Adam was the first to move, a blur of motion as he closed the distance, his crimson blade, Wilt, slicing through the air with lethal precision. Ironwood met him head-on, Due Process pistols raised, unleashing a barrage of dust-infused bullets. Adam's sword spun in a defensive arc, deflecting the shots with sparks flying from each impact.
As Adam closed in, he transitioned from defense to offense, his blade a whirlwind aimed at Ironwood's midsection. Ironwood sidestepped, his power armor enhancing his speed, and retaliated with a point-blank shot aimed at Adam's head. Adam tilted his head just enough for the bullet to graze past, countering with an upward slash with Wilt. Ironwood raised his armored forearm, the blade scraping against the metal, leaving a shallow groove.
The two separated briefly, circling each other. Adam's eyes narrowed, analyzing Ironwood's movements, while Ironwood's expression remained stoic, calculating his next move.
Adam lunged again, feinting a low slash before twisting into a high strike aimed at Ironwood's neck. Ironwood anticipated the maneuver, ducking under the blade and driving his shoulder into Adam's chest, sending him stumbling back. Seizing the moment, Ironwood fired both pistols at Adam's exposed side. Adam spun Wilt in a defensive flourish, deflecting some bullets, but a few found their mark, chipping away at his Aura.
Adam's semblance, Moonslice, began to glow as he absorbed the kinetic energy from the attacks. With a smirk, he released it in a devastating arc of red energy, slicing through the ground toward Ironwood. Ironwood's eyes widened as he activated his armor's thrusters, propelling himself upward to avoid the deadly wave. He landed with a heavy thud, immediately resuming fire.
The distance between them closed once more. Adam's swordplay was relentless, each strike faster than the last, aiming for joints and weak points in Ironwood's armor. Ironwood parried with his pistols, the reinforced frames clashing against the crimson blade. In a bold move, Ironwood caught Adam's sword arm, holding it in a vice grip. Adam retaliated with a swift kick to Ironwood's knee, causing him to release his hold.
Ironwood responded with a headbutt, their foreheads colliding with a resounding crack. Both men staggered back, blood trickling down their faces.
Undeterred, Adam retaliated with a series of rapid punches, each one aimed at Ironwood's head and torso. Ironwood absorbed the blows, his armor denting but holding firm. He seized an opening and delivered a crushing knee to Adam's abdomen, causing him to stagger backward, gasping for breath.
"You're outmatched," Ironwood stated, his voice cold and resolute.
Adam wiped blood from his lip, a defiant glint in his eyes. "I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees. I've seen what Atlas justice is. I've experienced how you paraded me like an animal for show!"
With a roar, Adam charged again, this time aiming low. He tackled Ironwood, driving them both through a crumbling wall and into a derelict building. Dust and debris filled the air as they grappled on the ground, each vying for the upper hand.
Adam's Aura flared crimson, flickering like firelight against the gloom of the ruined battlefield. His stance shifted—more grounded now, more focused. Wilt then spun in his grasp as he circled, pacing with a predator's grace. His breathing slowed. His expression was still, intense.
Ironwood's mechanical arm whirred as he overpowered Adam, pinning him to the floor.
"It's over," he declared, raising a fist for a blow.
"Never!"
Adam then suddenly drove his power-armored fist on Ironwood's right shoulder, forcing him back.
Ironwood stood tall, gunmetal armor cracked and scorched
The general's eyes didn't leave Adam's for even a second.
"You've lost," Adam said. His voice was calm. Almost disappointed. "This Kingdom is breaking. You can't stop it."
Ironwood exhaled through his nose. "You're right. It is breaking."
He took a step forward, boots crunching rubble.
"But we're still standing."
Adam snarled and charged. Wilt came in low—blindingly fast—but Ironwood twisted his body, allowing the blade to glance off his thigh plate. He spun, drove a heavy punch into Adam's ribs with enough force to dent armor. Adam reeled. Ironwood didn't stop. His left foot stomped down on Adam's, pinning him in place, then fired a shot point-blank into his chest.
The shot burst against Adam's Aura, cracking it visibly. He screamed in rage and countered with an upward slash that grazed Ironwood's chin. Ironwood staggered. Adam followed up with a backflip kick that sent the general skidding backward.
But Ironwood didn't fall.
He slammed a fist to his chest, straightened, and leveled both pistols again.
Adam's grin widened.
Their Auras flared.
Adam leapt, a blur of fury and scarlet light, blade drawn back.
Ironwood activated his suit's core thrusters and launched himself upward. Mid-air, the two collided.
Ironwood twisted and used his momentum to tackle Adam into the side of a ruined support tower. The wall shattered under the impact. Sparks flew. Rebar snapped. Dust billowed around them. And in the storm of metal and smoke, the fight went brutal.
Ironwood dropped his pistols and grabbed Wilt's hilt with both hands, trying to wrench it free from Adam's grip. Adam responded by headbutting Ironwood again, dazing the general just long enough to rip the sword back and slash.
Ironwood blocked with his forearm, taking the blow. The blade bit into his armor, but didn't break through. He grabbed Adam's wrist with one hand, drove his armored elbow into Adam's throat with the other, and then turned his hip to hurl the Faunus into the concrete.
Adam rolled with the impact, skidding along the ruined floor, and surged up into a sprint. Wilt flashed forward.
Ironwood met him.
This time he didn't dodge.
This time he took the blade into his side, deep, gouging, ugly and roared as he grabbed Adam by the neck and lifted him.
"You want justice?" Ironwood growled. "Here it is."
He reared back a fist, then slammed it into Adam's face.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Adam's Aura cracked. Then shattered.
Ironwood dropped him.
Adam landed hard on one knee, spitting blood.
And then—
—Boom.
Far in the distance, a pillar of fire erupted. One of the support pylons.
Ironwood's eyes widened.
"No," he breathed. "What have you?"
Adam surged up and swung Wilt one last time, Ironwood fired. The bullet struck Adam's shoulder, sending him spinning. The blade hit through, breaking Ironwood's aura.
Then–
Another explosion echoed like thunder through the ruins.
Steel and stone rattled in the distance, and the sky turned orange with firelight.
Smoke choked the air.
Ironwood coughed blood and forced himself to his feet, his power armor sparking and groaning with each move. His pistol was out of reach. His left arm still worked. Damaged.
He staggered forward, but his eyes, his resolve, hadn't dimmed.
Across from him, Adam Taurus rose as well.
Wilt was buried in the ground between them.
Neither made a move to claim it.
Their Auras were gone.
Spent.
Their weapons useless.
It didn't matter.
Adam growled, blood pouring down his face from his split brow and broken nose. His coat hung in tatters, armor sparking, breathing labored, chest rising and falling as if each breath was dragged from the depths of his soul.
"You think this is over?" he rasped.
Ironwood didn't speak. He squared his stance and raised his fists.
Adam's eyes narrowed.
"Better a world in flames than one where people like you rule."
Then he lunged.
Their power-armored fists collided like warhammers. No elegance. No precision. Just raw, animalistic fury.
Ironwood drove his forehead into Adam's face. Adam returned with an elbow to Ironwood's temple.
They reeled, but kept swinging.
Ironwood landed a body blow, a brutal punch into Adam's gut that lifted him off the ground, but Adam wrapped his arms around the general and drove him into a wall.
The concrete cracked behind Ironwood's back. He snarled and rammed his knee into Adam's side, then twisted, throwing him off.
Adam rolled to his feet and came back with a left hook. Ironwood blocked, barely, then caught Adam's wrist and smashed him with a right cross.
"Atlas will fall," Adam hissed, blood on his teeth. "All the kingdoms will. Your dream dies today."
Ironwood wiped his mouth.
"Then let it die on its feet."
Adam roared and threw himself into Ironwood. They crashed through broken rebar and twisted metal, both men a mess of blood and grit and fire.
They clawed. Kicked. Hammered blows into each other like men possessed.
Adam's knuckles cracked against Ironwood's jaw, the impact spinning the general halfway around. But Ironwood didn't fall. He spun with the momentum and planted a hammer-fist into Adam's ribs, then headbutted him again, bone against bone.
Adam reeled.
Ironwood tackled him to the ground.
They rolled, fists flailing, blood smearing across the floor. Ironwood landed on top and drove punches into Adam's face, again, again, again, until Adam bucked him off and rolled atop him, raining blows of his own.
Neither yielded.
Neither paused.
Every strike was a rejection.
A scream.
A defiance of everything the other stood for.
Finally, Ironwood caught Adam's wrist mid-swing, twisted it, and with a roar, headbutted him one last time.
Adam slumped.
Ironwood pushed himself up.
His knuckles were blooded and dented.
His lip split.
His ribs cracked.
But he stood.
"You wanted the world to burn," Ironwood rasped, standing over him. "You wanted to tear it down. But you forgot one thing…"
"We still have something left to fight for."
Behind him, the airships roared.
Atlas was burning, but it had not fallen.
Not yet. Until every breathe they have left.
"Not for long."
Adam Taurus then struggled to his feet, blood seeping from numerous wounds. His red hair clung to his forehead, matted with sweat and grime. Despite the pain, his single visible eye burned with defiance as he faced General James Ironwood.
"You think this ends with me?" Adam's voice was hoarse but resolute. "The Faunus have endured years of oppression. I've fought to break their chains, to ensure no Faunus is ever branded and enslaved again." He touched the SDC brand on his face, a permanent reminder of his time under the Schnee Dust Company's cruelty.
Ironwood stood firm, his mechanical right arm gleaming under the flames. "Your methods have led to nothing but chaos and death," he replied, his tone devoid of emotion. "You've become the very tyrant you swore to overthrow."
Adam's lips curled into a bitter smile. "Tyrant? I did what was necessary. While you sat in your ivory tower, issuing orders, I was in the good fight, bleeding for my people. Who did you think drove us to this madness?"
Ironwood's blue eyes locked onto Adam's. "At what cost? Innocents have died because of your vendetta. The White Fang was meant to be a beacon of hope, but under your leadership, it's become a symbol of terror."
Adam's fists clenched. "Hope doesn't shatter shackles. Action does. I gave the Faunus something tangible… power."
"Please, you're delusional," Ironwood took a step closer, his heavy armored boots echoing. "Power without control is meaningless. You've alienated allies and made enemies of those who might have stood with you."
Adam's breathing was ragged. Memories flashed before him. Blake's betrayal, the losses of the White Fang, the countless faces of those he'd led into battle. A part of him struggled to admit, but nonetheless, he remained firm, unapologetic.
"I did it for them," he whispered like a broken record. "For every Faunus child born into a world that sees them as less."
Ironwood's expression softened, if only for a moment. "Intentions don't absolve actions. The path you've chosen has led you here."
Adam's legs trembled, but he forced himself to remain standing. "I promised... no Faunus would be branded and enslaved." His voice cracked, the weight of his failures pressing down on him.
Ironwood raised his arm, then, in the prosthetic, a firearm appeared, the cold metal reflecting Adam's weary face. "And yet, here we are."
A single gunshot echoed, and Adam Taurus's body crumpled to the floor, his crusade ending not with a roar, but a whisper.
Adam Taurus's body convulsed violently. A grotesque, inky substance erupted from his chest, enveloping him entirely. The tar-like mass pulsed and writhed, reshaping his form with alarming speed. Bull-like horns appeared and elongated and curved menacingly atop his head. His limbs stretched and contorted, muscles bulging beneath the corrupted flesh. His eyes, once filled with defiance, were now consumed by an abyssal blackness glowing red. Then with a howl, massive, leathery wings sprouted from his back, Adam's transformation into a Grimm Hound was complete.
"Save... the Faunus..." he muttered, his voice a guttural echo of his former self. The last vestiges of his humanity were swallowed by the Grimm corruption, leaving behind a monstrous entity driven by a singular purpose.
With a powerful beat of his newly formed wings, Adam lunged at General Ironwood, taloned hands reaching out. He seized the General with ease, lifting him off the ground and ascending rapidly toward the chamber's ceiling. Ironwood struggled against the vice-like grip, but the creature's strength was overwhelming.
Before Adam could fly up, the Ace-Ops stormed in. Marrow took immediate action. Raising his hand, he pointed directly at the airborne Adam and commanded, "Stay!" His Semblance activated, sending a wave of energy that froze Adam in mid-air, halting his ascent.
"General!" Marrow called out. "We've got you!"
Elm and Vine moved swiftly. Elm, with her immense strength, leaped up and grabbed Ironwood, pulling him from Adam's grasp. Vine extended his Aura-formed limbs, wrapping them around the General to ensure his safe descent.
Harriet and the others then positioned themselves defensively, weapons at the ready.
"What happened to him?" Harriet questioned, eyes narrowing at the grotesque figure.
Ironwood, regaining his footing, responded, "He's been overtaken by the Grimm. We need to neutralize him now."
Marrow maintained his focus, keeping Adam immobilized. "I can't hold him forever," he gritted out.
Ironwood nodded. "Elm, Harriet, let's take him down while he's restrained."
Elm brandished her hammer, infusing it with Aura. "On it!"
Harriet's boots sparked with electricity as she prepared to strike. "Let's make this quick."
As the team coordinated their assault, Adam's form trembled against Marrow's Semblance. The Grimm corruption pulsed, resisting the restraining force. With a deafening roar, a surge of dark energy erupted from Adam, breaking Marrow's hold and sending the Ace-Ops sprawling.
"He has become stronger than anticipated," Vine remarked, helping Marrow to his feet.
Adam's monstrous form landed heavily, the ground cracking beneath him. His wings spread wide as he let out another roar, the sound reverberating through the flames.
Ironwood stepped forward, his mechanical arm whirring as it transformed into a blade.
"We end this now."
The Ace-Ops formed a semi-circle around Adam.
Adam snarled, his corrupted mind fixated on the mission that had driven him for so long.
"For the Faunus..." he growled, before launching himself at them