense, lava-esque liquid that pumps 'round the body, burning as hot as his hatred for all living things... he is heat incarnate." Rage explained as the hunters attacked the beast.
They finally got a good look at Dire and they found amazed and puzzled. "It looks like some kind of demon dragon!" Summer cried out.
"I'd say it looks more like some kind of monstrous molten rock titan." Winter gave her opinion.
"Let's just say what it really looks like. Evil." Blake said, the alarms that were her animal instincts blaring in her mind to get away from this creature.
"I second that motion." Weiss said, the malicious-looking grin on the creature's face making her fear for her life. And the dark reds everywhere only added to that sensation.
"We've already seen rock-like monsters like Gravios, as well as monsters that can regularly pass through and even swim in lava like Lavasioth and Agnaktor. Still, I never imagined we would encounter a creature that actually looks like... Well, exactly what Winter described." Ren stated.
"Well, we've seen Elder Dragons come in several forms that defy possibility, I suppose it was only a matter of time before we saw something like this." Pyrrha said.
Cinder's eye was twitching at the mention of its blood being lava. "Just ignore it. He's exaggerating. He always does. There's no way it's blood is actually lava." She tried telling herself.
"I mean, it LITERALLY looks like a walking volcano. If there was one monster I believe has lava for blood, it's this thing." Emerald said.
"Magma. It's inside something. Until it's on ground level, out in the open, it's magma, not lava." Hazel told them.
"Man, I bet that thing could toast a marshmallow REAL nice." Roman said, summoning himself some s'mores.
The creature had been knocked down, so the main hunter, a lance-wielder, swam down and repeatedly stabbed at the downed beast underwater. "And thought it's rock-like hide copes as best it can, it is a battle it cannot win without help. The cooling waters then, surrounding this giant act like a sword quenching, keeping him from breaking under the power of his own internal inferno." Rage explained as the image of a sword being being quenched in water in order to be cooled down was shown.
"Oh, my gosh! It's scary, but it looks really cool!" Ruby said.
"Yeah, something about the black rocks and the red and orange of the magma make it quite the sight to behold. Red and black have always been a strong pair of colors." Qrow noted.
"And seeing it's colors under the water further accentuates them." Penny added.
"Yeah. I'd say it was dazzling, if it wasn't like nightmare fuel." Neo agreed.
"I have to say, the sword-quenching metaphor is quite apt in this situation." Ironwood admitted.
"A vital step to bringing a sword to perfection. And I'm more than willing to guess it does the same for Dire Miralis. Maintaining the right temperature makes all the difference." Adam agreed.
The beast then leaned forward a bit and launched a giant, exploding fireball the hunters were lucky enough to be a safe distance from. "Incidentally, though... This habit of cooling down in a nice little bath- gotta treat yourself, Dire Miralis!- has a little bit of a knock-on effect." Rage explained as the hunters continued to attack.
"Something tells me this won't be good." Jaune said worriedly.
"That's a lot of heat being left in the water. The change in temperature could damage local coral and other aquatic plants smaller fish need to eat." Ren stated.
"Nooo! Not the fishies!" Nora cried out.
"And if the small fish can't find food and die, the bigger fish lose their food." Yang realized.
"Nice theory, guys. Buuut, not quite what happened." Tekko said.
Then, ominous music played and Rage's voice gained a signature ominous echo. "Over a time, slowly but surely, he BOILED THE SEA that he called home, turning it from a life-filled, rich ecosystem into a barren, desolate place, death reeking and silence on the air, not a soul stirs, except for Dire Miralis in the now known tainted sea anymore. But the creatures he ruthlessly slew en masse, the extinctions he caused by merely existing... it was no quick death, it was no 'blink and you're gone', it was agony. The voices of a thousand, thousand life forms crying out in agony as together, in grim harmony, they screamed their last as burned coat their body, their flesh bubbling and their blood seeping out into the very waters, turning the entire ocean a blood red, forever a reminder of the awesome might of this black dragon." Rage spoke with a sense of dread as the hunters evaded the creature's attack and launched their own, all the while the waters they swam in were indeed clearly red.
"To boil an entire ocean... I can't even imagine the heat and energy that must take..." Pyrrha said horrified.
Penny gulped. "Unfortunately, I can. It would take around 5.9 million tons. More than Remnant's entire arsenal of Dust!" She said, shocked at that level of power. [1]
"Oh, god! Make him stop! Why does he feel the need to go into SO much detail!" Ilia screamed.
"All those poor creatures... I can't even begin to imagine how painful that was." Velvet said.
"I pray none of you ever have to imagine, let alone experience even a fraction of that, Miss Scarlatina." Glynda said.
They thought they couldn't be more horrified by what they were hearing. But they were quite wrong once they heard about why the ocean was red. "For that much blood to stay in the water and not disperse, there would have to be more blood than water. I think I'm gonna be sick..." Coco groaned, covering her mouth. Many others weren't as successful and emptied their stomach into puke buckets Katana summoned.
The creature had nearly made its way onto the shore now. "And all of this is before he even pays attention to you!" Rage declared, before the monster's absolutely terrifying soul song was heard and it did at last reach land. "So, very different then, than Fatalis or Alatreon and a lot less is known about him than either of those. Obviously his watery nature makes him stand apart. The arena in which a group of hunters fought one of these mighty beasts was on both land and water, a nice half and half." Rage explained as an image of Shoto Todoroki was shown. "And hunters worked hard, even diving into the boiling waters to ensure the beast couldn't come to land and destroy their home. Lucky for them then, Dire Miralis is very slow, a lumbering beast. Very much the body shape of Fatalis and indeed some people do believe him to be a form of Fatalis himself, one long since removed, but indeed directly related." Rage stated as the hunters now struggled to hit Dire Miralis above its waist, but still managed to lay it low.
"Fighting in the water would allow you to reach parts that are out of range on land, but the resistance of the water would make swinging your weapon quite difficult. A double-edged sword if ever there was one." Summer said.
"And they're diving into water that's probably also boiling. They'd better hope their armor is heat resistant, or they're throwing their lives away." Hazel noted.
Then, they were confused when they saw the white and red-haired boy fly across the screen. "Who was that?" Blake asked.
"Shoto Todoroki. He's from the same world as Midoriya and Bakugo. His power is half hot, half cold, so he can control fire and ice... And he may have even worse Daddy issues than you two." Razara said, looking to the Schnee's at the end.
"That's quite the claim. Then again, based on that scar, I could believe it." Winter said, wincing at the terrible burn on the boy's face.
"That was from his mom. But his dad basically drove her insane, so you could blame it on him. More directly, he put his son through brutal training ever since he was a toddler, pushing him to the point he threw up in order to make him the number one hero of their world to show up the current number one hero, who his father could never surpass." Katana explained.
Many were shocked and angered at this. "My father was bad, but other than hitting me once, which only happens in the future, he's never been that bad. I hope he was able to remain a good person after that. I had trouble with that." Weiss said sadly.
The monster got back up and roared while firing out more fireballs. "But it takes one look to look-" Rage began, before breaking down as he realized his mistake. A test pattern was briefly shown, before the lore and the fight continued. "It takes but one look at him to see he's very much his own creature. A jagged, rough exterior, seemingly random like a cliff face, it's as dangerous to the touch as it is effective at repelling even the most furious of onslaughts. His limbs, short compared to his mammoth thick body, it cannot be understated how alarmingly fucking massive he is for a Black Dragon. A crest, a frill shape adorning his head and all in all, I think he is a lovely-looking chap, definitely the most visually striking of the three and- look, when you consider the glow, the lines of power streaking through him, his magma-like substance filling his every pore as it bubbles to the surface, you can FEEL unbridled rage swirling like a vortex, imperceptible around him. It is quite the terrifyingly beautiful sight." The host admitted as the creature seemed unbothered by the hunters.
A good bit of the group laughed at Rage's slip up, grateful for some comedy after the horrors they just witnessed. "Oh, man. I can't count the number of times I've done that. Usually while I'm talking to my goons, too." Roman said with a sigh.
"And then I get to tease you about it!" Neo giggled, poking him in the side with her umbrella.
"Be thankful it didn't happen while you were speaking to the White Fang. You would've lost all shreds of believability." Adam told him.
"It does look pretty cool. Just too bad it seems like it kills everything just by existing." Emerald said.
"That's what you make replicas for, kiddo. I bet you could make a nice-looking lava lamp to look like our guy here." Qrow told her.
Suddenly, a rock song was heard in the background. "I like your wings, they fused!" Rage sang his own lyrics to the song, which sounded quite awkward, even more so with the crickets in the background before he continued. "Into a funnel-like shape. And these, coupled with the other four- let's call them chimneys- lining his body allows him to have an outlet with which to eject at great force the unceasing magma." The host said along with a familiar bald scientist. "Inside, sending it spiraling skywards before it comes tumbling back down to Earth in a great, caustic explosion of burning, decimating land and life alike, leaving nothing the same ever again. Hunters seldom come back from an encounter with Dire Miralis and those that do are treated and remembered as legends." Rage spoke of the cataclysmic power of Dire Miralis' cannons as the creature chased a pair of hunters back into the water, all while shooting out more fireballs.
Of course, Ruby went gaga when she realized what the "wings" really were. "Oh, my gosh! Cannon wings! That is so awesome!" Ruby cheered.
"Interesting. I was having the idea of weapons being mounted on the sides of monsters and here this creature is with its own mounted weapons." Ironwood said.
"For once, I agree with you. Monsters hauling giant cannons was something I suggested to Salem, but she just laughed at that idea. I'd love to prove her wrong." Cinder declared.
"I think you should be more concerned with how the fireballs it launch effectively become meteors raining down on any poor soul below it." Ozpin reminded them, returning the sense of dread to the room.
Several illustrations were then shown of the damage Dire Miralis is capable of, finishing with the beast in the middle of an ocean with destruction all around it. "This on demand Armageddon contains such force, such capacity to shred the Earth and leave it a burning ruin as he passes that it allows him to indulge in his favorite hobby... sinking islands. Oh, yeah! Yeah, by the way! Sometimes- he likes to stay in the Tainted sea- you know, he did kill EVERYTHING there for some privacy, so- you know, you expect him to use it. But every now and then, he'll get a bit bored, so he pops out for a lovely day trip on a Sunday afternoon and visits an island and, uh... sinks it. Absolutely sinks the fucker, punching hole after hole in it with his rain of death until it crumbles away into the depths, killing everything, eating the floating corpses left behind and then heads home for a nice dip [2]." Rage explained, stammering a bit before continuing. "Essentially, this is how Dire Miralis interacts with the world." Rage stated, before a black pot spewing flames labeled "Life" was shown, before a spout of water with Dire Miralis' head on it extinguished it with a massive eruption of flames.
"Every single time I start to think it can't get worse, it gets SO MUCH WORSE!" Jaune cried out.
"Just putting holes in an island wouldn't cause it to sink. It must trigger some kind of massive Earthquake after doing so much damage to it that is simply breaks apart. But that kind of power is something that could never be matched by our arsenals." Winter said.
Then came the clip of the hose extinguishing the flame of life. "Well, that's definitely an effective visual. An absolutely terrifying one, but it gets the point across." Roman said nervously.
"Anyone else definitely going to have nightmares about this thing?" Blake asked, to which everyone except the demon hostesses raised their hands.
The fight between beast and hunters was shown again as Dire Miralis appeared to be heading back to the water. "But at least because he removed every other monster from the tainted sea and it's a large place and Dire Miralis is very reclusive, despite him not being a fan of the whole 'things being alive' concept, he doesn't generally seek conflict, which means sailors can sail through the still crimson waters without being attacked." Rage tried to offer a silver lining.
A country man was then seen talking to someone. "So I got that goin' for me. Which is nice." He admitted with a smile.
"Well, I guess it's good to look for silver linings." Pyrrha said, trying to sound hopeful, but it didn't work well.
"After boiling oceans and sinking mountains, it's only fair that AT LEAST one good thing comes from him." Coco said.
"And that's just a happy little accident, it's not even like he meant to do it." Neo added.
The fight continued with the dragon back in the water. "Finally then, should one stand victorious atop Dire Miralis, one might wish to carve out its heart as proof, a token of your newfound legacy. You hold it high above your head, a triumphant yell echoing across echoing realm... you would hear-" Rage began, before the sound of a slow heartbeat was heard. "For the heart of a Dire Miralis keeps beating long after it's dead. In fact, it's said it can regrow its entire body from the heart alone if it's not destroyed utterly. It is said that a Dire Miralis is immortal, an intrinsic part of the world order." Rage declared as an ominous note played. "That's- uh... that's quite the claim. Now, obviously, that is Pokedex levels of, um... a little bit over the top, shall we say and... I find it hard to believe, but Black Dragons, well... what are you gonna do? It's Black Dragons, at that point, all logic goes out the window." Rage said as they managed to bring the beast down once again.
Everyone was disturbed at Rage's suggestion to cut out the heart and yell with it held above their head. "That seems like an incredible amount of overkill." Ozpin said.
"After fighting a beast like that? I'd say they're entitled to a trophy." Adam stated.
"Yeah! Trophy heart! I want it! I'll put it on my mantle!" Nora cheered.
"You don't have a mantle, Nora." Ren told her.
"I'll install a mantle and put it there!" She declared. Qrow and Yang even nodded along with her.
"And you deserve to yell in triumph after stopping a godlike force of nature like that." Hazel added.
"I know if I stopped that monster, I'd throw a party." Cinder agreed.
However, their elation quickly turned to fear and nausea as they heart the heart would continue beating. "B-but how!? Hearts can't do that! They need to be in the body and have blood in order to pump and beat like that! I know I didn't do that well in biology, but I know that much!" Ruby said.
"And to hold it while it's still beating... Feeling it moving in your hands... Oh, gods! I'm gonna be sick!" Velvet groaned, trying not to empty her stomach contents into a puke bucket.
The clip of the beast first appearing and firing its meteors was shown. "But if you thought Dire Miralis couldn't possibly get any crazier, well... He does have one last fancy, pretty damn neat trick, left up it's sleeve and that is armor mode! When Dire Miralis truly begins to feel threatened, it essentially..." Rage began as the meteors crashed to land and exploded.
Suddenly, a clip was shown of a young woman with a dramatic green background full of sparkles flying by. "Armor up!" She declared as the pendants on her crown and chest flashed with a green light as well.
They all looked to Katana. "From the anime Sailor Moon. It's a magical girl anime. I think that's Sailor Mercury. She has water powers. So, ironically, Dire Miralis might actually like her." Katana said.
"Still, if that is being applied to Dire Miralis, I have a very bad feeling about what comes next." Glynda said.
"There's no way. It's not getting armor, right? It's a giant volcano monster! Why does it need armor!?" Yang cried out.
The hunters were fighting the beast on land at this point, but their weapons simply bounced off its hide. "And at this point, it bounces all weapons away, harder than a bead of sweat in a hula-hoop champion's skirt. You're not gonna get through, you have to VERY specifically, delicately target the few remaining weak points. Even the sharpest of blades are no match for an armored up Dire Miralis. But at least it only uses this mode when near death, so it's a nice way of telling how far you've gotten and you don't have that much left to go. But that last bit may be more of a challenge than any of the fight before." Rage tried to finish on a positive note, but only gave an ominous warning at the end.
"Bead of sweat in a dancer's- what?!" Pyrrha asked in absolute confusion.
"I have no idea. It makes no sense to me." Katana said. [3]
"Oh, come on! It does NOT need that!" Ilia complained.
"How are you even supposed to beat that if your weapons bounce off?!" Emerald asked.
"I mean, it still hurts, just not as much. And there are still small openings." Razara reminded.
"Oh, yeah. that's real comforting. My sword bounces off, but don't worry! He still didn't like that! Very reassuring!" Weiss said incredulously.
"This creature definitely deserves to be as feared and revered as Alatreon. But it makes me dread whatever this Fatalis creature is, if it's related to this beast." Glynda stated.
"And revere it, you should." Tekko said, nodding stoically.
"Thoughts?" Katana asked.
"It's so awesome!" Ruby cried out.
"A total badass!" Yang said.
"Yeah! It's totally epic! I wanna fight one! And I will take its heart for a trophy!" Nora declared.
"Count us in." Hazel said as Adam nodded.
"Well, it has fire and heat, which is my favorite thing. I'd put it in my top five. This is one monster withstanding lava I will tolerate." Cinder added.
"But it's too dangerous. Both to human life and the environment itself. It cannot be allowed on Remnant." Ironwood said.
"For once, Jimmy, one of your decisions has my full support." Qrow agreed.
Suddenly, Ruby's childish optimism kicked in and she suddenly perked up. "Wait! I just got the best idea EVER! We could use Dire Miralis a furnace to heat up a hot spring bathhouse!" She cried out excitedly.
Everyone else just looked at her like she grew a second head. Weiss leaned towards Summer. "Shouldn't we tell her that dragon would make the waters hot enough to boil everyone alive?" She whispered her question.
Summer simply sighed at the antics of her youngest. "Just let her have this." She told the Schnee girl.
"Alright, then. Next... Well, I won't give any hints about this one. I'll just say it's name: Dalamadur." Katana declared as she played the next video.
A/N: Thank you all for reading! I hope you enjoyed! So, the Todoroki reference reminded me: Sai is actually writing a fanfiction where several monsters are brought to the My Hero world and changed into human/monster hybrids. It's called Monster Hero Academia and it's off to a pretty good start, so check it out if you're interested.
[1] That's the final answer, you'll have to look it up if you want the math. There's too much scientific stuff to just post it here, like tiny next connected to normal text.
[2] I have no idea what Rage said here. It sounded like "kip" or "Kif" and the captions of the video say "kit", none of which makes sense. I don't know if what he said was some kind of local term for him or what, so I just put what made sense.
[3] Yeah, I don't get this analogy, either. Someone please explain it so I can make sense of things.