Halo, it's time for the newest chapter. Enjoy the reading.
Atlas' final battle took place in the Winter Maiden's Vault, where the now insane, delusional and paranoid General Ironwood resolved to go through the portal to retrieve the Staff of Creation and save Atlas.
His path was blocked by his most loyal soldier, Winter, who had come to understand that this man was no longer the general she had once respected and loved. He was nothing more than a half-crazed, sick man who would drag all of Atlas down with him if he were allowed to pass through the portal.
Winter had no choice but to fight her former superior, who blocked her blow with his right, mechanical arm. Winter took her sword in two and stabbed the thin blade at the general's head, but her opponent jumped back and dodged the blow.
Ironwood knew he didn't have time to reload his laser cannon, so he used the large and heavy machine as a melee, blunt weapon to strike at the woman who jumped up high in front of him.
- Winter, don't you dare blame me! - After Winter jumped up onto a tall pillar, the general had enough time to reload his laser cannon and fire at her.
Winter jumped out of the way of the laser beam, which destroyed the top of the pillar where she had just been and summoned at least five runes in the air, from which an equal number of larger ice spikes flew towards the general.
- I've already sacrificed everything I could! - Ironwood jumped out of the way of the projectiles and fired again at Winter, who was coming towards the ground.
- No, - Winter summoned a black gravity rune onto the ground, which pushed her out of the path of the laser beam in time and charged towards the general again. - you sacrificed everyone else you could! - Ironwood parried the woman's blows with his laser cannon and mechanical arm and attacked back, but Winter was faster than him and jumped back, then attacked again. - You closed the borders, you squeezed Mantle until it would have collapsed and you would have left behind the kingdom that you were supposed to protect!
Ironwood had enough of Winter, his soldier, talking to him as if everything was his fault and when he got the chance, he fired again with the laser cannon, but Winter jumped aside again. Ironwood didn't leave him much time, because using the laser cannon as a melee weapon again, he rushed at the woman, who dodged with the help of a black gravity rune and attacked him from the side.
However, the general parried the blow and counterattacked. Winter ducked from the first blow, parried the second with her swords, but was able to stop the third by crossing her two swords and looking angrily into the general's eyes, but she saw nothing but madness and indignation.
- I only did what's best for Remnant! - Ironwood continued to push the laser cannon down, and Winter realized too late that its barrel was in front of her head and the green light indicated that the general would soon fire. - And no one's grateful for it!
Winter pushed the cannon aside, causing it to shoot a beam towards the ceiling, but she was thrown to the side.
The general took one of the pistols from the laser cannon and hit Winter in the head with the bottom, then slashed her across the face with the top.
The situation in the passage wasn't bright either, as the unexpected appearance of Cinder and Adam caused serious problems. Blake and Lance fell into the abyss and Penny, foolishly, not only took up the fight with Cinder, against whom she wasn't as strong as she used to be as a human, but she also brought the Staff of Creation.
Cinder fought with two well-crafted, black glass swords, while Penny, who used much more clumsy, green glass swords. Penny was able to hold her own against Cinder for a while, but it was clear that becoming human had weakened her greatly and she didn't have the same strength as she had as a robot.
In order to buy time to evacuate, Penny was forced to fly around the passage, thus detaining Cinder, who was chasing her like a predator it's prey. Unfortunately, the transformation not only cost her strength, but also her speed and agility, and she couldn't maneuver as well as she used to. As a result, Cinder quickly caught up to her and hit her with a fireball.
Cinder saw Penny stunned in midair and extended her Grimm arm to grab the girl, but an ice Lancer summoned and controlled by Weiss overtook her and, catching the girl on its back, flew away from her.
Unfortunately, the other members of the JNR team, Jaune and Nora, were unable to help and had to use all their strength to rescue the civilians.
- Weiss, - Penny looked worriedly at the girl who had saved her, fearing that she was now a target as well. - She doesn't care about anything but the power of the Maiden. I'm trying to buy time for all of you.
- But, Penny... - Weiss was shocked at how much the girl didn't care about her own life and was only trying to help others with all her strength.
Unfortunately, there was no time to argue, because Cinder attacked the Lancer in the back with a fireball, which evaporated and then the two girls started falling and they had a painful landing behind the crowd of people standing in front of the large square gate.
Cinder landed between the civilian crowd and the two girls and she took her single eye off Penny and looked at Weiss with an evil and sadistic smile.
- I'm right here! - Penny stood between Cinder and Weiss to protect her friend. - I'm the one you want!
- I want everything. - Cinder didn't back down and shot a fire beam from each of her hands behind her and flew towards the two girls at full speed and before she could reach them, Neo appeared accompanied by a pink and white glow and kicked her in the head with full force, causing her to fall to the side.
The mute girl pointed Hush at Cinder, who was somersaulting on the ground and prepared for the full blow.
Meanwhile, Weiss stood up and picked up the Staff of Creation that Penny had dropped.
- Need a help?! - Ruby appeared from a pile of flying rose petals.
Neo, Ruby and Penny prepared together to fight Cinder, who felt at a serious disadvantage.
The two transport planes were having a deadly chase in Atlas' airspace, since one plane was carrying a huge bomb that Harriet was driving to drop on Mantle, but Qrow ambushed in time and an incredible fight broke out between the two Hunters.
The other plane was drove by Robyn, who convinced Elm that Atlas was over and if Harriet wasn't stopped in time, then everything was over. The two women took the unconscious Marrow onto the plane and immediately started chasing Harriet's plane.
Qrow and Harriet continued their duel, but Harriet was much better at close combat than Qrow, so she took over the fight and pushed the man to the bomb, then jumped into the air and kicked him in the chest against the wall.
- You're making a big mistake, Harriet! - Qrow tried to convince her, because now they were doing exactly what Salem wanted. - I'm so sorry about what happened to Clover...
- Shut up! - Harriet didn't want to hear it and used her Semblance to cut the straps holding the bomb and delivered a strong blow to the back of the plane, causing it to rise.
Due to the sudden descent and the removal of the safety straps, the bomb began to slide out, straight out of the cargo bay.
Qrow immediately jumped in front of it and tried to stop the bomb, which weighed at least 400 pounds, with his bare hands, but could only slow it down.
- Get out of the way! - Harriet shouted angrily.
It wasn't long before the plane shook and the other plane appeared behind them, but there was Vine on top, his two outstretched arms gripping the sides of the plane and Elm holding him, her two feet rooting into the plane to keep herself, Vine, and the whole plane balanced.
- Hare, please don't do this! - Elm, after Robyn had explained her plan, tried to stop her companion. - They're still evacuating Mantle!
- They have plan to save everyone! - Vine added.
- Why don't you let me do my job! - Harriet was growing increasingly angry that no one could follow orders and act like a soldier anymore, not even her own teammates.
- Because you're our friend! - - Elm finally blurted out, not as a soldier trying to dissuade her comrade from following orders, but as a Huntress trying to protect her friend from a serious mistake. - We won't let you do this!
Qrow finally couldn't hold it anymore, the plane shook and the bomb slid faster and harder towards the cargo bay.
- No! - Qrow, after jumping out of the way of the bomb, reached out helplessly after it.
Suddenly, he remembered to take out Clover's clover pin and for the first time in his life he did something he had never done before.
"Please, just a f*cking bit of luck!", he clutched the pin to himself and began to hope for luck.
Everyone held their breath as the bomb slid towards the cargo bay, which would have been impossible to stop. It took seconds for the bomb to half-stick out of the cargo bay and everyone's hearts skipped a beat as the explosives spun and caught on the cargo hold railing.
Finally, everyone sighed in relief when the bomb stopped and didn't fall.
Unfortunately, the luck only lasted for a short time, because someone had remotely activated the bomb to explode there and then, and there were barely 30 seconds left until the explosion.
In the passage, Yang was still forced to fight Adam, the man who, to the best of her knowledge, had caused the death of her girlfriend. The girl desperately tried to land one blow after another, but the faunus man either dodged or blocked them.
Wilt absorbed the force of the blows and was able to shoot them back as beams of red energy, but Yang kept hitting him with stronger and harder blows, which Adam preferred to dodge.
Over time, Adam gained the upper hand and this time he took control and hit Yang with another beam of energy, who tumbled to the floor.
Adam smiled and prepared to deliver the final blow to Yang.
- Leave her alone! - Suddenly he heard Weiss' voice from behind him, who, with the help of a pile of runes, skated in the air to help her teammate.
Adam blocked Weiss' sword with Wilt, but what the faunus man didn't expect was she hit him in the head with the Staff of Creation and push him into one of the space gates.
Meanwhile, Cinder simultaneously fought Penny, Neo, and Ruby. In order to prevent Ruby from using her Silver Eye, she shot a huge beam of fire in the direction of the girls. This proved successful, as Ruby could barely see anything from the fire and in the blink of an eye Cinder appeared in front of her and attacked Ruby with her sword, knocking her back.
- Ruby! - Penny soared high, through the ring of fire and rushed to her friend's aid.
On the other side of the passageway, Yang was unspeakably grateful that Weiss had saved her.
- Come on, - Weiss helped Yang up. - We have to do this for Blake!
Suddenly, an orange light appeared beneath their feet, eerily similar to Cinder's flames.
Weiss quickly acted, remembering Yang's Semblance and knowing that the blonde girl was stronger than her, so she handed her the Staff and pushed her back to get as far away from the blast as possible.
Boom
Cinder's exploding firebomb went off and with a scream of pain, a white flash flew around Weiss' body and down to the floor.
- Weiss! - Yang didn't have much time to think, because Adam returned through the space gate and charged towards her again.
Yang this time defended Wilt with the Staff of Creation, but Adam opened fire with Blush, which pushed Yang back and dropped the Staff, causing her to fall off the edge of the platform.
Adam took the Staff and looked down at the edge of the platform and saw that Yang was lucky and was able to push herself over one of the paths with a shot from Ember Celica. The man growled angrily and was forced to take a detour to catch up with her.
- The autopilot's locked! - Qrow didn't hesitate and immediately went up to the cockpit to drive the plane with the bomb away, but in vain, whoever took control had completely blocked any access. - We have to go!
- There's no time to get out of its range. - Harriet was finally convinced by her teammates, her friends, her efforts that what she was doing was a mistake. Unfortunately, she realized it too late, as they had barely half a minute before the bomb exploded. - I... killed us all. - She admitted that she, the general and even Clover had been wrong when they planned to abandon Mantle. - I'm sorry.
Vine didn't hesitate, he let go of the sides of the plane and stretched his aura around his legs, swinging himself over to the other plane. He grabbed Harriet and transferred her to the other plane and Elm caught her. The man looked at the bomb, which was already at 15 seconds and knew what he had to do.
- No! - Elm understood what he was about to do. - You can't!
- I can. - This time Vine wasn't trying to think of the logical and rational solution, but something much more important. - If I could save my friends.
- NO! - Harriet tried to jump after him to stop him, since Vine's life would wither on her soul if he did, but Elm held her tightly and pulled her back into the plane.
- You're doing a very brave thing. - Qrow put his hand on his shoulder and clearly regretted that someone else had the misfortune to sacrifice his life. Finally, he jumped out of the plane, transformed into a bird and flew towards the departing plane.
Vine took a deep breath, looked one last time at his friends, who were getting further and further away, but gathered all his strength, put his two hands together and his two arms glowed with yellow light, the light of which grew stronger the more he concentrated.
Finally, he stretched out his two, fully amplified arms from the plane and divided his aura into at least eight, huge parts, which grew and completely embraced the entire plane, like a large energy shield.
Boom
Once they were far enough away, the bomb exploded and Vine's energy shield was like a giant airbag that grew to enormous size in the blink of an eye, but it didn't burst, it held on and as soon as the explosion was over, the yellow energy field disappeared and left nothing behind, just a big pile of gray smoke and remained nothing after it dissipated. The plane and Vine also disappeared and there was no trace of them anywhere.
From the plane, Elm and Harriet saw their friend's ultimate sacrifice, saving their life and who knows how many thousands of others in Mantle.
There was nothing to do, Robyn simply turned the plane around and drove it back to the academy so they too could go through a space gate.
- Should I expect you just let me pass? - Yang prepared for the final battle with Adam.
- It wouldn't be your first or biggest mistake, Yang. - Adam grabbed Wilt's grip and prepared for the final clash.
Yang's eyes turned red and she shot herself with Ember Celica, while Adam focused all his strength on Wilt and prepared to finish the girl with a single blow.
However, Yang proved to be more cunning again and with another push she jumped out of the way of the red energy beam and hit Adam with lightning speed, who dropped Wilt and somersaulted off the side of the road, but he caught the edge of the road in time.
Yang stood over him and before she could do anything, she was hit in the back with a fire beam, causing her to fall into the abyss behind Adam and after a few seconds of falling, she disappeared with a yellow flash.
- You got your revenge, Adam. - Cinder got down on the road and helped the faunus man up, who took his sword. - I hope, - Then she glared at the others, Ruby, Weiss, Neo and Penny with an evil look. - you'll help with the rest too.
- Do you have a plan? - Adam was ready to send the other half of the team RWBY into the depths.
- Just stall Ruby. - Cinder knew that if she wanted to gain the power of the Maiden, she would have to be very careful with Ruby's Silver Eye.
- Which one's Ruby? - Adam, although he was very happy that he had pretty much taken care of the team RWBY, since Blake, his girlfriend, was the one who left him and Yang was the one she left for, and he would gladly take care of Weiss too, since it was her family who had caused him and his kind so much suffering. But he had no problem with the captain of the team RWBY.
- The one in the red cloak. - Cinder rolled her eye.
Cinder and Adam separated.
Adam didn't have to search much, as he found Ruby trying to carry Weiss, who had lost her aura, out the large space gate.
Ruby didn't hesitate to swing Crescent Rose in her hand and attack the faunus man who had caused the death of two of her teammates, including her sister. Adam dodged Ruby's blows and quickly got behind her and backhanded her.
- Do I have any luck for a Schnee? - Adam just pointed to the SDC shaped burn wound on his left eye, which horrified the two girls, especially Weiss, since her family name was burned into the man's skin. - Yeah, I get that reaction a lot.
- She had nothing to do with it! - Ruby came to her friend's defense after standing up.
- Maybe not personally. - Adam just shook his head. - But do you have any idea how many faunus have burned this logo into their skin? - He had no intention of turning back at all. - A lot. - He glared at Weiss with his angry gaze.
Before anything could happen, Ruby attacked Adam again, who blocked his scythe with his katana and quickly got to his side. Ruby was faster than her sister, learned from her previous mistake and used Crescent Rose to block Wilt again.
Crescent Rose and Wilt clashed several times, throwing sparks every time they met and Adam was forced to realize that Ruby was much more difficult to deal with than her sister, so he was forced to use different tactics.
- Hm, - Adam just smiled as he looked at Weiss, who couldn't join the fight due to her lack of aura. - I see, the Schnees have a habit of sitting back and letting others do the dirty work.
- You... - Weiss couldn't stand this man insulting her, since Ruby was fighting so that she could escape.
- Weiss, don't... - Ruby tried in vain to stop her friend, who lifted Myrtenaster and tried to summon her ice knight.
Adam was just waiting for this, because while Weiss was summoning, he concentrated all his strength into Wilt and a red energy beam, with which he beheaded the appearing knight, which evaporated, then hit Weiss, who fell into the depths.
- Weiss! - Ruby tried in vain to catch her, in vain, Weiss, like her teammates, was swallowed by the depths and disappeared in a yellow flash.
Ruby no longer held back and attacked the faunus man with full anger, who skillfully and quickly blocked her blows. Ruby was fast, but Adam was faster, so much so that he circled around Ruby so fast that she couldn't even tell where Adam was.
Finally, he appeared behind her and was about to shoot another energy beam with Wilt, which Ruby blocked with Crescent Rose, but it fell out of her hand, bounced off the side of the road and fell into the abyss.
- NO! - Ruby turned pale when her weapon was also lost after her friend and she looked in horror at Adam, who was approaching her with Wilt in his hand.
After Ruby was no longer in the picture, Cinder faced Penny with much more confidence.
- Just you and me, litt... - Cinder's eyes burned with desire when she was finally alone with Penny, but Neo appeared above her and took a kick at her head, which Cinder blocked this time with one of her swords and Neo shattered into pieces as if she were made of glass. - Still here... - Cinder was caught by the next blow from the right side and slid to the side, but she stayed on her feet and saw Neo do a backflip away and as soon as she hit the ground, she rested the opened Hush on her shoulder with a confident smile and attacked her again. - Do you think that... - Cinder, before she could finish, Neo folded Hush and attacked her like that. She was forced to duck several times from her stabs and jumped back from one of her kicks. - Would you let me finish a... - Cinder was already annoyed by this girl, who not only prevented her from gaining the power of the Winter Maiden, but also wouldn't let her finish what she had to say and shot a fire beam at her.
Neo opened Hush and blocked the fire beam, but it pushed her back a bit.
Several clumsy, green glass swords pierced the ground around Cinder and Penny was worried that even her aiming as a human had deteriorated when she tried to help Neo without thinking.
Cinder remembered that she had one advantage over Neo, it's flying. Before Neo could land another blow at her, she rose high and immediately targeted Penny.
Seeing this, Penny decided to stay on the ground and landed on the road, but she couldn't find Neo anywhere. Cinder, on the other hand, was on her trail and, taking advantage of her inattention, threw herself at her to drain her power.
Fortunately, Neo didn't let Penny down and, removing her disguise, attacked Cinder in the back, who this time had already expected her and, releasing Penny, flew up again and shot a pile of black glass shards around the two girls.
Penny swung her swords, while Neo opened Hush to block the shower of glass, but Cinder just smiled confidently and as soon as she clicked, the shards that fell to the ground began to flash.
Boom
They exploded, but Penny flew up in time, but Neo wasn't so lucky, the explosion drained her aura, dropped Hush and fell into the depths.
- No! - Penny watched helplessly as Neo was swallowed by darkness and after a flash of yellow, like the members of team RWBY, she disappeared too.
The evacuation was almost complete and the entire population of Atlas would soon arrive safely in Vacuo. Jaune, on the other hand, saw the losses his friends had suffered in the fight with Cinder and Adam, so he quickly parachuted with his shield to the space gate where Nora was herding the civilians.
- May, Joanna and all the Hunters who went through the gate, bring them back! - Jaune knew that reinforcements were definitely needed against Cinder.
Nora said nothing, she just confidently took Jaune's hand and she also went through the space gate.
- Your friends died to protect you? - Cinder smiled at Penny with false empathy as she shot a fire beam at him, which Penny blocked with her swords.
- You know nothing about friendship! - Penny was incomprehensible to many things about human feelings, but she knew one thing for sure.
Before Cinder could attack again, Jaune rushed towards her from the side, parachuting with his shield and as soon as he reached her directly, he held the shield in front of Cinder and pushed her back with a gravity shot. After hitting the ground, he took out his sword and decided that this time he would finish Cinder off.
Penny confidently swung her swords in the air and she was also ready to fight Cinder.
- Where are the others?! - Jaune immediately looked for the RWBY team, Lance and Neo, but the one he was most worried about was Weiss.
- They... - Penny's sad look told the boy everything.
- No... - Jaune's heart almost broke that he had lost a bunch of his friends and this time he had let his second girlfriend down.
- Are you tempting fate again?! - Cinder remembered Jaune well. - This time I won't be as gentle as... ARGH! - Suddenly, the Grimm's arm started burning her entire body, but as quickly as the pain came, it passed. - She's back! - She knew exactly what it meant and smiled menacingly at her opponents, who were quite shaken by Salem's return.
Cinder only shot a stream of fire at the ground, causing a large ring of flame to streak across the entire floor, but Penny flew over it and Jaune blocked it with his shield.
Cinder didn't stop, she summoned two flaming glass swords in her two hands and threw them at them, but Penny blocked what she threw at her and Jaune with her glass swords and charged straight at Cinder. The one-eyed woman didn't let it go and kicked the ground with her foot, causing a large plume of fire to shoot out of the floor and separate her from Jaune.
Penny looked worriedly at Jaune on the other side of the wall of fire, but Cinder took advantage of her inattention again, reaching out her Grimm arm and piercing her body in five places with her claws. At once, she pierced her stomach, both lungs, and her liver, but only missed her heart by inches.
Physical pain was a new feeling for Penny, especially to this extent and very bad because it completely paralyzed her entire body. With blazing eyes and a maniacal grin, Cinder began to suck the power of the Maiden from the girl, who couldn't even move from the widespread pain.
The world around Penny began to blur, she felt weaker and weaker and felt terrible pain when she tried to breathe and finally collapsed.
Before the power could even reach Cinder, Jaune jumped over the wall of fire and cut off Cinder's Grimm arm, causing her to feel incredible pain and scream in pain.
- Penny! - Jaune, seeing how much pain Cinder was going through, hoped he could heal the girl while she pulled herself together. - Hang in there! My Semblance...
- No... - Penny breathed out in pain. - There's not enough time to heal me... - Blood started flowing from her mouth and she knew exactly what she was talking about. Four of her internal organs were badly damaged, which would take Jaune too long to heal. - She can't have... the Staff and my power... - She gently placed her hand on the boy's hand, preparing for what was about to happen. - But there's something... you can do.
- No! - Jaune shook his head in horror and didn't want to accept that this was the only solution. - You can't ask me to do this!
- Let me choose... - Penny was getting weaker and her voice was getting fainter, she felt that death was near. - At least... this one thing. - She reached weakly for the boy's sword, assuring him that she wanted this. - Trust me.
Jaune took out his sword, Crocea Mors, with a trembling hand, which had belonged to his grandfather, who was a true hero and used it to protect others. Now he would use it to end the life of an innocent girl, his friend. As he held the blade in front of him, he saw his own reflection in it and the painful realization on his face, which made it clear that there was no other option. He saw the wound on the left side of her chest that Cinder had made, right next to her heart, because she didn't want her to die. If he stabbed Penny there, she would die immediately.
Cinder, as her arm grew back and she began to gasp in pain, saw Jaune, who was once again in her way, kneeling next to Penny and knowing her Semblance, he would surely heal her. She couldn't let that damned boy cross her again, so she rushed towards him quickly, her eye was blazing, two swords in her hands and a single blow was enough to push the boy aside, then grabbed Penny with her Grimm arm again and began to drain the power of the Maiden.
Cinder's greatest shock that even made the fire out of her eyes, when she couldn't drain any power from Penny. The girl didn't move or breathe. Jaune's distant cries and the stab wound in Penny's chest that went straight through her heart answered everything.
Jaune killed Penny so that Cinder couldn't gain her power.
Jaune couldn't forgive himself for this horrible act. After Cinder pushed him aside, he rolled to the edge of the platform and looked sobbingly at his once gleaming and shiny sword, now soaked in Penny's blood.
In the Vault, Winter was increasingly cornered, as Ironwood gave her no rest at all and relentlessly pounded her with either his laser cannon's beam or the cannon itself when he used it as a melee weapon.
In a cunning moment, the general removed one of the pistols from the cannon and tossed it high into the air.
Winter's full attention was focused on the weapon in the air and was caught off guard when the general struck her in the chin with the cannon from below, causing her to rise into the air, then another blow sent her flying backwards, straight onto the steps leading to the space gate.
As Winter hit the ground and a white flash indicated that her aura had drained, the general caught the pistol that had thrown up, loaded it into the cannon and began to charge.
Penny found herself in an empty white space that had no beginning or end. Although she knew that this was the end of the road for her, she wasn't afraid or bothered by anything, she just excitedly swung her feets and waited for the person who was supposed to come.
- Salutation! - She waved excitedly to Winter, who, unlike Penny, was completely confused and didn't know where she was. - You made it here!
- Where... - Winter could hardly understand where she had ended up, since she had just fought the general. - What is this?
- I was thinking about you. - Penny answered clearly. - And now we are here.
Winter was immediately struck by the realization that Penny must have suffered a fatal injury and she had to decide who to entrust the power of the Winter Maiden to.
And she thought of her.
- Oh, Penny... - Winter's heart would break, thinking that the girl would have to die and she would have to carry on this power.
- It seemed the smartest thing to do if I chose you. - Penny remembered that the power was originally intended for Winter. - After all, it was your power originally.
- No, Penny. - Winter shook her head, fighting back with her tears as the girl came closer to her. - Deep down, you were always the real Maiden. - She turned to her side, furious with herself and could only blame herself for what had happened. - While I was more like a machine. I just... followed orders, not caring whether I was doing the right thing or not.
- Hey, - Penny took both of Winter's hands and smiled encouragingly at her. - You were my friend.
Penny's hand was enveloped in a yellow light that spread to Winter.
- Thank you, - Winter smiled and nodded gratefully. - for entrusting this to me. When... you leave... - She didn't want to think about it, but she knew it was something that would happen now.
- I'm not leaving for good. - Penny shrugged confidently. - I'll become a part of you.
- Good... - Winter just sniffed and tears started to flow. - I'm glad for that.
Penny let a happy smile appear on her face, happily closing her eyes and her body faded, then disappeared completely and the yellow light that permeated Winter's entire body completely blinded her.
- So, the fate I chose for you has finally arrived.
Winter was lying on the ground, finding herself back in the Vault and the general standing in front of her, exactly before she had this strange experience.
- You didn't choose anything for me. - Winter felt her aura return with the power of the Maiden as she stood up from the ground. She rose into the air and a snowy tornado formed around her, lifting not only her but even her swords. - This was a gift. - She opened her eyes, which burned bright blue and glared angrily at the general.
Ironwood opened fire with his laser cannon, but Winter summoned a wall of ice mirror, from which the laser beam bounced back and hit the general directly.
Winter didn't even wait for the green smoke to clear, she just turned and flew through the space gate.
It was simply outrageous for Cinder that the power of the Winter Maiden had been stolen from her for the third time, and what was worse, that Jaune was responsible for it. This boy, when she met him in Beacon, was just a loser who had luckily made it to the Vytal tournament, and in Haven, she had considered him nothing more than a toy to have fun with and only thanks to luck was able to land a blow on her.
She was seriously angry at him now and didn't care that she wouldn't gain anything by killing him, but even then, it would have been nice to be able to get rid of him for good.
Without thinking, Cinder rushed towards Jaune, who raised his shield, but Cinder threw herself at him and Jaune pushed her back with another gravity push, but Cinder was back on her feet with only a backflip and summoned a glass sword into the Grimm's hand, then attacked again.
Cinder's glass sword and Crocea Mors clashed, but Jaune's sword immediately broke in two and the terrified shock completely paralyzed him so much that Cinder dealt him another blow, causing him to fall to the ground.
- Where did it go... - Cinder was about to deliver the final blow when an icy projectile hit her from behind and she fell to the ground.
- Are you looking for me?! - Winter appeared in the passage, in the air, flying and with blue blazing eyes.
It was clear to Cinder that she had become the new Winter Maiden and she stared at the woman with her blazing eye, then without thinking she jumped into the air and glided towards her.
Winter was ready for a rematch against Cinder and the clash between the two Maidens began.
A blue and icy aura appeared around Winter, while an orange and fiery aura appeared around Cinder and the clash between the two Maidens culminated in an explosion. Winter blocked Cinder's glass sword with her sword and elegantly continued her defense in the air, then Cinder quickly flew up, but Winter fired an icy projectile at her, which Cinder dodged and attacked her again, wildly.
Winter blocked this blow as well and this time counterattacked and the two Maidens proved to be equal, until Winter summoned a rune above herself, with which she dodged Cinder's attack with lightning speed and hit her with an icy projectile.
Cinder didn't give up and was still in the air, but Winter cast another rune, from which an army of ice birds emerged and they all attacked Cinder. Cinder had the antidote and summoned a pile of black glass swords into the air, which she began to use to cut down the ice birds, but in vain, Winter summoned more birds and the survivors could reach and surround her.
Even this proved to be insufficient against Cinder, because in her anger, she destroyed all the birds with a fiery outburst and attacked Winter again, with whom they continuously, one after another, fell to each other again and again, but neither of them could prevail.
Cinder remembered well when she clashed with Raven, the Spring Maiden, who surpassed her not only in strength, but also in cunning. She decided that now was the time for a different tactic. She summoned a huge fireball around herself, which with an explosion created an even larger smoke curtain, thanks to which she was able to slip away from the battle for a short time.
Ruby, after losing Crescent Rose, didn't dare risk another frontal attack against Adam, so she was forced to constantly run away and come up with new tactics.
For now, she was forced to keep the distance and her Semblance was perfectly suited for this, but there was not much more she could do.
- Would you be the leader that Blake follows and looks up to?! - Adam shot a red energy beam at Ruby, which she dodged with her Semblance. - A cowardly leader leading a group of cowards! I'm not surprised.
Ruby didn't take the insult and continued to dodge Adam's blows or even increased the distance. Who knows how long she had been running, but Adam didn't tire and didn't give up the chase.
- Can you do anything else besides run away? - Adam was starting to get bored of Ruby doing nothing but dodging. He had no idea why Cinder was so afraid of her. - Blake could only run away and you saw what happened to her!
- Ruby! - The answer didn't take long, because as soon as Ruby got down to one of the platforms, with Adam following behind, Jaune appeared behind her and threw his shield at him, which pushed Adam off the edge of the platform with a gravitational push, but the shield also fell.
Adam quickly threw Wilt, which fell to the edge of the platform, but caught Ruby by her cloak and pulled her into the depths, but Ruby grabbed the edge of the road in time, but was unable to climb up with Adam.
Jaune immediately ran over to help her, but a fireball hit him in the back, flew over them and fell into the depths.
- Jaune! - Ruby could hardly believe that her entire team and even Jaune were lost.
She didn't have time to think about it right now, because she had to hold on with all her strength, because she simply couldn't pull herself up while Adam was clinging to her.
Unfortunately, she didn't have much time to think about it, because Cinder was standing above her.
- I need some help! - Adam immediately reached out, but Cinder just used the Grimm's arm to remove the Staff of Creation from his back.
- You got your revenge and your task was done. - Cinder just kicked Adam's sword into the abyss. - And you, - She looked down at Ruby, who was preparing to use the Silver Eyes. - you should have never been born.
She stomped on Ruby's hands, causing her to fall into the abyss, along with Adam and then watched with her own eye as they both disappeared in a flash of yellow.
- NO! - Winter realized too late that Cinder had pushed Jaune and Ruby down and it was no use flying after them because Ruby was also swallowed by the abyss.
She felt desperate and uncomfortable when she looked around the passage, which was empty. She was left alone and couldn't protect her sister or her friends.
She took off on one of the paths and fell to her knees, tears welling up in her eyes. Beside her, there was only one person left in the passage and that person was responsible for all of their deaths.
Winter decided that even if she lived until that, she's gonna kill Cinder, who had also obtained the Staff of Creation.
Unfortunately, her revenge was interrupted by a distant, but quite loud, not-this-worldly roar that made the entire passage tremble. She knew very well that it was Salem and if she entered one of the space gates now, the power Penny had given her would be lost.
- You... - Winter looked at Cinder, trembling with anger and swore to her. - You're gonna pay for everything you have ever done and there will be no power that could protect you from your fate! - She took off and flew towards the great space gate, towards Vacuo.
Cinder, although she didn't receive the power of the Winter Maiden that she so desired, considered today a successful day because she finished off the team RWBY and obtained the Staff of Creation. She knew very well that she couldn't chase Winter, because on the other side of the gate there would be hundreds of Hunters waiting for her, who would gladly take her head for her crimes, so she was forced to go back through one of the space gates.
- Ambrosius. - Finally, she created something with the Staff, which made the passage disappear, just like the space gates.
The situation on the other side of the gate was getting worse, because the refugees had made it through, but they were in the middle of nowhere, in a huge sandstorm, while an army of Grimm was on them. The Hunters and the rest of the army did everything they could to protect the residents, but an entire city of fear and outrage was a beacon for the Grimm.
- No! - Nora pounded on the space gate with all her might, but in vain, there was no going back. - I promised Jaune I'll help him!
- Nora, it's too late! - Ren grabbed the girl's arm.
- Unfortunately, the gate doesn't work backwards! - Oscar joined in. - The only thing we can do is protect the people!
- You led us into a death trap! - May, one of the Happy Huntresses, was the first to voice her indignation.
- You would have died in Atlas! - Nora rose to defend her friends.
- Because what's going to happen here?! - May was adamant.
- Enough, May! - Fiona said to her companion. - The more negativity we spread, the more Grimm will come!
- We'll find the responsible later! - Joanna would have rather exterminated the Grimms than find a scapegoat.
- Okay, - May took it back and continued fighting the Grimms. - but I'll beat someone up for this!
Suddenly, a huge gust of wind from the gate pushed the Grimms back and everyone was relieved when Winter stepped out of it, with a blue magic aura around her, and then the gate disappeared, permanently.
- Winter? - Her family, her mother, her brother and Klein looked at her worriedly. Unfortunately, she couldn't find her sister among them and she had to tell them the painful fact that she was lost.
There was no time to mourn, as another horde of Grimm was approaching the people, and Winter, as the Winter Maiden, had a duty to protect the people of Atlas.
She drew her sword and shot a massive wave of ice at the monsters, which was a perfect chance to vent her anger.
"Everything has gone as wrong as it could be," Ironwood thought to himself, recovering from the shot of his own weapon. He was barely an arm's length away from obtaining the Staff of Creation from Salem, but Winter stood in his way and gained the power of the Winter Maiden at the worst possible time.
- Ambrosius. - He looked up the stairs and saw the portal disappear and Cinder walking down it, the Staff in her hand, but the smile she had been wearing on her face froze as a dark shadow floated into the Vault. - I... - It was clear that this shadow was Salem and Cinder was terrified. - I... I failed again, mistress. They used the Staff to save thousands, we lost Adam, but at least we eliminated team RWBY for good. - She suddenly remembered the Lamp and in her desperation she made up a lie. - But Ruby and her teammates used the Lamp's last question and... I couldn't stop them. - As she explained, Salem re-formed and stared at Cinder with an expressionless face. - I couldn't even stop the Maiden from escaping because I was too busy retrieving the Staff. I... - Cinder's heart pounded in her throat and she even knelt down and bowed her head in regret. - I'm sorry.
She heard Salem step closer to her, but she didn't raise her head, just handed her the Staff.
- You think I'm completely stupid? - Salem took the Staff. - Where is the Lamp?
- I left it with Arthur and Mandy. - Cinder answered, trembling. - I thought it would be wiser not to risk it and take it with me.
- And... - Salem just sighed. - where are Arthur and Mandy?
- I left them at the academy's control center. - Cinder answered, while she's standing up.
- Then let's go get them. - Salem had already left, Cinder was on her trail. - I guess you had to use the Staff to make their creation disappear. - Ironwood lay on the ground, listening to the two women's conversation, who paid no attention to him and weakly tried to reach for his pistol, which had fallen from the laser cannon. - What did you create?
- I just added more flame to Atlas' fire. - Cinder just shrugged proudly, but Salem immediately stopped and looked at her sternly.
- To the academy too?! - Salem was annoyed by Cinder's stupidity.
- I guess. - Cinder just swallowed in horror.
- While Arthur, Mandy and the Lamp are there too?! - Salem was afraid that Cinder had overlooked this small detail.
- Well... - Cinder scratched the back of her head in agony, not knowing what to say.
- You have five minutes to get Arthur, Mandy and the Lamp out, - Salem glared menacingly at Cinder, who winced in horror. - before I seriously replace you!
Cinder swallowed, then immediately rose into the air, flew up the elevator, blew up the exit, and headed towards the control center, where she had left Mandy and Watts.
- It's hard to find a good crew, - Salem looked back at Ironwood, who was desperately aiming his gun at her, but he knew there was no point in shooting. - but I think you know that too. - She flashed a smile at the general. - Thanks for making my job easier, James.
She became a shadow and left the Vault.
Ironwood lowered his gun and was forced to admit that he had lost. He had sacrificed everything and made the decisions he thought were right, and they had led him here. Maybe if he had listened to Ruby and her friends, things would have turned out differently.
Unfortunately, he still felt that it was all Ruby's fault and those who were incapable of thinking logically. He believed that if he had lifted Atlas into the atmosphere, Salem wouldn't have been able to hurt anyone. Instead, they had created dissension, stood in the way of the right decision and this dissension led to Atlas' downfall.
Thousands of thoughts raced through Ironwood's mind as he felt the entire city falling, but one thought stuck in his mind.
Glynda Goodwitch. Would she have supported him? Would the Beacon professor, the only woman he felt anything for, have helped him, or would she have just thought of him as a monster like everyone else?
Ironwood made many difficult decisions in his life that haunted him until his death, but the one he regretted the most what he didn't make and not tell Glynda how he felt about her.
Unfortunately, it was too late, Atlas would soon crash and he would die here too, without telling her how much he loved her.
Glynda was the last thing on the General's mind. He closed his eyes and waited for death, which would soon come.
After Winter evacuated the academy, Mandy had no trouble scouting the area while Watts sabotaged Ruby's plan in the control center.
Her mission was to find a plane that Watts and she could use to escape the academy in case Cinder and Adam failed and had to escape.
She glanced at her Scroll to see the time and was excited to see that there was still an hour until Atlas would crash. Finally, the kingdom that had caused her and so many of her kind so much suffering would finally cease to exist.
It was hard to think how many dead faunus had been buried in Atlas' mines, unmarked mass graves. As of today, Dust corporations would no longer be allowed to exploit faunus.
She felt a sense of satisfaction as she walked through the infirmary. The entire corridor was empty, neon lights flickered here and there, most of the equipment and papers were thrown on the ground and there was a lot of commotion, they clearly left in a hurry.
She passed by one of the wards and saw that a wounded man was lying on one of the beds, his entire body was bandaged, he was connected to a large machine and he was fast asleep. Obviously, in the midst of all the effort, he had been forgotten and left behind.
Mandy herself didn't know why, but she went into the ward, maybe just to finish off the unfortunate man quickly, but when she saw who was hiding under all the bandages, her heart skipped a beat.
It was Mike, his body was severely damaged, several bones were broken, his body was covered in serious burns and he had to be connected to a ventilator.
The girl remembered the old days in Beacon, when the team LLMM was still united and for a short time she felt at peace among her friends. Before that she had felt that all humans were evil and had gladly participated in Beacon's sabotage, but as they grew closer, she began to doubt whether she was doing the right thing.
In the end, she decided to be loyal to her kind and help the White Fang instead, betraying her friends, hoping that her kind would gain the fear and respect of the people.
In Haven, she would have had the opportunity to surrender to the authorities and, like the New White Fang, perhaps she would have been given a second chance. At the time, all she felt was anger and resentment at being betrayed by her kind. From then on, she no longer cared about the fate of the Faunus and in her desperation, she joined Cinder, hoping to destroy this corrupt kingdom.
Cinder fulfilled her hopes, Atlas would soon be destroyed, but its population would be saved. She felt a bit like a half-victory, since only the buildings would be destroyed, the greedy, rich humans who had exploited her and her kind would survive, along with thousands of innocents, of course.
She was interrupted from her thoughts by the disappearance of the power, the lights turned off and the ventilator that Mike was on. Mandy's first thought was that turning off the ventilator had killed her former teammate, to be sure, she leaned over to his chest and checked his heartbeat with her fox ears.
Mike's heart was still beating, even though the machine had been turned off, so Mandy, after lifting her head, detached him from the turned off machine, took off the mask and saw that the boy was able to breathe more easily on his own.
Fortunately, the bed had wheels, so she could easily push him out of the ward into the corridor. After they reached the corridor, Mandy smelled smoke with her faunus smelling and suddenly, out of nowhere, fire broke out all over the academy and she felt that Atlas had begun to fall.
Fortunately, the hangar wasn't far and she found a transporter to push Mike's bed onto, but before she could take off, she had to go back to get Watts.
- I'll be back soon. - The girl promised, then turned and ran back towards the control center.
The flames were spreading faster and faster, engulfing the entire hallway, so Mandy was forced to use her Semblance to teleport, and even then it was very difficult, as the smoke was getting thicker and thicker and she could barely breathe.
Cutting through the infirmary, she remembered something she had seen when she rescued Mike, which was nothing more than an emergency rescue kit containing a breathing mask and an extinguisher. Armed with the extinguisher, she hurried to fight her way through the flames, but as she put out a row of fires and stepped forward, it immediately reappeared.
"This isn't a natural or electrical fire.", Mandy knew that this fire could only mean that Cinder had obtained the Staff of Creation and in order to disappear the space gates that Ruby and her friends had created, she had engulfed Atlas in fire, along with her and Watts.
- Help! Someone! - She heard Watts' desperate and frightened cries and coughing from a distance and immediately went in the direction of the sound.
She had to walk through several plumes of fire or teleport before she reached the window of the room that Watts was desperately banging on with a chair.
- I'm here! - Mandy knocked on the window.
- Help! - Watts shouted pleadingly from the other side.
- Get down! - Mandy took out her bow and cocked it to shoot through the glass.
Watts, as soon as he saw this, immediately crouched on the ground and protected his head.
Boom
The exploding arrow shattered the glass, sending millions of shards flying to the other side. Once the shards were no longer a threat, Watts climbed through the window.
- By the gods... - Watts coughed. - But I'm so glad to see you!
- We're not out yet! - Mandy handed the scientist another breathing mask.
- We'll have to deal with Cinder for this! - Watts knew very well that only Cinder could have started the fire that would have burnt him and Mandy to be sacrificed.
- Let's blame her later, - Mandy picked up the extinguisher and began to put the fire out of the way. - we need to get out now.
- You managed to find a plane, right? - Watts hoped so.
- Yes, but we need to hurry. - Mandy grabbed the scientist and they teleported through a large fire.
- Can't you just teleport to the plane? - Watts didn't understand why they were bothering to put out the fire and avoid obstacles.
- I can't teleport that far, I have to... oh my... - Mandy realized with horror that her extinguisher was out, so she was forced to throw it far away, which soon exploded with a loud bang. - There are at least three more corridors, I can't teleport through that much fire!
- Maybe you don't have to! - Watts had an idea. - The fire extinguishing system runs on different electricity! - He saw a small terminal on the wall, on which he quickly started pressing a few buttons and a lot of water started to drip from the ceiling.
- Brilliant! - Mandy was relieved when the flames began to die out, but they would soon start again.
- What the...
- This isn't a normal fire. - Mandy knew very well that the fire extinguishing system was only a temporary solution. - Let's hurry!
Although the fire extinguishing system made things easier, it still wasn't easy to get to the hangar. Everything around the plane Mandy had taken Mike to was full of fire and if they didn't get there in time, it would be destroyed along with their only hope of getting out.
- There! - Watts pointed to a pile of Dust containers containing a variety of crystals.
- Excellent! - Mandy grabbed a handful of Ice Dust, which she inserted into the explosive arrows and fired at the plane. The ice bombs cleared the fire from the plane, but also froze it to the floor. - Quick, to the plane!
- But the ice... - Watts wasn't sure if the frozen plane could take off, but as the fire began to return, the ice cracked, melted and quickly let the plane go. - Nothing.
There was no choice, they both boarded the plane, Watts started the plane and quickly drove it out of the hangar, not long before Atlas crashed into Mantle.
- So far there has been too much ice, - Mandy sat in the co-pilot's seat with relief after removing her breathing mask. - now I've had enough of the fire.
- Do you think, - Watts looked at the Lamp hanging from the girl's belt. - Cinder consider that if she lost it, Salem would really retaliate against her?
- Watts, Mandy, please tell me you're okay! - Cinder's desperate voice came over the radio.
- Here's your answer. - Mandy knew that Cinder was in for a real shock after she almost let them die.
The fall of Atlas was both amazing and terrifying. Atlas, the most powerful and technologically advanced city that had served as the jewel of Solitas, began to fall towards Mantle.
The huge rock that had once been held aloft by an infinite energy generator and upon which Remnant's most magnificent city had been built, now crashed down on the lower city, leaving dust, debris, and electrical equipment everywhere, as well as a fire that broke out in the city, in just a few minutes, leaving nothing but ruins of Atlas.
The remains of the Ace Ops, Robyn, and Qrow watched from the cargo hold of the plane as Atlas crashed into Mantle. They simply couldn't comprehend with their sanity that their home had been destroyed at that moment.
- Ruby, are you there?! - Qrow tried to call his niece in panic, but in vain, with the destruction of the CCT-Tower, there was no communication in the entire kingdom. - Answer!
- No point, - Robyn put her hand on his shoulder encouragingly. - The communication's gone.
- But... there was still at least an hour until... - Qrow turned completely pale when, after Atlas' fall, the earthquake in the mountains caused the river to overflow and inundate the entire Crater and the ruins of Atlas were submerged under the icy water.
- I'm sure they succeeded. - Robyn could only guess, since the plan was for everyone to go through the space gates.
Atlas's premature crash and the loss of communications made it questionable who had even managed to reach Vacuo. Unfortunately, Qrow, to make sure his niece was alive, had to travel to the other side of the world the old way.
- The plane can still take us to Argus, - Marrow said as he climbed into the cockpit. - There's another Atlasian garrison there.
- That's our only chance's to get out of here alive. - Robyn agreed.
- Let's go. - Qrow nodded as he sat down and leaned against the wall of the cargo bay.
The only thing that kept him hopeful was that his niece had definitely made it through the space gate.
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Volume 8 is finished.