A/N: EDIT: Made some tweaks, cleaned up grammar, and added scenes. Hope you enjoy~!
Better yet, I have news~!
Henceforth, for future chapters, my AO3 account -Neonzangetsu, same as this one!- will soon begin to feature lemons, more mature ratings, and so on. Some of them will even have alternate endings/paths compared to the stories I'm posting here. Feel free to head over there if you're interested. Wanted to say that first and foremost; because in the future there are going to be some...interesting scenes that I can't show here.
Wanted to say that first and foremost; because in the future there are going to be some...interesting scenes that I can't show here.
As ever the Embers rule persists, reviews are my fuel, my fire, my life. Without them, I lose all inspiration, all hope, all ability to write. That's no joke. I have so little time to write these days with two jobs, and silence hurts. So by all means, speak up! Make yourselves heard! Every bit of feedback, no matter how small or large, matters! Really, it helps a lot. Its a joy to talk with you all and bandy ideas back and forth; it really is. Sorry if this seems shorter than usual, working on a tight schedule here.
No questions this time! Only story! And I think I've kept you waiting long enough.
As ever, I own noooo references, quotes, memes or themes.
Not a wit or a one. Ought to be reeeaaally bloody obvious by now.
And yes, I went there with that title, its a big honking references, though I'll not say to who!
"I'll always remember what happened that day, Neo. Couldn't forget it if I tried. They say good men show mercy; but that day...well.
Guess you could say it made me who I am. Yeah, that was the day I realized it.
My friends weren't just strong. They were, all of them, monsters.
And soon enough...so was I. Learned from the best, after all.
How do you think I got this reputation?
What's that, now? More ice cream?
Sure. Now where were we...?"
~Torcwhick (Future).
No Mercy Here
...get 'em."
All hell broke loose.
No, perhaps that wasn't quite right.
Kolgrin was still screaming his head off, still frantically clicking a thumb against the inert detonator, still swearing bloody vengeance against them all, until someone finally decided they'd had enough of him. Still down in the arena as he was, Naruto saw it all unfold in slow motion. A single leap sent her vaulting over the stands and carried her to the spectator's booth. She alighted on the railing in with savage grace, ebony hair sweeping behind her in a dark cloud, red eyes narrowed to vicious slits, a euphoric grin tearing across her face.
...finally!"
Omen swept back in a bloody arc; then there was actual blood spurting through the air as Raven Branwen severed his arm, shoulder and all, at the collarbone. The detonator flew free from his fingers only to be summarily caught and crushed within her first. Kolgrim went down with a yowl, falling out of sight to the floor. His guards closed in, weapons drawn. Raven rounded on them with a manic grin. He didn't see their fates up there in the booth, not at this angle, but he heard their screams. All this took place in an instant.
It was enough. Cultists leaped to his defense...and after him.
Indeed, he was only just striding forward to join Raven when he heard someone shout his name.
"Hey, Naruto! Catch!"
He heard Summer's voice in the melee and raised a hand without thinking. His false arm slapped into his grasp. He grabbed it and slotted it over his elbow. Steel fingers flexed as he reached around and caught a cultist's face, swinging them into another. Pivoting with the force of the blow, he swung his impromptu bludgeon into a second cultist and used the momentum to bring his free hand to bear. An angry Rasenshuriken howled to life between the fingers of his natural fist. He let it fly, annihilating another cluster of Kolgrim's men.
Felt like coming home.
"You said it. Lets show them how we did things back in the Elemental Nations."
...give 'em a stern lecture and hope that they change their ways for good?"
"Hell no! Kill 'em!"
His sixth sense spiked as someone in the crowd drew a bead on him. He swayed aside, smiling as a sniper round pierced the place his head occupied a moment before. He heard a curse in the chaos and he also heard an equally harsh click as their weapon jammed. Thank the sage for Qrow's semblance. He touched two finger to the headset at his right ear.
"Watts? You there? Do you read me?"
...loud and clear." the scientist's voice came through. "Alma has disarmed the last of the bombs, General Ironwood has been appraised of the situation, and Penny is currently enroute to your location." He spoke over his startled exclamation. "And you've retrieved your arm, excellent. I've installed some new features that you might find...beneficial, given your current situation."
He ducked a crazed cultist and kicked another away. "Is now really the time?!"
"Humor me. Fling out your arm, make a fist, and pull it back."
Naruto heaved a sigh and flung his arm toward where he'd last sense the sniper's general location. A panel opened near the base of his false limb, punctuated by an audible, ominous click. He made a fist just as instructed, mimed pulling his arm back aaaaand...
THWOOM!
...a missile flew free from his limb to annihilate a nearby portion of the stands -alongside a goodly number of Mythic Dawn cultists- in a hail of fiery napalm. Naruto squinted at the chaos with minor chagrin; more now, as a bloody hail of robed bodies and rubble rained down around him.
"Huh." he mumbled to himself, regarding the now smoking chamber of his arm. "Neat. You came in clutch with the upgrades."
"That's not all..."
An awful silence fell over the arena. All eyes fell on him. He knew what was coming...
"I want that!"
.
..
...well, he should've expected that response.
"Bad Summer!" he stabbed a finger at the silver-eyed warrior before she could clamor down into the arena after him. "Don't make me take your arm privileges away!"
"Aww...
Kolgrim's cultists were on him a moment later. "Slay the Schnee!"
Naruto turned to face them with a cheshire grin. The others could handle themselves. "Time to see what this baby can really do."
He could feel Watts preen through the earpiece. "I'll be happy to show you. Follow these instructions...
Another panel opened in his false arm just above his wrist, and he felt something tug on his chakra. A minor drain at best, but the reward that followed proved well worth it; for a curtain of golden flame belched forward to rake over the poor fools who dared to charge them. The lucky ones disintegrated outright. Others flailed to the floor, howling as they burned alive.
Naruto balked at it. "You gave me a flamethrower?!"
Summer all but howled. "I want that, too!"
His wrist twisted and the barrel irised out into a slender opening. A hail of seeking darts arrowed out from within, striking nine foes at once, piercing cloth and flesh alike. More bodies hit the floor but the darts weren't yet done; they circled around and felled nine more before finally falling inert into the dirt.
Naruto turned a baleful look to his weaponized limb. "Oi, oi, oi! How many upgrades did you give me?!
Watts remained cheeky to the last. "How many would you like?"
"I WANT ALL OF THOSE!"
"Yes, yes, we're well aware of your predilection!" Willow pushed Summer aside with a gust of cold air, nudging her away from a cultist's blade. "Now would you kindly help?!"
"Party-pooper!"
Tai and Qrow were on Summer's would-be killer a moment later, and Ghira with them. The poor assassin didn't so much die as disintegrate. Naruto swept a quick glance for his surroundings in the meantime. The grand arena was vast, easily large enough to get separated, and still Kolgrim's people show no sign of stopping. Everyone was fighting well, but his concerns lay elsewhere.
He made a snap decision.
"Qrow! Tai! Get the kids and the Belladonnas outta here! We'll handle the rest!"
"We can fight!" Cinder caught a blow on her crosesd weapons behind back, white-black blades flicking out take the arm of her attacker. He pitched backward and ducking forwards, she thrust an open palm at he adversary with intent. Her newfound Maiden powers sparked, never stood a chance; he fell shrieking in a pillar of blue fire.
Despite that savagery, no one fled.
They all rushed them weapons in hand.
Nauto didn't know whether to be relieved or alarmed.
Kolgrim really had put all his eggs in one basket. That worried him; if only because this was proving far too easy. With the exception of a few talented fighters in the early rounds most of these were untrained. Few, if any, had their aura unlocked. Yet he kept throwing them their way. What was he playing at...? His followers were falling in droves, with no sign of this so-called goddess he claimed to worship. And why hadn't heard from Raven since she'd gone after him?
An awful feeling rose in the pit of his gut.
"Go!"
He didn't wait to see if they listened; he turned and sprinted for the balcony. A gibbering madman threw themselves at him, swinging a mighty ax. He took the blow on his false arm, grunted in annoyance, then smashed his free fist forward without missing a beat. The lunatic pitched backward with a hole in his chest. He stomped over him, already picking up speed.
Another cluster of Mythic Dawn barred his path. One of them, a lamb faunus, pointed his way and shouted something. He didn't hear it in the slightest. Just an ugly animal bleat. He tore a scroll free from his pouch and unfurled it. Fresh smoke sprayed forth. Faunus died in droves beneath a hail of shuriken and kunai. He whipped the spent scroll around and used it to strangle another faunus before casting him into his fellows. All the while his eyes never left the spectator box. He could hear noise up there now, but still the dread persisted.
Nothing else to be had for it, then.
He waded in, arms swinging.
Rip and tear.
(.0.0.0.)
She couldn't protect the children.
The thought pained Willow as she fought through Kolgrim's men.
And as she fought, the storm raged around her, rendering her foes little more than frozen ruins.
Her power was one of cold, of ice and frost, and while she wielded it to devastating effect against her enemies, it rendered the world around her a wasteland. Huntsman and Huntresses could barely endure such, but Cinder and the children just couldn't survive a blizzard. Qrow and Tai would have to look after them-
Kali yelped a warning. "Move!"
A dagger danced in Willow's peripherals. She buffeted it aside with a gust of air, only to gasp as something struck her shoulder and wrenched it out its socket.
Pain blazed through her. She clamped down on it and kicked away, whirling on a curtain of air to face her foe.
For a wild moment she thought it might be Hazel -she didn't know anyone else who struck that hard- but no. Rainart was taller, larger, and this was a woman. Short though she was, she could see her shape beneath the crimson robes well enough. A strange mask etched with a red jewel and black lines hid her face from view, but not so her golden hair, nor her voice.
"You will die here, Maiden." The words were muffled, almost indistinct beneath the hardened porcelain. "Today. You, and your child."
...is that so?" Willow straightened with a a grunt. "And here I thought you lot didn't have a braincell between you."
"I do not serve these imbeciles." she heard the faint click of a tongue. "They've been a useful smokescreen, but I obey a higher power. One who knows you."
Air stilled in Willow's throat. Her mind began to race. Salem...?
They'd assumed Kolgrim and his idiots worked for her.
...but what if they didn't?
Was she using them?
Taking advantage of the chaos to
Willow drew herself upright, eyes flashing like ice. To the outward eye she said nothing. Did nothing. Her eyes blazed with cold, blue flame. Internally, she marshaled her strength. Mustered her might.
The masked woman regarded her intently, unware of the minefield she'd blundered into. "No last words?"
Her lips quirked in a small smile. "I can think of one-no, two, actually. Thank you."
A pause. "What?"
"You like to hear yourself talk, don't you?" she gripped her shoulder and popped it back into place. "To monologue. Most villains do. Talk, talk, talk. Naruto was right about that much." the wind picked up around them, a faint keening sound rising with it. "Your kind just love to hear the sound of your own voice...and you gave me all the time I needed."
Then the world became a blizzard.
(.0.0.0.)
"They're being awfully noisy over there...
A stray Mystic Dawn grunt craned his neck toward the colosseum, considering it as one might a wild beast.
Very noisy indeed. It sounded like a massacre over there.
"Meh." his companion shrugged. "Not on our pay grade, Mark. So long as they kill the Schnee.
"About that, I've been thinking, man. Are we on the right side of things here?
His ally tilted his head. "Do you doubt the word of our goddess?"
No, no, its just...why are we doing this, man? Is this a trap?"
"That's what they they want us to think!"
"Maybe...
What was that whistling noise?
Mark looked up. Squinted against the harsh sunlight. The hell was that?
"Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalll...
The masked faunus looked up into the sky, frowning now as a faint whistling noise reached his ears. His comrades frowned with him. "The hell is that?"
...uuuuuuuuuu...
Was it a bird? A plane? No, it was too damn high up.
...TATIONS!"
His eyes widened behind the mask. "Oh fuck me-
The last thing he saw was green eyes and long, flowing red hair.
Then, quite simply put, the earth erupted in a scorching hail of napalm.
(.0.0.0.)
They'd gotten separated.
Cinder cursed herself for every second of it; whirling and slashing like a wildcat.
Qrow had been lost somewhere in the melee. Taiyang was bogged down by a particularly burly brute. Roman was fighting for his life against some slender fellow she didn't recognize.
A fist cracked out and Sienna went down with a squeal of pain, clutching her face.
Cinder's world went red.
She pivoted. Her half-sister had an ugly wound across her face and Roman was giving as good as he got, but thy were kids for crying out loud. They weren't meant to fight adults, and numbers had a quality all their own. It didn't matter how skilled they were for their age. Roman didn't have half their training, and he was flagging. A single hostage would damn them.
She took a hit she knew she shouldn't have, on that nearly brought down to her knees.
Her eyes flashed with flame. "Burn!"
Power rushed out of her, Maiden magic howling to the fore. Uncontrolled, unpracticed, freshly gained. It was enough. Blazing blue flames born from equal parts rage and desperation lashed out like whips, scouring all before them. Bodies hit the floor, smoldering away. It didn't stop the tide. Roman went down with a yelp, clutching his arm. Sienna lost her whip.
A sword swept in from her side. She saw her reflection in its blade. Too close!
She closed her eyes, unwilling to see her end.
It never came.
Steel struck steel, she heard a shriek, then blood splashed her face. It wasn't her own.
"Good evening, children!" a familiar voice cooed behind her, causing her open her eyes. "Your parents sent me to retrieve you! My, my, what a mess you've made."
A body hit the floor. Once again, it wasn't hers.
Cinder knew that voice, and the maddened giggling that chased it, the merry cackle that had cultists cringing back by the dozens. A hand seized the scruff of her neck, lifted her, dropped her on Roman's prone form. Or rather, his back. The boy groaned beneath her. She barely heard him, only managing a halfhearted apology. It was all she could muster when her attention was already elsewhere.
"Attacking the children of a god." a familiar tail wagged, swaying side to side in her blurry vision. "Have you no shame? Or self preservation? Really, that's quite mad, even for me."
A cultist raised their blade. "Who the hell are you?!"
Naruto's follower bowed, low and deep at the waist. "Why friends, my name is Tyrian."
Someone gulped. "Tyrian Callows...?"
He rubbed his hands together. "The very same!"
"N-Nonsense! It can't be him! Don't be intimidated!"
Silence stretched between them, a brief pall. Unfortunately it didn't last.
"You're a Faunus!" one cried! "You should be siding with us, not these brats!"
"Hmmhmm." Callows thumbed his chin and nodded, humming his agreement make a fair argument. Allow me to offer my counterpoint."
His hand snapped forward. His wristblade barked once. A body fell.
"Any arguments?"
Silence reigned.
"Really, as far as I'm concerned, you're the heretics here." Tyrian sauntered forward, eyes flashing violet. "Blasphemers an traitors all. You don't worship the true god that is my lord. He offers you his mercy and you spit in his face like the rabid dogs you are. And what happens to bad dogs...
Sienna raised a ragged cheer from where she lay. "They get punished...?"
"Quite so!" Tyrian tutted. "Don't you worry little cat, you'll be right as rain after this. Uncle Tyrian will fix you right up."
"Yay...?"
"Well, well, well!" The leader of the cultists was either dumb or dense; perhaps both even, because he didn't realize his peril. "Looks like we've got us a volunteer, boys. A hundred lien to the maggot who blows his bloody brains out!"
Someone fired at Tryian. He deflected the shot with his chitinous tail, twisted his head around and giggled. "Gentlemen! That's no way to treat a guest."
Someone else swore. "Fuck me, that really IS Tyrian Callows...
"You know my name! What fun, what fun!" the madman clapped his hands. He was still clapping when a pair of wicked knives came flying out each of his sleeves. "I believe its my turn, now~!"
A single leap and he was among them.
Cinder jerked to her feet.
There was no need.
It wasn't a fight. To call what followed a fight would've been a gross exaggeration. It was a slaughter. Butchery at its finest. Tyrian became a mad whirlwind of death, ripping and tearing with reckless abandon. Hardened men and woman who hadn't fled from Naruto before, did so now to his acolyte. Those his blades didn't find fell to his stinger, gurgling as their lungs filled with poison. This man was a killer. It was so easy to forget, to fall for his jovial nature and be fooled by his silly smiles, the jests and japes. But now the knives came out.
Thank the gods he was on their side. Or, well, god, really.
Wouldn't do to upset their minder...
'And I thought Dad was crazy...
(.0.0.0.)
They'd cornered Kolgrim.
It had been...surprisingly easy.
Almost suspiciously so, Naruto found.
"I'll kill you! DO YOU HEAR ME?! You and your little whores!"
"As if he could afford me." Raven tutted, wrenching him off her blade.
Kolgrim howled. "I will not die here! My goddess shields me! She shan't let me-
Raven slammed a heel into his chest and sent him crashing through a wall. Naruto whistled after her.
"Shut up." she stalked after him. "There are no gods here. Only monsters. Honestly, you're such a disappointment."
A pistol snapped up. Fired. She deflected every shot, much to his dismay. "Why won't you die?! Filth! Heretic! Unbeliever!"
"That's right." Branwen spread her arms, wearing a shit-eating grin. "Like you, I don't care how bloody my hands get. So long as those kids remain clean. Does that make me a hypocrite? Perhaps." she swatted away another shot, humming as the pistol finally clicked empty. "Unfortunately, it also makes you a dead man...
Kolgrim ripped a horn from his belt. "This isn't over!"
Raven quirked a brow. "One last trick before you die, then? Go on. Show me."
"I don't think so." Naruto disagreed. Couldn't be anything good, that. He stepped in and grabbed at the zealot. "We're taking him in."
Raven caught his wrist. "Wait. I want to see what happens."
He balked at her. "Are you insane?"
"No, I'm bored." her grin held an edge he knew all too well. "I came here for entertainment, not to slaughter a bunch of weaklings! Don't you wanna see what he's been keeping up his sleeve all this time?"
Naruto scowled. "No."
He ripped his arm free and rounded on Kolgrim. Too late. The lunatic blew out a single sharp note; a sound so deep it had them covering their ears. Two, now. What would happen when he hit three? He didn't want to find out, but gods above the noise...! He staggered forward through the pain and grasped at the horn. It cracked in his grasp. Not quickly enough. A third and final bleat rattled his ears and Kolgrim slumped, grinning like the lunatic he was.
"It...is done!"
The mountain above Menagerie shattered.
One moment it was whole; in the next it wasn't.
A great beast burst forth from the mountainside, clawing its way out free with slow, lurching movements. Molten lava streamed down its back, running in rivulets down the mountain, and he realized with a start that Menagerie's mountain wasn't a mountain at all, but a dormant volcano. At least it had been.
No longer. Bloody thing sure looked active now.
Larger than anything he'd ever seen, the newborn monster spread its wings and howled to the cloudy skies, luxuriating in its freedom as it tore free from the cradle of its birth. Even then it took Naruto a moment to realize what he was looking at; after all, he'd never seen one before. Four limbs, scales of a deep purple bordering on violet, a long neck and tail to match, to say nothing of that horned head and those great gaping jaws...no. The beast spread its -her?- wings, casting the arena in shadow and cried out once more, rattling the very isle. Well, that settled it, then. There could be no doubt about it.
"Is that a freaking dragon?!"
It wasn't even a Grimm, but an honest-to-goodness dragon! Who the hell sealed a dragon in a volcano?! He hadn't signed up for this.
Screams went up from the cultists below.
"Praise be!"
"She is reborn!"
"Burn the nonbelievers!
Naruto grabbed a fistful of Kolgrim's coat. "What did you do?!"
"Its loo late now!" the lunatic grinned at him through broken teeth. "Long has she slumbered, but no longer! She has heard our prayers and now she has come! She shall cleanse this world in holy fire! Without me and the horn there shall be none to control...her...?"
His words trailed off.
Because the dragon wasn't moving.
Naruto craned his neck back. Raven joined him.
The beast was just...watching. Waiting. Observing them.
A round bounced off the dragon's skull. Naruto never knew who fired it.
Whoever did damned them.
He felt a pang of anger -outrage!- from the beast. Watched now, as its long neck swung back, back, further back still...
Raven readied her sword. "You have gotta be kidding me!"
Naruto yanked her backward. Heard the dragon exhale.
Their world erupted into fire.
A/N: Didn't see that coming, did you?
As ever the Embers rule persists, reviews are my fuel, my fire, my life. Without them, I lose all inspiration, all hope, all ability to write. That's no joke. I have so little time to write these days with two jobs, and silence hurts. So by all means, speak up! Make yourselves heard! Every bit of feedback, no matter how small or large, matters! Really, it helps a lot. Its a joy to talk with you all and bandy ideas back and forth; it really is. Sorry if this seems shorter than usual, working on a tight schedule here.
Reviews are the fuel that keeps me writing. That's no joke. I really am sorry that the chapters are shorter these days, and the updates slower, but I'm trying my best. Silence hurts more than any flame...without feedback, I can't write a single world. Seriously! So speak up! Every word -and every review!- really does matter!
So in the Immortal Words of Atlas... ...Review, Would You Kindly?
Here, have some previews. Lemme know what you think!
Madness and Mayhem await!
(Previews)
"Scatter!"
"I dunno, it seems kinda sentient. Hmm! That settles things. I'm gonna tame it!
"You are not taming a dragon. No, no, no. Absolutely not! Even you can't...are you even listening?! Come back here!
"Salutations! It is so WONDERFUL to finally meet you all!"
"Penny, wait! Lungs! You gotta let 'em breathe!"
Cinder groaned in her grasp. "Why meeee...
Roman flung himself at Raven's feet. "Train me!"
Her jaw clicked open. "Ha?! Why me?!"
"Because you're a certified badass!"
Naruto howled with laughter. "Enjoy your new apprentice!"
She glared bloody red daggers at you.
"I WILL END YOU!"
"Promises, promises!"
Tyrian raised a hand. "Can I have an apprentice too, my lord?"
"Sure, you can help me train Sienna.
The poor girl whimpered.
"Welcome to the world, Winter~!"
She was born with glowing blue eyes...and chakra.
Naruto cooed at her, grinning as she giggled. "Well, aren't you special."
R&R~!